Today's passage: Exodus 24

Helpful thoughts:

• Three events take place to confirm the covenant between the Lord and Israel.
  • An altar is built and sacrifice is made.  The blood is offered and also placed on the people (The blood of the Old Covenant).
  • Moses, Aaron and the other leaders of Israel are allowed to see a manifestation of the presence of God!  The fact that they could only describe what was under His feet probably implies they didn't get to see all of Him (Exodus 33:20).
  • Moses is invited up into the mountain, where the glory of God had rendered a covering over the top of the mountain.  The purpose of this invitation was to produce the first copy of the written word of God.
• The confirmation of the covenant included sacrifice/blood, fellowship and the written word.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way might this varied level of access to the Lord be a precursor to the Tabernacle/Temple?
2. In what way(s) might the different aspects of confirmation of the covenant point forward to the New Covenant?  Whose blood was poured out for our confirmation in the New Covenant?
3. What is the significance of the written word?  What did it provide for Israel in that context?  What purpose did it serve after having audibly heard the words of God?  How can this help us to rightly treasure and meditate on the written word we have available to us today?

Today's passage: Exodus 23:10-33

Helpful thoughts:

• God gave Israel further definition to sabbath rest (The seventh day and the seventh year).
• It is thought that boiling a goat in it's mother's milk was a pagan practice, making this command a continuation of the command not to give any attention or worship to false gods.  Obviously, a mother's milk should be life giving to the kid, not the means of death or cooking.
• The Lord required all the males to come to the feasts.  This was not because He thought less of women.  The head of the household has a responsibility to lead his family to the Lord.  If the men will be faithful and spiritually mature, everyone benefits.
• God instructs Israel on how they are to take the Promised Land, how He would go before them, how they were to conduct themselves and their worship.
  • Israel did not succeed in obeying all the Lord's commands and it is apparent they never saw how much blessing God had offered to them.

Questions to consider:

1. For whom did God give Sabbath rest?  Is it only for the individual?  How does verse 12 expand our view on this principle of rest?
2. How does this principle of obedience going farther than the individual (Benefiting more than the individual) get rightly applied to all the males appearing before the Lord in verse 17?  Why is it right for men to pursue the Lord and be leaders in their homes intentionally?  What does the carelessness and/or passivity of a husband/father lead to in the home?  What does a godly man foster in the home?
3. What is the sad irony of Israel's failure to worship God alone?  If the other gods of the land were supposed to offer rain, harvest, fertility, etc. – What had God promised to Israel?  What could He alone truly provide?  What did they miss out on because they went to other gods for the same provisions?  Are the commands of the Lord burdensome or are they for our benefit?

Today's passage: Genesis 22:16-23:9

Helpful thoughts:

• Sex is not a pass-time or sport.  It matters.  God takes it very seriously.  The man and woman who join together in it have been joined together.
• God is compassionate and has His eyes on the poor.  These laws do not require money be held by the government and given to the poor (Nor would these laws forbid that), but they do prevent those in better conditions from taking advantage of or disregarding the poor.
• It is a perversion of justice when people take bribes, use their positions to oppress the poor, or “side with the many” in order to preserve their reputations in society.  These truths are still just as true today as ever.

Questions to consider:

1. Which laws stuck out to you the most?  Were any surprising?  If so, which ones and why?
2. In what ways did God provide protection for those who could be taken advantage of in these laws?  How do we see His compassion and intent to defend the righteous and oppressed?
3. What sins does God see as capital offenses in these verses?  How does this point to the importance of sexual purity and then primarily, not having any other gods before Him (Even if that “god” is a community of people)?

Today's passage: Exodus 21:1-22:15

Helpful thoughts:

• As the giving of the Law continues, today's passage will primarily cover laws concerning slaves and restitution.
  • These laws should be understood much like the laws of a country.  In a very real sense, what we are reading is the laws of the nation of Israel which were to have been enforced from their introduction in the wilderness until Christ came and inaugurated the New Covenant.
• Many of the laws concerning things like slaves, what to do if there are multiple wives and divorce are not God's endorsement or approval of them. When speaking of divorce in the law, Jesus reminded the Pharisees that these things were listed and restricted in the law, “because of the hardness of your hearts.” (Matthew 19:3-9)
  • When God gave these laws, He restricted the people from mistreating or dehumanizing the people who were involved in what were common practices at the time.

Questions to consider:

1. Though we are no longer bound to the Old Covenant, in what way is reading the Law a benefit for people today?  How can it reveal the heart of God to us in very practical ways?  How could we apply these truths/principles to our modern day systems, culture and economy?
2. Does God value the life of the unborn?  Does God ever endorse capital punishment?  Why wouldn't it be inconsistent to be pro-life (Concerning abortion) and pro-death penalty (Concerning capital crimes)?  What is the major difference between the unborn and the convicted criminal?  Now that we are under the New Covenant, and since we do not live in Old Covenant Israel, who has the right to decide if a country carries out capital punishment?
3. How does the knowledge that the Israel which exists today is not the same as the Israel who were to be governed under the Old Covenant impact the way we see and understand it as a country?  What do they need to believe?  In whom must they place their faith (Just like the rest of the world)?

Today's passage: Exodus 20

Helpful thoughts:

• After receiving the commitment of the people in chapter 19 to follow Him and do what He says, the Lord gives His people the Ten Commandments.
• God spoke in a way that all the people could hear.  They saw the mountain, the smoke/darkness, the lightning.  They heard the thunder and the voice of God.  They felt the ground shake beneath their feet.  They were filled with awe and fear.
  • Once they experienced what it was like to be near to God or to hear from Him, they preferred to get God's messaged delivered to them through Moses!
• Once the initial Ten Commandments were given, the Lord began to expound further with Moses.  Verse 22 is the beginning of the rest of the Law.

Questions to consider:

1. What are the Ten Commandments?  Which ones relate to a person's (And a people's) relationship with God?  Which ones relate to people's relationships with each other?
2. In what way do the Ten Commandments articulate the greatest commandments, to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself?
3. What does this list of commandments confirm we all need? (Romans 3:23-26)  What has God lovingly and graciously done for us?  How should His love compel us to pursue obedience going forward?

Today's passage: Exodus 19

Helpful thoughts:

• God brought the people of Israel “to Himself” at Mount Sanai, the location where he called Moses to bring the nation out of Egypt from the burning bush.
• The nation is given a conditional promise in verses 5-6 (“If you will” – “You shall be”).  The people's response, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
• This commitment and the instruction that followed served as a precursor to the Lord's manifested presence on the mountain and the giving of the Law.

Questions to consider:

1. Given that the people had not yet received the Law, how are the words of their commitment to obey and follow Him significant?  What was the nature of the relationship, commitment and covenant?
2. In what ways was the weight/glory of God's presence shown to the people?  What did they see, hear, feel when they approached the mountain?
3. In what way did Moses display his desire to obey the Lord in everything?  Knowing Moses' heart in that moment (Moses wasn't always without sin…but his heart was right in this moment) how did God respond?  How can this inform our prayer and desire to search the Scriptures carefully when we have our own questions?

Today's passage: Exodus 18

Helpful thoughts:

• All that the Lord did in Egypt did not happen in a vacuum.  The world was hearing the news, including Moses' father-in-law.
• Often, when the Lord informed Moses what He was about to do, He would add something like, “That Egypt (or the world) shall know that I am the Lord.”  Jethro serves as a picture of what the world should do upon hearing all that God has done.  He professes faith that the Lord is the true God, he presents sacrifices and worships.
• Jethro provided Moses and Israel with wisdom for leadership.  Moses could not lead Israel all on his own.  The load needed to be shared.

Questions to consider:

1. Do the narratives we read in Scripture ever get separated from the rest of world history in your mind?  Why would it be important to remember that the events of the Bible happened in real time along with the rest of world history? (For instance, the Exodus took place at the height of the “Bronze Age.”)
2. What would Moses have had to do for these men who were called to lead?  What would they need to know and how were they to learn it to be ready to lead people well?  In what way does Ephesians 4:11-16 give us a picture of how this should look in the church?

Today's passage: Exodus 17

Helpful thoughts:

• The people of Israel grumble and complain yet again.  Yet again God uses the occasion to teach Israel (And us) an incredibly important truth.
  • In 1 Corinthians 10:4, the Apostle Paul teaches, “the Rock was Christ.”
    • Christ was struck to pay for our sin and He gave us living water.
• Massah and Meribah mean “testing” and “quarreling” as verse 7 indicates.
• Israel fights it's first battle against one of the many people groups surrounding them.
  • Joshua leads the battle.  The first of many he would later lead Israel through.
  • Moses is unable to fulfill his role alone.  He requires support.
    • This will come up again in the next chapter.

Questions to consider:

1. How does God continually use these testings?  What is His purpose in allowing these difficult situations?  What can we (or should we) be learning in the good things and in the harder things of life (Romans 8:28-30)?  How does this truth help us to see, even hard things can be “good?”
2. In what way does the rock illustrate Christ?  Why did the rock have no need of being struck twice (Numbers 20:2-13) later on in the wilderness journeys of Israel?  What does the fact that Christ's death was sufficient teach us about the source of our salvation?
3. Why would Joshua need to hear the promise from the Lord in verse 14?  Who did Joshua need to know won the victory for Israel?  Who did He need to trust for ongoing protection and safety?

Today's passage: Exodus 16

Helpful thoughts:

• The Lord provides daily bread for His people in the wilderness.
  • He provided it faithfully to Israel for forty years!
  • The only day it wasn't provided was on Saturdays (The Sabbath).  Twice the amount of manna was given on Fridays to allow for two days of meals.
  • Every other day, if the manna was left until the next day, it rotted.  The manna only had a shelf life of two days from Friday to Saturday.
  • This was a daily miracle for forty years.
• An omer was a little over two liters.
• When the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, they were grumbling against the Lord (Verse 8).  The Lord responded mercifully.

Questions to consider:

1. What are we to learn from the grumbling of the people?  Their failure to collect an omer per person on the first day?  Their attempt to go out and collect more that first Sabbath morning?  Why should we be careful not to find the disobedience of the Israelite people so ridiculous?
2. Verse 18 is referenced by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:15.  How does he relate the collection of manna to Christian giving?
3. What was the purpose of the Sabbath?  Who all was “resting” on that day each week?  What did it require the Israelites to do (Or to rest in) concerning the day/week ahead?