AT MOUNT SINAI (6), Dr. Samuel Lee
DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD
Passage: Exodus 23:1~19  
Key verse: 2
Laws of Justice and Mercy
23 “Do not spread false reports.(A) Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.(B)
2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice(C) by siding with the crowd,(D) 3 and do not show favoritism(E) to a poor person in a lawsuit.
4 “If you come across your enemy’s(F) ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.(G) 5 If you see the donkey(H) of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.
6 “Do not deny justice(I) to your poor people in their lawsuits. 7 Have nothing to do with a false charge(J) and do not put an innocent(K) or honest person to death,(L) for I will not acquit the guilty.(M)
8 “Do not accept a bribe,(N) for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.
9 “Do not oppress a foreigner;(O) you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
Sabbath Laws
10 “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, 11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused.(P) Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12 “Six days do your work,(Q) but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.(R)
13 “Be careful(S) to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods;(T) do not let them be heard on your lips.(U)
The Three Annual Festivals
14 “Three times(V) a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.
15 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread;(W) for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv,(X) for in that month you came out of Egypt.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.(Y)
16 “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest(Z) with the firstfruits(AA) of the crops you sow in your field.
“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering(AB) at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.(AC)
17 “Three times(AD) a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
18 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.(AE)
“The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.(AF)
19 “Bring the best of the firstfruits(AG) of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.(AH)
Cross references
- Exodus 23:1 : S Ge 39:17; Mt 19:18; Lk 3:14
- Exodus 23:1 : S Ex 20:16; Dt 5:20; 19:16-21; Ps 27:12; 35:11; Pr 19:5; Ac 6:11
- Exodus 23:2 : ver 3, 6, 9; Lev 19:15, 33; Dt 1:17; 16:19; 24:17; 27:19; 1Sa 8:3
- Exodus 23:2 : Job 31:34
- Exodus 23:3 : Dt 1:17
- Exodus 23:4 : Ro 12:20
- Exodus 23:4 : Lev 6:3; 19:11; Dt 22:1-3
- Exodus 23:5 : Dt 22:4
- Exodus 23:6 : S ver 2; Dt 23:16; Pr 22:22
- Exodus 23:7 : S Ex 20:16; S Eph 4:25
- Exodus 23:7 : Mt 27:4
- Exodus 23:7 : S Ge 18:23
- Exodus 23:7 : Ex 34:7; Dt 19:18; 25:1
- Exodus 23:8 : S Ex 18:21; Lev 19:15; Dt 10:17; 27:25; Job 15:34; 36:18; Ps 26:10; Pr 6:35; 15:27; 17:8; Isa 1:23; 5:23; Mic 3:11; 7:3
- Exodus 23:9 : S ver 2; S Ex 22:21; Lev 19:33-34; Eze 22:7
- Exodus 23:11 : Lev 25:1-7; Ne 10:31
- Exodus 23:12 : S Ex 20:9; Lk 13:14
- Exodus 23:12 : Ge 2:2-3
- Exodus 23:13 : Dt 4:9, 23; 1Ti 4:16
- Exodus 23:13 : ver 32; Dt 12:3; Jos 23:7; Ps 16:4; Zec 13:2
- Exodus 23:13 : Dt 18:20; Jos 23:7; Ps 16:4; Hos 2:17
- Exodus 23:14 : ver 17; S Ex 12:14; 34:23, 24; Dt 16:16; 1Ki 9:25; 2Ch 8:13; Eze 46:9
- Exodus 23:15 : S Ex 12:17; Mt 26:17; Lk 22:1; Ac 12:3
- Exodus 23:15 : S Ex 12:2
- Exodus 23:15 : S Ex 22:29
- Exodus 23:16 : Lev 23:15-21; Nu 28:26; Dt 16:9; 2Ch 8:13
- Exodus 23:16 : S Ex 22:29; S 34:22
- Exodus 23:16 : Ex 34:22; Lev 23:34, 42; Dt 16:16; 31:10; Ezr 3:4; Ne 8:14; Zec 14:16
- Exodus 23:16 : Lev 23:39; Dt 16:13; Jer 40:10
- Exodus 23:17 : S ver 14
- Exodus 23:18 : Ex 34:25; Lev 2:11
- Exodus 23:18 : S Ex 12:8
- Exodus 23:19 : S Ex 22:29; S 34:22; S Nu 18:12
- Exodus 23:19 : Ex 34:26; Dt 14:21
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source:  BibleGateway
1. Don't pervert justice (1-9)
Often we are influenced by the world around us and become very selfish. Some people deliberately pervert justice because of a grudge or because they despise the poor, the weak, or the alien. Others are simply too busy and too selfish to lend a hand to someone in need. God's word reminds us that we are responsible for making our society just and fair for all people. We are responsible for helping the weak, for righting wrongs as we see them, for seeing that weaker people get a fair chance. We must remember God's grace in delivering us from the lonesomeness of alien life in an unfriendly world, and making us his own children.
2. A time to rest and celebrate (10-19)
The land needs rest; the poor need an opportunity; God's people need to come to God for refreshment of body and soul. God's people need training in thanksgiving. So God ordained 3 annual festivals--three times to come before the Lord, remember his grace and show practical and joyful thankfulness.
Prayer: Lord, help me not to be selfish. Help me to take time to thank and enjoy you.
One Word: Don't follow the crowd; enjoy God