23:1. “Thou
shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an
unrighteous witness.”
“Thou shalt not raise a
false report” is also rendered don’t countenance an idle report: never
repeat a baseless rumor: don’t take up a false cry: present no hearsay
unsupported by evidence; and the second half of the sentence is also
translated don’t cooperate with an evil-minded person: don’t make common
cause with a wicked man: don’t support a guilty man: don’t conspire with
unrighteousness. The command is simply another form of the commandment:
Do not bear false witness.
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:”
The first half of the
sentence is also translated don’t be moved to do wrong by the general
opinion: don’t join mobs intent on evil: don’t accept the example of the
majority as an excuse to do wrong: don’t side with the powerful to do
wrong.
The second half of the
sentence is also rendered don’t follow the multitude to pervert justice:
don’t take sides with an unjust majority: don’t pervert justice just to
please the rich or powerful.
23:3. “Neither
shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.”
This is also translated:
Don’t testify in favor of a man just because he is poor. Your testimony
must be impartial.
23:4. “If thou
meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it
back to him again.”
In such a case the
attitude is not to be: “It’s not my affair; it’s his problem.” The
wandering animal is to be brought back to its owner even if he is your
enemy. The NT declaration of the situation is recorded in Romans 12:20,
“Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink:
for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.”
23:5. “If thou
see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest
forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.”
Where an enemy’s ass has
fallen under its load we are to help him get the animal on its feet again.
23:6. “Thou
shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.”
This may also be rendered,
Do not give false judgment when the cause of the poor is being tried. Don’t
tamper with a poor man’s rights in court.
23:7. “Keep
thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not:
for I will not justify the wicked.”
Other translations of this
are: Keep far away from anything dishonest or unjust. Avoid making or
supporting false charges. Keep out of trumped up cases. Don’t bring death
on an innocent man who has justice on his side. To do so would be wicked,
and God will punish wickedness.
23:8. “And
thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the
words of the righteous.”
“Gift” here means “bribe,”
and it is not to be accepted, since in the present context it is obviously
designed to secure an unjust judgment.
23:9. “Also
thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger,
seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
The stranger here is an
alien. He was not to be mistreated, the memory of their own mistreatment
while slaves in Egypt impelling the Israelites to be kind to the foreigners
in their midst.
23:10. “And
six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:”
For six years the
Israelites were to cultivate the land, and enjoy its produce.
23:11. “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. In
like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.”
As the people were to rest
each seventh day, so were they to allow the land to rest each seventh year,
what it produced spontaneously in that year being for the poor and for the
wild animals, the same rule applying also to their vineyards and oliveyards.
23:12. “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.”
This reiteration of the
instruction already given emphasizes the importance God attaches to it, that
importance being related to the fact that the weekly sabbath foreshadows the
eternal rest into which God would have all men enter, the Lord Jesus Christ,
by His vicarious death, having secured that rest for all who will trust Him
as Savior and Lord.
23:13. “And in
all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of
the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.”
Circumspect, in the
present context, means to take heed, to pay strict attention to, that
command being as relevant to us as to those of that distant day, see Psalm
1:1-2, “Blessed is the man (whose) delight is in the law of the Lord; and in
his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his
leaf also shall not wither: and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” God’s
people were not even to utter the names of the gods so-called of their
heathen neighbors.
As discussed already, the
gods of the modern world are money, fame, pleasure, etc. We are not to
worship them, i.e., desire them, but we are rather to be “content with such
things as you have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee,” Hebrews 13:5.
23:14. “Three
times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.”
23:15. “Thou
shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread
seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib;
for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me
empty:)”
Since three is the
biblical number of resurrection, the lesson here is that only those on
resurrection ground, i.e., believers, can worship the Lord, and since Abib
means green ear of corn - another symbol of resurrection - the
emphasis continues to be on resurrection life, possessed only by believers.
Their having come out of Egypt (type of the world) reminds us that we too
have come out of that same evil world, for though we are still in it
physically, we are no longer of it: our citizenship is in heaven.
The seven days (number of
perfection or completeness) represent the believer’s whole life; and since
leaven represents sin, the unleavened bread symbolizes the written Word, the
pure bread which nourishes the Christian’s life during all his days on
earth.
Since a feast is a time of
rejoicing and satisfaction, their keeping a feast three times a year is the
symbolic reminder that we who stand on resurrection ground are to live in
the happy enjoyment of our salvation.
“... and none shall appear
before me empty,” teaches the truth that when we enter God’s presence in
prayer, we are to come with hearts filled with thanksgiving, praise, and
worship, as commanded in Philippians 4:6-7, “Be careful (anxious) for
nothing: but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
There were other religious
festivals, but these three were the most important.
23:16. “And
the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in
the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year,
when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.”
The three
agriculture festivals were first Abib (March-April) the Feast of Unleavened
Bread; second, later in the Spring, the Feast of Harvest or Pentecost, or
the grain harvest, also called the Feast of Weeks (it speaks of the giving
of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, see Acts 2:1-4); and third, at
the end of the year September-October, the Feast of Ingathering, the fruit
harvest, also called Feast of Booths or Tabernacles. It is generally
considered to prefigure Israel’s millennial peace and glory.
23:17. “Three
times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.”
The three times are
obviously the three feasts mentioned in verse 16; and the command includes
all the people, for the woman is represented by the man. Her exclusion here
is the OT foreshadowing of the NT truth that women are to be silent in the
meetings of the Church, see 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, “Let your women keep
silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but
they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if
they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a
shame for women to speak in the church,” and again 1 Timothy 2:11-12, “Let
the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to
teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”
23:18. “Thou
shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall
the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.”
See comments on verse 15
for the significance of leavened bread. Since it represents error, the
teaching here is that worship is to be impelled by the Holy Spirit, not by
mere human intelligence. That the product of the latter can be very
attractive to the natural mind, and appealing to emotion, is unquestioned,
and while emotion is involved in worship (it is the expression of love for
the Lord), it must be indited by the Holy Spirit, not by mere human
intelligence.
The warning against
leaving unburned the fat of the sacrifice until the morning, teaches the
further lesson that worship is to be spontaneous, and presented as the Holy
Spirit impels it. This doesn’t preclude the preparation of worship by
reading the Scriptures and by meditation, but it does prohibit such things
as memorizing a prayer to be offered at the Lord’s Supper, or the
preparation of a little sermonette to be read there.
The need of the warning is
demonstrated by the frequency with which it is ignored.
23:19. “The
first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the
Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe (boil) a kid in his mother’s milk.”
Because we live mainly in
a nonagrarian society we tend to dismiss this command as being irrelevant;
but it isn’t: in acknowledgement of Him as the Giver, the Lord is to be
given a portion of our income; and since a tenth was the minimum mandated by
law, surely in this age of grace we dare not offer Him less in view of what
He has first given us: His Son given to die in our guilty stead for the
expiation of our countless sins. We can’t rob God without robbing
ourselves, for He will not bless disobedience.
The kid seems to be a type
of Christ; the mother a type of Israel; and the milk is a type of the
written Word, see 1 Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of
the word, that ye may grow thereby,” but milk typifies the Word in its
simplest form, that which the spiritual “infant,” the newborn believer can
understand; but it is God’s desire that there be progress, growth, see
Hebrews 5:11-14, “Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be
uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to
be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first
principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk,
and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the
word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them
that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Metaphorically speaking,
Israel was guilty of this sin: she failed to progress beyond the teaching of
the OT, not realizing that the NT is the record of the fulfillment of what
was foreshadowed in the OT.
23:20.
“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring
thee into the place which I have prepared.”
The reference here is to
the cloudy pillar which guided Israel through the wilderness by day; and the
pillar of fire which guided them by night, both pillars being a type of the
Holy Spirit, His guidance of them being typological of His guidance of us
today. And as with Israel, so also with us: they could reject that Divine
guidance, and so can we. God will never compel our obedience. It must be
yielded voluntarily.
While Canaan may be viewed
as a figure of heaven, it is more correctly a type of the sphere of
spiritual blessing into which the Holy Spirit desires to lead us here on
earth; and as Israel must follow the guiding pillars if she would enjoy
Canaan’s blessings, so must we submit to the Holy Spirit’s leading if we
would enjoy fullness of spiritual blessing day by day.
23:21. “Beware
of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your
transgressions: for my name is in him.”
The NT counterpart of this
command is recorded in Ephesians 4:30, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of
God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption,” the further command
being given in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Quench not the Spirit.” He is
quenched when we refuse to do what He commands, and He is grieved when we do
what He forbids.
“... provoke him not”
means “do not vex, offend, disobey, defy, neglect him.”
“... for my name is in
him” is also rendered, “He is my representative. He bears my name. My
authority resides in him. I will manifest myself in him.”
“... he will not pardon”
is not to be understood in the absolute sense of never forgiving. It means
that he will not withhold chastisement that is designed to secure obedience.
23:22. “But 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.”
“... be an enemy to” here
means to hate, oppose, be hostile to; and to be an adversary is to afflict,
besiege, bind, cramp, distress, oppress, shut up, vex, cause to be in a
strait, pierce, puncture. What folly then it is, by disobedience, to make
God our adversary rather than our advocate!
23:23.
“For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites,
and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and
the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.”
Israel’s literal enemies
represent the spiritual foes who wage continual warfare against us in an
attempt to keep us out of the enjoyment of our spiritual inheritance, as
Paul warns us in Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of
righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with
all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints ....”
The Amorite, meaning a
sayer, may represent the person who professes to be a believer, but
whose words are not endorsed by his conduct. He is the enemy of God and His
people, and we are to be careful that we ourselves are not simply spiritual
Amorites. We should be absolutely certain as to the reality of our
profession, knowing how, when, and where our conversion occurred.
Hittite means terror.
He represents the fear of man, which seals our lips against confession of
Christ as Savior and Lord lest men should ridicule and laugh us to scorn.
How often we fail to exterminate the “Hittite”!
Perizzite means rustic,
squatter; a rustic being an uncouth individual incapable of anything
except digging the soil; and a squatter being one who lives on land to which
he has no legal right. He represents the false professor. There is need to
ensure that we aren’t spiritual Perizzites: men who claim to be believers,
but who “mind earthly things,” and have no desire either to study Scripture,
or to hear it being expounded.
Canaanite means a
trafficker, and it is significant that the name was a general term for
any inhabitant of Canaan. He represents all those who comprise the great
harlot travesty that masquerades as the true Church. It is professing but
apostate Christendom, that which is described in 2 Timothy 3:5 as “Having a
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” and relative to which God
commands His own, “from which turn away.”
Hivite means shower of
life: liver; and he represents yet another characteristic of the great
false church: it too undertakes to teach men how to live so as to fit
themselves for heaven by good works and moral living, teaching that
contradicts Scripture which warns, “By grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man
should boast,” Ephesians 2:8-9.
Jebusite, the sixth and
last on the list, means he will be trodden down. It is instructive
to remember that six is the biblical number of man, incompleteness,
weakness, failure, in contrast with seven which is the number of
completeness and perfection. And it is noteworthy that the last great evil
world ruler, the beast, is unnamed but simply designated by the number 666,
see Revelation 13:18, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding
count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number
is Six hundred threescore and six.”
As Jebusite means he
will be trodden down, so also will the beast whose end is described in
Revelation 19:20, “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet
.... These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone,”
where they and the devil, together with all who die unsaved, will suffer
eternal torment,” see Revelation 20:10, “And the devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
23:24. “Thou
shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works:
but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.”
The first part of this
verse prescribes Israel’s negative attitude towards the gods of their
heathen neighbors: they were to have absolutely nothing to do with the
worship of them. On the contrary, they were to be zealous in destroying
them. Images is also rendered statues: standing-stones: pillars:
obelisks.
23:25. “And ye
shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water;
and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.”
He would recompense their
obedience by giving them abundance of food and water, and good health; and
while His reward of obedience today is rarely in temporal things, it is in
the spiritual equivalents of bread, water, and health. Literal bread
represents the written Word for our spiritual upbuilding; and water, that
same Word for our refreshment and cleansing; and since believers are not
exempt from sickness, physical good health is here symbolic of spiritual
wellbeing: the obedient believer will “grow in grace, and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,”
23:26. “There
shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of
thy days I will fulfill.”
To “cast their young”
means to miscarry; and “to be barren” means to be incapable of bearing
offspring. The spiritual equivalent of a literal miscarriage is a
profession of faith that eventually proves false, while the spiritual
counterpart of literal barrenness is failure to lead even one sinner to
Christ. No spiritual mind will refuse to acknowledge that the spiritual
ills portrayed here are endemic today.
The fulfilled number of
days is metaphoric, not necessarily of a very long life, but of one marked
by abundant spiritual blessing. Such is the exception rather than the rule
today.
23:27. “I will
send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt
come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.”
God fulfilled this promise
to Israel by filling the hearts of the Canaanites with terror, and by
destroying those who opposed her as she took possession of the land. Their
turning their backs means that they fled from before Israel.
We are warned that “The
fear of man bringeth a snare,” Proverbs 29:25, but encouraged by the
conclusion of that verse, “... whoso putteth is trust in the Lord shall be
safe.” How little that warning and encouragement are heeded is attested by
our failure to present the Gospel to others. The fear of man’s laughter has
all too often sealed our lips.
23:28. “And I
will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the
Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.”
See verse 23 for the spiritual significance of the Canaanite tribes
mentioned here.
One has well said that,
“God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform,” and here is an
example of that working: He used insects, not swords, to expel the
Canaanites from the land He wished Israel to enjoy. In man’s eyes the
Gospel is as insignificant as were those insects, but God would have us
remember the power inherent in that same Word, “For the word of God is quick
(living), and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,”
Hebrews 4:12. The Gospel believed transforms the antagonist into an ally.
23:29. “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.”
23:30. “By
little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be
increased, and inherit the land.”
The expulsion of the
Canaanites was to be gradual so that the land would remain cultivated, and
the wild animal population controlled, until the Israelites had established
themselves. This may foreshadow the spiritual education of a believer.
What the unbeliever views as unwelcome difficulties and misfortunes the
spiritual believer sees as the discipline of a loving Father for the
development and blessing of His child, as it is written, “Now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby,” Hebrews 12:11.
23:31. “And I
will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines,
and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of
the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.”
All the vast area bounded
by the Red and Mediterranean seas and the Euphrates river was what God
wanted Israel to enjoy, but the small area actually possessed testifies to
her disobedience; and we are misreading the type if we fail to see in the
paucity of what she actually made her own, the measure of our own failure to
appropriate the fullness of blessing God has made available to obedient
faith.
It was only in the reign
of Solomon that Israel actually ruled over all this territory, see 1 Kings
4:21.
23:32. “Thou
shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.”
In the present context
“covenant” means agreement, pact, treaty. Israel was to make no contract
with them whatsoever, nor was she to join in the worship of their idols.
The NT counterpart of this command is recorded in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “Be
ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part
hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath
said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye
separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
23:33. “They
shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou
serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.”
“They shall not dwell in
thy land” translates into the truth that unbelievers are not to be received
into the fellowship of the local church. The “mixed multitude” of believers
and unbelievers which constitutes Christendom however, testifies to the fact
that this command is honored today more in the breach than in the
observance; and that those unbelievers have subverted God’s order in the
churches is self-evident.