Exodus 22:28-31 – Render to God what belongs to Him

It is clearly evident that God is caring and compassionate. He installed all the regulations so that the needy and the poor would be cared for. He made sure that the less fortunate would be dealt with kindly and none should be mistreated. That’s the degree of God’s compassion. As obedient people, we should take this admonition to heart. To show love is a clear reflection of the God of love. This is how the Apostle Paul puts it in Roman 13:8, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law.” Having established how we ought to care for the needy in our community, God then turned to talk about what He wanted from the people. Here He delineates for us the duties that we, His people, owe to Him. The issue in these few verses of Exodus 22 is: How ought we to respond to God’s gracious kindness in our life?

Firstly, God expects us not to speak ill of Him and neither should we speak ill of our rulers whom He had installed to govern our nation. The word curse is better translated as blaspheme. It carries the connotation that we do not take Him lightly. For to disparage God is to dishonour Him. It is failing to acknowledge His sovereignty. Anyone who shows disrespect for God has violated the third commandment. It tantamount to taking the Lord’s name in vain. Notice in verse 28, speaking ill of God and a ruler of the land is put in the same category. It shows us that divine and human authority are closely connected. This verse suggests that to speak against a ruler is as good as attacking God. Why so? A ruler is God’s representative to ensure law and order in a society. In Romans 13:1-2 we see this very clearly. These two verses say, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.” This principle on respecting leadership must also be applied to leadership in the church. God has ordained pastoral leadership in the church and we must pray for them and not show disrespect for them. When we respect our leaders, we are showing honour to God who has ordained and placed them in position.    

Verse 29 tells us that secondly, God expects us to honour Him with our gifts and tithes. The Israelites were expected to give their first and the best of the grains to God, their livestock and their children. Concerning giving of our gift, a good way to see this is to see it in the context of our tithes and offering to God. By tithing and offering, we show that we honour God for the blessings He has granted us in life. He deserves our very best and anything short of the best is not good enough an offering to a glorious God.  Not only did God expect the best of Israel’s harvest, but He also expected them to offer to Him all the firstborn of their sons and their livestock. God’s ownership over all that we have must be acknowledged. For us, our children and whatever we earn come from Him, and the best way to handle what we have is to place them before Him with an open hand. Bear in mind that we are only stewards of the gifts of God and everything we have are not ours but His. He has granted them to us so that we may better serve His purpose. 

Finally, in verse 31 we see God expecting holiness from His people. His exact words were: “You shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.” Not eating the flesh of an animal that was not properly killed was forbidden by God. Why? To demonstrate the importance of living a life of consecration. God made a distinction between the clean and unclean. An animal killed and torn apart by wild beasts would become unclean. To partake of its flesh would make one ceremonially unclean. This instruction was not only for priests but also for the ordinary folks. God wants us to live a holy and consecrated life unto Him. As God is holy, we who worship and serve Him must seek to live a life consecrated unto Him.