Exodus 23:10-19

Sabbath Laws

10 For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce, ¹

11 but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

12 For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.

13 Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

The Three Feasts of Pilgrimage

14 Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me. ²

15 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread ^[a] as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib ^[b] you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.

16 You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest ^[c] with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering ^[d] at the end of the year, when you gather your produce 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, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.

19 Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Exodus 23:10-19 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.

Cross References

• 1. (Leviticus 25:1–7; Deuteronomy 15:1–6)
• 2. (Leviticus 23:1–3)

Footnotes

• [a]. That is, the seven-day period after the Passover during which no leaven may be eaten; see Exodus 12:14–20.
• [b]. Abib was the first month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of March and April.
• [c]. That is, Shavuot, the late spring feast of pilgrimage to Jerusalem; it is also known as the Feast of Weeks (see Exodus 34:22) or the Feast of Pentecost (see Acts 2:1).
• [d]. That is, Sukkot, the autumn feast of pilgrimage to Jerusalem; it is later called the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths or Shelters).