Exodus23
New International Version
1“Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.
2“Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,
3and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.
4“If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.
5If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.
6“Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
7Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.
8“Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.
9“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
10“For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,
11but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12“Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.
13“Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.
14“Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.
15“Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
16“Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.
17“Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
18“Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. “The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.
19“Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
20“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
21Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.
22If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.
23My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
24Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.
25Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you,
26and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
27“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.
28I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.
29But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.
30Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.
31“I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.
32Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.
33Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Exodus 23.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Laws against falsehood and injustice. (1–9). The year of rest, The sabbath, The three festivals. (10–19). God promises to conduct the Israelites to Canaan. (20–33).
vv1-9
In the law of Moses are very plain marks of sound moral feeling, and of true political wisdom. Every thing in it is suited to the desired and avowed object, the worship of one only God, and the separation of Israel from the pagan world. Neither parties, friends, witnesses, nor common opinions, must move us to lessen great faults, to aggravate small ones, excuse offenders, accuse the innocent, or misrepresent any thing.
vv10-19
Every seventh year the land was to rest. They must not plough or sow it; what the earth produced of itself, should be eaten, and not laid up. This law seems to have been intended to teach dependence on Providence, and God's faithfulness in sending the larger increase while they kept his appointments. It was also typical of the heavenly rest, when all earthly labours, cares, and interests shall cease for ever. All respect to the gods of the heathen is strictly forbidden. Since idolatry was a sin to which the Israelites leaned, they must blot out the remembrance of the gods of the heathen. Solemn religious attendance on God, in the place which he should choose, is strictly required. They must come together before the Lord. What a good Master do we serve, who has made it our duty to rejoice before him! Let us devote with pleasure to the service of God that portion of our time which he requires, and count his sabbaths and ordinances to be a feast unto our souls. They were not to come empty-handed; so now, we must not come to worship God empty-hearted; our souls must be filled with holy desires toward him, and dedications of ourselves to him; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
vv20-33
It is here promised that they should be guided and kept in their way through the wilderness to the land of promise, Behold, I send an angel before thee, mine angel. The precept joined with this promise is, that they be obedient to this angel whom God would send before them. Christ is the Angel of Jehovah; this is plainly taught by St. Paul, 1Co 10:9. They should have a comfortable settlement in the land of Canaan. How reasonable are the conditions of this promise; that they should serve the only true God; not the gods of the nations, which are no gods at all. How rich are the particulars of this promise! The comfort of their food, the continuance of their health, the increase of their wealth, the prolonging their lives to old age. Thus hath godliness the promise of the life that now is. It is promised that they should subdue their enemies. Hosts of hornets made way for the hosts of Israel; such mean creatures can God use for chastising his people's enemies. In real kindness to the church, its enemies are subdued by little and little; thus we are kept on our guard, and in continual dependence on God. Corruptions are driven out of the hearts of God's people, not all at once, but by little and little. The precept with this promise is, that they should not make friendship with idolaters. Those that would keep from bad courses, must keep from bad company. It is dangerous to live in a bad neighbourhood; others' sins will be our snares. Our greatest danger is from those who would make us sin against God.
Key Words
לֹא: not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles
נָשָׂא: to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relative
שָׁוְא: evil (as destructive), literally (ruin) or morally (especially guile); figuratively idolatry (as false, subjective), uselessness (as deceptive, objective; also adverbially, in vain)
שֵׁמַע: something heard, i.e. a sound, rumor, announcement; abstractly, audience
שִׁית: to place (in a very wide application)
יָד: a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etc.),
רָשָׁע: morally wrong; concretely, an (actively) bad person
חָמָס: violence; by implication, wrong; by meton. unjust gain
עֵד: concretely, a witness; abstractly, testimony; specifically, a recorder, i.e. prince
אַחַר: properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses)
Cross References
Exodus 23Paul identifies the guiding Angel in the wilderness as Christ.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Paul identifies the guiding wilderness Angel who they tempted as Christ Himself.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Direct parallel command using 'hakim' (to lift up) instead of 'azab' to assist a fallen animal.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Verbatim parallel reiterating the firstfruits and the prohibition against seething a kid.
Supported by John Calvin
Deuteronomy reiterates the divine strategy of driving enemies out by little and little.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Connects with 'not raising a false report' by describing how to discourage backbiters.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Echoes the prohibition against perverting justice due to the poor and strangers.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Detailed expansion of the Sabbatical year laws introduced in this chapter.
Supported by JFB
Reiterates the command for all males to appear before Yahweh three times a year.
Supported by JFB
Parallel law forbidding boiling a kid in its mother's milk, connected to idolatrous harvest rites.
Supported by JFB
Moses repeats the specific promise that God will send hornets among their enemies.
Supported by JFB
Specifies the identical boundaries promised to Abraham, from the River to the sea.
Repeats the strict prohibition against making covenants with Canaan's inhabitants.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Warns against being snared by inquiring after and serving pagan gods.
Supported by John Calvin
Thematic match for keeping far from unrighteousness to ensure divine blessing.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Identical prescription regarding the blood of sacrifice and unleavened bread.
Supported by John Calvin
Further promise of God's Angel leading Israel after the golden calf incident.
Supported by JFB
Parallels the command to break down images and cut down pagan groves.
Supported by John Calvin
Elaborates on the promise that God will take away all sickness if they obey.
Establishes God as the healer who takes sickness away upon obedience.
Echoes the promise of blessing where none shall be male or female barren.
The historical fulfillment of God sending the hornet to drive out the Canaanites.
Supported by JFB
Records the historic fulfillment of the expansive borders during Solomon's reign.
Verbal link to joining hands ('put not thine hand') to do evil.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Internal cross-reference warning judges to keep far from a false matter.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The fourth commandment is restated here to prevent its neglect during sabbatical years.
Supported by JFB
Warns that remaining nations will become a snare and trap if tolerated.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Tragic fulfillment showing Israel served pagan idols, which became a snare.