Exodus 21 - Laws for Hebrew Servants | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church
The Bible by David Alley · David Alley
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (content.rss.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
In this video listen to Exodus 21 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.
In Exodus 21 we start the second half of Exodus now getting into a lot of laws. In the last chapter we saw the moral law, the ten commandments, and now a lot of civil and criminal law is going to follow. Later in Leviticus we will see Ceremonial law.
The first set of laws seem to be about slavery, and some people condemn the Bible for seeming to be pro-slavery. Does God condone slavery?
Actually the entire book of Exodus is about freeing slaves from Pharaoh. Plus, the entire Bible picutre is about Christ freeing people from slavery to sin. What must be understood is the culture of the day, and the Bible’s intent, not God’s overall position.
The slavery here is temporary indenturerd servitude, a type of forerunner to our modern bankruptcy laws. A person could sell themselves to service but must be released in the seventh year. This was a great moral leap forward.
The idea of a bond slave now appears, which has symbolisms to giving our ears to Christ. This video explains.
Finally, why are some laws so barbaric sounding? Firstly imagine the HUGE need for clear law and order after two million people are lumped together with no clear oversight. Secondly the times were already barbaric, so very black and white standards were crucial. Finally, we wouldn’t have a sense of what barbarism is today, without laws like these that brought about genuine reforms.