exodus 23 and 24

Read Exodus 23 and 24 at Bible Gateway.

Today’s Hebrew paragraph divisions are:

Exo 23:1-3 {s} Not bearing false witness
Exo 23:4 {s} Return your enemy’s ox or donkey
Exo 23:5 {s} Relieve your enemy’s donkey’s burden
Exo 23:6-19 {p} Not perverting justice + oppressing strangers + Sabbath rest + not naming other gods + harvest feasts
Exo 23:20-25 {s} The Angel of YHVH will go before them in the way to Canaan
Exo 23:26-33 {p} What YHVH will do to bring them in
Exo 24:1-11 {s} Moses ratified the covenant between God and His people
Exo 24:12-18 {p} Moses went into the cloud to receive the Torah

We have been looking at the strong themes in these chapters which explain what keeping the Ten Commandments means. The first strong theme which concludes today, began in yesterday’s reading:

Exo 22:25-23:19 {sx5+p}

Exo 22:25-27 {s} Not coveting interest or collateral from your neighbor
Exo 22:28-31 {s} Not coveting what belongs to God
Exo 23:1-3 {s} Not bearing false witness
Exo 23:4 {s} Return your enemy’s ox or donkey
Exo 23:5 {s} Relieve your enemy’s donkey’s burden
Exo 23:6-19 {p} Not perverting justice + oppressing strangers + Sabbath rest + not naming other gods + harvest feasts

The common theme tying all these together, is to not injure your neighbor, strangers, the poor, or God. Yes, not to even injure your enemy (Exo 23:4-5)!

Exo 23, in explaining what ‘Honor the Sabbath day’ commandment means, teaches that there is also a Sabbath year. Every seventh year, the land shall rest, and the owners of the fields will not plant or harvest what grows, but the poor, widows, and strangers will harvest what grows. In like manner, we learn, that just as the Sabbath of the seventh year extends grace to the land, the Sabbath of the seventh day extends grace to the beasts of the field and the servants of the house.

The rest of the seventh day is the first picture of the gospel of grace from the foundation of the world, even before the Fall of Man! So we find grace in the midst of law and commandment. Isn’t that what we would expect to find of the laws of the immutable God of grace?

The next two strong themes become clear when we look at them both together:

Exo 23:20-25 {s} The Angel of YHVH will go before them in the way to Canaan
Exo 23:26-33 {p} What YHVH will do to bring them in

and

Exo 24:1-11 {s} Moses ratified the covenant between God and His people
Exo 24:12-18 {p} Moses went into the cloud to receive the Torah

Their strong themes seem to be:

Exo 23:20-33 {s+p} Israel shall make no covenant with the Canaanites or their gods to learn their ways
Exo 24:1-18 {s+p} Israel made a covenant with YHVH to walk in His ways

In fact, these four chapters, from yesterday and today, which contain the explanation of the Ten Commandments, form an elegant chiastic structure:

Exo 21:1-24:18

1a) Exo 21:1-11 {s+s} When Hebrew slaves go out free;

1b) Exo 21:12-22:20 {sx8+p+sx7+p+sx3} When restitution is and is not to be made;

1c) Exo 22:21-31 {p+s+s} Do not afflict disadvantaged + do not revile God + firstfruits + holy to YHVH;

1) Exo 22:21, You shall not oppress a stranger;
2) Exo 22:22-27 {p+s} You shall not afflict widows or the fatherless + lending to the poor;
3) Exo 22:28, You shall not revile God;
4) Exo 22:29-30, Firstfruits + firstborn;
5) Exo 22:31 {s} You shall be holy to Me + you shall not eat meat torn in the field;

1d) Exo 23:1-2, False report + wicked and unrighteous + enticed to evil + pervert justice;

1e) Exo 23:3 {s} Do not show partiality to the poor;

central axis) Exo 23:4-5 {s+s} “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it;” (i.e. love your enemy);

2e) Exo 23:6, Do not pervert judgment to the poor;

2d) Exo 23:7-8, False matter + innocent and righteous + bribery + pervert words;

2c) Exo 23:9-19, Do not afflict disadvantaged + Do not bless other gods + firstfruits + holy to YHVH;

1) Exo 23:9, You shall not oppress a stranger;
2) Exo 23:10-12, Sabbatical year + Sabbath rest provides for the poor and disadvantaged;
3) Exo 23:13, Do not bless other gods;
4) Exo 23:14-19a, Firstfruits + firstborn;
5) Exo 23:19b {p} You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk;

2b) Exo 23:20-33 {s+p} Israel shall not receive restitution or make covenant with Canaanites, but shall utterly drive them out;

2a) Exo 24:1-18 {s+p} Israel made a covenant with YHVH to walk in His ways.

The Hebrew slaves of the Egyptians went out free so they could enter into covenant with YHVH and walk in His ways! This is a prophetic type for our own relationship with God through the blood of our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ! His ways include all that He has been teaching them through Moses: to show Him love in the way that means love to Him; to love ourselves (Sabbath rest), to love our neighbor, even to love our enemy; to not injure God, ourselves, or others; to make restitution when necessary. Yes, even to not make restitution when necessary, because letting some evils exist unopposed is not an act of love. His way is the way of love, and His Law is the Law of Love!

For further reading:
The Law of Love – Christine Miller
Israel’s Feasts and Their Fullness – Batya Wootten