Exodus 23:15-25

15 Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because you came out of Egypt in that month. No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.

16 Also [observe] the Festival of Harvest^[a] with the firstfruits of your produce from what you sow in the field, and [observe] the Festival of Ingathering^[b] at the end of the year, when you gather your produce^[c] from the field.

17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God .

18 "You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened. The fat of My festival offering must not remain until morning.

19 "Bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God. "You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Promises and Warnings

20 "I am going to send an Angel before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.

21 Be attentive to Him and listen to His voice. Do not defy^[d] Him, because He will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for My name is in Him

22 But if you will carefully obey Him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you to [the land of] the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

24 You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them^[e] and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.

25 Worship the Lord your God, and He^[f] will bless your bread and your water. I will take away your illnesses.^[g]

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Exodus 23:15-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 23

This chapter contains several laws, chiefly judicial, relating to the civil polity of Israel, as concerning witness borne and judgment made of cases in courts of judicature, without any respect to poor or rich, and without the influence of a bribe, Ex 23:1-3,6-8, concerning doing good to an enemy in case any of his cattle go astray, or fall under their burden, Ex 23:4,5, and of the oppression of a stranger, Ex 23:9, and then follow others concerning the sabbath of the seventh year, and of the seventh day, with a caution against the use of the names of idols, Ex 23:10-13, next are laws concerning the appearance of all their males at the three feasts, Ex 23:14-17, and concerning the slaying of the sacrifice of the passover, and bringing the first of the firstfruits of the land, Ex 23:18,19 and then a promise is made of sending an angel to them to bring them into the land of Canaan, where they should carefully avoid all idolatry, and show a just indignation against it, and serve the Lord, and then it would be well with them, Ex 23:20-26, and particularly it is promised, that the Lord would send his fear, and his hornets, before them, to destroy the inhabitants of the land, and drive out the rest by little and little, until they should possess the utmost borders of it, which are fixed, Ex 23:27-31, and the chapter is concluded with a direction not to make a covenant with these people, or their gods, nor suffer them to dwell among them, lest they should be a snare unto them, Ex 23:32,33.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Footnotes 7

[a]. The Festival of Harvest is called Festival of Weeks elsewhere in the OT; Ex 34:22. In the NT it is called Pentecost; Ac 2:1.
[b]. The Festival of Ingathering is called Festival of Booths elsewhere; Lv 23:34-36.
[c]. Lit labors
[d]. Or embitter
[e]. Probably the idols
[f]. LXX, Vg read I
[g]. Lit away illnesses from among you