I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change. .

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 22-24.

    Having given the general rules regarding how the children should interact with God and each other, God gives some more detailed rules about how they should build their society. The first group of these rules establish property rights. These rules establish punishments for those who fail to respect their neighbors property rights. Those rules, however, place limits on one’s liability for property which another has given into your custody.
    The next two groups of rules are about how society should be structured. These two groups are not clearly separated. The first of them is, more or less, a group of commands which tell us how we should relate to God and those He has given governing authority. The second is a group of commands about how we should interact with each other and how the governing authorities should treat those it governs. However, the two groups are not clearly separated and are somewhat intermixed. It is worth reading these in detail. I am going to note a couple that stood out to me:

• Do not mistreat immigrants. (It is worth noting that this does not actually tell us anything about the illegal immigrant debate)
• You must not exploit a widow or orphan. (God will look out for the powerless)
• When you hear a rumor, find out if it is true before passing it on.
• Just because everyone else is doing it does not mean it is OK to do something that is wrong.

There are many more worth reading and thinking about just as much as these. While the commands listed here are phrased in the context of a culture different than ours, we can still see how they can guide our behavior today.