Exodus 23 Commentary

Exodus 23 Commentary

The laws on social justice continue. Many see the law as ‘don’ts’ but there are sections where the ‘dos’ appear quite prominently. We are commanded, for example, to return a lost animal to its owner.

The laws regarding the Sabbath reveal something interesting. Sabbath is a concept and not necessarily a day. So we have the seventh year being observed as a Sabbath. It is for a piece of land to rest.

The usual seventh-day rest is meant to refresh slaves and foreigners. Both the animals and the workers should rest. It should read, “Both machinery and people should rest.”

Don’t employ resources without rest. Don’t abuse your body. Don’t abuse another’s body. Don’t abuse resources – land, machinery, time, money… Think about it and know the LORD has said more than we can see in these lines.

Don’t follow the crowd in doing wrong. This verse has importance for our day. The world puts pressure on the saint to behave and act in a certain way – a way that isn’t godly.

Spending patterns, our dressing, our language, our properties (phones, cars, household goods). All these items are affected by the crowd. Know the crowd has an agenda. The crowd and the world are often the same. You are not of this world.

Pride, selfishness, greediness, deception, corruption … These items define the crowd.

To invoke other gods means to make them a factor verbally. A pagan farmer who invokes a god of rain before planting season is the same as a man who sings about the potency of a drug before taking it. They both lack an appreciation of the sovereignty of the LORD God over all things.

Is it our intelligence or it’s the hand of the LORD?

Three times men are to appear before the LORD. It’s a scandal that we have more women in our churches.

Verses 20-33 are unique. The LORD promises His very presence. The blueprint for the occupation of Canaan is laid down. The LORD will accomplish it for them.

They must destroy evil and not make friends with it. Canaanites represent evil and must be destroyed. Here is a good reason not to keep bad company. We need to keep away. We need to be separate. Holiness involves physical separation.

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