Daily Thoughts from Exodus: Our Opinion vs. God’s Opinion

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:18-21, ESV)

God has used a powerful display before the people as He hands the 10 commandments to them, a supernatural display that can leave no one mistaking that God in His holiness and power is present. The last time they saw such a display of lightning and thunder it was accompanied with hail as Yahweh visited Egypt with a plague. But the people draw a wrong conclusion from this display. God is not here to kill them. Yes, perhaps they do need a mediator in Moses but Moses makes it clear that God is testing them. He is seeking to birth in them a holy fear, not a cringing one, a deep sense of His holiness and the seriousness of their relationship. The goal is that they will not sin.

God’s heart for us is that we will not sin. The apostle John reminds his readers of this in 1 John 2:1,2. He says:

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (ESV)

To sin is to damage ourselves. God’s laws are not arbitrary. They are a protection for us. We have been made in His image and when we act in unrighteousness we act contrary to what is best for us personally and for others. God loves us and longs for us to walk in holiness and be whole and healthy spiritually. There is discipline that comes from Him for sin, a discipline that is added to the already destructive consequences of our unhealthy choices. Hence the fearsome display on Mt. Sinai. But even that discipline is an act of His love.

Harry Randall Truman (October 30, 1896 – May 18, 1980) was a resident of the U.S. state of Washington who lived on Mount St. Helens. He came to brief fame in the months preceding the volcano’s 1980 eruption after he stubbornly refused to leave his home despite evacuation orders, and he is presumed to have been killed in the eruption….Truman had already emerged as a “folk hero” for his resistance to the evacuation efforts prior to his death.  After his death, his friends and family, including his sister, Geraldine (Geri), reflected on his death. Geri commented, “He was a very opinionated person.” [From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Randall_Truman> ]

We are very opinionated people, all of us, and often believe we know better than God what we should or shouldn’t do.  It costs us our lives.

The Ten Commandments — You Shall Not Covet

There is something distinctively different about the tenth commandment which sets it apart from all the rest.  And this distinction gives a key to the interpretation of all the rest.  Whereas the other commands focus on visible behavior (do not steal, murder, work on the Sabbath, etc.) this one focuses on the invisible behavior of the heart.

Coveting (craving something that belongs to another) is not something you can see until it erupts into visible sin like stealing or adultery.  By dealing with an attitude in this commandment, God is indicating that attitude is an important factor in every one of the commandments.  That’s why, for example, Jesus interprets the commandments in his sermon on the mount from their attitudinal perspectives (Matthew 5).  There is murderous anger and adultery of the heart.

Though someone might claim to have kept all the other commandments (someone, that is, who hasn’t spent any time thinking about the commands or his own life), no one can claim he has not violated number ten.  In fact, when Paul describes his attempt to live under the Law of Moses, he specifically points out the command not to covet as his undoing (Romans 7:7,8).  This is the undoing for every “Pharisee” because it sets a standard that no one can keep perfectly and it reveals the utter depravity of the human heart.

Coveting is the wrongful desire to have something which does not belong to you.  It is the expression of a basic dissatisfaction in life with what God has given you.  Coveting tends toward obsession.  What we crave becomes so much a part of our thoughts that we can think of nothing else but ways to bring our lusts to fruition.  Coveting brings home the sobering reality that we cannot change ourselves.  We are slaves to our desires unless God comes in and does surgery on our hearts.

Once God’s life has been implanted in our lives we can begin the process of subjecting our cravings to His authority.  Instrumental in this process is the renewing of our minds by the Word of God.  You do not stop thinking about something by concentrating on overcoming it.  You must concentrate on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely or admirable (Philippians 4:8).  God has given us words for meditation that counteract every one of our improper desires.  As we study God’s Word, relying on Him in prayer for empowerment, we find new self-control in the thought realm.  Many times confessing our thoughts to a trusted brother or sister in Christ steals its power.  We learn to stop the trails our minds want to wander down, and put ourselves on healthier paths that God has laid out for us.

The Ten Commandments — You Shall Not Steal

God does not endorse the abolition of private property or ownership.  If there were no private ownership, there could be no stealing, but “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15) stands as an endorsement of private ownership.  God speaks of things belonging to Him.  All that we have is, in one sense, on loan from Him for He owns it all.  But by extension, it becomes “ours” and we are responsible for caring for it.

There are many ways to steal.  Laban “stole” Jacob’s wages by not “paying” him what he said he would (Genesis 29:15-20).  Jacob had already stolen Isaac’s blessing from Esau (Genesis 27:1-46).  Potiphar’s wife “stole” Joseph’s reputation by lying about his actions (Genesis 39:7-20).  Saul stole Samuel’s priestly prerogative by offering a sacrifice in Samuel’s absence (1 Samuel 13:8-14).  Ahab stole Naboth’s vineyard by arranging his death and then seizing his property (1 Kings 21).  The Pharisees robbed their parents by declaring their possessions “Corban” (devoted to God) so they would not have to provide support for their parents (Mark 7:11-13).

We rob and steal in many of these same ways.  We don’t declare taxable income on our tax forms, use company items for personal purposes, copy copyrighted material, spend money for personal pleasures when we owe creditors.  1 Corinthians 6:10 declares that thieves shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  The thief has denied God’s way of acquiring necessities – honest work.  Either he will not trust God to provide his needs or he is selfishly lazy and finds it easier to take what others have worked for.  Such a person does not know the love, grace and ownership of God.

What is the positive aspect to this negative command, “You shall not steal”?  Ephesians 4:28 gives it to us and gives us what our motive should be as we seek to counteract the temptations to theft:

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

Generosity made possible by honest labor is the motive opposite to stealing.  The thief does not stop being a thief when he stops stealing.  He stops being a thief when he starts giving to others from the fruit of his honest work.  As we find ourselves tempted to take what belongs to another we should seek to respond in just the opposite way.  We should become overly scrupulous about what is not our own, seeking to avoid all appearance of evil.  If we have stolen we must make restitution and become generous givers instead of takers.

The Ten Commandments — You Shall Not Commit Adultery

It is stark in its bold simplicity.  It gives no room for special circumstances or exceptions.  It doesn’t explain why, but then it doesn’t really need to.  The seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14), is self-explanatory.  Or so it would seem.  Though such disloyalty to one’s partner in marriage would seem to be held in contempt by any society, the fact that God included it in the list indicates that it is a problem of large proportion for the human race.  And it indicates that God sees it as a behavior that brings great destruction to any individual and society.  If our understanding of Malachi 2:10-16 is right, violation of one’s marriage covenant leads to failure to raise children in the right way.

Our culture is looking for ways to represent adultery as an acceptable alternative to a dead-end marriage or even a healthy thing for a so-so marriage.  But God, in his wisdom and concern for the welfare of his children, has clearly spelled out the dangers of adultery.  Most of Solomon’s advice to his son in Proverbs 5-9 centers around the dangers of sexual sin.  He acknowledges that adultery is seductive and enticing (“the lips of an adulteress drip honey,” 5:3) but that the result is deadly (“her steps lead straight to the grave,” 5:5).

But in Solomon’s exposition of the seventh commandment he also gives the positive aspect of the command:  “Rejoice in the wife of your youth!” (v.18) and “Be captivated by her love!” (v.19).  You have not kept this commandment when you merely abstain from illicit sexual relations outside your marriage, but the husband or wife is further obligated to faithfully pursue a love relationship with his or her spouse.  Too many marriages have failed for lack of this pursuit.

Jesus, of course, also emphasized the depth of this commandment.  In Matthew 5:27,28 he rebukes the teachers of the day for assuming that obedience to this command was achieved without consideration of the heart’s attitude.  He affirmed that God’s original intent for this law was to include a lustful heart as an aspect of adultery, as a secret adultery of the mind.  Not only is there adultery, there is adultery in one’s heart.  And though the latter is not as bad as actual adultery, it is what leads to adultery if unchecked.  It is a failure to pursue a love relationship with one’s spouse.

Though adultery is forgivable, the seriousness of this sin cannot be played down.  It is serious enough to be a legitimate ground for divorce (Matthew 19:9).  It is one sin that God explicitly says He will avenge (1 Thessalonians 4:6).  Paul says, “Flee from sexual immorality!” because such a sin is a sin against one’s own body and our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:18,19).

The Ten Commandments — You Shall Not Murder

The sixth commandment is not properly translated, “You shall not kill.”  Killing is not prohibited in every form by God, but only certain forms of killing are prohibited.  For example, God commanded Israel in this same Law of Moses to kill the Canaanites in battle and take possession of their land (Deuteronomy 7:17-24). 

Capital punishment is also commanded in the Mosaic Law for specific crimes.  In Exodus 21 specific applications of the Ten Commandments are made and in verses 12-14 the death penalty is required for anyone who kills someone with premeditation.  In verses 15-17 striking one’s parent and kidnapping are said to be capital offenses.  These and other instances of invoking capital punishment are in accord with God’s decree to Noah in Genesis 9:5,6 and are obviously not considered “murder,” which is prohibited in this sixth command.

Murder refers primarily to premeditated and even unpremeditated slaying other than in war (the Hebrew word is used of both, Numbers 35:16-31 and Deuteronomy 4:42).  The slaying of another, intentionally or unintentionally, other than for capital crimes or war, is prohibited by this commandment.  Life is God’s gift and man is made in God’s image, a very precious gift indeed (Genesis 9:5,6).  To steal that gift from another is a violation of God’s moral will.  Every society on earth views it as such.

But this commandment should be viewed from a positive, more inclusive perspective.  To state this command positively would be to say something like, “Preserve life.”  It has application not only to personally refraining from violence but also to being one who doesn’t just stand by when life is in danger, but who gets involved to preserve the lives of others.

How might we be more that bystanders when an alcoholic neighbor gets in the car and drives away intoxicated?  How do we help the pregnant girl who sees abortion as her only option?  What application does this commandment have to preventing a depressed individual from committing suicide?  How about when we know a parent is abusing children?  Or when in war there are obvious atrocities, what do we do?  All these situations and others are opportunities for us to live out the depth of this commandment and not remain bystanders.

There are difficult ethical questions bound up in this command.  Is self-defense that results in the death of another considered murder?  Is pulling the plug on a terminal patient wrong?  Is careless driving that results in death worthy of severe punishment?  Is there a justifiable war these days?  Different parts of the body of Christ have given different answers to all these questions.  Each must seek to honor this law of God.

The Ten Commandments — Honor Your Father and Your Mother

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).  This is the commandment for little kids, right?  Wrong!  It is for grown ups, as well.  The heart of this commandment is the word “honor.”  The Hebrew literally says, “make heavy.”  The figurative meaning is to give great weight, praise, honor or respect to someone.

To honor or respect someone means to give great weight to their beliefs, opinions, way of doing things, in fact, everything about them.  For children that implies obedience.  That’s why Paul quotes this commandment after he instructed children to obey their parents in the Lord (Ephesians 6:1).  There he also points out that this is the first commandment with a promise.  The promise is that if Israel obeys they will remain long in the land of Canaan.

This promise is repeated many times in the Law with regard to all the commands.  But it is especially significant in regard to honoring parents.  The family relationship, the respect for authority learned at home, the discipline developed through parental instruction, is the key to the success of any society.  God warns us that to fail in this command is to fail in all of them in coming generations.

 Grown ups are no longer required to obey their parents, but they are still to honor them.  This means respecting their advice, seeking their advice, continuing to value their wisdom, and sharing your life with them.  This also means providing for them.  In 1 Timothy 5:8 Paul, while giving instructions about the care of widows, remarks that if the widow has a family, that family should provide for her.  “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith is worse than an unbeliever.” 

Respect and honor for parents, the fifth commandment, relates to how we treat one another.  The first four deal with how we relate to God.  But in a real sense, the way we relate to our parents in formative years determines to some extent the way we relate to God.  It is also a test of how obedient we are to God.

If we have parents who are unworthy of such honor it becomes a task of figuring out how to honor them for their position without violating boundaries of safety and health.  This becomes one of the most difficult tasks a child faces.  A child, helplessly dependent on an abusive parent, must learn how to find healthy parenting from God and those God sends his or her way.  “Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me” (Psalm 27:10).

The Ten Commandments — Remember the Sabbath Day

All the commandments are repeated in some form by the New Testament as applicable to believers today except for one – the Sabbath.  Nowhere in the New Testament is a believer commanded to observe the seventh day or any single day as holy.  Paul, in fact, suggests that the best attitude is to regard every day as holy to God (Romans 14:5).  He also warned against letting anyone judge the Christian in regard to Sabbath days (Colossians 2:16,17).

But doesn’t the Law given through Moses apply to the Christian?  Yes and No.  The Law of Moses does not have any legal claim on the Christian because we are under a new law, the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:20-21).  Many of its laws are identical to those given to Israel, but some are different.  Because Jesus rose on Sunday, the day after the Sabbath, and because the church is a body somewhat distinct from Israel, the Saturday Sabbath is no longer required.

The Law of Moses still has and should have a place in the Christian’s thinking, however, because it still reflects the mind and heart of God.  There are principles in the Sabbath law that we should reckon with and internalize in our lives.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.  On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested  on the seventh day.  Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)

                    

Several principles come out of this.  First, work is a responsibility given us by God, as well as a privilege.  By working we imitate God.  Second, a day of rest is a responsibility given us by God, as well as a privilege.  Because God “rested” we too should rest.  God established this pattern at creation.  If there were no day set aside each week to rest, life would become an unbearable monotony.  There would be no stopping point for looking back over the days of work to evaluate whether they were good or bad.  There would be no time to plan for making things better.  But most of all there would be no test of our faith.  Can we really afford to take a day off?  If we trust in God’s provision the answer is ‘Yes.’

So should we observe a Sabbath day as Christians?  Since the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week, Sunday, the church has met on Sunday.  Is that our new Sabbath?  Paul says the Sabbath was a shadow of things to come (Colossians 2:16,17).  In this age every day is holy to God.  However, the principle of a day of rest is still valid.  Each one is free to choose how he or she observes it.

Do you observe the Sabbath?  Do you trust the Lord to take care of you or do you feel the need to work all the time as if your life depended on it?

The Ten Commandments — You Shall Not Make For Yourself an Idol

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” (Exodus 20:4).  Whereas the first commandment was a prohibition against worshiping anyone other than God, this commandment focuses more on how one is to worship God.  It deals with the habit in fallen man of seeking to make God into an image he can cope with and feel some control over. 

The original sin of Adam was to want to be God and rule his own life.  Ever since that fall, we have sought to rid ourselves of God’s authority.  Our most subtle technique for doing so is refashioning our image of God.  By viewing God as someone who is more like a human we can now think of ways to manipulate Him.  This soon devolves into magical thinking, believing that if we can figure out the characteristic of this God and make an image like that characteristic, we have somehow captured God in the image.  Having an idol of one’s god is therefore having a way to control Him.  That tangible object becomes for us a sacred relic which binds us to our god and our god to us.

This is why Protestants have always been suspicious of relics and statues and icons used by Catholic and Orthodox Christians.  Though they can be told over and over that such things have no special power, it is most easy for us to begin to invest them with special power.

“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (20:5).  God is a jealous husband.  His wife, His people, cannot “hate” Him and not suffer consequences.  God will see to it that the natural consequences of parents building false values into their children’s lives will continue to the fourth generation.  This is not to say that He may not sovereignly save individuals from among those generations, but there is no promise that He will.  When men reject the true image of God as sovereign in their lives, He exercises His sovereignty in judgment.

“…but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (20:6).  This is the promise to those who obey the second commandment.  God will bless their generations with the grace to come to the knowledge of the true God.  No amount of godly training alone can bring a person to Christ.  Only God can turn hearts toward Himself.  No idol of man’s making, no God fashioned in man’s image has such sovereign control.

Even if we don’t worship a fashioned likeness of God, we may still be operating with a purposely distorted image of Him.  The Pharisees fashioned a God of rigid standards (true to an extent) that they believed they could keep and therefore expected certain rewards from Him.  What false images of God have you constructed?

The Ten Commandments — You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me

The first commandment is easily the most basic one to all the ten.  It begins with a historical reality:  “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exodus 20:2).  This formed the adequate basis for God to say to Israel, “You shall have no other gods before me” (20:3).  A literal rendition would be, “You shall have no other gods before my face.”  It would be the ultimate effrontery to God to “have” another besides Him and yet in His condescending grace He lets us “have” Him as our God.

What does it mean to “have no other gods?”  Negatively it means not to take from God what rightly belongs to Him.  Calvin says that to God belongs: (1) adoration – He alone is worthy of the honor due the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.  He alone is worthy of obedience.  (2) trust – God alone is worthy of our staking our whole existence in Him.  Anything else we are trusting in is our real god.  (3) invocation – None other can be available for us whenever we call on Him.  No other god is so near when we need Him.  And none other should be called upon in adoration and trust.  (4) thanksgiving – No one else could be a lawful recipient of our gratitude, because no one else is the real provider of all our needs.

Positively, this command requires wholehearted loyalty to and love for God.  Moses’ own application of this law is found in Deuteronomy 6:4,5:

Hear, O Israel: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone.  Therefore love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (author’s translation).

We violate this command whenever we find our loyalty and commitment to another person – spouse, pastor, political leader, etc. – taking precedence over our loyalty and commitment to God.  This may be evidenced by neglecting those things God requires of us (because if you love him you will obey him, John 14:23), or it may show itself in terms of actual deviance from the truth (apostasy).  Many false teachings center in a strong personality who actually usurps the place of God in his or her followers’ lives.  Anytime we devote ourselves to any one personality, no matter how orthodox his teachings, we are in danger of failing to give God His due.

We violate this command whenever we find ourselves committed to a pursuit other than what God has said is good for us.  The love of money is particularly attractive for Americans.  We don’t even realize for the most part how utterly taken with money we are.  Material things, philosophies, self-help books, business success, family success, and even marital success can all become substitutes for the worship that belongs to God alone.

Have you given in to another god without labeling it such?  What must you do to repent, to show that you have really had a change of heart and want to “have” God alone as the one you adore, trust, invoke and thank for your life?

The Ten Commandments — Their Place Within God’s Law

There is more to the Law of Moses than the Ten Commandments.  In fact, the Ten Commandments form the introduction to a large body of specific moral ordinances prescribed by God for His people.  The Law is commonly broken into three categories – moral, civil, and ceremonial.

The moral law is the Ten Commandments or the Ten Words (Deuteronomy 10:4).  It forms the basic moral principles for life in accountability to God.  The first four commands (have no other gods, no idols, don’t take God’s name in vain, and keep the Sabbath) all relate directly to our response to God.  The last six (honor parents, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness, and don’t covet) speak to our relationship with other people.  The last ones have little impact without the first ones.

The civil law is merely an application of the moral law to specific situations.  It is the law, the ten commandments, applied in the courts, for settling disputes, for affixing blame.  For example, Exodus 21:12-13 relates to the sixth commandment by describing what “murder” means.  It distinguishes from pre-meditated and non-pre-meditated murder and the appropriate penalties.  There are numerous civil applications of the moral law in the Old Testament (for example, Exodus 21:1-23; 33; Leviticus 18:1-20”27; Numbers 5:5-31; Deuteronomy 19:4-21; 22:1-30; 23:24-25:16 with some ceremonial laws mixed in).  Most of these can be related back to one of the last six of the Ten Commandments.  Some are applications of principles generally implied in the Ten Commandments.

The ceremonial law is an application, primarily, of the first four laws.  It encompasses directions for the observance of religious feasts, oath taking, sacrifices, ceremonial cleansing, Sabbath observances and priestly functions.  In some way it is unfair to separate civil and ceremonial law.  Both were equally binding for Israelites.  There was never a distinction between secular and spiritual in Israel’s law.  It was all spiritual.  The absence of one always signaled the absence of the other in practice.  Yet they are distinguishable as to purpose.  The ceremonial law served as a form of public and symbolic instruction about how to relate to God.  The ceremonial observances served to remind Israel of God’s deliverances, His holiness, and Israel’s privileged position.

Why this three part law?  First, by setting the moral law off by itself God highlights, in a very memorable form, the most basic moral requirements for created beings.  No one can complain that they got bogged down in the legal code.  Second, it facilitates child training.  Have you taught your children God’s basic requirements?  Have you spelled out the basic applications of these requirements?  Third, it facilitates evangelism.  An unbeliever must first recognize his guilt before his Creator.  Fourth, it leads the thoughtful soul who seeks wisdom to further explore the principles implied by the moral law.  It gives him a way to reflect on the character of the God who made us.  As we examine each commandment we will be doing the same thing.