I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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

    Much of this passage is a list of various laws for regulating the relationships among the Israelites. Some of them are offensive to our modern sensibilities, although I wonder if part of that is because terms have come to be understood differently and part of it is because the gap between the life lived by the free and the life lived by slaves has widened. That is, that while we understand what life was like for slaves in that society (or think we do) we think of our own lives when we think of those who were not slaves. Despite these passages which offend our sensibilities there is a thread of not oppressing our fellow man. Of not using our wealth and power to make their lives more difficult.

    Having given the Israelites those commands, God made them a promise. He promised that He would be an enemy to their enemies. He would drive those who opposed them out of the land ahead of them. God promises to destroy the peoples currently living in the land He was giving the Israelites completely. This sounds utterly harsh, and, based on other commands He gave the Israelites it was. However, there is a hint here, and elsewhere, that it was not quite as harsh as it sounds. Because in the next phrase God makes it clear that what makes those nations nations which must be destroyed are the gods they worshiped and the practices which they had as a result. If the people of those nations abandoned their gods and practices and instead adopted the practices of the Israelites and the worship of God, they were welcome in the nation of Israel.