86_Commands for the conquest Exodus 23:20-33 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. 22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” In the early 1800s, Adoniram Judson, one of the first American missionaries to Burma, faced huge challenges in his mission field. The tropical climate, dangerous travel routes, language barriers, and local hostility, were huge obstacles. Yet Judson pressed on, relying on God’s promises, and trusting that the Lord would prepare the way ahead. Years of toil, imprisonment, and personal loss yielded few converts, but Judson’s unwavering faith in God’s presence and purpose ultimately bore fruit. By the time of his death, Judson had translated the Bible into Burmese, established churches, and planted seeds of faith that transformed the spiritual landscape of Burma. His story testifies to the power of faith in God’s promises to overcome the forces of evil, even when the path is unclear and the opposition overwhelming. This same theme permeates Exodus 23:20–33. These verses, part of the “Book of the Covenant”

85_Gathering before the Lord Ex 23:14-17 “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. 16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.” A certain man spent years working tirelessly, never taking a break, never pausing to reflect or celebrate life. His self-worth was measured solely by his productivity. One day, exhausted and disillusioned, he realized that he had lost touch with himself, his family, his faith, and his purpose in life. Surrounded by constant demands for our time and energy, we may easily forget to step out and rejoice in God who gives rest. The trap of endless toil ignores the set times for rest, recollection, and rejoicing in the presence of God who gives us life and happiness. In Egypt, the Israelites moved to the crushing rhythm of Pharaoh’s slavery. They had no seasons, no feasts, and no days of rest. Under Pharaoh’s rule, every day was the same relentless cycle of labor, devoid of worship and divine communion. When Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh and declared, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness'" (Exodus 5:1), Pharaoh scoffed. "They are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’" Pharaoh saw no value in worship, no purpose in rest. To him, the Israelites existed only to serve his agenda. "Why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens!" (Exodus 5:4). The world demands that we never pause, never cease striving, never turn our attention to the One who truly matters. But God’s program for his people was always different. Man’s life on earth began with a day of rest, amid a feast of plenty, provided by the bounteous hand of God. Here, too, God appointed sacred times—holy gatherings that marked their journey through each year. These reminded them of redemption and encouraged communion with Him. These were not elaborate meals; they were divine appointments, opportunities to step away from daily toil and enter into God’s purposes. The seven feasts of the Lord—Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles—formed a prophetic calendar, revealing His plan of salvation, culminating in Christ’s work. But among them, three stood out, where every Israelite male was required to present himself before the Lord: the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles. The Passover feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were the first of these.

84_The Sabbath year - living in faith Exodus 23:10-13 “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. 12 “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed. 13 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips. Imagine a farmer, standing in his fields at sunset, watching scattered heads of grain growing among plumes of wild grasses. For six years, he has toiled—plowing, planting, watering, and harvesting. Moving in the rhythm of the seasons, his diligence, and the fruitfulness of the land, have brought him profit. Now, in the seventh year, he has put down his tools. The land is at rest. He neither sows nor reaps. He neither prunes his vines nor stores up grain in his barns. He simply trusts. The idea of a hardworking farmer leaving a field fallow for a whole year seems impractical, even reckless. Yet it was part of God’s law for Israel. As an agrarian society, Israel relied entirely on the land for survival. The weekly Sabbath reminded them of God’s provision. He gave them strength to labor and made the earth yield fruit. He provided manna in the wilderness. Daily they received their share, but twice the portion on the sixth day to honour the sabbath rest of the seventh. On any other day the stored manna would rot, but not on the sixth day. Yet, some went out looking for manna on the sabbath, and were rebuked for their unbelief and disobedience. Exodus 23:10-13 introduces the concept of the sabbath year, or "shmita," the year of release. The land was to be allowed to rejuvenate itself, free from cultivation. Whatever grew of itself - the volunteer grain - was available for everyone, rich or poor, without cost. Even the animals benefited from this unrestricted provision. The land, for that year, belonged to no one and to everyone. This radical command defied human logic. How could an entire nation survive a whole year without sowing and reaping? God anticipated this question. In Leviticus 25:20-22, He promised, "If you say, 'What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?' I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years." Those who trusted God would never be left wanting. The sixth-year harvest would more than sustain them well into the eighth year, when the next crop was ready. Deuteronomy 15 expands the sabbath year to include the forgiveness of debts and the release of Hebrew servants. Every