“If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.
“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
“Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.
“Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction.
“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Comment: Some of this sounds a bit tough, but I wonder if you were caught in the middle of these situations would you think so. Some will say the law applying to having sex with a virgin sounds reasonable, but what about killing sorceresses or killing those who make a sacrifice to any god to be friends with their non-Jewish neighbours? As the church is meant to be these days, the newly rescued nation of Israel was meant to be pure and true to the Creator, Saving God. Surely these laws and the judgements ordered should have made tempted people to think seriously about what faced disobedience. Marriage according to God’s word, and faithfulness is meant to be the keystone of a Jehovah oriented society. He is to be seen, because He is, as the ONLY TRUE and LIVING God. Any other worshipped thing whether be a hand carved idol or money or what money can buy or sex or whatsoever replaces Jehovah God is evil. We see today what happens when God’s commands aren’t taken seriously! It is not for me to reintroduce capital punishment but loose standards dishonour God as do the lives of those claiming to be God’s people who live outside His ways.
Whilst foreign gods are not to be worshipped, foreigners are to treated as equally human. Widows and orphans and the poor are to be treated compassionately. Do we like to see God as capable of blazing anger?
Prayer: Please Father help me to keep short accounts with You, by acting aright and repenting, truly turning away from, what doesn’t please You!
As I read it! 