Today's Reading: Exodus 20:1-28:43
What's in today's reading: Wow, that's a lot of rules...
When we last saw Moses he was headed up the mountain to talk to God while the rest of Israel waited below. And now we get to hear what God told him.
Almost everything in today's reading is the first laws, given directly by God, to Moses.
And the very first thing God says is what we have come to know as the Ten Commandments.
But God doesn't stop there. At the same time there are many other laws and rules given to Moses.
While we are still reading some history, this section deviates from that a bit and gives us the first glimpse of the legal code that is so important to the Israelites and Jewish people up to and including modern times.
Along with the 10 commandments are rules regarding:
Alter building
Slavery
Capital punishment
Restitution
Social Justice
Honoring the Sabbath and other holidays
Further, God talks about the "promised land".
Moses then comes down and tells the people all that was said. This becomes known as "The Book of the Covenant". Moses goes back and God talks some more, giving rules about:
Collecting offerings for the sanctuary
The Ark of the Covenant
Furnishings for the Sanctuary
Construction of the Sanctuary
The Alter
The priest's garments
As we leave today's reading, Moses is still on the mountain. Moses was up there 40 days, receiving all these instructions.We won't take that long to talk about them.
People make a big deal out of the 10 commandments. But there's more than just those 10 that were given to Moses. Why do we make more of those 10 and ignore the others? Why have these others been given less significance?
I don't really know. What do all these laws mean when we get to the New Testament and Jesus' teachings? We'll talk about that when we get there.
