28 “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.
29 “You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. 30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
31 “You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.”
Section Overview
These verses are unified in their exhortation to honor and respect certain authorities, both human and divine. They begin by prohibiting cursing God or earthly rulers (Ex. 22:28), then command honor of God by giving to him from the material blessings he has bestowed (vv. 29–30) and by avoiding a specific behavior not in keeping with being his holy people (v. 31).
Section Outline
Response
As noted above (cf. Section Overview), these verses are unified in their exhortation to honor and respect certain authorities, both human and divine. We may unpack this by asking two questions.
How Are We to Respond to Our Civil Leaders?
As noted at Exodus 22:28, the Lord has established civil authorities for the community’s good, and they are to be honored as such (cf. Rom. 13:1–7; 1 Pet. 2:17). Indeed, the word for “rulers” refers not simply to the main leader but to rulers more generally (cf. Ex. 16:22; 34:31; cf. also Acts 23:5). True, they can rule tyrannically instead of reflecting God’s good and just rule, but the appropriate response is not cursing (cf. Acts 23:1–5). Instead, a believer’s first response is to pray, knowing that the Lord, who is King of all kings, can move in rulers’ hearts to do good (Ezra 6:22; 7:27; Neh. 2:1–8; Prov. 21:1; 1 Tim. 2:1–2). In modern democracies the Lord has also granted believers the privilege of using their vote and various forms of advocacy to seek to install leaders that will rule justly. But this, too, is done under the umbrella of trust in God’s sovereignty and a commitment to pray, not to curse, when votes do not go our way. Especially at times when we disagree with our leaders should Christians be noted for doing so with respect.
What Are Practical Ways to Honor the Lord?
Generally speaking, Exodus 22:29–31 identifies two practical ways for the Israelites to honor the Lord. The first is to return to him from the material blessings he has given them. But not just any gift will do. As noted at verse 29, the firstfruits were the harvest’s best, meaning that the Israelites are taught that the Lord is not simply worthy of praise but worthy of the best praise they can give. Some farmers’ fields will undoubtedly produce better firstfruits than others’, but this does not matter. The question is not whether one person’s gift is better than another’s; the question is whether each person is giving his best.
Related to this, the text commands Israelites not to delay (or fail entirely) in bringing their gifts (v. 29). A person in charge of receiving charitable gifts at our seminary once said that one of his team’s operating principles was to “Thank before you bank,” that is, write a note of thanks before depositing the check to ensure that appropriate thanks are given. So too here: giving to the Lord is to be done not last, with the remnants, but first, with the very best. This is how to honor a king, especially one as generous as the Lord.
The second way for the Israelites to honor the Lord is through costly obedience. Verse 31 commands them not to eat ritually defiling meat, for they belong to a holy God. As noted there, by not eating such meat the Israelites signal to the nations that purity matters to them because it matters to their God. Indeed, at a time when eating meat would be rare, throwing otherwise good meat to the dogs would require sacrificial obedience from the Israelites, both in terms of denying themselves and in terms of being willing to look strange before others. (That this command even exists suggests that eating such meat was common elsewhere.) But this is the point: the Lord is worthy of our obedience, no matter the cost personally or socially.
In all the above, such costly gifts and obedience are given not to earn God’s favor but simply because he is worthy. He is worthy by his very nature as divine King; that is reason enough. But he is especially worthy because he is a divine King who leans toward us with the utmost compassion and love, not only in providing daily bread, and often far beyond our daily needs, but in sending Jesus to rescue us from our sin, defeat the powers of evil, and make a way for us to be adopted in God’s own family. That is worthy of costly praise indeed. As Paul writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1).Exodus 22:28–31