Exodus 23

Laws about Honesty and Justice

1 "You must not spread a false report. Do not join^[a] the wicked to be a malicious witness.^[b]

2 "You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert [justice].

3 Do not show favoritism to a poor person in his lawsuit.

4 "If you come across your enemy's stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.

5 "If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying [helpless] under its load, and you want to refrain from helping it, you must help with it.^[c]

6 "You must not deny justice to the poor among you in his lawsuit.

7 Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty.

8 You must not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words^[d] of the righteous.

9 You must not oppress a foreign resident; you yourselves know how it feels to be a foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Sabbaths and Festivals

10 "Sow your land for six years and gather its produce.

11 But during the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat [from it] and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

12 "Do your work for six days but rest on the seventh day so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as well as the foreign resident may be refreshed.

13 "Pay strict attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.^[e]

14 "Celebrate a festival in My honor three times a year

15 Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because you came out of Egypt in that month. No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.

16 Also [observe] the Festival of Harvest^[f] with the firstfruits of your produce from what you sow in the field, and [observe] the Festival of Ingathering^[g] at the end of the year, when you gather your produce^[h] from the field.

17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God .

18 "You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened. The fat of My festival offering must not remain until morning.

19 "Bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God. "You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Promises and Warnings

20 "I am going to send an Angel before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.

21 Be attentive to Him and listen to His voice. Do not defy^[i] Him, because He will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for My name is in Him

22 But if you will carefully obey Him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you to [the land of] the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

24 You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them^[j] and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.

25 Worship the Lord your God, and He^[k] will bless your bread and your water. I will take away your illnesses.^[l]

26 No woman will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give [you] the full number of your days.

27 "I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror^[m] and throw into confusion all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat.

28 I will send the hornet^{[n] [o]} in front of you, and it will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites away from you.

29 I will not drive them out ahead of you in a single year; otherwise, the land would become desolate, and wild animals would multiply against you.

30 I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerous^[p] and take possession of the land.

31 I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,^[q] and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River.^[r] For I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.

32 You must not make a covenant with them or their gods.

33 They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against Me. If you worship their gods, it will be a snare for you."

Exodus 23 Commentary

Chapter 23

Laws against falsehood and injustice. (1-9) The year of rest, The sabbath, The three festivals. (10-19) God promises to conduct the Israelites to Canaan. (20-33)

Verses 1-9 In the law of Moses are very plain marks of sound moral feeling, and of true political wisdom. Every thing in it is suited to the desired and avowed object, the worship of one only God, and the separation of Israel from the pagan world. Neither parties, friends, witnesses, nor common opinions, must move us to lessen great faults, to aggravate small ones, excuse offenders, accuse the innocent, or misrepresent any thing.

Verses 10-19 Every seventh year the land was to rest. They must not plough or sow it; what the earth produced of itself, should be eaten, and not laid up. This law seems to have been intended to teach dependence on Providence, and God's faithfulness in sending the larger increase while they kept his appointments. It was also typical of the heavenly rest, when all earthly labours, cares, and interests shall cease for ever. All respect to the gods of the heathen is strictly forbidden. Since idolatry was a sin to which the Israelites leaned, they must blot out the remembrance of the gods of the heathen. Solemn religious attendance on God, in the place which he should choose, is strictly required. They must come together before the Lord. What a good Master do we serve, who has made it our duty to rejoice before him! Let us devote with pleasure to the service of God that portion of our time which he requires, and count his sabbaths and ordinances to be a feast unto our souls. They were not to come empty-handed; so now, we must not come to worship God empty-hearted; our souls must be filled with holy desires toward him, and dedications of ourselves to him; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Verses 20-33 It is here promised that they should be guided and kept in their way through the wilderness to the land of promise, Behold, I send an angel before thee, mine angel. The precept joined with this promise is, that they be obedient to this angel whom God would send before them. Christ is the Angel of Jehovah; ( 1 Corinthians. 10:9 ) a comfortable settlement in the land of Canaan. How reasonable are the conditions of this promise; that they should serve the only true God; not the gods of the nations, which are no gods at all. How rich are the particulars of this promise! The comfort of their food, the continuance of their health, the increase of their wealth, the prolonging their lives to old age. Thus hath godliness the promise of the life that now is. It is promised that they should subdue their enemies. Hosts of hornets made way for the hosts of Israel; such mean creatures can God use for chastising his people's enemies. In real kindness to the church, its enemies are subdued by little and little; thus we are kept on our guard, and in continual dependence on God. Corruptions are driven out of the hearts of God's people, not all at once, but by little and little. The precept with this promise is, that they should not make friendship with idolaters. Those that would keep from bad courses, must keep from bad company. It is dangerous to live in a bad neighbourhood; others' sins will be our snares. Our greatest danger is from those who would make us sin against God.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit join hands with
• [b]. Dt 19:16-17; Ps 35:11
• [c]. Or load, you must refrain from leaving it to him; you must set it free with him
• [d]. Or and subverts the cause
• [e]. Lit mouth
• [f]. The Festival of Harvest is called Festival of Weeks elsewhere in the OT; Ex 34:22. In the NT it is called Pentecost; Ac 2:1.
• [g]. The Festival of Ingathering is called Festival of Booths elsewhere; Lv 23:34-36.
• [h]. Lit labors
• [i]. Or embitter
• [j]. Probably the idols
• [k]. LXX, Vg read I
• [l]. Lit away illnesses from among you
• [m]. Lit will send terror of Me ahead of you
• [n]. Or send panic
• [o]. Dt 7:20; Jos 24:12
• [p]. Lit fruitful
• [q]. Lit the Sea of the Philistines
• [r]. Lit the River

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 23

This chapter contains several laws, chiefly judicial, relating to the civil polity of Israel, as concerning witness borne and judgment made of cases in courts of judicature, without any respect to poor or rich, and without the influence of a bribe, Ex 23:1-3,6-8, concerning doing good to an enemy in case any of his cattle go astray, or fall under their burden, Ex 23:4,5, and of the oppression of a stranger, Ex 23:9, and then follow others concerning the sabbath of the seventh year, and of the seventh day, with a caution against the use of the names of idols, Ex 23:10-13, next are laws concerning the appearance of all their males at the three feasts, Ex 23:14-17, and concerning the slaying of the sacrifice of the passover, and bringing the first of the firstfruits of the land, Ex 23:18,19 and then a promise is made of sending an angel to them to bring them into the land of Canaan, where they should carefully avoid all idolatry, and show a just indignation against it, and serve the Lord, and then it would be well with them, Ex 23:20-26, and particularly it is promised, that the Lord would send his fear, and his hornets, before them, to destroy the inhabitants of the land, and drive out the rest by little and little, until they should possess the utmost borders of it, which are fixed, Ex 23:27-31, and the chapter is concluded with a direction not to make a covenant with these people, or their gods, nor suffer them to dwell among them, lest they should be a snare unto them, Ex 23:32,33.