Exodus
17
– 20
Need Charlton Heston to help me on this one. The talk about
how long the movie “The Ten Commandments” played over Easter with commercials
was. Think about it a movie that runs 3 hours and 40 minutes before commercials
must have been agonizing to watch with commercials every 20 minutes. Anyway, if
you haven’t already figured it out, Moses comes off the mountain in todays
reading.
Chapter 17 has two stories which blend together, first is
him bringing water from a rock and the battle with the Amalekites where he
holds his staff over the battle. I find it interesting how I read these stories
today and remember them being different. The water from the stone I though was
in more detail and I did check back other versions to ensure I was not missing
something in this translation. Same thing when I read the story with the staff
and getting the 10 Commandments. I wonder how much Hollywood and sermons
expanding on these stories have altered what I expected to read?
Verse 19:5 is a powerful verse:
Now if you will hear
My voice, obey what I say, and keep My covenant, then you—out of all the
nations of the world—will be My treasured people. After all, the earth belongs
to Me.
These are simple rules to follow until you
let other distractions get in the way of God’s voice. If I knew for real what
God was saying to me all the time this would be simple. But all too often my
inner voice or a more sinister one gets heard. Now to balance the inability to
discern God talking to me, I read the Bible. It helps me to filter what is
being said verses what I know from the Bible.
Verse 20:3 opens with the first commandment
(or as this translation calls them “directive”):
You are not to
serve any other gods before Me.
People often say the church is all about
money, that’s all they talk about. I agree to a point but remember Jesus talked
about money more than any other subject so it’s Biblical. Now you may ask why I
am talking about money here! Simple, in modern civilization we talk about God
or dismiss any supernatural beings altogether. Jesus saw this happening and
hence why he talked about it so much. Our “other gods” are no longer idols, but
rather dead presidents on paper. So be careful with your walk in life not to
focus on the Jackson’s or Franklin’s, but on God. Manage the money well, but
don’t let it manage you or you will be in violation of number 1.
AND NO WE ARE NOT OUTSIDE THE LAW!! But
that’s another LONG study.
One other quick note about these
Directives, notice God has inscribed them on all mankind’s heart. These are
universal across all cultures and tribes.
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