Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

A New Study For A New Year: Personalities

Exodus 19:1-25

19 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

3 And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.

8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.

9 And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord.

10 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,

11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:

13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.

15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

20 And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

21 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.

22 And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.

23 And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

24 And the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them.

25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.

( The King James Version)

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In all the dramatizations of the Exodus, Moses is shown ascending Mt. Sinai by himself, while the people are left in the valley below without any knowledge of the Law of God. An actual reading of Exodus shows that the people weren't "clueless" about the requirements of the God of their Forefathers. They could see the lightening on Mt. Sinai, and hear the Thunder. This Passage suggests that the Law, or at least the Ten Commandments, were articulated in the Thunder. Only one dramatization depicted this, and it was a TV miniseries that didn't get much notice. I noticed it, but I can't remember the name of the program. (I saw it on a VHS...that's how long ago it was!)

This Chapter prompted a memory, which I've shared with you before:

As a fan of Classic Rock Music, I comb the thrift stores and yard sales for Vinyl LP Records from the 60s and 70s. Sometimes I find a real treasure, such as an original "Sgt. Pepper" in good condition, but those finds are getting more and more rare as people realize their value. And so, the boxes and milk crates have increasing amounts of artists that just do not "hold up" after 50 years. Among these rejects and leftovers are samples of a phenomenon of the 60s known as "Comedy Albums". Just yesterday, I rummaged through several bins at my favorite Thrift Store and did not find a SINGLE Classic Rock Album. There were, however, a plethora of Comedy Albums, mostly Bill Cosby. (Ugh). Then I saw one I had never seen before. It brought back a memory of Rowan & Martin's "Laugh-In", and a character created by comedienne Lily Tomlin.

The Album Cover featured Tomlin, dressed as a little girl named Edith Ann, sitting in a gigantic rocking chair. The little song the comedienne sang in the pictured sketch ran through my mind like an instant memory:

"Nobody told me that I shouldn't shave the kitty..."

Poor little Edith Ann! She was being punished for doing something she didn't know was a bad thing to do. After all, nobody had told her that this particular activity was forbidden. There may have been some general rule about not being cruel to animals, but nothing specific about using Dad's electric razor on the family pet.

No one can accuse the God of Israel for being unclear about Right and Wrong. The Law that is about to be handed down from Mount Sinai contains a lot more than Ten Commandments. There are Laws about Marriage and Family, The care of Widows and Orphans, Warfare, Personal Hygiene, Land Distribution, Birth Order and Legacies, Clothing, Medicine, Debt Collection, Crime and Punishment, the different degrees of Murder and Manslaughter, Civic Duties, and Military Service. In fact, the whole rest of the Book of Exodus lists these laws.

St. Paul, in the Book of Romans, states that The One True God is so evident in Nature that His Law is manifest even without getting it in writing. And yet, people sin, even when they DO get it in writing. Just as the kitty would have let Edith Ann know that she DID NOT want to be shaved, Nature shows us with simple things like Gravity, Inertia, Life, and Death, that actions have consequences. Those are the Basic, General Laws, also called "Natural Law". They aren't very specific. That's why people, when left to their own devices, do horrible things.

(The cannibal may say, "Nobody told me that I shouldn't eat my enemies...", but a consequence of cannibalism is a horrible Prion Disease of the Brain, a natural consequence of defying Nature.)

God's law is specific. Yes means yes and no means no. The Hebrew word for "NO" is a lamed and an aleph and is pronounced "Law". From #5 to #10, it is the first word in each Commandment and is translated "Thou shalt NOT".

Can God get any more explicit? The Edith Ann excuse doesn't hold up.

Natural Law is what it is. Just as an atheist wouldn't say "I Don't believe in The Law of Gravity!" and then jump out of plane without a parachute, a person's Belief System (or lack thereof) isn't going to negate Reality.

Tomorrow, we will read where Moses "gets it in writing".

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

☔️🌸”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)🌸☔️

ML/LTOS

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem