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February 28, 2016 |
| Do Justice | ||
We all want to be treated justly; God also wants us to treat each other justly. Sometimes, however, our idea of justice is not the same as God's. Therefore in this lesson we'll look at what God says about justice so we can adjust ourselves to his standard
1 You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.
As we see more of the context for these verses we'll know that "report" means an account of something someone has done. So the command here is that we should not present false accounts of what people have done as though those accounts were true. As with all the commandments, this is an example to show us an evil action that can come from an evil heart - attempting to deceive one person in an effort to hurt another person or perhaps help yourself.
God's commandments are not a checklist. They are examples of the evil actions that come from an evil heart. They are a light for us to use to check ourselves to see that there is nothing in our hearts that would cause us to do them. If the spiritual heart is right the physical evil will not come out. What is in our heart has a habit of coming out in our actions.
In this case we need to ask ourselves is there
that I would make a false story about someone.
The second part of this verse takes it a step further. It says do not team up with a wicked person to make a false report seem more believable. In doing so you would have added "unequally yoking yourself" to the other sins of attempting to deceive one person and attempting to hurt another. We should have no partnership like this with the world.
The example here is not about finding someone who will agree to support your lie but agreeing to support someone else's lie. Of course the tables can be turned and you might be the wicked man trying to find someone to support your lie. This should not be so.
2 You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice;
Having spoken in the previous verse about not bring a false report and not agreeing to support someone else's false report, we now get to the next step - not going along with a group in the evil it does. In the particular example here, we are told not to change our testimony (the report we present) in a way that causes injustice, to make some happy.
3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.
At first this verse seems unrelated to the previous verses which were about bearing false reports, but it really is on point. It says you shouldn't treat a person better because he is poor. In America we know that justice is blind and must be blind or there is no justice. It still isn't clear though how this relates to making a false report. In this case the commandment is to a judge, not to the people presenting testimony. If a judge determines to treat a poor man better because he is poor then the judge has effectively born a false report to himself - that a poor man deserves favor. Why would a judge do this? He would do it to earn the favor of other people or perhaps to make himself feel better that he has corrected for the injustices of life against this poor man.
As this is only an example we can extend it to other groups that society sometimes views as having experienced the injustices of life. This could include not just the poor, but those of certain races, certain ancestries, certain disabilities and probably others.
From this we see that justice is not served by injustice. If a poor man steals he should be treated no different from another man who steals. Injustice in the justice system perverts the whole system.
4 If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.
Once again these verses seem to be on a different topic but they aren't. Justice also applies to property, which includes animals. Your poor relationship with another person should not carry over to property, family and friends which are not part of your dispute with him. The apostle Paul says essentially the same thing in Philippians 2:4 "Neither let a man care for that which is his own unless every person cares also for that which is his neighbor's."
6 You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. 7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty.
I believe the issue here is what we describe now as "Justice delayed is justice denied." This message is probably directed to the judges. Do not allow false charges to stall justice and cause the plaintiff to give up, run out of money, or die off.
8 You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.
This again appears to be a message to judges. The warning here is that accepting a bride impairs one's ability to discern right from wrong. This impairment is ongoing and is a spiritual impairment. Also God takes up the cause of the just who are denied justice.
9 You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.
The message here is again one of justice; treat the strangers in your country the same as anyone else. To oppress someone means to cause them difficulties usually through unjust laws.
God reminds them of the oppression they faced in Egypt and how that felt so they won't treat others that way. Through all the previous verses we have seen a theme emerging which we see most plainly in this verse. We know that theme as the second great commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself," or as the golden rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
Now the verses take a turn to the topic of the Sabbaths but the theme of justice will continue. In these the Justice of God, through his commandments, makes provision for rest, refreshing, and food for everyone down to the lowliest - the slaves, the poor, and the work animals. Remember that there wasn't only one Sabbath. The 7th day Sabbath is the Sabbath we hear the most about in the New Testament but it is the parent of many other Sabbaths. Not all of these Sabbaths had were revealed to Israel at this time, but in the following verses we see the 7th day Sabbath, the 7th year Sabbath, and 3 of the annual Sabbaths where the people of God were required to present themselves before God at the tent, tabernacle, or temple.
10 You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, 11 but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
During the 7th year Sabbath, crops were not to be planted nor harvested. Whatever happened to grow in the fields was to be made available to the people to come and take. What was left was for animals. One purpose of these Sabbaths was to build the faith of God's people. God had promised them that they would have enough if they would do this and trust in him. Of all the Sabbaths this one stretched their faith the most - a whole year without growing crops of grain. They were also not to tend to or harvest their olive trees and grape vines. They were also to be made available to anyone who needed them.
Israel never was able to have faith like that. For 490 years they never once observed the 7th year. Those 70 unobserved Sabbaths were the basis for the 70 years that Israel would spend in Babylonian captivity.
12 Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.
The Sabbath was for everyone, work animals, slaves and even for non-Jews. During the times that Israel was observing the Sabbath this was a necessity. It wouldn't have been possible for the stranger or traveler to buy food. But Israel generally viewed all the Sabbaths and particularly the 7th day Sabbath to be inconveniences. Amos 8:5 quotes Israel as saying "When will the … Sabbath [be over], that we may open the wheat market."
13 Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
This is a very interesting statement. God is saying "I don't want to hear even so much as the names of other Gods coming from your mouths, and I certainly don't want to hear their words coming from your mouths." He is saying this in the context of everything that he has said from the Ten Commandments up to this chapter. The message is to be on your guard; if you start talking about these other gods it won't be long until you turn away from me.
14 Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. 15 You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. 16 Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread ran for seven days and ended with the Feast of the Harvest of the First Fruits. Together these were the days of Passover. When God says don't "appear before me empty-handed" he means they should come prepared. They were to search through every place in their houses to remove every spec of yeast from their houses prior to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yeast symbolized things that spread inside a man and in this case it is about sin. This removal of yeast from the house was a physical act symbolizing a spiritual truth, that they should inspect themselves to make sure there was no sin or uncleanness in them.
The Feast of First Fruits symbolized the Messiah's resurrection. It comes 3 days after Passover
The two previous feasts are Spring Feasts which were centered on the wheat harvest. The Feast of Ingathering is one of the Fall Feasts which were centered on the fruit harvest, grapes, figs, and olives. The Fall Feasts symbolizes events in the Messiah's life that have not yet happened.
18 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning.
As far as we can tell, Israel had no idea that these feasts were symbolic descriptions of the major events in the Messiah's life. This verse refers to the Passover lamb which was killed on the first day of Passover. They were to eat the lamb that evening only and not save any for the next day. Here God says not to eat leavened bread (bread with yeast in it) with the lamb. The deeper message is that there should be no sin in those who eat of it.
Paul says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 11:28-29, "let a man search his soul, and then eat of this bread and drink from this cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks from it being unworthy, eats and drinks a guilty verdict into his soul for not distinguishing the body of the Lord Yahweh." The searching of the soul he talks about is a reference to the searching of the house for yeast / sin.
The reference to blood of my sacrifice is now understood to be a reference to the Messiah's blood that was spilled as a sacrifice for our sins. We also recognize the bread as being the body of the Messiah. Together, as wine and bread, they are the elements of Communion in which we partake.
Any of the lamb that was not eaten, usually the fat, was to be burned up and not eaten the next day. The symbolism here is probably to having nothing left over after the Messiah's death. Daniel 9:26 says "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing."
19 You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God. You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.
Again this is very much a Christian reference as First Fruits was not understood by Israel to be a description of the Messiah's resurrection. From Jesus' teaching about the Word of God growing in us like seeds in soil we recognize that we will be the first fruits of the Messiah at his coming. James 1:18 says "He was pleased and gave birth to us by the word of the truth, that we would be the first fruits of his creation." Revelation 14:4 says "These were redeemed from men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb." Romans 8:23 says "we also who have in us the first fruits of The Spirit; we groan in ourselves and we look for the adoption of sons and the redemption of our bodies."
To understand this a little more thoroughly we need to understand the meaning of First Fruits. The presentation of the first fruit of the harvest was a demonstration that root / soil of the crop was good and therefore evidence that the harvest would be good. Romans 11:16 says "if the first fruits are holy, so is the substance. And if the root is holy, so are the branches."
Verse 19 also includes a commandment about cooking a young goat. We are certain this relates to the earlier part of the verse because Exodus 34:26 uses it in the exact context, "You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk." This idea of a young goat is also mentioned in other passages where it is connected with wheat harvest, grain, and flour. But no one in our time seems to understand the spiritual message behind it. So that is a mystery.
Some have suggested that this takes us back to the theme of justice by showing us an injustice to animals. If so, that's difficult to connect to the rest of this passage.
We've seen a number of things in this lesson about justice and what God considers to be justice. We've also seen warnings about interfering with or biasing justice. Ultimately it's a matter of the heart. God wants us to ensure our hearts are right. When that is the case we will do justice.
We've also seen a description of the observance of the Sabbaths as Israel knew them at this time.
Self-inspection is a theme throughout this chapter. Whether it's the self-inspection we should do to see what desires live in us that might cause us to sin or the sin itself that hides within us not wanting to be exposed.