From Slaves to a Holy Nation

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

From Slaves to a Holy Nation

Date: Jan. 5, 2016

Passage

Exodus 20:22-21:11 (ESV)

22 And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

1 “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. 2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. 5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

7 “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

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Daily Bread

Key Verse: 21:2

When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

First, worship in God's way (20:22-26). God helped the people know how to worship. An altar is a place of worship, where people come to offer burnt offerings to receive atonement for their sins. The altar was a holy place where people approach their Creator. God's people had no Bible and few religious traditions. And so God taught them how to worship. To stop idolatry, God did not allow the altar stones to be cut in an attempt to embellish the altar. People were not to worship what their own hands have made. They must worship God alone.

Second, God infuses justice for all (21:1-11). God thought of everything, for he was charting a moral course for his people, lifting them up from being a nation of former slaves to being a holy nation. God equipped them not just with food and water, but with intangible things like laws and justice. God cared about the rights of all individuals, infusing justice for all. In such a society, people could mature spiritually as they sought the Lord. God's law lit a candle in a dark world.

Prayer: Lord, strip my heart of idols and teach me to worship you, your way.

One Word: God thinks of everything. Trust him.

Devoted to Prayer and the Word

Acts 6:1-15

Key Verse: 6:4

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Today's Question

What does the introduction to the ten commandments teach us?

See answer and references