Exodus 23

Of false report and witness, v.1, etc. Right must not be wrested , 2. Men ought to do good to their enemies, 4. Judges may take no bribes, 8. nor oppress the strangers , 9. of the seventh year, which was to be a year of rest, 10. Of the Sabbath-day, 12.The name of other Gods should not be named, 13. Of the three high feasts in the year, 14. No sacrifice was to be offered with leavened bread , 18. God promiseth the people, that an Angel should go before them, whom they were to obey, 20. the honouring of strange Gods forbidden, 23. God promiseth to bless them that serve him , 25. The Hornets should expel the enemies of the Israelites, 28. The Borders and Limits of the land of the Israelites, 31. they are forbidden to make a Covenant with the Heathen, or their Gods, 32. or to let them inhabit among them, 33.

1. Thou shalt take up [Oth. Receive, carry forth, spread] no false report : [Heb. no report of lying, or, no hearing of falshood] nor set thy hand with the wicked , [i.e. be not of their company, join not with them, to help them carry on their wicked enterprise] for to be a witness for violence, [Heb. of violence.]

2. Thou shalt not follow the maltitude [Heb. many ; oth. the mighty, the great, or powerful] for evil things : and thou shalt not speak in a striving cause , (or, controversie ) enclining after the maltitude, to bow ( or, wrest) ( the right )

3. Neither shalt thou advance [Heb. glorifie, honour] the mean (one), in his controversie .

4. When thou meetest thine enemies oxe, or his straying asse, thou shalt by all means bring the same back to him. [Heb. bringing back, bring back.]

5. When thou seest thy haters asse to lie under his burthen, shouldest thou be negligent then, for to neglect thy own for him? [Oth. thou shalt forbear to let him the same there , and forsaking shalt forsake it with him, i.e. no sooner then he himself forsaketh the same] thou shalt by all means forsake it with him. [Heb.forsaking thou shalt forsake. Oth. thou shalt by all means get it up (or, raise it ) with him . Compare Nehem. 3.8. and 4.2. The meaning is , As he that hateth thee must neglect his other business, to rescue his asse , so thou shalt likewise neglect thy own , to help it up again , together with him .]

6. Thou shalt no wrest the right of thy poor, [viz. Sitting as Judge of the people, in Judgement] in his controversie.

7. Be far from false matters : [or, words] and the guiltless and righteous thou shalt not put to death, [i.e. not sentence, cast, or condemn him to die , fo the speech here is to Magistrates] for I will not justifie the wicked . [viz. a wicked and unjust Judge, that pronounceth an unrighteous Judgement over a guiltless person.]

8. Also thou shalt take no gift ; [viz. From persons, pleading in Judgement , or having any cause before the Judge] for the gift blindeth the seeing , and perverteth the cause [or, words] of the righteous .

9. Neither shalt thou oppress the stranger : for yee know the minde (or,soul) of the stranger . [Oth. yee know, how a strangers heart stands affected] having been strangers your selves in the land of Egypt .

10. Also thou shalt sowe thy land six years , and gather its in-come ;( or, revenue .)

11. But in the seventh thou shalt let it rest and lie still, [i.e.Remain untill'd, unmanured . Compare Jer.17.4.] that the poor of thy people may eat , [that namely, which shall grow in the seventh year of it self, Lev.25.5,6. understand, that they may eat , together with thee and thine , in regard that such a years of provision was to grow, without any humane labour , by Gods especial blessing .] See Leviticus 25:6,7.] and the remainder thereof the beasts of the field may eat ; thus thou shalt (likewise) do with thy vineyard , ( and ) with thy Olive-trees.

12. Six days thou shalt do thy works , but on the Seventh day thou shalt rest, that thy oxe and thy asse may rest, and that the son of thy maid-servant ,[i.e. the servant of thy bond-woman] and the stranger, may draw breath .

13. In all that I have said unto you , ye shall be upon your guard : and the Name of other Gods ye shall not mention : it shall not be heard out of your mouths . [neither in oaths , nor to any such like purpose .]

14. Three times in the year shalt thou keep me (a) Feast .

15. The Feast of the unleavened (breads) shalt thou keep, [The Feast of the Passeover , and the Feast of the unleavened bread, is one and the same indeed , only there is this difference betwixt them, that that day only is called the Passeover, in which the Paschal Lamb was eaten, the other seven days were called the days of unleavened bread .] seven days shalt thou eat unleavened (bread) , ( as I commanded thee) at the appointed time , in the moneth of Abib ; [See Exod.12.2. and 13.4.] for in the same thou didst go forth out of Egypt, yet one shall not [this is only spoken to men , as appears verse 17. and Deut.16.16.] appear empty before my face . [i.e. without some gift , or offering .]

16. And the Feast of the Harvest , [Understand the Wheat-harvest here . This feast was afterwards by the Grecians called Pentecost , falling fifty days after the Passeover , Leviticus 23:15.,16. Deut.16.9. Acts 2:1. During the time of this Feast, God gave ten Commandements , Exod.19. and after he sent the holy Ghost , at the ame time of the year , upon his Apostles , Acts 2.] of the first-fruots of thy labour [i.e. of thy fruit or corn, for the enjoying whereof thou didst labour , and till and husband the ground ; and which God hath bestowed upon thee by thy labour ;] which thou shalt have sowed in the field ; and the feast of the gathering in, at the going out of the year , when thou shalt have gathered in thy labour out of the field. [This Feast came in the seventh month of the year ; to wit, in September, beginning on the fifteenth of that month, and lasting seven days . It is otherwise called , The Feast of the Tabernacles , or Leave-huts , Lev.23.34. Deut.16.13.]

17. Thrice a year [viz. On the foresaid three solemn and festival times] all thy males [unless they have some lawful impediment , as sickness, dotage, and other the like infirmities or disabilities] shall appear before the face of the Lord, LORD. [which afterwards was the Temple at Jerusalem, 1 Kings 14:21.]

18. Thou shalt not suffer the blood of my Sacrifice with any leavened (bread). [i.e. having any leavened bread at home in your houses , Exodus 12:15.] nor shall the fat of my feast [i.e. of the sacrifice of my feast, viz. of the lamb that was to be sacrificed then] be kept till the morning.

19. The firstlings of the first-fruits [Heb. the beginning of the first-fruit] of thy land , thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God : [i.e. into the Tabernacle at first , 1 Chron.9.29. and afterwards into the Temple at Jerusalem. See Deut.26.1,2, etc.] Thou shalt not cook (or, dress, boil) the kid in his mothers milk

20. Behold I send an Angel before thy face , [Exodus 13:21. The same is called the LORD, viz. Christ, whom the Israelites provoked in the wilderness, 1 Cor. 10.9. He is called an Angel, that is to say, a messenger, because he is sent by the Father] for to guard thee upon this way, and for to bring thee to the place which I have prepared .[viz. into the land of Canaan .]

21. Take hid before his face , [i.e. By reason of his presence with you] and be obedient to his voice, and exasperate him not : for he shall not forgive your transgressions ; for my Name is in the inmost of him .[i.e. he is true God together with me, being likewise called JEHOVAH. See Jeremiah 23:6. John 10:30,38. and 2 Cor. 5.19. and Heb.1.8. Item , compare John 14:10.]

22. But if thou diligently obey [Heb. hearing hear] his voice, and do all that I shall speak ; then I will be thine enemies enemie , and thine adversaries adversarie.

23. For my Angel shall go before thy face, and he shall bring thee in , to the Amorites , [i.e. into the land of the Amorites, & c.] and Hethites , and Pheresites , and Canaanites , Hevites, and Jebusites : and I will destroy them.

24. Thou shalt not bow down before their Gods , nor serve them ; also thou shalt not do after their works , but thou shalt wholly break them down, [Hebr. breaking down break down] and utterly bruise [Heb. bruising bruise] their standing images :

25. And thou shalt serve the LORD thy God , then he will bless thy bread and thy water : and I will keep off sicknesses out of the midst from thee.

26. There shall be no miscarrying nor barren (female) in thy land : I will fulfill the number of thy days : [Those namely, which are according to the course of nature , thou art to live ; whereas the wicked man shall not live out half his days , Psalm 55.24.]

27. I will send my terrour [i.e. A very great one ; or, a terrour, which I my self shall bring upon them : See examples hereof , Gen.35.5. 1 Samuel 14:15. and 2 Chron. 20.29.] before thy face, and make all the people , to whom ye come , faint-hearted ; and I will cause all thine enemies to turn the neck [i.e. their back] to thee . [Heb. I will give all thine enemies the neck to thee-wards.]

28. I will likewise send hornets before thy face : the same shall expel the Hevites , the Canaanites , and Hethites , [Understand likewise , the rest of those Nations mentioned before , verse 23.] from before thy face.

29. I will not expel them from thy face in one year, that the land be not laid waste, [i.e. destitute of inhabitants] and the wilde beasts be not multiplyed above thee.

30. I will drive them out from thy face by degrees : till thou be grown, and inherit the land .

31. And i will set thy borders , from the sea Zuph to the sea of the Philistines , and from the wilderness, [understand the wilderness of Sin, in the way to Egypt] unto the River : [viz. of Euphrates] for I will give the inhabitant of that land into your hand , that thou mayest drive them out before thy face .

32. Thou shalt make no Covenant with them, nor with their Gods .

33. They shall not dwell in thy land , that they do not make thee sin against me : if thou serve their Gods , it will assuredly be a snare unto thee.