Exodus 23 Footnotes

23:7 If the Israelites were not to kill the innocent, why were they ordered to kill Canaanite children (Dt 7:1-2; 20:16-17)? This verse is part of a larger section that provides guidance to judges when trying cases in Israel: in courts of law the innocent were not to be punished. But the elimination of entire cultural groups as punishment for long-term institutionalized sin was not considered a legal matter. It was an issue of divine judgment following centuries of unacceptable conduct. God ordered the Israelites to eliminate cultures that had institutionalized despicable sin. Canaanite cultures were steeped in a religion that was polytheistic, idolatrous, and highly immoral. As part of their religious corruption, those cultures permitted human sacrifice and practiced cultic prostitution (worship of their “gods” involved intercourse with women attached to their temples). All of this cultural perversity was offensive to God and was to be brought to a complete end when the iniquity of the inhabitants of Canaan was complete (Gn 15:16).

23:10-11 The produce of the Israelites’ land was to be left for the poor and the animals, but it could also be eaten by the landowner’s family during the seventh year (Lv 25:6). The landholder was to be considerate of the needs of the poor. They, too, must be given access to the food needed to sustain them. To assure that there would be enough food for all in the seventh year, the landowner and his family were to stockpile surplus grain from the previous year (Lv 25:21-22).