365 Reflections

Exodus 20:4–5 (ESV)   “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, The second commandment deals with graven images. Some would call this idolatry but the specifics of the command make it clear fashioning an idol to represent the true God is in mind here. God is saying to His people "I AM" in this command which means He IS Who He is and that is always the same. Therefore any representation of Him fashioned by mankind is always null and void of the true reality.  You cannot make God want you want Him to be. No, we may not carve statues out of wood and rock today as we have become civilized, but we do redefine God according to our own whi...

Here we are at Exodus 20. The Ten Commandments are given to God's people. But a word about how the law comes is important. Arthur Pink notes, "Moses went up into the mount and received the Law, inscribed by God’s own finger upon two tables of stone, signifying that our hearts are naturally so hard that none but the finger of God can make any impression of His Law upon them." Amazing. It is true that we need the finger of God upon our hearts to make us change. If you remember, the finger of God was involved in the action from Creation up to now for Israel. The Lord is not the sub-set deity of moon, sun, harvest or sky. He is the One who made all of it. He is far above the gods of the Nile, the cattle or the Pharaoh. He alone is all-powerful and all knowing. I believe the first commandment is the summation of all Israel has heard thus far in their story. Exodus 20:1–3 (ESV) And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of th...

Exodus 6 contains a short conversation between God and Moses that seems like a rehash of what transpired at the burning bush a few chapters earlier. It has the same statements but there are contextual differences that make it plain: this is a new conversation about an old topic. Exodus 6:10–13 (ESV) So the LORD said to Moses, “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” But Moses said to the LORD, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” 13 But the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Moses has been in active ministry now for a few days. They have been hard days. He's been believed and rejected in a matter of moments. The words he speaks to the people are falling on deaf ears. Notice the horrible stature of their hearts in v...