20131005 Saturday, October 5 2013
Exodus 23: Sabbaths Of Land And Man

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

The Law of the LORD God (Who was and is Jesus Christ; see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) is about civilization - living in peace, honesty and truth. Many examples of how to live according to the Ten Commandments were included with the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20: The Ten Commandments, Exodus 21: The Scales Of Justice and Exodus 22: Freedom By The Law).

"23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous 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: 23:3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.

23:4 If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. 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.

23:6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. 23:7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

23:8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

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." (Exodus 23:1-9 KJV)

Even the land was provided with rest (as modern science has just now "discovered," it makes the land more productive), after years of productive work (see also The Seven Sabbaths Of Years To The Jubilee).

"23:10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: 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." (Exodus 23:10-11 KJV)

The Fourth Commandment (see Exodus 20:8-11) is actually a double commandment: "Six days thou shalt do thy work" and then "on the seventh day thou shalt rest."

"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, and the stranger, may be refreshed." (Exodus 23:12 KJV)

Idolatry is outlawed because it isn't just a waste of time - it's a waste of life.

"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." (Exodus 23;13 KJV)

The annual Holy Days were given by the LORD God, Who was and is Jesus Christ, for their Christian prophetic significance (see the Fact Finder question below).

"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:)

23:16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, 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 labours out of the field.

23:17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD." (Exodus 23:14-17 KJV)

True worship of the LORD is not to be compromised e.g. replacing the true Sabbath with the Babylonian / Roman "Sun Day" (see Why Observe The True Sabbath?).

"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.

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 a kid in his mother's milk." (Exodus 23:18-19 KJV)

When people follow the LORD, He leads the Way, defending His people from any who choose to make themselves enemies of the LORD. But if any of His people turn from Him and become Satanic liberals (see Exodus 13: Liberation, Not Liberal-ation), "He will not pardon your transgressions" (see also Why Call Me, Lord, Lord, and Do Not The Things Which I Say?).

"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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 23:26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.

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. 23:28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 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.

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. 23:32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 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." (Exodus 23:20-33 KJV)

Fact Finder: (a) What is the Christian purpose of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread? (b) What is the Christian purpose of "the feast of harvest, the firstfruits" - known as Pentecost? (c) What is the Christian purpose of "the feast of ingathering," also known as the Feast of Tabernacles?
(a) See The Passover 'High Day' Sabbath and Unleavened Bread: Why Observe The True Christian Holy Days?
(b) See Pentecost: The Christian Feast Of Firstfruits
(c) See The Feast Of Tabernacles In History And Prophecy