January 1, 2021
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Reading along with us in some Exodus? Here’s today’s reading:
Exodus 22 (NIV)
Protection of Property
1“Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep..........Continue Reading
More laws covering everything from property to impropriety.
We start with basic laws of protection of personal property and finish with premarital sex and other sexual misconduct.
Again I notice that these laws are fair and just. Simple in their basis and clear in their consequence.
Exodus 22
Exodus 22
This is the primer for those men that Jethro advised Moses to appoint as judges.
I was thinking of Dinah when I read this: “If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride-price for her to be his wife. 17 If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride-price of virgins.” Not sure if Dinah was an enticed virgin or taken against her will. Schechem eager to marry her and pay whatever was required.
As I read this chapter I was struck by the emphasis on personal responsibility and a striving for just restitution. People and property are to be valued and thought taken to how they are handled and cared for. All important principles for organizing society and so important to see in these standards that God cares about such things too: people, animals and possessions.
26If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, 27because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
28“Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.
29“Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats.
“You must give me the firstborn of your sons. 30Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day.
31“You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.