Exodus 23:1
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.'... [ Continue Reading ]
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.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT (CONCLUDED) 1-19. Miscellaneous Laws.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO DECLINE AFTER] RV 'to turn aside after.'... [ Continue Reading ]
COUNTENANCE] Give undue favour to. As judgment is to be without fear (Exodus 23:2), so is it to be without favour, whether of rich or poor: cp. Exodus 23:6. 4, 5. THINE ENEMY'S OX] The Mosaic Law inculcates the duty of kindness to animals: see e.g. Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 22:27; Deuteronomy 22:6; De... [ Continue Reading ]
GIFT] A bribe in any form: see on Exodus 18:21. 10, 11. On the law of the Sabbatical Year, see on Leviticus 25:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
On the reason annexed to the fourth commandment, see on Exodus 20:10; Exodus 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, a... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Deuteronomy 16:16; Nehemiah 8:10. The same principle un... [ Continue Reading ]
THREE TIMES IN THE YEAR] These annual pilgrimages served to maintain a conscious unity of race and worship.... [ Continue Reading ]
LEAVENED BREAD] see on Exodus 12:8. Fat, like blood, must not be eaten, but burnt upon the altar: see on Exodus 29:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT SEETHE, ETC.] This prohibition may be intended to preserve the natural instinct of humanity: cp. Deuteronomy 22:6; Deuteronomy 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 De... [ Continue Reading ]
On the Angel of Jehovah, see on Exodus 3:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
See on Exodus 20:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 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... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SEA OF THE PHILISTINES] the Mediterranean; the river is the Euphrates. These bounds were reached in the reign of Solomon: see 1 Kings 4:21, and cp. Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 11:24. 32, 33. The commandment to expel the Canaanites and to destroy their idols and places of worship was only partiall... [ Continue Reading ]