Immorality and Oppression
Immorality and Oppression
Image by beasternchen from Pixabay
Premarital Sex
“If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and makes love to her, he must certainly pay her bride-price and marry her. Even if her father absolutely refuses to let her marry him, he must still pay the full bride-price for virgins.”
After the covenant stipulations concerning property rights comes a series of loosely connected laws protecting the community from immorality and oppression. The first of these covers the common issue of premarital sex. This law applied when a young woman was seduced, not raped, and was not yet married or betrothed.
The simplest solution to the problem was a forced marriage. Few men would marry a woman another man had defiled. So God commanded the man who defiled her to marry and provide for her. He also had to give her father the full bride-price for a virgin. If the woman became pregnant, the marriage would legitimize and provide for the child.
However, this law didn’t overrule a father’s right to arrange his daughter’s marriage. He could refuse to give his daughter to the man yet still take the bride-price as a fine for defiling her. This empowered the father to protect his daughter from an undesirable, even abusive, marriage. It also served as a deterrent, even if the man loved the woman. If he angered her father, he could lose both his money and his chance of marrying her.
The Created Order
“Don’t allow a sorceress to live.
“Anyone who lies with an animal must certainly be put to death.”
Image by beasternchen from Pixabay
The next two covenant stipulations deal with honoring Yahweh’s created order. During creation week, he took the primordial deep and made it inhabitable by setting up boundaries between each created element.1 As these boundaries bring order and life, overstepping them brings chaos and death. So violating these laws carried the death penalty.
First, God expects his people to respect the boundary between the physical and spiritual realms. Sorcery is the use of physical elements to manipulate spiritual beings—angels, demons, the spirits of the dead, or even God himself. But while God gave humanity authority over the physical creation, he gave them no such authority over the spiritual realm. Sorcerers seek to exert authority over God instead of submitting to his authority.2
Second, God expects his people to respect the boundary between themselves and the creatures they rule. He created all the animals with the ability to reproduce “each according to its kind.”3 All humans belong to the same kind and are made as God’s image.4 Animals belong to different kinds and are not God’s image. To unite with an animal is to defile God’s image and betray our privileged position in the created order.
Sacrificing to the Gods
“Anyone who offers sacrifices to the gods, except to Yahweh only, must be surrendered for destruction.”
Image by Richard Gunther from Free Bible Images, CC BY-NC 4.0
Similar to the commands to keep the elements of the created order in their place, the next law commands keeping Yahweh in his rightful place. The first commandment forbids those in a covenant relationship with Yahweh from worshiping other gods.5 It follows that they couldn’t offer them sacrifices. Anyone who did became herem, a word with no English equivalent that refers to the “irrevocable surrender to God” of a person or object.6
Surrendering something to God could mean devoting it to service in the sanctuary.7 But often it had to be killed or destroyed.8 Unlike things devoted to God because they were holy, things usually became herem because they profaned the sacred, often by interfering with God’s plan for Israel.9 Even Israel could become herem if they deviated from their divine purpose.10
Sacrificing to a false god profaned the offering and the life of the sacrificed animal. God gave humanity authority over animal life for both food and sacrifices.11 To kill an animal as a sacrifice to a false god constituted an abuse of that authority, especially for an Israelite. Yahweh had redeemed Israel from Egypt to declare his name throughout the earth.12 If they instead honored false gods by sacrificing to them, their lives were forfeit.
Oppression
“Don’t mistreat or oppress a foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
“Don’t abuse any widow or fatherless child. If you do abuse them and they cry out to me, I’ll certainly hear their cry, grow angry with you, and violently kill you. Then your own wives will become widows and your own children fatherless.”
Image by Evgeni Tcherkasski from Pixabay
The next few covenant stipulations cover the proper treatment of the most vulnerable members of society. Yahweh takes special care of the poor, the widow, the fatherless, and the foreigner. According to Psalm 146:9, he “watches over foreigners,” and “the fatherless and the widow he lifts up.” Oppressing them means working against God and incurring his wrath.
The first law forbids all oppression of a foreigner. It gives no explanation or example, but it does give a reason. The Israelites lived as foreigners in Egypt. At first, the Egyptians welcomed them and even favored them because Joseph had saved the nation. But under a later pharaoh, the Egyptians began oppressing the Israelites, and it grew to the point of enslavement and genocide.13 God called his people to remember what that felt like so they wouldn’t mistreat those living peacefully among them. They had to treat foreigners as they treated their own people.14
The second law forbids the abuse of widows and young fatherless children. Other commandments provided for a widow through her children or through levirate marriage.15 But in some cases, she might not have a brother-in-law willing to marry her, or her eldest son may not be old enough to work the family land. Without help, she and her children could become destitute and end up as debt slaves.16 This opened them up to abuse. But God warned anyone who would take advantage of their situation that he would avenge them if they cried out for his help.
Loan Interest
“If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, don’t act like a moneylender by charging interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you must return it before sunset. That’s all the poor have as a covering to wear. What else will they sleep in? When your neighbor cries out to me, I’ll hear because I’m gracious.”
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
The third law on oppression deals with lending money to poor Israelites. God encouraged his people to give generously to the poor.17 They could, of course, give freely without any expectation of return. But God also allowed them to lend money, helping those who may struggle temporarily.
Even with a loan, though, God expected his people to show mercy to the poor. They couldn’t profit off fellow Israelites by charging interest.18 They could take a pledge against the loan, but if the borrower had only a cloak to give, it had to be returned by sunset. The Israelites primarily wore tunics during the heat of the day. They used a cloak as an outer garment during the cooler mornings and evenings and as a blanket at night.19 Without a cloak to keep warm, the poor person might cry out to God against the lender during the night.
Jesus referred to this law when he taught about responding to evil with generosity. “If someone sues you to take your tunic, give your cloak too.”20 To sue for a tunic, the equivalent of the shirt off someone’s back, was bad enough, but to take someone’s cloak was so cruel God forbade it. Yet Jesus commanded his followers to give it willingly, as well as the tunic, effectively leaving the believer naked. In this way, they can show the extremity of God’s love to their enemies.
Contempt for Authority
“Don’t show contempt for God or curse a leader of your people.
“Don’t delay to offer your produce and your wine.”
The last two laws on immorality cover respect for authority, particularly Yahweh’s authority. God commanded his people to treat each other with love and respect regardless of social class, but he never tried to set up an egalitarian society. He called Moses to lead Israel, and Moses created a tiered system of judges.21 God would soon consecrate Aaron and his descendants as priests.22 The powerful couldn’t oppress the weak, and the governed couldn’t disrespect the appointed leaders.
The law against cursing leaders didn’t forbid all criticism or require blind obedience. It recognized God as the source of all authority.23 God even referred to Nebuchadnezzar as his servant because God raised up the cruel king of Babylon to enact the judgment that would end idolatry in Israel.24 Ultimately, even unjust rulers accomplish God’s good purposes without intending to. So God’s people must submit to them as part of submitting to Yahweh.
Related to the command to respect God and those he places in authority is the command for the Israelites to offer their produce and wine without delay. This included the tithe, which belonged to the Levites, as well as the best of the tithe and the firstfruits, which belonged to the priests.25 Giving Yahweh his portion in a timely manner not only honored him but also provided for the leaders he appointed.
- See Inhabitable and Inhabited.
- Although the word for “sorceress” is feminine in this verse, men were also forbidden from practicing sorcery. Deuteronomy 18:10; Malachi 3:5.
- Genesis 1:25; see According to Its Kind.
- See The Image of God.
- See The First Commandment.
- Harris et al., Wordbook, “חָרַם.”
- Leviticus 27:21; Micah 4:13.
- Leviticus 27:29; Deuteronomy 13:16.
- Numbers 21:1–3; Deuteronomy 25:17–19; Joshua 6:16–17; 1 Samuel 15:18.
- Joshua 7:11–12; Isaiah 43:27–28.
- See A Soothing Aroma; A New Reality.
- See Yahweh’s Purpose.
- See Forced Labor; Infanticide.
- Leviticus 19:33–34.
- Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 25:5–10; Proverbs 23:22; Mark 7:10–13.
- See 2 Kings 4:1–7.
- Deuteronomy 15:14; Proverbs 14:21; Ezekiel 16:49.
- This law applied only to Israelites They could charge foreigners interest. Deuteronomy 23:20.
- Pritz, Human-made Things, 6.2 Outer garment, cloak, mantle, robe.
- Matthew 5:40.
- See Jethro’s Advice.
- Exodus 29:4–21.
- Romans 13:1–2.
- Jeremiah 25:9.
- Numbers 18:8, 12–13, 21–29.