CHAPTER XXIII _Laws against_ evil-speaking, 1. _Against_ bad company, 2. _Against_ partiality, 3. _Laws commanding acts of_ kindness _and_ humanity, 4, 5. _Against_ oppression, 6. _Against_ unrighteous decisions, 7. _Against_ bribery _and_ corruption, 8. _Against_ unkindness to strangers, 9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:2. _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_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:3. _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 _grea... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:4. _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 whic... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:6. _THOU SHALT NOT WREST THE JUDGMENT OF THY POOR_] Thou shalt neither countenance him in his crimes, nor condemn him in his righteousness. See Exodus 23:5; Exodus 23:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:8. _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 practised. In the excellent charter of British liberties called _Magna Charta_, there is one article expressly on this head: _Nulli vendem... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:9. _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!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:11. _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 settin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:12. _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 gr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:14. _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 deliv... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:17. _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.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:18. _THE BLOOD OF MY SACRIFICE WITH LEAVENED BREAD_] The sacrifice here mentioned is undoubtedly the _Passover_; (see Exodus 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 b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:19. _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 he... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:20. _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, Exodus 23:21, _My name is in him_, (בקרבו bekirbo, intimately, _essentially in_ _him_,) it is m... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:21. _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.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:23. _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.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:24. _BREAK DOWN THEIR IMAGES._] מצבתיהם _matstsebotheyhem_, from נצב _natsab_, to _stand up; pillars, anointed stones_, c., such as the _baitulia_. Genesis 28:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:25. _SHALL BLESS THY BREAD AND THY WATER_] That is, all thy provisions, no matter of what sort; the meanest fare shall be sufficiently nutritive when God's blessing is in it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:26. _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 FULFIL._] Ye shall all live to a good old age, and none die _before his time_. This is the blessing of the righteous, for w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:28. _I WILL SEND HORNETS BEFORE THEE_] הצרעה _hatstsirah_. The root is not found in Hebrew, but it may be the same with the Arabic [Arabic] _saraa_, to _lay prostrate_, to _strike down_; the _hornet_, probably so called from the destruction occasioned by the violence of its sting. T... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:31. _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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:32. _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 time... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 23:33. _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... [ Continue Reading ]