At Sinai, with the giving of His law, God set the foundation for teaching His people how, through connection with Him, they could live holy lives. But the principles of the law needed to be applied in everyday life, so God gave them additional laws, the so-called “Code of the Covenant.” It was the responsibility of judges to watch over these laws and to apply them correctly.
“The minds of the people, blinded and debased by slavery and heathenism, were not prepared to appreciate fully the far-reaching principles of God's ten precepts. That the obligations of the Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced, additional precepts were given, illustrating and applying the principles of the Ten Commandments. These laws were called judgments, both because they were framed in infinite wisdom and equity and because the magistrates were to give judgment according to them. Unlike the Ten Commandments, they were delivered privately to Moses, who was to communicate them to the people.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 310.
Read Exodus 21:1–32. What specific regulations were given regarding Hebrew slaves, homicide, and bodily injuries?
The Code of the Covenant is described in several chapters (Exod. 21:1–23:19). All these regulations and laws were issued to stop the avalanche of evil and to build an orderly society.
The slavery laws were special and should not be confused with the vicious and evil practice of modern or medieval slavery. Hebrew slaves were, in fact, protected and valued. In modern and medieval societies, servants and slaves were the property of their owner, who could do whatever they wished with them. In contrast, biblical laws regulated things differently. Servitude was limited to six years (Exod. 21:1, 2; Jer. 34:8–22), and in the seventh year, all slaves had to be liberated unless they wanted to stay with their master. Masters also had to give them Sabbaths off (Exod. 20:9, 10) and provide for their basic needs.
Though, in most of the world, the evil practice of institutionalized slavery has for the most part been abolished, what are ways in which some of the principles of it still exist, and what can we do, in our own limited sphere, to fight against these principles?
Supplemental EGW Notes
As Creator of all, God is governor over all, and He is bound to enforce His law throughout the universe. To require less from His creatures than obedience to His law would be to abandon them to ruin. To fail to punish transgression of His law would be to place the universe in confusion. The moral law is God’s barrier between the human agent and sin. Thus infinite wisdom has placed before men the distinction between right and wrong, between sin and holiness. . . .
The Scriptures make it plain that God is Ruler, and that man is under the highest obligation to acknowledge this, and to obey His law with heart and mind, trusting in His power for help and protection. This law which man is called upon to obey as the standard of right for the universe, is the wise and holy counsel of God. It is a moral law, and has its foundation in the difference between right and wrong. Moral law is universal; positive law is not necessarily universal, but may be restricted or extended according to the will of the law-giver. Moral law must be immutable, while positive law may be changed or abolished, as the law-giver may choose.
The Decalog, or moral code of God, consists of ten precepts, engraven on stone by the finger of God. These precepts contain the whole duty of man. The first four define man’s duty to his God; the last six man’s duty to his fellow-man. These two great principles were recognized by the Saviour; for He declared that the whole law hung upon love to God and love to man. Other commands may be found in the Scriptures, but only as an amplification of those contained in the ten precepts of the Decalog.—“The Moral Law,” Signs of the Times, June 5, 1901, par. 5, 7, 8.
The law of God in the sanctuary in heaven is the great original, of which the precepts inscribed upon the tables of stone and recorded by Moses in the Pentateuch were an unerring transcript. Those who arrived at an understanding of this important point were thus led to see the sacred, unchanging character of the divine law. They saw, as never before, the force of the Saviour’s words: “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.” Matthew 5:18. The law of God, being a revelation of His will, a transcript of His character, must forever endure, “as a faithful witness in heaven.” Not one command has been annulled; not a jot or tittle has been changed. Says the psalmist: “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.” “All His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever.” Psalm 119:89; 111:7, 8.—The Great Controversy, p. 434.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.