I'm Just Asking For A Friend...

But if the ox gores a slave, either male or female, the animal’s owner must pay the slave’s owner thirty silver coins, and the ox must be stoned. [Exodus 21.32]

The implications of this verse and its context are many.

The subject of slavery is one of great emotion. As today's OYCB reading reveals, slavery is discussed very early on in the establishment of rules in the Bible. Exodus chapter 20 is our first introduction to the famous Ten Commandments but, in this early context of rules, what does it tell us that chapter 21 immediately starts off discussing slavery, not in forbidding it, but instead providing rules for the implementation of it? If the God of the Universe was opposed to slavery, what better opportunity than Exodus 20 or 21 to strictly forbid it? I am just asking questions here for a friend!

Believe it or not, there is something from this verse that is even more important to discuss: thirty pieces of silver. This should sound familiar to anyone with only a little Bible knowledge because thirty pieces of silver is the price for which Judas betrayed Jesus (Matthew 26.14-15). The price of a slave was the value placed on Jesus' head! What does this mean?

While the implications of Jesus being sold out for the price of a slave are many, the most significant thing to consider is that of humility. Jesus submitted Himself to the humiliation of the Cross by first being betrayed for thirty pieces of silver - the well-known value of a slave at that time. Everything about Jesus' crucifixion spoke to the end of putting others first; of submitting Himself to the lowly socio-economic position of a servant to the world. Wow, thank You, Jesus, right?

Here's a pill to swallow regarding this conversation that involves us:

Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” [John 20.21]

And what did the Father send Jesus to do? Immediately following the most famous verse in the Bible is our answer.

God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. [John 3.17]

And how did Jesus save the world? Get ready for this answer... especially the second half of it.

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. [1 John 3.16]

Paul further explained this very thing:

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. [Philippians 2.6-8]

But we cannot read Philippians 2.6-8 without first reading the verses before it:

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. [Philippians 2.3-5]

This makes me wonder... Is our contemporary distaste and disdain for slavery directly tied to our unwillingness to consider ourselves slaves to God for His purpose of saving the world? (Again, I'm just asking for a friend...)

Father, I sure didn't see Jesus coming in Exodus today, but there He was. And, there I was...