Bible Commentaries
Exodus 21

Verses 1-8

XXIV

GOD AND THE STATE, THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN, THE PROMISES, AND THE RATIFICATION OF THE COVENANT Exodus 21:1-24:8

1. What are the lesson and the themes?

Ans. – Lesson: Exodus 21:1-24:8. Themes: (1) God and the state; and the state and the citizen, 21:1-23:19.

(2) The promises of the covenant, Exodus 23:20-33.

(3) The ratification of the covenant, Exodus 24:1-8. Having considered Part I of the covenant, the Decalogue, or God and the normal man, and Part II, the altar, or God and the sinner, we now consider Part III, the judgments, or God and the state, and the state and the citizen. This lesson is contained in Exodus 21-23.

2. What is the name of section Exodus 21:1-23:19?

Ans. – This section is called the judgments, or decrees.

3. What is the book of the covenant, and what may it be called?

Ans. – The whole book of the covenant, i.e., from Exodus 19:1-24:8, in its three parts and in its ratification, may well be called the constitution of the nation of Israel; and all subsequent legislation in the Pentateuch is but statutes developed from this constitution. The United States has a written Constitution; all the legislation of Congress must be simply enlargements or developments of the fundamental principles contained in that Constitution.

4. How is God recognized in this section?

Ans. – He is the author of the state, as he is the author of its antecedents, – the family and the tribe.

5. What results from this origin of the state?

Ans. – God’s providential government over the nations, counted as units, and their responsibility to him.

6. How does Paul put it?

Ans. – In Romans 13:1-7, he says: "The powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God: and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment. For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. And wouldest thou have no fear of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from the same: for he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be in subjection not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For for this cause ye pay tribute also; for they are ministers of God’s service, attending continually upon this very thing. Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour."

In I Timothy Paul puts it this way: "I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men; for kings and all that are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." The powers, then, must be respected and honoured, and must be prayed for by those having the good of society at heart (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

7. What is extent of God’s government over the nations and the proof from Paul and Daniel?

Ans. – It is absolute in authority and universal in scope; so that the ruler or state must perish that despises God, as Paul says in Acts 17:24-31: "God hath determined . . . the bounds of their habitation and decreed that they should seek after him." Daniel puts it more strongly in Daniel 4:10-37, especially Daniel 4:17; Daniel 4:25; Daniel 4:34-35; Daniel 4:37, where it is affirmed that God holds a nation responsible just as he holds an individual responsible, and that the ruler who does not know God puts himself on a level with the beast, and that he must be disciplined until he does know that the Most High ruleth over the nations of the world, and that the inhabitants of the earth are but as grasshoppers in his sight.

8. From what additional source arises the state’s jurisdiction over the citizen?

Ans. – We have just discussed the authority of God over the state. Now the authority of the state over the citizen, apart from God’s having ordained it, arises also from the social nature of man. He is not independent of other men but codependent with them. The ties which bind him to his fellow men are natural, inherent, indissoluble, and cannot be despised with impunity; so that he cannot be self-centered and apart.

9. What was the particular form of state government organized at Sinai and its subsequent changes?

Ans. – This particular Jewish state was theocratic in form, God himself was the king of the nation, and in visible symbol dwelt among them. But keep the etymology of certain words in your mind, viz.: theocracy, aristocracy, democracy. That form of government established over the Jewish nation at Sinai was theocratic, i.e., God was the ruler. There were changes in the form of this national government in subsequent ages. The first change took place in the days of Samuel, when the people rejected God as governor and selected, after the manner of the nations, a man to be their ruler (1 Samuel 8:4-22 Joshua was priest, and the heads of the tribes were the rulers.). This was the establishment of a monarchial form of government, not theocratic; it was thus changed from a theocracy to a monarchy. Subsequently it perished (2 Kings 25) and the form of government became in the days of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zechariah, a mixture of democratic, aristocratic, and the priestly. That is to say, Zerubbabel was governor, Joshua was priest, and the heads of the tribes were the rulers. This mixture continued until under Herod the Great it again became a kingdom, a monarchy, and from that time, it passed into a provincial government under Roman procurators. Those were the changes in the government; then upon the destruction of Jerusalem they were a scattered people without a king, without an ephod, without a priest, without a temple, without sacrifices, and with no national government; and they continue so until this day.

10. Our present section (Ex. 21:1-22:10) establishes the general principles on which the state shall deal with what matters?

Ans. - (1) With property in slaves, Exodus 21:1-11; (2) The sanctity of human life, or criminal law, Exodus 21:12-36; (3) With other kinds of property, Exodus 22:1-15; (4) With the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and the poor, Exodus 22:21-27; Exodus 23:5; Exodus 23:11; (5) With cases of seduction, Exodus 22:16-17; (6) With sins against nature, Exodus 22:19, that mate man with the brute, disregarding the distinction between man and beast; (7) With the rights of neighbor or enemy in the matter of his domestic animals going astray, or found in suffering, Exodus 23:4-5; (8) With false testimony and bribery, Exodus 23:1-3; Exodus 23:7-9; (9) With sins against the first commandments, i.e., making sacrifices to others than Jehovah, Exodus 22:20; Exodus 23:13; (10) Sins of necromancy, Exodus 22:18, i.e., wizards or witches ’that seek to find out the future from the dead or from other sources, and not depending on God for revelation; (II) Sins against rulers, Exodus 22:28: "Thou shalt not curse the rulers of the people," Exodus 23:10-11, and of the weekly sabbaths, Exodus 23:12; (12) With God’s rights to his firstfruits of the family, the harvest, the herd, and the flock, Exodus 22:29-31; (13) The three annual festivals, Exodus 23:14-19; (14) With cases of eating blood, Exodus 22:31. Man was not allowed to eat meat with blood in it, for the blood is the life thereof. He could eat no meat from which the blood had not first been drained; if an animal died and the blood was still in him, he must not eat of that animal; if a wild beast had killed an animal and the blood remained in it he could not eat that which was slain of the beasts. This section shows that God gives the state power to deal with these fourteen questions; it is not God but the state dealing with them. If one violated the sabbath law, the state could put him to death; if he made a sacrifice to another god, the state could put him to death; if he stole a man and put him into slavery, the state could put him to death.

11. What is evident from the scope and variety of these’ cases?

Ans. – From the scope and variety of these judgments it is evident that a theocratic state is a union of church and state, the state having jurisdiction over religious matters, as well &a civil, its magistrates and courts being charged with the responsibility of enforcing under penalties duties toward God as well as duties toward man and beast.

12. What are the conditions of success in a theocratic government?

Ans. – These are evident as follows: (1) God alone must legislate; (2) God must be present as an oracle to settle vexing questions; as an interpreter of law; as omniscient to read the heart back of the overt act; as omnipotent to enforce the law; and as infinitely holy, just, and merciful to insure the right legislation and right administration of the legislation; (3) The people must have the heart and will to obey every requirement of his law. If you take away these conditions, a theocratic government is a failure.

13. What are the hazards under present conditions?

Ans. – The priest may assume the functions of deity, the legislator to define religion, the oracle to interpret it and then call on the state to enforce it. Since he has not the holiness, justice, and mercy of God, nor his wisdom and omniscience, the state may thus become the slave of superstition, priestcraft and irreligion, and the people the victims of its tyranny. These conditions are when the people’s heart are not right toward God and when they are not disposed to obey him.

14. Cite instances where these hazards have been realized.

Ans. – History records many instances of just such priestly usurpation of powers with ruinous results to the people. The whole Romanist hierarchy from its establishment down to the present time is an illustration. The Pope claims to be God’s vicar, in the place of the Holy Spirit; he claims the power to interpret the law; to change the law; he claims to have the two keys and two swords; to keep you out of the church on earth and out of heaven hereafter; to inflict upon you ecclesiastical and state punishment. Those are the instruments, the swords and the keys; the result is that they have determined what is religion, and what they have defined to be religion is not God’s religion. They claim to be the oracles of God; to have sole power to interpret that law, and if you vary a hair’s breadth from what they have said is religion, off goes your head; and in their search for evidence they have established the Inquisition that makes domiciliary visits, investigating family life, putting spies over the most thoughtless expressions, and they claim to arrest and try them, and when they have tried them to call upon the state to execute. The bloodiest pages of history are those of the Romanist usurpation in Spain, in France, in Italy, in Bohemia, in the low countries, in the days of Alva, in all the South American states and in Mexico. Not only is that true, but there ’were other denominations expressing a union of church and state and with the same powers somewhat modified. When the Puritans came over in the May flower they established a theocracy; their preachers prescribed everything they should do; and according to a statements which has been current, a man was punishable by a fine and by imprisonment if he was found kissing his wife on Sunday. And they pushed their jurisdiction to such an extent that they destroyed the liberty of conscience, whipped Baptist preachers, banished Roger Williams, sold out under forced sale or hasty auction the choice acres of Baptist farms and property in order to get money to build meetinghouses for another denomination, and when that Baptist father, Isaac Backus, went to John Adams, President of the United States Continental Congress, and asked him to use his influence to force Massachusetts to allow liberty of conscience, he said, "You might as well expect rivers to run upstream, and the ocean to dry up and the sun to quit shining as to expect to repeal Massachusetts’ law on that subject."

15. How does the New Testament hedge against these hazards?

Ans. – In two ways: (1) By clearly distinguishing between what belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar, rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God those that are his; (2) Especially by its form of church government. There was to be no provincial church government, no district, county, state, national church government; no hierarchy, but each particular congregation was the church of Jesus Christ and having final jurisdiction over its own matters. While there might be district associations, conventions, state or national, for voluntary co-operation, they were not appellate courts over the churches, and hence it would be impossible for the union of church and state with the Baptist church involved. But this New Testament hedging was evaded: (1) By establishing a papal form of government, an autocracy; (2) A prelatical form; as, the Church of England; (3) A federal form of government, like the Presbyterian.

16. What offenses in this section called for capital punishments?

Ans. – They say that you may determine the civilization of a people by its code as to blood. If they put people to death for every kind of offense it is a bloody code; if only for a few great offenses, it is not a bloody code. Note in this lesson that there are six causes for which capital punishment would be administered:

(1) For sacrificing to another God; as long as the theocratic government was in vogue a man must be put to death for sacrificing to other gods than Jehovah, because it was treason – treason against the state because it belongs to somebody else;

(2) Necromancy; that is a sin against God, in that it seeks to get at the secrets of the future from another source than God’s revelation: "Thou shalt not suffer a wizard or a witch to live";

(3) Bestial crimes; sins against nature, where the man would mate with a brute;

(4) Stealing a man for slavery; stealing a man’s very life away from him that he may make a slave of him. Now, there are ways discussed in this section by which you could be enslaved. I have not space to go into their details; but they could not steal a man and make a slave of him. The death penalty would always be administered in the case of what is called "slave-stealing," so largely carried on by the New England States, where as many as 250 ships from a New England town were engaged in the slave trade, and the wealth of a great many of those people up there today was derived from stealing slaves from Africa and selling them to the West Indies and to the United States.

(5) Murder or homicide that resulted from criminal negligence;

(6) In Exodus 21:17, it says, "He that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death." So here is another offense calling for capital punishment; and a very remarkable piece of legislation comes into development of that principle. I remember once telling it to Judge Harrison in Waco, my father-in-law. It provides that if a father or mother shall bring a child to the magistrate and say that he is incorrigible; that they cannot do anything with him; he has no respect for them; does not obey them; that he is going to be a terror; he will be awful to the state; they thus bringing him before the magistrate, making that affidavit, that child must be stoned to death by the state. I read that to General Harrison and he said, "Dr. Carroll, you know you would never take your boy there." While I do not think I would, I certainly have seen some specimens in my time that would have been brought up with great advantage by the state.

(7) Later on we will come to another which is not in this section. A man went out on a sabbath day to get sticks to make a fire to cook some breakfast, and he was put to death. "Thou shalt do no labour on the sabbath day." "You must make provision for that day beforehand." There are no exceptions but those of mercy, or necessity, and of worship.

17. In what judgments do the elements of mercy and love to man and beast appear?

Ans. – Consideration shown (1) to a stranger; (2) to a widow; (3) to an orphan; (4) to the poor; (5) to animals. They might charge interest for money lent to any Hebrew brother that was well-to-do, but if he was poor they could not charge interest lending him money. Then this reference to the poor in connection with the land, which was to lie every seventh year idle, and, of course, where land was devoted to the culture of cereals like wheat and barley there would be a voluntary crop that year. They were not allowed to harvest that crop at all, but the poor people had the right under this law to enter that field and use that seventh-year voluntary crop. It also applies to the poor in this, viz.: that if he had pawned his cloak, or outer garment, which constituted his bed by night, the pawnbroker was not allowed to keep that garments in pawn overnight, or that man would not have a bed to sleep on; it must be restored to him when night came.

18. What are the promises of the covenant?

Ans. – In Exodus 23:20-33 are three: (1) That the angel of God’s presence should be with them, and would be their guide to show them how to go and to be their guard to preserve them and to discomfit their enemies on the way to and in the land where they were going. That was one of the great promises of the covenant. The presence of the angel of the Lord was manifest in the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night, and by his speaking as an oracle when any trouble was brought up to him, and a solution asked.

(2) That God would bless their bread and drink, that is he would give them food and he would give them life: "You shall not be exposed to hunger nor to sickness." This angel would see to it that a table was set before them; that in the wilderness their shoes should not wear out; that their clothes should not wax old; that there should be no sick people in the camp. What a tremendous blessing that was!

(3) That he would give them all the territory set forth in the original promises to Abraham, extending from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates, and from Gilead on the left bank of the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. Those are the three elements of the great promises of the covenant. He had to drive their enemies – the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jehusites, and the others that held the land – all out, but not all at once, for they would not be able to occupy the land, but, mark you, just as they were able to develop the resources of the country.

19. Describe step by step the ratification of the covenant.

Ans. – In Exodus 24:1-8, it is treated. Here are the statutes: (1) All the words of the book of the covenant, that is, the moral law, the altar law, and the state law, were repeated very carefully to the people. (2) Then a copy of them was reduced to writing (3) An altar and pillars were erected according to the requirements given in the twentieth chapter. (4) Two kinds of offerings were offered on the altar, (a) burnt offerings, expiatory’, of blood and fire, and (b) the peace offerings, or the eucharist, thank offerings thus were made. (5) The disposition of the blood, – one half of the blood flowing from these victims sacrificed was put into basing and set aside; the other half was to be sprinkled upon that altar, and thus the blood of the covenant was put upon the altar. (6) This covenant which has been spoken and written is now carefully read by Moses, item by item, – all of them in the hearing of all the people, and they again solemnly agree to make every obligation prescribed for them in that covenant. (7) The sprinkling of the blood on the people. That half that had been set aside in basins, the priests and the Levites took charge of, and with bunches of hyssop moved among the people in every direction (all the Levites engaged in it, as they were afterward established) , and sprinkled that blood on all the people. That was the ratification of the covenant.

I have tried to make the reader see clearly this book of the covenant, beginning at Exodus 29, where was the introduction, the proposition made to have a covenant, and the people’s agreement to go into it, then the preparation for entering it by ratification; next the three parts of the covenant: (a) The Decalogue, or ten words, God’s relation to the normal man; (b) the law of the altar, or approach to God on the part of the sinner; (c) The state and God, and then the state and the citizen. I have tried to make you see these points very clearly. Then the promises bound up in that covenant, and Just exactly with what solemnity step by step that covenant was ratified; and that this was peculiarly a covenant made with the nation regarded as a unit.