Can you imagine being under the total control and influence of someone else without bondage? When Paul talks about being a servant of Jesus Christ, he uses the Greek word 'doulos', yet there's no implication of bondage.
An equivalent Hebrew word was used in the Old Testament and translated "bondslave." In Exodus 21:1-6, we read:
2If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh, he shall go out free and pay nothing. 3If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. 5But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
In other words, they pierced the ear lobe as a sign of total servanthood. The concept here is that if a love relationship developed and the servant did not want to go free, he was taken to the judges in the city where he made known his desire to become a bond slave to his master.
A hole was then made in his ear as a legal sign. That hole would signify the fact that this person had ceased to exist as himself and now was to be totally identified with his master. He did not just serve the man and work for wages but became totally identified with, and one with his master.
No longer was he just a servant but a member of the household, part of the family. He would never leave, and his master became totally responsible for his every need.
"And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 21:15)
"And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 21:17)
The LORD values parents so much.
"He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 21:16)
According to the Law, the brothers of Joseph deserved death, but Joseph gave them life. Don't give people what they deserve; give them what they need. If you give people what they deserve, then you are acting under the law; but if you give people what they need, you act out of grace. There was no forgiveness under the law. There is forgiveness under grace.
“If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life (Exodus 21:22-23)
God calls and anoints people from the womb. Before you and I were born, when we were in the womb of our mother, God called us and selected us for a purpose.
God says that He is the one who gives life, and in the Old Testament life was to be taken for life. Taking the life of an unborn child is sin.
Chapters
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
- Chapter 33
- Chapter 34
- Chapter 35
- Chapter 36
- Chapter 37
- Chapter 38
- Chapter 39
- Chapter 40