Welcome back to Reading with Ben! It's time to continue with episode #12 Exodus chapters 23 & 24.
This one's easy: don't mess with other people.Don't lie at someone else's trial; bring back Bob's donkey when it gets lost; don't take bribes; be nice to immigrants.Oh, and here's an interesting issue that relates to our times: "When you bear witness in a lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so as to pervert justice; nor shall you be partial to the poor in a lawsuit." Decide the case on its own merits, and don't be biased against one side. Sounds like the pledge they make you take at jury duty.
Chapter 24
Who's On First?
Whew. Now that all that nice legal mumbo jumbo is over (hint: it's not), let's get back to our tour of Mount Sinai.God tells Moses in 24:1-2, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship at a distance. Moses alone shall come near the Lord; but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him."Basically, this is Moses's party. The elders get to witness stuff, but they can't really be in tune with God like Moses can.Moses goes to the people and reads to them from the Book of the Covenant. You know, just some light reading.Everyone is hunky-dory, so Moses sprays the people with animal blood to make everything nice and official. Talk about the blood oath of blood oaths.Here's where things get confusing. Moses and the elders go up to see God, and the text is pretty explicit about them doing it together. Didn't God say that this was a Moses-only club?
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