Exodus 23
BSASBThis chapter finishes the laws that follow the Ten Commandments. It calls for honest courts and kindness to enemies and foreigners, then sets out rest for the land and for people, and the three yearly feasts. It closes with God’s promise to send His angel ahead of Israel, and a warning against the gods of Canaan.
Exodus 23:1
God’s people must not pass on lies or lend their voice to the wicked. A rumor can ruin someone, and a false witness can wrongly condemn a man. Truthful speech is a form of worship, because God Himself is truth.
BSA: false (“deceitful”): The report is not merely mistaken but meant to mislead.
See also: Exodus 20:16.
Exodus 23:2
Right and wrong are not decided by majority vote. A believer may have to stand alone in court or among neighbors. Giving honest testimony matters more than being popular.
BSA: pervert (“turn aside, wrest”): Justice is pictured as a straight path that the crowd bends off course.
See also: Matthew 7:13.
Exodus 23:3
Justice must be blind to wealth and also to poverty. A poor man is not right just because he is poor. Pity must not twist a verdict any more than bribery does.
BSA: favoritism (“partiality, or special treatment”): A judge may lean toward someone for any reason, even sympathy, but he must lean toward the truth alone.
See also: Leviticus 19:15.
Exodus 23:4-5
Even toward an enemy, God’s people must act with kindness. Return his lost animal. Help his donkey when it has collapsed under its load. Love is shown in practical help, and it overrules personal grudges.
BSA: help (“assist, support”): The help is given together with the enemy, so working side by side may begin to heal the quarrel. see (“with compassion, notice”): You are expected to notice the need and not look away.
See also: Proverbs 25:21; Matthew 5:44.
Exodus 23:6
The poor are often the easiest to cheat in court because they have no money or influence. God sets a guard around them. The verse does not rule out favoritism toward the poor only to forbid favoritism toward the rich. The point is that the poor receive the same fair verdict as anyone else.
BSA: deny justice (“righteous judgment”): What is owed to the poor is real, righteous judgment, not charity from a judge’s good mood.
Exodus 23:7
Keep far from any lie that could cost an innocent person his life. God sees through every court, and He will not clear the guilty, however well they hide behind a corrupt verdict. This gives comfort to the wronged and warning to the schemer.
BSA: acquit (“justify, declare righteous”): Only God’s verdict is final, and He will not declare a guilty person righteous because men did.
Hebrew: תִּרְחָק (tirḥaq, H7368) — “be far, keep distant.” The command is not only to avoid lying but to put real distance between yourself and anything false.
Exodus 23:8
A gift to a judge or witness quietly corrupts him. He may not even notice it happening. Even a wise, upright person loses clear sight and speaks crookedly once he is paid for it.
BSA: blinds (“makes spiritually blind, deceives”): A bribe dulls the conscience, not just the eyes. twists (“perverts, corrupts”): Even honest words are bent out of shape once money has changed hands.
See also: Deuteronomy 16:19.
Exodus 23:9
Israel knew from experience what it was to be an outsider with no rights. God asks them to remember that pain and turn it into mercy for strangers. Our own history of need should make us gentle with those who are in need now.
BSA: foreign resident (“sojourner, stranger”): This is someone living among a people not his own, with no family land or protection. know (“are aware of, understand”): The knowledge is from the heart, learned by living through it.
See also: Leviticus 19:34.
Exodus 23:10-11
Every seventh year the land was to lie unplanted. Whatever grew by itself was left for the poor and for wild animals. It taught Israel that the land belongs to God and that He provides for those without fields of their own.
BSA: rest (“cease from labor, be unplanted”): The land itself is given a Sabbath, and the owner lets go of his claim for a year.
Hebrew: תִּשְׁמְטֶנָּה (tishmeṭennah, H8058) — “you shall release it.” The word means to let drop or release, so the farmer is loosening his grip on the land and trusting God to supply.
See also: Leviticus 25:2-7.
Exodus 23:12
The weekly Sabbath is for relief as well as worship. Workers, animals, servants and foreigners all get to stop. God builds rest into the rhythm of life, so that no one, however low in rank, is worked without pause.
BSA: refreshed (“renewed, revitalized”): Rest is meant to restore life and strength, not just to be time off.
Hebrew: וְיִנָּפֵשׁ (veyinnafesh, H5314) — “and may catch his breath, be refreshed.” It comes from the word for soul or life-breath, so rest is pictured as the soul drawing breath again.
See also: Exodus 20:8-10; Mark 2:27.
Exodus 23:13
Everything God has said must be taken to heart, and above all His claim to be the only God. Israel is not even to speak the names of other gods. The mouth, as well as the heart, is to be kept loyal to the Lord.
BSA: Pay close attention (“be circumspect, take heed”): The word asks for careful, watchful living, looking around for danger.
See also: Exodus 20:3.
Exodus 23:14-15
Three times a year Israel was to gather in worship. The first feast is Unleavened Bread, which remembers the night they left Egypt in haste. No one should come to God with empty hands. Worship includes gratitude shown in giving.
BSA: empty-handed (“without an offering, lacking tribute”): Coming before God calls for a gift that thanks Him for what He has already given.
See also: Exodus 12:15-17; Deuteronomy 16:16.
Exodus 23:16
The second feast marks the early grain harvest, and the third marks the final gathering of the year’s produce. Both were joyful thanksgiving. Israel was to receive the harvest as a gift from God, giving the first and best back to Him.
BSA: firstfruits (“the first and best, the choicest part”): The first portion is given to God before anything is kept, as a sign that the whole harvest is His.
See also: Leviticus 23:15-21.
Exodus 23:17
All the men were to come to the Lord’s presence three times a year. The whole nation was thus regularly drawn together around God. It was a reminder that He is Lord, and they are His people.
BSA: Lord (“the sovereign Master”): The title stresses that He is Master over every person who comes before Him.
Exodus 23:18
Leaven was kept away from sacrificial blood, and the fat could not be left overnight. The offering was to be handled promptly and with respect for God’s own instructions. Worship is not to be casual, and it is not to be put off.
BSA: leavened (“containing yeast”): Yeast in the Bible often pictures something that spreads and changes what it touches, so it is kept from the sacrifice.
See also: Exodus 12:8-10.
Exodus 23:19
The best of the first harvest belongs at God’s house. The odd command about the young goat and its mother’s milk may be a rule against cruel or pagan practice. It teaches gentleness, even in how food is prepared. Scholars are not certain of the exact background.
BSA: best (“first and choicest”): God receives the finest, not leftovers.
See also: Proverbs 3:9; Deuteronomy 14:21.
Exodus 23:20
God promises a messenger to go ahead of His people through the wilderness. He will protect them on the journey and bring them to a place God has already made ready. God does not only give a promise. He supplies the guide.
BSA: angel (“messenger, divine representative”): This messenger acts in God’s name and carries His authority. protect (“to keep, to guard”): The same word is used for a shepherd watching over his flock.
Hebrew: מַלְאָךְ (mal’akh, H4397) — “messenger.” The word simply means someone sent with a message, so it points to the task as much as to the being.
See also: Exodus 14:19; Exodus 33:2.
Exodus 23:21
This messenger is to be heard and obeyed. He speaks with God’s own authority, since God’s Name is in him. Rebellion against him would be rebellion against God, and he will not simply overlook it.
BSA: Name (“My identity, character”): God’s Name stands for who He is, so the messenger carries God’s own character and authority. listen (“hearken, obey”): To hear God is to do what He says.
Hebrew: שְׁמִי (shemi, H8034) — “My Name.” In Hebrew thought a name carries a person’s nature and authority, so this one speaks and acts for God.
See also: John 10:30.
Exodus 23:22
Here is the promise tied to obedience. If Israel listens, God takes their side completely. Those who oppose His people will find themselves opposed by God. Obedience here means living under His protection.
BSA: enemy (“adversary, opposed to”): God takes up the role of adversary against those who attack His people.
See also: Romans 8:31.
Exodus 23:23
God names the peoples then living in Canaan. The angel will lead Israel in, and God Himself will remove them. The conquest is presented as God’s work and judgment, not a human triumph. Their sin is described elsewhere as having reached its full measure.
BSA: annihilate (“cut off, destroy completely”): The word means to remove them from the land entirely, as a judgment.
See also: Genesis 15:16.
Exodus 23:24
Israel must not join in the worship of the Canaanite gods or copy their ways. They are to tear down the idols and break their sacred pillars. Faith in the one God cannot be mixed with other loyalties.
BSA: demolish (“completely, utterly”): The call is to full removal, with no part of the idol left to tempt them. practices (“customs, rituals”): The danger is not only the idols but the whole way of life that goes with them.
See also: Exodus 20:4-5.
Exodus 23:25
Serving the Lord alone brings His blessing on the ordinary things of life, such as daily food and water. God also promises to take sickness away. Worship and daily provision are bound together, and every good gift comes from Him.
BSA: serve (“worship, obey”): Serving God joins worship with obedience. bless (“praise, honor”): God’s blessing makes the daily meal enough.
See also: Exodus 15:26.
Exodus 23:26
God promises fruitfulness and a full span of life in the land. These promises were given to Israel under the covenant. They show God’s care for families and for life itself, and His desire to give His people long and healthy days.
BSA: fulfill (“complete, make full”): God Himself completes the number of days, so life is not cut short by chance.
Exodus 23:27
God will send fear ahead of Israel so that its enemies are thrown into panic and flee. Victory comes before the first battle is fought. The people march behind God, who goes first.
BSA: terror (“fear, dread”): The enemy is overcome by God’s presence before Israel arrives. throw into confusion (“discomfit, destroy”): Their armies break down in disorder.
See also: Joshua 2:9-11.
Exodus 23:28
God will also send the hornet to drive the peoples out. The meaning is debated. It may be real stinging insects or a picture of sudden panic. Either way, God uses what He chooses to clear the way for His people.
BSA: hornet (“a type of wasp that stings”): A small insect is shown doing what an army could not.
See also: Joshua 24:12.
Exodus 23:29-30
God will not clear the land all at once. An empty land would grow wild, and animals would overrun it. He gives the land gradually as Israel grows strong enough to hold it. God’s timing is slow and sometimes puzzling, but it is wise.
BSA: Little by little (“gradually, bit by bit”): God’s work often comes in steps that match the strength of His people.
See also: Deuteronomy 7:22.
Exodus 23:31
God sets wide borders, from the Red Sea in the south to the Philistine coast in the west and the Euphrates in the north-east. These boundaries show how large His promise is. He will give the land into their hand, and He will do what He says.
BSA: establish (“set, fix, determine”): God Himself fixes the boundaries, so the gift rests on His decision.
See also: Genesis 15:18.
Exodus 23:32-33
Israel must not make treaties with the peoples of the land, nor share their gods. Living alongside them would pull Israel into their worship. Idols look harmless, but they act like a hidden trap that catches and holds the one who serves them.
BSA: snare (“trap, pitfall, or entanglement”): False worship looks attractive like bait, but it catches those who take it. covenant (“promise, treaty, or alliance”): Israel already belongs to God by covenant, so a second pledge to others would divide their loyalty.
See also: Judges 2:1-3.