Chapter 23
2023 - The rules for living continue. These are additional to the Ten. Actually, these began all the way back in Chapter 20, and they are still going...
2021 - These first few verses make clear what must happen for a legal system to function properly:
1 "You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 You 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, 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. [Exo 23:1-3 ESV]
You have to have an honest citizenry, who won't lie for money, and one that doesn't reward the poor because they are poor instead of because they are right. You need people who will tell the truth even when it is a very unpopular truth. It is like this was written for the US in 2021.
Possible FB post if not already done....
2024 - I think I had this right. The first nine verses are about how the standard that people must embrace if their legal system is to be just. I think it is interesting that character of those who do the judging is not mentioned. These verses focus instead on the standard required of the rank and file. Here are some attitudes specifically mentioned in these verses. There cannot be a willingness among the people to collude with others in order to falsely accuse others. The next verse says it CANNOT BE OKAY to break the same laws that everyone else is breaking. Then it says the population is not to "pile on" when someone is attacked unjustly just because they want to be on the "winning side". Then starting in vs 4, people cannot harm their enemies by omission. In those days that meant you had to send their ox back to them instead of letting it wander away so that they had to spend money to replace it. Today perhaps it means not paying other people to file lawsuits that cost money to defend against. Perhaps it means testifying on behalf of the accused even when that is not the popular thing to do. People - you and me, the many - have to be unwilling to bribed either by money or by popularity so that bribery is removed as a viable weapon against the innocent. All that to say this. A legal system is only as just as the people that it serves. We must all be unwilling to accuse the innocent, we must all be unwilling to turn a blind eye to the guilty, or there will be no justice for anyone.
Trump broke the law in falsely representing real estate values. The legal system has turned that mole hill into a mountain not so that justice may be done but so Trump can be hurt by cowards unwilling to face him themselves. Trump did have an affair with a porn star and he did try to bribe her into silence. That same porn star didn't come forward to see justice done, but in exchange for popularity, notoriety, and possibly - likely I think - for financial gain. Both sides are horribly wrong, horribly unjust, and violating at least some part of these verses. Yet both sides are supported by people who will not acknowledge that it is our justice system that is imperiled, not the accusers or the accused. Our whole system of justice is on the line because we the people, the rank and file, want our side to win, and we don't seem to care how "dirty" our champion is.
Don't lie under oath, don't let another's property come to harm just because that person doesn't like you.
This verse:
8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. [Exo 23:8 ESV]
The reasons bribes are forbidden. If you cannot take them, you also should not give them.
Treat "sojourners", that is, immigrants, well, for you were a sojourner in Egypt and should know how they feel.
The land is to rest every seventh year.
This verse is interesting:
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. [Exo 23:13 ESV]
Don't even say the names of other gods. How then are their "Christian" books about demons and Satan and the gods of the pagans? We shouldn't say them, we shouldn't write them, we shouldn't read them.
There were to be three yearly feasts. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, as previously described to commemorate coming out of Egypt.
The Feast of Harvest, when the firstfruits are ready.
The Feast of In-gathering, at the end of harvest.
An angel is sent before them to guard them. They are to pay careful attention to this angel and obey his voice.
2023 - Look at the details of these verses:
20 "Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay 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. 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. 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, 24 you 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. [Exo 23:20-24 ESV]
We don't hear much about this "function" of one of God's angels. We don't know who this angel might be though Michael seems a prime candidate. The Tabernacle has not been built. God is not yet dwelling among them above the Ark . Instead, a God-sent angel is purposed and sent to GUARD them and GUIDE them. We rarely think of being guided by an angel. Probably, we see this as a "one time Israel thing", so that we don't have to deal with the implications. MSB note on vs 23 says this angel is the pre-incarnate Christ. So there ya go. We don't allow that it is really an angel, but is an oblique reference to Christ, who is yet to come in person, but operates here as guide and guard. I...am not really sure I buy that at all. This note also sends us back to Ex 3:2, and the "angel of the Lord". MSB says this actually turns out to be the Lord Himself, speaking to Moses. This is said to come from the context, and I do see that...but it begs the question. Why call this an angel if it is God. I can better understand the one in Ex 23, because perhaps even Moses did not yet comprehend the coming of the Son. And there are those verses that say angels gave the Law. I think there are two of those (I need to find them and paste them in here...). I think this is worth further study. This seems to be a big point, and subject to much objection by outsiders as to why we interpret these as we do...
2026 - Here is one reference:
2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. [Heb 2:2-4 ESV]. The message declared by angels could be what is going on here in 23:20-23.
This one is even more specific:
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [Gal 3:19 ESV]
A short restatement of the covenant between God and Israel at this time:
25 You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. [Exo 23:25-26 ESV]
God also promises to strike fear into any who oppose them, to send hornets before them to "disturb" their enemies,
The last part of this chapter is God's promise to drive out Israel's enemies from Canaan. The land that they are to conquer is laid out as below:
31 And 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. [Exo 23:31 ESV].
2024 - The word here translated "Philistines" is the Hebrew word transliterated "pel-ish-tee'" with the accent on the last syllable. Sounds pretty close to Palestine if we pronounce it pal es teen instead of pal es tine. Previously, we saw Strong's 6429 in Exodus 15:14. The word here in Chapter 23 is Strong's 6430. 6430 is the adjectival form of 3429, which was a proper noun meaning "land of sojourners" so more specifically identified a specific geographic area, and in turn, 6429 came from 6428, transliterated "paw-lash", which is a primitive root and a verb meaning "to roll" as in rolling in dust or ashes as in mourning. Almost prophetic as to the squalor in which these people now live. ON THE OTHER HAND, Israel, when they invaded this area, had orders to wipe them out completely, which they did not do, and so today they reap the consequences of their inaction back then.