Exodus 21-23 Setting up boundaries
God created these laws for people of Israel to follow. Some of them aligned to the laws of modern day, while others seemed pretty cruel such as the law of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth..etc. I cannot help thinking that all these were made by humans according to their perception of God. Also, some of the rules were misogynistic. Women were basically properties to men. A male slave could be free when the seventh year arrived yet a female slave could not. But it was addressed to people at that time. Slavery has been long abolished, too.
It was hard to swallow all of the content but a few verses still stood out that can still apply to the modern world.
"Do not wrong or oppress any outsiders living among you, for there was a time when you lived as outsiders in the land of Egypt." Exodus 22:21
"Do not oppress an outsider. You know well what it is like to be an outsider living in a foreign land, for you were strangers once in the land of Egypt." Exodus 23:8
It must be very important because it was included twice. But the irony is how many so-called Evangelical Christians have omitted these verses and supported their government against outsiders.
"Even if the majority of people are doing evil, do not follow them. Also when you are called to give testimony in a dispute, do not let the crowd pressure you into perverting justice." Exodus 23:2
This verse is a good reminder to do what is just and right even when the majority of people are doing evil. It is so easy to give in to peer pressure and follow the crowd. Just because most people are doing something, it doesn't make that deed right.
I suppose at that time and space, those laws were necessary for the people of Israel despite some of them seem pretty cruel. The point is God didn't want the Israelites to commit those mistakes, so He set up boundaries for them to not to cross over the lines. It was the beginning of relationship between God and humanity. It was crude and blunt. What was recorded does not necessarily reflect who God really is, yet it was the way how people back them viewed what God was like.
It was hard to swallow all of the content but a few verses still stood out that can still apply to the modern world.
"Do not wrong or oppress any outsiders living among you, for there was a time when you lived as outsiders in the land of Egypt." Exodus 22:21
"Do not oppress an outsider. You know well what it is like to be an outsider living in a foreign land, for you were strangers once in the land of Egypt." Exodus 23:8
It must be very important because it was included twice. But the irony is how many so-called Evangelical Christians have omitted these verses and supported their government against outsiders.
"Even if the majority of people are doing evil, do not follow them. Also when you are called to give testimony in a dispute, do not let the crowd pressure you into perverting justice." Exodus 23:2
This verse is a good reminder to do what is just and right even when the majority of people are doing evil. It is so easy to give in to peer pressure and follow the crowd. Just because most people are doing something, it doesn't make that deed right.
I suppose at that time and space, those laws were necessary for the people of Israel despite some of them seem pretty cruel. The point is God didn't want the Israelites to commit those mistakes, so He set up boundaries for them to not to cross over the lines. It was the beginning of relationship between God and humanity. It was crude and blunt. What was recorded does not necessarily reflect who God really is, yet it was the way how people back them viewed what God was like.
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