Year 1, Day 72: Exodus 23

The People Around You

I love the communal thrust of the first 9 verses in Exodus 23.  It’s really just good advice about getting along with the people around you.  Don’t fall into a bad crowd.  Don’t perjure yourself.  If you see something of your neighbors that has gotten away from them, bring it back and show that you care.  Don’t oppress the people who have come to live among you but don’t own anything of their own, for they have no ability to defend themselves and the oppressor will incur God’s wrath.

Holy Means Separate

The next ten verses are about holy festivals.  Did you notice the thrust of God’s law?  The verses say specific things, but the thrust of the law is to keep God’s stuff holy.  Remember that the word holy means “separate.”  God wants His worship days to be different than other days.  He wants His worship practices to be completely separate from the practices of other gods.  And He does want His generosity to be remembered up front and off the top by those who do truly follow Him.

Interacting With God’s Creation

Do you also notice the tie between the worship of God and the working of the land?  God is the God of creation.  God knows that when we work in His world we will get a better understanding of Him.  I haven’t thought this through a great deal, but it does make me wonder about a stereotypical person whose job is in a windowless cubicle.  If a person works in such a situation where they have little encounter with God’s creation and much encounter with humanity’s creation (internet, telephones, filing systems, man-made carpet, plastic desk chairs, etc.) how easy will it be for them to encounter God? 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not condemning that life style nor am I saying that God isn’t big enough to get to them.  But it does make it inherently more difficult and very much less natural.  I do think we should stop here for a moment and contemplate how important it is to get out and work with God’s creation – garden, care for the lawn, hunt, fish, enjoy a state park, manage a park trail, socialize with other human beings, whatever.  When we interact with God’s creation we are inherently interact with the stuff of God’s hands.  When we interact with the internet, TV, gaming consoles, etc we are inherently interacting with the work of human hands.  In the end, what do you want to spend your time doing?

Promised Land

The last 14 verses of this chapter talk about conquering the Promised Land.  Those of you who know the story, ask yourself how well the Hebrew people listened to this part.  Did they go straight into the land to conquest it?  When they did go into the land, how well did they succeed at driving out all the foreign practices that related to other gods?

In my estimation, this is the place where the Hebrew people fell hard.  They were unable to keep themselves holy (separate) in their worship of God.  They allowed their worship to become corrupted by the worship practices of other gods.  They did not listen when God asked them to be strong and faithful.

I’m not saying we should kick out all the non-Christians in America by any means.  The Good Lord knows that every theocracy (government ruled by religious elite) on this earth has failed.  What I am saying is that when it comes to our life, we need to be very clear who we worship and we need to listen to how God wants to be worshipped and followed.  What we want is nowhere near as important as what God wants.

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