Do The Right Thing (Exodus 23:1-9) Series

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.