Justice, Rest, and Celebrations

Exodus 23:1-19 

1 “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. 3 You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute. 4 “If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.  6 “You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. 7 Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.  9 “Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
    10 “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, 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. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove. 12 Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.  13 “And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.
    14 “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); 16 and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.  17 “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.  18 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning. 19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Exodus 22 begins by speaking about Justice, Rest, and Celebrations.  Living justly means we do not lie or gossip and slander others.  We don’t follow what others do when it is evil in God’s eye according to His word, and we do not give false testimony in court or to the authorities to mislead; we are to be honorable and true, just as God is.  We are not to display favoritism or accept bribes to cover the truth in our or another’s favor, especially not for gain.    God does not justify the wicked and what is false, and neither should we.  He then speaks of rest, not wearing ourselves out nor our workers.  The current times include the concept of work-life balance in this, for the Sabbath was made for us to rest; we were not made for the Sabbath to be punished if we fail to do so (Mark 2:27).  Finally, we hear about celebrating God, here in the feasts of Israel, but later in Christ alone (Colossians 2:16-17, Galatians 4:9-10).  The feasts were a matter of willing obedience as given to Israel for the purpose of remembering and honoring God and His work in their collective lives as a nation; now we willingly obey, not out of forced duty but loving desire to honor and remember God’s work in Christ for our justification and salvation from His wrath.  His final sacrifice is what we now celebrate!