Study Desk

After a short time Moses said goodbye to his father-in-law Jethro, and Jethro went back to his own home.

These are the things God told his people:

"You must not want to take your neighbor's house. You must not want his wife. And you must not want his men and women servants or his cattle or his donkeys. You must not want to take anything that belongs to another person."

If he is not married when he becomes your slave, when he becomes free, he will leave without a wife. But if the man is married when he becomes your slave, then he will keep his wife at the time he is made free.

If the slave is not married, the master can give him a wife. If that wife gives birth to sons or daughters, she and her children will belong to the master. After the slave is finished with his years of service, he will be made free.

If this happens, the master will bring the slave before God. The master will take the slave to a door or the wooden frame around the door and pierce the slave's ear using a sharp tool to show that the slave will serve that master for all his life.

"A man might decide to sell his daughter as a slave. If this happens, the rules for making her free are not the same as the rules for making the men slaves free.

If the master who chose her for himself is not pleased with her, then he can sell the woman back to her father. If the master broke his promise to marry her, he loses the right to sell her to other people.

If the master promised to let the slave woman marry his son, he must treat her like a daughter, not like a slave.

"Two men might argue and one might hit the other with a rock or with his fist. If the man who was hurt is not killed, the man who hurt him should not be killed.

If the man was hurt and must stay in bed for some time, the man who hurt him must support him. The man who hurt him must pay for the loss of his time. He must support him until he is completely healed.

"If a man hits a slave in the eye, and the slave is blinded in that eye, then the slave will be allowed to go free. His eye is the payment for his freedom. This is the same for a man or a woman slave.

If a master hits his slave in the mouth, and the slave loses a tooth, then the slave will be allowed to go free. The slave's tooth is payment for the slave's freedom. This is the same for a man or a woman slave.

But if a man's bull has hurt other animals in the past, that owner is responsible for his bull. If his bull kills another bull, he is guilty because he allowed the bull to be free. That man must pay bull for bull. He must trade his bull for the bull that was killed.

"A man might let his animal loose to graze in his field or vineyard. If the animal wanders into another person's field or vineyard, then the owner must pay. The payment must come from the best of his crop.

"A man might start a fire to burn thornbushes on his field. But if the fire grows and burns his neighbor's crops or the grain growing on the neighbor's field, the man who started the fire must pay for what he burned.

"A man might ask his neighbor to take care of an animal for a short time. It might be a donkey, a bull, or a sheep. But what should you do if that animal is hurt or dies or someone takes the animal while no one is looking?

"If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, and the animal is hurt or dies, then the neighbor must pay the owner for the animal. The neighbor is responsible, because the owner was not there himself.

If the father refuses to allow his daughter to marry him, then the man must still pay the full amount for her.

Obey the angel and follow him. Be careful in his presence, and don't rebel against him. The angel will not forgive the wrong things you do to him. He has my power in him.