Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 23:18
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.
18. Two regulations respecting sacrifice, designed to guard a sacrifice against contamination by anything corrupt or tainted.
18a. Jehovah’s sacrifices not to be offered with leavened bread. Cf. the || Exo 34:25; Lev 2:11; Lev 6:17; and the note on ch. Exo 12:8. ‘In the earliest times bread was entirely unleavened. Flour or barley was mixed with water and kneaded in a “kneading-bowl” (Exo Exo 8:3), and then baked into “unleavened cakes” (see on Exo 12:8), such as are still the usual food of the Bedawin. In a more advanced stage of society the bread was made in this way only in cases of emergency (Gen 19:3), or for purposes of ritual. The ordinary bread of the Hebrews was made lighter by fermentation’ (Kennedy, in EB. i. 604). The reason why leavened bread was prohibited for ritual purposes was, probably, partly because unleavened bread had the sanction of antiquity (Kennedy, ib. iii. 2753), partly because leaven, being produced by fermentation, was regarded as tainted with a species of corruption ( ib. p. 2754; OTJC. 2 [194] p. 345; Rel. Sem. p. 203 f., ed. 2, p. 220 f.). Leavened bread was permitted only when the offering was not to be placed upon the altar, but eaten by the priests, Lev 7:13; Lev 23:17; Lev 23:20 end.
[194] W. R. Smith, Old Testament in the Jewish Church, ed. 2, 1892.
offer ] lit. kill or slay (Deu 12:15), but the word ( zba) is nearly always used of slaying for sacrifice (cf. on Exo 20:24). It occurs only here with ‘blood’ as its object. In the ||, Exo 34:25 a, slaughter ( sha) is used: this is often said of the slaughter of an animal for sacrifice Exo 29:11, Lev 1:5, &c.), but, like zba, is not found elsewhere with blood’ as its object. The use of both words in this law is peculiar.
18b. The fat of a festal sacrifice, which, like the fat of other sacrifices, as the most esteemed part of the animal, was regularly consumed in sweet smoke (see on Exo 29:13) upon the altar (Lev 1:8; Lev 3:3 f. &c.), as an offering to the Deity, is not to remain unburnt till the next morning (when it would in any case be stale, and in a hot climate might even be tainted). The fat meant is not all fat found in an animal, but specifically that about the kidneys and other intestines (Lev 3:3 f.: Rel. Sem. 2 [195] 379 f.; EB. ii. 1545; Driver and White, Leviticus in Haupt’s Sacred Books of the OT., illustr. opp. to p. 4).
[195] W. R. Smith, The Religion of the Semites, ed. 2, 1894.
the fat of my feast ] Lit. of my pilgrimage (Heb. ag), i.e. of the animals sacrificed at my pilgrimages (cf. Mal 2:3, Psa 118:27 Heb.).
The ||, Exo 34:25 b, has ‘the sacrifice of the pilgrimage of the passover’; hence it is commonly thought that the reference (in both clauses) is to the passover (so already Onk., expressly in cl. a , and by implication cl. b ). No doubt these two regulations might have been formulated at a time when the Passover was the principal Heb. sacrifice: on the other hand, this is nowhere else (except in Exo 34:25) called a ag; and (Di.) the terms being perfectly general, the limitation seems hardly legitimate: the fat pieces of a sacrifice offered at any pilgrimage are to be burnt upon the altar the same day. Why the regulation is limited to these sacrifices does not appear: was it because greater strictness and formality were expected on these occasions than when the sacrifice was an ordinary private one? There are similar regulations in P for the flesh, not only of the Passover (ch. Exo 12:10), but also of the ram of installation (Exo 29:34), and of the thanksgiving-offering (Lev 7:15; Lev 22:30). The fat of the Passover is not elsewhere specified.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The blood of my sacrifice – It is generally considered that this must refer to the Paschal Lamb. See Exo 12:7, Exo 12:11, Exo 12:13, Exo 12:22-23, Exo 12:27.
The fat of my sacrifice – Strictly, the fat of my feast; the best part of the feast, that is, the Paschal lamb itself. Compare Exo 34:25.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. The blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread] The sacrifice here mentioned is undoubtedly the Passover; (see Ex 34:25); this is called by way of eminence MY sacrifice, because God had instituted it for that especial purpose, the redemption of Israel from the Egyptian bondage, and because it typified THE LAMB of GOD, who taketh away the sin of the world. We have already seen how strict the prohibition against leaven was during this festival, and what was signified by it. See on chap. xii. See Clarke on Ex 12:19.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
These clauses most understand of the passover, by comparing this place with its parallel, Exo 34:25, where the passover is mentioned. But the words being here universal, by the laws of interpretation they ought to be universally understood, if they can bear that sense; which here they may, for both these clauses agree to other sacrifices. For as every sacrifice had a minchah, or a meat-offering of flour, attending upon it, and offered with it; so it was expressly cautioned, that no leaven should be in that minchah, Lev 2:11. And the fat of every sacrifice was consecrated to God, Lev 3:16; 2Ch 35:14, &c., and was presently to be burnt upon the altar, Lev 7:2,3. And for Exo 34:25, what hinders but what is here more generally prescribed, may be there particularly applied to the passover? and that seems more reasonable, than to make him an idle repetition of the same tiring. And
my sacrifice may be here put for my sacrifices, by the common enallage. Moreover, the two principal things which were offered to God in every sacrifice were blood and fat, Lev 17:6,11, &c.
Neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning: this, if understood of the passover, may seem superfluous, because nothing of it, neither fat nor lean, was to remain until the morning, Exo 12:10, but all of it was to be eaten, even the purtenance thereof, Exo 23:9, and that, for aught I see, without any exception of the fat, as there was in other sacrifices, Le 16. And therefore in that parallel place, Exo 34:25, where the passover is mentioned, there is not a word of the fat, but only it is said in the general, neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left until the morning. And in that 2Ch 35:14, where there is mention of the fat, it is manifestly restrained to the burnt-offerings, which are there distinguished from the passover, Exo 23:11,12.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Thou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread,…. This belongs to the feast of the passover; for, as all the Jewish writers agree, this sacrifice is the sacrifice of the passover, as it is sometimes called, see Ex 12:27 now when the paschal lamb was killed, and its blood shed, and its flesh eaten, there was to be no leaven along with it; it was to be eaten with unleavened bread, and there was to be no leaven in their houses at this time; nay, it was not to be slain until all was removed: this was the first thing the Jews did, as soon as the fourteenth day was come, to search for leaven, remove and burn it; and this sense of the law is confirmed by the Targum of Jonathan, which is,
“not a man shall slay, while there is leaven in your houses, the sacrifice of my passover;”
and to the same purpose is the note of Jarchi:
neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning; and indeed no part of the passover lamb was to remain until the morning, what did was to be burnt with fire, Ex 12:10 the Targum of Jonathan is,
“neither shall there remain without the altar the fat of the sacrifice of my passover until the morning, nor of the flesh which ye ate in the evening;”
and so Jarchi interprets it of its not remaining without the altar.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The blessing attending their appearing before the Lord was dependent upon the feasts being kept in the proper way, by the observance of the three rules laid down in Exo 23:18 and Exo 23:19. “ Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice upon leavened bread.” upon, as in Exo 12:8, denoting the basis upon which the sacrifice was offered. The meaning has been correctly given by the early commentators, viz., “as long as there is any leavened bread in your houses,” or “until the leaven has been entirely removed from your houses.” The reference made here to the removal of leaven, and the expression “blood of My sacrifice,” both point to the paschal lamb, which was regarded as the sacrifice of Jehovah , on account of its great importance. Onkelos gives this explanation: “My Passover” for “My sacrifice.” – “ Neither shall the fat of My feast remain ( to pass the night) until the morning.” “The fat of My feast” does not mean the fat of My festal sacrifice, for , a feast, is not used for the sacrifice offered at the feast; it signifies rather the best of My feast, i.e., the paschal sacrifice, as we may see from Exo 34:25, where “the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover” is given as the explanation of “the fat of My feast.” As the paschal sacrifice was the sacrifice of Jehovah par excellence , so the feast of the Passover was the feast of Jehovah par excellence . The expression “fat of My feast” is not to be understood as referring at all to the fat of the lamb, which was burned upon the altar in the case of the expiatory and whole offerings; for there could have been no necessity for the injunction not to keep this till the morning, inasmuch as those parts of every sacrifice which were set apart for the altar were burned immediately after the sprinkling of the blood. The allusion is to the flesh of the paschal lamb, which was eaten in the night before daybreak, after which anything that remained was to be burned. (without the article) till morning, has the same meaning as “for the (following) morning” in Exo 34:25.
Exo 23:19 The next command in Exo 23:19 has reference to the feast of Harvest, or feast of Weeks. In “ the first-fruits of thy land ” there is an unmistakeable allusion to “the first-fruits of thy labours” in Exo 23:16. It is true the words, “the first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God,” are so general in their character, that we can hardly restrict them to the wave-loaves to be offered as first-fruits at the feast of Weeks, but must interpret them as referring to all the first-fruits, which they had already been commanded not to delay to offer (Exo 22:29), and the presentation of which is minutely prescribed in Num 18:12-13, and Deu 26:2-11, – including therefore the sheaf of barley to be offered in the second day of the feast of unleavened bread (Lev 23:9.). At the same time the reference to the feast of Weeks is certainly to be retained, inasmuch as this feast was an express admonition to Israel, to offer the first of the fruits of the Lord. In the expression , the latter might be understood as explanatory of the former and in apposition to it, since they are both of them applied to the first-fruits of the soil (vid., Deu 26:2, Deu 26:10, and Num 18:13). But as could hardly need any explanation in this connection, the partitive sense is to be preferred; though it is difficult to decide whether “the first of the first-fruits” signifies the first selection from the fruits that had grown, ripened, and been gathered first-that is to say, not merely of the entire harvest, but of every separate production of the field and soil, according to the rendering of the lxx , – or whether the word is used figuratively, and signifies the best of the first-fruits. There is no force in the objection offered to the former view, that “in no other case in which the offering of first-fruits generally is spoken of, is one particular portion represented as holy to Jehovah, but the first-fruits themselves are that portion of the entire harvest which was holy to Jehovah.” For, apart from Num 18:12, where a different rendering is sometimes given to , the expression in Deu 26:2 shows unmistakeably that only a portion of the first of all the fruit of the ground had to be offered to the Lord. On the other hand, this view is considerably strengthened by the fact, that whilst , signify those fruits which ripened first, i.e., earliest, is used to denote the , the first portion or first selection from the whole, not only in Deu 26:2, Deu 26:10, but also in Lev 23:10, and most probably in Num 18:12 as well. – Now if these directions do not refer either exclusively or specially to the loaves of first-fruits of the feast of Weeks, the opinion which has prevailed from the time of Abarbanel to that of Knobel, that the following command, “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk,” refers to the feast of Ingathering, is deprived of its principal support. And any such allusion is rendered very questionable by the fact, that in Deu 14:21, where this command is repeated, it is appended to the prohibition against eating the flesh of an animal that had been torn to pieces. Very different explanations have been given to the command. In the Targum, Mishnah, etc., it is regarded as a general prohibition against eating flesh prepared with milk. Luther and others suppose it to refer to the cooking of the kid, before it has been weaned from its mother’s milk. But the actual reference is to the cooking of a kid in the milk of its own mother, as indicating a contempt of the relation which God has established and sanctified between parent and young, and thus subverting the divine ordinances. As kids were a very favourite food (Gen 27:9, Gen 27:14; Jdg 6:19; Jdg 13:15; 1Sa 16:20), it is very likely that by way of improving the flavour they were sometimes cooked in milk. According to Aben Ezra and Abarbanel, this was a custom adopted by the Ishmaelites; and at the present day the Arabs are in the habit of cooking lamb in sour milk. A restriction is placed upon this custom in the prohibition before us, but there is no intention to prevent the introduction of a superstitious usage customary at the sacrificial meals of other nations, which Spencer and Knobel have sought to establish as at all events probable, though without any definite historical proofs, and for the most part on the strength of far-fetched analogies.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(18) Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread.Some regard this prohibition as extending to all sacrifices; but the majority of commentators limit it to the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb, which was the only sacrifice as yet expressly instituted by Jehovah. According to modern Jewish notions, leavened bread is permissible at the other feasts; at Pentecost it was commanded (Lev. 23:17).
The fat of my sacrifice.Rather (as in the Margin), the fat of my feast. The fat of the Paschal lambs was burnt on the altar with incense the same evening. Thus the whole lamb was consumed before the morning. As the Paschal lamb is , my sacrifice, so the Passover is my feast.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread Literally, upon leavened bread . This refers especially to the sacrifice of the passover, as is seen by comparison of Exo 12:15; Exo 12:18-20. So also the fat of my sacrifice is best understood as the fat and choice portions of the paschal lamb, nothing of which was allowed to remain until the morning. Comp . Exo 12:10, and Exo 34:25.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Sundry Regulations Connected With the Feasts ( Exo 23:18-19 ).
These verses are almost paralleled in Exo 34:25-26, which confirms that the four parts are all firmly connected together.
They can be analysed as follows:
a The blood of His sacrifice not to be offered with leavened bread (Exo 23:18 a).
b The fat of His feast not to be left until the morning (Exo 23:18 b).
b The first of the firstfruits of the ground to be brought to the house of ‘Yahweh Eloheyca’ (Exo 23:19 a).
a A kid not to be seethed in its mother’s milk (Exo 23:19 b).
The parallel of the first with the fourth where something stated is not to be connected with something unsuitable, together with the fact that the first three all refer to offerings to Yahweh, may suggest that the fourth item is also connected with a possible offering to Yahweh, and that to offer it in this way would be unsuitable and was forbidden.
Exo 23:18
“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning.”
The parallel passage in Exo 34:25 has, ‘You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left until the morning.’ Thus ‘the fat of My feast’ is paralleled by ‘the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover.
In all sacrifices the blood and the fat was offered to Yahweh. The eating of blood was forbidden. And when the blood of the sacrifice was offered to Yahweh only unleavened cakes were to be offered. This emphasised that leavening was seen as corrupting, and nothing corrupted was to be brought to Yahweh. This was speaking of the festal sacrifices. But the words ‘My sacrifice’ and the connection with nothing ‘remaining until the morning’ (compare Exo 12:10) may be seen as signifying that the Passover is in mind here, especially in the light of Exo 34:25.
Either way we too when we offer our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving must ensure that all corruption in our lives has been removed by cleansing.
A rare exception to the rule of unleavened bread is found in Lev 7:13 with reference to a peace offering for thanksgiving, otherwise leavened bread is regularly forbidden. The regulations for freewill offerings were not quite so strict (Lev 22:23) for they were partaken of by the people. They were not as holy.
The fat was always offered immediately without delay, for it was specifically Yahweh’s without exception, and to delay offering it would be insulting, and might also allow it to spoil and not be worthy of Yahweh. So corruption must not affect the sacrifices in any way.
“The fat of my feast.” This parallels ‘the blood of my sacrifice’ in the first part of the verse and refers to the particular ‘feast to me’ (Exo 23:14-16) at which the offering was made. Thus it may be that we are to see ‘the fat of my feast’ as signifying, not the fat of the sacrifice, but the abundance, the fullness, of what the Passover sacrifice signified. Nothing of the abundance of what He provided at this feast was to be left until the morning. This is confirmed by Exo 34:25.
Others have seen ‘the fat of My feast’ as referring to ‘the fat of the land’ (Gen 45:18), and as connecting with all the feasts, when what is offered must be properly enjoyed and not wasted. But there are good grounds for rather connecting it with the Passover for in Exo 34:25 a parallel phrase speaks of ‘the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover’. There it is the whole sacrifice that must not be left until the morning (compare Exo 12:10).
Thus this whole verse seems to have specific reference to the Passover sacrifice, called ‘My sacrifice’ and My feast’, demonstrating its special significance to God.
Exo 23:19 a
“The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of Yahweh your God.”
Compare 34:26a. Wherever God revealed Himself could be called ‘the house of God’ (Gen 28:17), for it meant a dwelling-place, where God had revealed Himself. Here it therefore meant the place where God was approached, the Tent of Meeting and later the Tabernacle (Exo 34:26). The first of the firstfruits may mean the choicest of the firstfruits or literally what ripened first. The point was that Yahweh would receive His portion before His people received theirs as an acknowledgement that what they received came from Him and belonged to Him. This may have special reference to the Feast of Harvest or Sevens (Weeks) where the firstfruits were especially offered (Exo 23:16).
On the other hand the first of the firstfruits was offered on the first day of unleavened bread in the presentation of the first ripe sheaf (Lev 23:10-11). This might serve to confirm that Passover and Unleavened Bread are again in mind.
Exo 23:19 b
“You shall not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk.”
Compare Exo 34:26 b which demonstrates (as does the chiasmus here) that this is to be seen as an integral part of the series. If the connection of the other three items is with the Passover feasting it may suggest that this was also connected with the Passover feasting. Just as it was unseemly that the Passover be eaten with leavened bread, so was it unseemly that a kid eaten at the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread be seethed in its mother’s milk. The seething of kids in milk was certainly practised among the Arabs later, and there seems no reason why that should be condemned, the condemnation would therefore seem to be of its being in the milk of its mother.
But some have connected it with the Feast of Ingathering on the grounds that both Unleavened Bread and Harvest have been in mind in verses 18-19a, and it may be so. Either way the contrast is specifically with not offering the blood of the Passover lamb with unleavened bread. In the end the thought is that no kid that is seethed at any feast should be seethed in its mother’s milk, because that would be an abomination to Yahweh.
It is thought by some that elsewhere among the nations kids were boiled in their mother’s milk so that the resulting magical mixture could be sprinkled on the fields hoping to produce fertility. (It has been suggested that it is witnessed to, for example, in The Birth of the Gods, a Ugaritic text, but this suggested reference is now seen as misread). It may have been that this was so. But the more probable reason would seem to be that it was seen as unseemly that a calf should be boiled in what should rather have been seen as maintaining its life, that is, that it was seen as a contradiction in Creation that was unacceptable. It made the mother destroy her kid rather than sustaining it. It was an attack on the conception of motherhood that could not be allowed.
Compare Lev 20:12 where a man lies with both a mother and her daughter, and Exo 18:23 where sexual relations with a beast is in mind, of both of which it is said, ‘it is confusion’. They were relationships which were not to be. Similarly this could be seen as ‘confusion’. A mother’s role was to be seen as strictly that of life providing, and anything else a distortion of reality (compare the milder thought in Isa 49:15). Compare also how in Deu 14:21 the practise is connected with that of an Israelite eating something that ‘dies of itself’. Israelites and such dead meat were to be seen as incompatible. By this time it may be that the phrase ‘you shall not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk’ had become proverbial of any incompatible situation. But whatever the explanation it was a practise forbidden to Israel.
For us the lesson is clear. We are to have a regard to what is seemly and what is not. If we cannot see that to seethe a kid in its mother’s milk could be seen as unseemly then there is little to be said for us. It would demonstrate a lack of appreciation of motherhood, and a lack of the sensitivity that all God’s people should have, that could only condemn us. For this example stresses proper consideration of relationships, and that all distortions of motherhood are an abomination to God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Exo 23:18. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice It has been concluded, from ch. Exo 34:25 that the blood of the sacrifice here meant, was that of the paschal lamb; and accordingly the Chaldee paraphrast, in that place, renders it, thou shalt not offer the blood of my passover with leaven (see ch. Exo 12:15.): and from the next clause in this verse, one would conclude that the passover was meant; concerning which, in the 10th verse of the 12th chapter, it is enjoined, that nothing of it be left remaining until the morning. See Lev 3:15; Lev 3:17. The passover is called my sacrifice, by way of eminence.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Is there not a gospel sense here under a Jewish covering? Doth it not mean to say, that no leaven of ours must be mingled with the sacrifice of Jesus’s blood and righteousness. Observe the expression: The Lord calls it my sacrifice. See 1Co 5:7 ; Gal 5:2-4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 23:18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.
Ver. 18. Of my sacrifice. ] Especially of the passover. See Exo 34:25 Lev 2:1-3 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
offer. Hebrew “slay”, requiring the supply of the Ellipsis, ii. d (App-8), “slay [and pour out]”. See App-43.
sacrifice. Hebrew “feast”, put by Metonymy (of Adjunct’ for “festal sacrifice” (App-6).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Promise of Entrance into Canaan
Exo 23:18-33
This Angel must have been the Lord himself, for Stephen said expressly that the Angel was with Moses at the burning bush, where Jehovah revealed Himself, and the very ground was holy. Besides, we are told here that Gods Name-i.e., His nature-was in Him. The Son of God, therefore, must have been the leader of that pilgrim-host, preceding the march, and preparing for their needs.
Notice that God would also send the hornet before His people, Exo 23:28. The Presence, which is an Angel for Gods children, becomes a hornet to the rebellious and ungodly. To one it is a savor of life, and to the other of death. The sun that bleaches linen white, tans the hands that expose it; the cloud which is light to Israel is thick darkness to Egypt. Grieve not the Holy One, who will overcome your enemies and satisfy your soul with goodness, if you will obey His voice.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
blood: Exo 12:8, Exo 12:15, Exo 34:25, Lev 2:11, Lev 7:12, Deu 16:4
sacrifice: or, feast
remain: Exo 12:10, Lev 7:15
Reciprocal: Exo 16:19 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
23:18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with {k} leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.
(k) No leavened bread will be in your house.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"The first part of this verse has nothing to do with eating anything leavened. Rather it means that individual Israelites were not to kill the Passover lamb while leaven was still in their houses. The second half of the verse makes no reference to fat as such; but as the parallel verse in Exo 34:25 b says, the ’sacrifice from the Passover Feast’ (here lit., ’sacrifice of my feast’) shall not ’remain until morning’ (cf. Exo 12:10)." [Note: Kaiser, "Exodus," p. 445.]
The "fat" means "the best part," here the whole sacrifice.