ExodeChapitre 23

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Do not spread a false report. Do not join hands with the guilty by giving malicious testimony.

Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not side with the majority and so pervert justice.

And do not show favoritism to the poor in his lawsuit.

If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him.

If you see the donkey of someone who hates you collapsed under its load, do not leave it there; help him get it to its feet.

Do not deny justice to the poor among you in their lawsuits.

Keep far from a false charge. Do not put the innocent and the righteous to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.

Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.

Do not oppress a foreigner. You know how it feels to be a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its harvest.

But in the seventh year let it rest and lie unused, so that the poor among your people may eat from it, and what they leave the wild animals may eat. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your slave woman and the foreigner may be refreshed.

Be careful to keep everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.

Three times a year you shall hold a festival to me.

Keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread: for seven days eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

Then keep the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. And keep the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in the fruit of your labor from the field.

Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD.

Do not offer the blood of my sacrifice along with anything leavened, and do not let the fat of my festival offering remain until morning.

Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

Pay attention to him and listen to his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your rebellion, since my name is in him.

But if you listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and oppose those who oppose you.

For my angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

Do not bow down to their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must utterly destroy their idols and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

Serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water. I will take away sickness from among you,

and none in your land will miscarry or be barren. I will give you a full span of life.

I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and flee.

I will send hornets ahead of you to drive the Hivites, the Canaanites and the Hittites out of your way.

But I will not drive them out in a single year, or the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.

Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and you will drive them out before you.

Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.

They must not live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me. If you serve their gods, it will certainly become a snare to you.

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Résumé2

Chapitre 23

Main Theme: God's laws for justice, rest, and worship—with the promise of guidance to the promised land.

Content: The chapter gives commands for fair judgment: do not spread false reports, do not follow a crowd to do wrong, do not accept bribes, and protect both the poor and the foreigner. It establishes the Sabbath year (every seventh year) and the Sabbath day for rest, as well as three annual pilgrimage festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Ingathering. God promises to send an angel to lead Israel into Canaan and warns against making covenants with the people there or worshiping their gods.

Key Words/Images:

Fair Judgment (vv. 1–8): Prohibitions against false testimony, bribes, and perverting justice—for both the poor and the rich.
Sabbath Year and Sabbath (vv. 10–12): Every seventh year the land must rest, and every seventh day people and animals are to have rest.
The Three Festivals (vv. 14–17): The Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Ingathering—all men must appear before the Lord.
The Angel Who Leads (vv. 20–23): God sends His angel to protect and guide the people into the promised land; His name is in the angel.
Warning Against Idolatry (vv. 24, 32–33): Israel must not worship the gods of Canaan or make covenants with the peoples there.

Contexte historique

Historical and Cultural Context for Exodus 23

Events and Customs

Legal Practice and Witness Testimony

The opening laws of the chapter concerning justice in legal cases (vv. 1–8) reflect a developed legal culture in the ancient Near East. The prohibition against "bearing false report" (שֵׁמַע שָׁוְא, shema shav) and taking bribes has parallels in Egyptian wisdom texts and Mesopotamian law codes. The Laws of Hammurabi contain similar provisions regarding the responsibility of witnesses and penalties for false accusation. What is unique in Israelite law is its social dimension: protection of the poor (dal and evjon) in legal proceedings, and the command to help even an enemy’s animal.

The Three Festivals

The three annual pilgrimage festivals (שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים, shalosh regalim) described in verses 14–17 followed the agricultural cycle of Canaan’s climate. "The Festival of Unleavened Bread" (chag hamatzot) fell in the month of Aviv (March–April) at the barley harvest, "the Festival of Harvest" (chag hakatzir) came seven weeks later at the wheat harvest, and "the Festival of Ingathering" (chag ha'asif) marked the conclusion of the harvest in autumn. All neighboring peoples had harvest festivals, but Israel connected them to salvation history—especially the Exodus from Egypt.

The Sabbath Year and Weekly Sabbath

The command to let the land rest every seventh year (vv. 10–11) is unique to Israel. While other cultures practiced fallow rotation for practical reasons, the Israelite shemittah system provided a theological and social rationale: the poor and wild animals were to eat what grew on its own. The social dimension of the Sabbath (v. 12) explicitly includes the ox, the donkey, the slave’s son, and the foreigner—a remarkable expansion of the principle of rest.

Key Terms

Ger – The Foreigner

The word גֵּר (ger) in verses 9 and 12 denotes a non-Israelite living permanently among the people. The reminder that "you know the soul of the foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt" uses the Hebrew נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh)—which encompasses the whole person’s inner life and experience. This empathetic argument for justice based on historical experience is characteristic of Israelite ethics.

Cooking a Kid in Its Mother’s Milk

The prohibition in verse 19 (לֹֽא־תְבַשֵּׁ֥ל גְּדִ֖י בַּחֲלֵ֥ב אִמּֽוֹ) has been the subject of much discussion. Some scholars have viewed it as a reaction against a Canaanite fertility rite, others as an expression of respect for natural relationships. A Ugaritic text mentions preparing a kid in milk in a cultic context, which may support interpreting this as a command against idolatry. This prohibition was later developed in rabbinic tradition into the comprehensive ban on mixing meat and milk.

Matsevot – Sacred Pillars

The מַצֵּבֹת (matsevot) that were to be broken down (v. 24) were standing stones used in Canaanite worship. Archaeological excavations at Hazor, Gezer, and other sites have uncovered such cultic pillars, often arranged in rows near sanctuaries. They were associated with Baal worship and other Canaanite deities.

Locations

The Promised Boundaries

Verse 31 describes the ideal boundaries of the promised land: "from the Sea of Reeds to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the river." The Sea of Reeds (yam suf) is traditionally identified with the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aqaba in the south; "the sea of the Philistines" refers to the Mediterranean Sea in the west; the wilderness is the Negev/Sinai desert; and "the river" (ha-nahar) refers to the Euphrates in the northeast. This represents the maximum extent of the promised territory, which was partially realized during the reigns of David and Solomon.

The Peoples of Canaan

The six peoples mentioned in verse 23—the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites—represent the ethnic mosaic of Bronze Age Canaan. Archaeology confirms a composite population with diverse cultural traditions. The Hittites are connected to the great Hittite empire in Anatolia, while the Jebusites controlled Jerusalem until David’s conquest.

Chapter-Specific Findings

The Gezer Calendar and the Agricultural Cycle

The Gezer calendar, dated to approximately 925 BCE, is one of the oldest known Hebrew inscriptions and lists the activities of the agricultural year: olive harvest, sowing, late sowing, flax harvest, barley harvest, wheat harvest, vine pruning, and summer fruit. This calendar directly illuminates the three festivals in Exodus 23, all of which are tied to the agricultural cycle in the Israelite highlands.

Personnages

Aucun personnage connu dans ce chapitre.

Mots-clés8

Lord's Angel — A divine messenger sent by God to lead and protect the people of Israel.
Covenant — An agreement between God and humans, often linked with promises and obligations from both parties.
Ark of the Covenant — A holy chest that contained the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments, a symbol of God's presence and covenant with Israel.
Sabbatical Year — Every seventh year when the land was to lie fallow and not be cultivated, so that it could rest and the poor could harvest what grew on its own.
Festivals — Religious celebrations marking special events or times in the Jewish year, such as Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Justice — The principle of acting rightly and fairly, both toward God and other people.
Destruction — Complete devastation or extermination, here used concerning God's judgment over hostile nations.
False Witness — To lie or give false information in a legal case, which is strictly forbidden in the books of Moses.