Song of Moses and the Lamb

IN HEAVEN AT LAST
The redeemed who have faced the determined forces to overthrow their commitment to God, but have overcome by the grace and blood of Christ our Savior will sing!
Revelation 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, [and] over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous [are] thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true [are] thy ways, thou King of saints.

THE SONG OF MOSES (Ex. 15)

The first three verses exalt the LORD!

Ex. 15:1-3 I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD [is] my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he [is] my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The LORD [is] a man of war: the LORD [is] his name.

The forces that had come against God's people and sought to destroy them, were defeated by God's excellent greatness:
Ex. 15:4-7 Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, [which] consumed them as stubble.

Those forces against God's people were determined to destroy them, and thought themselves so powerful that nothing could stop them. But the God Who created all of nature, including them, is far stronger and acts in judgment against them.

Exodus 15:8-10 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, [and] the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

The LORD'S Greatness, Holiness', Mercy, Love, Redemption and Justice

Exodus 15:11-13 Who [is] like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who [is] like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful [in] praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people [which] thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided [them] in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

In Revelation, those who fought against God's people end up in terrible fear "

Reve. 6:15-17 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

So in Moses' song, those who fought against God's people ended up in terrible fear

Exodus 15:14-16 The people shall hear, [and] be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be [as] still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, [which] thou hast purchased.

But what a glorious future for those who chose to live for the LORD!
15:17-19 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, [in] the place, O LORD, [which] thou hast made for thee to dwell in, [in] the Sanctuary, O Lord, [which] thy hands have established. The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry [land] in the midst of the sea.

God is our Life, our Hope and our Salvation.
He is the Creator of everything.

Heb. 13:6 The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

BITTER WATER

The amazing adventure at the Red Sea is in the past.
Exodus 15:22 from the Red sea, they went out into the wilderness of Shur and after three days in the wilderness they had found no water.
15:23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they [were] bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
15:24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
15:25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, [which] when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

Like a lot of the locations mentioned in the Exodus, the location of the wilderness of Shur is debated. In the past 200 years studies of the topography of the region show that the better location for Shur is in the Arabian Peninsula, much further to the east of ancient Egypt-proper.(not the Sinai Peninsula)

Genesis 25:18 gives us that clue, when the author, Moses, says that Ishmael settled in the land ?east of his brothers?
They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. Ishmael settled in Shur. Therefore, identifying his descendants (the Ishmaelites) would help to identify Shur.
Genesis 37:25-28 refers to the people of Midian (in northwestern Arabia) as being Ishmaelites.

Moses, forty years earlier had fled to Midian (Exodus 2:14),and it was in Midian, while herding sheep by the mountains, on the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1) that Moses encountered the burning bush and was asked by God to bring the Hebrews to that mountain. (Exodus 3:12)
It's only logical that they were heading to this mountain located in Midian east of the Gulf of Aqaba (the eastern arm of the Red Sea)

THE FIRST BIG ISSUE after crossing the Red Sea was
WATER

Water in the desert is a very essential commodity! Without water, life cannot exist. So from a purely human perspective one can understand the panic of a million people with cattle and herds in a desert for three days without finding any water. They had probably heard there was water at Marah just ahead, and eagerly plodded along looking forward to reaching Marah.
But the water was undrinkable -- bitter.
It was also a bitter disappointment.



Disappointment --
How do we react when even though it looks like things are working out, God is leading, faith seems good -- when suddenly something we were sure God was about to provide, ends up not happening?
Sometimes it's harder to face "bitter water" when we expected God to provide satisfying water, than to struggle along with very little water. When it seems God is leading step by step toward a very commendable goal, but suddenly it all falls apart. How quick are we to be angry thinking God let us down?

People tend to expect, as they begin the Christian life that they will have freedom from all difficulty. But sooner or later all who follow Christ come to a Marah. Disappointment overtakes us. Something happens that is not according to our liking, circumstances occur that bring us into difficult, even painful, crushing places. We may even think, God has left us. Or we doubt our connection with God thinking we displeased God and wandered far away from God so He has turned against us. Conscience-stricken, we reason that if we had walked with God surely this wouldn't have happened to us.
But of old the Lord led His people to Marah, and He may choose to bring us there also in order to test our faithfulness and trust in Him. If everything always went smoothly we would forget to call upon Him, our trust in Him would be superficial, while relying on our own self-sufficiency; forgetting that the Lord is our helper and sustainer.

A PIECE OF WOOD
When Moses threw the prescribed piece of wood into the water, the water became sweet and refreshing (v.25).

That piece of wood represents Christ. He is the One who left heaven to enter into the bitterness of this world, so that we can have access to the sweet water of life. Jesus was offered the bitter gall upon the cross. He was the One who drank the bitter cup on behalf of the entire world, so that all who accept him may drink the water of life.

That piece of wood represents a cross - not that the wooden cross had any power of itself anymore than the piece of wood Moses held, had any power of itself to make the water sweet, but the cross is where Jesus drank that bitter cup, dying for our sins, bringing a flood of living water for all who believe.

LESSON SEVEN
The Bread and Water of Life

Quail and Manna

Numbers 33:3-4 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover...while the Egyptians buried all their firstborn.
Exodus 6:1-2 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which [is] between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

Thus one month has passed.
During this time they had marched with haste across the wilderness to the eastern arm of the Red Sea. That probably took them a little over two weeks. Then they crossed the Red Sea made possible by God's great power.
They then marched three days to Marah. Spent a day or two there by the sweetened water, before marching to Elim where there were twelve wells and seventy palm trees. There they relaxed and stayed for several days.
But even twelve wells and seventy palm trees are not very much for close to a million people with livestock and we see them, packing everything they own and heading on into another desert area.

16:1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which [is] between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

Yes, they were murmuring and complaining.
Would we have been any different?

Yes, back in Egypt they had their homes, primitive though they may have been compared to Egyptian homes, but still, they had homes with doors and door posts. They had plenty of food in Egypt, cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic and the fish and...
True they had to work, and the work was hard and tiring, but all this marching through rather barren lands day after day dragging everything one owns along, including all the children, wasn't exactly fun either.

Thus far they had eaten only food which they had brought from Egypt. They may have eaten an animal or so from their flocks as well, but they knew that wasn't a sustainable source with so many people wanting to eat. They would need their animals once they got to "the land promised".
Also -- they weren't heading toward Canaan at all -- they were heading to some mountain Moses talked about.

Yes, they were murmuring and complaining.
Would we have been any different? Are we any different?

16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
16:8 And Moses said, [This shall be], when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings...
16:13-15 at even the quails came up, and covered the camp:
and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.
This [is] the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat

It wasn't so much a need for food, as it was a need to trust and depend upon God.

God did supply the food. A gift. But even these gifts can be abused.

The quails came and people ate way too much.
They stuffed themselves with the meat.
Their stomachs couldn't handle this sudden overfilling with meat. And many became deathly sick.

The manna was rationed. So much per person, per day, with special instructions to gather double on Friday,
Of course many disregarded the "rules" And tried to gather more than they needed, but extra food gathered didn't keep. EXCEPT the double portion gathered on Friday for eating the next day Sabbath. Those who didn't gather double on Friday had no manna on Sabbath.

THE BATTLE WITH INDULGENCE




THE BATTLE OF DISCONTENT
Can we be thankful and happy with what we have, or do we always think we need something more to be happy?
It seems the Israelites were happy when the manna first came, but as time went on, we again see them complaining (Numbers 11:6) that they could see nothing to eat, beside this manna..



THE BATTLE WITH DISTRUST

"Satan comes to shut out Jesus from our view, that our eyes might be drawn to the darkness that surrounds us, and cause us to distrust God and next murmur against Him. Our only safety is in keeping our eyes directed upward. Angels of God have charge over His people,

Water from the Rock
Exodus 17:1 Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
17:4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me.
Exodus 17:6-7 God said to Moses, ?Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.? And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, ?Is the Lord among us, or not??

Where is Rephidim (scholars don't agree)
But it must be in the same mountain area where Moses talked with God at the burning bush.
So they were close to the mountain (probably in the foothills of the mountain Range) the Bible calls Sinai and Horeb..

Here's some other references to Mt. Horeb, which seem to indicate
Mt. Horeb (Sinai) was in Midian, Arabia, not in the Sinai Peninsula.

Ex. 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian:
and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God,
even to Horeb.
Deut 4:10,13 You stood before the LORD thy God in Horeb,...
and the LORD declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform,
[even] ten commandments;
Duet 5:2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
1 Kings 19:8 Elijah traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb,
the mountain of God.
Galatians 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia

Life giving water gushes forth from a Rock!

God said that He would stand on the rock at Horeb, and He instructed Moses to strike the rock so that water would come out of it. This milestone in Israel?s history is cited again and again throughout the scriptures. One such passage is
Isaiah 48:21, which says, ?He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed forth.?

The apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth about these very events:

They (the Israelites) were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. (1 Co 10:4?6)

According to this verse, that water didn't just provide the water needs when Israel was camped by Mt. Horeb, it continued to "follow them" for 40 years, till they were at the borders of the promised land, then it stopped and they murmured again.

Exodus 17:6. highly suggests that the Lord appeared in some visible presence on the rock of Horeb. This is evident from the fact that He ?stood before? Moses. This heightens the belief that almost 40 years later when the rock ceased to "follow" them, and Moses in anger struck the Rock for water, it was a grievous sin. He was only to speak to the rock (petition).

Some believe the actual physical stone followed them, but It's more likely Paul meant Jesus was following them, and provided a water source (and all their other needs) for them everywhere they camped.

And for us -- that Rock, which is Jesus, follows us (and leads us) throughout our journey through this life, offering and providing the "living water of life" to each one, and we are "ask" "seek"
Matt. 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
7:8 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.

Why does God ask Moses here in this case to 'strike the rock, and water will come out of it' while at the wilderness of Zin God says 'speak ye unto the rock before their eyes'?

Numbers 20:1-11
1 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.
2 And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
3 And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!
4 And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?
5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.
6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them.
7 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
9 And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.
10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

The rock, being a symbol of Christ was to be smitten ONCE, as Christ was to be once offered. " he offered one sacrifice for sins for ever" (Heb. 10:12) On the cross He was smitten for our redemption. (John 19:34 Isaiah 53:4) once and for all.

After that it was needful only to speak to the rock, as we have only to ask for blessings in the name of Jesus. But when Moses struck the rock -- by that second smiting of the rock the significance of this beautiful figure of Christ was destroyed.

The first time,
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. Exodus 17:6.

The second time, about 38 years later,
Yes, God had given them a continuous supply of water all those years, but when the water stopped the complaining started louder than ever. God tells Moses:
Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, Numbers 20:8

But Moses was angry and tired of hearing so much complaining, Instead of explaining that Christ would provide and give them the water they needed, and speaking to the rock to provide the blessing, he cried out in irritation ""Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?"" And struck the rock in anger, not just once but twice.

Lesson EIGHT

COVENANT AT SINAI
Exodus 19:1 to 20:17

I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:4-6

By a mighty hand God brought His people out of bondage. Delivered them from Egyptian slavery.

A people who had only a little faith. Yes, they were crying out to God in their distress, yet knew very little about Him. Yet God worked with a "mighty hand" and delivered them from their bondage. They had no power to save themselves. God freed them. He delivered them!

THE FIRST STEP
A hopelessly enslaved people are delivered by the power of God.
Through seemingly impossible conditions, God opened the way, even to parting the impassible Red Sea creating a dry path through walls of water.
In an even greater way, God has delivered us! At the cross, the power of sin was broken, freedom was provided for everyone who would believe and follow!

THE SECOND STEP
God provides. The children of Israel needed food and water, they needed protection from the heat of the day, and light to lighten the darkness, they needed health and supplies. God provided them with manna, water from the rock, a cloud to lead them by day and shine upon them at night. He promised them "none of the diseases of Egypt" would come on them, their shoes won't even wear out.

THIRD STEP
He led them to HIMSELF
Away from the turmoil of the world, God led them into a quiet place, to the very mountain where Moses had talked directly with God by a burning bush that did not burn. Here, in this rugged, mountainous unpopulated place, the Lord had gathered his people to himself, that he might talk with them. Here God Himself would communicate with His people. He would make a covenant with them (the covenant had been made to their forefathers) but it was important for them to know that it was made personal for them. To those alive "today".

About 40 years later Moses reminded them
Deut 5:2-4 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,

In like manner -- God's covenant is ever NEW to us, even to us who are alive today.
We too, need to be delivered from the bondage of sin and carnal entanglements. We too need His blessings and care. We too need to be led to Him, and communicate with HIM!

FOURTH STEP
What does the Lord require of us?

Micah chapter six, the Lord cries out to His people. Why? Why are you continuing in sin, what have I done that you turn away from Me? Why are you tired of Me? Why are you insisting on heading down the path to destruction and ruin?

What is it that the Lord wants?
Micah 6:8 He hath showed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

FIFTH STEP
God gives His law.
The law does not deliver or save us. The law is the path upon which the saved/delivered ones walk humbly with God!
God's ten words (the commands spoken by God Himself in great majesty at Sinai) is the good way, the just way, the way of love for God and for others, the way of mercy, it is the path upon which we walk with God!

1 John 1:5-7 This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we are lying, and we are not living the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 5:2-3 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

The ten commandments when summarized are declared in an abstract term.
LOVE
Deut. 6:5,6 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Deut 11:13 hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul
Deut. 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Lev. 19:18 thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD.
Love your neighbor as yourself.

This concept that God's commandments are all about LOVE for God and for our neighbors is not something new to the "new covenant". It is part of the everlasting covenant!
The rich young ruler understood this in Luke 10:27 when he quoted these texts from the old testament. But sadly, though he had love, it was misdirected love. His misdirected love caused him to turn away from Jesus.

God knew humans needed something more than an abstract concept.
They needed more concrete directions.
So when God spoke the ten commandments from Sinai, He didn't use abstract terms. Telling people to "love" without giving them specific directions on what it means to love would leave people in a vague realm of emotional uncertainties. People can think they love, and might easily conclude they don't need the Ten Commandments or any instructions on what love means.

What is also interesting is that God did not start with "you have rights".
It's more "you have an obligation" not to hurt or harm others.
Don't steal, don't bare false witness, don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't covert your neighbors possessions.

Then when we surrender ourselves to God, the prohibitions become promises, we won't want to steal, bare false witness, hate or kill, or be unfaithful, etc. as the seeds of real love for God and His goodness begin to grow in our hearts.

Love misdirected, can become a false god. Love is not a moral guide in itself.
Selfish love is very prevalent in our world today. It's taking care of the things we love first. A lot of fornication and adultery is excused under the claim it was "love". Misdirected love can easily nullify God's commandments.

So first, God shows us what "love" looks like.
When God emphasis the importance of love, it does not replace the commandments, it expands them, it adds a heart response and purpose to those commandments.
Psalms 119:97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Psalms 119:127 Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.
Psalms119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

LESSON NINE
LIVING THE LAW
Exodus 21-23

This lesson is a little more difficult as it deals with the "code laws" given to Israel, and some of them seem strange and hard to understand for us in our society. How do we deal with laws regarding slavery and father's selling their daughters into slavery, etc.?

Why didn't God just abolish slavery?

Here we seriously do need to take into account the times these laws were given.
When we do, we realize God did prohibit slavery as it was practiced back then. Those laws also prohibit slavery as it was practiced in America before the liberation. Yet they still allow a form of slavery. Why?

Slavery was entrenched in every culture back then. We can view God's "codes" for Israel as steps leading forward to a more just handling of the realities of life back then. A reality which wasn't God's ideal, yet these "codes" were still a huge step away from the cruel practices then considered normal.

Another issue was polygamy. The practice of men having multiple wives. We know from the creation story in Genesis that this was not God's ideal. We know from Paul's writings that leaders in the Christian church were limited to one wife. God's ideal is the marriage between one man and one woman. What we do see in those "codes" are rules that place a level of protection that limit some of the cruel practices considered normal back then.

So how do we understand some of these "codes" which we read about in Exodus 21-23?
What do they mean to us in our day?

What are those "codes" actually saying?

Exodus 21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
"If" not "when" you acquire a Hebrew "servant" not "slave".
The KJV rightly translates this as having a servant is a little different than being a slave in the Egyptian "slavery" conditions they had found themselves earlier.

This was more of an "indentured servant" who would work for their master for six years and be free to leave.

People were sold into this "servitude" usually for three reasons.
1. Poverty, they were too poor to provide for their own independent living, so they sold themselves or their children into a situation where they would be granted room and board in exchange for their service.
2. Indebtedness, owing more than they could pay, often meant working as a servant for someone till that debt was liquidated.
3. People who had stolen or embezzled or in some other way deprived a rightful owner of their property, could be sold into servitude until they had worked off the value of what they had stolen.

Yet the protection was in the law -- this could be done to help people "get back on their feet" not to enslave them for life. Six year limits, and they were free. "For nothing" without having to pay anything. Whatever he brought with him, when he left he could take with him, including wife and children.
Unless they had also been bought by the master, they were then considered the master's responsibility, not the husbands.
The free "servant" also had the option to stay as a servant with the master.

21:7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

Poor families would offer their children as servants as a means to try and give them a better life, or even to just survive. But why can't the girl go free after six years?
Probably because single young women were at a great disadvantage without a male guardian, in that society. The protection was there that she couldn't just be turned out unto the street. Nor could she be sold to someone else as a slave.
There were seemed to be only three options for her.
1. Marry the man who "bought" her, or marry one of his sons (By the way, most brides in those days were sold by their fathers to the perspective husband even if they weren't "maidservants")
2. Remain a "maidservant"
3. Be bought back (redeemed) by her parents.

The law is pretty specific that these "servants" be treated fairly as human beings.
A maidservant that marries a son of the master is to be treated as a daughter.
If a maidservant becomes a "second" wife, she is to have all the privileges as a wife, not be treated as a lessor wife.

Parents are to be honored and respected
Ex. 21:15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. 21:17 He who curses his father or his mother shall be put to death
That is an amplification of the fifth of the ten commandments. For a child to physically attack his parents was punishable by death. And notice this includes attacking one's mother.

Ex.21:16 And he that steals (kidnaps) a man, and sells him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

This law prohibits slavery as it is usually practiced. A slave trading kidnapper, or kidnappers, who steal people from their home or country in order to sell them as slaves, is punishable by death.

OTHER RULES
These chapters seem to point out the punishment for a crime must not exceed the crime, it must match the crime.
21:23-25 Life for a life, eye for an eye, burn for burn, wound for wound, etc.

This is to keep punishment from developing into outright rage and revenge, yet it is not God's ideal.

We realize this is not the ideal from Jesus sermon on the mount.


Matthew 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
5:40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have [thy] cloak also.
5:41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:

So is Jesus saying all those rules in Exodus 21-23 are worthless?
No, not at all, Jesus is giving a deeper meaning to these commands,
a meaning that goes further than outward acts, to the core of our moral values and experience.
If the love of God and His cleansing power is in us --
We won't be going about knocking people's teeth out, etc.
We will be honoring our parents, not physically or verbally hurting them.
We will be as kind and thoughtful to the workers, those in various positions of service, the poor, the immigrants, as we are to our favorite people.
Exploiting others just does not fit into the lives of those who have the love of God in their hearts.