Sermon Tone Analysis

Exodus 23

This chapter finishes up a five chapter (Exodus 19–23) section on various laws for the Israelites.

In the study of this chapter we will group the laws according to subject matter.

Thus Exodus 23 can be divided into four major parts as follows:

A. The Courts of Israel (Exodus 23:1–3; 6–8)

B. The Country of Israel (Exodus 23:10–12; 20–23; 27–31)

C. The Consecration of Israel (23:13–19; 24, 25, 32, 33)

D. The Charity of Israel (Exodus 23:4, 5, 9, 19)

a. the courts of israel

Exodus 23:1–3; 6–8

Throughout the laws of Israel, God had much to say about the justice that was to occur in Israel’s courts.

In this chapter the laws address four areas.

1. Prevarication in the Courts (Exodus 23:1, 7)

“Thou shalt not raise a false report … Keep thee far from a false matter” (Exodus 23:1, 7).

Integrity as a witness is the primary application here.

But integrity of speech is the general application.

God has no time for liars.

And those who lie to hurt somebody else (as a false witness does in court) or to advance his cause is totally unacceptable to God.

Jesus said He was the truth (John 14:6) and any who follow Him ought to be truthful.

“Buy the truth and sell it not” (Proverbs 23:23) is the principle.

2. Popularity in the Courts (Exodus 23:2)

“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment.”

A court application is for judges to make their decisions according to what is right, not what is popular in society.

We have a lot of that problem in our land today.

The general application is to do right even if it means to stand alone.

Just because something is popular does not justify it.

Popularity is not the rule that determines right from wrong.

3. Prejudice in the Courts (Exodus 23:3, 6)

“Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause … Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause” (Exodus 23:3, 6).

These two verses are so needed in our courts.

The first verse says we should not be prejudiced in helping the poor, the second verse says we should not be prejudiced against the poor.

We understand the second verse more than the first, for it is easy to take advantage of the poor.

But the first exhortation is needed, too; for in our land, as an example, we are seeing an undue emphasis upon the poor, the handicapped, and others who are disadvantaged that actually causes injustice to many people.

It is possible to favor the poor or handicapped to the extent of being unjust to the regular people.

As an example, in our land some of the handicap laws have brought injustice and hardship to many people who are not handicapped.

4. Perverting in the Courts (Exodus 23:8)

“Thou shalt take no gift; for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous” (Exodus 23:8).

Bribing officials is as common as a 24-hour day.

Every age has examples of judges being bribed to make a decision in the favor of the one doing the bribing.

But way back in Moses’ day, God said such conduct was wrong and unacceptable to Him.

5.

The Punishment by the Courts (Exodus 23:7)

“The innocent and righteous slay thou not; for I will not justify the wicked” (Exodus 23:7).

Courts were to punish the criminal and the evil people, not the innocent and righteous.

Yet, even in our day, we see the innocent being punished—and often by leniency to the criminal in the court punishment.

Or the judge gives the policeman who arrested the criminal the sharpest condemnation instead of the criminal.

Punishment by the courts is to punish the wrong-doer, not the innocent.

b. the country for israel

Exodus 23:10–12; 20–23; 27–31

Three different sections of this chapter deal with laws regarding the the conduct of the Israelites in the country to which the Israelites were going, namely, the land of Canaan.

1.

The Observance in the Country (Exodus 23:10–12)

“Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof; but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat … Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed” (Exodus 23:10–12).

The observance in the country was the sabbath observance.

• Land and the Sabbath observance.

“Six years thou shalt sow … seventh year thou shalt let it rest” (Exodus 23:10, 11).

Here the stress is on the Sabbath year, not the Sabbath day.

Every seventh year the Israelites were to let the land rest.

The benefit was not only for the land but also for the poor who could glean from the crops that grew of themselves, and the beasts could forage without harassment.

• Labor and the Sabbath observance.

“Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest” (Exodus 23:12).

The emphasis here is on the Sabbath day, not the Sabbath year.

This is a repeat of the fourth of the ten commandments.

The command contains both an order to work as well as rest.

The rest here was to benefit the working beasts and the servants.

The Sabbath year was also to benefit both people and beasts.

2. The Overseer to the Country (Exodus 23:20–23)

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not … if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries” (Exodus 23:20, 21).

This is not so much a statute for Israel to keep in the country, but a statute to keep on the way to the country.

It was a moving law although the principle of following Divine leadership is always applicable.

• The Angel.

“I send an Angel before thee” (Exodus 23:20).

This is not Moses but the Second Person of the Trinity, for “my name is in him” (Exodus 23:21).

God provides Israel the Angel of Redemption for a redeemed people.

• The attitude.

“Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions” (Exodus 23:21).

Israel was to respect and honor Jehovah.

The “he will not pardon your transgressions” must be understood in the context.

It is simply talking of punishment for disobedience and disrespect of the Angel; not of the fact that God will not forgive mankind their sins.

• The award.

“If thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries” (Exodus 23:22).

It pays to obey.

Obedience has the promise of God providing protection for the Israelites.

When God says to obey, the devil argues and says it will create a hardship upon you.

But the Bible carries different promises for obedience than hardship.

Any hardship you get from obedience will be more than compensated for by later blessings from God.

• The area.

“For mine Angel shall go before thee and bring thee in unto the Amorites … Hittites … Perizzites … Canaanites … Hivites, … Jebusites; and I will cut them off” (Exodus 23:23).

God’s Angel will lead the Israelites to the Promised Land and defeat the inhabitants of the Promised Land so Israel can possess that land.

3. The Obtaining of the Country (Exodus 23:28–31)

Here we learn about the obtaining of the country.

We have previously learned about the Overseer Who would lead to the country and “cut off” the inhabitants of the land.

• The persuasion in the obtaining.

“I will send my fear before thee … I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee … I will send hornets before thee which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee” (Exodus 23:28).

Fear and the fly (hornet fly) are the means God will use to help Israel obtain the land.

God can use the smallest of things to accomplish His purposes.

• The pace in the obtaining.

“I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

By little and little I will drive them out from before thee” (Exodus 23:29, 30).

This principle is not popular with the flesh.

We want everything right now.