“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.
29 “You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. 30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
31 “You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs. (Exodus 22:28-31)
Introduction
As we close out chapter 22, this grouping of laws before us today are laws mainly concerning covenantal consecration to God. They are laws about loyalty and honor to God particularly in view of the things that He graciously gives His people – whether it is rulers, crops, livestock, or children. In other words, the heart of these laws is gratitude and thankfulness to God. As we see, there was a particular way in which Israel was to show this gratitude to God; which was consecration – that is, the setting apart of their returns and themselves to God as He instructed them.
While under different covenantal requirements, it is this attitude and demeanor which should mark each of our lives as God’s people. As Israel was delivered from bondage in Egypt and so owed gratitude and thankfulness to God for His deliverance and provision, so we as Christians have been delivered from the bondage of sin and the tyranny of the devil, and so owe to God our whole lives as set apart for Him and marked with giving and thanksgiving for His goodness to us. Israel was formerly a slave people with no earthly possessions whom God was giving a land flowing with milk and honey, possessions and property, from which the first fruits were to be given back to Him. Likewise, all that we have and enjoy is from the giving hand of God, and is to be returned to Him in the way we use them and live our lives.
V. 28
We are not to revile God by refusing Him thanks, failing to acknowledge all things from His hand, or failing to live consecrated lives unto Him. The first test of this is given in verse 28, that they are not to curse a ruler of their people. This does not mean that every ruler, judge, priest, or king that Israel had was always righteous and godly. Far from it. Rather, refusal to curse a ruler among them, was the least proper requirement for honoring those who are in positions of authority. This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t, or isn’t, a proper time to disobey rulers or authorities, but it is a recognition that honor is due to those in authority. It is a recognition that God established Israel, even before He gave them kings, as a nation of law and order, of rule and authority, and that authority structure was to be honored and not reviled. God is not a God of chaos and disorder, but a God of order and rule.
This is also a recognition that all judges and rulers are there because God put them there and they are God’s servants. So to curse a ruler would be akin to cursing God Himself, or rebelling against God Himself and the order that He has established. This is typically not a difficult thing to do when one has good and godly rulers, but this order was to be maintained even with less than godly rulers.
The apostle Paul shows us this in Acts 23:
But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
23 And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” 4 Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” 5 And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’” (Acts 22:30-23:5)
So here, the apostle Paul unwittingly called the High Priest a white washed wall, which I maintain he was right in his assessment of that man. Nevertheless, when he realized to whom he was speaking he directly references this command to not curse a ruler of your people, indicating he would not have spoken in that way had he known who he was speaking to, regardless of how wrong the High Priest was.
This is instructive to us, even while we do not have the same judicial structure and priestly order of Israel. As Christians we are yet called to honor and submit to those in authority, for many of the same reasons we have mentioned. As Paul writes in Romans 13:1-2, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” Peter says similar things in 1 Peter 2, and even says in 1 Peter 2:17, “Honor the emperor.”
This can be a difficult principle for us to apply to our own lives, but it is one that we must. Those in authority are to be honored as those whom God has established. The principle applies to all spheres of authority in life, as we all have a number of different authorities God has placed over us in different ways. Civil authorities – there is a proper way to disagree, dissent, or even disobey as Christians without cursing and dishonoring them. I would note here that there is a distinction between the type of cursing forbidden here and the proper use of imprecatory prayers and Psalms that the church has been given and is instructed in. The nature of imprecatory prayers is that we are submitted to God’s sovereignty under unjust rulers, and call upon the highest authority, the one who has placed them there, to properly remove them. This is different from rebellious cursing of rulers and stirring up more unrest. So, is your conversation and life filled with constant complaining which is practical cursing of authorities, or humble prayers to God for them?
There are also ecclesiastical, or church authorities that we are called to honor. You see this directly applied to Israel, as a theocratic priestly nation, and Paul’s application of this to the High priest. The New Testament directly instructs Christians in this, saying elders who rule well are worthy of double honor. Hebrews 13:17 says “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” So do you honor your overseers, and pray for them? Or do you curse and complain in your heart?
What about husbands and wives? This too is an authority structure which God has instituted in marriage, that the husband is the head of the home whom the wife is to submit to and honor. Ephesians 5:22-23, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church…” Ladies, do you honor your husband in this way? Or is there resentment to the head that God has put in your life? Cursing your husband under your breath, or in your heart, or to his face, is akin to cursing God, for He has ordained your marriage and ordered it according to His wisdom. So we honor God by honoring the authorities in our lives.
Children, boys and girls, the most direct authority in your life is your parents, your mom and dad. And God tells Children in Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Do you respect and obey your parents in the Lord, or do you constantly disobey, argue, and backtalk? Maybe you don’t backtalk to their face, but do you in your heart? Let it not be so. Obey God by obeying your parents.
Or how do you act toward your boss or supervisors at work? Do you talk ill of them, joke about them, and disrespect them to your coworkers, and so undermine them in the eyes of those you work with? Even if you have a difficult one, we ought not “curse” them by doing such things and acting in such a way, but instead be self-controlled with our tongues and our speech and so refuse to revile the authorities God has put in our lives.
Ecclesiastes 10:20 says, “Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.” You might think that your sinful thoughts and conversations are hidden, but they have a way of being found out. We must give no quarter to cursing even in our heads and hearts.
V. 29-30
Back in Exodus 22, verse 29-30 discusses giving to God from their harvest, their presses, their children, and their livestock. These commands will have fuller instructions later on in the Bible, but these concern various tithes and offerings they were to offer to the LORD. The giving of their firstborn sons was obviously not a human sacrifice, as that was forbidden of course, but it was the consecration of their fruitfulness to the Lord, whatever that fruitfulness was – crops, children, or livestock. This is a recognition that all that they have, all of their increase, and fruitfulness was given to them by God, and making offering and consecration to Him with these things was honor and thankfulness to God. Ultimately these things find their fulfillment in Jesus. After Jesus was born to Mary, Luke 2:21-23, says, “And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord’).”
So here, Jesus, Mary’s firstborn son, was set apart as holy to the Lord, consecrated to God. Throughout Israel’s history, as all the firstborn sons were circumcised and given to the Lord, as it were, it was a preparation for the Christ, practicing and waiting for the ultimate coming of the firstborn son, to be set apart as holy to the Lord, for the work of redemption to save His people from their sins. And this firstborn son, set apart for the Lord, was the firstborn from the dead, as Colossians 1:18 says, so that in Him, in union with Christ, we are all counted as in the firstborn Son and set apart for God in Him, to serve the Lord, and to receive eternal life and resurrection from the dead unto life. So as being God’s in Christ, we are set apart as holy to live unto the Lord, consecrated to Him. Our purification rite is baptism which shows our union with Christ – identified, marked, and set apart for God.
But what is the deal with the 8th day? The animals given to the Lord were to be given on the 8th day. It was the Jewish practice to circumcise on the 8th day. Theologically, the 8th day is a reference to the start of a new week. A week is 7 days, the 8th day was the first day of a new week. This was the day that Jesus rose from the dead, on the 8th day, the first day of a new week. It was a sign of the resurrection and new life. It was the sign of the new creation. Jesus, the firstborn of the dead, raised on the 8th day, in whom we are made new creatures, set apart for the Lord. God was making Israel a new nation, set apart for Him, training them for the giving of the firstborn son on the 8th day, training them for the resurrection of the Christ, the firstborn from the dead, when God would do a new thing, and bring about a new creation.
V. 31
Finally we have verse 31 which forbids the eating of flesh that is torn by beasts. Instead they are to throw it to the dogs. So even a clean animal that they would normally eat, they are not to eat if it is torn by a beast in the field. One reason for this is because if a clean animal dies in this way, it becomes unclean. Dead meat found on the ground still had the blood in it, and it was decaying back into the earth – it was returning to the dust – and was thus a sign of the curse and of death. Leviticus 22:8, which specifically is talking about rules for priests, says, “He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the LORD.” This specific law was applied to all Israel, indicating their status as a nation of priests.
Furthermore, the fact that they would throw this meat to the dogs, was a sign that God would bless them with enough food and meat that in obedience to Him, they would not be so hungry and starving that they would need to eat such unclean meat. Obedience came with blessing and provision from God. And when they disobeyed and were subject to famine and hunger, they were forced to eat such unclean foods, showing them their sin, and their uncleanness before God as covenant breakers who had become no different than the gentile nations around them.
This is precisely the case of God’s judgment on Israel as seen in Ezekiel 4. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God shows Israel the judgment coming upon them.
“And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,[b] and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels[c] a day; from day to day[d] you shall eat it. 11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin;[e] from day to day you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” (Ezekiel 4:9-13)
So the judgment seen here through Ezekiel included little to no food and unclean food, showing them their sin and their being taken captive by the unclean gentile nations. Ezekiel’s response in verse 14 references this law in Exodus.
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.[f] From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.” (Ezekiel 4:14)
So for Israel, consecrating themselves to the Lord and eating clean foods was a sign of God’s blessing upon them, and their faithfulness, but eating the food of dogs, unclean food, the food of the gentiles, was a sign of judgment for their rebellion against God. It was a sign that they had failed to be consecrated to the Lord.
This was of course specific for Israel and served its purpose as now all foods are declared clean in the New Covenant. And as Jesus taught, it is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of him, for it comes from the heart. It’s much worse: food and dirt does not make us unclean and defiled before God, but it’s our own hearts. So we need to be washed and cleansed and renewed by the Holy Spirit and given new hearts and be cleansed from the inside out. And that’s what Jesus came to do and does by His Spirit in us today.
Now when we consider this idea of throwing food to the dogs, it is interestingly something talked about a few times in the Bible. In the Bible, “dogs” are also a way of referring to certain types of people. Specifically, gentiles are referred to as dogs. Deuteronomy 14:21, “You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.” So this law in Deuteronomy gives us a fuller explanation of this law. Exodus says throw it to the dogs, Deuteronomy says you may give it to the foreigner. So you may give this type of meat to the dogs, or to gentiles. Thus the connection begins that gentiles are seen as dogs.
In Matthew 7:6, Jesus says, “Do not give the dogs what is holy, or cast pearls before pigs…” Who are the dogs? Jesus isn’t referring to animals, but a type of person.
In Psalm 22:16-20, the suffering Christ on the cross is surrounded by dogs, as it says, “For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet – I can count all my bones – they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog!” So the dogs encompass him. Who are the dogs? They are a company of evildoers. What do they do? They pierced his hands and feet, divided his garments and cast lots for them. Who did that to Jesus? The Romans – gentiles. They are the dogs.
Jesus Christ was the only perfectly clean and pure one, whom the Jews treated as unclean and cast Him to the dogs. The irony is rich and beautiful, for it was the unbelieving Jews who were unclean of heart and hand, and in casting the Clean One to the dogs, Jesus’ “cleanness” spread to the “dogs,” as even the Roman Centurion professed faith in Christ at His death, saying, “truly this was the Son of God.”
There is one other passage that I want to mention which carries this theme.
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matthew 15:21-28)
So here is a Canaanite woman, whom Jesus essentially calls a dog, saying it is not right to throw the children’s bread to the dogs. Jesus’ ministry at this time was to the lost sheep of Israel, the gentile ministry would come later. But this woman, instead of being so offended at Jesus, she essentially says, “You’re right! I am not of your people Israel, but is it not so that even the dogs get crumbs from the table? Just a crumb, Lord.” And Jesus honored her faith and healed her daughter.
When it comes to receiving the grace of God, we have to be self-aware enough to realize that it is not a matter of deserving God’s grace, or being owed God’s grace – for we are but dogs – we are unworthy sinners, only worthy of God’s judgment. Like this Canaanite woman, we are to be humiliated and humble enough to realize who we are in the story – we are but dogs, but even dogs get crumbs from the master’s table. And if we can get but a crumb of God’s grace, it is enough.
This law of throwing unclean meat to the dogs in Exodus 22, is a foreshadow of God’s grace being given to the gentiles. Even in the law, there was a provision for the dogs, a provision for the foreigner. And now, in the New Covenant, all foods are clean, and since His own rejected Him, Jesus sent out His messengers to the highways and byways to invite sinners as us to come to His table, the wedding feast. Israel rejected the great feast it was given, and so it was given to those who only had crumbs before.
Do you find yourself a weak and needy sinner today? Do you find yourself unworthy and undeserving of God’s grace? Then you are ripe for the mercy of Jesus Christ. He let Himself be encompassed by dogs, that He might cleanse them and make them clean. He has given Himself for unclean sinners, that we might be washed and purified. He has not withheld Himself from the unclean. And He doesn’t leave us that way. Come to Jesus Christ, receive Him today, and be consecrated to Him.
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