On Our Best Behavior

On Our Best Behavior

Most book lovers have a favorite spot to do their leisure reading. They like to read while lying on the beach, for example, or sitting at a sidewalk cafe. But almost no one does their leisure reading at a law library—not even lawyers. The shelves are weighed down with massive volumes, richly bound and embossed in gold. Lift one from the shelf, and one finds countless pages of legal regulations and judicial opinions, all printed in small type and carefully indexed. They are books people read when they have to, not because they want to. No doubt a lawyer would protest that the law has a beauty all its own. But an honest lawyer will admit that sometimes the law can be tedious. People often feel this way about the laws in the Bible. As legal codes go, the Old Testament law is relatively brief. The whole law can be bound in a slim paperback. But when most people read through it, they find it hard to concentrate. They get so little out of the law that they wonder whether it’s really worth the trouble.

But there are many good reasons to study the Old Testament law. It teaches us what God expects. It guides us into godliness. It exposes our sin and thus shows us our need for the gospel. But the law does something else that is very exciting: It reveals God’s character. This makes the Old Testament law different from any law code or book of court decisions. The law reveals the Lawgiver. We do not study it to find out what we have to do, but to know our God. And as we study and apply his law to our lives, we are conformed to his character. Also, every law on the list teaches us something about God, and together these laws show us how to live for his glory. That brings us to our big idea this morning which is God desires His people to reflect His character and live for His glory.

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word and that we can open it up, read it and study it. Lord, you have given us your Word so that we can learn more about who you are and what you’ve done for us and how much you love us. Your Word also tells us how to live our lives on this earth. So, Lord, pour out your Holy Spirit on us as we read and study your Word this morning in order to know you more as you reveal yourself to us and help us to go out from this place in obedience living out what we have read and studied. In Jesus’ name, Amen. ​​ 

Our first point this morning is Consequences found in Exodus 22:16-20. This is what God’s Word says, “If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins. “Do not allow a sorceress to live.” ​​ “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.” “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed.”

This first law is a connector between the property laws we studied last week and the social responsibility laws we will study this morning. This is because the consequences have to do with paying restitution. This law is about premarital sex between a man and a virgin girl. It is not a case of rape or the consequences for the male would have been to be put to death. It is a case of consensual sex on the part of the man and the woman. God gave this law to protect the girl and the rights of her father or family. Back then when a couple were to be married, the man would ask the girl’s father for his blessing. This was an important part of the process. The father had the right to refuse but if the man was of honorable character the father would probably give his permission.

They would then settle on the bride-price which was compensation to the father and family for the services of the daughter that would be lost once she was married. When a couple decided to get married it was assumed that both parties were sexually pure which would speak to their reputation and character. Premarital sex in the Israelite covenant community was not to happen. Sex was only to be a part of the marriage covenant. Neither a man nor a woman was to sleep around and have casual sex. If a man seduced a virgin, he had to do the right thing and marry her. In fact, the man didn’t have a choice. He would be required to marry the woman and pay the father the bride-price. This was a powerful incentive for the men to be on their best behavior and not seduce a virgin. But there was an exception to this law: the girl’s father could refuse to give his blessing, but the man would still have to pay the bride-price for her. The reason for this was because if the girl was not a virgin her marriage possibilities were lessened. But not having to pay the bride-price would have been an incentive for other men to ask for the father’s blessing in marrying his daughter. Ryken says, this law was “designed to promote godly patterns of courtship, marriage and sex, in that order. A real man of God could be trusted to preserve his own chastity and to protect the purity of women.” This is in keeping with the character of God. Because He is holy and pure, he wants us to preserve the purity of our sexuality. (Big Idea)

Next, we see three capital crimes in short, quick succession. The consequences for all three were the death penalty because they were an abomination to the Lord and attempted to substitute salvation in Yahweh with something else. Each of them involves false worship and kept the offender from salvation in the one true and living God. The first crime is being a sorceress. This was also true for a man who practiced sorcery as well. A sorcerer or sorceress told fortunes, communicated with the dead and practiced the occult which were absolutely forbidden in the covenant community. The pagan laws also punished sorcery with death, but they made an exception for what they called white magic. In Israel there was no distinction between black magic and white magic. They were both prohibited. When we go to a fortune-teller, visit a spirit shop or call the psychic hotline, we are trying to know our future apart from God’s will or trying to manipulate God’s will by using satanic powers. Doing these things gives Satan an opening to come into our hearts and minds and set up shop in our bodies and souls. When a person is involved in these practices, it keeps them from placing their faith in God alone and wanting to be in a relationship with Him. God wants us to trust in Him alone to know what His will is for each one of us. Leviticus 20:27 says, “A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death.” A sorcerer or sorceress was not allowed to live. They received the death penalty.

The second crime is so heinous we don’t even want to think about it: bestiality or having sex with an animal. This is deviant behavior and lowers God’s ultimate creation to the same level as the animals. It goes against the natural order of the world as God created it. This law was imposed because it was involved in the false worship of the pagan cultures around them. Their deities were portrayed participating in bestiality, and it was part of ritual pagan worship. Again, these practices substituted a false religion, a sexually based fertility religion, for a saving relationship with God. It was forbidden and the consequence was death. Leviticus 18:24-25 says, “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you become defiled. Even the land was defiled; so, I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.” One of the reasons why the Canaanites and other peoples were to be destroyed, and the Promised land given to God’s chosen people, was because of these filthy practices. God did not want His chosen people to be contaminated by the false worship of their gods. This was an open act of rebellion against the authority of the covenant king and the penalty was death.

The third crime is idolatry, the worship and offering of a sacrifice to other gods besides the one true God. This was a direct violation of the first commandment: to have no other gods before the Lord. It was an open act of rebellion or treason for anyone in the covenant community to worship other gods. This crime again kept people from a saving relationship with God and eternal salvation through Him. The penalty for committing this crime was to be destroyed. The word used here for “death” is different from the other words used for death in the Book of the Covenant. Ryken says, “This word means surrendering something to God for the purpose of utter and complete destruction.” This is the same word used in the book of Joshua for the destruction of the men, women, children and animals of the Canaanites as they conquered the land. Anyone and anything potentially hostile to God was to be destroyed. Literally, the guilty person, their family, possessions, etc. were to be a whole burnt offering to God on His altar. This was a serious matter, and we realize why idol worship was Israel’s greatest temptation both in the wilderness and the Promised Land.

The Israelites didn’t stop worshiping the Lord; they just worshiped other gods alongside Him. This syncretism, or the worshiping other gods alongside the one true God, still gets us in trouble today. We try to worship God alongside money, power, other people, other religions, possessions, etc. It comes down to wanting to be our own god and do our own thing without someone else telling us how to behave or act. But as Christ-followers we must reflect the character of God and live for him and his glory not our own (Big Idea). This means not trying to control or manipulate God by using satanic powers, not violating the sanctity of his image in us by acting like animals and it means not worshiping other gods alongside Him. That brings us to our first next step on the back of your communication card this morning which is to worship no other gods alongside the one true God. Let us be people who only worship the one true and living God.

That brings us to our second point this morning, Compassion, found in Exodus 22:21-27. This is what God’s Word says, “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”

What follows is three laws about how God’s people were to behave toward the disadvantaged and defenseless in the covenant community. The first law was a prohibition against mistreating or oppressing a foreigner. The word used for “oppress” literally means “to be squeezed” and can be used for all kinds of physical and psychological oppression. These would have been people who were living among the covenant community but were not natural born Jews. They didn’t have the rights of full citizens, such as ownership of land, or legal and political rights. They also didn’t have any family or clan support, they didn’t know the language, or the laws of the land which made them more likely to be exploited. They had no one to help them and no one to protect their rights.

Now these foreigners would have had to stop worshiping and sacrificing to their foreign gods, and this may be why this law was placed right after the laws prohibiting the practice of false religions around them. God wanted to make the distinction between foreign worship practices and the foreigners who lived among them. Reminds me of hate the sin and not the sinner. God’s covenant law required that His people behave properly toward the foreigners among them because this was the character of God. The Lord loves all people, even the foreigners who live among us, and He provides for them just as he provides for us. The Lord then gives the reason why they were to not mistreat or oppress the foreigner among them. It was because they knew what it was like to be a foreigner in Egypt. They knew what it meant to be in slavery and “squeezed” by physical and psychological oppression. God was reminding them of their time of slavery in Egypt and commanding them to be different when the shoe is on the other foot. But God knew human nature. He knew that when we are hurt by someone, in our humanness, we want to hurt someone else. So, he warned His people against the mistreatment of the foreigner among them. The mistreatment of foreigners was prevalent in pagan society and God demanded that His people be different and behave differently if they were going to be part of His holy, covenant people.

The second law was a prohibition against taking advantage of widows and orphans. These were the weakest and most vulnerable members of society in that day. They had no husbands or fathers to watch over them and to protect them or their welfare. Women could not own property and widows had no legal rights because they were normally represented by their husbands. If they were too old to work, they had no way to support themselves or get enough food to survive. A widow could end up being a slave working for virtually nothing. Orphans were in the same boat. If they had no inheritance, they could be forced to work for whatever someone would pay them. If they could not find work or no one took them into their home, they could starve or freeze to death. So, God made it the responsibility of the entire covenant community to care for the widows and orphans. He said they were not to be taken advantage of meaning they were not to be “abused, humiliated or afflicted” in any way.

Because of the seriousness of the plight of the widow and the orphan, this law came with a warning and a promise of punishment. God will “certainly” hear their cries just as He heard the cries of the Israelites in Egypt. This kind of behavior will not go unnoticed, and the same fate will await the Israelite oppressors that the Egyptian ones received. The Lord’s anger would be aroused, and he would kill them with the sword. These were covenant curses that God would bring against them meaning God would allow Israel’s enemies to attack and exterminate them from the face of the earth if they didn’t fulfill their responsibilities when it came to social justice. Their wives would become widows, and their children would become fatherless. This was divine lex talionis, an eye for an eye. If you oppressed widows and orphans, then you would expect to be punished by death and your wives and children became widows and orphans. This was not considered an individual act in the covenant community. The Lord would consider this injustice a matter of public concern, and the Lord would intervene and impose a punishment on the nation that fit the crime. Mackay says, this is an “impassioned expression of the Lord himself as he seeks to teach the people regarding the sort of conduct he expects from them and the penalties that will follow the disregard of his will.”

The third law commanded proper behavior toward the poor in the covenant community. The term “my people” shows that the Lord identified with all covenant people no matter their wealth or stature within the community. The Lord was teaching His people the correct behavior towards those in their community who have fallen on hard times. They were to be generous toward them and not to take advantage of them in their struggles. The righteous person would be willing to help them without question, being generous toward them and lending to them without charging interest of any kind. This kind of loan was to be given with the sole purpose of helping their neighbor in need. To make money from your neighbor’s needs would be immoral. But in Luke 6:35, Jesus commands His disciples to go even farther. He says, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” Notice what Jesus is telling them. They are to lend without expecting to get back what they lent. The interest free loan now becomes a gift. If they did this for their enemies how much more should they do for their neighbors in the covenant community.

The next part of this law shows that the Lord was speaking about the poorest of the poor here. A pledge was collateral that the person would pay back the loan. If all the person had for collateral was their cloak, it meant that he was very poor and had to pretty much give everything they had to get the loan. The cloak was an outer garment that a person would have used to keep warm at night. Only someone in extreme poverty would have to stoop to such desperate measures. Normally, the lender could have kept the collateral until the loan was paid back but God commanded that they return the cloak to the person by sunset. This ensured not only that the person would be warm as they slept at night but that their health would not be put at risk. This law would also include any essential item, such as food, job, shelter, a family member, being put up as a pledge. The Lord wanted his people to act not on the letter of the law but in a spirit of concern for the good of their fellow human beings. The reason that we need to treat the poor with respect, kindness and compassion is because God is a compassionate God, and we are to reflect His character for His glory (Big Idea).

The standard and model for our behavior is the Lord. That is why these laws are not just for the judges to rule but for us to follow to become more like Him. A good measure of our moral character and our obedience to the one true and living God is how we treat the foreigner, the widow, the orphan and the poor. There was no welfare system in Israel. The covenant community was to take care of those who were the most in need of help. They were not to discriminate against them like the pagan peoples did but were to treat everyone like family. God’s people are called to a higher standard which reflects his compassionate character for all people. So how should we treat the outsider? How should we treat the one who is alone and unprotected? How should we treat the poor? If we are going to call ourselves Christ-followers, we must take responsibility to provide for those who are different from us, weaker than us and poorer than us. God has done these things for us at one time or the other and we must be willing to do the same for those who are in need. ​​ Ephesians 5:1 says, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” We are called to imitate Christ and one way we can do that is to watch out and provide for the ones who are different from us, weaker than us and poorer than us. That brings us to our second next step which is to watch out and provide for those who are different from me, weaker than me and poorer than me.

Our third point is Consecration found in Exodus 22:28-31. This is what God’s Word says, “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people. “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. “You must give me the firstborn of your sons. Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days but give them to me on the eighth day. “You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.

In the last section, God commanded His people how he wanted them to behave toward the less fortunate in the covenant community. In this section he commands them how they were to behave towards those more fortunate or higher than they were in the covenant community. They were to be “holy” people, totally consecrated and set apart for God and to His service. If they were living holy lives, it would be seen in their speech. Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” God cares about how we talk about him and others. In the first law, God addressed how they were to talk towards Him. They were not to “blaspheme” God. The word used here for “blaspheme” is the same word used in Exodus 21:17, talking about cursing father or mother. This was behaving disrespectfully toward the Lord. We owe the Lord honor and glory for who He is. He is sovereign, holy, just and the ruler over all things in heaven, on the earth and below the earth. To “blaspheme” God means making “light” of Him, disparaging Him, insulting Him, treating Him with contempt and refusing to accept His authority. Failing to acknowledge His glory and majesty is a sin against the third commandment “to not take His name in vain.” We owe one another compassion because all people are made in the image of God, and we owe God our total respect and honor because he is our awesome God.

Also, they were not to curse those whom God had put in charge over them. They were His delegates on the earth, and they were to respect them and behave properly toward them in their speech because they were divinely appointed by God himself. The word for “curse” means to usurp the authority given to them by God, and to take it for ourselves. Paul says this in Romans 13:1-2, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” Even though no punishment is mentioned here, if you “cursed” any authority in the covenant community you would be judged, and the punishment would probably be death as it was in Exodus 21:17.

What else did they owe God? The Israelites owed God the first fruits of their field and vineyards. They owed the best to their covenant Lord. The second law stated they were not to hold back these offerings from the Lord. We also owe God the first and best of our resources. We owe him the best of what we have because we love Him and want to obey him in all things and in every aspect of our lives. To “hold back” suggests that we should not delay in giving back to Him. Trapp says, “True obedience is prompt and present, ready and speedy, without demurs and consults.” After speaking to the covenant people about not withholding a poor man’s cloak, the Lord now speaks to them about not withholding from Him the first and best of what he has given to them. If it is wrong to withhold a person’s cloak at night, how much worse would it be to withhold the first and the best of our resources from Him? This would be a direct act of covenant defiance against their covenant King.

In the third law, God also required they give Him their firstborn sons and the firstborn of their cattle and sheep. This goes back to God’s commandment to the Israelites in Exodus 13:1-2 which says, “The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” Israel was God’s own possession by right of creation and redemption. As a reminder of what he had done for them, he required his people to consecrate the firstborn of their sons and animals to him. The firstborn male sons were redeemed with a price which substituted for their lives. The firstborn animals were to stay with their mother for seven days before being given or sacrificed to the Lord on the eighth day. This would fatten the newborn animal making it more desirable as a sacrifice to the Lord and lessen the shock to the mother in losing their newborn too early. The “eighth day” was a precise length of time again reminding His people to not delay their offerings to him. It also reminded them of circumcision, which every male was required to have done, marking them as part of the covenant community. We are to be God’s holy people, set apart from the world to do His will in the world, offering ourselves and our resources to Him. Remarkable things happen in congregations and with individuals when there is a consecration of self and resources. That brings us to our third next step on the back of your communication card which is to Consecrate myself and my resources to the Lord to be used for His will.

The fourth law reiterates that the Israelites were to be God’s holy people and so they were not to eat meat of an animal torn apart by “wild beasts.” This was for a couple of reasons. One, it may have had blood still in it, which was forbidden to eat. Two, it could be contaminated by the heat and being left outside for a period of time which would make it a health concern. But these concerns were only part of it. Ryken says, “It was a matter of ritual purity. In order to teach his people how important it was for them to remain separated from sin, God distinguished between clean and unclean animals.” The food regulations were to be a perpetual symbolic reminder of their privileged status not just as individuals but as His covenant community. Meat that had been “torn by wild animals” was not fit to be eaten by His holy and consecrated people. It was only good to be fed to the dogs.

God wanted his people to be holy in every part of their life. He wanted them to have an uncompromising personal devotion to Him. This meant every day and in every aspect of their lives. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” Mackay says, “This holiness was not arbitrary but derived from the character of God himself.” We are to become more like God and His son, Jesus. We are to be people whose whole lives are stamped with His character and lived for His glory (Big Idea). Our holiness is seen, by only worshiping the Lord, in our compassion for the foreigner, widow, orphan and the poor, in the way we handle our money with both our neighbors and our God and even in what we consume. God wants uncompromising and comprehensive holiness from us. He wants us to be ​​ holy in every aspect of our lives without exception.

Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s first prime minister, is reported to have said that ‘if religion is going to invade a person’s private life, things have come to a pretty pass’. He was a well-intentioned and a good, even religious, man to the extent of attending church on Sunday, but he wanted his religion safely packed away in a box and kept there. The Book of the Covenant says that this is not an option. Like a dog, religion too is not just for Christmas, it is for life. True religion cannot be confined. The Lord demands entrance into every aspect of the life of his redeemed, and he looks to govern every aspect by his revealed truth. Let us be people who strive to live uncompromising and comprehensive holy lives every single day to the glory of God reflecting his character to the world around us. That brings us to our last next step on the back of your communication card which is to Live every aspect of my life with uncompromising and comprehensive holiness unto the Lord.

As Gene & Roxey come to lead us in a final hymn and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings, let’s pray: God, you are Holy and Sovereign, you are loving and compassionate and Lord we see your many attributes in Your Word and in your law. Thank you that you reveal your character in the law you gave to the Israelites and to us. Help us to reflect your character in our lives and live to glorify you daily. Lord, help us, through your Holy Spirit, strive to worship no other gods alongside You. Help us to watch out and provide for those who are different, weaker, and poorer than us. Help us to consecrate ourselves and our resources to you to be used for your will. And help to strive to live every aspect of our lives with uncompromising and comprehensive holiness. Thank you that you care enough about us to give us your Word. Go before us, guide us into all truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.