Exodus 23 explained: Fair Courts, Holy Days, Promised Land

Honest courts (vv. 1-3, 6-9)

Witnesses must not spread false stories or side with a crowd, and judges must not bend a case for a bribe, against the poor, or even out of pity for the poor. Foreigners get the same fair treatment, because Israel knew from Egypt what it feels like to be an outsider.

Help even an enemy (vv. 4-5)

If an enemy's ox or donkey wanders off or collapses under its load, you return it or help lift it. The duty applies no matter how you feel about the owner.

Rest for land and workers (vv. 10-13)

Every seventh year, fields, vineyards and olive groves were left unfarmed, and whatever grew on its own went to the poor and then to wild animals. The weekly rest day is framed as relief for animals, slaves and foreigners too, and the people are told not even to speak the names of other gods.

Three yearly festivals (vv. 14-19)

Three times a year the men were to bring gifts to God's sanctuary: in spring for Unleavened Bread, recalling the escape from Egypt, then at the first grain harvest, and again at the autumn harvest. No one is sure why cooking a young goat in its mother's milk was banned (perhaps to reject a pagan ritual, perhaps because it seemed cruel), and later Jewish practice built on it the custom of keeping meat and dairy apart.

A guiding angel (vv. 20-26)

God promises a messenger who carries God's own authority ("my Name is in him"), so defying him means defying God. If the people stay loyal and tear down the sacred stones of the local gods, they are promised food, health, children and long lives.

Driving out the nations (vv. 27-33)

God promises panic and "the hornet" (perhaps real insects, perhaps a picture of terror; scholars are unsure) to push out Canaan's peoples little by little, so the land does not go wild while Israel is still small. Israel is to make no treaties with them and let none of them stay, on the stated grounds that their gods would draw Israel away.

Key verse: Exodus 23:9

Where Christians differ

Christians differ over how to understand God ordering Canaan's peoples driven out: as a literal historical command, as ancient war language that exaggerates, or as something to be reread in light of Jesus' teaching on enemies.

Something to think about

Has remembering a time you were the outsider ever changed how you treated someone else, or has it made little difference?