SERIES C --- EXODUS FROM BONDAGE --- LESSON 20

PRESERVE FREEDOM

LAWS FOR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS

From Exodus 22

If someone steals an ox or sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox he stole or four sheep for the sheep he stole. If a thief is caught while breaking into a house and beaten to death, the one who killed him will not be guilty unless this happened during the day. Then it will be assumed that the man was murdered and the murderer will be guilty. When a thief is caught in the act, he must pay the full fine or be sold as a slave for his debt. He must pay twice the fine if he has kept the ox, donkey or sheep or whatever he has stolen. If someone lets his animal into his field or vineyard to graze until there is no pasture left and then turns the animal into another man’s field, he shall repay that man from the best of his own field or vineyard. If someone starts a fire that goes out of control and burns another man’s shocked or standing grain, the one who started the fire must pay for the damages. If someone holds his neighbour’s money or valuables for safe keeping and these are stolen from his house, the thief, if caught, must pay double the value. But if the thief is not caught, the person holding the valuables shall go before the judges so that they may determine whether or not he is the thief. If someone claims that his neighbour has his lost donkey, sheep, clothing or other possession, the case shall come before the judges. If the judges decide that the neighbour is guilty, he shall pay the man who has made the claim twice the amount. If someone keeps a donkey, ox, sheep or other animal for his neighbour and it dies or escapes, but no one has seen what happened, that person must take an oath before Adonai and his neighbour that he has not stolen his neighbour’s property. The neighbour must accept the oath as the truth and no payment shall be required. But if the animal was actually stolen, the man must repay his neighbour. If it was torn by wild animals, the man must bring it as proof and he will not have to pay for it. If someone borrows anything from another person and it is hurt or dies and the owner is not with the property at the time, then the borrower shall pay the owner for it. But if the owner is with the property, then the borrower shall not pay for it. If the property is rented, the rent money will pay for it. If a man seduces a virgin, then he must pay the customary dowry and marry her. If the father refuses to let the girl marry this man, then the man must pay the same amount of dowry. A sorceress must be executed. Anyone who treats an animal as husband or wife must be executed. Anyone who sacrifices to any god except Adonai shall be put to death. You must never mistreat a stranger, for you were once strangers in the land of Egypt. You must never take advantage of widows or orphans. If you do in any way and they cry to Adonai for help, I will listen to them and My anger shall flare out against you and I will destroy you with the sword so that your wives shall become widows and your children shall become orphans. If you lend money to a fellow Israelite who is poor, you shall not charge interest or make the arrangements a creditor would make. If you take the man’s cloak as a pledge for the loan, you must return it before evening, for the cloak is his only covering as he sleeps. If he cries to Adonai for help, I will listen, for I am compassionate. You shall not curse YHVH or a ruler of your people. You shall not delay the offerings of grain and wine which you give Me, nor shall you delay the payment you make to redeem your firstborn sons. For seven days you shall leave the firstborn of the oxen and sheep with the mother, then give it to Adonai on the eighth day. You are My special people, set apart for My special purpose. You shall not eat any animal torn by wild beasts in the field. Instead, it shall be left for dogs to eat.

COMMENTARY

THE VERSATILE CLOAK

In the land that Adonai would give His people, each individual would be responsible to preserve the freedom YHVH had won for them. As slaves in Egypt, they had no responsibility. Now each would have an active part in the kind of nation Israel would become, a nation with Laws designed to protect even the animals and slaves. More {case law} examples show YHVH’s people the choices they would each need to make to become a land of the godly and free. Clothes were certainly not easy to get in ancient times. Every garment had to be made by hand; a long, hard process. Even the fabric had to be started from scratch, whether it was from hides, leather, goat or camel hair, wool or felt. Women cleaned the animal hair and wool. They had to card it {similar to combing}, spin it into yarn or thread and then weave it into cloth. Once the garment was finished, it was treated with great care. Most people had just one wrap; their cloak. Only the rich could afford to change clothes. A cloak was expensive and hard to make. So, it was patched and re-patched and used for any and all occasions; even as a pillow and a sleeping bag. It was rarely washed and people wore perfumes to cover up its bad odour. The cloak was truly the most useful article of clothing a person ever owned.

Thought for Today: Sunday January 01:

May you choose joy this day! May you chase and count all your blessings. May you sow generously for a eternal harvest. May you trust YHVH with the seeds you have sown. May you water them with faith, knowing and believing Elohiym will multiply all your seeds. Have an abundant joyful blessed day!

God's ways are different from the ways of the world, as Messiah Yeshua explained. So why do we see Joseph, a man of God, apparently following the ways of the world when God put him in charge of Egypt's government?

https://thebarkingfox.com/2022..../12/31/walk-like-an-

 

thebarkingfox.com

Walk Like An Egyptian? - The Barking Fox

God’s ways are different from the ways of the world, as Messiah Yeshua explained. So why do we see Joseph, a man of God, apparently following the ways of the world when God put him in charge of Egypt’s government?   Genesis 44:18-47:27; E

December 31, 2022
TORAH PORTION: "AND HE DRAW NEAR"
PARASHAH: “VAYIGASH” ויגש
Genesis 44:18 -- 47:27
HAFTORAH PORTION
Ezekiel 37:15-28
BRIT HADASHAH PORTION
Luke 6:12-16

Painting of Joseph Reunited with his Brothers Reunited, by Michael Malm, from https://theidlewoman.net/2017/....04/28/joseph-and-his

Shabbat Shalom from Northeast Oklahoma.

Joseph told his brothers to be sure that Pharaoh knew they are shepherds. (Genesis 46:31-34) This was so Pharaoh would not want them to assimilate into Egyptian society. Egyptians didn't like shepherds. They didn't lie to Pharaoh, but the truth they told was strategically selective.

SERIES C --- EXODUS FROM BONDAGE --- LESSON 19

LAW APPLIED

LAWS FOR DAILY LIVING

From Exodus 21

Adonai gave Moses the following Laws for His people: If a Hebrew becomes your slave because he cannot pay you his debt, he shall serve you for six years. In the seventh year he shall go free without any further debt to you. If he married after he had become your slave, then he alone shall be freed in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became your slave, then both he and his wife shall be freed in the seventh year. If the slave’s master gave him a wife during the time of his slavery and they have children, the slave alone shall go free in the seventh year. If the slave prefers to remain with his master, his wife and his children, the master shall bring him to the judges and pierce his ear with an awl before the people. Then he shall remain with his master as a slave forever. If a father sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go free in the seventh year as the male slaves do. If she does not, please her master, he shall permit her father to buy her back again. He must not sell her to foreigners, for he has treated her unfairly. If a man lets a slave girl marry his son, he shall no longer treat her as a slave girl, but as a daughter. If a master marries a slave girl himself, then marries another wife, no rights of that girl shall be taken away because of the second marriage. She shall not have less food, clothing or fewer personal rights to her husband. If the husband does not give her these rights fully, she may leave as a free person. Whoever hits another person and causes his death, that person shall be put to death. But if the death is accidental, an act which YHVH permitted, then that person may go to an appointed place and be safe. If a man plans the death of another, you must take him from My altar, where he would otherwise be safe and execute him. Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. Whoever kidnaps another, whether he holds that person or sells him, shall be put to death. Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death. When a man is injured in a fight, the man who hit him is innocent if the injured person recovers. But the injured man must be paid for his time and expenses until he is well again. A man who beats his slave to death must be punished, whether that slave is male or female. But the man shall not be punished if the slave lives, even though he is injured, for the slave is the man’s possession. If a woman who is about to have a child is injured by some men who are fighting nearby and if the child dies but the woman lives, then the man who injured her shall pay whatever the woman’s husband demands as long as the demand is acceptable to the judges. If the woman dies, the one who injured her shall die also. If she has a permanent injury, the man who injured her shall be punished with the same kind of injury. If her eye was lost, then his shall be taken out; or if her tooth was lost, then his shall be taken out also. He shall pay a hand for her injured hand, a foot for her injured foot, a burn for her burn, a wound for her wound, or a stripe for her stripe. If a master blinds his slave’s eye, the slave shall go free in payment for his eye. If a master knocks out a slave’s tooth, the slave shall go free in payment for his tooth. If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox shall be stoned to death, but not eaten. The owner shall not be punished unless the ox has gored others before. If the ox has gored others and the owner, in full knowledge, has failed to keep the ox under control, then the ox and the owner shall die. However, the relatives of the ox’s victim may take a payment as a redemption for his life if they prefer, whatever payment the judges decide is fair. The same rule will apply if the ox gores a man’s son or daughter. If the ox gores a slave, the owner shall give to the slave’s master thirty pieces of silver, then the ox must be stoned to death. If a man digs a pit and fails to cover it properly and an ox or donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall pay for the loss of the animal, which then becomes his property. If a man’s ox kills another man’s ox, then the two men shall sell the live ox and divide the money. They shall also divide the dead animal. But if the live ox has gored others in the past and the owner has not been careful to keep it penned and then he shall exchange oxen, his live ox for the other man’s dead ox.

COMMENTARY

SLAVES IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Some people say that, since Jethro was a Midianite, the natural spot for Moses to pasture his flocks would be Midian and therefore, Mount Sinai was in Midian. Others say this is not necessarily true, for Jethro belonged to the Kenite tribe of Midianites. Who travelled like nomads throughout the Middle East. These people place Mount Sinai in the Sinai Desert. Still others propose that the Bible writer did not record the physical place of Mount Sinai because he wanted to emphasize the spiritual event of YHVH giving His people the Law. The Ten Commandments are brief. So YHVH went on to give specific examples of how the principles expressed in them would be applied. In these examples, known as {case law,} we see that in Israel even slaves would have a right to respect! How differently Israelites were to treat men and women who might serve them than they had been treated in Egypt! In the ancient world people became slaves by being captured in battle, born into a slave family, or sold into slavery. Sometimes parents sold their own children into slavery when they were hopelessly in debt. Or sometimes they sold themselves into slavery. In some places, such as the copper mines of Sinai, slavery meant certain death. Life in a temple, private home, or on a government project was much easier. Women slaves had an especially miserable life. Often, they were used as prostitutes or concubines for their owner and his friends; becoming a kind of wife without the privileges. Even the Hebrews, who had been freed from slavery by YHVH, had slaves of their own in the wilderness! Although their Laws concerning slaves were more merciful, many abused the Laws and the slaves. Slavery was usually a life of misery, no matter who the owners were.