Mercy & Rest

July 20, 2009, 10:00 am by dc-agape.

Exodus 23:1-13

This section is sorely lacking in today’s society.  This covers more about false testimony.  But it goes further and covers acts of goodwill and accepting bribes.  It repeats the law for treatment of aliens and ends with an excellent concept of crop rotation! 

The first topic deals with giving false witness.  I guess being in the top 10 was not enough to guarantee people would follow that commandment, so YHWH made two laws about it.  One law is to not spread false reports.  This law is followed by a clarification to ensure that no one would help a wicked man by giving malicious reports.  How difficult this one is to stop, or even prove!  The second law deals with following the crowd.  This law requires a person to give the proper testimony, even when the crowds want a specific result.  Peer pressure is a major problem.  How exactly do you make someone go against the flow of the crowd? 

The next two laws deal with helping your enemy.  If your enemy has lost his property and you find it you are required to return it to him!  And if you see his animals need help, you are required to help the animal out.  I wonder how easy it is to just ignore someone else property in general?  Can you imagine having to help your enemy?

Justice was also important to YHWH.  He required, by law, that even the poor deserve justice.  YHWH also requires that innocent people are not put to death based on false charges!  That’s a hard one!  Even today, with modern forensic science, we can’t always be sure of whom the guilty party is.  I wonder how they knew back 3000 years ago.

Now here is the best part of the chapter and maybe the entire Book of Exodus.  YHWH made a law about crop rotations!  He required that fields only be used for 6 years and in the 7^th year the ground be allowed to fallow.  His reasoning was a bit odd, but we do know that certain crops deplete the soil chemistry and should not be planted year after year.  Six years is a little long to wait to, but YHWH isn’t a soil chemist, so I guess we should give him a break!  But YHWH reasoning was not for the benefit of the soil, no, YHWH was more concerned with the poor and the wild animals.  Unfortunately, for the poor having food only every seven years did not help much.  And attempting to get the food before wild animals was probably not as easy as YHWH makes it sound. 

YHWH also gives an excellent reason to have a Sabbath day.  Never mind worshipping him, YHWH was concerned for the livestock, slaves, and aliens.  He wanted them to have a day of rest to refresh and be able to work a new week!  We all know that this is common sense, but YHWH made into a law!  So why do we break this particular law?  It really is useful to have a break, and the seventh day is an excellent choice.

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