Exodus Chapter 23 Deep-Dive: Laws of Justice and Mercy

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EX CH 23

1 “You shall not spread a false report. GOSSIP! You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, OR GOSSIP … IN DETAIL HERE. FALL IN WITH THE MANY – PEER PRESSURE, FACEBOOK, SOCIAL MEDIA – NO MATTER WHAT THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED DURING THE TRIAL SHOWS … THE JURY’S MIND IS ALREADY MADE UP.

DON’T BE PARTIAL TO THE POOR IN LAWSUITS … THERE’S NO INHERENT VIRTUE IN BEING POOR ... LIBERATION THEOLOGY – WE MUST GIVE THE POOR AND OPPRESSED AN ADVANTAGE IN COURT BECAUSE THE RICH WILL ALWAYS HAVE AN ADVANTAGE. ALTHOUGH THIS SEEMS TO BE “FAIR,” THE BIBLE FORBIDS IT … NO SPECIAL ADVANTAGE FOR THE POOR OR THE RICH.

4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him. THIS IS LIKE A MOM MAKING A RULE SPECIFIC TO A CHILD’S ACTIONS … YOU CAN NOT PUT THE HOSE DOWN THE DOG’S MOUTH!! GOD IS GETTING DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY … DON’T DO ANYTHING TO HARM YOUR NEIGHBOR OR ENEMY. AN EXHAUSTED DONKEY – HELP IT! A LOST OX OR DONKEY … BRING IT BACK TO THE OWNER … COMMON SENSE. THEY WERE A LOT LIKE US! VERY SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FOR A PEOPLE WHO WERE CONSTANTLY ON THE BRINK OF DOING BAD THINGS.

Mt 5:43 JESUS SPEAKING … THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. DON’T FAVOR THE RICH 7Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. 8And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. A TRIPLE THREAT HERE ABOUT PERVERTING JUSTICE … AND MORE ABOUT JUDGING FAIRLY AND RIGHTEOUSLY. GOD IS SERIOUS ABOUT THIS.

9 “You shall not oppress a sojourner STRANGER-FOREIGNER-RESIDENT ALIEN. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ISRAEL WILL BE LOCATED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD’S SUPERHIGHWAY. THERE WILL BE A LOT OF STRANGERS PASSING THROUGH … TREAT THEM FAIRLY … AS YOU WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED. VERY SPECIFIC WITH A LOT OF DETAIL, BECAUSE THEY NEED IT … SOUND FAMILIAR … ?

Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals

10 “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. EVERY 7^th YEAR LEAVE THE LAND FALLOW SO THE POOR CAN HAVE THE PRODUCE … IT DOESN’T SAY TO HARVEST THE FIELDS AND GIVE IT TO THE POOR … NOTE THAT THE POOR HAD TO WORK FOR THE PRODUCE / GLEANINGS. THE SABBATH OCCURS EVERY WEEK (FRI SUNDOWN-SAT SUNDOWN), AND EVERY SEVENTH YEAR … SETTING MALE HEBREW SLAVES FREE, A YEAR’S REST FOR THE LAND, AND THE PRODUCE NATURALLY PRODUCED ON THAT LAND DURING THE FALLOW YEAR WILL BE FOOD FOR THE POOR AND THE BEASTS.

THE WEEKLY AND YEARLY SABBATH IS A GIFT FOR THOSE NOT IN THE ABRAHAMIC / SINAI COVENANT, BUT IT’S PROVIDED BY THOSE WHO ARE PART OF THE COVENANT – THE ISRAELITES. GOD IS PROVIDING COMMON GRACE TO THE SOJOURNERS, THE POOR, THE BEASTS, SLAVES, AND SO FORTH.

NOTE THAT ISRAEL NEVER DID THESE SABBATICAL YEARS … 2 Ch 36:20 He NEBUCHADNEZAR took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

BACK TO EX 23

12 “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed. EVERYONE RESTS … THIS IS AN ACT OF FAITH IN A SUBSISTENCE AGRARIAN ECONOMY … COMMON SENSE SAYS OUR LIVES DEPEND ON WORKING THE FIELDS.

13 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips. DON’T EVEN MENTION THE NAMES OF OTHER GODS …IDOLATRY – THE WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS – WILL BE THE ONE SIN THAT ISRAEL WILL CHOOSE TO CONTINUE IN UNTIL THEY’RE GIVEN INTO CAPTIVITY BY GOD.

14 “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread PASSOVER. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed EVERYONE PARTICIPATES IN THESE FESTIVALS. 16You shall keep the Feast of Harvest PENTECOST, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor BOOTHS-DAY OF ATONEMENT. 17Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God. MORE DETAIL ON THESE LATER …NOTE THAT THIS GUIDANCE IS GIVEN WELL BEFORE THE PEOPLE ARE IN THE LAND AND HAVE A HARVEST.

18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. EVERYTHING TO BE EATEN BY THE PERSON PROVIDING THE SACRIFICE, TO BE EATEN BY THE PRIESTS, AND THE FAT PORTIONS TO BE BURNED UP ON THE ALTAR MUST BE COMPLETED AT THE TIME OF THE SACRIFICE – NOTHING WAS TO BE LEFT TO SPOIL, ALSO, NOTHING WITH LEAVEN IN IT COULD BE OFFERED WITH A SACRIFICE. LEAVEN WAS NOT FORBIDDEN IN ISRAEL AND IT COULD BE OFFERED AS FIRST-FRUITS BUT NOT AS PART OF A SACRIFICE.

19“The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. RELATED TO PAGAN RITUALS, ESPECIALLY CANNIBALISM AND INFANT SACRIFICE …A LOT OF PAGAN SACRIFICES WERE FOCUSED ON FECUNDITY (PROSPERITY OF CROPS) AND FERTILITY – GROWING FAMILIES THROUGH HAVING MANY CHILDREN, AND GROWING HERDS … PROSPERITY … LAND AND CROPS WERE WEALTH.

NOTE … AT THIS POINT GOD SUSPENDS THE GIVING OF THE LAW TO REMIND THE PEOPLE THAT SINAI IS TEMPORARY, THE GOAL IS THE PROMISED LAND

20 “Behold, I send an angel MESSENGER / REPRESENTATIVE before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. HE COULD FORGIVE YOUR SINS … BUT HE WON’T … YAHWEH’S NAME IS IN HIM … THIS IS THE ANGEL OF THE LORD … JESUS AS HE APPEARS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

22“But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. THE ANGEL’S VOICE OR YAHWEH’S VOICE? … YES!! OBEY & GOD WILL BLESS … THIS IS NOT DEFACTO STATUS THAT GOD IS ATTRIBUTING TO ISRAEL … THE BLESSING OF GOD IS TIED TO ISRAEL FAITHFULLY OBEYING HIM!!

23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, SPECIFIC PEOPLE GROUPS TARGETED BY GOD BECAUSE OF THEIR ACTIONS 24you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water (PURE & HEALTHY FOOD & WATER), and I will take sickness away from among you. 26None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. FLEE FROM YOU 28And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. AS ISRAEL IS FAITHFULLY MOVING INTO THE LAND YAHWEH WILL DRIVE THOSE PEOPLES OUT …THERE WEREN’T ENOUGH ISRAELITES YET TO OCCUPY THE LAND … DIVINE FORSIGHT ... PROGRESSIVELY TRUSTING GOD TO GROW THE NATION GEOGRAPHICALLY AS THEIR POPULATION GROWS … THE COMMAND ORIGINALLY GIVEN TO ADAM AND EVE, AND FOR ALL HUMAN BEINGS. HE’S GOING TO ALLOW THE CANAANITES TO CONTINUE TO FARM THE LAND AS ISRAEL GROWS AND EXPANDS AND EVENTUALLY CONQUERS THEM

NOTE THAT THIS MIRRORS SANCTIFICATION IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE – GOD MAKES US MORE AND MORE LIKE JESUS PROGRESSIVELY … WE GROW IN CHRIST THROUGH A PROCESS. ALSO, GOD IS GROWING HIS KINGDOM IN THE SAME WAY …

31And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. ISRAEL NEVER HAD THESE BORDERS BECAUSE THEY WERE UNFAITHFUL AND DISOBEDIENT TO YAHWEH 32You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; BE OBEDIENT … DRIVE THEM FROM THE LAND & DESTROY THEM for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”… AND IF YOU, ISRAEL, DO THE SAME THINGS ... I’LL DESTROY YOU, ALSO …

AND THAT WILL WRAP UP CH 23

 

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