The Book of the Covenant

Exodus 21-23 is often called the Book of the Covenant (24:7). These case laws apply the Ten Commandments to the life of an ancient nation: work and servanthood, violence, injury, property and animals. They are written for Israel's courts and culture, yet they reveal God's character: His justice, His concern for the vulnerable and His high value on human life made in His image.

Servanthood in Israel was usually a way to work off debt. The law put limits on it that were unusual for that time: release in the seventh year without payment, protection for servant women, and freedom for a servant who was injured by his master (21:26-27). Kidnapping a person to sell him was a crime punished by death (21:16). These laws did not approve of every practice they regulated. In the New Testament, Jesus explained that some laws were given because of the hardness of people's hearts (Matthew 19:8), and Paul writes that all are one in Christ (Galatians 3:28; Philemon 16).

The principle of eye for eye (lex talionis) guided judges to make penalties match the crime, neither too harsh nor too light. It was a limit on revenge, not a license for it. In the New Testament, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells His followers not to use this principle for personal revenge but to answer evil with good (Matthew 5:38-42). The laws also show responsibility: an owner who knew his ox was dangerous was held accountable for the harm it caused.