September 18, 2010 – Exodus 21

Here we see a reference to thirty pieces of silver.  That comes up again as the price Judas receives for selling out Jesus.  It is the price that the owner of a slave would receive if that slave was killed by being gored by somebody's bull.  We see that Christ was sold for the price of a slave. 

It the inspirational Bible I have, it mentions in the footnotes that although the Hebrews had slaves, they did not consider them property and treated them humanly.  But it says in verse 21 that the slave is the owner’s property.  Just found that interesting looking at the footnotes.

It also talks about that even though slavery is mentioned and rules were given about it by God, the is never support given for slavery.  God never commands them to have slaves or the slavery is completely ok.  That seems to me like a cop-out.  Slavery was allowed, not because God didn’t want to take it away from them or make it illegal, but for some other reason.  As I stated in one of my comments before, God has a reason for everything He does.  Nothing is said or omitted without a reason.  What do I think God allowed slavery with the Hebrews for.  Allows a foreshadowing of Christ as slave.  Helps them see the lowly and their faith.  If slavery is used as a punishment, it will keep all humble. 

I think we may be judging the past by the rules we have today.  The idea laid out in the Declaration of Independence were pretty unique.  The idea that all men are created equal and that they all have the same rights was not the world of these Hebrews. 

Then again, Truth never changes.  Basically, I don’t have a good answer to any of the questions the reading got me reflecting on.  But there is plenty there to think about.