Exodus 22 - Laws for Property | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Exodus 22 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In Exodus 22 we continue with laws relating with daily life in the nation. We first talk about restitution. If people do something that harms another they must fix it multiple times over. This is not at the whim of people, but at a rate designated by God, and such a thing is designed to help people become mindful of others and create a considerate society.

Today we still have similar things at play, where if we harm someone's car or property we are expected to fix it for them.

If an Israelite helped another by caring for an entrusted item and it was accidentally destroyed, they could take an oath in God’s name that it was an accident, and no restitution was required. But, by invoking God they must be truthful or would otherwise be taking God’s name in vain, which is different to blasphemy. Having said that blasphemy is now also outlawed in this chapter, but is not a capital offence. However not just cursing God, but cursing human leaders is put into the same category. God sees both as equally wrong.

This chapter also begins to teach the Israelites to treat foreigners properly, showing that God was on top of racism way ahead of anyone else. Many of the commands here were to live in a way different to how they had been treated in Egypt, and certainly different to how people treated others in Canaan. God wanted a holy nation, different to others, and some of his commands didn’t make sense.

Also it talks about pre-marital sex and the lifelong consequences for such an act in the Israelite nation.

Sometimes we are asked to do things without understanding them too, but our trust in God is pleasing to Him.