Exodus 22

Not everyone is motivated by the love of God. People who are motivated by the love of Christ for them don't have to be browbeaten into attending worship or into giving to the work of the Lord's kingdom. They want to worship God. They want to give. They want to serve. But some people are simply not moved by the love of God displayed for us in the cross of Christ.

This does not mean that such people are completely without motivating influences. Many get up in the morning and go to work even though they do not love God and do not enjoy their jobs. They are motivated by something else. They need the money. Many people who do not love God still refrain from certain illegal activities that they might love to do. The threat of sanctions constrains their behavior.

This suppression of public evil was one of the purposes of the Law in Israel. The manifold consequences of stealing a neighbor's animal should at least slow down the sensible thief. We need Law, not because it could ever lead us to peace with God, but because, among other reasons, it is necessary for civil order in a broken world where people murder, steal, and commit adultery.

There can be no stability in a community where one man does all the work to maintain a fruitful field, and a second man sends his animals there to feed. If you did that in Israel, God's Law said that the penalty had to come out of your own field. If you started a fire and that fire got out of control and destroyed a neighbor's crops, you had to pay for what the other man lost. If you took responsibility for another man's goods and then claimed that those goods were suddenly stolen, you and the owner might both need to stand before God on that matter, so that the judges could sort it all out.

If people had no evil inclinations, rules like this would be unnecessary. If we were all perfectly motivated by the love of God, we would not need to talk about restitution. But in this world, the real world, even the best people can be overcome by unholy impulses. We do need a system of civil restraints. Even Christians in the New Testament era need to know that civil authorities do not bear the sword in vain. See Romans 13:1-7.

In all cases in Israel, civil order was not only a matter of divine Law. It also included the discernment of those judges who used that Law after hearing the facts of the case from both parties in any suit. Even more, justice was to be lived out in the fear of God. God knew the truth that one man might try to hide from his adversary or from a wise neighbor serving as a judge between the two men. God cannot be fooled, and He is very powerful.

Even the relationship between a young man and woman was not left to the impulses and emotions of the two parties most directly involved. The father was to be a protector of his daughter, and the public had an interest in the honor of neighbors. This was the way of the Lord for Israel.

The Promised Land was not a place for those who practiced sorcery. It was not a nation where people were allowed to practice bestiality. It was not to be a society that was open to false religion. It was God's country. It was to be a light to all nations. It existed for God's special purposes.

Sojourners were welcomed there, and they were to be treated with respect, but they could not force God's land to tolerate their religion and their moral opinions. They were a minority who should be cared for, just as those who were in need because of the loss of a husband or parents. God promised His people that He would be watching them, and that He cared for the stranger and the weak. Maybe a wicked man might not care about God's feelings on these matters, yet he should pause to consider God's promise to kill with the sword those who made married women widows, and who turned little children into fatherless orphans.

Israel was to be different from all the other nations of the world. It should have been a place where the hearts of the Lord's people went out to the destitute, lending to them without interest, and making sure that even the poor man who had to put up his cloak for a pledge at least received it back at night to keep his body warm. If not, then God would hear the poor man's cries. God is a compassionate being. He expected Israel to be like Him in mercy and love.

These matters of public order and righteousness were requirements for God's chosen people. They needed to honor God and those in authority over them. They were to give to the Lord their first and best out of all that God had given to them. They were to be consecrated to God.

But Israel was not holy. They did not love God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. They did not love their neighbors as themselves. They did not adequately attend to any of His laws. They did not even rightly enforce these ordinances for civil order. Israel failed.

What do you do when Israel fails? You need the provision of a new and successful Israel.

Jesus is the new Israel of God. He is the Son of God who obeys all civil law, all ceremonial law, and even the weightiest matters of mercy and justice. He took upon Himself the curse that fell upon Israel for their disobedience.

God cares about civil order in His church and among the nations of the world. He knows that we will not all be perfectly motivated by love for Him and for one another in the way that we should be. But He has sent the true Israel, Jesus, to live in love and to die for us because of His amazing love for His people.