Exodus 21

Backdrop

• Since Fall, God has been revealing Himself "portion-by-portion" to humanity. He is also getting closer and closer to humanity. Soon, God the Father will start living among His nation of Israel in the Tabernacle. (Down the line, since, the resurrection of Christ, God - The Holy Spirit lives in God's people - Acts 2. Further down the line - Jesus will return, join His people, and rule on earth for thousand years. After which Jesus will create new heaven and new earth for Christian, where the Christians will be in fellowship with the fullness of God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit! So this is a rough timeline for the unity of "redeemed" humans with God - The Father, Spirit, and Son)
• So, again, here God is revealing more of Himself, to humanity, in the forms of these laws, that He started laying down in the Book of Exodus, for the nation of Israel. Also, the goal is the set up a perfect system of governance for God's people, and this is just a starting point. For instance, down the line, after Jesus is crucified, in Jesus will be fulfilled the ceremonial and justice aspects of the laws, for those who accept Him as their Savior. And then, even further down the line, after Jesus returns, those people will have glorious bodies which would be free of sin nature which causes law breaking. At that point, the OT laws would be considered fully fulfilled for those people and also for them there would no fear from law-breaking as in their glorious bodies they would be incapable of law breaking.

Opening Thought:- What is the perfect way of governing a nation?

Potential discussion questions:-

- Recall from previous discussions: why is God giving laws here?

- Here God is defining laws & terms of justice for (governing) a nation. To appreciate it - Compare them with the ones in various nations on earth today. Which ones are better? What does a perfect set of laws & terms of justice look like? Can they be ever achieved?

- What is missing in these laws (in Exodus)? How serious is that?

Forgiveness from breaking a law, that would come from the crucifixion of Jesus at the cross. These laws as they were, would send all people to hell.

- What do these Old Testament (OT) laws tell about the character of God?

God is perfectly moral and just.

The OT laws encompass in them terms of justice, for breaking the moral or ceremonial aspects of the laws. The justice aspect of the OT laws exist because God is a just God. If justice does not exist then it will be said that life is not fair.

But the justice aspect of OT is also very scary because it would send ALL people to hell. (Yes, the fear of punishments from breaking the laws failed to prevent people from sinning) Knowing that, God, mercifully, out of great love, send His Son Jesus to die on the cross, so that those who put their faith in Him, would be forgiven and hence escape hell (i.e., John 3:16, etc).

- What would a non-believer think about these laws?

The justice aspect of the OT laws can cause fear among people. You may have heard some say that Moses was using "fear" to ensure that people won't sin.

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- Do you think the Israelites followed these God’s laws out of fear or love? Justify. Should we follow God out of fear or love?

- How will these laws evolve down the line?

Those who would receive Jesus as a Savior, latter down the line, would be free from the bound of the justice & ceremonial aspects of the law.

And once, such a person has a glorious body (after Christ returns), one would also be free from the sin nature which leads to law breaking.

- Which of these Laws, from the Old Testament (OT) era, we still follow and which we don’t? How do we decide?

This is a very important question as Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18:- " Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ". That is, the OT laws are not a story of the past! The question to ask is how to interpret these laws correctly in today's time. Yes, interpreting the OT laws correctly is very important, as indicated in Mark 2:23-27. In-fact, Mark 2:23-27 teaches us to understand the spirit behind a law and not follow a law blindly.

A given OT law can have one or more of these aspects:- (1) moral, (2) terms of justice (when the moral aspect is violated), and (3) ceremonial. For instance, let's take the example of an OT law - Exodus 21:17:- "Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. ". Here the moral aspect is - we should not curse our parents. And the "terms of justice" aspect is - when the moral aspect is violated, the violator should be put to death.

In today's time, I believe one is called to uphold the spirit behind the moral aspects of the OT laws. In the case of Exodus 21:17, it would be that one should not curse parents.

Regarding the "terms of justice" aspect of an OT law (i.e., the death sentence of Exodus 21:17) - all judgment responsibilities now lies with Jesus (John 5:22; Recall how Jesus did not let those Jews to stone a woman caught with the sin of adultery - John 8:1-11 - Jesus had to do that, else, ALL people would be condemned as per the OT laws not just the woman caught in adultery, as all have sinned, as Jesus revealed there). And, Jesus will judge all during the day of judgement - Revelation 20:11-15. A person has his / her lifetime to accept Jesus as Savior, in order to escape judgement at the hand of Jesus on that final day of Judgement. And those who would not accept Jesus as Savior during their lifetime, will be thrown at the lake of fire, because of their sins (/ breaking of God's laws).

The ceremonial aspects of the OT laws (i.e., Exodus 20:24 - "Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings ... ") - are fulfilled in Christ, and hence a Christian is not bound to them.

Finally the correct interpretation of a Law should be consistent with the "overall spirit" of all laws & commandments from God, spelt out by Jesus in Matthew 22:38-40:- “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”