Exodus 23

CHAPTER 23THEME: The law concerning property rightscontinued; the law concerning the land and the Sabbath; the law concerning national feasts

Exodus 23:1

THE LAW CONCERNING PROPERTY RIGHTSCONTINUEDBe careful what you say; this is God’s rule of conduct. A gossiper is as bad as a murderer, a thief, or an adulterer in your midst, yet in our society a gossiper gets by easily.

Exodus 23:2

If we were to follow God’s precept, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil,” it would put us out of the marching, protesting and rioting business. Also it would rid our society of the growing menace of gangs. I talked with a very attractive young fellow in this category. He said he dressed as he did because he wanted liberty and freedom. I noticed there were several thousand dressed just like him. So I asked him, “Would you dare dress differently?

Would they accept you?” He said, “No.” Then I said, “When they protest, you have to get in line and protest, don’t you?” He said, “Yes, I do.” “Well,” I replied, “then you really do not have much freedom, do you? You have to do certain things. When they dress a certain way, you have to dress a certain way. This is not freedom.” My friend, freedom is not following a multitude to do evil!

Exodus 23:3

Judgment should not be swayed toward the rich or toward the poor. Judgment and justice should be exercised fairly. The Romans depicted justice as a woman, tender but also blindfolded. She was no respecter of persons and held a sword in one hand and scales in the other. The sword meant that when the judgment was handed down, there would be the execution of the penalty. The scales meant that justice would be fair. Judgment should be exercised without respect of persons.

Exodus 23:10

THE LAW CONCERNING THE LAND AND THE SABBATHOnce again God gives Israel this law concerning the Sabbath Day and the Sabbatic Year. God will review this law with Israel when they go into the land. The subjects of the Sabbath Day, the Sabbatic Year, and the year of Jubilee are dealt with in the Book of Leviticus. Briefly, the Sabbath Day was the seventh day of the week and was a day of strict rest. The Sabbatic Year was the septennial rest for the land from all cultivation. The year of Jubilee is also called the year of liberty. Every fiftieth year the Hebrews who had been forced to sell themselves into slavery became free. Lands that had been sold reverted to their original owners. It is interesting to note that folk today who claim to be Sabbath keepers, are attempting to keep only the Sabbath Day. They ignore the Sabbath Year (especially if they are farmers) and disregard completely the year of Jubilee.

Exodus 23:14

THE LAW CONCERNING NATIONAL FEASTSThree times a year all the Hebrew males were to appear before the Lord God in Jerusalem. There were three feasts that were to be celebrated: (1) the Feast of the Passover; (2) the Feast of Pentecost; (3) the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of the Passover, you will recall, was instituted in memory of Israel’s preservation from the last plague brought against the land of Egypt and her deliverance from that land of bondage. Before the people of Israel enter the Promised Land, these will be discussed in detail.

Exodus 23:20

Who is this Angel? Other Scriptures shed light on the answer. 1Co_10:4 says, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” 1Co_10:9-10 continues, “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.” It is the Lord Jesus that they were to obey. He is definitely the one in view here.

Exodus 23:23

God told Israel that He intended to put the enemy out of the land because of their sin. Now the Lord says to them:

Exodus 23:27

God is telling Israel that it is His intention to put them in the land of Israel and make it their land. Then God tells them:

Exodus 23:32

The children of Israel were not to make any covenants with the inhabitants of the land nor with their gods. Joshua made the mistake of making a covenant with the Gibeonites. He did not do enough investigating. Of course the reason the nation of Israel finally went into Babylonian captivity was because they went into idolatry and served other gods. In other words, they did not heed God’s warning.