Day #36

Sermon - Audio
Ex 19-21 - Audio
Ex 19-21 - Daily Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment



19.5: One of the sayings that goes with the exodus is that there can be no Passover without a Pentecost (the rabbi's hold that the people come to Mt. Sinai 50 days after they leave Egypt). The idea is that God saves his people by grace in the Passover and then at Sinai calls them to follow his ways. Grace always leads to living for God. Paul will say in Ephesians 2.8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

19.5-6: These words are echoed in the New Testament when Peter speaks of the church as being God's holy nation, a royal priesthood in 1 Peter 2.8-10.

19.6: "kingdom of priests" Following God's call to be a blessing (Genesis 12), Israel both speaks on behalf of other nations and shows others holy living and so calls them to follow God.

19.15: Sexual relations were not considered bad, rather they brought about ritual impurity which kept one from approaching God. Ritual impurity had nothing to do with sin.

19.16-20: In the book of Acts on the day of Pentecost we find a similar sights and sounds. These all show that God is present.

Exodus 20:
The giving of the 10 commandments is the charter for the new nation of Israel. This is the way to be followed in order to live well, have life, and be under God's blessing.

20.2-3: These two verses link us back to the 10 plagues. Egypt and Pharaoh had other gods before Yahweh. It was a disastrous choice that led to their destruction. Israel, who has been rescued from that slavery are not to enslave themselves by serving other gods. Such a serving will lead to destruction.

20.5: This text always needs to be read in the light of the rest of scripture, particularly Ezekiel 18 where God makes it clear that the children do not get punished for the sins of their parents. In this light it is perhaps best to see the words of Exodus as referring to how deeply ingrained idolatry can get into the life of a family so that it is passed on from generation to generation. As each generation follows other gods it is punished for its own sin.

20.6: Steadfast love is God's covenant love.

20.9-10: This text also needs to be seen in the light of the rest of scripture. Especially Jesus' take on Sabbath observance where love for neighbor trumps not doing anything on the Sabbath.

20.12: Honor is the Hebrew word "Cavod" which means heavy or weighty. We need to give weight to our parents in our lives. At times giving them this weight in our lives means learning how not to live from their actions.

20.14: Adultery in ancient times was a man having sexual relations with a married woman who was not his wife. When a married man or an unmarried man had sexual relations with an unmarried woman it was not considered adultery, rather it fell into the category of fornication. Christ condemns both in Matthew 5.

20.20: The people's encounter with the greatness of God was designed to keep them from sinning.

20.26: priestly modesty. Ritual nudity was widespread in the ancient Near East, whereas here every precaution is taken to assure modesty. Early Canaanite altars with steps are known from sites such as Megiddo. Israelite law also preserved modesty by legislating longer tunics and prescribing undergarments for the priests. IVP Background Commentary

Exodus 21
We are entering some of the specifics of covenant life. Many of the rules and regulations will seem strange and perhaps even revolting to us. A couple of things to keep in mind in this part of the reading:
1. God seeks to protect the least in the society in ways that startle other societies.
2. One of the central part of God's protection is "an eye for an eye" and "a tooth for a tooth". This limits punishment. In surrounding cultures punishments often exceeded the crime.

21.2: Since God's people belong to him they cannot be sold in perpetuity. These words will be connected to the Sabbath year in the book of Leviticus.

21.7-11: As quickly becomes clear, this buying was a way to not only pay off a debt but to provide a wife for the man or his son who has some wealth. In this way a poor woman whose family could not provide a dowry could find her way into a better life. Even as she enters this life she is given protections that can lead to her freedom (a divorce) if she is not treated rightly.

21.17: We get more a sense of this command in Dt. 21.18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.