Exodus 21:12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.
13 And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.
14 But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.
15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
17 And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
18 And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:
19 If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
Conflicts are part of life. It is important that conflicts be for the right reason. Man brought about the first conflict in Genesis 3 when he chose to disobey God’s command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God is in charge. Man chose to defy God’s authority. In Genesis 4 we read that Cain murdered his brother Abel because Abel was righteous and Cain was evil. In Genesis 6-8 we read of the the universal flood that destroyed everything outside of the Ark. That was a conflict between God and wickedness. God was entirely justified in that judgment. Man had chosen the wrong path and was not interested in turning back to God. God knew the only solution was to destroy the majority of mankind and to cause a weakening man’s resolve to defy God. That flood did not change the heart of man. Soon sin dominated society again. God does not force anyone to know Him. He shows the absolute folly of thinking man can succeed in defying God.
In our text, the nation of Israel needed to know how to deal with conflicts. Moses had been guilty of smiting a Gentile earlier in his life. The Egyptian was mistreating a Hebrew and Moses took matters into his own hands. When the Pharaoh found out what had happened he wanted to kill Moses. Moses fled and God began to work more closely with Moses to get him ready for the role of leadership he had for him.
After the flood, God reminded Noah of the importance of capital punishment. Here He reinforced that law. Human life cannot be taken for granted. There needs to be respect for life. Disagreements can arise. However, it is not for people to take the law into their own hands. There needs to be order and local governments are the ones that need to enact justice. When there is not proper justice, there is no fear of punishment and there is no law and order. Then you have anarchy. That is what we have had in Canada now for some time.
In verse 13 we see that there was protection for unintended death. We see that God can and does deliver men into other men’s hands for punishment. If that is the case, and the offender was killed, then there needed to be a place for the slayer to flee to. There needed to be a place for the person to go and await trial.
In verse 14 we see that intentional vengeance cannot be justified. Guile is deceit. A person may have a grudge against a person and look for a way to kill him. He may use deception to get the person into a place where he can be killed easier. The altar was a place of protection for the innocent person. It was the place where the innocent person could bring his sacrifice to atone for his sin or to offer a peace offering.
The altar was not there for the guilty party to go and try to act spiritual when he was wicked. God does not condone nor protect hypocrisy of any kind. To act as though you acted innocently when in fact you intended to kill another person does not wash with God. He would give insight into the actions of people and the judges would have the needed discernment.
We see also the need to show proper respect for parents. Parents are to be the authority figures in the home. Children need to show respect for their parents. They do not have the right to fight against their parents. Of course this is not talking of parents who are acting in defiance to God’s law and are openly abusive toward their children. In such a case there is a law that needs to be followed and the children need protection. That protection should come from God-fearing authorities who can step in and help resolve the problem.
In Canada we have a wicked CFS system that does not operate under the fear of God and arbitrarily pronounces judgments that are designed to destroy the God designed family structure. True churches need to be involved in helping parents to be good parents and to help children to understand their place in the family.
In verse 16 God gave further instruction regarding stealing. In this case it is the matter of kidnapping a person. The person may owe another person something and the one being owed decides he will take matters into his own hands and force the person into slavery. The one who stole the person needed to be put to death.
There are people who argue that capital punishment is cruel and it does not resolve the problem. God knows better. The person that has been properly put to death will never commit another crime. Others will also think twice before they act on their evil thoughts. Fear of death is always a sobering fact. Man needs to understand there are severe consequences for disregard for human life.
In verse 17 there is further instruction regarding family matters. Not only is it wrong to smite your parents, it is also wrong to curse them. Rebellion is a common sin. God warned that children need to obey their parents. They also need to honour them. Those who want to ignore this law, need to face the consequences. Today there are too many homes where the children run the show. The parents try to bribe the children to do as they are told. They will buy them things in order to keep the peace. Children can be spoiled and they can be taught to expect things from their parents. When the parents try to hold off on something, the child can become belligerent because they have been trained wrongly.
In verses 18-21 God gave further instructions regarding disagreements among people. Using a weapon such as a stone is not a good thing to do. Man’s pride gets in the way and we want to prove our point. It is better to walk away than to try to do injury to another person. God had some order here.
If the victim is beat up but not killed there is a different law than if he is killed. If he is wounded but recovers so that he can get around again, albeit with the aid of a cane, then the guilty person does not need to be dealt with except that he needs to pay for the lost time of the person that was beat up. The attacker needs to look after the needs of the victim until he is fully recovered.
The master who mistreats his servant needs to be punished for his sin. If the servant dies, there was a need for punishment. We have already seen what that punishment needed to be. An unjust killing needed to be punished with death. A person wounded by injustice needed to be compensated for their injuries. In the case of a master who hurt his servant, he would need to feed and house that servant even if he could not work for a time. He would need to cover the costs associated with the treatment for the injuries he had caused. It would cost that master for hurting his servant.
God knows we can get out of control and take matters too far. Again, these laws were given to help people to think carefully before they just start running on emotions. Our emotions can get the better of us. We cannot use that as an excuse for being abusive. God’s justice is fair and balanced. Man’s injustice is out of control. The principles given here apply to all people in all generations. We can see the disaster we are facing as a nation because we have decided we are so much wiser than God. True local churches need to teach the whole counsel of God and thus help remind people of what is right.
Pastor Bartel
