April 23, 2019

Law, Love, and the Unlovely

Exodus 23

Chloé Aduddell
Tuesday's Devo

April 23, 2019

Tuesday's Devo

April 23, 2019

Central Truth

If we truly belong to God, we will do as He says. If we do as He says, we will show love and mercy to all those He loves.

Key Verse | Exodus 23:4-5

"If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him."

 

Exodus 23

You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals

10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

12 Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

13 Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

14 Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. 16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.

18 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

19 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.

You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Conquest of Canaan Promised

20 Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

22 But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

23 When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the LORD your God, and he 1 23:25 Septuagint, Vulgate I will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets 2 23:28 Or the hornet before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, 3 23:31 Hebrew the River for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

Footnotes

[1] 23:25 Septuagint, Vulgate I
[2] 23:28 Or the hornet
[3] 23:31 Hebrew the River

Dive Deeper | Exodus 23

God's heart and plan for His people is as unchanging as He is. From the beginning, He has desired His people to act as He acts. Before the law, written into the law, and in Christ’s fulfillment of the law, God has always shown kindness and mercy to those in need, those the world looks down upon, and even His enemies. We are to do the same.

As His children, if we choose to ignore our Father's will, refusing to act as He does, we dishonor Him and reject His leadership over us. Exodus 23:1-9 lays out a series of commands for behaviors that illustrate God's heart and desires. Do we really love our Father if we dishonor Him by disobeying His commands to love the down and out? Do we serve those who won't be able to serve us back? Do we help those who have sought our harm?

When God took on flesh in Jesus Christ, He made good on this command in His law. It was not mere talk. Godly leadership is full agreement between words and actions, between statements and intentions, and their execution. He served all those He came across, including society's untouchables—tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans—the "sinners." If you belong to Jesus, you have already benefited from His pursuit of those who were once His enemies. Be thankful for Exodus 23:4-5! It is the heart behind this command that compels the Sovereign God of the universe out of heaven to find us when we "wander off" and "fall down" under the load of sin.

But that is not the end of our story—not with our great God. He has found us and taken on our burdens, but then sends us back into the world, now redeemed, entirely new, and encourages us to partner with Him in His own character and behavior. The scandal of merciful love toward neighbors, strangers, friends, and enemies is now ours to live out. Let's not ignore our Father! He can be trusted!

Discussion Questions

1. Have you allowed Christ to find you and lift the burdens you cannot carry (sin)? Have you made Him the boss of your life?

2. Who in your life would fall in the category of "enemy" that you would not normally think of when hearing "love thy neighbor"? 

3. What can you do today to take steps of obedience in that relationship?

4. What are you most afraid would happen if you obeyed God in this? Hand it over to Him! He can be trusted!