Welcome back to Reading with Ben! It's time to continue with episode #12 Exodus chapters 23 & 24.

Exodus chapter 23.

• 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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