STUDY THEME: COVENANTS OF GRACE 10-20-02
"CREATING A DISTINCTIVE PEOPLE. EXODUS 19-20.
EXODUS 19:5-6; 20:1-4, 7, 8-10a, 12-17.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO EXODUS 19.
Our lesson this Sunday studies another one of God’s covenants and it is the one made with the Hebrew people at Sinai. Moses lived about 400 years after the time of Abraham but the Israelites still had a sense of being the covenant people even though they were in bondage in Egypt. Jacob’s descendants had become numerous while in bondage.
When God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, they made their way into the wilderness of Sinai. Three months out of Egypt God led Moses and the Israelites to Mt. Sinai on their way to the Promised Land. There, God entered into a covenant with His people. You will note that God always initiated any covenant He made with people. The setting for today’s lesson is the giving of the Ten Commandments. This is without doubt the most famous code of laws in the world. It is interesting that their display is forbidden in America today.
The suggested "Bible Truth" for this lesson is that in the Ten Commandments God revealed basic principles that shaped the lifestyles of His people to reflect His distinctive character. The suggested "Life Impact" is to help us live in full obedience to God’s law.
Exodus 19 begins with the Israelites’ arrival—no more than three months after their deliverance from Egyptian slavery—at the base of a mountain in the desert of Sinai. How did they get there, and why was this mountain so important?
Hundreds of years earlier and because of a famine in the land of Canaan, a small band of Abraham’s descendants under their patriarch Jacob had resettled in Egypt. In time, this group increased from a small clan of 70 persons to a confederation numbering at least in the hundreds of thousands. A new dynasty arose in Egypt that felt threatened by the growing population of Israelites. In response the pharaoh enslaved them, forced them to work under oppressive conditions, and used extreme measures to try to control their numbers. That was when God took notice of the Israelites’ plight and "remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob."
God called Moses to lead the Israelites to Canaan, the Promised Land. Their deliverance would not come easily. Only after numerous mighty and miraculous acts of God was Pharaoh persuaded to release the captives. Moses call to this overwhelming task had occurred prior to the exodus at the very place and before the very mountain where Israel was now encamped.
Moses would be the mediator between God and the Israelites. He went up the mountain, and there the Lord instructed Moses in what to tell the people. He was to remind the Israelites that their deliverance from Egypt and their protection and survival thus far were nothing less than God’s sovereign plan to bring this people to Himself.
In Vs. 5 "Therefore" points back to Vs. 4, which points back to everything earlier in the Book of Exodus. God’s deliverance of His people from Egyptian slavery was the basis on which He offered this covenant. ‘if" is a transitional phrase that shows the connection between Israel’s deliverance and the covenant. Now" indicates that the Lord’s powerful actions on behalf of the Israelites had a deeper purpose than merely getting the people out of Egypt. That deeper purpose was about to be revealed, and Israel would have to respond. "If" signifies the Lord’s decision that Israel would be free to say "yes’ or "no" to the covenant bond. Having exerted His sovereign power, the Lord had brought his people to Himself but He would not treat them as slaves. They had to choose freely whether or not to be His chosen people. The covenant itself would stand, for God had established it unconditionally with Abraham. However, the Israelites participation in and fulfillment of the covenant was conditioned by their response.
The word "obey" in Hebrew is the same word as "hear". Literally, it reads, "If listening, you will listen." The response God expected from Israel was to obey Him and to stay completely loyal to the covenant relationship. The phrase "obey Me fully" emphasizes that to be in a covenant relationship with God is life changing. God was calling the people to trust that His leadership and laws were always in their best interests. Israel’s obedience in following where God led and in doing what He said would reveal God dramatically to all the peoples of the world.
But the Lord said in Jeremiah 11:7-8, ‘I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, saying, "obey my voice," yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but every one followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore, I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done."
Biblical history shows that Israel never succeeded in obeying God fully. For that matter, neither have any of us fully obeyed who have entered God’s "new covenant" through faith in Jesus Christ, the divine Mediator. To obey fully means to obey all God’s laws perfectly all the time.
The apostle Paul explained in Rom. 4:13-16 that while the divine law revealed God’s standard of right and wrong, the covenant—which preceded the giving of the law—was based on God’s promise and was appropriated then and now by faith. Obeying God fully is surely a lifestyle toward which God’s people are to strive constantly. In doing so, however, they are not trying to gain a relationship with God but to demonstrate a sacred bond already established. The Lord taught Israel that the covenant relationship was entered by faith, sustained by God’s grace, and demonstrated by obedience.
God used three ways to describe the covenant relationship. First, they would be His peculiar treasure. The meaning of "peculiar" here is not "strange" but "special." An ancient king owned many valuable things, but he might have a special treasure of greatest value to him. Even so, God owns all things and all people. Yet here He began a new phase in His redemptive work by choosing the descendants of Israel to be His in a special way. "The whole earth is mine," the Lord declared. But He would establish a special bond with Israel, "His Treasured Possession."
Israel was chosen to be God’s instrument to reach out to all people. This truth is also evident in the second title for the Israelites. They were to be a kingdom of priests. This phrase can mean that each of them was to serve as a priest. "You will be my holy nation and serve me as priests." More likely, however, the idea is that they were to be a "priestly kingdom." A priest has access to God , which is used to bring others close to God. Israel was to be a missionary people through whom the Lord would work to influence other people to come to God. Later in the N.T. Christian writers would use this same phrase as a reference to Christians.
The third title for Israel is an holy nation. The word holy basically means "to be set apart." At times the word has no moral connotation, but when used of God and His people, the word came to have a strong moral meaning. "At first, no doubt "holy’ merely meant "dedicated" to God without any particular moral connotations. Such "holiness’ was contagious, and might be dangerous, if not fatal. Then, because of the revealed nature of YHWH, such "holiness", as descriptive of God, took a strong moral meaning. Ultimately God’s holiness became a compelling moral demand on His people.
The faith of Israel had been called ethical monotheism. The Israelites believed in one God, in contrast to the many gods of other nations. And this one God is holy and He expects His people to be holy. They are to reflect the character of God. The people of Israel were called to a distinctive faith and way of living. Through out most of the O.T. they compromised their distinctiveness. Finally they were punished for it by being sent into exile. After the exile, they seem to have learned the need to be distinctive, but many of them failed to see that the purpose of being God’s holy people was to bear witness to all nations of the holy Lord.
PLEASE TURN TO EXODUS 20.
The ceremony in which the Lord revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses was an awesome event. On a chosen day, the Lord descended to the top of Mt. Sinai in a spectacular display of thunder, lighting, trumpeting, smoke, and fire. He instructed Moses to warn the people not to come up the mountain in an effort to see Him but to keep their distance.
Vs. 1 emphasizes the source of these Commandments. "God spoke all these words." The commandments are God’s nature expressed in terms of mortal imperatives. The Jews consider Vs. 2 to be the First Commandment. Verses 3-6 then are called the Second Commandment. Roman Catholics and Lutherans combine Vs. 3-6 as the First Commandment and divide Vs. 17 into two commandments. Most Protestants see Vs. 2 as a preamble, Vs. 3 as the First , and verses 4-6 as the Second Commandment.
Just as Exodus 19:4 tied the making of the covenant to the deliverance from Egypt, so does Exodus 20:2 tie the Ten Commandments to the same event. I am the Lord thy God identifies the One who spoke these Commandments. This is the One who led the exodus from Egyptian bondage---which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. The O.T. never refers to this as an escape engineered by humans but as a deliverance that only God could bring to pass.
When Moses went to Pharaoh and told him that the Lord called on him to let the Lord’s people go, Pharaoh haughtily asked, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? The Lord’s answer, "I am the Lord," was repeated throughout the chapters that followed.
The first four of the Ten Commandments are about a proper relationship to God and the last six are about a proper relationship to people. This lesson presents the commandments under three headings. Distinctive Relationship with God in Vs. 1-4; Distinctive Reverence for God in Vs. 7-10a; and Distinctive treatment of Other People in Vs. 12-17. This approach emphasizes how God created a distinctive people for Himself out of the Israelites.
The Ten Commandments are foundational for human life. Sometimes scholars call the Ten Commandments God’s "ten words." Many believe the Ten Commandments are the kernel from which all of God’s law came. Many people today believe that we have outgrown the need for these ancient rules for living. They especially feel that this is true of the first four Commandments about our relationship with God. They feel that they can keep the moral and social commandments without needing God. Nothing could be further from the truth. Only God can enable us to keep the Commandments.
Israel’s relationship with God was distinctive because they were to have
no other gods before the Lord. Of the hundreds of gods worshipped by other
nations, Israel was not to have even one other god that they worshipped and
served. Other nations had many gods. Israel was to worship the God who
delivered them from Egyptian slavery. They must not have any other gods.
Whatever comes first in a person’s life is his god.
The Second Commandment, which extends through Vs. 6, seems at first glance merely to repeat the First; however, on closer inspection, we can see a difference. The First forbids worshipping other gods; The Second forbids trying to worship God by making images to represent Him. When you study the archaeological remains of ancient civilizations, most of those civilizations had status and images to represent their gods. The Hebrews had no such images of their God.
The danger of making images of God is that no image that we make can adequately depict the majesty of the eternal God. Images always give a limited picture of the Lord. This is true not only of images of stone, wood, and metal but also our mental images of God. We form our own pictures of God, and none of them is big enough to depict the Lord of heaven and earth.
Vs. 7 sets forth the Third Commandment. It is designed to protect God’s name. In ancient times, names were more significant than today. A name represented the person named. The name of the Lord thus represents God. The Hebrew word for in vain means "emptily," "falsely," "deceitfully." Thus God’s name is taken in vain when it is used in any of these ways. To put it another way, the name of God ought to be honored, blessed, praised, glorified, invoked, celebrated, and shared. It ought not to be used profanely, irreverently, or emptily, "Do not misuse my name," saith the Lord.
People use God’s name profanely when they blaspheme the name of God. They curse God and say many evil things about Him. God said that He will hold people accountable for how they use his name. People use God’s name irreverently when they swear or exclaim words that include the name of God. In recent years on television this has become common, even among so-called decent people. They use God’s name whenever they are excited.
Even religious people take God’s name in vain when we use His name in an empty way. Perfunctory prayers and songs of praise may break this commandment. In Matt. 15:8 Jesus condemned those who drew near to God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. "Lip service" is a deadly expression of violating this Commandment. When we use God’s name without truly worshipping Him, we commit this sin. Even more serious is the use of God’s name in worship when the so-called worshiper is living in sin. God will not hold those guiltless who misuse His name.
Keeping God’s commandments will create not only a distinctive relationship with God but also a distinctive reverence for God. Keeping the Third and Fourth Commandments provides a way for us to show our reverence for our Lord and a witness to others of the respect due His name and His day.
The Fourth Commandment is the first of the Ten to be stated positively. Remember is an important O.T. word. It means more than recalling something: it involves recalling and acting on what is remembered. The meaning of Sabbath is "rest" or "cessation." Thus on the seventh day the people of Israel were to rest. We must no forget, however, that the Fourth Commandment calls for both work and rest. Just as God worked for six days and rested on the seventh, so are His people to do the same.
The Sabbath was to be kept holy, that is, set apart for the Lord. The setting aside of one day in seven signifies that every day belongs to the Lord. From the social and economic perspective, this Commandment was designed to free working people from the tyranny of ceaseless toil. Notice in Vs. 10 that each was to apply it not only to himself but also to his family and all who worked for him. Without this Commandment workers could be forced to toil every day.
The need for one day out of seven to be set apart for rest and renewal is built into the cycle of human life. Those who disregard it do so at their peril. Too many of us are workaholics, who work all the time. As the Sabbath developed, it became not only a day of rest but also a day for worshipping and for studying the Scriptures. Our Lord Jesus honored the Sabbath Day, but He condemned those who had defeated its purpose with their human traditions. As Christians, we keep the fist day of the week---Sunday---as our time for rest and spiritual renewal because Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day of the week. Obeying this Fourth Commandment allows one to show a distinct and appropriate reverence for God.
The first four Commandments describe the distinctive relationship and reverence God wanted Israel to have with Him and for Him. The last six Commandments explain the distinctive treatment God wanted His people to show to others.
The Fifth Commandment is the first of six that focus on human relations. It is designed to protect the basic institution of society, the family. Two Commandments provide the basis for this foundational human institution. The Fifth Commandment focuses on parents and children; the Seventh focuses on marriage.
The first group of people to be treated distinctively are parents. In Vs. 12 God commanded the Israelites: Honor your father and your mother. He said that those who treat parents with honor would live long in the land God was giving them. The word honor means "to esteem" or "glorify." The command means more than being subject to them or respecting them. They are to be given precedence and esteem because of their God-given place in families. Notice that mothers occupied a place of equal honor to fathers in this Commandment.
Younger children should obey and respect their parents: all children of all ages should respect them. This respect includes caring for the parents in their old age. The many dysfunctional families in today’s society show the need for reemphasizing this basic expectation of the Lord. Many parents and their children are alienated from each other. When a parent dies under such conditions, their offspring experience great burdens of grief.
After giving instructions on how to treat parents, in Vs. 13 the Lord turned His commandments to treating others. In the Sixth Commandment, the Hebrew sentence has only two words that essentially mean "no murder." God prohibited people in covenant relationship with Him from murdering another person. This Commandment does not apply to killing in war. Nor does it apply to capital punishment as taught in Scripture. The Israelites were to treat human life as God treats human life. The Sixth Commandment is designed to protect and preserve human life.
The Seventh Commandment stipulated the distinctive treatment His people were to have with the opposite sex. It is designed to protect the basic foundation of the family, the relationship of husband and wife. Adultery refers to an act of unfaithfulness between two persons at least one of who is married to someone else. This act of sexual immorality undermines the fabric of trust that holds a marriage together. The Bible also condemns any sexual act that perverts God’s good purpose for sex. God intended that sexual relations be the means by which a man and a woman become one flesh and thus make a lifetime commitment to each other in responsible love.
Our culture is a sexual wilderness in which all kinds of sexual sins are promoted, practiced, and permitted. Jesus warned in Matt. 5:27-28 that lust is sinful and often leads to acts of sexual sin. Our society feeds the lusts of people in too many ways to mention them all. Out of this come the sins of adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, and perversions of all kinds. Using sex to do something other than express the one-flesh union of marriage is like using a scalpel designed for surgery to whittle a piece of wood.
How many words for stealing or the one who steals can you name? Some of these are thief, burglar, con man, pickpocket, extortion, rob, embezzle, kidnap, filch, mug, hold up, car jack, and on and on. The large and varied list shows how much the Eight Commandment is broken. The variety of words also shows that this Commandment is broken not only by thieves such as those of Luke 10:30 but also by those who cheat customers, as in Amos 8:5-6, and by those who withhold wages, as in James 5:1-6.
This Commandment is designed to protect one’s rights to own property and have the use of it. Owning property gives a person freedom from being controlled by the state or by someone else. It also gives one opportunities to help other and to honor God. If we have nothing of our own, we have nothing to give. When someone steals what is ours, the thief takes our ability to meet the needs of our own family and our ability to help others. To steal is to violate a person because a person’s property is an extension of himself. Besides, God owns everything, and people merely are stewards of God’s possessions. So to steal is to steal from God. God forbade any kind of stealing under any circumstances. The biblical answer to stealing is to work hard.
The Ninth Commandment in Vs. 16 is designed to protect reputation. Violations of this commandment destroy the reputations of others and can destroy their very lives. The most obvious way the Ninth Commandment is broken is through false testimony in a court of law. However, it is also broken by slander, gossip, and lying.
Many people have had their reputation ruined by gossip. Proverbs 6: 16-19 warns of seven things the Lord hates: three of these are "a lying tongue," "a false witness that speaketh lies" and, "he that soweth discord among brethren. God’s people are committed to truthfulness because the Lord’s very nature is truth. He said, "I am the truth."
Ahab coveted the vineyard of Naboth. After Naboth refused to sell it, Jezebel plotted to get the vineyard. She involved the city officials in hiring false witnesses against Naboth, breaking the Ninth Commandment. This led to the death of Naboth and his family, breaking the Sixth Commandment. Ahab confiscated the vineyard, breaking the Eighth Commandment. All of this was done in the name of God and the king; breaking the First and Third Commandments.
In today’s lesson God offered to Israel a covenant to be His special people. Then He gave them the Ten Commandments to show what obedience to Him means.
Elton Trueblood offered these Commandments in poetic form.
Above all else love God alone:
Bow down to neither wood nor stone.
God’s name refuse to take in vain;
The Sabbath rest with care maintain.
Respect your parents all your days:
Hold sacred human life always.
Be loyal to your chosen mate;
Steal nothing, neither small nor great.
Report with truth, your neighbor’s deed;
And rid your mind of selfish greed.
NEXT SUNDAY FROM 2 SAMUEL 7, PSALM 89, AND ISSIAH 9 WE STUDY THE COVENANT MADE WITH KING DAVID. THIS WILL CONCLUDE OUR STUDY OF "THE COVENANTS OF GRACE." A.V. DAUGHERTY 10-20-02