Page 57 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

4. If the wife of a man, by employing her charms, followed after another man and he slept with
her, they (i.e., the authorities) shall slay that woman, but that male (i.e., the other man) shall be
set free.

5. If a man proceeded by force, and deflowered the virgin slave-
woman of another man, that man must pay five shekels of silver.
6. If a man divorces his primary wife, he must pay (her) one mina of
silver.
14. If a slave woman or a male slave fled from the master’s house
and crossed beyond the territory of the city, and another man
brought h er/him back, the owner of the slave shall pay to the one
who brought him back two shekels of silver.
17. If someone severed the nose of another man with a copper
knife, he must pay two-thirds of a mina of silver. Fig. 33: Ur-Nammu laws
22. If a man’s slave-woman, comparing herself to her mistress,
speaks insolently to her, her mouth shall be scoured with 1 quart of salt water.
60

Worked out consistently in everyday life, the law code in Exodus would truly mark Israel as a
unique people with a unique God. By not adopting the practices of other nations, they were to
be a witness to the greatness of YHWH and thus part of the blessing to the nations intended by
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YHWH. The law was an expression of God’s love to the nation of Israel based on his gracious
deliverance of them from the slavery in Egypt. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out
of Egypt, out of the land of slavery (20:2).” It was also to be an attractive lifestyle alternative
that would call to other peoples.

We return to the basic spiritual question of the Old Covenant. Can we obey? Can we be good
enough to earn God’s favor? We know the outcome of the history. Israel failed. All this fear of
God could not change their hearts. The threat of death or another form of judgment is never
enough to change one human heart. The problem is driven home later by Moses, “Circumcise
your hearts (Deut. 10:16),” and echoed by Jeremiah (4:4). God is holy, special. His people must
be the same. If they are not, they will be destroyed.

As we stand in the crowd at Mount Sinai and feel those drops of animal blood strike us, and as
we call out our enthusiastic obedience, we may have a memory of other spiritual lessons. We
may have heard our parents or someone from the previous generation tell us about our
ancestor Abraham. Didn’t God promise that a Messiah would come through Abraham? Wasn’t
that Messiah supposed to be very special to God? Your memory may even dredge up lessons
about Adam and Eve and one descendent who would destroy Satan. All of these memories
might even mix with your own experience eating a lamb and sprinkling its blood on your
doorposts. You or a sibling lived while so many were dying in Egypt. Perhaps your faith was in

60 J. B. Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East, vol. II (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975), 31-34.
61 Vogt, 29f.

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