Exodus 19-22

 

The children of Israel are now make there way to mount Sinai where Moses saw the burning bush the would not burn up.

 

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 Israel camped there before the mountain.  3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:  4 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.  5 'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.  6 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."  7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him.

 

We need to keep in mind that the Jews  has started a new year when they were delivered out of hands of Egypt. Its  is believed  that the third month would be around our month of may. When the get to Mount Sinai they  camp out and God speak to Moses and reminds him of what he did to the Egyptians and he had bore them on eagle wings. This a beautiful analogy because an eagle take great care of its young and will follow it closely as it learns to fly and if it begins to fall it will help it out. God took great care in looking after the children of Israel and he has that same care and concern for us today.  The God makes a conditional statement he say IF YOU WILL OBEY MY VOICE THEN  YOU WILL BE A SPECIAL TREASURE FOR ME. God is a loving God but he always demanded obedience from his people. The same is true for us today we will be his special treasure if we obey his commands. God goes on to say that that he will make the children of Israel a kingdom of priest and holy  nation.  The children of Israel I believe is type of the church today.

 

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 Israel. But our kingdom includes both Jew and Gentile we are now  consider the spiritual Israel.

 

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 Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

 

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 kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,  10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.  11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

 

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 22:16  16 'And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'

Only those who are purified will can stand before God as a holy nation.

 

Vrs 12-15 Moses instructs the children of Israel not to go near the mountain and if someone does they are to be killed. He also instructs the men not to go near the wives during this time. 

 

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 Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.  19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.  20 Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.  21 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish.  22 "Also let the priests who come near the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them."  23 But Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, 'Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.' "  24 Then the LORD said to him, "Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them."  25 So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

 

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 Israel had been all kinds of idols in Egypt and they would see the Egyptians bowing down or worshiping the man made images. God makes clear that he does not want idols to part of their lives. God also makes it clear that he is a jealous God and he doesn’t want to share their worship with some other object. We must be careful that we don’t find ourselves bowing down to idols and don’t mean a statue or something like. I believe that if you put something before God that is a form of Idolatry.

 

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 Israel were to take the 7th day  as a day of rest which would honor God in that he rested from his work on  the 7th day. Something that is really interesting with this section of  scripture is that you can clearly show that creation took a literal 6 days. Notice in verse 9 he says they shall work for 6 days, obviously 6 literal days. Verse 8 says that Sabbath is one literal day. Then God using the same language describes how  he made the worlds in 6 literal days and the rested on the 7th day. This is easy to see and cannot  be misunderstood that creation took 6 literal days.

 

 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 Israel: 'You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.  23 'You shall not make anything to be with Me -- gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.  24 'An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.  25 'And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.  26 'Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.'

 

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 Egypt.  22 " You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.  23 "If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry;  24 "and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.  25 " If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.  26 "If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down.  27 "For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.  28 " You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.  29 " You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe produce and your juices. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.  30 "Likewise you shall do with your oxen and your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.  31 " And you shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.