Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Exodus 22:14 says, And if a man borrow ought of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good.  If a person borrowed something from his  neighbor and it was hurt or died, the one who borrowed it was to compensate the neighbor with a replacement or with replacement value.  We are responsible for the things we borrow from others, and should never attempt to escape responsibility for returning whatever it is that we borrow in good condition.  Verse fifteen adds, But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire.  If the neighbor is there using whatever it is for hire, then the item was not to be replaced.  There is a difference between helping a neighbor for free and charging a neighbor for our help.  This can really apply in families.  Sometimes, even if we borrow something from them and it is broken, we don't feel we should have to replace it.  Sometimes, they are helping us for free, and the same thing applies, but if they are charging us, then the responsibility is theirs.  Verse sixteen states, And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.  A man could not entice a unbetrothed woman and have a sexual relationship with her without marrying her.  This was done for the protection of the woman more than anything.  It would have to be known that this happened. but if no one else knew, the man, woman and God would know.  Verse seventeen adds, If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.  If her father refused to allow her to marry the man, then he was to pay a dowry according to the dowry of virgins.  The woman had very little to say in this whatever happened, other than consenting to be with the man to start with.  In our world today in America, this is hard to understand, especially the fact that the woman had no say in what happened to her.  Verse eighteen declares, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.  Witches existed even then, but they were not to be allowed to live.  I believe this was because they could lead people away from God.  Though I don't believe that we are commanded by God to kill witches today, we certainly should not accept them and what they teach as being perfectly alright.  Verse nineteen  says, Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.  Bestiality also brought a death sentence.  Verse twenty declares, He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.  As bad as some of these other things were, sacrificing to any other god except the one true God, this proclaims that the person was to be utterly destroyed.  This is why we must be careful that we don't begin to sacrifice to anything other than God.  Anything that becomes more important to us than God becomes what we sacrifice to.  Verse twenty-one states, Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.  We today should not vex or oppress strangers, because we are still strangers in this world.  Heaven is our home and we are just passing through wherever we are today on our way to that home.  Verse twenty-two declares, Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.  Since we are God's people, this applies to us just as it did to the Israelites.  We are to care for the widow's and the fatherless children.  Verse twenty-three adds, If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;  God said that if the widow or fatherless child were afflicted at all and cried out to Him that He would hear them.  God has not changed since this command was given, so He still hears them today.  Verse twenty-four concludes, And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.  God takes the mistreatment of widows and fatherless children very serious, and so should we.  I don't believe that God is going to strike someone dead if they do this, but I do believe that there will be an accountability for such actions.  If we are truly following God's will, then we will not be guilty of doing this.

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