First and foremost it is important to observe that the giving of the law comes after the Exodus salvation event. Thus under the Old and New Covenants a major reason for the law is to know how to display an attitude of gratitude for salvation. The people are not given the law in order to earn salvation. They were saved by what God did for them. Thus the theme: "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians" (Exo 19:4). Their response is to obey his law so that they may be used to the end God desires. That is, as a kingdom of priests to intercede for the nations the way that Moses intercedes for Israel (Exo 19:5, cf. 1 Peter 2:4-10). Chapter 19 is the prelude to and preparation for the giving of the Ten Commandments.

The people are being set apart as the treasured possession of God among the nations upon the condition of obedience (Exo 19:5). Here we are to see similarity with the conditional covenant with Abraham (see discussion on Book Six). This is a conditional covenant they ultimately would not keep, but the unconditional covenant with Abraham would continue. Like they would later when ratifying the covenant (i.e. Josh 24:18), the people here (Exo 19:8) and later in this section (Exo 24:3, 7) say that they will do all the words of the LORD.

Note the context of the giving of the Ten Commandments. God is coming down in a thick cloud onto the mountain. The people hear the Ten Commandments from God speaking from heaven. Therefore, the people had to prepare spiritually -- ritually for his coming. Anyone who touches the mountain without authorization from God will die (Exo 19:12). The people stand at the foot of the mountain to meet God and hear the Ten Commandments (Exo 19:17). The sound of the LORD is thunder -- the sound of a huge army. This reminds us of the terror of The Day back in Genesis 3 when God came down on Mount Eden. Only Moses and Aaron are able to go up on the mountain at this point. And God spoke. The people will respond by noting their need for a mediator (Exo 20:19).

And God establishes the covenant -- a treaty with his vassal nation. It follows the normal ancient near eastern treaty format. God introduces himself and gives a historical prologue (Exo 20:2). And then lays out the ten stipulations of the covenant. This is a summary of the law. The Reformed understanding of how to number the commandments highlights idolatry (Exo 20:4-6) as a separate commandment from the first (Exo 20:3). Thus the commandment concerning idolatry deals with how we worship whereas the first commandment concerns who we worship. As a summary of the laws regarding how we worship, this is the most serious example. But it represents all of the regulations of worship in Scripture. This shows why Reformed theology is concerned that we only worship God as He has revealed that He desires to be worshiped in His word. Other traditions have to divide up the commandment on coveting to count to ten and are more open to including man-made traditions in worship. It is significant that there are TEN -- the number of fullness.

These commandments point us back to the salvation from Egypt and to creation. These commandments are a summary of the moral law of the covenant of creation. That the first commandment (Exo 20:3) was in force at the time of creation is beyond dispute. The Westminster Standards note that "before me" (Exo 20:3) means in the presence of the true God. The plagues and Exodus event showed that the LORD was greater than all other gods. The LORD is the God who created the heavens and the earth (Gen 2:4). The second commandment (Exo 20:4-6) points us to creation because humankind is made in the image of God (Gen 1:27). This is why the LORD could come as a person -- Jesus. This is why we are not to make images of God. Note the contrast of generations under curse (three and four) with those showing loyal-love (thousands) (Exo 20:5-6).

I will not demonstrate each commandment in this manner, but know that all of them point us back to creation. The Ten Commandments, as related here in Exodus, does this explicitly with the Sabbath ("for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea..." Exo 20:11). The next commandment points us forward to the Promised Land (Exo 20:12). These are the conditional covenant stipulations for remaining in the land as a kingdom of priests. We have shown elsewhere that the commandment regarding adultery arises from creation. The commandment regarding murder points us to the same issues as the second commandment -- we are made in the image of God.

The Book of the Covenant (Exo 20:22-23:19) follows the Ten Commandments. And the theme is that the people have seen that the LORD spoke to them from heaven (Exo 20:22). Enns notes in his commentary (pp.440-441) that the Book follows a pattern beginning with worship (Exo 20:22-26), then social responsibility (Exo 21:1-22:17), then worship and social responsibility (Exo 22:18-23:19). These laws are not exhaustive but representative of the legal code of Israel. They cover such things as (worship) idols and altars, (social responsibility) slavery, injuring others, injuries from animals, and personal property. And the final section with both alternates worship, social responsibility, worship, social responsibility, worship (note that it begins and ends with worship). Loving God and loving your neighbor are thus shown to be intricately related. The last social responsibility section ends with the law about not oppressing a sojourner because you were sojourners in Egypt (Exo 23:9).

Then the text changes focus to the conquest of the Promised Land (Exo 23:20-33). The primary reason for destroying the people in the land is so that they will not cause Israel to sin and thus keep Israel from being a blessing to the nations. Sending terror before Israel and hornets before Israel are parallel ideas (Exo 23:27-28). These are not literal hornets -- the idea is that the people will stand in dread of invading Israel.

And this section ends with the seventy (ten times seven) elders of Israel hearing the Book of the Covenant and seeing God on the mountain (Exo 24:10) and having a covenant meal together (Exo 24:11). Almost makes one think of Passover as the unconditional covenant meal and this meal on the mountain as the conditional covenant meal. And Moses went up on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments in written form. There is a Sabbath pattern (Exo 24:16) and Moses was on the mountain for a highly significant forty days and forty nights (Exo 24:18). Temptation time.

Labels: book of the covenant, exodus, idolatry, moses, promised land, salvation, ten commandments, thanksgiving, worship

The trip to Sinai starts off with the complaining continuing. We saw the theme of grumbling before the salvation in the Sea of Reeds/Extinction and here we see it again. It is important that it is directed at God and His anointed (Moses) because you will see the same thing happened to His anointed one (Jesus). It all began back when Moses killed the Egyptian and tried to break up a fight amongst the Hebrews. But that grumbling response of the Hebrews was in stark contrast to the reception that Moses had from Jethro's daughters when he saved them (Exodus 2:11-20). In this section we will see Jethro again. This time his reception is in contrast to the grumbling nation of Israel but even more in contrast to the Amalekites. Amalek was the son of Esau's concubine (see our discussion of Genesis 36:12).

The verse after the Song of Miriam mentions that Israel had gone for three days without water in the desert (Exo 15:22). When they finally found water it was bitter (Exo 15:23). So the people grumbled against Moses (Exo 15:24). God turned the bitter water into sweet water. God had Moses throw a log into the water and then the water became sweet (Exo 15:25). This is a picture of the gospel movement from death to life. It is the movement from diseased to healed. The LORD tested them (Exo 15:25). He tells them that if they listen to Him (literally 'listen to the voice of,' which is an idiom for obey) then he will not visit them with the diseases he brought on Egypt (Exo 15:26). Thus if they disobey the plagues will fall upon Israel. This eventually happened and ultimately happened for Christ.

To summarize -- grumbling about water, God tested them.

Then theme of grumbling continues as the word tells us, "And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness" and they accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them into the wilderness to starve when they were full back in Egypt (Exo 16:2-3). They have a selective memory.

And the LORD tested them to see "if they will walk in [His] law or not" with "bread from heaven" (Exo 16:4). On the sixth day they got a double portion but the first five days of the week they would get a day's portion. Since they have accused Moses and Aaron of brining them into the wilderness to starve, Moses tells them that this bread from heaven will show that the LORD brought them out of Egypt and into the wilderness. Moses tells them that they have been grumbling against the LORD. He says, "For what are we, that you grumble against us?" (Exo 16:7). Meat in the evening and bread in the morning will show them that grumbling against Moses and Aaron is really grumbling against the LORD (Exo 16:8). And they got quail in the evening and bread from heaven in the morning. They called the bread from heaven "manna" meaning, "What is it?" because they did not know what it was (Exo 16:15).

The manna was a test because when they tried to keep some left overs they bred worms and stank (Exo 16:20). God was training them to trust Him for their daily bread. And the double portion on the sixth day did keep for the seventh day without going bad so that they could keep Sabbath. It is instructive that they were required to keep Sabbath before the giving of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments was a summary of the law from creation. But that first Sabbath after the Exodus Event they went and tried to gather manna and the LORD said, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?" (Exo 16:28). It is significant that the manna tasted sweet like wafers made with honey because the Promised Land was a land flowing with milk and honey. Thus the manna was a reminder to them of where they were going and of God turning the bitter water sweet. And they kept some manna as a reminder to all generations.

To summarize -- grumbling about food (complaint that they were brought into the wilderness to starve), God tested them.

The next chapter begins with the same grumbling: "the people quarreled with Moses" about water to drink (Exo 17:2). And they again accused him of bringing them into the wilderness to kill them -- this time with thirst. Moses asks them "Why do you test the LORD?" (Exo 17:2). Here Moses brings water from the rock by striking the rock where the LORD was standing.

To summarize -- grumbling about water again (complaint that they were brought into the wilderness to die of thirst), Israel tested God (Exo 17:2 and 17:7).

This is something we see in the gospels as Satan and then the elders and chief priests, etc., all tested Jesus. It is instructive that Moses notes that the people are ready to stone him (Exo 17:4). And because the wilderness wandering began and ended with water coming from a rock (see Numbers) the tradition arose that the rock followed them in the wilderness. Paul tells us, "the Rock was Christ" (1 Cor 10:4). This is not a stretch since we call God our Rock all of the time. Paul says that these examples were written down for us "for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come" (1 Cor 10:11). The lesson is that we should not grumble in our wilderness wandering but know "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Cor 10:13). And this Paul ties into idolatry and the Lord's Supper. We are in the wilderness with one big difference -- we are not under God's wrath (compare Psalm 95 and the quote of Psalm 95:7ff in Hebrews 3:7ff).

The other part of this section shows us the contrast between the Amalekites and Jethro. In Exo 17:8, the Amalekites came and attacked but in Exo 18:5-7 Jethro comes and greets. In both Exo 17:9 and 18:25 men are chosen for a specific task. In Exo 17:12, Moses sits on a stone and in Exo 18:13 he sits to judge. Both activities are said to commence on the next day and last all day until evening (Exo 17:12; 18:13-14). And in both Exo 17:12 and 18:18 Moses is said to be tired, with help provided in each instance. See Enns commentary, 367).

The judgment of the LORD on the Amalekites is a total ban -- "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven" (Exo 17:14). See our comments on Genesis 36:12. Jethro blessed the LORD and showed that he had learned the lesson of the plagues and Exodus event saying, "Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods" (Exo 18:11).

At this point Moses had to tell the people the law of God and how it applied to particular situations, he was deciding every case brought before him and Jethro saw that he would get burnt out quickly. So Jethro wisely suggested this: "warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do" and then appoint judges (who "hate a bribe") to decide the easier cases (Exo 18:20-21). This is the climax of the transition to the giving of the law before they arrive at Sinai. The theme of testing Israel has carried the idea throughout this section.

Labels: amalekites, exodus, grumbling, jethro, law, manna, plagues, salvation

Genesis began with a prologue and then consisted of ten books. The larger structure was one of prologue, narrative, poetry, epilogue. Exodus is not nearly as elaborate in structure. The organizational strategy is best understood thematically: salvation, law, and worship. The section on the salvation of the Israelites from the land of Egypt, the house of slavery is Exodus 1:1-15:21. The section on the law begins with 15:22 and continues through the end of chapter 24. The rest of the book is the section on tabernacle worship.

Exodus begins with a conjunction. The purpose of a conjunction (usually translated "and" in English even when a more specific relationship between the clauses is obvious) is to connect what follows with what came before. Exodus is continuing the story of Book Ten of Genesis. It is not continuing the poetry or the epilogue as much as it is continuing the narrative of Book Ten. Thus the first six Hebrew words of the book are a direct quote from the narrative. More specifically they quote the second telling of the move of Jacob and his family to Egypt in Genesis 46:1-27. The second telling begins with 46:8. "And these are the names of the sons of Israel, the ones who came toward Egypt" (my rough translation). Exodus begins with these identical words and summarizes the rest. Exodus, for example, lists the sons rather than giving the exhaustive list of the sons and their descendants. Both mention that the descendants numbered seventy (seven times ten) and that Joseph was already in Egypt. This is a clear case of recapitulation. Here it serves to tie the entire book of Exodus as a continuation of the narrative of Book Ten of Genesis.

Even though Exodus reports that Joseph and all his brothers and their generation had died, it does not give us another heading like each of the books in Genesis, "These are the generations of..." Instead, the new thing God would do begins with the New Testament Torah: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matt 1:1). This is the title of the Book of Matthew, not just the genealogy that follows. "The book of the genealogy of" is just another way of translating the Genesis book titles. The gospels are the same kind of genre as the Old Testament Torah books and there are many connections between Exodus and Matthew. Future posts will mention some of them. This difference between the two is very instructive as well. Exodus is highlighting continuity between the story of Genesis and the present circumstances.

Furthermore, the prologue of Genesis (Genesis 1:1-2:3)is the prologue of the entire Torah. So it should not surprise us, especially given how Exodus is a continuation of the Genesis narrative, that there are multiple connections between Exodus and Genesis 1. The first such connection is in Exodus 1:7, which Peter Enns translates, "The Israelites became fruitful and swarmed; they increased in number and became exceedingly strong" (NIVAC on Exodus, 41). The word choice of swarmed is instructive because it can be found in Gen 1:21 and 8:17 for animals to fulfill their creation mandates. The creation mandate for humanity in the image of God (1:28) is being fulfilled by the Israelites. Creation and salvation (new creation) are interrelated in Exodus. Future posts will mention many of these connections to Genesis 1.

Looking backwards to creation points us forwards to the new creation Jesus inaugurates with His resurrection. Looking forward to the Gospel of Matthew, points us forward to the way Jesus brings about a greater salvation than the exodus. It is instructive then that the transfiguration is a discussion with Moses (representing the Torah) and Elijah (representing the prophets). Moses was there at the first exodus. The prophets pointed us forward to a second exodus. And the content of their discussion with Jesus is "his exodus, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem" (Luke 9:31). Thus we will be looking at how the Book of Exodus points to the climax of salvation through Jesus Christ. Once you see how to do this with Exodus you should go back and do this with Genesis too.

Labels: creation, creation mandate, exodus, Genesis, Genesis 1, law, matthew, recapitulation, salvation, tabernacle, torah, worship

This is a Leap Year....thus the theme of my sermons in 2008 thus far has been that this should be a Leap for Joy for salvation year (like every year since the resurrection of Christ). Reformed Christians should not be the "frozen chosen," as sometimes is said, but the "blissful blessed" (a phrase I coined for one of the sermons in the series). This should be a given since it is so apparent in Scripture. Why then, do the Reformed have a reputation for sitting or standing still? To be sure, we do not want to have emotionalism run amok but we should be excited about salvation in Christ. And we do need to be silent and still sometimes to listen to God, but having heard from Him we cannot help but respond with praise.

If you are interested in listening to some of the sermons in this series, you can find them at http://revmarple.com/joy.

Labels: christian, joy, leap year, reformed theology, salvation, sermon