Exodus 21-23

“These different regulations are as remarkable for their justice and prudence as for their humanity. Their great tendency is to show the valuableness of human life, and the necessity of having peace and good understanding in every neighbourhood; and they possess that quality which should be the object of all good and wholesome laws-the prevention of crimes.” (Adam Clarke) -on Exodus 21-23

This segment of the Scriptures is divided into a couple different "categories":

Case laws (Rights of slaves, laws protecting human beings, laws dealing with property and compensation)

Social and Religious Commands

Ritual Calendar

God's Presence and how He would conqueror the promised land

It is important to remember the basis for why God gave the Israelites these laws, and why they are important for us as we continue our daily walk with Jesus Christ. LOVE: These things are out of God's love for us as His beloved children, and this is why we should seek to honor Him in each of these areas and in all of the areas of our lives! Remembering the deliverance that God has given to us!

Last night I watched a particular episode of NCIS: LA where a woman entered the country, became a housekeeper, and was worked to the bone--serving late, getting very little sleep, and beaten if they did not like the way she did things. Yes it is a tv show, but  this is what happens. We just don't think about it, or see it in the media. If we do see it, we look away at the injustices.  Even though we do not have people we typically call "slaves" today, we have them. Wives, mothers, maids, housekeepers, nannies, prostitutes who have pimps, those stuck in human trafficking, etc. These are all people who typically fit that category of slave. Some fit the job title more appropriately, while others just scream wrong or INJUSTICE. Just because they serve in these positions (housekeeper, nannies, wives) and have given themselves to this work (whatever it may be), it does not mean they are to be taken for granted, neglected, or harmed in any way. A lot of times people, especially if they are illegal, are taken for granted. We get in this "I am better than you" mindset, and this is what God is warning us against: the severity of our actions against others. We need to be compassionate and loving others everyday in whatever way we can, while still wholly pursuing God's justice!~

Much of the Scriptures in this passage still apply to us today: think of the passages on an ox mauling a human being. The ox is to be killed, but if the owner knew of its tendencies (perhap teaching them)--they should be charged. Doesn't sound to different than what we ought to do if a dog mauls another, does it? Or, how about this one: if a ox goes in and eats of another's field--restitution should be made. What if someone's dog eats of all of our crops planted in our backyards? Or, completely destroys our yards? Would we not expect the same thing to be done? The Old Testament definitely applies to us today! Take time to soak it in!

 It is not about favoritism. It is not about always doing what we may want to do. It is about honoring God. It is about pursuing justice.  It is about pursuing justice no matter what--even if it means helping those who hate us (see Exodus 23:5), in order to show God's love and justice. "The social laws are framed by worship!" Worship. Worship is what to be our heart's aim, and the reason for why we choose to honor God, love all others, love people, and pursue justice!

What helps me is the note given on Sabbath rest in Exodus 23:12. It is for rest and relief that the sabbath is to exist. God has given us the sabbath to bless us... to bless those around us also!  In later part of Exodus 23, God declares that His presence will go before me. God will be my guide. He can send terror into the hearts of those we may encounter. God will be glorified; we need only to seek His face and be completely obedient to Him! We need not to hang onto the concerns of this world, but trust that God will have His way. Little by little is the phrase God uses when describing the process of eliminating Israel's enemies. It wasn't an immediate process, but it was for Israel's benefit. Trust even when the process seems so slow...He IS still working.

I enjoyed how well the passages fit together, and it all boils down to how we treat others. Exodus 22:21-27 really shows how to treat another. Exodus 21:5 gives a picture of the Christian believer. We are given freedom, but it is that tremendous love for God that keeps us seeking Him and seeking to serve Him!

Exodus 20:12-26

There are three parts to today's passage (Exodus 20:12-26).

A. Commandments that relate to both God and man. (12-17)

B. The people's fear and Moses comfort to them. (18-21)

C. God's command for Israel to build an altar where they could worship God. (22-26)

The last six commandments:

A. Honor (revere) (burdened with) your parents. Blessing: "Your life may be long in the land God is giving you" Bottom line is God blesses those who honor their parents. It's caring for our parents. It's allowing ourselves to have that deep caring for our parents, and doing what is right in God's sight!

B. Do not murder. What I found interesting was the reminder I came across that there is a distinction between murder and kill. We are instructed not to kill without any legal reason. This only makes a difference if there was a point of having to do it to protect ourselves if we were gravely in danger. It opens up the verse and reminds me that there is a difference...

C. Do not commit adultery (see Matt 5:28). D. Do not covet or steal (see Eph 4:28). E. Do not lie to our neighbors. These all really boil down to a heart issue at some level.

Israel and Moses:

The Israelites were very fearful, hearing God's mighty voice, air filled with smoke, seeing great thunder and lightening, sounds of the trumpet. Moses comforted them. How could he comfort them? He knew God's love. How did he know the love of God? Moses had a relationship with God!  The fear of God would keep them from sinning against God.

Altar:

Israel saw God and His might for themselves. God commanded them to make no idols, but worship the Lord alone. God called them to make a specific altar that would not be defiled: a place where they could worship God, sacrificing to Him, and God would come to them and bless them.

Exodus 20:1-11

The Ten Commandments is brought to us out of God's great love for us. He begins instructing Moses of the Ten Commandments, by stating what God has done for them. Likewise, we need to think on what God has done for us. We should seek to glorify God and honor Him with our lives--because of God's great love for us.

Two more commadments are given that go with how we treat God. With the whole thing, we should be asking:

• Are we showing Him our love? 
• Genuinely loving Him? 
• Or, do we only love Him when He does good things for us? 
• Where are our hearts at? 

These are the questions we should be asking ourselves.

The layout of the Ten Commandments is like this:

God reminds Israel (and us) what He has done for us. We may have not been literally trapped in Egypt as slaves, but we were slaves to sin...and it is only because of the power of God through His son Jesus Christ that we have been. set. Free.

There are four commands that go directly with loving God:

1. We are to have no other gods before our great God- Yahweh.
   
2. We are to not have idols, or bow down and worship these. Pulpit Commentary shares this significant insight:
   
   "Verses 4 and 5 are to be taken together, the prohibition being intended, not to forbid the arts of sculpture and painting, or even to condemn the religious use of them, but to disallow the worship of God under material forms."
   
   There is a blessing found inside verses 6. God lavishes His love on those who love God and keep His commands. There is also the warning God gives to us: "I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me," (verse 5). God is a jealous God. He has poured out everything to us--willingly calls us His children though we were once His enemies. That should draw us ever close to Him. But if we turn our backs on God,... woe to us!
   
3.  We are to not misuse God's name. Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible reminds us why this is to be a serious thing, just read: "the name of God ought never to be mentioned but in a grave and serious manner, and with an awe of the greatness of his majesty upon the mind." We take God's name too loosely instead of recognizing the great POWER of God even at the sound of calling out His awesome name! We fail to recognize the greatness of His name!
   
4. Ahh yes, the last of the four: Sabbath. This is another thing many of us do not do well or often enough. Taking time to literally rest and remember what God has done in our lives and what God is going to do in our lives and the lives of others. We need that time of reflection, thinking upon God and His Word, how He has worked not only in our lives but the lives of others. The Sabbath day is to be a blessing, but we often take it for granted... We need to come back to the true meaning of Sabbath and what God intended it for.

I came upon this quote a few days ago. David Murray wrote: "Redemption brought the Israelites into a relationship with God, which they were to respond to with grateful obedience." It wasn't a mere "earn it and you can be with me." They were already given access to God and His divine riches! The relationship always comes first, and obedience will follow. The Ten Commandments are a way to help us show our gratitude for all God has done for us, and to show our love for Him! It is to help us keep our gratitude and keep our relationship with Him "happy and healthy" as Murray says in his book (Jesus on Every Page)

Exodus 20:4-6

These are the words found in the study notes portion of my Bible:

"Yahweh demands exclusive covenant loyalty. As the one true God of heaven and eath, Yahweh cannot and will not tolerate the worship of any "other gods"."

God demands loyalty!

Today's focus is verses 4-6, which say:

4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

This passage is adding onto the first commandment, which was to have no other gods! We need to devote ourselves to God wholly. In serving Him wholly, we need not to make idols or statues. We should worship God and Him alone. Materials themselves aren't bad, but where is our focus? What do we spend our time thinking about? What do we place value upon? The things themselves are not sin, but how we use them. When we worship statues of angels, a celebrity, or something else, it is a sin. We need to worship our maker, not the created. Choose to worship God, and Him alone! Guard our hearts, and be careful what we allow ourselves to place value upon.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary wrote: "4, 5. Thou shalt not make … any graven image … thou shalt not bow down thyself to them—that is, "make in order to bow." Under the auspices of Moses himself, figures of cherubim, brazen serpents, oxen, and many other things in the earth beneath, were made and never condemned. The mere making was no sin—it was the making with the intent to give idolatrous worship."

It is about not giving into idolatrous worship. We fall into damage of worshiping the things He himself made. That is what happened with the Egpytians, and they would not hear and obey God. They had their idols, false gods, and self-imposed worship, and they missed it all! They thought they knew religion, maybe even, but they definitely did not know God. The real question is: Do we know Jesus? Are we allowing God to be where our worship is? Or, are we worshiping things?

From ESV study Bible, this commentary is added on Exodus 20:4-6:

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image. The gods of both Egypt and Canaan were often associated with some aspect of creation and worshiped as, or through, an object that represented them. The Lord has made it clear, through the plagues and the exodus, that he has power over every aspect of creation because the world earth is his (9:29; 19:5), and thus he commands Israel to refrain from crafting an image of anything in heaven or earth for worship (20:4-5a). The prohibition is grounded in the fact that the Lord is a jealous God (see 34:14; Deut. 6:15), and that the Lord has no physical form, and should not be thought to be localized in one (Deut. 4:15-20). Israel saw what happened to Egypt when Pharaoh refused to acknowledge what was being revealed about the Lord; here Israel is warned against doing the same, while also being reassured that their God is merciful and gracious (see Ex 34:6-7)."

God is worthy of honor! He is God. He is the Creator of the Heaven and Earth. He deserves all of our worship! We need to be watchful of what we are doing: who do we give away worship to? Are we worshiping God and Him only? God is a jealous God. He asks for our loyalty, and He deserves it! We entered a covenant with Him. It is an ongoing covenant. We need to check for "leaks" in our loyalty. Are we allowing other things to come between our worshiping the Lord?

His love.

His mercy.

His greatness.

He is worthy!

"But showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." (20:6)

Exodus 20:1-3

Today, I want to look at the first three verses. My goal is to hopefully take the time to study the ten commandments at a slower pace. Just take it one step at a time, no rushing... Just enjoying His Word. What does Jesus have to speak to me in the midst of this passage where we are reminded of how He has delivered Israel, saving them from their enemies, and given them instructions that would literally save and be an instrument of change in their lives if they would follow the ten commandments?

Exodus 20:1-3 says:

And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

The other day, I was able to center myself a little bit on verses 1-2. God giving the Israelites the ten commandments is an act of protection. God seeks to protect us. It cannot be about us constantly going the wrong direction in disobedience, and expecting God to get us out of our mess. What kind of love relationship is that? Often times, this is how we behave: God desires and deserves much more than that! A sincere, love relationship and honestly seeking Him! We need to take our relationship with God seriously, putting God at the center of our lives!

God spoke these things to the Israelites. They clearly knew what God was telling them. It was not foreign or over their heads. They knew clearly what it was that God said. The Israelites struggled with following through. Before too long, they would be seen breaking many of these things. We see many of the ten commandments broken repeatedly- worse than ever! Many are not taking God's promises and His Words seriously!

Look!!

God delivered the Israelites. He gave them things to follow. Was it out of meanness? No. Was it out of protection? Yes! So often we just see the ten commandments as "rules". The oh and no's come crawling out. We fail to realize something: God has given us the ten commandments to protect us, to keep focused on Jesus Christ, and to eye the prize and hope we have in Christ! Thank Him for His grace and seek to be obedient with your eyes focused on your love relationship to Christ! We are not to have any others gods. God loves us greatly. His mercy is far greater than anything we will ever experience in our lives. He loves us like no one else will. He forgives us like no one else will. Others can show us who He is, by their actions...but they fail in comparison. No one and nothing can compare to the greatness of God. We fail to understand who He really is! 

Does it mean we stop seeking, because God's ways are unfathomable? No, keep seeking and praying He will show you who He is, because He will show you who He is. He shows us through His holy word (the Bible)! Our prayer needs to be for clean hearts (Psalm 51) and to see a bigger glimpse of who God is, leaving behind our futility of understanding, trading it for trusting in Him, allowing Him to transform us~ seeking to put Him first! Seeking to choose Him and not put anything before our relationship with Jesus Christ! Removing all the stumbling blocks- things that clash with our walk with God.

We need to recognize the spiritual battle that is set before us, and choose to glorify God. We need to recognize that sin brings death and hurt! We need to come to a place of godly sorrow and genuine repentance, humbly coming to Him undeserving, but knowing His abundant grace is enough. Jesus Christ went to the cross (not because of what he did, but what we did) bearing all of our sins and inequity. All we have to do is come to Him, knowing He desires to give us life and free us from our chains (of sin, of our past...). He holds the keys to victory! Proverbs 22:1 states:

The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.

On Exodus 20:3, Westley writes these words:

"The first commandment is concerning the object of our worship, Jehovah, and him only, Thou shalt have no other gods before me - The Egyptians, and other neighbouring nations, had many gods, creatures of their own fancy. This law was pre - fixed because of that transgression; and Jehovah being the God of Israel, they must entirely cleave to him, and no other, either of their own invention, or borrowed from their neighbours. The sin against this commandment, which we are most in danger of, is giving that glory to any creature which is due to God only. Pride makes a God of ourselves, covetousness makes a God of money, sensuality makes a God of the belly. Whatever is loved, feared, delighted in, or depended on, more than God, that we make a god of. This prohibition includes a precept which is the foundation of the whole law, that we take the Lord for our God, accept him for ours, adore him with humble reverence, and set our affections entirely upon him. There is a reason intimated in the last words before me. It intimates, That we cannot have any other god but he will know it. That it is a sin that dares him to his face, which he cannot, will not, overlook."

See Isaiah 40 on the Greatness of God!

In view of God's greatest and knowing what He has done for us, why would we want to worship any other god? Why would we want to serve another god? It is God and God alone that we should seek to serve. Serving God, not sin. Serving God, not people pleasing. Serving God, not our stomachs. Make the decision to serve God and Him alone! Evaluate your walk with Christ, knowing everything in your life will either bring you closer to Christ or draw you away from Him!

Exodus 19:16-25

Read Exodus 19:16-25

God would appear before Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel. The people would know that God had spoke with Moses. In my study Bible, these words are found as a commentary for verses 16-20:

"All the sights (lightnings and a thick cloud, v. 16 smoke and fire v. 18) and sounds (thunders and a very loud trumpet blast v 16, 19) signify the Lord's presence (v. 18); the experience was to be a continual reminder to Israel that the Lord had spoken to Moses (see v. 18-21)"

These would be things that the people would never of seen or heard to such an extent. God's greatest would be shown to the people,  and they would not be able to deny it. It is through something so spectatular that the people would not be able to forget the experience that God would permanently etch in their minds!

Notice the people's reaction. Exodus 19:16 tells us how all in the camp reacted: they trembled. In my app for the Storng's Concordance, it defines that word used to mean this: "to shudder with terror; hence to fear; also to hasten (with anxiety):- be (make afraid, be careful, discomfit, fray (away), quake, tremble." In Hebrews 12:21, it states that "the sight was so frightening that Moses said he shook with fear."

In short, the people would of been terrified. They would want to run away, and would be incredibly uncomfortable, scared, filled with panic and anxiety like never before. They would see the mighty glory of God at its best, and would not be able to stand it. It says a lot about visibly seeing God's great glory and our own human fragile state...But, where are we in recognizing who God is, His glory, and holiness?

In this place of shaking with fear, Moses would bring them out of the camp to meet God. In their fear, they would meet their maker, the Creator of the Heaven of Earth! The Lord descended from Heaven in fire. The mountain wrapped in smoke. The mountain itself even trembled at the glory of the Lord! There in the midst of God's HOLINESS, His glory, the people and mountain trembled, and had great fear of the Lord. It would be an unforgetable experience. The Lord would speak to Moses then and there. It is at this point that the Lord descended onto the mountain and invites Moses up to spend time with Him~ to be alone with Him.

We need to recognize God's holiness. This is what it comes to. So often, we fail to realize God's holiness, and we keep walking in the same direction, not turning from it. We need to recognize God's holiness, and the glory He owns. Scripture teaches us that God will not share His glory with another. He is our Creator, Redeemer, and so much more. We cannot neglect this holy aspect of God and who He is!

God knows our fears and the emotions we face. He still instructs us during those people. In this place, the people were trembling with fear in seeing and hearing the Lord~ The same God who delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians. The fear they felt leaving Egypt was much greater now when in the presence of God!

The question to ask myself is this one: Am I realizing God's holiness? Am I allowing myself to bask and treasure God's holiness? Am I giving God the glory that is His? Or, am I trying to seek my own glory? I want to be more mindful of Him, His holiness, and give Him the glory that is His! It is not mine...I want to close with Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on this set of verses:

"Never was there such a sermon preached, before or since, as this which was preached to the church in the wilderness. It might be supposed that the terrors would have checked presumption and curiosity in the people; but the hard heart of an unawakened sinner can trifle with the most terrible threatenings and judgments. In drawing near to God, we must never forget his holiness and greatness, nor our own meanness and pollution. We cannot stand in judgment before him according to his righteous law. The convinced transgressor asks, What must I do to be saved? and he hears the voice, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. The Holy Ghost, who made the law to convince of sin, now takes of the things of Christ, and shows them to us. In the gospel we read, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. We have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Through him we are justified from all things, from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. But the Divine law is binding as a rule of life. The Son of God came down from heaven, and suffered poverty, shame, agony, and death, not only to redeem us from its curse, but to bind us more closely to keep its commands."

Exodus 19:7-15

Two things are really standing out today. Yesterday, I read Exodus 19. I chose to mainly focus on the first portion of it. Preparation and Boundaries are what really stick out for today. Both of these things need to be essentials in our lives. The things that preceded the Lord appearing to the people of Israel were: their consecration/spending time to prepare themselves and also they are told about the boundaries.

Read Exodus 19:7-15 here

The people's willingness to serve God is evident. In verses 7-8, Moses called the elders to tell them all that God had commanded him, and all the people said that they would follow and be obedient. They would  do whatever God asked them to do. They have seen God act in a bigger way than many ever had. They were going to be obedient to Him. Seeing doesn't always equal obedience. Scripture states: "Blessed are those who have not seen me (Christ) and still believe!" (Jn 20:29) Do we have a willingness to be obedient to God? In everything?

At this point, Moses returns to the mountain to bring before God the people's answers. God knew what was in Israel's hearts. He knew where they would stand in their obedience to Him. This was the time for Moses to be given instructions from God. God would be very specific in how He would come to them! (in a thick cloud) God would reveal the purpose behind it. (the people would always trust Moses, and his leadership. They would know that God is the One who guides him!)

Consecrate the people of Israel. In the consecration of God's chosen people, they would have to wash their clothes. The consecration would not be solely external though. It would be a time of sanctification, and inner purity and holiness. This would be a place of them realizing God's holiness in ways they would of never known before. It is realizing we ourselves have nothing to offer to a holy God except our broken hearts, but knowing how great, mighty, and majestic God really is. This was the point of seeking to sanctify. The people could not teach themselves how to come before God. God, using Moses, would teach them how to come before Him! How often do we take time to prepare ourselves before spending time with the Lord, particularly before going to church on Sundays? To prepare our hearts? Maybe even, preparing our hearts for our personal time of worship with Him. To bring things to Him!

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible adds this in light of verse 10: "Go unto the people; go down from the mountain, from the top of it, where he now was, to the camp of Israel...and sanctify them today and tomorrow... he was, to instruct them how they were to sanctify themselves in an external way, by washing themselves, as after mentioned, their bodies and clothes, and by abstaining from all sensual pleasures, lawful or unlawful: and let them wash their clothes; which the Jews understood not of their garments, but of their bodies also; teaching them by these outward things the necessity of internal purity and holiness, to appear before God."

Verse 11 is very specific. God would come down and all the people would be watching Him. No one would escape God's awesome presence! Giving God our best...taking time to prepare and consecrate ourselves, so we may honor God. Bringing all to Him. Seeking to come to Him with clean hearts. It is not solely about external cleansing, but the inner cleansing. The heart is dirty and filthy as it says in Jeremiah. We need God. We need Him to cleanse us!

Boundaries: They are a necessity whether we realize it or not. God has given us boundaries to protect us. Boundaries help us know God more deeply. He has given us boundaries for a reason. We cannot ignore the boundaries He has placed into our lives. We may wish to move the boundary marker, but we cannot. We need to keep it in place, and honor Him in the process by being obedient. For me, one of those boundaries is knowing my limits physically. I wanted to move everything around if it meant being able to go on a trip this weekend, but it was outside my boundaries given to me by God. God has given me boundaries to protect me. I need to be obedient, and allow God to protect me by staying within the boundaries. When we go outside the boundaries, we will face consequences. Think about the law of the land: what happens when we speed and are caught? We face consequences. Boundaries are essential! Boundaries are put in place to protect us! We need to be obedient to God, and allow Him to protect us by staying within the boundaries! What boundaries do we have that we often have the most trouble with? Are we committing ourselves to staying obedient?