The Giving of the Law
When Israel reached Mount Sinai, God called Moses onto the mountain and gave him the Ten Commandments and other regulations for the new social community. At the head of this law is Exodus 20:3-5.
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.
When God says we may have no other gods before him and that he is a jealous God, he means his first aim in giving the law is that we accord him the honor he alone is due. He had just shown himself gloriously gracious and powerful in the exodus; now he simply demands in the law an appropriate response from his people-that we should love him and keep his commandments.
To love God does not mean to meet his needs, but rather to delight in him and to be captivated by his glorious power and grace, and to value him above all other things on earth. All the rest of the commandments are the kinds of things that we will do from our hearts, if our hearts are truly delighted with and resting in the glory of God's grace.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Gods Goal Part V
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2 comments:
suzereign treaty is when a ruler, lord gives requirements for the lesser to fulfill so the two may be in a covenant.
that was the purpose of the law. God chose the Israelites as his covenant people, so for them to receive the benefits of the covenant, they had to fulfill their end of the bargain.
i think its Exodus 19-24 where all this is. the promises of teh covenant are to make israel a special possesion among the people, and to make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. holy= different, set off.
Have you thought about fixing the links in the sidebar area of your BLOG? (i.e. EDIT-ME)
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