Does death seem like a harsh punishment for cursing God? Let us understand how serious an affront that behavior is to God. How much cursing do you suppose was heard among the people after that lesson?
The weekly Sabbath of rest for the people, the seventh year Sabbath of rest for the land, and the Year of Jubilee are startling distinguishing marks of God’s Old Testament people. Those practices seemed like foolishness! They had multiple purposes:
- training the people to rely on God’s provision rather than their own efforts;
- increasing their faith in God;
- giving them, their working animals, and the land a rest;
- giving them an opportunity to take care of other matters besides cultivating and harvesting, such as maintenance;
- teaching them that there are more important things than accruing wealth;
- caring for the needs of the poor;
- preserving inheritance; and
- distinguishing them from other peoples and building their unity and identity as a people.
Which of these values might God want to deepen in you as you are confronted with this practical and startling requirement for His Old Testament people?
Does it offend you that the Law given by God seems to sanction slavery? God is acknowledging yet another horrifying fact of life in this sin-cursed world. His requirements also gave humane guidelines for the practice, which if followed make slavery look nothing like what it did in our nation’s history. In that culture, desperately needy people found slavery an alternative preferable to starving. God’s provision made it sort of a bankruptcy protection for people who had fallen on bad times. Given the guidelines of the Law, slavery is a more attractive option than debtor’s prison or other alternatives societies have devised. Isn’t God good to give those guidelines?