Exodus 21:1

Introduction 21:1

The "ordinances" were not laws in the usual sense of that word but the rights of those living within Israel. The Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33) was Israel’s "Bill of Rights."

"A selection of ’judgments’ is provided as a sample of the divine judgments which Moses gave the people. A total of forty-two ’judgments’ is given. [The 42 judgments appear in the following passages in Exodus: Exodus 21:2-36; Exodus 22:1-31; Exodus 23:1-7 a, Exodus 23:7 b, Exodus 23:8-12.] The number forty-two apparently stems from the fact that the Hebrew letters in the first word of the section, ’and these’ (w’lh), add up precisely to the number forty-two (7 x 6). (There may also be a desire to have seven laws for each of the six days of work [cf. Exodus 20:11]). This suggests that the laws in Exodus 21:1 to Exodus 23:12 are to be understood merely as a representative selection of the whole Mosaic Law. It is not an attempt at a complete listing of all the laws. The purpose of the selection was to provide a basis for teaching the nature of divine justice. By studying specific cases of the application of God’s will in concrete situations, the reader of the Pentateuch could learn the basic principles undergirding the covenant relationship. Whereas the ’ten words’ provided a general statement of the basic principles of justice which God demanded of his people, the examples selected here further demonstrated how those principles, or ideals, were to be applied to real life situations." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 290.]