Jethro...

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.
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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)
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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.


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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.


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