Today, we work our way through Exodus 23:10-19. This is another one of those passages where we will find ourselves being pulled in lots of different directions. God sort of hops around, from one topic to another. And we will have to do our best to hop with him, and keep up. Part of me wonders if that isn't part of the point. The vision God has for his kingdom people covers all of life. Any sermon that covers farming, work, rest, worship, and cooking, has pretty much covered life. Right? God's vision covers everything we do.
So. Even though our passage starts in verse 10, let's start in verse 12. And then we'll backtrack (I couldn't make it come out right following the verse order). Verse 12:
(12) Six days you (masculine singular) shall do your work,
while on the seventh day you shall cease ("shall sabbat"),
in order that your ox and your donkey may rest,
and [in order that] the son of your female servant and the resident alien may be refreshed (Exodus 31:17; 2
Samuel 16:14),
The easiest way into these verses, is by reminding ourselves about the manna God has been giving Israel in the wilderness. God set it up so that six days a week, God's people would work. They would go out and gather the manna, and on the seventh day-- Saturday-- they would rest. This created a rhythm to the week. It also created a cycle of time, where days don't seamlessly blend, one into the other. Life is not an unending, undifferentiated blur. There is a rhythm and flow, to all of it.
Now, this seven day rhythm wasn't something that came naturally to the Israelites. It was something they had to learn. They had what you could call a slave mentality, or maybe a consumer mentality. The focus was on getting as much as you can, whenever you can, because life is hard. You alone are responsible for providing for yourself, and that's a tough job. So life is all about work. You worked seven days, to provide for yourself, seven days. That's how it was in Egypt. And that's the attitude they brought with them into the wilderness (along with Egyptian loot).
God broke them of this slave mentality by how He gave them manna. For five days each week, God gave his people enough for that day. You'd go out and gather, and there'd be plenty. You'd have "no lack." If you tried to get enough for the next day, out of a lack of faith in God's provision, or out of greed perhaps, God made sure that it would get maggots. So the next day, when you woke up, you'd have day-old, maggot-filled manna. And you'd look around outside, and see beautiful fresh manna. When you look at the maggot-filled manna, and the fresh manna, which do you choose? (LIFO for the win!).
So you learn pretty quickly that there's no sense worrying about tomorrow-- that God will supply you with the bread you need for today, today (Matthew 6:11). And having your daily bread is enough, when Yahweh is your God (1 Corinthians 8:13-15).
But on the sixth day of the week, Friday, God changed the routine. God wanted people to have a day of rest-- Saturday. And so He changed how the manna worked, or, who knows, maybe He slightly changed the recipe to make it shelf-stable. On Friday, the people would gather enough for two days, so that they could enjoy their day of rest, on a full stomach. And that's a total kindness on God's part, right? It's hard to enjoy a day of rest, if you're hungry.
So at this point, God has rewired his people, transformed their minds and behaviors (Romans 12:1-2). This cycle of life has become part of who they are. It's part of what defines Israel, as Israel. And what we see in Exodus 23:12, is that this cycle is something that God wants to continue in the promised land. You work six days, and you take one day off.
Now, what's interesting here, is why Exodus 23 says you take this one day off.
The "you" throughout these two verses is masculine singular. The focus here is on the male head of the house, who has authority over the servants in his house, and over his animals (a sentence that makes no one quite happy, maybe).
God commands the man here to rest on the Sabbath, not for his own sake, but for the sake of his servants and his animals. His animals need a day of rest. And his servants need a time of refreshment. The Sabbath rest isn't just about you, as an individual. It's also about everyone around you, especially the most vulnerable-- the people who can't say "no." The people who can be forced to work. A Sabbath where the men get to watch (Saturday) college football, while the wives or servants make a perfect dinner after synagogue gets out, isn't a true Sabbath for everyone.
So God wants to give people a time of refreshment. This word, "refreshment," is really interesting (also 2 Samuel 16:14). You could also translate it, "a time of catching your breath." Let's turn to Exodus 31:15-17:
(15) Six days work shall be done,
while on the seventh day, a Sabbath/Ceasing of resting, holy/consecrated for Yahweh.
Anyone doing work on the day of the Sabbath shall surely be put to death,
(16) and the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath
by doing the Sabbath for their generations, an everlasting covenant.
(17) Between me and between the sons of Israel, a sign ["sign" is focused] it is for everlasting,
because six days Yahweh did (=made) the heavens and the earth,
while on the seventh day He Sabbathed/ceased,
and He was "refreshed."
After creating the world, God takes the time to "catch his breath" (HALOT gloss; the word is related to the Hebrew word for breathing), and refresh himself. And if God does that, then so should his creation.
So if you're "the man," you need to make sure you don't look like Pharaoh. You give the people and the animals under you the day off. You need to give them a chance to rest, and catch their breath. Life is supposed to have a cycle of work, and rest. And that's true for everyone-- not just for business owners, and managers, and pharaohs. Even "the help" gets a break. And actually, it's the help in particular, who get a break. God's focus is on them.
At this point, let's back up, and add on verses 10-11:
(10) And six years you (masculine singular) shall sow your land,
and you shall gather its yield,
(11) while the seventh you shall drop (2 Kings 9:33)/release (Deut. 15:2) it,
and you shall leave (1 Sam. 17:20, 22, 28)/abandon (1 Samuel 12:22) it,
and the poor of your people shall eat,
and their leftovers the living things of the field shall eat.
Thus you shall do for your vineyard, for your olive grove.
God set up Israelite life, so that it would have a seven day rhythm of work and rest every week. And what we see in verses 10-11, is God setting up a broader seven year cycle of work and rest as well. For six years, you will plant, and gather. And on the seventh, you won't. The seventh year, you "release" the land, leaving it. And on that year, the poor can eat of any volunteer crops that spring up. And anything they don't eat, the wildlife can help itself to. [Leviticus 25 says you can eat it as well.]
Who does this law benefit? Who is it for?
This is a law that benefits the poor, and wildlife. It also benefits the land. When you take that seventh year off, you "release" the land. You give it a chance to rest.
Most of the time, I'm able to hide my true origins as a city-slicker. At least, I like to think I can. But on stuff like this, I still feel really inadequate. So take all of this with a grain of salt-- as something to think about, and chew on. I'm not a highly certified ag consultant. All I have is google, and I'm pretty sure that being able to google something, doesn't make me an expert. And for the record, this is the part that will bother some of you.
Most of you know I'm not an environmental alarmist. I'm not scared of CO2. If there is global warming, and I don't think there is-- which is why we talk about climate "change" now, and not global "warming"-- I don't think humans are the cause. I don't think we are all going to die in 10 years if we don't spend trillions now to save the earth. I don't think I need to freeze to death to lower my carbon footprint.
At the same time, if there's one ongoing environmental concern in the Midwest, arguably, it has to do with the topsoil levels. Most farms around here are on their fifth generation of farmers. Call it 150 years of farming the same ground. And it's shocking how much topsoil has been lost. No one really knows for sure. But there's lots of places in ND where it's measured in inches, when it used to be measured in feet.
https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ag-hub/ag-topics/crop-production/soil-health/cost-soil-erosion
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-say-nations-corn-belt-has-lost-third-its-topsoil-180977485/
It's not that crops can't be grown where there's less topsoil. It just takes a lot more fertilizer, and water, to compensate for the loss of carbon and nitrogen in the soil. And every year that farmers till their fields, it gets a little worse. They lose maybe just under 2 cm every year, depending on the year.
Have I said anything stupid yet?
Basically, the way that people are farming, as a whole, isn't sustainable. Topsoil is being lost faster than it's being replenished. And if you lose enough topsoil, yields eventually start to crater. You have to compensate by adding more fertilizer, and it gets more expensive.
This might not be a problem for this generation of farmers, or even the next. They can make the numbers work.
But if you're a farmer, you can look at your fields, and see that this isn't some government hoax, or left wing scare tactic. It's real. And you can compare how much fertilizer you use today, with how much you used 30 years ago, and see that the math is changing.
My guess is that the basic problem here-- and again, grain of salt-- is found in Exodus 23:11:
(11) while the seventh you shall drop (2 Kings 9:33)/release (Deut. 15:2) it,
and you shall leave (1 Sam. 17:20, 22, 28)/abandon (1 Samuel 12:22) it,
The land isn't ever being "released," and "left." It's being worked hard, without a break.
Now, I'm not exactly sure what the solution is. But let me back up, and come back to this diagonally, by talking about the Sabbath, from the perspective of the NT (this is hermeneutics).
When I read the OT, I do so as a Christian (scholar). And a key part of my (hermeneutical) framework for reading, is the belief that we Gentiles are NOT "under" the old covenant. When we read the Book of the Covenant in Exodus, we understand that God doesn't expect us to "keep" every law. We aren't "under" the law (Galatians 5:18). We "fulfill" the law (Romans 8:4).
At the same time, we understand that God gave the OT law to his people for their benefit, out of kindness. God has very real, very clear expectations for his people. But those expectations all point his people down a good road, to a good way of life.
The Sabbath laws we read this morning are a great example of how this should work. The NT is clear that we don't have to keep the Sabbath. Colossians 2:16-17 is the kind of classic text that you build everything else around (NIV no reason):
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
If you choose to work on a Saturday, or shop, or cook, or whatever, it's okay. Sometimes, you do what you have to do. My own employer forces everyone to work every Saturday during the Christmas season. It is what it is.
However, God gave the Sabbath as a gift to people. The Sabbath is for people; people aren't for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28). And if you choose to make a practice of working seven days a week, you're going to find that your life stinks. God knows you need a break. You need time to "rest," and be "refreshed." If you don't take that time, you will be unhappy, and miserable. You'll probably die before you get your 70 or 80 years in. And, ironically, you'll probably be less productive over time.
I think all of this, about the Sabbath, transfers over to land management. And again, grain of salt. I'm speaking about things I don't understand.
I think a good starting point for any thinking about land, is Exodus 23. You should view the land like Exodus does-- as a living being (so also Romans 8:18-22). Your land is like a servant, or an ox. It needs a break. It needs a time when it can be "dropped," and "released." If you work the land as hard as possible, seven days a week, seven years straight, for 150 years straight, it won't hold up.
Now, how do you give your land a break? How do you help it rest?
The simplest answer to that, would be what God commanded Israel in Exodus 23. Every seven years, you take your fields out of production. This follows the cycles of life that God set up, and Jews to this day continue to rest their fields every seven years.
So you could do that. That's an option. You could take all your fields out of production every seven years, maybe even following the Jewish calendar (because maybe God is still faithfully rewarding people for obeying/trusting him on that), and find another job in town for that year. Or you could do it on a rotating basis, so that there's always something to farm.
That's one option. But some of you, hearing this, maybe hear this as too much of a stretch. The idea of taking fields out of production, in rotation, and maybe putting down a cover crop, and giving up that income, is too much.
And maybe, you find yourself really upset. Here's a city slicker, telling you how to farm.
If you find yourself thinking about your bank loans, and bills, and you just don't see any way that this can work, maybe it would be enough to do other things, to show kindness to your land, and work it less hard.
And again. All I have is google. Grain of salt. But to decrease soil erosion, as a first line of defense, you can "increase the water-holding capacity of the soil" by building up organic matter. You can use "crop litter to absorb the energy and reduce... splash erosion." You can do contour plowing as a second line of defense. You can break up slopes with terraces, or turn them into grazing land for cattle
(https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reclamation-of-man-made-desert/).
Maybe the best thing you can do, is no-till farming.
I don't know. I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers. But possibly I can say this: When you farm in a sustainable way, you're not just making sure the land/topsoil is still there for your grandkids. What you are doing, maybe, is "fulfilling" the law. You are treating your land like a living being, that needs a break.
If you're a farmer, all I'd suggest, is that you just think about it. Chew on it. Chew on Exodus.
At this point, let's try to transition back to Exodus. Imagine you're an Israelite farmer. And God tells you, plant and harvest for six years. But the seventh year, you have to "drop" the land, and "release" it.
That naturally raises the question, of how you can be expected to live for a year on nothing. It's the same problem that the Sabbath raises. How can you work only six days a week, and have enough? Don't you need to work seven days a week, to have enough, for seven days?
Don't you need to work seven years, to have enough for seven years?
My guess is that the first reaction a lot of farmers have to these verses, is to think there's no way that this would work in real life. Farmers are not made of money. You can't just take a year off, every seven years, and let people roam through your fields, and orchards, and grab the volunteer crop. Can you?
If we add Leviticus 25 to our passage, we find that God himself anticipates this question (NIV?). Verse 18-22:
18 “‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. 20 You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” 21 I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 22 While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.
God sets this up for his people, to make it as easy as possible for them. The seven year cycle God is creating won't require any faith, or trust, on their part. God will give them more than enough, up front, in the sixth year. They'll be able to look at the grain bins, and know that they are okay. All that God requires of them, really, is two things. The first, is obedience. And the second, is contentment. You have to look at your bins, and be happy with what you have.
And even if you struggle with this, in Leviticus at least, all of Israel gives all of its land a rest at the same time. So if you're out there tilling, or weeding, or whatever, it's really obvious that you're disobeying God. There's no way to secretly farm on your ancestral land.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-farmers-who-are-giving-their-land-a-years-rest/
Now, one of the things I found myself wondering this week, is what would happen if a Christian Gentile farmer tried to straightforwardly apply this, and talked to God about it. "God, I will try giving my land a break, not just once a week, but also on a rotating seven year basis. I'm not doing this in a legalistic, under-the-law sort of way, but as an expression of faith, but as a way to give my land a rest. I do so, trusting you to provide for me."
It'd be interesting to see how God responded to that, and what He would do for the farmer, and the farmer's land.
With this, we come to verse 13. I'm just going to read through verse 19, and then fly a little high over it:
(13) while (in) all that I have told you, you shall guard/keep,
while the name of other elohim/gods you shall not invoke/proclaim (Isaiah 12:4)/cause to be remembered (Genesis 40:14).
It shall not be heard upon your mouth.
(14) Three times you shall celebrate festivals to/for me each year.
(15) The festival of unleavened bread you shall keep.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread,
just as I commanded you at the appointed time in the month of Aviv,
because in it you came out from Egypt,
and they shall not appear before my face/presence empty-handed,
(16) and the Festival of the Harvest of the First Fruits of Your Work-- what you sow in the field--
and the Festival of the Gathering of the Harvest-- at the end of the year, when you gather your work from the field.
(17) Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the face/presence of the Lord Yahweh.
(18) You shall not sacrifice upon leavened bread the blood of my sacrifice,
and the fat/choice part of my feast/festival shall not remain until morning.
(19) The best (Numbers 24:20; Deuteronomy 33:21) of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of Yahweh your God/Elohim.
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
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There's a lot of discussion about the goat in its mother's milk. Perhaps, it shows that life (milk) and death need to be kept separate. But you can cook it in a different goat's milk, so that's not right. Perhaps, it's just super messed up, because a mother's milk should go in the young goat, not the young goat in its mother's milk. It's backwards, and backwards sorts of things, are the kinds of things God doesn't allow (h/t William Propp). A third explanation, would be that no mother should ever have to participate in the death of her children (h/t William Propp again, I think).
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What I'd like to focus on, big picture, is the three festivals God sets up here. I'll admit that Israelite festivals are something I really don't have a good handle on. This whole passage is something of a struggle for me. But let me read something from a commentator (Duane Garrett, Exodus, 50. Everything that follows on this is based on his commentary):
"Israel classically celebrated seven major festivals: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost (Feast of Weeks), Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Sukkoth (Tabernacles). This text only speaks of three festivals: Unleavened Bread, Harvest (equivalent to Pentecost), and Ingathering (equivalent to Sukkoth).
The three festivals named here are all related to the agricultural cycle. The Festival of Unleavened Bread comes at the beginning of the spring barley harvest. Harvest, or Pentecost, comes at the end of the wheat harvest seven weeks later. And The Festival of the Ingathering comes at the end of the agricultural year.
So basically, at three key points in the harvest season, every (weaned) male was supposed to appear before Yahweh-- maybe at a local shrine, maybe at the Tabernacle, maybe down the road at the Jerusalem Temple. Somewhere. And when you presented yourself before Yahweh, at the holy place, you came with an offering.
Why does God set up these festivals?
God knows that the best time of year for a farmer is harvest. There's always a thrill when you get to start tilling or planting. And it's fun seeing stuff starting to pop up through the ground. But there's nothing that brings quite so much joy, as seeing the corn and beans and wheat hit the grain bins.
What God is doing, I think, is making sure that you connect that joy to God. Every good harvest comes from God. It's a gift to you. God wants to be praised when the crops start to come in. He wants to be praised at the end of maybe the most important crop-- wheat. And when the harvest is all done, and the tractors are cleaned up, and stored inside, God wants to be praised one more time. Based on Romans 1:21, really, half of what God wants from people, is thanksgiving and praise (Romans 1:21).
So, all of you who are farmers know that harvest is the best time of year. And God wants to make sure that when you celebrate, that you are celebrating God as well. If you're at the bar at the end of harvest, raising a beer in celebration, partly raise that beer to God.
Now, when you come to celebrate Yahweh, and his faithfulness, our passage today tells us there's four things that God wants from you (put in outline) at these festivals. At least, four things if you're an Israelite.
The first is in the last line of verse 16:
"and they shall not appear before my face/presence empty-handed,"
(1) Come with a gift
When you come before God, in his holy place, you shouldn't be empty-handed. It's not enough, that you show up. God wants to see a gift-- a sacrifice-- in your hand.
For me, personally, this is an idea that's become kind of important to me over the past year. I'm not sure how it happened, or when. But when I come to church, I need to drop something in the offering. There have been a few times I've forgotten the check at home, and I go home feeling dirty. I came empty-handed.
The other time I've thought about this-- before I even knew this verse existed-- is when I do pulpit supply.
Probably, no one expects a visiting preacher to put something in the offering. But maybe God does. And when I travel to a church empty-handed, and preach, and leave, I go home feeling a little dirty. I still tithe that week. I just don't tithe in that moment, at that church. I don't give anything. And it hasn't been sitting well, to be honest.
I would just encourage you to think about always giving something, anytime you show up for church to worship. As a family (and sacrifices were usually offered as a family), don't come empty-handed. Maybe that only means $5, or $2. If you're a farmer, I understand that you don't get paid every week. But consider putting something in the offering. That gift is part of how you say "thank you" to God, every time you come before him as part of God's people.
The second thing that God wants from his people is in verse 18:
(18) You shall not sacrifice together with leavened bread the blood of my sacrifice,
(2) Don't mix leavened bread, and animal sacrifice.
I'm not sure exactly how to explain this. There are some types of sacrifices you can offer God, where leavened bread can be part of the sacrifice (Leviticus 7:13; 23:17; Amos 4:5). So leaven isn't a problem, by itself.
But when the sacrifice involves animals, and blood-- and not every sacrifice does (if all we read is Hebrews we can get the wrong idea)-- you can't use leaven. Leaven, and blood, don't go together.
Most scholars say the reason for this is that "Leavening can represent corruption, and thus it is incompatible with a blood sacrifice, an act of ritual purification" (Duane Garrett, Exodus, 531; so also Nahum Sarna). I don't know if that's really right. But it's the standard explanation.
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The gloss "together with" for "al" is that of van der Merwe. This usage of "al" would probably fit under "C", vicinity, in Clines, DCH:
c. vicinity, (1) beside, by, next to, near, at, in the presence of, before
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The third requirement God makes is in the last line of verse 18:
and the fat/choice part of my feast/festival shall not remain until morning.
The fatty part of the sacrifice either needs to be eaten, or burned, before morning. The idea here, maybe, is that "Fat quickly turns rancid, and the decay and stench would be contrary to the holiness sacrifice is meant to communicate" (Duane Garrett, Exodus, 531).
So the third thing, maybe we can summarize, as "Eat/burn the fatty part before sunrise."
If you're looking for an application for that, I'm sorry.
The fourth thing God is looking for, is in verse 19:
(19) The best (Numbers 24:20; Deuteronomy 33:21) of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of Yahweh your God/Elohim.
Imagine that you're a farmer, and you've gathered in your crop. Some of it, at least, depending on which festival you're about to celebrate. You're going to go worship God, and you can't come empty-handed. So what do you bring? You have this pile of barley. What portion of it do you plan to offer God?
My wife does a lot of her grocery shopping these days at Walmart. And she's one of those people who use the computer to do so. You click what you want to buy, and through the magic of the internet, that information gets sent to Walmart. A Walmart employee does your shopping for you, and brings you your purchase out to your car, on the south side of the parking lot, at the time slot you requested. It's super easy, and convenient. Especially if you manage to have your husband do the pickup.
So picture a Walmart worker, in front of the bananas. She's supposed to get 2 lbs. of bananas. Which ones does she pick out, to give my wife? How does she make that choice?
She could just grab the first 2 lbs of bananas she sees, without really looking at it or caring. She could grab some slightly bruised ones, and tell herself that my wife won't notice or care. Or she could pick out the best. My guess is that my wife's account has a giant red flag by it, and a huge pop-up on the screen, that says she's super picky. She doesn't actually like rotting strawberries very much, or horribly bruised apples, or bananas that are ready for banana bread. If you're picking produce for my wife, you should pick the best.
That's basically God's philosophy for sacrifices. God's account has a giant red flag by it, warning you of his expectations. If you're a farmer looking at your piles of barley, or wheat, trying to figure out what to give God, it's an easy call. You don't pick out the blemished part that's got a little disease, or didn't form quite right, or got chewed on by bugs. You don't pick the wheat that has below food grade quality protein levels. God gets your best. And, I guess fifth, still verse 19, He gets your first. God gets the best of your firstfruits.
So, there are parts of this passage that seem to apply more to us today than others. But I took three main things from this passage:
(1) Animals, people, and the land all need breaks. They're not machines. They're living things. All of them need time to rest, and be refreshed. And that's a total kindness on God's part.
(2) Don't come before God empty-handed.
(3) Give God your first and your best.
Translation:
(10) And six years you shall sow your land,
and you shall gather its yield,
(11) while the seventh you shall drop (2 Kings 9:33)/release (Deut. 15:2) it,
and you shall abandon it,
and the poor of your people shall eat,
and their leftovers the living things of the field shall eat.
Thus you shall do for your vineyard, for your olive grove.
(12) Six days you shall do your work,
while on the seventh day you shall cease ("shall sabbat"),
in order that your ox and your donkey may rest,
and [in order that] the son of your female servant and the resident alien may be refreshed (Exodus 31:17; 2 Samuel 16:14),
(13) while in all that I have told you, you shall guard/keep,
while the name of other elohim/gods you shall not invoke/proclaim (Isaiah 12:4)/cause to be remembered (Genesis 40:14).
It shall not be heard upon your mouth.
(14) Three times you shall celebrate festivals to/for me each year.
(15) The festival of unleavened bread you shall keep.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread,
just as I commanded you at the appointed time in the month of Aviv,
because in it you came out from Egypt,
and they shall not appear before my face/presence empty-handed,
(16) and the Festival of the Harvest of the First Fruits of Your Work-- what you sow in the field--
and the Festival of the Gathering of the Harvest-- at the end of the year, when you gather your work from the field.
(17) Three times in the year all your men shall appear before the face/presence of the Lord Yahweh.
(18) You shall not sacrifice upon leavened bread the blood of my sacrifice,
and the fat/choice part of my feast/festival shall not remain until morning.
(19) The best (Numbers 24:20; Deuteronomy 33:21) of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of Yahweh your God/Elohim.
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
