Exodus 23:25, commentary and pictures

Serving the Lord brings His blessing on bread and water and His removal of sickness from among His people. The blessing is conditional on exclusive loyalty to Him as Ruler, obeying His voice and commands and utterly rejecting the worship and practices of other gods. Bodily health and happiness are thus joined with spiritual good, so that prosperity, life, and freedom from disease depend on obedience while transgression brings sickness and loss of blessing. The covenant is still in force, and Christ who led Israel through the wilderness still guides and keeps His obedient people today. In the wilderness He gave simple provision of bread and water and manna for their good, and the same promise calls modern Israel to health reform in diet and self-denial to preserve body and mind in health.

Setting and Covenant Promise

And ye shall serve the Lord as Ruler alone, and in return He will bless bread and water and take sickness away from the midst of His people. The blessing is conditional on serving the Lord their God in exclusive loyalty, obeying His commands and His voice, and giving no worship, service, or following to the gods of the nations. It requires utterly overthrowing those gods and breaking down their images and refusing their works and practices, while turning to idolatry brings curse instead of blessing.

The promise was given after the law was proclaimed from Sinai amidst awful grandeur, as part of the teachings God gave to Moses in the mount in Exodus 19-24. It belongs to Moses explaining the law more fully so the people would have no excuse for disobeying its precepts, and to the laws written in a book that guard against doing injustice and guide dealings with one another. Those directions were given by Christ Jesus Himself on Mount Sinai, and they are to be studied, presented before the people, and obeyed now just as verily as by the children of Israel then.

The verse concludes the sending of the Angel to keep Israel in the way and bring them to the prepared place, who is Christ, to be obeyed and not provoked. With that Angel is enmity toward their enemies and leading against the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites to cut them off. He guided the Israelites through the wilderness and still guides His people today, showing them where and how to work.

The verse was God's return promise at Mount Sinai after the people pledged to do all He had said and be obedient. In return He would bring them safely into the promised land and prosper them above all nations, be an enemy to their enemies, go before them and fight for them, and send hornets to drive out the inhabitants. It was care and protection for the church in the wilderness, whom He had delivered from Egypt to make His own people. The promise held true during the forty years of wilderness wandering toward those who obeyed Him, and accompanied Israel's earlier, easier opportunity to enter the land. Yet Israel did not value His goodness, mercy, and love, and became discouraged when the journey was difficult.

Obedience Health and Application

The promise joins bodily health and happiness with spiritual good, making health and life in Canaan conditional on obedience to the law and commandments given from Sinai. Prosperity depended on serving God and obeying His voice, while disobedience brought the results of transgression and the loss of blessing and power. Turning from His words brought sickness, disease, and plagues instead of the blessing on food and water and the removal of sickness.

If His people agree to keep all His commandments and practice them, He will make them as kings and priests unto God. He will communicate with them so they need not stumble in uncertainty. He will give strength of character under every temptation so they do not lose hold on God, and He will answer prayer when sickness comes and strengthening is needed. It is His covenant promise to preserve those who walk in His ways and do what is right. That preservation is connected with teaching His commandments diligently to children and maintaining a faithful relationship with Him.

The covenant is still in force, so through obedience people can still receive heaven's richest blessings. Christ who guided Israel through the wilderness still guides His people today, showing them where and how to work. That guidance includes giving the warning to Washington, the capital of the nation. Those who serve Him receive the blessing on bread and water and the taking away of sickness as they obey His voice, thank Him for His guidance, trust His keeping power, remember they are children of God, cut away all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and live out the principles of truth in word and deed instead of aiding the enemy by doing what He forbids.

In the wilderness God gave Israel a restricted diet and promised bread and water for their good. He provided manna and intended simple fruits, vegetables, and grains, with the goal that they enter Canaan as a pure, holy, happy people with no feeble person among their tribes. When they rejected His provision and demanded meat and indulged perverted appetite, their choice brought dissension, disease, and death. The promise applies to modern Israel in health reform to correct unnatural habits and preserve body and mind in health. Rejecting that light and choosing self-indulgence can lead to suffering, illness, and premature death.