I have to apologize for being so far behind on my posts. I had originally planned to do a post on the remaining part of Exodus but have recently had the wonderful opportunity to discuss the following section on the Tabernacle with a good friend. I have discussed with her the possibility of being a guest blogger because she had great insight into the symbols and meaning of all the sections of the tabernacle. With that likely to happen, I wanted to post the following section specifically on Chapters 19 through the end of 24. This will set up nicely for her post on the tabernacle which really begins in Chapter 25 and closes out the book of Exodus.

Chapter 19 opens up with the nation of Israel reaching the wilderness of Sinai while Moses continues to be the conduit for communications between God and the nation of Israel. Immediately God speaks to Moses with promising words: “… if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Here, we see that God continues His promise to the Israelites that should they obey the Lord, He will bless them and make them a great nation. I think this particular passage lays the very foundation for the Ten Commandments He will issue in the next chapter.

An interesting item in Chapter 19 is that God chooses to reveal Himself to the people of Israel and though I am unaware of His specific reason, God makes pointed statements about how He has demonstrated Himself to the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt. In addition, God chooses to show Himself to the people and institute confidence in Moses’ connection with God by coming to Moses “… in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” Even in the moment of showing Himself to the Israelites, God continues to set boundaries for them. God directs Moses to “… consecrate them …” and to “… wash their garments and be ready for the third day.” He also directs Moses to issue a warning of boundary to the nation of Israel stating that they are “… not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.” Most notably to me in this particular passage is the warning that “No hand shall touch him [whoever is to be put to death], but he shall be stoned or shot …” I find this notable because even in following the orders of God, one man is not to take the life of another by placing his hands upon that individual. I’m not sure the significance of this but find it odd and will hopefully get some time to research it a little more. If someone knows the answer to this, please feel free to comment here and help us all understand the reason behind stoning versus laying one’s hands upon another.

Reliably, as God had stated, on the third day the Lord appeared before the nation of Israel as a thick cloud upon the mountain. In addition, “… very loud trumpet blast[s] …” were heard announcing the Lord’s arrival. In addition to the cloud, God descended upon the top of the mountain in fire and that fire engulfed the whole mountain so as to cause it to tremble and smoke. God called Moses to come to Him and Moses obeyed.

This is the transition to Chapter 20 where God issues the Ten Commandments to the nation of Israel. The Ten Commandments are listed out below:

1 ) “You shall have no other gods before me.”

2 ) “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. 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, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

3 ) “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.”

4 ) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

5 ) “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your god is giving you.”

6 ) “You shall not murder.”

7 ) “You shall not commit adultery.”

8 ) “You shall not steal.”

9 ) “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

10) ” You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Some of the obvious things that we identify within these commandments are that the first couple (4 to be exact) are specifically related to God and what we’re supposed to do as it relates to our relationship with God. The remaining six are related to how we are to engage in relationship with one another. We find that in this passage, there is a clear and straight forward perspective as it relates to our relationships with each other and more specifically our relationship with God. He is the number one priority and this correlates with the first commandment. Now many people relate “gods” to mean people or items like the Greek gods, etc. What we find within the context of scripture is that any item we place as the most important in our life is in reality the “god” we serve. Additionally, should we break any one of the commandments (i.e.: #10), we find that we also break, at minimum, the first two commandments. For as we covet our neighbor’s items, we place those items above God (#1) and we bow down to and serve these items breaking #2.

Of course, I don’t intend to be doom and gloom about this fact, as Christians we are saved by and our sins are atoned for by the blood of Christ. Additionally, we know that these Ten Commandments are a subset of the Old Testament Law which was a covenant between God and the nation of Israel. As such, this covenant and these laws are not ours explicitly. Yancey Arrington did a great job explaining this principle in our February 11th service of “Man, That’s Weird” at Clear Creek Community Church. Do remember, however, that Jesus also taught these basic principles when He declared the two greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” as well as “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

We then close out Chapter 20 with the laws about altars. For me, the most insightful item in that small section is the statement “… for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.” I relate to this from the perspective that we should always accept God’s gift of all that surrounds us. We shouldn’t attempt to beautify or mold it to reflect our work but rather to cherish it as the Lord provided and allow God’s glory to shine through whatever it is we perform for Him.

Chapters 21, 22, and 23 are a compilation of additional laws related to the treating of slaves, restitution for the damage or death that occurs from our negligence and the keeping of the Sabbath and festivals. Many of these passages are reiterations or expansion of the straight forward expression of the same Commandments issued in Chapter 20. The importance of these sections is to ensure clarity in the understanding that all people are our brothers and sisters and are to be treated as part of the commandment declaring our relationship with our neighbors. Additionally, it is to place the responsibility of items under our control with us as to prevent the deceitful heart of humans which would pass responsibility or blame on seemingly “uncontrollable” circumstances. Laws about the Sabbath and Festivals reiterates the commandments earlier issued with regard to the passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering. Each of these having been previously discussed, I won’t duplicate those here.

As we close out Chapter 23 we read of the promise God has made with the nation of Israel to receive the land which God has promised and prepared many years before. We see that God has placed an Angel before the Israelites that will go before them and protect them so long as the Israelites obey the Angel’s voice. God ratifies this command by pointing out that it is God’s name in him and no others. We see here, in verse 31, that God declares the borders of the nation of Israel. Lastly, God commands the nation of Israel not to make a covenant with nor allow the inhabitants they drive out to dwell within the land God will give them for they will make the Israelites sin against God. Much like our lives, if we would simply heed His warning and obey Him, He will steer us clear of danger and temptation; by Him, through faith, we will be pulled through such times.

Thus we arrive at Chapter 24, where God calls for Moses to come up to the mountain again. Moses spoke to the people of Israel the words of the Lord and through a covenant the Israelites declared: “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses recorded the words of the Lord into what is known as the Book of the Covenant. Following sacrifices made at the altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve pillars to represent the twelve tribes of Israel, Moses read the Book of the Covenant to the people of Israel and in reaffirmation they declared again “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

Verses 9 through 12 are rather interesting to me. I believe this is the first time that anyone from the nation of Israel, besides Moses and Aaron, have seen God and eaten with Him. Yet, Moses is the only one to ascend the mountain to truly meet with God and had done so to receive from God the “… tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I [God] have written for their instruction. I feel as though Moses intended to present the Book of the Covenant to God as a sign of the people’s enactment of a covenant with Him but not much else is spoken of here about the Book of the Covenant. I find it fitting that every where else in my spiritual walk I have found that God approaches His people and opens our hearts for His work rather than us being the ones to decide upon when we will serve Him.

As Chapter 24 closes out, we see that Moses has left Aaron and Hur in charge of the remaining elders while he ascends the mountain to God. He specifically states that should any dispute arise, they are to go to these two for reconciliation. Moses remained on the mountain where the “glory of the Lord dwelt” for forty days and forty nights. Though I’ve already read the next sections, and hopefully you have too (if you’re following the daily reading plan) but I can’t wait to have the next blog post about the amazing Tabernacle and the depiction of how articulate and specific the construction was – and why!

ESV Daily Reading Bible Halley’s Bible Handbook
ESV Study Bible