Exodus 23
Justice
1 “You must not give a false report. Do not make common cause with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
Israel was enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. They had no governmental skills. Therefore, Jehovah redeemed them and gave them a governmental system. In this system, Jehovah was king and the people of Israel were His subjects.
The Mosaic Law ended at the atonement of Christ, but these laws reveal the mind of God. Nations today could solve many of their problems by studying and applying these laws.
False accusation was a crime in Israel. God protected the innocent.
2 “You must not follow a crowd in doing evil things; in a lawsuit you must not offer testimony that agrees with a crowd so as to pervert justice,
Jehovah protected the righteous minority. Mob psychology was designated as evil.
3 and you must not show partiality to a poor man in his lawsuit.
Judges were not to favor the poor, just because they were destitute.
4 “If you encounter your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, you must by all means return it to him.
If a wandering animal was found, then it must be returned to the rightful owner, even if the rightful owner was an enemy.
5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, but be sure to help him with it.
God protected animals, even if the animals belonged to enemies.
6 “You must not turn away justice for your poor people in their lawsuits.
Judges were not to take bribes in order to rule against the poor.
7 Keep your distance from a false charge – do not kill the innocent and the righteous, for I will not justify the wicked.
The Israelites were to keep way from false judgment. If a judge killed an innocent man, then God Himself would judge the wicked judge. This is what happened to Jesus. He was a righteous man, but He received false judgment. God Himself would judge the wicked ones who put Jesus to death.
8 “You must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and subverts the words of the righteous.
Judges were not to take bribes.
9 “You must not oppress a foreigner, since you know the life of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
The Israelites were not to oppress foreigners, since the Jews knew from personal experience how it felt to be a foreigner.
Sabbaths and Feasts
10 “For six years you are to sow your land and gather in its produce.
Israeli farmers could plow and sow their land for six years.
11 But in the seventh year you must let it lie fallow and leave it alone so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave any animal in the field may eat; you must do likewise with your vineyard and your olive grove.
The fields were to rest during the sabbatical year. Israel refused to keep the Sabbath for 490 years. Therefore, Jehovah placed them in the Babylon Captivity for 70 years.
12 For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, in order that your ox and your donkey may rest and that your female servant’s son and any hired help may refresh themselves.
The Sabbath was made to refresh man. Judaism reversed the Sabbath, claiming that man was made for the Sabbath. The failure to keep the Sabbath year would later cause a conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.
13 “Pay attention to do everything I have told you, and do not even mention the names of other gods – do not let them be heard on your lips.
Other gods were not even to be mentioned. This is why many believers do not mention the name of Satan.
14 “Three times in the year you must make a pilgrim feast to me.
Jews were to make three pilgrimages a year. These three pilgrimages would be Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. These three pilgrimages were basically a vacation spent with God and family.
15 “You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before me empty-handed.
Leaven was a symbol of evil.
16 “You are also to observe the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you have gathered in your harvest out of the field.
These two feasts were the fall feasts of Pentecost and Tabernacles.
17 “At three times in the year all your males will appear before the Lord God.
These three feasts would bring Jews from all over the Roman Empire into Jerusalem so that they could hear Jesus teach. These teachings of Jesus would be taken and spread throughout the Roman Empire.
18 “You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast; the fat of my festal sacrifice must not remain until morning.
The blood of these lambs was a picture of Christ’s blood. The leaven was a symbol of evil. They were not to be mixed.
19 The first of the first fruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
This was a Canaanite ritual. The rabbi overreacted to this law. They established laws in which meat and milk could not be eaten at the same table. Many Jews have bought two sets of dishes just to keep the laws of Judaism. These dish laws were not laws of the Bible. These dish laws were part of the Mishnah, or the Oral Law of Judaism. Jesus continually taught that the Mishnah was an ungodly human law.
The Angel of the Presence
20 “I am going to send an angel before you to protect you as you journey and to bring you into the place that I have prepared.
The angel is the Lord Jesus Christ. He would lead the Israelites to the Promised land.
21 Take heed because of Him, and obey His voice; do not rebel against Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in Him.
Only God can forgive sins. Therefore, this angel was Jesus.
22 But if you diligently obey Him and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.
If the Lord Jesus Christ is obeyed, then the Jews will be rewarded.
23 For my angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will destroy them completely.
The Lord Jesus Christ would help the Jews destroy these six evil tribes. All six of these evil tribes were involved in Satanism.
24 “You must not bow down to their gods; you must not serve them or do according to their practices. Instead you must completely overthrow them and smash their standing stones to pieces.
If the Jews refused to completely destroy these six tribes, then they would intermingle with them and be seduced into their satanic rituals.
25 You must serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst.
If Jehovah was obeyed, then He promised five blessings to Israel. He would bless their food supply. He would eliminate famine. He would keep them healthy.
26 No woman will miscarry her young or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.
The women would be productive in her labor. The people would live to an elderly age.
27 “I will send my terror before you, and I will destroy all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
Jehovah would cause the surrounding satanic nations to fear Israel. Jehovah would destroy the enemies of Israel.
28 I will send hornets before you that will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before you.
Jehovah would become a stinging hornet to the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites. For years, skeptics claimed that the Hittites never existed, so the Bible must be wrong. Then, archaeologists dug up forty Hittite cities. God often uses archaeology to silence the skeptics.
29 I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you.
Jehovah would not drive the Canaanites out all at once, but gradually. He did not want the animals to multiply and take over the land.
30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.
Jehovah would drive these evil nations out gradually.
Increase and decrease
31 I will set your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.
Jehovah has already determined the exact dimensions of the land which He will give to Israel. The United States is constantly denouncing Israel for building on land which was given to them by God. This type of governmental policy is a violation of the Abrahamic Covenant.
32 “You must make no covenant with them or with their gods.
The Jews were not to make covenants with the Canaanites.
33 They must not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
The Canaanites were to be exterminated. If they were not exterminated, then they will become a snare to Israel. They would seduce Israel into idolatry.