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#981 - Exodus 22 – Laws About Property · The Bible Study Podcast

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  Speaker 1: I want to take just a second to thank the
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  Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on
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  Speaker 1: this podcast. If you go to lifeaudio dot com, you'll
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  Speaker 1: find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
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  Speaker 1: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.
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  Speaker 2: The Bible Study Podcast Episode nine eighty one. Today, The
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  Speaker 2: Bible Study Podcast continues the study of Exodus with Chapter
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  Speaker 2: twenty two. Welcome to the Bible Study Podcast. I'm your host,
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  Speaker 2: Chris Kristensen. We're going through this four chapter section on
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  Speaker 2: the laws that are being set up for the Jewish
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  Speaker 2: people and will continue that after award from this sponsor
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  Speaker 2: Exos twenty two. This time we get property laws, protection
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  Speaker 2: of property. Whoever steals an ox or sheep and slaughters
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  Speaker 2: it and sells that must pay back five head of
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  Speaker 2: cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.
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  Speaker 2: If a thief is caught breaking in at night and
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  Speaker 2: has struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty
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  Speaker 2: of bloodshed, but if it happens after sunrise, the defender
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  Speaker 2: is guilty of bloodshed. Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution,
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  Speaker 2: but if they have nothing, they must be sold to
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  Speaker 2: pay for their theft. If the stolen animal is found
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  Speaker 2: alive in their possession, whether ox or donkey or sheep,
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  Speaker 2: they must pay back double. If anyone grazes their livestock
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  Speaker 2: in a field or vineyard and lets them stray, and
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  Speaker 2: they graze in someone else's field, the offender must make
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  Speaker 2: restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard.
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  Speaker 2: If a fire breaks out and spreads into thorn bushes
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  Speaker 2: so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain,
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  Speaker 2: or the whole field, the one who started the fire
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  Speaker 2: must make restitution. If anyone gives us neighbor silver or
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  Speaker 2: goods for safe keeping and they are stolen from the
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  Speaker 2: neighbor's house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double.
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  Speaker 2: But if the thief is not found, the owner of
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  Speaker 2: the house must appear before the judges, and they must
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  Speaker 2: determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands
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  Speaker 2: on the other person's property. In all cases of the
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  Speaker 2: illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment,
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  Speaker 2: or any other lost property about which someone says this
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  Speaker 2: is mine, both parties are to bring their cases before
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  Speaker 2: the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty must
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  Speaker 2: pay back double to the other. If anyone gives a donkey,
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  Speaker 2: an ox a, sheep, or any other animal to their
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  Speaker 2: neighbor for safe keeping and it dies or is injured,
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  Speaker 2: or is taken away while no one is looking, the
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  Speaker 2: issue between them will be settled by taking an oath
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  Speaker 2: before the lord that the neighbor did not lay hands
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  Speaker 2: on the other person's property. The owner is to accept
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  Speaker 2: this and no restitution is required. But if the animal
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  Speaker 2: was stolen from the neighbor, restitution must be made to
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  Speaker 2: the owner. If it was torn to pieces by a
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  Speaker 2: wild air animal, the neighbors shall bring in the remnants
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  Speaker 2: as evidence and shall not be required to pay for
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  Speaker 2: the torn animal. If anyone borrows an animal from the
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  Speaker 2: neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner
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  Speaker 2: is not present, they must make restitution. But if the
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  Speaker 2: owner is with the animal, the borrower will not have
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  Speaker 2: to pay. If the animal was hired, the money paid
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  Speaker 2: for the hire covers the loss. Okay, So notice when
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  Speaker 2: we talk about property laws, we're talking about a people
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  Speaker 2: who right now have no land, no buildings, and what
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  Speaker 2: they have is sheep and goats and oxen cattle. So
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  Speaker 2: most of the property laws here are applying to those things,
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  Speaker 2: which is what they need right now. Although the vineyard
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  Speaker 2: thing where we're going to get to that, right, we're
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  Speaker 2: going to get to the promised land, and then we'll
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  Speaker 2: have to worry about the vineyard and the fields and
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  Speaker 2: those things. But first they need to know what happens
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  Speaker 2: if I want to read my bull and I borrow
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  Speaker 2: your cow, or I want to breed my cow and
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  Speaker 2: I borrow your bull, and the you know, the bull dyes.
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  Speaker 2: And although those sorts of deals, the general thing here
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  Speaker 2: is if something is stolen, you give it back double
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  Speaker 2: right or five times head of cattle. Basically, you have
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  Speaker 2: to make restitution. We're not going to cut off your hand,
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  Speaker 2: we're not going to kill you or anything like that.
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  Speaker 2: But if you steal something, you have to pay back
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  Speaker 2: and then some so that you don't steal again. The
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  Speaker 2: same idea we have here is you want there to
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  Speaker 2: be disincentive for stealing, and if you don't have money
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  Speaker 2: to pay it back, that's how we talked about people
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  Speaker 2: can become a slave. So and then there's rules and
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  Speaker 2: details here, but in general, the rules are about who
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  Speaker 2: is responsible if you kill a thief who comes into
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  Speaker 2: your house, but it's dark, then you're not held guilty.
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  Speaker 2: But if if it's light, then you are held guilty
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  Speaker 2: because they don't deserve death and you could have prevented
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  Speaker 2: it because you could see what's going on. It's different.
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  Speaker 2: There's a different level of responsibility in these rules for
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  Speaker 2: what I can see and know versus the things I
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  Speaker 2: can't see and know. Again, we have similar sorts of
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  Speaker 2: things in our laws, so restitutions. If I accidentally set
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  Speaker 2: your field on fire, you get access to my field.
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  Speaker 2: All those sorts of things make sense. It's trying to
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  Speaker 2: be fair, it's trying to be just. And then the
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  Speaker 2: whole thing with if I give you my goods and
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  Speaker 2: they get stolen, well, if we find the thief, then
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  Speaker 2: we deal with the thief in the normal fashion. But
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  Speaker 2: if we don't find the thief, did I steal your goods?
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  Speaker 2: Then we're going to have to talk to the judges,
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  Speaker 2: and judges are going to figure out everything that isn't
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  Speaker 2: clear here in all the specific cases. And it's one
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  Speaker 2: of the reasons why we of all provisions in the Bible,
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  Speaker 2: especially in the prophets, against false judges, people who are
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  Speaker 2: putting their thumb on the scale people who are being
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  Speaker 2: more favorable to their friends, for instance, or to people
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  Speaker 2: who give them money. That is a perversion of justice
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  Speaker 2: and something that is not mentioned here but will be
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  Speaker 2: mentioned elsewhere. I'm going to go on to social responsibility,
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  Speaker 2: and these are going to get interesting. If a man
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  Speaker 2: seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married
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  Speaker 2: and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride price
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  Speaker 2: and she will be his wife. If her father absolutely
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  Speaker 2: refuses to give her to him, he must still pay
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  Speaker 2: the bride price for virgins. Do not allow a sorceress
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  Speaker 2: to live. Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal
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  Speaker 2: is to be put to death. Whoever sacrifices to any
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  Speaker 2: other god, then the lord must be destroyed. Do not
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  Speaker 2: mistreat or oppress a foreigner for your foreigners in Egypt.
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  Speaker 2: Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless.
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  Speaker 2: If you do and they cry out to me, I
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  Speaker 2: will certainly hear their cry, my anger will be aroused,
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  Speaker 2: and I will kill you with the sword. Your wives
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  Speaker 2: will become widows and your children fatherless. If you lend
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  Speaker 2: money to one of my people among you who is needy,
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  Speaker 2: do not treat it like a business deal. Charge no interest.
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  Speaker 2: If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return
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  Speaker 2: it by sunset, because the cloak is the only covering
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  Speaker 2: your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When
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  Speaker 2: they cry out to me, I will hear it, for
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  Speaker 2: I am compassionate. Do not blaspheme God or curse the
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  Speaker 2: ruler of your people. Do not hold back offerings from
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  Speaker 2: your grainaries or your vats. You must give me the
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  Speaker 2: firstborn of your sons. Do the same with your cattle
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  Speaker 2: and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for
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  Speaker 2: seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day.
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  Speaker 2: You were to mean, my holy people, do not eat
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  Speaker 2: the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts. Throw
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  Speaker 2: it to the dogs. Okay, this is a popery of
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  Speaker 2: rules here. The first one is I have to say
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  Speaker 2: we again, we got a patriarchal society, and it makes
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  Speaker 2: me uncomfortable too. But this rule here about a man
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  Speaker 2: seduces a virgin who is pledged to be married. There
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  Speaker 2: is a bride price, a dowry, and he has to
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  Speaker 2: pay it, and he has to take her as his
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  Speaker 2: wife because her position in the society. And this is
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  Speaker 2: true with all their neighbors too. This is not just
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  Speaker 2: an Israelite thing here would be compromised by that seduction,
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  Speaker 2: and so her position has to be restored as a
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  Speaker 2: wife where she is held in the same esteem as
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  Speaker 2: some other wife, because it's a really big thing that
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  Speaker 2: she is a virgin when she's married. So that's the
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  Speaker 2: context of this. Don't allow sorceress to live. It's interesting
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't say sorcerer. I think it's just that there
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  Speaker 2: were more sorceresses than sorcerers. But I don't know. But basically,
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  Speaker 2: people who are using dark arts, who are calling on
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  Speaker 2: powers other than God. So basically those powers are demonic
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  Speaker 2: in nature, and so we're going to have none of
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  Speaker 2: that here within the Israel. People don't sleep with animals, okay,
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  Speaker 2: don't sacrifice to other gods again, that's going to come
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  Speaker 2: up again and again and again and again and again.
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  Speaker 2: And don't mistreat foreigners because you were a foreigner again
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  Speaker 2: that whole I brought you out of slavery. And then
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  Speaker 2: there's interesting. Don't take advantage of the widow of the fatherless.
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  Speaker 2: And this one was like, or my anger will be
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  Speaker 2: aroused and your wise will become widows and your children fatherless.
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  Speaker 2: God really cares about this. What do we do with
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  Speaker 2: our power to those who have no power? And when
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  Speaker 2: you see the widow and the fatherless, think of people
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  Speaker 2: who are powerless. And then if you lend money, you're
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  Speaker 2: not supposed to charge interest. And then I like this
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  Speaker 2: whole thing with if you take your neighbor's cloak as
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  Speaker 2: a pledge, return it by sense. So basically, think of
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  Speaker 2: your neighbor. If you take something from your poor neighbor
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  Speaker 2: as a pledge against the money they owe you, is
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  Speaker 2: it's something they need to live on, you can't just
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  Speaker 2: keep it. There's more to this than just justice. There
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  Speaker 2: is compassion in it. Do not blasphem God or curse
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  Speaker 2: the rule of your people. Do not hold back offerings. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: so all of these are you know, how are we
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  Speaker 2: going to live in this new society that we're building.
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  Speaker 2: And then the firstborn we've already talked about that all
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  Speaker 2: of the firstborn of the cattle and the sons have
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  Speaker 2: to be redeemed with an offering because God passed over
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  Speaker 2: the firstborn of Israel in the passover. Don't eat roadkil,
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  Speaker 2: don't eat the meat of an aniltar, and by wild beasts. Again,
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  Speaker 2: all of these are in I'm going to call it
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  Speaker 2: the Levitical law, even though they appear here in Exodus.
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  Speaker 2: But again, as we started this section, I will remind
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  Speaker 2: you every once in a while here that back in
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  Speaker 2: the Council of Jerusalem, when it was decided that Christians
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  Speaker 2: didn't have to be Jewish, we also then weren't held
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  Speaker 2: to these rules. We'll talk more about that as we
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  Speaker 2: go into the Book of Leviticus. With that, we're going
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  Speaker 2: to end this episode of the Bible Study Podcast. I'll
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  Speaker 2: have to say, this is not going to be my
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  Speaker 2: favorite section of Exodus, but we've got i think two
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  Speaker 2: more chapters of this before we move on. With that,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to end this episode of the Bible Study Podcast.
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  Speaker 2: If you have any questions, send an email to Chris
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  Speaker 2: two x at gmail dot com, or, better yet, leave
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  Speaker 2: a comment on this episode at the Bible Study podcast
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  Speaker 2: dot com. And as always, thanks so much for listening.
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  Speaker 1: I want to take just a second to thank the
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  Speaker 1: team Life Audio for their partnership with us on this podcast.
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  Speaker 1: If you go to lifeaudio dot com, you'll find dozens
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  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
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  Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more