Exodus 23:18-33
THERE ARE two very important things for us in this 18th verse. First, “Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread.” Leaven always speaks of evil. If one professes to be saved through the blood of Jesus, how sad if he should be going on with some kind of sin. We live in days when sin is so lightly thought of, but it is not so with God. If God were so definite in His command to His people Israel, how much more careful should we be when we think of how much the Lord Jesus has done for us.
Then, second, “neither shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until the morning.” The fat of the sacrifice was the best part. It was God’s part, and was to be offered at once — not put off until later. The Lord’s claims come first. How often have we left His things until tomorrow, so that we can do our own things today! But to give the Lord the supreme place in our hearts and lives, thinking first of what is due to Him and losing sight of everything else until this is done, is the secret of all blessing.
There is a warning given here, which is repeated twice elsewhere (chap. 34:26, Deut. 14:21): “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk,” an act most opposed to nature, a most uncomely thing to do. God would guard us from all that is abnormal and unnatural. He would have us have tender hearts and consciences, even in the case of a dumb or dead animal.
Then He tells them, “Behold I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.” We believe the Angel here to be Jehovah Himself, who has ever been the leader of His people, and it is precious to think that the Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Son of God of the New. He would bring them in in spite of the doomed Canaanites, who should be driven out: “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.” v. 24; “lest they make thee sin against Me.” v. 33. We can never expect to be kept from dishonoring the Lord’s name if we make friends, or maintain friendships, with the world. This world once crucified God’s own Son, and it is still at enmity with God. We can bring the gospel to the world, but how can we be friends with those who are the enemies of God? (James 4:4).
We can see that Israel’s blessings depended on their separation from evil, and in serving the Lord their God (vv. 24,25). And this is true for us today, as it was with them. In a later day we read of the new converts at Thessalonica, that they “turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven.”
“I will not drive them out from bore thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.” God would lead His people on, and bless them according to the measure they would be able to bear. It is so with His saints now. In His wisdom, God does not reveal the truth to us all at once, but He leads His children on “with gentle heavenly growth” —precept upon precept; line upon line... here a little, and there a little.” Isa. 28:10.
The children of Israel never did take possession of all that God had for them. Even in the reigns of David and Solomon there remained those Canaanites who were never expelled. But the day is coming when under the reign of Christ, all that Israel lost under responsibility because of their unfaithfulness, they will enter into and enjoy by His grace and power.
ML-03/29/1970