Exoduschapter 23
33 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · The Law
And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Exodus Overview.
This chapter closes the case law given at Sinai and turns into a promise about the road ahead. Moses received it for a people who had no courts, no farms and no festivals yet, and it gives them all three in outline. Listen for the rules that guard a verdict against a crowd, a bribe and misplaced sympathy. Then listen for the year laid out around three harvests. Last, listen for the guide sent ahead of them toward a land they had never seen.
Context
- Who
- Israel in the wilderness, receiving the festival calendar they would keep in Canaan
- What
- The last of the case law, with rules for honest courts, the sabbath year and the three pilgrim feasts, and a promise of guidance into the land.
- Where
- The foot of Mount Sinai, looking ahead to a land bounded by the Red Sea, the Sea of the Philistines, the desert and the Euphrates.
- When
- The third month after the exodus, about 1446 BC on the early date this site follows, with a thirteenth century date held by others.
- Why
- To shape Israel's justice, rest and worship around the LORD before they entered Canaan.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to the law Exodus says Moses wrote at God's command, recorded at 17:14, at 24:4 and at 34:27, while he was going up and down the mountain between God and the people. The critical reading takes the legal sections for a later compilation from several sources, a position argued by Julius Wellhausen and the tradition following him, and the site states no verdict on it.
Show the rest of the historical context, 8 more paragraphs
The chapter closes the case law and turns into covenant speech at verse 20, which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read as the conclusion of the whole communication.
A first hearer knew how small-town justice failed, and the court rules name rumour repeated as testimony, a crowd's opinion followed, and a bribe that blinds the clear-sighted.
They also forbid favouring a poor man in his lawsuit, so that sympathy is kept from bending a verdict.
A hearer knew the farming year, six years of sowing and a seventh in which the land lies fallow and the poor and the wild animals eat what grows.
Albert Barnes notes that this is the first mention of the sabbatical year in Scripture, and that its full law comes at Leviticus 25:2.
The three pilgrim feasts are tied to the barley harvest, the wheat harvest and the autumn ingathering, and Alfred Edersheim describes the three appearances as they were later kept.
John Wesley reads their spacing as a mercy that avoided winter travel and the middle of harvest.
The land promise carries an angel and a gradual conquest, and the ban on cooking a goat in its mother's milk is often tied to a Canaanite practice on debated evidence.
Significance
The borders named, from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines and from the desert to the Euphrates, were an outer horizon, and the chapter told them plainly that it would take years.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
Israel was also warned against covenants with the peoples of the land in the same chapter that promised them the land. They were told the trap before they walked into it.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The chapter turns from case law to the conduct of a court, and then to the year and its feasts. Rashi reads the opening warning against a false report as two rules in one. It forbids a man to take up a slander. It also forbids a judge "that he should not hear the pleadings of one party to a suit before the other appears" (Rashi on Exodus 23:1:1, citing Sanhedrin 7b). On following a crowd he reports the rulings of the Sages on majorities in a capital case. He then says plainly that the wording of the verse sits awkwardly with them (Rashi on Exodus 23:2:1). Favour toward a poor man in judgment is ruled out in his own words. A judge may not find for him while "saying, He is a poor man; I will find in his favour" (Rashi on Exodus 23:3:1). The bribe of the eighth verse is forbidden even where the judge means to give a true judgment (Rashi on Exodus 23:8:1, citing Ketubot 105a). On the stranger he reports the count of the warnings. The Torah cautions about his ill treatment in thirty six passages (Rashi on Exodus 23:9:1, citing Bava Metzia 59b). The seventh year and the seventh day are held apart. The weekly Sabbath stands through the sabbatical year, and the three feasts keep their order in it (Rashi on Exodus 23:12:1 and 23:17:1). He names the feast of harvest as the Feast of Weeks (Rashi on Exodus 23:16:1). He reads the law about leaven as a rule of time. The Passover lamb is killed on the fourteenth of Nisan after the leaven has gone from the house (Rashi on Exodus 23:18:1). On the first fruits he describes the act itself. A man walks his field, sees the first fig to ripen, and ties a reed round it to mark it (Rashi on Exodus 23:19:1). Rashi is quoted from the Rosenbaum and Silbermann edition of 1929 to 1934, public domain. Ibn Ezra comments at Exodus 23:4:1 and 23:23:1 under a licence that keeps his text off this page, and stands as a citation.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty places where the Midrash and the Talmud draw on this chapter, cited here by reference. The court rules of the first nine verses are read in Bava Kamma at 54b:6, 54b:25 and 72b:9. They stand in Bava Metzia at 59b:1 and 59b:5, and in Chullin at 134a:14. The Ein Yaakov collections carry the same verses at Khullin 10:4, Ketubot 2:1, Shevuot 4:3 and Bava Metzia 4:11. The sabbatical year and the three feasts are drawn into Avodah Zarah 50b:3 and 74a:3, and into Bava Kamma 113b:3. Arakhin reads them at 2b:12 and 19b:8, and Bekhorot at 2b:19 and 51b:11. Chagigah takes them up at 10b:4 and 18a:2. The angel sent before Israel at the twentieth verse is read at Bava Kamma 93a:1 and Aggadat Bereshit 32:1. The promise of the land stands at Bamidbar Rabbah 18:22, Bereshit Rabbah 54:4 and Devarim Rabbah 3:6. The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael reads it at Tractate Pischa 12:6.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Exodus 23:1 to 23:24, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain, 1040 to 1105; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Exodus 23:4:1 and 23:23:1, cited by reference, CC-BY-NC, 1089 to 1164; Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 7b, Ketubot 105a and Bava Metzia 59b, as Rashi cites them, and Avodah Zarah 74a:3, cited by reference; Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Pischa 12:6, cited by reference; Bamidbar Rabbah, 5:2, 10:4, 18:22 and 19:27, cited by reference; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/exodus/23.json, fetched 2026-09-19, 2026; MannaFest, the commentators and their dates, src/app/featured/the-jewish-writings/page.tsx, 2026.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Justice Without Favor or False Report
The chapter opens in a courtroom, and its first rules guard truthful testimony under pressure. Verse 2 forbids following “the crowd in wrongdoing,” so the pressure named is the weight of numbers. Verse 3 refuses favour to a poor man and verse 6 refuses injustice against him, closing the door from both sides, and the Talmud at Bava Metzia 59b grounds majority rule in verse 2.
Exodus 23:1
“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, if it were not countenanced.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Exodus 23:1
“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. 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.” Exo 23:3 Countenance - Rather, show partiality to a man’s cause because he is poor (compare Lev 19:15).”
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 sinner would be obliged to hide his head.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The cases are a stray ox and a donkey fallen under its load, and the owner is “your enemy” and “one who hates you”. Deuteronomy 22:1 and 22:4 give the same cases with a brother in the enemy's place, so this is the harder version. The man must lift the load beside someone who hates him, ground Jesus works at Matthew 5:44 and Paul at Romans 12:20.
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 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 23:5
“The Lord tells us to relieve and lighten the burden of beasts of burden, even when they belong to our enemies. He is teaching us at a distance not to take pleasure in the misfortunes of others and not to laugh at our enemies. He wants to teach those who have exercised themselves in these disciplines to pray for their enemies.”
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 2patristic
These verses govern the judges, forbidding them to deny a poor man justice, to join a false accusation, and to take a bribe. The reason for the last is that “a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous,” so the warning reaches the honest judge. Deuteronomy 16:19 repeats it nearly word for word, and 1 Samuel 8:3 records Samuel's sons taking bribes.
Exodus 23:6
“Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.”
2 more voices on this 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 Exo 23:5, Exo 23:7.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 23:6
“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.”
Exodus 23:7
“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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 23:7
“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.”
Exodus 23:8
“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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The law against oppressing a foreigner stands twice in the Book of the Covenant, at 22:21 and here, and both times the reason is memory. “you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners” grounds the motive in what the hearers had felt. The same reasoning stands behind one law for native and foreigner at 12:48 and 12:49, and Leviticus 19:34 commands love for him.
Exodus 23:9
“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. xxii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The Seventh Year and Seventh Day
The seventh year belongs to the land, and those who benefit are “the poor among your people” first and then the wild animals. This is the first appearance of the sabbatical year, which Leviticus 25:1 to 25:7 sets out at length as a sabbath rest for the land. Looking back on the exile, 2 Chronicles 36:21 has the land enjoying its sabbaths for seventy years.
Exodus 23:10
“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.”
Exodus 23:11
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The sabbath command is given a third ground here. Exodus 20:11 rests it on the six days of creation and Deuteronomy 5:15 on the bondage in Egypt, while this verse rests it on the ox, the donkey, the maidservant's son and the foreign resident. These are the ones who could never claim a day for themselves, and the word used of them is “refreshed”.
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 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?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
This line closes the civil laws and turns the chapter toward the danger the rest of it is about. The command that other gods' names “must not be heard on your lips” reaches past worship into ordinary speech. Joshua 23:7 gives the same order to the generation entering the land, and verses 24, 32 and 33 name the danger three more times.
Exodus 23:13
“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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Three Feasts Every Year
Three annual feasts are commanded to a people who own no land to keep them in. The first is Unleavened Bread “in the month of Abib,” dated by the exodus of chapter 12, so the year is anchored on the deliverance and the other two hang on the harvests. “No one may appear before Me empty-handed” adds a cost, which Deuteronomy 16:17 sets by what a man can give.
Exodus 23:14
“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; nor in the midst of their harvest.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Exodus 23:15
“The law said "Thou shalt not appear before the Lord empty;" that is, enter not into the temple without sacrifices. Now if it is not right to go into the house of God without sacrifices, much more ought we to enter the assembly accompanied by our brethren: for this sacrifice and offering is better than that, when thou bringest a soul with thee into the Church.”
John Chrysostom · written before 407 · HOMILY TO THOSE WHO HAD NOT ATTENDED THE ASSEMBLY 4patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Exodus 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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Exodus 23:15
“The law said "Thou shalt not appear before the Lord empty;" that is, enter not into the temple without sacrifices. Now if it is not right to go into the house of God without sacrifices, much more ought we to enter the assembly accompanied by our brethren: for this sacrifice and offering is better than that, when thou bringest a soul with thee into the Church.”
John Chrysostom · written before 407 · HOMILY TO THOSE WHO HAD NOT ATTENDED THE ASSEMBLY 4Eastern Orthodox
The second and third feasts carry their farming names here, Harvest and Ingathering. Exodus 34:22 calls the second the Feast of Weeks and Leviticus 23:34 the third the Feast of Tabernacles, while Pentecost at Acts 2:1 counts the fifty days of Leviticus 23:15 and 23:16. Chuck Missler and Jonathan Cahn teach the set as a prophetic calendar, a reading that rests mainly on Leviticus 23.
The duty falls on the males and fixes three pilgrimages a year while Israel has a central place of worship. Luke 2:41 shows Joseph and Mary keeping the Passover yearly, and John 7:2 and 7:10 put Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles under the same law. Acts 2:5 explains the Pentecost crowd in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation gathered because of this command.
Exodus 23:17
“All thy males - All that were of competent years, and health and strength, and at their own disposal. 'Tis probable, servants were exempt: for none was to appear without an offering: but most of these had nothing to offer.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Two rules guard the offering itself. Leaven is kept away from the blood and the fat is not left overnight, and both are about decay reaching what has been given to God. Exodus 34:25 repeats the pair almost exactly, and the same care about what remains until the morning governs the passover at 12:10.
Exodus 23:18
“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).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The firstfruits go to “the house of the LORD,” a house that does not yet stand. The ban on cooking “a young goat in its mother’s milk” recurs at 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21 with no reason given, and the Mishnah in Chullin builds the law of meat and milk on it. A Canaanite rite has been proposed behind it, on a disputed Ugaritic text.
Exodus 23:19
“Some of the Gentiles, at the end of their harvest, seethed a kid in it's dam's milk, and sprinkled that milk-pottage in a magical way upon their gardens and fields, to make them fruitful. But Israel must abhor such foolish customs. Is not this rather forbidden, as having some appearance of cruelty?”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 23:19
“Our physical nature rebels against the thought of making the nourishment of the living a garnish for the dead or the cause of life an accessory to the death of the body.”
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 2patristic
An Angel Sent Before You
Two things said of this angel are unusual, that “he will not forgive rebellion” and that “My Name is in him”. Matthew Henry, John Gill and John Calvin read him as the Son, since pardon and the Name belong to God alone. Others take him as a created messenger, pointing to 33:2 and 33:3, where God offers an angel in place of his presence and Moses refuses at 33:15.
Exodus 23:20
“Behold, I send an angel before thee - The angel of the covenant: Accordingly the Israelites in the wilderness are said to tempt Christ. It is promised that this blessed anger should keep them in the way, though it lay through a wilderness first, and afterwards through their enemies country; and thus Christ has prepared a place for his followers.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this 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, 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
ConnectionsExodus 23:21
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. 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The promise for obeying that voice is stated as war: “I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes”. Six nations are named, where Genesis 15:19 to 15:21 listed ten to Abram and Genesis 15:16 said the Amorites' iniquity was not yet complete. The chapter treats the taking of the land as a judgment that has come due.
Exodus 23:22
“The rendering in the margin is better. Cf. Deu 20:4.”
Exodus 23:23
“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 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.)”
Bowing to the gods of the land, serving them and copying their works are forbidden together, and the order goes past refusal to demolition. The Hebrew root behind serve here is the one Exodus 1:13 and 1:14 used five times over for the bondage in Egypt, and verse 25 uses it again of serving the LORD. Israel is never offered the option of serving nothing.
Exodus 23:24
“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).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Exodus 23:24
“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 worshipping them; as the converted conjurors burnt their books, Acts xix. How rich the particulars of this promise are.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The blessing for that service is ordinary: bread and water, health, children and a full count of days. “I will take away sickness from among you” stands with 15:26, where God named himself the LORD who heals at the bitter water. “No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren” answers a trouble that ran through Genesis, where Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel were each barren.
Exodus 23:25
“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. And 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.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
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 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The terror arrives ahead of the army. Exodus 15:14 to 15:16 had sung that the peoples would hear and tremble, and Joshua 2:9 to 2:11 records Rahab saying it had happened. The hornet of verse 28 returns at Deuteronomy 7:20 and Joshua 24:12, the Hebrew word's only three places, and some take it as insects and others as a figure for the panic.
Exodus 23:27
“Destroy - Rather, overthrow. See Exo 23:23.”
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 saraa, to lay prostrate, to strike down; the hornet, probably so called from the destruction occasioned by the violence of its sting.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The conquest is to be slow for a practical reason, since an emptied land goes wild and “wild animals would multiply against you”. “Little by little” matches the giving of the land to Israel's own growth, so the land comes as fast as the nation can hold it. Judges 3:1 to 3:4 gives a second reason, to test Israel and teach war to a new generation.
Exodus 23:29
“Beast of the field - i. e. destructive animals.”
Exodus 23:30
“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.”
The borders run “from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates,” matching the grant to Abram at Genesis 15:18. Solomon at 1 Kings 4:21 rules from the river to the land of the Philistines, the nearest those bounds came to being held. The verse puts the delivering on God and the driving out on the people, in that order.
Exodus 23:31
“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 Book of the Covenant ends with a ban on treaties and its reason: “it will surely be a snare to you”. Judges 2:1 to 2:3 has the angel of the LORD at Bochim quoting this back to Israel, touching both verse 21 and verse 33. Moses writes these words down at 24:4 and reads them at 24:7, and the people promise to do all the LORD has said.
Exodus 23:32
“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.”
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 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Case law closing into covenant speech, the last stretch of the ordinances titled at 21:1 and the promise that follows them, as Jamieson, Fausset & Brown classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Six days and the seventh, said twice about two different things | Verses 10 and 11 give six years of sowing and a seventh of lying fallow. Verses 11 and 12 give six days of work and a seventh of rest. The same shape is applied to the land and then to the week. Both are given for one reason, the benefit of the poor, the animals, the servant's son and the foreign resident.Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Exodus 23:10. | Exodus 23:10, Exodus 23:11, Exodus 23:12 |
| Three times a year, said at the head and at the foot | Verse 14 opens the feast section by saying that three times a year Israel is to keep a feast. Verse 17 closes it by saying that three times a year all the males are to appear before the Lord GOD. The three feasts are named inside that bracket, and John Wesley reads their placing in spring, summer and autumn as a mercy that avoided winter travel and the middle of the harvest.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on Exodus 23:14. | Exodus 23:14, Exodus 23:15, Exodus 23:16, Exodus 23:17 |
| The court addressed as one man | Verses 1 to 9 speak to a single hearer about what he does in a lawsuit. He is not to spread a false report, follow a crowd, favour a poor man, deny justice to a poor man, take a bribe or oppress a foreign resident. Adam Clarke reads verse 2 as a call to singularity, since singularity in the right can never be criminal.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Exodus 23:2. | Exodus 23:1, Exodus 23:2, Exodus 23:6, Exodus 23:8 |
| The stray ox of an enemy | Verse 4 names the animal's owner your enemy, and verse 5 names him one who hates you. The ruling in both is the same, return the beast and help with the load. The change of words sharpens the case rather than softening it. Clement of Alexandria reads the pair as a lesson at a distance, teaching a man to take no pleasure in the misfortunes of others.Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 2, 215, on Exodus 23:5. | Exodus 23:4, Exodus 23:5 |
The chapter is the last of the three that Wesley reads under the title at 21:1, and the covenant is sealed in the chapter that follows. The promise of the angel at verse 20 therefore stands between the law and the blood, and it is the first thing said after the last ruling.
12 more paragraphs on the patterns
The feast calendar of verses 14 to 17 is the book's second pass over the same ground. Chapter 12 gave the Passover and the seven days of unleavened bread as an ordinance for the night Israel left Egypt. Here the same feast is set in a farming year beside a harvest and an ingathering, and the reason given at verse 15 is still the month you came out of Egypt.
The historical value
Alfred Edersheim's account of the temple service is the work the store's own notes cite for the three appearances at verses 14, 16 and 17. John Wesley reads their spacing across spring, summer and autumn as a practical mercy, since travelling was uncomfortable in winter and the middle of harvest could not be spared. John Gill sets the three against the Hebrew months, the Passover on the fourteenth of Nisan, the feast of weeks fifty days after it, and tabernacles on the fifteenth of Tisri.
What verse 19 forbids is read by John Wesley against a practice he reports of some of the Gentiles. They seethed a kid in its mother's milk at the end of harvest, and sprinkled the milk on their fields to make them fruitful. He offers cruelty as a second possible reason, and states the two as alternatives rather than deciding between them.
The New Testament's use
The chapter has no quotation in the New Testament with a citation formula that the store's notes record. Its three feasts are the calendar the gospels move in, and the Feast of Harvest of verse 16 is the day of Pentecost by its Greek name.
The angel of verse 20 is where the commentators reach forward. John Wesley calls him the angel of the covenant, and says that the Israelites in the wilderness are said to have tempted Christ. He points to 1 Corinthians 10:4, where Paul says the rock that accompanied them was Christ. Tertullian reads the title angel as given for the greatness of the powers he was to exercise and for his prophetic office, and reads the name Joshua as a type of his own future name.
The debated reading
Who the angel of verses 20 to 23 is has three named answers. Adam Clarke reports that some have thought it was Moses and others Joshua, since the Hebrew word means a messenger. He rejects both on the ground of verse 21, where God says My Name is in him. He holds that the great Angel of the Covenant is meant, in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. John Calvin's commentary on the four last books of Moses is the work the store's own note on verses 20 and 21 cites alongside Matthew Henry. John Wesley takes the same reading as Clarke and adds the wilderness testing of 1 Corinthians 10 to it.
The question turns on one clause and it is worth stating plainly. An ordinary messenger can bear a command, and the text says this one will not forgive rebellion, which is what makes the identification a real argument rather than a preference.
Where to go deeper
The sabbath year of verses 10 and 11 stands at jubilee, and the sabbath day of verse 12 at sabbath rest. The three feasts stand at unleavened bread, firstfruits and tabernacles, with the year itself at the Hebrew calendar. The angel of verse 20 stands at christophany. The driving out of the nations stands at the Canaanite conquest.
Keep studying
Studies2
Places1
Words12
Subjects1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Exodus 23:10 and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services; Chuck Missler, Learn the Bible in 24 Hours; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.