It’s a matter of trust.
Reading through the set of rules listed in Exodus 22, there are a few key themes that emerge.
The first is seen in the first 17 verses. Here if a person has been wronged then steps should be taken to compensate. To compensate takes into consideration not just what has been lost in physical terms but there’s extra.
Underpinning this is a sense of society being about individuals able to engage with each other in a manner that’s trustworthy. Where the trust is broken repairing it is not always a simple like for life arrangement.
Doing right by each other is then followed by doing right by God in verses 18-20, where the importance of spiritual fidelity is taken so seriously that anything other than that is a capital offence.
Verses 21-27 are a particularly powerful portion of the law-giving as it addresses how to deal with the vulnerable – whether it’s the foreigner or the poor. God’s standard of justice and fairness for those who are the least in society is an important matter for Him. How we operate and treat the disadvantaged is an expression of our respect for God and mistreating them is something God deals with severely.
That level of concern for social justice is a matter that should be embedded in society today and still can be through those who follow the same God who set such relational concerns in legislation.
This highlights once more that when it comes to social arrangements and living harmoniously together, it’s a matter of trust.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 