Qualified Promises

July 21, 2009, 9:39 am by dc-agape.

Exodus 23:14-33

YHWH wants three festivals.  Which we do not celebrate today!  Why have we disobeyed YHWH?  Should we not still celebrate these festivals, YHWH did command that these festivals take place.  Has YHWH changed, or has the Traditions of Men changed YHWH?

The three festivals are simple.  One is to remember the Passover and is the longest.  It lasts seven days and has two components.  First, no one is to eat leaven bread.  Second, everyone must give something to YHWH during this period.  The second and third festivals are simple festivals that humanity has been celebrating since long before YHWH arrived on the scene to speak to Moses.  These two festivals are the Harvest Festival and the Gathering Festival.  Ancient societies were dependent on agriculture so it makes sense that these were important dates to them.

All three of the festivals were periods when all the men were to appear before YHWH bearing gifts (tithes).  YHWH has four proscriptions for these “gifts”.  First, blood and yeast cannot mix.  YHWH really has something against yeast!  Second, nothing can be left till morning.  YHWH does not say how to get rid of it, so I am guessing most people ate it!  Third, YHWH would only take the best.  Forget about second bests or even comparable items, YHWH wants the “best of the firstfruits”.  Maybe this is why we no longer follow the commands of YHWH.  Finally, there is a weird requirement:

Exodus 23:19 “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

The whole blood and fat thing is a little odd, since these are harvest and gathering festivals.  These celebrate the fruit of the soil not the livestock.  But this last commandment just does not belong here.  What does cooking a goat in milk have to do with fruits of the soil?  It certainly seems like a late addition, and describes someone’s preference!

The rest of the chapter is about how YHWH will prepare the way into Canaan for the Israelites.  YHWH makes a promise:

Exodus 23:23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

After this promise YHWH makes two qualifiers.  First, no one is to worship the gods already present in Canaan.  All the sacred alters must be smashed.  Second, YHWH will not do it over a single year.  As the Israelites need more room, YHWH will provide it.  YHWH explains that if the residents of Canaan were displaced before the Israelites were ready, the land would become desolate and wild animals would become a problem.  Personally, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.  Wild animals can be hunted down and destroyed.  Humans that already have settled the area have excellent defenses and can gather forces to battle the Israelites.  This is exactly what happens!  This all-powerful supernatural being is not the brightest bulb in the box.

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