6/25/2008 8:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Injuries
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Exodus 21:18-32
Message of the verses: “18
"If men have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or
with his fist, and he does not die but remains in bed, 19 if he gets up and walks around outside on his
staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his
loss of time, and shall take care of him until he is completely healed. 20
"If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies
at his hand, he shall be punished.
21 "If, however, he survives
a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property.
22 ¶ "If men struggle with each other and
strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no
injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and
he shall pay as the judges decide.
23 "But if there is any
further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound
for wound, bruise for bruise. 26 "If a man strikes the eye of his male or
female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his
eye. 27
"And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall
let him go free on account of his tooth.
28 "If an ox gores a man or
a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be
eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. 29
"If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its
owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a
woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. 30
"If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the
redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him. 31
"Whether it gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him
according to the same rule. 32 "If the ox gores a male or female slave,
the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox
shall be stoned.”
This large
section of Scripture has to do with the injury of people, mostly injuries done
through fighting or sometimes an accidental thing happens to another person by
an animal. It also covers the beating of
a slave and this law is a little bit confusing to me, but I will write what I
think it may mean. I am speaking of what
verses twenty and twenty one are saying.
There were laws to protect a slave as seen in these two verses, laws
that were not in other countries, for if a slave owner wanted to kill one of
his slaves it was viewed as his property and therefore he could do it. It could be seen today as if a farmer was mad
because his tractor was not working so he, out of anger burned up his tractor,
well that would be his loss, just as it would be the loss of a slave owner in
another country who gets mad at his slave and kills him or her. I think because verse twenty speaks of
hitting a slave with a rod that the slave owner is disciplining his slave and
the slave is killed due to the disciplining of his slave. He is to be punished for this, and I think
that the punishment would be up to a judge.
It must be remembered that the slave owner was not using a sword to
actually kill his slave, but a rod.
God has given
these laws to Moses for the nation of Israel
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I wrote mostly about slaves and the laws that
God had for slaves. Was slavery
right? I do not think that slavery is
right, but because man is in a sinful condition from his birth and remains that
way until his death, for even those who become believers in Jesus Christ still
have a sin nature, for these reasons I believe God deals with this
condition. When Jesus was on planet
earth there was a very large part of the population that was slaves.
The thing that I
can take away from this passage for my life today comes from my memory verse
for these past weeks, and that verse has the word bondslave in it, and a
bondslave is a slave that has a desire to serve his master because of his love
for him. The picture of a bondslave is
in the OT and has been written about in a previous SD. I have a greater and greater desire as I grow
older and older in Christ to be His bondslave and that is what I take out of
this passage for today.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
- Romans 12:1-2.
- Colossians 4:12.
- Proverbs 3:5-6.
- 1 Cor. 10:13.
- Matthew 11:28-30.
- Philippians 4:11
Memory verses for the week: Colossians 4:12-13
12.
Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave
of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in
his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of
God.
13.
For I testify for him that he has a deep concern
for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis
6/25/2008 9:14 AM
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