Schoolmaster to Christ
EXODUS CHAPTERS 21-23
Schoolmaster to Christ
EXODUS CHAPTERS 21-23
Scripture Reading: Exodus 21, 22, 23 (KJV)
The study of this part of Exodus is calculated to impress the heart with a sense of God's unsearchable wisdom and infinite goodness. It enables us to form some idea of the character of a kingdom governed by laws of Divine appointment. Here, too, we see the amazing condescension of Him who, though He is the great God of heaven and earth, can, nevertheless, stoop to adjudicate between man and man in reference to the death of an ox, the loan of a garment, or the loss of a servant's tooth. "Who is like unto the Lord our God, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and on earth?" He governs the universe, and yet He can occupy Himself with the provision of a covering for one of His creatures. He guides the angel's flight and takes notice of a crawling worm. He humbles Himself to regulate the movements of those countless orbs rolling through infinite space and to record the fall of a sparrow.
We may learn a double lesson from the character of the judgment set forth in the chapters before us. These judgments and ordinances bear a twofold witness: they convey to the ear a twofold message, and presenting to the eye two sides of a picture. They tell of God and they tell of man.
In the first place – God's part
He enacts laws that exhibit strict, even-handed, perfect justice. "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." Such was the character of the laws, the statutes, and the judgments by which God governed Israel. Everything was provided for, every interest was maintained, and every claim was met. There was no partiality – no distinction made between rich and poor. The balance weighing each man's claim was adjusted with divine accuracy, so that no one could justly complain regarding a decision. The pure robe of justice was not to be tarnished with the foul stains of bribery, corruption and partiality. The eye and hand of a divine Legislator provided for everything; and a divine Executive inflexibly dealt with every defaulter. The stroke of justice fell only on the head of the guilty, while every obedient soul was protected in the enjoyment of all his rights and privileges.
In the second place – man’s part
It is impossible to read over these laws and not be struck with the disclosure they indirectly make of man’s desperate depravity. The fact that Jehovah had to enact laws against certain crimes proves the capability, on man's part, of committing them. Were the capability and tendency not there, there would be no need for the enactments. Considering the gross abominations forbidden in these chapters, some might feel disposed to adopt the language of Hazael and say, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" Such a person has not yet traveled into the deep abyss of their own heart. Regarding habits and tendencies, there are crimes here forbidden that seem to place man below the level of a "dog." However, those very statutes prove that the most refined and cultivated member of the human family carries within the seeds of dark and horrifying abominations. For whom were those statutes enacted? For man. Were they needful? Yes; but they would have been superfluous if man were incapable of committing the sins to which they referred. But man is capable – his nature is corrupt.
In the full blaze of the throne of God, how can such a being ever stand without an emotion of fear? How can he stand within the holiest? How can he stand on the sea of glass? How can he enter in by the pearly gates and tread the golden streets? The reply to these inquiries unfolds the amazing depths of redeeming love and the eternal efficacy of the blood of the Lamb. Deep as man's ruin is, the love of God is deeper. Black as our guilt is, the blood of Jesus can wash it all away. Wide as the chasm separating man from God is, the cross has bridged it. God has come down to the lowest point of our sinful condition, in order that He might lift us up into a position of infinite favor, in eternal association with His own Son. Well may we exclaim, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John 3:1). Nothing could fathom man's ruin but God's love, and nothing could equal man's guilt but the blood of Christ. But now the very depth of the ruin only magnifies the love that has fathomed it, and the intensity of the guilt only celebrates the efficacy of the blood that can cleanse it. The vilest sinner who truly believes in the faith of Jesus can rejoice in the assurance that God sees him and pronounces him "clean every whit."
Looked at as a whole, this is the double character of instruction to be gleaned from the laws and ordinances; and the more minutely we look at them in detail, the more impressed we shall be with a sense of their fullness and beauty. Take, for instance, the very first ordinance that presents itself: that of the Hebrew Servant. "Now these are the judgements which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall he her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free; then his master shall bring him unto the judges: he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever" (Ex. 21:1-6).
As he was personally concerned, the servant was perfectly free to go out. He had discharged every claim, and therefore could walk out and about in unquestioned freedom; but because of his love for master, wife, and children, he could voluntarily bind himself to perpetual servitude, bearing in his own body the marks of that servitude.
The application of this to the Lord Jesus Christ will be obvious to the serious student of God’s Word. In Him we behold the One who dwelt in the bosom of the Father before creation – the object of His eternal delight; who might have occupied His heavenly place throughout eternity, because there was no obligation on Him (save that which ineffable love created and incurred) to abandon that place. However, such was His love for the Father, the Church, and each individual member thereof, whose salvation was involved. So, because of His love, Jesus Christ voluntarily came down to earth, emptied Himself, made Himself of no reputation, taking upon Himself the form of a servant and the marks of perpetual service. To these marks we probably have a striking allusion in the Psalms. "Mine ears hast thou digged" (Ps. 40:6; margin). This psalm is the expression of Christ's devotedness to God. "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea thy law is within my heart." He came to do the will of God, whatever that will might be. He never once did His own will, not even in the reception and salvation of sinners, though surely His loving heart with all its affections was fully in that glorious work. Still He receives and saves only as Servant of the Father. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day" (John 6:37-39).
Here we have an interesting view of the servant character of the Lord Jesus Christ. In perfect grace, He holds Himself responsible to receive all who come within the range of the Divine counsels; and not only to receive us, but to preserve us through all the difficulties and trials of our devious path down here, including death itself – to raise us up in the last day. Thanks be to God, even the feeblest member of the Church of God is secure, because he is the subject of God's eternal counsels – counsels the Lord Jesus Christ is pledged to carry out. Jesus loves the Father, and, in proportion to the intensity of that love, is the security of each member of the redeemed family. In one aspect, our salvation is the expression of Christ's love to the Father. If one Christian could perish, it would argue that the Lord Jesus Christ was unable to carry out the will of God. However, such is nothing short of blasphemy against His sacred name, to whom be all honor and majesty throughout the everlasting ages.
So, in the Hebrew servant we have a type of Christ in His pure devotedness to the Father. But there is more than this: "I love my wife and my children." "Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25-27).
There are various other passages of Scripture presenting Christ as the antitype of the Hebrew servant, both in His love for the Church as a body and for all true believers personally. In Matthew 13, John 10 and 13, and Hebrews 2, there is special teaching on the point.
The apprehension of the love of Jesus cannot fail to produce a spirit of fervent devotedness to the One who could exhibit such pure, such perfect, such disinterested love. How could the wife and children of the Hebrew servant fail to love one who had voluntarily surrendered his liberty in order that he and they might be together? And what is the love presented in the type, when compared with that which shines in the antitype? It is nothing. "The love of Christ passeth knowledge." It led Him to think of us before all worlds; to visit us in the fullness of time; to walk deliberately to the door post; to suffer for us on the cross – that He might raise us to companionship with Himself, in His everlasting kingdom and glory.
If we were to enter into a full exposition of the remaining statutes and judgments of this portion of Exodus, it would carry us much further than we feel led to go.1 In conclusion, we merely observe that it is impossible to consider this part of our brief study and not have the heart drawn out in adoration of the profound wisdom, well-balanced justice, and tender considerateness that breathe throughout the whole. We rise up from the study of it with this conviction deeply burned into the soul: the One who speaks here is "the only true," "the only wise," and the infinitely gracious God.
May our meditations on His eternal Word have the effect of prostrating our souls in worship before Him whose perfect ways and glorious attributes shine there, in all their blessedness and brightness, for the refreshment, delight, and edification of His blood-bought people.
Footnote:
1The feasts referred to in Exodus 23:14-19 and the offerings in Exodus 29 will be brought out in their fullness and in detail when we study Leviticus.
