Pay the Penalty

DEVOTION

EXODUS

PAY THE PENALTY

Ex 21:18-36

18 "If men quarrel and one hits the other with a stone or with his fist and he does not die but is confined to bed, 19 the one who struck the blow will not be held responsible if the other gets up and walks around outside with his staff; however, he must pay the injured man for the loss of his time and see that he is completely healed. 20 "If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, 21 but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property. 22 "If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take 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 hits a manservant or maidservant in the eye and destroys it, he must let the servant go free to compensate for the eye. 27 And if he knocks out the tooth of a manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free to compensate for the tooth. 28 "If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. 29 If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull must be stoned and the owner also must be put to death. 30 However, if payment is demanded of him, he may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded. 31 This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. 32 If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull must be stoned. 33 "If a man uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit must pay for the loss; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his. 35 "If a man's bull injures the bull of another and it dies, they are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. 36 However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and the dead animal will be his.

NIV

That is an awful lot of hitting or striking of other people, including the use of hands, stones, or tools and even animals. Various forms of punishment from repayment, compensation, to death. What appears to be the point of all this to set the ground rules for a civil society. But why was all these rules needed in the first place? These people must not have been very civil to eat other, in fact, they must have been a group of violent people. It is not much different today. We have a whole set of rules to govern our lives by. We have various punishments depending on the seriousness of the offense. Most of us are not offenders of the laws of our land, as we would suspect must of the Israelites were peace loving people, with a few bad apples in the bunch. Nevertheless, laws, rules need to be set for all the people otherwise they may have become a lawless people. We have seen in the history of our own country periods that appeared to be lawless, or at least the people paid little to not attention to any laws. The Wild West wasn’t called that because of the peace loving people who lived there. Even today it seems we have segments of our society that seem to ignore the laws of our land. It is a good thing we are not among that kind. We certainly do not go around striking one another, injuring each other so we are laid up in bed unable to work. Once again Jesus makes all this law regarding our conduct with each much simpler in just telling us to love our neighbor as our self. There seems to be no reason for any of us to lash out at our neighbor. Of course, even with this command of God regarding loving our neighbor as ourselves and even loving our enemy, we need a set of laws and rules to hold us in check. Why is that? Could we all have that streak of meanness or lawlessness within? The scripture tells us our heart is deceitfully wicked. Yes, we turn from our wicked ways when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, yet we still have not attained perfection. Therefor they still is within us the ability to inflict some sort of pain on another. This may not be a physical pain as outlined in this particular laws God is making, but we can nevertheless cause pain within another’s being, pain that would be an offense again the law of loving them as ourselves. There are even some of the laws of this land many of us pay little attention to, such as the speed limit signs, as well as other rules of the road, even the rule of common curtesy. It would seem we need the rules to live by, both the rules of this land, as well as the law of God. If we did not have any rules or laws, would we live as through we did? All too often we break some of the laws of this land, but more importantly we break the law of God. Because God knows our heart and knows our weakness, and our inability to keep all his commands and because our punishment is death, in his mercy and grace, he paid that debt himself. He reconciled himself to us. He paid the price for our disobedience. If we ever think we do not need Jesus, we are the saddest of the sad. We but Jesus can pay the penalty?