Pastor's Notebook February 5: Equality before the Law
The One Year Bible's has, for February 5, Exodus chapters 21 to 23. Here the LORD taught Moses some nuance and refinement in the law. This was not to empty the law of meaning but instead to explain it so society could function in a sinful world. Stealing had various punishments by degrees (22:1-15), pre-marital promiscuity was a less serious infraction than adultery and other sexual misdeeds (22:16-19), and criminal neglect also had levels of punishment based on the offense (21:28-36).
The Ten Commandments and the laws of Israel have been a backbone of western civilization for so long, most people today view what Moses put into place as common sense. In the ancient world, however, views on criminal justice were much different. Honor, shame, and revenge played a far more important role than grace and restitution. These laws in Exodus do NOT portray a perfect world where slavery is abolished and women have choice in whether and whom to marry, but these laws do point toward the holiness and grace of God at work to redeem a sinful world.
One of the radical departures from the world in the Laws of God deals has to do with equal treatment under the law. On the one hand, the empathy of people with an immigrant heritage --as were all Israelites in Egypt-- should be enough motive for God's people in any nation to treat foreigners in their midst with justice (Exodus 22:21; 23:9). On the other hand, pity for the poverty of a claimant was never to divert a ruling away from justice (Exodus 23:3).
The fickle whims of the majority are not to be taken into account when discerning right action (Exodus 23:2). Justice is not finally about one political opinion or another; true justice is none other than the function of the mind, will, and character of God. Whether the poor are foreigners, widows and orphans, or debtors, our obligation is to act justly toward them. Sometimes just action will mean convicting a poor person who has committed a crime, not because they are guilty of being poor but because they are guilty of the crime. Sometimes just action will mean ruling against the tax-evading, code-ignoring, usurious "white-collar" criminal whose crimes oppress the poor.
That all people stand in the same place before God is common sense now, but radical then: Clearly Pharaoh was not hearing it! It is radical still where money is seen as a means to leverage judgments in one's favor, while the lack of money condemns the accused (23:1-8).
Not only does that principle of accountability to God include our rulers, it also includes us, the governed, when we speak of those who govern. Exodus 22:28 states, "You must not dishonor God or curse any of your rulers." Prophetic critique of a policy or posture in a government, must not cross that line into mud-slinging or demonization. In a land that takes free speech for granted, many use their rights to smear those of opposing political ideologies to their own. The Apostle Paul might have this law in mind when he writes, in First Timothy 2:1-4, that we should pray for "all who are in high positions" that we may "lead a peaceful and quiet life."
God's descriptions of these laws testify to his character. These descriptions stand as an invitation for the People of God to be set apart. Rather than slinging mud at leaders on the one hand, or running with the majority mob in its unjust judgments on the other, the people of God are called to prayer, to righteous discernment, and to godly action.
