What a gorgeous day we had today....I love having a sunny sky after a week of rain and cold.....and I suppose the cold is relative based on the huge winter storm the rest of the county had....
Wow, the poor Isrealites got RULES, RULES, RULES, didn't they! Pretty interesting how God is showing how law is applied in their present day situations.....Lots of chapter 22 addresses restitution according to my study notes....making wrongs right.....the Lord knew His people were sinners, and He was teaching them how to deal fairly with each other....
Chapter 23 deals with Justice and Mercy.......radical concepts in that day and age. The world was used to revenge and handling things themselves...survival of the fitest....The Lord set the Isrealites apart to reach out.....He is setting His people apart to represent Him.
Then, the Covenant is confirmed....Moses tells the people the laws and the people respond, "WE WILL DO IT"....note going forward that every covenant has something to do with blood....right now, blood covers sin. The wages of sin is death....therefore, an animal is sacrificed in the Old Testament and represents a substitution for the sinner (foreshadowing of Jesus' shed blood). God hates sin, and can't be anywhere near it. In this ceremony that Moses did, the people had blood sprinkled on them to cover sin, so they could approach God...so in the Old Testament, the sacrificed animal blood represents TEMPORARY forgiveness. Therefore, it must continue to be repeated....again the people say, "WE WILL DO EVERYTHING THE LORD HAS SAID; WE WILL OBEY. (verse 7)
Moses goes to meet with God on top of the holy mountain.....the Lord will give Moses tablets of stone with the commandments on it. (Moses had just verbally told the people the commandments-Exodus 24: 3-then Moses wrote them down-verse 4)
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
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boy he laid it out for them and was very specific..
ReplyDeleteLike you said, this was a time where people had no rules really to follow....or guide of right and wrong....so God's word helped them begin to behave in responsible manner and understand consequences of actions. I think this also helped people to be able to understand where others are coming from and to be able to develop compassion and empathy
....if no rules existed before and it was survival of the fittest, then people did not think of how their actions would effect others.......God is teaching.....
Question: Is this THE ark?