The document discusses the ethical imperative not to spread false reports or to assist in unjust proceedings, emphasizing the significance of truthful testimony in both legal and everyday contexts. It warns against the dangers of mob mentality in decision-making, advocating for impartial justice that does not favor either the rich or the poor, and highlights the responsibility of individuals to act justly. The overarching theme is the importance of honesty and integrity in maintaining a fair society.

1. EXODUS 23 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Laws of Justice and Mercy
1 “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a
guilty person by being a malicious witness.
BAR ES, "These four commands, addressed to the conscience, are illustrations of
the ninth commandment, mainly in reference to the giving of evidence in legal causes.
Compare 1Ki_21:10; Act_6:11.
CLARKE, "Thou shalt not raise a false report - Acting contrary to this precept
is a sin against the ninth commandment. And the inventor and receiver of false and
slanderous reports, are almost equally criminal. The word seems to refer to either, and
our translators have very properly retained both senses, putting raise in the text, and
receive in the margin. The original ‫תשא‬ ‫לא‬ lo tissa has been translated, thou shalt not
publish. Were there no publishers of slander and calumny, there would be no receivers;
and were there none to receive them, there would be none to raise them; and were there
no raisers, receivers, nor propagators of calumny, lies, etc., society would be in peace.
GILL, "Thou shalt not raise a false report,.... Of a neighbour, or of any man
whatever, either secretly by private slanders, whispers, backbiting and tale bearing, by
innuendos, detracting from his good name and credit, suggesting things false and wicked
concerning him; or publicly in a court of judicature, bringing a false accusation, laying a
false charge, and bearing a false testimony against him: or "thou shall not receive a false
report" (p); if there were not so many, that say, Report, and we will report it, that are
ready to receive every ill thing of their neighbours, there would not be so many that
would raise such ill things of them; everything of this kind should be discountenanced,
and especially by judges in courts of judicature, who are chiefly spoken to and of in the
context; these should not easily admit every charge and accusation brought; nor bear, or
endure a false report, as the word also signifies, but discourage, and even punish it:
put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness; which is not
a gesture used in swearing, such as with us, of putting the hand upon a book, which did
not obtain so early; nor is there any instance of this kind in Scripture; the gesture used in

2. swearing was either putting the hand under the thigh, which yet is questionable, or
lifting of it up to heaven; but here it is expressive of confederacy, of joining hand in hand
to carry on a prosecution in an unrighteous way, by bearing false testimony against
another; and such were to be guarded against, and not admitted to give evidence in a
cause, even a man that is known to be a wicked man, or to have been an unrighteous
witness before; on the one hand, a man should be careful of joining with him in a
testimony that is unrighteous; and, on the other hand, judges should take care not to
suffer such to be witnesses. The Jews say (q), that everyone that is condemned to be
scourged, or has been scourged for some crime committed, is reckoned a wicked man,
and he is not to be admitted a witness, nor his testimony taken.
HE RY, "Here are, I. Cautions concerning judicial proceedings; it was not enough
that they had good laws, better than ever any nation had, but care must be taken for the
due administration of justice according to those laws.
1. The witnesses are here cautioned that they neither occasion an innocent man to be
indicted, by raising a false report of him and setting common fame against him, nor
assist in the prosecution of an innocent man, or one whom they do not know to be guilty,
by putting their hand in swearing as witnesses against him, Exo_23:1. Bearing false
witness against a man, in a matter that touches his life, has in it all the guilty of lying,
perjury, malice, theft, murder, with the additional stains of colouring all with a pretence
of justice and involving many others in the same guilt. There is scarcely any one act of
wickedness that a man can possibly be guilty of which has in it a greater complication of
villanies than this has. Yet the former part of this caution is to be extended, not only to
judicial proceedings, but to common conversation; so that slandering and backbiting are
a species of falsewitness-bearing. A man's reputation lies as much at the mercy of every
company as his estate or life does at the mercy of a judge or jury; so that he who raises,
or knowingly spreads, a false report against his neighbour, especially if the report be
made to wise and good men whose esteem one would desire to enjoy, sins as much
against the laws of truth, justice, and charity, as a false witness does - with this further
mischief, that he leaves it not in the power of the person injured to obtain redress. That
which we translate, Thou shalt not raise, the margin reads, Thou shalt not receive a false
report; for sometimes the receiver, in this case, is as bad as the thief; and a backbiting
tongue would not do so much mischief as it does if it were not countenanced. Sometimes
we cannot avoid hearing a false report, but we must not receive it, that is, we must not
hear it with pleasure and delight as those that rejoice in iniquity, nor give credit to it as
long as there remains any cause to question the truth of it. This is charity to our
neighbour's good name, and doing as we would be done by.
JAMISO ,"Exo_23:1-33. Laws concerning slander, etc.
put not thine hand — join not hands.
K&D, "Lastly, no one was to violate another's rights. - Exo_23:1. “Thou shalt not
raise (bring out) an empty report.” ‫א‬ְ‫ו‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֵ‫,שׁ‬ a report that has no foundation, and, as the
context shows, does injury to another, charges him with wrongdoing, and involves him
in legal proceedings. “Put not thine hand with a wicked man (do not offer him thy hand,
or render him assistance), to be a witness of violence.” This clause is unquestionably
connected with the preceding one, and implies that raising a false report furnishes the

3. wicked man with a pretext for bringing the man, who is suspected of crime on account of
this false report, before a court of law; in consequence of which the originator or
propagator of the empty report becomes a witness of injustice and violence.
CALVI ,"1.Thou shalt not receive (margin) a false report. It might also be
translated, Thou shalt not raise, or stir up: and, if this be preferred, God forbids us
to invent calumnies; but, if we read, Thou shalt not receive, He will go further, i e. ,
that none should cherish, or confirm the lie of another by his support of it. For it has
been stated that sin may thus be committed in two ways: either when the wicked
invent false accusations, or when other over-credulous persons eagerly associate
themselves with them; and thus either sense would be very applicable, that the
original authors are condemned, who raise a false report, or those who help on their
wickedness, and give it, as it were, their endorsement. But, since it immediately
follows, “put not thine hand with” them, I willingly embrace the version, “Thou
shalt not receive,” in order that the two clauses may combine the better. Indeed
Moses uses this word with great propriety, for a lie would soon come to nothing
from its own emptiness, and fall to the ground, if it were not taken up and
supported by the unrighteous consent of others. God, therefore, recalls His people
from this wicked conspiracy, (167) lest by their assistance they should spread
abroad false accusations; and calls those false witnesses who traduce their neighbors
by lending their hand to the ungodly: because there is but little difference between
raising a calumny and keeping it up.
If it be thought preferable to restrict the second verse to judges, it would be a
Supplement to the Sixth Commandment as well as the Eighth, viz., that none should
willingly give way to the unjust opinions of others, which might affect either the
means or the life of an innocent person. But, inasmuch as the error of those who are
too credulous is reproved by it, whence it arises that falsehood prevails, and
calumniators throw what is clear into obscurity, it finds a fit place here. (168)
COKE, ". Thou shalt not raise a false report, &c.— There is an ambiguity in the
word ‫תשׂא‬ tissa, which signifies no less to spread false reports, than to give credit to
them when spread. Houbigant prefers the latter sense (thou shalt not give ear to a
false report); and for this reason, says he, that the meaning of the two clauses of this
verse may be different: the first, providing that false reports may not be credited;
the latter, that they may not be spread by an unrighteous testimony. The margin of
our Bibles renders the word, receive a false report, which serves to shew the
ambiguity of the original word. Perhaps the first clause may refer to the raising or
countenancing private calumny; the latter, to the public attestation of such calumny
in courts of justice; which appears the more probable, as the union here forbidden
seems to imply a formal design for public injury: thou shalt not put thine hand with
the wicked, i.e. thou shalt not associate and confederate with such.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
This chapter has the rest of the Book of the Covenant, the character of the
stipulations here being similar to those of Exodus 22. A strong humanitarian

4. concern is manifested throughout, and there is also a strong emphasis upon the
rights of the people, especially of those groups so frequently disinherited, neglected,
and oppressed in ancient societies: resident aliens, foreigners, the poor, widows, and
orphans, etc. The principal purpose seems to be, "to create the moral attitudes
which shall permeate all legal decisions. o penalties are specified for
transgressions. The concern is not with specific cases but with an all-pervasive sense
of justice."[1]
"Thou shalt not take up a false report; put not thy hand with the wicked to be an
unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou
speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest justice: neither shalt thou
favor a poor man in his cause."
The scene here focuses upon a time when judicial decisions were still resolved by the
citizens in assembly, before the judiciary was formally established, and the aim of
these regulations was that of protecting accused persons against false witnesses, and
against opinions of majorities. In matters of truth and righteousness, it has often
been the tyranny of majorities that perverted and denied justice. Exodus 23:3 even
has a caution against favoring the cause of a poor man, not through a sense of
justice, but through pity. True decisions must not be made upon the basis of what is
popular, or upon the basis of pity for appelants, but upon the basis of what is just
and equitable, favoring neither rich nor poor, young nor old, popular or unpopular
men.
"Thou shalt not take up a false report ..." This is an extension of Commandment IX
of the Decalogue, referring not merely to the initiation of a lying report, but to the
taking up of it and repeating it.
"Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil ..." Johnson applied this to mob
violence, such as a lynching,[2] but far more than that is included. Before Exodus
was concluded, all Israel followed the majority report of the ten unfaithful spies,
resulting in a 40-year probation for the whole nation. Majorities in all ages have
been disastrously wrong. It was the vociferous and clamorous insistence of "the
majority" that crucified the Lord, and it is no less true today that "the majority" on
almost any important religious question are wrong! "It is extraordinary that so
many, even of professing Christians, are content to go with the many."[3] Our Lord
said, "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it" (Matthew 7:14). The truth is always, in every field of concern, a very
narrow and exact thing. There is an exact velocity that must be reached to send a
satellite into space. Chemical compounds must be of the most precise and exact
combinations. A safety vault in a great bank never opens upon an approximate
manipulation of its intricate combination lock.
" either shalt thou favor a poor man in his cause ..." Rawlinson wrote, "This is a
shock!"[4] Harford suggested that we read it, "Great instead of poor, because
partiality for the poor needed no prohibition."[5] Johnson declared that, "There is
no need to warn against injustice due to wrongly directed sympathy."[6] It is a

5. shame that God did not check in with such commentators as these and get their
opinions before issuing the eternal prohibition of these verses! Of course, those who
disagree with God on this point suggest that the text be "emended" changed (only a
little mark or so would do it), but there is no fault with the text here. And, as for
wrongly directed sympathy, our own generation has witnessed all kinds of violations
of this very commandment. As Fields said, "Our times have seen the rise of the
foolish notion that we should pass every possible law to take wealth from the rich
and give it to the poor."[7] This was the same procedure as that followed by the
Caesars whose pandering to the insatiable appetites of the multitudes of the poor
pressing upon Rome to receive "free bread and circuses" resulted eventually in the
destruction of their society. Violation of the command of God will never go
unpunished. There is not enough material wealth on earth to give everyone all that
he wants! When there are no longer any wealthy persons to exploit on behalf of the
poor, the abject poverty of all shall have been, at that time, fully accomplished.
CO STABLE, "Justice and neighborliness23:1-9
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 aboth what Exodus 23:7 warns against (cf. 1
Kings 21:9-14).
ELLICOTT, "(1-19) The “miscellaneous laws” are here continued. From Exodus
23:1 to Exodus 23:9 no kind of sequence in the laws can be traced; from Exodus
23:10 to the first clause of Exodus 23:19 there is, on the contrary, a certain
connection, since the laws enunciated are concerned with ceremonial observance.
The closing law, however, is not ceremonial, but the prohibition of a practice
considered to be cruel. On the whole, it may be said that The Book of the Covenant
maintains its unsystematic character to the close. (See ote on Exodus 20:22-26.)
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "THE LESSER LAW (continued).
Exodus 23:1-19.
The twenty-third chapter begins with a series of commands bearing upon the course
of justice; but among these there is interjected very curiously a command to bring
back the stray ox or ass of an enemy, and to help under a burden the over-weighted
ass of him that hateth thee, even "if thou wouldest forbear to help him." It is just
possible that the lawgiver, urging justice in the bearing of testimony, interrupts
himself to speak of a very different manner in which the action may be warped by
prejudice, but in which (unlike the other) it is lawful to show not only impartiality
but kindness. The help of the cattle of one's enemy shows that in the bearing of
testimony we should not merely abstain from downright wrong. And it is a fine
example of the spirit of the ew Testament, in the Old.
"Thou shalt not take up a false report" (Exodus 23:1) is a precept which reaches

6. far. How many heedless whispers, conjectures lightly spoken because they were
amusing, yet influencing the course of lives, and inferences uncharitably drawn,
would have been still-born if this had been remembered!
But when the scandal is already abroad, the temptation to aid its progress is still
greater. Therefore it is added, "Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an
unrighteous witness." Whatever be the menace or the bribe, however the course of
opinion seem to be decided, and the assent of an individual to be harmless because
the result is sure, or blameless because the responsibility lies elsewhere, still each
man is a unit, not an "item," and must act for himself, as hereafter he must give
account. Hence it results inevitably that "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do
evil, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest
judgment" (Exodus 23:2). The blind impulses of a multitude are often as misleading
as the solicitations of the bad, and to aspiring temperaments much more seductive.
There is indeed a strange magnetism in the voice of the public. Every orator knows
that a great assembly acts upon the speaker as really as he acts upon it: its emotions
are like a rush of waters to sweep him away, beyond his intentions or his ordinary
powers. Yet he is the strongest individual there; no other has at all the same
opportunity for self-assertion, and therefore its power over others must be more
complete than over him.
This is one reason for the institution of public worship. Men neglect the house of
God because they can pray as well at home, and encourage wanton subdivisions of
the Church because they think there is no very palpable difference between
competing denominations, or even because competition may be as useful in religion
as in trade, as if our competition with the world and the devil for souls would not
sufficiently animate us, without competing with one another. But in acting thus they
weaken the effect for good of one of the mightiest influences which work evil among
us, the influence of association. Men are always persuading themselves that they
need not be better than their neighbours, nor ashamed of doing what every one
does. And yet no voice joins in a cry without deepening it: every one who rushes
with a crowd makes its impulse more difficult to stem; his individuality is not lost by
its partnership with a thousand more; and he is accountable for what he contributes
to the result. He has parted with his self-control, but not with the inner forces which
he ought to have controlled.
Against this dangerous influence of the world, Christ has set the contagion of
godliness within His Church, and every avoidable subdivision enfeebles this salutary
counter-influence.
Moses warns us, therefore, of the danger of being drawn away by a multitude to do
evil; but he is thinking especially of the peril of being tempted to "speak" amiss.
Who does not know it? From the statesman who outruns his convictions rather than
break with his party, and who cannot, amid deafening cheers, any longer hear his
conscience speak, down to the humblest who fails to confess Christ before hostile
men, and therefore by-and-by denies Him, there is not one whose speech and silence
have never been in danger of being set to the sympathies of his own little public like

7. a song to music.
That Moses was really thinking of this tendency to court popularity, is plain from
the next clause--" either shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause" (Exodus 23:3).
It is an admirable caution. Men there are who would scorn the opposite injustice,
and from whom no rich man could buy a wrongful decision with gold or favour, but
who are habitually unjust, because they load the other scale. The beam ought to
hang straight. When justice is concerned, the poor man's friend is almost as
contemptible as his foe, and he has taken a bribe, if not in the mean enjoyment of
democratic popularity, yet in his own pride--the fancy that he has done a
magnanimous act, the attitude in which he poses.
As in law so in literature. There once was a tendency to describe magnanimous
persons of quality, and repulsive clodhoppers and villagers. Times have changed,
and now we think it much more ingenious and high-toned to be quite as partial and
disingenuous, reversing the cases. either is true, and therefore neither is artistic.
o class in society is deficient in noble qualities, or in base ones. or is the man of
letters at all more independent, who flatters the democracy in a democratic age,
than he who flattered the aristocracy when they had all the prizes to bestow.
Other precepts forbid bribery, command that the soil shall rest in the seventh year,
when its spontaneous produce shall be for the poor, and further recognise and
consecrate relaxation, by instituting (or more probably adopting into the code) the
three feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The section closes with the
words "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19). Upon this
clause much ingenuity has been expended. It makes occult reference to some
superstitious rite. It is the name for some unduly stimulating compound. But when
we remember that, just before, the sabbatical fruit which the poor left ungleaned
was expressly reserved for the beasts of the field, that men were bidden to help the
overladen ass of their enemies, and that care is taken elsewhere that the ox should
not be muzzled when treading out grain, that the bird-nester should not take the
dam with the young, and that neither cow nor ewe should be slain on the same day
with its young (Deuteronomy 25:4, Deuteronomy 22:6; Leviticus 22:28), the simplest
meaning seems also the most probable. Men, who have been taught respect for their
fellow-men, are also to learn a fine sensibility even in respect to the inferior animals.
Throughout all this code there is an exquisite tendency to form a considerate,
humane, delicate and high-minded nation.
It remained, to stamp upon the human conscience a deep sense of responsibility.
PETT, "Verses 1-9
Regulations Concerning Behaviour to One’s eighbour (Exodus 23:1-9).
There is an interesting pattern to the following verses. (Compare Exodus 23:1 with
Exodus 23:7, Exodus 23:2 with Exodus 23:6, Exodus 23:3 with Exodus 23:5).

8. a Taking a false report and perverting justice (Exodus 23:1).
b Following a crowd to do evil (Exodus 23:2).
c Dealing with the poor by favouring him (Exodus 23:3).
d Attitude to dumb beasts (Exodus 23:4-5).
c Dealing with the poor by preventing justice for him (Exodus 23:6).
b Following a false matter (Exodus 23:7).
a Taking a gift and perverting the truth (Exodus 23:8-9).
Exodus 23:1
“You shall not take up a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an
unrighteous witness.”
This is a warning against perjury. To take up false information in order to use it, is
to be hand in hand with the wicked, that is, with those condemned by Yahweh. Such
people stand against God.
“Do not put your hand with the wicked.” A joining of hands to confirm the
agreement to give false testimony seems to be in mind, an act which puts all under
equal condemnation. Compare Job 9:33.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:1-19
MISCELLA EOUS LAWS—continued. The same want of logical arrangement
appears in this chapter as in the preceding one. The first nine verses contain some
twelve laws, of which not more than two that are consecutive can be said to be on
the same subject. There is perhaps in the section a predominant idea of warning
against sins and errors connected with the trial of causes before a court, but Exodus
23:4 and Exodus 23:5, at any rate, lie quite outside this idea. From Exodus 23:10 to
Exodus 23:19 the laws are connected with ceremonial observance and include
Exodus 23:1
The ninth commandment is here expanded and developed. Thou shalt not raise a
false report, forbids the origination of a calumny; the other clause prohibits the
joining with others in spreading one. Both clauses have a special reference to
bearing witness in a court, but neither would seem to be confined to it.
BI, "Thou shalt not raise a false report.
Slander characterized, prohibited, and punished
I. Slander is characterized.
1. Originating a false report. It may be from—
(1) Envy.
(2) Carelessness.
(3) Hasty conclusions.
2. Listening to false reports.

9. 3. Circulating a false report.
II. Slander is prohibited.
1. Affecting antecedents.
2. Affecting character.
3. Affecting family or social relations.
4. Affecting goods.
III. Slander is punished. The slanderer is—
1. Excluded from religious fellowship (Psa_15:3).
2. Exposed to contempt of mankind (Pro_10:18).
3. Object of Divine vengeance (Psa_10:5).
4. Excluded from kingdom of heaven (Rev_22:15). (J. W. Burn.)
Description of slander
The tongue of the slanderer is a devouring fire, which tarnishes whatever it touches;
which exercises its fury on the good grain equally as on the chaff, on the profane as on
the sacred: which, wherever it passes, leaves only desolation and ruin; digs even into the
bowels of the earth, and fixes itself on things the most hidden; turns into vile ashes what
only a moment before had appeared to us so precious and brilliant; acts with more
violence and danger than ever in the time when it was apparently smothered up and
almost extinct; which blackens what it cannot consume, and sometimes sparkles and
delights before it destroys. (Massillon.)
Envious slander
The worthiest persons are frequently attacked by slanders, as we generally find that to be
the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at. (Bacon.)
How to avoid slander
The celebrated Boerhaave, who had many enemies, used to say that he never thought it
necessary to repeat their calumnies. “They are sparks,” said he, “which, if you do not
blow them, will go out of themselves. The surest method against scandal is to live it
down by perseverance in well-doing, and by prayer to God, that He would cure the
distempered minds of those who traduce and injure us.” It was a good remark of
another, that “the malice of ill tongues cast upon a good man is only like a mouthful of
smoke blown upon a diamond, which, though it clouds its beauty for the present, yet it is
easily rubbed off, and the gem restored, with little trouble to its owner.”
Slander reproved
When any one was speaking ill of another in the presence of Peter the Great, he would
shortly interrupt him, and say, “Well now; but has he not a bright side? Come, tell me
what have you noticed as excellent in him! It is easy to splash mud; but I would rather

10. help a man to keep his coat clean.”
Listening to slander
Calumny would soon starve and die of itself, if nobody took it in, and gave it lodging.
(Leighton.)
There would not be so many open mouths if there were not so many open ears. (Bishop
Hall.)
The progress of slander
It is AElian’s observation, how that men being in danger to be stung by scorpions, use to
place their beds in water, yet the politic serpents have a device to reach them: they get up
to the top of the house, where one takes hold, the next hangs at the end of him, a third
upon the second, a fourth upon the third, and so making a kind of serpentine rope, they
at last wound the man. And thus it is, that amongst scandalizers and slanderers, one
begins to whisper, another makes it a report, a third enlargeth it to a dangerous
calumny, a fourth divulgeth it for a truth. So the innocent man’s good name, which, like
a merchant’s wealth, got in many years, and lost in an hour, is maimed, and so secretly
traduced, that it is somewhat hard to find out the villain that did it. (J. Spencer.)
False reports
The Rev. C.H. Spurgeon has given publicity to the following letter: “Dear Mr.
Spurgeon,—As I see that you are still occasionally put to the trouble of answering
inquiries as to the truth of various anecdotes, etc., concerning yourself, I thought the
following brief statement might interest you, or some of your numerous readers, if you
think it well to publish it. About seventeen years ago I was for some time at a well-known
health resort on the south coast. At the table d’hote I sat next to a young married lady,
who was, alas! consumptive, and of that temperament which is so common in such
cases, tres spirituelle, and very learned and accomplished. You may be sure she never
lacked auditors for her lively conversation. At dessert one day she was ‘telling stories’ (in
the literal and juvenile sense of the phrase) about yourself. I let her go on for some time,
until I thought the fun was getting a little too fast; and then I said, ‘I hope Mrs., you do
not believe the stories you are detailing, because I assure you, I heard nearly all of them
in my boyhood, before Mr. Spurgeon was born, and that most of them were then
attributed to Rowland Hill—doubtless with equal lack of authenticity.’ She looked me
calmly in the face, with a comical expression, and replied, ‘Oh, Mr.
, we never ask whether such stories are true; it is quite sufficient if we find them
amusing.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘so long as that is understood all round, by all means keep on.’
The poor, brilliant, thoughtless woman and her husband also have many years since
passed away; but she has many, many successors, who are without her wit, and not quite
so goodhumouredly candid as to their practice. If only you can get it ‘understood all
round ‘ that such folk really do not consider whether their ‘anecdotes‘ are true or not, it
might save you some trouble. Yours faithfully.” Mr. Spurgeon himself adds: “This is
quite true, but it is a pity that people should lie in jest. The lady was let off very easily.
Our friend has touched the root of the matter, It is not malice, but the passion for

11. amusement, which creates the trade in falsehood, which never seems to decline.”
Description of calumny
Apelles painted her thus: There sits a man with great and open ears, inviting Calumny,
with his hand held out, to come to him; and two women, Ignorance and Suspicion, stand
near him. Calumny breaks out in a fury; her countenance is comely and beautiful, her
eyes sparkle like fire, and her face is inflamed with anger; she holds a lighted torch in her
left hand, and with her right twists a young man’s neck, who holds up his hands in
prayer to the gods. Before her goes Envy, pale and nasty; on her side are Fraud and
Conspiracy; behind her follows Repentance, clad in mourning, and her clothes torn, with
her head turned backwards, as if she looked for Truth, who comes slowly after. (A.
Tooke.)
False insinuations
Often are the most painful wrongs inflicted through the medium of covert inuendoes and
malignant insinuations. Half of a fact is a whole falsehood. He who gives the truth a false
colouring by a false manner of telling it is the worst of liars. Such was Doeg in his
testimony against the priests. He stated the facts in the case, but gave them such an
artful interpretation as to impart to them the aspect and influence of the most flagrant
falsehoods. It was through the same mode of procedure that our Lord was condemned.
An unrighteous witness.—
The duties of witnesses
I. Not to co-operate in an unrighteous cause (verse 1). This “commandment is exceeding
broad,” and conveys a lesson—
1. To judicial witnesses.
(1) Personal friendships.
(2) The guilt of the accused on some other point.
(3) A show of justice must not influence us.
2. To all partisans, controversialists, politicians.
3. To trades unionists, etc.
II. Not to co-operate in any unrighteous cause because it is popular (verse 2).
1. Because majorities are no test of truth. Multitudes may be roused by passion,
prejudice, or self-interest.
2. Because men should be weighed as well as counted.
3. Because righteousness, from the constitution of human nature, is often unpopular
and in the minority.
III. Not to co-operate in an unrighteous cause Because it is apparently benevolent (verse
3; Lev_19:15).
1. Because we may be putting a premium on vice which is the source of all misery.
(1) By endeavouring to conceal the crime.
(2) By extolling other virtues, so as to minimize the enormity of guilt. But to

12. what purpose is it if we extol a man’s honesty, if he is lazy, or a drunkard; or his
sobriety, if a thief?
2. Because justice is above mere sentiment, and for the well-being of the whole
community, and not for the exclusive benefit of a class.
3. Because of its influence on the object himself. Let a man feel that you do this or
that for him simply because he is poor, and he will see no advantage in helping
himself.
Learn then—
1. To entertain none but righteous considerations.
2. To pursue them at all cost. (J. W. Burn.)
2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When
you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert
justice by siding with the crowd,
BAR ES, "Exo_23:2
This verse might be more strictly rendered, “Thou shalt not follow the many to evil;
neither shalt thou bear witness in a cause so as to incline after the many to pervert
justice.”
CLARKE, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil - Be singular.
Singularity, if in the right, can never be criminal. So completely disgraceful is the way of
sin, that if there were not a multitude walking in that way, who help to keep each other
in countenance, every solitary sinner would be obliged to hide his head. But ‫רבים‬ rabbim,
which we translate multitude, sometimes signifies the great, chiefs, or mighty ones; and
is so understood by some eminent critics in this place: “Thou shalt not follow the
example of the great or rich, who may so far disgrace their own character as to live
without God in the world, and trample under foot his laws.” It is supposed that these
directions refer principally to matters which come under the eye of the civil magistrate;
as if he had said, “Do not join with great men in condemning an innocent or righteous
person, against whom they have conceived a prejudice on the account of his religion,”
etc.
GILL, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil,.... The Targums of
Jerusalem and Jonathan add, but to do good. As in private life, the examples of the

13. many, who are generally the most wicked, are not to be followed, though they too often
are; examples, and especially of the multitude, having great influence, and therefore to
be guarded against; so in public courts of judicature, where there are many judges upon
the bench, if one of them is sensible that the greater part go wrong in their judgment of a
case, he ought not to follow them, or be influenced by them, but go according to the
dictates of his own conscience, and the evidence of things as they appear to him, and
neither agree to justify the wicked, nor condemn the righteous:
neither shall thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment;
or "thou shalt not answer" (r); either in pleading in a cause, and taking the side of it the
majority is on, and for that reason, though it is a manifest perversion of justice; or by
giving a vote on that side, and on that account, whereby a wrong judgment passes; and
this vote given either according to the number of witnesses, which ought not always to
be the rule of judgment; for it is not the number of witnesses, but the nature, evidence,
and circumstances of their testimony, that are to be regarded: Jarchi says, in judgments
of life and death, they go after the mouth of one witness to absolve, and after the mouth
of two to condemn: or according to the number of judges on the bench, and their
superiority in years and knowledge; and so some render the word, "after the great ones"
(s); for a judge is not to be influenced by names or numbers in giving his vote, but to
judge according to the truth of things, as they appear to him: hence the Jews say, that
the younger or puisne judges used to be asked their judgment first, that they might not
be influenced by others superior to them; and a like method is taken with us in the trial
of a peer, the younger lords always giving their opinion first: as to the number of votes
by which a cause was carried in court, it is said (t), not as the decline to good, is the
decline to evil; the decline to good, i.e. to absolution, is by the sentence of one (a
majority of one); the decline to evil, i.e. to condemnation, is by the mouth or sentence of
two, a majority of two.
HE RY 2-3, " The judges are here cautioned not to pervert judgment. (1.) They must
not be overruled, either by might or multitude, to go against their consciences in giving
judgment, Exo_23:2. With the Jews causes were tried by a bench of justices, and
judgment given according to the majority of votes, in which cause every particular
justice must go according to truth, as it appeared to him upon the strictest and most
impartial enquiry, though the multitude of the people, and their outcries, or, the
sentence of the rabbim (we translate it many), the more ancient and honourable of the
justices, went the other way. Therefore (as with us), among the Jews, the junior upon the
bench voted first, that he might not be swayed nor overruled by the authority of the
senior. Judges must not respect the persons either of the parties or of their fellow-
judges. The former part of this verse also gives a general rule for all, as well as judges,
not to follow a multitude to do evil. General usage will never excuse us in a bad practice;
nor is the broad way ever the better or safer for its being tracked and crowded. We must
enquire what we ought to do, not what the majority do; because we must be judged by
our Master, not by our fellow-servants, and it is too great a compliment to be willing to
go to hell for company. (2.) They must not pervert judgment, no, not in favour of a poor
man, v. 3. Right must in all cases take place and wrong must be punished, and justice
never biassed nor injury connived at under pretence of charity and compassion. If a poor
man be a bad man, and do a bad thing, it is foolish pity to let him fare the better for his
poverty, Deu_1:16, Deu_1:17. (3.) Neither must they pervert judgment in prejudice to a
poor man, nor suffer him to be wronged because he had not wherewithal to right
himself; in such cases the judges themselves must become advocates for the poor, as far

14. as their cause was good and honest (Exo_23:6): “Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of
the poor; remember they are thy poor, bone of thy bone, thy poor neighbours, thy poor
brethren; let them not therefore fare the worse for being poor.” (4.) They must dread the
thoughts of assisting or abetting a bad cause (Exo_23:7): “Keep thyself far from a false
matter; do not only keep thyself free from it, nor think it enough to say thou art
unconcerned in it, but keep far from it, dread it as a dangerous snare. The innocent and
righteous thou wouldest not, for all the world, slay with thy own hands; keep far
therefore from a false matter, for thou knowest not but it may end in that, and the
righteous God will not leave such wickedness unpunished: I will not justify the wicked,”
that is, “I will condemn him that unjustly condemns others.” Judges themselves are
accountable to the great judge. (5.) They must not take bribes, v. 8. They must not only
not be swayed by a gift to give an unjust judgment, to condemn the innocent, or acquit
the guilty, or adjudge a man's right from him, but they must not so much as take a gift,
lest it should have a bad influence upon them, and overrule them, contrary to their
intentions; for it has a strange tendency to blind those that otherwise would do well. (6.)
They must not oppress a stranger, v. 9. Though aliens might not inherit lands among
them, 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. It is an instance of the equity and goodness of our law, that, if an alien be tried for
any crime except treason, the one half of his jury, if he desire it, shall be foreigners; they
call it a trial per mediatatem linguae, a kind provision that strangers may not be
oppressed. The reason here given is the same with that in ch. 22:21, You were strangers,
which is here elegantly enforced, You know the heart of a stranger; you know
something of the griefs and fears of a stranger by sad experience, and therefore, being
delivered, can the more easily put your souls into their souls' stead.
JAMISO ,"decline — depart, deviate from the straight path of rectitude.
K&D, "Exo_23:2-3
Just as little should a man follow a multitude to pervert justice. “Thou shalt not be
behind many (follow the multitude) to evil things, nor answer concerning a dispute to
incline thyself after many (i.e., thou shalt not give such testimony in connection with
any dispute, in which thou takest part with the great majority), so as to pervert” (‫ּות‬ ַ‫ה‬ ְ‫,)ל‬
sc., justice. But, on the other hand, “neither shalt thou adorn the poor man in his
dispute” (Exo_23:3), i.e., show partiality to the poor or weak man in an unjust cause, out
of weak compassion for him. (Compare Lev_19:15, a passage which, notwithstanding the
fact that ‫ר‬ ַ‫ד‬ ָ‫ה‬ is applied to favour shown to the great or mighty, overthrows Knobel's
conjecture, that ‫ּל‬‫ד‬ָ should be read for ‫ל‬ ָ‫ד‬ְ‫,ו‬ inasmuch as it prohibits the showing of favour
to the one as much as to the other.)
COKE, "Exodus 23:2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil— As the former
verse, no less than the latter part of this and the third, refers to testimony and
judgment, one would imagine, that this also must have a more limited sense than the
words bear in our version. Houbigant renders the whole verse thus: thou shalt not
be a follower of great men to do evil: neither shalt thou so answer in a cause, as to
decline to sin, after great men; (Exodus 23:3.) but neither shalt thou honour or

15. countenance a poor man in his cause. ‫רבים‬ rabim, which we render multitude and
many, undoubtedly signifies, as Houbigant renders it, great ones, or great men, and
is clearly opposed to ‫דל‬ dal, a poor man, in the third verse. So that, upon this
version, the meaning of the law is this: that no person, in legal suits, and especially
as witnesses in such suits, were to be influenced, either by the favour of the great, or
by false compassion for the poor. In the 6th and following verses, laws to the same
purpose are laid down for judges, as in these for witnesses and private persons.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil . . . —It is perhaps
true that the offence especially condemned is joining with a majority in an
unrighteous judgment; but the words of the precept extend much further than this,
and forbid our being carried away by numbers or popularity in any case. Vox
populi vox Dei is a favourite maxim with many, but Scripture nowhere sanctions it.
Job boasts that he did not fear a great multitude (Job 31:34). David says that the
“ten thousands of the people set themselves against him round about” (Psalms 3:6).
The prophets had always the multitude against them. “Strait is the gate, and narrow
is the way,” said our blessed Lord, “which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it.” But ‘wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and
many there be which go in thereat” Matthew 7:13-14). We must be prepared to face
unpopularity if we would walk in accordance with the Law of God.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Exodus 23:2
At certain seasons the only way of being right in the future consists in knowing how
to resign ourselves to being unfashionable in the present.
—Renan.
Universal suffrage assembled at hustings—I will consult it about the quality of ew
Orleans pork, or the coarser kinds of Irish butter; but as to the character of men, I
will if possible ask it no question: or if the question be asked and the answer given, I
will generally consider, in cases of any importance, that the said answer is likely to
be wrong,—that I have to listen to the said answer and receive it as authentic, and
for my own share to go, and with whatever strength may lie in me, do the reverse of
the same. Even Song of Solomon , your Lordship; for how should I follow a
multitude to do evil? There are such things as multitudes full of beer and nonsense,
even of insincere factitious nonsense, who by hypothesis cannot but be wrong.
—Carlyle, Latter-day Pamphlets (ii.).
Human authority at the strongest is but weak, but the multitude is the weakest part
of human authority.
—John Hales.
PARKER, ""Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil" ( Exodus 23:2).

16. Can a multitude do evil? One soul may stray, but can a whole multitude go away
from the light and make itself houses in forbidden places? Can the majority be
wrong? There is a sense in which the majority is at this moment against Christ. I
would not count it so; rather would I see Christ in many disguises; but I should
know it to be the very Christ, whatever the disguise which concealed the dignity.
Christ has been with men when men did not know it; their eyes have been holden
that they should not see him; he has revealed himself to men under many
concealments of a strange kind. There is more Christ in the world than we possibly
may suppose. God is infinite; God fills all space, and yet takes up no room; God
mingles with thinking, civilisation, action, and yet the human factors in all the
mysterious action may be unaware of the Divine presence and impulse; but there
has been an unveiling, a sudden revelation of the reality of the case. We are waiting
for that millennial disclosure. What if some day God shall look right in the face of
the very people who have been doubting or denying any relation to him, and should
thus convince them that all the time they have had nothing that they have not
received from himself? and what if they should also be surprised by the recollection
of a warmth of the heart, a glow of the soul, they had never felt before, and should
find in that fire the presence of the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob? God
may be working in you without your knowing his name, or without your being at
present able to trace the Divine action, as distinctly separate from human thinking.
We are waiting for the day of Revelation , the morning of surprise, when we shall
stand before God, saying, "Lo! thou wast with us and we knew it not. How solemn is
every place which thou hast made!" But when the multitude does evil, we are not to
follow it; we must stand still and protest against the evil; in other words, we must
see the evil and not the multitude. Always put the emphasis upon the right word, in
order to encourage yourself in good action and in straightforward conduct. The
emphasis is not altogether upon the word multitude, it is upon the word evil; and we
ought to ask God to be enabled so to pronounce the word evil as to feel revolt from
everything which it implies and suggests.
Looking at these negative commandments, are we not surprised at the wonderful
knowledge of human nature which they reveal? We cannot get away from them; we
cannot plant ourselves right in front of them and say, "This is a misinterpretation of
human nature." We cannot return the dreadful look of the eyes that shine out of
this revelation; we feel that we are in the hands of a Legislator who knows us
altogether, and who speaks to us not according to transient and accidental phases of
human nature but in the totality of our being. This is the strength of the Bible, this
is the vindication of the commandments: that they root themselves in our
constitution, that they know us, and that we can only escape their pressure by telling
lies to our own souls. Herein is the inspiration of the Book. Its portraiture of man is
a portraiture without a blemish or a flaw. He who drew man so completely in every
lineament of his image, in every emotion and sensibility of his nature, must have
made the man whose portrait he has delineated.
These commandments also show the true relation of God to the human race. He is
the Ruler. He enjoins, he forbids; he never comes with apology from the skies, or

17. palliation of sternness, but with the majesty of right. Yet there is one little word in
the midst of all these commandments full of sweetest gospel—a word that might
have been found in one of the four Evangelists and that might have formed the text
of every sermon preached by Apostolic wisdom and eloquence. The sentence you
find in the twenty-second chapter and the twenty-seventh verse: "For I am
gracious"—a word we cannot do without We cannot explain it, yet we feel that it
fills all space in human necessity and consciousness which no other word can fill.
This is the defence of the commandments: that they are not arbitrary expressions of
mere sovereignty of will and position in the universe, but that they, though
commandments, are expressions of grace, mercy, pity, love. The very Spirit of the
Cross is in the commandment. Sinai is but one phase of Calvary.
We try to evade many of these commandments on the plea that they were not
addressed to us. It is a hollow plea; it is in fact a lie. We turn away from the
commandments, saying, with an explanatory gesture, that we are not Jews. We are,
if we are in Christ; if we have any love for Christ; if we feel that we must follow in
some fashion the way and method of the Son of God. The Christian is a Jew plus.
Christianity is the fruition of Judaism. The blood of the One Priest that abideth for
ever and hath an unchangeable priesthood gathers up in its redness all the meaner
blood which typified and prophesied its shedding. As well may the oak say "I am
not an acorn" as Christianity say "I am not Judaism." We cannot have the two
Testaments torn asunder as though they had no relation one to the other. The ew
Testament would have been impossible but for the Old Testament. The song uttered
in heaven is the song of Moses and the Lamb. "The law came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ." Yet Jesus Christ said, "Think not that I am come
to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." If he did
not recite these negative commandments, it was because he came to put within us a
Spirit, a Paraclete, that should abide for ever, whose presence was a law, whose
operation in the soul was a daily instruction in righteousness and Wisdom of
Solomon , in love and pureness, in which he may stand above the commandments
and treat them as an obsolete letter—who has entered into the Spirit of Christ, and
who is breathing in his daily life the obedience to which earlier men had to struggle
through many an effort, and in struggling towards which they effected many a
mournful failure. God never tells us to trust our moral instinct; God never assumed
that the child could find its own way through a universe which it had darkened by
its sin. He wrote down every line, made it complete; he wrote a detailed and
complete specification of duty, service, action, and worship; if any of us have
outlived the mere letter and need it no more, praised be God for a spiritual
education which has delivered us from the bondage of the letter and led us into a
nobler bondage of the heart, a sweet servitude of the soul, a glorious slavery, a
glorious liberty.
PETT, "Exodus 23:2
“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. or shall you speak in a cause to turn aside
after a crowd to bend judgment.”
This is a warning against being influenced by the crowd, whether in private affairs

18. or in court. If a crowd plans evil it is to be avoided. or must a man join with the
many to bring about a wrong judgment. God’s man must stand up for right and
truth even against the will of a crowd.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:2
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. Rather, "Thou shalt not follow a
multitude to evil." A law alike for deed, for word, and for thought. The example of
the many is to be shunned. "Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." But "strait is the gate and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life; and few there be that find it" (Matthew
7:13, Matthew 7:14). It is extraordinary that so many, even of professing Christians,
are content to go with the many, notwithstanding the warnings against so doing,
both of the law and of the Gospel. either shalt thou speak, etc. Rather, " either
shalt thou bear witness in a cause to go aside after a multitude to put aside justice."
The general precept is followed by a particular application of it. In judging a cause,
if thou art one of the judges, thou shalt not simply go with the majority, if it he bent
on injustice, but form thine own opinion and adhere to it.
BI, "Thou shalt not fellow a multitude to do evil.
Following the multitude prohibited
I. Explain the nature of this precept.
1. It is here assumed that the multitude do evil. This may be inferred—
(1) From the review of past ages.
(2) From the cruel persecutions which have been raised against the righteous in
various ages of the world.
(3) From the common conduct of mankind. Is not vice more general than virtue?
2. Secondly, the precept in the text supposes that we are in danger of copying the
example of the multitude. We may infer this—
(1) From the innate tendencies we have to evil.
(2) From the prevalence of bad example.
3. From a variety of melancholy facts. The multitude who now do evil were not
always such adepts in depravity; when they first entered into the broad way their feet
were not swift to do evil; they proceeded with hesitating steps, but by practice
became hardened in crime.
II. Urge reasons to induce us to observe it. The multitude doing evil should not be
imitated, because they are—
1. Unlawful and unconstituted guides.
2. Bad guides.
3. Dishonourable guides.
4. Unprofitable guides.

19. 5. Dangerous guides.
III. Impart advice for the direction of those who wish to escape the ensnaring wiles of
the multitude.
1. Get your minds deeply and thoroughly impressed with the awfulness of your
situation. Dangers unseen will be unavoided.
2. Seek the regenerating grace of God.
3. Be on your guard against the seductive wiles and insinuating influence of the
multitude. Sinners will entice you; but come out from among them; have no
communion with the unfruitful works of darkness (Psa_1:1).
4. Follow the happy few who strive to do good. Show that you are with Christ by
being with His people. Oh, say, “This people shall be my people, and their God my
God.” Inferences—
(1) That the measures of right and wrong are not to be determined by the
majority. Good and evil are fixed immutable principles; and their natures are
unchangeable, whether many or few follow them.
(2) What gratitude is due to God for the revelation of His will, which marks the
boundaries of right and wrong; and for the gift of His Son to redeem us from this
present evil world: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Sketches of
Sermons.)
Individual responsibility
There is, I suppose, no doctrine more clearly set forth in Scripture than the doctrine of
personal responsibility. There is no doctrine more readily owned, no doctrine more
insisted upon by men. Yet I think I can show you that, in its application to a great
number of particular cases, you would not only act as though you disbelieved it, but you
would unconsciously maintain in words doctrines directly opposed to it. The words
which I have just read to you suggest one of the most universally employed modes of
denying this universally received doctrine of individual responsibility. “Thou shalt not
follow a multitude to do evil,” was said long ago by the Jewish law. I think you will find
that the present condition of things, in whatever place or class we are thinking of, grew
up from something very small, and that by degrees the sin acquired strength from the
power and position, and then from the mere number of its perpetrators, until in time it
acquired positive dignity and became correct, or according to the absurd modern
phraseology, became “good form,” from the multitude of transgressors. I will begin with
the sex which since the creation of the world has almost uniformly carried its point
against the opposite sex, and which, nevertheless, is still facetiously called the weaker.
They will, I believe, if you ask them, readily own themselves responsible for their use of
time and of money. Well, they certainly spend an excessive amount of the latter, money,
as I daresay their husbands know, in purchasing; and of the former, time, as everybody
knows, in adjusting those ever-changing and most cumbrous absurdities which they pile
upon themselves, and with which they surround themselves to the general
inconvenience of everybody and everywhere. They do this until I should think they must
feel uncomfortable, and I know that they look deformed. Why do they do it? Ask any
one, and you will hear it all condemned at once, solemnly, perhaps piously condemned
at once, the responsibility being shifted immediately from the individual to fashion, and
that is to everybody. What does all that mean? Their conscience is relieved by the

20. multitude whom they follow. Let us go a little further and take another view of the
matter. Public bodies, I believe, parliaments, ministries, corporations, town
commissioners, Poor Law guardians, boards of all kinds, and committees of all kinds,
are known—every one of you knows it as well as I do—to be guilty of neglect of duties
and violations of honour of which none of their members singly, in private transactions,
would for one moment be capable. Take another set of instances. Look at the recognized
dishonesties of different trades and businesses. The man who keeps light weights for
selling, and heavy weights for buying, as I once knew a most “pious” man do; the man
who adulterates food; the man who puts bad work or bad material where it is not to be
detected; the servant who robs his master “in the usual way”; “the workman who to no
greater extent than others of his craft plunders his employer”; none of these desire by
any means, I fancy, to have their children taught at school that the Eighth
Commandment has no meaning. They like to hear it every Sunday. Why? Because they
have an unwritten tradition in the craft or trade, by which it is dispensed with. But I am
going into more dangerous ground now. In the present day, the multitude has come to
be considered something more than an excuser of deviations from strict principles in the
ordinary affairs of life. It is beginning to assume the functions of the highest authority on
religious matters. To call in question its decision, or refuse submission to its commands,
no matter how uninstructed it may be, is coming to be viewed in the light of standing up
against an inspired prophet. It does not occur to the thoughtless throng, who will rush
anywhere to hear anybody, or to see anything, that when the multitude appears to have
taken a “pious” turn it can be wrong to follow it whithersoever it leads. It does not seem
to occur to them that when the multitude is longing to take Jesus by force and make Him
a king, it may have just as little perception of His mission as when it clamorously
demands His crucifixion. No, they are afraid to gainsay what the multitude asserts; they
are afraid to do anything but echo its assertions, and thus each one among a multitude
perpetuates the delusion of the others as to his real opinion, by being afraid to say it out,
and act in conformity with it. This is the very spirit by which multitudes are created, by
which they are enabled to assume formidable proportions, to become powerful for evil.
The silence of cowardice is regarded as satisfactory consent, and everybody’s echo of
what everybody else says is vaunted as the concurrence of numerous independent
testimonies. Persons of this kind are the genuine followers of the multitude who are
condemned in the text. (J. C. Coghlan, D. D.)
The sin of following the multitude to do evil
I. It implies that the majority or great mass of mankind are uniformly and constantly
engaged in doing evil.
II. The prohibition which we are considering implies that every person is naturally
disposed to follow a multitude to do evil.
III. The prohibition in the text implies that those are altogether criminal who, follow the
evil examples of evil-doers, though they are the great majority of mankind. For—
1. They are free and voluntary in following the examples of those who do evil.
2. Every person acts contrary to his reason and conscience in following a multitude
to do evil, which renders him altogether criminal and inexcusable.
Conclusion:
1. If men are apt to follow bad examples, as has been said, then there is reason to

21. think that bad examples are the great source of moral corruption in every part of the
world.
2. If men are naturally disposed to follow the multitude to do evil, then the truly
godly have much more concern in spreading moral corruption, and obstructing the
cause of religion than they are apt to imagine.
3. Since men are naturally disposed to follow the bad examples of the multitude, it is
easy to see why a people, declining in religion, are so apt to be insensible of their
religious declensions. The minority are blended with the majority, and they are all
imperceptibly declining together.
4. If all men are naturally disposed to follow the multitude to do evil, then the rising
generation are always in a peculiarly dangerous situation.
5. If it be criminal to follow bad examples, it must be far more criminal to set bad
examples.
6. If men are naturally disposed to follow the multitude to do evil, then every one in
a state of nature has a great reason to fear that he shall live and die in his present
unsanctified and impenitent state. Your belonging to the majority will not help you
to turn about, but powerfully tend to hinder you. What will you say when He
punishes you? (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Multirude no prevailing argument
The Lord that made us knoweth our mould and how easily we are persuaded to taste of
the forbidden fruit, and how prone to be carried headlong to error, and therefore gives
us a caveat, and sets a bar and stop in our way, that we run not to evil because we see
others run or lead the way before us. And we shall do well by the way to take notice of
our own corruption, as the Lord doth, that in the same we may see the necessity of this
precept; for first, nature corrupt is as attractive of evil as the adamant naturally draws
iron; just as a spark to tinder or gunpowder. Secondly, evil is diffusive of itself, and such
an acquaintance there is between it and us, as the plague cannot so easily infect our
bodies as sin doth poison and suddenly infect our souls. Thirdly, our nature is social, and
not as the brutes; we readily thrust into company, and therefore being naturally enemies
to solitariness, we are ready to follow if any one lead us the way; but if many or a
multitude (as here) then we run, and for haste never stay to reason the case, neither in
what way nor upon what errand. And, therefore, the Lord would have His people to
fence themselves with a rule of prudence, that they be not misled by the crooked steps of
others and their own perverse inclinations.
1. One reason is in the text: because a multitude may err and run to evil, and may
decline to overthrow truth.
2. Multitudes cannot make that to be good which is evil in itself, neither in doctrine
nor manners; well they may make an evil worse, but none better.
3. Multitudes cannot keep off the revenge of evil; one evil mate may help his fellow
into sin, but cannot help him out of punishment,
4. Multitudes and most men are commonly the worst. The way to hell is broad and
the gate wide that leads to destruction, and many go in thereat (Mat_7:13). “Hell
enlargeth itself (Isa_5:14).” Tophet is large and wide (Exo_30:33). And therefore it
cannot be the safest way which the most walk in. Contrarily, the fewest are

22. commonly the best; pearls are rare; many hundred false prophets to one poor
Micaiah; God’s part in the world was ever but a gleaning and a small remnant; and
the apostle (1Jn_5:19) pronounceth in the name of believers, “We know we are of
God, and the whole world lieth in unrighteousness.”
5. It is better to walk the right way alone than to wander out of the way with
company; better go to heaven alone, or with a few, than with multitudes to hell.
Come we now to application of this point.
1. If it be so dangerous to follow a multitude to evil, what a fearful thing it is to lead a
multitude to evil! as the magistrate that enacts and commands evil; like Jeroboam
that made all Israel to sin. Or the minister that shall be weak as another man by
whose example many are corrupted, through loose speeches, unseemly behaviours,
libertine courses, fellowship with the abject, opposing the persons and strict courses
of such as fear God.
2. See how desperately many men frame their courses while they live as if to do as
the most do, were a good and warrantable plea. Because the most are irreligious,
without the fear of God, and without conscience: so are they. The most scorn to
attend God’s ordinance: so do they. Commit a felony, riot, robbery, or rebellion with
a multitude, and try if in thy trial before the judge it will be a good plea to say, “I was
led, and followed the multitude.” What then would you have us to do? In matters of
faith build upon a surer foundation than upon numbers and multitudes, whom it was
never safe to follow; nor was it ever a good argument either of the truth or true
Church. In Christ’s time the multitude followed the Scribes and Pharisees, but not
Christ nor His apostles; and all the multitude cried, “Crucify Him.” And how
uncertain a rule this is the father tells us who observed, that in synods and councils
the greater side doth oftentimes overcome the better; and another who saith, that in
all Divine cases we must not number voices, but weigh them. What sure ground can
be expected from the rude multitude, than which nothing is more fickle and
uncertain? But we have a surer word, “Being built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone” (Eph_
2:20; 1Co_3:11). And we say as Hushai to Absolom (2Sa_16:18) “Nay, but whom the
Lord and this people, and all the men of Israel chose, his will I be, and with him will I
abide.” (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil
I. Imitation is one of the great characteristics of the human species. The same passion
that impels us to society, impels us to take part with our companions in their interests
and inclinations. Insensibly and without thought we fall into their customs and their
manners; we adopt their sentiments, their passions, and even their foibles, and follow
the same course as if we were actuated by the same spirit.
II. By what means we are to keep ourselves from following a multitude to do evil.
1. Let us be early and firmly established in the principles of an holy faith. It is
education chiefly that forms the human character; and it is a virtuous and religious
education that forms the character.
2. Let us beware with what company we associate.
3. Let us acquire firmness and fortitude of mind. (James Logan.)

23. The multitude an unsafe guide
It is said of the roes and hinds that they are most tender and fearful of all beasts,
affrighted with any noise, checked with the least foil, turned out of course with the
snapping of a stick, presently make head another way, and when they are once out of
their wonted walk they run they know not whither, even to their own death. Such is the
natural disposition of the multitude or common people, soon stirred up, quickly awry,
sometimes running full head one way, on a sudden turned as much another, easily set
agog, delighted with novelties. (J. Spencer.)
The multitude not to be followed
Said Horace Bushnell to his younger brother, who had been to a cheap show and came
home crestfallen, “The next time that you see the whole world doing something, be sure
not to go with them unless you have some better reason.” That was the germ of manly
independence out of which the sturdy manhood of that remarkable thinker grew. The
sooner a young man learns that there are in this world more silly people than wise, more
weak than strong, the better his chances of being a man.
Custom not the standard of right
“Know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for Himself.” Therefore it is no
excuse for him to say, “I do but as others do.” He is to reckon his hours by the sun, not
the town clock; to take God’s direction, not the vice of the multitudes, as one of their
stamp and at liberty to comply with their fashions. (T. Mantan, D. D.)
3 and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a
lawsuit.
BAR ES, "Exo_23:3
Countenance - Rather, show partiality to a man’s cause because he is poor (compare
Lev_19:15).
These four commands, addressed to the conscience, are illustrations of the ninth
commandment, mainly in reference to the giving of evidence in legal causes. Compare
1Ki_21:10; Act_6:11.

24. CLARKE, "Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause - The
word ‫דל‬ dal, which we translate poor man, is probably put here in opposition to ‫רבים‬
rabbim, the great, or noble men, in the preceding verse: if so, the meaning is, Thou shalt
neither be influenced by the great to make an unrighteous decision, nor by the poverty
or distress of the poor to give thy voice against the dictates of justice and truth. Hence
the ancient maxim, Fiat Justitia, Ruat Coelum. “Let justice be done, though the heavens
should be dissolved.”
GILL, "Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. Because he is
a poor man, and for that reason endeavour to carry his cause for him, right or wrong,
from a foolish pity to him as a poor man, and from an affectation of gaining the applause
of people on that account; or "thou shalt not honour" or "adorn" a poor man (u), by a set
speech in favour of his cause, though wrong, dressed up in the best manner, and set off
with all the colourings of art, to make it appear in the most plausible manner; the law is
against respect of persons, as not the person of the rich, so neither is the person of the
poor to be accepted, but the justice of their cause is to be regarded; so the Targum of
Jonathan,"the poor that is guilty in his judgment or cause, his face (or person) thou shalt
not accept to have pity on him, for no person is to be accepted in judgment.''
JAMISO ,"countenance — adorn, embellish - thou shalt not varnish the cause
even of a poor man to give it a better coloring than it merits.
ELLICOTT, "(3) either shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.—We
must not “pervert judgment” either in favour of the rich or of the poor. Justice must
hold her scales even, and be proof equally against a paltry fear of the rich and a
weak compassion for the indigent. The cause alone is to be considered, not the
persons. (Comp. Leviticus 19:15.)
PETT, "Exodus 23:3
“ either shall you favour a poor man in his cause.”
Rich and poor are to be treated the same. To be prejudiced on behalf of a poor man
is no better than being prejudiced on behalf of a rich man. The truth is what
matters without fear or favour.
Some feel that the statement is unexpected and try to change the sense. But there is
no textual justification for it and prejudice against the rich by the poor is not
unknown (also see verse 6 where the converse is dealt with).
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:3
either shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. After the many precepts in
favour of the poor, this injunction produces a sort of shock. But it is to be
understood as simply forbidding any undue favouring of the poor because they are

25. poor, and so as equivalent to the precept in Le Exodus 19:15, "Thou shalt not
respect the person of the poor." In courts of justice, strict justice is to be rendered,
without any leaning either towards the rich, or towards the poor. To lean either way
is to pervert judgment.
4 “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey
wandering off, be sure to return it.
BAR ES, "So far was the spirit of the law from encouraging personal revenge that it
would not allow a man to neglect an opportunity of saving his enemy from loss.
CLARKE, "If thou meet thine enemy’s ox - going astray - From the humane
and heavenly maxim in this and the following verse, our blessed Lord has formed the
following precept: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you;” Mat_5:44. A
precept so plain, wise, benevolent, and useful, can receive no other comment than that
which its influence on the heart of a kind and merciful man produces in his life.
GILL, "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray,.... Or any other
beast, as the Samaritan version adds; for these are only mentioned for instances, as
being more common, and creatures subject to go astray; now when such as these are met
going astray, so as to be in danger of being lost to the owner, though he is an enemy; or
as the Targum of Jonathan,"whom thou hatest because of a sin, which thou alone
knowest in him;''yet this was not so far to prejudice the finder of his beasts against him,
as to be careless about them, to suffer them to go on without acquainting him with them,
or returning them to him, as follows:
thou shalt surely bring it back to him again; whether it be an ox, or an ass, or any
other beast, the law is very strong and binding upon the finder to return it to his
neighbour, though an enemy, and bring it either to his field or to his farm.
HE RY 4-5, " Commands concerning neighbourly kindnesses. We must be ready to
do all good offices, as there is occasion, for any body, yea even for those that have done
us ill offices, Exo_23:4, Exo_23:5. The command of loving our enemies, and doing good
to those that hate us, is not only a new, but an old commandment, Pro_25:21, Pro_
25:22. Infer hence, 1. If we must do this kindness for an enemy, much more for a friend,
though an enemy only is mentioned, because it is supposed that a man would not be
unneighbourly to any unless such as he had a particular spleen against. 2. If it be wrong

26. not to prevent our enemy's loss and damage, how much worse is it to occasion harm and
loss to him, or any thing he has. 3. If we must bring back our neighbours' cattle when
they go astray, much more must we endeavour, by prudent admonitions and
instructions, to bring back our neighbours themselves, when they go astray in any sinful
path, see Jam_5:19, Jam_5:20. And, if we must endeavour to help up a fallen ass, much
more should we endeavour, by comforts and encouragements, to help up a sinking spirit,
saying to those that are of a fearful heart, Be strong. We must seek the relief and
welfare of others as our own, Phi_2:4. If thou sayest, Behold, we know it not, doth not
he that pondereth the heart consider it? See Pro_24:11, Pro_24:12.
K&D, "Exo_23:4-5
Not only was their conduct not to be determined by public opinion, the direction taken
by the multitude, or by weak compassion for a poor man; but personal antipathy,
enmity, and hatred were not to lead them to injustice or churlish behaviour. On the
contrary, if the Israelite saw his enemy's beast straying, he was to bring it back again;
and if he saw it lying down under the weight of its burden, he was to help it up again (cf.
Deu_22:1-4). The words ‫וגו‬ ‫ּב‬‫ז‬ ֲ‫ע‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ָ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫ד‬ ָ‫ח‬ְ‫,ו‬ “cease (desist) to leave it to him (thine enemy);
thou shalt loosen it (let it loose) with him,” which have been so variously explained,
cannot have any other signification than this: “beware of leaving an ass which has sunk
down beneath its burden in a helpless condition, even to thine enemy, to try whether he
can help it up alone; rather help him to set it loose from its burden, that it may get up
again.” This is evident from Deu_22:4, where ָ ְ‫מ‬ ַ ַ‫ע‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫ה‬ ‫ּא‬‫ל‬, “withdraw not thyself,” is
substituted for ‫ּב‬‫ז‬ ֲ‫ע‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ָ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫ד‬ ָ‫,ח‬ and ‫ּו‬ ִ‫ע‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫ק‬ ָ ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ק‬ ָ‫,ה‬ “set up with him,” for ‫ּו‬ ִ‫ע‬ ‫ּב‬‫ז‬ ֲ‫ע‬ ַ ‫ּב‬‫ז‬ ָ‫.ע‬ From this it
is obvious that ‫ב‬ַ‫ז‬ ָ‫ע‬ is used in the first instance in the sense of leaving it alone, leaving it in
a helpless condition, and immediately afterwards in the sense of undoing or letting
loose. The peculiar turn given to the expression, “thou shalt cease from leaving,” is
chosen because the ordinary course, which the natural man adopts, is to leave an enemy
to take care of his own affairs, without troubling about either him or his difficulties.
Such conduct as this the Israelite was to give up, if he ever found his enemy in need of
help.
CALVI ,"Exodus 23:4.If thou meet thine enemy’s ox. From these two passages it is
very clear that he who abstains from evil doing, is not therefore guiltless before God,
unless he also studies to do good. For our brethren’s advantage ought to be so far
our care, that we should be disposed mutually to aid each other as far as our means
and opportunities permit. This instruction is greatly needed; because, whilst
everybody is more attentive to his own advantage than he ought to be, he is willing
to hold back from the assistance of others. But God brings him in guilty of theft who
has injured his neighbors by his negligence; and justly, because it depended only
upon him that the thing should be safe, which he knowingly and willfully suffered to
perish. This duty, too, is extended even to enemies; wherefore our inhumanity is the
more inexcusable, if we have not helped our friends. The sum therefore is, that
believers should be kind, (127) that they may imitate their heavenly Father; and
should not only bestow their labor upon the good, who are worthy of it, but should
treat the unworthy also with kindness: and since many might invent means of
subterfuge, God anticipates them, and commands that the beast of a person

27. unknown should be kept until reclaimed by its owner; and lays down the same rule
as to all things that may be lost.
COKE,"Exodus 23:4. If thou meet thine enemy's ox, &c.— Here the noble precept
of doing good for evil, of assisting enemies, those who hate us, Exodus 23:5 is
strongly inculcated. othing can excuse us from discharging the offices of kindness
and humanity, when they are wanted, and we are able to perform them, towards
any of our fellow-creatures. Concerning this law, see Deuteronomy 22:1;
Deuteronomy 22:30.
COFFMA , "Verse 4-5
"If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it
back to him. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, thou
shalt forbear to leave him, thou shalt surely release it with him."
Here is the germ of the Christian teaching that men have duties of friendliness and
helpfulness even toward their enemies. "One should not allow personal animosity to
destroy one's willingness to be of assistance in a time of need."[8] The need in view
in Exodus 23:5 is that of a helpless, over-burdened animal, slipping, or failing,
under a load and unable to get up. There is also the need of that designated enemy
for assistance with a problem that one man could not handle. It was a major
premise of Judaism that kindness and thoughtfulness for animals were required by
God (See Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 22:27; Deuteronomy 22:6-7; 25:4). Here the kind
help of one's enemy was also enjoined.
Seeing, therefore, that regard for an enemy was inculcated into the Book of the
Covenant, what must we think of Jesus' words: "Ye have heard that it was said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy?" (Matthew 5:43). "Some
Jewish authorities are incensed at Jesus' words, which they regard as a baseless
charge against the Torah and the rabbis."[9] However, it must be noted that Jesus
did OT say, "God said, `Hate thine enemy ... etc.'" Despite the fact that God
indeed had said no such thing, it was an incontrovertible truth that whole
generations of learned Jews had been preaching exactly what Jesus said that they
had preached and that "ye have heard it." Of course, they had. A famous sect of the
Jews, the Essenes, wrote a Manual of Discipline with these lines: "They (their
members) are to bear unremitting hatred toward all men of repute, and to be
reminded to keep in seclusion from them."[10]
However, the pre-Christian Jewish community was not the only place that vicious
and evil hatred prevailed in human hearts. There are even Christians who have
been unsuccessful in eradicating the cancer of hatred from their hearts. Christ went
far beyond what is visible in these verses, requiring his followers to "love their
enemies, ... do good to them that despitefully use you," "turn the other cheek," "go
the second mile," "agree with thine adversary quickly ...," etc.
ELLICOTT, "(4) Thine enemy’s ox.—The general duty of stopping stray animals
and restoring them to friendly owners, expressly taught in Deuteronomy 22:1-3, is

28. here implied as if admitted on all hands. The legislator extends this duty to cases
where the owner is our personal enemy. It was not generally recognised in antiquity
that men’s enemies had any claims upon them. Cicero, indeed, says—“Sunt autem
quædam officia etiam adversus eos servanda, a quibus injuriam aceeperis” (De Off.
i. 11); but he stops short of enjoining active benevolence. Here and in Exodus 23:5
we have a sort of anticipation of Christianity—active kindness to an enemy being
required, even when it costs us some trouble. The principle of friendliness is
involved—the germ which in Christianity blossoms out into the precept, “Love your
enemies.”
PETT, "Exodus 23:4-5
“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his ass going astray you shall surely bring it back
to him again. If you see the ass of him who hates you lying under his burden and
would forbear to help him, you shall surely help with him.”
Concern for the animal’s welfare is possibly as much in mind here as concern for
the ‘enemy’. Attitudes between people are not to prevent acts of mercy towards
dumb animals. But such an act would often produce reconciliation.
This sudden switch in subject matter is typical of ancient law codes, but in fact the
switch may not be as noticeable to the ancient mind as to us. After concern for the
poor man comes concern for brute beasts. It is simply a step downwards The change
of format is required by the content.
The phrase ‘your poor’ is found elsewhere only in Deuteronomy 15:11 and speaks of
the poor as a whole. To wrest (or bend) judgment suggests the twisting or
manoeuvring of the facts. Thus the command is not to interfere with true judgment
just because the poor are involved. This would seem to warn against discriminating
against the poor, the opposite of Exodus 23:3. The content of Exodus 23:4 and
Exodus 23:5 may well have been deliberately included here to separate the two ideas
in Exodus 23:3 and Exodus 23:6 so that they could be stated separately and not
confused.
PULPIT, "Thine enemy's ox. A private enemy is here spoken of, not a public one, as
in Deuteronomy 23:6. It is remarkable that the law should have so far anticipated
Christianity as to have laid it down that men have duties of friendliness even
towards their enemies, and are bound under certain circumstances to render them a
service. "Hate thine enemies" (Matthew 5:43) was no injunction of the Mosaic taw,
but a conclusion which Rabbinical teachers unwarrantably drew from it.
Christianity, however, goes far beyond Mosaism in laying down the broad
precept—"Love your enemies."
BI, "Thine enemy’s ox.
On duties to enemies
I. That duties to enemies are enjoined (Pro_24:17; 1Th_5:15).

29. 1. It is our duty to protect the interests of our enemy.
(1) If they are damaged, we should endeavour to retrieve them.
(2) If they are in danger of damage, we should endeavour to prevent them (Jas_
5:19-20).
2. It is our duty to help the difficulties of our enemy.
(1) His mind may be in difficulties.
(2) His soul may be in difficulties.
(3) His material interests may be in difficulties.
II. That duties to enemies are difficult: “and wouldest forbear to help him.”
1. Such duties are against the grain of human nature.
2. Such duties are apparently against self-interest.
3. Such duties require self-denials and sacrifices.
III. That duties to enemies are rewarded (Pro_25:21-22; Mat_5:44-45; Rom_12:20).
IV. That neglect of duties to enemies is punished (Job_31:29; Pro_24:18). In
conclusion—
1. Our text applies to all enmity, whether polemical, political, or national.
2. Its precepts should be obeyed, because we may be in the wrong and our enemy in
the right.
3. Because God has Himself set us the sublime example. “When we were enemies, we
were reconciled by the death of His Son.” (J. W. Burn.)
Neighbourly conduct
The horse of a pious man living in Massachusetts, North America, happening to stray
into the road, a neighbour of the man who owned the horse put him into the pound.
Meeting the owner soon after, he told him what he had done; “And if I catch him in the
road again,” said he, “I’ll do it again.” “Neighbour,” replied the other, “not long since I
looked out of my window in the night and saw your cattle in my meadow, and I drove
them out and shut them in your yard; and I’ll do it again.” Struck with the reply, the man
liberated the horse from the pound, and paid the charges himself. “A soft answer turneth
away wrath.”
A humane disposition
In one of my temperance pilgrimages through Illinois I met a gentleman who was the
companion of a dreary ride which Mr. Lincoln made in a light waggon, going the rounds
of a circuit court where he had clients to look after. The weather was rainy, the road
“heavy” with mud. Lincoln enlivened the way with anecdotes and recital, for few indeed
were the incidents that relieved the tedium of the trip. At last, in wallowing through a
slough, they came upon a poor hog, which was literally fast in the mud. The lawyers
commented on the poor creature’s pitiful condition and drove on. About half a mile was
laboriously gone over, when Lincoln suddenly exclaimed, “I don’t know how you feel
about it, but I’ve got to go back and pull that pig out of the slough.” His comrade
laughed, thinking it merely a joke; but what was his surprise when Lincoln dismounted,

30. left him to his reflections, and striding slowly back, like a man on stilts picking his way
as his long walking implements permitted, he grappled with the drowning swine,
dragged him out of the ditch, left him on its edge to recover his strength, slowly
measured off the distance back to his waggon, and the two men drove on as if nothing
had happened. The grand and brotherly nature which could not consent to see the lowest
of animals suffer without coming to its rescue at great personal discomfort was nurtured
by years of self-abnegation for the great struggle, when he should be strong enough to
“put a shoulder to the wheel,” that should lift the chariot of State out of the mire and set
a subject race upon its feet. (Frances E. Willard.)
5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you
fallen down under its load, do not leave it there;
be sure you help them with it.
BAR ES, "Exo_23:5
The sense appears to be: “If thou see the ass of thine enemy lying down under his
burden, thou shalt forbear to pass by him; thou shalt help him in loosening the girths of
the ass.”
GILL, "If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden,....
Fallen down, and such a burden upon him that he cannot rise up again, but lies under it,
and the owner of it is not able of himself to raise it up again:
and wouldst forbear to help him; show an inclination to pass on without giving him
any assistance to get up his beast again; or "wouldst thou forbear to help him?" (w) as
Jarchi, and others, read with an interrogation, could it be in thine heart to forbear
helping him? couldest thou go on, and take no notice of him and his case, and not join
him in endeavouring to get up his beast again, that he may proceed its his journey? canst
thou be so cruel and hardhearted, though he is thine enemy? but if thou art, know this:
thou shalt surely help with him; to get up his ass again: hence the Jewish canon
runs thus (x),"if an ass is unloaded and loaded four or five times, a man is bound, i.e. to
help, as it is said, "in helping thou shalt help"; if he (the owner) goes away, and sets
himself down, seeing the command is upon thee, if it is thy will and pleasure to unload,
unload, he is free; for it is said, with him; if he is an old man, or sick, he is bound, the
command of the law is to unload, but not to load.''The words may be rendered, "in
leaving thou shalt leave with him" (y); either leave or forsake thine enmity to help him,
as Onkelos; or leave thy business, thou art about, to lend him an hand to raise up his

31. beast again.
COKE, "Exodus 23:5. And wouldest forbear to help him— The meaning of this
verse is evident enough from the parallel passage, Deuteronomy 22:4. But it is
difficult to make out the literal construction of the Hebrew, as the marginal version
of our Bibles may serve to shew. Parkhurst, in his Lexicon, renders it thus, "When
thou shalt see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, ‫וחדלת‬ ‫מעזב‬ ‫,לו‬
then thou shalt forbear to leave it to him, (i.e. thou shalt not leave the beast under
his burden, but shalt assist him in raising it up again, and then) ‫עזב‬ ‫תעזב‬ ‫עמו‬ thou
shalt surely leave it with him. otwithstanding this, if ‫עזב‬ ozob will bear the sense of
helping, as Stockius affirms, I see no great difficulty in understanding the passage
according to our version: If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, &c. and
wouldest forbear, or delay, to help him, (influenced by the narrow principles of
enmity: I command thee to do far otherwise) thou shalt surely help with him. And
this seems very conformable to the mode of expression, Deuteronomy 22:4. Thou
shalt not see thy brother's ass or ox fall down, and hide thyself from them: thou
shalt surely help him to lift them up. In Phocylides we read,
"Should'st thou thine adversary's beast espy Fall'n in the road, pass not unheeding
by; But help it."—— HARTE.
ELLICOTT, "(5) If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee . . . —The sense is clear,
but the words are greatly disputed. If a man sees his enemy’s ass prostrate under its
burthen, he is to help to raise it up. In this case he owes a double duty—(1) to his
enemy, and (2) to the suffering animal. Geddes’ emendation of ’azar for ’azab, in all
the three places where the verb occurs, is the simplest and best of those suggested.
The passage would then run: “If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under
his burthen, and wouldest forbear to help it, thou shalt surely help with him”—i.e.,
the owner.
PULPIT, "If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, etc. The general meaning of
the passage is clear—assistance is to be given to the fallen ass of an enemy—but the
exact sense of both the second and third clauses is doubtful. Many renderings have
been suggested; but it is not clear that any one of them is an improvement on the
Authorised Version. Thou shalt surely help with him. The joint participation in an
act of mercy towards a fallen beast would bring the enemies into friendly contact,
and soften their feelings towards each other.
6 “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their
lawsuits.

32. BAR ES 6-9, "Four precepts evidently addressed to those in authority as judges:
(a) To do justice to the poor. Comparing Exo_23:6 with Exo_23:3, it was the part of
the judge to defend the poor against the oppression of the rich, and the part of the
witness to take care lest his feelings of natural pity should tempt him to falsify
evidence.
(b) To be cautious of inflicting capital punishment on one whose guilt was not clearly
proved. A doubtful case was rather to be left to God Himself, who would “not
justify the wicked,” nor suffer him to go unpunished though he might be acquitted
by an earthly tribunal. Exo_23:7.
(c) To take no bribe or present which might in any way pervert judgment Exo_23:8;
compare Num_16:15; 1Sa_12:3; Act_26:26.
(d) To vindicate the rights of the stranger Exo_23:9 - rather, the foreigner. (Exo_
20:10 note.) This verse is a repetition of Exo_22:21, but the precept is there
addressed to the people at large, while it is here addressed to the judges in
reference to their official duties. The caution was perpetually necessary. Compare
Eze_22:7; Mal_3:5. The word rendered “heart” is more strictly “soul,” and would
be better represented here by feelings.
CLARKE, "Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor - Thou shalt
neither countenance him in his crimes, nor condemn him in his righteousness. See Exo_
23:5, Exo_23:7.
GILL, "Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. As the
poor man was not to be favoured when his cause was bad through an affected pity for
him as a poor man, so his judgment was not to be wrested or perverted, when his cause
was good, because of his poverty; which is too often the case, through the power of rich
men, and the prevalence of their gifts and bribes, and to curry favour with them: the
phrase, "thy poor", is very emphatic, and intended to engage judges to regard them, as
being of the same flesh and blood with them, of the same nation and religion; and who
were particularly committed to their care and protection under God, who is the Judge
and protector of the poor, of the widow and the fatherless.
K&D, "Exo_23:6-8
The warning against unkindness towards an enemy is followed by still further
prohibitions of injustice in questions of right: viz., in Exo_23:6, a warning against
perverting the right of the poor in his cause; in Exo_23:7, a general command to keep far
away from a false matter, and not to slay the innocent and righteous, i.e., not to be guilty
of judicial murder, together with the threat that God would not justify the sinner; and in
Exo_23:8, the command not to accept presents, i.e., to be bribed by gifts, because “the

33. gift makes seeing men (‫ים‬ ִ‫ח‬ ְ‫ק‬ ִ open eyes) blind, and perverts the causes of the just.” The
rendering “words of the righteous” is not correct; for even if we are to understand the
expression “seeing men” as referring to judges, the “righteous” can only refer to those
who stand at the bar, and have right on their side, which judges who accept of bribes
may turn into wrong.
CALVI ,"6.Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. Since laws are enacted
to repress the vices which are of frequent occurrence, no wonder that God should
put forward the case of the poor, to whom it often happens that they fail though
their causes are good, both because they are without interest and are exposed to
injury through the contempt in which they are held, and also because they cannot
contend with the rich in incurring expense. Justly, then, is provision made for their
inferiority, lest the iniquity of judges should rob them of the little they possess. But
the other point here referred to might appear superfluous, viz., that judges should
not favor the poor, which very rarely takes place. It would also be incongruous that
what God elsewhere prescribes and praises should here be reprehended. I reply,
that rectitude is so greatly pleasing to God, that the judge would in no wise be
excusable, under whatever pretext he might decline from it ever so little, and that
this is the intention of this precept. For, although the poor is for the most part
tyrannically oppressed, still ambition will sometimes impel a judge to misplaced
compassion, so that he is liberal at another’s expense. And this temptation is all the
more dangerous, because injustice is done under the cloak of virtue. For, if a judge
only directs his attention to the poverty of the litigant, a foolish fear will at the same
time insinuate itself lest his sentence should ruin the man whom he would wish to
save; thus he will award to the one what belongs to the other. Sometimes the
temerity, audacity, and obstinacy of the poor in commencing and prosecuting suits
is greater than that of the rich; and when they despair of their cause, they are sure
to have recourse to tears and lamentations, by which they deceive incautious judges,
who, forgetful of the cause itself, only consider how their misery and want is to be
relieved. Besides, too, whilst they think little of the rich man’s loss, because he can
easily bear it, they make no scruple of declining from equity in favor of the poor.
But hence it better appears how greatly God is offended by the oppression of the
poor, when He will not have even them befriended to the injury of the rich.
COKE, "Exodus 23:6. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause—
The poor, is emphatic; and designed to enforce the observation of this law, which
enjoins the impartial administration of justice to the poor, as well as to the rich; to
the stranger, as well as to the native Israelite, Exodus 23:9. See Deuteronomy 16:18-
19; Deuteronomy 24:17-18; Deuteronomy 27:19.
COFFMA , "Verses 6-9
"Thou shalt not wrest the justice due to thy poor in his cause. Keep thee far from a false
matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. And
thou shalt take no bribe: for a bribe bindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the
words of the righteous. And a sojourner shalt thou not oppress: for ye know the heart of a
sojourner, seeing ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt."

34. "The innocent and righteous slay thou not ..." In context, this means "do not support some
false matter, because it might result in slaying innocent and righteous people." Also here is
the converse of the edict in Exodus 23:3 regarding the cause of the poor. In Exodus 23:3,
favoritism toward the poor based solely upon sympathy is forbidden. Here, discrimination
against the poor is prohibited. Justice must be impartial, equal, and blind to ALL such
distinctions as race, social excellence, wealth, poverty, or anything else. That is why the
sculptor has depicted Justice as a seated figure holding the balances, and blind-folded.
"Take no bribe ..." There is no indication whatever that Israel, to any great extent, heeded
this law. Eli's sons "turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice" (1
Samuel 7:3). In David's time, men's hands "were full of bribes" (Psalms 26:10). King
Solomon complained of wicked men "taking gifts out of their bosoms to pervert the ways of
judgment" (Proverbs 17:23). Isaiah spoke of the princes of his day, "who love gifts and
follow after rewards" (Isaiah 1:23), and he mentioned those who "justify the wicked for
reward, and turn away the righteousness of the righteous from him" (Isaiah 5:23). Micah
condemned the heads of the house of Jacob, "who abhor judgment and pervert all equity.
They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for
reward (Micah 3:9-11); Zephaniah spoke of Israel's bribe-hungry judges as "evening
wolves who leave nothing till the morrow" (Zephaniah 3:3). This was a fatal failure of
Israel. It was the gold of the Pharisees that shut mouths of the soldiers who witnessed the
resurrection, and brought together the mob that clamored for the crucifixion of the Son of
God.
"A sojourner shalt thou not oppress ..." "The rabbis interpreted this to apply to Jewish
strangers."[11] Of course, that is totally incorrect. It is exactly like the "Christian"
interpretation of the Great Commission to mean "Go preach the gospel to all the English-
speaking nations!" This law must be understood as vital to the history of mankind.
Concerning this, Esses said:
"The alien is to be protected, not because he is a member of one's family, one's clan, or
one's religious community, but because he is a HUMA BEI G. In this law, the concept of
humanity was born, the concept of love and grace and mercy."[12]
ELLICOTT, "(6) Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor.—If we are not to
favour the poor man in a court of justice on account of his poverty (Exodus 23:3),
much less are we to treat him with disfavour. (Comp. Deuteronomy 24:17;
Deuteronomy 27:19; Jeremiah 5:28, &c.)
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Exodus 23:6
It is a lamentable fact that pure and uncorrupt justice has never existed in Spain, as
far at least as record will allow us to judge; not that the principles of justice have
been less understood there than in other countries, but because the entire system of
justiciary administration has ever been shamelessly profligate and vile. Spanish
justice has invariably been a mockery, a thing to be bought and sold, terrible only to
the feeble and innocent, and an instrument of cruelty and avarice.

35. —Borrow"s The Gypsies of Spain (chap. xi. pt. i.).
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:6
As in Exodus 23:3 men were warned not to favour the poor unduly in courts of
justice out of compassion for them, so here there is a warning against the opposite,
and far more usual error, of leaning against the poor man in our evidence or in our
decisions The scales of justice are to be held even; strict right is to be done; our
feelings are not be allowed to influence us, much less our class prejudices.
7 Have nothing to do with a false charge and do
not put an innocent or honest person to death, for
I will not acquit the guilty.
GILL, "Keep thee far from a false matter,.... Or "word" (z); from receiving a false
testimony, or taking the false or wrong side of a cause, or engaging in a bad one; keep
aloof off from it, as much at a distance from it as possible:
and the innocent and the righteous slay thou not; that is, do not condemn them
to death, nor join with the majority in their condemnation, if they appear to be innocent
and righteous; nor give orders, or join in giving orders to the executioner to put such to
death. The Targum of Jonathan is,"he that goes righteous out of the house of thy
judgment (out of the sanhedrim, to which he belonged), and they find out his sin
(afterwards), and he that goes out guilty, and they (afterwards) find out his
righteousness, do not slay:"
for I will not justify the wicked: the wicked judge in pronouncing an unjust sentence
on innocent and righteous men, or if they absolve wicked men, at the same time they put
to death the innocent and righteous, God will not justify those wicked men cleared by
them, but will, in his own time and way, sooner or later, inflict the deserved punishment
on them: this is not contrary to Rom_4:5 for though God justifies the ungodly, he does
not justify ungodliness in them, or them in ungodliness, but from it, and that by the
imputation of the righteousness of his Son.
HE RY, "
JAMISO ,"

36. K&D, "
CALVI ,"7.Keep thee far from a false matter. Since he seems to speak of perjury,
which brings about the death of the innocent, some might perhaps prefer that this
passage should be annexed to the Sixth Commandment; but this is easily solved; for
Moses is expressly condemning false-witness, and at the same time instances one
case of it, whereby it may appear how detestable a crime it is, viz., the slaying of a
brother by calumny, because the false witness rather kills him with his tongue than
the executioner with his sword. Although, therefore, it is a gross act of inhumanity
to lie in general against one’s brother, yet is its atrocity increased if he be put to
death by perjury; because murder is thus combined with perfidy. A threat follows,
whereby God summons false-witnesses before His tribunal, where they who have
brought the good into peril by their falsehoods shall not escape with impunity.
PETT, "Exodus 23:7
“Keep yourself far from a false matter, and do not slay the innocent and the
righteous, for I will not justify the wicked.”
Anything that is dubious or false is to be avoided, especially as relating to matters of
justice. To assist in a false verdict is to punish and even possibly kill those who are
righteous, and to declare the wicked innocent. This is something Yahweh could not
participate in and therefore neither can His people. It is contrary to all that Yahweh
is.
“I will not justify the wicked.” This could refer to His not participating in a verdict
that brings guilt or innocence on the wrong person, or it could be referring His
judgment on those who assist in a false verdict. There is One Who sees and judges
(Proverbs 15:3).
8 “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those
who see and twists the words of the innocent.
CLARKE, "Thou shalt take no gift - A strong ordinance against selling justice,
which has been the disgrace and ruin of every state where it has been practiced. In the
excellent charter of British liberties called Magna Charta, there is one article expressly
on this head: Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus aut differemus, rectum aut justitiam -
Art. xxxiii. “To none will we sell, to none will we deny or defer, right or justice.” This was
the more necessary in those early and corrupt times, as he who had most money, and

37. gave the largest presents (called then oblata) to the king or queen, was sure to gain his
cause in the king’s court; whether he had right and justice on his side or not.
GILL, "And thou shalt take no gift,.... Of the persons whose cause is to be tried in a
court of judicature before judges; neither of those on the one side nor on the other,
neither before the trial nor after, neither by words, by a promise, nor by facts, by actually
receiving money; and not even to judge truly, as Jarchi observes, neither to clear the
innocent nor to condemn the guilty: a gift was not to be taken on any consideration
whatever:
for the gift blindeth the wise; or the "seeing" (a); the open ones, who used to have
both their eyes and their ears open, and attentive to the cause before them; and yet a gift
so blinds them, by casting such a mist before them, that they are inattentive to the true
merits of the cause, and their affections and judgments are to be carried away in favour
of those that have bribed them, as to pass a wrong sentence:
and perverteth the words of the righteous; either the sentences of righteous
judges, as they ought to be, but a gift perverts their judgment, and they give a wrong
decree; or the causes of the righteous that are brought before those are perverted by
giving the cause to their adversaries, who are wicked men.
CALVI ,"Exodus 23:8And thou shalt take no gift. This kind of theft is the worst of
all, when judges are corrupted either by bribes, or by affection, and thus ruin the
fortunes which they ought to protect: for, since their tribunal is as it were sacred
asylum, to which those who are unjustly oppressed may fly, nothing can be more
unseemly than that they should there fall amongst robbers. (129) Judges are
appointed to repress all wrongs and offenses; if therefore they show favor to the
wicked, they are harborers of thieves; than which there is no more deadly pest. And
besides, since their authority excludes every other remedy, they are themselves like
rob-hers with arms in their hands. The greater, therefore, their power of injury is,
and the greater the damage committed by their unjust sentences, the more diligently
are they to be warned to beware of iniquity; and thus it was necessary to keep them
in the path of duty by special instructions, lest they should conceal and encourage
thievery by their patronage. ow, as avarice is the root of all evils, when it thus lays
hold of the minds of judges, no integrity can continue to exist. But, since all utterly
condemn this vice, even though they may be entirely under its influence, God speaks
of it the more plainly and popularly, enjoining that judges should withhold their
hands from every gift: for there is no more fatal poison for the extinction of all
uprightness, than when a judge suffers himself to be cajoled by gifts. Let those who
accept gifts allege as much as they please that they still maintain their integrity, the
fact itself clearly shows that they are venal, and seek their own pecuniary advantage
when they are thus attracted by gain. Formerly it was enough to render judges
infamous that they were called nummarii, (moneyers.) (130) But it is superfluous to
treat any further of this matter, since God cuts off all handles for subterfuge in a
single sentence: “for gifts (He says) blind the eyes of him that seeth, and pervert the
judgment of the righteous.” If, then, we acquiesce in His decision, there is no light of

38. intelligence so bright but that gifts extinguish it, nor any probity so great but that
they undermine it; in fact, gifts infect a sound mind before they soil the hand; I
mean those which a person receives in reference to the judgment of a cause; for
there is no question here as to those gifts of mutual kindness which men reciprocate
with each other. Thus, in the passage from Deuteronomy 16:0, before God speaks of
gifts, He forbids that justice should be wrested., or men’s persons respected: whence
we gather, that only those snares are condemned which are set to curry favor. It
must be observed on the passage from Leviticus, that to judge in righteousness is
contrasted with respecting the person: and consequently, as soon as the judge turns
away his eyes ever so little from the cause itself, he forgets equity. Moreover, to
wrest judgment is equivalent to doing iniquity in judgment; but since injustice is not
always openly manifested, but rather disguised by various artifices, after God in
Leviticus has condemned corrupt and unjust judgments, He uses this word to wrest
(inclinandi), in Deuteronomy, in order to dissipate all vain pretexts.
COKE, "Exodus 23:8. A gift blindeth the wise— See Ecclesiastes 7:7. The margin of
our Bibles renders, very properly, the Hebrew word, translated the wise in the text,
the seeing. Houbigant, from the Samaritan and others, adds the word eyes; a gift
blindeth the open, or seeing eyes. The law of the twelve tables made the
transgressors in this instance guilty of death; "the judge, who shall be convicted of
receiving money in any cause, shall be punished with death."
REFLECTIO S.—Observe here, 1. False accusation is forbidden: not only by
perjury, but, in the secondary sense, by every scandal propagated in common
conversation. ote; To speak evil of any man behind his back, or to hear it without
vindicating the injured and the absent, is to be guilty of a great act of injustice, as
well as uncharitableness. 2. Every judge must act from conscience, and not be
influenced by any consideration of the might or multitude of those who may be
against him. It is generally bad following the multitude: they who go with the crowd
infallibly perish. 3. o pity for a poor man must prevent the due execution of justice
against him. 4. Kindness must be shewn to enemies, in helping their beast when
fallen, or bringing it back, if gone astray. ote; To love, and be kind to those who
hate us, is no new commandment. 5. The poor must have justice done them. It is bad
enough to be poor, they ought not to be oppressed too. 6. All approach to injustice
must be guarded against. They who would keep from evil must abstain from the
appearance of it. 7. o bribe must be taken; justice must be administered freely as
well as impartially. 8. The stranger must not be oppressed: this is enforced upon
them, from having experienced themselves in Egypt the disadvantages which
strangers labour under. Similarity of distresses should teach us compassion.
ELLICOTT, "(8) Thou shalt take no gift—i.e., no bribe. Corruption has been
always rife in the East, and the pure administration of justice is almost unknown
there. Signal punishments by wise rulers have sometimes checked the inveterate evil
(Herod. v. 25). But it recurs again and again—“ aturam expellas furca, tarnen
usque recurret.” According to Josephus (contr. Ap. ii. 27), the Jewish law punished
with death the judge who took a bribe. But Hebrew judges seem practically to have

39. been no better than Oriental judges generally. (See 1 Samuel 8:3; Psalms 26:10;
Proverbs 17:23; Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 5:23; Micah 3:9-11, &c.) The corrupt
Administration of justice was one of the crying evils which provoked God’s
judgments against His people, and led, in the first instance, to the Babylonian
captivity, and afterwards to the Roman conquest.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Exodus 23:8
And that he would for no respect digress from justice well appeared by a plain
example of another of his sons-in-law, Mr. Heran. For when Hebrews , having a
matter before him in the Chancery, presuming too much of his favour, would by
him in no wise be persuaded to agree to any indifferent order, then made he in
conclusion a flat decree against him.... And one Mr. Gresham likewise having a
cause depending in the Chancery against him, sent him for a new year"s gift a fair
cup, the fashion whereof he very well liking caused one of his own to be brought out
of his chamber, which he willed the messenger to deliver in recompense, and under
other conditions would he in no wise receive it. Many things more of like effect for
the declaration of his innocence and clearness from corruption, or evil affection,
could I here rehearse besides.
—Roper"s Life of Sir Thomas More.
Compare the discussion on bribery in Macaulay"s Essay on Bacon.
PETT, "Exodus 23:8
“And you shall accept no gift, for a gift blinds those who have sight (literally ‘the
open-eyed’) and perverts the words of the righteous.”
This refers especially to witnesses, but it can also be seen as referring to any
occasion when the reception of a gift could produce biased judgment. To accept a
gift from someone about whom you are called to give an opinion, or from his
friends, is strictly forbidden. We will always favour those who reward us however
much we may protest otherwise, and this can apply equally in churches as well as in
courts of law.
“A gift blinds the open-eyed.” This is the fact, however much we persuade ourselves
otherwise. Its effect is subtle but certain. It makes us close our eyes to what we have
seen. It makes even the righteous behave and speak unrighteously, in other words to
say what otherwise they would not have said. ‘A gift is as a precious stone in the
eyes of him who has it, wherever it turns it prospers’ (Proverbs 17:8), which simply
indicates that it obtains what the giver is seeking to obtain.
As today, bribery was a common fact of Old Testament life and utterly condemned
(see Isaiah 1:23; Amos 5:12; Micah 3:11; Psalms 15:5; Psalms 26:10; Proverbs
17:23).
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:8

40. And thou shalt take no gift. The worst sin of a judge, and the commonest in the
East, is to accept abribe from one of the parties to a suit, and give sentence
accordingly. As such a practice defeats the whole end for which the administration
of justice exists, it is, when detected, for the most part, punished capitally. Josephus
tells us that it was so among the Jews (Contr. Apion. 2.27); but the Mosaic code, as it
has come down to us, omits to fix the penalty. Whatever it was, it was practically set
at nought. Eli's sons "turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted
judgment" (1 Samuel 8:3). In David's time, men's hands were "full of bribes"
(Psalms 26:10). Solomon complains of wicked men" taking gifts out of their bosoms
to pervert the ways of judgment" (Proverbs 17:23). Isaiah is never weary of bearing
witness against the princes of his day, who" love gifts and follow after rewards"
(Isaiah 1:23);who "justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness
of the righteous from him" (Isaiah 5:23). Micah adds his testimony—"Hear this, I
pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel, that
abhor judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and
Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward" (Exodus 3:9-11). The
gift blindeth the wise. See Deuteronomy 16:19.
9 “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves
know how it feels to be foreigners, because you
were foreigners in Egypt.
CLARKE, "Ye know the heart of a stranger - Having been strangers yourselves,
under severe, long continued, and cruel oppression, ye know the fears, cares, anxieties,
and dismal forebodings which the heart of a stranger feels. What a forcible appeal to
humanity and compassion!
GILL, "Also thou shall not oppress a stranger,.... As these were not to be vexed
and oppressed in a private manner and by private men, see Exo_22:21 so neither in a
public manner, and in a public court of judicature, or by judges on the bench when their
cause was before them, by not doing them justice, showing a partiality to those of their
own nation against a stranger; whereas a stranger ought to have equal justice done him
as a native, and the utmost care should be taken that he has no injury done him, and the

41. rather because he is a stranger:
for ye know the heart of a stranger; the fears he is possessed of, the inward distress
of his soul, the anxiety of his mind, the tenderness of his heart, the workings of his
passions, his grief and sorrow, and dejection of spirit: the Targum of Jonathan is,""the
groaning of the soul of a stranger": this the Israelitish judges knew, having had a very
late experience of it:"
seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt; where they had been vexed and
oppressed, brought into hard bondage, and groaned under it; and therefore it might be
reasonably thought and expected that they would have a heart sympathizing with
strangers, and use them well, and especially see that justice was done them, and no
injury or oppression of any kind.
K&D,"Exo_23:9
The warning against oppressing the foreigner, which is repeated from Exo_22:20, is
not tautological, as Bertheau affirms for the purpose of throwing suspicion upon this
verse, but refers to the oppression of a stranger in judicial matters by the refusal of
justice, or by harsh and unjust treatment in court (Deu_24:17; Deu_27:19). “For ye
know the soul (animus, the soul as the seat of feeling) of the stranger,” i.e., ye know
from your own experience in Egypt how a foreigner feels.
ELLICOTT, "(9) Thou shalt not oppress a stranger.—See ote on Exodus 22:21.
The repetition of the law indicates the strong inclination of the Hebrew people to ill-
use strangers, and the anxiety of the legislator to check their inclination.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Exodus 23:9
It was God"s argument to the Israelites, to be kind to strangers, because themselves
had been strangers in the land of Egypt. So should you pity them that are strangers
to Christ, and to the hopes and comforts of the saints, because you were once
strangers to them yourselves.
—Baxter, Saints" Rest, chap. IX.
PETT, "Exodus 23:9
“And a stranger you will not oppress, for you understand the heart of a stranger
seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
The position of this verse shows that the previous warning is in mind. Strangers
resident among us have as much right to justice as anyone else, and it is especially
easy to be turned against a foreigner by ‘gifts’. But they deserve justice too.
Compare Exodus 22:21, which is very similar, for the general attitude to strangers.
But here the emphasis is on the resident alien receiving proper justice, in Exodus
2:21 it was on seeing him as within the sphere of God’s covenant mercy.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:9

42. Thou shalt not oppress a stranger. This is a repetition of Exodus 22:21, with
perhaps a special reference to oppression through courts of justice. For thou
knowest the heart of a stranger. Literally, "the mind of a stranger," or, in other
words, his thoughts and feelings. Thou shouldest therefore be able to sympathise
with him.
BI, "Thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye knew the heart of a stranger.
The logic of law
The argument is that our conduct is to spring out of our experience; we are to go back
upon our own history and consciousness for the law that shall guide us in the treatment
of our fellow-men. Why, could we do so, no more should we hear the rasping voice of
rancour, hostile criticism, mean remark, or severe demand.
1. Thou shalt not oppress the struggling man, for thou thyself hast had thy struggle.
Do not be hard upon those who are going up-hill.
2. Thou shall not oppress a doubting man, for thou thyself hast had thy doubts, if
thou art more than half a man.
3. The text has a meaning in reference to ourselves, as well as to others. Thou shalt
not renew old fears, for all thy fears have been round, black, blatant liars. Six fears
have been with you, have lied to you, have made you play the fool in all the higher
relations and issues of life, and yet I detect you this morning talking in the corner to
a member of the same false family! Why do you not throw it from you, or order it
behind you, or mock it with the jibing of perfect rest in God!
4. “Thou shalt not—, because—.” That is the logic of the text. Now, what must He be
who gave such laws? In the character of the laws, find the character of the legislator.
God must be tender; He takes care of strangers. Not only so; He must be aware of
human history in all its changes and processes. He knows about the strangers who
were in the land of Egypt; He knows about their deliverance; He knows that
strangers are a tribe that must be on the earth from age to age; He knows us
altogether. He speaks a word for the stranger. Oh, man, friendless, lonely man, you
should love God. Oh, woman, mother, sister, sinning woman, you should love Christ.
Oh, little children, frail flowers that may wither in a moment, you should put out
your little hands, if in but dumb prayer, and long to touch the Son of God. Oh,
working man, led away by the demagogue, made to scoff where you ought to pray,
the Bible has done more for you than any other book ever attempted to do; this is a
human book, a book for the nursery, the family, the market-place, the parliament,
the universe! (J. Parker, D. D.)
Kindly qualities developed by adversity
I suppose it is adversity that develops the kindly qualities of our nature. I believe the
sense of common degradation has a tendency to make the degraded amiable—at least
among themselves. I am told it is found so in the plantations in slave-gangs. (Lord
Beaconsfield.)

43. Sabbath Laws
10 “For six years you are to sow your fields and
harvest the crops,
BAR ES, "This is the first mention of the Sabbatical year; the law for it is given at
length in Lev_25:2. Both the Sabbatical year and the weekly Sabbath are here spoken of
exclusively in their relation to the poor, as bearing testimony to the equality of the
people in their covenant with Yahweh. In the first of these institutions, the proprietor of
the soil gave up his rights for the year to the whole community of living creatures, not
excepting the beasts: in the latter, the master gave up his claim for the day to the services
of his servants and cattle.
GILL, "And six years thou shall sow thy land, The land of Canaan, given to their
ancestors and to them, and which they were now going to inherit; and when they came
into it they were to plant it with vines and olives; or rather, these being ready planted,
they were to prune and dress them; and they were to till their land, and plough it, and
sow it with various sorts of grain, for six years running, from the time of their possession
of it:
and shall gather in the fruits thereof; corn and wine, and oil, into their own
garners, treasuries, and cellars, as their own property, to dispose of as they pleased for
their own use and profit.
HE RY 10-11, "Here is, I. The institution of the sabbatical year, Exo_23:10, Exo_
23:11. Every seventh year the land was to rest; they must not plough nor sow it at the
beginning of the year, and then they could not expect any great harvest at the end of the
year: but what the earth did produce of itself should be eaten from hand to mouth, and
not laid up. Now this was designed, 1. To show what a plentiful land that was into which
God was bringing them - that so numerous a people could have rich maintenance out of
the produce of so small a country, without foreign trade, and yet could spare the increase
of every seventh year. 2. To remind them of their dependence upon God their great
landlord, and their obligation to use the fruit of their land as he should direct. Thus he
would try their obedience in a matter that nearly touched their interest. Afterwards we
find that their disobedience to this command was a forfeiture of the promises, 2Ch_
36:21. 3. To teach them a confidence in the divine Providence, while they did their duty -
that, as the sixth day's manna served for two day's meat, so the sixth year's increase
should serve for two years' subsistence. Thus they must learn not to take thought for
their life, Mat_6:25. If we are prudent and diligent in our affairs, we may trust

44. Providence to furnish us with the bread of the day in its day.
JAMISO ,"six years thou shalt sow thy land — intermitting the cultivation of
the land every seventh year. But it appears that even then there was a spontaneous
produce which the poor were permitted freely to gather for their use, and the beasts
driven out fed on the remainder, the owners of fields not being allowed to reap or collect
the fruits of the vineyard or oliveyard during the course of this sabbatical year. This was
a regulation subservient to many excellent purposes; for, besides inculcating the general
lesson of dependence on Providence, and of confidence in His faithfulness to His
promise respecting the triple increase on the sixth year (Lev_25:20, Lev_25:21), it gave
the Israelites a practical proof that they held their properties of the Lord as His tenants,
and must conform to His rules on pain of forfeiting the lease of them.
CALVI ,"10.And six years shalt thou sow. Another Sabbatical institution
(Sabbathismus) follows, viz., that of years, in reference to the cultivation of the land;
for as men and cattle rested on every seventh day, so God prescribed that the earth
should rest on the seventh year. According to the fertility or barrenness of the soil,
fields are fallowed every third or fourth year, lest they should become altogether
unproductive through exhaustion. Indeed a soil can hardly be found of such
fecundity as to be fitted for continual productiveness. Some relaxation is therefore
given, until the land recovers its vigor; but this only pertains to wheat, barley, pease,
beans, and other pulse, and seeds. As to meadows and vineyards the state of things
is different, since, when meadows are mown every year, the fertility of the soil is not
weakened; whilst vines degenerate unless they are cultivated. It was a sign of
extraordinary and exceeding fertility that the land of Canaan could bear six years’
sowing following, without being worn out. God honored it with this privilege in
favor of His people; nor did He indeed ordain the rest from necessity, since on the
sixth year He doubled the power of His blessing; but in order that the sanctity of the
Sabbath might be everywhere conspicuous, and that thus the children of Israel, as
they looked upon the land, might be the more encouraged to its observance. The
nature of the rest was that they should not sow anything, nor prune their vineyards
in the sacred year; and if anything should spring up from the scattered seeds of last
harvest, it was the common property of the inhabitants of the land and strangers,
although He peculiarly bestowed whatever grew of itself, whether corn or grapes,
upon the poor, as a kind of gratuitous present for the relief of their wants. And this
kindness and liberality was a kind of incidental adjunct to the performance of the
religious duty. It was not indeed mainly or chiefly God’s purpose to give relief to the
poor, but, as we said before, there was nothing strange in it that the offices of
charity should be consequent upon God’s service.
If ungodly men should foolishly object that there is no connection between the
senseless soil and a spiritual mystery, we have already answered, that although the
Sabbath was deposited with believers only as a pledge of an inestimable blessing,
still tokens of it appeared both in the flocks and herds, as well as in dead creatures,
in order to renew the recollection of it, lest the people should grow cold, and their
devotion should become languid. But if they mockingly persist that the Jews were
finely dealt with, (341) when in their highest privilege they had asses and oxen, as

45. well as the fields themselves, for companions; I answer, why do they not apply the
same scoff to a commoner matter? For since the doctrine of salvation is committed
to paper or parchment before it comes to us, why do they not laugh with all their
might at the obedience of our faith? since in our silly credulity we embrace the
promises transmitted to us by a stinking skin or some other filthy material? God
would have the observation of the Sabbath engraved on all creatures, that wherever
the Jews turned their eyes they might be kept up to it. Why, then, should not the
earth be a conspicuous and impressive sign (character) for the rude inculcation of
this doctrine? When it is said, “What they leave the beasts of the field shall eat,” the
injunction does not extend to wild and noxious animals which they might drive
away from their property; but God merely commands that whatever the earth
produced should be exposed promiscuously for the food both of man and beast. And
this affords an indirect answer to a question that might occur for God shews that
the grass would not be lost, although there should be no hay-making; for the grass
would be instead of hay for the beasts, so that they might feed abundantly in the
fields and meadows.
Another question, however, arises from the passage in Leviticus, where God permits
the owners of the land and their families to gather for food whatever shall then grow
of itself. But there was nothing to prevent them, like the strangers, and anybody
else, from eating of the fruits which were common to all, provided they did not
defraud the poor by their covetousness. (342) The same thing is soon afterwards
added in the description of the Jubilee; for although that year, which completed
seven times seven years, was more holy than the rest, still God allows all to eat in it
the fruits grown of themselves. He speaks more restrictedly in Exodus, in order to
inculcate greater liberality upon them; but in Leviticus He shews that there is no
danger of any of the produce of the land being lost, because permission is given both
for themselves and their servants and cattle, besides the hireling and the stranger, to
partake of it. Where He says, “that which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest,”
I understand it of the land which they usually reaped; as also a little further on He
calls their peculiar right of ownership in their vines “their separation.” (343)
Although, therefore, the possessor might boast that the property was his own, and
consequently that the harvest should be left entirely to himself, God reminds them
that its fruits were nevertheless common to all during the Sabbatical year. The word
“harvest,” therefore, is applied to the land which was sown, and “separation” to the
private vineyard, or its fruit. The old interpreter has translated them “the grapes of
first-fruits.” If it is preferred to adopt this sense, Moses would expressly declare that
no oblation of them conferred on the owners of the property a right to claim as their
own what grew in their vineyard (during the year;) (344) else it would have been a
good excuse to offer to God the first-fruits of the vintage, and under this pretext for
the Jews to contend that they had consecrated the whole produce in the first-fruits.
But God anticipates this gloss, by shewing that what was said respecting the
ordinary cultivation was improperly turned aside to the extraordinary year of rest.
But since the word ‫,נאזיר‬ nazir, means “separation,” I do not see why we should
change what accords very well. Still commentators differ as to the meaning of this
word; some understand it “relinquishing,” because every owner resigned his private
property, so that the vintage might be common. Others explain it as expressing that

46. they had abstained from its cultivation for that year. My own opinion, however, as I
have said, is simply that the peculiar right of the possessor is called his
“separation;” so that it was not lawful for others to touch the vintage except in the
Sabbatical year. Thus separation is opposed to common fields free to the public.
COKE, "Verse 10-11
Exodus 23:10-11. And six years— See Leviticus 25 for the particulars respecting the
sabbatical year: see also Deuteronomy 31:10; Deuteronomy 31:30.
ote: 1. Every seventh year the land was neither plowed nor sown, nor their
vineyards or olive-yards gathered: the poor had a right to the increase. A tender
concern for the needy will still be in every true Israelite. 2. The sabbath-day, as
before, is strictly to be observed, Exodus 23:12. 3. A caution is given against the very
mention of idol-gods, Exodus 23:13. How many, who profess themselves Christians,
by their invocations, oaths, &c. in the name of these idols, shew the heathenism of
their hearts!
COFFMA , "Verses 10-13
"And six years shalt thou sow thy land, and shalt gather in the increase thereof; but
the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of thy people may
eat: and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In like manner shalt thou
deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. Six days shalt thou do thy work, and
on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may have rest, and the
son of thy hand-maid, and the sojourner may be refreshed. And in all things that I
have said unto you take ye heed: and make no mention of the name of other gods,
neither let it be heard out of thy mouth."
The sabbatical years were introduced here, but there is no evidence that Israel ever
paid much attention to them. "The seventy years of Babylonian captivity were
partly intended to make up for unkept sabbatical years, 2 Chronicles 36:21."[13]
There was somewhat of a social welfare system inherent in the purpose of this
legislation. All indentured servants were also intended to be free of duties in such
years, and the seventh sabbatical year, the fiftieth, was to be observed as a Jubilee,
when all servants were given their freedom.
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."[14]
Jerubbaal (Judges 6:32) became Jerubbosheth (2 Samuel 11:21). Eshbaal (1
Chronicles 8:33) became Ishbosheth (2 Samuel 2:8). Meribaal (1 Chronicles 8:34)
became Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 4:4).
" ote that the Book of Samuel, which is prophetic in character, avoided the name
Baal."[15]

47. CO STABLE, "Verse 10-11
The people were to observe the sabbatical year (cf. Leviticus 25:2-7; Deuteronomy
15:1-3). The Israelites" failure to observe70 sabbatical years resulted in God
removing Israel from the Promised Land to Babylon for70 years to give the land its
rest ( 2 Chronicles 36:20-21).
Rest23:10-12
"Till now the text dealt with positive and negative precepts that are valid at all
times; now we have a series of precepts that are to be observed at given times,
commandments that apply to seasons that are specifically dedicated to the service of
the Lord, and are intended to remind the Israelites of the covenant that the Lord
made with them, and of the duty resting upon them to be faithful to this covenant."
[ ote: Cassuto, p300.]
ELLICOTT, "Verse 10-11
CEREMO IAL LAWS.
(10, 11) Six years . . . the seventh year.—The Sabbatical year which is here
commanded was an institution wholly unknown to any nation but the Hebrews. It is
most extraordinary that any legislator should have been able to induce a people to
accept such a law. Prima facie, it seemed, by forbidding productive industry during
one year in seven, to diminish the wealth of the nation by one-seventh. But it is
questionable whether, under a primitive agricultural system, when rotation of crops
was unknown, the lying of the land fallow during one year in seven would not have
been an economical benefit. There was no prohibition on labour other than in
cultivation. The clearing away of weeds and thorns and stones was allowed, and
may have been practised. After an early harvest of the self-sown crop, the greater
part of the year may have been spent in this kind of industry. Still the enactment
was no doubt unpopular: it checked the regular course of agriculture, and seemed to
rob landowners of one-seventh of their natural gains. Accordingly, we find that it
was very irregularly observed. Between the Exodus and the Captivity it had
apparently been neglected seventy times (2 Chronicles 36:21), or more often than it
had been kept. After the Captivity, however, the observance became regular, and
classical writers notice the custom as one existing in their day (Tacit. Hist. v. 4).
Julius Cæsar permitted it, and excused the Jews from paying tribute in the seventh
year on its account (Joseph., Ant Jud. xiv. 10, § 6). The object of the law was
threefold—(1) to test obedience; (2) to give an advantage to the poor and needy, to
whom the crop of the seventh year belonged (Exodus 23:11); and (3) to allow an
opportunity, once in seven years, for prolonged communion with God and increased
religious observances. (See Deuteronomy 31:10-13.)
PETT, "Verses 10-13
Regulations Concerning Acknowledgement of Yahweh’s Lordship (Exodus 23:10-
13).

48. Here we have two sets of regulations which refer to work and rest.
A Seven-Year Rest (Exodus 23:10-11).
Exodus 23:10-11
“And six years you shall sow your land and shall gather in the increase of it, but the
seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow that the poor of your people may eat,
and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In the same way you will deal
with your vineyard and with your olive-yard.”
Agriculturally this would allow the land to rest so that it could recover its vitality. It
was a practise observed also in other nations. But here it was made an offering to
the poor. During the six years the farmer could gather in and store his grain ready
for the seventh year, and he would cater for his bondmen, but the poor who worked
for others, as they could, would have no grain on the seventh year for there would
be no work. This thus catered for their need. And each seventh year would be
dedicated to God in recognition of His gift of the land to His people. This is made
specific in Leviticus 25:4 but it is clearly its intent here as is evident from its
connection with the weekly sabbath in the following verse. Both are sabbaths to
Yahweh their God (Exodus 20:10).
In Deuteronomy 14:28 to Deuteronomy 15:11 we have an extension of God’s
provision for the poor. ot only could they enjoy the gleanings and this seventh year
bonanza, but a provision would in future be made for them from the third year of
tithes and by release from debt in the seventh year.
This connection with the weekly sabbath also implies that the same seventh year
shall be observed by all. This is made explicit in Leviticus 25:2-7.
These provisions looked forward to when the land has been given to them as
Yahweh promised to them in Egypt. They were a preparation for and a guarantee of
what was to come. It is possible they had already been observed in Egypt. By these
provisions God was reminding them of what their future will be, and encouraging
their hopes. But they assumed a quick conquest of the land so that the provisions
could be applied. In the end they could only be observed spasmodically. That they
would not be strictly observed is brought out in Leviticus 26:34; 2 Chronicles 36:21,
God knew what to expect of them, but those who did so in obedience to God would
find their land more fruitful as a result.
The Weekly Sabbath (Exodus 23:12-13).
Exodus 23:12-13
“Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall cease from
work, that your ox and your ass may have rest, and the son of your handmaid and
the stranger may be refreshed. And in all things that I have said to you take heed,
and make no mention of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.”

49. This is a repetition of the fourth commandment. Compare Exodus 34:21. But here
the stress is twofold. Firstly on the benefit to beasts and servants (compare
Deuteronomy 5:14-15), and secondly on its provision as a means of meditating on
God (compare Exodus 20:11).
It is stressed that those who have no say in the matter should be able to rest, the
oxen and the asses who bore the burden of the work and the sons of handmaids
(either sons of concubines or sons of servants) and resident aliens who would have
no land and would therefore be labourers.
The placing of Exodus 23:13 here, while it applies to all that has gone before,
emphasises that the sabbath is to be a day in which men will speak of God. They are
to ensure then that they do not speak of other gods but that they concentrate their
attention on the true and living God, on Yahweh.
PULPIT, "CEREMO IAL LAWS (Exodus 23:10-19).
Law of the Sabbatical year. Days of rest, at regular or irregular intervals, were well
known to the ancients and some regulations of the kind existed in most countries
But entire years of rest were wholly unknown to any nation except the Israelites.
and exposed them to the reproach of idleness.. In a primitive condition of
agriculture, when rotation of crops was unknown, artificial manure unemployed,
and the need of letting even the best land sometimes lie fallow unrecognised, it may
not have been an uneconomical arrangement to require an entire suspension of
cultivation once in seven years. But great difficulty was probably experienced in
enforcing the law. Just as there were persons who wished to gather manna on the
seventh day (Exodus 16:27), so there would be many anxious to obtain in the
seventh year something more from their fields than ature would give them if left to
herself. If the "seventy years" of the captivity were intended exactly to make up for
omissions of the due observance of the sabbatical year, we must suppose that
between the time of the exodus and the destruction of Jerusalem by
ebuchadnezzar, the ordinance had been as often neglected as observed. (See 2
Chronicles 36:21.) The primary object of the requirement was, as stated in Exodus
23:11, that the poor of thy people may eat, what the land brought forth of its own
accord in the Sabbatical year being shared by them (Leviticus 25:6.). But no doubt it
was also intended that the Sabbatical year should be one of increased religious
observance, whereof the solemn reading of the law in the ears of the people at the
Feast of Tabernacles "in the year of release" (Deuteronomy 31:10) was an
indication and a part. That reading was properly preceded by a time of religious
preparation ( ehemiah 8:1-15), and would naturally lead on to further acts of a
religious character, which might occupy a considerable period ( ehemiah 9:1-38;
ehemiah 10:1-39.). Altogether, the year was a most solemn period, calling men to
religious self-examination, to repentance, to the formation of holy habits, and
tending to a general elevation among the people of the standard of holiness. What
they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. There was to be no regular ingathering.
The proprietor, his servants, the poor, and the stranger were to take what they
needed; and the residue was to be for the cattle and for the beasts that were in the

50. land (Deuteronomy 25:6, Deuteronomy 25:7). Thy vineyard—thy oliveyard. Corn,
wine, and oil were the only important products of Palestine; and this mention of the
vineyard and the oliveyard shows that one and the same law was to hold good of all
the lands in the country, however they might be cultivated. The whole land was to
rest.
BI, "The seventh year thou shalt let it rest.
The Sabbatic year
This law was intended—
1. To show the fertility of the land of promise. Every seventh year, without skill or
toil, the land would produce of itself sufficient for the poor and the beasts of the
field.
2. To encourage habits of thrift and forethought, so that they might provide for the
year of rest.
3. To test
(1) their faith in the providence, and
(2) their obedience to the laws of God. The subject suggests—
I. That periods may arrive by the order or permission of God when work must re laid
aside. Commercial depression, sickness, old age.
II. That the prospect of such periods should lead us to provide for them. We are not like
“fowls of the air,” or “grass of the field,” which have to be literally fed and clothed by the
providence of God, and are utterly unable to forecast and provide for contingencies.
III. That the prospect of such periods should teach us resignation to the will of God and
faith in His goodness (Mat_6:25-34).
1. There remaineth “a rest” for the people of God.
2. Prepare for that rest by faith and obedience. (J. W. Burn.)
11 but during the seventh year let the land lie
unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your
people may get food from it, and the wild animals
may eat what is left. Do the same with your
vineyard and your olive grove.

51. CLARKE, "The seventh year thou shalt let it rest - As, every seventh day was a
Sabbath day, so every seventh year was to be a Sabbath year. The reasons for this
ordinance Calmet gives thus: -
“1. To maintain as far as possible an equality of condition among the people, in setting
the slaves at liberty, and in permitting all, as children of one family, to have the
free and indiscriminate use of whatever the earth produced.
“2. To inspire the people with sentiments of humanity, by making it their duty to give
rest, and proper and sufficient nourishment, to the poor, the slave, and the
stranger, and even to the cattle.
“3. To accustom the people to submit to and depend on the Divine providence, and
expect their support from that in the seventh year, by an extraordinary provision
on the sixth.
“4. To detach their affections from earthly and perishable things, and to make them
disinterested and heavenly-minded.
“5. To show them God’s dominion over the country, and that He, not they, was lord of
the soil and that they held it merely from his bounty.” See this ordinance at length,
Leviticus 25 (note).
That God intended to teach them the doctrine of providence by this ordinance, there
can be no doubt; and this is marked very distinctly, Lev_25:20, Lev_25:21 : “And if ye
shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our
increase: then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring
forth fruit for three years.” That is, There shall be, not three crops in one year, but one
crop equal in its abundance to three, because it must supply the wants of three years.
1. For the sixth year, supplying fruit for its own consumption;
2. For the seventh year, in which they were neither to sow nor reap; and
3. For the eighth year, for though they ploughed, sowed, etc., that year, yet a whole
course of its seasons was requisite to bring all these fruits to perfection, so that
they could not have the fruits of the eighth year till the ninth, (see Lev_25:22), till
which time God promised that they should eat of the old store.
What an astonishing proof did this give of the being, power, providence, mercy, and
goodness of God! Could there be an infidel in such a land, or a sinner against God and
his own soul, with such proofs before his eyes of God and his attributes as one sabbatical
year afforded?
It is very remarkable that the observance of this ordinance is nowhere expressly
mentioned in the sacred writings; though some suppose, but without sufficient reason,
that there is a reference to it in Jer_34:8, Jer_34:9. Perhaps the major part of the people
could not trust God, and therefore continued to sow and reap on the seventh year, as on
the preceding. This greatly displeased the Lord, and therefore he sent them into
captivity; so that the land enjoyed those Sabbaths, through lack of inhabitants, of which
their ungodliness had deprived it. See Lev_18:24, Lev_18:25, Lev_18:28; Lev_26:34,
Lev_26:35, Lev_26:43; 2Ch_36:20, 2Ch_36:21. Commentators have been much puzzled
to ascertain the time in which the sabbatical year began; because, if it began in Abib or
March, they must have lost two harvests; for they could neither reap nor plant that year,
and of course they could have no crop the year following; but if it began with what was
called the civil year, or in Tisri or Marcheshvan, which answers to the beginning of our

52. autumn, they would then have had that year’s produce reaped and gathered in.
GILL, "But the seventh year thou shall let it rest, and lie still,.... From tillage,
and make its fruits common, as the Targum of Jonathan; the note of Jarchi is, "let it
rest", from perfect tillage, as ploughing and sowing; "and lie still", from dunging and
harrowing, or weeding: this law was intended to show that God was the original
proprietor and owner of this land, and that the Israelites held it under him; and to teach
them to depend upon and trust in his providence; as well as that there might be both rest
for the land, and so it became more fruitful afterwards, having by this rest renewed its
vigour, and also for servants and cattle; and that the poor might have an equal share in
the fruits of the earth, and appear to be joint lords of it with others under God, as it
follows:
that the poor of thy people may eat: that which grows up of itself, of which there
were great quantities; for the sixth year bringing forth for three years, a great deal of
seed fell, which grew up again; and especially, as through plenty they were not so careful
to gather it all up; and besides this, there were the fruits of trees, of vines, olives, &c.
which brought forth their fruit in course as usual, and which were all this year common
to poor and rich; so that the former had an equal propriety and share with the latter:
and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat; signifying that there should
be such plenty that there would be enough for all, and to spare; that there would be
much left, and which should be the portion of the beasts of the field, and who would also
be sufficiently provided for by the produce the earth brought forth of itself, as herbage,
&c. and the fruits the poor left:
in like manner thou shall deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard; that
is, these were not to be pruned, nor the grapes and olives gathered, but were to be in
common with all: a larger account is given of this law in Lev_25:2.
ELLICOTT, "(11) That the poor of thy people may eat.—For fuller particulars see
Leviticus 25:1-7. The owner was to have no larger part of the seventh year’s
produce than any one else. He was to take his share with the hireling, the stranger,
and even the cattle, which during this year were to browse where they pleased.
Thy vineyard . . . Thy oliveyard.—These would bear a full average produce, and the
boon to the poor man would in these respects have been very considerable. Corn,
wine, and oil were the staple commodities of Palestine (Deuteronomy 8:8; 2 Kings
18:32, &c.).
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Exodus 23:11
God throws the poor upon our charge—in mercy to us. Couldn"t He take care of
them without us if He wished? are they not His? It"s easy for the poor to feel, when
they are helped by us, that the rich are a godsend to them; but they don"t see, and
many of their helpers don"t see, that the poor are a godsend to the rich. They"re set
over against each other to keep pity and mercy and charity in the human heart. If
every one were entirely able to take care of himself we"d turn to stone.... God

53. Almighty will never let us find a way to quite abolish poverty. Riches don"t always
bless the man they come to, but they bless the world. And so with poverty; and it"s
no contemptible commission to be appointed by God to bear that blessing to
mankind which keeps its brotherhood universal.
—G. W. Cable, Dr. Sevier, p447.
12 “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day
do not work, so that your ox and your donkey
may rest, and so that the slave born in your
household and the foreigner living among you
may be refreshed.
BAR ES, "Exo_23:12
May be refreshed - Literally, “may take breath.”
CLARKE, "Six days thou shalt do thy work - Though they were thus bound to
keep the sabbatical year, yet they must not neglect the seventh day’s rest or weekly
Sabbath; for that was of perpetual obligation, and was paramount to all others. That the
sanctification of the Sabbath was of great consequence in the sight of God, we may learn
from the various repetitions of this law; and we may observe that it has still for its object,
not only the benefit of the soul, but the health and comfort of the body also. Doth God
care for oxen? Yes; and he mentions them with tenderness, that thine ox and thine ass
may rest. How criminal to employ the laboring cattle on the Sabbath, as well as upon the
other days of the week! More cattle are destroyed in England than in any other part of
the world, in proportion, by excessive and continued labor. The noble horse in general
has no Sabbath! Does God look on this with an indifferent eye? Surely he does not.
“England,” said a foreigner, “is the paradise of women, the purgatory of servants, and
the hell of horses.
The son of thy handmaid, and the stranger - be refreshed - ‫ינפש‬ yinnaphesh
may be respirited or new-souled; have a complete renewal both of bodily and spiritual
strength. The expression used by Moses here is very like that used by St. Paul, Act_3:19 :
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the
times of refreshing (καιροι αναψυξεως, the times of re-souling) shall come from the
presence of the Lord;” alluding, probably, to those times of refreshing and rest for body

54. and soul originally instituted under the law.
GILL, "Six days thou shalt do thy work,.... That is, they might do what work they
would on the six days of the week:
and on the seventh day thou shall rest; from all the work and labour done on other
days, and give up themselves to religious exercises:
that thine ox and thine ass may rest; and so every other beast, as horses, camels,
&c.
and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed; the former,
the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi, interprets, of one uncircumcised, and the latter,
of a proselyte of the gate: this law is here repeated, partly to show that it is of the same
kind with the former, namely, ceremonial and temporary; and partly, as Jarchi observes,
lest it should be said, since all, the year is called the sabbath, there was no need to
observe the weekly sabbath.
HE RY, ". The repetition of the law of the fourth commandment concerning the
weekly sabbath, Exo_23:12. Even in the year of rest they must not think that the sabbath
day was laid in common with the other days, but, even that year, it must be religiously
observed; yet thus some have endeavoured to take away the observance of the sabbath,
by pretending that every day must be a sabbath day.
JAMISO ,"Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou
shalt rest — This law is repeated [Exo_20:9] lest any might suppose there was a
relaxation of its observance during the sabbatical year.
CALVI ,"12.Six days thou shalt do thy work. In this passage the incidental use of
the Sabbath is again referred to, although it is no inherent part of its original
institution, viz., that by its means the family also and the cattle shall be benefited.
There is no impropriety in reckoning this amongst the other blessings which
enhance the value of the Sabbath, although it is a portion of the Second Table. And
we know that this rude people required to be attracted by every possible means to
present cheerfully to God the worship due to Him. The sum therefore is, that they
were thus to testify not only their piety towards God, but also their kindness
towards their servants. I have already shewn that their authority as masters was to
be exercised in moderation by them, if they were mindful of their former condition:,
since they also had been servants in Egypt. If any one should suppose that the
argument does not hold good, because; they were oppressed by cruel and dreadful
tyranny, the reply is easy, that so much the better could they determine from their
own feelings how detestable and intolerable a thing cruelty is.
ELLICOTT, "(12) The law of the weekly Sabbath is here repeated in conjunction
with that of the Sabbatical year, to mark the intimate connection between the two,
which were parts of one and the same system—a system which culminated in the
Jubilee year (Leviticus 25:8-13). othing is added to the requirements of the fourth

55. commandment; but the merciful intention of the Sabbath day is more fully brought
out—it is to be kept in order that the cattle may rest, and the slave and stranger may
be refreshed.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:12
Law of the Sabbath, repeated. othing is here added to the teaching of the Fourth
Commandment; but its merciful character is especially brought out. Men are called
on to observe it, in order that their cattle may obtain rest, and their servants,
together with the stranger that is within their gates, may find refreshment. It is to be
borne in mind that the foreign population of Palestine was mostly held to hard
service. (See 2 Chronicles 2:17, 2 Chronicles 2:18.)
BI, "On the seventh day thou shalt rest.
Labour and rest
I. That rest is needful—“May be refreshed.”
1. Rest is needful that the exhausted faculties may repose after past work.
2. Rest is needful that those faculties may be invigorated for future service.
3. Rest is needful that work may not become irksome; for if so
(1) it will be done slovenly; and
(2) done imperfectly.
4. Rest is needful that work may be free and joyous.
II. That rest is mercifully provided.
1. This rest is provided by God, lest man should overlook its necessity.
2. This rest is provided by God lest the servant, the foreigner, or the beast should be
defrauded of their right to it.
III. That rest should be diligently earned. “Six days shalt thou do thy work.”
1. Not lounge over it;
2. Not neglect it; but
3. Do it earnestly, conscientiously, and well.
Application:
1. A lesson to employers. God has provided this rest; beware how you steal what God
has given to man.
2. A lesson to working-men. This rest is yours by right. Then
(1) claim it;
(2) don’t abuse it;
(3) don’t curtail that of others;
(4) work during your own time, rest during God’s.

56. 3. A lesson to the world at large. Sabbath-breaking is the direct cause of
(1) intellectual evils; overtaxed brains, etc.;
(2) moral evils; neglect of the rights of God and man;
(3) physical evils. Science has demonstrated the need of one day’s rest in seven.
(J. W. Burn.)
Need of rest
We know well enough that if trains are run at fifty miles an hour over roads built to
endure only a speed of thirty miles an hour, everything in a short time begins to give
way, and to wear out, and the whole road and all the rolling stock gets into a dangerous
condition. Every rail, every tie, every joint, every nail, every wheel and bit of machinery
feels the strain and wear. The human mechanism is not less sensitive than are railroads
and locomotives. The tendency of the time is to increase the speed of individual
movement and progress. The over-driven human being needs constant rest and repairs,
as do railroads and locomotives, and a thousand-fold more, for his mechanism is
infinitely more complicated and delicate. Instead of adding more fuel to a disordered
engine to make it go, we would send it to the repair shop, and let it be restored by skilled
workmen to soundness. So when the mind and body are worn and weary, send them to
the repair shop for rest. Sleep, quiet, nutritious food, the absence of all stimulants and
whips, and goads—these skilled positive and negative workmen of nature will restore (if
anything can) the wasted vitality, and bring back health and strength and soundness.
(Christian Advocate.)
13 “Be careful to do everything I have said to you.
Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let
them be heard on your lips.
GILL, "And in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect,.... Or
observe them, be careful to keep them punctually and constantly, even all that are
delivered in this and the preceding chapters:
and make no mention of the name of other gods; neither call upon them, nor
swear by them, nor make vows to them; and, as little as possible, ever utter their names,
and never with pleasure and delight, and showing any honour of them, and reverence to
them, but with the utmost detestation and abhorrence:

57. neither let it be heard out of thy mouth; not any of their names; the same thing in
different words, the more to inculcate and impress the thing upon the mind, and to show
with what vehemence and earnestness this is pressed.
HE RY, "All manner of respect to the gods of the heathen is here strictly forbidden,
Exo_23:13. A general caution is prefixed to this, which has reference to all these
precepts: In all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect. We are in danger of
missing our way on the right hand and on the left, and it is at our peril if we do; therefore
we have need to look about us. A man may ruin himself through mere carelessness, but
he cannot save himself without great care and circumspection: particularly, since
idolatry was a sin which they were much addicted to, and would be greatly tempted to,
they must endeavour to blot out the remembrance of the gods of the heathen, and must
disuse and forget all their superstitious forms of speech, and never mention them but
with detestation. In Christian schools and academies (for it is in vain to think of
reforming the play-houses), it were to be wished that the names and stories of the
heathen deities, or demons rather, were not so commonly and familiarly used as they
are, even with intimations of respect, and sometimes with forms of invocation. Surely we
have not so learned Christ.
JAMISO ,"make no mention of the name of other gods, etc. — that is, in
common conversation, for a familiar use of them would tend to lessen horror of idolatry.
CALVI ,"13.Make no mention of the name of other gods. There is no sort of doubt
but that this declaration should be connected with the Third Commandment. Moses
explains that God’s name is taken in vain and abused, if men swear by other gods;
for it is not lawful to refer the judgment of things unknown to any other than the
one true God. Consequently, the glory of the Deity is transferred to those by whose
name men swear. Therefore by the Prophet God pronounces a severe denunciation,
that He will destroy all those that swear by His name, and also by Malcham,
(Zephaniah 1:5,) since thus the Jews mixed Him up with their idol, and so profaned
His holiness. In sum, since by swearing we profess that He is our God, whom we
declare to be both the knower of our hearts and the judge of our souls, the true God
justly claims this honor for Himself alone, inasmuch as the glory of His name is
detracted from, not only if we speak less reverently than we should of Him, but also
if we associate with Him such as may usurp a part of His rights. And this more
clearly appears from the two passages which we have adduced from Deuteronomy,
wherein the people are commanded to swear by the name of the one God, which is
equivalent to rendering to His sacred name in our outward profession of service the
unmixed reverence which it deserves. (311) Still God does not exhort the people to
indulge themselves freely in oaths, as if by frequent oaths they exercised themselves
in the duties of piety, but simply means that when there is occasion for it or
necessity, and a just cause shall demand it, they must swear in no other way than by
invoking Him alone as their witness and judge.
ELLICOTT, "(13) Be circumspect.—Rather, take heed. The verb used is a very
common one.

58. Make no mention of the name of other gods.—The Jewish commentators
understand swearing by the name of other gods to be the thing here forbidden, and
so the Vulg., “per nomen exterorum deorum non jurabitis.” But the words used
reach far beyond this. Contempt for the “gods of the nations” was to be shown by
ignoring their very names. They were not to be spoken of, unless by preachers in the
way of warning, or by historians when the facts of history could not be otherwise set
forth. Moses himself mentions Baal ( umbers 22:41), Baal-peor ( umbers 25:3;
umbers 25:5), Chemosh ( umbers 21:29), and Moloch (Leviticus 20:2-5; Leviticus
23:21).
SIMEO , "O CIRCUMSPECTIO
Exodus 23:13. In all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect.
IF we were about to prosecute a journey through an extensive forest, where the path
was exceeding intricate, where we were in hourly danger of treading upon serpents
and scorpions, and where there were declivities so steep and slippery that it was
almost impossible but that we must fall down some tremendous precipice, we should
feel it necessary to get the best information, and to use the utmost caution in all our
way. Such is really our state: in our journey towards heaven we may easily mistake
the road; and, even when we are walking in it, we are encompassed with so many
dangers, and obstructed by so many difficulties, that we need to exercise continual
vigilance and circumspection. Hence, in tender love to us, our heavenly Guide puts
us on our guard, and says, “In all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect.”
In discoursing on these words we shall consider,
I. The injunction—
It is our duty and our happiness to have all our actions conformed to the mind and
will of God: but, in order to this, we must attend diligently to the matter, the
manner, and the end of them:—
1. The matter—
[ otwithstanding we have the written word, which, when duly followed, will suffice
to direct our conduct; yet we must have a very considerable knowledge of the
Scriptures, and a well-regulated mind, in order to ascertain clearly the will of God.
It not unfrequently happens that one duty seems to interfere with another; as when
a work of mercy calls for a violation of the Sabbath, or a command of an earthly
parent militates against the command of God. In the former case we are to “prefer
mercy before sacrifice:” in the latter, we must “obey God rather than man:” but
how to discriminate aright at all times, is very difficult: and a well-intentioned
person may grievously err, if he do not bring his actions to the touch-stone of God’s
word, and determine, through grace, to regulate them according to that standard

59. [ ote: Acts 26:9-11; Galatians 2:13 and John 16:2.].]
2. The manner—
[It is by no means sufficient that the matter of our actions be right, for they may be
so debased by the manner of performing them, as to be rendered hateful in the sight
of God. Prayer is a duty plainly enjoined: but if it be cold and formal, or offered
with an unbelieving heart, it will find no acceptance with God: in vain do persons
worship God in such a manner [ ote: Matthew 15:7-9.] ; they shall receive nothing
at his hands [ ote: James 1:6-7.]. othing could, have been more pleasing to God
than David’s attempt to bring up the ark to Mount Zion, after it had been at least
fifty years in a state of obscurity: but David was inattentive to the manner in which
God had appointed the ark to be carried; he put it on a new cart, instead of
ordering it to be borne upon the shoulders of the Levites; and therefore God
manifested his displeasure against him, and against all the people, by striking Uzza
dead upon the spot for presuming to touch the ark [ ote: 1 Chronicles 15:13.]. We
ourselves are not satisfied to have our commands obeyed, unless a due attention be
paid also to the manner of executing our will; much less therefore will God be
pleased, if we be not as studious to “serve him acceptably,” as to serve him at all.]
3. The end—
[Our end or motive in acting determines more than any thing the quality of our
actions. ot that a good end will sanctify a bad action; but a bad end will vitiate
every action connected with it. If, for instance, in our religious services we seek the
applause of men, we must expect no reward from God: the gratification of our pride
and vanity is all the reward that such polluted services can obtain [ ote: Matthew
6:1-5; Matthew 6:16.]. In the account which is given us of Jehu, we find that the
very same action, which was rewarded on account of its outward conformity with
God’s command, was punished on account of the base principle by which he was
influenced in performing it. He did well in extirpating the seed of Ahab, and was
rewarded for it to the fourth generation [ ote: 2 Kings 10:30.]: but forasmuch as he
was actuated by vanity and ambition, the blood which he shed was imputed to him
as murder [ ote: 2 Kings 10:16 with Hosea 1:4.]. or is there any thing more
common than for even religious persons to mistake the path of duty through an
inattention to their own spirit. The disciples doubtless thought themselves under the
influence of a commendable zeal, when they would have called fire from heaven to
consume a Samaritan village; as did Peter also, when he cut off the ear of Malchus.
We should therefore be peculiarly cautious with respect to this, lest by the mixture
of any selfish motive or base affection we offend Him, whom it is our desire and
endeavour to please.
God having prescribed rules for a just ordering of our whole spirit and conduct, we
must, “in all things that he has said unto us, be circumspect.”]
The importance of this injunction will appear, while we consider,

60. II. The reasons of it—
Surely it is a necessary injunction, and no less reasonable than necessary: for,
1. The same authority exists in every commandment—
[It is God who issued a prohibition of adultery and murder: and it is the same
Almighty Being who forbids us to entertain a selfish wish or covetous desire [ ote:
James 2:10-11.]. Shall we then acknowledge his authority in our actions, and
disregard it in our principles? Shall we think ourselves at liberty to deviate from
any part of his revealed will? If so, we cease to act as his creatures, and become a
God unto ourselves.]
2. Without circumspection we cannot perform any duty aright—
[We cannot find out the real motives of our actions without daily self-examination,
and earnest prayer to God for the teachings of his Spirit. However simple the path
of duty may appear, there are ten thousand ways in which we may depart from it.
And, as long as our hearts are so deceitful, and we have such a subtle adversary
striving to mislead us, we shall be in perpetual danger of mistaking our way. If
therefore we would serve God aright in any thing, we must be circumspect on every
thing.]
3. An inattention to smaller duties will lead to a violation of the greatest—
[Who shall say, where we shall stop, if once we begin to trifle with God? Eve little
thought to what she should be brought by only listening to the suggestions of the
tempter: nor did David foresee what would result from the wanton look which he
cast on Bathsheba. It was on account of the danger arising from the smallest
approach to sin, that God, in the words following our text, forbade his people even
to “mention the name” of a heathen deity: and on the same account he requires us to
“abstain from the very appearance of evil.” And if we will not “watch in all things,”
we shall soon have to eat the bitter fruit of our negligence: yea, it will be well, if
from walking in the counsel of the ungodly, we do not soon stand in the way of
sinners, and at last sit in the seat of the scornful [ ote: Psalms 1:1. Every word in
this verse rises in a climax: “walk, stand. sit;” “counsel, way, scat;” “ungodly,
sinners, scornful.”].]
4. The greater our circumspection, the more shall we adorn our holy
profession—
[There are multitudes on the watch to find out the smallest faults in those who
profess religion; and to condemn religion itself on account of them. But a
circumspect walk “cuts off occasion from those who seek occasion;” and “by well-
doing we put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” It can scarcely be conceived
what an effect the conduct of religious people has upon the world, either to
recommend religion to them, or to harden them against it. Should not this then

61. make us circumspect? Should we not be careful that we “give no occasion to the
adversary to speak reproachfully?” Should we not endeavour to “be wise as
serpents, and harmless as doves?” Let us then “so make our light to shine before
men, that they may be constrained to glorify our Father that is in heaven.”]
5. The whole of our conduct will be reviewed in the day of judgment—
[The most secret springs of action will be brought to light in that awful day, and
“the counsels of the heart be made manifest [ ote: 1 Corinthians 4:5; Ecclesiastes
12:14.]:” God will weigh, not our actions only, but our spirits [ ote: Proverbs 16:2.].
“Men judge according to appearance; but He will judge righteous judgment.” If this
consideration will not make us circumspect, what can we hope to prove effectual? O
that we could bear in mind the strictness of that scrutiny, and the awfulness of that
decision!]
Address,
1. Those who ridicule the circumspection of others—
[To what end has God commanded us to be circumspect, if we are not to regard the
injunction? Do you suppose that you are to annul his commands, and to establish
rules of conduct that are contrary to his? Or, if you are presumptuous enough to do
so in reference to yourselves, do you think that you are to prescribe for others also?
You affect to pity the Lord’s people as weak enthusiasts: but know that you are the
true objects of pity, who can rush blindfold in such a manner to your own
destruction. Yes; over such as you the Saviour wept: and if you knew your guilt and
danger, you would weep for yourselves. Repent, ere it be too late: for, however wise
you may imagine yourselves to be, the time is coming when you will change your
voice, and say, “We fools counted their life madness [ ote: Wisd. 5:4.].” Take care
that you yourselves be righteous enough, before you ridicule others as “righteous
over-much.”]
2. Those who, in spite of scoffers, are endeavouring to please their God—
[Blessed be God, who enables you to stem the torrent, and to serve him in the midst
of a wicked world! But, be on your guard against that scrupulosity, which makes
those things to be sins which are no sins; and that superstition, which makes things
to be duties which are no duties. Be as careful of adding to the word of God as of
detracting from it. Let the different parts of Scripture be compared with each other:
and learn your duty not so much from any detached passage, as from a collective
view of all those passages which may reflect light upon it. evertheless in doubtful
matters, you will do well to lean to the safer side.
Yet while you are thus circumspect yourselves, do not presume to judge others.
Things may be right in others, which would be wrong in you; and right in you under
some circumstances, which under different circumstances would be highly
improper. Do not then bring others to your standard, or try them at your bar: “it is

62. to their own Master that they must stand or fall.”
Lastly, let not your circumspection fill you with self-preference and self-esteem.
However accurately you may walk, there will be still enough to humble you in the
dust. You must to your latest hour go to Jesus as the chief of sinners, and seek
acceptance with God through his blood and righteousness.]
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:13 contains two injunctions—one general, one special:—
1. "Be circumspect" (or cautious, careful) "in respect of all that I command you."
2. "Do not so much as utter the name of any false god." ot even to mention their
names, was to show them the greatest contempt possible; and, if followed out
universally, would soon have produced an absolute oblivion of them. Moses, it may
be observed, scarcely ever does mention their names. Later historians and prophets
had to do so, either to deliver the true history of the Israelites, or to denounce
idolatries to which they were given. There are many words one would wish never to
utter; but while wicked men do the things of which they are the names, preachers
are obliged to use the words in their sermons and other warnings.
BI, "Be circumspect.
Circumspection
I. In general. “In all things.” Moses is drawing to the close of these precepts, and looking
back upon them, he says—“Be circumspect.” The original suggests—
1. That we should be fully awake to the importance of the Divine commands.
(1) Give them intelligent and reverent examination.
(2) Store them up in the memory.
(3) Study them in their beneficent operation.
2. That we should be on our guard against temptations to break the Divine
commands. Temptations are
(1) sudden;
(2) insidious;
(3) deceiving.
3. That we should be careful “to remember His commandments to do them.”
(1) There is a danger lest an exaggerated estimate of human weakness should
lead to despair on the one hand, and recklessness on the other.
(2) God would not command the impossible.
(3) There is “grace to help in time of need.”
II. In particular, “make no mention,” etc. Because—
1. That would be uncircumspect in the first and greatest commandment.

63. 2. That would be to forfeit the help promised to the circumspect.
3. That would be to yield to a tendency to be uncircumspect in everything.
Christians—
1. “Watch and pray, lest ye enter rote, temptation.”
2. Live so as “to adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour m all things. (J. W. Burn.)
Circumspection needed
The mysterious perturbation of a ship’s compass is reported in a scientific journal. It
appears that the compass of the ship Penguin, recently anchored off Australia, was
deflected fifty-five degrees, and had a dip of eighty-three degrees. After the ship left the
anchorage and proceeded on her voyage the disturbance ceased. At two miles from the
point the variation was quite normal. The captain spent a day in investigating the
phenomenon. He passed two or three times over the point where he had anchored, and
found that whenever the ship crossed it, the compass was disturbed as before, and
recovered when at a distance of two miles in any direction. This satisfied him that the
centre of the submarine disturbance was limited to a circle of less than two miles
magnetic minerals at the sea bottom. The journal reporting his observation says: “Great
as is the gain to the navigator to be thus warned of a formidable danger in certain places,
it lays upon him the imperative duty of being always on his guard against such sources of
disaster elsewhere, and of promptly reporting any new magnetic disturbance, as he
would a rock or shoal.!” Similar vigilance is necessary on the part of every voyager
through life.
The Three Annual Festivals
14 “Three times a year you are to celebrate a
festival to me.
BAR ES, "This is the first mention of the three great Yearly Festivals. The feast of
Unleavened bread, in its connection with the Paschal Lamb, is spoken of in Exo. 12; 13:
but the two others are here first named. The whole three are spoken of as if they were
familiarly known to the people. The points that are especially enjoined are that every
male Israelite should attend them at the sanctuary (compare Exo_34:23), and that he
should take with him an offering for Yahweh, presenting himself before his King with his
tribute in his hand. That this condition belonged to all the feasts, though it is here stated
only in regard to the Passover, cannot be doubted. See Deu_16:16.

64. CLARKE, "Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year - The
three feasts here referred to were,
1. The feast of the Passover;
2. The feast of Pentecost;
3. The feast of Tabernacles.
1. The feast of the Passover was celebrated to keep in remembrance the wonderful
deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt.
2. The feast of Pentecost, called also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks, Exo_
34:22, was celebrated fifty days after the Passover to commemorate the giving of
the law on Mount Sinai, which took place fifty days after, and hence called by the
Greeks Pentecost.
3. The feast of Tabernacles, called also the feast of the ingathering, was celebrated
about the 15th of the month Tisri to commemorate the Israelites’ dwelling in tents
for forty years, during their stay in the wilderness. See on Leviticus 23 (note).
“God, out of his great wisdom,” says Calmet, “appointed several festivals among the
Jews for many reasons:
1. To perpetuate the memory of those great events, and the wonders he had wrought
for the people; for example, the Sabbath brought to remembrance the creation of
the world; the Passover, the departure out of Egypt; the Pentecost, the giving of
the law; the feast of Tabernacles, the sojourning of their fathers in the wilderness,
etc.
2. To keep them faithful to their religion by appropriate ceremonies, and the
splendor of Divine service.
3. To procure them lawful pleasures, and necessary rest.
4. To give them instruction; for in their religious assemblies the law of God was
always read and explained.
5. To consolidate their social union, by renewing the acquaintance of their tribes and
families; for on these occasions they come together from different parts of the land
to the holy city.”
Besides the feasts mentioned above, the Jews had,
1. The feast of the Sabbath, which was a weekly feast.
2. The feast of the Sabbatical Year, which was a septennial feast.
3. The feast of Trumpets, which was celebrated on the first day of what was called
their civil year, which was ushered in by the blowing of a trumpet; Lev_23:24, etc.
4. The feast of the New Moon, which was celebrated on the first day the moon
appeared after her change.
5. The feast of Expiation, which was celebrated annually on the tenth day of Tisri or
September, on which a general atonement was made for all the sins, negligences,
and ignorances, throughout the year.
6. The feast of Lots or Purim, to commemorate the preservation of the Jews from the
general massacre projected by Haman. See the book of Esther.
7. The feast of the Dedication, or rather the Restoration of the temple, which had
been profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes. This was also called the feast of Lights.

65. Besides these, the Jews have had several other feasts, such as the feast of Branches, to
commemorate the taking of Jericho.
The feast of Collections, on the 10th of September, on which they make contributions
for the service of the temple and synagogue.
The feast for the death of Nicanor. 1 Maccabees 7:48, etc.
The feast for the discovery of the sacred fire, 2 Maccabees 1:18, etc.
The feast of the carrying of wood to the temple, called Xylophoria, mentioned by
Josephus - War, b. ii. c. 17.
GILL, "Three times thou shall keep a feast unto me in the year. The feast of
the passover, on the fourteenth of the month Nisan or March; and the feast of weeks or
pentecost fifty days after that; and the feast of tabernacles on the fifteenth day of Tisri or
September.
HE RY 14-17, " Their solemn religious attendance on God in the place which he
should choose is here strictly required, Exo_23:14-17. 1. Thrice a year all their males
must come together in a holy convocation, that they might the better know and love one
another, and keep up their communion as a dignified and peculiar people. 2. They must
come together before the Lord (Exo_23:17) to present themselves before him, looking
towards the place where his honour dwelt, and to pay their homage to him as their great
Lord, from and under whom they held all their enjoyments. 3. They must feast together
before the Lord, eating and drinking together, in token of their joy in God and their
grateful sense of his goodness to them; for a feast is made for laughter, Ecc_10:19. O
what a good Master do we serve, who has made it our duty to rejoice before him, who
feasts his servants when they are in waiting! Never let religion be called a melancholy
thing, when its solemn services are solemn feasts. 4. They must not appear before God
empty, Exo_23:15. Some free-will offering or other they must bring, in token of their
respect and gratitude to their great benefactor; and, as they were not allowed to come
empty-handed, so we must not come to worship God empty-hearted; our souls must be
filled with grace, with pious and devout affections, holy desires towards him, and
dedications of ourselves to him, for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased. 5. The
passover, pentecost, and feast of tabernacles, in spring, summer, and autumn, were the
three times appointed for their attendance: not in winter, because travelling was then
uncomfortable; not in the midst of their harvest, because then they were otherwise
employed; so that they had no reason to say that he made them to serve with an
offering, or wearied them with incense.
JAMISO 14-18, "Three times ... keep a feast ... in the year — This was the
institution of the great religious festivals - “The feast of unleavened bread,” or the
passover - “the feast of harvest,” or pentecost - “the feast of ingathering,” or the feast of
tabernacles, which was a memorial of the dwelling in booths in the wilderness, and
which was observed in the seventh month (Exo_12:2). All the males were enjoined to
repair to the tabernacle and afterwards the temple, and the women frequently went. The
institution of this national custom was of the greatest importance in many ways: by
keeping up a national sense of religion and a public uniformity in worship, by creating a
bond of unity, and also by promoting internal commerce among the people. Though the
absence of all the males at these three festivals left the country defenseless, a special
promise was given of divine protection, and no incursion of enemies was ever permitted

66. to happen on those occasions.
K&D 14-16, "The Fundamental Rights of Israel in its Religious and Theocratical
Relation to Jehovah. - As the observance of the Sabbath and sabbatical year is not
instituted in Exo_23:10-12, so Exo_23:14-19 do not contain either the original or earliest
appointment of the feasts, or a complete law concerning the yearly feasts. They simply
command the observance of three feasts during the year, and the appearance of the
people three times in the year before the Lord; that is to say, the holding of three
national assemblies to keep a feast before the Lord, or three annual pilgrimages to the
sanctuary of Jehovah. The leading points are clearly set forth in Exo_23:14 and Exo_
23:17, to which the other verses are subordinate. These leading points are ‫ים‬ ִ‫ט‬ ָ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫מ‬ or
rights, conferred upon the people of Israel in their relation to Jehovah; for keeping a
feast to the Lord, and appearing before Him, were both of them privileges bestowed by
Jehovah upon His covenant people. Even in itself the festal rejoicing was a blessing in
the midst of this life of labour, toil, and trouble; but when accompanied with the right of
appearing before the Lord their God and Redeemer, to whom they were indebted for
everything they had and were, it was one that no other nation enjoyed. For though they
had their joyous festivals, these festivals bore the same relation to those of Israel, as the
dead and worthless gods of the heathen to the living and almighty God of Israel.
Of the three feasts at which Israel was to appear before Jehovah, the feast of Mazzoth,
or unleavened bread, is referred to as already instituted, by the words “as I have
commanded thee,” and “at the appointed time of the earing month,” which point back to
chs. 12 and 13; and all that is added here is, “ye shall not appear before My face empty.”
“Not empty:” i.e., not with empty hands, but with sacrificial gifts, answering to the
blessing given by the Lord (Deu_16:16-17). These gifts were devoted partly to the general
sacrifices of the feast, and partly to the burnt and peace-offerings which were brought by
different individuals to the feasts, and applied to the sacrificial meals (Num 28 and 29).
This command, which related to all the feasts, and therefore is mentioned at the very
outset in connection with the feast of unleavened bread, did indeed impose a duty upon
Israel, but such a duty as became a source of blessing to all who performed it. The gifts
demanded by God were the tribute, it is true, which the Israelites paid to their God-King,
just as all Eastern nations are required to bring presents when appearing in the presence
of their kings; but they were only gifts from God's own blessing, a portion of that which
He had bestowed in rich abundance, and they were offered to God in such a way that the
offerer was thereby more and more confirmed in the rights of covenant fellowship. The
other two festivals are mentioned here for the first time, and the details are more
particularly determined afterwards in Lev_23:15., and Num_28:26. One was called the
feast of Harvest, “of the first-fruits of thy labours which thou hast sown in the field,” i.e.,
of thy field-labour. According to the subsequent arrangements, the first of the field-
produce was to be offered to God, not the first grains of the ripe corn, but the first loaves
of bread of white or wheaten flour made from the new corn (Lev_23:17.). In Exo_34:22
it is called the “feast of Weeks,” because, according to Lev_23:15-16; Deu_16:9, it was to
be kept seven weeks after the feast of Mazzoth; and the “feast of the first-fruits of wheat
harvest,” because the loaves of first-fruits to be offered were to be made of wheaten
flour. The other of these feasts, i.e., the third in the year, is called “the feast of
Ingathering, at the end of the year, in the gathering in of thy labours out of the field.”
This general and indefinite allusion to time was quite sufficient for the preliminary
institution of the feast. In the more minute directions respecting the feasts given in Lev_
23:34; Num_29:12, it is fixed for the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and placed on

67. an equality with the feast of Mazzoth as a seven days' festival. ‫ה‬ָ‫נ‬ ָ ַ‫ה‬ ‫את‬ ֵ‫צ‬ ְ does not mean
after the close of the year, finito anno, any more than the corresponding expression in
Exo_34:22, ‫ה‬ָ‫נ‬ ָ ַ‫ה‬ ‫ת‬ ַ‫קוּפ‬ ְ , signifies at the turning of the year. The year referred to here was
the so-called civil year, which began with the preparation of the ground for the harvest-
sowing, and ended when all the fruits of the field and garden had been gathered in. No
particular day was fixed for its commencement, nor was there any new year's festival;
and even after the beginning of the earing month had been fixed upon for the
commencement of the year (Exo_12:2), this still remained in force, so far as all civil
matters connected with the sowing and harvest were concerned; though there is no
evidence that a double reckoning was carried on at the same time, or that a civil
reckoning existed side by side with the religious. ָ‫ך‬ ְ ְ‫ס‬ፎ ְ does not mean, “when thou hast
gathered,” postquam collegisti; for ְ does not stand for ‫ר‬ ַ‫ח‬ፍ, nor has the infinitive the
force of the preterite. On the contrary, the expression “at thy gathering in,” i.e., when
thou gatherest in, is kept indefinite both here and in Lev_23:39, where the month and
days in which this feast was to be kept are distinctly pointed out; and also in Deu_16:13,
in order that the time for the feast might not be made absolutely dependent upon the
complete termination of the gathering in, although as a rule it would be almost over. The
gathering in of “thy labours out of the field” is not to be restricted to the vintage and
gathering of fruits: this is evident not only from the expression “out of the field,” which
points to field-produce, but also from the clause in Deu_16:13, “gathering of the floor
and wine-press,” which shows clearly that the words refer to the gathering in of the
whole of the year's produce of corn, fruit, oil, and wine.
CALVI ,"Exodus 23:14.Three times shalt thou keep a feast. It is strange that
Moses, who elsewhere enumerates several feast-days, should here only command
them to appear in God’s presence thrice a year. Where then is the feast of trumpets
and the day of atonement? for undoubtedly all were to be celebrated at Jerusalem.
In the first place, it is to be observed that the principal ones, to which the greater
honor appertained, are here mentioned. Secondly, because the three holidays in the
seventh month were almost continuous, (it is probable (358)) that some indulgence
was given them, lest they should be absent from their homes the whole month; for at
the beginning of the month the trumpets sounded, on the tenth day was the solemn
fast, and on the fifteenth they began to dwell in the booths. If the necessity of
remaining in Jerusalem had been imposed on all, so long a stay would have been
burdensome. But, if they chose to be present from the beginning to the end, still
there would have been only one journey, which is named after the most remarkable
day. And certainly (359) the word ‫,רגלים‬ raglim, which Moses uses, means,
metaphorically, rather journeys than times, although I allow that ‫,פעמים‬
phagnemim, which signifies times, is used in Deuteronomy in a similar sense. At any
rate, it appears that God spared His people, when prescribed only three necessary
convocations, lest the fathers of families and their children should be wearied by the
expense and trouble of them, since he approves of no service which does not proceed
from a cheerful heart.
It is so used in Deuteronomy 1:2, and Deuteronomy 16:16.

68. For this critical sentence, the following is substituted in Fr., “ Ainsi trois festes y
eussent este comprises; pource qu’ils ne fussent point retournez jusques a ce qu’elles
eussent este aceomplies;” thus, three festivals would have been comprised in it;
because they would not have returned until they were all completed.
COKE, "Exodus 23:14. Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year— It
is very evident, from the appointment of these three solemn festivals, when all the
males were to appear before the Lord in that place where he peculiarly manifested
himself to them, that the Jewish religion was never designed to be an universal
religion; which this single appointment rendered impossible. And, no doubt, the
command was given no less with this view, than to strengthen the national union
and harmony, by this frequent assemblage of the people together. This law, it is
most probable, was not to take place till they were in possession of the land of
Canaan. See ch. Exodus 34:23-24.
COFFMA , "Verses 14-17
"Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. The feast of unleavened
bread shalt thou keep: seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded
thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it thou camest out of Egypt);
and none shall appear before me empty: and the feast of the harvest, the first-fruits
of thy labors, which thou sowest in the field: and the feast of ingatherings, at the end
of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labors out of the field. Three times in the
year all thy males shall appear before the Lord Jehovah."
"Three times in the year ..." This is repeated (Exodus 23:14,17) and is the new
revelation of these verses, two of the feasts being introduced here for the first time.
ote that the Feast of unleavened bread was not a new feast. It had already been
mentioned at the time of the Passover, hence, the words, "As I commanded thee"
(Exodus 23:15), an expression conspicuously omitted in this first mention of the
other two feasts. These three great festivals were known throughout the history of
Israel as Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Martin oth and other critics have
alleged that these feasts were taken over by the Jews from the pagan peoples
surrounding then, and adopted into their worship,[16] but the Scriptures leave no
doubt whatever of the origin of all three. In all history, there is no record anywhere
of unleavened bread being considered anything special in pagan religions. How did
it get into these feasts? It all went back to that hasty departure of Israel from Egypt.
When they were in too big a hurry to leaven bread! o critic on earth will ever be
able to get rid of that witness of the divine origin of these feasts. The omission of the
word Passover in connection with the feast of unleavened bread in these verses was
due to its being absolutely unnecessary to mention it.
CO STABLE, "Verses 14-17
All the male Israelites had to make a pilgrimage to the sanctuary (tabernacle) three
times a year for the feasts of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits (Weeks, Pentecost), and
Ingathering (Booths, Tabernacles). Women and children would have normally
accompanied the males. This requirement fostered the maintenance of the national

69. and social unity of the12tribes as well as their spiritual unity.
ELLICOTT, "Verses 14-17
(14-17) The first great festival—the Passover festival—had been already instituted
(Exodus 12:3-20; Exodus 13:3-10). It pleased the Divine Legislator at this time to
add to that festival two others, and to make all three equally obligatory. There is
some reason to suppose that, in germ, the “feast of harvest” and the “feast of
ingathering” already existed. All nations, from the earliest time to which history
reaches back, had festival seasons of a religious character; and no seasons are more
suitable for such festivities than the conclusion of the grain-harvest, and the final
completion of the entire harvest of the year. At any rate, whatever the previous
practice, these three festival-seasons were now laid down as essential parts of the
Law, and continued—supplemented by two others—the national festivals so long as
Israel was a nation. In other countries such seasons were more common. Herodotus
says that the Egyptians had six great yearly festival-times (ii. 59); and in Greece and
Rome there was never a month without some notable religious festivity. Such
institutions exerted a political as well as a religious influence, and helped towards
national unity. This was more especially the case when, as in the present instance,
they were expressly made gatherings of the whole nation to a single centre. What the
great Greek panegyries, Olympic, Pythian, &c., were to Hellas, that the three great
annual gatherings to the place where God had fixed His name were to Israel—a
means of drawing closer the national bond, and counteracting those separatist
tendencies which a nation split into tribes almost necessarily developed.
ISBET, "Verse 14
THREE TIMES A YEAR
‘Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year.’
Exodus 23:14
I. Thanksgiving and thankoffering, systematically cultivated by Divine
ordinances.—‘Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord
God.’ Why? To remember God’s goodness, to give thanks to His name, and to offer
gifts. Each of these meetings was to be a ational Thanksgiving, (a) ‘The Feast of
Unleavened Bread,’ or Passover, was designed to keep the Exodus in perpetual
remembrance; exactly as the Lord’s Supper keeps Calvary ever in view. (b) ‘The
Feast of Harvest,’ or the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, stood at the beginning of
harvest, and was meant to awaken gratitude for earth’s wealth then breaking forth
upon them, (c) ‘The Feast of Ingathering’—or Tabernacles—at the end of the
harvest. It was the Harvest Thanksgiving of the entire nation. But remembrance
and song, gladness and stately worship, were not enough. Gifts, generous and costly,
were necessary to the deeper reality, the purer joy, the nobler worship. The great,
glad Giver longed for His people to be like himself; so thanksgiving was ever linked
with thankoffering.
II. Hence the great law common to each of these thanksgiving festivals:—‘ one
shall appear before Me empty.’ Review these facts, and see what pains the Lord
took to train His people in the habit of remembrance, thanksgiving, and
thankoffering.

70. Illustration
‘In each life there should be the constant commemoration of the Passover of
Calvary; of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, the first-fruits of the resurrection of the
dead; and of the advent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is also a good motto to
give the first-fruits of everything to God. Oh! that blessed Angel of the Covenant,
who ever goes in front of us to keep us, to bring us whither God would have us be,
and to be an adversary to our foes: let us not grieve Him. Reverently appropriate
these blessed privileges that follow on obedience. Deliverance from our inbred
Canaanites, the blessing of God on food and water, the absence of sickness, the
flight of foes, the extended cost. Shall not we claim these by our obedient faith?’
PETT, "Verses 14-17
Regulations Concerning The Annual Feasts (Exodus 23:14-19).
The people have arrived at Mount Sinai and are preparing for what lies ahead.
These laws are therefore providing them with a blueprint of that future and acting
as a spur. It is always a sign of good leadership to picture the final fulfilment of
what is in front as an encouragement in the face of difficulties. As these specific
regulations for the future were read out to them at various times and seen as God’s
law they would renew their vision for that future. It was so easy in the wilderness to
lose sight of that future.
Those who cavil at such detailed provisions being made in the wilderness have never
been on a long march into the unknown under arduous conditions, when often the
only thing that holds the spirits up is the consideration of the future. As they heard
these regulations read out, it assured them that, although the going was tough now,
in the not too distant future there would be harvests, there would be ingatherings,
they would have fields to leave fallow, for this is what the regulations guaranteed. It
was worth struggling through the wilderness for. It was worth going on for, it was
worth fighting for. And later the outline would be filled in as they neared their final
goal. (Moses was not expecting it to take forty years. That would be due to
disobedience).
We can analyse this as:
a Three times in a year a feast is to be kept (Exodus 23:14).
b The feast of unleavened bread. one shall appear before Him empty (Exodus
23:15).
c The feast of harvest. The firstfruit of their labours which they sow in their field
(Exodus 23:16 a).
b The feast of ingathering. When they gather in their labours from the field (Exodus
23:16 b).
a Three times in a year all to appear before the Lord Yahweh (Exodus 23:17).
ote that in ‘a’ they are to keep feasts three times a year, and in the parallel they
are to appear before Yahweh three times a year. In ‘b’ in the seven day feast of

71. unleavened bread none are to appear before Him empty, and in the parallel in the
seven day feast of ingathering they will gather their labours from the field. Both
suggest plenteous provision. In ‘c’ is the central one day feast where they offer the
firstfruits of their labour, their rent and tribute.
Exodus 23:14
“Three times you shall keep a feast for me during the year.”
There were to be three feasts, the feast of unleavened bread at the beginning of the
religious year, the feast of harvest (or ‘sevens’) celebrating the firstfruits, and the
feast of ingathering (or ‘tabernacles’) ‘at the end of the year’, that is at the end of
the period of sowing and reaping. ote the concentration on the fruitfulness of the
ground. Their future was bright indeed.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:14-17
Law of Festivals. "The sanctification of days and times," says Richard Hooker, "is a
token of that thankfulness and a part of that public honour which we owe to God
for admirable benefits, whereof it doth not suffice that we keep a secret calendar,
taking thereby our private occasions as we list ourselves to think how much God
hath done for all men; but the days which are chosen out to serve as public
memorials of such his mercies ought to be clothed with those outward robes of
holiness whereby their difference from other days may be made sensible" (Eccles.
Pol. 5.70, § 1). All ancient religions had solemn festival seasons, when particular
mercies of God were specially commemorated, and when men, meeting together in
large numbers, mutually cheered and excited each other to a warmer devotion and a
more hearty pouring forth of thanks than human weakness made possible at other
times. In Egypt such festivals were frequent, and held a high place in the religion
(Herod. 2.58-64:). Abraham's family had probably had observances of the kind in
their Mesopotamian home. God's providence saw good now to give supernatural
sanction to the natural piety which had been accustomed thus to express itself.
Three great feasts were appointed, of which the most remarkable features were—
1. That they were at once agricultural and historical—connected with the regularly
recurrent course of the seasons, and connected also with great events in the life of
the nation;
2. That they could be kept only at one spot, that namely where the tabernacle was at
the time located;
3. That they were to be attended by the whole male population.
The three festivals are here called—
1. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 23:15), the early spring festival, at the
beginning of barley harvest in the month Abib ( isan), commemorative of the going
forth from Egypt;

72. 2. The Feast of Harvest (elsewhere called "of weeks") at the beginning of summer,
when the wheat crop had been reaped, commemorative of the giving of the law; and
3. The Feast of Ingathering (Exodus 23:16) in Tisri, at the close of the vintage, when
all the crops of every kind had been gathered in, commemorative of the sojourn in
the wilderness. The first of the three, the feast of unleavened bread, had been
already instituted (Exodus 13:3-10); the two others are now for the first time
sketched out, their details being kept back to be fined in subsequently (Le Exodus
23:15-21, and 34-36). Here the legislator is content to lay it down that the great
feasts will be three, and that all the males are to attend them.
15 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread;
for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I
commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in
the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out
of Egypt.
“ o one is to appear before me empty-handed.
BAR ES, "Exo_23:15-16
On the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or the Passover, see Exo. 12:1-20, Exo_12:43-50;
Exo_13:3-16; Exo_34:18-20; Lev_23:4-14. On the Feast of the Firstfruits of Harvest,
called also the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Pentecost, see Exo_34:22; Lev_23:15-21.
On the Feast of Ingathering, called also the Feast of Tabernacles, see Lev_23:34-36,
Lev_23:39-43.
GILL, "Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread,.... Which began on the
fourteenth of the month Abib or Nisan, and lasted seven days, during which time no
leavened bread was to be eaten by the Israelites, or to be in their houses, of which see the
notes on:See Gill on Exo_12:15, Exo_12:18, Exo_12:19, Exo_12:10, Exo_13:6, Exo_13:7.

73. thou shall eat unleavened bread, seven days, as I commanded thee, in the
time appointed of the month Abib; from the fourteenth of the month to the twenty
first:
for in it thou camest out of Egypt; in such haste that there was no time to leaven the
dough in the troughs; in commemoration of which this law was given, and this feast was
kept:
and none shall appear before me empty; at this feast and the two following ones;
for, besides the offerings and sacrifices appointed, at the feast of passover was brought a
sheaf of the first fruits of the barley harvest; and at the feast of pentecost the two wave
loaves or cakes of the first fruits of the wheat harvest; and at the feast of tabernacles they
appeared with palm tree branches, and boughs of goodly trees, and poured out water
fetched from Siloam, before the Lord: but to this appearance the Jewish doctors (b)
say,"there was no measure fixed; for everyone, if he would, might go up and appear, and
go away: according to another interpretation, for the burnt offering of appearance, and
the peace offerings of the Chagigah, which a man is bound to bring, as it is written, "ye
shall not appear empty"; there is no measure from the law, as it is written, "a man
according to the gift of his hand", Deu_16:17, but the wise men fix a measure; to the
burnt offering a meah of silver, to the Chagigah two pieces of silver:''some understand
this, not of their bringing anything with them to appear before the Lord with, but of
what they should be blessed with there; even with the presence of God, and communion
with him, and with the blessings of his grace and goodness; so that however they came,
they should not remain, nor go away empty, and so have no cause to repent their
appearance before him; but the former sense seems best.
COKE, "Exodus 23:15. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread—
Concerning this feast of passover, see ch. 12: and Deuteronomy 16:1-8. It is
enjoined, at the close of this verse, that none should appear empty before God; i.e.
without the appointed offering; a command, which refers to all the three festivals,
Deuteronomy 16:16. What those offerings were to be, is specified elsewhere. See
Sirach 35:4.
ELLICOTT, "(15) The feast of unleavened bread.—See the otes on Exodus 12:15-
20.
In the time appointed of the month Abib.—From the 14th day of the month Abib (or
isan) to the 21st day. (See Exo. Xii. 18, .)
one shall appear before me empty.—Viewed religiously, the festivals were annual
national thanks-givings for mercies received, both natural and miraculous—the first
for the commencement of harvest and the deliverance out of Egypt; the second for
the completion of the grain-harvest and the passage of the Red Sea; the third for the
final gathering in of the fruits and the many mercies of the wilderness. At such
seasons we must not “appear before God empty,” we must give Him not only “the
salves of our lips,” but some substantial acknowledgment of His goodness towards

74. us. The law here laid down with respect to the first feast is afterwards extended to
the other two (Deuteronomy 16:16).
PETT, "Exodus 23:15
“You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days shall you eat unleavened
bread as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you
came out from Egypt. And none shall appear before me empty.”
Compare Exodus 34:18. This first feast was closely connected with the Passover and
has already been outlined in Exodus 12 and Exodus 13. It was the time when the
harvesting began (Deuteronomy 16:9). It would ever remind them of their
deliverance from Egypt when they had to eat unleavened bread because of the haste
in which they came out. It would include the waving of the sheaf before Yahweh
(Leviticus 23:11).
“ one shall appear before me empty.” (Compare 34:19-20; Deuteronomy 16:16). All
must appear bringing offerings and sacrifices from their firstlings (34:19-20) and
gifts from their harvest firstfruits to Yahweh as they are able. But the especial point
is that all will have such gifts to bring.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:15
The feast of unleavened bread. This commenced with the Passover, and continued
for the seven days following, with a "holy convocation" on the first of the seven and
on the last (Leviticus 23:5-8). Unleavened bread was eaten in commemoration of the
hasty exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:34). A sheaf of new barley—the first-fruits of
the harvest—was offered as a wave-offering before the Lord (Leviticus 23:10-14).
Every male Israelite of full age was bound to attend, and to bring with him a free-
will offering. In the time appointed of the month—i.e; on the fourteenth day
(Exodus 12:18). one shall appear before me empty. This rule applies, not to the
Passover only, but to all the feasts.
16 “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the
firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.
“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end
of the year, when you gather in your crops from

75. the field.
BAR ES, "Exo_23:16
In the end of the year - Compare Exo_34:22. The year here spoken of must have
been the civil or agrarian year, which began after harvest, when the ground was prepared
for sowing. Compare Lev_23:39; Deu_16:13-15. The sacred year began in spring, with
the month Abib, or Nisan. See Exo_12:2 note, and Lev_25:9.
When thou hast gathered - Rather, when thou gatherest in.
GILL, "And the feast of harvest,.... This is the second feast, the feast of wheat
harvest, between which and barley harvest were fifty days; or between the firstfruits of
the one and the first fruits of the other were seven weeks, as Aben Ezra observes, and
was sometimes called the feast of weeks; at which feast were to be brought:
the first fruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field; the two wave
loaves or cakes, made of the first new wheat, which was the effect of their labour in
tilling the field, and sowing it with wheat, and reaping it:
and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast
gathered in thy labours out of the field; this is the third feast in the year to be kept,
and was kept at the close of the year, at the revolution of it, when a new year began that
is, according to the old account, which made Tisri the month in which this feast was
kept, the first month of the year; whereas, according to the new count, it was the seventh
month from the month Abib, now made the first of the months upon the Israelites
coming out of Egypt in that month: this is the same feast with the feast of tabernacles,
but here called the feast of ingathering, because at this time of the year all the fruits of
the earth were gathered in; the corn, and wine, and oil, and all other fruits, on account of
which there was great rejoicing, as there ought to be.
COKE, "Exodus 23:16. And the feast of harvest— Concerning this feast, otherwise
called the feast of weeks, or of pentecost; see Deuteronomy 16:9-12 and Leviticus
23:15; Leviticus 23:44.
And the feast of in-gathering— Concerning this feast, commonly called the feast of
tabernacles; see Deuteronomy 16:13-15. Leviticus 23:34; Leviticus 23:44.
ELLICOTT, "(16) The feast of harvest.—It was calculated that the grain-harvest
would be completed fifty days after it had begun. On this fiftieth day (Pentecost) the
second festival was to commence by the offering of two loaves made of the new
wheat just gathered in. On the other offerings commanded, see Leviticus 23:18-20.

76. The Law limited the feast to a single day—the “day of Pentecost”—but in practice it
was early extended to two days, in order to cover a possible miscalculation as to the
exact time.
The feast of ingathering.—Elsewhere commonly called “the feast of tabernacles”
(Leviticus 23:34; Deuteronomy 16:13; Deuteronomy 16:16; Deuteronomy 31:10; 2
Chronicles 8:13; Ezra 3:4; Zechariah 14:16-19, &c.). Like the feast of unleavened
bread, this lasted for a week. It corresponded to a certain extent with modern
“harvest-homes,” but was more prolonged and of a more distinctly religious
character. The time fixed for it was the week commencing with the fifteenth and
terminating with the twenty-first of the month Tisri, corresponding to our October.
The vintage and the olive-harvest had by that time been completed, and thanks were
given for God’s bounties through the whole year. At the same time the sojourn in
the wilderness was commemorated; and as a memorial of that time those who
attended the feast dwelt during its continuance in booths made of branches of trees.
(See Leviticus 23:40; ehemiah 8:14-17.)
MACLARE , "THE FEAST OF I GATHERI G I THE E D OF THE YEAR
Exodus 23:16.
The Israelites seem to have had a double beginning of the year-one in spring, one at
the close of harvest; or it may only be that here the year is regarded from the
natural point of view-a farmer’s year. This feast was at the gathering in of the fruits,
which was the natural close of the agricultural year.
This festival of ingathering was the Feast of Tabernacles. It is remarkable that the
three great sacred festivals, the Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, had all a reference
to agriculture, though two of them also received a reference to national deliverances.
This fact may show that they were in existence before Moses, and that he simply
imposed a new meaning on them.
Be that as it may, I take these words now simply as a starting-point for some
thoughts naturally suggested by the period at which we stand. We have come to the
end of another year-looked for so long, passed so swiftly, and now seeming to have
so utterly departed!
I desire to recall to you and to myself the solemn real sense in which for us too the
end of the year is a ‘time of ingathering’ and ‘harvest.’ We too begin the new year
with the accumulated consequences of these past days in our ‘barns and garners.’
ow, in dealing with this thought, let me put it in two or three forms.
I. Think of the past as still living in and shaping the present.
It is a mere illusion of sense that the past is gone utterly. ‘Thou carriest them away,
as with a flood.’ We speak of it as irrevocable, unalterable, that dreadful past. It is
solemnly true that ‘ye shall no more return that way.’
But there is a deeper truth in the converse thought that the apparently transient is
permanent, that nothing human ever dies, that the past is present. ‘The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth,’-yes, but only its petals drop, and as they fall, the fruit
which they sheltered swells and matures.
The thought of the present as the harvest from the past brings out in vivid and

77. picturesque form two solemn truths.
The first is the passing away of all the external, but of it only. It has all gone where
the winter’s cold, the spring rains, the summer’s heats have gone. But just as these
live in the fruitful results that have accrued from them, just as the glowing sunshine
of the departed ardent summer is in the yellow, bending wheat-ear or glows in the
cluster, so, in a very solemn sense, ‘that which hath been is now’ in regard to every
life. The great law of continuity makes the present the inheritor of the past. That
law operates in national life, in which national characteristics are largely
precipitates, so to speak, from national history. But it works even more
energetically, and with yet graver consequences, in our individual lives. ‘The child is
father of the man.’ What we are depends largely on what we have been, and what
we have been powerfully acts in determining what we shall be. Life is a mystic
chain, not a heap of unconnected links.
And there is another very solemn way in which the past lives on in each of us. For
not only is our present self the direct descendant of our past selves, but that past still
subsists in that we are responsible for it, and shall one day have to answer for it.
The writer of Ecclesiastes followed the statement just now quoted as to the survival
of the past, with another, which is impressive in its very vagueness: ‘God seeketh
again that which is passed away.’
So the undying past lives in its results in ourselves, and in our being answerable for
it to God.
This metaphor is insufficient in one respect. There is not one epoch for sowing and
another for reaping, but the two processes are simultaneous, and every moment is at
once a harvest and a seed-time.
This fact masks the reality of the reaping here, but it points on to the great harvest
when God shall say, ‘Gather the wheat into My barns!’
II. otice some specific forms of this reaping and ingathering.
{1} Memory.
It is quite possible that in the future it may embrace all the life.
‘Chambers of imagery.’
{2} Habits and character. Like the deposit of a flood. ‘Habitus’ means clothing, and
cloth is woven from single threads.
{3} Outward consequences, position, reputation, etc.
III. Make a personal reference to ourselves.
What sort of harvest are we carrying over from this year? Lay this to heart as
certain, that we enter on no new year-or new day-empty-handed, but always
‘bearing our sheaves with us.’ ‘Be not deceived! God is not mocked. Whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap.’
But remember, that while this law remains, there is also the law of forgiveness, ‘Go
in peace!’ and there may be a new beginning, ‘Sin no more!’
PETT, "Exodus 23:16 a
“And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of your labours which you sow in the field.”
Compare Exodus 34:22 where it is the Feast of Sevens. This feast would be held
seven sevens plus one day after the feast of unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:15-21;

78. umbers 28:26-31; Deuteronomy 16:9-12), and would celebrate the wheat harvest.
It would include the waving of two wave loaves of fine flour baked with leaven as
firstfruits to Yahweh, and celebrated the firstfruits of their labours (Exodus 34:22
has ‘the firstfruits of the wheat harvest’). It was later called the Feast of Sevens
(weeks), and Pentecost.
Exodus 23:16 b
“And the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your
labours out of the field.”
This was celebrated in the seventh month and was later called the feast of
tabernacles. This was the final celebration of the whole harvest including the grapes
and olives, the vintage was gathered in and the threshing was over for another year
(Leviticus 23:33-44; umbers 29:12-38; Deuteronomy 16:13-15).
“At the end of the year”, that is, the agricultural ‘year’ when the harvests had been
gathered in. We need not assume that Moses saw them as having two official
calendars. The final gathering in of the vintage and summer fruits would necessarily
be seen by them as ‘the end of the year’. Agriculturally the next step would be
sowing for the following year. But their official calendar now began in April.
Fixation of calendars was far from Moses’ mind. Whatever happened later he was
dealing in practicalities.
These three feasts encapsulated all the hopes of the children of Israel. They were
promised here to a landless people who were encamped in the wilderness but who
looked forward in the future to owning their own land, with fruitful fields and full
harvests in the land of milk and honey. In these commandments their hope for the
future was written large. What encouragement must have been theirs as they
contemplated them together.
This was all probably patterned on the feasts they had kept of old in Canaan, the
sheepshearing and the harvests. Such customs tend to linger on, especially in a
strange land, even when the specific events connected with them have ceased.
Moses would certainly have enquired into conditions in Canaan in preparation for
their arrival there. He would have been incompetent not to. And there would almost
certainly be a number among the people who had more recently been in Canaan
before going to Egypt
ote how brief the descriptions are and their concentration on ‘none shall appear
before me empty’, ‘the firstfruits of your labours’, and ‘you gather in your labours
out of the field’, just the ideas suited to encouraging a pilgrimage people.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:16

79. The feast of harvest. Fifty days were to be numbered from the day of offering the
barley sheaf, and on the fiftieth the feast of harvest, thence called "Pentecost," was
to be celebrated. Different Jewish sects make different calculations; but the majority
celebrate Pentecost on the sixth of Sivan. The main ceremony was the offering to
God of two leavened loaves of the finest flour made out of the wheat just gathered
in, and called the first-fruits of the harvest. The festival lasted only a single day; but
it was one of a peculiarly social and joyful character (Deuteronomy 16:9-11). Jewish
tradition connects the feast further with the giving of the law, which must certainly
have taken place about the time (see Exodus 19:1-16). The firstfruits. Rather, "Of
the first-fruits." The word is in apposition with "harvest," not with "feast." Which
thou hast sown. The sown harvest was gathered in by Pentecost; what remained to
collect afterwards was the produce of plantations.
The feast of ingathering. Called elsewhere, and more commonly, "the feast of
tabernacles" (Le 23:34; Deuteronomy 16:13; Deuteronomy 31:10; John 7:2), from
the circumstance that the people were commanded to make themselves booths, and
dwell in them during the time of the feast. The festival began on the 15th of Tisri, or
in the early part of our October, when the olives had been gathered in and the
vintage was completed. It lasted seven, or (according to some) eight days, and
comprised two holy convocations. In one point of view it was a festival of
thanksgiving for the final getting in of the crops; in another, a commemoration of
the safe passage through the desert from Egypt to Palestine. The feast seems to have
been neglected during the captivity, but was celebrated with much glee in the time
of ehemiah ( ehemiah 8:17). In the end of the year—i.e; the end of the
agricultural year—when the harvest was over—as explained in the following clause.
BI, "The feast of harvest.
The feast of harvest
I. The instruction it communicates
1. It exhibits the wonderful power of God.
2. We have an establishment of the faithfulness and truth of God.
3. We have a manifestation of the goodness and bounty of God.
4. It displays the mercy and forbearance of God.
5. It shows us the connection between means and the end.
II. What feelings it should produce. It should produce feelings—
1. Of deep humiliation.
2. Of heartfelt gratitude.
3. Our constant dependence upon God.
4. A constant desire to please Him.
III. What practical influence the subject should exert upon us.
1. To labour for the provision suited to our souls.

80. 2. To do good in our respective spheres and stations in life.
3. Prepare for the final harvest.
Application:
1. Let us gratefully enjoy the bounties of Providence. Many are abusing, many
forgetting, etc.
2. Let us be especially anxious about the blessings of eternal life.
3. Let us always act in reference to the final harvest of the world. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Pilgrimage feasts
I. Religious feasts are memorials.
1. Of God’s past dealings.
2. Of our dependence on God’s care.
3. Of our present condition. Pilgrims. This earth is not our rest.
II. Religious feasts are not to interfere with the duties of life.
III. stated religious feasts are helpful to a religious spirit.
IV. Religious feasts must promote the social and benevolent instincts of our nature.
V. The offerings at religious feasts must be—
1. Pure,
2. Of the best. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
The feast of harvest
This was their Pentecost; so called from a Greek word signifying “fifty”—because it
occurred on the fiftieth day from the feast of unleavened bread. It was, properly, a
harvest festival, in which the Jew offered thanksgiving unto God for the ripened fruits of
the earth. To understand the peculiar interest the Jew took in this holiday, you must
remember that the Israelites, after their establishment in Canaan, were almost entirely a
nation of farmers. The peasant and the noble, in their respective spheres, were alike
husbandmen. And the whole land of Israel was in the highest state of cultivation. Now,
to such a people, inhabiting such a country, the feast of harvest was necessarily a grand
festival.
1. We, too, want great national and religious holidays, to keep in mind great national
providences.
2. We need them, moreover, as verily as the Jews, for their conservative political
influence—to counteract the sectional and unsocial tendencies of our great tribal
divisions. If we could come up nationally to such Pentecosts, then no living man
would ever again dare breathe of discord and disunion—for chords, tender as our
loves and stronger than our lives woven of religion and holy with old memories, as
the memorial festivals uniting Judah and Ephraim, would bind us together and bind
us to God!

81. 3. Meanwhile we need such pentecostal holidays for those personal advantages
which they brought to the Hebrews. They furnish that harmless relaxation so
constitutionally necessary to our highest well-being. Real pleasure, as well physical
as moral, is always the true law of life. True virtue is genial and joyous, walking earth
in bright raiment, and with bounding footsteps. And the nervous, restless,
unreposing, devouring intensity of purpose wherewith our men follow their
business, is as disastrous to the nobler moral bloom and aroma of the heart, as a
roaring hurricane to a garden of roses. Above all, our religious nature needs them.
The true joy of the Lord is the Christian’s strength. Cheerfulness is a very element of
godliness.
4. This is our Pentecost—our feast of harvest. And even in its lowest aspect, as a
grateful acknowledgment of God’s goodness, in preserving for our use the kindly
fruits of the earth, it is a fitting occasion of thankfulness. It is scarcely possible to
over-estimate the importance of agriculture. It surpasses commerce and
manufacture, as a cause is superior to its effects—as an inner life is of more moment
than its various outward functions. Meanwhile, the reflex influences of industrial
agriculture on our physical and social well-being are as well incalculable. After all,
the finest products of our farm-lands are found in our farm-houses. Things better
than corn and cabbages are grown on plough-ground—bone, muscle, sinew, nerve,
brain, heart; these all thrive and strengthen by agriculture. The specimens of strong,
hale, common-sense manhood seen at our annual fairs are a finer show than all the
fat cattle and sheep, and noble horses, and the brave array of farm-fruits and
implements. Agriculture purifies morals, chastens taste, deepens the religious
element, develops the individual man.
5. Our thanksgiving is partly in view of the ripened fruits of the earth; but mainly in
view of other and higher blessings. And in this regard as well, it is properly—a feast
of harvest. In respect of all things—not merely the natural fruits of the earth, but all
great human interests, political, intellectual, religious—we may be said to live in the
world’s great harvest time. We have reaped, and are reaping, the ripened and
ripening fruits of all earth’s past generations. Consider this a little.
(1) First: This is true—politically. Philosophically considered, the grand end and
aim of all civil progress is human freedom—the highest development and culture
of the individual and free manhood. Monarchy the one-man-power, oligarchy the
few-men-power, are but the successive stages of the growing life, up to the
ripened product of the true democracy—the all-men power. To this end hath
tendered all political progress; and beyond this there is no progress. This is the
harvest of earth’s long political husbandry, and we are reaping it.
(2) Then passing from the political, the same thought is true in regard of the
intellectual. It is a thought well worthy our pondering, on an occasion like this—
that we live in the harvest-time of mind and thought! Carefully considered, the
development of the “mental” follows the law of material development. “First, the
blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Genius is first poetical,
then practical. First, the flaunting blossom; then the substantial fruit. From the
beginning, man’s law of intellectual progress has been from the abstract to the
practical—from ideas to facts. The practical, being the fruit of the imaginative, as
the ripened corn is the fruit of the plant’s inner life. In past generations, intellect
has been busy in a rudimental husbandry—felling the great forests; draining the
low marshes; subduing the rugged soil; scattering the seed; and watching and
waiting for the increase. The old philosophy; the old civilization; the old polities,

82. civil and ecclesiastical; the old chivalry; the old poetry—these were the thought-
germs, the thought-leaves, the thought-blossoms, which have ripened, and are
ripening around us into God’s glorious fruit! We live in earth’s prodigal and
luxuriant autumn—in times when marvellous things are the rule, and mean
things the exception—in an economy of prodigies, each one a seeming miracle to
men’s earlier comprehension, and yet all, only the ripened development of their
own thought-germs. And if the law of all husbandry be “to sow in tears and reap
in joy,” then our thanksgiving, that we live in these eventful times, should be unto
God, this day, a great feast of harvest!
(3) Passing this, we observe once more, and finally, That this same law of
development we have been tracing through the political and intellectual, will be
found to rule in the spiritual—and in this regard should we mainly rejoice that we
live in life’s harvest-time.
6. In respects, then, like these, political, intellectual, religious, we live in times of
unexampled blessedness. We have come up to Zion from hills purple with vintage,
and valleys golden with corn, in the rapturous harvest-home of the mortal! And it
becomes us to keep festival before God as the old Jew kept his Pentecost. As men, as
patriots, as philanthropists, as Christians, our cup of joy mantles brightly. What
more could God have done for us that He hath not done? What people can be happy
before God, if we are not happy? Living here, in this nineteenth century, free men—
free Christians—we seem to stand on the very mount of God, flung up in the waste of
ages, for the enthronement of His great man-child! We look backward, and lo! all the
past has been working together for our national and individual beatitude. Patriarchs,
prophets, bards, sages, mighty men, conquerors, have all been our servants.
Generation after generation, that have lived and died—great empires, that have risen
and flourished, and trod imperial paths, and passed away for ever—seem to rise from
their old death-dust, and march in vision before us, laying down all their
accumulated thoughts, and arts, and honours—all the trophies of their mighty
triumphs, in homage, at our feet! We look forward, and the eye is dazzled with the
vision of the glory about to be accorded to God’s kingly creature, man! when
standing upon this redeemed world, he shall assert his birthright—a child of God
here! an heir of God for ever! Verily, we have cause for thanksgiving. “The Lord hath
done great things for us, whereof we are glad.” Let us give, then, free course to our
grateful emotions! Thankful for the present, trustful for the future, let us rejoice
before God “with the joy of harvest.” (C. Wadsworth.)
17 “Three times a year all the men are to appear
before the Sovereign Lord.

83. CLARKE, "All thy males - Old men, sick men, male idiots, and male children
under thirteen years of age, excepted; for so the Jewish doctors understand this
command.
GILL, "Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord
thy God. In the city of Jerusalem, when they were come into the land of Canaan, and
the temple was there built: here they were to show themselves before the Lord as being
his, and devoted to his service; concerning which the Misnic doctors have the following
canon (c),"all are bound to appear except a man deaf and dumb, a fool, a little one, one
of neither sex, or of both sexes, women, servants not free, the lame, the blind, the sick,
an old man, and he that cannot go on his feet.''
K&D, "“Three times in the year” (i.e., according to Exo_23:14 and Deu_16:16, at the
three feasts just mentioned) “all thy males shall appear before the face of the Lord
Jehovah.” The command to appear, i.e., to make a pilgrimage to the sanctuary, was
restricted to the male members of the nation, probably to those above 20 years of age,
who had been included in the census (Num_1:3). But this did not prohibit the inclusion
of women and boys (cf. 1Sa_1:3., and Luk_2:31.).
ELLICOTT, "(17) Three times in the year.—The terms of this verse, as compared
with Exodus 23:14, limit the observance of the three festivals to the males, but add
the important requirement of personal attendance at a given place. By “all thy
males” we must understand all of full age and not incapacitated by infirmity or
illness.
PETT, "Exodus 23:17
“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.”
This is the first specific indication to the reader that all are to gather three times a
year at a central sanctuary to celebrate God’s goodness. At these times sections of
the history and the covenants would be read out as a reminder to the people of
God’s promises and requirements, including the earlier covenants with the fathers
and the initial covenants with Adam (Genesis 1:28-30; Genesis 3:17-19) and oah
(Genesis 9:1-7) with their background histories, and the people would make their
response. Every seven years the whole of the Law which had been given to Moses
and which he had written down (Deuteronomy 31:9; Deuteronomy 31:24) would be
read out (Deuteronomy 31:11).
The children of Israel would be, and indeed already were, divided into twelve sub-
tribes whose unity was to be maintained by their connection with a central
sanctuary. The arrangement is called an Amphictyony (the pattern occurred
elsewhere including in ancient Greece). This was a well known form of organisation
among such peoples and we have already seen indications of such arrangements

84. among peoples connected with Abraham (Genesis 22:20-24; Genesis 25:2-4; Genesis
25:13-15; Genesis 31:23; various combinations in Genesis 36 (e.g. 36:15-19, 29-30,
40-43 - note that they were not only sons but chieftains or ‘dukes’). Indeed the name
Oholibamah means ‘tent of the high place’).
“All your males.” The gathering was to be officially of the males, but they would
often later be accompanied by their families. Such a gathering would also be called
for when danger threatened (Judges 5:13-23).
“Shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.” ote the title. Yahweh is now their
Overlord. The phrase ‘appear before’ occurs in 23:15; 34:20, 23, 24; Deuteronomy
16:16; Deuteronomy 31:11; Isaiah 1:12 in this technical sense. They would come to
His central sanctuary to worship and renew the covenant.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:17
Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. This seems
to moderns a very burthensome enactment. But we must remember that Palestine is
not bigger than Wales, and that great gatherings had great attractions for many in
the ancient world, when they were the only means by which information was spread,
and almost the only occasions on which friends and relations who lived far apart
could expect to see each other. The European Greeks had, in their Olympian and
other games, similar great gatherings, which occurred once or twice in each year,
and, though under no obligation to do so, attended them in enormous numbers. It
may be doubted if the religious Hebrews felt the obligation of attendance to be a
burthen. It was assuredly a matter of great importance, as tending to unity, and to
the quickening of the national life, that they should be drawn so continually to one
centre, and be so frequently united in one common worship. Most students of
antiquity regard the Greek games as having exerted a strong unifying influence over
the scattered members of the Grecian family. The Hebrew festivals, occurring so
much more frequently, and required to be attended by all, must have had a similar,
but much greater, effect of the same kind.
18 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me
along with anything containing yeast.
“The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept
until morning.

85. BAR ES, "The blood of my sacrifice - It is generally considered that this must
refer to the Paschal Lamb. See Exo_12:7, Exo_12:11, Exo_12:13, Exo_12:22-23, Exo_
12:27.
The fat of my sacrifice - Strictly, the fat of my feast; the “best part” of the feast, that
is, the Paschal lamb itself. Compare Exo_34:25.
CLARKE, "The blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread - The sacrifice here
mentioned is undoubtedly the Passover; (see Exo_34:25); this is called by way of
eminence My sacrifice, because God had instituted it for that especial purpose, the
redemption of Israel from the Egyptian bondage, and because it typified The Lamb Of
God, who taketh away the sin of the world. We have already seen how strict the
prohibition against leaven was during this festival, and what was signified by it. See on
Exodus 12 (note).
GILL, "Thou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread,....
This belongs to the feast of the passover; for, as all the Jewish writers agree, this
sacrifice is the sacrifice of the passover, as it is sometimes called, see Exo_12:27 now
when the paschal lamb was killed, and its blood shed, and its flesh eaten, there was to be
no leaven along with it; it was to be eaten with unleavened bread, and there was to be no
leaven in their houses at this time; nay, it was not to be slain until all was removed: this
was the first thing the Jews did, as soon as the fourteenth day was come, to search for
leaven, remove and burn it; and this sense of the law is confirmed by the Targum of
Jonathan, which is,"not a man shall slay, while there is leaven in your houses, the
sacrifice of my passover;''and to the same purpose is the note of Jarchi:
neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning; and indeed no
part of the passover lamb was to remain until the morning, what did was to be burnt
with fire, Exo_12:10 the Targum of Jonathan is,"neither shall there remain without the
altar the fat of the sacrifice of my passover until the morning, nor of the flesh which ye
ate in the evening;''and so Jarchi interprets it of its not remaining without the altar.
HE RY, " Some particular directions are here given about the three feasts, though
not so fully as afterwards. 1. As to the passover, it was not to be offered with leavened
bread, for at that feast all leaven was to be cast out, nor was the fat of it to remain until
the morning, lest it should become offensive, Exo_23:18. 2. At the feast of pentecost,
when they were to begin their harvest, they must bring the first of their first-fruits to
God, by the pious presenting of which the whole harvest was sanctified, Exo_23:19. 3. At
the feast of ingathering, as it is called (Exo_23:16), they must give God thanks for the
harvest-mercies they had received, and must depend upon him for the next harvest, and
must not think to receive benefit by that superstitious usage of some of the Gentiles,
who, it is said, at the end of their harvest, seethed a kid in its dam's milk, and sprinkled
that milk-pottage, in a magical way, upon their gardens and fields, to make them more
fruitful next year. But Israel must abhor such foolish customs.

86. K&D, "The blessing attending their appearing before the Lord was dependent upon
the feasts being kept in the proper way, by the observance of the three rules laid down in
Exo_23:18 and Exo_23:19. “Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice upon
leavened bread.” ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ upon, as in Exo_12:8, denoting the basis upon which the sacrifice
was offered. The meaning has been correctly given by the early commentators, viz., “as
long as there is any leavened bread in your houses,” or “until the leaven has been entirely
removed from your houses.” The reference made here to the removal of leaven, and the
expression “blood of My sacrifice,” both point to the paschal lamb, which was regarded
as the sacrifice of Jehovah κατʆ ᅚξοχήν, on account of its great importance. Onkelos gives
this explanation: “My Passover” for “My sacrifice.” - “Neither shall the fat of My feast
remain (‫ין‬ ִ‫ל‬ָ‫י‬ to pass the night) until the morning.” “The fat of My feast” does not mean
the fat of My festal sacrifice, for ‫ג‬ ַ‫,ח‬ a feast, is not used for the sacrifice offered at the
feast; it signifies rather the best of My feast, i.e., the paschal sacrifice, as we may see
from Exo_34:25, where “the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover” is given as the
explanation of “the fat of My feast.” As the paschal sacrifice was the sacrifice of Jehovah
par excellence, so the feast of the Passover was the feast of Jehovah par excellence. The
expression “fat of My feast” is not to be understood as referring at all to the fat of the
lamb, which was burned upon the altar in the case of the expiatory and whole offerings;
for there could have been no necessity for the injunction not to keep this till the
morning, inasmuch as those parts of every sacrifice which were set apart for the altar
were burned immediately after the sprinkling of the blood. The allusion is to the flesh of
the paschal lamb, which was eaten in the night before daybreak, after which anything
that remained was to be burned. ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ּק‬ ‫ד־‬ ַ‫ע‬ (without the article) till morning, has the same
meaning as ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ּק‬ ַ‫ל‬ “for the (following) morning” in Exo_34:25.
COKE, "Exodus 23:18. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice— It has been
concluded, from ch. Exodus 34:25 that the blood of the sacrifice here meant, was
that of the paschal lamb; and accordingly the Chaldee paraphrast, in that place,
renders it, thou shalt not offer the blood of my passover with leaven (see ch. Exodus
12:15.): and from the next clause in this verse, one would conclude that the passover
was meant; concerning which, in the 10th verse of the 12th chapter, it is enjoined,
that nothing of it be left remaining until the morning. See Leviticus 3:15; Leviticus
3:17. The passover is called my sacrifice, by way of eminence.
COFFMA , "Verse 18-19
"Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened breads; neither shall
the fat of my feast remain all night until morning. The first of the first-fruits of thy
ground thou shalt bring into the house of Jehovah thy God, Thou shalt not boil a
kid in its mother's milk."
That the Passover itself was clearly in view in the previous verse is proved by the
mention here of one of the key regulations of that feast, namely, that all of it should
be consumed, before morning.

87. "Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk ..." Rawlinson assigned this reason
for this prohibition: "Feeling revolts from it, and the general sense of civilized
mankind re-echoes the precept."[17] The mixing of meat and milk dishes is in no
circumstance considered `Kosher' by the Jews their custom being founded partially
upon this verse. "They even keep separate kitchens for the preparation of milk and
meat dishes."[18]
The most probable reason, it seems, for this prohibition lay in the pagan use of "a
kid boiled in its mother's milk" as a magical formula for increasing the fertility of
the land! "Milk so boiled was sprinkled on the crops. The pagan idea was that the
new life of the kid added to its mother's milk produced double fertility."[19] This
prohibition seemed at such variance with other Divine commandments that for
generations men simply could not understand the reason for it; as Rawlinson said,
"Reason has nothing to say against such a mode of preparing food."[20] However,
the mystery was unlocked in the 1930, when the reason for this pagan practice was
discovered in Ugaritic literature.[21] With this information, it is easy to understand
why God would not allow Israel to do anything resembling the pagan rites of
idolatrous nations around them.
Two other things in these passages should be noted. The command not to come
"empty" before God (Exodus 23:15) established giving as an essential and normal
part of the worship of God, a principle that is brought over into Christianity and
made binding upon all believers.
The prohibition that leavened bread should not be offered with the blood of the
sacrifice was repudiated by the religious apostasy in orthern Israel. Amos 4:5
mentioned among the sins of Israel the offering of a sacrifice with leavened bread,
the significance of this being that these Pentateuchal regulations were familiar to
Israel for long centuries prior to the dates some critics would like to affix to the
Pentateuch. Amos' mention of such a perversion of God's worship also proved that
it was not social issues alone that formed the burden of Israel's apostasy. See
extensive notes on these issues in Volume 1 of my commentary on the minor
prophets.
CO STABLE, "Verse 18
"The first part of this verse has nothing to do with eating anything leavened. Rather
it means that individual Israelites were not to kill the Passover lamb while leaven
was still in their houses. The second half of the verse makes no reference to fat as
such; but as the parallel verse in Exodus 34:25 b says, the "sacrifice from the
Passover Feast" (here lit, "sacrifice of my feast") shall not "remain until morning"
(cf. Exodus 12:10)." [ ote: Kaiser, " Exodus ," p445.]
The "fat" means "the best part," here the whole sacrifice.
ELLICOTT, "(18) Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened
bread.—Some regard this prohibition as extending to all sacrifices; but the majority
of commentators limit it to the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb, which was the only

88. sacrifice as yet expressly instituted by Jehovah. According to modern Jewish
notions, leavened bread is permissible at the other feasts; at Pentecost it was
commanded (Leviticus 23:17).
The fat of my sacrifice.—Rather (as in the Margin), the fat of my feast. The fat of
the Paschal lambs was burnt on the altar with incense the same evening. Thus the
whole lamb was consumed before the morning. As the Paschal lamb is καὶ ἐξοχήν,
“my sacrifice,” so the Passover is “my feast.”
PETT, "Verse 18-19
Sundry Regulations Connected With the Feasts (Exodus 23:18-19).
These verses are almost paralleled in Exodus 34:25-26, which confirms that the four
parts are all firmly connected together.
They can be analysed as follows:
a The blood of His sacrifice not to be offered with leavened bread (Exodus 23:18 a).
b The fat of His feast not to be left until the morning (Exodus 23:18 b).
b The first of the firstfruits of the ground to be brought to the house of ‘Yahweh
Eloheyca’ (Exodus 23:19 a).
a A kid not to be seethed in its mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19 b).
The parallel of the first with the fourth where something stated is not to be
connected with something unsuitable, together with the fact that the first three all
refer to offerings to Yahweh, may suggest that the fourth item is also connected with
a possible offering to Yahweh, and that to offer it in this way would be unsuitable
and was forbidden.
Exodus 23:18
“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the fat
of my feast remain all night until the morning.”
The parallel passage in Exodus 34:25 has, ‘You shall not offer the blood of my
sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be
left until the morning.’ Thus ‘the fat of My feast’ is paralleled by ‘the sacrifice of the
feast of the Passover.
In all sacrifices the blood and the fat was offered to Yahweh. The eating of blood
was forbidden. And when the blood of the sacrifice was offered to Yahweh only
unleavened cakes were to be offered. This emphasised that leavening was seen as
corrupting, and nothing corrupted was to be brought to Yahweh. This was speaking
of the festal sacrifices. But the words ‘My sacrifice’ and the connection with nothing
‘remaining until the morning’ (compare Exodus 12:10) may be seen as signifying
that the Passover is in mind here, especially in the light of Exodus 34:25.
Either way we too when we offer our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving must
ensure that all corruption in our lives has been removed by cleansing.

89. A rare exception to the rule of unleavened bread is found in Leviticus 7:13 with
reference to a peace offering for thanksgiving, otherwise leavened bread is regularly
forbidden. The regulations for freewill offerings were not quite so strict (Leviticus
22:23) for they were partaken of by the people. They were not as holy.
The fat was always offered immediately without delay, for it was specifically
Yahweh’s without exception, and to delay offering it would be insulting, and might
also allow it to spoil and not be worthy of Yahweh. So corruption must not affect the
sacrifices in any way.
“The fat of my feast.” This parallels ‘the blood of my sacrifice’ in the first part of
the verse and refers to the particular ‘feast to me’ (Exodus 23:14-16) at which the
offering was made. Thus it may be that we are to see ‘the fat of my feast’ as
signifying, not the fat of the sacrifice, but the abundance, the fullness, of what the
Passover sacrifice signified. othing of the abundance of what He provided at this
feast was to be left until the morning. This is confirmed by Exodus 34:25.
Others have seen ‘the fat of My feast’ as referring to ‘the fat of the land’ (Genesis
45:18), and as connecting with all the feasts, when what is offered must be properly
enjoyed and not wasted. But there are good grounds for rather connecting it with
the Passover for in Exodus 34:25 a parallel phrase speaks of ‘the sacrifice of the
feast of the Passover’. There it is the whole sacrifice that must not be left until the
morning (compare Exodus 12:10).
Thus this whole verse seems to have specific reference to the Passover sacrifice,
called ‘My sacrifice’ and My feast’, demonstrating its special significance to God.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:18
Law of the Paschal sacrifice. That the Paschal lamb is here intended by "my
sacrifice," seems to be certain, since the two injunctions to put away leavened bread,
and to allow none of the victim's flesh to remain till the morning (see Exodus 12:10),
are combined in the Paschal sacrifice only. Of all the offerings commanded in the
law the Paschal lamb was the most important, since it typified Christ. It may
therefore well be termed, in an especial way, "God's sacrifice.'' By the fat of my
feast some understand the fat of the lamb, others the best part of the feast (Keil)—
i.e; the lamb itself. In Exodus 34:25, which is closely parallel to the present place, we
read, for "the fat of my feast," "the sacrifice of the feast of the passover."
19 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to

90. the house of the Lord your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
BAR ES, "The first of the firstfruits of thy land - The “best,” or “chief” of the
firstfruits, that is, the two wave loaves described Lev_23:17. As the preceding precept
appears to refer to the Passover, so it is likely that this refers to Pentecost. They are
called in Leviticus, “the firstfruits unto the Load;” and it is reasonable that they should
here be designated the “chief” of the firstfruits. If, with some, we suppose the precept to
relate to the offerings of firstfruits in general, the command is a repetition of Exo_22:29.
Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk - This precept is repeated. See
the marginal references. If we connect the first of the two preceding precepts with the
Passover, and the second with Pentecost, it seems reasonable to connect this with the
Feast of Tabernacles. The only explanation which accords with this connection is one
which refers to a superstitious custom connected with the harvest; in which a kid was
seethed in its mother’s milk to propitiate in some way the deities, and the milk was
sprinkled on the fruit trees, fields and gardens, as a charm to improve the crops of the
coming year. Others take it to be a prohibition of a custom of great antiquity among the
Arabs, of preparing a gross sort of food by stewing a kid in milk, with the addition of
certain ingredients of a stimulating nature: and others take it in connection with the
prohibitions to slaughter a cow and a calf, or a ewe and her lamb, on the same day Lev_
22:28, or to take a bird along with her young in the nest Deu_22:6. It is thus understood
as a protest against cruelty and outraging the order of nature.
CLARKE, "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk - This passage
has greatly perplexed commentators; but Dr. Cudworth is supposed to have given it its
true meaning by quoting a MS. comment of a Karaite Jew, which he met with, on this
passage. “It was a custom of the ancient heathens, when they had gathered in all their
fruits, to take a kid and boil it in the milk of its dam; and then, in a magical way, to go
about and besprinkle with it all their trees and fields, gardens and orchards; thinking by
these means to make them fruitful, that they might bring forth more abundantly in the
following year.” - Cudworth on the Lord’s Supper, 4th.
I give this comment as I find it, and add that Spenser has shown that the Zabii used
this kind of magical milk to sprinkle their trees and fields, in order to make them
fruitful. Others understand it of eating flesh and milk together; others of a lamb or a kid
while it is sucking its mother, and that the paschal lamb is here intended, which it was
not lawful to offer while sucking.
After all the learned labor which critics have bestowed on this passage, and by which
the obscurity in some cases is become more intense, the simple object of the precept
seems to be this: “Thou shalt do nothing that may have any tendency to blunt thy moral
feelings, or teach thee hardness of heart.” Even human nature shudders at the thought of
causing the mother to lend her milk to seethe the flesh of her young one! We need go no
farther for the delicate, tender, humane, and impressive meaning of this precept.

91. GILL, "The first of the first fruits of thy land,.... Both of the barley and wheat
harvest, and of the wine and oil; yea, Jarchi says, the seventh year was obliged to first
fruits; and Josephus (d) relates, that the Jews were so tenacious of this law, that even in
the famine in the time of Claudius Caesar, the first fruits were brought to the temple,
and were not meddled with:
thou shall bring into the house of the Lord thy God; to the tabernacle, during the
standing of that, and the temple when that was built; which were the perquisites of the
priests who officiated in the house and service of God: so Pliny says (e) of the ancient
Romans, that they tasted not of the new fruits or wines before the first fruits were
offered to the priests, which seems to have been borrowed from hence:
thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk: and so a calf, or a lamb (f), as
Jarchi interprets it; which some understand of slaying a young kid and its dam together,
and so is a law against cruelty, like that law of not taking the dam with the young, on
finding a bird's nest, Deu_22:6 others, of killing, dressing, and eating a kid, while it
sucks the milk of its mother, before it is eight days old, and so a law against luxury; but
the Jews generally understand it of boiling, or eating the flesh of any creature and milk
together (g): so the Targum of Onkelos paraphrases it,"ye shall not eat flesh with
milk;''and the Targum of Jonathan is,"ye shall neither boil nor eat the flesh and the milk
mixed together:''hence, according to the rules they give, the flesh of any beast, or of a
fowl, is not to be set upon a table on which cheese is (being made of milk), lest they
should be eaten together; nor may cheese be eaten after flesh until some considerable
time, and then, if there is any flesh sticks between a man's teeth, he must remove it, and
wash and cleanse his mouth; nor may cheese be eaten on a table cloth on which meat is,
nor be cut with a knife that flesh is cut with (h): so careful are they of breaking this law,
as they understand it: but the words are, doubtless, to be taken literally, of not boiling a
kid in its mother's milk; and is thought by many to refer to some custom of this kind,
either among the Israelites, which they had somewhere learnt, or among the idolatrous
Heathens, and therefore cautioned against; Maimonides and Abarbinel both suppose it
was an idolatrous rite, but are not able to produce an instance of it out of any writer of
theirs or others: but Dr. Cudworth has produced a passage out of a Karaite author (i),
who affirms,"it was a custom of the Heathens at the ingathering of their fruits to take a
kid and seethe it in the milk of the dam, and then, in a magical way, go about and
besprinkle all their trees, fields, gardens, and orchards, thinking by this means they
should make them fructify, and bring forth fruit again more abundantly the next
year:''and the Targum of Jonathan on Exo_34:26 seems to have respect to this, where,
having paraphrased the words as here quoted above, adds,"lest I should destroy the fruit
of your trees with the unripe grape, the shoots and leaves together:''and if this may be
depended upon, the law comes in here very aptly, after the feast of ingathering, and the
bringing in the first fruits of the land into the Lord's house.
JAMISO ,"Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk — A prohibition
against imitating the superstitious rites of the idolaters in Egypt, who, at the end of their
harvest, seethed a kid in its mother’s milk and sprinkled the broth as a magical charm on
their gardens and fields, to render them more productive the following season. [See on
Deu_14:21].

92. K&D, "Exo_23:19
The next command in Exo_23:19 has reference to the feast of Harvest, or feast of
Weeks. In “the first-fruits of thy land” there is an unmistakeable allusion to “the first-
fruits of thy labours” in Exo_23:16. It is true the words, “the first of the first-fruits of thy
land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God,” are so general in their
character, that we can hardly restrict them to the wave-loaves to be offered as first-fruits
at the feast of Weeks, but must interpret them as referring to all the first-fruits, which
they had already been commanded not to delay to offer (Exo_22:29), and the
presentation of which is minutely prescribed in Num_18:12-13, and Deu_26:2-11, -
including therefore the sheaf of barley to be offered in the second day of the feast of
unleavened bread (Lev_23:9.). At the same time the reference to the feast of Weeks is
certainly to be retained, inasmuch as this feast was an express admonition to Israel, to
offer the first of the fruits of the Lord. In the expression ‫י‬ ֵ‫וּר‬ⅴ ִ ‫ית‬ ִ‫אשׁ‬ ֵ‫,ר‬ the latter might be
understood as explanatory of the former and in apposition to it, since they are both of
them applied to the first-fruits of the soil (vid., Deu_26:2, Deu_26:10, and Num_18:13).
But as ‫ית‬ ִ‫אשׁ‬ ֵ‫ר‬ could hardly need any explanation in this connection, the partitive sense is
to be preferred; though it is difficult to decide whether “the first of the first-fruits”
signifies the first selection from the fruits that had grown, ripened, and been gathered
first-that is to say, not merely of the entire harvest, but of every separate production of
the field and soil, according to the rendering of the lxx ᅊπαρχηᆭς τራν πρωτογεννηµάτων τᇿς
γᇿς, - or whether the word ‫ית‬ ִ‫אשׁ‬ ֵ‫ר‬ is used figuratively, and signifies the best of the first-
fruits. There is no force in the objection offered to the former view, that “in no other case
in which the offering of first-fruits generally is spoken of, is one particular portion
represented as holy to Jehovah, but the first-fruits themselves are that portion of the
entire harvest which was holy to Jehovah.” For, apart from Num_18:12, where a
different rendering is sometimes given to ‫,ראשׁית‬ the expression ‫אשׁית‬ ֵ‫ר‬ ֵ‫מ‬ in Deu_26:2
shows unmistakeably that only a portion of the first of all the fruit of the ground had to
be offered to the Lord. On the other hand, this view is considerably strengthened by the
fact, that whilst ‫וּר‬ⅴ ִ , ‫ים‬ ִ‫וּר‬ⅴ ִ signify those fruits which ripened first, i.e., earliest, ‫ית‬ ִ‫אשׁ‬ ֵ‫ר‬ is
used to denote the ᅊπαρχή, the first portion or first selection from the whole, not only in
Deu_26:2, Deu_26:10, but also in Lev_23:10, and most probably in Num_18:12 as well.
- Now if these directions do not refer either exclusively or specially to the loaves of first-
fruits of the feast of Weeks, the opinion which has prevailed from the time of Abarbanel
to that of Knobel, that the following command, “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his
mother's milk,” refers to the feast of Ingathering, is deprived of its principal support.
And any such allusion is rendered very questionable by the fact, that in Deu_14:21,
where this command is repeated, it is appended to the prohibition against eating the
flesh of an animal that had been torn to pieces. Very different explanations have been
given to the command. In the Targum, Mishnah, etc., it is regarded as a general
prohibition against eating flesh prepared with milk. Luther and others suppose it to
refer to the cooking of the kid, before it has been weaned from its mother's milk. But the
actual reference is to the cooking of a kid in the milk of its own mother, as indicating a
contempt of the relation which God has established and sanctified between parent and
young, and thus subverting the divine ordinances. As kids were a very favourite food
(Gen_27:9, Gen_27:14; Jdg_6:19; Jdg_13:15; 1Sa_16:20), it is very likely that by way of

93. improving the flavour they were sometimes cooked in milk. According to Aben Ezra and
Abarbanel, this was a custom adopted by the Ishmaelites; and at the present day the
Arabs are in the habit of cooking lamb in sour milk. A restriction is placed upon this
custom in the prohibition before us, but there is no intention to prevent the introduction
of a superstitious usage customary at the sacrificial meals of other nations, which
Spencer and Knobel have sought to establish as at all events probable, though without
any definite historical proofs, and for the most part on the strength of far-fetched
analogies.
CALVI ,"19.Thou shalt not seethe a kid. The threefold repetition of the command
reminds us that a serious matter is spoken of, whereas it would be a light and almost
frivolous one, if, as some suppose, it is merely the prohibition of a somewhat
unwholesome food. But the Jews, not considering its intent, and affecting sanctity,
as they do, in trifling puerilities, dare not taste of cheese together with kid, or lamb’s
flesh, until they have well cleaned their teeth. I have no doubt, however, but that this
prohibition relates to the sacrifices, for in the first passage quoted, it is added in
connection with the offering of the first-fruits; and in the second, we read as follows:
“The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord
thy God. or shalt thou seethe a kid in his mother’s milk;” and so also in the third
passage: “Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself, etc., for thou art an holy
people unto the Lord thy God; nor shalt thou seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.” I
allow indeed that Moses sometimes mixes together precepts respecting different
things; but this running context shews that this precept is delivered among the
ceremonies, and must therefore be reckoned to be a part of the legal service.
Whence I conclude, that the people are not only interdicted from eating this sort of
food, as if they were to partake of flesh steeped in blood; but that they should not
pollute the sacrifices by the carnal mixture. It is however probable, that meat
seasoned with milk was accounted a delicacy; but inasmuch as they might grow
cruel, if they ate of a lamb or kid in its mother’s milk, God forbade to be offered to
Himself, what was not allowable even in their common meals. The exposition of
some, that kids were excluded from their tables until they were weaned, is not
agreeable to reason; because they then begin to have a goatish flavor. But the reason
is a very appropriate one, i.e., that God would not admit a monstrous thing in His
sacrifices, that the flesh of the young should be cooked in its mother’s milk, and
thus, as it were, in its own blood.
COKE, "Exodus 23:19. The first of the first-fruits, &c— See ch. Exodus 22:29. This
command refers to the first-fruits to be offered at the several festivals, when they
were settled in the land of Canaan.
Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk— This extraordinary command is
repeated, ch. Exodus 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21 and in the same connexion as
here, with the payment of first-fruits; which would naturally lead one to suppose,
that it has some reference to the payment of those fruits, and to some superstitious
practices which the pagans might have used on these occasions. Agreeably to this
conjecture, Dr. Cudworth, in his treatise on the Lord's Supper, informs us, that he

94. learnt, from the comment of an ancient Karaite upon the Pentateuch, that a
superstitious rite prevailed among the ancient idolaters, of seething a kid in its
mother's milk, when they had gathered in all their fruits; and sprinkling the trees,
and fields, and gardens, with the broth, after a magical manner, to make them more
fruitful for the following year. Spenser observes on this passage, that "the Zabii use
this kind of magical milk, to sprinkle their trees and fields, in hopes of plenty."
Some are, moreover, of opinion, that this is a precept of humanity, and, like many
other of the divine laws, intended to prevent all cruelty, and to inculcate a mild and
tender disposition. See Leviticus 22:28. Deuteronomy 22:6-7 which last law,
respecting a bird and her young, is evidently a law of humanity, as well as many
others in that same chapter.
REFLECTIO S.—Three solemn feasts are enjoined, the passover, pentecost, and
the feast of tabernacles. They must at these seasons all appear, not empty-handed,
but with their oblations, and rejoice together before the Lord. ote; 1. God will
have his people happy. 2. Grateful acknowledgments of God's mercies are our
bounden duty. 3. All superstitious usages, such as that mentioned, Exodus 23:19
must be banished.
CO STABLE, "The commentators have accounted for the prohibition against
boiling a kid (young lamb) in its mother"s milk in many different ways. Some
scholars believe it was the opposition to commingling life and death, a source of life
and its product, or Israel and the nations, that was the basis for this prohibition (cf.
Leviticus 22:27-28; Deuteronomy 22:6). [ ote: Jacob Milgrom, ""You Shall ot
Boil a Kid in It"s Mother"s Milk,"" Bible Review1:3 (Fall1985):48-55; Merrill, in
The Old . . ., p63.] Another view is that it was a way of specifying that only weaned
animals were acceptable as sacrifices (cf. Exodus 34:18-26). [ ote: Sailhamer, The
Pentateuch . . ., p294.] The most popular explanation is that this was a pagan
practice that showed disrespect for the God-given relationship between parent and
offspring. [ ote: E.g, Meyer, p270.] The Ras Shamra tablets have shown that
boiling sacrificial kids in their mother"s milk was a common ritual practice among
the Canaanites. [ ote: See Charles F. Pfeiffer, Ras Shamra and the Bible. For other
views, see Kaiser, " Exodus ," p445.] This ordinance is the basis for the separation
strict Jews make in their diet by not mixing dairy and meat products. Observant
Jews even provide separate equipment and kitchens for the preparation of these
dishes.
ELLICOTT, "(19) The first of the firstfruits—i.e., the very first that ripen. There
was a natural tendency to “delay” the offering (Exodus 22:29) until a considerable
part of the harvest had been got in. True gratitude makes a return for benefits
received as soon as it, can. “Bis dat qui cito dat.”
The house of the Lord. Comp. Exodus 34:26 and Deuteronomy 23:18. It is known to
Moses that the “place which God will choose to put his name there” is to be a
“house,” or “temple.”
Thou shalt not seethe a kid.—A fanciful exegesis connects the four precepts of

95. Exodus 23:18-19 with the three feasts—the two of Exodus 23:18 with the Paschal
festival, that concerning firstfruits in Exodus 23:19 with the feast of ingathering,
and this concerning kids with the feast of tabernacles. To support this theory it is
suggested that the command has reference to a superstitious practice customary at
the close of the harvest—a kid being then boiled in its mother’s milk with magic
rites, and the milk used to sprinkle plantations, fields, and gardens, in order to
render them more productive the next year. But Deuteronomy 14:21, which attaches
the precept to a list of unclean meats, is sufficient to show that the kid spoken of was
boiled to be eaten. The best explanation of the passage is that of Bochart (Hierozoic.
pt. 1, bk. 2, Exo. 52), that there was a sort of cruelty in making the milk of the
mother, intended for the kid’s sustenance, the means of its destruction.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Exodus 23:19
"In less than two minutes," says Scott, describing at the close of Kenilworth the
murder of Amy Robsart, "Foster heard the tramp of a horse in the courtyard, and
then a whistle similar to that which was the Earl"s usual signal;—the instant after,
the door of the Countess"s chamber opened, and in the same moment the trap-door
gave way. There was a rushing sound—a heavy fall—a faint groan—and all was
over.... "So pass our troubles," said Varney, entering the room; "I dreamed not I
could have mimicked the Earl"s call so well." "Oh, if there be judgment in Heaven,
thou hast deserved it," said Foster, "and wilt meet it! Thou hast destroyed her by
means of her best affections. It is a seething of the kid in the mother"s milk!""
Compare ewman"s resentful application of this verse to the behaviour of the
Anglican Bishops towards himself in1843. "I resigned my living on September
the18th. I had not the means of doing it legally at Oxford. The late Mr. Goldsmid
was kind enough to aid me in resigning it in London. I found no fault with the
Liberals; they had beaten me in a fair field. As to the act of the Bishops, I thought,
to borrow a Scriptural image from Walter Scott, that they had "seethed the kid in
his mother"s milk"."
Reference.—XXIII:20 , 21.—J. B. Brown, The Divine Life in Prayer of Manasseh ,
p235.
PETT, "Exodus 23:19 a
“The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of Yahweh
your God.”
Compare 34:26a. Wherever God revealed Himself could be called ‘the house of
God’ (Genesis 28:17), for it meant a dwelling-place, where God had revealed
Himself. Here it therefore meant the place where God was approached, the Tent of
Meeting and later the Tabernacle (Exodus 34:26). The first of the firstfruits may
mean the choicest of the firstfruits or literally what ripened first. The point was that
Yahweh would receive His portion before His people received theirs as an
acknowledgement that what they received came from Him and belonged to Him.
This may have special reference to the Feast of Harvest or Sevens (Weeks) where the
firstfruits were especially offered (Exodus 23:16).

96. On the other hand the first of the firstfruits was offered on the first day of
unleavened bread in the presentation of the first ripe sheaf (Leviticus 23:10-11).
This might serve to confirm that Passover and Unleavened Bread are again in mind.
Exodus 23:19 b
“You shall not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk.”
Compare Exodus 34:26 b which demonstrates (as does the chiasmus here) that this
is to be seen as an integral part of the series. If the connection of the other three
items is with the Passover feasting it may suggest that this was also connected with
the Passover feasting. Just as it was unseemly that the Passover be eaten with
leavened bread, so was it unseemly that a kid eaten at the feast of Passover and
Unleavened Bread be seethed in its mother’s milk. The seething of kids in milk was
certainly practised among the Arabs later, and there seems no reason why that
should be condemned, the condemnation would therefore seem to be of its being in
the milk of its mother.
But some have connected it with the Feast of Ingathering on the grounds that both
Unleavened Bread and Harvest have been in mind in verses 18-19a, and it may be
so. Either way the contrast is specifically with not offering the blood of the Passover
lamb with unleavened bread. In the end the thought is that no kid that is seethed at
any feast should be seethed in its mother’s milk, because that would be an
abomination to Yahweh.
It is thought by some that elsewhere among the nations kids were boiled in their
mother’s milk so that the resulting magical mixture could be sprinkled on the fields
hoping to produce fertility. (It has been suggested that it is witnessed to, for
example, in The Birth of the Gods, a Ugaritic text, but this suggested reference is
now seen as misread). It may have been that this was so. But the more probable
reason would seem to be that it was seen as unseemly that a calf should be boiled in
what should rather have been seen as maintaining its life, that is, that it was seen as
a contradiction in Creation that was unacceptable. It made the mother destroy her
kid rather than sustaining it. It was an attack on the conception of motherhood that
could not be allowed.
Compare Leviticus 20:12 where a man lies with both a mother and her daughter,
and Exodus 18:23 where sexual relations with a beast is in mind, of both of which it
is said, ‘it is confusion’. They were relationships which were not to be. Similarly this
could be seen as ‘confusion’. A mother’s role was to be seen as strictly that of life
providing, and anything else a distortion of reality (compare the milder thought in
Isaiah 49:15). Compare also how in Deuteronomy 14:21 the practise is connected
with that of an Israelite eating something that ‘dies of itself’. Israelites and such
dead meat were to be seen as incompatible. By this time it may be that the phrase
‘you shall not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk’ had become proverbial of any
incompatible situation. But whatever the explanation it was a practise forbidden to

97. Israel.
For us the lesson is clear. We are to have a regard to what is seemly and what is not.
If we cannot see that to seethe a kid in its mother’s milk could be seen as unseemly
then there is little to be said for us. It would demonstrate a lack of appreciation of
motherhood, and a lack of the sensitivity that all God’s people should have, that
could only condemn us. For this example stresses proper consideration of
relationships, and that all distortions of motherhood are an abomination to God.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:19
Law of first-fruits. The first of the first-fruits may mean either "the best of the first-
fruits" (see umbers 18:12), or "the very first of each kind that is ripe" (ib, Exodus
23:13). On the tendency to delay, and not bring the very first, see the comment on
Exodus 22:29. The house of the Lord. Generally, in the Pentateuch we have the
periphrasis'' the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to put his name there"
(Deuteronomy 12:5, Deuteronomy 12:11, Deuteronomy 12:14; Deuteronomy 16:16;
Deuteronomy 26:2, etc.); but here, and in Exodus 34:26, and again in Deuteronomy
23:18, this "place" is plainly declared to be a "house" or "temple."
Law against seething a kid in the mother's milk. The outline of law put before the
Israelites in the "Book of the Covenant" terminated with this remarkable
prohibition. Its importance is shown—
1. By its place here; and
2. By its being thrice repeated in the law of Moses (see Exodus 34:16; and
Deuteronomy 14:21). Various explanations have been given of it; but none is saris-
factory, except that which views it as "a protest against cruelty, and outraging the
order of nature," more especially that peculiarly sacred portion of nature's order,
the tender relation between parent and child, mother and suckling. o doubt the
practice existed. Kids were thought to be most palatable when boiled in milk; and
the mother's milk was frequently the readiest to obtain. But in this way the mother
was made a sort of accomplice in the death of her child, which men were induced to
kill on account of the flavour that her milk gave it. Reason has nothing to say
against such a mode of preparing food, but feeling revolts from it; and the general
sense of civilised mankind reechoes the precept, which is capable of a wide
application—Thou shalt not seethe a kind in his mother's milk.
God’s Angel to Prepare the Way

98. 20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to
guard you along the way and to bring you to the
place I have prepared.
BAR ES, "An Angel - See Exo_3:2, Exo_3:8; Jos_5:13; Isa_63:9.
CLARKE, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee - Some have thought that this
was Moses, others Joshua, because the word ‫מלאך‬ malach signifies an angel or
messenger; but as it is said, Exo_23:21, My name is in him, (‫בקרבו‬ bekirbo, intimately,
essentially in him), it is more likely that the great Angel of the Covenant, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is meant, in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We have had
already much reason to believe that this glorious personage often appeared in a human
form to the patriarchs, etc.; and of him Joshua was a very expressive type, the names
Joshua and Jesus, in Hebrew and Greek, being of exactly the same signification, because
radically the same, from ‫ישע‬ yasha, he saved, delivered, preserved, or kept safe. Nor does
it appear that the description given of the Angel in the text can belong to any other
person.
Calmet has referred to a very wonderful comment on these words given by Philo
Judaeus De Agricultura, which I shall produce here at full length as it stands in Dr.
Mangey’s edition, vol. 1., p. 308: ᆦς ποιµην και βασιλευς ᆇ Θεος αγει κατα δικην και νοµον,
προστησαµενος τον ορθον αυτου λογον πρωτογονον υᅷον, ᆇς την επιµελειαν της ᅷερας ταυτης
αγελης, οᅷα τις µεγαλου βασιλεως ᆓπαρχος, διαδεξεται. Και γαρ ειρηται που· Ιδου εγω ειµι,
αποστελω αγγελον µον εις προσωπον σου, του φυλαξαι σε εν τᇽ ᆇδሩ “God, as the Shepherd
and King, conducts all things according to law and righteousness, having established
over them his right Word, his Only-Begotten Son, who, as the Viceroy of the Great King,
takes care of and ministers to this sacred flock. For it is somewhere said, (Exo_23:20),
Behold, I Am, and I will send my Angel before thy face, to keep thee in the way.”
This is a testimony liable to no suspicion, coming from a person who cannot be
supposed to be even friendly to Christianity, nor at all acquainted with that particular
doctrine to which his words seem so pointedly to refer.
GILL, "Behold, I send an angel before thee,.... Not a created angel, but the
uncreated one, the Angel of God's presence, that was with the Israelites at Sinai, and in

99. the wilderness; who saved, redeemed, bore, and carried them all the days of old, whom
they rebelled against and tempted in the wilderness; as appears by all the characters
after given of him, which by no means agree with a created angel: Aben Ezra observes,
that some say this is the book of the law, because it is said, "my name is in him", or "in
the midst of it"; others say, the ark of the covenant; but he says this angel is Michael; and
if indeed by Michael is intended the uncreated angel, as he always is in Scripture, he is
right: Jarchi remarks, that their Rabbins say, this is Metatron, whose name is as the
name of his master; Metatron, by gematry, is Shaddai, which signifies almighty or all-
sufficient, and is an epithet of the divine Being; and Metatron seems to be a corruption
of the word "mediator": some of the ancient Jewish writers say (k), this is the Angel that
is the Redeemer of the world, and the keeper of the children of men: and Philo the Jew
(l) applies the word unto the divine Logos, and says,"he (God) uses the divine Word as
the guide of the way; for the oracle is, "behold, I send my Angel", &c.''which agrees with
what follows:
to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have
prepared; to preserve the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness, from all
their enemies that should set upon them, and to bring them safe at last to the land of
Canaan, which he had appointed for them, and promised to them, and had prepared
both in his purpose and gift for them, and would make way for their settlement in it by
driving out the nations before them.
HE RY 20-23, "Three gracious promises are here made to Israel, to engage them to
their duty and encourage them in it; and each of the promises has some needful precepts
and cautions joined to it.
I. It is here promised that they should be guided and kept in their way through the
wilderness to the land of promise: Behold, I send an angel before thee (Exo_23:20), my
angel (Exo_23:23), a created angel, say some, a minister of God's providence, employed
in conducting and protecting the camp of Israel; that it might appear that God took a
particular care of them, he appointed one of his chief servants to make it his business to
attend them, and see that they wanted for nothing. Others suppose it to be the Son of
God, the angel of the covenant; for the Israelites in the wilderness are said to tempt
Christ; and we may as well suppose him God's messenger, and the church's Redeemer,
before his incarnation, as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And we may
the rather think he was pleased to undertake the deliverance and guidance of Israel
because they were typical of his great undertaking. It is promised that this blessed angel
should keep them in the way, though it lay through a wilderness first, and afterwards
through their enemies' country; thus God's spiritual Israel shall be kept through the
wilderness of this earth, and from the insults of the gates of hell. It is also promised that
he should bring them into the place which God had not only designed but prepared for
them: and thus Christ has prepared a place for his followers, and will preserve them to it,
for he is faithful to him that appointed him. The precept joined with this promise is that
they be observant of, and obedient to, this angel whom God would send before them
(Exo_23:21): “Beware of him, and obey his voice in every thing; provoke him not in any
thing, for it is at your peril if you do, he will visit your iniquity.” Note, 1. Christ is the
author of salvation to those only that obey him. The word of command is Hear you him,
Mat_17:5. Observe what he hath commanded, Mat_28:20. 2. Our necessary dependence
upon the divine power and goodness should awe us into obedience. We do well to take
heed of provoking our protector and benefactor, because if our defence depart from us,
and the streams of his goodness be cut off, we are undone. Therefore, “Beware of him,
and carry it towards him with all possible reverence and caution. Fear the Lord, and his

100. goodness.” 3. Christ will be faithful to those who are faithful to him, and will espouse
their cause who adhere to his: I will be an adversary to thine adversaries, Exo_23:22.
The league shall be offensive and defensive, like that with Abraham, I will bless him that
blesseth thee, and curse him that curseth thee. Thus is God pleased to twist his interests
and friendships with his people's.
JAMISO ,"Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way —
The communication of these laws, made to Moses and by him rehearsed to the people,
was concluded by the addition of many animating promises, intermingled with several
solemn warnings that lapses into sin and idolatry would not be tolerated or passed with
impunity.
K&D, "Relation of Jehovah to Israel. - The declaration of the rights conferred by
Jehovah upon His people is closed by promises, through which, on the one hand, God
insured to the nation the gifts and benefits involved in their rights, and, on the other
hand, sought to promote that willingness and love which were indispensable to the
fulfilment of the duties incumbent upon every individual in consequence of the rights
conferred upon them. These promises secured to the people not only the protection and
help of God during their journey through the desert, and in the conquest of Canaan, but
also preservation and prosperity when they had taken possession of the land.
Exo_23:20-27
Jehovah would send an angel before them, who should guard them on the way from
injury and destruction, and bring them to the place prepared for them, i.e., to Canaan.
The name of Jehovah was in this angel (Exo_23:21), that is to say, Jehovah revealed
Himself in him; and hence he is called in Exo_33:15-16, the face of Jehovah, because the
essential nature of Jehovah was manifested in him. This angel was not a created spirit,
therefore, but the manifestation of Jehovah Himself, who went before them in the pillar
of cloud and fire, to guide and to defend them (Exo_13:21). But because it was Jehovah
who was guiding His people in the person of the angel, He demanded unconditional
obedience (Exo_23:21), and if they provoked Him (‫ר‬ ֵ ַ for ‫ר‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ָ , see Exo_13:18) by
disobedience, He would not pardon their transgression; but if they followed Him and
hearkened to His voice, He would be an enemy to their enemies, and an adversary to
their adversaries (Exo_23:22). And when the angel of the Lord had brought them to the
Canaanites and exterminated the latter, Israel was still to yield the same obedience, by
not serving the gods of the Canaanites, or doing after their works, i.e., by not making any
idolatrous images, but destroying them (these works), and smiting to pieces the pillars
of their idolatrous worship (‫ּת‬‫ב‬ ֵ‫צ‬ ַ‫מ‬ does not mean statues erected as idols, but memorial
stones or columns dedicated to idols: see my Comm. on 1Ki_14:23), and serving Jehovah
alone. Then would He bless them in the land with bountiful provision, health,
fruitfulness, and length of life (Exo_23:23-26). “Bread and water” are named, as being
the provisions which are indispensable to the maintenance of life, as in Isa_3:1; Isa_
30:20; Isa_33:16. The taking away of “sickness” (cf. Exo_15:26) implied the removal of
everything that could endanger life. The absence of anything that miscarried, or was
barren, insured the continuance and increase of the nation; and the promise that their
days should be fulfilled, i.e., that they should not be liable to a premature death (cf. Isa_
65:20), was a pledge of their well-being.

101. CALVI ,"20.Behold, I send an Angel before thee. God here reminds the Israelites
that their wellbeing is so connected with the keeping of the Law, that, by neglecting
it, they would sorely suffer. For He says that He will be their leader by the hand of
an angel, which was a token of His fatherly love for them; but, on the other hand,
He threatens that they would not be unpunished if they should despise such great
mercy and follow their own lusts, because they will not escape the sight of the angel
whom He had appointed to be their guardian. Almost all the Hebrew rabbins, (267)
with whom many others agree, too hastily think that this is spoken of Joshua, but
the statements, which we shall consider more fully just beyond, by no means are
reconcilable with his person. But their mistake is more than sufficiently refuted by
this, first of all, that if we understand it of Joshua, the people would have been
without the angel as their leader as long as they wandered in the desert; and,
besides, it was afterwards said to Moses, “Mine Angel shall go before thee,” (
Exodus 32:34;) and again, “And I will send an Angel before thee,” ( Exodus 33:2.)
Moses, too, elsewhere enlarges on this act of God’s goodness, that He should have
led forth His people by the hand of an angel. ( umbers 20:16.) But what need is
there of a long discussion, since already mention has been so often made of the angel
of their deliverance? This point ought now to be deemed established, that there is no
reference here to a mortal man; and what we have already said should be
remembered, that no common angel is designated, but the chief of all angels, who
has always been also the Head of the Church. In which matter the authority of Paul
should be sufficient for us, when he admonishes the Corinthians not to tempt Christ
as their fathers tempted Him in the desert. ( 1 Corinthians 10:9.) We gather this,
too, from the magnificent attribute which Moses immediately afterwards assigns to
Him, that “the name of God should be in him.” I deem this to be of great
importance, although it is generally passed over lightly. But let us consider it
particularly. When God declares that He will send His angel “to keep them in the
way,” He makes a demand upon them for their willing obedience, for it would be too
base of them to set at nought, or to forget Him whose paternal care towards them
they experience. But in the next verse, He seeks by terror to arouse them from their
listlessness, where He commands them to beware of His presence, since He would
take vengeance on their transgressions; (268) wherein, also, there is a delicate
allusion to be observed in the ambiguous meaning of the word employed. For, since
‫,שמר‬ shamar, in Hebrew signifies “to guard,” after He has said that an angel shall be
their guardian, He warns them, on the other hand, that they should guard
themselves. Herein the Angel is exalted above the rank of a human being, since He is
appointed to be their judge, if the Israelites should offend in any respect; not in the
way that judgment is deputed to the Prophets with reference to their doctrine, the
power of which is supreme, but because nothing shall be hidden from Him. For
Scripture assigns to God alone as His peculiar attribute, that we should walk before
His face. What follows is to the same effect, “provoke him not,” which is everywhere
spoken of God. But, as I have just said, this seems to me to be of most importance,
that the name of God was to be in Him, or in the midst of Him, which is equivalent
to this, that in Him shall reside my majesty and glory; and, therefore, He shall
possess both the knowledge of hearts, as well as dominion, and the power of
judgment. Besides, we have already said that there is no absurdity in designating
Christ by the name of the Angel, because He was not yet the Incarnate Mediator,

102. but as often as He appeared to the ancient people He gave an indication of His
future mission.
COKE, "Exodus 23:20. Behold, I send an Angel— This might as well be rendered,
the Angel or Messenger. Houbigant, after the Samaritan, the LXX, and the Vulgate,
reads my Angel, as in Exodus 23:23. Who he was, appears from the whole
subsequent history; namely, that same Divine Person who appeared to Moses in the
bush, and who has been already so often spoken of. The phrase, Exodus 23:21 for
my ame is in him, signifies, he is invested with my power and authority; or rather,
my power and authority is inherent in him: for the Hebrew is emphatical: because
my ame, ‫בקרבו‬ bekirbo, in interiori ejus, is in the inmost part of him: a phrase,
which could be applied to no created angel; as all which is here said of him, clearly
proves. See John 10:38. one could pardon sins (Exodus 23:21.) but God alone: see
Mark 2:7.
COFFMA , "Verses 20-24
"Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into
the place which I have prepared. Take ye heed before him, and hearken unto his
voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is
in him. But if thou shalt indeed hearken unto his voice, and do all that I speak; then
I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For
mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorite, and the Hittite,
and the Perizite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I will cut them
off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their
works; but thou shalt surely overthrow them, and break in pieces their pillars."
"An angel before thee ..." This can be none other than the Angel of Jehovah, not
Moses, or the Ark of the Covenant, or any such thing. This Angel: (1) would bring
them into Canaan, which Moses did not; and (2) he had the power to withhold
forgiveness of sins, which Moses could not do. He is that same glorious Being who
came to Joshua as the Captain of the hosts of Jehovah, and the one who was "among
the myrtle trees" of Zechariah 1:8.
"The Hittite ... etc." These were the more comprehensive groupings of the nations of
Canaan, which, of course, included some thirty-two little kingdoms in all.
"I will cut them off ..." The quibble that it is God who here will destroy the
Canaanites, and that it is Israel who will do so, "thou shalt drive them out," in
Exodus 23:34, is an excellent measure of the blindness of critical interpretations. Of
course, God would remove the Canaanites by the strength of and through the efforts
of Israel. What one does through his servants is legitimately held to be what he
himself did.
"And break in pieces their pillars ..." "These were idolatrous stones carved with
some heathenish symbol."[22] Some, if not all of these were phallic, great orthostatic
symbols, some relics of which may still be seen in Japan. They were intimately

103. associated with the licentious worship of Baal, later incorporated into the worship of
Jehovah in orthern Israel, as a number of the minor prophets charged. This
commandment to destroy all signs, instruments, symbols, and artifacts connected
with paganism was intended to protect the Iraelites against the encroachments of
paganism upon their religious beliefs and practices. The great sorrow was that lsrael
failed to do this.
Regarding those pagan gods, Israel was commanded: (1) not to bow down to them
(Exodus 23:24); (2) to destroy them (Exodus 23:24); (3) to drive them out (Exodus
23:31); and (4) to make no covenant with them (Exodus 23:32).
CO STABLE, "Verses 20-33
Yahweh"s relation to Israel23:20-33
In this final part of the Book of the Covenant ( Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33), God
gave the Israelites promises and precepts relating to their conquest of the Promised
Land. Suzerainty treaties normally concluded with an explanation of the benefits
that would come to the vassals if they obeyed the king"s commands and the
difficulties they would experience if they disobeyed. That is characteristic of this
section of the covenant, though the emphasis is positive.
"Similar opening [ Exodus 20:22-26] and closing remarks are also found in the
codes of Hammurabi and Lipit-Istar." [ ote: Cassuto, p305.]
"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 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)." [ ote: Merrill, "A Theology . . .," p47.]
ELLICOTT, "Verse 20
(20) I send an Angel before thee.—Kalisch considers Moses to have been the “angel”
or “messenger;” others understand one of the created angelic host. But most
commentators see in the promise the first mention of the “Angel of the Covenant,”
who is reasonably identified with the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Eternal
Son and Word of God. When the promise is retracted on account of the sin of the
golden calf, it is in the words, “I will not go up with thee” (Exodus 33:3).
Verses 20-33
THE PROMISES OF GOD TO ISRAEL, IF THE COVE A T IS KEPT.
(20-33) The Book of the Covenant terminates, very appropriately, with a series of
promises. God is “the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” He chooses to
“reward men after their works,” and to set before them “the recompense of the
reward.” He “knows whereof we are made,” and by what motives we are influenced.
Self-interest, the desire of our own good, is one of the strongest of them. If Israel will
keep His covenant, they will enjoy the following blessings :—(1) The guidance and

104. protection of His angel till Canaan is reached; (2) God’s help against their
adversaries, who will, little by little, be driven out; (3) the ultimate possession of the
entire country between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea on the one hand, the
Desert and the Euphrates on the other; (4) a blessing upon their flocks and herds,
which shall neither be barren nor cast their young; and (5) a blessing upon
themselves, whereby they will escape sickness and enjoy a long term of life. All these
advantages, however, are conditional upon obedience, and may be forfeited.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "Verses 20-33
PART V.--ITS SA CTIO S.
Exodus 23:20-33.
This summary of Judaism being now complete, the people have to learn what
mighty issues are at stake upon their obedience. And the transition is very striking
from the simplest duty to the loftiest privilege: "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his
mother's milk. Behold, I send an Angel before thee.... Beware of him: for My ame
is in him" (Exodus 23:19-21).
We have now to ask how much this mysterious phrase involves; who was the Angel
of whom it speaks?
The question is not, How much did Israel at that moment comprehend? For we are
distinctly told that prophets were conscious of speaking more than they understood,
and searched diligently but in vain what the spirit that was in them did signify (1
Peter 1:11).
It would, in fact, be absurd to seek the ew Testament doctrine of the Logos full-
blown in the Pentateuch. But it is mere prejudice, unphilosophical and
presumptuous, to shut one's eyes against any evidence which may be forthcoming
that the earliest books of Scripture were tending towards the last conclusions of
theology; that the slender overture to the Divine oratorio indicates already the same
theme which thunders from all the chorus at the close.
It is scarcely necessary to refute the position that a mere "messenger" is intended,
because angels have not yet "appeared as personal agents separate from God."
Kalisch himself has amply refuted his own theory. For, he says, "we are compelled
... to refer it to Moses and his successor Joshua" (in loco). So then He Who will not
forgive their transgressions is he who prayed that if God would not pardon them,
his own name might be blotted from the book of life. He, to whom afterwards God
said "I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee" (Exodus 33:19), is the same
of Whom God said "My name is in Him." This position needs no examination; but
the perplexities of those who reject the deeper interpretation is a strong
confirmation of its soundness. We have still to choose between the promise of a
created angel, and some manifestation and interposition of God, distinguished from
Jehovah and yet one with Him. This latter view is an evident preparation for clearer

105. knowledge yet to come. It is enough to stamp the dispensation which puts it forth as
but provisional, and therefore bears witness to that other dispensation which has
the key to it. And it is exactly what a Christian would expect to find somewhere in
this summary of the law.
What, then, do we read elsewhere about the Angel of Jehovah? What do we find,
especially, in these early books?
A difficulty has to be met at the very outset. The issue would be decided offhand, if
it could be shown that the Angel of this verse is the same who is offered, as a poor
substitute for their Divine protector, in the thirty-third chapter. But no contrast can
be clearer than between the encouraging promise before us, and the sharp menace
which then plunged Israel into mourning. Here is an Angel who must not be
provoked, who will not pardon you, because "My ame is in Him." There is an
angel who will be sent because God will not go up, ... lest He consume them (Exodus
23:2-3). He is not the Angel of God's presence, but of His absence. When the
intercession of Moses won from God a reversal of the sentence, He then said "My
Presence (My Face) shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest,"(38) but Moses
answers, not yet reassured, "If Thy Presence (Thy Face) go not up with us, carry us
not up hence. For wherein shall it be known that I have found grace in Thy sight?...
Is it not that Thou goest with us? And the Lord said, I will do this thing also that
thou hast spoken" (Exodus 23:14-17).
Moreover, Isaiah, speaking of this time, says that "In all their affliction He was
afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence (His Face) saved them" (Isaiah 63:9).
Thus we find that some angel is to be sent because God will not go up: that
thereupon the nation mourns, although in this twenty-third chapter they had
received as a gladdening promise, the assurance of an Angel escort in Whom is the
name of God; that in response to prayer God promises that His Face shall
accompany them, so that it may be known that He Himself goes with them; and
finally that His Face in Exodus is the Angel of His Face in Isaiah. The prophet at
least had no doubt whether the gracious promise in the twenty-third chapter
answered, in the thirty-third chapter, to the third verse or the fourteenth--to the
menace, or to the restored favour.
This difficulty being now converted into an evidence, we turn back to examine other
passages.
When the Angel of the Lord spoke to Hagar, "she called the name of Jehovah that
spake unto her El Roi" (Genesis 16:11, Genesis 16:13). When God tempted
Abraham, "the Angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, ... I know
that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son ... from Me" (Genesis
22:11-12). When a man wrestled with Jacob, he thereupon claimed to have seen God
face to face, and called the place Peniel, the Face (Presence) of God (Genesis 32:4,
Genesis 32:30). But Hosea tells us that "He had power with God: yea, he had power
over the Angel, ... and there He spake with us, even Jehovah, the God of hosts"

106. (Hosea 12:3, Hosea 12:5). Even earlier, in his exile, the Angel of the Lord had
appeared unto him and said, "I am the God of Bethel ... where thou vowedst a vow
unto Me." But the vow was distinctly made to God Himself: "I will surely give the
tenth to Thee" (Genesis 31:1-55 : Genesis 31:11, Genesis 31:13; Genesis 28:20,
Genesis 28:22). Is it any wonder that when this patriarch blessed Joseph, he said,
"The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which
hath fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which hath redeemed me from
all evil, (may He) bless the lads" (Genesis 48:15-16)?
In Exodus 3:2 the Angel of the Lord appeared out of the bush. But presently He
changes into Jehovah Himself, and announces Himself to be Jehovah the God of
their fathers (Exodus 3:2, Exodus 3:4, Exodus 3:15). In Exodus 13:21 Jehovah went
before Israel, but the next chapter tells how "the Angel of the Lord which went
before Israel removed and went behind" (Exodus 14:19); while umbers ( umbers
20:16) says expressly that "He sent an Angel and brought us out of Egypt."
By the comparison of these and many later passages (which is nothing but the
scientific process of induction, leaning not on the weight of any single verse, but on
the drift and tendency of all the phenomena) we learn that God was already
revealing Himself through a Medium, a distinct personality whom He could send,
yet not so distinct but that His name was in Him, and He Himself was the Author of
what He did.
If Israel obeyed Him, He would bring them into the promised land (Exodus 23:23);
and if there they continued unseduced by false worships, He would bless their
provisions, their bodily frame, their children; He would bring terror and a hornet
against their foes; He would clear the land before them as fast as their population
could enjoy it; He would extend their boundaries yet farther, from the Red Sea,
where Solomon held Ezion Geber (1 Kings 9:26), to the Mediterranean, and from
the desert where they stood to the Euphrates, where Solomon actually possessed
Palmyra and Thiphsah (2 Chronicles 8:4; 1 Kings 4:24).
PARKER, "The Angel In Life
Exodus 23:20-33
Laws without angels would turn life into weary drudgery. Life has never been left
without some touch of the Divine presence and love. From the very first this has
been characteristic of our history. When our first parents were cast out of the
garden, the Lord said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the
serpent." That was a prophecy, bright as an angel, comforting as a gospel, spoken
from heaven. The difficulty is that we will interfere with the personality of the
Angel; we will concern ourselves about his figure and name. Instead of accepting the
ministry, and answering a great and solemn appeal addressed to our noblest
faculties, we ask the little questions of prying and often profane curiosity. It would
seem to be our nature to spoil everything. We take the instrument to pieces to find
the music, instead of yielding ourselves to the call of its blast, to the elevation of its

107. inspiring gladness, and to the infinite tenderness of its benediction. We are cursed
with the spirit of vain curiosity. We expend ourselves in the asking of little
questions, instead of plunging into God"s great sea of grace, and love, and comfort,
and waiting patiently for revelations which may address themselves to the curiosity
which is premature, and to the prying which now can get no great answers. The
solemn—the grand, fact Isaiah , that in our life there is an Angel, a spirit, a
presence; a ministry without definite name and altogether without measurableness;
a gracious ministry, a most tender and comforting service, always operating upon
our life"s necessity and our heart"s pain. Let us rest in that conviction for a moment
or two until we see how we can establish it by references to facts, experiences,
consciousness against which there can be no witness. We prove some assumptions by
the facts which flow from them. We can only establish the existence of some
substances by grouping together the phenomena which they present. Into the
substances themselves philosophy cannot penetrate; but philosophy can gather
together the appearances, sometimes all the elements and effects which are grouped
under the name of phenomena, and can reason from these groupings that there
must be underneath some unknown, some unknowable substance which expresses
itself in these superficial and visible appearances. So our assumption that there is an
Angel ahead of us, a radiant light in advance, a heavenly presence in our whole life,
may be established by references which appeal not to imagination only but to
experience; and if we can establish such events we shall have also to establish the
sublime doctrine that in the midst of humanity there is a light of Divinity, and at the
head of all the truly upward advancing host of men goes the Angel appointed of
God.
See how our life is redeemed from baseness by the assumption that an Angel is
leading it. Who can believe that an Angel has been appointed to conduct a life which
must end in the grave? The anticlimax is shocking; the suggestion is charged with
the very spirit of profanity. We could not allow it in poetry; we should resent it in
history; we should despise it in all dramatic compilations and representations. You
must not yoke a steed of any blood in too small and mean a chariot; you degrade
some horses of repute by sending them to do certain base and unworthy service. Is it
not so with men also? Are there not men whose names are so lofty, so illustrious,
that we could never consent to their doing certain actions too vulgar and low to be
worthy of their brilliant repute? Does not the law admit of the highest and widest
application? If an Angel is leading us, is he leading us to the grave? Surely it would
not need an Angel to conduct us to that poor destiny! We could wander thither
ourselves; the blind could lead us, and they that have no intelligence could plunge us
into that dark pit. And we feel that we are not being led to the grave. It is possible
that some of us may have so lived that the grave would be too good a destiny for us;
but I speak of those who have tasted of the sweetness of true life, who have risen
above the dreary round of mere existence, and who have tasted in ever so small a
degree of the wine of immortality,—men who have felt throbs of infinite life, hearts
that have been conscious of pulsings never started by human ingenuity, and such
men shrink from the suggestion that all this life, so full of sacred possibility and
gracious experience, should terminate in the gloom of the grave. Who says that life
was not meant for the grave? The Angel. Whose ministry is a daily pledge against

108. annihilation? The Angel"s. What is it within us that detests the grave, that turns
away from it with aversion, that will not be sent into so lone and mean a prison? It is
"the Divinity that stirs within us."
Then again, who could ask an Angel to be a guest in a heart given up to evil
thoughts and purposes? Given the consciousness that an Angel is leading us, and
instantly a series of preparations must be set up corresponding with the quality and
title of the leading Angel of our pilgrimage. We prepare for some guests. According
to the quality of the guest is the range and costliness of our preparation. Whom our
love expects our love provides for. When we are longing for the coming one, saying,
"The presence will make the house the sweeter and the brighter, and the speech will
fill our life with new poetry and new hope. Oh, why tarry the chariot wheels?" then
we make adequate—that is to say, proportionate—preparation. The touch of love is
dainty, the invention of love is fertile, the expenditure of love is without a grudge or
a murmur,—another touch must be given to the most delicate arrangement; some
addition must be made to the most plentiful accommodation; love must run over the
programme just once more to see that every line is worthily written. Then the front
door must be opened widely, and the arms, and the heart, and the whole being to
receive the guest of love. And that is so in the higher regions. If an Angel is going to
lead me, the Angel must have a chamber in my heart prepared worthy of myself.
Chamber!—nay, the whole heart must be the guest-room; he must occupy every
corner of it, and I must array it with robes of purity and brightness that he may feel
himself at home, even though he may have come from heaven to do some service for
my poor life. Any appeal that so works upon every kind of faculty, upon
imagination, conscience, will, force, must be an appeal that will do the life good. It
calls us to perfectness, to preparedness, to a nobility corresponding in some degree
with the nobility of the guest whom we entertain. If you please, you can fill your
heart-house with mean occupants. There are evil visitants that will sit down in
unprepared hearts and eat up your life a mouthful at a time. It lies within your
power—not within your right—to make your heart-chamber the gathering place of
evil things, evil thoughts, evil presences; but any conviction that would lead in that
direction proves its own baseness, lies beyond the circle of argument, and is not to
be treated seriously by earnest men. ow it is the distinguishing characteristic of
Bible-teaching that it wants clean hearts, large hearts, ample entertainment, noble
thoughts, sweet patience, complete sacrifice, having in it the pledge of final and
eternal resurrection. Any book offering such suggestions of Angel presences, radiant
leaderships, Divine associations, proves its own goodness, and its own inexpressible
value.
Suppose, however, that in our obstinacy and narrowness of mind we hesitate to
accept the suggestion of a living Angel, we lose nothing of all the gracious meaning
of the text by substituting other terms. We have to grow up to the apprehension of
Angelhood; but the stages of growth can be marked by common terms, and so the
growth can be proved to be possible. Many a life has in it a memory playing the part
of an Angel, a recollection full of tenderness, a reminiscence that lures the life
forward little by little up steep places and through lone and dark valleys. Some
might call such a memory an Angel. Why not? It discharges the offices of a blessed

109. minister, it redeems life from despair, it fills life with gracious encouragement, it
nourishes life in times of destitution and dejection. ow whilst some minds may be
unable to accept the transcendental suggestion of Angel ministry, it is a poor mind—
hardly to be reasoned with—that cannot conceive the idea that a memory, a
recollection, a vow, an oath, may play an inspiring part in human education, and
may save men from evil deeds in the time of tremendous temptation. We all have
memories of that blessed kind. We know the vow we spoke, the oath we took, the
pledge we gave, the word that passed from us and became solemn by sanctions that
could not be remitted except at the expense of the soul"s integrity. Yet we have
killed many an Angel. What slaughter we have left behind us! Stains redder than
blood show the awful track our lives have made. Mark Antony pointed put the
various rents in the robe of the murdered Caesar, and identified each rent with the
name of the cruel smiter. So we could do with the robe of our own lives. See where
the dewy pureness of young prayer lies mangled; see where the holiest oath of
obedience lies with a gashed throat which can never be healed; see where purposes
chaste as mountain snow lie murdered and forgotten; see where words of honour
plighted at last interviews in whispers softened by tears lie crushed, contemned and
mocked,—gather up all the images, the facts, and the proofs, which memory will
accumulate, and, as you look upon the hideous heap, regard it as God"s Angel,
unheeded, degraded, murdered! Thus we do not escape the pressure of the
argument by refusing to accept the supernatural term angel; we do not elude the
critical judgment by endeavouring to run away from appearances which are
charged with such high titles as Spirit, Angel, Divine minister. We have to answer
appeals formed in terms of our own creation. Our common speech itself gathers up
into an expression of judgment, and if we imagine that we have never seen an Angel
or resented his ministry, we have to account for it that our memory, our vow, our
plighted word, our testimonies spoken to the dying, have been forgotten, neglected,
abandoned, disavowed; and when we have answered a lower appeal we may be
prepared to reply to the challenge which sounds upon us with a more terrific
thunder from higher places.
The Divine presence in life, by whatever name we may distinguish it, is pledged to
two effects, supposing our spirit and our conduct to be right. God undertakes our
cause as against our enemies. Would we could leave our enemies in his hands! I do
not now speak altogether of merely human enemies—because where there is enmity
between man and Prayer of Manasseh , though it never can be justified, yet it
admits of such modification in the system of words as to throw responsibility upon
both sides—but I speak of other enemies,—the enmity expressed by evil desire, by
the pressure of temptation, by all the array against the soul"s health and weal of the
principalities of the power of the air, the princes of darkness, the spirits of evil. Send
the Angel to fight the Angel; let the Angel of Light fight the Angel of Darkness. We
have no weapon of our own invention and manufacture fine enough to strike the
subtle presence; but God is our Guardian. Are not his angels "ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation"? Sometimes we
in our own human personality have not to fight, we have to stand still and see the
salvation of God,—to stand back in God"s eternity and say, "The battle is not mine,
but thine; I cannot fight these dark ones; I cannot strike these presences, for they

110. elude all weapons at my disposal: undertake for me and I will stand hands down
waiting to see the outworking of thy redemption." If we had more faith we should
have fewer enemies; if we had more trust in God we should have less anxiety about
our foes. We must not encounter the serpent alone; we must not attempt to find
answers in the ingenuity of our own minds to the plaguing challenges and
temptations of the evil one. The enemies arrayed against us are not those of flesh
and blood, or we might in some degree meet them, elude them, disappoint them,—
we fight "not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,"—what have we to oppose to these?
The Angel—God"s Angel, the white-robed one,—and he by his holiness shall
overthrow all evil, for it lies with the Lord to chase the darkness and with holiness
to put down all iniquity.
The second effect to which the Divine presence in our life is pledged is that we shall
be blessed with the contentment which is riches. God said he would take sickness
away from the midst of his people: "There shall nothing cast their young, nor be
barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil." We must not be too literal,
or here we shall miss the meaning. As we have been in danger of misinterpreting the
term angel, we are equally in danger of misinterpreting the term sickness, or
poverty, or the general word circumstances. We know nothing about these terms in
the fulness of their meaning. We do but live an approximate life; we see hints and
beginnings, not fruitions and completions. What will God do for us then?—He will
give us a contented spirit. What does a contented spirit do for a man? It turns his
poverty into wealth, his sickness into energy, his loss into gain; it gives him to feel
that a man"s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth,
but is a life hidden in the mystery of God"s own being. Thus we have mysteries
amongst us which the common or carnal mind cannot understand. Man asking
God"s blessing upon what appears to be unblest poverty,—men saying it is enough
when we can discover next to nothing in the hand uplifted in recognition of Divine
goodness. Thus we hear voices coming from the bed of affliction that have in them
the subdued tones of absolute triumph; thus the sick-chamber is turned into the
church of the house, and if we would recover from dejection, and repining, and
sorrow, we must go to the bedside of affliction and learn there how wondrous is the
ministry of God"s Angel, how perfecting and ennobling the influence of God"s
grace.
The "hornets," spoken of in Exodus 23:28, must be taken figuratively. The Egyptian
made as a symbol of princely quality and princely power the wasp and the bee.
These were Egyptian symbols. Remembering the history of his people, going back to
the period of their Egyptian bondage, seeing upon Egyptian banner, and fresco, and
all manner of things royal, the image of the wasp and the bee, God said,—I will send
hornets before thee that can do more than these painted things can possibly do: I
will destroy by a power that cannot be controlled: I will kill armies by hornets, I will
dissolve hosts by winds that are charged with elements that life cannot withstand; I
will be thy friend. God does not fight with one weapon; God"s method cannot be
predicted. The wind is his, and the pestilence, and the tempest, and many things that
we cannot name or control, and they are all pledged to work in favour of the cause

111. of righteousness and the white banner of truth. Thus our hearts may claim a great
and solid comfort. We are not going through the wilderness alone. As Christians we
believe in the guardianship of Christ. Our prayer is "Jesus, still lead on." Angel of
the Covenant, let us feel assured of thy continued presence. Guide us with thine eye.
The road is long, hard, and often inhospitable, but it is measured every inch, and no
man could lengthen it. It is good for us to be sometimes in the wilderness; there we
long for rest, there we sigh for companionship, there we mourn for one sight of
flowers and one trill of birds carolling in the sunny air. The wilderness tames our
passion, chastens our ambition, modifies our vanity: we can do nothing in sand; we
cannot cool the fierce air; we cannot melt the rocks into streams of water. In the city
man becomes boastful, there men outrun one another and get richer than their
brethren; they spread themselves like green bay-trees; and fester in the noisomeness
of unblest success; but in the waste of the wilderness, in the dead flats of affliction,
in the monotony of sorrow, they learn how frail they are, how helpless, how
dependent upon Angel ministries. Bless God for the wilderness; thank God for the
long nights; be thankful that you have been in the school of poverty and have
undergone the searching and testing of much discipline. Take the right view of your
trials. You are nearer heaven for the graves you have dug if you have accepted
bereavements in the right spirit; you are wiser for the losses you have bravely borne,
you are nobler for all the sacrifices you have willingly completed. Sanctified
affliction is an Angel that never misses the gate of heaven.
PETT, "Verses 20-28
Yahweh’s Promise That He will Send His Angel With Them (Exodus 23:20-28).
Yahweh now confirms that He will go with His people into Canaan.
This section may be analysed as follows:
a Yahweh will send His Angel before them (Exodus 23:20).
b If they hear His voice then Yahweh will act for them against their enemies
(Exodus 23:21-22).
c The Angel will cut off the Canaanite nations (Exodus 23:23).
d They are not to bow down to their gods, but to serve Yahweh Eloheyca (Exodus
23:24-25 a).
d Then He will bless their bread and water and take away sickness from among
them (Exodus 23:25 b).
c one will cast their young or be barren among the Israelites (their seed will not be
cut off) (Exodus 23:26).
b He will send His terror before them and make their enemies turn their backs on
them (Exodus 23:27).
a He will send forth His hornet who will drive out the Canaanite nations (Exodus
23:28)
The chiasmus brings out in ‘a’ and its parallel and ‘b’ and its parallel what Yahweh
will do for them, in ‘a’ by sending His presence before them, in ‘b’ by dealing with
their enemies. In ‘c’ there is the contrast between the death coming on the
Canaanites and the abundance of life coming to the Israelites. The one will be cut

112. off, the other will not be cut off. In ‘d’ the call is to worship Yahweh only which will
result in plenteousness and good health
Exodus 23:20
“Behold I am sending an Angel before you to keep you by the way, and to bring you
to the place which I have prepared. Take heed to him and listen to his voice. Do not
provoke him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.”
Once again we are introduced to the Angel of Yahweh (see on Exodus 3:2. Also
Genesis 16:7-13; Genesis 20:17; Genesis 22:11-14), that mysterious figure who
personally represented Yahweh and yet was somehow different. The Angel brings
Yahweh more physically into a situation. He is Yahweh, for Yahweh can say, ‘My
name is in Him’. And He can then add ‘My Angel will go before you -- and I will cut
them off’, demonstrating that the Angel and Yahweh act as One (see also Exodus
32:34; Exodus 33:2 with Exodus 33:14).
The Angel who goes before them was surely represented by the pillar of cloud and
fire (Exodus 13:21-22; Deuteronomy 1:33), which itself manifested the presence of
God (Exodus 13:21). God will be with them in the way.
“The place which I have prepared”. Compare Exodus 15:17. He will keep them in
the way and bring them to the prepared place in which they will enjoy the harvests
of which He has spoken.
“Take heed to him.” Obedience was necessary if they were to inherit the promises. If
they broke His laws His Angel would not forgive it. For He was a representation of
the holy Yahweh, God of the covenant. Yet such was His mercy that when they did
provoke Him He partly overlooked their transgression for Moses’ sake, although
warning that their sin would eventually be visited on them, and He continued to go
before them (Exodus 32:31-34; Exodus 33:14).
“My name is in him.” What Yahweh is, He is. The Old Testament reveals Yahweh in
three ways, under His Own name, as the Angel of Yahweh (Yahweh in personal,
close revelation) and as the Spirit of Yahweh, (the invisible Yahweh seen in
powerful and visible action). But each is Yahweh and reveals His nature and being.
SIMEO , "Verses 20-22
DISCOURSE: 94
THE DA GER OF WILFUL A D OBSTI ATE DISOBEDIE CE
Exodus 23:20-22. Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to
bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice,
provoke him not: for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.
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.

113. IT is but too common for men to cast the blame of their own negligence on God. But
they who labour so much to exculpate themselves now, will one day be silent; and
God will finally be justified in every sentence that he shall pass. His kindness to the
church of old may shew us what his conduct is towards us. And they who are thus
guided, warned, and encouraged, must, if they perish, ascribe their condemnation to
themselves alone. The words before us contain,
I. The work and office of Christ—
Christ is here called an angel or messenger—
[He is often called by this name in the Holy Scriptures [ ote: He is the angel that
was in the pillar and the cloud, Exodus 14:19. That angel was Jehovah, Exodus
13:21. That Jehovah was Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:9. See also Malachi 3:1.]. or
does he disdain to assume it himself [ ote: John 12:49.]. In his essential nature
indeed he is equal with the Father. But in his mediatorial capacity he sustains the
office of a servant.]
As the angel of the covenant, he leads and keeps his people—
[He is represented as a leader and commander, like Joshua, his type [ ote: Isaiah
55:4.]. He went before them in the wilderness in the pillar and the cloud. And still,
though invisibly, guides them in their way to heaven [ ote: Psalms 25:9; Psalms
32:8.].]
or does he leave them till he brings them safely to glory—
[He did not forsake the Israelites, till he had accomplished all his promises [ ote:
Joshua 23:14.]. Having “prepared the land for them,” he preserved them for it.
Thus has he “prepared mansions for us” also [ ote: John 14:2.] ; and will surely
bring us to the full possession of them [ ote: 1 Peter 1:4-5.].]
But as this office of Christ implies a correspondent duty in us, God suggests,
II. A caution against neglecting him—
We are much in danger of displeasing him—
[As our guide, he expects implicit obedience. or can we rebel against him without
“provoking” his indignation [ ote: Isaiah 63:10.]. Hence we need continual
circumspection [ ote: 3.].]
The consequence of displeasing him will be very terrible—
[Doubtless to penitents he is full of mercy and compassion. But to impenitent
offenders he will manifest his wrath [ ote: Psalms 7:11-13.]. or will he suffer any
to continue in their sins with impunity [ ote: Ezekiel 24:13-14.].]

114. His power and dignity are a certain pledge to us that he will avenge the insults that
are offered him—
[By “the name of God” we understand not his authority only, but his very nature
[ ote: John 14:10-11; John 10:30.]. And this union with the Father is a pledge to us,
that he will act as becomes the divine character. or will any consideration of mercy
ever tempt him again to sacrifice the honour of the Deity to the interests of man.]
It is not however by terror only that God would persuade us; for he adds,
III. An encouragement to obey him—
Obedience is in some sense the condition of God’s favour—
[We know that there is nothing meritorious in man’s obedience. Yet is there an
inseparable connexion between that and the divine favour. or is it a partial
obedience only that he requires at our hands. It must be earnest, unwearied,
uniform, and unreserved.]
And to those who yield him this obedience he will shew himself an active friend, and
an almighty protector—
[His favour consists not in a mere inactive complacency. It will manifest itself in a
constant and powerful interposition on their behalf [ ote: 2 Chronicles 32:8; Isaiah
49:25.]. He will not fail to secure them the victory over all their enemies.]
Address,
1. Those who disregard the voice of this divine Messenger—
[From what is spoken of his mercy you are ready to think him destitute of justice.
And from the depth of his condescension you conclude he will not vindicate his own
honour. But where God most fully proclaims his mercy he declares his justice also
[ ote: Exodus 34:7.]. Make not him then your enemy who came from heaven to save
you. Consider what means he has used to guide you to the promised land. Consider
what great things he would do for you, if you would obey his voice. Consider what
certain and terrible destruction your rejection of his mercy will bring upon you
[ ote: Hebrews 12:25.]. And instantly surrender up yourselves to his direction and
government.]
2. Those who, though they submit to his government, are doubtful of success—
[The Israelites, notwithstanding all the miracles they had seen, were afraid they
should not finally attain the object of their desires. Thus amongst ourselves, many
tremble lest their expectations should never be realized. But is not God able to beat
down your enemies before you? Or will he forget the promise he has so often

115. renewed? If he be incensed against you, it is not owing to unfaithfulness in him, but
to instability in you [ ote: Jeremiah 2:17.]. Only be vigilant to obey his will, and to
follow him fully: and you need not doubt but that he will preserve you unto his
heavenly kingdom [ ote: 2 Timothy 4:18.].]
3. Those who are following him with cheerfulness to the heavenly land—
[Blessed be God, there are some of you like-minded with Joshua and Caleb [ ote:
umbers 14:24; umbers 32:12.]. And are not you living monuments of the power
and grace of God? Have you not on many occasions proved his readiness to pardon
sin? And do you not daily experience his paternal care and protection? Go on then
with increasing vigilance and an assured hope. Know that all the power and
perfections of God are engaged for you: and that “having guided you by his counsel,
he will finally bring you to glory.”]
PULPIT, "THE REWARDS OF OBEDIE CE. God always places before men" the
recompense of the reward." He does not require of them that they should serve him
for nought. The "Book of the Covenant" appropriately ends with a number of
promises, which God undertakes to perform, if Israel keeps the terms of the
covenant. The promises are:—
1. That he will send an angel before them to be their guide, director, and helper
(Exodus 23:20 - 23).
2. That he will be the enemy of their enemies (Exodus 23:22), striking terror into
them miraculously (Exodus 23:27), and subjecting them to other scourges also
(Exodus 23:28).
3. That he will drive out their enemies "by little and little" (Exodus 23:30), not
ceasing until he has destroyed them (Exodus 23:23).
4. That he will give them the entire country between the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean on the one hand, the Desert and the Euphrates on the other (Exodus
23:31). And
5. That he will bless their sustenance, avert sickness from them, cause them to
multiply, and prolong their days upon earth (Exodus 23:25, Exodus 23:26). At the
same time, all these promises—except the first—are made conditional. If they will
"beware" of the angel and "obey his voice," then he will drive their enemies out
(Exodus 23:22, Exodus 23:23): if they will serve Jehovah, and destroy the idols of
the nations, then he will multiply them, and give them health and long life (Exodus
23:24-26), and "set their bounds from the Red Sea even unto the Sea of the
Philistines, and from the desert unto the river" (Exodus 23:31). So far as they fall
short of their duties, is he entitled to fall short of his promises. A reciprocity is
established. Unless they keep their engagements, he is not bound to keep his.
Though the negative side is not entered upon, this is sufficiently clear. one of the
promises, except the promise to send the angel, is absolute. Their realisation

116. depends on a strict and hearty obedience.
Exodus 23:20
Behold, I send a messenger before thee. Jewish commentators regard the messenger
as Moses, who, no doubt, was a specially commissioned ambassador for God, and
who might, therefore, well be termed God's messenger. But the expressions—"He
will not pardon your transgressions," and "My name is in him," are too high for
Moses. An angel must be intended—probably "the Angel of the Covenant,"—whom
the best expositors identify with the Second Person of the Trinity, the Ever-Blessed
Son of God. To keep thee in the way is not simply "to guide thee through the
wilderness, and prevent thee from geographical error," but to keep thee altogether
in the right path. s, to guard thy going out and thy coming m, to prevent thee from
falling into any kind of wrong conduct. The place which I have prepared is not
merely Palestine, but that place of which Palestine is the type—viz; Heaven.
Compare John 14:2 :—"I go to prepare a place for you."
BI, "To bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Life’s pilgrimage
The angel, the way, the prepared place. It is the Divine key to the mystery of life. Life is
emphatically a way. Not by the way of the sea—a prompt and easy path—but by the way
of the wilderness, of old God led His pilgrims. The vision of the angel in the way lights
up the wilderness. Consider the suggestion of the text as to—
I. The pilgrim’s condition. God’s children must be pilgrims, because this world is not
good enough, not bright enough, not capable of being blessed enough, for the pilgrim in
his home. For—
1. The instructed soul sees the touch of essential imperfection and the bounds of
close limitation in everything here.
2. There is a constant aching of the heart through memory and hope.
3. Life is a pilgrimage because it is far away from the Friend whom we supremely
love.
II. The pilgrim’s guide.
1. God has sent His angel before us in the person of His Son.
2. He sends His angel with us in the person of the Holy Ghost.
III. The pilgrim’s way to the pilgrim’s home.
1. It is a way of purposed toil and difficulty, of wilderness, peril, and night. Suffer we
must in the wilderness; the one question is, Shall it be with or without the angel of
the Lord?
2. It is a way of stern, uncompromising duty. God asks us now simply to do and to
bear, and to wait to see the whole reason and reap the whole fruit on high. We must
train ourselves to the habit of righteous action, and leave the results to God and
eternity.
3. It is a way of death. God promises to none of us an immunity from death. The

117. shadow hangs round life as a drear monitor to all of us. He only who can eye it
steadily and fix its form will see that it is angelic and lustrous with the glory beyond.
The grave is but the last step of the way by which the angel leads us to the place
which He has prepared. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
Divine guidance
I. There is a Divine way.
1. Through the wilderness.
2. Beset with enemies.
3. Many privations.
4. Contrary to mere human liking.
God’s way is not our way! Ours may be pleasant at first but bitter at last, but God’s way is
the reverse; and yet not exactly, for sweets are graciously mingled with the bitters. There
is hunger, but there is manna. There is thirst, but there is clear water from the smitten
rock. There is perplexity, but there is an angel to guide and protect.
II. This way leads to Divinely-prepared places. Heaven is a specially prepared place. “I
go to prepare a place for you.” A place in the best of all places. A home in the best of
homes. A dwelling-place where all the abodes are mansions. A seat where all the seats
are thrones. A city where all the citizens are kings. What matters it though the way be
long and sometimes dreary, so long as the place is so attractive; and we cannot fail to
reach it if we obey Divine directions.
III. The travellers on this way are favoured with a Divine guide. Jesus Christ, the Angel
of the new covenant, is fully competent to direct and protect. He has trodden every inch
of the way.
IV. Divine promises are contingent on the faithful pursuit of Divine methods (Exo_
23:21). The Divine methods are—Caution, obedience, self-restraint, and the entire
destruction of all that has the remotest tendency to damage the moral nature. (W.
Burrows, B. A.)
The angel of the covenant
I. His nature was Divine.
1. Equal with God.
(1) Bearing the Divine name; “My name is in Him.” The incommunicable
covenant name of Jehovah.
(2) Performing Divine actions; “Mine angel shall go,” etc., “I will cut them off.”
So New Testament, “I and My father are one.”
2. Distinct from the personality of the speaker, “I send,” so New Testament, “The
Father which sent Me.”
II. His office was to conduct the covenant people to the fulfilment of God’s covenant
engagement.

118. 1. Providence. “To keep thee in the way.” So Christ “upholds all things by the word of
His power.” “In Him all things consist.” Generally and particularly He preserves
those who trust in Him (Joh_10:28).
2. Redemption. “To bring thee into the place which I have prepared.” Israel’s
redemption is only half accomplished as yet. So Christ’s eternal redemption is not
complete till the last enemy is destroyed (Joh_14:2-3).
III. The proper attitude towards Him.
1. Fear. Carefulness not to displease Him. Christ is the Saviour of those only who
believe in Him. To others He is a “savour of death unto death.”
2. Obedience. “Obey His voice.” So says the Father in the New Testament (Mat_
17:5); and Himself (Mat_28:20). This implies
(1) Trust in His person.
(2) Subjection to His authority.
(3) The prosecution of His commands.
IV. The reward of obedience to Him (Exo_23:22-23).
1. Identification and sympathy with us in our cause. “I will be an enemy,” etc.
2. Victory over our foes (1Co_15:57), world, flesh, devil, death, etc.
3. Inheritance in the promised land.
Learn—
1. (2Ti_1:9), That God’s grace has been manifested in Jesus Christ from the
beginning of the world.
2. That God’s grace has been, through Jesus Christ, with His people up to the
present moment.
3. And will be till the end of the world. (J. W. Burn.)
Christ at the head of the column
It is said when the Duke of Wellington, on one occasion, rode up to his retreating army, a
soldier happened to see him first and cried out: “Yonder is the Duke of Wellington; God
bless him!” and the retreating army had courage to nerve itself afresh and went forward
and drove the enemy away. One has said that the Duke of Wellington was worth more at
any time than five thousand men. So it would be if we had the Captain of our salvation in
front, we would go forward. How gloriously would this Church contend if Christ were
visibly in front of them! But the army was sometimes without the Duke of Wellington.
There was a place where he could not be. And if Christ were visibly present, He would be
present at the same time, only at one church in one locality; it might be in Philadelphia,
but what of the thousand other cities? But an unseen Saviour is at the head of the
column everywhere. We know He is there. The Captain of our salvation is where two or
three are gathered in His Name to inspire us; and to-day, in every city on the face of this
globe, where the columns meet to march, His voice sounds “Onward!” in their ears. (M.
Simpson, D. D.)

119. The angel in life
Laws without angels would turn life into weary drudgery. Life has never been left
without some touch of the Divine presence and love. From the very first this has been
characteristic of our history. The solemn—the grand, fact is, that in our life there is an
angel, a spirit, a presence; a ministry without definite name and altogether without
measurableness! a gracious ministry, a most tender and comforting service, always
operating upon our life’s necessity and our heart’s pain. Let us rest in that conviction for
a moment or two until we see how we can establish it by references to facts, experiences,
consciousness against which there can be no witness. See how our life is redeemed from
baseness by the assumption that an angel is leading it. Who can believe that an angel has
been appointed to conduct a life which must end in the grave? The anticlimax is
shocking; the suggestion is charged with the very spirit of profanity. If an angel is
leading, us, is he leading us to the grave? What is it within us that detests the grave, that
turns away from it with aversion, that will not be sent into so low and mean a prison? It
is “the Divinity that stirs within us.” Then again, who could ask an angel to be a guest in
a heart given up to evil thoughts and purposes? Given the consciousness that an angel is
leading us, and instantly a series of preparations must be set up corresponding with the
quality and title of the leading angel of our pilgrimage. We prepare for some guests.
According to the quality of the guest is the range and costliness of our preparation.
Whom our love expects our love provides for. When we are longing for the coming one,
saying, “The presence will make the house the sweeter and the brighter, and the speech
will fill our life with new poetry and new hope. Oh, why tarry the chariot wheels?” then
we make adequate—that is to say, proportionate—preparation. The touch of love is
dainty, the invention of love is fertile, the expenditure of love is without a grudge or a
murmur,—another touch must be given to the most delicate arrangement; some addition
must be made to the most plentiful accommodation; love must run over the programme
just once more to see that every line is worthily written. Then the front door must be
opened widely, and the arms and the heart, and the whole being to receive the guest of
love. And that is so in the higher regions. If an angel is going to lead me, the angel must
have a chamber in my heart prepared worthy of myself. Chamber!—nay, the whole heart
must be the guest-room; he must occupy every corner of it, and I must array it with
robes of purity and brightness that he may feel himself at home, even though he may
have come from heaven to do some service for my poor life. Any appeal that so works
upon every kind of faculty, upon imagination, conscience, will, force, must be an appeal
that will do the life good. It calls us to perfectness, to preparedness, to a nobility
corresponding in some degree with the nobility of the guest whom we entertain. The
Divine presence in life, by whatever name we may distinguish it, is pledged to two
effects, supposing our spirit and our conduct to be right. God undertakes our cause as
against our enemies. Would we could leave our enemies in His hands! I do not now
speak altogether of merely human enemies—because where there is enmity between man
and man, though it never can be justified, yet it admits of such modification in the
system of words as to throw responsibility upon both sides—but I speak of other
enemies,—the enmity expressed by evil desire, by the pressure of temptation, by all the
array against the soul’s health and weal of the principalities of the power of the air, the
princes of darkness, the spirits of evil. Send the angel to fight the angel; let the angel of
light fight the angel of darkness. The second effect to which the Divine presence in our
life is pledged is that we shall be blessed with the contentment which is riches. Thus we
have mysteries amongst us which the common or carnal mind cannot understand. Men
asking God’s blessing upon what appears to be unblest poverty—men saying it is enough

120. when we can discover next to nothing in the hand uplifted in recognition of Divine
goodness. Thus we hear voices coming from the bed of affliction that have in them the
subdued tones of absolute triumph; thus the sick-chamber is turned into the church of
the house, and if we would recover from dejection, and repining, and sorrow, we must go
to the bedside of affliction and learn there how wondrous is the ministry of God’s angel,
how perfecting and ennobling the influence of God’s grace. (J. Parker, D. D.)
21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says.
Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your
rebellion, since my ame is in him.
CLARKE, "He will not pardon your transgressions - He is not like a man, with
whom ye may think that ye may trifle; were he either man or angel, in the common
acceptation of the term, it need not be said, He will not pardon your transgressions, for
neither man nor angel could do it.
My name is in him - The Jehovah dwells in him; in him dwelt all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily; and because of this he could either pardon or punish. All power is given
unto me in heaven and earth, Mat_28:18.
GILL, "Beware of him,.... Of his face or countenance; observe his looks towards you
in a providential way, whether frowning or smiling; observe his directions and
instructions, laws and commands:
and obey his voice; hearken to what he says, and cheerfully, readily, and punctually
do as he orders:
provoke him not; by unbelief, by murmurings and complaints, by unbecoming words
and actions, by transgressing his commands, and acting contrary to his will:
for he will not pardon your transgressions: or suffer them to pass unchastised
and uncorrected, but will, as he did, take vengeance on their inventions, and on them
because of them, though he forgave their iniquities; for that he was such an Angel as
could forgive sin, which none but God can do, is evident; because it would be absurd to
say he will not pardon, if he could not pardon their transgressions, see Mat_9:6,

121. for my name is in him; the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father; the nature
and perfections of God are in the Word and Son of God, and so his name Jehovah, which
is peculiar to him; Christ is Jehovah our righteousness: or "though my name is in him"
(m); as Abendana and others, his name the Lord God, gracious and merciful, pardoning
iniquity, transgression and sin, as afterwards proclaimed in him; and yet,
notwithstanding this, he would not clear the guilty, or suffer the Israelites to go
unpunished, if they offended him: the Targum of Onkelos is,"or in my name is his
word,''he is my ambassador and speaks in my name.
JAMISO ,"my name is in him — This angel is frequently called Jehovah and
Elohim, that is, God.
22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do
all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies
and will oppose those who oppose you.
GILL, "But, if thou shall indeed obey his voice,.... Or "hearkening hearken", (n)
to it attentively, listen to it, and diligently and constantly observe and obey in whatever
he shall direct and order:
and do all that I speak; by him; or whatsoever he had spoke, or was about to speak;
for as yet all the laws and statutes were not delivered, especially those of the ceremonial
kind:
then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine
adversaries; which they should either meet with in their passage through the
wilderness, or when they came into the land of Canaan; signifying hereby that he would
protect them from them, subdue them under them, and give them victory over them, as
that they should be utterly destroyed, and so way made for their possession of their land,
as in the following words.
CALVI ,"22.But if thou shalt indeed obey. He moderates the terror with which He
had inspired them for two reasons, — first, that He may rather gently attract them
than force them by the fear of punishment; secondly, lest, if they imagine that the
Angel is formidable to them, the anxiety conceived in their minds should deaden
their perception of His mercy and layout. ow, although I postpone to another place

122. the promises whereby their obedience to the Law was confirmed, I have thought it
right to include this among the exhortations or eulogiums whereby the dignity of the
Law is enhanced, because it relates to the time past, for thus is the expression to be
paraphrased, “Take heed that ye respond to God who deals so liberally with you.
The promises which He made to your fathers as to the inheritance of the land, He is
now ready to perform, unless your iniquity should stand in the way. Make room,
then, for His grace, that, by the hand of the Angel, He may lead you into His rest.”
In order to stimulate them still more, He points out to them their need of His aid, as
though He had said that nothing, could be more miserable than their case, unless
they were protected from so many enemies by His defense, for He enumerates
several most important nations to which they would be by no means a match unless
they should fight under the guidance of the Angel. He says, therefore, that if they
only obey His Law, there is no occasion for them to be afraid, for that He will
destroy by His own power alone all that shall rise against them to resist them.
PETT, "Exodus 23:22
“But if you will indeed listen to his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an
enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.”
Obedience will bring the Overlord’s support against their coming enemies. One of
the great advantages of a Suzerainty Treaty was that the great overlord would come
to the support of the treaty people. Their enemies would be his enemies, because
they were his people and he was their overlord. But if they were not obedient to the
treaty he would come and punish them (Exodus 23:21). This illustrates that we are
still in the atmosphere of the great Suzerainty treaty in Exodus 20.
ote the change in personal pronouns. ‘His voice --- all that I speak’. Yahweh and
the Angel speak as One.
23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you
into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe
them out.
BAR ES, "I will cut them off - The national existence of the Canaanites was
indeed to be “utterly” destroyed, every trace of their idolatries was to be blotted out, no

123. social contact was to be held with them while they served other gods, nor were alliances
of any kind to be formed with them. (See Deut. 7; Deu_12:1-4, Deu_12:29-31.) But it is
alike contrary to the spirit of the divine law, and to the facts bearing on the subject
scattered in the history, to suppose that any obstacle was put in the way of well disposed
individuals of the denounced nations who left their sins and were willing to join the
service of Yahweh. The spiritual blessings of the covenant were always open to those
who sincerely and earnestly desired to possess them. See Exo_20:10; Lev_19:34; Lev_
24:22.
CLARKE, "Unto the Amorites - There are only six of the seven nations mentioned
here, but the Septuagint, Samaritan, Coptic, and one Hebrew MS., add Girgashite, thus
making the seven nations.
GILL, "For mine Angel shall go before thee,.... The same as before described:
and bring thee in unto the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and
the Canaanite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite; six nations are only mentioned,
though there were seven; the Girgashites are omitted, though added in the Septuagint
version; and this omission of them might be, either because they were swallowed up by
one or other of the other nations, particularly the Amorites, who were the most
powerful; or rather, having mentioned the most and chiefest, the Lord was not careful,
as Aben Ezra observes, to take notice of the least:
and I will cut them off; from being a nation, either of them; for though there were
some of them left, and dwelt about in the land, yet not as a kingdom and nation of
themselves, as they had been, but became tributary to the Israelites.
PETT, "Exodus 23:23
“For my Angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorite and the Hittite, and
the Perizzite and the Canaanite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, and I will cut them off.”
The general treaty is now applied to the particular situation. As they enter the land
they will meet up with the multiplicity of its inhabitants. And the Angel of Yahweh
will go before them and Yahweh will cut off their enemies. The use of six may
indicate three (the number of completeness) intensified and thus signify that the six
nations are to be seen as all the inhabitants in the land (compare Exodus 3:8;
Exodus 3:17 and contrast Exodus 13:5. In Exodus 23:28 three are cited confirming
this connection).
For the names of the enemies compare especially on Exodus 3:8; also Exodus 13:5.

124. 24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship
them or follow their practices. You must demolish
them and break their sacred stones to pieces.
CLARKE, "Break down their images - ‫מצבתיהם‬ matstsebotheyhem, from ‫נצב‬
natsab, to stand up; pillars, anointed stones, etc., such as the baitulia. See Clarke on
Gen_28:18 (note).
GILL, "Thou shalt not bow down to their gods,.... In a way of honour to them,
doing them reverence, expressing thereby an high esteem of them, trust in them, and
expectation of good things from them:
nor serve them: in any kind of service in which they usually are served by their
votaries; as by offering sacrifice, incense, libations, &c. or by praying to them or praising
of them, or in whatsoever way they are served by idolaters:
nor do after their works; the works of the worshippers of idols; all those wicked
works in general done by them, which should not be imitated; and those particularly
relating to the service and worship of their deities:
but thou shalt overthrow them; the heathen gods; utterly destroy them, and break
them to pieces, or demolish their temples, the idolatrous houses built for them, and their
altars; for the word has the signification, of demolishing buildings, and razing up the
very foundations of them:
and quite break down their images; or, "in breaking break down" (o); utterly and
entirely break them down, break them to shivers, all their statues of gold or silver, brass,
wood, or stone, or of whatsoever materials they were made; none were to be spared, nor
any remains of them to be seen, that they might not prove a snare to any to worship
them; and hereby they were to express their detestation of idolatry, and their strict and
close adherence to the true God, and the worship of him as follows.
HE RY, " It is promised that they should have a comfortable settlement in the land
of Canaan, which they hoped now (though it proved otherwise) within a few months to
be in the possession of, Exo_23:24-26. Observe, 1. How reasonable the conditions of this
promise are - only that they should serve their own God, who was indeed the only true
God, and not the gods of the nations, which were no gods at all, and which they had no
reason at all to have any respect for. They must not only not worship their gods, but they
must utterly overthrow them, in token of their great abhorrence of idolatry, their
resolution never to worship idols themselves, and their care to prevent any other from

125. worshipping them; as the converted conjurors burnt their books, Act_19:19. 2. How rich
the particulars of this promise are. (1.) The comfort of their food. He shall bless thy
bread and thy water; and God's blessing will make bread and water more refreshing
and nourishing than a feast of fat things and wines on the lees without that blessing. (2.)
The continuance of their health: “I will take sickness away, either prevent it or remove
it. Thy land shall not be visited with epidemical diseases, which are very dreadful, and
sometimes have laid countries waste.” (3.) The increase of their wealth. Their cattle
should not be barren, nor cast their young, which is mentioned as an instance of
prosperity, Job_21:10. (4.) The prolonging of their lives to old age: “The number of thy
days I will fulfil, and they shall not be cut off in the midst by untimely deaths.” Thus
hath godliness the promise of the life that now is.
CALVI ,"Exodus 23:24.Thou shalt utterly overthrow them. I allow indeed that
these supplements would partly agree with, and be applicable to, the First
Commandment; but since express mention is everywhere made in them of idols, this
place seems to be better suited to them. After Moses has taught what was necessary
to be observed, he adds a political law about breaking down altars and
overthrowing images, in order that the people may take the more diligent heed.
These passages, however, differ from the foregoing; for in condemning thus far the
superstitions which are vicious in themselves, God prescribed what He would have
observed even to the end of the world. He now confirms that instruction by
temporary enactments, that He may keep His ancient people up to their duty. For
we have now-a-days no scruples in retaining the temples, which have been polluted
by idols, and applying them to a better use; since we are not bound by what was
added consequently (propter consequentiam ), as they say, to the Law. I admit
indeed that whatever tends to foster superstition should be removed, provided we
are not too rigorously superstitious in insisting peremptorily on what is in itself
indifferent. The sum amounts to this, that to shew more clearly how greatly God
detests idolatry, He would have the memory of all those things abolished which had
once been dedicated to idols. The second passage more fully unfolds what Moses had
briefly adverted to in the first; for under the word “image,” he included all those
tokens of idolatry which he afterwards enumerates, and of which he commands the
whole land to be so cleared that no relics of them should remain. From the words,
when ye have come into the land “to possess it,” Augustin (297) sensibly infers, that
there is no command for private individuals to destroy the instruments of idolatry;
but that the people are armed and furnished with this authority to take the charge
of regulating the public interests, when they have obtained possession of the land.
The third passage is more brief, only enumerating three kinds; the fourth adds
“graven images,” (sculptilia .) The fifth omits the groves, and puts in their place
images or representations made of molten materials; and here we must observe
what we have before adverted to, that the name of statue (statuoe ) is sometimes
taken in a good sense; and therefore the Jews think that what was permitted to the
fathers before the Law is now forbidden. To us, however, it seems more probable,
that the statues now condemned are not such as Jacob erected only as a monument,
but such as they pretended to be a likeness of God. Some translate the word “titles,”
(298) others “pictures,” with what propriety I leave to the judgment of my readers.
He adds “image, ” (299) a word which, though not in itself sinful, is still deservedly
rejected in connection with the worship of God. Man is the image of God; for Moses

126. uses this same word, when relating the creation of man. But to represent God by
any figure, before which He is worshipped, is nothing less than to corrupt His glory,
and so to metamorphose Him. By speaking of molten images, he admits neither
sculptures nor pictures; but since they are generally cast in the precious metals, the
people were expressly to beware of keeping gods of gold or silver for ornament.
CO STABLE, "Verses 24-26
Moses stressed the worship of the true God as opposed to the idols of Canaan again.
ote the repeated emphasis on obedience and worship also in Exodus 23:20-26.
[ ote: On the promise that God would give the Israelites good health, see my
comments on15:26.]
ELLICOTT, "(24) or do after their works.—The Canaanitish nations were not
merely idolaters, they were corrupt, profligate, and depraved. All the abominations
mentioned in Leviticus 18:6-23 were practised widely among them before they were
dispossessed of their territory (Leviticus 18:24-30). o doubt the idolatry and the
profligacy were closely connected, as among idolatrous nations generally; but it was
for their profligacy rather than their idolatry that they were driven out. Thus it was
necessary to warn Israel against both.
Thou shalt . . . quite break down their images.—Conquerors generally preserved the
idols of the conquered nations as trophies of victory; to do so was forbidden to the
Israelites. Idolatry had such a powerful and subtle attraction for them, that there
was danger of their being seduced into it unless the entire apparatus of the idol-
worship were destroyed and made away with. Hence the present injunctions, and
others similar to them. (Comp. Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; &c.)
PETT, "Exodus 23:24
“You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works.
But you shall utterly overthrow them and break in pieces their pillars.”
Rivals to the Overlord must be rejected and their symbols destroyed. They are not
to be tolerated. There is One Overlord and He is Yahweh. Peoples entering a land
would often begin to include the gods of the land within their worship (see on 2
Kings 17:24-34) to ensure their protection. But this was not to be so here. They too
must be cut off and cast out. The land is Yahweh’s.
“ or do after their works.” Canaanite religion was debased and sexually perverted.
“Break in pieces their pillars.” This refers to the standing stones which were often a
feature of Canaanite shrines. Pillars were often set up as memorials (Genesis 18:18-
22; Genesis 35:13-15; Exodus 24:4; Joshua 4:1-9) but these were different, they were
identified with a god and venerated, and offerings were placed before them. They
represented Canaanite religion and its gods. Many examples have been found in and
around Palestine (for example at Gezer, Hazor, Lejjun, Byblos and Ugarit), some
with offerings still before them. They are constantly condemned throughout the Old

127. Testament.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:24
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works. It
is always to be borne in mind that with the idolatries of the heathen were connected
"works of darkness," which it is shameful even to speak of. The rites of Baal and
Ashtoreth, of Chemosh, Molech, Rimmon, and the other Canaanite and Syrian
deities were at once defiled by the abomination of human sacrifices, and polluted
with the still more debasing evil of religious impurity. "The sacrifice offered to
Ashtoreth," says Dr. Dollinger, "consisted in the prostitution of women: the women
submitted themselves to the visitors of the feast, in the temple of the goddess or the
adjoining precinct. A legend told of Astarte (Ashtoreth) having prostituted herself in
Tyre for ten years: and in many places matrons, as well as maidens, consecrated
themselves for a length of time, or on the festivals of the goddess, with a view of
propitiating her, or earning her favour as hieroduli of unchastity … In this way they
went so far at last as to contemplate the abominations of unnatural lust as a homage
rendered to the deity, and to exalt it into a regular cultus. The worship of the
goddess at Aphaca in Lebanon was specially notorious in this respect. The temple in
a solitary situation was, as Eusebius tells us, a place of evil-doing for such as chose
to ruin their bodies in scandalous ways … Criminal intercourse with women,
impurity, shameful and degrading deeds, were practised in the temple, where there
was no custom and no law, and no honourable or decent human being could be
found." Thou shalt utterly overthrow them. The heathen gods are identified with
their images. These were to be torn from their bases, overthrown, and rolled in the
dust for greater contempt and ignominy. They were then to be broken up and burnt,
till the gold and the silver with which they were overlaid was calcined and could be
stamped to powder. othing was to be spared that had been degraded by idolatry,
either for its beauty or its elaborate workmanship, or its value. All was hateful to
God, and was to be destroyed.
25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing
will be on your food and water. I will take away
sickness from among you,
CLARKE, "Shall bless thy bread and thy water - That is, all thy provisions, no

128. matter of what sort; the meanest fare shall be sufficiently nutritive when God’s blessing
is in it.
GILL, "And ye shall serve the Lord your God,.... And him only, who had brought
them out of Egypt, and done so many great and good things for them at the Red sea, and
now in the wilderness; by which he appeared to be the true Jehovah, the one and only
living God, and to be their God in covenant, who had promised them much, and had
performed it; and therefore was in a special and peculiar manner their God, and they
were under the highest obligations to serve and worship him in the way and manner he
directed them to:
and he shall bless thy bread and thy water; and make them nourishing and
refreshing to them, and preserve them thereby in health, as well as prosper and succeed
them, and increase their worldly substance:
and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee; the stroke of bitterness, or
the bitter stroke, as the Targum of Jonathan, any grievous disease, which is bitter and
distressing; signifying that there should be none among them, but that they should be
healthful, and free from distempers and diseases.
CALVI ,"25.And ye shall serve the Lord your God. It is true that this promise is
very similar to others, to which I have assigned a peculiar place, but it has this
difference, that, in inviting the people to be zealous in keeping the Law, it sets before
their eyes the effect of the covenant already made with their fathers, in order that
they may more cheerfully receive the Law. Therefore there was good reason for my
saying just before that the promises which refer to the past have their appropriate
place here, where their minds are prepared to obey God and keep His Law, because
the race of Abraham God had chosen to Himself, that tie may continually visit them
with His favor. He therefore promises them His blessing on their bread and water
and bodily health, for on these three things depend the condition of our present life.
Two other things He adds — fecundity in generation, and length of days. The sum
is, that they had been prevented by God’s loving-kindness, in order that they might
willingly honor Him, and that now all He had promised them was close at hand, if
only they responded to His grace. But, although the fertility of the land was great,
and its productions various and abundant, no mention is here made, as in other
places, of wine or oil, but only of simple food, as if He had said that the necessary
supports of life should not be wanting to them.
COKE, "Verses 25-27
Exodus 23:25-27. And ye shall serve the Lord your God— In consequence of their
utter extirpation of idols and idolatry, and their obedience to God, he promises
every sort of temporal blessings: Plenty of meat and drink; implied in the words
bread and water; see 1 Samuel 25:11. Health; I will take sickness away, &c.
Fruitfulness and increase, Exodus 23:26 and long life; the number of thy days I will
fulfil. See Psalms 90:10; Psalms 55:23 besides which, the Lord promises to send a
panic fear upon their enemies; which we find verified, Joshua 2:9-11 and confirmed
by an old inscription in Procopius, (lib. 2: De Reb. Vandal.) found not far from

129. Tangier, which imported, that the ancient inhabitants of that country had fled from
the face of Joshua, the son of un.
COFFMA , "Verses 25-27
"And ye shall serve Jehovah your God, and he will bless thy bread, and thy water;
and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall none cast her
young, nor be barren, in thy land: and the number of thy days I will fulfil. I will
send my terror before thee, and will discomfit all the people to whom thou shalt
come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee."
In essence, these verses promise Israel health, happiness, and length of life, but it
should be noted that all of these blessings were made to be contingent absolutely
upon their obedience to the words of the Angel of the Covenant who would, through
Moses, declare unto them the words of God. Any interpretation of God's promises to
Israel are grossly in error if they fail to recognize the fact of every one of those
promises having been given conditionally, the condition being that Israel would
keep the Covenant and obey the Word of God.
"I will send my terror before thee ..." This dreadful fear of God was most effective
in bringing Israel into Canaan. It is seen in the case of Balak and the Moabites.
"Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many" ( umbers 22:3), and
again in the instance of Rahab the harlot who confessed that, "The fear of you has
fallen upon all of us" (Joshua 2:9,11).
ELLICOTT, "(25) He shall bless thy bread, and thy water—i.e., all the food,
whether meat or drink, on which they subsisted. It is God’s blessing which makes
food healthful to us.
Take sickness away.—Half the sicknesses from which men suffer are directly caused
by sin, and would disappear if men led godly, righteous, and sober lives. Others, as
plague and pestilence, are scourges sent by God to punish those who have offended
Him. If Israel had walked in God’s ways, He would have preserved them from
sicknesses of all kinds by a miraculous interposition. (Comp. Deuteronomy 7:15.)
PETT, "Exodus 23:25-26
“And you shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your
water, and I will take sickness away from among you. one will miscarry or be
barren in your land. I will fulfil the number of your days.”
Yahweh Himself will provide for all their needs of food, water, fertility and long life.
The gods of rain and storm and the fertility gods were a regular feature of
Canaanite life and religion. But they will be irrelevant. For what Yahweh will do
will be far better than anything that the Canaanites claim for their gods. He can
ensure that they have food and water in abundance (compare Deuteronomy 11:14-
15; Deuteronomy 28:12), that all their women are fertile and that they live long
lives. This was a picture of a new Eden but it would fail in its fulfilment because of
the disobedience of the people.

130. ote again the change of pronoun from He to I which occurs often when Yahweh
speaks, as God makes a statement and then personalises it.
“You shall serve Yahweh your God.” Compare Exodus 20:2. This is a reference
back to the giving of the covenant. He alone is to be served and all rivals are to be
rejected. Service includes both being faithful to the ordinances laid down for
worship, and obedience to His covenant stipulations.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:25
He shall bless thy bread and thy water. If the Israelites were exact in their
obedience, and destroyed the idols, and served God only, then he promised to bless
"their bread and their water"—the food, i.e; whether meat or drink, on which they
subsisted, and to give them vigorous health, free from sickness of any kind, which he
pledged himself to take away from the midst of them. Though Christians have no
such special pledge, there is, no doubt, that virtuous and godly living would greatly
conduce to health, and take away half the sicknesses from which men suffer, even at
the present day.
26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your
land. I will give you a full life span.
CLARKE, "There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren - Hence
there must be a very great increase both of men and cattle.
The number of thy days I will fulfill - Ye shall all live to a good old age, and none
die before his time. This is the blessing of the righteous, for wicked men live not out half
their days; Psa_55:23.
GILL, "There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in the land,....
There shall be no abortions or miscarriages, nor sterility or barrenness, either among the
Israelites, or their cattle of every kind, so that there should be a great increase, both of
men and beasts:

131. the number of thy days I will fulfil; which was fixed for each of them, in his eternal
purposes and decrees; or what, according to the temperament of their bodies and the
course of nature, which, humanly speaking, it might be supposed they would arrive
unto; or generally the common term of human life, which, in the days of Moses, was
threescore years and ten, or fourscore, see Job_14:5, it may be considered whether any
respect is had to the time of their continuance in the land of Canaan, the term of which
was fixed in the divine mind, or the fulness of time in which the Messiah was to come.
ELLICOTT, "(26) There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren.—Abortions,
untimely births, and barrenness, when they exceeded a certain average amount,
were always reckoned in the ancient world among the signs of God’s disfavour, and
special expiatory rites were devised for checking them. Conversely, when such
misfortunes fell short of the ordinary average, God’s favour was presumed. The
promises here made confirm man’s instinctive feeling.
The number of thy days I will fulfil.—Comp. Exodus 20:12. Long life is always
regarded in Scripture as a blessing. (Comp. Psalms 55:23; Psalms 90:10; Job 5:26;
Job 42:16-17; 1 Kings 3:11; Isaiah 65:20; Ephesians 6:3, &c.)
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:26
There shall nothing out their young, nor be barren in thy land. This blessing could
not have followed upon godly living in the way of natural sequence, but only by
Divine favor and providential care. It would have rendered them rich in flocks and
herds beyond any other nation. The number of thy days I will fulfil. There shall be
no premature deaths. All, both men and women, shall reach the term allotted to
man, and die in a good old age, having fulfilled their time. Godly living, persisted in
for several generations, might, perhaps, produce this result.
27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw
into confusion every nation you encounter. I will
make all your enemies turn their backs and run.
GILL, "And I will send my fear before thee,.... What should cause fear among the
nations of the land of Canaan; either the hornets mentioned in the next verse as the

132. explanative of this; or the fame of his mighty works, which he had done for Israel in
Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; which struck the inhabitants of Canaan
with such a panic, that they were ready to faint and melt away, and lost all courage, Jos_
2:9.
and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come; that is, the greatest
part of them:
and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee; flee away, not
being able to face them and stand a battle, or, however, not stand it long, but run and
make their escape: "or I will give thee the neck of them" (p); cause them to submit, to lay
down their necks and be trampled upon; an expression denoting their subjection, and an
entire conquest of them, see Psa_18:39.
K&D, "Exo_23:27
But the most important thing of all for Israel was the previous conquest of the
promised land. And in this God gave it a special promise of His almighty aid. “I will send
My fear before thee.” This fear was to be the result of the terrible acts of God performed
on behalf of Israel, the rumour of which would spread before them and fill their enemies
with fear and trembling (cf. Exo_15:14.; Deu_2:26; and Jos_2:11, where the beginning
of the fulfilment is described), throwing into confusion and putting to flight every people
against whom (‫ם‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ָ - ‫ר‬ ֻ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫)א‬ Israel came. ‫ף‬ ֶ‫ּר‬‫ע‬ ‫ב‬ֵ‫ּי‬‫א‬‫ת־‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ת‬ָ‫נ‬ to give the enemy to the neck, i.e., to
cause him to turn his back, or flee (cf. Psa_18:41; Psa_21:13; Jos_7:8, Jos_7:12). ָ‫יך‬ ֶ‫ל‬ ֵ‫:א‬ in
the direction towards thee.
CALVI ,"27.I will send my fear before thee. It is very clear from these words that
God’s fatherly love towards the people is magnified, to prepare their minds to
submit themselves to the yoke of the Law. Therefore their reward, if they should
keep the Law, is not so much set before them here, as shame is denounced upon
them if they should be ungrateful to God their deliverer, who was soon after about
to give them the enjoyment of the promised land. Moreover, God is said to sent forth
His fear, when by His secret inspiration He depresses men’s hearts. Whence we
gather that fear, as well as courage, is in His hand. Of this no doubtful examples
exist in every history, if only God obtained His due rights amongst men. It will often
happen that the courage of brave men gives way to alarm, and on the other hand,
that the timid and cowardly awake to sudden bravery. Where the cause is not
discovered, the profane have recourse to the hidden dominion of fortune to account
for it, or imagine that men’s minds have been stupified by Pan or the Satyrs. (269)
Let us however learn, that it is in God’s power to bend men’s hearts either way, so
as both to cast down the courageous with terror, as well as to animate the timid.
From this passage what we read in Psalms 44:2, is taken, —
“Thou didst drive out the heathen with thine hand, and plantedst them, (our
fathers.) For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did
their own arm save them,” etc.

133. Moreover, Rahab, who was both a harlot and belonged to an unbelieving nation,
still acknowledged this, when she said to the spies,
“our hearts did melt; for the Lord your God is God in heaven above, and in the
earth beneath.” (Joshua 2:11.)
She does not, indeed, express what we have here, that they were smitten from
heaven with internal fear, but only says that their terror came from a sense of God’s
power; still she admits that it is no human cause which makes them thus to tremble.
Moses ascends higher, that God puts to flight or routs their enemies not only by
setting before them external objects of terror, but that He works also inwardly in
their hearts, that they may fly in confusion and alarm; as it follows in the end of the
verse, “I will make them turn their backs,” as much as to say, that He would cause
them immediately to retreat, and not even to sustain the sight of the people.
CO STABLE, "Verse 27-28
God promised His people various provisions if they would be obedient. We should
probably understand the hornets ( Exodus 23:28) figuratively. There is no reference
in the text to God using real hornets to drive out the Canaanites, but He did use
other hornet-like forces (cf. Joshua 24:12).
"Perhaps "the hornet" is a symbol of Egypt, just as Isaiah 7:18 uses the "fly" and
the "bee" as symbols of Egypt and Assyria, respectively." [ ote: Kaiser, " Exodus
," p447.]
PETT, "Exodus 23:27-28
“I will send my terror before you and will discomfit all the people to whom you will
come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send the
hornet before you which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite and the Hittite
from before you.”
Yahweh will prepare the way before them by bringing a great fear on their future
foes. Thus they will be beaten before the battle begins, and will flee in terror from
them (‘turn their backs to you’). Compare for this Exodus 15:14-16; Deuteronomy
2:25, and its part fulfilment in Joshua 2:9; Joshua 10:10; Judges 4:15. See also
Genesis 35:5. He will also use physical terrors to aid in the discomfiting.
“I will send the hornet before you.” Compare Deuteronomy 7:20. This may mean
that Yahweh will also support them by using natural terrors to discomfit their foes.
The hornet is a larger version of the wasp with a vicious sting, which can sometimes
cause death, and a fearsome reputation. All would know of the terror the
appearance of a swarm of hornets could cause, and it would seem that a literal
plague of hornets did at one notable stage throw the forces of the two kings of the
Amorites into disarray (Joshua 24:12). The fact that the Amorites are not mentioned
in Exodus 23:28 (compare Exodus 23:23) demonstrates that this was written before
that event. We could translate ‘hornets’ seeing it as a collective noun. Here it

134. probably represents all the physical terrors of nature.
“Hornet” (tsi‘rah). The word only occurs in Exodus 23:28; Deuteronomy 7:20 and
Joshua 24:12. Some would translate as ‘depression, discouragement’ but a more
positive foe appears to be in mind. It comes from the root word which means being
‘struck with a skin disease’. Hornets attack the skin. This promise may have been in
mind in Revelation 9:1-11.
But the context may suggest that the description has the Angel of Yahweh in mind,
pictured in terms of the fearsome hornet, swarming down on the enemy and causing
them to flee in terror. The Israelite attacks in all quarters may well have seemed like
to their enemy like swarms of hornets, coming from nowhere and buzzing round
their cities and towns.
The threefold description of the Canaanites again stresses completeness. This
mention of only three Canaanite nations is unusual (usually there are five, six or
seven) and is a most interesting and careful use of a number. In Exodus 23:23 six
nations were mentioned representing the whole. Had six been used here that would
have made twelve. But twelve represented Israel (the twelve tribes). Thus here three
are used, making nine in the passage in all, which is simply three intensified
indicating the whole.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:27
I will send my fear before thee. The fear which fell upon the nations is seen first in
the case of Balak and the Moabites. "Moab was sore aft-aid of the people, because
they were many" ( umbers 22:3). Later it is spoken of by Rahab as general (Joshua
2:9, Joshua 2:11). A very signal indication of the alarm felt is given in the history of
the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:3, Joshua 9:27). I will make all thine enemies turn their
backs unto thee. For the fulfilment of this promise see umbers 21:3, umbers
21:24, umbers 21:35; umbers 31:7; Joshua 8:20-24; Joshua 10:10, etc. Had their
obedience been more complete, the power of the Canaanitish nations would have
been more thoroughly broken, and the sufferings and servitudes related in the Book
of Judges would not have had to be endured.
28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the
Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

135. BAR ES, "Hornets - Compare the marginal references. The word is used
figuratively for a cause of terror and discouragement. Bees are spoken of in the like
sense, Deu_1:44; Psa_118:12.
CLARKE, "I will send hornets before thee - ‫הצרעה‬ hatstsirah. The root is not
found in Hebrew, but it may be the same with the Arabic saraa, to lay prostrate, to strike
down; the hornet, probably so called from the destruction occasioned by the violence of
its sting. The hornet, in natural history, belongs to the species crabro, of the genus vespa
or wasp; it is a most voracious insect, and is exceedingly strong for its size, which is
generally an inch in length, though I have seen some an inch and a half long, and so
strong that, having caught one in a small pair of forceps, it repeatedly escaped by using
violent contortions, so that at last I was obliged to abandon all hopes of securing it alive,
which I wished to have done. How distressing and destructive a multitude of these might
be, any person may conjecture; even the bees of one hive would be sufficient to sting a
thousand men to madness, but how much worse must wasps and hornets be! No armor,
no weapons, could avail against these. A few thousands of them would be quite sufficient
to throw the best disciplined army into confusion and rout. From Jos_24:12, we find
that two kings of the Amorites were actually driven out of the land by these hornets, so
that the Israelites were not obliged to use either sword or bow in the conquest.
GILL, "And I will send hornets before thee,.... Which may be interpreted either
figuratively, and so may signify the same as fear before which should fall on the
Canaanites upon hearing the Israelites were coming; the stings of their consciences for
their sins, terrors of mind, dreading the wrath of the God of Israel, of whom they had
heard, and terrible apprehensions of ruin and destruction from the Israelites: Aben Ezra
interprets it of some disease of the body, which weakens it, as the leprosy, from the
signification of the word, which has some affinity with that used for the leprosy; and so
the Arabic version understands it of a disease: or rather, the words are to be taken
literally, for hornets, which are a sort of wasps, whose stings are very penetrating and
venomous; nor is it any strange or unheard of thing for people to be drove out of their
countries by small animals, as mice, flies, bees, &c. and particularly Aelianus (q) relates,
that the Phaselites were drove out of their country by wasps: and Bochart (r) has shown
that those people were of a Phoenician original, and inhabited the mountains of Solymi;
and that this happened to them about the times of Joshua, and so may probably be the
very Canaanites here mentioned, as follow: the wasps, in Aristophanes's comedy which
bears that name, are introduced speaking of themselves, and say, no creature when
provoked is more angry and troublesome than we are (s):
which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before
thee; which three are mentioned instead of the rest, or because they were more
especially infested and distressed with the hornets, and drove out of their land by means
of them.
JAMISO ,"I will send hornets before thee, etc. (See on Jos_24:12) - Some
instrument of divine judgment, but variously interpreted: as hornets in a literal sense
[Bochart]; as a pestilential disease [Rosenmuller]; as a terror of the Lord, an

136. extraordinary dejection [Junius].
K&D, "Exo_23:28
In addition to the fear of God, hornets (‫ה‬ ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫ר‬ ִ ַ‫ה‬ construed as a generic word with the
collective article), a very large species of wasp, that was greatly dreaded both by man and
beast on account of the acuteness of its sting, should come and drive out the Canaanites,
of whom three tribes are mentioned instar omnium, from before the Israelites. Although
it is true that Aelian (hist. anim. 11, 28) relates that the Phaselians, who dwelt near the
Solymites, and therefore probably belonged to the Canaanites, were driven out of their
country by wasps, and Bochart (Hieroz. iii. pp. 409ff.) has collected together accounts of
different tribes that have been frightened away from their possessions by frogs, mice,
and other vermin, “the sending of hornets before the Israelites” is hardly to be taken
literally, not only because there is not a word in the book of Joshua about the Canaanites
being overcome and exterminated in any such way, but chiefly on account of Jos_24:12,
where Joshua says that God sent the hornet before them, and drove out the two kings of
the Amorites, referring thereby to their defeat and destruction by the Israelites through
the miraculous interposition of God, and thus placing the figurative use of the term
hornet beyond the possibility of doubt. These hornets, however, which are very aptly
described in Wis. 12:8, on the basis of this passage, as προδρόµους, the pioneers of the
army of Jehovah, do not denote merely varii generis mala, as Rosenmüller supposes,
but acerrimos timoris aculeos, quibus quodammodo volantibus rumoribus
pungebantur, ut fugerent (Augustine, quaest. 27 in Jos.). If the fear of God which fell
upon the Canaanites threw them into such confusion and helpless despair, that they
could not stand before Israel, but turned their backs towards them, the stings of alarm
which followed this fear would completely drive them away. Nevertheless God would not
drive them away at once, “in one year,” lest the land should become a desert for want of
men to cultivate it, and the wild beasts should multiply against Israel; in other words,
lest the beasts of prey should gain the upper hand and endanger the lives of man and
beast (Lev_26:22; Eze_14:15, Eze_14:21), which actually was the case after the carrying
away of the ten tribes (2Ki_17:25-26). He would drive them out by degrees (‫ט‬ ַ‫ע‬ ְ‫מ‬ ‫ט‬ ַ‫ע‬ ְ‫,מ‬
only used here and in Deu_7:22), until Israel was sufficiently increased to take
possession of the land, i.e., to occupy the whole of the country. This promise was so far
fulfilled, according to the books of Joshua and Judges, that after the subjugation of the
Canaanites in the south and north of the land, when all the kings who fought against
Israel had been smitten and slain and their cities captured, the entire land was divided
among the tribes of Israel, in order that they might exterminate the remaining
Canaanites, and take possession of those portions of the land that had not yet been
conquered (Jos_13:1-7). But the different tribes soon became weary of the task of
exterminating the Canaanites, and began to enter into alliance with them, and were led
astray by them to the worship of idols; whereupon God punished them by withdrawing
His assistance, and they were oppressed and humiliated by the Canaanites because of
their apostasy from the Lord (Judg 1 and 2).
CALVI ,"28.And I will send hornets. Although that secret terror, of which He had
made mention, would be sufficient to put their enemies to flight, He states that there
would also be other ready means, to rout them without any danger, or much
difficulty to His people. Yet He does not threaten to send great and powerful

137. warriors, but only insects and hornets; as much as to say, that God would be so
entirely propitious to His people that He would prepare and arm even the smallest
animals to destroy their enemies. (270) Thus is the easiness of their victory shewn;
because, without the use of the sword, hornets alone would suffice to rout and
exterminate their enemies. He adds, however, an exception, lest the Israelites should
complain, if the land should not immediately lie open to them empty and cleared of
its old inhabitants; and He reminds them that it would be advantageous to them that
He should consume their enemies by degrees. Although, therefore, God might at
first sight seem to perform less than He had promised, and thus to retract or
diminish somewhat from His grace; yet Moses shews that in this respect also He was
considering their welfare, lest the wild beasts should rush in upon the bare and
desert land, and prove more troublesome than the enemies themselves. It came to
pass indeed, through the people’s slackness, that they were long mixed with their
enemies, because they executed with too little energy the vengeance of God; yea, His
menace against them by the mouth of Joshua was then fulfilled,
“if ye cleave unto the remnant of these nations, know for a certainty that the Lord
your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall
be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes,
until ye perish from off this good land, which the Lord your God hath given you.”
(Joshua 23:12.)
The fact, therefore, that it was later and at the end of David’s reign that these
wicked and heathen nations were exterminated so as to deliver up to the people the
quiet possession of the land, must be attributed to their own fault, since unbelief and
ingratitude rendered them inactive, and disposed to indulge their ease. But, if no
such inactivity had delayed the fulfillment of the promise, they would have found
that the final destruction of the nations by God would have been delayed no longer
than was good for them.
COKE, "Exodus 23:28. And I will send hornets before thee— See this fulfilled,
Joshua 24:12. The author of the Book of Wisdom, ch. Exodus 12:8 calls these wasps;
and didst find wasps, forerunners of thine host, to destroy them by little and little.
The hornet, whose sting is more venomous with us than that of the wasp, is far more
venomous in the hot Eastern countries than in our colder climates: there it is often
deadly. Pliny and Bochart have both remarked its pernicious and fatal nature; and
the latter author, in his Hieroz. p. 534, produces many instances of nations that have
been obliged to relinquish their country, by means of insects apparently so
contemptible as bees, warps, and hornets. The reader is by all means referred to his
ingenious work.
COFFMA , "Verses 28-30
"And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the
Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before
thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply
against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be

138. increased, and inherit the land."
"The hornet ..." Some have viewed this as a literal infestation of those dreadful and
feared insects; some have supposed it referred to diseases and other hindrances to
the proscribed populations, and others have supposed the reference to have been to
the bringing of hostile armies against the Canaanites, such as the invasion of that
area by one of the Pharaohs of Egypt about the period of the wilderness experience
of Israel. The simple truth is that we do not know exactly what was meant by this,
but no one can doubt that it happened as God promised.
"The Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite ..." The omission of the other Canaanite
peoples did not exclude them from the terror that God would bring upon them. The
mention of only three here actually stands for all of them, the same being a type of
metaphor called synecdoche, in which one, or two or three, of related entities is
merely a short form for all of them.
"Little and little ..." It is here revealed for the first time that the conquest of Canaan
was scheduled to be a gradual thing, and not a sudden conquest. Israel needed the
time to grow into a vigorous and powerful state sufficiently strong and experienced
enough to handle the problems involved in dispossessing so large a group of peoples,
and in developing an orderly and civilized nation.
ELLICOTT, "(28) I will send hornets.—Heb., the hornet. Comp. Joshua 24:12,
where “the hornet” is said to have been sent. o doubt hornets might be so
numerous as to become an intolerable plague, and induce a nation to quit its
country and seek another (see Bochart, Hierozoic. iv. 13). But as we have no
historical account of the kind in connection with the Canaanite races, the expression
here used is scarcely to be taken literally. Probably the Egyptians are the hornets
intended. It was they who, under Rameses III., broke the power of the Hittites and
other nations of Palestine, while the Israelites were sojourners in the wilderness.
Possibly the term was chosen in reference to the hieroglyphic sign for “king” in
Egypt, which was the figure of a bee or wasp. The author of the Book of Wisdom
seems, however, to have understood the expression literally (Wisdom of Solomon
12:8-9).
PARKER, "Verse 28
Hornets and Angels
Exodus 23:28; Exodus 33:2
God brake the ships of Tarshish with an east wind, a puff of breath. He told the east
wind to seize their masts and torment them to their destruction. Dagon was thrown
down upon his face, though he was locked up with the ark, and no hand was near
him; yea, he was utterly broken to pieces so that he was not a god at all. How was
this? The chariots of God are twenty thousand. Can you remember twenty thousand
names? Can you venture to say, "This Isaiah , and this is not, one of the twenty
thousand"? It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. A great wind

139. battered the Armada of Spain in a critical moment in English history. Thus God has
more resources than those which are merely human. We gather ourselves together
as if we were all his belongings, as if he depended upon us alone, and we talk, and
resolve, and organise, and go forth, as if the Lord had nothing else to depend upon.
Mayhap that is partly right. A man may do more if he thinks that everything
depends upon himself; but he should cheer himself, and bring great encouragement
into his soul, by remembering the number of God"s chariots; they are twenty
thousand. The stars in their courses fought against Sisera, and the stones of the field
were covenanted to help those that feared the Lord. ature helps, nature hinders,
nature is God"s other self, and his chariots are twenty thousand strong. The Lord
God is a sun and shield, he is a spear and buckler, he is a pavilion and a sanctuary.
The lightnings gather themselves round him, and say, "Here we are"; his ministers
are the frog and the fly, the hornet and the locust; the fiery flying serpent and the
hidden viper, the child, the angel, poverty and plenty, are his servants; yea, all
things praise the Lord by their sympathy and help, so much so that if we were to
hold our tongues, the universe would not be silent. "I tell you that if these were to
hold their peace, the very stones would cry out, for God is able of these stones to
raise up children unto Abraham." He shall never want a minister to stand before his
face. If so be thou art a minister, boast not thyself of thy ministry, for a hornet may
take thy place, a frog may dispossess thee, and there may be none to find out thy
footsteps. Be thankful, hopeful, energetic, glad; but boast not, for boasting hastens
death.
The one thought that is to inspire us is that God has many ways of helping his
people, likely and unlikely, but they are ways of his own choosing, and therefore
they will end in success. Hornets and angels,—Are not the ministers of God both
visible and invisible? The flying hornet you can see, but who can trace the angel in
the air? Can you see the angel? He is there, notwithstanding your inability to descry
him. You see the hornet. Ah! we are all quicker in seeing the hornet than in seeing
the angel. Fie on us, shame on shame, till we be burnt with blushes. Can you see the
angel? You cannot always tell what forces and ministries are fighting either for you
or against you. We do not know the meaning of nature. She is a parable we have not
fully read or understood; an eternal lesson, God"s perpetual illustration of himself.
Oh that we had eyes to see and hearts to understand; for the library is always open,
and the writing is always done by an angel"s hand.
A man says, "A curse on this hornet, this winged, stinging insect, only a large bee,
only an exaggerated wasp—a curse on the thing. I dare not open my window, for it
may fly in; I dare not go out, for it hovers near my door and may smite me with its
cruel sting. It never sleeps, it seems ever to fill the sultry air." He does not know
what he is talking about: he thinks it is an insect; he says: "Why did God make such
a creature?"—ah, why? He calls it insect; when he has been longer at school he may
call it minister of God, and servant of the Most High. He is fretted by its unceasing
and energetic buzz; by-and-by he will hear music in it, a sad and terrible music.
That hornet is sent of God to drive you out: it will not die; you have been doing
wrong and it has come to punish you. That hornet is death, or loss, or pain, or
bitterness of soul. That hornet is not a mere insect; it means judgment, penalty,

140. retribution, death. I wish people would see the great meaning of things and not the
little trifling suggestions.
I will tell you what to do with the hornet. Hear me—bad Prayer of Manasseh , hear
me: I have a gospel for thee. Outrun it: thou hast two legs, two leaden feet—outrun
the hornet. "I cannot." Then that will not do. Close your hand upon it. "I dare not."
o, you dare not. Then that will not do. Bribe it: coat your window-sill with sugar,
inches thick, and it will glut itself to death. "Aye, I will try that." Ah, it grows by
what it feeds on. It is a stronger hornet for the sugar. It took your bribes and
strengthened itself against you. I will tell you what to do: compromise with it,
propose terms, negotiate, send a third party. "Oh bitter irony, oh mocking Prayer of
Manasseh ," say you?—Yes, I mean to mock, for who can outrun the chariots of
God? o, Sirach , no: stop, turn round, fall down, confess, pray; cry mightily to God
to take the hornet back. That is the true gospel: hear it, and thou shalt live.
Then on the other hand there is a kind angel that can be nearly seen, and that can
be almost heard, and that can be all but felt. Thank God for the things that are
nearly, that are all but, that are just about to begin to be. Thank Heaven this verb of
life is not all shut up in the indicative mood. Wondrous conjugation—indicative,
potential, subjunctive, infinitive—how the verb grows; how the little "I Amos ," a
child"s first mouthful, grows into the immeasurable eternity. Think of this kind
angel, who is all but seen, who is so near as to be almost felt. You catch an aroma
which he must have shaken from his wings. Bless God for these occasional hints,
and touches, and blessings as we go on. The angel of the Lord encampeth round
about them that fear him. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Then remember the hornet will fight for you as well as against you. If you are in the
right way, the hornet is your friend. It will pursue your enemies, it will bring them
to reflection, it will drive them to repentance, it will force them to prayer. That
hornet never dies. My God, my Father, follow not my enemies with the hornet, if
gentler means will bring them to their senses; but bring them to their senses, even if
it take the hornet to do it.
Hornets and angels—are not the agencies of God both humble and illustrious? See
the contrast, the flying insect and the flying angel, yet they are both the messengers
of Heaven. Suppose them to meet one another in the summer air—what a talk they
might have! Saith the hornet, "Why does he send me when he has servants like you
who can do his work so much better than I, poor winged insect, charged indeed with
a sting, can do?" Saith the angel, "Why am I not employed in studying the deeper
problems of the universe, when little mean insects like this could go about the work
of visitation, and penalty, and judgment?" Then they catch the Divinity of the
purpose, they realise their election in God, and they say, "He doeth as it pleaseth
him in the armies of heaven and among the children of men. There is no meanness
in doing his work. His household is infinite and his servants are many—away, sting
the enemy, bless the friend, let the decree of punishment be confirmed, and let the
gospel of benediction be proclaimed." So away they go, hornet and angel, to carry

141. out the will of just but clement Heaven. Beware: the angels of God and the hornets
are both his servants.
Hornets and angels—are not God"s agencies material and immaterial? Of matter
and of spirit doth he not make his ministers? The hornet is of the earth, the angel is
of the skies; the hornet is from below, the angel is from above. There are no barren
spaces in God"s universe. All that great sky, on which you have never driven your
small vehicles—beginning in your little baby"s cart, and ending in your last hearse-
ride to the gaping tomb—all that blue ground, what is it but an armoury in which
he stores his resources? All things are his; all things are mine it I be in him: if I am
in Christ all things are mine: death, life, angels, principalities, powers, past, present,
future—all, for I am Christ"s and Christ is God"s. Oh, hide thee in the broken
heart of Christ, shelter thee in his wounded side: do not be living in thy little mean
propositions, and small theories, and miserable dogmas, and noisy controversies—
hide thee in the bleeding side of the wounded Lamb of God. Then all things that
fought for him will fight for me, and if I do not fight, but stand still and suffer, draw
no sword for me: thinkest thou not that I could pray to my Father, and he would
give me more than twelve legions of angels to defend me wherein I am right, and am
hidden in his Son Jesus Christ?
Has there been a hornet in your estate lately? I wonder what it meant. Why cannot
you kill that hornet? It comes by every post. You dare not open that letter—there is
a hornet in it It comes by many a telegram. You dare not open the third telegram
you get to-morrow—there is a hornet in it. When life is sharpened into a pain, when
loss swiftly succeeds loss, when the rich showers fall everywhere except on our own
garden, when every flower withers, when the firstborn sickens and the eyes are
filled with mist, when the strong hands tremble—men should bethink themselves:
the hornet of the Lord is then piercing the very air with its sting, puncturing our life
and giving it great agony. Do not call it insect; call it God—do not call it
misfortune—let the atheist use up that same inheritance; it is not misfortune, it is—
Providence. Oh, the hornet stings me, frets me, plagues me; will not let me have a
holiday, knows when I am going out, flies faster than the lightning express, waits for
me at the seashore, goes with me over the sea.—Beast?—no: God, law,
righteousness, mercy, didst thou but know it. It is sent to pain thee into prayer, for
thou hast sinned away thy visitation day, and now it is God"s turn. Lord, teach us
the meaning of these hornets; they are hard to bear. We dare hardly turn over any
leaf for fear a hornet should spring up and sting us: our life is now one daily fear—
teach us the meaning of this, and by prayer may we find the remedy.
Has there been an angel in your estate lately? I say it with shame that we are much
quicker in seeing the hornet than in seeing the angel; our cry is readier than our
hymn, our fear is more emphatic than our love. Is the angel in your estate? Do you
say you do not know? Then I will find him for you. Be still awhile. Are the children
all well? "Yes." Flowers budding, singing-birds returning, the rain over and gone?
"Yes; but the garden is much less than it used to be." A few flowers in the window?
"Just a little box full, about eighteen inches long." Still, you have them? "Yes."
Bread enough? "Plenty." A few friends? "Few, but good." The angel is in your lot.

142. Give these things their highest meanings. There are plenty of people outside who
would drag down life and make it smaller and smaller in its meanings. I would be
sent of God to widen speech till it takes in all that it can of God"s purpose and
God"s life. Poetry will have faith; faith itself is the poetry of reason; carry it up to
its highest uses, and make your life as large and luminous as you can.
There are some people who are afraid of giving too great meanings to the events of
life. There they get miserably wrong. When the ruddy morning comes, do not be
afraid to call it the awakening angel. There are people near you who will call it
fantasy; those people are lean, bony, shrivelled, dessicated, mean; and when they tell
you that this is fantasy, and that is poetry, they speak out of themselves: they have
no gospel to deliver. If thou dost meet a man on the high-road who takes up a flower
and says, " Sirach , this flower is a child of the sun," make friend of him rather than
of the man who takes it up and says, "Ah, poor thing," and throws it over the fence.
When spring spreads her green carpet and makes the warm air live with wordless
Song of Solomon , do not be afraid to call it God"s angel. There be little, narrow,
pence-table men who say, "It is spring, and there is rent day in spring, and there is
hope of good trade in spring, and spring is one of four seasons of the year, and
spring begins on the sixth and ends on the twentieth, and spring.... is nothing more."
So God rules his world. "I will send hornets before thee, and they will drive out the
Hivite and all the nations that set themselves against thee. I will not send angels to
fight the Hivites: let the hornets do it. And I will send an angel before thee, and he
will find thee a resting-place, space for the sanctuary, and he will give thee peace."
Great God! rule us still; spare the hornets, we cannot bear them, but send the
hornets, if nothing else will bring us home.
"I will send," saith the first text, "I will send," saith the second. Then do not you be
sending anything; sit still; I am afraid of your sending things. "I will send
hornets,"—then do not you be sending your nasty, bitter, cantankerous letters, keep
your hands off post-cards, do not write anonymous slanders on sheets of paper you
borrow from other people. "I will send," then do not interfere with God"s
movements. He knows when to send, how to send, how many to send, where to
send—let him do it. "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place
unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." o
weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. I have seen the wicked in great
power, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he
was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. I have seen the great gourd of
the wicked arching over his blasphemous head—lo, in the morning it was not. Why?
For God prepared a worm—a worm, and the worm cankered the root of the gourd,
and it withered away. Send angels if you can—live as if you would send ten
thousand angels, sweet blessings, tender gospels, messages of the heart. You live in
that direction, and some day God will pick you up in one of his chariots and drive
you to the very camp of your enemies and show you unto them as their true friend. I
will stand in God; I will rest in God.
Let the hornet do its work; let the angel fulfil his ministry. God"s people cannot be

143. permanently injured; and as for God"s Church, it shall be set up on foundations
broad and immovable, and all its glowing pinnacles shall pierce the clouds, and
God"s will shall be done on earth as it is done in heaven.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:28
And I will send hornets before thee. This is scarcely to be taken literally, since no
actual plague of hornets is mentioned in the historical narrative. "Hornets" here,
and in Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:12, are probably plagues or troubles of any
kind, divinely sent to break the power of the heathen nations, and render them an
easier prey to the Israelites, when they made their invasion. Possibly, the main
"hornets" were the Egyptians, who, under Rameses III; successfully invaded
Palestine about the time of Israel's sojourn in the wilderness, and weakened the
power of the Hittites (Khita). The Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite. By a
common figure of speech, a part is put {or the whole—three nations for seven. The
three names seem to be taken at random, but include the two nations of most
power—the Canaanites and the Hittites.
29 But I will not drive them out in a single year,
because the land would become desolate and the
wild animals too numerous for you.
GILL, "I will not drive them out from before thee in one year,.... This is
observed before hand, lest the Israelites should be discouraged, and fear they should
never be rid of them; and it was so ordered in Providence for the following reason:
lest the land become desolate; there being not a sufficient number of Israelites to
replace in their stead, to repeople the land, and to cultivate it; and yet their number was
very large, being, when they came out of Egypt, as is generally computed, about two
millions and a half, besides the mixed multitude of Egyptians and others, and during
their forty years in the wilderness must be greatly increased:
and the beast of the field multiply against thee; there being so much waste
ground for them to prowl about in, they would so increase as to make head against them,
and be too many for them; or, however, it would be difficult to keep them under control:
the Targum of Jonathan adds,"when they shall come to eat their carcasses (the carcasses

144. of the Canaanites slain in war), and may hurt thee.''
HE RY 29-33, " It is promised that they should conquer and subdue their enemies,
the present occupants of the land of Canaan, who must be driven out to make room for
them. This God would do, 1. Effectually by his power (Exo_23:17, Exo_23:18); not so
much by the sword and bow of Israel as by the terrors which he would strike into the
Canaanites. Though they were so obstinate as not to be willing to submit to Israel, resign
their country, and retire elsewhere, which they might have done, yet they were so
dispirited that they were not able to stand before them. This completed their ruin; such
power had the devil in them that they would resist, but such power had God over them
that they could not. I will send my fear before thee; and those that fear will soon flee.
Hosts of hornets made way for the hosts of Israel; such mean creatures can God make
use of for the chastising of his people's enemies, as in the plagues of Egypt. When God
pleases, hornets can drive out Canaanites, as well as lions could, Jos_24:12. 2. He would
do it gradually, in wisdom (Exo_23:29, Exo_23:30), not all at once, but by little and
little. As the Canaanites had kept possession till Israel had grown into a people, so there
should still be some remains of them till Israel should grow so numerous as to replenish
the whole. Note, The wisdom of God is to be observed in the gradual advances of the
church's interests. It is in real kindness to the church that its enemies are subdued by
little and little; for thus we are kept upon our guard, and in a continual dependence upon
God. Corruptions are thus driven out of the hearts of God's people; not all at once, but
by little and little; the old man is crucified, and therefore dies slowly. God, in his
providence, often delays mercies, because we are not ready for them. Canaan has room
enough to receive Israel, but Israel is not numerous enough to occupy Canaan. We are
not straitened in God; if we are straitened, it is in ourselves. The land of Canaan is
promised them (Exo_23:31) in its utmost extent, which yet they were not possessed of
till the days of David; and by their sins they soon lost possession. The precept annexed to
this promise is that they should not make any friendship, nor have any familiarity, with
idolaters, Exo_23:32, Exo_23:33. Idolaters must not so much as sojourn in their land,
unless they renounced their idolatry. Thus they must avoid the reproach of intimacy
with the worshippers of false gods and the danger of being drawn to worship with them.
By familiar converse with idolaters, their dread and detestation of the sin would wear
off; they would think it no harm, in compliment to their friends, to pay some respect to
their gods, and so by degrees would be drawn into the fatal snare. Note, Those that
would be kept from bad courses must keep from bad company; it is dangerous living in a
bad neighbourhood; others' sins will be our snares, if we look not well to ourselves. We
must always look upon our greatest danger to be from those that would cause us to sin
against God. Whatever friendship is pretended, that is really our worst enemy that draws
us from our duty.
JAMISO ,"I will not drive ... out ... in one year; lest the land become
desolate — Many reasons recommend a gradual extirpation of the former inhabitants
of Canaan. But only one is here specified - the danger lest, in the unoccupied grounds,
wild beasts should inconveniently multiply; a clear proof that the promised land was
more than sufficient to contain the actual population of the Israelites.
CO STABLE, "Verse 29-30
God told the Israelites that they would not drive out all their enemies the first year
after they entered the land ( Exodus 23:29). They did not. However, Israel was less

145. successful than she might have been due to incomplete obedience.
""Little by little" does the work of God proceed through the individual soul. "Little
by little" do the conquests of the Cross win over the world. "Little by little" is the
unfolding purpose of Redemption made manifest to men and angels." [ ote: Meyer,
pp281-82.]
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Exodus 23:29
I had never an extraordinary enlargement, either of joy, strength, or sanctification,
but the waters dried up. There are no sudden steps in grace; "I will not drive them
out all at once".
—Fraser of Brea, Memoirs (chap1.).
PETT, "Verses 29-33
Yahweh’s Promises and Warnings For The Future (Exodus 23:29-33).
a The Canaanites to be driven out little by little so as to preserve the land until the
Israelites are numerous enough to possess it all (Exodus 23:29-30).
b The bounds of the promised land outlined with the promise that the Canaanites
will be driven out (Exodus 23:31).
b Israel to make no covenant with them or their gods (Exodus 23:32).
a The Canaanites not finally to dwell in the land lest they make them sin and their
gods become a snare (Exodus 23:33).
These four statements intermingle in a most comprehensive way but may also be
seen as a chiasmus. In ‘a’ we have the command to drive out the Canaanites and in
the parallel they are not to be allowed to dwell in the land. In ‘b’ God commands the
Canaanites be driven out and in the parallel they must make no covenant with them.
But ‘a’ and ‘b’ both refer to the driving out of the Canaanites, while ‘b’ and ‘a’
refer to the gods of the Canaanites. Yet the driving out of the Canaanites in ‘b’
parallels the fact that in the parallel ‘b’ they must make no covenant with them, and
the reason for ‘a’ is found in the parallel ‘a’.
Exodus 23:29-30
“I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate
and the wild animals grow in large numbers against you. Little by little I will drive
them out from before you until you have grown in numbers and inherit the land.”
This confirms that ‘the hornet’ which will drive them out is not to be seen as
representing one particular short series of events. It is something that will work over
the longer period. This would confirm the picture of the Angel of Yahweh as a
buzzing hornet, continuing His work through the years as the land is taken over.
Thus the promise was that they would enter the land and establish themselves,
removing the inhabitants and purifying the land, and then gradually expand until

146. the whole land as depicted in Exodus 23:31 was theirs. Then would they be a holy
people and become a kingdom of priests to take His message to the world.
God’s purpose in the delay is stated. It is so that the land will not revert to
wilderness and so that wild animals might not take over. This in itself emphasises
that while the Israelites entered in comparatively large numbers they were not so
large a number as some have thought (see on Exodus 12:37). Once their numbers
grew sufficiently they would be able to enter into their inheritance (Exodus 6:6-8;
Exodus 15:16-18).
Of course the ideal was never achieved. Israel failed to enter the land and conquer it
as they should have ( umbers 14), and when they did enter and multiply they did
not wholly rid the land of its inhabitants (Judges 1:27-33). Because of their unbelief
the great vision never came to fruition. Even the successes of David and Solomon
could not hide this (1 Kings 4:21). While they were glorious they did not fulfil the
conditions or the promises. They never entered into the new Eden. They never
became the kingdom of priests in the fullest sense.
But it was partially fulfilled, for the later history in Joshua and Judges does
partially follow this picture. While their first triumphant entry into the hill country
was rapid and widespread, pictured as a great series of victories (as indeed they
were) so that they were established in the land (Joshua 11:23 - but that this was
partial in terms of the full picture comes out in the previous verse), it was also seen
as partial and leaving much to be done. The land was divided up, but its full
possession was another thing (Joshua 13:1-14). This would occur gradually until the
claim in 1 Kings 4:21 could be made. ‘And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms,
from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt’. But they
would still only be second best. The result would not a be ‘holy’ people totally
dedicated to Yahweh.
Later too they would be scattered among the nations in the Dispersion and become
among them bearers of God’s ‘law’, and their ministry would be carried on by the
new Israel, the early church.
All this reminds us that the promises of God are dependent on the obedience of His
people. They will, of course, finally be achieved in ways far beyond our imagining,
with a new heaven and a new earth. But man’s disobedience would cause these
purposes partially to fail on earth just as Adam’s had previously. In the end man’s
only hope would be in divine intervention of an unprecedented kind when the great
Man of Sorrows called a people to Himself to take over the vision. But even they
have failed. In the end He must do it all Himself.
SIMEO , "Verse 29-30
DISCOURSE: 95
THE VICTORIES OF ISRAEL GRADUAL A D PROGRESSIVE

147. Exodus 23:29-30. 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. By little and little
will I drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased and inherit the land.
THE more we investigate the dispensations of Providence, the more we shall see,
that “God’s ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts.” If we had
been left to form conjectures respecting man in his first creation, who would have
conceived that God should suffer the work of his hands to be so marred as Adam
was by the fall, and so large a portion of his creatures to perish in everlasting
misery? or, if we were told that God would take to himself, from amongst the
fallen sons of Adam, a peculiar people, and rescue them by so many signs and
wonders from their bondage in Egypt, should we have imagined that he would, after
all, keep them in the wilderness for the space of forty years, till the whole generation
were swept away; and suffer two individuals only, of the whole nation, to enter the
promised land. But “his ways are in the great deep; and his footsteps are not
known.” When, at last, he had brought his people into Canaan, we should then at
least suppose that he would give them a speedy and quiet possession of the land. Yet,
behold, he tells them, beforehand, that he will “not drive out the inhabitants at once,
but only by little and little.”
We propose to inquire into,
I. The design of God in the dispensation here referred to—
It was intended,
1. As an act of mercy, to preserve his people—
[The people altogether amounted to about two millions; and the country which they
were to occupy extended from the Red Sea to the Euphrates [ ote: 1 with Genesis
15:18.]. But, if so small a population were spread over so wide a space, the wild
beasts would quickly multiply, and speedily desolate the whole land. True, indeed,
God could, if it should so please him, interpose by miracle to change the ferocity of
the most savage animals: but that was no part of his plan. He permitted, therefore,
vast multitudes of the devoted nations yet to live, that so they might, for their own
sake, prevent the increase and incursions of the wild beasts, till Israel should have
multiplied so as to be able, in every part, to protect themselves.]
2. As an act of righteousness, to try them—
[All the trials with which God’s people were visited in the wilderness were sent “to
prove them,” whether they would serve the Lord or not. ot that God needed any
such information, as the result of experiment; because “he knew what was in man,”
whose heart and reins were open to him from the foundation of the world: but it
was desirable, for their own sakes, that they should have an insight into their own
hearts, and be able to appreciate the whole of God’s dealings with them. By the
continuance of the devoted nations amongst them, they would see how prone they

148. were to seek their own carnal ease and interests, by mingling themselves among
them, when they should have been labouring with all their might to effect their utter
extirpation. By observing also the success or failure of their efforts against these
enemies, they would be able to judge, with accuracy, how far they were in favour
with God, or under his displeasure; and would consequently be led to approach him
with suitable emotions of gratitude or contrition. This is the view which the
Scripture itself gives us of this very dispensation: “These were the nations which the
Lord left to prove Israel by them — the Philistines, Canaanites, Sidenians, and the
Hivites; it was to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken to the
commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of
Moses [ ote: Judges 3:1-4.].”]
3. As an act of judgment, to punish them—
[Though there were good ends to be answered, by a gradual execution of the
judgments denounced against the seven nations of Canaan, it was the fault of the
Israelites themselves that the extirpation of them was not more rapid and complete.
They gave way to sloth, when they should have been in full activity; and yielded to
fear, when they should have gone forth in assured dependence on their Lord. By
this, they greatly increased their own trials, and multiplied their own afflictions.
God had told them by Moses, saying, “If ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the
land from before you, then it shall come to pass, that those whom ye let remain of
them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the
land wherein ye dwell. Moreover, it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I
thought to do unto them [ ote: umbers 33:55.].” Joshua also, at the close of his
life, reminded them, that “no man had been able to stand before them:” and then
assured them, that “one man of them should be able to chase a thousand, if only
they would take heed to themselves to love the Lord their God: but that, if they did
in any wise go back, and cleave unto the nations which remained among them, and
make marriages with them; then know for a certainty,” says he, “that the Lord your
God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be
snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until
ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you [ ote:
Joshua 23:9-13.].” Accordingly, this prediction was soon verified; and God punished
them, as he had said: for, on their “making leagues with the inhabitants of the
land,” they were induced at last to “forsake the Lord, and worship Baal and
Ashteroth:” and “the Lord’s anger was kindled against them; and he sold them into
the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand
before their enemies: and they were greatly distressed. Therefore the Lord left those
nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of
Joshua [ ote: Judges 2:2; Judges 2:12-15; Judges 2:23.].”
Thus in this dispensation there was a mixture of mercy and of judgment: of mercy
primarily; of judgment through their own fault.]
This view of God’s dealings with his people of old affords us a fit occasion to inquire
into,

149. II. His design in a corresponding dispensation towards his people at this day—
The redemption which he has vouchsafed to us through the blood of his only dear
Son might justly lead us to expect, that when once we are truly brought out from the
dominion of sin and Satan, our triumphs over them would be complete. But it is not
so: for though the yoke with which we were oppressed is loosened, a measure of our
bondage still remains: there is yet “the flesh lusting against the spirit, so that we
cannot do the things that we would [ ote: Galatians 5:17.] ;” yea more, “there is yet
a law in our members warring against the law in our minds, and too often bringing
us into captivity to the law of sin which is in our members [ ote: Romans 7:23.].”
ow whence is it, that God suffers his people to be yet harassed with the remains of
sin? He suffers it,
1. For our deeper humiliation—
[The sins of our unconverted state may well humble us in the dust, and cause us to
“go softly,” in the remembrance of them, to our dying hour. But the views of our
depravity, which we derive from them, are as nothing in comparison of those which
we gain from the workings of corruption in our converted state. These are the views
which cause us to cry out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me [ ote:
Romans 7:24.] ?” These were the views which constrained Job to exclaim, “Behold, I
am vile:” “I repent, and abhor myself in dust and ashes [ ote: Job 40:4; Job 42:6.].”
And, in proportion as they are discovered to us, they will constrain every living man
to “lothe himself for hi, iniquities and abominations [ ote: Ezekiel 36:31.].” ow
this is a feeling that well becomes our sinful race: and though the acquisition of it is
obtained through much painful experience, yet does it, in the issue, well repay all
that we have suffered in the attainment of it.]
2. For our ultimate advancement—
[A child has all the members of a perfect man; yet are they in a very feeble and
imperfect state: and it is by the exercise of his powers that he has those powers
strengthened and enlarged. And thus it is with every child of God. He is born a
babe: and, though every gracious principle exists within him, he is so feeble as
scarcely to be able to withstand temptation, or to exercise his powers to any great
extent. But, through the remains of sin within him he is led to frequent conflicts with
it: by exercise, his powers are increased; and by progressive increase, they are
perfected. Thus, from “a babe,” he grows up to maturer age and stature, and
becomes “a young man;” and from “a young man,” “a father.” or is it in this
world only that the believer is benefited by his conflicts; for in proportion as he
grows in the knowledge of the Saviour and in a conformity to his image, will be the
weight of glory bestowed on him in the realms of bliss. The improvement of the
talents committed to him will bring a corresponding recompence, at the time that he
shall give up his account to God. If no corruption had remained in his heart “to
prove him,” he would have had scarcely any opportunity of shewing his fidelity, his
zeal, his love, his gratitude: but being called “to fight a good fight,” and having

150. approved himself “a good soldier of Jesus Christ,” he shall receive, together with the
approbation of his Lord, a brighter crown, and a more glorious inheritance, than
could have been awarded to him at the period of his first conversion.]
3. For his own eternal glory—
[Doubtless the first exercise of mercy towards a repenting sinner brings much glory
to God: and if at the first moment of his conversion every saint were translated to
glory, he would have abundant reason to adore and magnify the grace to which he
was so greatly indebted. But of the patience, the forbearance, the long-suffering, the
compassion, and the faithfulness of God, he would have a very indistinct and
inadequate conception. It is by his inward trials and conflicts that he acquires the
fuller discovery of these perfections, and is prepared to give God the glory of them
in a better world. The shouts of one who is but a babe in Christ will, on his
introduction to the divine presence, no doubt be ardent: but what will be the
acclamations of a soul that has passed through all the eventful scenes of arduous
and long-protracted warfare! Of what wonders will he have to speak! or rather,
how may we conceive of him as prostrating himself in silent adoration through his
overwhelming sense of the divine goodness, whilst the less-instructed and less-
indebted novice rends the air with acclamations and hosannahs! Yes verily: if the
angels stand round about the saints, as not having so near an access to God as they,
so we may conceive of the less-privileged saints as standing round about the elders,
in whom “God will be more admired,” and by whom he will be more “glorified
[ ote: 2 Thessalonians 1:10 with Revelation 7:9-12.].”]
We must not however dismiss this subject without adding a few words,
1. Of caution:—
[It is, as we have said, the fate of man in this world still to carry about with him a
corrupt nature, which proves a source of much trouble and distress: nor can any
man hope to get rid of it, till he shall be liberated by death itself. evertheless, it is
our own fault that the corruptions which remain within us are not more weakened
and subdued. Let any one read the account given of the different tribes, in the first
chapter of the book of Judges, and say whether he does not impute blame to the
Israelites themselves, for suffering the nations, whom they were ordered to
extirpate, to retain so formidable a power in the midst of them [ ote: Judges 1:21;
Judges 1:27; Judges 1:29-35.] ? Had they persevered with the same zeal and
diligence as they exercised on their first entrance into Canaan, and pursued with
unrelenting energy those whom they had been commanded to destroy, their
occupation of the land had been far more peaceful and entire. And so, if we, from
our first conversion to God, had maintained with unremitting zeal our warfare with
sin and Satan, as it became us to do, we should have had all the corruptions of our
nature in more complete subjection, and should have enjoyed a far greater measure
of tranquillity in our own souls. Let not any one, then, delude himself with the
thought that the strength of his corruptions is a subject rather of pity than of blame:
but let all know, that they are called to maintain a warfare; that armour, even “the

151. whole armour of God,” is provided for them, in order that they may prosecute it
with success; and that, if only they will “quit themselves like men,” the Captain of
their salvation has assured to them a complete victory. Gird on your armour then,
my Brethren; and, if your enemy has gained any advantage over you, return to the
charge; and never cease to fight, till Satan, and all his hosts, are “bruised under
your feet.”]
2. Of encouragement—
[The doom of your enemies is sealed [ ote: Deuteronomy 7:22-23.] ; and, if you “go
forth in the strength of your Lord,” “you shall be more than conquerors through
him that loveth you [ ote: Romans 8:37.].” Let it not be grievous to you that such a
necessity is imposed upon you. Did your Saviour himself enter the lists, and fight
against all the powers of darkness till he had triumphed over them and despoiled
them all; and will not you, at his command, go forth, to follow up, and complete, his
victory [ ote: Colossians 2:15 with John 16:11.] ? Fear not on account of the
strength or number of your enemies: for “they shall be bread for you;” and your
every victory over them shall nourish and strengthen your own souls. And let all
animate one another to the contest. See the happy effect of this amongst God’s
people of old. We are told, “Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me
into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with
thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. And Judah went up: and the Lord
delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand [ ote: Judges 1:3-4].”ls
True it is, indeed, that we cannot aid each other precisely in the same way that they
did: but we may encourage one another, and strengthen one another, and by our
example animate one another to the combat; and may thus contribute, each of us, to
the success of those around us. And it is but a little time that we have to fight: for
soon we shall come to that better land, where “there shall no more be the Canaanite
in the house of the Lord of Hosts.” Even in this world we are taught that such a
period shall arrive [ ote: Zechariah 14:21.]: but, if not permitted to behold it here,
we shall assuredly behold it in the world above, where “former things shall have
passed away, and sin and sorrow shall be found no more [ ote: Revelation 21:4.].”
“Wherefore comfort ye one another with these words.”]
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:29
I will not drive them out from before thee in one year. The Divine action is for the
most part "slack, as men count slackness"—it is not hasty, spasmodic, precipitate,
as human action is too often. Men are impatient; God is strangely, wonderfully
patient. He would not drive out the Canaanitish nations all at once—
1. Lest the land should become desolate, there being an insufficient population to
keep down the weeds and maintain the tillage; and
2. Lest the beast of the field should multiply so as to become a danger to the new-
comers. It is related that when the kingdom of Samaria was depopulated by the
removal of the Ten Tribes, there was a great increase of lions, which preyed upon

152. the scanty remnant left (2 Kings 17:25). Even in France, after the Franco-German
war, it was found that in many districts wolves increased. A third reason why the
nations were not subdued all at once, not mentioned here, is touched in 2:21-
23—"The Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily, that through
them he might prove Israel, whether they would keep the way of the Lord to walk
therein, or not."
30 Little by little I will drive them out before you,
until you have increased enough to take
possession of the land.
GILL, "By little and little I will drive them out from before thee,.... Not the
beasts of the field, but the inhabitants of Canaan, who were left partly to keep up the
cities and towns, that they might not fall to ruin, and to till the land, that it might not be
desolate; and partly to be trials and exercises to the people of Israel, and to prove
whether they would serve the Lord or not. Just as the corruptions of human nature
remain with the people of God when converted, for the trial and exercise of their graces,
and that they may have their dependence not on themselves, but on the grace of God to
keep them in his ways, and to preserve them safe to eternal glory; and by completing the
work of grace, which is gradually done, they might be made meet for it:
until thou be increased, and inherit the land; for as their enemies were driven out
gradually, by little and little, so they multiplied gradually, until at length they became a
sufficient number to fill all the cities and towns in all the nations of Canaan, and take an
entire possession of it, as their inheritance given unto them by God.
BI, "By little and little I will drive them out before thee.
The gradual processes of God
It is important, not only to see, but to love, the gradual processes of God. There is more
love in doing the little thing than in doing the great thing. A great mind is never so great
as when it is throwing itself into something exceedingly minute. The special subject to
which the text spiritually and allegorically refers is the conquest of sin. For such as the
old inhabitants of the land of Canaan were to Israel, such the old inhabitants of our
hearts are to us. But now here let me draw what appears to me to be a very important

153. distinction before I proceed. If the processes of sanctification are exceedingly small, the
work of justification is template—perfectly complete—in its one defined isolated act.
Never confound this—the advancement of your holiness with the perfection of your
pardon. There are no degrees of pardon. Nevertheless, though, the Lord Jesus Christ
being set up in his heart, sin has gone down, and grace is in the ascendancy—the sin is
there—and there it is in tremendous rebellion and awful conflict. Make the distinction of
the sin dominant, and the sin subservient, but rebellious against the grace dominant. Yet
still, though the sin be thus so far subdued, it lives. Only “little by little,” after it is put
down from its throne, is it expelled. It goes on to that expulsion—till at last, as the
condemnation of sin was exchanged for the rebellion of sin, the rebellion of sin is
exchanged for the removal of the presence of sin, and sin is no longer there. Now I want
to lead you to see the benefits of this “little by little.” It is in infinite mercy. It is the
discipline of life. And not only in the external event, but in the internal experiences, to a
believer, it is all discipline. And that very gradual overcoming of sin is a great part of the
discipline of life—to exercise many graces, patience, faith, waiting upon God, prayer,
humiliation. And not only so, but remember in this discipline of life, God has His
punishments. And do you know what God’s heaviest punishment is? Sin. He makes sins
scourge sins!—often a sin we hate to scourge a sin we love—often a sin of action to
chasten a sin of feeling—often a sin of conscience to humble us in the dust and make us
discover a sin of emotion. Sins punish sins. Therefore, as the old Canaanites were kept in
the land of Canaan for this very end—that they might be thorns in the side of the
Israelites, and whenever the Israelites fell into idolatry—for their grievous sin some were
allowed to rise up and overcome them for awhile, till God raised up some judge to
overcome that nation, so it is in your heart. And not only is it thus discipline and
punishment—but remember it is for the manifestation of the glory of the Holy Ghost
who exhibits His power and grace in the process of converting sinners into saints. Or
look at it again thus. I do not believe that we could bear now to be perfectly holy. That
inward light, if so unclouded, would be of such a brightness as would wither us and
scorch us. The body would not be capable of it—the mind would not be capable of it. But
when we have the disembodied spirit, or when we have the “spirit clothed upon with the
new body,” then, and then only, we shall be capable of perfect saintliness. And till that, it
must be “little by little,”—a gradual approaching to that state which we could not bear if
introduced to at once. Now, just in conclusion, observe the expression “I will drive them
out.” It is one of God’s high works; it requires the power of Omnipotence to eradicate sin
from the human soul. (J. Vaughan M. A.)
The power of little things
I. It is through little things that a man destroys his soul; he fails to take note of little
things, and they accumulate into great; he relaxes in little things, and thus in time
loosens every bond.
II. It is by little and little that men become great in piety. We become great in holiness
through avoiding little faults, and being exact in little duties.
III. There is great difficulty in little things. In daily dangers and duties, in the petty
anxieties of common life, in the exercise of righteous principles, in trifles—in these we
must seek and find the opportunity of ejecting “by little and little” the foes we have
sworn to expel from our hearts. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

154. Little things
I. Great things are made up of little things. Highest mountain of grains of dust. Atlantic
of drops of water. Year of 31,536,000 seconds. Deepest snow-fall came down one flake at
a time.
II. Great things depend on little ones. Falling of apple from tree insignificant enough;
yet led to discovery of law of gravitation.
III. Great things spring from little ones. Oak once an acorn. Greatest hero once an
infant. Explosion in coal-pit which destroyed life and property was caused by spark from
match. Tract sent by child to India fell into hands of a chief, who was brought to Christ
through reading it; missionary was sent out and hundreds converted.
IV. Great works are accomplished by little and little. Pyramids raised one stone at a
time. Greatest paintings done stroke by stroke. Michael Angelo, when pointing out what
progress he had made in a piece of sculpture on which he was engaged, was met with the
remark, “But these are trifles.” He replied, “Trifles make perfection; but perfection is no
trifle.”
V. Character is formed by little and little. Good characters are built up of little acts of
kindness, industry, generosity, obedience, and integrity. One mean or dishonest act may
destroy a reputation which it has taken years to acquire. (W. H. Booth.)
The power of moral forces
I. The strength of moral forces.
II. The power of little, backed by moral force.
III. Moral forces move to the production of distant results.
IV. The movements of moral forces are not hurried.
V. Moral forces will continue to move until the purpose is finally accomplished.
VI. Moral forces are ever on the side of right doers. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
The conquering life
The upward road to success must always be over difficulties, and these are only
overcome “little by little.” The man who would conquer must not expect to do so at once,
by one headlong charge. Yes, a man to succeed must be self-reliant, he must trust to God
and his own right arm. When Stephen Colonna was taken prisoner by his enemies, and
they sneeringly asked him, “Where is now your stronghold?” he laid his hand upon his
heart, and answered, “Here.” A man must dare to stand alone. If Clive had leaned upon
others instead of himself, he would not have matched his few European and native
troops against the overwhelming masses of Bengal, and have won the Battle of Plassey. If
Columbus had been discouraged by delays, and obstacles and disappointments, he
would never have found America. We have seen, then, that success means the
overcoming of difficulties, by determination, by self-reliance, by patience, “little by
little.” This is equally true of the noblest of all pursuits, the pursuit of holiness, of the
grandest and purest work, work for God; of the hardest and most splendid of victories,
victory over self. The victories which have been gained over ourselves will be

155. remembered when the triumphs of Caesar and Hannibal are uncared for. “He conquered
himself” is a better epitaph than “He conquered the world.” Well, then, in this daily life
of ours we all have a Canaan to conquer; and God promises that if we do our part, He
will drive out our foes “little by little.” No one becomes bad all at once, nor good all at
once. Our life, if it be the true life, will be a gradual growth in grace, a daily dying to sin,
and rising again unto righteousness, a daily mortifying of our evil and corrupt affections,
and a daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)
Destructive power of “little” things
How does it commonly come to pass, that a man who had been thoroughly alive to his
moral responsibility, and who had acted under a manifest consciousness of the account
which must one day be rendered at the judgment seat of Christ, falls away from the
striving for salvation, and mingles with the multitude that walks the broad road? Is it
ordinarily through one powerful and undisguised assault, that he is turned from the
path—the enemies of his soul combining their strength in one united attack, and coming
down on him with every weapon which their malice could suggest and their power
obtain? Nay, not so; it is invariably through “little” things, that such a man destroys his
soul. Like the heavenly bodies, the man of piety moves in a resisting medium, as he
revolves about the Sun of righteousness, which is, and must be, the centre of our system.
It may be only a very minute fraction of velocity, that this resisting medium is able at any
one time to destroy; but its operation is constant, and therefore if the destroyed fraction
remain unobserved and unrepaired, the waste will go on, till the whole motion is lost,
and the star recedes from its pathway of light. As Christians we profess ourselves
strangers and pilgrims upon earth; we are not at home, and the atmosphere of the earth
is one which tends to retard our movements, and diminish the speed with which we
might otherwise run the race set before us; and although, beyond doubt, the world may
occasionally put huge impediments in the way, which may tend to block up the path, and
force us, on a sudden either to stand still or turn aside, yet our chief danger lies in the
almost imperceptible influence exerted by the world, like that of the resisting medium on
the planets—a hindrance which offers no violent opposition to our principles, but which,
confining itself to trifles, is perhaps allowed to act undisturbed, as though either there
could be trifles when the soul’s good is in debate, or as though, if there were, trifles upon
trifles would not make up large amounts. There is a sort of continued attraction,
resulting from our necessary intercourse with the world, which of itself deadens the
attainments of the soul. There is, moreover, a continued temptation to yield in little
points under the impression of conciliating, to indulge in little things, to forego little
strictnesses, to omit little duties, and all owing to the idea, that what looks so slight
cannot be of real moment. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Gradual sanctification
We here have—
I. A gracious promise, on God’s part, to those who are now His true Israel, and who look
for a better possession than the earthly Canaan.
II. An admirable criterion by which to discover the sincerity of our Profession; and our
progress in it.
III. A warning that the work of sanctification must be gradual. God does not give us a

156. rapid victory over our sins.
1. In order to keep us humble;
2. To incite us to prayer, watchfulness and exertion;
3. To increase our desires after that land where peace and purity reign for ever.
IV. A guarantee of future victory, though it may be progressive. (P. Maitland, B. A.)
The difficulty of little things
“By little and little.” My brethren, think often of the mode in which God thus declares
that He will drive out before Israel the Hivite, the Perizzite, and the Jebusite: it is the
very mode by which His grace will enable you to drive out from your hearts those
principles of evil which oppose the complete setting up of the kingdom of His Son. The
difficulty in religion is the taking up the cross daily, rather than the taking it up on some
set occasion, and under extraordinary circumstances. The serving God in little things,
the carrying religious principle into all the minutiae of life, the discipline of our tempers,
the regulation of our speech, the domestic Christianity, the momentary sacrifices, the
secret and unobserved self-denials—who that knows anything of the difficulties of piety
does not know that there is greater danger of his falling in these, than in trials which
apparently call for higher and sterner endurance? If on no other account than from the
very absence of what looks important, are trifles likely to throw him off his guard, make
him careless or confident, and thereby almost ensure defeat. It is not comparatively hard
to put the armour on, when the trumpet sounds, but it is to keep the armour on when
there is no alarm of battle; and our warfare with our spiritual enemies is not warfare in a
series of pitched battles, with intervals for rest and recruiting—it is rather daily, hourly,
momentary fighting. This is the “driving out by little and little,” to which the Almighty
promises “the reward of the inheritance.” Understand, therefore, and remember, that
there is great difficulty in little things. Be assured that daily dangers and duties, the little
unevennesses which may ruffle the temper, the petty anxieties of common life, the
exercise of righteous principle in trifles—in these must you seek, and in these will you
find the opportunity of ejecting “by little and little” the foes which you have sworn to
expel from the heart, but which still, like the Canaanites against Israel, dispute the
territory with the Lord God of hosts. And if the warfare be tedious, forget not that you
fight for an incorruptible crown. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Importance of little things
Giotto, a distinguished Roman painter, was desired by one of the Popes to paint a panel
in the Vatican. Some doubt of his ability, however, being entertained, the Pope’s
messenger first asked him for an example of his art. Giotto’s study was adorned with his
paintings, but instead of offering any of these, he took a sheet of white paper, and with a
single stroke of his pencil drew a perfect circle, and handed it to his visitor. The latter, in
surprise, reminded him that he had asked for a design. “Go,” said Giotto; “I tell you, his
Holiness asks nothing else of me.” He was right, for the evidence of his command of the
pencil was accepted as conclusive, and his eccentric though reasonable reply gave rise to
the proverb, “Round as Giotto’s O.” To do a small thing well is the best proof of ability to
do what is great.

157. Progressive sanctification
Those persons must have a very inadequate knowledge of the scheme of salvation, who
suppose that the work of sanctification is sudden and rapid in its effects. And why?
Because we find a consistency maintained between God’s natural government of the
world, and the plan of salvation as displayed in the gospel. And hence we are led to
argue, that both must proceed from the same Divine hand. Now, when persons first
resign this world as their portion, and give themselves up to the service of God, they
frequently set out with highly raised expectations and, not fully conscious of the
difficulties which lie in their path, suppose that the victory over sin will be easily
accomplished, and a rapid progress made in the ways of godliness. It is with the
inexperienced Christian, as it is with the young in the spring-tide of their existence. Then
all is bright and glittering; and, exulting in the present, and buoyed up with joyous hopes
for the future, they know not of the cloud gathering in the horizon. And this expectation
is, in a measure, aided by the fact, that in the earlier stages of a Christian course, a much
more rapid advance is frequently made than is found to be the case in after years.
Moreover, the Christian, in the earlier stages of his course, is not fully aware of the
extent of obedience which the law of God demands, and is not sufficiently conscious of
the deep depravity of his own heart. Hence the terms of the gospel, which demand an
irreconcileable war with every lust and passion, and call for a continued and persevering
struggle with every known sin, cannot be fully appreciated, because these are not
discovered. But it is the office of the Holy Spirit, gradually to make this discovery to the
mind of the Christian. But has God ever undertaken that Satan and the world and the
flesh shall at once be beaten down beneath your feet? No! What says my text? “By little
and little.” But, whilst it is only right, Christians, that I should thus set before you the
difficulties which beset your path, at the same time that you take warning from the text
not to expect a more rapid victory over sin than God has prescribed, take also to
yourselves the encouragement which it affords. Here is the promise of Him who cannot
lie, that He will eventually make us more than conquerers, though it will be by little and
little, and not so rapidly as we could desire. “Being confident of this very thing, that He
which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.” It
will be gradual, but effectual—it will be progressive, but abiding; if left to yourselves,
indeed, your strength must fail; and vain would be the attempt to contend successfully
with your sins and infirmities. “The Lord is my strength and my song, and is become my
salvation,” says the Psalmist; and what he here speaks of—God’s loving-kindness—is
only that which is the portion of every true believer. “He giveth power to the faint,” says
the prophet, “and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” How cheering are
such assurances to those who feel the burden of their sin, and how calculated to set at
rest all doubts and misgivings with respect to our future perseverance! But, for this, let it
ever be remembered that continued and fervent supplication must be made. “For all
these things” are the words of God, “will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it
for them.” And never let us complain that our enemies are mighty, and that we make so
slow a progress against them, whilst we neglect to plead in prayer with the Almighty for
the fulfilment of His own promises. And here let me turn to the well-tried Christian—to
such as are firmly established and grounded in the faith; and I would ask, whether you
cannot bear testimony to the faithfulness with which the promise of the text is verified?
You, as well as others, need the encouragement which it affords, because, the more you
grow in holiness, the more you will perceive how infinitely short you come of the
standard at which you aim. But have you not reason from the past, to trust God for the
future? With St. Paul, thank God, and take courage; and, whenever it shall happen (as it
sometimes will with the holiest and best of men) that you entertain doubts and

158. misgivings with respect to your ultimate safety, owing to your unworthiness, recall to
your minds the promise of my text, and others of a similar character. Let these reassure
and animate you: God is still the same unfailing Protector of those who trust in Him as
He ever was, and will never forsake the true sheep of His pasture, but gradually drive out
their enemies from before them, until they are established in their promised possession.
(P. Maitland, B. A.)
31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea
[a] to the Mediterranean Sea,[b] and from the
desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your
hands the people who live in the land, and you will
drive them out before you.
BAR ES, "In Exo_23:23, the limits of the Land of Canaan, strictly so called, are
indicated; to this, when the Israelites were about to take possession of it, were added the
regions of Gilead and Bashan on the left side of the Jordan Num_32:33-42; Jos_13:29-
32. These two portions made up the holy land, of which the limits were recognized, with
inconsiderable variations, until the final overthrow of the Jewish polity. But in this verse
the utmost extent of Hebrew dominion, as it existed in the time of David and Solomon, is
set forth. The kingdom then reached to Eloth and Ezion-geber on the AElanitic Gulf of
the Red Sea 1Ki_9:26, and to Tiphsah on the “River,” that is, the River Euphrates 1Ki_
4:24, having for its western boundary “the Sea of the Philistines,” that is, the
Mediterranean, and for its southern boundary “the desert,” that is, the wildernesses of
Shur and Paran (compare Gen_15:18; Deu_1:7; Deu_11:24; Jos_1:4).
CLARKE, "I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea - On the south-east, even
unto the sea of the Philistines - the Mediterranean, on the north-west; and from the
desert - of Arabia, or the wilderness of Shur, on the west, to the river - the Euphrates, on
the north-east. Or in general terms, from the Euphrates on the east, to the
Mediterranean Sea on the west; and from Mount Libanus on the north, to the Red Sea
and the Nile on the south. This promise was not completely fulfilled till the days of David
and Solomon. The general disobedience of the people before this time prevented a more
speedy accomplishment; and their disobedience afterwards caused them to lose the
possession. So, though all the promises of God are Yea and Amen, yet they are fulfilled
but to a few, because men are slow of heart to believe; and the blessings of providence
and grace are taken away from several because of their unfaithfulness.

159. GILL, "And I will set thy bounds,.... The bounds of the land of Canaan, which in
process of time it should reach unto, though not at once, not until the times of David and
Solomon, 2Sa_8:1 which bounds were as follow:
from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines: the Red sea was the
boundary eastward, as the sea of the Philistines, or the Mediterranean sea, was the
boundary westward:
and from the desert unto the river; the desert of Shur or Arabia, towards Egypt,
was the boundary southward, as the river Euphrates was the boundary northward, and
is the river here meant, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; and so Jarchi interprets
it, and generally others:
for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; the greater part
upon their entrance into it, and settlement in it, and the rest afterwards:
and thou shalt drive them out before thee; not all at once, but by degrees, as
before observed.
K&D, "Exo_23:31-33
The divine promise closes with a general indication of the boundaries of the land,
whose inhabitants Jehovah would give up to the Israelites to drive them out, and with a
warning against forming alliances with them and their gods, lest they should lead Israel
astray to sin, and thus become a snare to it. On the basis of the promise in Gen_15:18,
certain grand and prominent points are mentioned, as constituting the boundaries
towards both the east and west. On the west the boundary extended from the Red Sea
(see Exo_13:18) to the sea of the Philistines, or Mediterranean Sea, the south-eastern
shore of which was inhabited by the Philistines; and on the east from the desert, i.e.,
according to Deu_11:24, the desert of Arabia, to the river (Euphrates). The poetic suffix
‫ּו‬‫מ‬ affixed to ָ ְ‫שׁ‬ ַ‫ר‬ֵ answers to the elevated oratorical style. Making a covenant with them
and their gods would imply the recognition and toleration of them, and, with the sinful
tendencies of Israel, would be inevitably followed by the worship of idols. The first ‫י‬ ִⅴ in
Exo_23:33 signifies if; the second, imo, verily, and serves as an energetic introduction to
the apodosis. ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫ּוק‬‫מ‬, a snare (vid., Exo_10:7); here a clause of destruction, inasmuch as
apostasy from God is invariably followed by punishment (Jdg_2:3).
CALVI ,"31.And I will set thy bounds. There is no question that He confirms here
the covenant which he had made with Abraham in somewhat different words. More
briefly had it been said to Abraham,
“Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river,
the river Euphrates.” (Genesis 15:18.)
Here the four cardinal points of the compass are enumerated, and, instead of the

160. ile, the other sea is mentioned, which is opposite to the sea of Tarshish. (271) or is
it anything new which the Israelites are commanded to expect; but they are
reminded of what they had heard of by tradition even from the time of Abraham.
Hence what I have already said is more clearly perceived, viz., that the ancient
covenant is set before them, in order that they may respond to God’s gratuitous
favor, and on their part honor and worship Him, who had already anticipated them
with His mercy. Furthermore, when they had robbed themselves of this blessing,
God applied a remedy to their iniquity, by raising up a new condition of things
under David, to whom this promise is repeated, as is seen in Psalms 72:0 Therefore,
although even up to that time their inheritance was in a measure incomplete
(truncata), (272) yet, under this renovated condition, they reached its full and solid
enjoyment. But since that prosperity and extension of the kingdom was not lasting,
but after Solomon’s death began to fail, and at last its dignity was destroyed;
therefore Zechariah uses the same words in declaring its ultimate and perfect
restoration. (Zechariah 9:10.) Thence we gather that by the coming of Christ this
prophecy at length obtained its perfect accomplishment; not that the race of
Abraham then began to bear rule within the bounds here laid down, but inasmuch
as Christ embraced the four quarters of the globe under His dominion, from the east
even to the west, and from the north even to the south. Meanwhile the power of
David was the prototype of this boundless reign, when he acquired the sovereignty
of the promised land. We ought not to think it unreasonable that the ancient people
should be kept out of some portion of that inheritance which was to be expected by
them in accordance with the covenant; but rather does God’s incredible goodness
display itself, in that, when they had altogether disinherited themselves, He still
combated their iniquity, and failed not to shew practically His faithfulness. We may
see the same thing in the calling of the Gentiles; for, if the Jews had continued
faithful, the Gentiles would have been joined with them, as it had been said,
“In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold of the skirt of him
that is a Jew,” (Zechariah 8:23;)
but their rebellion brought it about, that God only gathered from among them the
first-fruits of His Church, and afterwards the Gentiles were substituted in the place
which they had left empty. In this way neither did this people retain their right of
primogeniture, neither did God’s truth cease to stand firm, as Paul more fully
explains in the eleventh chapter of Romans.
COKE, "Exodus 23:31. And I will set thy bounds— The bounds of the land which
they were to inherit, (Exodus 23:30.) are here set down: they were to be from the
Red Sea on the south-east, unto the sea of the Philistines or the Mediterranean sea
on the north-west; and from the desert of Arabia, or the wilderness of Shur on the
west, to the river of Euphrates, called the river by way of eminence, on the north-
east. See Genesis 15:18 and Shaw's Travels, book 2 Chronicles 1; 2 Chronicles 2.
COFFMA , "Verses 31-33
"And I will set thy border from the Red Sea even unto the Sea of the Philistines, and

161. from the wilderness unto the River: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into
your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. Thou shalt make no covenant
with them, nor with their gods. 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."
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. "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.
CO STABLE, "Verse 31
God further promised a wide land area. It stretched from the Red Sea (probably the
Gulf of Aqabah, the southeastern boundary) to the Mediterranean Sea (the western
boundary). It also ran from the wilderness (probably the northeast edge of the Sinai
wilderness, the southwest boundary) to the Euphrates River (the northeastern
boundary; cf. Genesis 15:18). Some writers believed that this is a reference to the
river that now forms the border between modern Lebanon and Syria. [ ote: E.g,
Kaiser, " Exodus ," p447.] Yet in the Hebrew Bible "the river" usually refers to the
Euphrates. Israel did not occupy all of this territory due to her disobedience to God.
ELLICOTT, "(31) Thy bounds.—Those whose highest notion of prophecy identifies
it with advanced human foresight naturally object to Moses having foretold the vast
extent of empire which did not take place till the days of David and Solomon. It is
impossible, however, to understand this passage in any other way than as an
assignment to Israel of the entire tract between the Desert, or “Wilderness of the
Wanderings,” and the Euphrates on the one hand, the Mediterranean and the Red
Sea on the other. “The River” (han-nahar) has no other meaning in the Pentateuch
than “the Euphrates.” And this was exactly the extent to which the dominions of
Israel reached under Solomon, as we see from the description in Kings and
Chronicles (1 Kings 4:21; 1 Kings 4:24; 2 Chronicles 9:26). It had, according to
Moses (Genesis 15:18), been already indicated with tolerable precision in the
original promise made to Abraham.
PETT, "Exodus 23:31
“And I will set your border from the Sea of Reeds even to the sea of the Philistines,
and from the wilderness even to the River, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the
land into your hand, and you will drive them out from before you.
The future boundaries of the promised land are set out and they are natural
boundaries. The wilderness was the land of the South north of Egypt, and the River
was the Euphrates. The sea of the Philistines was the Mediterranean, and the Sea of
Reeds here represents the Gulf of Aqabah, the tongue of the Red Sea leading up to
the rift valley containing the Jordan and the Dead Sea. Thus the promised land
reached from the Euphrates to Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Rift
Valley. This was the land promised by Yahweh in the covenant on condition that the
covenant conditions were fulfilled. But they never were. God’s terms were rejected

162. and partial obedience could only result in partial fulfilment.
“Sea of the Philistines.” This description of the Mediterranean Sea (or part of it) is
found nowhere else suggesting that it was a very ancient title and superseded. This
would serve to confirm the presence of some who bore a name which could be
translated into Hebrew like this in Palestine before the time of Moses, as Genesis
indicates. It shortly becomes ‘the Great Sea’ ( umbers 34:6-7; Joshua 1:4; Joshua
9:1; Joshua 15:12; Joshua 15:47; Joshua 23:4). To use the Reed Sea as the eastern
border would be unlikely once they were in the land.
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:31
And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines. This
passage by itself would be sufficient to confute Dr. Brugsch's notion, that the Yam
Suph (or "Red Sea" of our translators) is the Lake Serbonis, which is a part of the
Mediterranean or "Sea of the Philistines," and cannot stand in contrast with it. The
"Sea of the Philistines" and the "Red Sea" mark the boundaries of the Holy Land
East and West, as the "Desert" and the "River" (Euphrates) do its boundaries
orth and South. That Moses here lays down those wide limits which were only
reached 400 years later, in the time of David and Solomon, and were then speedily
lost, can surprise no one who believes in the prophetic gift, and regards Moses as
one of the greatest of the Prophets. The tract marked out by these limits had been
already promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:18). Its possession by Solomon is
distinctly recorded in 1 Kings 4:21, 1 Kings 4:24; 2 Chronicles 9:26. As Solomon was
"a man of peace," we must ascribe the acquisition of this wide empire to David.
(Compare 2 Samuel 8:3-14; 2 Samuel 10:6-19.) The river (han-nahar) is in the
Pentateuch always the Euphrates. The ile is ha-y'or. A powerful kingdom
established in Syria is almost sure to extend its influence to the Euphrates. I will
deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand. Compare Joshua 21:44, for the
first fulfilment of this prophecy. Its complete fulfilment was reserved for the time of
David. Thou shalt drive them out. The mass of the Canaanites were no doubt
"driven out" rather than exterminated. They retired northwards, and gave strength
to the great Hittite kingdom which was for many centuries a formidable antagomst
of the Egyptian and Assyrian empties.
BI, "They shall not dwell in thy land.
Lessons
1. God is the sovereign boundmaker to all nations on the earth.
2. Among all God hath promised to set the bounds of His Church on earth.
3. God’s suppression of His adversaries is a token of His settling His Church’s
habitation (Exo_23:31).
4. No covenant with idolatrous adversaries must be made by the Church against
God’s will.
5. No covenant can be made with idolaters, but it will be with their idols, viz., devils
(Exo_23:32).

163. 6. Converse with idolaters is very dangerous to make men such sinners against God.
7. Such sinning with idolaters is a snare, which will keep souls to destruction.
8. All such sins must be avoided, that God’s promise of good may be obtained (Exo_
23:33). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Associating with the ungodly
Those who willingly associate with the sinful are like the river Thames, which is a sweet
and pretty river enough near its source; but in the great metropolis it has kept company
with drains and sewers under the belief that its current was too powerful and too pure to
be injured by them. It was meant that the river should purify the sewer; but, instead of
that, the sewer has corrupted the river. (Union Magazine.)
The snare of worldliness
Serious people often complain of the snares they meet with from worldly people, and yet
they must mix with them to get a livelihood. I advise them, if they can, to do their
business with the world as they do it in the rain. If their business calls them abroad, they
will not leave it undone for fear of being a little wet; but then, when it is done, they
presently seek shelter, and will not stand in the rain for pleasure. So, providential and
necessary calls of duty, that lead us into the world, will not hurt us, if we find the spirit of
the world unpleasant, and are glad to retire from it, and keep out of it, as much as our
relative duties will permit. That which is our cross is not so likely to be our snare; but if
that spirit which we should always watch and pray against, infects and assimilates our
minds to itself, then we are sure to suffer loss, and act below the dignity of our
profession. (Newton’s Letters to a Nobleman.).
32 Do not make a covenant with them or with
their gods.
CLARKE, "Thou shalt make no covenant with them - They were incurable
idolaters, and the cup of their iniquity was full. And had the Israelites contracted any
alliance with them, either sacred or civil, they would have enticed them into their
idolatries, to which the Jews were at all times most unhappily prone; and as God
intended that they should be the preservers of the true religion till the coming of the

164. Messiah, hence he strictly forbade them to tolerate idolatry.
GILL, "Thou shalt make no covenant with them,.... A covenant of peace, a league,
a confederacy, so as to take them to be their allies and friends; but they were always to
consider them as their enemies, until they had made an utter end of them; though the
Gibeonites by craft and guile obtained a league of them; but the methods they took to get
it show they had some knowledge of this law, that the Israelites might not, or at least
would not, make any league or covenant with the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. This
may be also extended to marriage covenants, which they were forbid to make with them;
which yet they did, and proved a snare to them, for this brought them to makes a
covenant with their gods, and serve them, which is here also forbidden:
nor with their gods; making vows unto them, promising to serve them, if they would
do such and such things for them.
COKE, "Exodus 23:32. Thou shalt make no covenant, &c.— From this place, and
ch. Exodus 34:11-16, one cannot help remarking the absurdity of Voltaire's position,
that the Jewish religion was a religion of toleration: indeed it would have been
strange, that a religion calculated for the preservation of the knowledge and
worship of the true God, and for the utter subversion of idolatry, should have
tolerated, in any degree, liberties promoting the latter, and prejudicing the former.
CO STABLE, "Verse 32-33
These verses contain a final warning. Israel was to make no covenants with the
Canaanites or their gods because she already had a covenant with Yahweh. The
Israelites failed here too (e.g, Joshua 9:3-15).
"The Decalogue begins with the command that Israel have no god other than
Yahweh. The Book of the Covenant begins ( Exodus 20:23) and ends ( Exodus
23:32-33) with that same command, and all that lies between that beginning and
that ending is designed to assure its obedience." [ ote: Durham, p337.]
It is very important to observe that God conditioned obtaining all that He promised
the Israelites as an inheritance on their obedience. They could only enter into it by
obeying God. Their inheritance was something different from their salvation, which
came to them only by faith in God ( Genesis 15:6; Exodus 12:13; Exodus 14:31). The
ew Testament likewise teaches that justification comes solely by faith in God, but
only obedient Christians will obtain the full inheritance that God has promised us
(cf. Hebrews 3:12 to Hebrews 4:14). [ ote: For a good explanation of the Old and
ew Testament teaching on the subject of the believer"s inheritance, see Joseph C.
Dillow, The Reign of the Servant Kings, pp43-110.]
ELLICOTT, "(32) Thou shalt make no covenant with them—i.e., no treaty of peace;
no arrangement by which one part of the land shall be thine and another theirs.
(Comp. Exodus 34:12.)

165. or with their gods.—It was customary at the time for treaties between nations to
contain an acknowledgment by each of the other’s gods. (See the treaty between
Rameses II. And the Hittites in the Records of the Past, vol. iv., pp. 27-32.) Thus a
treaty with a nation was a sort of treaty with its gods.
PETT, "Exodus 23:32-33
“You will make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in
the land lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods it will surely
be a snare to you.”
So the Book of the Covenant ends as it begins, with the reminder that He was
Yahweh their God (Exodus 20:2; Exodus 23:25) Who would act on their behalf
(Exodus 23:25-31) as He had already acted in Egypt (Exodus 20:2), and the
reminder also that He would brook no rivals (Exodus 20:3-6; Exodus 23:32-33).
Thus the land must be rid of all evil influences. either they nor their gods must be
allowed place in ‘the land’. There must be no treaties made with them. They must be
totally driven out. The land and the people must be holy to Yahweh.
“For if you serve their gods they will surely be a snare to you.” How true this would
prove to be. Syncretism with the Canaanite worship of Baal and Asherah would
plague them right up to the Exile.
ote for Christians.
Just as God would send His angel before His people as they approached the land
where they were to set up the Kingly Rule of God, so does He go before us as we
seek to set up the Kingly Rule of God here on earth (Matthew 28:21), that Kingly
Rule which stretches to all His true people (Colossians 1:13). Those who are His are
those who genuinely see themselves as under His Kingly Rule and bound by all His
requirements, not in order to be saved, but because they have been saved. And they
gladly seek to do His will.
It may be asked, are we required to keep the feasts as laid down in this chapter?
And again the answer is clear. We do not keep the feasts because we do not possess
the land. We owe no ‘rent’. We do not offer the sacrifices because they have been
superseded in the one Sacrifice made for all for all time. But we should and do give
thanks for our harvests and bring to Him of our produce in gratitude for all His
goodness.
PULPIT, "FI AL WAR I G AGAI ST IDOLATRY. The "Book of the
Covenant" ends as it began, with a solemn warning against idolatry. (See Exodus
20:23.) "Thou shalt make no covenant with them nor with their gods." Thou shalt
not even suffer them to dwell side by side with thee in the land, on peaceable terms,
with their own laws and religion, lest thou be ensnared thereby, and led to worship
their idols and join in their unhallowed rites (Exodus 23:33). The after history of the
people of Israel shows the need of the warning. From the exodus to the captivity,

166. every idolatry with which they came into close contact proved a sore temptation to
them. As the author of Kings observes of the Ten Tribes''—The children of Israel
did secretly those things which were not right against the Lord their God, and they
built them high places in all their cities … And they set them up images and groves
in every high hill, and under every green tree; and there they burnt incense in all
the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and
wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger; for they served idols, whereof
the Lord had said unto them, "Ye shall not do this thing" (2 Kings 17:9-12).
Exodus 23:32
Thou shalt make no covenant with them. See below, Exodus 34:12-15. According to
the forms usual at the time, a treaty of peace would have contained an
acknowledgment of the gods of either nation, and words in honour of them. This
would have been equivalent to "making a covenant with their gods."
33 Do not let them live in your land or they will
cause you to sin against me, because the worship
of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”
CLARKE, "They shall not dwell in thy land - They must be utterly expelled. The
land was the Lord’s, and he had given it to the progenitors of this people, to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. The latter being obliged to leave it because of a famine, God is now
conducting back his posterity, who alone had a Divine and natural right to it, and
therefore their seeking to possess the inheritance of their fathers can be only criminal in
the sight of those who are systematically opposed to the thing, because it is a part of
Divine revelation.
What a pity that the Mosaic Law should be so little studied! What a number of just and
equal laws, pious and humane institutions, useful and instructive ordinances, does it
contain! Everywhere we see the purity and benevolence of God always working to
prevent crimes and make the people happy! But what else can be expected from that God
who is love, whose tender mercies are over all his works, and who hateth nothing that he
has made? Reader, thou art not straitened in him, be not straitened in thy own bowels.
Learn from him to be just, humane, kind, and merciful. Love thy enemy, and do good to
him that hates thee. Jesus is with thee; hear and obey his voice; provoke him not, and he
will be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to thine adversaries. Believe, love,
obey; and the road to the kingdom of God is plain before thee. Thou shalt inherit the
good land, and be established in it for ever and ever.

167. GILL, "They shall not dwell in thy land,.... The land of Canaan, given by God for an
inheritance, and now would be in the possession of the Israelites; and therefore were not
to suffer the old inhabitants to dwell with them in it, at least no longer than they could
help it; they were to do all they could to root them out:
lest they make thee sin against me; by their ill examples and persuasions, drawing
them into idolatry, than which there is no greater sin against God, it being not only
contrary to his law, his mind, and will, but directly against his nature, being, perfections,
and glory:
for if thou serve their gods, or "for thou wilt serve" (t); this would be the
consequence of their dwelling in the land, they would draw the Israelites into the
worship of their idols, to which they were naturally prone; and should they commit
idolatry:
it will surely be a snare unto thee: idolatry would be the cause of their ruin and
destruction, they would be snared by it, as fishes in a net, or birds and beasts by traps
and gins; or "for it will be a snare" (u), that is, the Canaanites dwelling among them
would be a snare to draw them into their idolatry, and go into ruin.
COKE, "Exodus 23:33. They shall not dwell in thy land— i.e. "They shall on no
account be suffered to dwell within thy land, while continuing in the practice of
idolatry;" the reason of which is subjoined; and it is added, If, seduced by them,
thou shalt serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. It will entangle thee in
evil, and prove destructive to thee; and such was the event: see Joshua 23:13.
umbers 25:1; umbers 25:18. Judges 2:1; Judges 2:23. Houbigant observes, that
the Samaritan reading, which all the ancient versions, except the Arabic, follow, is
preferable in this place: and they, (i.e. the people,) will be a snare unto thee: upon
which authority he renders the verse, they shall not dwell in thy land, lest they
induce thee to sin against me; and thou serve their gods, after they have enticed
thee.
REFLECTIO S.—God having explained his judgments, concludes with most
encouraging promises and solemn warnings.
1. He promises, that the Angel of the covenant, the great Head of his church, shall go
before them. Under his conduct their enemies should fear and fall before them, till
they were consumed; yet not all at once, but by little and little, till they were able to
occupy the whole land. Mean time, every earthly blessing is assured to them: God's
people have even here sometimes a peculiar portion. ote; (1.) It is the comfort of
every true faithful Israelite, that he is under the guidance of the great Redeemer,
and shall be conducted safe to the promised possession of eternal rest. (2.) Though
corruption, like these Canaanites, continues for a time, yet its power is broken in the
justified soul, and shall soon be rooted out.
2. We have the injunctions given them to be obedient, and hear his voice. Christ
must not only be trusted as a Saviour, but served as our Lord and Master; and how

168. reasonable to yield to him a grateful return for all we are and have, since to his love
we are indebted for all!
3. The care to be taken in destroying all monuments of idolatry, and avoiding all
connexion with idolaters. Removal of all temptations to sin is necessary, in order to
be preserved from it. othing is more dangerous than evil companions, and we must
shun their company, if we would escape their wickedness.
ELLICOTT, "(33) They shall not dwell in thy land.—Individuals might remain if
they became proselytes, as Urijah the Hittite, Araunah the Jebusite, &c.; and the
Gibeonites remained en masse, but in a servile condition. What was forbidden was
the co-existence of friendly but independent heathen communities with Israel within
the limits of Canaan. This would have been a perpetual “snare” to the Israelites,
and would have continually led them into idolatry; as we find that it did during the
period of the early Judges. (See Judges 1:27-36; Judges 2:11-13; Judges 3:5-7.)
PULPIT, "Exodus 23:33
They shall not dwell in the land. This law did not, of course, affect proselytes; nor
was it considered to preclude the continuance in the land of the enslaved Gibeonites.
It forbade any Canaanite communities being suffered to remain within the limits of
Palestine on friendly terms with the Hebrews. The precaution was undoubtedly a
wise one.