Bible study · Exodus 21:1-36
Exodus 21: I will not go out free
Read Exodus 21:1-36 before you meet.
In a few lines
The ordinances open with a servant, set before a people just brought out of "the house of bondage" (20:2). A Hebrew servant went free in the seventh year (21:2), and only his own words could keep him (21:5-6). A master who destroyed a servant's eye had to set him free (21:26). Jesus quoted "An eye for an eye" and said, "don’t resist him who is evil" (Matthew 5:38-39).
The verse to carry
“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.”
Exodus 21:2
To talk about
1. The servant who could have gone free said, "I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free" (21:5). What commitment in your life have you kept because you chose to, not because you had to?
2. Jesus quoted "An eye for an eye" and said, "don’t resist him who is evil" (Matthew 5:38-39). Where is it hardest for you to let go of getting even?
3. These laws make people pay for harm they cause, from a blow in a quarrel (21:18-19) to a pit left uncovered (21:33-34). Is there something you need to make right with someone this week?