If my dog bites the mailman, and he doesn’t deliver my mail…..do I still have to pay my bills? Find the answer to that vexing question in this passage….
It would be easy to get bogged down in the details of who paid who when an ox gored someone. Sometimes these passages are pretty dry reading, and I secretly wonder to myself “who cares?” Why would all of this detail need to be mentioned in the Bible? And some of it is going to be talked about again and again…..
So here was my “light bulb” today: The bigger picture here seems to be God laying the groundwork of basic principles on which a society is built. For instance, the whole discussion about the ox really comes down to this “investigate to make sure the owner isn’t negligent, but don’t leave the victims without some compensation. However, compensation is limited based on your legal standing before the accident.” That seems fair enough, but it has to be said and agreed to by everyone somewhere in your foundational beliefs. So yes….you have to pay your bills.
Later, once the idea of fairness, justice and compensation are established and accepted by everyone they can be built upon. Perhaps lawyers will refer to it as the “ox precedent” and argue for fair treatment in other matters, unrelated to goring.
You see, I think God is spending all this time to lay the foundation for how He wants people to treat one another. There should be fairness and compassion as well as justice and punishment. How do you explain fairness to a child? You have to use some illustration with practical, felt consequences…otherwise the lesson isn’t absorbed. I think that’s what’s going on here.
At the same time God is laying a foundation for how the people should interact with Him. Moses himself says that God appeared in such a frightening way to motivate the people to a life of holiness, where they didn’t sin. Perhaps if we had the same vision of God today we would be more holy.
Restricting access to the mountain and handing down specific requirements of what can and cannot be done serves two purposes: It reveals our internal inability to remain holy before God. We agree to God’s laws, and then we don’t keep our promises….not because we are intentionally deceitful, but because we are broken and incomplete and need repaired by the Holy Spirit. God is simply using these laws to help illustrate that point.
Secondly, these laws help lay the foundation for how people should interact with a holy God. They are relational tools, that will help enhance the relationship if we apply them. God himself is not to be treated as common. God explains that He is a jealous God, and will be angry if we are attracted to any other gods. Wouldn’t it have been nice if your spouse laid out all these expectations in advance? Think of how many arguments and fights it could have prevented!
These laws are also designed to establish a value system within us.
God values people over profit. He values family. If God hadn’t spelled this out right at the beginning we could have developed a culture that doesn’t value life and family, that only respects youth, success and wealth. There are cultures like that on the earth today, where strength and power get more respect than parents garner. Some of that philosophy has even crept into the United States.
If you read through this section with those ideas in mind, suddenly they seem less boring. New ways of applying these same ideals to other areas of life begin to pop up in our minds.
Maybe this passage is all about living a holy life, and treating others with respect.
Faithfully,
PR