God Speaks
23 “You must not pass along false rumors. You must not cooperate with evil people by lying on the witness stand.
2 “You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice. 3 And do not slant your testimony in favor of a person just because that person is poor.
4 “If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has strayed away, take it back to its owner. 5 If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, do not walk by. Instead, stop and help.
6 “In a lawsuit, you must not deny justice to the poor.
7 “Be sure never to charge anyone falsely with evil. Never sentence an innocent or blameless person to death, for I never declare a guilty person to be innocent.
8 “Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth.
9 “You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
10 “Plant and harvest your crops for six years, 11 but let the land be renewed and lie uncultivated during the seventh year. Then let the poor among you harvest whatever grows on its own. Leave the rest for wild animals to eat. The same applies to your vineyards and olive groves.
12 “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working. This gives your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It also allows your slaves and the foreigners living among you to be refreshed.
13 “Pay close attention to all my instructions. You must not call on the name of any other gods. Do not even speak their names.
14 “Each year you must celebrate three festivals in my honor. 15 First, celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, just as I commanded you. Celebrate this festival annually at the appointed time in early spring, in the month of Abib, for that is the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. No one may appear before me without an offering.
16 “Second, celebrate the Festival of Harvest, when you bring me the first crops of your harvest.
“Finally, celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the harvest season, when you have harvested all the crops from your fields. 17 At these three times each year, every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign, the Lord.
18 “You must not offer the blood of my sacrificial offerings together with any baked goods containing yeast. And do not leave the fat from the festival offerings until the next morning.
19 “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lord your God.
“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
20 “See, I am sending an angel before you to protect you on your journey and lead you safely to the place I have prepared for you. 21 Pay close attention to him, and obey his instructions. Do not rebel against him, for he is my representative, and he will not forgive your rebellion. 22 But if you are careful to obey him, following all my instructions, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you. 23 For my angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, so you may live there. And I will destroy them completely. 24 You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars.
25 “You must serve only the Lord your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness. 26 There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and I will give you long, full lives.
27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and create panic among all the people whose lands you invade. I will make all your enemies turn and run. 28 I will send terror ahead of you to drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals would multiply and threaten you. 30 I will drive them out a little at a time until your population has increased enough to take possession of the land. 31 And I will fix your boundaries from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the eastern wilderness to the Euphrates River. I will hand over to you the people now living in the land, and you will drive them out ahead of you.
32 “Make no treaties with them or their gods. 33 They must not live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me. If you serve their gods, you will be caught in the trap of idolatry.”
24 Then the Lord instructed Moses: “Come up here to me, and bring along Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders. All of you must worship from a distance. 2 Only Moses is allowed to come near to the Lord. The others must not come near, and none of the other people are allowed to climb up the mountain with him.”
3 Then Moses went down to the people and repeated all the instructions and regulations the Lord had given him. All the people answered with one voice, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.”
4 Then Moses carefully wrote down all the Lord’s instructions. Early the next morning Moses got up and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He also set up twelve pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent some of the young Israelite men to present burnt offerings and to sacrifice bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses drained half the blood from these animals into basins. The other half he splattered against the altar.
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people. Again they all responded, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded. We will obey.”
8 Then Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the people, declaring, “Look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these instructions.”
9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. 10 There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. 11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people.” 13 So Moses and his assistant Joshua set out, and Moses climbed up the mountain of God.
14 Moses told the elders, “Stay here and wait for us until we come back. Aaron and Hur are here with you. If anyone has a dispute while I am gone, consult with them.”
15 Then Moses climbed up the mountain, and the cloud covered it. 16 And the glory of the Lord settled down on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud. 17 To the Israelites at the foot of the mountain, the glory of the Lord appeared at the summit like a consuming fire. 18 Then Moses disappeared into the cloud as he climbed higher up the mountain. He remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: [Dennis Prager’s explanation of the commandments and rules laid out in the Torah gives one an understanding of these God-given instructions from the viewpoint of a religious Jew who has studied, lived by, discussed, and taught these sacred words for more than fifty years. See The Rational Bible: Exodus, print or audio version.]
Exodus 23: Verses 1-3 warn the person seeking to follow God not to pass along rumors (especially those that are false), not to cooperate with evil (specifically by lying in court), not to follow the herd or mob in doing wrong (particularly in twisting the truth or justice), and not to give preference to the poor. Verses 4-5 tell us to treat even the animals of our enemies well. Verse 6 says we must not deny justice to the poor. Verse 7 directs us not to sentence the innocent to death. God will not let the guilty go free. Verse 8 warns against taking bribes. Verse 9 reminds the Israelites to treat foreigners well because they had been foreigners in Egypt. Verses 10-12 relate to the sabbatical year and the day of rest on the Sabbath and the reasons for both. Verse 13 reinforces the commandment not to worship gods other than YHVH. Verses 14-17 mention the three feasts when all of the adult men were to gather to worship Him. Verses 18-19a concern the acceptable and unacceptable handling of sacrifices. While 19b is a bit obscure, according to Prager, it may refer to a respect for life even of an animal. Verses 20-33 give instructions as to what the Israelites should and should not do on their way to and when they enter the land God is promising them. It is God Himself who set the boundaries of the nation of Israel (see verses 27-33).
Exodus 24: This chapter concerns God singling out and affirming Moses (verse 2). First Moses was to take Aaron, his two sons Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel with him for a special encounter with the LORD (verses 1 and 9-11). In verses 3-8 Moses wrote out the instructions for the people that God had previously given him and conducted a special dedication ceremony. In verses 12-14, at God’s invitation Moses and Joshua went up the mountain to meet with God, leaving Aaron and Hur in charge of the people. In verses 15-18, when Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, the cloud of glory of the LORD appeared to the people below like fire on the top of the mountain.
Comment: This author is impressed with the concise yet comprehensive quality of these laws as compared to the voluminous details of laws (some more than 1,000 pages) written by our legislatures at this time in history.
Prayer: Dear great creator and lawgiver, the LORD God, thank You for not leaving it up to puny human beings to try to figure out how to worship and revere You and/or to get along with each other. You knew in advance what would happen when Satan tempted Eve. You protected Noah and his family when You flooded the earth because of mankind’s continual sin. You scattered the people of Babel when they banded together to build a great city in opposition to Your instructions. You chose to bless Abraham, noting that he would teach future generations to trust You. In response to Abraham’s prayer, You spared Lot and his family when You destroyed the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their totally wicked behavior. After more than 400 years of slavery, You brought the Israelites out of Egypt and gave them the Ten Commandments and these explanatory regulations to lead them into a special relationship with You and with other people. LORD, as important as Your commands, laws, and regulations are, You and I both know that I do not and cannot keep them all. Thank You that Jesus died so that I can be forgiven and for sending the Holy Spirit to empower me to keep them out of love and gratitude. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will do research to find how the 613 laws of the Jewish religion line up with or expand on the Ten Commandments.
- I will ask the LORD how He wants me to apply the statements in these chapters in my daily life.
- I will endeavor to be kind to a stranger, a foreigner, or an enemy.
- I will arrange my schedule so that I can “keep the Sabbath.”
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.