Bible Discussion — Exodus 19-22

July 11, 2007, 12:30 pm; posted by
Filed under Bible, Chloe, Connie, David, Djere, Mike J, Steve  | 2 Comments

This week, Bweinh.com looks at the next four chapters of the Bible, Exodus 19-22.

Previously in Exodus: 1-4 | 5-8 | 9-11 | 12-14 | 15-18

The book of Genesis:
1-4 | 5-9 | 10-14 | 15-18-2 | 19-22 | 23-26 | 27-29
30-32 | 33-36 | 37-39 | 40-43 | 44-46 | 47-50

 
INTRODUCTION:
David:
In this section God revealed the Law to Moses. Paul later told us in Romans 5-7 that the point of this revelation was not to save people, but to kill them, to prove to them how awful they were so God could save them.

Connie:
Two months from the day the Israelites were delivered from the slavery of Egypt, they found themselves encamped before Mount Sinai, where they encountered — nearly face to face — their God. He presented them with a covenant agreement, promising to make them a special and holy nation unto Himself if they will follow His laws.

Mike:
The law–God’s way of ordering society–is introduced to the people.

 
SOMETHING YOU’D NEVER NOTICED BEFORE:
Chloe:
Moses sent Zipporah and their sons away while he was leading the Israelites out of Egypt. It makes sense, but that must have been difficult for all of them.

Mike:
There was no punishment for a slaveowner who brutally injured his slaves, just so long as the death was not immediate.

Steve:
After studying American law for three years — and in painful depth for the past two months — it’s very interesting to me how many of the same concepts, from degrees of murder to responsibility for trespass, are addressed similarly in Exodus.

Connie:
“Showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” in verse 6 contrasts with verse 5 — “showing iniquity to three or four generations.” This demonstrates how God’s mercy is greater than His wrath and extends even more to the generations of righteous people. The lingering effects of righteousness will last far longer than the lingering effects of wickedness.

 
BEST BAND NAME FROM THE PASSAGE:
Connie, David: Rephidim
Djere: Stripe for Stripe
Steve: Thick Cloud, Covet His Ox
Chloe: Capable Men
Mike: Thou Shalt ROCK!

 
STORY IT REMINDS YOU OF:
Chloe:
Jesus saying all the commandments were summed up with, “Love the Lord your God,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The ten commandments are a matter of course if you obey those two.

David:
Moses’ meeting with God reminds me of my first experience with God. I was drunk, locked in a jail cell, yelling and screaming, and suddenly this peace descended over me. God spoke and said, “I am God. Now I am going to show you what I can do with your life.” He didn’t show up again for 2 weeks, after I was back home, but when He did, He gave me a choice to serve Him or the Devil, and I chose Him.

Connie:
It reminds me of a geometric theorem. It says, “If you will obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me — a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Djere:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: smoke and fire and thunder and lightning descending on a mountaintop:

Steve:
The animal control laws in chapter 21 are a lot like the modern law when it comes to dogs. If you know Sparky is dangerous, like the ox that “tended to thrust with its horn in times past,” and you let him get out and bite someone anyway, you’re going to pay dearly. Not as dearly as the ox owner who faced death, but the concept is the same.

 
DEEP THEOLOGICAL MEANING:
Chloe:
Moses told the Israelites God was instilling fear in His people to keep them from sinning. In John 14:15, Jesus told His disciples, “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.”

The extreme differences between the Old and New Laws remind me to be evermore grateful for Jesus’ sacrifice. I don’t have to tremble in fear of a sound smiting if I give in to temptation. Instead, when I am faced with it, I can think, “No, I love my Savior, and He told me not to do that.” I guess it depends on what motivates people, but for me love has always been a much stronger motivator than fear.

Mike:
Here, we get a picture of what Galatians calls a “disciplinarian” (3:23, NRSV). The law — this list of rules — came to train us until we could grow up into freedom in Christ. So it gives us life, but not as fully as Christ alone.

David:
The law is a shadow of the things to come. It is filled with pictures and types that will be fulfilled in Jesus. It also sets the benchmark for the world’s laws.

 
RANDOM THOUGHT:
Steve:
If I were a male servant in a time without dentistry, you better believe I’d be doing whatever I could to help my master knock out a tooth, thus setting me free (21:26).

And by the way, it’s “Thou shalt not murder.” Not “Thou shalt not kill.” Just so you know.

Mike:
I wonder if Job would want to dress down for this encounter with the Almighty!

I’m also glad there are better ways to pierce ears now.

Connie:
The trumpet mentioned in 19:16 was so loud it wade the entire camp tremble. I don’t think it was being blown by an earthly brassman.

 
WHERE IS JESUS IN THIS PASSAGE:
David:
The way the law incorporated protections for the widow and the orphan, and responsibility for animals falling into pits. Jesus taught on those things specifically.

Mike:
Hebrews calls this covenant a “shadow” of the real thing that came in Jesus. The law came to point us to a way of life that can only be enjoyed fully in him.

Djere:
Jesus is on the cross, paying the penalty for my transgressing each of those laws. He is fulfilling the need for my verse to remember.

 
VERSE TO REMEMBER:
David:
21:5 — “But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free…'”

Steve:
19:5 — “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.”

Mike:
20:19 — “[They] said to Moses, ‘You speak to us and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.'”

Connie:
20:12 — “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”

Djere:
21:24-25 — “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

 
PORTION YOU WOULD MOST LIKE EXPLAINED IN HEAVEN:
Connie:
Thunder, lightning, smoke, fire, and that trumpet. Wow, how did Moses stand before all that?

Mike:
Why slavery was an accepted institution. I don’t see it promoted here, just accepted as a way of life, that one person could be property of another. Why wasn’t this immediately overturned?

Chloe:
Why is the command to honor one’s father and mother the only one followed with a promise?

Steve:
How was it that Moses received the law from God? Audible voice? Written down? Personally delivered? Earlier it said He spoke with a voice, and I’d like to see that scene, with the thunder, lightning, trumpet, and smoke.

 
LESSON TO TAKE AWAY:
Chloe:
Fear God.

David:
God’s selection of Israel as a peculiar people (19:5) was derived from his promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3), and from the beginning was meant to be shared with all nations (Galatians 3:8).

Connie:
I think it was pretty simple. Just do what God said, and don’t do what God said not to do. Selah.

 
GENERAL RESPONSE TO THE PASSAGE:
Steve:
There’s a lot of law to keep if you want to be holy. Once I preached a sermon that addressed all the laws of New York I had broken — the list is here. My theoretical maximum prison sentence was almost 44 years.

In the same way, I can find a bunch of these commands I have broken, and the punishment is even more serious. Reading the massive lists of commandments that make up the Old Testament law give me a new respect for holiness, and a new appreciation for grace.

Djere:
The ten commandments laid the groundwork, basically, for the entire judicial system of the western world, but the rest of the sections seem so scatter-brained. Payment for seduction followed up immediately by killing witches. Hard logic to follow.

David:
It’s important to know the Law because much of it is incorporated into the New Testament.

Mike:
I’m grateful for a picture of how God would order society; I still struggle with how it should inform our ideas of how we should order society.

 
CONCLUSION:
Connie:
Thanks for writing it all down.

David:
“For you have not come to the mount that might not be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard it entreated that the word should should not be spoken unto them…but…to Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:18-24).

Steve:
We’re heading into one of the denser parts of the Bible next week. Stick with us!


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2 Comments to “Bible Discussion — Exodus 19-22”

  1. Bible Discussion -- Exodus 31-34 : Bweinh! on August 8th, 2007 12:07 pm

    […] in Exodus: 1-4 | 5-8 | 9-11 | 12-14 | 15-18 | 19-22 | 23-26 | […]

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