The Book of the Covenant--Part IV

The last three sections of The Book of the Covenant appear in Exodus 22:16-23:19. In this blog, we will make a few comments about each section.

Section 6--Exodus 22:16-31--Social and Religious Statutes. This section contains five ordinances, several of which are very brief.
1. If a man seduces a virgin, he must give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. If her father refuses, the man must pay an amount equal to the bride-price for virgins. 22:16-17.
2. A female sorcerer, a person who has sexual relations with an animal, or a person who offers sacrifices to any god other than Yahweh shall be put to death. 22:18-20. These instructions about "capital punishment" are similar to those already mentioned in 21:12-17.
3. Yahweh declares he will punish anyone who wrongs or oppresses a resident alien, a widow, or an orphan. 22:21-24. The Bible, Old and New Testaments, consistently declares that Yahweh loves and cares for aliens, widows, and orphans, and God's true people are to do the same. This is of primary concern for God's people.
4. If a person lends money to another person, that person is not to exact interest on that individual. As an IOU, the person who receives the loan is to retrieve the "cloak in pawn" to the person lending the money so that that person may have the cloak for protection from the cold. This must occur daily until the IOU is paid. 22:25-27.
5. God's people are to honor God in every way. (a) God's people are not to revile God or curse a leader of his people. (b) God's people are to make their offerings to God promptly, without delay. (c) God's people are to offer sacrifices to God that are whole, not mangled. 22:28-31.

Section 7--Exodus 23:1-9--Justice. Here there are four instructions, all of which emphasize the importance of being fair, loving, and caring for all people.
1. In disputed decisions, one is not to advance a false report, or be partial toward the majority or the poor. 23:1-3.
2. A person who encounters his/her enemy's ox or donkey, that person is to return it to the enemy. 23:4-5. Here is a sterling example in the OT of "love your enemy."
3. One is not to pervert justice, make a false charge, or give or receive a bribe. 23:6-8.
4. One is not to oppress the alien. 23:9.

Section 8--Exodus 23:10-19--Religious Practices. Here are three sets of instructions.
1. God's people are to keep the sabbatical year: six years they are to sow and gather their products, then let the land rest the seventh year. God's people are to keep the Sabbath each week. 23:10-13.
2. God's people are to keep three festivals each year: (a) the Feast of Unleavened Bread; (b) the Festival of Harvest; (c) the Festival of Ingathering. 23:14-17.
3. When God's people bring their sacrifices to God, they are to bring unleavened bread, they are not to let the fat remain until morning, they are to bring the choicest of the first fruits of the ground, and they are not to boild a kind in its mother's milk. 23:14-19.

This is much to consider here. Some things seem foreign to our modern society. Ponder over these things. How to you respond? Notice again that the primary concerns here are honoring God and loving others as ourselves. Let me hear from you.

John Willis