"If men were angels, no government would be necessary." These are the words of James Madison in the first Federalist Paper. So we're going back some two hundred and fifty plus, well, a little less than two hundred and fifty years ago. in part of the founding of our country, there was that question of, how are we going to organize ourselves?

So how are we going to govern our lives? So this is one of the questions that every country asks, every society, how are we going to organize our community? Okay, how then shall we now live together? So all human society is governed by a series of laws. So we went back two hundred and fifty years ago, Declaration of Independence. It was great. We won a war. Cool. What are we gonna do next? We're gonna draft the Articles of Confederation, then about 10 years later, be like, "Oh, that was a hot mess. None of that's gonna work, so let's do a different one." So with some scheming and some... If you enjoy history, you know the whole story. But otherwise, we come up with a Constitution.

Now how are we gonna do this? Let's write a bunch of papers that explain how we're gonna do it, and then we're gonna write more laws, and then we're gonna write some more laws, and then we're gonna write more laws, and then some of these laws, we're gonna get rid of laws. Like in Florida, women used to not be able to parachute by themselves on a Sunday. Like laws, things happen. They exist. I don't know why it's a thing. So there are rulethere are just laws that exist. So how a community will govern itself. Apparently, Florida did not believe that was right for women. So the picture of how will we govern ourselves to live in harmony with one another.

Again, so this becomes the overarching idea of societies. Okay, lots of books have been written about it. Political science is an entire field of study. When we get to Scripture, so too does God give rules and organization to His people. And so we began to unpack this last week. Pastor Adam introduced us to what we call the Book of the Covenant, or also known as the Covenant Codes. So over this chapter twenty-one to roughly the middle of chapter twenty-three, it's just basic instructions on how the Israelites to-- were to live out the covenant. How are we living out the Ten Commandments? Okay, this is a very overarching system here. So this is gonna be some case law.

So today we'll deal with some cases, some just examples of if this happens, then this. This isn't every single minute detail of every example that could happen. Okay, so in the Book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we have roughly, depending on what scholars you ask, somewhere around six hundred and sixty plus laws. Now we say that, and people are like, "That's a lot of laws." There are more laws in Pasco County than that by itself. Most of you probably live in an HOA that has more rules than that just to live in your neighborhood. So Cameron, who runs an HOA, can probably agree. So there's just some of these things that to live in community, you submit yourself to laws, guidelines, and how you will conduct your behavior together.

No different with the Lord. He gives them instructions, okay? This is how they're going to love their neighbors as themselves. And so as we unpack today, we have a ton to unpack. We have roughly twenty-nine laws before us. Okay, there is a lot of laws here, but they are pretty straightforward in their groupings. Okay, so as we work through this, we're gonna see some big overarching groups of how the Lord has organized these laws for us. So last week, Pastor Adam introduced us with the laws around slavery and how their views of slavery are different than what we have two thousand years later of how Americans interpret slavery. The slavery of Exodus is very different.

We'll even see the care that God has for those enslaved in our text today, 'cause it's all based, again, on that image of God in mankind and how that helps shape how we care for one another and how we interact with one another. Okay, so last week we dealt with the slavery question. This week we now are going to deal with very common things that can happen in society as we work out some of the Ten Commandments. So we're gonna have some with very serious penalties. If this, you die. Very strong penalties. Others, we're gonna have very rejust basic restitution. If this, give it back and then some. Okay, we're gonna see how they're called to live out this faith well together.

Hopefully through this, we will see and experience how we as believers are called to love one another as ourselves as we apply not the direct words. This isn't one-for-one. Most of you have-- will have no connection to the idea of oxen in this whatsoever. I don't think anyone here that I know owns an ox. No. So that whole section. But there are lots of principles that God is teaching His people in that text. As we said, there's only 660 plus laws, but the implications of those are far greater. They're far bigger than just that simple reading. There's a depth that the, that God is teaching us how to love one another, 'cause that is the key that we're trying to unpack in our text, is how God calls us to live out the faith together, and how we think of one another well.

Life in Community Requires Respect and Honor for One Another

And so the first part, the first thing we come to in our text in verses 12 through 36, the end of chapter 21, is this idea of life in community requires respect and honor for one another. So there is a way in which we treat one another and think about one another that requires a respect and an honor. So the very first thing is we get three commandments or three directions of law that require death as the penalty. So the way this is structured, we're gonna see three events that require the death penalty. And so the first is just a simple outworking of the Sixth Commandment, which I preached on several weeks ago. Can listen to an entire sermon on it. But in it we have that value of human life and dignity. "So whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death." Okay?

Very straightforward. If you kill someone, you are put to death. The value of life. Again, we talked about the image of God is important. Again, going back to Genesis 9, because the image of God, those who take the image of God, therefore the image of God is taken from them. We saw that. We unpacked it. But that theme drives itself a little further as we work through it. Again, this has the same encouragement of the cities of refuge that we unpacked in Numbers. If we, he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hands. Again, it has that idea if the sovereignty of God took him, and you were there present or apart accidentally, there is a way that we can judge that.

And Numbers has a whole breakdown of a city of refuge that you go to, and you present yourself to the judge, and then the families discuss whether or not it actually was an accident or not, and God judadjudicates the the case there. So he says, "If that's the case, that will be taken care of. But if a willful man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar that he may die." So there is no other option. If you kill someone willfully, your life is taken. It's very straightforward. How are we gonna live out the faith? Well, in trust one another, that if someone kills someone else, their life is taken. They are not a threat to the community any longer.

They had no respect for the image of God in man, and thus have no respect for God. And so that's the first of the commandments given in the outworking of the Sixth Commandment in our text. The second one, we're actually gonna jump over one 'cause we're gonna group the other two here in a second, but the second one I wanna highlight is the idea in verse 16, "Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death." So again, now we have the idea of kidnapping or enslavement. Again, this is the text. Pastor Adam unpacked it a little bit last week. the clear prohibition against what we have is chattel slavery, where you just steal people and sell them for your own personal profits.

And the penalty for such was death, not only for the person selling them, but for the person purchasing them. Both require the death penalty. This isn't like only one half gets punished. Both, because for both people, there is a lack of respect for the image of God in mankind. One that treats man as just a simple object to be obtained for their own possession and profit. Again, that idea of kidnapping so I can make money. And then someone who buys them with the same idea that they are of value now to me, okay? I do not value them as God's created being with the honor that comes with bearing God's image. So they do not value properly the image of God in mankind, but see them purely as objects for their own desires and profit.

And so God gives the command that that person and people who do not properly respect the image of God are to be put to death. And it's where we see, and we unpacked, Adam, a little bit last week, highlighted the errors of American chattel slavery in rejecting this and several other laws that we will unpack today. And so we have that prohibition. Again, this is a misview of the image of God, therefore leading to death. And then the last one in our prohibitions leading to death is actually one that probably gets people a little bit more, a little... The slavery, stealing, we're like, "Yeah, that, that, those, that's wrong." But when we unpack 15 and 16, rebellious offspring deserving of death.

So every child in here can take a moment, think about how you treat your parents. There you go. Parents, think about how your children treat you. So in verses 15, "So whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. Whoever curses" curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. And so we have the affront to God's image in His created order. Now again, one of the things that we talked about is this is a community. This is how they govern their society. Okay, Adam highlighted last week that this is rules for their society and how they are going to govern every day. Okay, the very first instance that you experience of government, everyone in this room experienced government from birth.

Not government in big picture, but literally if you have parents, you have had a governmental structure that you grew up with. Your parents had rules. They had regulations. They had punishments. They had a system by which they followed or didn't follow well, depending on the parents, just as our governments don't always follow things well. But that picture, you learn from an early age what to do, what not to do, and that there's an authority structure, okay? All of human society is based ultimately on a family structure historically, okay? And so too this is where it begins. In the life of Israel, your first experience of authority comes under your parents, and how you treat that authority reflects how you treat and view God.

Do you view God rightly, as this authority is placed there for your benefit, for your good, okay, to grow you, to teach you? Or do you view it wrongly? Okay, do you rebel against God's authority and structure that He has placed for your good, to the point that you lash out and attack it, okay, or verbally curse it, which has the same connotation in their day and age? Okay, both are a rejection of God's structure and plan. Okay, and it's highlighting again, how do we live together? This isn't just a one-off. This affects everything around it. And we see throughout the scriptures rebellion against God's authority is not treated well. It's not a passive, like, "Oh, well, they'll get better eventually." God deals with it severely.

When people rebel against God's authority, He will deal with it. And also, this highlights the requirement of children to care for and love their parents rightly. This is why when you get to Timothy, we wanna apply this to the first, or the New Testament, Timothy has a high regard, okay, Paul has a high regard in encouraging Timothy that the responsibility of believers is to take care of their family, to take care of your parents. In the section dealing with widows and dealing with widows, okay, the commandment to the children, okay, in chapter five, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Again, this gets twisted and becomes something about working and providing, which is true, but in the text it's about dealing with your widowed parents so that they're not the church's responsibility.

If you should be providing for your parents. They provided for you, you are now to provide for them, okay? So it's that care. If you treat them as if they're nothing, like, "Well, thanks for the 18 years. I'm on my own. Hope everything works out well for you. I'm gonna do what I want," that is a rejection of God's structure, their provision for you, then has that same call to provide for and care for them. And so there is a weight to these units 'cause it's a weight in God's authority given to them, okay? And so this begins our text, these first three things requiring death. So he goes from this high standard and then he's gonna work into some just practical everyday things.

So these are pretty severe. After this, we're gonna kinda unpack some basic laws. Okay, I know this is probably not the most exciting sermon text that you guys are all excited about talking about what an ox goring another person means, but there is some reality in here about how we love and care for one another well. And so we begin with, again, that part, first part, that laws requiring death because of the value found in God's image in mankind, in His structure. But also there is just because of who we are as humans, okay, how we live this out in community, that there are opportunities for restitution and things that will require us making amends.

You will wrong other people. Correct? Everyone here has probably wronged someone in their life. Okay, we naturally, if you live with other people, you're probably gonna wrong them. Again, like I highlight, like if you're part of a family and if you have siblings, you've probably wronged your siblings a lot, especially growing up, and maybe your parents made you make restitution. Maybe they didn't. But that picture of just the nature of rubbing shoulders with other people will cause conflict, and what happens when those events occur? God is no different. God is going to give them standards by which they can handle these situation. And know right off the bat how these situations will be handled.

If this happens, this is what out- Or recourse is. This is how we as a civilization, this is how we as Israel will act as God's people. And so he gives these lists of physical or monetary restitutions. There are four groupings that take us through to the end of chapter twenty-one. The first one is gonna be man versus man, so these are events of two people, two people striving against each other and events that happen because of it. Two people get into an argument, two people get into a fight, two people just acting out in different ways, and something happens. The nature of human engagement, things are bound to happen. And so in these verses, I'm gonna read the whole section, then we'll unpack it a little bit, eighteen to twenty-six.

Okay, "When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed, then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and he shall have him thoroughly healed. When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod, and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money. When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him.

But he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for worm-- wound, stripe for stripe. When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth." And so these texts are all unpacking what happens when people come in contact with each other and have issues. So the first one is simply you have a fight, two guys start in a fight, very classic. You're just arguing about something, and someone throws a punch or a rock, some stones.

Very popular back there. That's a weapon. So they're gonna throw fists. The one who gets injured, so if you throw a fist, you take someone down, they're injured, you are now responsible for making sure they are perfectly healed afterwards. You now have the liability, okay? In our modern day, we have this as tort, tort laws, personal liability lawyers, Morgan and Morgan. This is their specialty, this whole section. The rest of chapter twenty-one, this is what they do. This is the idea. So how do you deal with humans who get into fights, something happens? Okay, there, there is no, like, sixteen-point evidence li-- Did you have a fight? Yes. Did you punch him?

Yes. Is he hurt and can't work for a week? Yes. Congratulations. Pay his medical bills and his pay until he's better. We're done. That was it. That was-- That's the-- It's all it takes. They're very simple. It's not complex. So God is very to the point, okay? And so that's where it begins. And this, this is the opening part that kinda works itself throughout. If this happens, this is the penalty. This is the recourse. If they get back up, they walk, cool. No one died. If they did die, we're gonna have to go back to the beginning of the chapter and deal with what step one. Sure I could have made a giant flow chart if you want. They do exist for this chapter, but they all kind of link back together.

Okay, so you pay for his time, make sure he gets healed. Important pieces of what we see. Okay, and then it deals with slaves. This is where we begin to see the Israelite structure that because they were slaves in Egypt, okay, God does not take slavery or the treatment of slavery, of slaves lightly. Again, this is where we have the contrast, the American abuse of these things, okay, so that they are treated with equality. There is an equality with slaves in society in Israel that you just don't see. In this text, if you are beaten, if a slave is beaten and they die, the master is held accountable for their death. They get to go all the way back to the beginning and die.

You have killed someone, you were responsible for it, you knew what you were doing, therefore, you have taken the image of God, and you are put to death. That is what the text says. That is how it is meant to be worked out. This is so different than every society around it. This is completely different than the teachings of the Babylonians, the Hammurabi codes. Slaves had no value in the nations around it. But to Israel, under God's society, they have immense value as image-bearers of God. Just because they are getting paid to be in your household and work for you does not negate their place in God's eyes as image-bearers and to be treated as such.

And so the same penalty exists. If you kill your slave, you are put to death. But, now we're gonna go back to what happens if they just get hurt With the striving together, okay? If they don't die, okay, but if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged for the slave is his money. So now we're going back to the what happens when two people fight and one gets injured. Okay, you make sure that they can work again, okay, and you pay for their lost wages. Well, there's no one to pay for the lost wages because the lost wages is your money because you were paying them, so you don't have to pay anyone because it's just yourself, so pay yourself back.

And then you, by necessity, they're in your household, you have to make sure they are healed. So you already are obligated to do all this. So there is no additional penalty. We'll get to if they are severely wounded, there's a whole different section, as we have already kind of touched on. But so this becomes the rule and standard. Again, highlighting God's economy, God's community, how he views everyone the same. Okay, there is no different class of citizen. In Israel, all are God's people. Okay, and so the penalty stays the same. And so again, it works through and then gives this hypothetical situation. Okay, two guys are fighting. Again, lots of guys fighting.

They just got a problem. So you got two guys fighting and they hit a pregnant woman. Well, this is not going to end well. And her children come out. It's a weird Hebrew term. No one really knows what the Hebrew term is. There's 4,000 years of history debating this Hebrew term. So if it's a miscarriage or if it's live birth, there's lots of questions on what that text means. So again, if you're reading it in the Septuagint or the Syriac, those interpret it miscarriage. Modern interpretations have added live birth. Whichever one it is, there's penalty in place for the, for what happens. So again, children come out is just a weird Hebrew term. Again, when we study scripture, we try to look at other places where the text occurs.

It occurs nowhere else. The phrasing occurs nowhere else. Nothing like it. So questions abound. But nonetheless, so this has to do with the imposing of a fine. So if there is a miscarriage that takes place and the child is not born life, then the husband, okay, can invoke a penalty for the life of their child for the amount of wages that that child would have been worth for their life. So how much they would have been a part of the family and how much they lose by that life being gone. So that can be a very hefty sum. Again, it's not unlimited. Again, God is about equitable justice in the text. So he can impose a fine and then it has to go to the judge of the city to determine whether or not, yeah, that sounds about right.

So it's not just like he would have been worth $20 million. Like, well, no, probably not. But there is still a payment for loss. Now, if anything happens to the woman in any way, shape or form, we're back to our original laws. And again, pregnancy causes, by nature, is, well, dangerous may not be the best term, but there is a risk. Let alone if you are attacked accidentally, there is additional risk. Miscarriage carries risk. There's lots of things that can happen and go wrong. Whoever is at fault then bears the full weight of whatever happens to her and her family.

And then we get this, once again, what we call the lex talionis, very fancy Latin term for those who enjoy Latin. So which is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. So whatever happens to her happens to you. So you're going one for one. Now, one of the interesting things historically is people hear this and they think it's some old barbaric pain that's inflicted like, oh, well, if I hurt someone, they get to hurt me back. And, but ultimately what this is actually seen historically, this is actually a restraint on human condition. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is a limit. You cannot go beyond equal justice. So if someone, let's say they broke your wrist, it's a very extreme, but say you, they broke your wrist somehow, the most you could do is break their wrist.

You can't cut their hand off. You can't just cut that person's hand off because they deserve. This is the line. And again, it's not that you have to go to the line, but this is the most you can exact. This is the highest form of justice is equal. Again, it's curtailing our natural tendencies. Our natural tendency is not equal justice. We want them to know they hurt us and never do it again. So you punch me in the face, I'm going to punch you in the face seven times and make sure you never stand up again. And then we feel like we're in the right. This whole text denies that as a reality. Equitable justice is what God does. And man to man, okay, equitable justice in community is not to be extreme.

And so as we highlight this, you are only receiving the very thing you gave. No one that gets beyond what was due. And so this idea of God ultimately is protecting the community from vengeance for the purpose of justice. We are torn toward vengeance. We want to get back and more. God is in the business of justice, which is equitable, okay? No more than is necessary, and even we'd say to a degree, no less than is necessary. And so we have this transition, then he once again highlights slaves. Gotta bring up slaves again, 'cause someone's gonna have an issue. Again, their property, I can do what I want. No. So when a slave, again, struis struck in the eye or the tooth and loses them, they're allowed to go free.

Again, so he-- God is putting a cap on how people treat each other, okay? You cannot treat your slave as property to be beaten and abused as you see fit. If you injure them in such a way that harms what they can do, they get to go free. They still get paid. That is still the tax. They still get that six years. We're gonna go back to last week's sermon. They still get the original indentured purchase. I sold myself for ten thousand dollars to work for you for six years, you break my hand in year two, cool. I get my ten thousand dollars, and I'm done. Like, that is the tax. That is the picYou are an abusive employer. You're an abusive slave owner.

God is freeing them from your abuse, which again, ties us all the way back to the beginning of Exodus. What did God free Israel from? Abusive taskmasters, abusive slave masters. Again, so it shows God's love and care for his people. Even those who by society are seen as less than, God does not view them as less than. In community, they are image-bearers of God regardless, okay? And that's important. It protects everyone. No one is above another. And so this sets out that versus how they deal with one another. Then again, then he's gonna deal with some basic overarching things 'cause then you have animals. People had animals. They were, again, they became an agrarian culture, okay?

Over time, when they settle in the land, they're gonna have vineyards, they're gonna have farms, okay? You also have cattle for food and for offerings and sacrifices. You have oxen. Again, like I said, we do not have oxen, most of us. I don't know. It's not a commonplace. But there are realities for if you have this. Again, I think we would look at this more commonly. We would see this in the idea of owning an animal, okay? If you own a dog, you'll probably connect while reading this text a little bit more to it. But nonetheless, oxen were their common one. So if an ox gores a person, so again, horns jabbing. Think, you know, the Spanish running, running of the bulls.

If you ever watch those videos of guys getting thrown with horns in their backs. People are dumb. But that's that picture, okay? But this is just in a field. A bull, oxen chases after you, gores you in the back, you die. Well, what happens? What happens if this happens? God has a, God has a principle. So if it was completely accidental, this bull had never done it before, we don't know where this came from, no one saw it coming, okay, the bull will be killed. The oxen must be immediately stoned, okay? It is stoned as if man. Again, we see this later in scripture. You stone man for, uh, the capital punishment. So too, the oxen ultimately has committed a capital offense.

It is stoned. You make no money on the oxen. You can't sell it. You can't... "Well, I'll at least get the meat off of it. I'll at least..." Nothing. It is immediately stoned. It is against-- It has attacked the community. It has attacked the image of man, and it has no value. So it's simply stoned and done, and then we move on. But if you knew that your oxen had a tendency to want to stab people with its horns, if you knew it had this tendency, again, this is where we think of dogs are probably the most obvious one. It gets all the news publicity. If your dog bit someone, and they didn't die, okay, you may not have put them... But you know now, again, like the oxen, maybe it's, maybe it chased someone, didn't kill them, but you know it has a tendency.

You need to put parameters to protect community from your wild animal, okay? So if you have a dog that has a tendency to snap and bite at people, there's parameters, okay? If it does attack someone, it's never happened before, it's crazy. Maybe your little poodle got a little insane, okay? It gets put down, okay? In this, if you knew it had a tendency and it killed someone, you are liable life for life 'cause you knew it wcould, and it already had a tendency to. So you had no value in the human life. You had no value placed in the image of God and those around you. You cared more about yourself and probably the profit that your oxen gave you than what it could have cost.

And so you're held liable for that reality. You're held liable for their lives. So again, it highlights again God's care for those around you, and you should be mindful of them as well. And so we have these parameters. If you know something may cause someone to die, you are responsible for it. You're responsible for the actions that happen, okay? Now, he does have the option of like, if the fa- Family wish to just impose money on you instead, they can also just sue you, in a way. This is a loose idea of lawsuit. They can offer a ransom. You don't have to die, you just have to give us X amount of money, and then a judge has to agree, yes, that's a valid amount of money they can give you for the life.

And again, it trails down the same thing. Same thing happens with a kid. If your children get gored by an animal, if it doesn't kill you, here's the restriction. If it does kill them, here's the restriction, or here's the end result. The slave is the only one that kinda has this weird caveat that if a slave is gored, again, same thing, if it's injured, penalty, and if it dies, penalty. It's the only one that has the additional pain of the owner additional wages. So there's the, you have the same consequences, so killing the animal, again, or the person, but also payment must be made to the owner to make up for their lost wages. So this person lost their life, there's payment for that, and you have to pay the master, who now is out of money.

So as the double whammy for that. Okay, so it's not treating the slave as a less of a life, but rather that there's a double poupunishment that comes with it happening against the slave, 'cause the master also is due a penalty or payment for it. So again, God keeping the covenant community in equilibrium towards one another. Again, no one's getting more than is, is necessary, no one gets less than. It's keeping us all in line, in care for one another. And so then there's just the two at the end of the chapter is man against animals. So this is just carelessness. We're gonna see carelessness come up. The very nature of people, sometimes we get a little careless.

And so he, I, shows that, "When a man opens a pit," or "when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restrestoration. He shall give money to its owner and the dead beast shall be his." In short, you broke it, you bought it. Like if I can summarize that text, you broke it, you bought it. So you opened a pit, you weren't paying attention, someone's animal dies in it, congratulations, you just bought yourself a dead horse. Like that's- ... that is what you got. Like that is... You will pay for it. There's no like, "Oh, well, I really didn't mean to. It was just an accident. Really, ththis is really your fault.

You see, if you wouldn't just let your horse ride out all the time, the..." No, this is what happened. You clearly were not paying attention. You were not caring for your neighbor. Again, all of these things have the volition, like mentally we need to think of other people besides ourselves. So that is what that text like, you weren't thinking of anyone else, you were just thinking about yourself. I dug this pit. I had a purpose for it. Ah, I'll get back to it later. And something happens because of your carelessness. You are still responsible for your carelessness. And so you got yourself a dead animal. Congratulations. You can use it how you want.

You just purchased it. And so he has this laws of these carelessness against other people. And then of course you have animals, other people have animals, they're gonna come in conflict. I know there's a tiny dog next door and my dog hates it. So we have conflicts with animals. This too, they have oxen. You have an oxen, they have an oxen, something could happen. One just butts another one so that it dies. Again, we're kind of back to the goring, but a little different. So if your animal attacks someone else's animal and they, and one of them dies, well, you're now going to split them. Again, and their oxen could be used for food, for other things, so nnow you've got yourself a dead animal and you are going to sell the live one and split the profit.

It's literally what it is. So we're going to split the dead one and we're gonna split the live one. Everyone comes out the same. Everything comes out in the wash. You may have wanted to keep your animal. You don't get a choice. We're gonna split it. Everything, everyone is good. Payment is made. But again, if you knew that your oxen had a tendency to attack people, you do not get the benefit of splitting the payment. You now once again broke it and bought it. You got yourself a dead oxen. They get to take your live oxen, which they will then immediately sell or do something else with so they don't have the penalty of having an oxen that gores people.

No one wants that. So they will get all the profits from the live one. You get the dead one to do with what you want. And again, it's your fault, your carelessness, this is where we end up. Again, it's God making equal justice for those around him. And again, continually seeing that thinking of other people as well.

Life in Community Requires Respect and Honor for One Another’s Property

And so that's that first half. So the respect and honor for the image of God and God's created order, again, in this equitable justice, again, caring for one another well, paying what is due, not above, not more than, not less than. Paying what God has called for the payment. Again, this is all just part of living in society. And then the last set of laws that we have in this section of the code is just what do you do with property? Just tangible property.

Okay, what do we do? In many ways dealing with the idea of theft. Theft is the first part of the laws in respect and honor towards one another's property. Begins verses one through 15 of chapter 22. In keeping the- Same themes alive. And so the text before us, I'll just read all of that section twenty-two. "If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

If a thief is found breaking in and struck that he dies, there shall be no blood guilt for him. But if the sun has risen on him, there shall be blood guilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double. If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over and lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the betfrom the best in his own field and in his own vineyard. If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.

If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe and it is stolen from the man's house, then if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. For every breach of trust, whether it's an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloak, for any kind of lost thing of which one says, 'This is it,' the case of both parties shall come before the Lord. The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor. If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe and it dies or is injured or is driven away without anyone seeing it, an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property.

The owner shall accept the oath and he shall not make restitution. But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make restitution for what has been torn. If the man borrows anything froof his neighbor and is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution. If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution. It was hired, it came for its hired fee." And so the last section is just these three quick summations that deal with property. So we own things, we care for things. How do we manage that? How does that affect other people's management of our property?

What is the restitution due for this? So the first one's just on laws on theft. Again, working out our commandments. Thou shall not steal. What happens if people steal? What is the required punishment? So the first one is just if someone steals, okay, your animals, your sheep, your oxen, that which is good for making money. So again, they are, they are part of your workhorse. They do deal with your fields, your farms. They're also good for food. They're good for clothing. There's a lot that comes with these animals. If they take it from you and they kill it, sell it to be killed, so you cannot get it back, you can't get the animal back, you can't get what it brought back, they have to pay you four or five times the value.

This is also the highest payment in the scriptures for stealing. So if you steal and sell it and it is killed and there's no way to get it back, you pay four to five times the value of that animal. Now again, that's actually extremely gracious and merciful in their day and age. The Hammurabi codes, again, are anywhere from ten to thirty times the value, regardless. Ththere-- That is the minimum for any type of stealing, and also cutting off your hand most of the time. So again, there's, there's... God's law is actually a very gracious law in their day and age. He's not looking to punish them, but to make equitable judgments in their community so that they will live well together.

And so restitution must be made. If someone breaks into your house in the evening, again, at their day and age, if you, A, evening is dark. We don't have lights. They're not lighting a candle overnight. You go to bed. Everyone tends to stay in your own house. You usually sleep in your home. Okay, if someone breaks into your home in the middle of the night, there's no way to know that they're just there to steal. They may be trying to murder you. You don't know. You can't see. Again, actual darkness we don't really get. We have light too much, light pollution. So if they die breaking into your house at night, you are not held liable for the death.

So again, going back to the beginning, life for life, you are not held liable for their life because you did not know what was going on. You were given the right to protect 'cause you don't know what they're doing. If it is daylight out and someone walks into your house to steal something, you cannot kill them. You are to respect life. Again, this is God's law here. There is a respect given in that text. Again, so you are to follow the law accordingly. Again, they will be held responsible for anything they would have stolen, possibly stolen. Welcome to back to paying restitution of the laws. Again, in their day and age, there's clearly the ability to subdue is the picture here.

Again, 'cause the other way is, how do you know you didn't just murder them because you felt like murdering them? Like, "No, I swear they were just trying to steal that, that apple over there. I, I murdered them for..." Again, there's no Gray area on here, there's no excuses. Here, A, B, C equals D. So there's no room for questioning. Again, so this is the law. So they cblood guilt is upon you. And then we have the idea, if someone does steal, if they cannot pay, if they did steal and sell it and killed it, and they can't pay you back, they shall pay it no matter what. There is no like, "Oh, well, I guess you can't pay it." YouThen we go back to our slavery laws.

You can sell yourself for six years for a sum of money that pays off your debts, and then you pay off your debts. You are required to pay the debt that is owed, and there is no get out of jail free card in this. You will pay it back. Again, and as we see, if it's found alive, it's only double. If the animal is found, you only pay double. You pay-- You give it back, and you pay an additional one, which in their day and age was actually very possible. That is not a large sum of money for most. Again, most of these things are actually very common offerings. They're sacrifices. They should have them in some form of ready availability. And so it's not an exorbitant price.

It is a price that could be and should be easily paid. And so there becomes these laws of breaking, okay? Breaking the peace in this way, you will make restitution, make it right with them. And then again, we have these last ones dealing with carelessness and and caring for one another's stuff. So there's simply the carelessness. This one, the idea of burning, so you accidentally either let your animal free and it eats someone's vineyard. Congratulations, you just gave someone your vineyard. That's one for one. So if they ate their vineyard, you're now gonna give them the best—not just part of your vineyard, not just the same, the best of yours goes to them.

So if you are hanging out with your-- carelessly wreck your buddy's car, congratulations, they get your car. If you've got multiple cars, give them the best of your cars. Like, that's the... This isn't, uh, you get the, you get the jalopy over there that can barely run. It's like the same thing. Equitable. So better than, okay? Make restitution and the best of what you had. You cost them what might have been their best. If you-- fire breaks out, the one who set the fire, again, not that it's on purpose, again, we have this happen all the time. We just had-- There's a reason we had a fire, a burn thing for so long, that we could not have, um, bonfires.

It was very annoying. But nonetheless, I like a good bonfire. But because of this, 'cause people are careless. It's very windy outside today. I'm gonna light a fire 'cause I want to, and the embers go and burn down half a city. You now owe half the city. Pay it all back. So you are responsible for your negligence. Again, negligence or accidents is not an excuse to free you from responsibility. I didn't mean to, does not mean I'm free from consequences. That is the point, 'cause people did suffer harm, even if you didn't mean them to suffer harm. And the idea is you should want to live at peace with your neighbor, that you acknowledge the wrong that you had done, even if it's accidental, to make peace.

'Cause they have suffered, and I should make that right. I should make right their suffering as it is rmy responsibility in this event. Not just carelessly in any cirBut if I cause the harm, whether on purpose or not, I am responsible for the weight of the harm done, is what God is telling the people. This is your responsibility. Then the last one, he gets into what could be questionable situations. This is where God ultimately must be the judge of things done in secret. Okay, 'cause this has to do with protecting money. So if you were going away, again, if you're going on a trip somewhere, you're gonna leave your valuables with someone else.

They didn't really have a bank. Wasn't like, "I'm gonna put it in a safe deposit box." Okay? You would have someone, maybe some of you have this, someone watches your house. They stay at your house, okay? They would give their valuables to someone. You protect this while I'm gone, okay? And then you come back, and they're like, "Oh, someone broke in and stole it." Most of you, again, if you don't think the best of your neighbors, which I feel like is just our natural beYou'd be like, "Did someone? That's a very nice new watch you have there. what did you pay for that with?" Like, so there becomes the natural tendency of you can say someone broke in and stole what you let me boror let me keep, but did they?

There, there's no way to know directly. And so this is where you must take this before God. God will be the judge. So if you say, "I lent it to you. They swear someone broke in and stole it. We have no way to see where it is." And you go, "Well, I think that over there is an exact image of what I lent you." And they go, "Well, I've had that for fifty years." Well, we're gonna go to a judge, and they're gonna take it before God, and God will be the judge. God will judge between you. And the one who is found in the right, now again, it doesn't tell us how they're found in the right. They don't tell how God does-- But wh- Whatever God has determined is in the right will receive double the payment for what it was, regardless.

So even if you, if you present a false accusation, you now will pay restitution for your false accusation. So there is a weight to not also just making up accusations. So there is a weight in this communal care for one another. And same thing with animals, this care for one another that we are not lax in caring for what others give to us. And if true accidents happen, we are honest about what happens. Okay, and then the last of the laws about caring for property has to do with what I think is probably the one that we ultimately probably have the closest to, is the idea of lending someone an ox, okay, to do work. Okay, if you're hiring, ours would be if someone lends you their mower.

You ever had friends come over who have tools that you don't have? Maybe some of you are familiar with that. You have all the skills, you have the tools. Can you come help me do this? Okay, if they come and help you do it, and things break, that's not on you. Now, if they lent you their mower and go, "Hey, just don't break it," and it breaks, now that's on you. Like, that's yours now, 'cause you did break it. If they were there when it broke, you can clearly be like, "This is your-- your tools are bad." It's a lot easier. That's kind of the picture. Like, there was something wrong with your ox, and you were here when it died. Like, I clearly was not doing anything.

You saw what happened. If they're not there, again, there's no way for them to assume, like, "Oh, I bet it was great. I bet you were just walking along, and the ox just fell over." Like, they're gonna assume bad things happened, nefarious things happened. So again, to keep the peace and keep restitution. So in this, we have all of these series, all of these covenant codes are, again, showing how they live life in community.

But also showed in it, nobody is free from excuse for wrongdoing. As I said, there was no, "Oops, it was an accident." Everyone is held to the same standard, okay, and everyone pays for their wrongdoing. And we see this in the totality of the reality as we apply this in a big picture of ourselves. We all, in the history of time, will pay, okay, the penalty for our wrongdoings. 'Cause this is just how they wrong one another. It's usually easy to pay back a basic debt. What he shows as we continue in the rest of Exodus, there is a far greater penalty that we can't make restitution for, and that is the penalty for sin. That is the reality that Paul highlights.

The wages of sin is death. Okay, the payment. What you are due is death. That is what sin has earned you. Okay, sin in your life has separated from, you from God, has an, is an offense so great you cannot physically pay it back. There is no restitution that you can do. You can work every single day of your life in service to Christ and to God, but apart from a relationship with God, it is of no value. You can't pay enough. You can't do enough. Your good works will not earn enough. Okay, there is no amount that can pay it, except for the blood of Christ himself, which is the point that scripture will continually make. There is a way that payment can be made, and restitution making us right with God is possible, and that is through Christ.

That is through the Son of God, who was fully God, and came down, okay, did not equate equality with God a thing to be held onto, but became man, became a servant, suffered far greater wrongs against him for us. He suffered being wronged on our behalf to make us right with the Father, to set us free from sin and death, to sep- to set us free from the payment that we cannot pay. We could not pay back what we owe God. Many of us can live in harmony with our neighbors every day. We can follow basic human decency. If I wronged you, I make it right. There is no way to make right all that you have done wrong to God. The only means of making right what we have done wrong to God is through God himself in Christ.

It's through repentance and faith in him alone, and then the payment is full and complete for eternity, and gives within it a life in a kingdom, his kingdom, where we live at peace and unity with one another for eternity under his defined lordship. This is our life together. That is the goal of our life together. Think highly of one another, to pursue Christ above all else, 'cause he has paid a far greater price than any of us could afford. And so that motivates all that we say and do.