Justice Is Served

Justice is Served

Consider the following news items: A man strangles a woman in her city apartment. A young girl vanishes from her home during the night, apparently abducted by a stranger. A homeowner is startled by an intruder, who in the ensuing scuffle strikes a fatal blow. A woman loses control of her ferocious dogs, and they maul a neighbor to death. Stories like these are in the news every day. Each of them raises serious questions about justice: Does a murderer deserve the death penalty? What is the proper sentence for a kidnapper? How much responsibility does someone have for an accidental death or an unintended injury? When does negligence become criminal? It is hard to find agreement on these questions. Just listen to the talk shows, where everyone has a different opinion. Although we all want justice, we don’t always agree on what justice requires. Not even our legal system has all the answers. A jury reaches a verdict, but the judge throws it out on a technicality. A judge makes a decision, only to have it overturned on appeal. In the end, we are left wondering whether justice has really been served. The Bible can help. It does not give us a complete code with regulations for every situation that might arise in every culture. However, it does provide a set of cases to help us understand the basic principles of divine justice. These legal cases are contained in the Book of the Covenant that God gave to Moses. Each case consists of both a crime and a punishment. The punishments God gave to Israel as a nation under his direct divine rule do not always apply today. Yet they still help us understand how to seek justice in an unjust world looking to see that justice is served.

The Israelites are still camped out at Mt. Sinai and Moses is on the mountain with God receiving the laws of the Book of the Covenant. God gave these laws to his people so they would know how to act and treat each other in the covenant community especially after they arrived in the Promised Land. The Lord wanted to regulate human behavior by protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty. He also wanted the punishment to fit the crime. He defines and sets the standard for what is justice and demands that his people and his laws are just as well. Fairness, justice, reconciliation and peace were all important to the Lord as he was birthing the nation of Israel, wanting them to be different from the pagan nations surrounding them.

Last week, the Lord introduced the Book of the Covenant by regulating how His people were to treat their male and female servants. They were to be treated fairly and with dignity as human beings made in the image of God. This morning, we are going to be introduced to case law involving death, assault and livestock. These laws are specific but not comprehensive and were to guide the judges in making proper rulings and handing down punishments. In some cases, they could determine what the punishment was to be but in others the punishments were non-negotiable. These laws showed God’s desire for His people to be fair and just and to take responsibility for their actions so that in the end peace and harmony could be achieved within the covenant community. Instead of engineering political, social and economic changes in our society, God desires to engineer an inner heart change in each one of His people which will then result in the changes he wants to see in our society. Our society as a whole will never be fair, just and responsible unless each one of us is inwardly changed by God. God can change the world if we allow him to change our hearts, each one of us, according to His purposes. That brings us to our big idea this morning that God desires to change the world by changing His people’s hearts.

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, as we open your Word this morning, we ask for you to open our hearts and minds and fill us with your Holy Spirit. We pray that your word would come alive for us and that all the words spoken would be honoring and glorifying to You. Draw us closer to yourself by the power of your word. In Your holy name, we pray, Amen.

Our first Point is, Cases Involving Death, found in Exodus 21:12-17. This is what God’s Word says, “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death. “Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death.” “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.” “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.”

This section begins by fleshing out the sixth commandment, “You shall not murder,” by dealing with intentional and unintentional killing. These laws involving death show how important the sanctity of life was to the Lord. The general principle is if someone intentionally strikes and kills another person they are to be put to death. This is called premeditated murder, which is a deliberate scheming to take another’s life. It is pretty clear cut that in this case the punishment is the death penalty. Now we see our first mitigating circumstance. The person did not intentionally kill the other person, but God let it happen. This reminds us that God is sovereign and nothing in this world happens without him knowing it and being in control of it. If the killing was unintentional the offender was to flee to a place that God designated.

The place or places that the offender could flee was the altar or the “cities of refuge.” They were literally fleeing to where God’s presence dwelt and throwing themselves on His mercy. This could be the altars that were set up in the wilderness or the altar in the tabernacle once it was built. Later, once they were in the Promised Land, God would set up six “cities of refuge” where the offender could go. If the offender had not committed premeditated murder but instead it was an accidental death of some kind, they could go to the altar or a city of refuge where they would have asylum until the judges or courts could hear and try their case. The reason this was needed was because of the blood-feuds that were prevalent at that time. The members of a family or tribe had the responsibility to punish anybody who wronged a member of their family or tribe especially in cases of murder. If at trial the offender was found guilty of premeditated murder, they would be taken from God’s altar and be put to death. There was no place you could hide, even at God’s altar, where His punishment would not reach you.

Next, we see the fleshing out of the fifth commandment to “honor your father and your mother.” After the sanctity of life came the sanctity of the family in importance. The family was the backbone of the community and so anything that destroyed the fabric of the community was condemned by God. If anyone attacked their father and or mother, they were sentenced to the death penalty. This included murder and even attempted murder. This showed a contempt and disrespect for those whom God had put in authority over them. This was not honoring their parents and their punishment was death. It is important to see that fathers and mothers were considered equals. The next scenario is someone who kidnaps another person for the purpose of selling them into slavery. Slavery, as we know it, was outlawed by God with this law. If you were caught dealing in slavery at any level, as a middleman or slave owner, you were subject to the death penalty. In other cultures, it would only have been a capital crime if the nobility was kidnapped. To God all human beings were made in His image and as such were sacred, no matter their status. God desires that His people are to be different from the pagan cultures around them.

Next, we revisit the fifth commandment of honoring your father and mother. If anyone was even found guilty of “cursing” their father or mother, they received the death penalty. ​​ This would have been more than just lashing out in anger at their parents one time. This meant acting with total disrespect toward them, over a period of time. The word for “honor” means “heavy” or “weighty.” To honor one’s parents means to give due weight to their position and authority. To ‘curse’ them is to make “light” of them, disparaging them, insulting them, treating them with contempt and refusing to accept their authority. A child who is guilty of attacking or killing their parents physically or even attacking them with their words would be subject to the death penalty.

That brings us to our second point this morning, Cases Involving Assault, found in Exodus 21:18-27. This is what God’s Word says, “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed. “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property. “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.”

This section on assaults shows four different cases. The first case is a quarrel between two people that starts with words and deteriorates into a physical fight. The fact that a stone or fist was used shows that it was not premeditated because there was no deliberate scheming beforehand. If one of the persons had died the other would have had to go and plead his case at the altar or a city of refuge. But in this case, one of them is hurt only enough to be confined to bed, meaning he has lost time at work and incurred medical bills. Because both parties were in the wrong, the one who struck the blow is not held responsible as long as the other does not die or is permanently disabled. But the one who caused the injury must pay for the others' lost work time and medical bills until they are completely healed. ​​ This again was more than what other cultures would award. The offender would have only had to pay the loss of earnings, not medical expenses.

The second case is about a master who beats a male or female slave with a rod, and they die as a direct result. This would include Hebrew servants and non-Hebrew slaves. Last week, we discussed masters and servants. Hebrews would sell themselves as servants because of poverty, being in debt or having to pay restitution. And in return they would receive room, board and a wage from their master. Also, non-Hebrew slaves were acquired by purchase or captured in war. The master had the right to discipline the servants and slaves working for him and the use of a rod was considered a non-lethal punishment. But the master had to be careful how severe his discipline was because even the life of a servant or slave was sacred to God. The punishment would have had to fit the crime meaning if the servant or slave died and there was intent or malice on the part of the master, they could receive the death penalty.

But if the servant or slave didn’t die, the master would not be punished. He would be given the benefit of the doubt in that he was just disciplining his servant and there was no intent to harm. Since the master had paid for the servant’s services they were considered “his property” or a more accurate translation of the Hebrew is they are “his money.” Because he relies on the servant or slave to work for him, the master would be a fool to cause them to not be able to work. The loss of work time and the medical costs to get them healthy enough to work again would be the punishment levied against the master. For Hebrew and non-Hebrew servants and slaves this law was a major upgrade from other cultures.

The third case is about a fight that causes injury to a third party or an innocent bystander. Using the scenario of the first case, a fight breaks out amongst two parties and an innocent bystander is injured. This describes an extreme case giving precedent for the less serious cases. In this case, the innocent bystander is a pregnant woman and due to getting hit during the fight she gives birth prematurely, but it seems that both mother and child are not seriously injured. The punishment would be a fine based on the demands of the husband of the injured woman and what the court would allow. In Hittite and Assyrian culture, the fines would have been based on social standing but not so in the Israelite community where all peoples were seen as equal in the eyes of God and the law.

Now what if the third party or innocent bystander died or was seriously injured. In the event of accidental death, the offender would go to the altar or a city of refuge and wait for the judge’s decision. But in the event of serious injury the judge could allow restitution which is what is meant by you to take life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, etc. ​​ This is called the “lex talionis” or the “law of retribution.” But this doesn’t mean that if I caused your eye to be taken out that my eye would be taken out. It would be more accurate to call it the “law of equivalence” meaning that the punishment was to fit the crime. In pagan cultures, the punishment did not always fit the crime especially if you were a person of status or money. Non-Israelite laws allowed fines in cases involving a higher status person permanently injuring a lower status person. Stuart says, “Expressions like “eye for an eye” were understood to mean “a penalty that hurts the person who ruined someone else’s eye as much as he would be hurt if his own eye were actually ruined also.” The precise penalty was left up to the judges by talion law; it might involve anything from banishment to loss of property (and/or property rights) to punitive confinement to special financial penalties to corporal punishment to public humiliation, or to any combination of these.” Again, these laws and standards were fairer and more just than what the pagan nations around them were. By implementing these standards, God was first inwardly changing his people’s hearts to be fair and just in order to change the world (Big Idea).

The fourth case again revisits the humane treatment and provision for manservants and maid servants. Again, it carefully limits and regulates the master’s discipline of his servants. Two extremes, eye and tooth, are used to show that the master needed to have the best welfare of his servants in mind at all times. If the servant, because of the master’s discipline, lost anything as serious as an eye to anything least serious as a tooth, the slave must be freed. Think about this: a servant is freed to take their services elsewhere to a better master. And if this master gets to be known as too strict of a disciplinarian, causing injuries to his servants, he could also lose the services of others who might be looking for work. In both these ways the master is punished by losing whatever monetary benefits he would receive from having servants. The fact that in Israel, servants and slaves had legal and human rights, was unheard of in the cultures surrounding them.

This brings us to our third point, Cases Involving Livestock, found in Exodus 21:28-36. This is what God’s Word says, “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death. However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death. “If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange. “If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.

In that society most everyone was a farmer and used bulls, oxen and donkeys to plow their fields and carry goods, etc. These animals were expensive and dangerous, and each person had an obligation to not let these beasts get out of hand. The first case is about a bull who gores a man or a woman to death. The stipulation is that there has been no prior goring by the bull; this is the first time it has happened. Again, it doesn’t matter if it killed a male or a female, punishment for the bull and owner was the same no matter which sex was killed. The punishment for the bull was it was stoned to death. Death by stoning was a form of capital punishment for humans and so this showed that God was holding the bull responsible for its actions. In Genesis 9:5 we see these words, “And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.” God demanded that people and animals be held responsible for their actions. In the surrounding nations, people were held responsible, not animals. God wanted His people and their animals to treat others better than the nations around them did. God’s creation is always held to a higher standard. The owner of the first-time offending bull would not be held legally responsible but there was still a built-in consequence. The meat of the bull could not be eaten because it was now defiled because of its actions. The owner of the bull not only lost the services of the bull, but couldn’t even benefit from its meat or skin, etc. As bulls were expensive this would have been a hardship on the owner.

The next case is about a bull who is in the habit of goring people and the owner knew it and had been warned about it. If this bull kills a man or a woman, it now becomes negligence on behalf of the owner. The owner did not take proper responsibility for his property, and someone was killed. The bull must be stoned, and the owner could incur the death penalty because he knew the bull was dangerous and didn’t do enough to protect others. This would fall under unintentional or negligent homicide and the victim’s family or the court could demand payment from the owner. The owner’s life could be redeemed by paying whatever is demanded. The next case says that the same law applies if a son or daughter was gored to death. Everyone is granted the same status under the law, father, mother, son or daughter. In the surrounding cultures, if someone’s son or daughter was gored to death, the victim’s family could take revenge and demand the life of the son or daughter of the offender. Deuteronomy 24:16 says, “Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.” Again, we see that God’s laws are fairer and more just and merciful than the nations around them.

The next case is about a bull who gores a male or female servant/slave. We know that the servant has been killed because the bull is stoned to death. Now it is not mentioned here, but the bull’s owner would still be held liable as in the previous cases but there is also a third party involved. The master of the servant who was killed must be compensated. The compensation here is an extra thirty shekels of silver and was mandated by God instead of the courts. This was considered the standard price for a slave (blood-price) and interestingly the price that Judas betrayed Jesus for. The fact that the bull was put to death emphasizes the value of the slave’s life. To the Lord there was no difference between a free person and a servant or slave. The next case is about negligence involving a person’s property that causes harm to an animal. If someone dug a pit or uncovered a pit and didn’t cover it back up, and an ox or donkey fell into it, the owner of the land the pit is on is liable. These animals were vital in that society and expensive for the owner to replace. The animal had probably died or had to be put down because of its injuries. The owner of the land the pit is on must pay the owner of the dead animal compensation. The owner of the pit was allowed to take possession of the dead animal but only for its skin. According to Deuteronomy 14:21, they were not to eat anything they found that was already dead but since it wasn’t the offending party the carcass could still be used. Now it’s not mentioned here, but if a person was killed by falling in the pit, the owner would be held liable for an accidental or negligent death and a ruling would be handed down like the deaths by a goring bull previously.

The last set of cases mentioned are about animals involved in killing another animal. If two bulls were fighting and one died the two owners share the losses equally. The live bull would be sold and the owners would divide the money and the carcass of the dead bull equally. There would be no special liability for the owner whose bull killed the other bull. But again, if there was negligence, if it was known the bull had a habit of goring and the owner didn’t keep it penned up, the offending bull’s owner would have to compensate the other owner for the dead bull. The offending owner could then keep the carcass of the dead bull.

Again, this week we may be wondering how we can apply this scripture to our lives today. I believe there are three ways. First, our Lord is a just God and because justice is part of His character, he can never be unjust. Psalms 89:14 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” And Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” Because the Lord wants to change the world by first changing us, he desires us to be just as he is just. He wants us to cultivate His sense of fairness and justice in our lives, not our own. That brings us to our first next step which is to cultivate God’s fairness and justice in my life and not my own.

Next, in every case that we’ve studied, we see that God wants his people to take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences for their actions. We see this whether we intentionally or unintentionally kill someone. We see this if an argument comes to blows or if an innocent bystander gets injured. We see this if our property causes death or injury. Again, because God wants to change the world by first changing us, he desires that His people accept responsibility and the consequences for their actions. That brings us to our second next step which is to accept the responsibility and the consequences for my actions.

Lastly, in order to cultivate the Lord’s fairness and justice in our lives and in order to accept responsibility and the consequences for our actions we must be changed. These attributes are not normally part of our sinful human nature. We must become more like Jesus, we must be connected to God, and we must allow Him to change our hearts from the inside out. The only way our church, community and the world can be changed is if each one of us individually allows God to change our hearts and we strive each and every day to live these attributes out. That brings us to our last next step which is to allow God to change my heart from the inside out using me to change the world.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this time that we have spent together learning more about you, your Word and worshiping your holy name. As we leave today, may we be committed to worshiping and serving you in our daily lives. Lord, show us ways that we can bless others each day and help us to share your Gospel with those we come in contact with. Fill us with your peace and joy and change our hearts from the inside out using each of us to change the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.