Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Leviticus 23:1) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.'"
The Lord had been speaking to Moses in the past several chapters about various laws and continued here, now turning to the topic of the feasts of the Lord. The original word translated as "feasts" was "moed" and it meant literally "appointment" or "appointed time". Holy convocations, or "miqra", were sacred assemblies of the people. Following would begin a list of the appointed times that the people were to assemble together and observe each holy time.
(3) "‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work in it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.'"
The Lord began this segment of laws by repeating the law of the Sabbath. The people might do work in the first six days, but the seventh day was to be a Sabbath of rest, and they were to do no work on that day. Not only was it a day of rest, but it was a holy convocation, a holy day for sacred assembly. Whether or not they were involved in a holy assembly and public observance of the Sabbath or not, they were to observe the Sabbath of their Lord in all their dwellings.
(4) "'These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. (5) In the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the LORD’s Passover.'"
The Sabbath was kept every week, but now began a list of the holy assemblies that were to be observed in the appointed times of the year. First was the Lord's Passover which was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month, the Hebrew month Nissan, which is about the time of our March and April. The Jewish calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, and their months went from the beginning of the moon's cycle to the end, which is why it varies compared to our Gregorian calendar. On the fourteenth day of the first month of their year, specifically at evening (actually the evening of the thirteenth day by our reckoning), when the Jewish date began, was to be the Lord's Passover, in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt and the preservation of their first-born.
(6) "‘And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.'"
The fifteenth day of the same month, Nissan, actually began on the evening of the fourteenth day, and that was to begin the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It began on the fifteenth day and ended on the 21st day, and for those seven days the people were to eat unleavened bread, in remembrance of the time they went out of Egypt with their dough, not having time to leaven it.
(7) "‘On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no servile work in it. (8) But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days; the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall do no servile work in it.'"
On the first day of the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread they were to have a sacred assembly. They were to do no servile or customary labor on that day. However, they were not to remain idle, but were to offer offerings made by fire to the Lord. They were actually to offer the burnt offerings for each of the seven days, but on the first and the seventh, they were to do no other work, but to have a holy convocation.
(9) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (10) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When you come into
the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring
a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.'"
The Lord continued instructing Moses in what to tell the children of Israel. When they came to the land of Canaan which the Lord was giving them and had reaped its harvest, they were to remember their Lord and bring an offering of the first fruits of their harvest to the priest. They were to bring a "sheaf" or "omer" (the original word) which was one tenth of an ephah, about two liters.
(11) "'And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you; on the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.'"
The priest would then wave the offering to and fro before the Lord, to make acknowledgment to the Lord that those fruits of the earth were of Him, and to give Him the praise and glory, "to be accepted for" the children of Israel as a thanksgiving to their Lord. The day after the Sabbath was actually the next day, the sixteenth day of Nissan, the fifteenth being a Sabbath rest in that no servile work was to be done.
(12) "‘And you shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt offering to the LORD.'"
That same day when the priest waved the sheaf of the first fruits, they were also to offer a male lamb without blemish in its first year, for a burnt offering to the Lord. As Dr. John Gill wrote so beautifully in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, this lamb was "typical of the perfect and immaculate Lamb of God, whose sufferings are fitly signified by a burnt offering; and which were endured at the time he became the firstfruits of his people, and sanctified them."
(13) "'And its meat offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet savor, and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin.'"
As pointed out in an earlier post, the "meat" in this offering could be rendered as bread or food in other passages; according to Albert Barnes in his Notes on the Bible, "bread, meat, and food, were nearly
equivalent terms when our translation was made, and represent no
distinctions that exist in the Hebrew." In this case it definitely indicated a grain (or bread) offering. The offering was to be of two tenths of an ephah (two omers or about one dry gallon) of fine flour mixed with oil, burned on the altar, for an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. Additionally, there was to be a drink offering of wine, one-fourth of a hin, or about a quart.
(14) "'And you shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.'"
The people were not to eat bread made with their grain, nor any roasted grain, nor any fresh-plucked ears from their fields until they first brought an offering to their God. This was to be a statute forever throughout their generations, at least until the Messiah came. Additionally, it was to be a statute in all their dwellings, which may mean wherever they might dwell throughout their generations, they were to do this.
(15) "‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from
the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths
shall be completed.'"
The people were to begin counting from the day after that Sabbath explained above, from the day of the sheaf wave offering, which was the sixteenth day of Nissan, and count seven Sabbaths, seven weeks, or 49 days. Here began the explanation of the feast of Pentecost, or Weeks, as it was called because it was observed seven weeks after the Passover. It was also called the Feast of Harvest (Exodus 23:16).
(16) "'Even to the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meat offering to the LORD.'"
The day after the seventh Sabbath would make it a total of fifty days that the people were to number. On the fiftieth day they were to offer a new grain offering to the Lord.
(17) "‘You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits to the LORD.'"
I am assuming that all the people were to bring from themselves the ingredients to make the two wave loaves, and not that every person brought two loaves! They were to be made with two omers of fine flour and were to be baked with leaven. These loaves were not to be offered on the altar where no leaven could be offered, but were just waved before the Lord in thanksgiving and recognition of His great mercies and of the fact that it all belonged to Him. Scofield Reference Notes had an interesting take on this: "With the wave-sheaf no leaven was offered, for there was no evil in Christ; but the wave-loaves, typifying the church, are 'baken with leaven,' for in the church there is still evil." Most commentaries seem to agree that because the loaves weren't to be burned on the altar, and represented the best the people had to offer of what they themselves would consume, they were made with leaven and then given wholly to the priests.
(18) "‘And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams; they shall be for a burnt offering to the LORD, with their meat offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire of a sweet savor to the LORD.'"
With the bread wave offering they were to offer seven unblemished lambs in their first year. Albert Barnes believed that these were seven sheep of a year old to distinguish them from the "lamb" offered in verse 12. I see no difference in the original words used, and see no reason to assume they were different. Barnes didn't cite any historical reference as a reason for believing this, and the other commentaries I study made no mention of there being any difference in the type of lambs offered. What did seem to be a point of confusion was that in this verse there were additionally to be offered one young bullock and two rams, whereas in Numbers 28:27, seemingly speaking of this same day, it said there were to be offered along with the seven lambs, two bullocks and one ram. Perhaps it was left to the discretion of the priests as to whether it was one bull and two rams or two bulls and one ram, but usually the laws concerning the sacrifices were pretty strict. Perhaps the rules were unique for this particular wave offering. I cite Dr. John Gill here not because I necessarily believe what he said on the subject, but to show how confusing it all was:
"...Aben Ezra suggests, that this was at the will and option of the priest, whether one bullock and two rams, or two bullocks and one ram; but according to Maimonides, these sacrifices were distinct from them; they are sacrifices of the day, as being a feast day, and these belonged to the loaves; so that according to him, and so he expresses it, there were to be offered on this day, besides the daily sacrifices, three bullocks, three rams, and fourteen lambs, twenty beasts in all, for burnt offerings; and two goats for sin offerings to be eaten, and two lambs for peace offerings to be eaten; and with this account agrees Josephus, they sacrifice for burnt offerings, he says, three bullocks, and two rams, (or, as Dr. Bernard thinks, it should be read three rams,) and fourteen lambs, and two goats for sin offerings..."
I am really struck by how very hard it was to keep the law! It is no wonder people could inadvertently sin as we read about in scripture. Isn't that the lesson here? It is impossible to keep the law! "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin...For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:20 and 3:23) "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.' But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for 'the just shall live by faith.'" (Galatians 3:10-11) Jesus railed against the Pharisees who were so legalistic to keep the law to the nth degree, but neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Fortunately, Christ came to save us from the law and we "shall live by faith". "For by grace are you 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)
Back to verse 18 above, the seven lambs, one young bullock, and two rams were to be a burnt offering to the Lord along with "their" grain offering and "their" drink offerings. I stress "their" because these particular grain and drink offerings appear to be tied to the beast offered, and do not refer to the wave offering in verse 17. On this subject Dr. Gill wrote: "...each of the said beasts were offered, unto the Lord on the altar of burnt offering, and burnt thereon; and to every beast they offered, there was a meat offering and a drink offering: the meat offering consisted of three tenth deals, or omers, of fine flour, to a bullock, two to a ram, and one to a lamb; and the drink offering was half an hin of wine to a bullock, the third part of one to a ram, and a fourth part to a lamb, as Jarchi observes, which appears from Num. 28:12..."
(19) "‘Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and
two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering.'"
Then they were to offer a kid goat for a sin offering for the sin of the whole congregation, illustrative of Christ who was an offering for our sin; and they were to offer two male lambs of the first year for a peace offering.
(20) "'And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.'"
As opposed to being burned on the altar to the Lord as with the seven lambs, bull, and two rams, the two lamb offerings from verse 19 were to be waved with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering to the Lord. These lamb offerings, being the peace offering of a whole congregation, as opposed to being from a single person, were considered holy to the Lord and to be eaten only by His priests.
(21) "‘And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you; you shall do no servile work in it; it shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.'"
On this same fiftieth day, known as the day of Pentecost, I read a proclamation was made by the priests with the sound of a trumpet for the people to observe this holy day of sabbath rest, devoted to sacred service with no other customary work to be performed. It was to be a statute forever to be observed in all their dwellings throughout their generations, or at least until the Messiah came.
(22) "'And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners
of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger; I am the LORD your God.’”
This law is repeated from Leviticus 19:9. When the people reaped the harvest of their land, they were commanded not to wholly reap the corners of their fields. Additionally, they were not to go back and gather the gleanings of their harvests, but to leave those and the corners of their fields for the poor and for the strangers. As discussed in the post on Leviticus 19, it was in this way God provided for the poor and for the strangers,
the foreigners in the land. It taught the people not to be greedy
about every single thing they could lay claim to, but encouraged
generosity to the poor. God was giving them this new land
that would provide for them, and as their Lord gave to them, and did not withhold His
mercies, so should they give and be merciful to the poor and the strangers.
(23) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, (24) “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.'"
The Lord continued speaking to Moses, instructing him on what to tell the children of Israel. On the first day of the seventh month after their first month, Nissan, this seventh month called Tisri, they were to have a sabbatical rest. Tisri aligns with our September and was said to be the first month of the "civil" year, which was, according to Albert Barnes and others, "the first day of the Civil year in use before the Exodus, and was observed as the festival of the New year." I really don't know that there was any significance to it being the first day of the old year, but rather believe it was significant because it was the seventh month. As John Wesley said in his Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, "For as the seventh day was the sabbath, and the seventh year was a sabbatical year, so God would have the seventh month to be a kind of sabbatical month, for the many sabbaths and solemn feasts which were observed in this more than in any other month." This holy day was to be commemorated with the blowing of trumpets which, according to Jewish scholars, was continued from sunrise to sunset. It was known as the Feast of Trumpets, and I have read that it was very generally embraced by both Jews and Christians to be a memorial of the creation of the world, at which "the sons of God shouted for joy," (Job 38:7).
(25) "‘You shall do no servile work in it, but you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.’”
There was to be no customary work done on that day, only that which was necessary for making the offering made by fire to the Lord.
(26) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (27) "Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD."
The Lord continued instructing Moses: on the tenth day of this seventh month of Tisri, there was to be a day of atonement, a holy day when the people would gather to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, and "afflict" their souls. Matthew Henry said it this way in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, "They must mortify the body, and deny the appetites of it, in token of their sorrow for the sins they had committed." This they did with prayer, fasting, sorrow and repentance.
(28) “And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God."
The Israelite people were to do no customary work on that Day of Atonement that was set aside as a holy day in which atonement was to be made for them for their sins.
(29) "For whatever soul who is not afflicted on that same day shall be cut off from among his people."
As Matthew Henry described it, "Every soul must be afflicted, because every soul was polluted, and guilty before God; while none have fulfilled the law of innocency none are exempt from the law of repentance, besides that every man must sigh and cry for the abominations of the land." Any person who did not do this was to be cut off from among his people, which was either excommunication or death.
(30) "And whatever soul who does any work on that same day, that same soul I will destroy from among his people."
Likewise any person who did any customary work on this day of atonement would be destroyed from among his people. That word definitely makes it clear that they would not be merely excommunicated, but killed, if they did not obey this law for the Day of Atonement.
(31) “You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings."
The commandment is repeated, which might be to show how strictly God required this day be kept, and how careful men should be not to break the commandment in this respect. It was to be a statute forever in all their dwellings throughout their generations, at least until the coming of Messiah.
(32) “It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”
This tenth day of the seventh month of Tisri (v. 27), which began in the evening of the ninth day of the month and continued until the evening of the tenth day, the people were to celebrate this sabbath. The people were to do no customary work and they were to afflict their souls.
(33) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (34) “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the LORD.'"
The Lord continued instructing Moses on what to tell the people. The fifteenth day of the seventh month was to begin what was called the Feast of Tabernacles. It was a time when the people dwelt in booths or tents for seven days to commemorate the dwelling of the children of Israel in tents and booths during their abode in the wilderness.
(35) "‘On the first day there shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no servile work in it.'"
The first day of this Feast of Tabernacles was to be one of holy assembly of the people, and the people were to do no customary work on that day.
(36) "'Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD; on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD; it is a solemn assembly, and you shall do no servile work in it.'"
For each of seven days the people were to offer a burnt offering to the Lord. The eighth day was to be another holy convocation when they would offer another burnt offering, and one in which they were to do no customary work. I thought John Wesley had the best explanation of this. He wrote that although the eighth day was not strictly one of the days of this Feast of Tabernacles, "in a larger sense it belonged to this feast, and is called the great day of the feast (in John 7:37). And so indeed it was, as for other reasons, so because, by their removal from the tabernacles into fixed habitations, it represented that happy time wherein their 40 years tedious march in the wilderness was ended with their settlement in the land of Canaan, which it was most fit they should acknowledge with such a solemn day of thanksgiving as this was." Of course, at this time, the people had no idea that they would remain in the wilderness for forty years, but God knew.
(37) "‘These are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day.'"
The feasts described above, the Lord's Passover (v. 5), the Feast of Unleavened Bread (v. 6), the Feast of Pentecost (v. 15-16), the Feast of Trumpets (v. 24), the Day of Atonement (v. 27), and the Feast of Tabernacles (v. 34), were to be proclaimed as holy convocations. They were feast days to the Lord when burnt offerings and grain and drink offerings were to be made, everything on its particular day as instructed.
(38) "'Besides the sabbaths of the LORD, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD.'"
Those feasts described above were to be in addition to the weekly sabbaths and other offerings.
(39) "‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast to the Lord seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.'"
The Lord went back to the subject of the fifteenth day of the seventh month when was to be observed the Feast of Tabernacles. I believe an additional point was made, that it was not only a time for the people to remember when they had dwelt in tents, but when they had gathered in the fruits of the land, they were to give thanks for those fruits of the earth, and keep that feast to the Lord seven days. This was the same seven day feast called the Feast of Tabernacles, and it was also known as the Feast of Ingathering because it was the time when they had gathered in the fruits of the land. The first day of this feast and the eighth day were to be considered sabbath days, days of rest when there was to be no servile work.
(40) "‘And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.'"
On the first day of this feast the people were to take branches of good thick trees to make booths or tents in which they would dwell for seven days. However, those branches were not only for the making of tents, but for joy, honor, and worship to their Lord. That definitely seems alluded to in John 12:13, when the people "took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried, 'Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel who comes in the name of the LORD!’" Also Revelation 7:9 speaks of the multitude that stood before the Lamb with palms in their hands.
(41) "'And you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.'"
Every year this feast was to be kept for seven days beginning on the fifteenth of the seventh month; it was to be a statute forever throughout their generations, at least until the Messiah came. It strikes me that John 12:13 described how the people then took the branches that they formally used for booths and rejoicing before the Lord, and at that present time rejoiced in the presence of and before their Lord Jesus Christ.
(42) "‘You shall dwell in booths seven days; all who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, (43) That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.’”
During this feast the native-born Israelites were to dwell in booths or temporary shelters for seven days. It was Albert Barnes who noted the omission of foreigners here was noteworthy because they seem to be included in the feast in Deuteronomy 16:13-14: “You shall observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after you have gathered in your corn and your wine; and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates." Mr. Barnes suggested that "perhaps the intention was that on this joyous occasion they were to be hospitably entertained as guests." Indeed the passage in Deuteronomy does not indicate that the strangers were to dwell in booths, but that the rejoicing would include them.
(44) And Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.
Moses declared to the children of Israel what the Lord had told him to tell them regarding the feasts of the Lord, the times they were to be observed and the manner in which they were to be observed. We should be thankful that we no longer have to observe so many different burdensome and costly feasts, as Christ became the fulfillment of all these feasts. Once again, I have come to realize that the law wasn't created to make men fail, but illustrative of how hard it really was and how much we needed Christ. It is impossible to follow a law to the T. Everything was a picture of Christ to come. Sacrifices were a picture of His coming sacrifice.
Showing posts with label Feast of Ingathering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feast of Ingathering. Show all posts
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Saturday, April 4, 2015
More Life-Giving Laws of God
Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 23:1) “You shall not raise a false report; do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness."
God continued to give what He called "judgments" to Moses to give to the people. These followed and perhaps more completely explained the Ten Commandments He had already given in the hearing of all the people. This one sounds like a repeat of the ninth commandment not to bear false witness against your neighbor, but it goes a little further in depth. The original word translated as "raise" was "nasah" and does mean "raise or lift", and may mean being the first to raise or bring up an issue, but I saw more when I looked in depth at the meaning of the original word. The scripture goes on to say not to put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous or false or unjust witness. You are not to start a false report and you are not to be a party to it with the wicked. In this case of lifting or raising a false report, the meaning might be more completely defined by some of the word's other definitions--"carry, support, advance". The meaning then becomes "don't spread a false report." Some of the old commentaries I read believe that putting your hand with the wicked literally meant something like putting your hand on the Bible to swear, although their gestures were probably more like putting the hand under the thigh or raising their hand to heaven. Regardless of whether it was literal or figurative, or whether the actual meaning intended was to first raise or to support, when you combine it with the ninth commandment not to bear false witness, it's pretty clear that you don't start a false report and you don't join with the wicked to spread it.
(2) “You shall not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shall you speak in a cause to turn aside after many to pervert justice."
The main gist of this is that you don't follow the crowd to do evil, and you don't turn aside from the truth to follow the crowd to speak evil, perverting justice. The first part of the scripture is pretty clear, don't follow the crowd to do evil; but the second part was a little more difficult to decipher. Don't speak in a cause, don't testify in a case, to turn aside after many, or to follow the majority, to pervert justice. Interestingly, the original word translated as "turn aside" above is "natah", and is the same word also translated as "pervert" above. The complete range of meanings for the word is "turn aside, bend away, stretch out, incline, influence, thrust away, overthrow, pervert". You don't bend the truth to follow the crowd, and in so doing, pervert justice. I can't help but think about the recent events in the Ferguson, Missouri, shooting death of a young black man by a white police officer, where "hands up, don't shoot" became the rallying cry, and was not at all representative of what really happened. The slogan served a cause many wanted to advance, and many turned aside from the truth to follow the crowd and give a completely false witness report of what actually happened to fit the mantra of the crowd. In that case, it turned out that many were being threatened into giving false testimony, or just not coming forward to tell the truth. You can certainly see in this event and the ensuing riots the wisdom of God's judgment not to follow the crowd to turn aside from the truth, perverting justice.
(3) "Neither shall you show partiality to a poor man in his cause."
Just as you weren't to follow the crowd with the popular opinion just because it was popular, you were not to show partiality to a poor man just because he was poor. The same rules of justice were to apply to all, regardless of their position in life.
(4) “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again."
This judgment was surely an example of how to love your enemies. Not only were the people to love their neighbors as themselves as Jesus summed up half of the Ten Commandments (Mark 12:31), but they were expected to do good to their enemies, as Jesus would expound on later in the New Testament: "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." (Matthew 5:44)
(5) “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping him, you shall surely help with him."
In the same spirit of loving and helping your enemies, if a person saw the donkey of his enemy lying down under its burden, unable or unwilling to rise up again, and although he might be inclined in his heart to pass on by and not help his enemy, he was commanded by God to indeed help him with his animal.
(6) “You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his cause."
As you were not to give partiality to a poor man just because he was poor, you were not to look down on him and pervert justice in his cause because he was poor and perhaps not able to buy his way out as his rich opponent might be able to do.
(7) “Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not justify the wicked."
In fact, you were to keep yourself far from a false matter. Be careful not to kill the innocent and righteous. How many times in history has it seemed there needed to be a scapegoat; there needed to be someone responsible, so that an incident could be wrapped up and put behind? God warned not to kill the innocent, for He would not justify the killer. It sounds to me like even the law and the courts had better be careful not to sentence an innocent man. It is why we look for reasonable doubt before pronouncing death on an alleged criminal. It would be better to let a guilty man go free than to let an innocent man die for something he did not do. Besides God not justifying the wicked who killed an innocent man, I believe the scripture may also mean not to worry about possibly letting a guilty man go because there was not enough proof to convict him, because God would not allow him (the guilty man) to go unpunished. Vengeance is God's (Romans 12:19).
(8) “And you shall take no gift, for the gift blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous."
The word gift is meant to mean a bribe. It's funny; when I was transcribing this verse, I accidentally wrote "bind" instead of "blind". Doesn't a bribe indeed bind one to the briber? The recipient of the bribe then owes the briber something, and thus judgment becomes perverted. When I go back and think of it as merely a gift, with no supposed strings attached, would that gift not possibly sway the recipient to give more weight to the giver of the gift than he might otherwise be entitled? Accepting gifts will pervert the words of the righteous, and will therefore pervert judgment, anyway you look at it.
(9) “Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt."
Once again God repeated His commandment not to oppress a stranger because His people, better than anyone, knew what it was like to be an oppressed stranger in a land not their own. I can't help but think of our illegal immigration problem today. Our government seems to lean over backward to give over and above to the illegal immigrant rights that should not be legally his. That's not what this law of God was intended to do. They were in no way to oppress the foreigner, but he was welcomed as someone who wanted to live in peace among and eventually assimilate into the land of God's people. It is said that in those Biblical times, the stranger was not allowed to inherit land, "yet they must have justice done them, must peaceably enjoy their own, and be redressed if they were wronged, though they were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel." (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible).
(10) "And six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, (11) But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie still, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your oliveyard."
Here was the institution of what was called the sabbatical year. As the seventh day was the sabbath rest, so the seventh year should be a sabbath rest for the land. First, the land was to rest from plowing and sowing so that it would become more fruitful afterwards. Then God said it was so that the poor of the land might eat, and what they left, the beasts of the field might eat; this applied to all their fields and vineyards. My first thought was that the poor could only count on this food once every seven years, but then I remembered that in the seventh year, servants were freed. Servants were most often poor people who had been sold (often by themselves) into slavery, so as they were released, so was the land from farming, and those poor people were allowed to harvest whatever grew in the seventh year for themselves. By the fact that God made it a point to say that what was left after the poor gathered what they wanted, was to go to the animals, suggests that God would provide an abundance in this year of rest, to feed both the poor and the animals. As far as feeding the people whose land could not be sown and harvested during this seventh year, Leviticus 25:21 said that God would command His blessing on the land in the sixth year and it would bring forth produce enough for three years. This law taught the people to rely on God for their needs, but also made them realize that the land was not really their own, but God's, and He provided for the poor and the beasts of the fields with it. Besides nourishment, God was also giving rest. By following the law of the Sabbatical Year, the people were reminded to think about the poor, the slaves, the strangers, and even the animals.
(12) “Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed."
In keeping the sabbatical year, the people were reminded not to neglect the weekly sabbath. They were allowed to work six days, but the sabbath day was to be a day of rest for them, their animals, and all people, including the sons of their maids, and the strangers among them, so that all might be refreshed.
(13) “And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth."
The original word translated as "circumspect" was "shamar" and it literally meant "to hedge about", meaning to guard, making a hedge of protection around. In all that God had said to the people, they were to guard their hearts and make no mention of any other gods.
(14) “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: (15) You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; and none shall appear before Me empty)."
Here God instituted (or reinstituted, as the case may be) three yearly feasts in His honor. The first was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover, when they were to eat unleavened bread for seven days, as God had previously commanded them to do in the month of Abib, their first month, in memory of the time God brought them out of Egypt. At this and the two following feasts, the people were not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. There is not a great deal of detail in exactly what these offerings must be, as there will be later in Leviticus. We know that the Passover feast had already been instituted by God. As far as the offering required at this first feast, I can only assume at this point it was some free-will offering as a token of their respect and gratitude to their Lord. The offerings for the next two feasts will be greatly detailed later in Leviticus, so either this scripture does not yet detail it for the reader, or perhaps God is just introducing these feasts now and required just the little He asked in the following verse:
(16) "And the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors from the field."
The second feast to be held in God's honor was the Feast of Harvest, or Pentecost, as it would become known. This occurred at the time the people were beginning their harvests, and to this feast they were to bring the first fruits of their labor which they had sown in their fields. The Feast of Ingathering, or later known as the Feast of Tabernacles, was to be at the end of the year when the people had gathered in all their crops. "At the end of the year" can be looked at two ways. As it was in the fall, it could only be counted as the end of the year by the civil year, and not by the new sacred year that God had instituted in Exodus 12:2, with Abib, or Nisan, being the first month of the year. Perhaps it could be viewed as the end of the harvest year, or the end of the year as pertaining to their required feasts, for they were required to keep the three feasts in the spring (Passover), summer (Harvest or Pentecost), and fall (Ingathering or Tabernacles), and no feast was required in the winter.
(17) “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord. (18) You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning. (19) The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk."
At these three feasts, all males were to appear before the Lord. As noted before, these men were not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. Surely referring to the Passover, they were instructed not to offer leavened bread with the Passover lamb, nor allow any of the lamb to remain until morning. The first part of verse 19 likely refers to the Pentecost, when they were to offer the first of their first fruits to the Lord. The reference to boiling a kid in its mother's milk may refer to an ancient heathen custom of boiling a kid in its mother's milk at the end of their harvest and sprinkling that milk on their fields and gardens to make them more fruitful the next year. God forbade this superstitious and idolatrous practice which may have also been considered cruel, as it took a baby before its time when it was supposed to be left with its mother (Exodus 22:30) and boiled it in its own mother's milk which was designed for its life and nourishment in its first seven days. Regardless of the exact reason for this prohibition, it is certain that God's people were to be above superstition and such wanton lust.
(20) “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. (21) Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him."
God told Moses to tell the people He had sent an angel to them to help keep them in the way of the Lord and to guide them to the place He had prepared for them. This was obviously no ordinary created angel messenger of the Lord, for the people were warned to beware of Him and obey Him. They were warned not to provoke Him because He would not pardon their transgressions. No ordinary angel had the power to pardon transgressions. God said His name was in this angel. Many have speculated that this could only be Jesus Christ, who was with God from the beginning, and I have often thought this way, too, when it was a very special empowered Angel of the Lord mentioned in scripture. While it may indeed be, could it not rather be the Holy Spirit of God, that third member of the trinity, that Spirit of God and of Jesus Christ, that is One with them? I would think He would have authority to pardon transgressions. God said His name was in Him. Jesus said that He and the Father were one, and that all power was given to Him (Matthew 28:18). He additionally said in Matthew 9:6 that He, Jesus, had power to forgive sins. John 16:13 said that when the Holy Spirit came, He would not speak of His own, but only what He heard (obviously from the Father), as He would declare not only truth of things past but also of things to come. All power was given to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit was One with the Father, speaking only through Him and able to speak whatever the Father told Him, so I think it is feasible this Angel of God could have been either Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Whoever it was, God made it clear this Angel had His full authority.
(22) “But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. (23) For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off."
The people were promised that if they would obey this Angel of God and do all that God Himself spoke through this Angel, then He would be with them to fight their battles and save them from their enemies. God's Angel would go before them to bring them into the nations of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and the Jebusites, and cut them off from being a nation, giving the land to His people.
(24) “You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their images."
God's people were warned not to be tempted to do any of the idolatrous things that the people of these lands did. God not only commanded them not to worship these idols, but commanded them to completely destroy them.
(25) "And you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of you. (26) There shall nothing suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days."
If the people served only their Lord God, He would bless all their provisions and keep them healthy. "Nothing" would suffer miscarriage or be barren, suggesting both the people and all their livestock, making them greatly increase in all their numbers of both people and livestock. God would fulfill their full number of days, meaning no one would die prematurely.
(27) “I will send My fear before you, and I will destroy all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. (28) And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you."
The people of the lands to which God's people would come would be afraid of their coming and would turn their backs as in fleeing. God would destroy the people of the lands to which they would come. I don't think it means totally destroy as in killing them all, otherwise there would be no one to drive out. "Hornets" can be figural as the root means "strike down". So whether they were struck down or driven out, the Hivites, Canaanites, Hittites, etc., would be destroyed as nations.
(29) “I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against you. (30) Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land."
The Lord let the people know in advance, that in His mercy, He would not drive all the people of those other lands out all at once because the land would become desolate and the wild beasts would be allowed to grow in number against them. He said little by little He would drive them out, to give His people time to increase. Isn't that often the way of the Lord, to give just what we need when we need it? This would also keep His people on their guard and dependent on God to do the next little bit as they needed it.
(31) “And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you."
God named the boundaries of the land He was giving His people. Most of the old commentaries pointed out that this full amount of land was not completely fulfilled until the days of David and Solomon. On the west side the land went to the Red Sea; on the east side it went to the sea of the Philistines, which was the Mediterranean Sea; to the south was the desert of Shur or Arabia; and to the north was the river Euphrates. This was the promised land that the Lord promised to His people as He delivered its inhabitants into their hand as they were driven out from before them in degrees, not all at once.
(32) “You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. (33) They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
God warned the people that as they conquered the people of these lands, they were not to make covenants with them or their false gods. They were not to make allies of these people, but were to always consider them their enemies, and their gods, false idols to be rejected. They were not to allow these people to remain in the land, unless of course, I would imagine, they renounced their idolatry and assimilated with God's people. God understood and passed that bit of wisdom on to His people that if they did ally themselves with these pagan people and compromised their worship to include their false idols, that it would become a snare which would eventually cause their ruin and destruction.
I can't help but think again about America's current struggle with illegal immigration. We have leaders that tell us our country has always been a nation of immigrants; therefore we should welcome these illegals with open arms. Indeed, God always warned to be kind to the foreigner, but the foreigners, if they stayed, were expected to renounce their ways and become one with God's people. Oh, I can hear the arguments now--that we are NOT a nation of Christians under God and that all people should be allowed to worship their gods as they wish and live according to their customs. While that is true of our country's freedoms (I use that word loosely), weren't immigrants traditionally supposed to renounce their citizenship and become Americans? That no longer seems the case. Rather than a country of united Americans, we have all these smaller groups of Americans--black Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, gay Americans etc., fighting against each other. While it may be true that a secular country with true religious freedom cannot force God onto its citizens, it is surely death to the country that rejects the one true God. We are watching the sure decline and destruction of our country because it has chosen the ways of death rather than the life in God's ways.
These laws and judgments of God in the past few chapters are common sense laws, just and humane, and mean life, security, and happiness, for those who follow them. God's laws are not a set of rules from a prude who doesn't want anyone to have any fun! They are all about life and life more abundantly! As God said in Deuteronomy 30:19-20a:
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days....”
(Exodus 23:1) “You shall not raise a false report; do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness."
God continued to give what He called "judgments" to Moses to give to the people. These followed and perhaps more completely explained the Ten Commandments He had already given in the hearing of all the people. This one sounds like a repeat of the ninth commandment not to bear false witness against your neighbor, but it goes a little further in depth. The original word translated as "raise" was "nasah" and does mean "raise or lift", and may mean being the first to raise or bring up an issue, but I saw more when I looked in depth at the meaning of the original word. The scripture goes on to say not to put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous or false or unjust witness. You are not to start a false report and you are not to be a party to it with the wicked. In this case of lifting or raising a false report, the meaning might be more completely defined by some of the word's other definitions--"carry, support, advance". The meaning then becomes "don't spread a false report." Some of the old commentaries I read believe that putting your hand with the wicked literally meant something like putting your hand on the Bible to swear, although their gestures were probably more like putting the hand under the thigh or raising their hand to heaven. Regardless of whether it was literal or figurative, or whether the actual meaning intended was to first raise or to support, when you combine it with the ninth commandment not to bear false witness, it's pretty clear that you don't start a false report and you don't join with the wicked to spread it.
(2) “You shall not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shall you speak in a cause to turn aside after many to pervert justice."
The main gist of this is that you don't follow the crowd to do evil, and you don't turn aside from the truth to follow the crowd to speak evil, perverting justice. The first part of the scripture is pretty clear, don't follow the crowd to do evil; but the second part was a little more difficult to decipher. Don't speak in a cause, don't testify in a case, to turn aside after many, or to follow the majority, to pervert justice. Interestingly, the original word translated as "turn aside" above is "natah", and is the same word also translated as "pervert" above. The complete range of meanings for the word is "turn aside, bend away, stretch out, incline, influence, thrust away, overthrow, pervert". You don't bend the truth to follow the crowd, and in so doing, pervert justice. I can't help but think about the recent events in the Ferguson, Missouri, shooting death of a young black man by a white police officer, where "hands up, don't shoot" became the rallying cry, and was not at all representative of what really happened. The slogan served a cause many wanted to advance, and many turned aside from the truth to follow the crowd and give a completely false witness report of what actually happened to fit the mantra of the crowd. In that case, it turned out that many were being threatened into giving false testimony, or just not coming forward to tell the truth. You can certainly see in this event and the ensuing riots the wisdom of God's judgment not to follow the crowd to turn aside from the truth, perverting justice.
(3) "Neither shall you show partiality to a poor man in his cause."
Just as you weren't to follow the crowd with the popular opinion just because it was popular, you were not to show partiality to a poor man just because he was poor. The same rules of justice were to apply to all, regardless of their position in life.
(4) “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again."
This judgment was surely an example of how to love your enemies. Not only were the people to love their neighbors as themselves as Jesus summed up half of the Ten Commandments (Mark 12:31), but they were expected to do good to their enemies, as Jesus would expound on later in the New Testament: "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." (Matthew 5:44)
(5) “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping him, you shall surely help with him."
In the same spirit of loving and helping your enemies, if a person saw the donkey of his enemy lying down under its burden, unable or unwilling to rise up again, and although he might be inclined in his heart to pass on by and not help his enemy, he was commanded by God to indeed help him with his animal.
(6) “You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his cause."
As you were not to give partiality to a poor man just because he was poor, you were not to look down on him and pervert justice in his cause because he was poor and perhaps not able to buy his way out as his rich opponent might be able to do.
(7) “Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not justify the wicked."
In fact, you were to keep yourself far from a false matter. Be careful not to kill the innocent and righteous. How many times in history has it seemed there needed to be a scapegoat; there needed to be someone responsible, so that an incident could be wrapped up and put behind? God warned not to kill the innocent, for He would not justify the killer. It sounds to me like even the law and the courts had better be careful not to sentence an innocent man. It is why we look for reasonable doubt before pronouncing death on an alleged criminal. It would be better to let a guilty man go free than to let an innocent man die for something he did not do. Besides God not justifying the wicked who killed an innocent man, I believe the scripture may also mean not to worry about possibly letting a guilty man go because there was not enough proof to convict him, because God would not allow him (the guilty man) to go unpunished. Vengeance is God's (Romans 12:19).
(8) “And you shall take no gift, for the gift blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous."
The word gift is meant to mean a bribe. It's funny; when I was transcribing this verse, I accidentally wrote "bind" instead of "blind". Doesn't a bribe indeed bind one to the briber? The recipient of the bribe then owes the briber something, and thus judgment becomes perverted. When I go back and think of it as merely a gift, with no supposed strings attached, would that gift not possibly sway the recipient to give more weight to the giver of the gift than he might otherwise be entitled? Accepting gifts will pervert the words of the righteous, and will therefore pervert judgment, anyway you look at it.
(9) “Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt."
Once again God repeated His commandment not to oppress a stranger because His people, better than anyone, knew what it was like to be an oppressed stranger in a land not their own. I can't help but think of our illegal immigration problem today. Our government seems to lean over backward to give over and above to the illegal immigrant rights that should not be legally his. That's not what this law of God was intended to do. They were in no way to oppress the foreigner, but he was welcomed as someone who wanted to live in peace among and eventually assimilate into the land of God's people. It is said that in those Biblical times, the stranger was not allowed to inherit land, "yet they must have justice done them, must peaceably enjoy their own, and be redressed if they were wronged, though they were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel." (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible).
(10) "And six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, (11) But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie still, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your oliveyard."
Here was the institution of what was called the sabbatical year. As the seventh day was the sabbath rest, so the seventh year should be a sabbath rest for the land. First, the land was to rest from plowing and sowing so that it would become more fruitful afterwards. Then God said it was so that the poor of the land might eat, and what they left, the beasts of the field might eat; this applied to all their fields and vineyards. My first thought was that the poor could only count on this food once every seven years, but then I remembered that in the seventh year, servants were freed. Servants were most often poor people who had been sold (often by themselves) into slavery, so as they were released, so was the land from farming, and those poor people were allowed to harvest whatever grew in the seventh year for themselves. By the fact that God made it a point to say that what was left after the poor gathered what they wanted, was to go to the animals, suggests that God would provide an abundance in this year of rest, to feed both the poor and the animals. As far as feeding the people whose land could not be sown and harvested during this seventh year, Leviticus 25:21 said that God would command His blessing on the land in the sixth year and it would bring forth produce enough for three years. This law taught the people to rely on God for their needs, but also made them realize that the land was not really their own, but God's, and He provided for the poor and the beasts of the fields with it. Besides nourishment, God was also giving rest. By following the law of the Sabbatical Year, the people were reminded to think about the poor, the slaves, the strangers, and even the animals.
(12) “Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed."
In keeping the sabbatical year, the people were reminded not to neglect the weekly sabbath. They were allowed to work six days, but the sabbath day was to be a day of rest for them, their animals, and all people, including the sons of their maids, and the strangers among them, so that all might be refreshed.
(13) “And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth."
The original word translated as "circumspect" was "shamar" and it literally meant "to hedge about", meaning to guard, making a hedge of protection around. In all that God had said to the people, they were to guard their hearts and make no mention of any other gods.
(14) “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: (15) You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; and none shall appear before Me empty)."
Here God instituted (or reinstituted, as the case may be) three yearly feasts in His honor. The first was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover, when they were to eat unleavened bread for seven days, as God had previously commanded them to do in the month of Abib, their first month, in memory of the time God brought them out of Egypt. At this and the two following feasts, the people were not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. There is not a great deal of detail in exactly what these offerings must be, as there will be later in Leviticus. We know that the Passover feast had already been instituted by God. As far as the offering required at this first feast, I can only assume at this point it was some free-will offering as a token of their respect and gratitude to their Lord. The offerings for the next two feasts will be greatly detailed later in Leviticus, so either this scripture does not yet detail it for the reader, or perhaps God is just introducing these feasts now and required just the little He asked in the following verse:
(16) "And the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors from the field."
The second feast to be held in God's honor was the Feast of Harvest, or Pentecost, as it would become known. This occurred at the time the people were beginning their harvests, and to this feast they were to bring the first fruits of their labor which they had sown in their fields. The Feast of Ingathering, or later known as the Feast of Tabernacles, was to be at the end of the year when the people had gathered in all their crops. "At the end of the year" can be looked at two ways. As it was in the fall, it could only be counted as the end of the year by the civil year, and not by the new sacred year that God had instituted in Exodus 12:2, with Abib, or Nisan, being the first month of the year. Perhaps it could be viewed as the end of the harvest year, or the end of the year as pertaining to their required feasts, for they were required to keep the three feasts in the spring (Passover), summer (Harvest or Pentecost), and fall (Ingathering or Tabernacles), and no feast was required in the winter.
(17) “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord. (18) You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning. (19) The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk."
At these three feasts, all males were to appear before the Lord. As noted before, these men were not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. Surely referring to the Passover, they were instructed not to offer leavened bread with the Passover lamb, nor allow any of the lamb to remain until morning. The first part of verse 19 likely refers to the Pentecost, when they were to offer the first of their first fruits to the Lord. The reference to boiling a kid in its mother's milk may refer to an ancient heathen custom of boiling a kid in its mother's milk at the end of their harvest and sprinkling that milk on their fields and gardens to make them more fruitful the next year. God forbade this superstitious and idolatrous practice which may have also been considered cruel, as it took a baby before its time when it was supposed to be left with its mother (Exodus 22:30) and boiled it in its own mother's milk which was designed for its life and nourishment in its first seven days. Regardless of the exact reason for this prohibition, it is certain that God's people were to be above superstition and such wanton lust.
(20) “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. (21) Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him."
God told Moses to tell the people He had sent an angel to them to help keep them in the way of the Lord and to guide them to the place He had prepared for them. This was obviously no ordinary created angel messenger of the Lord, for the people were warned to beware of Him and obey Him. They were warned not to provoke Him because He would not pardon their transgressions. No ordinary angel had the power to pardon transgressions. God said His name was in this angel. Many have speculated that this could only be Jesus Christ, who was with God from the beginning, and I have often thought this way, too, when it was a very special empowered Angel of the Lord mentioned in scripture. While it may indeed be, could it not rather be the Holy Spirit of God, that third member of the trinity, that Spirit of God and of Jesus Christ, that is One with them? I would think He would have authority to pardon transgressions. God said His name was in Him. Jesus said that He and the Father were one, and that all power was given to Him (Matthew 28:18). He additionally said in Matthew 9:6 that He, Jesus, had power to forgive sins. John 16:13 said that when the Holy Spirit came, He would not speak of His own, but only what He heard (obviously from the Father), as He would declare not only truth of things past but also of things to come. All power was given to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit was One with the Father, speaking only through Him and able to speak whatever the Father told Him, so I think it is feasible this Angel of God could have been either Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Whoever it was, God made it clear this Angel had His full authority.
(22) “But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. (23) For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off."
The people were promised that if they would obey this Angel of God and do all that God Himself spoke through this Angel, then He would be with them to fight their battles and save them from their enemies. God's Angel would go before them to bring them into the nations of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and the Jebusites, and cut them off from being a nation, giving the land to His people.
(24) “You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their images."
God's people were warned not to be tempted to do any of the idolatrous things that the people of these lands did. God not only commanded them not to worship these idols, but commanded them to completely destroy them.
(25) "And you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of you. (26) There shall nothing suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days."
If the people served only their Lord God, He would bless all their provisions and keep them healthy. "Nothing" would suffer miscarriage or be barren, suggesting both the people and all their livestock, making them greatly increase in all their numbers of both people and livestock. God would fulfill their full number of days, meaning no one would die prematurely.
(27) “I will send My fear before you, and I will destroy all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. (28) And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you."
The people of the lands to which God's people would come would be afraid of their coming and would turn their backs as in fleeing. God would destroy the people of the lands to which they would come. I don't think it means totally destroy as in killing them all, otherwise there would be no one to drive out. "Hornets" can be figural as the root means "strike down". So whether they were struck down or driven out, the Hivites, Canaanites, Hittites, etc., would be destroyed as nations.
(29) “I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against you. (30) Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land."
The Lord let the people know in advance, that in His mercy, He would not drive all the people of those other lands out all at once because the land would become desolate and the wild beasts would be allowed to grow in number against them. He said little by little He would drive them out, to give His people time to increase. Isn't that often the way of the Lord, to give just what we need when we need it? This would also keep His people on their guard and dependent on God to do the next little bit as they needed it.
(31) “And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you."
God named the boundaries of the land He was giving His people. Most of the old commentaries pointed out that this full amount of land was not completely fulfilled until the days of David and Solomon. On the west side the land went to the Red Sea; on the east side it went to the sea of the Philistines, which was the Mediterranean Sea; to the south was the desert of Shur or Arabia; and to the north was the river Euphrates. This was the promised land that the Lord promised to His people as He delivered its inhabitants into their hand as they were driven out from before them in degrees, not all at once.
(32) “You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. (33) They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
God warned the people that as they conquered the people of these lands, they were not to make covenants with them or their false gods. They were not to make allies of these people, but were to always consider them their enemies, and their gods, false idols to be rejected. They were not to allow these people to remain in the land, unless of course, I would imagine, they renounced their idolatry and assimilated with God's people. God understood and passed that bit of wisdom on to His people that if they did ally themselves with these pagan people and compromised their worship to include their false idols, that it would become a snare which would eventually cause their ruin and destruction.
I can't help but think again about America's current struggle with illegal immigration. We have leaders that tell us our country has always been a nation of immigrants; therefore we should welcome these illegals with open arms. Indeed, God always warned to be kind to the foreigner, but the foreigners, if they stayed, were expected to renounce their ways and become one with God's people. Oh, I can hear the arguments now--that we are NOT a nation of Christians under God and that all people should be allowed to worship their gods as they wish and live according to their customs. While that is true of our country's freedoms (I use that word loosely), weren't immigrants traditionally supposed to renounce their citizenship and become Americans? That no longer seems the case. Rather than a country of united Americans, we have all these smaller groups of Americans--black Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, gay Americans etc., fighting against each other. While it may be true that a secular country with true religious freedom cannot force God onto its citizens, it is surely death to the country that rejects the one true God. We are watching the sure decline and destruction of our country because it has chosen the ways of death rather than the life in God's ways.
These laws and judgments of God in the past few chapters are common sense laws, just and humane, and mean life, security, and happiness, for those who follow them. God's laws are not a set of rules from a prude who doesn't want anyone to have any fun! They are all about life and life more abundantly! As God said in Deuteronomy 30:19-20a:
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days....”
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