Exodus 21-22 What Our Sinfulness Leads God To Have To Do

As I read two chapters that started with God saying to Moses, “These are the laws for living that you will give to the Israelites,” I started having a bad feeling.  Here was God talking about rules for the treatment of slaves.  Before I was finished, I came to understand that God wasn’t condoning slavery or even giving mankind a justification for setting it up in areas where it didn’t yet exist.  Mankind had done all that on its own over the thousands of years they’d had since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden.  Mankind wasn’t about to abolish something so deeply engrained in the fabric of that society, and God knew that.  So He pronounced these laws to protect the rights of those who’d become enslaved.  In other words, those who were slaves probably cheered as they heard this news.

Father, it disturbs me how our sinfulness led You to have to pronounce laws that Your love probably caused You to absolutely hate to utter.  But You’ve always been a God of grace and mercy, dealing with us right where we are, because You love us too much to leave us this way.  Thank You for not requiring us to change before we can come to You. 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford