Laws About Social Justice

Story:  Laws About Social Justice

Passage: Exodus 22:16-23:9

Characters:  God, Israel

Summary:    God gave Moses a set of laws about social justice.  These will be outlined in the notes below.

  

Notes:  These are a variety of rules dealing with justice.  First, if a man seduces a woman of marriage age, he must marry her and pay the bride price.  If the father adamantly refuses to allow the marriage, he must still pay the price.  Sorceresses were not allowed to live.  It was forbidden to sleep with an animal.  Anyone who sacrifices to another god was to be set apart for destruction.  They were not to oppress a sojourner since they themselves were sojourners in Egypt.  We see this theme throughout the bible.  Don’t mistreat someone for a condition you once had too.  If you have been forgiven, you must be forgiving as well is an example we see in the New Testament.  Widows and orphans were not to be mistreated or God would kill you and leave your wife a widow and your child an orphan.  God obviously holds needy dependent people in high regard.  I am thankful for this since I am so dependent on Him that I am only alive because He cares for the needy like me!  If you lend money to the poor, you are not to charge interest.  If you take an item as a pledge from someone who has little, you are to return it before sundown.  In this passage God tells us something about Himself.  He says, “For I am compassionate”.  Here we have the “Old Testament God of wrath” telling us that he is compassionate.  Does that add up?  Yes it does!  He is compassionate to those who need Him and strict with those who try to make much of themselves!  He judges them at the standard they try to give themselves.  If they think they are as big as God, He will judge them at that standard, and they will fail.  If we humble ourselves and recognize our utter need for God, He will show us compassion and love.  The loving/wrathful paradox of God can be explained by His justice.  If we really want to act like we are as amazing as we so often think we are, we need to be willing to let Him judge us by our perfection.  We are not to revile God or curse a ruler over us.  God told Israel that with the full knowledge of the evil kings and dictators they would be under eventually, yet He still commands them to not curse a ruler.  This is an important lesson for us especially with our presidential elections coming up.  No matter how bad our president might seem, we are not to curse him.  God has given him authority over us and we need to respect that!  We are to offer the fullness of our harvest.  Actually, we are not just to offer it, but we are to not delay from offering it.  We are supposed to give freely and joyfully!  After all, our giving is just an outward way to acknowledge God’s hand in our possessions and blessings by giving it back to Him and trusting Him to provide.  The firstborn of animals and people was to be consecrated to God.  Flesh torn by wild animals was not to be eaten.  False reports were forbidden.  You were to be honest in court.  There is a sense in this passage of not going with the flow and standing alone if you have to when it comes to matters of justice.  If no one else backs you up, you are still to give an honest account.  You are to help your enemy.  If you find his livestock going astray or suffering under a burden, you are to step in and help.  Do not kill the innocent.  Take no bribes for it subverts the cause of the innocent.  These rules emphasize honesty, justice, and caring for the poor.  They show that you are not to judge someone for something you once did yourself.  It also introduces the concept of loving your enemy.  By the time Jesus lived, this concept had been all but forgotten.  However, it was in the law the whole time!  From these passages, it looks like God was a God of the poor, oppresses, and needy!  I honestly think it can be summed up as our God is a God of the humble. 

Questions:  This passage is honestly fairly straightforward.

Lessons:  We see in this passage that God cares about justice.  We are not to take advantage of the needy, we are not to convict the innocent, and we are not to oppress those who have little.  These passages after the Ten Commandments focused on worship, the value of life, responsibility, and now justice.  I would say that this is a good look into the qualities and virtues that God finds extremely important!  We could learn a lot by striving to live lives focused on worship and justice while taking full responsibility for our actions and holding life incredibly valuable.