Today’s Reading: Exodus 21:28-36; 22:5-17; Leviticus 19:11-12; 35-37; 24:18; 25:44-46; Numbers 5:5-10: 27:1-11; 30:1-16;36:1-16; Deuteronomy 15:1-18; 21:15-17; 23:15-16; 19-20; 24:14-15; 25:5-10; 13-16

Welcome to March! And we got 7 pages!!! For those of you who read 3 pages yesterday (free day), you are so wise because you now only got 4 pages to go!

Today’s reading is about civil laws – property law, employment law (we still call this area as “master & servant relationship” in modern law), creditor/debtor law (we still calls this area as creditor/debtor law), will & estates, etc.

Last night during our Wednesday bible study, I had difficult time to separate the Moses’ law and our modern law (occupational hazard). Our modern law in Canada (or Western countries) is based on Moses’ law – about 70% or so (hence, there are a lot of Jewish lawyers because they already know these law by heart from their childhood). The other portion is based on “societal rules”, which changes by time/trends/circumstances. For example, do you know that we used to use “male” or “female” under the Canadian Criminal Code to describe a person in 1982? In 2012, there is no distinction, but just state everyone as “a person”, rather than “a male” or “a female”. This can be an example of changed in societal rules. The entire focus of Moses’ law was God. If you do not understand the covenant between God and the Israelites, it is hard to understand some of these laws. Moses’ law is morality, religion, and law, whereas our current legal system is based on law (rules) alone.

Some of these readings can be very strange – I find it strange to read some sections on women, marriage, or ceremonial law. But, keep reading on! Without knowing the legal foundation of the Israelite, it will be hard to understand later sections. It’s like you watch the second Act of a play without watching the first Act or like you hear the final chapter of a story without hearing the first chapter of the story.

Congratulation to all to reach the month of March!