Exodus 20: the gift of the Ten Commandments

Scripture:

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶
but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Observation

The Ten Commandments are so often used as evidence that God is the great finger-wagging killjoy in the sky, telling us ‘no’, ‘no’ and thrice ‘no’, and all in the context of thunder, lightning, clouds and general scary portentousness. And to be fair, the Israelites clearly were scared if you read v18-19. But the second commandment, which is about not creating idols and worshipping them, comes with this double-edged warning and promise. Do it, and there will be punishment for you and the next four generations. But love me and worship me, and there will be love shown to you and the next thousand generations – a far greater promise than threat.

Application

So many of the problems with the public perception of God is the age-old thing of taking it out of context. There is simply so much to get to grips with in the Bible that it’s easier to pick out some key bits, comment on those and say ‘ha! I know what God is like now’. It would be like coming over to my house for an evening, having a meal and some chat, and going away saying ‘I know exactly what he’s like now, his values, his likes and dislikes, what he stands for and whether he can cook a decent meal or not’. You wouldn’t claim to knowing everything about a person after only a few hours, so why do some people do the same with God? A relationship with God is a long-term journey of discovery, similar to a marriage, and we can’t pretend to have ‘got’ him without being part of that relationship. A few minutes ago I hadn’t intended to write this – I was going to talk about how great it is that we have a God who wants to love and bless us far more than  he wants to punish us. Anyway, that too!

Prayer

Lord, I thank you that you are not simplistic or always easy to understand. What kind of God would you be if you were just like us? But rather, I ask for your help for myself and anyone reading this, that you would enable us to see the benefits of following you for a long time, and that a life with you then turns into eternal life with you, and there’s not going to be anything better than that. Amen.

 

Exodus 1-4

I think the first section of Exodus (Moses’ birth & calling, the battle between God & Pharaoh and the escape from Egypt) might be my favourite section of story-telling / history in the Bible. I love the drama of it! For that reason I’m going to abandon SOAP today and just free-form.

First of all, I love the cheek / courage / ballsiness of the Hebrew women in chapters 1 & 2. The midwives disobey an order to kill male Hebrew babies, and when asked why, they, presumably at risk of losing their lives for disobeying such an order, respond with a slur so cheeky that it just makes you laugh – “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” After that, when Moses’ basket is found and Pharoah’s daughter calls for a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby, Moses’ own mother is employed to do it – and paid! Genius.

I also really like the account of the encounter at the burning bush in chapters 3-4. Considering that Moses probably wrote this originally (and it seems likely, as he was the only human there to see it), he doesn’t write up his part in the whole affair. Moses comes off as pretty cowardly here, finding as many excuses and reasons as he can not to go and rescue his people ; so many, in fact, that God ends up getting angry with him – not for the last time, of course. This all brings Moses int o a very realistic light as a human being, despite the reverence (rightly) accorded him in the Jewish faith subsequently.

And finally, it is great to see that the Israelites knew where to direct their complaints, and where to direct their adoration when He sends someone to lead them out:

^4:29-31 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

I just find this really encouraging! The first thing they do when they hear they’re going to be saved is worship, not react in cynicism, as the Jews of Jesus’ time did.

 

Exodus 5-8

Scripture:

Exodus 5-8

 

Chapter 6:

6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’”

 

Observation:

The passage as a whole is the beginning of one of my favourite biblical stories, due to its vivid drama and the awesome power of God on display. I love the plague & Red Sea narrative, though the slaying of the first-born is immensely tragic. But I guess comment on that will come next week.

 

The verses picked out above struck me due to the repeated phrase which frames the section – “I am the LORD”. Here’s God using the name he recently revealed to Moses at the burning bush – Yahweh, I AM – and using it as the reinforcement of why they can trust what he says. He reminds them of the Abrahamic covenant, and gives them a promise of being God to them. And they can trust Him because He is who He says He is.

 

Application:

I’ve been looking into spiritual warfare in the Bible and in our times recently, partly using the Exodus plague narrative, and discovered that issues of identity are key in the Bible’s understanding of how to go into battle. Here, God reminds the Israelites that He’s in control because He is who He says He is. In the gospels Jesus often does spiritual battle with demons on the basis of who he is (the Son of God) and who they are (interlopers with no right to be there). And when we understand our identity in Christ, we have a good basis on which to stand firm, as Paul encourages us to in Ephesians 6.

 

How do I apply these verses to my life? By seeking to understand who I am in Christ first of all, and what he has called me and made me to be and do.

 

Prayer:

Lord, I want to know more about how to be your child, and understand my identity in You. Please keep revealing the plans you have for me, and the person you made me to be, so I can fulfil those promises.