The Nugget:
Exodus 23:2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
My Comment:
Too many young people, and older people too, have not been taught about this commandment. None of us are to “follow the crowd” to do evil. The notion that “every one else is doing it” is no excuse before God. Those who believe the Bible ought to know better, and live better. We are not called to look like everyone else, to dress exactly like everyone else, to follow the latest styles, or the styles of the “in crowd.” Doing so is all too often following the multitude to do evil.
Many years ago when I began teaching at the high school level at Cass Technical High School, a group of students came to my classroom door to announce a walkout in behalf of the “Black Power Club.” I forcibly ejected them from my room, shoving them back out to the hall, and loudly announced that when they saw my Bible Discussion Club members with administrative permission going from classroom door to classroom door to announce a school-wide prayer meeting, then their club might have access to make an announcement in my classroom. I locked my classroom door, and continued the lesson for that day.
Today, I see pictures and videos of crowds in Ferguson, Missouri and now elsewhere, chanting “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” In Ferguson, Missouri some of the crowd apparently got out of control and did considerable damage to businesses and a church there.
If our young people would be taught the Word of God in the home and in the church, they would not be inclined to live and behave the way Michael Brown chose to live and act. It appears that Michael Brown was living on the broad way that leads to destruction, and his life was unfortunately ended prematurely.
Many parents and friends of young people they know mistakenly think that the young people they know and love would never end up doing such wrongs. They would not be involved in following a multitude to do evil. Such parents and friends of young people would most likely be right IF they saw to it that the young people in their family or sphere of influence were solidly grounded in the Word of God (Colossians 1:23; 2:6, 7), and that these young people were wearing the full armor of God Paul speaks of in Ephesians 6:10, 11.
For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:
(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 96 for Exodus 23:2.
(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 111 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Exodus 23:2.
(3) Most people today do not have access to those two resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:
Exodus 23:2. not follow a multitude. *Ex 32:1-5. Ge 6:12. *Ge 7:1. 19:4, 7-9. Nu 14:1-10. **Jsh 24:15. *1 S 15:9, 24. *1 K 19:10. **2 Ch 19:2. *Jb 31:34. **Pr 1:10, 11, 15. *Pr 4:14. +*Mt 7:13. *Mt 27:24-26. *Mk 15:15. Lk 23:23, 24, 51. Jn 7:50, 51. Ac 23:21. *Ac 24:27. 25:9. Ro 1:32. +*Ro 12:2. Ga 2:11-13. 3 J 1:11. to do evil. Dt 12:31. 1 K 21:11. Pr 11:21. 3 J 1:11. speak. or, answer. Jg 6:31. +*2 Ch 19:2. to decline. ver. Ex 23:6, 7. +*Ex 18:21. Le 19:15. *Dt 1:17. Ps 72:2. Je 37:15, 21. 38:5, 6, 9. Ezk 9:9. +*Hab 1:4. to wrest. or, incline. Dt 1:16. 16:19. 24:17. 27:19. Jb 13:8. Pr 28:21. *Hab 1:4. Mk 12:14. +*2 P 3:16. or, stretch out. Ps 56:5.