Category: Exodus

Because theft is a perpetual problem, in addition to laws which punished harm against people and sought to protect their essential dignity, the Law also contained various laws to protect the property of people. These laws covered payments to replace the harm caused by theft, negligent acts, and when borrowing was involved.

While some societies could be very cruel, God’s laws were not. In this passage, God addresses a variety of crimes of different severity, and the penalties for each.This passage not only helps us understand the way our own legal system is structured, but how we think about the value of life and justice in a…

In this section of Exodus, we are seeing practical advice from God on how to live in the ordinary. While some of it is culturally distant and distasteful to us, like this section on servanthood (Exodus 21:1-11), the general principles have relevance to us today.

After the people appointed Moses as their intermediary, God spoke to the people through Moses to remind them to worship him only. They had seen and heard God directly; in their worship, they were only to do so as he required, not as the surrounding nations worshiped.

When Israel gathered at Sinai to hear God’s Law, they came to God’s presence, demonstrated to them by a booming voice, thunder and lightning, trumpets, and smoke. It was too much to bear. Confronted by God’s holiness and their unworthiness, the people sought refuge in a mediator between them and God. Ultimately, only Jesus can…

In this spirit of consumerism and desiring what others have that we do not, the Tenth Commandment hits like a hammer. Instead of sinfully desiring in our hearts what God has not given to us, we are called to contentment with the possessions we have, and instead to seek God’s Kingdom and righteousness over the…

We all lie, deceive, gossip and slander, and fail to stand up for the truth. The Ninth Commandment condemns us. Deceitful words destroy trust in society, in relationships, and offend God. Using the capstone of truthfulness in court, the Ninth Commandment commands us not to lie and deceive, and to stand for the truth.

Since ultimately everything belongs to God and he dishes it out as he wills, God requires us to respect his division of material goods. The Eighth Commandment, which forbids stealing, demands that we respect what others have been given.

While the world may not care about marital faithfulness, God does. The Seventh Commandment forbids all types of marital unfaithfulness, pointing to the ideal of the one man-one woman union of marriage, and its expression of God’s relationship to his people.

The Sixth Commandment does not just forbid murder, but all forms of unlawful killing. More than that, it forbids the attitude of hate which is a type of murder in the heart.