This sheet on Exodus 23 was written by Jason Mark for 929 and can also be found here
In Exodus 23, a portion dedicated to mapping out what religious life in the Land of Israel will look like, the vision of things to come offers a robust framework upon which society must be built. The imperative to establish a just court system, a regulated agricultural system, and a monotheistic system of worship, seems to strongly suggest that God will be intimately involved in the shaping of what this society will look like.
However, in a surprising turn of events, God seems to back away from this project, saying: “I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready” (Exodus 23:20). God, whose direct acting in the world was evident within the redemption from Egypt suddenly appears to take a step back from the work on the ground.
God's sending forth of a intermediary to implement God’s will in the world reflects an important reality of religious life. The Torah provides a blueprint of society that is Divine in nature, and yet within this, the force that actually will take up the project, that will build and serve the courts, communities, and centers of learning in the Land are the people themselves.
As God’s intermediaries, the people are tasked with cultivating a religious language that can respond meaningfully to the daily grind here on Earth. In addition, they are also commanded to carve out time devoted exclusively to a direct encounter with God three times a year (Exodus 23:17). This call to pilgrimage, which seems to bear little material or sociological significance, stands as an essential pillar to living a balanced religious life. Leaving one’s homes to seek “God’s face” can only be religiously sincere when one has worked to establish communities that embody the vision of God. So too, the effort to build up the real and the physical here on Earth can only truly actualize its potential when it is plugged into its Source, and is continuously driven in the awareness that it is God who dispatched them on this holy task.
However, in a surprising turn of events, God seems to back away from this project, saying: “I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready” (Exodus 23:20). God, whose direct acting in the world was evident within the redemption from Egypt suddenly appears to take a step back from the work on the ground.
God's sending forth of a intermediary to implement God’s will in the world reflects an important reality of religious life. The Torah provides a blueprint of society that is Divine in nature, and yet within this, the force that actually will take up the project, that will build and serve the courts, communities, and centers of learning in the Land are the people themselves.
As God’s intermediaries, the people are tasked with cultivating a religious language that can respond meaningfully to the daily grind here on Earth. In addition, they are also commanded to carve out time devoted exclusively to a direct encounter with God three times a year (Exodus 23:17). This call to pilgrimage, which seems to bear little material or sociological significance, stands as an essential pillar to living a balanced religious life. Leaving one’s homes to seek “God’s face” can only be religiously sincere when one has worked to establish communities that embody the vision of God. So too, the effort to build up the real and the physical here on Earth can only truly actualize its potential when it is plugged into its Source, and is continuously driven in the awareness that it is God who dispatched them on this holy task.
Jason Mark is first year student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.
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