The Most Vulnerable - Exodus 21:1 - 11

Good morning to each of you. Welcome to Faith Bible Church. Glad that you are here.

I Thought today is we celebrate Memorial Day or Memorial Day weekend and You've heard it many times before we are a country that are is free but freedom doesn't come cheap and If you think back even among our own

Country where we had war between the north and the south many many lives lost that there might be freedom in this day and age and I think of when

I was a kid, I lived in a small town in Kansas and The whole town would go out to the cemetery on Memorial Day, especially and grandma would say now here is buried so -and -so and And here's buried so -and -so and give us a story on all that and when you have a family that's close

That's and I had one uncle that was killed in World War two Uncle H a and you think about those sort of things and I think

I was five years old when he came home and they had the funeral for him left a lifetime impression and he was killed like in Italy as they went through that married to My mom's sister at that time and so as we think about Memorial Day we need to stop and think a minute a minute about The people who did give their lives that we continue to have freedom

We as believers though to Have Liberty in Christ, but that came at a price and not to us

Because it came at Christ's death and his payment for our sin and I thank the

Lord for that and I need to remind myself of that and I jokingly say to you many times my brother used to say it constantly

I said to myself self and I need to say to myself self now and then and remind myself of The payment of Christ gave for my sins also the payment that many men gave for my freedom and we have a much to thank the

Lord for in your bulletins if you Look, I think most of the things in there are

What you're familiar with but we do have a new summer Bible study on Friday evening 530 to 630 going through Galatians and I Told pastor jokingly and I won't say the denomination, but the

Lord has put a particular group of people into our life that we dealt with quite often

I would consider them very close friends and They would say that you're saved by grace through faith

But you must maintain your salvation by works Well, I said pastor is going to straighten us out on that in Galatians Because Galatians is an excellent book and going through talking about where our salvation is and the fact that our salvation comes from the

Lord and It's not dependent on our works or we'd be in big trouble.

And so we thank the Lord for that So that's take note of that they especially did it for the summer because some of the young people are out of school and They hope to get a few of the young people to coming to the

Bible study So if you know of young people that would enjoy that you make sure the direct them in that direction also, we have the men's breakfast fellowship this coming

Saturday at the Probably that's the fourth. Am I right?

is that yeah, June the 4th and So at 9 o 'clock we have our men's fellowship breakfast and so it's been an enjoyable time to Come out and join us at that point

Then let's open in a word of prayer this morning thank you

Heavenly Father for the day that you have given us to come together and to set apart and to worship you we pray

Lord that today our Fellowship and our worship with you might be a pleasant thing

We might go home saying it's been great to be in the house of the Lord today We thank you

Heavenly Father for the freedoms that you have allowed here in America we do think of The individuals that have given their life that we might have this

Freedom and this Liberty Lord, we would pray that you would help even as we think about that As we celebrate that tomorrow

But we also thank you Lord for the Liberty that you give to us as believers in Christ That the righteousness that we have when we are placed in you because of the price that you paid

Lord And we thank you for that today we pray that you would be with Pastor Elgin as he brings your word again.

We would ask Lord to Liberty as He gives the things that you have laid on his heart and we would pray for the music time together

Help us Lord to praise you and all that you have done for us, even as we sing from our hearts

And we'll thank you for that and we'll pray in Jesus name Amen, and let's stand and sing

Scripture reading this morning is from the book of Galatians Galatians chapter 3 verses 26 through 29

Galatians 3 26 through 29

For you all for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ There is neither

Jew nor Greek There is neither slave nor free there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus And if you are

Christ Then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise

May the Lord has blessing to the reading and hearing of his holy word Sing for joy to the

Lord Shout loudly to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before him With Thanksgiving extol him with music and song for the

Lord is great He is our God and the great King above all and let's stand and sing

Thank you for singing please be seated children are now dismissed at Children's Church as our pastor Iljin comes here

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 21 verses 1 through 11

Exodus chapter 21 verses 1 through 11 Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them if you buy a

Hebrew servant He shall serve six years and in the seventh He shall go out free and pay nothing if he comes in by himself

He shall go out by himself if he comes in married Then his wife shall go out with him if his master has given him a wife and she has born him sons or daughters the wife and her children shall be her masters and He shall go out by himself

But if the servant plainly says I love my master my wife and my children

I will know not go out free then his master shall bring him to the judges he shall also bring him to the door or to the doorpost and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl and He shall serve him forever and if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave

She shall not go out as the male slaves do if she does not Please her master who has betrothed her to himself.

Then he shall let her be redeemed He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people

Since he has dealt deceitfully with her and if he has betrothed her to his son

He shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters if he takes another wife

He shall not diminish her food her clothing and her marriage rights And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free without paying money

This is the word of the Lord Let us pray Father we are thankful that we do live in a free country

We're thankful that by your grace You have freed the slaves of America and we're thankful for the sacrifice that brave young men have poured out

For this country so that we may live free and we remember them the ancestors here who have

Sacrificed their lives so that this country may be free Father we pray for Today that we as we learn of this text that we may see how compassionate you are and How much you care about even the lowly?

Those who can't defend themselves We pray that in Jesus name Amen Now This text is a difficult text for many reasons and one of them being the fact that we live under the new covenant and Under that covenant which

Christ has established for us through his blood We do not follow the law exactly the same way as the

Israelites did However, this does not mean the law is useless to us

After all Paul tells us in 2nd Timothy 3 16 through 17 all scripture is inspired by God and Beneficial for teaching for rebuke for correction for training in righteousness

So that the man or woman of God may be fully capable equipped for every good work

Paul meant that all scripture not some

All scripture includes the law and For Christians the law does not save us

But equips us for every good work It prepares us to live

In a godly way and it shows us God's character and It shows us who we are as God's people

Now as I mentioned above Today's text text is one of the more difficult texts to unpack

Because it deals with the topic of slavery Something all of us do not have direct experience with Second it is difficult because American slavery is part of our history and we have a tendency to import our history and our concepts back into the

Bible Which was written by ancient Jews who had no concept of American history

Hence I will first start by showing the differences between Israel slavery and American slavery and why it would be inappropriate to read this text as justifying

American slavery first Unlike American slavery

Kidnapping and enslaving was due capital punishment found in Exodus 21 16 the very same chapter in fact verse 16 of this chapter right prohibits anyone kidnapping a man and enslaving them

He who kidnaps a man and sells him or if he is found in his hand shall surely be put to death

Anyone who is a slave trader who kidnaps a person against his will

Will be killed So a person even if he was a poor and a weak man

Was not to be stolen and enslaved like some sort of object the

Lord viewed that as worthy of a capital offense and This is important to us because slavery in the ancient

Israel Was not objectifying the slaves

But rather the people who entered into slavery They made a willful commitment to do so because of their financial situation whether they're in debt or they were facing starvation and And secondly, it also meant that the

Lord did not view the slaves of Israel any less

Because of their social status Their worth was not based upon their wealth

They were still just as worthy because they're made in the image of God Another difference is that slavery in Israel was the result of poverty

Living in a fallen world. There is such thing as scarcity of goods Unlike now

Poverty back then was a death sentence There was no bankruptcy court.

There was no government entitlement program So the only thing a poor person who has no way of feeding himself

Was that he would sell his service To another individual who could provide for him so that he may not die of starvation and this was also true for anyone who got into so much that that he could not pay off from the wealth he has already owned and I say that he sells his services because their masters

Were not allowed to just do anything they would like They were the slaves were protected by the law and if the law was broken they were free to go

They were no longer in any obligation if their legal contract was broken

They were treated as individuals not as objects third unlike American slavery

Israel slaves were voluntarily Choosing to serve

No one was forced to be a slave and that goes back to the prior

Point where you could not kidnap and force someone into slavery or you would face death fourth

Israelite enslavement was not based upon skin color or ethnic backgrounds

Israelites were often enslaved to pay off their debt and Israelites often enslaved each other and even this text is precisely about Israelite enslaving

Hebrew slaves their own people this also meant that after their enslavement was over there was no distinction afterward because It wasn't based upon ethnic background or skin color

So there was no stigma associated with skin color or their physical attributes their primary identity still was based upon their relationship with the

Lord and Fifth as this text will show us an

Israelite slave served for a limited time and the masters were obligated to provide for every one of their need and Treat them humanely

Any lasting physical harm would free them automatically even a broken tooth

Would free them from their enslavement The slaves had to be fed they had to be clothed and they were a allowed to participate in religious festivals and Ceremonies they were treated just like family and They were freed after their contracted time was over in one sense a more appropriate comparison of Israelite slavery would be the military enlistment of our days a

Man sells his services for a certain number of years to the government as the government takes care of their food housing and medical needs and If they are injured in any way from their services, they are honorably discharged

Just as an Israelite slave would have been however the church

Does not have a direct application of this text Especially in America because we do not own slaves

The question is then how does this law Apply to us

What does this law? Tell us about the Lord and about his people

So the main point of this text is that the Lord compassionately cares for the most vulnerable the

Lord compassionately cares for the most vulnerable First The first six verses will tell us through the law the

Lord Protects the life of the most vulnerable Through the law the

Lord protects the life of the most vulnerable After publicly announcing the

Ten Commandments to all of Israel the Lord shares the judgments or the ordinances

Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them So what the

Lord is about to share are more specific Applications of the law the law of the

Lord Will set apart Israel from the nations and these specific

Applications these specific laws would be called the case laws. The case laws were dependent on the situation

Unlike the Ten Commandments where it was more general and broad The case laws really depended on what the circumstance was and with this law

The Lord will show what kind of God he is to the surrounding nations

It will show what kind of God Israel worships Now who is responsible for knowing

God's ordinances the legal experts the lawyers No God's law must be known and explained to all of God's people

Moses Was tasked to set the law before all of Israelites not just some it was supposed to be heard and Ingested fed so that they may live according to the

Lord's will Now What does God's ordinance cover first?

There is something important about what gets covered first in any collection of the law

Because it shows what's really important God's ordinance does not cover the ruling class first God's ordinance does not cover the wealthy first First and foremost

God's ordinances care for the slaves of Israel God's law first and foremost protects the most vulnerable of society

In fact, the law of the Lord is the only ancient law collection that begins with slavery

All the ancient law collection deal with slavery at some point why because they all had slaves but only the

Israel's law starts with slavery The famous Hammurabi's code right eye for an eye tooth for a tooth

Deals with slavery in fact last It's the last on their mind and This would distinguish the

Lord from any other surrounding deities because Israel serves God who protects the rights of the slaves first Israel's God cares for those who cannot care for them selves that's what kind of God they served and And verse 2 tells us that God places a temporal restriction on Enslavement if you buy a

Hebrew servant He shall serve six years and in the seventh. He shall go out free and pay nothing

No matter how desperately in debt this slave was God ordains a maximum of six years for his service and This was a merciful act of God He placed a gracious limit lest his people be enslaved for generations as they were in Egypt Even if the remaining debt was not paid off after six years

He would still be free to go No extra compensation necessary in fact

Deuteronomy 15 13 through 14 tell us that the master was commanded to supply the newly freed man with the starting fund and When you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty -handed

You shall supply him liberally from your flock from your threshing floor and from your winepress

From what the Lord your God has blessed you with you shall give to him in The end the master the former master would be giving to the slave what?

ultimately belonged to the Lord And that's a lot.

That's a snapshot of the Lord's loving -kindness to his people Not only does he restrict the time of enslavement?

But he provides a starting fund so that they may have a good footing

So that they may not go back into enslavement again God graciously cares for the well -being of the vulnerable

Verses three to four explains the case for familial situations again.

These are case laws very situational First if he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself

If he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him Now if a married man became so poor that he sold himself into slavery

The master was expected to provide not just for the slave

But his whole family Not only that after the time of the service was over The master could not keep the rest of the family saying well,

I fed your family now I could keep them now, right? No It was not just a slave who was fed but his whole family as well got to go free verse 4

Introduces a more complicated situation in which a man enters into the contract single

But ends up marrying one of his master's female slaves during his time of service

If his master has given him a wife and she has born him sons or daughters the wife and her children shall be her masters and he shall go out by himself and This verse was specifically to protect his master from losing his workers now a freed man

Could not just take away his master's other servants However, this did not mean that the freed man had to leave his wife behind by ending the marriage covenant

First he could wait until his rest of his family were free after all the maximum is six years for the servants

Second he could even accumulate enough wealth to redeem them himself to buy them

And third is Explained in the following two verses verses five and six in which how a freed man would stay with his family

Verse five, but if the servant plainly says I love my master my wife and my children

I will not go out free Then his master shall bring him to the judges he shall also bring him to the door to the doorpost and his master shall pierce his ear with an owl and He shall serve him forever

Now if a slave truly wanted to stay with his master He had a choice to stay with him.

It was up to the slave not the master God's law even gave an option for a freed person to stay in slave if he so desired and This would allow him to stay with his family not only that This would have been sometimes an economical decision if the master was really generous and kind and The outside world was harsh and deadly

Imagine during a famine year and you got freed You have no land

You have no family members outside of the master's household How are you going to support yourself?

When there's a famine You would starve to death or you would risk being enslaved to a harsher master

Well in this case this slave had a choice to go back to the kind master who provided him with his family and he

Could live with his family under that master's generous care It would be better to go back to the master who fed him and clothed him consistently and generously rather than to die on the street out of starvation of Course these are not favorable choices, but there were the only choices there in the ancient times there weren't

Exorbitant amount of wealth there weren't government programs to take care of these people

Starvation was a reality There was no other choice

Now what is striking here is that the former slave and his master? Must go to the others the other translation actually say they must go to God in order to declare this

And it is not a transaction between two men, but God as the witness

In the end God is between them God takes interest in his people's well -being in Another sense if the master mistreats his slave he will have to deal with God himself and The piercing of the slaves ear would forever remind them of this decision

Because God is the witness you'd better be careful. How you treat this man

You're dealing with God now although this law cannot be applied directly in our days we can learn about God's character and How we interact with the most vulnerable of society?

First the Lord is utterly compassionate toward the most vulnerable of his people

He watches them intently he protects them with his law He hears their cry and answers

These Case laws show us God's heart behind the weak and the meek

When the most vulnerable are too weak to speak up for their rights

God will and Indeed he has in the

Mosaic Law When the powerful are oppressing the defenseless

They are ultimately breaking God's law They're opposing

God and Best of luck to them Because God will deal with them second

This means the people who worship the Lord must reflect his compassion for the defenseless

In Israel slaves were not treated as tools But people with dignity in Israel their law did not protect the slaves as an afterthought

But the law prioritized them first Just as the pagan nations would have witnessed

God's compassion when they saw how Israel's slaves were treated The world today can witness

God's compassion when they see how the church treats the most vulnerable among us and This is why the

New Testament Commands us over and over again to take care of the orphans and the widows the most vulnerable in society

Take care of those who cannot take care of themselves Because that's what

God does and as God's people we do what our Heavenly Father does

That's what it means to be God's children We speak up for the meek

We protect and fight for the defenseless We provide for those who are in need

We are always mindful of the most vulnerable among us

And I'm I'm always grateful to see How Faith, Bible, Church takes care of each other if Something is broken

Victor will fix it if someone needs help you will find different people providing that help whether physically with prayer or even financially and we don't look down upon anyone because of their

Circumstances they're still our brothers and sisters Does not matter their age

Does not matter their physical abilities does not matter their financial stability their brothers and sisters equal before Christ and That's what it means for the church for God's people to be compassionate

Toward the most vulnerable as God is Second How are the slaves to be treated during their service through the law the

Lord honors the most vulnerable Through the law the

Lord honors the most vulnerable From the protection of freedom for slaves

Verses 7 to 11 move on to protection of their honor their well -being

During the enslavement Verse 7 sets the background for a specific case and if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave

She shall not go out as the male slaves do This part is a specific case in which a daughter would be sold as a slave

Now, of course, this was not a favorable Thing no father wants to sell his daughter to be a slave

However This was done in order for the daughter to have a secure future in a poverty stricken family

The choices were either your daughter starves or marries a wealthy man who will provide for her right in the

Ancient times where there was dowry a Feast so for the bridal family to pay for the bridegroom, which was expensive

Unless you had that dowry your daughter would not get married Now if you can't afford a dowry your daughter would not get married period

Now what happens when the father in his old age passes away Back in those days it was very very difficult for a single woman to support herself and the rest of the family and this although Unfavorable was one way in which

The daughter would not starve to death and the following verses

Will show that this is not legalized prostitution but one way in which

To guarantee the honor and rights of the female slave that is equivalent to a wife or a daughter

The Lord did not allow the master to treat the female slaves as disposable

The Lord did not allow the master to use her as a tool Verse 8 shares a specific case in which the master does not find favor in her

Let's just say that she is sold into enslavement to be married To be taken care of but what happens if the master doesn't like her anymore?

If she does not please her master who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed

He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people since he has dealt deceitfully with her.

I prefer the NASB rendering of this case if she is displeasing in the eyes of her master

This is not due to something she has done But suddenly the master does not find her pleasing anymore

That's the fickleness of men When this happens the master does not have the right to do anything he wants with her

He cannot sell her to a foreign people where the girl would be far away from her own people learning a new language a traumatic experience and he also cannot

And he also cannot be financially profiting from this Right.

He has to take responsibility for his own agreement And since he is the one who broke faith with her

She must go free. She can be redeemed The master does not own her.

The master broke the agreement to take care of her. So she is free to go and This would protect

From many women of Israel being abused this way being sold as some goods to make profit

But rather if she's not going to be taken care of as promised the

Lord says you do not deserve her that's how powerful this is and This is very counter cultural in the ancient days

Where women often had no rights of their own and were often treated as objects of pleasure tools disposable

Not so for women of Israel That will not be the case under the

Lord verses 9 to 11 Command positive ways to protect her rights

Verse 9 and if he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters

It is not enough that the master cannot treat her as a disposable tool He needs to treat her as a daughter if she is designated to marry his son

Her impoverished background does not define who she is

How she entered the family does not mean a thing she is legally his new daughter and She better be treated like it

Verse 10 tells us the implication of this if he takes to himself another woman

He may not reduce her food or clothing or her conjugal rights now in the

Old Testament God did not directly prohibit polygamy a practice of marrying more than one wife

So some men had multiple wives Some of the Old Testament heroes had multiple wives however, the

Old Testament narratives constantly show What kind of problems came about through having multiple wives?

for example The kingdom of Israel was split into two after Solomon took on hundreds of wives and concubines when

Jacob Favored one son of his favorite wife over the other sons that one son got sold into slavery when

David had multiple wives and multiple kids one son rate one of his stepsis half -sisters and the other son

Murdered him and that's on overthrew his dad temporarily That shows how the

Bible views polygamy disastrous Yet God allowed this

And We'll talk about this more but in the

New Testament Jesus brings marriage back to its original design

One man and one woman becoming one flesh and that's according to the design of Genesis 2

The Old Testament shows the design and Also shows what it happens when that design when people fail to obey that design

Now the case law here in verse 10 does not approve polygamy

But explains how a case must be handled since there is polygamy

After all if there are multiple wives It would be extremely Disadvantageous for the wife that is less liked by the husband

Especially if she comes from an impoverished background she doesn't have her family to fall back to Therefore the

Lord graciously commands the husband to provide for her every need food clothing and conjugal rights

Everything that a favored wife would receive Generously from her husband the less favored wife must receive as well

This is not just the physical sustenance like food and clothing

She must not be treated as a slave here, but a wife But sexual as well

The least favored wife must be allowed to experience sexual intimacy

With her husband to enjoy the marriage covenant In this case, she's not just a servant but a wife she's not just a slave but a covenant partner and the

Lord wants to Protect that right for her the

Lord protects that honor And what if the husband fails to provide those things for her?

Verse 11 says but if he will not do these three things for her Then she shall go free for nothing without payment or money

If the husband fails to treat her as he promised to He cannot keep her at all he has to obey the covenant agreement to treat her as his wife and This is because before God's eyes the female slaves identity is not based upon her social status but her identity before God as a daughter of God she belongs first and foremost to God and God will make sure that her child his child is provided for God will make sure that his daughter is honored and That is an important reminder for marriage covenant under the new covenant even more so as one husband and one wife

When we mistreat as men our wives We're gonna have to deal with Christ For mistreating

God's own daughters For men, we're stewarded our wives to take care of and We're gonna have to answer.

How well did you take care of my daughter? now unlike other surrounding nations

The law of God here treats slaves not as disposable tools

But as humans who sold their services due to their poor circumstances and Here God has always viewed the lowest and the most vulnerable as valuable

Because they're made in the image of God their identity was not based upon their circumstances, but based upon their relationship with God and And this is why the

Mosaic law treats them with honor and protects their honor

No other nations did so American slavery did not do so Any other future?

Enslavement outside of Israel did not treat their slaves like people

But not so in Israel They were regarded with honor and if you

Decided to dishonor them you had just broken God's law you went against God himself now for Christians when

Christ came and instituted the new covenant by dying for our sin on the cross he took this concept of our identity in God to a new level as David read for us this morning

Galatians 3 Verses 25 through 28 show the better identity that we all have in Christ Sure, the law was great.

Yes, the law protected the rights of the slaves But here

Paul says the law was just a guardian who protected the people from destroying themselves and Paul argues that the law was the guardian who ultimately pointed to Christ the ultimate identity and reality found in Jesus The law was ultimately the signpost

Pointing to Christ verse 25 But now the faith has come we're no longer under a guardian

That's the law for you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus That's the new identity for all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ That's your new clothing.

What how you wear what you wear is Who you are? There is neither

Jew nor Greek there is no neither slave nor free There is neither female male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus in Christ our primary identity is a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus The world tries to categorize us into different groups all the time whether gender whether ethnic backgrounds religions

Socio -economic backgrounds and they pit each category against each other as if they're competing for some limited good but in Christ Our new identity as children of God Overwhelmingly covers

Any old identity or labels we've held before Any old identities or labels that the world tries to put on us?

This is why Paul can say there is neither Jew nor Greek. That is a distinction that is found in the

Old Covenant The Jews had special access to God that the

Gentiles the Greeks did not No longer anymore in Christ. Both Jews and Greeks have special access to the

Lord because of Christ and that also goes

For slave nor free in Paul's days there were slaves in the

Roman Empire But in according to Paul it did not matter

The primary identity of being brothers in Christ sisters in Christ Made that distinction like nothing it didn't matter

Because you were all children of God, how could you have more privilege than being children of God together

That's Paul's point here and that is the echo of what we see from Exodus today

Even in the Old Testament God did not find worth and honor and identity in people's

Circumstances and we see that fulfillment in Christ when? socioeconomic backgrounds gender race none of those differences make a dent in our identity in Christ and That's from that We treat each other with the utmost respect and love that is due to our brothers and sisters in Christ You're treating other fellow children of God.

Oh You better be treating them with love and respect and in Christ The lowest and the most vulnerable are just as honored as the highest and the strongest

That's because the Lord Compassionately cares for the most vulnerable

Among us let us pray father.

We're thankful that Even through this difficult text we get to see and behold your mercy and grace even through this difficult text we get to see how compassionate and Loving you are and how you see us not based upon our backgrounds

But based upon who we are in Christ Father we pray that we would live according to this way

That we would love one another because they are Creatures made in the image of God because they are

Children who are redeemed in Christ in Jesus name. Amen Now let's stand for our closing song song take time to be holy

It's Been a blessing to be together today. Remember whom we serve God and let's be a light to the world.