Exodus 23 — Church Fathers

Genesis

Chapter 22

Chapter 24

Leviticus

Chapter 23

1 Thou shalt not admit a lying voice: neither shalt thou join thy hand to say false testimony for a wicked person.

2 Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou in judgement agree to the sentence of the most part, to stray from the truth.

3 The poor man also thou shalt not pity in judgment.

4 If thou meet thy enemy's ox or ass going astray, bring it back to him.

5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lie underneath his burden, thou shalt not pass by, but shalt lift him up with the same.

6 Thou shalt not decline the poor man's judgment.

7 Alie thou shalt avoid. The innocent and just person thou shalt not put to death: because I abhor the impious man.

8 Neither shalt thou take bribes, which do blind also the wise, and pervert the words of the just.

9 The stranger thou shalt not molest, for you know the hearts of strangers: because yourselves also were strangers in the Land of Ægypt.

Exodus 23:10-19

RELIGIOUS LAW

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10 Six years thou shalt sow thy ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof.

11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it alone, and make it to rest, that the poor of thy people may eat, and whatsoever shall be left, let the beasts of the field eat it: so shalt thou do in thy vineyard and thy olivet.

12 Six days thou shalt work: the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thy ox may rest and thine ass: and the son of thy handmaid may be refreshed, and the stranger.

13 Keep all things that I have said to you. And by the name of foreign gods you shall not swear, neither shall it be heard out of your mouth.

14 Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me.

15 Thou shalt keep the solemnity of Azymes. Seven days shalt thou eat azymes, as I commanded thee, in time of the month of new corn, when thou didst come forth out of Ægypt: thou shalt not appear in my sight empty. 1 note

16 And the solemnity of the harvest of the first fruits of thy work, whatsoever thou didst sow in the field. The solemnity also in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered all thy corn out of the field.

17 Thrice a year shall all thy male sex appear before the Lord thy God.

18 Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of my victim upon leaven, neither shall the fat of the solemnity remain until the morning.

19 The first fruits of the corn of thy ground thou shalt carry into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam. 1 note

Exodus 23:20-33

REWARD OF FIDELITY

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20 Behold I will send mine Angel, which shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared. 3 notes

21 Observe him, and hear his voice, neither do thou think him one to be contemned: for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and my name is in him.

22 But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be enemy to thine enemies, & will afflict them that afflict thee.

23 And mine Angel shall go before thee, and shall bring thee in unto the Amorrheite, and Hetheite, & Pherezeite, and Chananeite, and Heveite, & Jebuseite, whom I will destroy.

24 Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them. Thou shalt not do their works, but shalt destroy them, and break their statues.

25 And you shall serve the Lord your God, that I may bless your bread & waters, and may take away infirmity from the midst of thee.

26 There shall not be a fruitless nor barren body in thy land: I will fill the number of thy days. 1 note

27 I will send my terror to run before thee, and will kill all people, to whom thou shalt enter: and will turn the backs of all thine enemies before thee:

28 sending forth hornets before, that shall chase away the Heveite, and Chananeite, & Hetheite, before thou enter.

29 I will not cast them out from thy face in one year: lest the land be brought into a wilderness, and beasts increase against thee.

30 By little and little I will expel them from thy sight, till thou be increased, and dost possess the Land.

31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea unto the sea of the Palestines, and from the desert unto the river: I will deliver the inhabitants of the Land in your hands, and will cast them out from your sight.

32 Thou shalt not enter league with them, nor with their gods.

33 Let them not dwell in thy land, lest perhaps they make thee to sin against me, if thou serve their gods: which undoubtedly will be a scandal to thee.

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Exodus 23:10-19 2 entries

RELIGIOUS LAW

BRING OTHERS INTO THE CHURCH.

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407) verse 15

You shall not appear before the Lord empty, that is, enter not into the temple without sacrifices. Now if it is not right to go into the house of God without sacrifices, much more ought we to enter the assembly accompanied by our brethren. For this sacrifice and offering is better than that, when you bring a soul with you into the church.

Homily to Those Who Had not Attended the Assembly 4

DO NOT MIX LIFE AND DEATH.

St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215) verse 19

Our physical nature rebels against the thought of making the nourishment of the living a garnish for the dead or the cause of life an accessory to the death of the body.

Stromateis 2.18.94

Exodus 23:20-33 4 entries

REWARD OF FIDELITY

JOSHUA AND JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Tertullian (c. 155–c. 240) verse 20

For Joshua was to introduce the people into the land of promise, not Moses. Now he called him an angel on account of the magnitude of the mighty deeds which he was to achieve (which mighty deeds Joshua the son of Nun did, as you can yourselves read) and on account of his office of prophet announcing the divine will. Similarly the Spirit, speaking in the person of the Father, calls the forerunner of Christ, John, a future angel, through the prophet: Behold, I send my angel before your—that is, Christ’s—face, who shall prepare your way before you.^[1]

Answer to the Jews 9.23

JOSHUA CALLED AN ANGEL.

Tertullian (c. 155–c. 240) verse 20

He called him an angel indeed, because of the greatness of the powers which he was to exercise and because of his prophetic office, while announcing the will of God. He is called Joshua (also Jesus), because it was a type of his own future name.

Against Marcion 3.16.5

THE ANGEL WAS JOSHUA (JESUS).

St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) verse 20

Consider these words. Let the Jew, not to speak of the Manichaean, say what other angel he can find in Scripture to whom these words apply, but this leader who was to bring the people into the land of promise. Then let him inquire who it was that succeeded Moses and brought in the people. He will find that it was Jesus and that this was not his name at first but after his name was changed. It follows that he who said, My name is in him^[1] is the true Jesus, the leader who brings his people into the inheritance of eternal life, according to the New Testament, of which the Old was a figure. No event or action could have a more distinctly prophetical character than this, where the very name is itself a prediction.

Against Faustus, a Manichaean 16.19

CARNAL LOVE AND SPIRITUAL LOVE.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) verse 26

And we notice that the saying, The barren has borne seven, and she that has many children is weakened,^[1] is in accord with this;^[2] as also is that which is said in the blessings: There shall not be one among you that is childless or barren.^[3] This being so, it follows that just as there is one love, known as carnal and also known as Cupid by the poets, according to which the lover sows in the flesh. So also is there another, a spiritual love, by which the inner man who loves sows in the spirit.^[4] And, to speak more plainly, if anyone still bears the image of the earthly according to the outer man, then he is moved by earthly desire and love; but the desire and love of him who bears the image of the heavenly according to the inner man are heavenly.^[5]

Commentary on the Song of Songs, Prologue 2