Exodus 23
THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT (Con’t)
MISCELLANEOUS LAWS
(Con’t) - vs. 1-19
The same want of logical arrangement appears in this chapter as in
the preceding one.
The nine verses contain some twelve laws, of which not more than
two that are consecutive
can be said to be on the same subject. There is perhaps in the
section a predominant idea
of warning against sins and errors connected with the trial of
causes before a court, but vs.
4 and 5, at any rate, lie quite outside this idea.
vs. 1-9 - “Thou shalt not
raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to
be an unrighteous
witness.” - The ninth commandment is
here expanded and developed.
“Thou shalt not raise a false report,” forbids the origination of a calumny; the
other
clause
prohibits the joining with others in spreading one. Both clauses have a special
reference
to bearing witness in a court, but neither would seem to be confined to
it.
“Thou shalt not follow a
multitude to do evil” - A law alike for
deed, for word,
and for thought. The example of the many is to be shunned. “Wide is the gate
and broad is the
way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which
go in thereat.”
But “strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life; and
few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). It is extraordinary that
so many, even of professing Christians, are content to go with the
many,
notwithstanding the warnings against so doing, both of the law and
of the Gospel.
“Neither shalt thou speak”
-Rather,
“Neither shalt thou bear witness in a
cause to
go aside after a multitude to put aside
justice.” The general precept is followed by a
particular application of it. In judging a cause, if thou art one
of the judges, thou shalt
not simply go with the majority, if it he bent on injustice, but form thine own
opinion
and adhere to it. “Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in
his cause.”
After the many precepts in favour of the
poor, this injunction produces a sort of shock.
But it is to be understood as simply forbidding any undue favoring
of the poor because
they are poor, and so as equivalent to the precept in Leviticus
19:15, “Thou shalt not
respect the
person of the poor.” In courts of justice, strict justice is to be rendered,
without any leaning either towards the rich, or towards the poor.
To lean either way is
to pervert judgment. “If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou
shalt surely bring it back
to him again.” - A private
enemy is here spoken of, not a
public one, as in Deuteronomy 23:6. It is remarkable that the law
should have so far
anticipated Christianity as to have laid it down that men have
duties of friendliness
even towards their enemies, and are bound under certain
circumstances to render them
a service. “Hate thine enemies”
(Matthew 5:43) was no injunction of the Mosaic law,
but a conclusion which Rabbinical teachers unwarrantably drew from
it. Christianity,
however, goes far beyond Mosaism in laying down the broad precept
— “Love your
enemies” – “If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden,
and wouldest forbear to help
him” - The
general meaning
of the passage is clear —
assistance
is to be given to the fallen ass of an enemy — but the exact sense of both
the
second and third clauses is doubtful. Many renderings have been suggested; but it
is not
clear that any one of
them is an improvement on the Authorised Version. “thou
shalt surely help with him” - The joint
participation in an act of mercy towards a
fallen beast would bring the enemies into friendly
contact, and soften their feelings towards
each other. “Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause” –
As in v. 3 men were warned not to favor the poor unduly in courts of
justice out of
compassion for them, so here there is a warning against the opposite, and
far more
usual error, of leaning against the poor man in our evidence or in our
decisions The
scales of justice are to be held even; strict right is to be done; our
feelings are not be
allowed to influence us, much less our class prejudices. “Keep thee far from a false
matter; and the innocent and
righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the
wicked.” - Hold aloof, i.e., from
anything like a false accusation. Neither bring one,
nor countenance one, else those you may cause the death of an innocent and
righteous
man, and bring down on thyself the vengeance of Him, who “will not justify the
wicked.”
“And thou shalt take no
gift” - The worst sin of a judge, and the
commonest in the East, is to accept a bribe from one of
the parties to a suit, and give
sentence accordingly. As such a practice defeats the
whole end for which the
administration of justice exists, it is, when detected,
for the most part, punished
capitally. Josephus tells us that it was so among the Jews
(Contr. Apion. 2:27); but
the Mosaic code, as it has come down to us, omits to fix
the penalty. Whatever it was,
it was practically set at naught. Eli’s sons “turned aside after lucre, and took bribes,
and perverted judgment” (I Samuel 8:3). In David’s time, men’s hands were “full of
bribes” (Psalm 26:10).
Solomon complains of wicked men “taking gifts out of
their
bosoms to pervert the
ways of judgment” (Proverbs 17:23). Isaiah is never weary of
bearing witness against the princes of his day, who “love gifts and follow after
rewards” (Isaiah 1:23); who “justify the wicked for reward, and take away the
righteousness of the righteous from him” (Isaiah 5:23). Micah adds his testimony —
“Hear this, I pray you,
ye heads of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of
and
“for the gift blindeth the
wise, and perverteth the
words of the righteous.” –
See Deuteronomy 16:19. “Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know
the heart of a stranger,
seeing ye were strangers in the
is a repetition of ch. 22:21, with perhaps a special
reference to oppression through courts
of justice. “For thou knowest the heart of a stranger”
- Literally, “the mind of a
stranger,” or, in other words, his thoughts and feelings. You should therefore be able
to sympathize with him.
GOD’S
CARE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
The well-being of a community depends largely on the
right administration of justice within
its limits. It has been said that the entire constitution
of
States Constitution – CY - 2010) with all its artifices,
complications, balances, and other
delicate arrangements, exists mainly for the purpose of
putting twelve honest men into a
jury-box. Fiat justitia, ruat coelum. Anything is
preferable to the triumphant
rule of
injustice. The present passage clearly shows that God recognizes
very decidedly the
importance of judicial proceedings. By direct
communication with Moses, He lays
down rules which affect:
The accuser; the witnesses; and the judge.
and especially capital
charges against the innocent (v. 7).
inventing
an untrue tale or giving any support to it when it has been
invented
by others (v. 11).
ü
They are not to act like Pilate and “follow a multitude to do evil”
(v.
2).
ü
They are not either unduly to favour the poor (v. 3); or
ü
To wrest justice against them (v. 6).
ü
They are not to oppress strangers (v. 9). And
ü
They are, above all things, not to take a bribe.
Accusers, beware! Be sure that your
charge is true, or do not make it. A
false
charge, even though proved false, may injure a man for life — he may
never be
able to recover from it. Particularly, be careful, if your charge is a
serious
one, involving risk to life. You may, if successful, “slay the
innocent and the righteous” (v. 7). Nay, you may
slay a man by a false
charge
which does not directly affect his life — you may so harass and
annoy
him as to drive him to suicide, or “break
his heart,” and so shorten
his days. Even if you have a
true charge to bring, it is not always wise or
Christian
to bring it. Paul would have us in some cases “take wrong”
and
“suffer ourselves to be defrauded” (I Corinthians 6:7).
Witnesses, beware! Do not give untrue
evidence, either in the way of
raising
false reports yourselves, or of supporting by your evidence the false
reports
of others. The witnesses who cause an innocent person to be
condemned
are as much to blame as the false accuser. Be very careful in
giving
evidence to speak “the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the
truth.” Depose to nothing of which you are not sure. If you are
uncertain,
say that
you are uncertain, however much the adverse counsel may
browbeat
you. In cases of personal identity, be specially careful. It is
exceedingly
easy to be mistaken about a man whom you have seen only
once or
twice.
Judges, beware! On you the final
issue depends. Be not swayed by
popularity.
Yield not to the outcries either of an excited mob, or a partisan
press,
when they shout, “away with him!” Hold the scales of
justice even
between
the rich man and the poor, neither suffering your prejudice of class
to
incline you in favor of the former, nor a weak sentimentality to make
you lean
unduly towards the latter. Be sure not to oppress foreigners, who
must
plead to disadvantage in a country, and amid proceedings, that are
strange
to them. Above all, do not condescend to take a bribe from either
side. A
gift is a weight in the scales of justice; and “a false balance is an
abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 11:1).
DUTIES WHICH MEN OWE TO
THEIR ENEMIES
These duties may be considered as they were revealed to
men under the Law and
under the gospel.
enemies,
when they could do so without loss to themselves. For instance:
ü
They were not to cut down fruit trees in an enemy’s
country
(Deuteronomy
20:19-20).
ü
They were not to remove a neighbor’s landmark, even
though he
might
be an enemy.
ü
They were to hasten after an enemy’s ox or ass if they
saw it going
astray,
to catch it, and bring it back to him.
ü
They were to approach him, if they saw his ass fallen
under the weight
of
its load, and to help him to raise it up.
ü
If he were suffering from hunger or thirst, they were to
give him bread
to
eat and water to drink (Proverbs 25:21).
ü
They were to refrain from rejoicing over his
misadventures (Ibid. 24:17)
this,
and much more.
ü
They are to “love
their enemies” (Matthew 5:44).
ü
To do good to them in every way — feed them (Romans 12:20),
bless them (Matthew 5:44) , pray for
them (ib,), be patient towards them
(I
Thessalonians 5:14), seek to convert them from the error of their
ways
(James 5:20), save them (ib,). Christ
set the example of praying
for His enemies upon the
cross — God set the example of loving His
enemies when He gave His
Son to suffer death for them — the Holy
Spirit sets the example
of patience towards His enemies, when He
strives with them! We have to forgive our enemies day by day
their
trespasses
against us — to pray and work for their
conversion — to seek
to
overcome their evil with our good.
In temporal matters, it is our
business
to be most careful that we do them no injury, by
misrepresentation,
by disparagement, by unfair criticism,
by lies, even
by
“faint praise.” We are to “love” them; or, if poor human nature finds
this
too hard, we are to act as if we loved them, and then ultimately
love
will
come.
CEREMONIAL
LAWS (vs. 10-19)
From vs. 10-19 the laws are connected with ceremonial observance
and include
Ø The law of the
Sabbatical year - (vs. 10-11)
Ø Law of the
Sabbath – (v. 12
Ø Law of the Great
Festivals – (vs. 14-17)
Ø Law of the
Paschal sacrifice, (v. 18) and
Ø Law of
first-fruits – (v. 19)
LAW OF THE
SABBATICAL YEAR
vs. 10-11 – “And 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” - Days of rest, at
regular or irregular intervals, were well known to the ancients and some
regulations
of the kind existed in most countries But entire years of rest were wholly
unknown to
any nation except the Israelites. In a primitive condition of agriculture, when rotation
of crops was unknown, artificial manure unemployed, and
the need of letting even the
best land sometimes lie fallow unrecognized, it may not
have been an uneconomical
arrangement to require an entire suspension of
cultivation once in seven years. But
great difficulty was probably experienced in enforcing
the law. Just as there were
persons who wished to gather manna on the seventh day
(ch. 16:27), [compare
modern times when six days to do labor and make money is not
enough and
some men think they need to work seven days a week to get
ahead –
CY – 2010]
so there would be many anxious to obtain in the seventh
year something more from
their fields than Nature would give them if left to
herself. If the “seventy years” of
the captivity were intended
exactly to make up for omissions of the
due observance
of the sabbatical year, we must suppose that between the time of the exodus and the
destruction of
as observed. (See II Chronicles 36:21.) The primary object
of the requirement was,
as stated here “that the poor of thy people
may eat’ - what the land brought forth of
its own accord in the Sabbatical year being shared by
them (Leviticus 25:6.). But no
doubt it was also intended that the Sabbatical year
should be one of increased religious
observance, whereof the solemn reading of the law in the
ears of the people at the
Feast of Tabernacles “in
the year of release” (Deuteronomy 31:10-13) was an
indication and a part. That reading was properly
preceded by a time of religious
preparation (Nehemiah 8:1-15), and would naturally lead
on to further acts of a religious
character, which might occupy a considerable period (ibid.
chs. 9 and 10). Altogether,
the year was a most solemn period, calling men to religious
self-examination, to repentance,
to the formation of holy habits, and tending to a general
elevation among the people of the
standard of holiness – “and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like
manner thou shalt deal with
thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard”. THE WHOLE
LAND WAS TO REST!
LAW
OF THE SABBATH
vs. 12-13 – “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.”
– The Law of the Sabbath is repeated. Nothing is here
added to the teaching of the Fourth Commandment; but its merciful
character is
especially brought out. Men are called on to observe it, in
order that their cattle may
obtain rest, and their servants, together with the
stranger that is within their gates, may find
refreshment. It is to be borne in mind that the foreign
population of
held to hard service. (See II Chronicles 2:17-18.) It is a day to be “kept
holy” –
a day which God has “blessed and hallowed.” Here, on the
contrary, our attention is
called to its secondary object — it is for “rest” and “refreshment.”
Perhaps men of the
classes who are in easy circumstances do not sufficiently realize the
intense
relief that is furnished by the Sunday rest to the classes below them, to
the
over-taxed artisan, the household drudge, the wearied and stupefied
farm-laborer
— nay, even to the clerk, the accountant, the shopkeeper, the salesman.
Continuous
mechanical work of one and the same kind is required of most of those who
labor,
from morning till night, and from one end of the week to the other. The
monotony of their
occupations is terrible — is deadening — is sometimes maddening. For them, the treat that
the Sunday affords is the single gleam of light in their
uniformly murky sky, the single ray of
hope that gilds their else miserable existence, the single
link that connects them with the
living world of thought, and sentiment, and feeling, for
which they were born, and in which
their spirits long to expatiate. Rest! To the tired brute, forced to
slave for his owner up to
the full measure of his powers, and beyond them — ready to sink to the earth the moment
he is not artificially sustained — who goes through his daily round in a state that is half-sleep,
half-waking — what a blessed change is
the quietude of the Sunday, when for four-and-twenty
hours at least he enjoys absolute and entire repose, recruits his
strength, rests all his muscles,
is called on to make no exertion! Refreshment! How thrice blessed
to the overwrought man,
and still more to the overwrought woman, is the relaxation of the dreadful
tension of their lives
which Sunday brings! “No rest, no pause, no peace,” for six long days —
days beginning
early and ending late — days without change or variety — without relaxation or amusement —
wretched, miserable days, during which they wish
a hundred times that they had never
been born. On such the Sunday rest falls as a
refreshing dew. Their drooping spirits rise to it.
They inhale at every pore its beneficent influences. They
feel it to be “a refuge from the
storms of life, a borne of peace after six days of care
and toil, a goal to which they may look
with glad hearts, and towards which they may work with
hopeful spirits amid the intense
struggles, and fervid contests, and fierce strifes of
existence.” “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.” - v.13 contains two injunctions —
one general,
one special:
Ø
“Be circumspect” (or cautious, careful) “in respect of all that I
command you.”
Ø
“Do not so much as utter the name of any false god.” Not even to
mention their
names, was to show them the greatest contempt possible;
and, if followed out universally, would soon have produced an
absolute
oblivion
of them. Moses, it
may be observed, scarcely ever does
mention their
names. Later historians and prophets had to do so, either
to deliver the
true history of the Israelites, or to denounce idolatries to
which they were
given. There are many words one would wish never to
utter; but while
wicked men do the things of which they are the names,
preachers are
obliged to use the words in their sermons and other
warnings.
LAW
OF THE GREAT FESTIVALS
“The sanctification
of days and times,” says Richard Hooker, “is a token of that
thankfulness and a part of that public honor which we owe to God for admirable
benefits, whereof it
doth not suffice that we keep a secret calendar, taking thereby our
private occasions
as we list ourselves to think how much God hath done for all men;
but the days which are chosen out to serve as public
memorials of such his mercies
ought to be clothed with those outward robes of holiness whereby their difference
from other days may be made sensible” (Eccles. Pol.
5:70, § 1). All ancient religions
had solemn festival seasons, when particular mercies of God were specially
commemorated, and when men, meeting together in large numbers, mutually cheered
and excited each other
to a warmer devotion and a more hearty pouring forth of thanks
than human weakness made possible at other times. In
and held a high place in the religion (Herod.
2:58-64:). Abraham’s family had probably
had observances of the kind in their Mesopotamian home. God’s providence saw
good
now to give supernatural sanction to the natural piety
which had been accustomed thus
to express itself. Three great feasts were appointed, of which the most
remarkable features
were:
regularly
recurrent course of the seasons, and connected also with great
events
in the life of the nation;
tabernacle
was at the time located;
The
three festivals are here called:
ü
The Feast of Unleavened Bread (v.15), the early
spring festival, at the
beginning
of barley harvest in the month Abib (Nisan), commemorative
of
the going forth from
ü
The Feast of Harvest (elsewhere called “of weeks”) at the
beginning of
summer,
when the wheat crop had been reaped, commemorative of the
giving
of the law; and
ü
The Feast of Ingathering (v.16) in Tisri, at
the close of the vintage,
when
all the crops of every kind had been gathered in, commemorative
of
the sojourn in the wilderness. The first of the three, the feast of
unleavened
bread, had been already instituted (ch.13:3-10); the two
others
are now for the first time sketched out, their details being kept
back
to be filled in subsequently (Leviticus 23:15-21, and 34-36). Here
the
legislator is content to lay it down that the great feasts will be three,
and
that all the males are to attend them.
vs. 14-17 – “Three times
thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
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
days following, with a “holy convocation” on the first of the seven and on the
last (Leviticus 23:5-8).
Unleavened bread was eaten in commemoration of the hasty exodus
from
harvest — was offered as a wave-offering before the Lord
(Leviticus 23:10-14).
Every male Israelite of full age was bound to attend, and
to bring with him a free-will offering –
“and none shall appear before
me empty:) This rule applies, not to
the
Passover only, but to all the feasts.
“And the feast of harvest” - Fifty days were to be
numbered from the day of offering the barley sheaf, and on the fiftieth
the feast of harvest,
thence called “Pentecost,” was to be
celebrated. Different Jewish sects
make different calculations; but the majority celebrate Pentecost on the
sixth of Sivan
(May 25). The main ceremony was the
offering to God of two leavened loaves of the
finest flour made out of the wheat just gathered in, and called the
first-fruits of the harvest.
The festival lasted only a single day; but it was one of a peculiarly
social and joyful character
(Deuteronomy 16:9-11). Jewish tradition connects the feast further with the
giving of the law,
which must certainly have taken place about the time (see ch. 19:1-16). the first-fruits
of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering” –
Called elsewhere, and more commonly, “the feast of tabernacles” (Leviticus 23:34;
Deuteronomy 16:13; 31:10; John 7:2), from the circumstance that the people were
commanded to make
themselves booths, and dwell in them during the time of the feast.
The festival began on the 15th of Tisri, or in the early
part of our October, when the
olives had been gathered in and the vintage was
completed. It lasted seven, or
(according to some) eight days, and comprised two holy convocations.
In one point
of view it was a festival of thanksgiving for the final
getting in of the crops; in another,
a commemoration of the safe passage through the desert from
The feast seems to have been neglected during the
captivity, but was celebrated with
much glee in the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 8:17) - “which is in the end of the
year, when thou hast
gathered in thy labors out of the field.
Three times in the
year all thy males shall
appear before the LORD God.” This seems to moderns
a very burdensome enactment. But we must remember that
when they were the only means by which information was spread, and almost
the
only occasions on which friends and relations who lived far apart could
expect to see each other. The European Greeks had, in their Olympian and
other
games, similar great gatherings, which occurred once or twice in each
year,
and, though under no obligation to do so, attended them in enormous
numbers.
(Compare the Sweet Sixteen Basketball Tournament in
days people from all over the state meet at one common site in a sort of
reunion –
CY - 2010) It may be doubted if the religious Hebrews felt
the obligation of
attendance to be a burden. It was assuredly a matter of great importance,
as tending to
unity, and to the quickening of the national life, that they should be
drawn so
continually to one center, and be so frequently united in one common
worship. Most
students of antiquity regard the Greek games as having exerted a strong
unifying influence
over the scattered members of the Grecian family. The Hebrew festivals,
occurring so
much more frequently, and required to be attended by all, must have
had a similar,
but much greater, effect of the same kind.
is more
remarkable in man than his deadness, and dulness, and apathy in
respect
to all that God has done for him. Warm gratitude, lively
thankfulness,
real heartfelt devotion, are rare, even in the best of us.
Festivals
are designed to stir and quicken our feelings, to rouse us from our
deadness,
to induce us to shake off our apathy, and both with heart and
voice
glorify God, who hath done so great things for us. Festivals bring
before
us vividly the special Divine mercy which they commemorate, and at
the same
time present to our view the beneficent side, so to speak, of the
Divine
nature, and lead us to contemplate it. God is essentially love; “He
declares
His Almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity”
Festivals
remind us of this. We lose the advantage of them wholly if we do not
stir
ourselves, on occasion of them, to some real outpouring of love and thanks
to Him
who granted us the blessing of the time, as well as every other blessing,
and
every “good and perfect gift” (James
1:17) of which we have the
enjoyment.
a man is
glad, and penetrated with the sense of God’s goodness and mercy
towards
it, the heart naturally opens itself to a consideration of other men’s
needs
and necessities. Being glad itself, it would fain make others glad.
Hence,
in the old world, great occasions of joy were always occasions of
largess.
The Israelites were commanded to remember the stranger, the
fatherless,
and the widow at the time of their festivals (Deuteronomy 16:14);
and the
practice was to “send portions” to them (Nehemiah 8:10; Esther 9:22).
We shall
do well to imitate their liberality, and to make, not Christmas only,
but each
festival season a time of “sending
portions” to the poor and needy.
LAW
OF THE PASCHAL SACRIFICE
v. 18 – “Thou shalt not
offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread;
neither shall the fat of my
sacrifice remain until the morning.” - That the Paschal
lamb is here intended by “my
sacrifice,” seems to be certain, since the two injunctions
to put away leavened bread, and to allow none of the
victim’s flesh to remain till the morning
(see ch.12:10), are combined in the Paschal sacrifice
only. Of
all the offerings commanded
in the law the Paschal lamb was the most important, since
it typified Christ. It may
therefore well be termed, in an especial way, “God’s sacrifice.’’
LAW
OF FIRST-FRUITS
v. 19 – “The first of the
first-fruits (may
mean either “the best of the first-fruits
[see
Numbers 18:12], or “the very first of each kind that is ripe” – [ibid. v. 13] –
on the tendency to delay, and not bring the very first, see ch. 22:29)
- of thy land
thou shalt bring into the
house of the LORD thy God.”
LAW AGAINST SEETHING A
KID IN THE MOTHER’S MILK
“Thou shalt not seethe a kid
in his mother’s milk.” The outline of law
put
before the Israelites in the “Book of the Covenant” terminated
with this
remarkable prohibition. Its importance is shown:
Ø
By its place here; and
Ø
By its being thrice repeated in the law of Moses (see ch.
34:16;
and
Deuteronomy 14:21). Various explanations have been given of it;
but
none is satisfactory, except that which views it as “a protest against
cruelty, and outraging
the order of nature,” more especially that
peculiarly
sacred portion of nature’s order, the tender relation between
parent
and child, mother and suckling. No doubt the practice existed.
Kids
were thought to be most palatable when boiled in milk; and the
mother’s
milk was frequently the readiest to obtain. But in this way the
mother
was made a sort of accomplice in the death of her child, which
men
were induced to kill on account of the flavor that her milk gave it.
Reason
has nothing to say against such a mode of preparing food, but
feeling
revolts from it; and the general sense of civilized mankind
re-echoes
the precept, which is capable of a wide application —
“Thou shalt not seethe a kid in
his mother’s milk.”
THE REWARDS OF OBEDIENCE (vs. 20-31)
God always places before men “the
recompense of the reward.” (Hebrews 11:26) –
He does not require of them that they should serve him for naught. The “Book of the
Covenant” appropriately ends with a number of promises,
which God undertakes to
perform, if
Ø
That He will send an angel before them to be their guide, director, and
helper (vs.
20 - 23).
Ø
That He will be the enemy of their enemies (v. 22), striking terror into
them
miraculously (v. 27), and subjecting them to other scourges also
(v. 28).
Ø
That He will drive out their enemies “by
little and little” (v. 30), not
ceasing until
He has destroyed them (v. 23).
Ø
That He will give them the entire country between the
Mediterranean
on the one hand, the Desert and the
other (v.
31). And
Ø
That He will bless their sustenance, avert sickness from them, cause
them to
multiply, and prolong their days upon earth (vs. 25-26). At
the
same time, all these promises — except the first — are made
conditional.
If they will “beware” of the angel
and “obey his voice,”
then He
will drive their enemies out (vs. 22-23): if they will serve
Jehovah,
and destroy the idols of the nations, then He will multiply
them,
and give them health and long life (vs. 24-26), and “set their
bounds from the
from the desert unto the river” (v. 31). So far as they fall short of
their duties, is He entitled to fall short of His
promises. A reciprocity
is
established. Unless they keep their engagements, He is not
bound to keep
His. Though the negative side is not entered upon, this
is sufficiently
clear. None of the promises, except the promise to send
the angel, is
absolute. Their realization depends on a strict and hearty
obedience.
vs. 20-31 – “Behold, I send
an Angel before thee” – Jewish commentators regard
the messenger as Moses, who, no doubt, was a specially commissioned
ambassador for
God, and who might, therefore, well be termed God’s messenger. But the
expressions —
“He will not pardon your transgressions,” and “My name is in him,” are
too high for
Moses. An angel must be intended — probably “the Angel of the Covenant,” —
whom the best expositors identify with the Second Person of the Trinity, the Ever-
Blessed Son of God –
“to keep thee in the way” - not simply “to guide thee through
the wilderness, and prevent thee from geographical
error,” but to keep thee altogether
in the right paths, to
guard thy going out and thy coming m, to prevent thee from falling
into any kind
of wrong conduct – “and to bring thee into the place which I have
prepared.” – not merely
Heaven. Compare John 14:2: — “I go to prepare a place for you.” “Beware of Him,
and obey His voice, provoke
Him not” - On the disobedience of the Israelites to this
precept, see Numbers 14:11; Psalm 78:17, 40, 56) - “for He will not pardon your
transgressions: for my name
is in Him.” - God’s
honor He will not give to another.
He does not set His Name in a man. The angel,
in whom was God’s Name, must have
been co-equal with God — one of the Persons of the
Blessed Trinity. “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. 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.
Thou shalt not bow down to
their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works” –
It is always to be borne in mind that with the idolatries
of the heathen were connected
“works of darkness,” which it is shameful even to speak of. The rites of
Baal and Ashtoreth, of Chemosh, Molech,
Rimmon, and the other Canaanite and
Syrian deities were at once defiled by
the abomination of human sacrifices, (abortion
if you please and may I reiterate that sex is associated with modern
habits as in the
pollutions of old – CY – 2010) and
polluted with the still more debasing
evil of
religious impurity. “The sacrifice offered to Ashtoreth,” says Dr. Dollinger, “consisted
in the prostitution of women: the women submitted themselves to the
visitors of the
feast, in the temple of the goddess or the adjoining precinct. A legend
told of Astarte
(Ashtoreth) having prostituted herself in
matrons, as well as maidens, consecrated themselves for a
length of time, or on the
festivals of the goddess, with a view of propitiating her, or earning her
favor as
hieroduli of
unchastity… In this way they went so far at last as to contemplate the
abominations of unnatural lust as a homage rendered to the deity, and to
exalt it into
a regular cultus. The worship of the goddess at Aphaca in
notorious in this respect. The temple in a solitary situation was, as Eusebius
tells us,
a place of evil doing for such as chose to ruin their bodies in scandalous
ways…
Criminal intercourse with women, impurity, shameful and degrading deeds,
were
practiced in the temple, where there was no custom and no law, and no
honorable or
decent human being could be found.” (Jew and Gentile, vol. 1. pp.
428, 429; Darnell’s
translation.) – “but thou shalt utterly
overthrow them, and quite break down their
images.” - The heathen gods are identified with their images. These
were to be
torn from their bases, overthrown, and rolled in the dust
for greater contempt and ignominy.
They were then to be broken up and burnt, till the gold
and the silver with which they were
overlaid was calcined and could be stamped to powder.
Nothing was to be spared that had
been degraded by idolatry, either for its beauty or its
elaborate workmanship, or its value.
All was hateful to God, and was to be destroyed! “And ye shall serve the LORD
your God, and he shall bless
thy bread, and thy water” - If the Israelites were exact
in their obedience, and destroyed the idols, and served God only, then He
promised to bless
“their bread and their water” — the food, i.e., whether meat or drink, on which they
subsisted, and to give them vigorous health, pledging “and I will take
sickness away
from the midst of thee.”
- (He is the Great
Physician!) “There shall nothing
cast their young, nor be
barren, in thy land” - This blessing could not have followed
upon godly living in the way of natural
sequence, but
only by Divine favor and
providential care. It would have rendered them rich
in flocks and herds beyond any
other nation – “the number of thy days I will fulfill” - There shall be no premature
deaths. All, both men and women, shall reach the term
allotted to man, and die in a good
old age, having fulfilled their time. Godly
living, persisted in for several generations
would produce this result.
“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.” - For the fulfillment
of this promise see Numbers 21:3, 24, 35;
31:7; Joshua 8:20- 24; 10:10. Had their obedience been more complete, the
power
of the Canaanitish nations would have been more
thoroughly broken, and the
SUFFERINGS AND
SERVITUDES RELATED IN THE BOOK OF JUDGES
WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO
BE ENDURED! “And I will send hornets
before thee, which shall
drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite,
from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year” –
men are impatient – God is strangely, wonderfully, patient! - “lest
the land
become desolate, and the
beast of the field multiply against thee.” - A third
reason why the nations were not subdued all at once, not
mentioned here, is touched
in Judges 2:21-23 — “The Lord left
those nations, without driving them out hastily,
that through
them he might prove
the Lord to walk therein, or
not.” - “By little and
little I will drive them out
from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
And I will set thy
bounds from the
lays down those wide limits which were only reached 400
years later, in the time of David
and Solomon, and were then speedily lost, can surprise no one
who believes in the prophetic
gift, and regards Moses as one of the greatest of the
Prophets. The tract
marked out by these limits had been already promised to
Abraham (Genesis 15:18).
Its possession by Solomon is distinctly recorded in I
Kings 4:21, 24, II Chronicles
9:26. As Solomon was “a
man of peace,” we must ascribe the acquisition of this wide
empire to David. (Compare II Samuel 8:3-14; 10:6-19.) – “and from the desert unto
the river (
and thou shalt drive them out before thee.” The mass of the
Canaanites were no
doubt “driven out”
rather than exterminated. They retired northwards, and gave
strength to the great Hittite kingdom which was for many
centuries a formidable
antagonist of the Egyptian and Assyrian empties. “And the LORD gave unto
all the land which He swear to
give unto their fathers; and they possessed it,
and dwelt therein. And the LORD gave them rest round about,
according to all
that He swear unto their fathers:
and there stood not a man of all their enemies
before them; the LORD delivered
all their enemies into their hand. THERE FAILED
NOT AUGHT OF ANY
GOOD THING WHICH THE LORD HAD SPOKEN
UNTO THE HOUSE OF
GOD’S
PROMISES SOMETIMES ARE ABSOLUTE, BUT FOR THE
MOST PART ARE CONTIGENT ON OUR OBEDIENCE
“Behold, I send an
angel before thee.” Here was a positive promise. An angel, a guide,
a protector, would go before them throughout their wanderings
in the wilderness, and lead
them into the promised land — lead, at any rate, some
remnant of them, out of
which God would make a great nation. Thus much was
certain. God’s word to give
his descendants the
back from it. They should reach
rest was all more or less uncertain. If they indeed obeyed
God, and did as He
commanded, then He would be an enemy to their enemies,
and give them full
possession of the land of promise. If they truly served
Jehovah, and not idols, then
He would grant them health and long life, and other
temporal blessings. And so it is
with Christians. God gives absolutely certain blessings
to all whom he accepts into
covenant with him; but the greater part of the blessings
which He has promised are
contingent on their behavior.
ü
A Divine guide is promised to all. The Holy Spirit, speaking
in men’s
hearts,
directing and enlightening their conscience, tells them
continually
how they ought to walk, points cut the way, offers his
guidance,
nay, presses it on them, and seeks to lead them to heaven.
The guide is more than an angel — God’s
holy name is in Him. Nor
does
He guide only. He supports the
footsteps, strengthens,
sustains, comforts men.
ü
Membership in Christ is promised. “I am the vine; ye are the
branches.” “Abide in me.” We are as branches
cut out of a wild
olive, which have been grafted, contrary to nature, into a good olive-
tree,
to partake of its root and fatness (Romans
11:17-24). We are
“made members of Christ,” for the most part, in our infancy, without
effort or merit of our own, by God’s great mercy.
ü
The answer of a good conscience towards God — a great
blessing can
only,
by the very nature of the case, belong to those who have striven
always
to be obedient, and have served the Lord from their youth.
ü
Growth in grace is granted only to such as cherish and
follow the grace
already
vouchsafed them.
ü
Spiritual wisdom and understanding are attained by none
but those who,
having
“done the will of God, know of the
doctrine” (John 7:17).
ü
Assistance against spiritual enemies is contingent on our
doing our best
to
resist them.
ü
Length of days is attached as a special blessing to
obedience to parents
(Ephesians
6:2-3). Finally, and above all:
ü
The eternal bliss which is promised us in another world
is conditional
upon
our “patient continuance in well-doing”
(Romans 2:7) in this.
We
must “so run that we may obtain.” (I Corinthians 9:24) - Most of
those
to whom the promises of this chapter were
addressed, forfeited
them
by their misconduct, and did not enter
they
became “idolaters,” they “tempted God,” they “committed
fornication,” they “murmured” — and the result was that they
“were overthrown in the wilderness.” (See Psalms 78
and106) And
“all these things happened unto them for ensamples, and
they are
written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come. Wherefore let him
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest
he fall” (I Corinthians
10:11-12).
THE FINAL WARNING AGAINST IDOLATRY (vs. 32-33)
The “BOOK OF THE COVENANT” ends as it began, with a SOLEMN
WARNING AGAINST
IDOLATRY. “Ye shall not make with me gods
of silver, neither
shall ye make unto you gods of gold.” – ch. 20:23) - “Thou
shalt make no
covenant with them nor with their gods.” Thou shalt not even
suffer them to dwell side by side with thee in the land, on peaceable terms, with
their own laws and religion, lest thou be ensnared thereby, and led to worship their
idols and join in their unhallowed rites (v. 33). The after
history of the people of
idolatry with
which they came into close contact proved a sore temptation to them.
As the author of Kings observes of the Ten Tribes’’ — “The children of
God, and they built
them high places in all their cities… And they set them
up images and groves in
every high hill, and under every green tree; and
there they burnt
incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the
Lord carried away
before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the
Lord to anger; for they
served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them,
“Ye shall not do this
thing” (2 Kings 17:9-12).
vs. 32-33 – “Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.”
(see
ch. 34:12-15) “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.”
This law did not, of course, affect proselytes; nor was it considered to
preclude the
continuance in the land of the enslaved Gibeonites. It forbade any
Canaanite
communities being suffered to remain within the limits of
terms with the Hebrews. The precaution was undoubtedly a wise one.
THE
PERIL OF IDOLATRY
Idolatry is the interposition of any object between man
and God, in such
sort that the object takes the place of God in the heart
and the affections,
occupying them to His exclusion, or to His disparagement. Idolatry proper,
the interposition between God and the soul of idols or
images, seems to
have possessed a peculiar fascination for the Israelites,
either because
their
materialistic tendencies made them shrink from approaching in thought a
mere pure Spirit, or perhaps from their
addiction to the sensual pleasures
which accompanied idolatry, as practiced by the greater
part of the heathen.
In modern times, and in countries where Protestantism
is professed by the
generality, there is little or no danger of this gross
form of the sin. But there is
great danger of other forms of it. In order to make any practical
use of those large
portions of the Old Testament which warn against
idolatry, we have to remember:
thousands
in these latter days. All hasten to be rich. Nothing is greatly
accounted
of which does not lead to opulence. God is shut out from the
heart by
desires, and plans, and calculations which have money for their
object
and which so occupy it that there is no room for anything else. The
danger
has existed at all times, but it has to be specially guarded against at
the
present day, when Mammon has become
the most potent of all the
spirits of evil, and men bow down before,
not an image of gold, but
gold itself, whatever shape it may
take.
— of their own
happiness, quiet, comfort — allowing nothing to interfere
with
these, and infinitely preferring them to any intrusive thoughts of God,
His
glory, or His claims upon them. Persons thus wrapped up in themselves
are
idolaters of a very gross type, since the object of their worship is
wholly
bad and contemptible.
creature,
— a girl, or woman, possessed of some transient beauty and
personal
attractions, but entirely devoid of a single estimable quality. For
such a
creature they peril all their prospects, both in this life and the next.
They
make her the queen of their souls, the object of their adoration, the
star by
which they direct their course. The ordinary consequence is
shipwreck,
both here and hereafter. When so poor an
idol as a weak
wanton has stepped in between the
soul and God, there is little chance
of a real repentance and return of
the soul to its Maker.
to
devote oneself to amusement as to make it shut out God from us. Those
who live
in a whirl of gaiety, with no time set apart for serious duties, for
instructing
the ignorant, consoling the afflicted, visiting the poor and needy
— nay,
with scant time for private or family prayer — are idolaters, and
will
have to give account to a “jealous God,” who wills that His creatures
should
worship Him and not make it their highest end to amuse themselves.
persons
who find no amusement in the pursuit, think it necessary to do
whatever
it is the fashion to do. Their life is a perpetual round of
employments
in which they have no pleasure, and which they have not
chosen
for themselves, but which the voice of fashion forces upon them.
They
drag themselves through exhibitions which do not interest them;
lounge
at clubs of which they are utterly weary; dine out when they would
much
rather be at home; and pass the evening and half the night in showing
themselves
at balls and assemblies which fatigue and disgust them. And all
because
Fashion says it is the correct thing. The idol, Fashion, has as many
votaries
in modern Europe as ever the Dea Syra had in
Isis in
worshippers
of the ancient goddesses, albeit unconscious ones.
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