In today's study we will conclude the first portion of Exodus 23 which is called "Laws Of Justice And Mercy".
"And do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit." (Exodus 23:3) It's just as wrong to show favoritism to the poor as it is to show favoritism to the rich. It's natural for us to feel an urge to help the "underdog" but if we're in a position to judge a matter or if we're serving on a jury, we have to study the evidence impartially. Just because a person is poor doesn't mean he didn't break the law. We aren't to give him a pass on his wrongdoing due to feeling sorry for his poverty. It would be sinful of us to declare him not guilty of driving drunk and causing an accident, for example, or to judge him not guilty of assault, for another example, just because he's poor. If the evidence shows he is guilty of what he's accused of, we must judge according to the evidence.
Do you know why so many plaintiffs or defendants request jury trials rather than just having their cases heard and decided by a judge? Because jury members tend to be more easily swayed by their emotions than judges. A plaintiff who is suing a corporation, for instance, knows he has a better chance of winning his case if he requests a jury trial because a jury is more likely than a judge to view him as the underdog and to view the corporation as the big bad wolf, whether or not that is actually the case. A judge is more likely to rule by evidence alone because that's what he's been trained to do. Up til now we've only talked about the ability of the rich to pervert justice by bribing officials, but it's just as much a perversion of justice if we ignore the evidence of a person's guilt simply because he is poor and we feel sorry for him.
"If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it." (Exodus 23:4) I love Bible verses that show the Lord's concern for animals! It's not the donkey's fault that its owner and its owner's neighbor are enemies. If the neighbor sees the donkey loose and wandering astray, he is to take the donkey home.
The Lord reminded me of Exodus 23:4 when the following incident occurred some years ago. My husband and I have a next door neighbor who is a first cousin to my husband but who will not speak to us. We have to drive by his house whenever we come or go from our neighborhood but he'll turn his back to us if he's outside. We are honestly not sure why he is this way but his late father stopped speaking to our side of the family when my mother-in-law sold her house and moved out of state following my father-in-law's death. He felt she was being disloyal to his brother's memory by selling the house and never spoke to her again. Whether or not this is why his son won't speak to us I'm not sure, but one day his little dachshund got loose. He would sometimes tie the dog outside for an hour or two in the shade while he was at home and I figured it broke its tie-out so I picked up the little dog and went down to his house and knocked on his door. I felt a sense of dread in having to do this but for the dog's sake I had no choice about dealing with a man who I know doesn't like me. He came to the door and I explained what had happened. He grabbed his dog from me without a word and slammed the door in my face. But that's okay. I wasn't going to let the dog get hit by a car just because its owner doesn't like me. That's what the Lord is talking about here in verse 4; He's saying, "Don't let something happen to a loose donkey just because you and its owner don't get along. Have compassion on the donkey. Besides that, you're doing unto others as you'd have done unto you when you return the donkey safely. If someone saw your donkey wandering loose, wouldn't you want them to return it to you?"
This next verse takes "doing unto others" a step further. "If you see a donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it." (Exodus 23:5) Perhaps the donkey's owner has misjudged how much it can carry or perhaps his donkey suddenly takes ill and can no longer stand. If a person is passing by to whom the donkey's owner has been unkind, that person is not to keep going. He's to help the man get his donkey unloaded so the donkey can be helped to its feet. A modern example of this would be if we were driving down the road and saw the person who dislikes us broken down beside the road with a dead battery or with a flat tire. We aren't to point and say, "Haha, look at you! Serves you right!" and keep going. If we truly want to do what Jesus would do, we'll stop and boost the person's battery off or help him change his tire. That person might change his attitude toward us when we show a Christlike attitude toward him. That person might even come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior because we did something Jesus would do.
Did my neighbor become my friend when I helped his dog and returned it safely to him? No, not so far anyway. Will he ever change his attitude? Will he ever repent and turn to the Lord because a woman who knows the Lord showed kindness to him and to his little dog? I couldn't say, but at least I can say I didn't stand in his way of coming to the Lord by not showing kindness to him and to his dog. I'm not telling you this story to make myself sound like a person who always does the right thing. That wouldn't be true. To be honest, my primary concern was for the dog because I'm such a dog lover myself. I'd hate to think someone would see my dog loose and not catch it and bring it home to me. But if anyone deserves any credit here, it's the Lord who said to me in the person of the Holy Spirit, "What if it was your dog that was loose? What if your neighbor saw it was loose but did nothing to help it and it got lost or stolen or killed by a car? Imagine how that would break your heart! How can you let something like that happen to your neighbor and his dog? I said in the Bible to return the donkey of your enemy if the donkey is loose, and that applies to any other animal belonging to your enemy. Take the dog home. If your neighbor slams his door in your face, so what? At least you've done what was right. If he isn't polite or grateful, that's not your problem or concern."
I'm reminded of something one of my favorite television and radio preachers, Dr. Charles Stanley, often says: "Obey the Lord and leave all the consequences to Him." We are to do what's right. Our fellow man may or may not appreciate it but that's not our problem or concern. The Lord sees whether or not we do the right thing and He is the only One who matters. My mom lived by a similar motto as Dr. Charles Stanley so I'll tell a little story here of her doing what was right. When I was a kid my parents and I were staying at a motel at the beach and my mother and I were going up the three flights of outdoor steps to our motel room when we came across a wallet lying on one of the steps. My mom picked it up and opened it and gasped at the sight of several hundred dollars, which was a whole lot of money in the 1970s. We certainly didn't have that much money with us on our trip. She said, "We've got to take this to the office right now and find out what room he's in so we can get his billfold and money back to him!" My mom gave the desk clerk the man's name from his driver's license and the clerk gave her his room number. We knocked on his door and he opened the door a couple of inches with the chain still latched and suspiciously asked her what she wanted. She held the wallet out and told him about finding it on the steps. He reached his hand through the opening, grabbed the wallet from her, and slammed the door without even so much as a "thank you". Mom just shrugged, informed me the man had bad manners and instructed me that I was to politely and sincerely thank a person who ever returned a lost item to me, and then she and I went on our way back to our room. The man who lost his wallet didn't thank my mom but do you think the Lord didn't reward my mom's integrity? Oh yes, I think He did, many times over. He didn't make her a wealthy woman but He never let her go without anything she needed. In addition to that, I wouldn't be surprised if He didn't have some sort of extra eternal reward waiting for her, in appreciation for her integrity, when she got to heaven in 1996.
Now we'll move on to the next section of today's passage. Earlier in today's study the Lord cautioned us against taking the side of a poor person who is guilty. Now He warns us against feeling prejudiced toward the poor and ruling against them even though they're in the right. "Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent." (Exodus 23:6-8) The wealthy can afford to bribe a witness or a judge or a jury member. An unscrupulous person who is wealthy has an advantage over the poor due to his ability to buy testimonies or verdicts. The Lord will not turn a blind eye to such things. He is a Judge who sees all and He will not allow unfair legal practices to go unpunished. A person may manage not to be caught by his fellow man when he commits this type of sin, but if he is not punished for his crimes on this earth we can be sure he will face the holy and perfect and impartial Judge someday and he will not escape whatever verdict the Lord hands down on him.
"Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt." (Exodus 23:9) The Lord already gave this instruction in Exodus 22:21 but it's such an important instruction that He feels it bears repeating. He says to Israel, "Don't do what was done to you. If you feel any inclination whatsoever to treat someone differently because they are a foreigner (of a different color, background, or religion), then you are behaving no better than the Egyptians who discriminated against you. Remember how unfairly you were treated in Egypt? Remember how your rights were infringed upon? Remember how you were hated because you looked different and had different customs and a different religion? Didn't you feel it was wrong of the Egyptians to hate you just because you were different? Of course you did, and you cried out to Me for justice! Then wouldn't it be just as wrong for you to feel prejudice toward someone else because they are different somehow from you? Of course it would be! So don't do it. Don't do it or they will cry out to Me for justice and I will hear them."
The Lord is saying the same thing to us that He's saying to the Israelites in verse 9: Don't harbor prejudice. You and I may never have been in slavery. You and I may never have experienced discrimination (although as a woman I can think of a number of times when I feel I was treated differently or denied opportunities because I'm a female). But we can clearly see by all moral standards that prejudice is wrong. It is not logical to believe someone deserves less respect or is worthy of fewer rights because their skin color is different or because they are from a different country or because they are of a different sex than we are. Even if we are incapable of reasoning this out for ourselves by human standards, the Lord plainly says prejudice is wrong. His words are right here in black and white on the pages of the Holy Bible. The Lord created us all equal. He loves us all the same. Christ died for every person's sins. Salvation is offered to every person without partiality and without prejudice. How dare we not love our neighbor---every neighbor---as ourselves, seeing that the Lord loves our neighbor the same as He loves us?
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