Seder 78: Leviticus 5-6 and Zechariah 5---Crime and Punishment in Ancient Israel

 When a crime was committed in ancient Israel---a theft, for example---there would be a public call for witnesses to come forward, with an oath calling upon God to deal appropriately with the perpetrator and anyone who knew what had happened but refused to testify.  

This kind of public call and oath is first mentioned in the Bible in Leviticus 5:1.  Another reference to it is in Proverbs 29:24:  "The partner of a thief hates his own life; he hears the curse, but discloses nothing."  

When there was a lack of evidence in a case, it might have ended up being resolved by an oath.  For example, Exodus 22:10-11 describes a case where one person leaves some possession with another person for safekeeping, and the possession is subsequently lost.  If there is no evidence of what happened and the person who was supposed to be guarding the possession swears that he doesn't know what happened, the owner has to accept his word.  

Underlying all of this is the conviction that God sees everything and is the ultimate Judge.  In some cases where a person failed to testify, his conscience would eventually move him to step forward belatedly, as in Leviticus 5:1.  Or if a person had defrauded another and initially lied about it, he might later confess the truth and make things right (Lv 6:1-7).  God might give such a person some incentive to do the right thing by allowing the person to suffer for his wrongdoing.  That's what Leviticus 5:1 means when it speaks of the reluctant witness "bearing his iniquity."  

One striking affirmation of God's justice appears in Zechariah's vision of a flying scroll.  (Remembering the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, I am tempted to refer to the scroll in the vision as Rocket J. Scroll.)  This huge scroll measures about 30 feet by 15 feet.  It has writing on both sides, like the tablets of the Decalogue.  The commandment against stealing is on one side, and the commandment against bearing false witness is on the other.  The scroll seems to symbolize the whole Decalogue, or more broadly all of God's Word.  

Zechariah 5:3-4 pictures God sending out the scroll, as he sends out his Word in Psalm 147:15; and as in Isaiah 55:11, it accomplishes God's will, carrying out justice in the world.  The scroll makes good on the oath that goes out when witnesses are solicited---see verse 3.  

Although we are not often called upon to be witnesses in a court of law, we have all been witnesses of the goodness of God.  In a sermon on Leviticus 5:1 at Church of the Messiah on August 2, 2025, Kyle Kettering urged us not to be reluctant witnesses, and to speak up about what God has done for us. 

Seder 61: Isaiah 47-48---Heeding God's Word

 A number of the cases in Exodus 21-23 make for challenging reading because of the wide gulf separating  21st-century Western culture and Ancient Near Eastern culture.  But the time we invest in studying them is worthwhile because this is precious revelation from God, showing God's thinking on moral and ethical issues.

The uniqueness and value of God's revelation are emphasized in Isaiah 48.  There God calls upon his people to "hear" him---that is, to pay attention to what he is saying and give a faithful response.  One reason that they should listen is that God is the Creator of the whole universe (vv 12-13).  He knows things that are not available from any other source.  

 In particular, since God created the universe, he rules the universe.  He knows in advance what will happen.  Through the prophets, he revealed that he would send the Babylonians to punish the kingdom of Judah.  Later he would bring down the Babylonians (Isaiah 47; 48:`14) through the Persians and their emperor Cyrus (Isa 44:28; 45:1). 

In addition, God wants the best for his people.  "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go," he states in Isaiah 48:17.  That teaching includes the Decalogue of Exodus 20 and the "covenant code" of Exodus 21-23 . 

Seder 106: Num 5:11-31---Suspicion of Adultery

 A major theme in Numbers 5 is the importance of purity, both ritual and moral, for the children of Israel as they prepared to depart from Mt. Sinai early in the second year of the Exodus.  Strong marriages would promote moral purity, and jealousy between marriage partners would threaten Israelite marriages.  

Numbers 5:11-31 describes a case where a husband becomes consumed with jealousy toward his wife, who denies any wrongdoing.  An impasse results.  If that impasse persists, a ceremony is to be carried out at the tabernacle in which the wife is made to drink a special mixture of holy water.  If she is innocent of adultery, there will be no negative consequences from her drinking the water.  If she is guilty, she will suffer physical consequences that will render her unable to bear children.  

One unusual thing about this case is the fact that God promises to intervene and reveal the truth.  Normally God would not intervene in this way in Israel's justice system, and there are provisions in the Torah for what to do in cases of unsolved crimes.  For example, if a man asked his neighbor to watch an animal while he was away and something happened to the animal while no one was looking, the owner would have to accept an oath from the neighbor that the neighbor had not harmed the animal (Ex 22:10-11).  

So one other possibility for this case of suspected adultery would be for the suspected party to take an oath before God that no adultery had taken place, with the provision that the jealous spouse would have to accept that oath.  An interesting question:  Why doesn't the Torah simply go with that possibility?    

The fact that God promises to intervene in such a case may say something about

• how important it is to God to save a marriage.
• the vulnerable position of women in that culture, and how God wanted to protect women.
• the dangerous, destructive power of human jealousy.

One lesson for us might be the importance of avoiding the snare of jealousy.  This case can also lead us to reflect upon the difference between destructive human jealousy and God's "jealousy" for his people, which stems from his love for them.  We might contrast the jealous husband with God, who is faithful to Israel despite their unfaithfulness to him (see e.g. Hosea 2:16-23).   

Questions are raised by Num 5:31, which begins, "The man shall be free from iniquity."  This may mean that if the wife turns out to be innocent, the man will not be prosecuted for making a false accusation.  On the other hand, a Jewish tradition says that it means the test will only be efficacious if the jealous spouse has not been unfaithful.  

We don't know how often this ceremony was ever carried out.  Jewish tradition says that Johanan ben Zakkai ruled in about 70 AD that the test would no longer be used from then on.  The efficacy of the test relied on the people involved fearing God and trusting the answer the test gave, and the rabbis were not sure that the people still had sufficient morality and fear of God for the test to be worthwhile.

A Christian legend recorded in the Infancy Gospel of James, chapter 16, has both Mary and Joseph undergoing the ceremony and being vindicated when Mary's pregnancy leads to accusations against them.  

Num 5:28 says that if the woman turns out to be innocent, then she will be able to have children.  Today's Western readers tend to observe that a wife was put through such an ordeal by her husband, she would likely no longer want to have children with him.  Other cultures can be different, however.  Rob Wilson, in a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 18, 2022, noted that women in some cultures may be proud of how jealous their husbands are.  

Seder 61: Exodus 22-23---Further Applications of the Decalogue

 The "covenant code" continues in Exodus 22-23, with more applications of the Decalogue.  Each one can serve as the basis for a thoughtful discussion.  I will highlight a few of them here.  

Exodus 22:25-27 forbids charging interest on a loan to a poor Israelite, or engaging in any other practice that would leave someone trapped in a cycle of indebtedness and thus enslaved.  Such behavior constitutes a kind of theft.  

Exodus 22:28 teaches respect for those who are in authority.  Paul quotes this provision in Acts 23:5 when he discovers that the man he has been publicly rebuking before the Sanhedrin is actually the high priest. (That awkward moment is soon forgotten, however, when Paul raises the subject of resurrection, starting an argument among council members.)

Exodus 23:4-5 gives the important "love your enemies" principle.  Jewish tradition teaches that this is a way to heal relationships and turn enemies into friends.  This is another case where God's character is a model for us (Matt 5:43-48).  

Exodus 23:1-3, 6-8 are related to the commandment against bearing false witness.  The commandments against being a malicious witness and taking bribes reminds us of the incident of Naboth's vineyard (1 Kings 21).  The teaching against "siding with the many, so as to pervert justice" reminds us of the wickedness that is carried out by mobs---in lynchings, for example.  

The second half of Exodus 23:19 has long been a puzzler:  "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk." One possibility is that there was a pagan fertility practice of this type, in which such a ritual was supposed to make a flock more fertile.  (However, we as yet have no record of such a practice.)

It has also been proposed that the word for "milk" should instead be translated "fat", using different vowels.  In that case, this becomes a prohibition of sacrificing mother and baby animals at the same time.  

The covenant code is presented to the Israelites while they are at Mt Sinai, although many of the provisions apply to their future life in the Promised Land.  Why are these provisions presented so early?  

One answer is that it isn't necessarily all that early.  God could take the Israelites to the Promised Land within a month at any time that he wanted to do so.  

Another answer is that at any time, the provisions of the covenant code reveal principles that can be applied in any setting, whether or not the nation is in the Promised Land.  Rob Wilson proposed this second answer in a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 26, 2021.

Seder 60: Exodus 21-22---Applying the Decalogue in Ancient Context

 Exodus 21-23 give a series of examples that apply the principles of the Ten Commandment in ancient Israel's ancient Near Eastern context.  Some of the examples (Exod 21:1-22:17) are stated in the form "If ..., then ......"  These are called casuistic laws.  Later examples have the form "You should do x" or "You should not do y."  These are called apodictic laws. 

I have found Exodus 21 to be one of the most challenging passages of scripture.  The examples come from a historical and cultural context very different from ours, and so there is much to learn about that context in order to make sense of some of the cases.  Each case can be the source of an interesting discussion.

Exodus 21 begins with some examples involving servitude.  The Israelites had recently left a condition of slavery, and God will forbid them from subjecting anyone else to what the Egyptians had done to them. 

 The revelation in Exodus prohibits what we would usually call "slavery."  Stealing is forbidden in general, including in particular kidnapping people and selling them---what we call "human trafficking" (Exod 21:16).  Moreover, everyone in a household was to be allowed to rest every Sabbath (Exod 23:12).  

But when people became completely impoverished, there needed to be a way for them to survive.  The way discussed in Exodus 21 is a kind of indentured servitude, where an impoverished person would work for someone else for a set period of time.  

In some cases a family might become so poor that they could not afford a dowry for their daughter.  In that case they might arrange a marriage for the daughter as both a servant (presumably for some set period of time) and a wife.  Exod 21:7-11 is meant to protect a young woman in that situation.  

One unusual case appears in Exod 21:22, where two men are fighting and one accidentally strikes a pregnant woman, apparently causing her to give birth prematurely.  There is a large literature on this verse, trying to determine what it might have to say about the issue of abortion.  

Commentaries on this section of scripture contain helpful information like the following:

• A number of the examples in these chapters have parallels in ancient Near Eastern law codes.  One thing that distinguishes the Torah from these codes is that in general, the Torah places greater value on preserving life and less value on property than other ANE sources.  Also, the Torah is more egalitarian, not according greater value to elites as other codes do.  
• A number of examples mention the death penalty.  For crimes other than first-degree murder, death is a maximum penalty rather than a mandatory one--see verses 29-30 for an example.  This claim is based on Num 35:31, which specifies that capital punishment should not be replaced by a fine in the case of first-degree murder.  Implied then, is the idea that capital punishment can be replaced by a fine for other capital crimes.  (I first learned about this principle from Walter Kaiser's book Toward Old Testament Ethics.)
• The lex talionis ("an eye for an eye", etc.) is not about personal revenge.  Instead, it is the judicial principle that the punishment for a crime should fit the crime.  Only in the case of "life for life" has it been taken literally in Jewish law.  Verses 26-27 illustrate applications of the principle.  When a master causes serious injury to a worker, putting out an eye or a tooth, the worker is to be set free.  (This is one of the places where Exodus 21-22 differs from Hammurabi's Code, which states a literal application of "eye for an eye" in number 192.)