Most listeners will know the Ten Commandments. They might even know that those commandments are in Exodus 20. But few will know that those famous commandments are followed in Exodus 21-23 by a litany of odd, ancient, at times conflicting, “case laws” that apply the Ten Commandments to Israelite life. Scholars have found these case laws difficult to understand. A number of them don’t reflect the Mosaic time period. They don’t seem to have any comprehensible relationship to each other. Nevertheless, they get a lot of attention because they form what scholars call “the Book of the Covenant” – the body of laws and case laws that are the basis for Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh. In this episode we explore the problems with Exodus 21-23 and get a foothold on where to start in understanding this portion of Exodus.
