December 18, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Esther 1-5

Weekly Memory Verse: 1 Timothy 2:5

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Exodus 23:1-9 (The Message)
¹ “Don’t pass on malicious gossip. “Don’t link up with a wicked person and give corrupt testimony. ² Don’t go along with the crowd in doing evil and don’t fudge your testimony in a case just to please the crowd. ³ And just because someone is poor, don’t show favoritism in a dispute. ⁴ “If you find your enemy’s ox or donkey loose, take it back to him. ⁵ If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, don’t walk off and leave it. Help it up. ⁶ “When there is a dispute concerning your poor, don’t tamper with the justice due them. ⁷ “Stay clear of false accusations. Don’t contribute to the death of innocent and good people. I don’t let the wicked off the hook. ⁸ “Don’t take bribes. Bribes blind perfectly good eyes and twist the speech of good people. ⁹ “Don’t take advantage of a stranger. You know what it’s like to be a stranger; you were strangers in Egypt.^[1]

I chose the Message version of the Bible because it is so easy to read and delivers the easiest to understand text of this passage.  Consider the first few verses, where God is giving instructions concerning the enemy.  God knew that there would be an enemy among the people, yet who is the one that is considered an enemy?  Isn't it one of the people that are in the nation of Israel?  In other words, this is someone who the Israelite was in disagreement with, not an enemy who they were at war with.  It was actually speaking of "legal disagreements" according to the Bible Knowledge Commentary. 

In other words, they were to find ways to be kind to those who they didn't agree with who were also fellow Jews.  This is something that we can take to heart as we read these verses today.  If a dispute is raised between you and another person in your church, look for ways to help him.  Following the crowd can be dangerous because it corrupts your thinking, in short, learn to think on your feet, each person is to know and understand God's instructions well enough to make their own decision without being guided by the crowd.  The recent quiz program, "Who wants to be a millionaire" proved this point over and over, when the card was played that appealed to the crowd for the answer, it was often wrong. 

Innocent and false accusations are very evil in the sight of God and they are to be steered clear of.  Any type of falsehood, bribes, hateful spiteful actions, tampering, and taking advantage of others is strictly prohibited.  God is a just and a fair God, He expects His people to follow suit.

Exodus 23:10-13 (The Message)
¹⁰ “Sow your land for six years and gather in its crops, ¹¹ but in the seventh year leave it alone and give it a rest so that your poor may eat from it. What they leave, let the wildlife have. Do the same with your vineyards and olive groves. ¹² “Work for six days and rest the seventh so your ox and donkey may rest and your servant and migrant workers may have time to get their needed rest. ¹³ “Listen carefully to everything I tell you. Don’t pay attention to other gods—don’t so much as mention their names. ^[2]

The Sabbath is expounded upon in these verses.  Not only is there to be a Sabbath for each week, there is also to be a Sabbath of years, a sabbatical year.  God demonstrates the importance of this year because it allows the land to rest and to replenish its nutrients.  This also provides free food for those who are poor, and food for the wild animals.  Not only was the land not to be cultivated, the crop that it produced was not to be harvested by the owner of the land at all.  It was considered as if the land was barren, God directed that all the produce of the land was to be available for the poor and the animals.  This did not just include the grain fields, it also included the vineyards and orchards.  Imagine what it would be like for a farmer to put this into practice today.

God was also concerned with the welfare of the animals, they are allowed to rest on the seventh day, just like the slaves and migrant workers, everyone is to take at least one day off from work.  How often do we consider that God made provisions for everything, especially the poor, and even for the animals. 

This section ends with a warning that they were to be sure to comply with all the instructions that God had given to this point.  The warning against foreign gods is given again, God wanted to drive it into their minds that nothing excused their chasing after other gods.  They were not even to consider the possibility.

Exodus 23:14-19 (The Message)
¹⁴ “Three times a year you are to hold a festival for me. ¹⁵ “Hold the spring Festival of Unraised Bread when you eat unraised bread for seven days at the time set for the month of Abib, as I commanded you. That was the month you came out of Egypt. No one should show up before me empty-handed. ¹⁶ “Hold the summer Festival of Harvest when you bring in the firstfruits of all your work in the fields. “Hold the autumn Festival of Ingathering at the end of the season when you bring in the year’s crops. ¹⁷ “Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Master, God. ¹⁸ “Don’t offer the blood of a sacrifice to me with anything that has yeast in it. “Don’t leave the fat from my festival offering out overnight. ¹⁹ “Bring the choice first produce of the year to the house of your God. “Don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk. ^[3]

There were three feasts which were originally endorsed by God.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread, commemorating the exodus, the Feast of Harvest, where the first fruits of the crops are given to the Lord, and the Feast of Ingathering where all the fruits are gathered at the end of the season.  At all three events all the males were to stand before the Lord and recognize Him as God.  They are given specific instructions as to the way that the sacrifices are to be made.  The idea is that the Lord is to be recognized in every area of their lives, and the men of the land were to constantly keep Him as Lord of their lives.

One historical note, the reason that goats were not to be cooked in their milk may have been because the Canaanites had a fertility ritual similar to that.  God did not want them to take part in a pagan ritual even by accident.

Exodus 23:20-33 (The Message)
²⁰ “Now get yourselves ready. I’m sending my Angel ahead of you to guard you in your travels, to lead you to the place that I’ve prepared. ²¹ Pay close attention to him. Obey him. Don’t go against him. He won’t put up with your rebellions because he’s acting on my authority. ²² But if you obey him and do everything I tell you, I’ll be an enemy to your enemies, I’ll fight those who fight you. ²³ When my Angel goes ahead of you and leads you to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, I’ll clear the country of them. ²⁴ So don’t worship or serve their gods; don’t do anything they do because I’m going to wipe them right off the face of the Earth and smash their sacred phallic pillars to bits. ²⁵ “But you—you serve your God and he’ll bless your food and your water. I’ll get rid of the sickness among you; ²⁶ there won’t be any miscarriages nor barren women in your land. I’ll make sure you live full and complete lives. ²⁷ “I’ll send my Terror on ahead of you and throw those peoples you’re approaching into a panic. All you’ll see of your enemies is the backs of their necks. ²⁸ “And I’ll send Despair on ahead of you. It will push the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites out of your way. ²⁹ I won’t get rid of them all at once lest the land grow up in weeds and the wild animals take over. ³⁰ Little by little I’ll get them out of there while you have a chance to get your crops going and make the land your own. ³¹ I will make your borders stretch from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Wilderness to the Euphrates River. I’m turning everyone living in that land over to you; go ahead and drive them out. ³² “Don’t make any deals with them or their gods. ³³ They are not to stay in the same country with you lest they get you to sin by worshiping their gods. Beware. That’s a huge danger.” ^[4]

All the instructions given to this point were in preparation for their moving into the Promised Land and setting up residence there.  This section of scripture indicates the way that God was going to clear the path for them into the promise land.  God promised to send His angel before them, clearing the path for them, along with the hornets to drive the people from the land.  Not only that, they would be driven at a rate that would allow Israel to settle into the land, plant crops and to prosper.  The only requirements that they had was to follow the instruction of the Lord, and to do what the angel told them. 

They were instructed again to absolutely refuse to have any part of the foreign gods and the practices associated with them.  Look at all the promises that accompany their obedience, God would do all the fighting, they were along for a free ride.  Yet everything hinged on the fact that they were to stay away from the false gods. 

Notice the way that this subject keeps coming up in God's instructions.  God wants His people to succeed in following Him, this is demonstrated in the way that God warned them over and over to stay away from the foreign gods.  In the light of what happens later, God gave them every warning possible to stay away from the foreign gods.  He even promised to do all the fighting, to the point that the Promised Land would be handed to them without any real effort on thier part. 

God did not intend for the trip from Egypt to the Promised land to last forty years.  It should have been completed in  a few months.  God even promised to do all the fighting and all the clearing of the inhabitants of the land.  The fight wasn't completely free though, in verse 24 God placed the responsibility on Israel to fight against the false gods and to tear down their altars, breaking and destroying the sacred pillars.  They had to determine that they were going to serve the Lord, and then He would bless them.  This is followed by several "I will" statements by God, then another warning not to follow or make bargains with the false gods.

We read through this and declare that we don't follow false gods.  The idea of God preparing the way for us is foreign because we are not in a battle to reach an impossible goal.  Perhaps we do have false gods, anything that takes the place of God in our lives is a false god, for some it is sports, others, work, for others, liquor, and even others, pornography.  What is it that we make bargains with in order to live our lives in compromise?  That is our false god.  The trick to getting God to clear the way for us is to follow Him in obedience, turning our hearts to Him completely. 

I am going to close here, all comments are welcomed.

Father as we consider the bargain that You made with Israel, speak to our hearts and bend our understanding so that we will follow You completely.

In Him,

Joe Turner.