Exodus 23 - Do Right and Get Blessed

 

Do Right By Others

1. Don't spread malicious gossip. Don't agree with the wicked to be a lying witness.
2. Don't follow the crowd to do evil. I can hear my Grandma (in heaven now) saying, "If everybody else jumps off the bridge, does that mean you gonna jump off the bridge? Learn how to think for yourself!" The Bible says in Matthew 7:13, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." Don't give a false testimony in a dispute to please the crowd and pervert justice.
3. Don't show favoritism to a poor man in a dispute. Justice for all, "underdog" or not.
4. If you see your enemy's ox or donkey straying off, you should take it back to him. This is truly a "trust God moment" because your enemy could accuse you of trying to steal the animal or you could win him over and turn the enemy into a friend.
5. If you see the donkey of one of your haters lying helpless under a heavy burden and your natural instinct is not to help it, that's when you should surely help it. (Another trust God moment, for sure)
6. Don't pervert the justice for a poor man in a dispute. Just as you're not to show the poor favoritism in a dispute, don't deny him true justice either.
7. Stay away from false matters or accusations. Don't kill the innocent and righteous. God said that He will not justify the wicked.
8. Don't take a bribe because it blinds discernment and perverts what the righteous would say. 
9. The Israelites were told not to oppress strangers, because they knew the heart of a stranger, since they were strangers in Egypt.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Take A Break

       1. For six years the Israelites were allowed to sow the land and gather its produce. In the seventh year,     they should let the land rest and lie fallow, so that the poor people may eat and what they leave behind, the beasts of the field may eat. They were supposed to do the same with their vineyards and olive groves.

       2. For six days the Israelites were allowed to work. On the seventh day they were to rest which would also allow their oxen and donkeys to rest. This would also give the servants and strangers with them the chance to rest and be refreshed too.

God told the Israelites that in all that He said to them, they should be prudent and not to make mention of the name of other gods. They should not even let the mention of other gods be heard from their mouths.

Feasting Before The Lord

The people were to keep a feast to the Lord three times a year.

1. Feast of Unleavened Bread - They were to eat unleavened bread for seven days as commanded by the Lord at the appointed time in the month of Abib. This is the month in which they left Egypt. None was supposed to appear before God empty-handed.
2. Feast of Harvest - The offering of the firstfruits of their labor which was sown in the field
3. Feast of Ingathering - This was at the end of the year when they gathered the fruits of their labor from the field.

It was three times a year that all the males were to appear before the Lord.

The blood of God's sacrifice was not to be offered with leavened bread. The fat of God's sacrifice was not to remain until the next morning. The first of the firstfruits was to be taken to the house of the Lord. young goat was not to boil in its mother's milk.

Blessings

God promised to send an Angel to guide the Israelites on the way to take them to the place that He prepared for them. They were to be aware of the Angel and obey His voice. They were not to provoke the Angel because He would not pardon their transgressions; because God's name is in Him. If they did obey His voice and did all that God spoke, then God said that He would be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries. God is on our side. The Angel would guide them to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, and Hivites and the Jebusites. God promised to cut them off. The Israelites were not to bow down to nor serve their gods. Nor were they to do according to their works. They were to utterly overthrow them and break down their sacred pillars completely. The Israelites were to serve the Lord only and He would then bless their bread and water. God promised to take sickness from them. No woman would have a miscarriage or be barren, God promised to fulfill the number of their days. God was going to send His fear ahead of the Israelites and cause confusion among all the people they encountered. God promised to make their enemies turn their backs to the Israelites. He promised to send hornets that would drive out the Hivites, Canaanites and the Hittites. He said that He would not drive them out before them in one year, because the land would become desolate and the beasts of the field would become too numerous for them. God promised to drive them out little by little, until the Israelites increased and inherited the land. He promised to set bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia and from the desert to the River. He would deliver the inhabitants of the land into the hand of the Israelites and they shall drive them out. God always has a plan. Do you trust His plan? The Israelites were not to make covenants with them nor their gods. They were not to dwell in the land with the Israelites because they might cause them to sin against God. If they served their gods, it would surely be a snare to the Israelites. God also gives warnings. Do you heed to God's warnings?

The next stop is Exodus 24.

To God Be The Glory!

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