Exodus 19-22
The children of
Exodus 19:1 In the
third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on
the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they had departed from
Rephidim, (ref e dim)had come to the Wilderness of Sinai,
and camped in the wilderness. So
We need to keep in mind
that the Jews has started a new year
when they were delivered out of hands of
1 Peter 2:5 5 you also, as living stones, are
being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:9-10 9 But you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you
may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light; 10 who once were not
a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but
now have obtained mercy.
Did you notice the similarities? Those whose choose to obey
Gods word and become Christians we are considered a
chosen generation a royal priesthood and a holy nation just like the children of
Galatians 3:29 29 And if you are Christ's,
then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Exodus 19:7-9 7 So Moses came and called for the
elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD
commanded him. 8 Then all the
people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will
do." So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. 9 And the LORD said to Moses,
"Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I
speak with you, and believe you forever." So Moses told the words of the
people to the LORD. 10 Then
the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and
tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.
11 "And let them be ready for the third day. For on the
third day the LORD will come down upon
The children agree that they will obey Gods commands and Moses tells them how God is going to descend on mountain in thick cloud and they are not going to get the opportunity to hear the voice of God. If there were any skeptics in the crowd that perhaps thought that Moses was doing all these miracles himself would not get 1st hand proof when they hear voice of God. You will notice they were to clean clothes and themselves to get ready for third day on which God would speak to them. This cleaning they went through would symbolically represent their purity to God and as time would go you can read about how the Jews would always purify their physical bodies before they would touch or into a worship service for God. This physical purification or sanctification is a type of the spiritual sanctification that we go through today.
1 Peter 1: 22
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in
sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure
heart, 23 having been born
again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which
lives and abides forever,
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 9 Do you not know that the
unrighteous will not inherit the
Revelation 1:5 5 and from Jesus Christ, the
faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of
the earth. To Him who loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood,
We learn from Paul conversion that one becomes spiritual clean or purified by the blood of Jesus Christ at the point of baptism.
Acts
Only those who are
purified will can stand before God as a holy nation.
Vrs 12-15 Moses
instructs the children of
Exodus 19:16-25 16 Then it came to pass on the
third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a
thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so
that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people
out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the
mountain. 18 Now
What a scary and interesting site this must have been. Storms are scary enough by themselves but to see this thick cloud and the lighting and then to fell the mountain quake would be enough to make most very afraid. Then add to it this horn blasting louder and louder you just imagine how much fear there was in that camp. Another thing of interest have you been keeping up with how many times Moses goes up and down that mountain. I have always just thought about the 2 times he went up and didn’t really catch it before that he goes up and down that mountain several times. This brings us to chapter 20 where the people will hear the voice of God and be given the 10 commandments. The 10 commandments can also be found Deuteronomy 5. The first 4 commandments are duties to God and the last 6 commands are duties to man. The 10 commandments are the foundation on which all the other ordinances that Moses will give latter comes from. Now if you want to get a really strange look from someone just tell them that the 10 commandments do not have authority today.
Exodus 20:1 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 bondage. 3
" You shall have no other gods before Me.
This is command is simple
don’t even think about putting another God or anything else before me because I
am the Lord.
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
nor 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 fourth generations of
those who hate Me, 6 but
showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
The children of
7 " You shall not take the name
of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless
who takes His name in vain.
When Gods name was used
it was suppose to be done in a reverent way. His name was not suppose to be
used in a crude or inappropriate way. To do so would be considerer
disrespectful and God said they would not go unpunished.
8 " Remember the Sabbath day,
to keep it holy. 9 Six days
you shall labor and do all your work, 10
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you
shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant,
nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within
your gates. 11 For in six
days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day
and hallowed it.
This is the only
command that is not restated for us under the new covenant. The children
of
12
" Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the
land which the LORD your God is giving you.
Just as God wants all his
children to honor and respect him he
wants the children to honor and to respect their parents. Same thing in the NT
as well.
13
" You shall not murder.
You cannot kill someone
just because you feel like it.
14 " You shall not commit
adultery.
God plan from the very
beginning was that man and women was to
marry and they were to share a special relationship with one another and this
relationship was never to go beyond this man and women. God made this law to
protect the sanctity of marriage and the home. The same concept applies to us
today as well.
15 " You shall not steal.
Do not take what it not
yours
16 " You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbor.
In other words don’t lie against your neighbor just to get
them in trouble instead hold fast
to the truth. There are a lot of people
out there in the world today who have no
problem telling a lies about others and using this tactic to line their pockets
with money.
17
" You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your
neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor
his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
It seems to be human
nature sometimes to lust after those things which you do not have but that your neighbor has.
If all you do is focus in on things you wish you had
it will cause you to miserable and it most likely cause one to break one of
these other commandments. Were taught the same thing in the NT. We are not to
be a people who covet things. Instead we should learn to be content with what
we have.
18
Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound
of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they
trembled and stood afar off. 19
Then they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not
God speak with us, lest we die." 20
And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to test you,
and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin." 21 So the people stood afar off,
but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. 22 Then the LORD said to Moses,
"Thus you shall say to the children of
The children of Israel didn’t want to hear God talk anymore directly
because it scared them to death they would rather Moses just tell them what he
said. But now they knew for sure that there was God and that they better take
what he say serious however we all know that this fear doesn’t last long
because not long from this moment they will break Gods law.
In Chapter 21 and 22 God makes several more laws on how to take care of problems that may arise. You can read these in detail on your own but for the sake of time I will just quickly summarize these chapters.
21:1-11 Several laws concerning servants one which states that one only has to be a slave for 6 years and should be let go on the 7 year.
12-27 The laws found here have to do with violence and what should be done to murders, kidnappers and servant abuser.
28-36 Deals with laws on animals and their deaths.
22:1-15 Deals mainly with property theft or damage.
Exodus 22:16-31 16
" If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he
shall surely pay the bride-price for her to be his wife. 17 "If her father utterly
refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride-price of
virgins. 18 " You shall
not permit a sorceress to live. 19
" Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death. 20 " He who sacrifices to any
god, except to the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. 21 " You shall neither
mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of