8
[compare Deut 7:9]; 20:23; 22:20). He lends respect for parental authority (Exod 20:12; 21:15,
17) and for civil authority (Exod 22:28 "Do not ... curse a ruler of your people"; Exod 23:1-9
implies a judiciary
18
) without which his own regulations could not be administered, though it is
clear that his divine law takes precedence over any civil authority (cf. Deut 17:14-20 where even
Israels kings are to be subject to the law of God). God serves as the invisible witness and judge
of solemn oaths, such as that to accept permanent servitude (Exod 21:6; assuming elohim there
means "God" rather than "judges") or exculpatory oaths (Exod 22:11), and as judge can
personally declare guilt (Exod 22:10, again assuming that elohim there means "God" rather than
"judges")
19
and carry out sentences (Exod 22:23-24, God threatens to send an invasion of
marauders to punish those afflicting the poor; cf. Exod 20:5, 7, 12 that imply direct divine
punishment for lawbreakers).
The civil laws show God to be a God of justice: God prohibits perjury and demands
complete impartiality in court even if it involves ones enemy (Exod 20:16; 23:1-9). He
distinguishes the guilt of intentional murder from that of unintentional manslaughter (Exod
21:12-13). God through his law redresses the wrongs done by manslaughter, abuse of parents,
kidnaping, and mayhem (Exod 21:12-27), and provide remedies to victims of carelessness,
negligence, accident, fraud, and devaluation of property (Exod 21:28-36; 22:5-17).
God expects his people to treat each other aright (commands on parents, murder,
adultery, theft, false witness and coveting; Exod 20:12-17; cf. the civil laws of Exod 21:2-23:9),
and to display holiness in their behavior (Exod 22:31). His laws show God to be concerned
with various disadvantaged classes: slaves male and female (Exod 20:10; 21:2-11, 20-21, 26-27),
foreign sojourners, widows, orphans, and the poor (Exod 22:21-27; 23:9), and even animals
18
Watts, Reading Law, 105.
19
On why "God" is more likely than "judges" as the meaning of elohim at both Exod 21:6 and
22:11, cf. Joe M. Sprinkle, ,,The Book of the Covenant: A Literary Approach (JSOTSup 174;
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 56-60, 145-148. A good case can be made at Exod
21:6 for an alternative view that elohim refers there to ancestral figurines (terephim).