Without a set of principles, protocols and precepts for living the biggest, meanest, toughest and most powerful animal "runs the show". Ultimately violence is the result. Picking and choosing which set of rules you WILL follow, which set of rules you MAY follow if convenient, and which set of rules you WON'T follow may result in chaos.
When it comes to one’s relationship with God, too many people view His commands as outdated or merely suggestions. "I have the ability to choose the principles by which I live" many humans are fond of saying. That is true enough. There are some 4000 religions worldwide and humanity is having quite a bit of difficulty "getting along" right now. Imagine the chaos if there were some 8 Billion individual "guiding principles" we had to navigate. There could not possibly be any civilization.
I came across this speech by two-term Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker. The speech, which heavily referenced several quotes from the iconic sitcom The Office, revolved around the need for young people to develop their own “idiot detection system.”
“If you want to be successful in this world, you have to develop your own idiot detection system. The best way to spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel,” adding, “When we see someone who doesn't look like us, or sound like us, or act like us, or love like us, or live like us—the first thought that crosses almost everyone's brain is rooted in either fear or judgement or both. That's evolution. We survived as a species by being suspicious of things we aren't familiar with.”
“In order to be kind, we have to shut down that animal instinct and force our brain to travel a different pathway. Empathy and compassion are evolved states of being. They require the mental capacity to step past our most primal urges.”
“I'm here to tell you that when someone's path through this world is marked with acts of cruelty, they have failed the first test of an advanced society. They never forced their animal brain to evolve past its first instinct. They never forged new mental pathways to overcome their own instinctual fears. And so, their thinking and problem-solving will lack the imagination and creativity that the kindest people have in spades… Over my many years in politics and business, I have found one thing to be universally true—the kindest person in the room is often the smartest.”
“‘Whenever I'm about to do something, I think ‘Would an idiot do that?' and if they would, I do not do that thing.' And what is the best way to spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel.”
While some governments and religions try to force involuntary obedience to their rules and regulations it is through our voluntary obedience to God that we experience life to the fullest. It is also this obedience through which we receive God’s promise to set apart His people as a holy nation. This promise was conditioned on obedience.
We look at the first eight verses of Exodus 19.
Because of the Abrahamic covenant God had selected Moses to "save God's people" from slavery to the World, to Egypt. The Jewish people had been miraculously delivered by God from Egyptian captivity.
God had promised He would be the God of Abraham and his descendants. They would be His people and would dwell in the land of Canaan that God was giving them. Now, after God had delivered the Israelites, the time had come for them to enter a new phase of this relationship—the establishment of the covenant conditions by which the Israelites were to live (the Mosaic covenant). They were to live holy lives in relationship with their holy God.
So we see a progress from an individual and his tribe (Abraham), into a culture (the clans of Abraham) into a people (the tribes of Abraham) and now into a civilization (the Nation of Israel). Let's look at their introduction into nationhood.
Exodus 19:1-4
1 In the third month from the very day the Israelites left the land of Egypt, they came to the Sinai Wilderness.2 They traveled from Rephidim, came to the Sinai Wilderness, and camped in the wilderness. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.3 Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob and explain to the Israelites: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
I can't help but find it interesting that the Sinai Wilderness is a part of the much larger Wilderness of Sin. While we may think of this Sin at the word sin that we are used to, but this Sin refers to a Summarian God named Sin, a Mesopotamian Moon God. In Mesopotamian art his symbol was the crescent. The goddess Ningal was regarded as Sin's wife. Their children are said to be Ishtar and Shamash.
The people camped at a place called Rephidim (literally rest stop) upon entering the wilderness. They left the rest stop to go and camp at the base of Mount Sinai because of the complaints of the people. God instructed Moses to go ahead to Horeb (Mount Sinai) and strike the rock for water. Because of the short distance between the encampment at Rephidim and the mountain the people would have been able to make the walk every day for water and lead the livestock there for watering.
"The Mountain" refers to “the mountain of God”, Mount Sinai. The exact location of the mountain is debated. The mountain Jebel Musa (“the mountain of Moses”) as the most likely location due to its close proximity to the plain where the Israelites were instructed to camp. It is one of three granite peaks on the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula and is the second highest of the mountains at about 7,500 feet above sea level. The term Horeb is also associated with the mountain. It is suggested that Horeb ( meaning “wilderness area”) is the general term for the area and Sinai as the actual mountain. The mountain stands as the symbol of covenant and a reminder that the Lord meets with His people.
God summarizes the covenant He was now entering into with the Israelites. God would explain this covenant later in great detail. The verse encapsulates what God did to Pharaoh and the Egyptians in delivering the Israelites from slavery.
In verse four we see the parties to the Mosiac covenant – God and Moses and his people. Because GOD delivered the people from Egypt –the world – the Israelites didn't have to DO anything to receive deliverance. They only had to make the choice and follow, or stay behind in the world. They didn't have to earn their way out of Egypt. They had to choose their way out the world.
The metaphors "on eagle's wings" further reinforces God's support of the fledgling nation. A baby eagle is called an eaglet. Until they are able to fly, they depend on their parents for everything. In the nest, the eaglets stretch their wings and hop, gaining strength and balance as they grow.
Young eagles spread their wings and hop out of the nest to a branch of the tree they're in. At first, they hop to the closest branches, flapping their wings. The movement is more like jumping than flying. This exercise is called branching and helps them improve their coordination and balance. The eagle's first flight away from the nest is called fledging (literally acquiring their flight feathers). The young birds minimize their risk of injury and exercise at their nest until they are strong enough to become airborne, imitating their parents to use their wings in real flight. Young eagles learn by imitating the adult birds. Once the young eagles are flying, they still have a lot to learn before they can survive on their own. They'll fly away from the nest learning to hunt and keep returning to the nest for weeks. God is our "eagles wings". God is who WE imitate while we are learning to fly.
God had lovingly and tenderly carried Israel to freedom and provided food and water for them enroute to Mount Sinai. What God did was evidence of His grace; the Israelites were rescued from slavery before they were given the law and called to obey. So the saving of Israel was NOT purchased by God – "Hey if you follow me I will save you", it was unconditional: "make a choice, follow ME and you WILL be saved." He had brought them to Mount Sinai to gather together with Him, and they were now ready to receive the laws of God and become the nation God had promised Abraham.
Exodus 19:5-6
5 Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, 6 and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”
Being part of a family requires a certain amount of submission. Here God tells his people what the amount of submission to God is required:
- Carefully listen
- Keep my covenant
Stated for us we could say "if you will listen AND heed my teachings...".
The covenant that God was establishing with Israel was unconditional in its initial stage when God delivered the people from Egypt. However, at this new stage God introduced covenantal obligations to pursue. literally the two words used indicate hear & obey, and keep, watch, observe my teachings.
God had entered into a covenant relationship with Abraham and his descendants to be His God and that of his descendants, and to give them the land of Canaan in which to dwell. God was now making a further covenant with the Israelites by which the Israelites would know how to faithfully live in covenant relationship with the Lord.
So thus far with humanity God's covenants have entailed:
Human covenant (Adam/Eve): be productive and derive living benefits provided by God.- Noahic covenant (Noah): I will not destroy harmful life by flood, keep all life sacred and derive living benefits by heeding God. The Rainbow becomes the symbol of this covenant.
- Abrahamic covenant (Abraham): God would turn his people into a Nation (a line of people connected by common heritage). Circumcision, cutting off harmful desire, becomes a symbol of this covenant.
- Mosiac covenant (Moses): God provides humanity with 10 written principles by which to pursue life, and priestly laws, instructions, rituals and worship plans that would allow people to make sacrifices of animal life to draw their focus and attention back to God. The law becomes the symbol of this covenant.
God had reminded the Israelites who He was and what He had done for them. Now He defined who they were in relation to Him—His own possession. Humanity often views this in terms of "ownership". "God 'owns' us and tells us what to do?! NO THANKS!" But the word possession
In the land of Canaan, Israel would be surrounded by various peoples. They still are. To the north were the Phoenicians and Arameans. To the east were the Ammonites. To the south were the Moabites, Amalekites, Kenites, and Edomites. And to the southwest were the Philistines.
Out of all peoples and nations and tribes, God had chosen Israel [about 10% of the peoples in the region] to be His special, covenant people. The Israelites had been separated from all the nations of the world to be God’s chosen people. Furthermore, it would be through the people of Israel that God would bless the world by sending His Messiah, Jesus Christ, to accomplish His redemptive plan of saving people from their sins, literally referring to a life of harm, and symbolically illustrating a life of wandering in the wildness of limited and false gods.
God is the Creator of all, so everything that exists—including people—are possessed by God. This is one of the earliest and most clear expressions of monotheism (belief in one God) in Scripture. No doubt it sounded a little strange to the Israelites because most of them had grown up in the polytheistic (limited god) atmosphere of Egypt. But now, the Israelites were God’s people.
It seems that the original 10%, of humanity that knows God has grown over the last several thousand years. It seem that today the percentage is now some 60% of those who know, know of, or think they know about God and some 40% who DON'T know, or aren't sure they know God. Specifically Today some 40% of the world believes in the God described in the "Holy Scriptures". About 20% believe in a higher spirit, but not necessarily that of the "Holy Scriptures." About 21% believe in no higher Spirit, and about 19% don't know.
As God’s precious people, the Israelites also had a special purpose. This is the only place in the Old Testament where the phrase kingdom of priests appears. God’s covenant with the Israelites had an intercessory and intermediary aspect. They were not just chosen out of the nations but also for the nations. Israel was to represent God faithfully to the other nations.
As priests the Israelites would stand between God and people to help their fellow humans draw closer to God and to help put forth God’s truth and holiness. Israel was called to do this at the tabernacle and later the temple. As Christians, we have the same calling to proclaim the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to the world.
"God's People" are called to be holy (qadosh). They are to separate themselves from the rest of humanity as sacred or set apart for God's plans and purposes. By obeying the Mosaic covenant’s stipulations as God’s chosen, treasured people, the Israelites would be to Him a holy nation. Just as the Levitical priests would later function as mediators of God’s grace to the Israelites, Israel was to perform a similar function in relation to the peoples of the world. They were to fulfill this purpose in several ways. First, Israel should be an example to the other nations by how they faithfully lived and interacted with God. This would move others to desire a similar relationship with God. Second, they were to evangelize by sharing God’s truths and calling people into a relationship with God. Finally, Israel should be faithful to preserve the Word of God in the holy Scriptures.
Moses was God’s chosen leader of the Israelites and their intermediary with God. He had heard God’s words and was now to deliver those words to the people waiting at the bottom of the mountain.
Exodus 19:7-8
7 After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 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.
Moses “went up” the mountain to meet with God; after God was done speaking with him, he then came back down to the people in order to relay God’s words. Moses was acting as a true and faithful prophet – spokesperson – of God.
Israel had a clear leadership structure. Moses summoned the elders who would receive God’s words from Moses and then they would relay those words to the people. As Moses was the Israelites’ representative before God, the elders acted as Moses’s representatives to the people. The elders were the clan leaders in Israel’s leadership hierarchy. They functioned as a ruling body with oversight of the community.
When the elders delivered God’s words to the people, the people responded corporately. However, there was still an individual component of obedience to God’s words. Each person was to be held accountable for how they lived.
As a group the people committed to entering into the covenant with the Lord (Yahweh). In the book of Deuteronomy’s account of God giving the law to Moses, Moses warned the people, “Be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left. Follow the whole instruction the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, prosper, and have a long life in the land you will possess”.
God established a system as to how the Israelites were to interact with Him. Because God was pure good and humanity, to say the least, was by no means pure good, God was not approachable by just anyone at any time. Even though God knows all things, working in this system He would wait for the Israelites’ response to be relayed through the delegated spokesman, Moses. “The formality of the process kept the people reminded that they were not dealing only with their elders or Moses or both but with the universe’s only God, who was not approachable by just anyone, who was greater and more dangerous than any force they had ever otherwise known, and who was requiring of them in a patient, cadenced process their assent to the most important commitment they could make.”
God was about to speak again through Moses by delivering the foundational principals of the law, the Ten Commandments. Since the commandments came from God, it is important to note that they reflect His character. Each of the commandments has at its center the attributes of the God who spoke them. The first four deal entirely with humanity’s relationship to God. Then God gave six commandments concerning how people were to relate to one another.
No human being can perfectly keep God’s law. As the symbolism of circumcision highlights humans do not "cut" sin out of their lives. Because of this, God in His mercy sent His Son Jesus Christ (the son of pure good) into the world to be our Savior. Jesus did in fact perfectly obey all that God commanded. He met all the demands of the law and did it on OUR behalf, becoming the atoning sacrifice for the sins of all who repent and place their faith in Him as their Savior and Lord. Under the new covenant in Jesus Christ, believers have direct access to God, through Jesus, and Jesus serves as our intermediary/advocate with God the Father.
So God made us a holy nation, a people who work to help other people on God's behalf. He has given us the teachings of goodness by which we are to live in order to enjoy the benefits of goodness to the fullest extent. Jesus has taught us to go and make disciples – students – of all nations so of the 60/40 split of humanity there is a very large chance that you can help others to better become children of God. We are the workmen of building God's Holy Nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank your for your comments!
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.