The Book of Exodus

Explanation

The very first judgment concerns servants, and it is marked by mercy. A Hebrew servant was to serve only six years and "in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing." Israelite slavery was not lifelong bondage but a temporary, bounded thing, and freedom came without price. But then comes a beautiful exception. If a servant has come to love his master and his household and says, "I love my master ... I will not go out free," he may choose to stay. His master brings him to the door, and bores his ear through with an awl, and "he shall serve him for ever." The man who could be free chooses servanthood out of love, and wears the mark of it in his own flesh. This was not forced slavery but the willing, permanent devotion of a heart that would rather stay than go.

Gospel Focus

The servant with the bored ear is a lovely picture of Christ and of the believer. Christ, who was free, "took upon him the form of a servant" (Philippians 2:7), and of Him it was written prophetically, "mine ears hast thou opened" (Psalm 40:6), a verse the New Testament reads of the Lord's willing obedience, "a body hast thou prepared me" (Hebrews 10:5). Jesus was no forced slave; He served the Father and gave Himself for us out of love, choosing the cross. And the picture is ours to follow. Having been set free from sin, the believer says, in effect, "I love my Master; I will not go out free," and gladly becomes a bondservant of Christ, for "ye became the servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:18). The mark of the bored ear is love, not compulsion. True Christian service is not slavery to a hard master but the glad, lifelong devotion of a heart that has found in Christ a Master worth serving for ever. We are freed, and then we freely bind ourselves to Him in love.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

These verses deal with a daughter sold into service, likely as a wife, in the hard poverty of the ancient world. Rather than leaving her at the mercy of her master, God's law fences her round with protections. She was not to be treated as the menservants; if her master no longer pleased with her, she must be redeemed, not sold "unto a strange nation," for he had "dealt deceitfully with her." If given to his son, she must be treated "after the manner of daughters." And if another wife were taken, her "food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage" must not be diminished, three basic rights of provision, covering, and marital care. If he failed in these three, "then shall she go out free without money." Even the lowest and most powerless person in the household had rights that God Himself guaranteed.

Gospel Focus

In a world where a slave woman had no rights at all, God's law lifted up her dignity and defended her. This reveals the heart of God for the vulnerable, the poor, the powerless, the ones no one else would protect. The same God still requires His people "to do justly, and to love mercy" (Micah 6:8), and pure religion, James says, is "to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction." God notices those the world overlooks and writes their protection into His law. Where the culture said the powerful may do as they please, God said the weak have rights that must not be diminished. This is a permanent principle for the people of God: we are to be defenders of the defenseless, careful of the dignity of every person, especially those who cannot protect themselves. The God who heard the groaning of slaves in Egypt is the God who guards the maidservant in the house, and He calls His people to have His same heart for the overlooked.

Explanation

These laws guard human life as sacred. "He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death", murder is a capital crime. But God distinguishes intent: if a man kills without lying in wait, "God deliver him into his hand," a place of refuge is appointed, pointing ahead to the cities of refuge. Deliberate, guileful murder, though, could claim no sanctuary, even at the altar. Honoring parents is so serious that striking or cursing father or mother was a capital offense, and so is manstealing, kidnapping a person to sell him, which condemns the slave trade at its root. Then comes the famous rule for injuries: "life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." Far from licensing revenge, it limited it, ensuring the punishment fit the crime exactly, no more and no less. And a master who destroyed a servant's eye or tooth had to set him free, so even a servant's body was protected.

Gospel Focus

"Eye for eye" was a rule for the courts, a limit on punishment, not a license for personal revenge, and Jesus made this plain. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil" (Matthew 5:38-39). The Lord did not overturn just judgment in the courtroom; He forbade the spirit of retaliation in the heart, calling His people to turn the other cheek and leave vengeance to God. What the law restrained, grace transforms. And behind these laws stands the great truth that human life is sacred because man is made in God's image; to murder is to strike at God's own likeness. That same reverence for life runs through the whole Bible. The believer honors life, protects the weak, refuses private vengeance, and trusts God to judge righteously. The law taught Israel that every life, and even every eye and tooth, has value before God; the gospel calls us higher still, to overcome evil with good.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The chapter closes with laws about a dangerous ox, and they turn on the question of responsibility. If an ox suddenly gores someone to death, the ox is destroyed but "the owner of the ox shall be quit," for he could not have foreseen it. But if the ox "were wont to push" and the owner had been warned "and he hath not kept him in," then the owner is guilty, for his negligence caused the death. God distinguishes accident from negligence just as He distinguished accident from murder. The following laws add restitution: a man who digs a pit and leaves it open must pay for the animal that falls in; if one man's ox kills another's, they share the loss fairly. Throughout, the principle is clear: people are accountable for the harm their carelessness causes, and wrongs must be made right by restitution.

Gospel Focus

These homely laws about oxen and pits teach a weighty truth: God holds us responsible not only for what we do but for what we let happen through our carelessness. The man who knew his ox was dangerous and did nothing was guilty of the death it caused. So Scripture calls the believer to a watchful love of neighbor, to take care that our actions, our property, and even our neglect do not harm others. Love "worketh no ill to his neighbour" (Romans 13:10), and that includes the ill of negligence. And notice the principle of restitution that runs through these laws: a wrong is not merely regretted but made right, the loss repaid. This is the heart of true repentance, seen in Zacchaeus, who said, "if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold" (Luke 19:8). God's justice is not satisfied by good feelings alone; where we have caused harm, He calls us to make it right. The God of Sinai cares about oxen and pits because He cares about people, and He teaches His own to be responsible, careful, and just in the smallest matters of daily life.