Make two cherubim of gold—make them of hammered work—at the two ends of the cover.
Exodus 25:18 (JPS)
Make – There is no question in what is going on here. God has just instructed the fashioning of two cherubim, an entity found in heaven. The people are to make a graven/sculptured image of something in the heavens. Does this cause you to ponder? Was there not another commandment directly forbidding this?
Continue reading “Absolute, but Flexible”And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Exodus 4:22 (KJV)
Firstborn – As a follower of Yeshua, it is easy to forget history when you believe the history of the faith began with the advent of Jesus in the first century. When all we read is the New Testament, the history prior to it becomes irrelevant. If I believe that Yeshua completely absolved everything written in the Old Testament to create a new religion called Christianity, then I have lost perspective.
Continue reading “Firstborn and Only Begotten”And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
Exodus 12:13 (KJV)
Where ye are – The first quarantine was established by God during the time of a plague. He instructed all of Israel to stay in their homes while a plague ravished the land. And here we are today, on the verge of Passover, practicing quarantine to remove ourselves from a virus spreading throughout the land. How fitting.
Continue reading “COVID-19 and the plagues”The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.
Exodus 35:29 (KJV)
Willing – My premise is this. If God knows and has seen every choice we will ever make, then we have no choice, no free will. If I am presented with a choice of A or B, and God has already seen that I will choose B, then I cannot possibly choose A, otherwise, I make God a liar.
Continue reading “Predestination or Free Will”And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years.
Exodus 6:20 (KJV)
Father’s sister – When many of us are placed in positions of authority, it often times goes to our head. We become enlivened with a bit of power. Our faith in our own works becomes apparent, and we begin to see the world as just a bit lesser. Even people become objects by which we obtain our goals.
Continue reading “Don’t let it go to your head”And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Exodus 31:18 (KJV)
Two tables of testimony – The 10 commandments are amazing. They were written by the finger of God on two tablets of stone. The legend is that the stone was made of sapphire, the tablets were cut from a perfect cube measuring 18″ x 18″ x 18″, and that cube was split in half so that each of the commandments was 18″ tall by 18″ wide and 9″ thick. The writing from God was said to have gone all the way through the stone so that if one looked at it, you could see through the other side. But if you flipped the tablet over, it didn’t show the text in reverse as one might imagine, but showed the text the same as the front. Continue reading “Various Structures in the 10 Commandments”
Thou shalt not steal.
Exodus 20:15 (KJV)
Don’t steal – That’s pretty straight forward right? Just don’t steal. Unfortunately there’s a number of other factors involved with this commandment; socioeconomic status, peer influence, self-perception, psychology, etc. Just take a look at this video from Dan Ariely. Continue reading “The 8th Commandment”
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Exodus 34:14 (KJV)
Jealous – Isn’t this an odd character trait of YHVH? Jealousy is such a negative attribute isn’t it? The word qanna which means “jealous” is only used 5 times in the Old Testament and is only ever used when referring to God. So why is it necessary for God to state that He is jealous? Continue reading “The Jealous God”
And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.
Exodus 13:13 (KJV)
Redeem – Did you know that a donkey is the only unclean animal that is required to be redeemed? Continue reading “Law of the Broken Neck Donkey”
And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
Exodus 14:17 (KJV)
Get me honor – How was God going to be honored by the pursuit of Pharaoh and his soldiers? We might suggest that God was going to be honored by their death in the Reed Sea. But I don’t think that’s the case. There’s a relationship to another story in Genesis that will reveal God’s meaning here. Let’s take a look. Continue reading “Honored by Pharaoh”
