We live in a time, and a place, when violent people do violent things all the time. The world as a whole feels unsafe, and it feels like it's getting worse. Every day, we get updates about some new terrible act of violence, and we go through life just sort of constantly thinking about it.
When we find ourselves thinking, or talking, about these things, we usually end up focusing on how society as a whole should respond. What do we want politicians, and district attorneys, and police officers, to do, to keep us safe, and to deal with violent people? When violent people are caught, what should happen to them?
These are good questions, and ones we need to ask. What we've seen in places like San Francisco, or Chicago, is that if you let people do whatever they want, without consequences, that they will do whatever they want. Chicago sounds like ancient Israel in the book of Judges: "Each one did what was right in his own eyes." (Liberal) Voters across the U.S. are surprised by this, but God has been telling his people that this is what humans are like for thousands of years. It's no surprise to us. Genesis 6:5: 5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually."
I'll probably talk a little about these questions this morning, because Exodus 21 is a good passage to help us think about these things. But my focus, for today, is on reading this for the church-- for God's people, who are living in covenant relationship with God. How does God expect his people to act-- people who have entered into his kingdom rule, and committed to living under his kingdom laws? And, beyond that, I really want to answer two specific questions: (1) Should you get in fights with people, and punch them in the face? (2) What should you do, when someone punches you in the face?
Next week, we'll answer a third question: (3) What should you do, when you see someone punching someone else in the face?
What we will see, today, and in the next few weeks, is that in the OT, God assumes his people won't do the right thing. Even his people will commit acts of violence. They will murder. They will commit manslaughter. They will abuse their "servants."
God seemingly assumes that simply telling his people, "Don't do these things," won't keep them from doing them.
Instead, when God speaks here, and gives Israel his law, He seems to have to other goals. First, He wants his people to understand the nature of sin. In Paul's words, "Through the law comes knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7-9). We will find ourselves, after reading these words, having far more clarity about violent sins. And
God's second goal, in designing these laws, is to help is help his people understand how to respond to violence. These laws give guidance for how to pick up the pieces, after violent deeds are done. So I think our job, in reading these, has two steps. First, we will take these verses seriously, on their own, reading only Exodus. We will think about the nature of violence. Second, we will then take a step back, and think about what it is that God actually wants, bringing in the NT. And just to mix it up, I'm going to use Paul this morning, and not Jesus (and I want to bring out parts of my new commentary on Romans by Michael J. Gorman).
Let's start by reading just Exodus 21:12:
(12) A striker of a man-- and he dies-- shall surely be put to death,
This is the guiding principle, and the blanket statement, that governs everything else we are about to read. In the 10 commandments, God simply said, "You shall not murder." Here, we learn the consequences to murder. If you "strike" someone, and they die, you will surely be put to death. Murderers are not tolerated inside of God's kingdom. There's at least two reasons for this. The first is that we humans are made in God's image (Genesis 5:1). Part of what this means, is that we "image" God on earth. We serve as extensions of him, and representatives of him. The idea is something like a diplomat, working on behalf of his king or president. Any attack on the diplomat, is an attack on the king. [The standard work on this is J. Richard Middleton, The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1.]
The second reason murderers aren't tolerated inside God's kingdom, is that this is the complete opposite of God's vision for his kingdom. In the OT, God tolerates a certain amount of violence. But murder is too far. Murderers completely destroy society, and need to be removed.
So. Verse 12 gives us the overarching principle, that is the starting point and baseline for everything else that follows. Murder someone, and you get killed.
Then, in verses 13-14, Moses gives us our first qualification, of sorts. Let's reread verse 12, and push forward:
(12) A striker of a man-- and he dies-- shall surely be put to death,
(13) while if he doesn't hunt/stalk, while God allows it to happen to his hand, I will appoint for you a place
where he shall flee to there.
(14) and when a man seethes/schemes concerning his neighbor to murder him with cunning/cleverness, from my altar you shall take him to die,
Verse 13 holds out a different outcome for a particular kind of killer. If you meet two criteria, you can flee to a sanctuary city, and live there in peace.
The first qualification you have to meet, is that you didn't "hunt," or "stalk." Verse 14 unpacks this a little more: you can't murder someone with "scheming," and "cunning," and live.
What we are seeing here is the distinction our own laws make, based on whether or not the killing was premeditated. Imagine that you decide that someone just has to die, for some reason. You will kill them. But, you also want to get away with it. You don't want to get killed, or thrown in jail. What do you do? You find yourself stalking them, like you'd maybe stalk a deer. You follow them, learning their patterns of life. You find the deer paths they walk, that lead from fields to water. You figure out when they're vulnerable, and when you're likely to get away with it. And then, finally, you murder them at the perfect time.
If you do this, in the OT, you get killed. Even if you've fled to God's sanctuary after murdering someone, and you've laid hold of God's own altar, that will be no protection for you.
But let's say that you kill someone, without stalking them first. It's not premeditated. You've met the first qualification. There's also a second qualification, or condition, you have to meet, to be allowed to flee to a sanctuary city. Verse 13 says that the killing has to be one that God "allowed to happen to his hand."
I think the idea here, is that it has to be the kind of death that was random, and unexpected. In our Joshua study, I talked about how God expects his people to live carefully, and how most things that we would call "accidents" are actually preventable. It's really hard to accidentally shoot someone, because every gun is treated with respect, as though it's loaded. It's really hard to kill someone crossing a sidewalk, because you clear every intersection before you drive through it. It's really uncommon, and really hard, for one human to kill another, and it to be a true "accident." So it can't be premeditated, and it has be a true accident. A freaky, unforeseeable, unpreventable death.
With this, we come to verses 15-17. Here, we learn that there are other sins deserving the death penalty in ancient Israel:
(15) while the one striking his father or his mother shall surely be put to death,
(16) while the one kidnapping a man/person,
and he sells him,
and/or he is found in his hand/possession, he shall surely be put to death,
(17) while the one "cursing"/[declaring contemptible] his father or his mother shall surely be put to death,
Verse 13 had said that if you strike someone, and they don't die, you don't get killed. But verse 15 qualifies this, by saying it isn't true for your parents. If you strike your father or mother, regardless of whether or not you kill them, you deserve death. Now, I don't think God has in mind a two year old, in anger, taking a swing at his dad. I think God has in mind someone like me, losing my temper at my dad, maybe disagreeing about how to run the family farm, and punching him.
The other thing you can't do, with your parents, is in verse 17. It's a little debated how we should understand the verb here. But the idea is probably something like cursing. Not in the sense of saying cursing at your parents, by calling them bad words. But in the sense of, pronouncing a curse of some type on them.
The idea that either of these things deserve death maybe shocks us. But God finds sins against your parents appalling. In God's kingdom, the starting point for family relations, is that you honor your father and mother. You treat them with respect, and dignity, until the day that you, or they, die.
And if we stop to think about, even hardened criminals usually treat their parents with honor and respect. A gang leader, who rules his neighborhood, will probably also give his mom a kiss when he sees her, and he'll make sure she's doing okay in life.
There's one other sin that God lists here as deserving death, in verse 16: kidnapping. We tend to think of kidnapping mostly in terms of a ransom. Someone wealthy has their children kidnapped, and they have to pay money to get their children safely home. Every TV show needs this to happen at least once.
But my guess is that most of the time, kidnapping is done for a different reason-- you kidnap people, in order to sell them as slaves to someone else, or use them as slaves yourselves. The idea is more like human trafficking. And God says that people who do this, regardless of whether or not they are actually caught with the victims, deserve death. So, to use an example from the Bible, when Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, that was a sin that deserved death. Or, to use an example from today, the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the U.S. every year. If the U.S. was ancient Israel, living under God's covenant, everyone caught who was involved in that would be killed.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/ovc_archives/ncvrw/2005/pg5l.html#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20an%20estimated%2014%2C500,(U.S.%20Department%20of%20Justice.
Starting in verse 18, we read about situations where people act violently, but don't deserve death:
(18) and if men quarrel (Gen. 26:20-- the word describes a verbal quarrel, not a physical "fight"),
and a man strikes his neighbor with a stone or with a fist,
and he doesn't die,
but he falls to bed [=he's bed-ridden]--
(19) if he stands and he walks around outside on his staff--
(then) the one striking shall go unpunished.
Only, his loss of time he shall pay,
and he surely/fully/actually heals,
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In verse 19, the line "if he stands and he walks around outside on his staff" is a little awkward, and the kind of thing English Bibles clean up. Being bed-ridden is contrasted with being able to move around outside with a temporary walking stick. It's clarifying how badly you have to be beat up, to get compensation. LXX also a little awkward, so I assume there isn't a text-critical issue here.
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Let's pause here. If you get in a fight with me, and you beat me up so badly that I can't function for a week, you'd maybe be proud of yourself. I'd be embarrassed, but not surprised. What happens next? Verse 19 first says, that you go "unpunished." You aren't killed, for winning a fight with me.
Moses then adds an "only" statement. What "only" does, is qualify something just said (see van der Merwe, Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar). Here, it's qualified two ways (I think).
First, you aren't "punished," but you do at this point have a debt toward me. You are responsible for paying my lost wages, until I'm able to work again. Nothing is said here about who started the fight, or whether or not I deserved to get punched in the face. It doesn't matter, whose fault it is. If you take the fight so far that I'm unable to work-- if you don't stop until I'm bed-ridden for a week-- then you have to pay for my lost time.
Moses then adds a second qualification, I think. The Hebrew is a little tricky, and I'm not sure, to be honest. But I think what Moses is doing, is qualifying this a second way, by saying that all of this assumes that I fully heal. If you beat me up in a way that permanently damages me in some way, you owe me extra compensation. How much that is, would depend on a lot of things. And I'm guessing the specific dollar amount would be something decided by the town elders. But the bottom line, is that I get paid.
So if you're an Israelite reading this, what does it teach you?
God assumes that you will lose your temper with me, and want to fight me. He assumes that sometimes, that fight will be serious, and that it won't stop until one of us is beaten to a pulp.
Now, there is usually a moment in every fight where someone is clearly victorious. The other person can't really defend themselves any more, and they are totally vulnerable. If there was a referee, the fight would be called at that point. But in real life, probably no one will stop you. And that includes God. God will not keep people from badly hurting others. God made the decision, after the flood, to allow people to do evil things, because the only other alternative, is to keep wiping out the earth with a flood (Genesis 8:21).
So in the OT, imagine that you're in a fight, and you've beaten up your opponent so badly that he can no longer protect himself with his hands. He's just open, and vulnerable, and defeated. In that moment, you have to decide when you've done "enough." When is it time for you to back away, and be done? If you take this further, it's probably going to cost you financially. Maybe, in the heat of the moment, you won't find yourself thinking about the balance on your checking account. But you sure will later, when your opponent can't even get out of bed. And again, how did this section on violence start? Verse 12 teaches that if you strike that one last fatal blow, and his nose ends up in his brain, or he dies from internal bleeding, you'll be killed.
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So what do we learn from this passage?
(1) There are certain sins that deserve death, and others that don't. Some sins are worse than others. Murdering someone in cold blood, deliberately, is far worse than losing your temper and taking a swing at someone (who isn't your parent). Human trafficking, is a truly terrible sin. The fact that it's still happening today, across the globe, doesn't seem possible. It seems like this is the kind of sins humans have figured out how to stop doing. But we haven't. Cursing your parents, or "striking" them, is a truly terrible sin.
(2) God, in the OT, tolerates a certain amount of violence among his people. In some sense, He accepts that his people will act violently toward one another ("even though" every inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; Genesis 8:21). There are times that you and I will want to punch each other in the face. And there are times when we will give in to that urge, and take a swing. It's inevitable, in the OT.
(3) God, in the OT, places limitations on the degree to which his people can harm each other. You can murder someone, once. You can kidnap someone, once. And then, at that point, God has given his people the responsibility of killing people who do this. Murderers don't go to jail to get rehabilitated, and then released back into society after five or ten or twenty years. They get killed. At least in ancient Israel, murderers would be killed. Doing this rids the land of bloodguilt (Deuteronomy 19:13). And doing this, stops the endless violence, one person at a time.
(4) In the OT, when you wrong someone, you have a debt toward them. I'm not going to unpack this really. I just want you to see it. Verse 19:
(19) if he stands and he walks around outside on his staff--
(then) the one striking shall go unpunished.
Only, his loss of time he shall pay,
and he surely/fully/actually heals,
If you beat someone up, you are responsible for paying their bills until they are healed. You are their paycheck, until they're back on their feet.
Sins have horizontal dimensions. It's just about sinning against God. I sin against you; you sin against me. And that debt is something you have to pay, not just to God, but also to the person you sinned against. (Zacheus repaying fourfold those he had wronged; Luke 19:8; -- but saving that for verses 21ff.). So sometimes, when you wrong people, depending on what you did, a simple apology is not enough. Part of making things right, is compensating them.
(4) If we take a step back, and view this passage as a whole, we see that there is a fundamental problem with humanity, that the law doesn't fix. The law doesn't correct the source of the problem. It deals with sinful behavior, after the fact. What we see, really, is that even God's people, in the OT, live as slaves to Sin. Let's read from Romans 3:9-20 (what follows is based on Michael J. Gorman, Romans: A Theological and Pastoral Commentary, 42-43):
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off?[a] No, not at all; for I[b] have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, 10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands, no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong;
no one does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave, [violence]
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood, [violence]
16 in their paths are ruin and misery, [violence]
17 and the way of peace they do not know.” [violence]
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
We tend to think of sin, and the gospel, in an individualistic way. I was a sinner, living as a slave to Sin. And God forgave me of my sins, and freed me from the power of Sin, so that I could be reconciled to God. All of that is true. But the good news is bigger than that. What Paul is saying here, in Romans 3, is that the Jewish people-- God's people-- didn't know "the way of peace." They used their mouths as a grave, to swallow people up. They were violent, and shed blood. They caused "ruin and misery" to each other. They were a violent, sinful mess. And Paul says that all of this is true for us Gentiles as well. It's not just Jews. Jews and Gentiles, together, were caught as slaves to Sin. All of us were caught in an endless cycle of violence.
Part of what makes the gospel such good news, is that God has fixed the flaw in humans, that keeps them from living peaceably with one another. When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into his death, and died to ourselves, and to Sin. We were freed from Sin, because the one who has died, has died to Sin. And we were raised up to newness of life in Christ-- a different kind of life-- so that we are able to live as slaves to God, to righteousness, to holiness. We were given the Holy Spirit, who enables us to live the right way. The Spirit gives us the power to stop "quarrels" (Exodus 21:18) in their tracks. When we rely on the Spirit, we find ourselves not needing to have the last word in an argument. We have the strength to give people the benefit of the doubt. To forgive slights. To back down. To not insist on getting our way. To look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of one another. To apologize, when we say something we regret.
And if a quarrel somehow turns into a physical fight, the Spirit gives us the strength to turn the other cheek. God's people know how to take a punch.
Peacekeeping, and peacemaking, are a core part of God's vision for his people. It's not secondary, or optional. You were saved, for this. This is what it looks like, to be holy, and righteous. This is how you walk worthily of the gospel.
And if this isn't a core value, and goal, it won't happen. Right? Relationships are hard. And the more you open yourselves up to people, and the more involved you get in each other's lives, the more this will happen.
In a perfect world, when we find ourselves starting to quarrel, we will back down, and not insist on getting our own way (1 Corinthians 13:5). We will keep peace with one another.
When we fail, we work at being reconciled to one other again.
And every time we successfully patch things up, and move forward as a family, we fulfill God's law, and we fulfill God's vision for us. A healthy church is one where people figure out how to make things work.
This is what power looks like, for a Spirit-filled people. [that, and healings and signs and wonders :) ]
Now, I know in my own life, that there are times when there's been a huge gap between how God wants me to live, and how I actually live. What Paul says about peacekeeping, and peacemaking, stings.
And my guess is that some of you, at least, are in the same boat.
But the fact that we've failed in the past, or that there are maybe some awkward relationships right now between some of us, doesn't make all of this wrong, or false.
It just shows... what?
Maybe it shows that we haven't yet learned how to walk in step with the Spirit, and be led by the Spirit.
Maybe it shows we aren't truly focused on sowing to please the Spirit.
Maybe it shows we haven't understood how big the gospel is, and what God sent Jesus to do.
Again, God has brought his heavenly kingdom to earth, and welcomed everyone into it, as they give their allegiance to King Jesus. And inside of this kingdom, we-- in theory-- live peaceably with God (Romans 5:1), with one another, and with outsiders (Romans 8:6; Romans 12:18; Romans 14:17; Romans 14:19; Romans 15:13). We do this through the Holy Spirit, who gives us the power and the strength to not fight back (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Romans 14:17-19). He gives us strength to do what we have to do to live peaceably with all, as much as it depends on us. That's what power looks like, in God's kingdom.
So if you find yourself struggling with weakness in this area, ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit. His Spirit, will give you the power to live peaceably.
And the other thing you can do, we learned in our study on James. Ask God to give you wisdom, to live the right way.
Let's live in peace with God, and with each other. And let's extend that peace to everyone around us.
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Sermon Scrap #1:
(1) So the OT law assumes that fights and murder usually start with a quarrel. But for us, it shouldn't reach that point. And if it does, that's as far as it should ever go. And if it goes further, to physical violence, it stops immediately. We don't swing back. For us, there's multiple lines in the sand, which in its own way, is a very OT approach to things.
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Sermon Scrap #2:
(2) So what God has done through Jesus, is create the type of covenant community He's been wanting for thousands of years. We know the way of peace (Romans 3:17), and that's the road we walk. We fulfill the law, as we live in peace with everyone. We fulfill God's vision for humanity. And as we go through life, we extend God's offer of peace to everyone around us.
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Translation:
(12) A striker of a man-- and he dies-- shall surely be put to death,
(13) while if he doesn't hunt/stalk, while God allows it to happen to his hand, I will appoint for you a place
where he shall flee to there.
(14) and when a man seethes/schemes concerning his neighbor to murder him with cunning/cleverness, from my altar you shall take him to die,
(15) while the one striking his father or his mother shall surely be put to death,
(16) while the one kidnapping a man/person,
and he sells him,
and/or he is found in his hand/possession, he shall surely be put to death,
(17) while the one declaring contemptible his brother or his mother shall surely be put to death,
(18) and if men quarrel (Gen. 26:20),
and a man strikes his neighbor with a stone or with a fist,
and he doesn't die,
but he falls to bed [=he's bed-ridden]--
(19) if he stands and he walks around outside on his staff--
(then) the one striking shall go unpunished.
Only, his loss of time he shall pay,
and he surely/fully/actually heals,
