Exodus 23, Instructions Regarding Truth, Falsehood, Holy Living

We continue to elaborate on the Ten Commandments, giving a number of amplifications and corollaries to the Ten.

Exodus 23: 1-3, Do not bear false witness

"Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness.

    

"Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit."

These are follow-up examples of what it means to bear false witness. These examples are certainly applicable today.

Exodus 23: 4-5, Caring for the neighbor's property

"If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it."

Even though it is not your donkey, you are to care for it because it is your neighbor's. (Regardless of your feelings for him!)

Exodus 23: 6-7, Reject falsehood

"Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty."

Justice is important.  Do not let the innocent be falsely punished.  This instruction will be repeated in various ways throughout the Old Testament, especially by the prophets.

Exodus 23: 8, Bribes

"Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous."

False testimony might be paid for....

Exodus 23: 9, Aliens

"Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt."

This message of support for the alien -- and the reason for it -- is repeated.

Exodus 23: 10-11, Sabbatical for crops

"For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

The concept of a sabbath, of a seventh, also applies to years of harvest.

Exodus 23: 12, Sabbatical for animals

"Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed.

The Sabbath of the week is re-emphasized.

Exodus 23: 13, Do not name other gods

"Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.

Don't even use the names of other gods!  (Presumably this is a form of blasphemy or profanity -- in context one assumes this prohibits using the names of other gods in an oath or interjection.  Presumably one could say things like "Don't worship Baal!" but not make an oath in the name of Baal.)

Exodus 23: 14-16, Three festivals

"Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

    

"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. 

    

"No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

   

"Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. 

    

"Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

There are three festivals mandated as part of the religious calendar.  The Feast of Harvest was also called the Festival of Weeks since it occurred seven weeks after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The Festival of Weeks is called Pentecost in the New Testament.

The remark, "No one is to appear before me empty-handed", is presumably an instruction for all the festivals.

Exodus 23: 17-19, Sons of Israel

"Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD.

    

"Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. 

    

"The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.

    

"Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. 

    

"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

Here appear five random instructions.  Some have suggested that cooking a young goat in its mother's milk is related to an ancient fertility rite but apparently the evidence for that is thin. I find it horrific that the baby goat that nursed at its mothers teats might later be cooked in the same milk and I suspect that is the obscenity forbidden here.

Exodus 23: 20-23, My angel

"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

The Messenger of God will lead the Israelites in the desert, giving them success.  The promise in verse 23 is that the inhabitants will be "wiped out".  But shortly there will be instructions on living among the previous inhabitants of the land.  Ime's argues that Plan A was to drive the inhabitants out.  Otherwise the people are to be assimilated.  And when they aren't, the Israelites are warned against falling for their pagan worship.

Exodus 23: 24-26, Destroy idols and receive blessing

"Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

This is a strong promise of health for this traveling tribe -- if they avoid the pagan idolatry of their neighbors.  If the people of Israel keep to the covenant, their lives will be closer to that of Eden.

Exodus 23: 27-33, The Angel will give you the land

"I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.  Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

    

I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you. Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you."

These paragraphs are about entering the Promised Land.  The "terror" will make their enemies run.  

The instructions against idolatry are repeated.

In verse 29, I see a basic predator-prey model: if we destroy the human predators in that land, the wild animals (prey) will flourish.  So this conquest will go slowly.  These instructions come with warnings about allowing the previous residents the ensnare the Israelites into their worship.

NIV footnotes: In verse 31 the "Red Sea" is really the Sea of Reeds, the Sea of the Philistines is the Mediterranean Sea and the River is the Euphrates. This is a large region!