It's hard to be a good neighbor (Exodus 23:1-9)
I'd like to start today by taking a step back, and helping us remember where we are in the book of Exodus.
Let's turn to Exodus 19:1-9 (NRSV updated no reason). This passage is one of the keys to understanding Exodus as a whole. This would be a good passage to memorize, or at least, remember where it is:
19 On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 3 Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called to him from the mountain, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself."
So God has rescued his people from Egypt, and from slavery, and carried them to Himself. He's brought them here, to Mt. Sinai. And now, in verse 5, God says that this relationship between Israel and himself, is one that continue. Yahweh can continue to be their God. And Israel, can continue to be God's people. But if this relationship is to continue, God wants a covenant. He wants to set out, in some detail, requirements and expectations for both sides. For Him, and for Israel. And Israel needs to make a choice about whether or not they want to commit to Yahweh as their God.
Verse 5:
5 Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”
In verses 7-8, we get the people's response:
7 So Moses went, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8 The people all answered as one, “Everything that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.
And in verse 9, we get God's response, to their response:
9 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.”
So at this point, Moses has gone up the mountain, and God has been giving Moses some of the specific details about how God wants this covenant to work. And the last several weeks, we've been working our way through this section. Scholars call this section the Book of the Covenant-- Exodus 20:22-23:19.
Now, what we've seen, is that God doesn't lay out his expectations in perfect detail. We live in a complicated world, with lots of possible situations, and no covenant law can cover everything without being thousands of pages long. And even that wouldn't do it.
But what God does instead, is two things. First, there are blanket statements about things that God's people should and shouldn't do. There are "thou shalts," and there are "thou shalt nots." And then, second, God paints pictures of what these "shalts" look like, in real life. So let me give one example. God says, "You shall not murder."
God then unpacks that by painting pictures of what exactly murder is. If you kill someone in premeditation, it's murder (Exodus 21:13-14). If you strike your slave with a wooden rod, and kill him or her, it's murder (Exodus 21:20). If you strike a pregnant woman, and she miscarries, it's murder (Exodus 21:22). If you have an ox, that has a history of being violent, and it fatally gores someone, it's like you murdered them (Exodus 21:29). When we read these examples, we should understand that these laws don't set out every possible situation. But God paints these pictures to stimulate our spiritual imaginations, and help us think about murder, and manslaughter, and negligence. God uses these examples to point our imaginations in the right direction.
Now, the thing that's maybe most surprising, is that even though God insists that his people obey his commands, and keep his covenant (Exodus 19:5), we've seen throughout this section that obeying God isn't going to actually happen very well. God's kingdom people are told not to steal, but they will. God's kingdom people are told not to murder, but they will. God's people are told not to commit sorcery, but they might. And so what a bunch of the covenant laws are designed to do, really, is help God's people pick up the pieces, and move on, after the fact-- after sin.
We maybe tend to think of the OT, and OT covenant law, as being rigid, and harsh, and demanding. We tend to think it requires perfection. And if we do this, it probably colors the way we view God. We would then think of God, in the OT, as being harsh, rigid, and legalistic.
But if we slow down and read these laws carefully, we see that God's covenant with Israel in the OT shows just as much grace, and patience, and mercy, as his covenant with us. Even though God's people promise to obey Him, and keep his covenant-- and they really mean that, and are committed to it-- God's people often end up doing the wrong thing. And God is gracious, and merciful, and makes it work. Admittedly, just so we don't get the wrong idea, sometimes God makes it work by making sure murderers and sorcerers get killed (a very NT sort of idea, fwiw-- Revelation 22:15). But God makes it work, with his people as whole.
Our passage today, Exodus 23:1-9, is much in line with what we've read so far. A lot of it can be viewed as an unpacking of one of the ten commandments, in Exodus 20:16: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Sometimes, people have disagreements, and disputes, that don't get resolved. Either, they can't patch things up on their own, or they aren't willing to patch things up. And so the issue ends up in the courts. In ancient Israel, this doesn't mean Judge Judy. It means, going to the city gates, where the heads of the families-- the elders-- would meet together to mediate, and settle disputes. So the heads of the Tysons, and the Carlsons, and the Martinsons, and the Reeves clans, would all get together, and hear disputes, and make decisions for one person, against another.
Verses 1-3 are mostly addressed to witnesses (h/t C.H. Wright, Exodus). Most of the time, witnesses are really important to legal disputes. Witnesses make or break most cases. What does God expect from witnesses?
Before I read these verses, I should say that, in the Hebrew, they are a delightful puzzle of sorts. There's lots of things going on, and I've tried to leave some of the ambiguity in the translation for you to wrestle with. But I'm just going to fly just high enough over the verses to be unhelpful. [The detailed notes help.]:
(1) You shall not lift up[/pass on] a false report (Gen. 29:13)/rumor (Job 28:22).
You shall not put your hand with the wicked
by/for the purpose of being a malicious witness.
(2) You shall not follow after/behind the many/majority,
by/for the purpose of doing evil,
and you shall not testify in a legal dispute,
by/for the purpose of turning aside after/behind the many/majority,
by/for the purpose of turning aside [probably turning aside "the majority", but maybe "the truth" or "justice"],
If we stop and think about what we just read, these verses should shock us. We've gotten used to the idea that some members of God's kingdom people will murder, and steal, and so on. But in these verses, God makes it sound like there will be times when most of his people are wicked. What should you do, when you find yourself standing alone on the truth? When you are the only righteous person left? God has four expectations here:
(1) Don't spread lies, and deceit (verse 1).
-If you're not sure if some piece of juicy news is true or false, don't spread it.
(2) Don't join in the wicked. Don't partner with them, to help them (verse 1).
(3) Don't follow the herd (verse 2).
(4) Don't sway the herd (verse 2).
When we see these four things, we maybe struggle to understand why God would have to tell his people this. Sometimes, when we're sitting in church, it's hard to understand why some people find it hard to do the right thing. So let me tell you a story, to help.
My firstborn just started taking her first college class, on environmental science. There are things the class teaches and pushes that, arguably, are pretty misguided. "What unique contribution can Christians offer the world, with regard to climate change? Given that parts of the world are overpopulated, how should Christians rethink their mandate to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth?" [This last question I would argue is demonic, and racist. It ends up usually being asked by Western white "elites," and means, "Given that there are too many Chinese and Indians, and possibly Africans, what should we do about it?"]
My daughter is 16-- just a kid still in many ways. She doesn't have the time, or skill-set, to push back on any of it. And so I've just told her, the truth doesn't matter. Just follow the herd. Don't rock the boat. Give the professor what she wants to hear. Toe the party line, and get an "A." It's just a giant game, and you can't care."
In this situation, the truth matters a lot less, than her getting credit for the class. She needs the piece of paper, checked off toward her future degree.
By far, the easiest path to that piece of paper, is by following the majority. And if the truth, and what's right, have to be cast aside in the process, so be it.
Now, you may or may not think I gave my daughter good advice. But this kind of approach is exactly what God doesn't want to see in the real world, especially in legal disputes.
When it comes to legal disputes, the truth is everything. So don't follow the herd in their wickedness. And don't try to sway the herd, into believing and doing the wrong thing.
Verse 3:
(3) while the poor you shall not show favoritism to in his legal dispute. ["the poor" is probably a topical frame, being added to the existing situation. van der Merwe glosses "poor" as "powerless"].
If you feel compassion for the working poor, that's a good thing. If you feel compassion for people who are legitimately disabled, and poor, that's also good.
But when it comes to legal disputes, you have to be careful about how you let that compassion come out. Just because you have compassion for someone, doesn't mean you can decide in their favor. You can't be a false witness in their support. And you can't be a wicked judge, and show favoritism to the poor. God's not okay with that.
The other way to think about this, is that if one person is poor, the other person in a legal dispute isn't. Perhaps that person is rich.
Now, there are maybe people in this room who instinctively, reflexively, dislike the rich. They see them driving nice cars, or trucks. They see them pulling into beautiful homes, in the nice part of town. They see them as bosses, and general managers, and CEOs. And when they see these people living comfortable, prosperous lives, they feel a lot of ugly emotions-- anger, greed, envy, frustration. When a legal dispute pops up between someone rich, and someone poor, you can't view that as an opportunity to level the playing field. Just because someone's poor, doesn't mean their cause is right. Just because someone's rich, doesn't mean they should be punished, or treated more harshly.
Let me tell you another story. When I was a kid, there was one day my dad was driving us three kids in the backseat on a freeway toward our house, and we saw a Mercedes broken down on the side of the road. We three kids knew that a Mercedes was a rich man's car. And we knew, sitting in the back of that Dodge Omni, that it was better to own a small, cheap car. It was better to live modestly. And so, as we passed that Mercedes, we three kids all cheered. Loudly.
Terrible, right?
I'm pretty sure my dad was appalled. But he took that opportunity to teach us about how we should view the rich. We don't celebrate when bad things happen to rich people. And we don't look for opportunities, to harm the rich.
In legal disputes, God expects all people to be treated fairly.
This brings us to verses 4-5. Here, God shifts our attention from legal disputes, to talking about oxen. We are maybe going to struggle with the mental switch, but there's a reason for the shift:
(4) When you come upon the ox of your enemy or his donkey going astray, you shall surely/in fact bring it back to him.
(5) When you see the donkey of the one hating you lying down [helpless] under its burden, you should refrain from leaving [it] to him.
You shall surely/in fact restore (Neh. 3:8)/rearrange [the load] (Job 9:27) with him.
------------------------------------------------------------
Verse 5 is really difficult. "You should refrain from leaving [it] to him."
We find the same verb plus preposition in Job 39:14: "For she leaves/abandons TO the earth her eggs.
In the Exodus passage, the "it"-- the ox-- would be implied.
The verb I translated "restore," following van der Merwe (who points to DBL), is actually the same verb translated "leaving/abandoning" in the previous line. A word play, of sorts? It means "restore" in Nehemiah 3:8, 34. HALOT suggests a similar meaning in Exodus 23:5-- "to put into an order, arrange." So also Job 9:27, where Job talks about "putting his face in order," meaning "to adopt a different look" (HALOT). The idea, DBL, is "to bring something back to an original condition, implying effort to accomplish the goal."
The KJV and NIV possibly emend the text, changing the verb from "abandon" to "help," verbs that nearly look the same: ????? to ????? . Amusingly, that's how I read the Hebrew originally, and didn't realize what I'd done until reading a commentary (h/t William Propp). Or perhaps they are just loosely translating the sense here. Comparing translations, I'm basically following the NASB here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are times in life, when you might find that someone hates you. You picked up an enemy, for one reason or another, and that relationship is just an ongoing, difficult one.
You maybe know, as a member of God's kingdom people, that you have to be careful about how you treat that person. You can't steal from them. You can't murder them. You can't envy them, or their stuff. There is a line that you can't cross, to get even with them, or punish them.
The situations verses 4-5 describe, are a way to be mean to your enemy, passively. In both of the pictures God paints here, what exactly do you do to your enemy?
Nothing. You do nothing.
Imagine that you see your enemy's ox going astray. Somehow, it slipped the fence, or the rope, and it's roaming free. An ox is a valuable animal. It's worth a lot of money. So imagine that you see that ox, and recognize it as being your enemy's. Maybe, you'd find yourself smirking about it, and thinking, "Serves him right." Maybe you'd turn to your companion, and say, laughing, "If only there was someone who could help him."
But God expects you to love your enemy, by bringing his ox back.
In the second picture God paints, your enemy has a loaded ox, and somewhere along the way it all went wrong for him. Maybe the load slipped, and it became unbalanced, and the ox just can't handle it. Maybe the rope broke, and the load is scattered across the trail.
So you turn a corner, and come across your enemy, who's having a very bad, no good, terrible day. You can tell at a glance what happened.
And your natural, human, fleshly reaction to this situation, is going to be to rub salt in the wound. You might find that the insults, and mocking, flow naturally out of your mouth. You might find yourself celebrating it, like we three kids celebrated the Mercedes when we were little. Maybe, as you walk carefully around the mess, you say to your kids in a loud voice, "This is why I taught you guys the bowline knot."
But God says "no" to this. God, again, expects you to love your enemy, by helping him "rearrange" the load, and "restoring" that ox to what it was before.
And the bigger point God is making here, I think, is that God expects you to do the right thing for all people, including your enemy. That's how this fits in with the legal dispute stuff. Any situation you're in, you do the right thing, for all people (h/t Joe Sprinkle, Book of the Covenant).
Verse 6-8:
(6) You shall not pervert/twist (DBL) the judgment of your poor in his legal dispute.
(7) From false words you shall stand far off,
while the innocent and the righteous you shall not kill,
because I don't declare as right(eous) the wicked,
(8) while a bribe/gift you shall not take,
because the bribe/gift blinds those who see,
and it overthrows (Job 12:19)/ruins(Proverbs 19:3) the words/affairs (1 Kings 15:5; 1 Samuel 10:16-- "affairs" is better here) of the righteous,
Earlier, in verse 3, God had told his people that they can't favor the poor in their legal disputes. Just because someone is weak, and powerless, doesn't mean you falsely testify on their behalf, or rule in their favor when you shouldn't.
In verses 6-8, God addresses the other side of the coin. Just because someone is poor, and weak, and vulnerable (the word "poor" has this sense), doesn't mean that you can exploit them. You can't twist judgments so that the poor suffer. You can't make decisions that kill the righteous. You can't accept gifts from the rich and powerful.
----------------------------------------------
On "gifts/bribes": Not necessarily a "bribe." Idea is something like politicians receiving gifts from corporations, or wealthy donors. DBL: 8816 ?????? (šo•?a?): n.masc.; = Str 7810; TWOT 2359a—1. LN 57.71–57.124 gift, present, i.e., something given without an explicit quid pro quo, but implies a relationship of favor (Pr 17:8; 21:14; Isa 45:13+), note: in Proverbs the NIV translates as “bribe” and so emphasizes the manipulative nature of some gift giving;
-----------------------------------------------------------
Verse 8, in particular, is interesting. Righteous people, by and large, are quiet, and hard-working, and keep their noses out of other people's business. Think about a righteous dairy farmer. She doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about other people. She's too busy feeding, and milking, and mucking out the barn, and cutting hay, to mess with other people. Who has time to curry favor with the local politicians, and with the city elders? And why would you even need to do so?
Your "affairs" are enough to keep you busy.
But that righteous dairy farmer, because she doesn't give gifts, and curry favor, has made herself vulnerable to the wicked. Imagine that a friend of the judge falsely claims that one of those milk cows, is actually hers. Or that he had a big pile of wheat, and the dairy farmer let one of her cows get into it, and eat it all up.
When the elders accept gifts, or bribes, from people, they find that they no longer can "see" the truth. The gift blinds them. And, as a result, the affairs of the righteous are destroyed. That dairy farmer is forced to repay her neighbor for the loss of wheat. That dairy farmer gets her cow taken away.
That's what God doesn't want to see.
So if you're in positions of authority, God doesn't want you to accept gifts. If God was addressing us, He'd say people like politicians, judges, and the police, shouldn't accept gifts from anyone-- but especially, from the rich, and powerful, and connected. That gift will blind you to the truth, and it will result in evil being done toward the righteous.
At this point, let's reread verse 7 because here, God reveals something about himself:
(7) From false words you shall stand far off,
while the innocent and the righteous you shall not kill,
because I don't acquit/declare as right(eous) the wicked,
Yahweh is not the kind of God who declares the wicked, as righteous. When we read this, we maybe find ourselves confused, or even smiling a little bit. God has "acquited" us in Christ. God has "declared" us righteous, in Christ. Right?
But this righteousness wasn't free. It wasn't something God simply spoke into being. It came through his son's death, resurrection, and ascension.
So what does verse 7 mean?
I can think of two ways to read this, and we are probably supposed to hear them both.
(1) If you use falsehoods to exploit the poor, and even murder them, you are acting in a way that God doesn't. That's not the kind of thing God does, and God expects his people to act like him.
(2) If you use falsehoods to exploit the poor, and murder them, you are setting yourself up for God's judgment. You've become wicked, and God isn't going to let that go. Your judgment will come.
Verse 9:
(9) while a resident alien you shall not squeeze/oppress,
while/and you know the life of the resident alien,
because resident aliens you were in the land of Egypt. ["resident aliens" is focused]
People who immigrate to Israel from other lands are vulnerable. They probably speak a slightly different (Northwest Semitic) language. They maybe look a little different. But there are two main things that they lack:
(1) They don't control the land, and land is the source of wealth. Without land, you have no guaranteed way to make a living.
(2) They don't have family. Without family, you don't have a network of support. There is no one who will speak up for you, and fight for you. There's no one who can provide for you, if you get hurt or injured.
So resident aliens are vulnerable. They can be taken advantage of. They can be exploited. The easiest way to do this, is by being an unreasonable boss. You can force a resident alien to work all day in the hot sun, without breaks, and without adequate water. You can promise a resident alien $200 to work in your fields all day, and then pay half that at the end of the day.
God says, "Don't do that." Don't squeeze the resident alien. You, of all people, know what it's like to live under harsh, unfair masters. So if you find yourself thinking wicked thoughts that involve taking advantage of them, remember Egypt.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are lots of applications we should draw from this passage. But I'd like to leave you with just two:
(1) You've probably heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor, and hate your enemy." But this idea certainly isn't found in the OT. In the OT, God expects you to do good to your enemy. To help people, and show them grace and kindness, despite yourself.
We all know people who we enjoy helping. A good friend calls you up, needing a hand, and you're happy to go help, and spend time with them. Or perhaps someone wealthy, and powerful, and connected, calls you up, wanting your help, and you know this is a great opportunity. A local business owner needs your help, and you know that helping her leaves the door open to getting a job there down the road. It's smart, and profitable, to help some people.
When we look at the passage as a whole, we see that God is calling us to do the right thing, and be a loving neighbor, to everyone around us. Do the right thing for the rich, and for the poor. Do the right thing for your friend, and for your enemy. Do the right thing for the resident alien. Do the right thing for people who can bless you, and for people who can do nothing for you.
In the OT, God expects you to love your neighbor as yourself, regardless of who your neighbor is.
(2) The second thing I want us to focus on, is legal disputes. There might come a time when you become a key witness in a legal dispute. You heard something, or saw something, that will make or break a case.
Most of the time, testifying in court is a no brainer. But there are times when testifying is scary. If you're testifying against violent people, or a gang member, or a dirty cop, or a crooked politician, you're going to be worried. The lock on your door isn't enough protection from some people.
If you find yourself being scared, remember that God doesn't "acquit" the wicked, so you can't either. Be truthful about what you saw.
The other thing you might be called on to do, at one point or another, is serve on a jury. If that happens, understand that the truth really matters to God. You might find yourself instinctively wanting to side with one side or the other, for one reason or another. Maybe you find yourself wanting to believe the woman, or the oppressed minority, or the poor person. Or maybe you want to side with the rich, and powerful, and connected, for what they can do for you. [The wrinkle that would complicate this in Israel, is that you aren't strangers to the people you are judging. You grew up with the people involved, usually.]
Or perhaps you are a jury in the kind of case that's explosive. Rodney King. George Floyd. Kyle Rittenhouse. You know your verdict is quite possibly going to lead to ugly effects-- rioting, looting. You know there's a risk that people will follow you home from court, and discover where you will live, and harm you or your family. Being a jury member can be a scary, costly thing.
God expects you to focus on the truth. Decide rightly, understanding that God doesn't acquit the wicked.
--------------------------------------------
Bonus quote from Duane A. Garrett, A Commentary on Exodus: Commentary, Kregel Exegetical Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2014), 527:
Respect for the truth is the most precious possession a person can have. It saves one from self-deception in one’s own interest or in the interest of popular or deeply held prejudice. The issue naturally has great gravity in the law courts. If one distorts the truth because of a personal or popular prejudice, or indeed because of a bribe, then a terrible injustice can be perpetrated. But it also has significance for personal behavior: the fact that I do not like a person or the group from which he comes has no bearing on that person’s rights or on my duties.
------------------------------------------------
Translation:
(1) You shall not lift up a false report.
You shall not put your hand with the wicked
by/for the purpose of being a malicious witness.
(2) You shall not follow after/behind the many/majority,
by/for the purpose of doing evil,
and you shall not testify in a legal dispute,
by/for the purpose of turning aside after/behind the many/majority,
by/for the purpose of twisting/perverting [the truth/justice],
--------------------------
"L," here translated as "by/for the purpose of," is a prefix at the start of the infinitive construct. It can give the purpose (Num. 33:53; Ps. 50:4), or, it can be explicative, explaining how (Judges 9:56, "by murdering"; 1 Kings 3:3, "by walking"; Ex. 20:8, "by keeping it holy."). BHRG 39.11.3.b.
My guess is that the first two "by/for the purpose of" are explicative, (="by"). Purpose ("for the purpose of") works better for the last two, following "testify in a legal dispute." You can't testify for the purpose of following the evil majority, or bending the majority away from the truth.
Basically, you have to be willing to stand alone on the truth. A refusal to take the easy, popular, wrong position in legal disputes.
--------------------------------
(3) while the poor you shall not show favoritism to in his legal dispute. ["the poor" is probably a topical frame, being added to the existing situation. van der Merwe glosses "poor" as "powerless"].
(4) When you come upon the ox of your enemy or his donkey going astray, you shall surely/in fact bring it back to him.
(5) When you see the donkey of the one hating you lying down [helpless] under its burden, you should refrain from leaving [it] to him.
You shall surely/in fact restore (Neh. 3:8)/rearrange [the load] (Job 9:27) with him.
(6) You shall not pervert/twist (DBL) the judgment of your poor in his legal dispute.
(7) From false words you shall stand far off,
while the innocent and the righteous you shall not kill,
because I don't declare as right(eous) the wicked,
(8) while a bribe/gift you shall not take,
because the bribe/gift blinds those who see,
and it overthrows (Job 12:19)/ruins(Proverbs 19:3) the words/affairs (1 Kings 15:5; 1 Samuel 10:16) of the righteous,
(9) while a resident alien you shall not squeeze/oppress,
while/and you know the life of the resident alien,
because resident aliens you were in the land of Egypt.
.
