Exodus 23 Devotional
by Pastor David Groendyk
As we read through the various laws in the first half of this chapter (vv. 1–19), I’m reminded of Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” So many of these laws could be boiled down to one of those three ideas: justice, kindness, humility.
Do justice. The term ‘social justice’ has been getting thrown around a lot in the past few years in America. The problem is that ‘social justice’ means different things to different people. While the various social justice movements are flawed, there’s something to be said for their passion to bring about fairness and equity. God cares a lot about justice, which means every single Christian should as well. And God has laid out for us some of the ways to carry out true biblical justice. Don’t lie (v. 1), don’t fall in line with the majority if that majority is promoting injustice (v. 2), don’t allow our law or courts to be partial to either the rich or the poor (vv. 3, 6), never take a bribe, especially if it subverts the cause of those who are in the right (vv. 7–8). It’s not hard to see how our nation’s political leaders (on both sides of the aisle) have fallen far short of this sort of biblical justice over the years, especially with the proliferation of the internet and social media. It’s also a great temptation for us non-politicians to overlook or minimize our particular group’s injustices for the sake of being loyal to our group (which God forbids in v. 2a). Why is it so easy for us to overlook some injustices but not others? How can we be promoters of true biblical justice in our secular communities? Especially with the upcoming presidential election, let’s all pray together that our politicians, courts, and laws would be truthful, impartial, biblically just.
Love kindness. It strikes me in so many of these commands how God expects his people to be merciful. Return your enemy’s possessions to him if you find them going astray (vv. 4–5), don’t oppress foreigners (v. 9), give your land a year-long rest (vv. 10–11), sacrifice monetary gain for the sake of giving the poor something to eat (v. 11), keep the Sabbath so that everyone in your household or business can have a day of rest (v. 12). Feed people, clothe people, help people, give people rest. Christians, more than any other group in the world, should be known for their loving concern and mercy towards the under-privileged, disadvantaged, oppressed, and even to our enemies! And it shouldn’t be hard to see why we ought to be like that. Because that’s exactly how God acted toward us in saving us and still acts toward us in blessing us. Humans are the most undeserving creatures on the earth, and yet God gives us grace anyway, culminating in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who takes our place on the cross. Those who have been shown mercy should be the most merciful. Whom can you show mercy to today?
Walk humbly. The commands not to have any other gods (v. 13), to keep the three feasts (vv. 14–17), and to give God the first and the best of the crops (v. 19) force Israel (and force us) to remember who God is, how great he is, and what awesome deeds he accomplished. Subsequently, we remember how small and undeserving we are. Even the strange commands in verses 18 and 19b, though it’s hard to understand exactly why he gives these stipulations, point us to the fact that God alone gets to decide how we worship him. Our God is an awesome God who reigns and has done wondrous works for us! When God gives us a command, we need to be quick to do it. Go back and re-read Exodus 20:3–11 (the first four commandments that relate particularly to God). How does keeping these four commandments demonstrate humility before God? In what ways can you be challenged to walk more humbly with God?