Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Ten Commandments-Exodus 19:7-11

Today we continue our look at some of the verses that precede God's actual speaking of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20.   Today's verse are :  Ex 19:7-11

The observational overview of Ex 19:3-11 can be found HERE


And the in depth look at Ex 19:3-6 can be found HERE.

And as aside I am still working on the Ref-Tagger links as I want people to be able to hover over a Bible verse and see it immediately while reading the post.  Thank you for your patience!


Exodus 19:7-11 (NASB)  
7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him.
8 All the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do!" And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.
9 The LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever." Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.
10 The LORD also said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments;
11 and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

Grammatical and other Considerations:
  • So Moses came and called the elders... Moses did what the Lord Commanded!
  • The people unanimously agreed to do ALL that the Lord had spoken. (how often we are eager at first!)
  • "...so that the people.." God wants the people to hear Him speak so that the will believe in Moses. It seems He does not want any of them to doubt that Moses is God's chosen intermediary!
  • third day! God spoke directly to the people on the third day! His son Jesus would rise on the third day. For all of us.
  • "...be ready..." God wants the people to be ready for Him. Clean! Consecrated!
My Questions:
  • I am still curious as to why God wanted to speak to the Israelites directly, at THIS time.
  • Why were the Israelites (and lets be honest...this applies to ALL of us) so eager to obey and yet so quick to forget what God had done for them? Why do we forget so quickly and start to doubt and/or disobey? What can we do so as to stay focused on God? And to consequently stay obedient? (this is big for me, I know!!)
Verse Cross References:
Important Terms:

commanded:
thick cloud:
believe:
  • WORDSearch concordance search -- Ex 4:1 Ex 4:5 Nu 14:11 Luke 8:13 acts 15:7
  • Thoughts -- God did all He could to help the Israelites believe! (even though they had witnessed so many of his miracles already!) They (like most of us) were very stubborn.
  • Definition -- The Hebrew word means too build up, support, or to establish. The primary meaning is that of providing stability and confidence like a baby would find in the arms of a parent.
  • Thoughts -- Interesting! This makes this even clearer. God is going to come down and speak directly to the Israelites so as to support Moses (and them) and give them confidence. They (and we) ARE God's children!
Consecrate:
  • WORDSearch concordance search -- ex 19:22 ex 19:23 ex 28:3 lev 11:44 Lev 20:7 Lev 21:8 nu 11:18 Jos 3:5 Jos 7:13
  • Thoughts -- A word I thought I would find used more. (there are more instances than listed above) The word consecrate seems to be used when God is coming down to speak or when someone is going to be presented to God. OR as in the case of Joshua when God was about to do something major!!
  • Definition -- to be set apart,, to be holy, to show oneself holy. to treat as holy. Moses had to consecrate the people. (Help them be set apart as holy so as to be prepared for hearing the Lord) I need to check this out more as a topic reference search as well! The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary furthers this definition by saying that something consecrated is something set apart to God or belonging to God. To be set apart for the service of God. This would explain why the word is used relatively few times in the Bible. To be consecrated is something special!
Garments:
  • WORDSearch concordance search -- ge 3:21 ex 28:2 Ex 28:3 ex 29:5 ex 29:29 zec 3:3-4 mt 17:2 mt 27:35 mk 5:28 James 5:2 rev 3:4 rev 3:5 rev 3:18
  • Thoughts -- clean garments are often used as a metaphor for a person being considered as clean before the Lord. Of course as demonstrated in Zec 3:3-4 we can't clean ourselves, we must be cleansed by Jesus Christ! By accepting Him as our Savior and Lord! Jesus sacrificed His life for us! And arose on from the dead so that we may be forgiven. He also had His garments taken from Him. He gave so that we could have!!
Third day:
come down or came down:
  • WORDSearch concordance search -- Ge 11:5 ex 19:20 nu 11:25
  • Definition -- A verb meaning to go down or to descend. Used both figuratively and literally.
Other information from Study Helps:
Answering My Questions:
  • I am still curious as to why God wanted to speak to the Israelites directly, at THIS time? -I answered this after looking at Ex 19:3-6 but God wants His children, His chosen people, the Israelites to believe! To have confidence and feel supported. He wants them to believe that Moses is acting as God's intermediary. Even after all the things God had done up to this point for the Israelites, He knew they still needed more reassurance AND in His infinite love He gave it to them!
  • Why were the Israelites (and lets be honest...this applies to ALL of us) so eager to obey and yet so quick to forget what God had done for them? Why do we forget so quickly and start to doubt and/or disobey? What can we do so as to stay focused on God? And to consequently stay obedient? (this is big for me, I know!!) -- I don't know why we are so quick to forget but we are. Just look at the Israelites in any of these verses: Ex 16:2-3 Ex 16:19-20 Ex 32 etc. etc. Even after God brought them out of slavery and provided them with food and saved them from the Egyptians at the Red Sea...the Israelites were quick to forget and lose faith! Why do we all do that? That is what happens! Could it have something to do with Jesus' parable of the seed mt 13:19-23 The Israelites as a nation seemed to be like the one who heard the Word and received it with joy yet as soon as affliction or persecution comes from following the Word (in this case actually following God out of Egypt and to the land He promised them) that person falls away looking for some thing else to save them (there is nothing else). This is a lesson for all of us to learn! All of us. God is there and always will be! His Son died on the cross for us and rose again on the third day for us. I really hope and pray that I don't lose sight of that...ever!
Summarizing:
  • God wants Moses to have the people prepare themselves for God's appearance. They are to set themselves apart because God has set them apart. He is going to give them a covenant and do it "in person" so that they would finally believe and not fall into doubt anymore (unfortunately they still fell into doubt---this is again, a lesson for ALL of us!)
  • It is significant to know that God came down to them! Jesus came down to us! That is how much God loves us and how much He loves His chosen people, the Israelites!
Topics for further study:
  • Disobedience OR backsliding?
  • Seeing God or rather not being able to look at God directly. after the fall mankind was now afraid of God because of our shame. (this is why the Israelites become afraid)
  • Washing of garments, presenting ourselves clean before God.
  • Commandment
  • commands of God
  • consecrate
 
Bibliography
 
 
  • Baker, Warren, ed. – The Complete Word Study Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG, 1994. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • Baker, Warren and Eugene Carpenter. The Complete Word Study Dictionary – Old Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • God's Word: Today's Bible Translation That Means What It Says Holiday, FL: Green Key Books, n.d.. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • God's Word Application Index. Holiday, FL: Green Key Books, n.d.. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • Holy Bible, New American Standard. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • Nave, Orville. Nave's Topical Bible: A Digest of The Holy Sciptures. New York: Topical Bible Publishing Co., 1896. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • Holy Bible, New American Standard La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • Thompson, Frank Charles. Thompson Chain Reference Bible. Indianapolis, IN: B. B. Kirkbride Bible Co., 1997. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • Thompson, Frank Charles. Thompson Chain Reference Bible. Indianapolis, IN: B. B. Kirkbride Bible Co., 1997. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • Torrey, R. A. The New Topical Textbook. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1897. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
  • Vine, William E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1940. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
 



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