40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Episode 89 (Exodus 23:1-20)

Episode Date: July 19, 2017

Don't be a bad witness. Don't take a bribe. Take care of the poor. Help the one who hates you. Chad Bird and Daniel Emery Price talk about these instructions and how we love to apply the law to everyone but ourselves. But after a ton of Law we hear about an Angel with God's name in Him who can forgive. Who is He? Listen and find out! 

Welcome to another episode of 40 Minutes in the Old Testament. I'm Daniel Emery Price, joined by Chad Bird. Chad, what's going on? hey good morning doing good i've been sort of uh having some withdrawals some torah withdrawals here everybody doesn't know if we had a way to take a two-week break here so uh it's been like two weeks since we've had a chance to dive into exodus it's true they didn't know because uh we were a little bit ahead but now uh we were sneaky yeah we had one in reserve yeah no no longer though no longer the case so um so but we're back we are back and uh let me do this right out at the front

uh me and chad before we faked you out like we just hadn't been talking and like i just asked him what was going on and i don't know what's going on because we've been sitting here talking before we did this uh but what we were talking about was an event in california san diego to be specific and that's a conference taking place october 19 through 21 here we still stand conference i'm going to be there chad's going to be there a whole bunch of other people are going to be there the list is long you can go over to here we still stand.org see that list tons and tons of people if you like this podcast we're going to be doing this podcast live uh it's one of the things we're gonna be doing at this event uh so you can come hang out uh interact with us

watch us do this live i don't know how interesting that'll be people some people seem to be interested in that i don't know we'll see how it goes but uh here's the thing if you want to go to that and it's about uh it's about 60 percent full you know and it's still over three months away so uh yeah you know tickets might get scarce uh towards the end but if you want to get some tickets go over to here we still stand.org register yourself register whoever else you want to bring uh type in the code four zero o t and uh you get 10 off your your each ticket the whole uh the whole order so you can get 10 off and come hang out with us just for listening to this nobody knows about this nobody knows about this code unless you listen to this podcast that's a good

deal and here's the thing you guys don't you get with that ticket you get like multiple breakfast lunch dinners dessert bars i mean like you get more than the ticket price worth of food with the ticket you do like you're you're basically going to going to san diego and you're you get like you're getting a meal card to eat super good food at a super cheap rate it's like the conference is free i mean you you would spend more money than a conference ticket on the food uh if you were just to buy it so you should uh you should definitely do it it's going to be a complete blast and you probably you probably want to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the reformation i mean what better what better reason to go to california and hang out with a bunch of

people that's it that's my spit that's my pitch i want to see you all there come hang out yeah Yep, register. We'd love to meet as many of you as we can face-to-face. You know what else, Chad? What else? We were also just talking about how your book drops just a couple of days before that. It does. It's coming out about mid-October.

So if you follow me online, Facebook or Twitter, you've probably seen me talk about it a little bit. But if not, or if you read my blog, I include an ad there. But if not, go to Amazon and type in my name, Chad Bird, along with the title Night Driving. And you can you can read about the book. It's it's available for preorder right now. And like I said, it's coming out, I think, around October 12th, something like that. Well, even the actual copies are shipped. But ideally, we'll get as many preorders as we can. So, yeah, go to Amazon, Night Driving. There's some information there about it.

You can also go to my website, Chadford.com, and I've got a couple of endorsements there from some folks who've read it. So you can read those, kind of get an idea as to what it's about and what people think of it. So that would be great. Yeah, yeah. And I believe Dan has something coming out too, right? It's true.

It's true. It's a book on parables. But don't worry about that. It's New Testament stuff. do some new testament stuff but here's the thing what i'm saying about this is that like you can order that book get that book bring that book with you chad probably signed it for me and he'd be all embarrassed and be like you know but you can do that or if you're like dude i don't i don't order stuff online or whatever you could also just come to the conference and just buy the book

so there's just lots of reasons for you to go there you can go there to get it you can bring your copy that you pre-ordered and bring it meet chad have him sign that thing that'd be great bring it on alright enough of that five minutes in and we haven't even talked about the Old Testament so we better do it we better move forward alright so if you've been

listening then you know that we have spent I think two sessions anyway we've been in what's called the Book of the Covenant and we're going to finish that up today it starts after the Ten Commandments chapter 21 of Exodus

This is where that begins, and it goes through chapter 23. So we're going to cover chapter 23 today. So buckle up. Here we go. We got 33 verses to cover, but I don't think we'll have too much trouble. So as you know, if you've been listening, we've discussed all sorts of laws dealing with everything from kind of relationship kind of stuff between a man, a woman, husband, a wife, parents, and children to more agricultural kind of stuff, all sorts of things anyway that are addressed in the Book of the Covenant that deal with

legal matters, kind of everyday practical stuff. And some of this continues in chapter 23. The first nine verses are legal in character. And by that, I mean not just laws, but they're dealing with kind of the Israelite legal system or judicial system, as we might call it today. And some of these things are what you would expect. I mean, for example, it starts out this way. It says, you shall not bear a false report. Don't join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. So don't go around spreading lies.

don't go around spreading gossip and especially don't go into some kind of legal situation some kind of court situation and join hands with a witness who is not telling the truth but is is lying and acting maliciously toward towards somebody else and then it kind of continues in the same vein by uh in verse two so here we read you shall not follow a multitude in doing evil nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice so the general tone here is that what what we need in legal system and and i don't know anybody who's going to disagree with this is honesty and integrity and forthrightness and a concern for doing what is just, doing what is righteous.

So really, there's not a whole lot here in these verses, at least in the general tone of these verses, that almost anybody is going to disagree with, especially those who are involved in the legal profession in some way. No, there's not anything that anyone would disagree with, just a bunch of stuff that we functionally don't do. Disregard. Yeah, exactly, right.

yeah all this all this is stuff that people agree with but when it comes right down to it they just don't do it they just don't do it yeah i mean everybody wants impartial justices but the truth is all you have to do is is turn on the radio anytime that there is a discussion of for example the supreme court who you know who's going to do the nominee for the supreme court justice or something like that it doesn't have to be the supreme court any any nominee for some kind of a judicial seat and right away you find out that you got a spectrum right here right you got you got those who lean more to the left and those who lean more to the right those who are kind of more more in between and so of course there's impartiality it's it just it's kind of

built into the human nature there are no impartial judges because they're all 100% human and they They don't check their prejudices and political leanings and moral philosophies and religious ideals and all the stuff that influences us and our decisions at the door. I mean, that's just as long as we're dealing with human judges, we're going to be dealing to some extent with impartiality. That's just that's the nature of the beast. I mean all of this basically – so all of this right here is flowing out of – this is sort of a more narrowed down vocational aspect to not bearing false witness, right? It's sort of just saying – which is true of everyone, but then there's also people who have it that their job is literally to not bear false witness, is to tell the truth, to bring out the truth. And so and we struggle with that. And so I think that when I when you hear like, don't don't be a bad witness, don't be a don't be a shady, a shady witness. I also can't, and obviously this is speaking specifically to people like in positions of being a judge, but we tend to all place ourselves, we all place ourselves in the position of judge and jury and witness or prosecutor or the whole thing against all kinds of people and our neighbor.

And so we're all, we've all jacked this up, I feel like, pretty bad. Yeah. We all have this tendency to place ourselves in vocations in which God has not placed us. And one of those vocations that we tend to like the most is judge, in which we tend to act with great severity. Disregarding the fact that if we were the ones being judged, we would expect mercy. In fact, be angry if we don't receive mercy. But at the same time, when we are judging, we very rarely actually show mercy to someone who really does deserve it. Yeah, so it kind of continues along these lines in the rest of this section.

One thing I think is interesting is that there's this verse thrown in that kind of catches you off guard. It's the third verse. It says, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in this dispute. I think it's interesting. So it's almost assumed, because they make this explicit, it's almost assumed that there is going to be some sort of partiality to the disenfranchised, to a poor man. So this is calling for a radical equality with regard to justice.

So if you tend to want to be partial toward those who are the underdog, the poor man, well, then this is saying you can't do that. This is not a matter of a man's or woman's station, but it's a matter of truth and justice. So even though you might be inclined, say there's a dispute between a rich man and a poor man. uh you might be inclined to kind of take the uh take the the way of the poor guy if if it's a matter of truth and justice well that that's that's beside the point uh justice is is blind as we often say so it doesn't matter where the what kind of socio-economic status the various defendants in a case are in what matters is ultimately is the truth so the fact that the scriptures make that explicit not to show partiality to a poor man in a dispute i think is

is telling it's calling for this uh 100 percent uh across the board equal equal justice no matter where where someone's at on the economic level yeah yeah i think we we would i think we we can see this i mean played out practically um now the way it typically works is that the rich man has more uh legal advantages uh in our current structure where if you have a if you have a bunch of money you can get better lawyers and more of them and uh and bribe the right people this is so so there is this i don't think it's completely wrong uh to assume this where if you did have a big guy versus little guy and you think man big guy's got a lot of advantages you know uh the poor guy's got a you know public defender or whatever and the rich guy's got like

an army of of lawyers uh but uh to the general public you know to someone like me or you like we might be like oh that guy's that guy's got a lot of power he's got a lot of money he's probably wrong yeah that would be that's our assumption and that's that's incorrect uh he might have all the advantages uh and yeah there's a lot we know there's a lot of corruption because we're sinners and that happens and so it's easy to go there and it's probably you're probably not wrong that that is the case uh many much of the time but it is wrong to just assume like well this guy is in a position of power and this guy's not there therefore he's automatically at fault you know yeah yeah exactly yeah so uh you got that thrown in and then um another another interesting part

of this uh at least i find it interesting i hope everyone else will too is that this is really outside the legal system these next couple of verses but they're thrown in here as well because they have to do with how you treat your neighbor and here's let me read them to you it says if you meet your enemy's ox i'm sure that happens to many of us if you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away you shall surely return it to him if you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load you shall refrain from leaving it to him you shall surely release it with him now of course this is not a this is not an everyday situation that i think most of us have encountered i have yet to see the donkey of the guy that hates me uh lying on the road

helpless under its load but uh but i certainly have seen plenty of other situations where i'm dealing with someone who does not think kindly of me remarkably there are a few people laughter like that and i i am uh i'm called in these verses not to let either his hatred of me or i suppose my hatred of him or any ill will that he might feel toward me or i toward him anywhere i'm not to let any of that influence my desire to assist him when he's hot in a bad in a bad situation the reason i think this is interesting is because this is this is so insightful into into the uh the tendency of human nature i mean if there's anybody that we are prone to walk past and not help if they're hurt or if they're in trouble or if they're in need it's

what's the guy that hates us right i mean why should i care about him he didn't care about me in fact he hates me so why why should i do a single thing out of kindness or concern for for him uh well the reason i should is because that's exactly the way that god's toward us right even while we were yet enemies of god is when he loved us and and died for us so the the attitude and the activity of god toward us and acting in mercy acting in mercy toward us is uh is the the is exemplified here in the activity of the one who actually helps the neighbor who who can't stand him yeah this is the same whether you know if his possessions are lost or wandering away then you you return it to him you don't keep it or you don't laugh behind his back or whatever it is so

it's a concern for love toward the seemingly unlovable mercy toward those who don't show mercy to us yeah this is uh this is just good samaritan stuff yeah exactly come across your enemy all all beat up and uh you're like yeah you know what uh i think i'll just leave you there yeah that's not how that's that's not how it works no that works no so you got that thrown in there uh i think the rest of that is uh is kind of going along with what we've already talked about don't take a bribe uh don't oppress a stranger keep far from the false charge don't pervert justice all this all this kind of talk that uh is uh an elaboration of what we've what we've been talking about at the beginning of beginning of the chapter all of which as dan pointed out

is uh an elaboration on the commandment about not bearing falseness against against your neighbor That commandment means that we shouldn't tell lies about a neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation. But it also applies specifically to those occasions where we're an actual witness in a court of law. So it applies across the board, whether we're in a legal system or just in an everyday situation. So that's the first section, the first nine verses. and then we we transition in uh verse 10 really verses 10 through 19 uh we deal with a whole other matter which we haven't talked about in the book of the covenant so far and this is uh the what you might call the kind of old testament religious calendar what's what some churches

We call their liturgical calendar. That is, it's the the calendar of festivals, either weekly or annual festivals that the believers follow. Now, we're going to hear a whole lot more about these festivals as we go along, because they're discussed in multiple places in Leviticus, in Numbers, in Deuteronomy, especially in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. So we'll see these over and over. So I'll say a little bit about these as we go through these. You've already heard a little bit about them when we talked about Passover. But they come up again here. So the first few verses, 10 through 13, are concerned with both the Sabbath day as well as what's called the Sabbath or the sabbatical year. We haven't talked about the sabbatical year yet.

But here's the way it works. So verse 10 says that you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield. So for six years, you do like any farmer would do. You plow, you plant, you reap your harvest. You gather it in. Then verse 11 says, but on the seventh year, you shall let it rest and lie fallow so that the needy of your people may eat. And whatever they leave, the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove

Now this is a This is a very I think unique At least to my knowledge This is a unique Israelite Practice injunction In the ancient world And I've often wondered how often this was actually practiced

Maybe it was practiced And we're just not told about it But it certainly Is commanded more than once In the Torah That is that the seventh year is a Sabbath year. There's not to be the farmers basically have the year off. So there's no there's none of the regular planting and harvesting and everything else that takes place in the agricultural world.

Instead, the seventh year is a year of rest for the field. and part of the reason for this is that it provides an occasion for the needy of the people the poor people to be able basically to gather up whatever grows of its own i mean if you harvest a field if you don't plant it again there's still going to be wheat or barley or whatever that comes up because that's just the way it's the way it works you always have seeds that fall off and then that grow on their own the next year without being actually planted by planted by the farmer So whether it's a vineyard, whether it's an agro, whether it's a wheat or barley field, all of these lie fallow the seventh year in order that they may rest the soil, actually may may rejuvenate. That way, it's not completely deprived of all its nutrients by year after year after year, having having the work done and done in the field.

So that's that's the seventh year. Later on, we'll hear about the Jubilee year, which is actually the. Kind of an elaboration of this. It's the 50th year, which is also very similar. But this right now is the seventh year of the Sabbath year. So that that has to do with the sabbatical year. And then the next two verses have to do with the Sabbath day, which we've talked about more than once. It's, of course, the commandment about keeping the Sabbath day holy. This is an elaboration of that. Six days you work. Seventh, you cease from your labor in order that your ox, your ox and your donkey may rest,

as well as your servants and the stranger who is in your midst. Correct me if I'm wrong before we go, as we talk about the sabbatical year. So this is obviously your, yes, set aside for the soil and the farmer to rest, but also as a way of provision for the needy, right? So you see again that there's, within Jewish law, there is provisions made for for those who have need uh for those who are impoverished this sort

of thing um and and which is interesting but uh i also think that like is it it was uh also against the law for you to um like prosecute or or stop somebody from like picking up stuff that had fall like stuff out of the field to like falling on the ground and things like this correct like if you had like somebody uh you know whatever if you're if your trees had all this fruit on them and something fell off them and someone picked it up that that was against the law to say like that was stealing or something like that yeah exactly exactly yeah that was a uh if if uh if folks remember the the story of uh of ruth i mean that's what she was doing in the field you know whatever the whatever grain was was left over she was picking that up that you know that

the reapers whatever you know they're always going to drop some of it so that was that's what she was going out and was gathering up so that was uh yeah it was it was supposed to be done in order that the poor might have something to eat as well as uh there's this language about like not not harvesting the very corners of your fields so that uh a little bit of grain is left standing also for the poor to to gather it for themselves so there was built into the israel legal system this concern for the poor that uh that not only was it okay that you you know that was not wrong for the poor to do this it was actually encouraged that those who had the fields who had the grain harvest in such a way that they're also looking out for the needs of of the poor who didn't have

fields of their own to to harvest yeah yeah so it wasn't just uh a matter of hey this is okay if this happens it would be it would be against the law for you to stop someone from doing it exactly yeah yeah that's interesting it's it's it's it's uh so on one hand you see like hey yeah you know justice is blind uh don't uh you know just because someone's poor doesn't mean they're innocent or whatever but but then so you're like man brutal but then at the same time There's all these laws that are built in to protect the livelihood or to preserve those who have less. Yeah, I mean, I think part of our struggle today is, you know, at least in most countries, we have systems in place that, yes, imperfectly, but at least there are systems in place in order to help those who are impoverished. uh you know it doesn't matter if it's with with medical help or with uh food stamps or with

food banks or whatever it is there's there are systems in place governmental systems in place in order to at least provide some some care some food some clothing some shelter for those who who don't have anything uh for whatever reason but that was not in place it was nothing in place like that in the ancient world. I mean, there was no welfare system whatsoever. And so if you have an orphan, for instance, or if you have a widow or someone who, for whatever reason, is physically disabled and so cannot work, like someone who's blind or something like that, they were basically at the mercy of their neighbor. There was no governmental assistance program. So anything that the neighbor could do in order to help them was was not only allowed but but actively

actively encouraged and that's why very frequently throughout the old testament the people that are singled out as those who are especially in need of help those who especially are actually prone to being taken advantage of are the widows and the orphans because there is no one to protect them there's no one to provide for them they are they are literally at everyone else's mercy so uh this law is like that about leaving grain in your field was was one way in which at least their their food needs were were met yeah yeah so i mean it's it is interesting the um in our in our western society at least i only speak from my own experience but you know we do have this you know you hear this uh you hear this this all the time come up right it'll be like well you

don't work you don't eat you know of course paul says um but at the same time uh you you have to hold that sort of thing uh intention with hey you also have you are also commanded to take care of the poor among you and make sure they get to eat so you gotta deal with the paradox there of um hey there are those who don't have anything and you need to make it's it's incumbent upon you to make sure that they do and at the same time saying like hey it's not good to be lazy right yeah yeah yeah you have to hold those two in tension and i think uh as individuals most of us lean in one direction or the other i mean we we tend to be the one of those you don't work you don't eat or one of those, hey, we need to do everything we can

to take care of the poor. I think most of us are leaning in one direction or the other. We're kind of caught in that tension. Yeah, and I think it's also like this. If I was, as I look at those two things, I look at one as sort of like something that might be objectively true. Like if I decide I'm not going to do anything,

well there's a chance that i'm not gonna eat if i do that right like so that's sort of that's sort of speaking to me is like hey i mean if i don't do anything i'm probably not gonna like be able to buy anything you know and so that's gonna be bad i then as someone who like looks who would look at somebody with nothing the verse that should be be in my head is probably not if you don't work you don't eat that verse should be in my head if i'm not working yeah it's applied to you yeah right but not to the other person right but if i do have things and then there's this other person that has nothing the verse in my head should not be love you don't work you don't eat man no the verse in my head should be like uh you need to

take care of the impoverished you need to take care of the widows and orphans uh so i think i think we get that twisted around sometimes like we want to like switch it up you know and like it'd be like i'm gonna apply this verse uh to this person when that i should be applying that verse to me and applying this other verse to them um it's sort of like when uh when dudes come up to you and say give me all the verses about you know my wife submitting to me uh and you're like i don't think that's addressed to you yeah that's that's when you quote uh the other verse in that section submit to one another out of reverence for christ yeah i'm like i'm like why don't you go read about like all the things said to husbands and uh worry about that yeah husbands love your

wives as christ loved the church so so when someone comes up to you he's like hey man i got this deadbeat neighbor uh where's that verse about not working and not eating i'm like i don't know but why don't you go worry about the verse that says you need to take care of your neighbor yeah yeah we have the old adam always enjoys those verses uh in which we can use them to uh make somebody else do something yeah make somebody else feel worse yep we're we're experts at deflecting the law away from ourselves not to someone else so the the next section 14 through 19 deals with uh the three main festivals of of the israelite calendar and like i said we will be talking about these a lot more as time goes on so they are here they're not different names

but here they're called the feast of unleavened bread the feast of the harvest and the feast of the end gathering so the feast of unleavened bread we already talked about earlier in exodus in connection with passover so you have passover and then you have a week-long feast of unleavened bread so that's always the first month in the spring here it's called the month of aviv later be known by the babylonian name of month of nissan so that's the first the second is the feast of the harvest uh which we know as uh it's also called the feast of weeks which in hebrew would be sukkot uh but uh it is uh we we know it as the feast of uh feast of pentecost so which means 50 days or 50th which of course was uh also the the day on which the holy spirit uh was poured

out on the disciples in acts chapter 2 so you have uh i said i said it was the feast of uh shavuot is what i meant to say sorry wrong word there feast of feast of weeks shavuot the third of these is the feast of ingathering uh which uh is also known as tabernacles it's the fall festival which is connected with the fruit gathering time so those are the three main feasts of the israelite calendar you got unless passover unleavened bread and then you got pentecost and then you have tabernacles so each of these each of these three times at least all the guys and a lot of a lot of times it wasn't just the men but it was the families as Well, they were to appear before the Lord God, as verse 17, 17 says, and sacrifices would be offered.

There were various rituals that built up over time or practice during these during these three weeks. So those are the three main pilgrimage festivals, which in Hebrew is called a hog. It's usually spelled H.A.G. or C.H.A.G. there's actually a connection, a linguistic connection between that word and another word that you probably have heard, and that is the Arabic word hajj. So one of the pillars of Islam is that at least once in their life, Muslims are to make a hajj or a pilgrimage to their holy city of Mecca, which is usually spelled H-A-J.

So but these two words are related. So a hog in Hebrew or a hodge in Arabic, they both refer to this this pilgrimage festival in which you actually journey to a particular holy site and and celebrate there. So that's that's that next section. Just to to wrap things up. And I don't know if we'll finish all of it, but this next section, which is 20 through 33, ending up ending up this chapter. we are once again introduced to this uh so-called angel that is going to journey with israel here's how it starts out it says behold i'm going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which i have prepared be on your guard before him and obey his voice do not rebellious do not be rebellious toward him for he will not pardon your transgression since my name is in him and then it goes on uh to talk a little bit more about

this angel so this is uh this is kind of a unique section in some of the language that's used about this this angel or this messenger but it actually ties in to where we've seen this angel many other times we were first introduced to this messenger way back in genesis he's the one that encountered hagar when she was the wilderness uh then we certainly saw this angel on full display in the burning bush in chapter three and four when he talked with with moses and back then we discussed the fact that first of all i wish it wasn't translated angel and the hebrew there is malak which uh just means messenger so this is the the messenger of yahweh the one who bears Yahweh's word, the one who speaks for him, who acts for him. And here, the unique language that

we heard at the end of verse 21 is that God's name is in him. And I don't think there's any more important verse for understanding who this angel is than this particular verse here. Because for God's name to be in this messenger is for God's identity, for his essence, for his power, for his authority, for all of who God is to be in this messenger. Because that's what name connotes here. For God's name to be in this messenger is for God and all that God is is to be in this messenger. And that's why for the whole history of the church, this angel has not been understood to be what we usually think of as an angel, but instead the messenger of Yahweh that is the son of the father. So this is this is Old Testament language for the Messiah. So he is the messenger of the father.

He has the father's name in him. That is his power, his authority, his essence. and he is the one who here is is journeying with israel who's going to guard and protect them along the way and to bring them into into the promised land and what he says the father says what he does the father does when he guards protects it's the father doing it so as christ will later say is in his incarnation you know he who has seen me has seen the father so even here back in the old testament when christ appears as this messenger he appears as the one who embodies everything that the father that the father is well yeah i think one of the another reason why

you know this is the case is that it talks about uh not resisting him or not rebelling against him right um because if you do he will not pardon your transgressions well angels can't forgive sins right you know that's not something that they do it's not something angels do and so by saying that like hey if you if you rebel against this person he not i but like he will not pardon your transgressions sort of infers that if you if you don't he will you know so right which means this is god uh so i mean like the pharisees ain't wrong when they say uh only god can forgive sins true enough uh you know so i think you have that i also think it's interesting that even says that uh on the heels of just tons and tons of law so you have to give your 10 commandments and then

you have all of this other law and then it's like i'm also i'm gonna send my messenger who is my son Don't turn him away Don't rebel against him Don't shun him He is here, after all, to forgive your breaking of all this law Right, yeah It's a perfect positioning, right It's a great way to wrap up the book of the covenant

All these laws And by the way, I'm sending the forgiver Into your midst Yeah, so don't reject him Because otherwise you will be This law is going to screw you over for sure You're going to find yourself Coming up on the short end of this

so I'm sending this guy don't reject him because he's going to keep you safe he's going to protect you he's going to keep you in right relationship with me he's going to be the forgiver and if you push him back if you rebel against him well then you won't have that

and that's a bad place to end up right right that's a few more verses after that but that's the major thrust of this last section in the book of the covenant which uh is perfect i mean it's divinely set up that way you got laws after laws after laws governing society individual life judicial system all this stuff and then god

says now for the most important thing i'm sending you my son he's got my name in him he's got my power and authority so don't push him away because he's got everything that you need he's gonna be the one who forgives you and brings you to the land that i prepared for you yes yes that is good news and we are out of time so uh we got a bunch of law but uh we got some uh some jesus at the end there which is good news so guys thanks for hanging out uh we will be back next week uh and it'll probably be a little bit different i think next week right yeah yeah we got some good stuff coming up in chapter 24 got the book of the the uh the sacrifice the uh the uh the book of the covenant uh the sprinkled blood lots of lots of good stuff coming up right on all right well uh

we will see you next week Bye.