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1 * Ex 23:1 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.551): T. Not to repeat false rumors nor spread a false report / R. Not to hear one of the parties in a case if the other party is absent / R. Judges must not accept testimony unless both parties are present “You shall not spread a false report. † Ex 23:1 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.552): T. “Don’t join hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness” (v1) / R. The habitual transgressor shall not testify / R. Transgressors must not testify Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
2 ‡ Ex 23:2 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.553): T. Not to follow a crowd in order to do evil / R. To give decisions according to the majority, when there is a difference of opinion in the Great Rabbinical Court / the Sanhedrin ·Sitting together· in matters of judgment, as it is written “to incline after many” (Ex 23:2) / R. Decide by majority in case of disagreement “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. § Ex 23:2 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.554): T. Not to pervert justice by testifying in court in order to side with a multitude to pervert justice / R. Not to decide according to a majority in capital cases / R. The court must not execute through a majority of one; at least a majority of two is required
R. Directive: The Rabbis clarify, if those who are for conviction exceed only by one than those for acquittal, then you are to decide in favor of life * Ex 23:2 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.555): T. This command is not found in the straightforward text, it is implied / R. That one who has first argued for acquittal shall not later argue for conviction / R. A judge who presented an acquittal plea must not present an argument for conviction in capital cases You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice. 3 You shall not favor a poor man in his cause.
4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5 † Ex 23:5 (Ex 23:4-5) (#6.389): T. To help another unload his burden or his animal’s burden / R. Help another remove the load from an animal that can no longer carry it
T. Directive: You are not allowed to pretend not to see it in order to avoid offering help If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him, you shall surely help him with it.
(5) 6 ‡ Ex 23:6 (Ex 23:3, 23:1-9) (#10.585): T. Not to deny a poor person his rights in a lawsuit / R. A judge must not decide unjustly the case of the habitual transgressor
R. Note: Oral Tradition specifies this poor person is one observant of Torah ·Teaching· “You shall not deny right judgement to your poor people in their lawsuits.
7 § Ex 23:7 (Ex 23:6-9, 23:1-3) (#9.556): T. Do not commit fraud ·deception / wrongful criminal accusation for personal or financial gain· and do not cause the death of the innocent or the upright / R. The court must not execute anybody on circumstantial evidence, but on the evidence of two eye witnesses “Keep far from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.
8 * Ex 23:8 (Ex 23:1-9) (#9.557): T. Not to accept a bribe / R. Judges must not accept bribes “You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
9 “You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt [Abode of slavery].
10 “For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase, 11 † Ex 23:11 (Ex 23:10-11) (#4.283): T. To allow the land to rest and lie fallow in the seventh year Sabbath, the Sh'mitta ·Release· Year / R. To leave free all produce which grew in the Sh'mitta ·Sabbath year· 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 animal of the field shall eat. In the same way, you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove.
12 ‡ Ex 23:12 (#4.284): To rest on the seventh day, the Sabbath day
Directive: Your animals, servants, and the stranger among you shall rest and be refreshed “Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant, and the alien may be refreshed.
13 § Ex 23:13 (#3.192): T. Pay attention to everything Adonai has told you / R. To worship Adonai your God / R. Not to proselytize the children of Israel to worship and serve false deities, that is idolatry “Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; * Ex 23:13 (#2a.63): T. Not to mention or invoke the name of false deities / R. Not to swear, make an oath, or a vow in the name of false deities and don’t invoke the name of other elohim ·deities· or even let them be sh'ma ·heard obeyed· out of your mouth.
14 † Ex 23:14 (Ex 23:14-17) (#4.285): T. To celebrate the three pilgrim feasts / R. To celebrate on these three Festivals (bring a peace offering)
Example: Pesac ·Passover·, Shavu'ot ·Weeks· / Pentacost ·50·, and Sukkot ·Tabernacles· “You shall observe a feast to me three times a year. 15 You shall observe the festival of Matzah ·Unleavened bread·. Seven days you shall eat matzah ·unleavened bread·, as I enjoined you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt [Abode of slavery]), and no one shall appear before me empty. 16 And the festival of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the festival of in-gathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your labors out of the field. 17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Adonai .
18 ‡ Ex 23:18 (Ex 23:14-18) (#4.286): T. Not to offer the blood of the pilgrim sacrifice with leavened bread / R. Not to slaughter the Pesac ·Passover· lamb while in possession of leaven
Consider: Leaven is a symbol of sin, excess, and pride; the connotations thereof are negative, neutral, and positive or negative “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. § Ex 23:18 (#4.287): T. Not to leave the fat of God’s festival / R. Not to leave the fat of the Pesac ·Passover· sacrifice overnight The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning. 19 * Ex 23:19 (Ex 34:26) (#8.489): To bring the best of the first fruits of your land into the house of Adonai your God The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Adonai your God.
† Ex 23:19 (#3.193): T. This command is not found in the straightforward text (see Ex 34:26 OU195) / R. Not to seethe ·soak or saturate in liquid· a kid in its mother’s calav ·milk, fat· / R. Not to eat meat and milk cooked together
Note: The Wycliffe Bible Commentary (1977 p.73) says from “the Ugarit literature discovered in 1930, it was learned that boiling a kid in its mother’s milk was a Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled] practice used in connection with fertility rites” / R. Note: In 1195, Rambam, AKA Maimonides suggested, “As for the prohibition against eating meat ·boiled· in milk, it is in my opinion not improbable that – in addition to this being undoubtedly very gross food and very filling – idolatry had something to do with it. Perhaps such food was eaten at one of the ceremonies of their cult or one of their festivals” The Guide to the Perplexed (111:48) “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk fat.
(6) 20 “Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him, and sh'ma ·hear obey· his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him. 22 But if you sh'ma ·hear obey· sh'ma ·hear obey· his voice, and sh'ma ·hear obey· all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite [Descendants of Talkers], the Hittite [Descendant of Trembling fear], the Perizzite [Descendant of Belonging to village], the Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled], the Hivite [Wicked], and the Jebusite [Descendants of Thresher]; and I will cut them off. 24 You shall not hawa ·bow low, prostrate· to their deities, nor abad ·serve· them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars. 25 ‡ Ex 23:25 (#1.2): To give avodah ·worship / labor / service· unto Adonai your God You shall serve Adonai your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. (7) 26 No one will 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 confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 I will send the hornet before you, which will divorce and drive out the Hivite [Wicked], the Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled], and the Hittite [Descendant of Trembling fear], from before you. 29 I will not divorce them from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will divorce them from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land. 31 I will set your border from the Sea of Suf [Reed Sea] even to the sea of the Philistines [To roll in dust (As an insult)], and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall divorce them from before you. 32 You shall make no covenant ·binding contract between two or more parties· with them, nor with their elohim ·deities·. 33 § Ex 23:33 (#2a.64): Not to allow idolaters to dwell in the land (of Israel) They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you abad ·serve· their deities, it will surely be a snare to you.”

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*23:1 Ex 23:1 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.551): T. Not to repeat false rumors nor spread a false report / R. Not to hear one of the parties in a case if the other party is absent / R. Judges must not accept testimony unless both parties are present

†23:1 Ex 23:1 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.552): T. “Don’t join hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness” (v1) / R. The habitual transgressor shall not testify / R. Transgressors must not testify

‡23:2 Ex 23:2 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.553): T. Not to follow a crowd in order to do evil / R. To give decisions according to the majority, when there is a difference of opinion in the Great Rabbinical Court / the Sanhedrin ·Sitting together· in matters of judgment, as it is written “to incline after many” (Ex 23:2) / R. Decide by majority in case of disagreement

§23:2 Ex 23:2 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.554): T. Not to pervert justice by testifying in court in order to side with a multitude to pervert justice / R. Not to decide according to a majority in capital cases / R. The court must not execute through a majority of one; at least a majority of two is required R. Directive: The Rabbis clarify, if those who are for conviction exceed only by one than those for acquittal, then you are to decide in favor of life

*23:2 Ex 23:2 (Ex 23:1-3) (#9.555): T. This command is not found in the straightforward text, it is implied / R. That one who has first argued for acquittal shall not later argue for conviction / R. A judge who presented an acquittal plea must not present an argument for conviction in capital cases

†23:5 Ex 23:5 (Ex 23:4-5) (#6.389): T. To help another unload his burden or his animal’s burden / R. Help another remove the load from an animal that can no longer carry it T. Directive: You are not allowed to pretend not to see it in order to avoid offering help

‡23:6 Ex 23:6 (Ex 23:3, 23:1-9) (#10.585): T. Not to deny a poor person his rights in a lawsuit / R. A judge must not decide unjustly the case of the habitual transgressor R. Note: Oral Tradition specifies this poor person is one observant of Torah ·Teaching·

§23:7 Ex 23:7 (Ex 23:6-9, 23:1-3) (#9.556): T. Do not commit fraud ·deception / wrongful criminal accusation for personal or financial gain· and do not cause the death of the innocent or the upright / R. The court must not execute anybody on circumstantial evidence, but on the evidence of two eye witnesses

*23:8 Ex 23:8 (Ex 23:1-9) (#9.557): T. Not to accept a bribe / R. Judges must not accept bribes

†23:11 Ex 23:11 (Ex 23:10-11) (#4.283): T. To allow the land to rest and lie fallow in the seventh year Sabbath, the Sh'mitta ·Release· Year / R. To leave free all produce which grew in the Sh'mitta ·Sabbath year·

‡23:12 Ex 23:12 (#4.284): To rest on the seventh day, the Sabbath day Directive: Your animals, servants, and the stranger among you shall rest and be refreshed

§23:13 Ex 23:13 (#3.192): T. Pay attention to everything Adonai has told you / R. To worship Adonai your God / R. Not to proselytize the children of Israel to worship and serve false deities, that is idolatry

*23:13 Ex 23:13 (#2a.63): T. Not to mention or invoke the name of false deities / R. Not to swear, make an oath, or a vow in the name of false deities

†23:14 Ex 23:14 (Ex 23:14-17) (#4.285): T. To celebrate the three pilgrim feasts / R. To celebrate on these three Festivals (bring a peace offering) Example: Pesac ·Passover·, Shavu'ot ·Weeks· / Pentacost ·50·, and Sukkot ·Tabernacles·

‡23:18 Ex 23:18 (Ex 23:14-18) (#4.286): T. Not to offer the blood of the pilgrim sacrifice with leavened bread / R. Not to slaughter the Pesac ·Passover· lamb while in possession of leaven Consider: Leaven is a symbol of sin, excess, and pride; the connotations thereof are negative, neutral, and positive or negative

§23:18 Ex 23:18 (#4.287): T. Not to leave the fat of God’s festival / R. Not to leave the fat of the Pesac ·Passover· sacrifice overnight

*23:19 Ex 23:19 (Ex 34:26) (#8.489): To bring the best of the first fruits of your land into the house of Adonai your God

†23:19 Ex 23:19 (#3.193): T. This command is not found in the straightforward text (see Ex 34:26 OU195) / R. Not to seethe ·soak or saturate in liquid· a kid in its mother’s calav ·milk, fat· / R. Not to eat meat and milk cooked together Note: The Wycliffe Bible Commentary (1977 p.73) says from “the Ugarit literature discovered in 1930, it was learned that boiling a kid in its mother’s milk was a Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled] practice used in connection with fertility rites” / R. Note: In 1195, Rambam, AKA Maimonides suggested, “As for the prohibition against eating meat ·boiled· in milk, it is in my opinion not improbable that – in addition to this being undoubtedly very gross food and very filling – idolatry had something to do with it. Perhaps such food was eaten at one of the ceremonies of their cult or one of their festivals” The Guide to the Perplexed (111:48)

‡23:25 Ex 23:25 (#1.2): To give avodah ·worship / labor / service· unto Adonai your God

§23:33 Ex 23:33 (#2a.64): Not to allow idolaters to dwell in the land (of Israel)

© 2016 Thomas Robinson