The laws we find here were given to the Hebrews in connection with their neighbours. These were minor civil ordinances that would direct their behaviour toward their neighbour after the manner of loving one’s neighbour as himself, Leviticus 19:18 / Mark 12:29-31.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This section appeals for justice toward all people. The subject of the legislation now shifts from love for all to justice for all. The Israelites should treat all people justly, not only the rich but also the poor, Exodus 23:3, the enemy as well as the friend, Exodus 23:4. Jezebel later did to Naboth what Exodus 23:7 warns against, 1 Kings 21:9-14.’
The spreading of a false report and helping a guilty person by a malicious witness, Exodus 23:1, was a major way of following the crowd, Exodus 23:2 / 1 Corinthians 15:33. The only way to stop the spreading of a false report is to stop it in its tracks by asking the proper questions and acquiring proof, Deuteronomy 19:15.
Bribing a judge with a gift, Exodus 23:2, is one of the most popular ways to swing a judge in your favour, 1 Samuel 8:3 / Isaiah 1:23 / Isaiah 5:23. Justice is never really served when corruption by bribery is involved.
It appears that the Israelites totally ignored this command, 1 Samuel 7:3 / Psalms 26:10 / Proverbs 17:23 / Isaiah 1:23 / Isaiah 5:23 / Micah 3:9-11 / Zephaniah 3:3. They were also not permitted to show favouritism to a poor person in a lawsuit, Exodus 23:3.
In Judaism, kindness and thoughtfulness for animals were required by God. If someone comes across their enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, they need to return it, Exodus 23:4.
If they see the donkey of someone who hates them fallen down under its load, do not leave it there, they must help them with it, Exodus 23:5 / Exodus 20:10 / Leviticus 22:27 / Deuteronomy 22:6-7 / Deuteronomy 25:4. In these verses we also see helping our enemies is also required, Matthew 5:43 / Luke 10:30-37 / Luke 10:27.
They were not permitted to deny justice to their poor people in their lawsuits, Exodus 23:6. They were also not to have nothing to do with a false charge or put an innocent or honest person to death, for God will not acquit the guilty, Exodus 23:7.
They were also not permitted to accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent, Exodus 23:8. They weren’t to oppress a foreigner because they themselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because they were foreigners in Egypt, Exodus 23:9.
For six years they are to sow their fields and harvest the crops, Exodus 23:10, but during the seventh year they are to let the land lie unploughed and unused, Exodus 23:11.
By doing as God commands, the poor among them will have food to eat and the wild animals may eat the leftovers, Exodus 23:11. They were to do the same with their vineyard and their olive grove, Exodus 23:11.
In other words, If the Israelites wanted the best out of the land and if they were to help the poor in their society, then they were to leave the land alone for a year every seven years.
As we know, as time went on, the Israelites failed to obey this command of giving the land rest every seven years and as a result, they were taken into Babylonian exile, Leviticus 26:32-35 / 2 Chronicles 36:20-21.
They have six days to work, but work isn’t permitted on the seventh day, which was to allow their ox and their donkey time to rest, Exodus 23:12. The same applied to the slave born in their household and the foreigner living among them, Exodus 23:12.
Common sense tells us that any good farmer would have stored up enough of his crops throughout the six years, in order to have enough to last through the seventh year when the land was to be rested.
We must note that the farmer would also stagger his ‘seventh-year’ planting with different fields. In other words, when one field is resting during the seventh year, other fields would be producing crops.
It was during the seventh year, when the field was resting, that the poor were allowed to use the land. Notice that God commands them not to invoke the name of other gods, Exodus 23:13.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The commandment not to mention pagan gods was generally observed, and this probably accounts for the changes made by the Jews in certain names containing the name of Baal. ‘Instead of Baal, the word ‘bosheth’, meaning shame, was introduced.’
A few examples of this are seen in Judges 6:32, where the name Jerubbaal became Jerubbosheth, 2 Samuel 11:21. In 1 Chronicles 8:33, the name Eshbaal became Ishbosheth, 2 Samuel 2:8. In 1 Chronicles 8:34, the name Meribaal became Mephibosheth, 2 Samuel 4:4.
The Israelite males were to appear before the Lord at three special feasts, Exodus 23:14.
1. The feast of the unleavened bread, which was associated with the Passover, Exodus 23:15 / Exodus 12:14 / Leviticus 23:5.
This was kept at the beginning of the harvest and commemorated the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
2. The feast of harvest, or Pentecost, Exodus 23:16 / Leviticus 23:15-22 / Numbers 28:26-31 / Deuteronomy 16:9-12.
This was kept at the conclusion of the harvest and commemorated Israel’s passage through the Red Sea.
3. The feast of the ingathering, which was also called the feast of tabernacles, Exodus 23:16 / Leviticus 23:34-43 / Numbers 29:12-40 / Deuteronomy 16:13-14.
This was observed in the autumn when all crops had been gathered for storage. This feast was in thanksgiving for God’s mercy in their wandering through the wilderness.
When Israel finally arrived in the promised land, they had the responsibility of making a firstfruit offering to God, along with their regular firstfruit offering, Exodus 23:16.
Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, Exodus 23:17. They are not permitted to offer the blood of a sacrifice to God along with anything containing yeast and the fat mustn’t be kept until morning, Exodus 23:18.
They are to bring the best of the firstfruits of their soil to the house of the LORD their God, Exodus 23:19. The command, ‘do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk’, Exodus 23:19, is actually a command to not imitate a common pagan fertility ritual.
Merrill, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Following the text of the covenant code, Yahweh assures His people of His ongoing commitment. He had not brought them out of Egypt and made a covenant with them only to forget them in the wilderness. He had promised to give them land, so now He speaks of the process by which they would enter the land and the circumstances they would face there, Exodus 23:20-33.’
God says, He is sending an angel ahead of them to guard them along the way and to bring them to the place He has prepared, Exodus 23:20. Who is this angel? This is a Christophany, which suggests that this is a preincarnate appearance of Christ, Genesis 12:7. Remember the word ‘angel’ in Hebrew is ‘malak’, and it simply means messenger.
Haynes Jr, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A study of these passages reveals that the Angel of the Lord appeared in human form, Genesis 18:2 / Genesis 22:1-18 / Hebrews 13:2, and performed normal human functions, Genesis 32:24 / Numbers 22:23 / Numbers 22:31, yet he was an awe-inspiring figure, Genesis 32:30 / Judges 6:22 / Judges 13:22, exhibiting divine attributes and prerogatives including predicting the future, Genesis 16:10-12, forgiving sin, Exodus 23:21, and receiving worship, Exodus 3:5 / Judges 13:9-20.’
The angel whose name was the name of God, Exodus 23:21, was to be obeyed for his presence in Israel was the authority of God among His people. The angel would bring them into Canaan because Moses wouldn’t, and he had the power to withhold forgiveness of sins, Exodus 23:21, which Moses couldn’t do either.
He is that same glorious Being who came to Joshua as the Captain of the hosts of the Lord, and the one who was among the myrtle trees of Zechariah 1:8. God says Israel must listen carefully to what His angel says, but do everything that God says. God will be an enemy to their enemies and will oppose those who oppose them, Exodus 23:22.
He will go ahead of the Israelites and bring them into the land of Canaan, and I will wipe them out, Exodus 23:23. The Canaanites were deeply involved in idolatry; they were gods that had been created by their own imagination. Israel was to stay away from them in order to protect their own minds.
God tells the Israelites four things concerning these gods.
1. Don’t bow down to them or follow them, Exodus 23:24.
2. Drive them out, Exodus 23:24.
3. Make no covenant with them, Exodus 23:24.
4. Destroy them, Exodus 23:24.
If they worship the LORD, then He will bless them with food and water, and He will remove sickness from among them, Exodus 23:25. He also promises that no one will miscarry or be barren in their land, and He will give them a full life span, Exodus 23:26.
God says He will send His terror ahead of them, everyone in Canaan would know what God has done and will do, which brought about great fear among the Canaanites, Exodus 23:27.
This is seen happening with Balak and the Moabites, Numbers 22:3, and this is seen with Rahab, Joshua 2:9 / Joshua 2:11. He will send the hornet ahead of them to drive the nations out of their way, Exodus 23:28.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following concerning the hornet.
‘The word is used figuratively for a cause of terror and discouragement. Bees are spoken of in the like sense, Deuteronomy 1:44 / Psalms 118:12.’
Trapp, in his commentary, says the following concerning the hornet.
‘Understand it either literally, as in Joshua 24:12, or figuratively, of the stinging terrors of their self-condemning consciences.’
Notice how the promised land of Canaan was going to be taken over by the Lord’s people, ‘little by little’, Exodus 23:29. This wasn’t going to happen overnight, it was going to take time because the Israelites needed the time to grow into a vigorous and powerful nation, Exodus 23:30, which was strong enough and experienced enough to handle the problems involved in dispossessing the large groups of Canaanites.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning the borders, Exodus 23:31.
‘God’s plans for Israel reached into the far future, for the boundaries of Israel as outlined here were not actually reached until four hundred years later in the reigns of David and Solomon, 1 Kings 4:21-24 / 2 Chronicles 9:26.
The ‘river’ spoken of here is the Euphrates, the Sea of the Philistines is the Mediterranean. The Red Sea is the Gulf of Aqaba. Ezion-Geber was at the head of that gulf where Solomon launched his great navy.’ They weren’t permitted to make a covenant with those nations or with their gods, Exodus 23:32 / Joshua 9:3-15.
And then we have the final warning, they weren’t permitted to allow the people from those nations to live because they will cause them to sin against God and because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to them, Exodus 23:33.