Exodus 22:3b-6 - If the stolen beast is found alive

22:3b,4

We are now back to the thief. If someone steals something then they have to make restitution. If they are unable to do so, then the thief himself must be sold as a slave. If the thief still has the sheep or ox (as opposed to having killed it or sold it on, 22:1) then he was to pay double. This presumably means returning the beast plus an extra one.

22:5,6

We now get another rule concerning careless behaviour. First, if a man lets his animals grave over another man’s field or vineyard, then he has to pay compensation. And this compensation is to be from the best in his own field or vineyard. We are to have proper consideration for other people’s property.

This is followed by a rule concerning deliberate harm, namely starting a fire such that it causes the loss of crops. Such a man is to make full restitution.

John 20:29-31 - That you may believe

20:29

Jesus was happy to give Thomas the evidence, but He then goes on to stress that those who have not seen Him are even more blessed. This is so important. For in a short time Jesus was going to ascend to the Father, we cannot see the risen Christ. If seeing the risen Christ for ourselves was the key to faith then we are all in a bad state. But we do not need to see Him, we can believe on the evidence of the first witnesses.

20:30,31

These two verses seem to form a natural end to the gospel, with the final chapter being a sort of epilogue. Here John states the purpose of his gospel. First he highlights that Jesus had actually done many other signs in the presence of the disciples. John had just chosen a select few, and these were chosen with a purpose. John has crafted his gospel so that its readers “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God”. By believing this they would have life in Jesus’ name. This should be the purpose of all of our teaching and preaching.

Exodus 22:1-3a - If a man steals an ox

22:1

So far the penalties for various crimes and mishaps have been of the eye-for-an-eye variety. I.e. a near as possible equivalence between the event and the compensation. Now we get a number of cases where things are different. The first involves the stealing of an ox or sheep, and the recompense is five oxen or four sheep. Oxen were more valuable than sheep, and the loss of an ox was a more serious matter than the loss of a sheep . The difference between this case and the ones in the previous chapter is that the offender deliberately set out to steal the beast. So intent and motive are significant factors.

22:2,3a

If the thief is discovered and the owner hits him and he dies, then the owner is not guilty of bloodshed.  However, this is the case only if it happens at night, if it happens in daylight then the owner is guilty of bloodshed. So there is a case for self-defence, but only for a reasonable use of self-defence. We should note that it is not implied that the thief is threatening violence. If he is interrupted during the night, the owner is not to know whether the thief is a violent threat. During the day he could tell.

As an aside, I have to say that the NIV is much clearer than the ESV in this section.

John 20:26-28 - Do not disbelieve, but believe

20:26

“Eight days later”. Jesus was going to appear to Thomas, but left a gap of just over a week, allowing Thomas to ponder on his doubts. Maybe he had become more convinced than ever that his arguments were reasonable and that there was no way that Jesus was alive, or maybe he was beginning to doubt his doubts. We don’t know. What we do know is that Thomas is about to change. Again the doors were locked, so the disciples were still full of fear. By the way, this indicates that 20:22 was not actually a filling with the Holy Spirit. As before, Jesus declares peace to them.

20:27,28

Jesus knew what Thomas had been saying and so He addressed Thomas directly, showing him His hands and side and inviting Thomas to touch the wounds. This is followed by the command “stop doubting and believe”. Thomas responds immediately with the words “My Lord and my God”. Doubts can act as a barrier, but when they are overcome faith can come flooding in. Our natural state is actually to believe, we were created to believe. Now sin has changed all that, and the natural state of sinful man is to be unbelieving, but we need to realise that our God given state is to believe.

Exodus 21:33-36 - When a man opens a pit

21:33,34

The law is given in terms of  digging pits, oxen and donkeys, but we can draw the obvious conclusion that we should always be careful about the consequences of any actions we take. So if someone else suffers damage because of our carelessness, then we should pay compensation. The offender was also to take the dead animal. Presumably he could do something with the dead animal, maybe eat the meat. So there is proper compensation, but not excessively so. In the US, in particular, some of the compensation awards made by courts are frankly ridiculous.

21:35,36

We then get another case about oxen. At this stage in their history oxen and donkeys were the commonly owned animals. Now we have the matter of one ox butting another man’s ox, and it dying. If this is a “first offence” on the part of the ox, then the live ox is to be sold, and the proceeds shared between them, along with the dead ox. However, if the live ox has “form”, then the owner of the guilty ox has to pay compensation to the owner of the dead ox.

These laws are set out in the form of “case law”, specific examples being given. From these examples general principles can be drawn which have wider application. The most general principles are responsibility, fairness and reasonableness. It is a pity that our own legal system often seems to lack one or more of these general principles.

John 20:23-25 - If you forgive the sins

20:23

This verse can also cause problems, but they need not. All authority that the church has comes from God. Just as Jesus did only what He saw the Father do, so we are not to go about making things up for ourselves. Rather if we faithfully proclaim the gospel and someone receives the message, then they are forgiven. If someone refuses the gospel, then they are not forgiven. We do have authority to proclaim forgiveness and to tell people they are not forgiven, but only when we faithfully proclaim the gospel. Not when we make things up!

20:24,25

Now we have the encounter between Thomas and Jesus. We know Thomas as “doubting Thomas”, though the Bible never uses this term. Instead of criticising Thomas we may be better to be thankful that God is quite happy for someone to raise the questions that he does.  Thomas had not been with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them.  They told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, but Thomas said he would only believe it if he could see the reality of the wounds in Jesus, and even touch them. This really does give lie to the foolish notion that people were gullible and prepared to believe anything. They knew exactly what death meant, and were not prepared to believe any old twaddle.

Exodus 21:26-32 - When an ox gores a man or woman

21:26,27

Times were rough and ready and all sorts of violence could occur. If you read the prophets often you find God rebuking the people for the amount of violence in society. Here we see that slaves had rights too. We do not appreciate how radical that was. They were not to be treated merely as possessions. If the slave owner caused injury to the slave then he was to let the slave go free.

21:28-32

Now we have rules about what should happen if a man’s ox gores someone to death. Now, not many of us own oxen these days, but there are general principles that we can apply. The first is that the beast was to be put to death. Today I guess the nearest we get to this is someone’s dog killing someone. The life of the person is clearly placed well above that of the animal. Indeed, the Bible considers anything else to be complete madness. Most people today would have the same attitude, but there are some who don’t! Then we come to the owner. If it was a first offence, then nothing happens, but if the animal had a habit of goring then he had responsibility, and he too was to be held responsible. The sentence was death, but it seems that this could be redeemed by suitable payment. If the man gored by the ox was a slave, then in addition to the other penalties, the slave owner was to be compensated.

John 20:21,22 - As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you

20:21

Jesus had prayed something similar in John 17:18.  The primary purpose of the cross was the atoning work of Jesus, but He is also an example of what we are meant to be like. Moreover, the cross, while absolutely central and critical, was not the endpoint. Rather it is the gateway to our restoration to become what God always intended us to become. Note that before the “As the Father ...” we have “Peace be with you”. The mission was not an easy road, but on that road we have the peace of God. Note that “peace” is part of the greeting in all of Paul’s letters.

20:22

This verse gives rise to a number of interpretations. The interpretation depends largely on whether we see this as Jesus giving the Holy Spirit to them at this point, in which case the question arises as to how it fits in with Pentecost. Alternatively, we can see it as looking forward to Pentecost, Jesus is effectively saying they will receive the Holy Spirit. Even with Christ risen they may have wondered how they could fulfil the mission, the answer to this is that they would receive the Holy Spirit who would empower them for the mission.

Exodus 21:22-25 - Life for life, eye for eye

21:22

This refers to men fighting together and hitting a pregnant woman. It seems that the hitting of the woman was not planned, but inadvertent. Even if there is no long term harm, the one who hit her is still to pay compensation. The husband of the woman would demand that payment was made, but the judge would determine the amount. Today there is a move for victims having more say in sentencing. I believe this is wrong. The victim will be emotionally involved and will find it difficult to make a rational decision. The judge should decide. However, why are we considering this? It is because the courts have seemed to be thinking only of the criminal, and being too lenient. The proper answer is for the courts to treat crime with the proper seriousness.

21:23-25

The rules in 21:22 applied if there was no long term harm. We now come to what happens if there is long term harm, and we get the “eye for an eye ....” rule. There are two things to note. The first is that this placed a limit on the punishment. The second is that the punishment was to fit the crime. In our day it seems that often the sentences handed out by courts do not match the crime. This is a very serious matter. First of all it is unjust, and secondly this leads to an erosion of confidence in the justice system.

John 20:19,20 - Peace be with you

20:19

Having appeared to Mary Magdalene, Jesus now appears to the disciples. Mary had told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and perhaps they were a little dismissive of her, or at least unsure what to make of her claim. Jesus now shows the disciples that He is indeed risen. There is a parallel here in our witnessing. The proclamation of the gospel involves us speaking, but that is not all. It is also a cooperative exercise with the Lord, and He will reveal Himself to those whom He chooses to do so. The disciples were living in fear, hence the locked door. The Jews had killed their leader and they would be fearful that they might now come for the disciples. The locked door also showed the miraculous nature of Jesus’ appearance. In the resurrection appearances there is no doubt as to the reality of His body, He is no mere apparition. But He is also different. The resurrection is not a resuscitation! We may ask how can this be? Paul talks about these matters in 1 Cor 15. It may also be helpful to think like this: why do we exist at all? Are we just a random occurrence? Or were we created purposefully by a creator? The latter is the truth, and the promise of the gospel is that our Creator will raise us from the dead. “Peace be with you.” The word for peace, shalom, means an all encompassing well-being. Death has been defeated, sin has been defeated, the devil has been defeated. 

20:20

The physical reality of the resurrection is now made clear to the disciples as Jesus shows them His hands and His side, where they would see the wounds that were the result of the crucifixion. Any talk of a “spiritual resurrection” is just so much nonsense. It is interesting that Jesus still bears the scars. One might have thought that they would have been healed in the process. So why weren’t they? One thing it does demonstrate is that this life and what we do in it matters. One of the comforts of the gospel is that one day all suffering will come to an end, but that does not mean that suffering has no purpose. 

Exodus 21:18-21 - When a man strikes his slave

21:18,19

This seems to take a very practical attitude. If a quarrel breaks out and one strikes the others, then as long as the man recovers, the other is in the clear, except that he must pay some compensation to the person that he struck. Presumably, if the person did die, then the other one would be subject to the death penalty. 

21:20,21

We are back to slavery. The key point here that would be in contradistinction to the surrounding world, is that the master does not have the right to beat the slave to death. The slave still had some rights. And this applied to both male and female slaves. If the slave recovers then there was to be no penalty. “For the slave is his money”. We do, rightly, find this idea objectionable. However, v26,27 will add further instructions that do give more rights to the slave. We do have the question of why did God allow slavery at all, rather than just ameliorating the effects of slavery? I don’t think we have a clear answer, but a suggestion ( and that is all that it is) is that slavery was so endemic to all civilisations, such a fundamental part of the economic system, that they would not know how to function without it. We should also bear in mind that employers do have certain rights over employees, and these days seem to be able, in some cases, to tell employees what to think.

John 20:17,18 - Do not cling to me

20:17

Jesus tells Mary not to cling to Him. She would be so overjoyed that He was alive that the natural reaction would be to want to hold on to Him, possibly physically, but emotionally, to want Him to be here on earth in bodily form. Jesus reminds her that He has to ascend to the Father, that is all part of the plan, and an essential part of it. Instead she is to go to “my brothers” (meaning the disciples, rather than Jesus’ natural brothers) and tell them that He was ascending to “my Father and your Father, my God and your God”. Some place an emphasis on the distinction between Jesus’ relationship with the Father, and the disciples’ relationship, but this is not the point here. Of course, there is a difference, none of us have created many universes! We were not with the Father from all eternity etc. However, the point here, and one that is consistent with all that Jesus has been teaching them, is that the relationship that they have seen Jesus have with the Father is in so many ways the relationship that we are meant to have.

20:18

So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples “I have seen the Lord”, and she told them the other things that Jesus had said to her. This is probably more than we have recorded in the gospels. It is interesting that a woman was the first witness to the resurrection. Women, as much as men, are to be witnesses to the truth of Jesus Christ.

Exodus 21:13-17 - Whoever steals a man and sells him

21:13,14

Having said that I do not consider the death sentence to be immoral, nor not having a death penalty to be a sign of virtue, there are practical arguments against the death penalty. Here we find God giving some caveats and safeguards. V13 seems to say that if the one who killed had not set out to kill the man, the killing was accidental, then he is not to be put to death. Later on in the Law we will find the establishment of cities of refuge for such cases. 21:14 then considers the converse case. If a man has deliberately set out to kill the other, but then grabs hold of the altar, he is to be taken away from the altar and put to death. This is like saying that if someone sought refuge in a church, having deliberately set you to kill the man, he is to be dragged from the church and put to death. The church is not a place for harbouring criminals, though it absolutely should be a place for repentant criminals.

21:15-17

One of the ten commandments is to honour our father and mother. The commands in v15 and v17 stress the seriousness of this.  Rom 1:30 cites disobeying parents as one of the signs of a rebellious age. “Striking” in v15 could mean “killing”, but may also apply to non-lethal hitting. V17 seems harsh to us, but cursing means wishing the downfall of the parent. These two commands are an indication of the importance of parents, of families, and our attitude towards them.

Sandwiched between these two commands is the prohibition of selling people as slaves. To put it in modern parlance, people trafficking is outlawed, and the seriousness of the matter is indicated by the punishment being the death penalty. Maybe such an approach would help us deal with the people traffickers of our day. Just a thought for consideration. 

John 20:14-16 - Why are you weeping

20:14,15

At this point she turns round and sees Jesus. She did not know that it was Jesus. This is not surprising, for her mindset was so convinced that He had died and so she would never see Him again. Jesus speaks to her, also asking why she was weeping. Mary thought he was the gardener, and maybe he knew where the body was. In all this it is quite likely that her head was bowed, because of the weeping and she may not even have looked at Jesus. Mary was devoted to Jesus, and if she knew where the body was she would take care of it properly.

20:16

Jesus then called her name, “Mary”. At this point Mary realised that it was Jesus, and one can imagine the joy in her heart. God calls us all by name. We are not just numbers, but each is known to God by name. If you have read many of these blog posts you will know that I have great problems with the long lists of names we find in parts of Chronicles and elsewhere. One of the messages of these lists is that we are known by name to the Lord.

Exodus 21:7-12 - Without payment of money

21:7-11

“When a man sells a daughter as a slave ..” This strikes us as a terrible thing, and indeed it is, but we do need to appreciate that the whole culture and system was so different in those days. “She shall not go out as the male slaves do”. This again strikes us as grossly unfair. However, women were dependent upon men, and the slave owner had responsibilities towards the slaves. So letting the female slave go would not have been letting her go off into freedom, but casting her out defenceless. The slave owner had to take proper responsibility for her, whether he decided he liked her or not. What all these verses say is that the man could not react on a whim, he had to look after her properly. Failing this, he had to let her go without price. So these laws are restraining wrong behaviour.

21:12

We now come to a series of commands to do with punishments for various crimes. Again, we should remember that times were different! There was not a well-established legal system as we have today, and some of the commands are limiting retribution. We also do well to remember that our own legal systems are far from perfect and there are many injustices today. Moreover, some of the failings lie on the side of not punishing severely enough, not taking crime as seriously as it should be taken. There can also be a lack of justice for the poor, or even the not very rich.

First of all we have “whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death”. Now come think that the death penalty is unchristian. In my opinion this is nonsense. In fact one could make quite the opposite case. The Bible has the death penalty because life is sacred, and the taking of life is such a heinous crime. It can be argued that our legal systems do not treat life seriously enough.

John 20:10-13 - She saw two angels in white

20:10-12

The disciples went back to their homes. Some of them had seen the empty tomb, and had reported back to the others. At this stage they were wondering what it all meant. Mary Magdalene stayed at the tomb, wondering what it all meant. She was weeping and looked into the tomb. Inside the tomb she saw two angels, one at either end of where the body of Jesus had been laid.

20:13

The angels spoke to Mary asking her why she was weeping, to which she explained that the body of Jesus had gone. She thought someone had taken it away and she did not know where they had taken it. At this stage she still does not think that He has been raised from the dead. The people of that time knew full well that when they were dead they were dead. 

Exodus 21:1-6 - These are the rules you shall set before them

21:1,2

This chapter starts off with various instructions concerning slaves. We tend to find these sorts of passages difficult, largely because our immediate reaction is ”they shouldn’t have slaves!” However, there are a few things we should bear in mind then we can have a more intelligent approach. The first is that slave has been endemic to almost every civilisation. Secondly, slavery was not like the people trafficking and slavery that existed in America. Most importantly, the rules given were far more progressive than anything that existed in the culture at the time. It is also worth noting that while slavery has been outlawed in the West for many years, the mistreatment of human beings, treating them as “goods”, has continued to exist. 

The first instruction limited the length of servitude. In the seventh year a Hebrew slave was to be set free, without price. Later on in the Law we will get more details of Sabbaths and Jubilees, but this is a precursor of that. It is an example of the Sabbath being about setting people free.

21:3-6

We then get more details added to the general principle. If he was single when he was enslaved, he would leave single, but if he was married when he was enslaved, then his wife would be freed alongside him. There was a principle of keeping families together. This principle comes out again in the following verses, but not in a way that we would immediately like. If the master gave him a wife and they had children, then the man would be set free, but not his wife and children. On the one hand, the fact that the master could give the man a wife shows that the matter is not quite as inhuman as we might think. However, the setting the man free alone does jar with us. But there was a way out of this. The man could choose to be a slave forever if he wanted to remain with his wife and children. The details of this do not sit easily with us, but we do need to remember that the whole cultural and economic situation was very different. So we might be better to look at things bearing this in mind, rather than sitting in judgement upon situations about which we appreciate little.

John 20:3-9 - Peter reached the tomb first

20:3-7

Peter and John (assuming he is the other disciple) ran to the tomb, with John getting there first. John looks into the tomb and sees the grave clothes lying there. This is a marked difference to the case of Lazarus, who came out wrapped in his grave clothes. Peter showed no reticence and went right into the tomb. It seems that the grave clothes had been left in a very near and orderly manner. The empty tomb was not made much of in the early preaching of the gospel, this was because the emphasis was more directly on the risen Christ Himself. We too should focus on the risen Christ. However, the empty tomb is important. All the gospel writers refer to it, and it is one of the most powerful apologetic arguments for the resurrection. The Jews and the Romans could easily have squashed all the talk of the resurrection by producing the body, or pointing to where Jesus was buried. But there was not body to produce, and no tomb, save an empty one, to point to.

20:8,9

John eventually follows Peter and he “believed”. “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture” at first glance doesn’t seem to quite fit with “he believed”. Perhaps what John is saying is that if they had understood the Scriptures properly they would have known that Jesus would rise from the dead. And Jesus had told them beforehand that He would rise again. However, at this stage they did not understand the Scriptures, and it was the evidence of the empty tomb that convinced them.

Exodus 20:18-26 - The people stood far off

20:18-21

The presence of God, the thunder and the lightning, scared off the people. So they trembled and stood far off. Man in his sinful state cannot come near to God, and doesn’t want to. For there is a fear of God and a recognition of our own unworthiness. It is only the grace of God that enables us to approach the throne with boldness (Heb 4:16). So the people wanted Moses to be the intermediary. They wanted Moses to relay to them whatever God said, but did not want God to speak to them directly, believing that if He did then they would die. And in saying this they were probably right, Moses tells them not to fear, for God had come to test them. The fear of God was intended to stop them from sinning. So the people stood far off, and Moses went near to God.

20:22-26

Moses is to tell the people not to make idols of silver or gold. God had demonstrated that it was indeed He who was speaking to Moses, so hopefully the people would now listen. Instead they were to make altars of earth, and to sacrifice animals and that altar. Why an altar of earth? Perhaps because of its temporary nature? So wherever they worshipped the Lord He would meet with them and bless them. However, this does not seem to tie in with the later establishment of the temple. The possibility of making an altar of stone is also then mentioned. The prohibition of using hewn stones is probably because these would remind them of the altars that the Canaanites and others used.

John 20:1,2 - The stone had been taken away from the tomb

20:1

We now come to the resurrection. The death and the resurrection are inextricably linked. Of course, if Jesus had not died there could be no resurrection! But the death without the resurrection is meaningless. As Paul says, if He is not raised then we are still dead in our sins (1 Cor 15:17). If we look at the cross as the death of an innocent victim then we badly misunderstand what was happening. Jesus was not a victim. He willingly took upon Himself our sins, He willingly laid down His life. The cross was a deliberate act on the part of Christ. And having laid down His life, Jesus took it up again. So the first witnesses were women, and Mary Magdalene was the first. She came to the tomb and so that the stone had been taken away.

20:2

Mary ran to Peter and “the other disciple” (probably John). The probable reason for John using terms like “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and “the other disciple” to refer to himself was that he had no wish to exalt himself in any way. She tells them that they had taken away the body of Jesus and they did not know where they had put him. It seems that Mary assumed that “they” was either the Roman or the Jewish authorities, and that they had moved the body for some reason. 

Exodus 20:13-17 - You shall not murder

20:13-16

We then get a list of very straightforward commands. Do not murder, do not commit adulteyr, do not steal, do not bear false witness. While most societies would agree with these commands, even so they are all under attack. Abortion is seen as a human right and is even celebrated! There are moves to allow the “mercy” killing of those who suffer. Netherlands, Belgium and Canada are furthest down this road. Adultery is probably still seen as wrong, but is also often justified. Stealing is even sometimes justified, if you are stealing from the right people. Lying is endemic among politicians and institutions.

20:17

Paul used coveting as an example of how sin works (Rom 7:7,8). Coveting is not admiring what someone has, but seeing what someone else has and wanting it for ourselves, even to the point of taking it from the person who has it. It is the root of many other sins.

John 19:38-42 - Joseph of Arimathea

19:38

Jesus has died and will now be buried. Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned in all four gospels. Matthew(Matt 27:57) and John refer to him as a disciple, while Mark (Mk 15:43) tells us that he was a member of the Sanhedrin(Mk 15:43). Matthew (Matt 27:57) also tells us that he was rich, which he would have to be in order to have a tomb to offer. Mark (Mk 15:43) and Luke (Lk 23:51) say that he was looking for the kingdom of God. Joseph’s being a member of the Sanhedrin was essential for him gaining access to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, and for his request being granted. Another factor in Pilate giving permission may have been that he knew that Jesus was not actually guilty of anything.

19:39-42

Joseph was also helped by Nicodemus. Nicodemus had not forgotten his earlier meeting with Jesus. While Joseph supplied the tomb, Nicodemus supplied the spices. The primary purpose of the spices was to mask the smell of a decaying body. The body was bound in linen cloths and laid in a new tomb that was in a garden nearby. Jesus was laid there. Luke 23:55 tells us that the women saw where Jesus was buried.

Exodus 20:8-12 - Remember the Sabbath

20:8-11

We then come to the Sabbath. The seventh day was to be a day of rest for everyone in your household. This included the servants, both male and female, visitors and livestock. And it was a Sabbath to the Lord. We should also remember that Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27,28). It is to our advantage to rest on the Sabbath. It is a time when we rest from our efforts, knowing and rejoicing in the fact that our well-being depends upon the Lord, and He is completely trustworthy. 20:11 points back to Genesis. Some see this as support for the literal six day view of creation. I disagree with that. I tend to favour a framework type interpretation of Genesis 1, and within that framework God established the principle that we need to rest on the seventh day.

20:12

This is described as the first commandment with a promise (Eph 6:2). Respect for parents is a fundamental aspect of obeying God. The family is the fundamental building block of society, it is also a bulwark against tyranny. This is why Marxism and Cultural Marxsism work so hard to destroy the family. Look over the last fifty or sixty years in the West and note how the family has been devalued. For a society to be strong it needs strong families.

John 19:35-37 - Not one of his bones will be broken

19:35

There were two main reasons for John highlighting this. It was now sometime since the cross, so he wants to make it absolutely clear that Jesus died. Jesus had died rather quickly, it not being unusual for someone to take a few days before they eventually died. Theologically the explanation could be that Jesus “gave up His spirit”, but there was also incontrovertible evidence that He had actually died.

19:36,37

Another reason for John reporting this was that he saw the fulfilment of Biblical passages. The first was that not one of His bones was broken. There are two possible parts of the Old Testament that this could be referring to. One is Psalm 34:20. The other, and perhaps the more likely, is that the Law required that no bones of the Passover Lamb be broken (Ex 12:46 and Num 9:12). Jesus was the ultimate Passover Lamb.

The second reference is to Zech 12:10 where it speaks of them looking on the one whom they pierced.

Exodus 20:5-7 - You shall not bow down to them

20:5a

“You shall not bow down to them or serve them.” Whenever we make an idol out of something we end up serving it, becoming enslaved to some degree. “For I the Lord am a jealous God”, “Jealous” is possibly better translated as “zealous”, but be that as it may, the point is that we get offended by the exclusivity demanded by the Lord. But He is perfectly right to be jealous and demand our undivided loyalty. It is only God who created us, and it is only He who can truly bless us. God demands our worship out of His love for us.

20:5b,6

“Visiting the iniquities of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation”. We should not take the “third and fourth” in a strict mathematical sense, but take it more generally. The sins of one generation have an effect on future generations. This is something that we see again and again in life, both on a local and personal level, and on a national scale. What we do with our lives has an effect on many others. “But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love men and keep my commands.” What we have here is a clear statement of the justice and righteousness of God, together with an equally clear statement of the extent of His love, and the extent of His love is greater. Our usual practice is to highlight one or the other, which inevitably leads to a wrong idea of God. 

20:7

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain”. This is probably given in the context of swearing falsely, using the name of the Lord to add gravitas to a false statement, hoping it will encourage people to believe your lie. It is not outlawing taking oaths as such.

John 19:31-34 - He was already dead

19:31

The fastidiousness of the Jewish religious leaders comes to the fore again. It was the Roman custom to leave people on the cross until they died, and then to let the birds feast on the dead bodies. The Jewish religious leaders did not want the bodies there on the Sabbath. They would view this as going against the Law, and maybe they did not want there to be a visual reminder of Jesus hanging around. Breaking the legs of someone on a cross would make it impossible for them to haul themselves up, so they would suffocate.

19:32-34

The soldiers started with the two either side of Jesus. When they came to Jesus they found that He was already dead, so they did not break His legs. However, one of the soldiers thrust a spear into Him and “blood and water” came out of Him. There are debates about the precise medical reason for this, with two main theories being advanced. Either way, this was evidence that Jesus was dead. There are also a number of ideas presented about the theological significance of the blood and water, these seem to me to be rather fanciful.

Exodus 20:3,4 - You shall have no other gods before me

20:3

“You shall have no other gods before me.” This is not saying there are other gods, but is giving a clear warning to Israel. If only Israel had obeyed this commandment they would have saved themselves an awful lot of trouble. God is the only One who created and sustains the whole universe. He is the only One who rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt. He is the only One who saved us from our sins. He is the only One who is the judge of all the earth. We could go on, but the simple truth is that it makes no sense to worship anything or anyone else.

20:4

God then makes the command more specific, or rather He gives specific advice on how to avoid breaking the command. They were not to make for themselves a carved image, nor any likeness of anything that lives upon the earth. Why were they told not to do this? Because the presence of the image would be a temptation for man to worship it. It is in the nature of fallen man to worship something.

John 19:28-30 - It is finished!

19:28,29

The end is now near. Jesus cries out that He thirsts, the circumstances of crucifixion would contribute to that thirst, and the thirst would be part of the torture that was crucifixion. “I thirst” fulfilling Scripture is probably a reference to Ps 69:21, “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” The wine he is given is not the “wine mixed with myrrh” of Mark 15:23, which Jesus refused. That wine was given to dull the pain (probably to a very limited degree), Jesus refused that. This was sour wine that would only prolong the agony.

19:30

 “It is finished”, tetelestai. This does not merely mean the end of something, but the completion of a task or purpose. Jesus’ atoning work on the cross was now complete. So He now bowed His head and gave up His spirit. In John 10:15 and 10:17 Jesus talks about laying down His life. And in John 10:18 “No one takes it from me, I lay it down of my own accord”. On the cross it was Jesus who was in control. His life was not taken from Him, but He laid down His life for our sakes. In a few days time He would take it up again.

Exodus 20:1,2 - I am the Lord your God

20:1,2

We now come to the ten commandments. Whilst this is what we know them as best, they can also be referred to as “the ten words” (Ex 34:28). “Ten Commandments” is the term we are most familiar with, so we’ll stick with that! God starts by reminding them that He is the one who brought them out of the “house of slavery”. God is known primarily by what He does, rather than being based on some philosophical precepts. It isn’t wrong to study philosophy, as long as one keeps it in its proper place, which is firmly subject to the Bible! This is where Molinism goes wrong. Molinism seeks to bridge the gap between Calvinism and Arminianism. I have read one or two Molinist books and they begin (or at least the one I remember reading) by stating that the Bible teaches both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. At this point I say amen, for the Bible does indeed teach both. Where it goes wrong is in trying to set out a philosophical basis for this, and then starts making “middle knowledge” and “counterfactuals” etc the centrepiece. It is presumptuous of us to imagine we can work out how the sovereignty of God and human responsibility can both be true in a philosophical sense. I am far more interested in how we live our lives in the light of these two truths, than trying to find a philosophical explanation of how it can be.

John 19:25-27 - Woman, behold your son!

19:25

One of the features of the gospel accounts of the crucifixion is that the women come out of it in a much better light than the men. Almost all the men (Joseph of Arimathea, Simon of Cyrene and one of the Roman soldiers  being exceptions) come out of it badly. E.g Judas, Pilate, the priests, Peter etc. Several Mary’s (a very common name at the time) are standing near the cross, this does not necessarily mean that they were standing right next to the cross.

19:26,27

Jesus saw His mother and “the disciple whom He loved”. Even on the cross, Jesus had concern for His mother. The “disciple whom Jesus loved” is probably John. This is not a case of John boasting, but a simple statement of fact. John endured persecution, but he knew that Jesus loved him, and he wants his readers to know the love of Jesus. Jesus tells the disciple to look after His mother.

Exodus 19:13-25 - There were thunders and lightnings

19:13-15

If someone was to be put to death they were to be stoned or “shot” (as the ESV puts it!) “Shot here means shot with an arrow. The key thing was that no one was to touch them. The probable reason for this is not that the person was defiled as such, but that they would be within the boundary, so if someone touched them they too were liable to die.

The people were to come up the mountain when they heard a trumpet blast. Moses went down and told the people, he also told the men to abstain from sexual relations.

19:16-20

The day came, and it was accompanied with thunder and lightning. There was also the thick cloud and the trumpet. Moses brought the people out to stand at the foot of the mountain. God had descended on the mountain. There was fire along with the cloud, the mountain also trembled. In short it was obvious that something was happening. Moses spoke to God and God answered him, and called him to go further up the mountain.

19:21-25

People being people, there was a risk that they would be carried away by the situation and would break through the demarcation lines, so God tells Moses to warn the people again. God did not want the people to perish. The priests were also told to consecrate themselves. Now this was all before the Law was given, so the Levitical priesthood did not yet exist in a formal sense. However, remember that Jethro was called the “priest of Midian”, so the concept of priest was known at this stage. Aaron and Moses were to go up to the Lord, but first Moses went down to warn the people not to transgress.

John 19:20-24 - What I have written, I have written

19:20-22

The Jews weren’t too happy about this, for it implied that Jesus was the king of the Jews, even that the Jewish religious leaders had handed over to the Romans someone who was king of the Jews. They wanted the wording changed so it made it clear that Jesus was merely claiming to be the king of the Jews, not that He actually was. Pilate would not change the wording, it being his parting shot against the troublesome religious leaders. There is an irony and a parallel here. The Jews denied that Jesus was the king of the Jews, the Gentiles declared that He was! There is a parallel with the gospel, the Jews (for the most part) rejected it, it was accepted by many Gentiles.

The inscription was given in three languages, the proclamation was for all nations.

19:23,24

Jesus would be stripped naked, or near naked. All this added to the humiliation of the victim. The soldiers, who were responsible for the actual crucifying, cast lots for His garments. John sees a fulfilment of Ps 22:18 here. Psalm 22 is the one that begins “God, my God why have you forsaken me?”

Exodus 19:7-12 - Consecrate them today and tomorrow

19:7-9

Moses called elders together and passed on what the Lord had told him. The elders, representing the people, declared that they would do all that the Lord commanded. As we know, they would not actually do this, and it would not take them long to disobey with the golden calf fiasco. It is a feature of humanity that we have a very mistaken view of ourselves. Peter is a famous example of this with his declarations that he would stick with Jesus no matter what. We recognise what is good and think that we are able to live up to that standard, but we are not able.

God then tells Moses that He will appear to Moses in a thick cloud, so that the people would know that God was indeed speaking to Moses, and so would respect him. God provides evidence that He is with His servants.

19:10-12

Moses informed God of the people’s response, though of course, God already knew! God tells Moses that the people are to wash  and prepare themselves for the third day. That was the day when God would come down and make His presence known. Strict limits on how close the people could come were to be set, and anyone transgressing these limits would be put to death. Meeting with God was an awesome event.

John 19:16b-19 - The Place of the Skull

19:16b,17

We now come to the crucifixion itself. It is likely that the severe scourging that Jesus received was immediately prior to this. John omits some details that the synoptics have, and includes others. There is no surprise in this, John wanted to add things to the earlier descriptions. One aspect that John does not refer to is Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross. In the second century there were Gnostic writings that claimed that Simon replaced Jesus on the cross. It may be that this myth was starting to arise at the time that John wrote, hence the omission. Or, and perhaps more likely, John was just focusing on other aspects. Anyway, Jesu went carrying His cross to “the Place of the Skull”, or Golgotha.

19:18,19

“There they crucified Him.” Along with two others, with more details being given in the synoptics. Pilate also wrote an inscription and had it placed on the cross. It was common practice for the crime for which the person was being crucified to be listed on the cross. Crucifixion was not just a punishment for the criminal, but also an utter humiliation meant to serve as a warning to others. The inscription read “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”. 

Exodus 19:5,6 - You shall be a kingdom of priests

19:5

The Israelites had been brought out of Egypt almost against their will! Apart from the unleavened bread and daubing blood on the doorposts, they had played little part in it. Indeed after being rescued, they repeatedly claimed they did not want to have been rescued! Now, however, God places obligations on them.  They had to obey the voice of God and keep His covenant. If they did so, then they would be God’s treasured possession among the nations. Remember that Jesus speaks of us being a city on a hill (Matt 5:14). We are meant to be a light to the world.

19:6

“And you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”. These words are echoed by Peter in 1 Pet 2:9. We are meant to be a people who represent the world before God, and we are to be a holy nation. We are not meant to be like the world. Whenever Israel behaved like the world she got in trouble, moreover she wasn't very good at it! Much the same can be said of the church today. “These are the words you shall speak ...” Preachers, teachers and prophets are meant to declare this truth to the people, for the people need to realise who and what they are meant to be.

John 19:14-16a - Behold your king!

19:14

There is debate about the timing, both over the day and the hour. The day of preparation could mean the preparation for the Sabbath, which would make it the Friday, which would fit better with the synoptics. The hour could be based on the Roman time system, though it could just be that we are demanding a greater accuracy with time than was applied at the time. They didn’t have watches like us, and definitely not digital ones! “Behold your king!” While these words of Pilate were true in a way that he never understood, he said this in mockery of the Jews.

19:15,16a

The Jews were not to be diverted from their course, so they called out all the more for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate asked them “Shall I crucify your king?”. The Jews replied “We have no king but Caesar!”. These words were hypocritical and ironic. They detested the Roman rule, but hated Jesus even more so. They hated the Son of God, the only One who could truly save them. Man’s hatred of God leads to him making the most irrational decisions.