EXODUS LESSON 41


    We will continue this lesson in Exodus 23:17 "Three times in the
year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD."

    This seems to be a strange statement in that the women were not
required to go, but you must remember that they had large families, and
it would have been very difficult for the women to go and carry the
children. Sometimes, these trips to the temple took several days, and
you could see how difficult the trip would be with the family.  They
were required to go wherever the tabernacle was. These three feasts, or
festivals, that we discussed in the last lesson were the three they were
required to attend: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and
Ingathering.

    Exodus 23:18 "Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with
leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the
morning."

    Leaven is symbolic of sin, and it would be wrong to include sin in
this ceremony. "My sacrifice", probably, means that this was the
sacrificial lamb. This was the most symbolic sacrifice, since it
typifies Jesus Christ, the Perfect Lamb.  In the lamb sacrifice, it
was all to be eaten that night, and there was nothing to be left.

    Exodus 23:19 "The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt
bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid
in his mother's milk."

    It seems that, the custom of the land was to boil the kid (goat) in
milk. It would have been extra cruel to boil the baby goat in its own
mother's milk. Perhaps, this was why God commanded them not to do this.
In Orthodox homes, milk and meat are not served together at the same
meal. Perhaps, this is the reason why they do not.  God expects
firstfruit gifts, then He can multiply the gift. To multiply
something, you have to have something to start with.

    Exodus 23:20  "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee
in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared."

    "Angel", here, is capitalized, and this, probably, indicated the Lord.
 Just as the Lord went before them to help them, He goes before us, the
 Christians, too, leading the way. The place for them was already
 prepared. They would have a few struggles to overcome along the way,
 but they would make it to the promised land.

    Exodus 23:21 "Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not;
for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name [is] in him."

    This is surely speaking of the Lord (only God can pardon sin).
This is the second person in the Trinity. God demands our obedience.
God esteems obedience more that sacrifice. I Samuel 15:22 "And Samuel
said, Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey [is]
better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams." The
quote "my name is in him" indicates that this is truly the Lord.

    Exodus 23:22 "But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all
that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an
adversary unto thine adversaries."

    You see, obedience to God brings Divine Protection. God will fight
your battles for you. What God is saying, here, is that anyone who
attacks God's people physically, or verbally, have actually attacked
God.  God takes care of His children.

    Exodus 23:23 "For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee
in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the
Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off."

    God was angry with all these people who were occupying Canaan, or the
promised land. They worshipped false gods, and God had given them a
time to repent; and they did not. Now, God was going to take their land,
and give it to the Children of Israel. they could not fail, God was with
them.

    Exodus 23:24 "Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve
them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them,
and quite break down their images."

    We see why God was angry with these people. They were worshipping 
false gods. the first thing God wanted the Children of Israel to do, 
was destroy the images of these false gods.

    Exodus 23:25 "And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall
bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the
midst of thee."

    If these Children of Israel stayed obedient to God, and worshipped
Him only and tore down these images of false gods, we see  wonderful
blessings spoken upon them. They would have plenty to eat, and drink, and
not one of them would get sick. Many sicknesses in our society today
are brought on because of sin in our lives. Aids is a very good example 
of that. Not every single person brought it on himself, because there are
 those who acquired it from blood transfusions; but the great majority got it, because of sins they were committing. Many other diseases would be nearly done away with, if people would lay their cigarettes and whiskey down.

    Exodus 23:26  "There shall nothing cast their young, nor be
barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil."

    God had even promised that there would be no miscarriages. to the
Hebrews. It was thought to be a curse not to have children. Here, God
promised them children. He was, also, saying that there would be no
untimely deaths, but everyone would live his allotted days out.

    Exodus 23:27 "I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy
all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine
enemies turn their backs unto thee."

    God said, here, that Israel would move into an area, and the
people's fear would be so great that they would retreat even without a
fight. God had already fought for them.

    Exodus 23:28 "And I will send hornets before thee, which shall
drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before
thee."

    These hornets could be literal, or this could be speaking of many
kinds of plagues. It could even be speaking of some army that God
caused to go through the land. Whatever, or whoever, it was, we know
that God caused them to go and weakened these people, so that the
Children of Israel would have no problem taking them over. Remember
The people being run out were heathens. they worshipped false gods.

    Exodus 23:29 "I will not drive them out from before thee in one
year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field
multiply against thee."

    We see, here, that God would do this a little at a time to save the
crops. Also, if He totally destroyed this area of people, there would
be no one to thin the animals out. and that could become a problem.

    Exodus 23:30 "By little and little I will drive them out from
before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land."

    This was done gradually to preserve the quality of the land, and
also, so the Israelites could take their time in settling there.

    Exodus 23:31 "And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto
the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I
will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou
shalt drive them out before thee."

    God established the borders of the Holy Land in the Scripture
above. There would be a struggle, but God had promised success. We see the
Children of Israel didn't kill all of them, they just drove them out.
The river, here, meant the Euphrates. River translated, here, means
Nahar which referred especially to the Euphrates.

    Exodus 23:32 "Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with
their gods."

    This would be some good advice for us, here, in the United States.
People who do not believe in God are not apt to keep their agreements.
These Israelites were forbidden by God to go into agreements with
these people, or to compromise God and go into agreement with their
false gods. God will not be compromised. He will not stay where there
are false gods.

    Exodus 23:33 "They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make
thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a
snare unto thee."

    God will not allow His people to fellowship with people of the
world. God expects our total loyalty. God would not allow any worship
of heathen gods, at all. God knew if they made a treaty with them,
that each would tolerate the other's worship, and in so doing the true
God would be compromised. God would not bless them, if any of the world
around them crept into His church. We, Christians, today, should take
note of this. God will not allow compromise. We should be careful to
keep the world out of the church.

                                 Notes








































                          Exodus 41 Questions


1.  How many times a year shall all the males appear before God?
2.  Why were the women, probably, not required to go?
3.  What kind of bread was forbidden with the blood sacrifice?
4.  What is symbolic of sin?
5.  What did "My sacrifice" indicate?
6.  What does the lamb sacrifice typify?
7.  What was meant about seething a kid in the mother's milk?
8.  In verse 20, why was Angel capitalized?
9.  What would the Angel do?
10. In verse twenty-one. what statement left no doubt that this is
    speaking of the Lord?
11. What is more important to God than sacrifice?
12. What did God promise, in verse twenty-two, to do, if they obeyed Him?
13. What people would have to be removed for the Israelites to go into
    the promise land?
14. What did God warn His people about false gods in verse twenty-
    four?
15. What two things would God bless of the Israelites, if they served
    the Lord?
16. What special blessing would He bring, also?
17. In verse twenty-six. He promised a full life, and what else?
18. When God went before them into the land, what would He do for
    them?
19. What did God say, He would send to drive them out?
20. Why was God not going to drive them out in one year?
21. In verse thirty-one. God sets the boundaries of what?
22. The river, in verse thirty-one, was actually what specific river?
23. What did God warn them against doing?
24. What could our government learn from this?
25. Why did God not want them to live in the land with the Israelites?
26. What lesson can we Christians learn from this?