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The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 20:21
The people stood afar off. They retired from the base of Sinai to their tents, where they "stood," probably in their tent doors. And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness. As the people drew back, Moses drew near. The…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 20:22-26
Moses having entered into the thick darkness, God there spake in his hearing all that follows from hence to the end of chap. 23, which is mostly an exposition of the ten commandments. The laws in these verses relate to…
The Law Concerning Altars. (b. c. 1491.)
THE LAW CONCERNING ALTARS. (B. C. 1491.) Moses having gone into the thick darkness, where God was, God there spoke in his hearing only, privately and without terror, all that follows hence to the end of Exodus 23:1-32,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 20:22-26
I will go unto the altar of God. The directions given shadow forth the essentials of genuine worship. Amongst the heathen the idol is the central figure, the human symbol of the unseen God. The true God will admit no su…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 20:22-26
EXPOSITION THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT, (Exodus 20:1-26. Exodus 20:22, to Exodus 22:1-31. Exodus 22:23). The Decalogue is followed by a series of laws, civil, social, and religious, which occupy the remainder of Exodus 20:…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 20:22
Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. The book opened with this reminder, which at once recalled its author and declared its authority. "I, who give these laws, am the same who spake the ten commandments…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 20:23
Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, etc. This is a repetition, in part, of the second commandment, and can only be accounted for by the prohibition being specially needed. The first idea of the Israelites, when th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 20:24
An altar of earth. Among the nations of antiquity altars were indispensable to Divine worship, which everywhere included sacrifice. They were often provided on the spur of the occasion, and were then "constructed of ear…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 20:25
And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone—i.e; if, notwithstanding my preference expressed for an altar of earth, thou wilt insist on making me one of stone, as more permanent, and so more honourable, then I require th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 20:26
Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar. Here the reason of decency, added in the text, is obvious; and the law would necessarily continue until sacerdotal vestments of a very different character from the clot…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 21:1-11
The laws in this chapter relate to the fifth and sixth commandments; and though they differ from our times and customs, nor are they binding on us, yet they explain the moral law, and the rules of natural justice. The s…
Judicial Laws. (b. c. 1491.)
JUDICIAL LAWS. (B. C. 1491.) The Exodus 21:1 is the general title of the laws contained in this and the two following chapters, some of them relating to the religious worship of God, but most of them relating to matters…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:1-11
Regulations for the treatment of slaves. I. THE CONDITIONAL ELEMENT RUNNING THROUGH THESE REGULATIONS. What a difference there is here from the strong, uncompromising imperatives of Exodus 20:1-26! There we feel that we…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:1-32
EXPOSITION THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT.—Continued. I. Laws connected with the rights of persons (Exodus 21:1-32). The regulations of this section concern— 1. Slavery (Exodus 21:2-6); 2. Murder and other kinds of homicide (…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:1
These are the judgments. The term "judgment" applies most properly to the decisions of courts and the laws founded upon them. No doubt the laws contained in the "Book of the Covenant" were to a large extent old laws, wh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:1
The judgments. The "rights" or "judgments" contained in this and the two following chapters show the manner in which the spirit and principles of the preceding moral legislation were intended to be applied to the regula…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:2-11
Slavery.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:2
If thou buy an Hebrew servant. Slavery, it is clear, was an existing institution. The law of Moses did not make it, but found it, and by not forbidding, allowed it. The Divine legislator was content under the circumstan…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:2-12
Hebrew bond-service. The laws relating to this subject are to be found, in addition to those in the present chapter, in Exodus 12:43-45; Exodus 22:3; Le Exodus 25:39 -55; Exodus 26:13; Deuteronomy 12:12, Deuteronomy 12:…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:3
If he came in by himself, etc. The first clause of this verse is further explained in the next; the second secured to the wife who went into slavery with her husband a participation in his privilege of release at the en…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:4
If his master have given him a wife. If the slave was unmarried when he went into servitude, or if his wife died, and his master then gave him a wife from among his female slaves, the master was not to lose his property…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:7
If a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant. Among ancient nations the father' s rights over his children were generally regarded as including the right to sell them for slaves. In civilised nations the right was se…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:8
If she please not her master. If he decline, i.e; to carry out the contract, and take her for his wife. Then let her be redeemed. Rather, "Then let him cause her to be redeemed." Let him, i.e; look out for some one who…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:9
And if he hath betrothed her unto his son. A man might have bought the maiden for this object, or finding himself not pleased with her (Exodus 21:8), might have made his son take his place as her husband. In this case b…