“then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.”
~ Exodus 21:6
Hi James and Ellen,
How would you like to be kids who are living in a country that has laws that are relevant to the treatment of slaves, pertinent to an injury or death that has been caused either deliberately or accidentally and germane to bulls? Kids who were born to God’s specially chosen guys and gals 3450 years ago saw laws being enforced that were relevant, pertinent and germane to slaves, injuries and death and bulls. Depending on what may have happened, a slave may be given his or her freedom and/or restitution may be made and/or compensation may be paid. There were times when a guy and/or bull had to be put to death because of what the bull did. These God mandated laws that God gave through Moses to His specially chosen guys and gals were recorded by Moses in Exodus 21. It was very important to God that His specially chosen guys and gals faithfully obeyed these laws along with every one of the other Mosaic Laws that He had passed on to His specially chosen guys and gals through Moses. Not long before God gave Moses on Mount Sinai the set of laws that He expected His specially chosen guys and gals to submit to, God’s specially chosen guys and gals were living in Goshen, Egypt – where they were enslaved by Egyptian guys. God’s specially chosen guys and gals had been conditioned to be slaves and/or have slaves by the environs in which they were living. God knew that there would soon be a time when some of His specially chosen guys and gals would have to sell one or more of their kids to another Hebrew – Hebrews being God’s specially chosen guys and gals or the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, in order to survive. God put laws in place where kids would always be treated fairly and justly who have been sold as slaves by their dad and ma who were among God’s specially chosen guys and gals. Verse 6 is a verse that your grandpaa applies today to a guy who has his ear pierced. The verse says, “then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.” Your grandpaa sees a spiritual inference to a guy today having his ear pierced. For a guy 3450 years ago to have an ear pierced, a guy had to have been a slave for six years, felt like he was a member of the slave owner’s family and had no desire at all to be set free. This kind of slave 1500 years later was referred to by Paul as being a bondservant in the second letter that he had scribed and couriered to Timothy. A bondservant defines a guy, gal or kid today who has made a decision of faith because of God’s mercy and grace through having accepted what God – as God the Son, did for him or her. Some guys today who have had their ears pierced are affronting or insulting God as they are living very abhorrent lifestyles which are homosexually driven.
God’s laws that He expected His specially chosen guys and gals to obey were very stiff laws. One of God’s laws said that if kid – if the kid’s dad and ma were from God’s specially chosen people group’s guys and gals, ever attacked his or her dad and/or ma, that kid was to be put to death. A kid was also to be put to death if he or she ever cursed his or her dad and/or ma. Kids who lived 3450 years ago – whose dads and mas were God’s specially chosen people group’s guys and gals, had to be just as faithful to God’s laws as their dads and mas were to be. The laws that God passed on through Moses to His specially chosen guys and gals seemed to cover every possible incident that might ever take place. How would you like to be living as kids today within a people group of guys and gals who have laws that dictate what they can and cannot do – such as the Mennonite and Muslims people group’s guys and gals. A law is a life boundary. A law implies safety if obeyed and accountability if not obeyed. God uses His specially chosen guys and gals as an example of the futility of trying to be an adherent to a law or works based religious belief paradigm. It is impossible to absolutely comply day in, day out with every law or rule of a law or works based religious belief paradigm. This is why the Catholic Church has confessionals for guys and gals to go into to confess to a priest a transgression that he or she has made against a rule or law that the Catholic Church has determined needs to be followed or obeyed. Rules and laws are needed to maintain order on planet Earth; they are not needed to experience knowing and having the hope of eternal life through God – as God the Son.
Your grandpaa’s dad always had a bull on his farm. Farmers who have cows have a bull. Have you ever watched bull riding on TV? A bull can be extremely dangerous. Your grandpaa remembers being scared of one of his dad’s bulls. Your grandpaa at milking time would sometimes have to walk out into the pasture to get his dad’s cows – to get them back into the cowyard and into his dad’s barn to be milked. Your grandpaa was always thinking that the bull that he remembers being scared of was going to chase him and . . . your grandpaa had heard stories of farmers being hurt or even killed by their bull. Your grandpaa will never forget the day when he found himself looking up into the eyes of this bull. If one of his cows had trouble delivering her calf, your grandpaa’s dad would have your grandpaa help him pull the calf out of the cow. Your grandpaa’s dad during one of these times had your grandpaa use a rope that was tied to a board to help pull a calf out of its ma. Your grandpaa put the bottom of the board against the bottom of a doorjamb – using the bottom of the doorjamb as a fulcrum, and leaned against the top of the board as hard as he could to pull the calf out of its ma. When the calf suddenly popped out of its ma, your grandpaa fell forward through the open barn door onto the ground outside the barn door. When your grandpaa looked up, the bull that he was scared of was looking down on him. Have you ever experienced God’s protection?
Exodus 21 (552)