1. Thu: 2 Corinthians 11-13
  2. Fri: Ezekiel 32
  3. Sat: Psalms 27-32
Sunday · Week 17
The Books of the Law

Exodus 22-25

Week 17 · about 18 min
  1. Mon: Mark 10-11
  2. Tue: Isaiah 44-45
  3. Wed: 1 Samuel 26-31

More laws for daily life, the covenant ceremony at Sinai, and the first instructions for the tabernacle.

God Wants to Live Among His People

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

Exodus 25:8 (KJV)

The laws in chapters 22 and 23 show what God cares about. “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Don’t take advantage of widows or orphans. If your enemy’s ox wanders off, take it back to him. In chapter 24 the covenant is sealed with blood, and Moses and seventy elders “saw God, and did eat and drink.” Then Moses goes up the mountain for forty days. Chapter 25 starts the tabernacle plans with the reason behind all of them. God wants to live among his people. All the detail that follows is about building God’s house.

Reflect: What does it mean for you that God wants to live among his people?

Exodus 22

1If a man steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for the ox, and four sheep for the sheep.

2If the thief be encountered breaking in, and be smitten so that he die, there shall be no blood-guiltiness for him.

3If the sun be risen on him, there shall be blood-guiltiness for him; he should have made full restitution: if he had nothing, he would have been sold for his theft.

4If the stolen thing be actually found alive in his hand, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall restore double.

5If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and put in his cattle, and pasture in another man's field, of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard shall he make it good.

6-- If fire break out, and seize the thorns, and the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field be consumed, he that kindled the fire shall fully make it good.

7-- If a man deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; if the thief be found, let him restore double;

8if the thief be not found, the master of the house shall be brought before the judges, to see if he has not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods.

9As to all manner of fraud, -- as to ox, as to ass, as to sheep, as to clothing, as to everything lost, of which a man saith, It is this -- the cause of both parties shall come before the judges: he whom the judges shall condemn shall restore double to his neighbour.

10If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any cattle, to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, and no man see it,

11an oath of Jehovah shall be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods; and the owner of it shall accept it, and he shall not make it good.

12But if it have been stolen from him, he shall make it good unto its owner.

13If it have been torn in pieces, let him bring it as witness: he shall not make good what was torn.

14-- And if a man borrow anything of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, its owner not being with it, he shall fully make it good;

15if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good; if it be a hired thing, it came for its hire.

16And if a man seduce a virgin that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall certainly endow her, to be his wife.

17If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall weigh money according to the dowry of virgins.

18-- Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

19-- Every one that lieth with a beast shall certainly be put to death.

20-- He that sacrificeth to any god, save to Jehovah only, shall be devoted to destruction.

21Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him; for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt.

22Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.

23If thou afflict him in any way, if he cry at all unto me, I will certainly hear his cry;

24and my anger shall burn, and I will slay you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

25-- If thou lend money to my people, the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a usurer: ye shall charge him no interest.

26-- If thou at all take thy neighbour's garment in pledge, thou shalt return it to him before the sun goes down;

27for that is his only covering, his garment for his skin: on what shall he lie down? And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.

28Thou shalt not revile the judges, nor curse a prince amongst thy people.

29-- Thou shalt not delay the fulness of thy threshing-floor and the outflow of thy winepress. The firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.

30Likewise shalt thou do with thy calf, with thy sheep: seven days shall it be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.

31-- And ye shall be holy men unto me; and ye shall not eat flesh torn in the field: ye shall cast it to the dog.

Exodus 23

1Thou shalt not accept a false report; extend not thy hand to the wicked, to be an unrighteous witness.

2Thou shalt not follow the multitude for evil; neither shalt thou answer in a cause, to go after the multitude to pervert judgment.

3Neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause.

4-- If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt certainly bring it back to him.

5If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under its burden, beware of leaving it to him: thou shalt certainly loosen it with him.

6Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of thy poor in his cause.

7Thou shalt keep far from the cause of falsehood; and the innocent and righteous slay not; for I will not justify the wicked.

8And thou shalt take no bribe; for the bribe blindeth those whose eyes are open, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

9And the stranger thou shalt not oppress; for ye know the spirit of the stranger, for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt.

10And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and gather in its produce;

11but in the seventh thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat of it; and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thine olive-tree.

12-- Six days thou shalt do thy work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger may be refreshed.

13And ye shall be on your guard as to everything that I have said unto you; and shall make no mention of the name of other gods -- it shall not be heard in thy mouth.

14Thrice in the year thou shalt celebrate a feast to me.

15Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread, (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I have commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt; and none shall appear in my presence empty;)

16and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labours which thou hast sown in the field, and the feast of in-gathering, at the end of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labours out of the field.

17Three times in the year all thy males shall appear in the presence of the Lord Jehovah.

18Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning.

19The first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

20Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee to the place that I have prepared.

21Be careful in his presence, and hearken unto his voice: do not provoke him, for he will not forgive your transgressions; for my name is in him.

22But if thou shalt diligently hearken unto his voice, and do all that I shall say, then I will be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to thine adversaries.

23For 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.

24Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their deeds; but thou shalt utterly destroy them, and utterly shatter their statues.

25And ye shall serve Jehovah your God; and he shall bless thy bread and thy water; and I will take sickness away from thy midst.

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

27I will send my fear before thee, and confound every people to which thou comest, and will make all thine enemies turn their back to thee.

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

29I 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.

30By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou art fruitful, and possess the land.

31And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the river; for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, that thou mayest dispossess them from before thee.

32Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

33They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me; for if thou serve their gods, it is sure to be a snare unto thee.

Exodus 24

1And he said to Moses, Go up to Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship afar off.

2And let Moses alone come near Jehovah; but they shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him.

3And Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words that Jehovah has said will we do!

4And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

5And he sent the youths of the children of Israel, and they offered up burnt-offerings, and sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offering of bullocks to Jehovah.

6And Moses took half the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7And he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people; and they said, All that Jehovah has said will we do, and obey!

8And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant that Jehovah has made with you concerning all these words.

9And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up;

10and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were work of transparent sapphire, and as it were the form of heaven for clearness.

11And on the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: they saw God, and ate and drank.

12And Jehovah said to Moses, Come up to me into the mountain, and be there; and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law, and the commandment that I have written, for their instruction.

13And Moses rose up, and Joshua his attendant; and Moses went up to the mountain of God.

14And he said to the elders, Wait here for us, until we return to you; and behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matter, let him come before them.

15And Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

16And the glory of Jehovah abode on mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

17And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel.

18And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and ascended the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Exodus 25

1And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me a heave-offering: of every one whose heart prompteth him, ye shall take my heave-offering.

3And this is the heave-offering that ye shall take of them: gold, and silver, and copper,

4and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and byssus, and goats' hair,

5and rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins; and acacia-wood;

6oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil, and for the incense of fragrant drugs;

7onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.

8And they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

9According to all that I shall shew thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the utensils thereof, even so shall ye make it.

10And they shall make an ark of acacia-wood; two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

11And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold: inside and outside shalt thou overlay it; and shalt make upon it a border of gold round about.

12And cast four rings of gold for it, and put them at the four corners thereof, that two rings may be upon the one side thereof and two rings upon the other side thereof.

13And make staves of acacia-wood and overlay them with gold.

14And put the staves into the rings upon the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.

15The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not come out from it.

16And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony that I shall give thee.

17And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

18And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold; of beaten work shalt thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat.

19And make one cherub at the end of the one side, and one cherub at the end of the other side; out of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim at the two ends thereof.

20And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings over it, covering over with their wings the mercy-seat, and their faces opposite to one another: toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be turned.

21And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above on the ark, and shalt put in the ark the testimony that I shall give thee.

22And there will I meet with thee, and will speak with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, everything that I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

23And thou shalt make a table of acacia-wood, two cubits the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

24And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make upon it a border of gold round about.

25And thou shalt make for it a margin of a handbreadth round about, and shalt make a border of gold for the margin thereof round about.

26And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings at the four corners that are on the four feet thereof.

27Close to the margin shall the rings be, as receptacles of the staves to carry the table.

28And thou shalt make the staves of acacia-wood, and overlay them with gold; and the table shall be carried upon them.

29And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and cups thereof, and goblets thereof, and bowls thereof, with which to pour out: of pure gold shalt thou make them.

30And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me continually.

31And thou shalt make a lamp-stand of pure gold; of beaten work shall the lamp-stand be made: its base and its shaft, its cups, its knobs, and its flowers shall be of the same.

32And six branches shall come out of the sides thereof -- three branches of the lamp-stand out of one side thereof, and three branches of the lamp-stand out of the other side thereof;

33three cups shaped like almonds in the one branch, a knob and a flower: and three cups shaped like almonds in the other branch, a knob and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the lamp-stand.

34And in the lamp-stand four cups shaped like almonds, its knobs and its flowers;

35and a knob under two branches of it, and again a knob under two branches of it, and again a knob under two branches of it, for the six branches that proceed out of the lamp-stand.

36Their knobs and their branches shall be of itself -- all of one beaten work of pure gold.

37And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may shine out before it;

38and the snuffers thereof, and the snuff-trays thereof, of pure gold.

39Of a talent of pure gold shall they make it, with all these utensils.

40And see that thou make them according to their pattern, which hath been shewn to thee in the mountain.

Darby Translation (Darby). Public domain.