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Category: Pentateuch Genesis-Deuteronomy

IN THE BEGINNING… Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy – Pentateuch [5 books] It’s the LAW of GOD!
Forgive us our trespasses. Jesus teaches many lessons from these books of the Bible and we have forgotten MANY of the issues and applications to our 21st century life. How can you SHARE from the beginning of the Bible with your SOCIAL ‘Friends’ and talk of Jesus as Lord? Please TITLE your post by the topic, not the verse. Include links to scriptures and helpful references. — Please post or tell us in a COMMENT how you talk of Jesus through this topic and these Old Testament scriptures.

  • A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Commandments and more

    Moses Descends With Commandments of the Lord

    Moses has before saved Israel from destruction, but this time  an angry Lord God could have justly killed these covenant-breaking Hebrews, who heard the Commandments of the LORD God! 

    Do you recall how when Israel had first heard the voice of the Lord speaking the Commandments to them how they feared the Lord?

    Previously, in Exodus 19:

    9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you.”

    14 Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and consecrated them… 

    16 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

    18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

    Just imagine what it must have been like for those consecrated and gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai before the LORD. 

    Exodus 20:

    Then God spoke all these words:

    This is superscript preceding the Ten Commandments. THE LORD SPEAKS!

    Yet It ought to be enough that the Commands, whatever they may be, come directly from the Voice of the Lord, Who begins:

    2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

    The Ten Commands are specific, spoken directly to this Hebrew audience with the LORD GOD. And these Commandments of which many of us know only a few also become foundation for Law.

    Would you claim any law as inviolable? And does a foundational principle given by our Creator not perfectly define justice for all mankind, even to this day?

    Consider the Commandments here as translated from their Hebrew root words (linked to Strong’s Concordance in the Blue Letter Bible).

    TEN WORDS עִבְרִית

    20:3 לֹֽא יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל־פָּנָֽיַ

    20:4 לֹֽא תַֽעֲשֶׂה־לְךָ פֶסֶל וְכָל־תְּמוּנָה אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וַֽאֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ מִתַָּחַת וַאֲשֶׁר בַּמַּיִם מִתַּחַת לָאָֽרֶץ

    20:5 לֹֽא־תִשְׁתַּחְוֶה לָהֶם וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם כִּי אָֽנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֵל קַנָּא פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבֹת עַל־בָּנִים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִים לְשֹׂנְאָֽי׃

    20:6 וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד לַאֲלָפִים לְאֹהֲבַי וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מִצְוֹתָֽי׃ ס

    20:7 לֹא תִשָּׂא אֶת־שֵֽׁם־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לַשָּׁוְא כִּי לֹא יְנַקֶּה יְהוָה אֵת אֲשֶׁר־יִשָּׂא אֶת־שְׁמֹו לַשָּֽׁוְא׃ פ

    20:8  זָכֹור אֶת־יֹום הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשֹֽׁו

    20:9 שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּֽעֲבֹד וְעָשִׂיתָ כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ

    20:10 וְיֹום הַשְּׁבִיעִי שַׁבָּת לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹֽא־תַעֲשֶׂה כָל־מְלָאכָה אַתָּה וּבִנְךָֽ־וּבִתֶּךָ עַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָֽתְךָ וּבְהֶמְתֶּךָ וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ

    20:11 כִּי שֵֽׁשֶׁת־יָמִים עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֶת־הַיָּם וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּם וַיָּנַח בַּיֹּום הַשְּׁבִיעִי עַל־כֵּן בֵּרַךְ יְהוָה אֶת־יֹום הַשַּׁבָּת וַֽיְקַדְּשֵֽׁהוּ׃ ס

    20:12 כַּבֵּד אֶת־אָבִיךָ וְאֶת־אִמֶּךָ לְמַעַן יַאֲרִכוּן יָמֶיךָ עַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָֽךְ׃ ס

    20:13 לֹא תִּרְצָֽח׃ ס

    20:14 לֹא תִּנְאָֽף׃ ס

    20:15 לֹא תִּגְנֹֽב׃ ס

    20:16 לֹֽא־תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָֽׁקֶר׃ ס

    20:17 לֹא תַחְמֹד בֵּית רֵעֶךָ לֹֽא־תַחְמֹד אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ וְעַבְדֹּו וַאֲמָתֹו וְשֹׁורֹו וַחֲמֹרֹו וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶֽךָ׃ פ

    I invite you to study the translation below and where you question a 21st c. English wording of the Commandments to study the linked Hebrew.

    TEN WORDS – ENGLISH EQUIVALENT 

    1. You shall have no other gods before GOD
    2. You shall not create man-made dead art (idols) of the LIVING GOD. Do not bow in worship to idols, and do not serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ guilt of immorality, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate the LORD GOD, and showing mercy to thousands of them who love me and who keep my Commandments.
    3. Do not say, ‘Lord God,’ lightly without meaning or with deceptive intention; for THE EXISTING ONE will not hold guiltless any who take his name in vain.
    4. Recall the sabbath to keep it holy. Labor and do all your work in six days, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work; you, your family, servants, working animals or guests within your gates.
    5. Give weight to consideration of the significance of your father and your mother, that your days may grow long on the earth your Lord God gives you.
    6. Do not murder.
    7. Do not be unfaithful to your husband, your wife or the Lord God.
    8. Do not steal.
    9. You shall not answer testifying with lies, deception or inaccuracy against friend, companion, fellow citizen or other.
    10. Do not desire the house, wife, servant, work animals or anything belonging to your friend, companion, fellow-citizen or another.

    Reaction and Response to Receiving God’s Commandments

    Israel, therefore, responded differently to the LORD each time the Commandments were given.

    First, the Lord spoke the Commandments within hearing of all the Hebrew people. And what was their response?

    Exodus 20:

    18 All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance. 19 “You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses,

    “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

    20 Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not[c] sin.”

    21 And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was.

    What next?

    Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”

    And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. – Exodus 24:3-4

    12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

    16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud. 17 The appearance of the Lord’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop.

    18 Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

    After the Stone Tablets

    We now return to where we left off previously in The Ten Commandments to Moses’ second return in Exodus 34.

    Moses’s Radiant Face

    29 As Moses descended from Mount Sinai—with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain—he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord. 

    30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone! 

    They were afraid to come near him. 

    31 But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do everything the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. 

    33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out.

    After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 and the Israelites see Moses’s face, that the skin of his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.

    Response to Moses’ giving of the Law

    Everyone whose heart was moved and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the Lord… Exodus 35:21a

    After their earlier rebellion by worship of the golden calf, Israel finally yields to the Lord. (Yet their obedience will remain situationally spurious.) Their exodus continues from Sinai to the Jordan. Yet first the Lord commands the making of a traveling place of worship, a Tabernacle and place of meeting.

    Leviticus further outlines worship and duties of priests exclusively assigned to the descendants of Levi. Moses’ five books move on to Numbers, the Hebrew title is Bemidbar or “In the Wilderness” (rbdmb) (of Sinai?). Because we cannot dwell on additional important moral direction given by the Lord in these books, I only mention them here. However any look at the Commandments would be incomplete without consideration of Moses’ final book of Deuteronomy.

    Deuteronomy

    We would do well to remember that Moses’ life may be simply summarized in three parts of dual generations. Moses was born as a Hebrew slave, but raised in the palace of Pharaoh with great favor until age forty.

    He then was forced to flee to Midian, where he raised a family until age eighty. Finally, and most amazingly, most everything we read in the Books of Moses takes place between the ages of eighty and one hundred and twenty.

    Some of the record of Deuteronomy was no doubt recorded in writing by Moses’ assistant and successor, Joshua.

    Deuteronomy also reconfirms the Commandments and makes reference to them more than forty times.

    Call to Obedience

    4 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 

    We will defer a look at statutes and ordinances to a later post in this series. Before we once again point to the Ten Commandments, just one brief glance:

    8 And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

    The Lord chose Israel as example of His righteous leading to the nations whose redemption will come later in Christ Jesus.

    Deuteronomy 5:

    Moses summoned all Israel and said to them… 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb…

    6 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery…

    7 Do not have other gods besides me…

    (and nine more)

    Have you considered God’s Commandments and how you must apply them to your life and relationships? For the Lord our God is a personal and loving Creator of all things and Judge of all men.

    32 “Be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.

    To be continued…

     

     

  • A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – The Ten Commandments

    Then all the people responded together, “We will do all that the Lord has spoken.” So Moses brought the people’s words back to the Lord. – Exodus 19:8 CSB

    Everyone knows The Ten Commandments – 

    As we noted previously, commandment implies both authority and relationship. Jesus’ answer to a lawyers’ question, “Master, which is the greatest commandment?” did not mention even one of the Ten Commandments, but rather pointed toward our relationship to God.

    When someone asks you about the Ten Commandments, what is your immediate response?

    Do you know them? (It likely depends on your religious upbringing.)

    I was raised in a family which worshiped the Lord where children and youth were weekly schooled  in a primer of faith. Therefore, from my Sunday-school training I instantly regurgitated, ‘Exodus 20,’ as response of quick recall about the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20 is actually just one place the Commandments are mentioned, but let’s start there.

    How many of the Ten Commandments can you name?

    How did you do? According to a source quoting a USA Today poll, if you could name five Commandments you did better than six out of ten Americans. If you correctly named all Ten Commandments, you are one of only fourteen in one hundred Americans [14%] who could do so. Sadly, this knowledge of Scripture is even lower in many countries on other continents.

    Background and Context of the Ten Commandments

    Did you realize that the Ten Commandments appear multiple times in the Bible? Though not listed every time, the record of the Ten Words gives context to their application and emphasis to their authenticity.

    Exodus 20

    Exodus 24:3 Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”

    • 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD… 7 He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people.
    • 12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

    From the Hebrew:

    24:12  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה עֲלֵה אֵלַי הָהָרָה וֶהְיֵה־שָׁם וְאֶתְּנָה לְךָ אֶת־לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶן וְהַתֹּורָה וְהַמִּצְוָה כָּתַבְתִּי לְהֹורֹתָֽם׃

    Law – תּוֹרָה – Torah and Commandment – מִצְוָה – Mitzvah

    The Two Stone Tablets

    18 When he finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God.

    “…and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.”

    The word of the LORD, of His chosen nation.

    Violation of the LORD’S spoken Word!

    Exodus 32:

    7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly. 8 They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them…

    9 The Lord also said to Moses: “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone, so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

    11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God: “Lord, why does your anger burn against your people you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? … Turn from your fierce anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel…

    15 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides—inscribed front and back. 

    16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was God’s writing, engraved on the tablets.

    19 … Moses became enraged and threw the tablets out of his hands, smashing them at the base of the mountain.

    We will not here today dwell on Moses’ role as the hand of the Lord’s vengeful wrath. You may recall a sanitized image of the idolatry of the golden calf, but consider from scripture what took place.

    25 Moses saw that the people were out of control… 26 And Moses stood at the camp’s entrance and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.”

    … “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man fasten his sword to his side; go back and forth through the camp from entrance to entrance, and each of you kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”

    28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand men fell dead that day among the people. 

    Did you remember this terrible refining of the camp of the Hebrews and slaughter of three thousand men?

    I didn’t, for I had not read this scripture recently.

    31 So Moses returned to the Lord… 

    33 The Lord replied to Moses: “Whoever has sinned against me I will erase from my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about; see, my angel will go before you.

    But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin.”

    Would you have been among those slaughtered for your idolatry? Or would you be among those enduring earthly plague, never entering the promised land?

    Is it not a fearful for us to be held accountable for our sin?

    The Lord Again Writes Down The Ten Commandments

    Exodus 34:

    The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

    4 Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him.

    34:5  וַיֵּרֶד יְהוָה בֶּֽעָנָן וַיִּתְיַצֵּב עִמֹּו שָׁם וַיִּקְרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָֽה׃

    5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” 6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:

    The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.

    But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

    8 Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped.

    Ten Words and More Commands

    10 And the Lord responded: “Look, I am making a covenant… 11 Observe what I command you today… 

    27 The Lord also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.”

    28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat food or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments, the words of the covenant, on the tablets.

    This hearing of the Law: To be continued…

     

  • A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Commandment

    Master, which is the great commandment in the law? – Matthew 22:36 KJV

    Commandment

    צָוָה tsä·vä’ 

    • – to command, charge, give orders, lay charge, give charge to, order

    The King James Version of the Bible uses ‘Master,’ rather than teacher in this most important question. Our contemporary culture dilutes both the teaching component of leadership and the degree of its authoritarian necessity.

    A teacher, father, president or king may give a command, but obedience depends on a relationship between the master and one receiving the command.

    Commandment implies both authority and relationship.

    From before creation and man, God was and IS in charge. The Lord commanded Adam not to desire to know of good and evil; but now obedience to God requires discernment between good and evil. 

    Now command comes to man less directly through other men and women. Though implicit authority of command requires obedience, mortal men command those with whom we have relationship and assume responsibility. Ultimately, our authority relates to God, even when spoken through the command of others.

    Law and Scripture also imply the Authority of the Lord God. Obedience, however, will follow only out of our love of  God. Respect, honor and obedience to a ‘commander’ of mortals ultimately reflects their relationship with Almighty God.

    Although we will not examine it here, the Authority of God the Holy Spirit also commands those who accept the Lord as our loving Master.

    “Which is the greatest commandment…?”

    Christ Jesus answers quoting the law of Moses, who was given authority by God Almighty

    Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. – Deuteronomy 6:5

    Command: Love the Lord your God. What an appropriate answer for all of us. So simple.

    Jesus answers our question about obedience at the most personal level. Not a specific detail of law, but a relationship with God as our Lord. 

    Moses states God’s commandment reminding faithful servants to love THE EXISTING ONE, THE LORD.

    Returning to the LORD יְהֹוָה

    DEUTERONOMY 30:

    “When all these things happen to you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you come to your senses…

    Look back before the Law and you will discover that command was simple, specific, relational and purposeful. The LORD is our Maker and our Master.

    Yet Moses reminds the Lord’s followers:

    11 “This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach.

    12 It is not in heaven so that you have to ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’ 13 And it is not across the sea so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’

    14 But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it.

    The Relationship of Command to Obedience

    The Father-Son relationship provides a good illustration of the loving advocacy for the commanded son. The Hebrew followers of Moses viewed him as a father like Abraham, with the authority of God the Father.

    ‘Obey me: to be blessed, or safe, or that you (my children) might prosper.’

    Moses continues: 15 See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity.

    16 For I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

    17 But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are led astray to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I tell you today that you will certainly perish and will not live long in the land you are entering to possess across the Jordan.

    19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.

    Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him.

    For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

    The Command of the LORD includes Commandments of the Law

    Moses had led the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt. Many credit him for saving Israel, but the Nations witnessed that their Savior IS the LORD.

    God gave this new nation a Commandment and Law through Moses. The LORD gave rules and regulations to be judged and administered by leaders; initially Moses, Aaron and God’s anointed elders. 

    Next, we will briefly examine the Commandments and the Law of Moses. 

    To be continued…