This particular reading is from Exodus 18:1-20:23.
The quick(er) summary:
(Ch.18)
Jethro visits Moses; he brings Zipporah, Moses' wife and children Gershom and Eliezer.
Jethro praises Yahweh for His great work, and brings offering and sacrifices to God.
-
Jethro sees Moses judging the people from morning to night, and tells Moses to delegate, in finding rulers for 1000, 100, and 50 people.
Then the people brought only the difficult cases to Moses.
Jethro leaves.
(Ch.19)
The people arrive at Sinai in the 3rd month.
Yahweh tells Moses that if the people follow Him and keep His covenant, they will be a special treasure to Him above the rest of the people.
Moses tells the elders; the elders say they will do what Yahweh says.
Moses returns to Yahweh to report about the elders.
Yahweh tell Moses to have the people santify themselves for the next 2 days, and on the 3rd day Yahweh will be on mount Sinai; the people are not to touch the mountain unless they die.
Moses tells the people to santify themselves.
Yahweh appears on the 3rd day on mount Sinai, and calls for Moses.
Yahweh tells Moses to bring Aaron, the priests and the people are to stay.
Moses goes to speak to the people.
(Ch.20)
God gives the 10 commandments:
Thou shalt have no other gods (v.3)
Thou shalt not make a graven image (v.4)
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain (v.7)
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy (v.8)
Honour thy father and thy mother (v.12)
Thou shalt not murder (v.13)
Thou shalt not commit adultery (v.14)
Thou shalt not steal (v.15)
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour (v.16)
Thou shalt not covet (v.17)
-
The people fear the sight of God. Moses tells them to not worry.
Yahweh tells Moses to not make gods of silver or gold; but instead they are to make an altar from the ground to make offerings, or an altar of uncut stones; the altar is not to be approached by going up steps.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
For the reference of the reader, I included the verse(s) in parenthesis for each commandment.
Most of the commandments only take a single verse to say what Yahweh requires of His followers. For those of readers that are particularly good with counting, 2 commandments take up more than one verse to explain. In particular, they are:
Thou shalt not make a graven image (v.4-6) and
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy (v.8-11)
The other ones like, Thou shalt not steal (v.15) seem pretty obvious in their importance, and perhaps the reason God doesn't spend too much time talking about them.
Conversely, I believe God takes more care and length in decreeing the two commandments because they are equally as serious in their violation, but at the same time more subtle than the others because it has no immediate victims. Upon some amount of reflection and meditation, the victims that are yielded by the violation of these commandments are exactly the ones that violate the commandment.
In a different but related point (is that possible?) the passage regarding the sabbath is used by God to confirm that the creation account was actual 6 days; otherwise, God would have said something to the effect of...
"just like I created the world in 6 eons,
make sure to take a break after 6 eons, ok?"
And perhaps more Christians keep my twisted rendition of the commandment, but that is not what God said (plus I'm digressing).
The point being, if you were there thousands of years ago when Moses descended from mount Sinai, there would be no questions or debates about keeping the sabbath holy, nor any doubt that the creation account was exactly 6 days.
--
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
(making the yoke easier and burden lighter)
-
As the writing and the reading of the summaries/massages have been burdensome, after much prayer, the summary section of will be less in detail, and more of a highlight.
Mostly, I'll say a couple of words on each chapter, and then a wrap up.
By God's grace, this will be a better format for all parties involved
(i.e. God, the reader, the writer)
--
As the writing and the reading of the summaries/massages have been burdensome, after much prayer, the summary section of will be less in detail, and more of a highlight.
Mostly, I'll say a couple of words on each chapter, and then a wrap up.
By God's grace, this will be a better format for all parties involved
(i.e. God, the reader, the writer)
--
when (Pharaoh) let go...
-
This reading is on Exodus 13:17-17:16.
Here are highlights:
(Ch.13)
Yahweh guides the people from Succoth to Etham, leading them with a pillar of cloud/fire.
(Ch.14)
Yahweh camps the people at Phihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, against Baalzephon; in preparation for the parting of the Red Sea.
Pharaoh pursues the people with 600 chariots with only captains manning them.
The people panic, cry out to Yahweh and blame Moses.
Yahweh tells Moses to part the sea; the angel of Yahweh and the pillar go to the back of the camp to separate the people and Pharaoh.
Yahweh tells Moses to bring down the water on the Egyptians; Pharaoh and company die.
The people fear and believe Yahweh; they also believe Moses.
(Ch.15)
Moses sings a song of praise.
Miriam praises Yahweh with timbrel.
-
The people travel 3 days without water; they arrive at Marah, where the water is bitter; the people murmur.
Yahweh shows Moses a tree that makes the water sweet.
-
Yahweh gives a statute and an ordinance: If the people listen and keep His statues, He will keep the Egyptian diseases away. He is Yahweh that heals them.
-
They arrive at Elim, where were 12 wells and 70 palm trees, and camp there.
(Ch.16)
The people go from Elim to Sin, half way to Sinai on the 15th of the 2nd month. They murmur for the lack of food.
-
Yahweh tells the people they will have meat to eat in the evening. Quails show up at night.
Yahweh gives them bread in the morning.
The people call the bread manna.
Some people act ignorantly about following directions from God.
Moses becomes angry.
Some people go out on the 7th day when there is no manna.
God expresses grief.
-
Yahweh commands a jar full of manna to be kept for the generations.
The people eat manna for 40 years.
(Ch.17)
The people go from Sin to Rephidim. They murmur for the lack of water, readying to stone Moses.
Yahweh tells Moses to strike a rock and water will come out.
The place is named Massah/Meribah.
-
Amalek attack Israel. Moses tells Joshua to choose men to fight with Amalek.
Moses, Aaron, and Hur go to the top of a hill. Aaron and Hur keep Moses' arms up, and the Israel prevailed.
Joshua discomfits Amalek with the edge of the sword.
-
Yahweh has Moses record that He will put out Amalek from existence.
Moses build an altar, calls it Yahweh-nissi.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
A curious thing about the usage in reference to Israel:
Usually, the people of Israel is referred to as "the children of Israel" in most of the passages, but sometimes, like in Exodus 14:30-31, 15:22, 17:8,11; they are simply "Israel." It is obvious and clear, like Exodus 15:22, that Israel does not mean one person.
The reason I bring this up is that it brought to rememberance about God, who confirms Himself as being one, and at the same time, many passages in the Bible refers to the same God in the plural.
This is curious to me since I have spent much time with some Jehovah's witnesses that insist that Jesus Christ cannot be God.
God reveals Himself and His plan through patterns and types in the Bible; for example, the sacrificing of Isaac by Abraham is a type (or pattern) for which God the Father sacrifices His one and only Son.
The above plural/singular reference to Israel, as well as the plural/singular reference to God can be called either an accident/coincidence, or it is there by design. It is hard to believe that this is an accident.
So what could it mean?
From simply reading the passage, the plural/singular type indicates equality of entity, specifically, the children of Israel.
Even in reference to God, the plural/singular type indicate the same entity, that is, Yahweh/Jehovah.
Is anyone equal with God except God Himself? Philippians 2:6 gives an answer, in reference to Christ Jesus, "who thought(thinks) it not robbery to be equal with God."
I suppose one can continue thinking it is all an accident, like the Jehovah's witnesses, or even the atheists. Mathematically, it's just too difficult to brush off things like this as such.
Go figure...
--
This reading is on Exodus 13:17-17:16.
Here are highlights:
(Ch.13)
Yahweh guides the people from Succoth to Etham, leading them with a pillar of cloud/fire.
(Ch.14)
Yahweh camps the people at Phihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, against Baalzephon; in preparation for the parting of the Red Sea.
Pharaoh pursues the people with 600 chariots with only captains manning them.
The people panic, cry out to Yahweh and blame Moses.
Yahweh tells Moses to part the sea; the angel of Yahweh and the pillar go to the back of the camp to separate the people and Pharaoh.
Yahweh tells Moses to bring down the water on the Egyptians; Pharaoh and company die.
The people fear and believe Yahweh; they also believe Moses.
(Ch.15)
Moses sings a song of praise.
Miriam praises Yahweh with timbrel.
-
The people travel 3 days without water; they arrive at Marah, where the water is bitter; the people murmur.
Yahweh shows Moses a tree that makes the water sweet.
-
Yahweh gives a statute and an ordinance: If the people listen and keep His statues, He will keep the Egyptian diseases away. He is Yahweh that heals them.
-
They arrive at Elim, where were 12 wells and 70 palm trees, and camp there.
(Ch.16)
The people go from Elim to Sin, half way to Sinai on the 15th of the 2nd month. They murmur for the lack of food.
-
Yahweh tells the people they will have meat to eat in the evening. Quails show up at night.
Yahweh gives them bread in the morning.
The people call the bread manna.
Some people act ignorantly about following directions from God.
Moses becomes angry.
Some people go out on the 7th day when there is no manna.
God expresses grief.
-
Yahweh commands a jar full of manna to be kept for the generations.
The people eat manna for 40 years.
(Ch.17)
The people go from Sin to Rephidim. They murmur for the lack of water, readying to stone Moses.
Yahweh tells Moses to strike a rock and water will come out.
The place is named Massah/Meribah.
-
Amalek attack Israel. Moses tells Joshua to choose men to fight with Amalek.
Moses, Aaron, and Hur go to the top of a hill. Aaron and Hur keep Moses' arms up, and the Israel prevailed.
Joshua discomfits Amalek with the edge of the sword.
-
Yahweh has Moses record that He will put out Amalek from existence.
Moses build an altar, calls it Yahweh-nissi.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
A curious thing about the usage in reference to Israel:
Usually, the people of Israel is referred to as "the children of Israel" in most of the passages, but sometimes, like in Exodus 14:30-31, 15:22, 17:8,11; they are simply "Israel." It is obvious and clear, like Exodus 15:22, that Israel does not mean one person.
The reason I bring this up is that it brought to rememberance about God, who confirms Himself as being one, and at the same time, many passages in the Bible refers to the same God in the plural.
This is curious to me since I have spent much time with some Jehovah's witnesses that insist that Jesus Christ cannot be God.
God reveals Himself and His plan through patterns and types in the Bible; for example, the sacrificing of Isaac by Abraham is a type (or pattern) for which God the Father sacrifices His one and only Son.
The above plural/singular reference to Israel, as well as the plural/singular reference to God can be called either an accident/coincidence, or it is there by design. It is hard to believe that this is an accident.
So what could it mean?
From simply reading the passage, the plural/singular type indicates equality of entity, specifically, the children of Israel.
Even in reference to God, the plural/singular type indicate the same entity, that is, Yahweh/Jehovah.
Is anyone equal with God except God Himself? Philippians 2:6 gives an answer, in reference to Christ Jesus, "who thought(thinks) it not robbery to be equal with God."
I suppose one can continue thinking it is all an accident, like the Jehovah's witnesses, or even the atheists. Mathematically, it's just too difficult to brush off things like this as such.
Go figure...
--
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