Exodus An Eye for an Eye Lesson 32 Exodus 21:12-36 120620 Introduction 1 Two weeks ago we jumped back into our study in the book of Exodus right where we left off three years ago. a The Israelites had been miraculously freed from Egypt, led through the Red Sea and brought out into the dessert where God called them to be his people and formed them into his nation. b As a new nation under God they would need laws to govern them. And so God directly gave them ten timeless commandments to live before Him … and we took those up in great detail. 2 Now, three years later we are turning our attention to the next section of Exodus which Scripture itself calls the Book of the Covenant. a It comprises about three chapters and was given by God to teach his people how to apply the Ten Commandments to specific situations in a way the promoted love of God and neighbor. b And while these laws could never address every possible situation that might arise, they provided the basic spiritual and legal principles for the Israelites to live as the people of God. 3 As I mentioned last week this section of scripture is not written directly to us but it is written for us. a There is something to be learned from these verses because all scripture is God-breathed and useful for our instruction (2 Tim 3:16). The mistake often made regarding these laws is to either completely toss them or try to implement them at our next city council meeting. b We need to remember that these laws were written to govern a young theocratic nation at a certain point in redemptive history that has since passed away. c But we also need to remember that these laws reveal much about God’s truth, character and nature which never passes away or changes. So, our mission is to understand them in context and then make Christ-centered, new covenant application. 4 We are not going through every verse in the Book of the Covenant but rather just focusing on a few sections, particularly those sections that are Exodus / An Eye for an Eye / Lesson 32 / Exodus 21.12-27 1 often used by the detractors of Christianity to dismiss the Bible and instill doubt in believers as to the reliability of God’s Word. a And that’s why the first week we looked at God’s commands to the Israelites concerning the exclusivity of worship. • There is only one way to come to God and that is through a sacrifice for sin and that sacrifice ultimately is Jesus Christ. • And that’s why some people dismiss the Bible. They say the Bible is too rigid and not inclusive enough and that we should be able to come to God in way we want as long as our heart is in it. • Jesus said no one goes to the Father except through me. While the offer of salvation is incredibly inclusive, the way of salvation is incredibly exclusive. There is salvation in no other name. b Then last week we took up the section on Hebrew slavery that people sometimes try to use to say the Bible condones slavery and therefore dismiss it as archaic and oppressive. No, the Bible does not condone slavery and that becomes obvious when you properly interpret scripture. c This morning we are going to look at a couple more “hot button” topics in this next section which deals with crime and punishment particularly capital punishment and the often misunderstood and misapplied verse, an eye for and eye and tooth for tooth (21:24). 5 In this section a Verse 12-17 deal with capital crimes and capital punishment. b Verse 18-27 deal with personal injury and restitution. c Verses 26-36 deal with criminal negligence and restitution. 6 Two observations: a There is in these verses a general progression from greater crimes to lesser crimes with the underlying principle that the punishment should fit the crime. b That was uncommon among the moral codes of the day. But what was even more uncommon about the laws in the Book of the Covenant was that crime wasn’t something only committed against another human being and society, all crime is a sin against God because God created mankind in his image. c And the seriousness of that is apparent with the laws concerning homicide beginning in verse 12. Exodus / An Eye for an Eye / Lesson 32 / Exodus 21.12-27 2 12 “Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. 13 However, if he does not do it intentionally, but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I will designate. 14 But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death. 1 So what you have here is premeditated murder and accidental homicide. First let’s consider accidental homicide (v13). a In the ancient world if someone in your family was murdered or unintentionally killed you were expected to avenge their death. • So if you accidently ran over someone with your wagon or accidentally hit someone with a farm tool and they died your life was to be taken in revenge. • There was virtually no distinction between purposeful and accidental homicide. b However the Book of the Covenant said if the death was not intentional but God let it happen (Hebrew expression for an accident) that you could flee to a place God would designate and be safe until your case could be heard. c After the Israelites entered Canaan they established six cities of refuge in order to protect an offender from an avenger (Num 35: 9-15). These cities were occupied by the Levite priests who also served as judges. 2 However, no such refuge existed for those who schemed to murder deliberately (v14) or premeditated murder. a They were to be taken away from God’s altar and put to death because as verse 12 says, “Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. b That would only be done under three qualifications. The murder was: • Premeditated and intentional (Ex 21) • Observed by at least two witnesses (Numbers 35) • Judged by legal due process (Dt 17) 3 Now this law is one of those laws in the Book of the Covenant that isn’t confined to this period of history in ancient Israel. a It’s not one of those laws like you must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk (Ex 23:19). Obviously that law was just for ancient Israel. b But other laws seem to transcend this time period in the nation of Israel. You find them earlier in Scripture and later in the Scriptures of the New Testament. Exodus / An Eye for an Eye / Lesson 32 / Exodus 21.12-27 3 c This is the case with the death penalty. • It first appears in the Bible way before the Law of Moses in Genesis 9 when after the flood God said to Noah, Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man (Genesis 9:6). • It also appears way after the law of Moses in the New Testament. Romans 13 says that governing authority is ordained by God, the servant of God, that it does not bear the sword for nothing but is God’s agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. • The sword was a symbol of power and an instrument of death and in this verse that includes capital punishment for capital crimes. 4 Now there are some Christians who disagree with this on a couple of points. a First, they believe the death penalty itself violates the sixth commandment as read from the KJV, thou shalt not kill, which implies that the taking of human life under any circumstances is forbidden. • Of course to embrace that view you would have to deny the inspiration of scripture. • Why would God on one hand say do not kill anyone and on the other put to death someone who committed premeditated murder. God would then be inconsistent, fallible and therefore untruthful. b The answer to that apparent inconsistency is that Hebrew language has completely different words for murder, killing and execution (putting to death). • All modern translations capture this and translate the 6th commandment you shall not murder instead of kill. • All murder is forbidden but not all killing or the taking of human life is forbidden as is the case here with capital punishment and elsewhere in scripture with personal defense and national defense. 5 The second point of disagreement has to do with the image of God … that even the murderers life bears the image of God and therefore should not be taken by capital punishment. a In other words, the guy who raped and killed ten women should spend the rest of his life incarcerated but he should not be executed. But the very opposite stance could be substantiated using the very same “image of God” reasoning. Exodus / An Eye for an Eye / Lesson 32 / Exodus 21.12-27 4 b Since the life of the persons murdered are made in the image of God no amount of prison time or restitution, but only death, could be a proper punishment that would say those murdered bore the image of God.