Exodus 23:1

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.

2. 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 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.

II. 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 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.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(1) Thou shalt not raise a false report.—The LXX. and Vulg. Translate, “Thou shalt not receive a false report”—i.e., give it credit, accept it as true, and act upon it. This meaning accords well with the succeeding clause, which forbids our giving support to the false testimony of others. In both clauses the principle of the ninth commandment is extended from principals to accessories.

XXIII.

(1-19) The “miscellaneous laws” are here continued. From Exo_23:1 to Exo_23:9 no kind of sequence in the laws can be traced; from Exo_23:10 to the first clause of Exo_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 Note on Exo_20:22-26.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Ver. 1. Thou shalt not raise.] Neither raise nor receive it; neither be the tale bearer nor talehearer: the one carries the devil in his tongue, the other in his ear. Not only those that "make a lie," but those that "love" it when it is made to their hands, are shut out of heaven. {Rev 22:15} Solomon makes it an ill sign of a graceless man to be apt to believe scandalous reports of godly persons. {Pro 17:4}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo_23:1

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.

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 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 AElians 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 mans good name, which, like a merchants 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 dhote 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 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 mans 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 what purpose is it if we extol a mans 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.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 23:1. Thou shalt not raise — Or, receive, as the margin reads it, and as the Hebrew תשׂא, tissa, also signifies, or, give credit to a false report. 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. Sometimes we cannot avoid hearing a false report, but we must not receive it, we must not hear it with pleasure, nor easily give credit to it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Exo_23:1 Thou shalt not raise] = tissa, from the inf. napa, in its simple sense, “to carry,” and in its ethical, “to bear about in the heart.” Hence tissa is a pregnant word, and signifies: “Thou shalt neither raise nor carry abroad, nor harbour in your heart, evil report.”

Exo_23:2. Thou shalt not follow]. Our idiomatic expression, “to be after,” i.e., to preserve a course of parsistent getting at a person or thing answers well to the literal meaning of the words, lo tihyeh, “be not;” achrey. “after;” rabbim, “multitude;” le râoth, “for evil.” In other words, do not get at the multitude with evil designs, and so become an evil unto the multitude. Hence the appositeness of the other clause of the sentence becomes evident, if rightly rendered: “Neither shalt thou speak in a cause to incline (to the multitude) to wrest judgment.” The exhortation means, “not to give way, or bend (lintoth), on account of the pressure of the multitude, and thus suffer the multitude to become an occasion for evil unto thee.”

Exo_23:3. Thou shalt not adorn] (tehdar), i.e., gloss over the cause of a man (though he be) dal = destitute.

6. The poor referred to in this verse is “thy poor ones” (ebyoncha), in the sense of simply being in, or suffering from, want, but not being absolutely destitute.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_23:1-9

RULES FOR JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS

We see a connection running through the whole of these verses. They may all be said to have a bearing upon judicial proceedings. Rightly received they tend to promote the integrity of the witness, the uprightness of the judge, and the correctness of the judicial conclusion. All must regard themselves under law. Subjects are under law. Lawgivers and law administrators are likewise under law. There can be no escape from law. The highest condition is that of being ruled by the great law of love.

I. Perjury is to be avoided. “Thou shalt not raise or receive a false report; put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.” If the receiver is as bad as the thief, then the receiver of a false report is as bad as the raiser. If we pass out of the court of justice and say that men are not to raise false reports, which is undoubtedly true, and that the receivers are just as guilty as the raisers of false reports; then we get a very painful view of even Christian (so called) society. Such is the corruption of human nature that we delight in listening to a false report, though we may doubt its accuracy. Laws against perjury are severe, and justly so, for the perjurer is one of the vilest of men.

II. The influence of the multitude is to be repudiated. Too often the multitude is omnipotent. “The voice of the people is the voice of God,” is a proverb which is injurious, which is in great measure false, but which shows how men follow the leading of the crowd. The voice of the sovereign people is too often appealed to as the divinest law. The conclusion of the thinking multitude will very likely be correct; but the movements of the unreflecting multitude are just as likely to be under the direction of folly; and the greater part of large gatherings are unreflecting. The crowd will cut a man’s head off to-day, and canonize him to-morrow. There is no reason why the multitude passes so quickly from crying “Hosannah” to crying “Crucify.” The leaders of the people exercise a responsible function. Too often the leaders are only led. The men are benefactors who work to create a healthy public opinion. Judges, above all men, should be free from the influence of the multitude.

III. False sentiment must find no place. “Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.” Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. Tenderness for poverty is misplaced when it leads to the perversion of justice. The emotional must not be stifled, but kept in its right position. The emotional must be subordinate to the intellectual and deliberative faculties. In all our judgments let us preserve the true position of our God-given faculties.

IV. Prejudice must be laid upon one side. Regard the directions in Exo_23:4-5 not merely as enjoining upon men the duty of doing good to those who hate them, but as showing that the judge must not let prejudice influence while seeking to come to a conclusion. Thus we see a purpose in the placing of them in this part of the general legal directions. It is certain that judges ought to be even-handed, as free on the one hand from the sentiment of pity as from the feeling of hatred on the other.

V. The bribe must be at once rejected. How true universally are those words—the gift blindeth the wise. Gold can throw a yellow film over the most keen-sighted of men, that they see not clearly. All things are tinged with the colour of the metal prostituted to a base purpose.

VI. And yet the judge must not be a hard oppressor. He must give the Poor stranger a fair chance. He must make due allowance for his timorousness; for ye know the heart of a stranger. How suggestive from the homiletical point of view!

1. Sorrowful dispensations increase knowledge.

2. Sorrowful dispensations develop refinement.

3. Sorrowful dispensations enlarge sympathy.

4. Sorrowful dispensations promote beneficence.

V. Judges themselves must be judged. “I will not justify the wicked.” Therefore be careful. The innocent and righteous slay not. Fearful will be the doom of unjust judges. Slaughtered innocents will confront them, and fill their souls with unutterable anguish. God is judge, and a great day of trial will come to universal man.—W. Burrows, B.A.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

SLANDER.—Exo_23:1 (first clause)

The word rendered “thou shalt not raise” is from נָשָֹׁא to take away; hence both text “raise,” and margin “receive,” are correct. In this law slander is characterised, prohibited, and punished.

I. Slander is characterised—

1. Slander consists in originating a false report.

(1.) It may be from envy.

(2.) It may be from carelessness; judging appearances merely.

(3.) It may be from hasty conclusions, through not taking into consideration the whole of the circumstances of a given case, or not waiting for its full explanation.

2. Slander consists in listening to false reports.

(1.) Because it countenances and encourages the slanderer.

(2.) Because you allow it to be reported to one at least who ought not to have heard it.

(3.) Because repeated encouragement of slander may make you a slanderer.

3. Slander consists in circulating a false report (Lev_19:16.)

(1.) It may be circulated confidentially; “I wouldn’t let any one know it for the world! It may not be true, you know.”

(2.) It may be circulated as an ordinary topic of information in gossip.

(3.) It may be circulated by a pretended desire to benefit the individual concerned: “Don’t you think I ought to mention it to him?”

(4.) It may be circulated by implication; shoulders, eyes, lips, hands, may be all eloquent with slanderous insinuations.

(5.) It may be circulated negatively: “I don’t believe it; now, do you?”

II. Slander is prohibited.

1. Affecting antecedents.

(1.) A man’s character does not consist in what he has been, but in what he is.

(2.) What a man has been ought not to be a lever to lift him into it again.

(3.) Even if a man has been very bad in the past, he may be very good in the present.

2. Affecting character. A man’s character is his all; if you take that away, you leave him “poor indeed!”

3. Affecting his family or social relations.

4. Affecting his goods.

III. Slander is punished. This is one of those commandments which are addressed to the conscience, common sense, and good feeling, and is not followed by judicial punishment. But does the slanderer escape? Nay, verily!

1. He is excluded from religious fellowship (Psa_15:3).

2. He is the object of Divine vengeance (Psa_10:5).

3. He is exposed to the contempt of mankind (Pro_10:18).

4. He is excluded from the kingdom of heaven (Rev_22:15). See some excellent remarks by Wesley (Sermon xxii. on Mat_5:5-7).

In conclusion—

1. Exo_20:16; Exodus 2. Mat_18:15; Matthew ,

3. Gal_6:1.

—J. W. Burn.

THE DUTIES OF WITNESSES (last clause of Exo_23:1-3)

I. Not to co-operate in an unrighteous cause, Exo_23:1. 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, &c.

II. Not to co-operate in any unrighteous cause because it is popular, Exo_23:2.

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, Exo_23:3; (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 minimise the enormity of guilt. But to 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 wellbeing 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—

i. To entertain none but righteous considerations. ii. To pursue them at all cost.—J. W. Burn.

ON DUTIES TO ENEMIES.—Exo_23:4-5

Notice—

I. That duties to enemies are enjoined (Pro_24:17; 1Th_5:15).

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—

i. Our text applies to all enmity, whether polemical, political, or national. ii. Its precepts should be obeyed, because we may be in the wrong and our enemy in the right. iii. 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.

THE DUTIES OF JUDGES.—Exo_23:6-9

Our text enjoins—

I. That judges should be impartial

1. In particular towards the poor, Exo_23:6.

(1.) Because the poor are most open to the oppression of the powerful.

(2.) Because the poor are often at a disadvantage for the want of technical knowledge, or means to procure legal assistance.

(3.) Because the poor are easily overawed.

2. In general towards the right, Exo_23:7, first clause. Not to aid or abet a wrong cause.

II. That judges should be cautious, particularly with regard to matters relating to capital punishment. “The innocent and righteous slay thou not.”

1. The case must be clearly proved.

2. The accused to have the benefit of the doubt.

3. Because justice would be done. If the criminal escaped an earthly doom, God would “not justify the wicked” (Pro_11:21).

III. That judges should be incorrupt, Exo_23:8, either in the shape of direct bribe or indirect present.

1. Because the bribe may blind him to the true merit of the case; and

2. Because the bribe may weigh down and pervert his judgment on the wrong side.

IV. That judges should be considerate, Exo_23:9; particularly in regard to foreigners. Because—

1. They had been foreigners themselves, and had suffered for the want of consideration.

2. They therefore knew something of the sufferings of foreigners.

(1.) Foreigners may be ignorant of the law and unwittingly break it.

(2.) When broken, they may know nothing of legal technicalities, or be unable to pay legal expenses.

Application.—“I will not justify the wicked” applies to the judge as well as to the accused. Judges will have to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.—J. W. Burn.

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY

REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON

Mosaic Morals! Exo_23:1-19. A modern jurist, Hennequin, says: “Good right had Moses to challenge the Israelites, what nation hath statutes like yours? a worship so exalted—laws so equitable—a code so complex?” A Frenchman and an infidel, he observes that, compared with all the legislations of antiquity, none so thoroughly embodies the principles of everlasting righteousness. Lycurgus wrote, not for a people, but for an army: It was a barrack which he erected, not a commonwealth. Solon, on the other hand, could not resist the surrounding effeminate influences of Athens. It is in Moses alone that we find a regard for the right, austere and incorruptible; a morality distinct from policy, and rising above regard for times and peoples.

“But what could Moses’ law have done

Had it not been divinely sent?

The power was from the Lord alone,

And Moses but the instrument.”

—Newton.

Slander-Scandal! Exo_23:1-9. It must be universally acknowledged that mankind at large are insatiable reporters of gossip—that gossip heats by friction—and that what today is only an unusual circumstance, is tomorrow a foul crime. If an apprentice runs away from his master, the latter is straightway reported to have killed and concealed him. If a girl is found drowned without any circumstance whatever to warrant such a notion, it is immediately insinuated that she has been murdered. If a husband or wife dies suddenly, the slander is at once broached that the survivor accomplished the death for sinister purposes. If a child is burnt to death, forthwith the calamity floats abroad that the parents behaved cruelly to the child, and at last burnt the body to destroy all traces of their wanton and unuatural brutality. The morbid appetite for horrors and the ordinary appetite for gossip, when combined together, constitute a calumnious power of terrible evil. Hence the Mosaic Law here seeks to dry up the fount of corruption by legal barriers.

“For Slander lives upon succession;

For ever licensed when once it gets possession.”

—Shakespeare.

Slander-Sting! Exo_23:1. It is fruitful in variety of expedients to satiate as well as disguise itself. But, says Sterne, if these smooth weapons cut so sore, what shall we say of open and unblushing scandal, subjected to no caution, tied down to no restraints? If the one, like an arrow shot in the dark, does nevertheless so much secret mischief, this, like the pestilence which rages at noon-day, sweeps all before it, levelling without distinction the good and bad. The whispered tale

“That, like the falling hill, no foundation knows;—

Fair-faced deceit, whose wily, conscious eye

Ne’er looks direct—the tongue that licks the dust,

But, when it safely dares, as prompt to sting.”

—Thomson.

Multitudes. Exo_23:2. It is here assumed that the multitude do evil; and it is here implied that we are in danger of copying their example. Hence the urgent need to guard against the seductive influence of the multitude. This is best accomplished by seeking the grace of God. Colton remarks that the mob is a monster with the hands of Briareus, but the head of Polyphemus, strong to execute, but blind to perceive. If Dryden is correct, how valuable the command not to follow a multitude: “it is the scum that rises upmost when the nation boils.” Nothing is more easily swayed than the multitude, and that sway is always most easy in the direction of evil.

“And since the rabble now is ours,

Keep the tools hot, preach dangers in their ears,

Till they run headlong into evil discords,

And do our business with their own destruction.”

—Otway.

Judges! Exo_23:4-7. Aristides being judge between two private persons, one of them declared that his adversary had greatly injured Aristides. Interrupting him at once, the judge said: “Relate rather what wrong he hath done thee; for it is thy cause, not mine, that I now sit judge of.” Corrupt judgment is a familiar evil in Egypt, Syria, and other Eastern lands. Of these, we may say with Massinger, “petitions not sweetened with gold are but unsavoury and oft refused; or, if received, are pocketed, not read.”

“Who painted Justice blind, did not declare

What magistrates should be, but what they are;

Not so much ’cause they rich and poor should weigh

In their just scales alike, but because they,

Now blind with bribes, are grown so weak of sight,

They’ll sooner feel a cause than see it right.”

—Heath.

Falsehood—Folly! Exo_23:7. There is nothing of so ill consequence, says Lloyd, to the public as falsehood, or—speech being the current coin of converse—the putting false money upon the world; or so dark a blot as dissembling, which, as Montaigne remarks, is only to be brave towards God, and a coward towards man; for a lie faceth God, and shrinketh from man. Therefore a lie should be trampled on and extinguished wherever found. Carlyle says, “I am for fumigating the atmosphere when I suspect that falsehood, like pestilence, breathes around me.” Let those who bear false witness remember Reade when he says, “that every false report, great or small, is the brink of a precipice—the depth of which nothing but Omniscience can fathom.”

“Lying’s a certain mark of cowardice;

And when the tongue forgets its honesty,

The heart and hand may drop their functions too,

And nothing worthy be resolved or done.”

—Southerne.

Judicial Venality! Exo_23:8.

(1.) Sir Thomas More succeeded Cardinal Wolsey as Lord Chancellor of England. Many abuses had multiplied during Wolsey’s chancellorship, more especially in the way of gratuities. Sir Thomas, however, neither in his own person nor in that of any under him, would allow of anything in the shape of a bribe. At this his son-in-law rather complained, saying, “The fingers of my Lord Chancellor Cardinal’s veriest doorkeepers were tipped with gold; but I, since I married your daughter, have got no pickings.” And yet, no matter how immaculately impartial a judge may be, how far wrong may be his judgment! Not so God; His judgment is unerring and unimpeachable. Venal judges cannot bribe the Divine Judgment.

(2) There is a machine in the Bank of England which receives sovereigns as a mill receives grain. This is for the purpose of determining wholesale whether they are of full weight. As they pass through, the machinery—by unerring laws—throws all that are light to the one side. This proceeding affords the most vivid similitude of the judicial functions at the Last Day! Venal judgments will be weighed in the balances and found wanting. The Lord Cardinal’s fingers, as well as those of his veriest doorkeeper, may have been weighted heavily with gold, but this will not avail to pass them from before the Divine Judge as of standard weight.

“Of mortal justice, if thou scorn the rod,

Believe and tremble, thou art judged of God.”

—Swenam.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lastly, no one was to violate another's rights. - Exo 23:1. "Thou shalt not raise (bring out) an empty report." שׁוא שׁמע, 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 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.

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" (להטּות), 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 הדר is applied to favour shown to the great or mighty, overthrows Knobel's conjecture, that גּדל should be read for ודל, inasmuch as it prohibits the showing of favour to the one as much as to the other.)

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 מעזב וחדלתּ, "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 התעלּמתּ לא, "withdraw not thyself," is substituted for מעזב חדלתּ, and עמּו תּקים הקם, "set up with him," for עמּו תּעזב עזב. From this it is obvious that עזב 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.

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 gift makes seeing men (פּקחים 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.

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.

Exo 23:10-13

Here follow directions respecting the year of rest and day of rest, the first of which lays the foundation for the keeping of the sabbatical and jubilee years, which are afterwards instituted in Lev 25, whilst the latter gives prominence to the element of rest and refreshment involved in the Sabbath, which had been already instituted (Exo 20:9-11), and presses it in favour of beasts of burden, slaves, and foreigners. Neither of these instructions is to be regarded as laying down laws for the feasts; so that they are not to be included among the rights of Israel, which commence at Exo 23:14. On the contrary, as they are separated from these by Exo 23:13, they are to be reckoned as forming part of the laws relating to their mutual obligations one towards another. This is evident from the fact, that in both of them the care of the poor stands in the foreground. From this characteristic and design, which are common to both, we may explain the fact, that there is no allusion to the keeping of a Sabbath unto the Lord, as in Exo 20:10 and Lev 25:2, in connection with either the seventh year or seventh day: all that is mentioned being their sowing and reaping for six years, and working for six days, and then letting the land lie fallow in the seventh year, and their ceasing or resting from labour on the seventh day. "The seventh year thou shalt let (thy land) loose (שׁמט to leave unemployed), and let it lie; and the poor of thy people shall eat (the produce which grows of itself), and their remainder (what they leave) shall the beast of the field eat." הנּפשׁ: lit., to breathe one's self, to draw breath, i.e., to refresh one's self (cf. Exo 31:17; Sa2 16:14). - With Exo 23:13 the laws relating to the rights of the people, in their relations to one another, are concluded with the formula enforcing their observance, "And in all that I say to you, take heed," viz., that ye carefully maintain all the rights which I have given you. There is then attached to this, in Exo 23:14, a warning, which forms the transition to the relation of Israel to Jehovah: "Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth." This forms a very fitting boundary line between the two series of mishpatim, inasmuch as the observance and maintenance of both of them depended upon the attitude in which Israel stood towards Jehovah.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

CHAPTER 23 Further Judgments and Directions

1. Concerning unrighteous dealings of various kinds (Exo 23:1-9)

2. Concerning the seventh year (Exo 23:10-13)

3. Concerning the three feasts (Exo 23:14-19)

4. Promises concerning the possession of the land (Exo 23:20-33)

We call attention to the words concerning the seventh year. The seventh day was the day of rest. The seventh year was to give the land rest; it was to rest and lie still. Besides this there was the jubilee year, which occurred every seven times seven years, that is, the fiftieth year was the year of jubilee, in which liberty was proclaimed. We hope to examine this more closely and learn its typical and prophetic significance when we read the book of Leviticus (chapter 25). The seventh year was especially meant for the poor. Whatever grew by itself belonged to them, and what they left the beasts of the field were to eat. What gracious provision this was! How merciful and gracious our God is!

The three feasts are next mentioned. The connection with Exo 23:13 is obvious. It is a warning concerning other gods. The feasts were designed to keep Jehovah, His power and His grace, as a living reality before the nation. The three feasts are: The feast of unleavened bread in memory of the exodus; the feast of the first fruits, also called the feast of weeks, because it came seven weeks after the feast of unleavened bread (Lev 23:15-16; Deu 16:9), and still another name is “the feast of the first fruits of the wheat harvest.” It was now known by the name of Shavuoth. The third feast came on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Lev 23:34), and is the feast of ingathering, known as Succoth, the feast of tabernacles. Of all this we shall learn more in Leviticus. The last clause of Exo 23:19 has led to ridiculous speculations among the rabbis. It is looked upon by the Jews as a prohibition against eating flesh prepared with milk (see Deu 14:21).

We must not overlook in our study Exo 23:20-23. Who is this angel? He is called in Exo 33:15, “the face of Jehovah” (literal translation). The name of God is in Him; God revealed Himself in Him. His voice must be obeyed. He has power to pardon transgressions or not to pardon them. This angel is not a created being, but the same who appeared in the burning bush; the same of whom Jacob said, “The angel, the Redeemer.” It is Jehovah Himself, the Son of God. The ancient synagogue paraphrased this person by using the expression “Memra,” which means “the Word.” They have believed and taught that “the Word” brought Israel out of Egypt ; “the Word” led them in the pillar of a cloud; “the Word” confounded the Egyptian host. And they paraphrased “the angel” by “the Word.”

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE LESSER LAW (continued).

Exo_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 New Testament, in the Old.

"Thou shalt not take up a false report" (Exo_23:1) is a precept which reaches 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" (Exo_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 a song to music.

That Moses was really thinking of this tendency to court popularity, is plain from the next clause--"Neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause" (Exo_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. Neither is true, and therefore neither is artistic. No class in society is deficient in noble qualities, or in base ones. Nor 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" (Exo_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 birdnester should not take the dam with the young, and that neither cow nor ewe should be slain on the same day with its young (Deu_25:4, Deu_22:6; Lev_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.

PART V.--ITS SANCTIONS.

Exo_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 Name is in him" (Exo_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 (1Pe_1:11).

It would, in fact, be absurd to seek the New 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" (Exo_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 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 Name is in Him." There is an angel who will be sent because God will not go up, ... lest He consume them (Exo_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" (Exo_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" (Isa_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" (Gen_16:11, Gen_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" (Gen_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 (Gen_32:4, Gen_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" (Hos_12:3, Hos_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: Gen_31:11, Gen_31:13; Gen_28:20, Gen_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" (Gen_48:15-16)?

In Exo_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 (Exo_3:2, Exo_3:4, Exo_3:15). In Exo_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" (Exo_14:19); while Numbers (Num_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 (Exo_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 (1Ki_9:26), to the Mediterranean, and from the desert where they stood to the Euphrates, where Solomon actually possessed Palmyra and Thiphsah (2Ch_8:4; 1Ki_4:24).

FOOTNOTES:

[38] Even if the rendering were accepted, "Must My Presence (My Face) go with thee?" (Can I not be trusted without a direct Presence?) the argument would not be affected, because Moses presses for the favour and obtains it.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

23:1-9 This call for justice includes a miscellaneous list of covenant requirements, most of which have to do with fairness and integrity.

23:1-3 It is necessary to give true witness, even under the pressure of evil people (23:1), the crowd (23:2), or misguided motives (23:3, 7-8).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, cruel.

Or, report a false tale.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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.

The ordinance concerning the Sabbatical year, 10, 11.

The Sabbath a day of rest, 12.

General directions concerning circumcision, c., 13.

The three annual festivals, 14.

The feast of unleavened bread, 15.

The feast of harvest, and the feast of ingathering, 16.

All the males to appear before God thrice in a year, 17.

Different ordinances-no blood to be offered with leavened

bread-no fat to be left till the next day-the first fruits

to be brought to the house of God-and a kid not to be seethed

in its mother's milk, 18, 19.

Description of the Angel of God, who was to lead the people into

the promised land, and drive out the Amorites, c., 20-23.

Idolatry to be avoided, and the images of idols destroyed, 24.

Different promises to obedience, 25-27.

Hornets shall be sent to drive out the Canaanites, &c., 28.

The ancient inhabitants to be driven out by little and little,

and the reason why, 29, 30.

The boundaries of the promised land, 31.

No league or covenant to be made with the ancient inhabitants,

who are all to be utterly expelled, 32, 33.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII.

Verse 1. 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 לא תשא 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, &c., society would be in peace.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1–3. Veracity and impartiality to be observed, especially in giving evidence in a court of law. Cf. (in H) Lev_19:15-18.

1a. A groundless report not to be given currency—as might readily happen, for instance, from thoughtlessness or malice. Cf. Lev_19:16.

take up] on the lips, i.e. utter. Cf. on Exo_20:7.

a groundless report] On shâw’, ‘groundless,’ see on Exo_20:7.

1b. Not to assist the evildoer by giving dishonest witness.

put not thy hand with] make not common cause with: cf. for the idiom 2Ki_15:19, Jer_26:24.

the wicked] or, as in Exo_2:13, him that is in the wrong.

an unrighteous witness] better, a malicious witness: lit. a witness of violence (so Deu_19:16, Psa_35:11†), i.e. a witness who seeks to subvert the innocent, either (ll.cc.) directly, or, as here, by assisting to clear the guilty.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 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.

(p) "non suscipies", V. L. Pegninus, Vatablus, Drusius, Fagius. (q) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 3. sect. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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).

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lie, by countenancing calumny. Judges must never do any thing which they know to be unjust, whatever the witnesses may assert. The person who speaks against his neighbour, would injure him, if he had an opportunity. (Quintel.) --- Hebrew, "Thou shalt not raise a false report." (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thou shalt not raise, Heb. not take up, to wit, into thy mouth, as Exo 20:7, either by the first raising, or further spreading of it; or not bear, or endure, as that word oft signifies; not hear it patiently, delightfully, readily, approvingly, as persons are very apt to do; but rather shalt discourage and reprove the spreader of it, according to Pro 25:23. Possibly the Holy Ghost might choose a word of such general signification to show that all these things were forbidden. Put not thine hand, i.e. not conspire or agree with them, which is signified by joining hands, Pro 11:21, not give them a helping hand in it, not encourage them to it by gifts or promises, not assist them by counsel or interest. Others, not swear with them; but swearing is not noted by putting the hand, but by lifting it up.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Book of the Covenant (concluded)

1-19. Miscellaneous Laws.

1. Raise] RV 'take up,' i.e. give ear to. This is an extension of the ninth commandment: cp. the Arabic proverb, 'In wickedness the listener is the ally of the speaker.'

2. To decline after] RV 'to turn aside after.'

3. Countenance] Give undue favour to. As judgment is to be without fear (Exo_23:2), so is it to be without favour, whether of rich or poor: cp. Exo_23:6.

4, 5. Thine enemy's ox] The Mosaic Law inculcates the duty of kindness to animals: see e.g. Exo_20:10; Lev_22:27-28; Deu_22:6-7; Deu_25:4. In Deu_22:1-4 it is a friend's beast that is to be relieved. Here it is the beast of an enemy: cp. Mat_5:43, Mat_5:44.

8. Gift] A bribe in any form: see on Exo_18:21.

10, 11. On the law of the Sabbatical Year, see on Lev_25:1-7.

12. On the reason annexed to the fourth commandment, see on Exo_20:10, Exo_20:11.

14-17. The Three Great Annual Feasts are Passover and Unleavened Bread in the month of Abib, Feast of Weeks or Pentecost fifty days afterwards, and Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, here called Feast of Ingathering, at the end of the agricultural year: see on Lev_23:4-22, Lev_23:33-43.

15. None shall appear before me empty] As these festivals are all commemorative of God's goodness they are to be celebrated with thankfulness and rejoicing. And in token of their gratitude the people are to present gifts and entertain the poor: cp. Deu_16:16-17; Neh_8:10. The same principle underlies the custom of making offerings of money as a part of Christian worship. It is expressive of the worshipper's thankfulness for all the divine mercies, temporal and spiritual, of which he is the recipient, and must never be omitted.

17. Three times in the year] These annual pilgrimages served to maintain a conscious unity of race and worship.

18. Leavened bread] see on Exo_12:8. Fat, like blood, must not be eaten, but burnt upon the altar: see on Exo_29:13.

19. Thou shalt not seethe, etc.] This prohibition may be intended to preserve the natural instinct of humanity: cp. Deu_22:6, Deu_22:7. But it more probably refers to a superstitious practice of using milk prepared in this way to sprinkle fields, as a charm against unfruitfulness: see Deu_14:21, where the prohibition is connected with the law of unclean meats. On account of this law, the Jews to this day abstain from mixing meat and milk in the same dish; nor will they partake of the one, except at a considerable interval after the other.

20-33. The Book of the Covenant closes with an exhortation in which a promise is made of God's presence, guidance, and help in overcoming their enemies, of wide dominion, and of material prosperity, on condition that they serve Jehovah alone and make no covenant with the heathen nations or their gods.

20. On the Angel of Jehovah, see on Exo_3:2.

25. See on Exo_20:12.

28. Hornets] The hornet is a large and fierce kind of wasp. It is doubtful whether the promise here is to be understood literally or figuratively (cp. also Deu_7:20; Jos_24:12). It seems to be taken literally in Wis_12:8. But it is more probably a figurative way of describing the terror which would fall upon the nations on hearing of the victorious march of Jehovah's people: see the previous v. and Deu_2:25, and cp. Deu_1:44; Psa_118:12; Isa_7:18. Or the 'hornets' may be intended to describe the Egyptians, who were frequently at war with the inhabitants of Canaan. Rameses III is known to have broken the power of the ancient kingdom of the Hittites, which would be about the time of the Israelites' sojourn in the wilderness, supposing the exodus to have taken place towards the end of the nineteenth dynasty.

29, 30. The book of Judges shows that the conquest of Canaan was effected gradually.

31. The sea of the Philistines] the Mediterranean; the river is the Euphrates. These bounds were reached in the reign of Solomon: see 1Ki_4:21, and cp. Gen_15:18; Deu_11:24.

32, 33. The commandment to expel the Canaanites and to destroy their idols and places of worship was only partially fulfilled, with the result that the evil influence of Canaanitish idolatry and immorality made itself felt over and over again in the history of Israel and was the cause of its final overthrow: see Jos_16:10; Jos_17:12-13; Jdg_1:19, Jdg_1:27-36; 1Ki_11:1-10; 1Ki_14:22-24; 2Ki_12:3; 2Ki_17:6-28. With this passage cp. Exo_34:12-17; Num_33:50-56; Deuteronomy 7 and see on Num_25:16-18.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. Raise a false report — This law guards against slander, and all circulating of slanderous utterances. It is supplemented by the admonition of Exo_23:7, and is comprehended in the ninth commandment, (Exo_20:16,) where see note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT. Continued.

Vers. 1-19. MISCELLANEOUS LAWScontinued. 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 verses 4 and 5, at any rate, lie quite outside this idea. From verse 10 to verse 19 the laws are connected with ceremonial observance and include

(1) The law of the Sabbath,

(2) of the Sabbatical year,

(3) of the Great Festivals,

(4) of sacrifice, and

(5) of first-fruits.

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.

HOMILETICS.

Vers. 1-3; 6-9. God"s care for the administration of justice.

The well-being of a community depends largely on the right administration of justice within its limits. It has been said that the entire constitution of England with all its artifices, complications, balances, and other delicate arrangements, exists mainly for the purpose of putting twelve honest men into a jury-box. Fiat justitia, ruat coelum. Anything is preferable to the triumphant rule of injustice. The present passage clearly shows that God recognises very decidedly the importance of judicial proceedings. By direct communication with Moses, he lays down rules which affect

1. The accuser;

2. The witnesses; and

3. The judge.

I WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCUSER. False accusation is to be avoided, and especially capital charges against the innocent (ver. 7).

II WITH RESPECT TO WITNESSES. Men are to beware of either inventing an untrue tale or giving any support to it when it has been invented by others (ver. 11).

III WITH RESPECT TO JUDGES.

1. They are not to act like Pilate and "follow a multitude to do evil"(ver. 2).

2. They are not either unduly to favour the poor (ver. 3); or

3. To wrest justice against them (ver. 6).

4. They are not to oppress strangers (ver. 9). And

5. They are, above all things, not to take a bribe.

Accusers, beware! Be sure that your charge is true, or do not make it. A false charge, even though proved false, may injure a man for life he may never be able to recover from it. Particularly, be careful, if your charge is a serious one, involving risk to life. You may, if successful, "slay the innocent and the righteous" (ver. 7). Nay, you may slay a man by a false charge which does not directly affect his life you may so harass and annoy him as to drive him to suicide, or "break his heart," and so shorten his days. Even if you have a true charge to bring, it is not always wise or Christian to bring it. St. Paul would have us in some cases "take wrong" and "suffer ourselves to be defrauded". (1Co_6:7)

Witnesses, beware! Do not give untrue evidence, either in the way of raising false reports yourselves, or of supporting by your evidence the false reports of others. The witnesses who cause an innocent person to be condemned are as much to blame as the false accuser. Be very careful in giving evidence to speak "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Depose to nothing of which you are not sure. If you are uncertain, say that you are uncertain, however much the adverse counsel may browbeat you. In cases of personal identity, be specially careful. It is exceedingly easy to be mistaken about a man whom you have seen only once or twice.

Judges, beware! On you the final issue depends. Be not swayed by popularity. Yield not to the outcries either of an excited mob, or a partisan press, when they shout, "away with him!" Hold the scales of justice even between the rich man and the poor, neither suffering your prejudice of class to incline you in favour of the former, nor a weak sentimentality to make you lean unduly towards the latter. Be sure not to oppress foreigners, who must plead to disadvantage in a country, and amid proceedings, t hat are strange to them. Above all, do not condescend to take a bribe from either side. A gift is a weight in the scales of justice; and "a false balance is an abomination to the Lord". (Pro_11:1)

HOMILIES BY J. ORR Vers. 1-10. Doing justice and loving mercy.

In pursuance of its great requirement of love to one"s neighbour, the law next prohibits the raising of a false report, the bearing of false witness in a court of justice, and the wresting of judgment. Recognising however, that "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies", (Mat_15:19) the taw, in addition to forbidding the outward acts, is at pains to warn against the motives and influences which most commonly lead to these acts. This section naturally follows the catalogue of "rights" in previous chapters, as dealing with cases of litigation arising on the basis of these "rights." Notice:

I THE SINS PROHIBITED.

1. The raising of a false report. This also is a species of false witness, though of a less formal character than the bearing of false witness in a court of justice. The forms it may assume are innumerable. The three principal are:

(1) Deliberate invention and circulation of falsehoods.

(2) Innuendo, or malicious suggestion.

(3) Distortion or deceitful colouring of actual facts.

In God"s sight slander ranks as one of the worst of off, aces. It indicates great malevolence. It is grievously unjust and injurious to the person traduced. It is certain to be taken up, and industriously propagated. For a calumny is never wholly wiped out. There are always some evil-speaking persons disposed to believe and repeat it. It affixes a mark on the injured party which may remain on him through life. Everyone is interested in the suppression of such an offence the parties immediately concerned, the Church, society at large, the magistracy, God himself of one of whose commandments (the 9th) it is a daring violation. It is a form of vice which should incur the emphatic reprobation of society, and which, where possible, should be visited with heavy legal penalties.

1. False witness in court. This, as a deliberate attempt to poison the stream of public justice, is a crime which admits of no palliation. It is a form of vice which, so far as we know, has never found a defender. All ages and all societies have united in condemning it as an offence deserving of severe punishment. Yet many a privately-circulated slander may do more harm than a falsehood uttered in the witness-box. God judges of these matters, not by their legal but by their moral turpitude.

2. Wresting of judgment. The corruption of public justice here reaches the fountain head. The judge who gives dishonest decisions betrays the cause of righteousness. He misrepresents the mind of God. He inflicts irremediable injury on the innocent. He opens a floodgate to iniquity. Few men, therefore, are guiltier than he. God will not spare him in the day of his judgment. Even in private life, however, we need to beware of judging rashly, of judging with bias and prejudice, of judging so as to do wrong to individuals, of judging so as to injure truth and retard progress and-improvement. This also is "wresting judgment.

II MOTIVES LEADING TO THESE SINS.

1. The influence of the crowd (ver. 2). There is an infectiousness in the example of a crowd which only a firm back-bone of principle, and some independence of mind, will enable us to resist. The tendency is to follow the multitude, even when it is to do evil.

(1) Men like to be on the side that is popular. They dread the reproach of singularity. There are those who would almost rather die than be out of the fashion.

(2) A crowd can ridicule, and a crowd can intimidate. It may put pressure upon us which we have not the moral courage to resist.

(3) A thing, besides, does not look so evil, when many are engaged in doing it. They do not, of course, call it evil. They put new names upon it, and. laugh at us for our scruples. This may lead us to think that the course in which we are asked to join is not so very bad after all. So we belie or dissemble our real convictions, and do what the crowd bids us. To such influences we are certain to fall a prey, if we are governed by the fear of man more than by the fear of God, (Act_4:19, Act_4:20) or if we seek the praise of man more than the honour which comes from God. (Joh_5:44 Joh_12:4:3) As counteractives to the influence of the crowd we do well to remember that the vox populi" is not always vox Dei;" that the fashion of the clay can never make that right which the law of God declares to be wrong; that the voice of the multitude is one thing to-day, and another thing to-morrow, while truth and duty remain one and the same; that whatever others think, it can never be lawful for us to act contrary to our own convictions; that if the multitude are bent on doing evil, it is our duty, not to go with them, but to be witnesses for the truth in opposition to their courses; that great guilt attaches to us if we do wrong simply in deference to popular sentiment; finally, that there is one who judges us, that is, God, and that he will surely call us to account for all such unfaithfulness to conviction (ver. 7).

1. False sympathy. Judgment was not to be wrested, nor false witness given, out of any quasi-benevolent wish to do a good turn to the poor (ver. 3). The poor man is not to be unjustly dealt with (ver. 6), but neither is he to receive favour. A court of law is not the place for sentiment. Equal measure is to be meted out to all. Judgment is to be given impartially as between brother and brother; rich and poor; citizen and foreigner (ver. 9); applying the same principles to each case, and keeping in view the essential merits as the sole thing to be regarded.

2. Enmity. Emnity to another, or the consideration of another"s enmity to us, is not to be allowed to sway us in giving judgment in his cause, or in any other matter in which his rights are affected. This seems to be the connection of vers. 4, 5, with what precedes and follows; but the duty is taught somewhat indirectly by laying down the principle that enmity is not to be allowed to influence us at all, in any of our dealings with our neighbours. The illustrations taken are very striking, and fairly anticipate the gospel inculcation of love to enemies. (cf. Deu_22:1, Deu_22:4) If an enemy"s ox or ass was seen going astray, the Israelite was not to hide himself, and let it go, but was "surely" to take it back again. Or if his enemy"s ass fell under a burden, he was not to yield to the temptation to forbear help, but was "surely" to help him to lift it up. A fortiori, he was not to allow himself to be in any way influenced by enmity in giving evidence before the judges, or in pronouncing judgment on a cause brought before him.

3. Covetenseness. (Ver. 8.) This forbids bribery. It is impossible for a judge to take a bribe, whether given directly or indirectly, and yet retain his integrity. Despite of himself, the gift will blind his eyes, and pervert his words. For the same reason a man can never be an impartial judge in his own cause. J.O.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Vers. 1-9. Seeking the things which make for justice.

The illustrations adduced in these nine verses show the various ways in which men may be tempted to injustice in judicial procedure. Those who believe themselves wronged have to appeal to their fellow men to settle the matter so far as human capacity can settle it. Hence the positions indicated in this passage. We see plaintiffs, defendants, witnesses, judges, and supporters and sympathisers, and the great aim set before all of them is the attainment of just conclusions. Men feel nothing more bitterly than unjust treatment; and yet just treatment is one of the most difficult of all things to get. Even he who himself has been unjustly treated cannot be induced to treat others justly. Thus there are put before the individual Israelite here illustrations of all the ways in which it is possible for him either to help or to hinder justice.

I THE ISRAELITE IS CAUTIONED LEST BY YIELDING TO UNWORTHY MOTIVES, HE SHOULD HELP OTHERS TO GAIN VICTORIES OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. It is only too easy to send abroad an empty story which may end in the ruin of an innocent man. We may become afflicted with a spirit of partisanship which, even if it lead not to downright lying, may prompt to exaggerations and distortions, just as valuable for the attainment of malicious purposes, lie who would not deliberately fabricate a lie will nevertheless be well disposed to believe it when fabricated by another, and will then utter it for truth. We easily believe what we want to believe. It is so pleasant to be with the multitude; to go against it requires a great deal of courage, and a deep devotion to what is just, as the paramount thing to be considered in all judicial enquiries. Let us feel that justice is not a matter of majorities, but of great principles honestly and ably applied to particular cases, the nature of these cases being determined by evidence which has been carefully sifted and arranged so as to get at the truth. He who comes into a court of justice comes there in the simple and sufficient claims of his humanity; all considerations of popular applause, all sympathy with a poor man, merely as a poor man, are entirely out of place. We must guard against all cheap sentiment; we must be just before we are generous. Adroit appeals to the feelings of a jury are part of the stock-in-trade of a practised advocate; and witnesses themselves understand how to profit by the prejudices and weaknesses of sensitive minds. The poor, the sick, the maimed only too often think that they may gain by their poverty, their feebleness, their mutilation, what is not to be gained by the righteousness of their cause. Everyone, therefore, who has to do with a court of justice needs great circumspection to keep himself clear of all words and actions such as might lend themselves to injustice. The effort of one may not secure a just judgment, but each individual must do his part. Then the stain of injustice is not on his garments.

II AN INJURED PERSON MUST KEEP CLEAR OF PERSONAL ANIMOSITY IN THE PURSUIT OF HIS RIGHTS. An illustration is given from the misfortune which may happen to his enemy"s ox or ass (vers. 4, 5). We must never forget that our enemy is also our neighbour. If a man wrongs us, it does not cancel that wrong to do him wrong in return. There is a certain appointed way of getting all such wrong put right, and if it cannot be put right in that way there is no other to be found, no other at least so far as human aid avails. For a man to see his enemy in this position, with ox or ass gone astray or in any way needing help, is a capital chance for showing that no petty grudge actuates him in legal proceedings. He who is treated wrongly must seek for justice, but he will gladly hail the opportunity of showing that it is justice only that he seeks. It is often those who are most unyielding in the matter of right who are also most tender and assiduous in the matter of compassion. It is an easier thing through sentimental weakness to countenance a poor man in his cause than to take the trouble of driving home a lost ox or ass to its owner. The very same considerations of right which make a man feel that he cannot sit down tamely under injustice, should also make him feel that he cannot allow the property of others to go to ruin, when his timely intervention will save it.

III THERE ARE DIRECTIONS IN PARTICULAR FOR THOSE WHO HAVE TO JUDGE. The instructions in vers. 6-9 seem specially to concern the judge. Plaintiffs, defendants and witnesses are only occasionally in courts of justice, but the judge is always there. It is his daily work to settle right as between man and man. Those who have to come before him are instructed and cautioned to come in a just spirit; but inasmuch as many of them will not attend to the instructions, it is the business of the judge to neutralise as far as he can their unrighteous approaches; and it seems to be particularly implied that he must keep himself from all temptations such as come so fascinatingly through the rich and the powerful. He with whom judicial decisions rest will have many to tempt him if he shows himself at all open to temptation. Let the judge remember that his judgment, though it may gain a cause, does not effect a final settlement. Through prejudice or bribery he may justify the wicked; but that does not hold them justified. He must not say of anyone who comes before him, that he is only a poor man or a foreigner and therefore his interests cannot matter. It should be his joy to feel and his pride to say that no one went away from him with wrongs unredressed, so far as any searching of his could discover the doer of the wrong. A judge has great opportunities. Every upright, discerning and scrupulous judge does much in the circle of his own influence to keep a high standard of right and wrong before the minds of his fellow men. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This chapter concludes the acts that passed in the first session (if I may so call it) upon Mount Sinai. Here are,

I. Some laws of universal obligation, relating especially to the ninth commandment, against bearing false witness, ver. 1. and giving false judgement, ver. 2, 3, 6, 7, 8. Also a law of doing good to our enemies, ver. 4, 5. and not oppressing strangers, ver. 9.

II. Some laws peculiar to the Jews: the sabbatical years, ver. 10, 11. the three annual feasts, ver. 14-17. with laws pertaining thereto.

III. Gracious promises of completing the mercy God had begun for them, upon condition of their obedience, that God would conduct them through the wilderness, ver 20-24. that he would prosper all they had, ver. 25, 26, that he would put them in possession of Canaan, ver. 27-31. But they must not mingle themselves with the nations, ver. 32, 33.

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. Sometimes we cannot avoid hearing a false report, but we must not receive it, we must not hear it with pleasure, nor easily give credit to it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Exodus 21 - 23

The study of this section of our book is eminently calculated to impress the heart with a sense d God’s unsearchable wisdom and infinite goodness. It enables one to form some idea of the character of a kingdom governed by laws of divine appointment. Here, too, we may see the amazing condescension of Him who, though He is the great God of heaven and earth, can, nevertheless, stoop to adjudicate between man and man in reference to the death of an ox, the loan of a garment, or the loss of a servant’s tooth. "Who is like unto the Lord our God, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and on earth?" He governs the universe, and yet He can occupy Himself with the provision of a covering for one of His creatures. He guides the angel’s flight and takes notice of a crawling worm. He humbles Himself to regulate the movements of those countless orbs that roll through infinite space and to record the fall of a sparrow.

As to the character of the judgement set forth in the chapters before us, we may learn a double lesson. These judgements and ordinances bear a twofold witness: they convey to the ear a twofold message, and present to the eye two sides of a picture. They tell of God and they tell of man.

In the first place, on God’s part, we find Him enacting laws which exhibit strict, even-handed, perfect justice. "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." Such was the character of the laws, the statutes, and the judgements by which God governed His earthly kingdom of Israel. Everything was provided for, every interest was maintained, and every claim was met. There was no partiality - no distinction made between the rich and the poor. The balance in which each man’s claim was weighed was adjusted with divine accuracy, so that no one could justly complain of a decision. The pure robe of justice was not to be tarnished with the foul stains of bribery, corruption and partiality. The eye and the hand of a divine Legislator provided for everything; and a divine Executive inflexibly dealt with every defaulter. The stroke of justice fell only on the head of the guilty, while every obedient soul was protected in the enjoyment of all his rights and privileges.

Then, as regards man, it is impossible to read over these laws and not be struck with the disclosure which they indirectly, but really, make of his desperate depravity. The fact of Jehovah’s having to enact laws against certain crimes, proves the capability, on man’s part, of committing those crimes. Were the capability and the tendency not there, there would be no need of the enactments. Now, there are many who, if the gross Abominations forbidden in these chapters were named to them, might feel disposed to adopt the language of Hazael and say, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" Such persons have not yet travelled down into the deep abyss of their own hearts. For albeit there are crimes here forbidden which would seem to place man, as regards his habits and tendencies, below the level of a "dog," yet do those very statutes prove, beyond all question, that the most refined and cultivated member of the human family carries above, in his bosom, the seeds of the very darkest and most horrifying abominations. For whom were those statutes enacted? For man. Were they needful? Unquestionably. But they would have been quite superfluous if man were incapable of committing the sins referred to. But man is capable; and hence we see that man is sunk to the very lowest possible level - that his nature is wholly corrupt - that, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, there is not so much as a speck of moral soundness.

How can such a being ever stand, without an emotion of fear, in the full blaze of the throne of God? How can he stand within the holiest? How can he stand on the sea of glass? How can he enter in by the pearly gates and tread the golden streets? The reply to these inquiries unfolds the amazing depths of redeeming love and the eternal efficacy of the blood of the Lamb. Deep as is man’s ruin, the love of God is deeper still. Black as is his guilt, the blood of Jesus can wash it all away. Wide as is the chasm separating man from God, the cross has bridged it. God has come down to the very lowest point of the sinner’s condition, in order that He might lift him up into a position of infinite favour, in eternal association with His own Son. Well may we exclaim, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God." (1 John 3: l) Nothing could fathom man’s ruin but God’s love, and nothing could equal man’s guilt but the blood of Christ. But now the very depth of the ruin only magnifies the love that has fathomed it, and the intensity of the guilt only celebrates the efficacy of the blood that can cleanse it. The very vilest sinner who believes in Jesus can rejoice in the assurance that God sees him and pronounces him "clean every whit."

Such, then, is the double character of instruction to be gleaned from the laws and ordinances in this section, looked at as a whole; and the more minutely we look at them, in detail, the more impressed we shall be with a sense of their fullness and beauty. Take, for instance, the very first ordinance that presents itself, namely, that of the Hebrew Servant.

"Now these are the judgements which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall he her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free; then his master shall bring him unto the judges: he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever." (Ex. 21: 1-6) The servant was perfectly free to go out, so far as he was personally concerned. He had discharged every claim, and could, therefore, walk abroad in unquestioned freedom; but because of his love to his master, his wife, and his children, he voluntarily bound himself to perpetual servitude; and not only so, but he was also willing to bear, in his own person, the marks of that servitude.

The application of this to the Lord Jesus Christ will be obvious to the intelligent reader. In Him we behold the One who dwelt in the bosom of the Father before all worlds - the object of His eternal delight - who might have occupied, throughout eternity, this His personal and entirely peculiar place, inasmuch as there lay upon Him no obligation (save that which ineffable love created and ineffable love incurred) to abandon that place. Such, however, was His love to the Father whose counsels were involved, and for the Church collectively, and each individual member thereof, whose salvation was involved, that He, voluntarily, came down to earth, emptied Himself, and made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant and the marks of perpetual service. To these marks we probably have a striking allusion in the Psalms. "Mine ears hast thou digged." (Ps. 40: 6, marg.) This psalm is the expression of Christ’s devotedness to God. "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea thy law is within my heart." He came to do the will of God, whatever that will might be. He never once did His own will, not even in the reception and salvation of sinners, though surely His loving heart, with all its affections, was most fully in that glorious work. Still He receives and saves only as the servant of the Father’s counsels. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." (John 6: 37-39)

Here we have a most interesting view of the servant character of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, in perfect grace, holds Himself responsible to receive all who come within the range of the divine counsels; and not only to receive them, but to preserve them through all the difficulties and trials of their devious path down here, yea, in the article of death itself, should it come, and to raise them all up in the last day. Oh! how secure is the very feeblest member of the Church of God! He is the subject of God’s eternal counsels, which counsels the Lord Jesus Christ is pledged to carry out. Jesus loves the Father, and, in proportion to the intensity of that love, is the security of each member of the redeemed family. The salvation of any sinner who believes on the name of the Son of God is, in one aspect of it, but the expression of Christ’s love to the Father. If one such could perish, through any cause whatsoever, it would argue that the Lord Jesus Christ was unable to carry out the will of God, which were nothing short of positive blasphemy against His sacred name, to whom be all honour and majesty throughout the everlasting ages.

Thus we have, in the Hebrew servant, a type of Christ in His pure devotedness to the Father. But there is more than this: "I love my wife and my children." "Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. 5: 25-27) There are various other passages of Scripture presenting Christ as the antitype of the Hebrew servant, both in His love for the Church, as a body, and for all believers personally. In Matthew 13, John 10 and 13, and Hebrews 2, my reader will find special teaching on the point.

The apprehension of this love of the heart of Jesus cannot fail to produce a spirit of fervent devotedness to the One who could exhibit such pure, such perfect, such disinterested love. How could the wife and children of the Hebrew servant fail to love one who had voluntarily surrendered his liberty in order that he and they might be together? And what is the love presented in the type, when compared with that which shines in the antitype? It is as nothing. "The love of Christ passeth knowledge." It led Him to think of us before all worlds - to visit us in the fullness of time - to walk deliberately to the door post - to suffer for us on the cross, in order that He might raise us to companionship with himself, in His everlasting kingdom and glory.

Were I to enter into a full exposition of the remaining statutes and judgements of this portion of the Book of Exodus, it would carry me much further than I feel, at present, led to go.* I will merely observe, in conclusion, that it is impossible to read the section and not have the heart drawn out in adoration of the profound wisdom, well-balanced justice, and yet tender considerateness which breathe throughout the whole. We rise up from the study of it with this conviction deeply wrought into the soul, that the One who speaks here is "the only true," "the only wise," and the infinitely gracious God.

{*I would here observe, once for all, that the feasts referred to in Ex. 23: 14-19 and the offerings in Ex. 29 being brought out in all their fullness and detail, in the book of Leviticus, I shall reserve them until we come to dwell upon the contents of that singularly rich and interesting book.}

May all our meditations on His eternal word have the effect of prostrating our souls in worship before Him whose perfect ways and glorious attributes shine there, in all their blessedness and brightness, for the refreshment, the delight, and the edification of His blood-bought people.

C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Further Ordinances Regarding Social Relations

v. 1. Thou shalt not raise a false report, undertake to testify of a promise or agreement which was not heard with your own ears. Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness, to charge your neighbor with any form of wickedness, to involve him in quarrels before court. Testimony should never be given in favor of some criminal act.

v. 2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment. The thought of the first half of the sentence is emphasized in the second part; for to yield to the hasty judgment of the multitude merely because of the great numbers that hold an opinion, if this means deviating from the way of truth and of justice, is sharply condemned by the Lord. A witness in any case should speak the full truth to the best of his knowledge.

v. 3. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. To pretend to be moved by sympathy for the poor in favoring them in each and every suit is an affectation; God wanted His people to stand on the side of justice, regardless of consequences.

v. 4. If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again; for difficulties and differences with any person should not set aside the love for him as a neighbor, and for this reason the command is made emphatic.

v. 5. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, borne down to the ground by the greatness of the load upon him, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him, literally: "Wouldest thou hold back from helping?" Surely no man’s feeling of revenge would reach the point of permitting a dumb beast to suffer. There is only one thing to do in such an extremity: relieve the beast of its load, help him to arise, assist his master in saving the burden. That such conduct requires self-denial is implied, but the Lord wants such self-denial to be practiced.

v. 6. Thou shalt not wrest the Judgment of thy poor, of the poor dependent upon thee, in his cause. This ordinance supplements v. 3, bidding the mighty beware of violating their position and the rights of those that are defenseless before them, since the Lord is their Protector.

v. 7. Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and the righteous slay thou not; for I will not justify the wicked. This is said to the selfish, unrighteous judge, whose perversion of justice may, under circumstances, bring death to an innocent, righteous man. The form of the threat is particularly effective in setting forth the certain condemnation of the wicked judge.

v. 8. And thou shalt take no gift, no judge should ever accept a bribe, even in the form of an innocent-looking present; for the gift blindeth the wise, acts as a hood before the eyes of him who otherwise may see well in any case brought to his attention, and perverteth the words of the righteous, making right wrong and causing the judge to render false decisions.

v. 9. Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger, an injunction which in this connection refers chiefly to court cases; for ye know the heart of a stranger, just how he feels in the midst of humiliation and oppression, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. So much the Christians will also heed, especially such as are in positions of authority, where they must judge, render decisions, set forth the truth, that they be strictly impartial, not permitting themselves to be influenced by the social status of any persons with whom they have dealings, but frankly reproving the evil and acknowledging the good.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 23:20

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 shadow hangs round life as a dreary 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. Baldwin Brown, The Congregationalist, vol. i., p. 261.

References: Exo 23:26.—T. T. Lynch, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxii., p. 206. Exo 23:28 (with Exo 33:2).—Parker, vol. ii., p. 192.

Exo 23:30

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.

I. The sin of our natural state is the temptation of our converted state, and it is only little by little that it can be driven out.

II. The old sins are conquered little by little (1) because God has His punishments in life: He makes sin scourge sin; (2) because it is for the glory of the Holy Ghost and of His Church that these sins should be left to be gradually overcome; (3) because in our present state we could not bear to be made ail at once perfectly holy.

III. Notice 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, Meditations in Exodus, p. 24.

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. It is the maxim of one of our nobles, "We perish by what is lawful;" it were an equally correct aphorism, "We perish by what is little."

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, Penny Pulpit, No. 2036.

References: Exo 23:30.—J. N. Norton, The King’s Ferry Boat, p. 237; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 154. Exo 24:3-8.—J. Hamilton, Works, vol. v., p. 229.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Yahweh continues telling Moses his laws for the people of Israel.

dishonest witness

This is the same as a lying or false witness.

nor may you bear witness

"and you also must not speak"

siding with the crowd

This is a metaphor that describes one's agreeing with a group of people as if he actually walked over and stood with that group. AT: "doing what the crowd wants" or "agreeing with the majority" (See: Metaphor)

pervert justice

do illegal or immoral actions that result in a unjust ruling

translationWords

corrupt witness

evil

testimony

just

favor

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

לא תשא שמע שוא THOU SHALT NOT HEAR A FALSE REPORT — Take it as the Targum renders it: thou shalt not accept (listen to) a false report. This is a prohibition addressed to one who is about to accept a slanderous statement, and it is addressed also to a judge — that he should not hear the pleadings of one party to a suit before the other appears (Mekhilta; Sanhedrin 7b).

אל תשת ידך עם רשע SET NOT THINE HAND WITH THE WICKED — with him who makes a false claim against his fellow-man: that you promise him to give evidence for him that will result in wrong being done (להיות עד חמס).‎

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Do not join hands with a wicked man. One should not even sign a document together with him. Thus the Talmud relates that the men of Jerusalem would not sign on anything unless they knew who the other signatories were to be.

Sforno on the Tanakh — English translation: “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.