Exodus and Freedom

Sunday is our last lesson in Exodus. In November we study Leviticus, but not to panic. I had to write a quarterly once on Lev-Numbers, and I found a lot more interesting stuff than I expected to. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we're entering Halloween week – Hallowed Eve, All Saints Day. The latter was begun by Catholics, I imagine in the tradition of the Athens altar to the “unknown god” in case they had missed one. Paul declared he had met that God and His name was Jesus, so He is no longer unknown.

Speaking of Catholics, I found a beautiful blog this week from a Nun with a great idea. She teaches school kids New Testament, and she always asks how this passage contributes to freedom! Don't know whether I've even mentioned freedom in this study, certainly not enough. Exodus is all about freedom. The Lord freeing His people from slavery is the central theme. In fact, it's the great saving act of God in the OT, mentioned again and again in the Psalms and prophets, even in the NT!

But notice how Israel had trouble with freedom. They kept limiting it. Run into a spot of trouble, and they were all for running back to let the Egyptians take care of them. Then when Moses stayed on the mountain longer than they thought proper, they chained themselves to a golden statue, fashioning their own slavery. They couldn't control this YAHWEH, let's confine Him in a bull's body where He's predictable. No more scary appearances and commanding discipline.

Sound like anyone you know? Sure.

But how free are you? How have you chained yourself up?

Now let's look at the parts of the last chapters that our editors have chosen for Sunday...

When the craftsmen finished their work, they presented it, and Moses inspected it. The Lord instructed Moses to set up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month. That may be indicating a tradition that Israel's dating system was to begin with the setting up of the tabernacle and all its fittings.

When they set up the Tabernacle, aka the Tent of Meeting, the cloud covered it, and even Moses would not enter. The cloud was the strong indicator of the presence of the Lord. That first awesome appearance was perhaps His way of personally dedicating their place of worship.

The cloud found its resting lace over the tent. At night it was replaced by fire. Sinai, aka Horeb, was also called the Mount of God. They may have thought of it as His dwelling place. Scholars mostly agree that Sinai was a volcano, which fits with Moses and Elijah experiencing God in earthquake, fire, and wind. If so, the cloud and fire would be a reminder of the Lord, and it may have been as if God were taking His home with them and pitching His tent among His people.

Finally, the Lord would lead them by the cloud and the pillar of fire. They were to follow the cloud when it moved on, and when it grew too dark to see, the fire replaced it. God was leading His people and pitched His tent among them.

How does God lead you today? Probably not by clouds or fired. How? Do you feel He dwells among us still?

And do His laws restrict us or free us?

MORE GOLDEN CALF STUFF

I realized in the middle of last night that if the Israelites had athletic teams, they must have been called Golden Bulls!

Then Thursday morning in an eThought article, my friend and excellent church consultant, Randy Tompkins, reminded me of some things, one of which had never crossed my mind although it should have. Look in Exodus 24!

Before the events of Sunday's lesson I posted Wednesday night, and after the giving of the 10 Commandments, God called Moses AND A WHOLE DELEGATION at least partway up Mt Sinai. It included three leaders (a sort of executive committee?) and 70 elders, probably from the judges we saw established in Chapter 19.

The purpose seems to have been a worship experience crafted by the Lord Himself. But before they went up, Moses gathered Israel and read the Ten Words to them plus some other materials that made up the Book of the Covenant. In response, the people affirmed again “All the Lord said, we will do.” Then Moses took sacrificial blood and sprinkled it on the people. Sprinkle implies a throwing, perhaps dipping a leafy branch into the blood and symbolically throwing it toward the crowd. Again Israel confirmed the covenant, the same one they would a few days later smash!

Then to the 73 men plus Moses and Joshua God revealed Himself in an awesome display of holiness. His glory lingered on the mountain for a week, after which He called Moses higher. Moses challenged them to wait for him near the base of the hill with Aaron and Hur in charge. Then with Joshua he disappeared into the glory/mist toward the top of Sinai.

Then in Chapter 33 Moses continues contending for his people. God still is claiming Moses brought HIS people from Egypt, and Moses isn't buying it. They are the Lord's people. Furthermore the Lord has been saying He's still furious and the people and will delegate leadership to an angel, because if He Himself went, He would lose it and burn them all up! Moses put the brakes on that pretty quick. Lord if You Yourself don't go with us, we're not going anywhere, and I certainly won't. Once again the Lord relents and promises His presence in their travels.

Then Moses asks for his own spiritual revival/renewal. He asks for the Lord to reveal Himself again. God grants his wish and reveals Himself to Moses in a tremendous display of glory.

Once again pay attention that the Old Testament is not merely about law. When The Law was first given to Israel, the Lord called 73 men up the hill for a tremendous worship experience. Now Moses has been through what must have been a very scary rebellion (altho Moses was so mad, he didn't have time to be afraid). He had put down first the rebellion of the people, then God's threatening Himself to rebel and destroy His people. He needed the refreshment of holiness.

Neither can we live the Christian life based on our childhood experiences. Or even later adult rededications. We need day to day nourishment through a quiet time, weekly corporate worship, and occasional high experiences of revival. Moses asked God for it. I dare you to do the same!

WHEN GOD WANTED TO START OVER

God: Moses, I'm still furious! Get out of my way. I'm gonna burn 'em all up and start over with you. You'll be the new Abraham! I've had it with YOUR people YOU brought out of Egypt. Golden calves indeed!

Moses: Whoa, Lord! These are YOUR people that YOU brought out of the land of Egypt! Remember all that stuff about bringing them here on eagle's wings?

G: They sure don't act like it. After all I've done for them, they built a golden calf and claimed THAT CALF brought them from Egypt. Nonsense. I'll burn 'em all up!

M: And then the Egyptians will say You only brought them into the desert to kill them. What kind of God is that? Besides, you promised Abraham that his descendants will become a great nation. We're just about to do that.

G: Well, maybe I WAS a bit too hasty there. OK, I'll give them another chance, but we got to deal with this first.

It's easy to miss how important this is. Pay special attention to the pronouns. The Lord is trying to foist the people off on Moses, but Moses will have none of it. He keeps pointing out God chose these people and delivered them. Remember these are also the same people Moses must be frustrated with. Over and over, they had tried to rebel, claiming Moses brought them out to the desert to die. Over and over they had griped and him. And they would keep doing it! And MOSES KNEW THAT. He had never wanted this job in the first place. Tried everything he could to talk God out of it with no success.

To me, this is a high point of the Old Testament. In begging God not to give up on the people, Moses himself had to forgive those same people. Think for a minute. These are the same people who a few days before swore in a pledge to the Lord, “You only will we serve.” But Moses had their back. With all their faults, he had learned to love them and identify with them. And God honored Moses and His covenant with Abraham.

Note we often hear that in those days they were under law, and we are under grace. Sounds good, but not true. The Sinai covenant was a covenant of grace. Israel had violated radically the covenant even white the details were being spelled out. When one party violates a covenant, it is no longer good. But the Lord honored His covenant anyway. That's grace, not law. The Law itself was given by grace!

Now let's back up and look at what caused this word duel between God and Moses. At the beginning of Chapter 32 the people are (surprise!) grumbling again. Moses is gone.

We haven't seen any sign of him for several days. For that matter, we've seen no sign of that God of his – what was His name? Yahweh or something? Hey Aaron! Make us some gods to lead us. We need some kind of leader. We have no clue what has happened to Moses.

Exodus records no sign of Aaron resisting their request. He doesn't stand up for his brother, nor counsel patience, at least for a few days. He simply says to bring him some gold to work with. Then he takes the gold and with great craftsmanship he creates a golden calf. I suspect this is a bull calf. The Secomd Commandment may have been aimed specifically at Israel's tendency to represent God as a bull. Years later when Solomon died, Israel split off its ten tribes from Judah. To prevent his people from returning to the temple in Jerusalem to worship, Jereboam built temples at Bethel and Dan, the southern and northern borders, and placed bulls as their god to worship. Very possibly Israel called those bulls Yahweh – or at least thought of them that way if they didn't say the name.

Then Aaron spoke blasphemy, knowing he was not telling the truth, saying “These are your gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” So they worshipped, ate, and “rose up to party!” KJV says “play,” but this was certainly sexual play and moral depravity.

In the middle of the revelry Moses came down the mountain in a rage, breaking all ten commandments at once! He immediately confronted Aaron, “I left you in charge! What are these people doing?”

“Moses, you know what these people are like! They came to me with all their jewelry telling me to make them a god. I through the stuff in the fire, and this calf came out!” (If you believe that...) Moses pushed past his brother, grabbed the calf and somehow ground it into powder. He poured the powder into water and made the people drink it! Then he called for those who were with him, and the tribe of Levi (Moses and Aaron's people) answered and proceeded to put down the rebellion. I imagine they had witnessed those who led the rebellion, attacked those first and then any who supported them.

It has always troubled me that Moses never punished his brother. I expect they had some furious arguments in the privacy of their tents, tho.

This is Perry's speculation:

The tribe of Levi, Moses's own tribe, responded to his call. We were raised with the knowledge of Israel's 12 tribes, but I'm not sure I grasped it until the Iraq war came along with the emphasis on the Middle East. Sadam Hussein filled his government with his family and friends from his home town of Tikrit. These were the only people he felt he coult trust. An old Arab saying has it you can only fully trust your immediate family, then the tribe, but no one else. A lot of the trouble in the Middle East comes from the colonialists dividing the land into countries and other divisions without paying attention to tribes and religions. In Korea, Kim can't even trust his family. (Reminds me of Herod the Great.

Later, David first became king for seven years only over Judah, Benjamin, and the half tribe of Dan. That was the exacr split three generations later into the northern and southern kingdoms. Tribal alliances.

A PORTABLE GOD

Back in 1976 I was writing my second quarterly for the Baptist Sunday School Board, now Lifeway, and the first, I think, in a new curriculum called the Bible Book Series. I came to the lesson about God's command to build the Tabernacle and found plenty of commentary discussions and information. Two lessons later, the last in the book, was a discussion of how they built the Tabernacle. When I turned back to the commentaries, every corron-picking one referred me back to their previous discussion under God's command! I probably learned a few cuss words at the time. (Forgotten them now, of course.)

One overwhelming truth comes forth: They obeyed God exactly! Exactly!

Every father reading this who had a child over ten has put together a swing set – once! We ordered one from Sears and the delibery man unloaded it in my driveway. It was one box, 8-10 feet long, and about four by eight at the end. “That's it?” I asked. “That's it. Sign here.” I signed. I then found aall the parts were cleverly packed in that one box and proceeded to assemble it. Being male, I only occasionally looked at the instructions, but did amazingly well until...until I was almost through and found I did not have the particular bolt that would fit in that place. I took the instructions and went to get something to drink and to rest a bit. I found they did indeed include the bolt, but I had used it in another place earlier. I had to take apart half of what I had done to retrieve the part the set required. Eventually, I got it put up but vowed never again. And by the way, whenever I have told that tale, every father in the room gets this silly look on his face and bobs his head up and down. We've also maliciously received satisfaction as our sons have followed with the same experience.

Israel did not have that problem. They followed God's commands exactly. Could some of our problems come from...?

Some miscellaneous thoughts about the Tabernacle:

1 – They took up a free-will offering from those who were willing. The offering consisted of materials needed to build the Tabernacle. Today's lesson in the quarterly comes out of chapter 25, but it's repeated again around 35. In between is the golden calf episode. I can't help but wonder whether they robbed the Tabernacle offering to build the calf? What gift has God asked of you that you failed to deliver because you spent it on another of your gods?

Note that the offering was not a levy, but was free-will. They were to give as an act of worship. Likewise, no amount would be specified, therefore they gave as they were able. Why do we honor those who give large gifts? Jesus particularly pointed out the woman who dropped only a penny in the collection box.

2 – The Tabernacle was portable. It had to last through 40 years in the wilderness. Wherever Israel went, the Tabernacle went. Its presence reminded them that God was with them and leading them. Many in that day thought of gods as ruling over particular territories. Later, when Israel was established in the Promised Land, if a drought came, they would sometimes worship the Baals of the Canaanites, thinking perhaps that was the rain god. But the Lord Yahweh was the God of the whole earth. Wherever they went, and wherever we go, He is there.

3 – The Tabernacle shows that God intends to be the center of our lives. Whenever and wherever Israel encamped, they first set up the Tabernacle in the center of the camp. Then all the tribes set up around it in the same designated place. Their camp always looked the same. I suspect thaat gave a sense of security, since you could always know where to find your friends and relations. You can often see pictures of small towns with a white frame church and a steeple pointing to the sky. For many in that town, the church was central to their life. How central is Christ in your life?

The Ark of the Covenant

Don't confuse with Noah. This ark was the size of a modern day cedar chest, gold-plated with rings danglin from the sides through which poles could be inserted for priests to carry the ark in their travels. The ark was the center of the Tabernacle (metaphorically, not physically). God would speak to Moses and Aaron from between two cherubim on the cover of the ark. In the ark would be placed samples of manna and Aaron's rod which had miraculously flowered.

To other features of the ark need to be discussed. First, cherubim were not baby angels as portrayed by medieval artists. (Incidentally, the angels that show up in the Bible don't look like those pictures either. When described, they always look like men.) Cherubim were beasts like the four portrayed along with the wheels in Ezekiel. The cherub was an animal/human mixture. The Sphinx is a form of cherub. My guess is that they were winged bulls with men's heads. I saw a huge version of one in Chicago's Oriental Museum that had stood beside the gates of Babylon. I suspect that's a replica, but a good one.

King James uses the term “Mercy Seat” to describe the cover of the ark. Years ago the term bugged me. Apparently the term was invented in the 4^th century AD by a monk – I'm not sure why. I looked up the Hebrew word used here. It is “cabod,” which should be translated cover or lid. It was a gold covered lid with two cherubim on it, but it was still a lid, a cover.

Incidentally, the same word got to be translated as “atonement” later in the OT. In the Greek translation of the word “cabod” the scribes used the word “hilasmos.” also translated “atonement.” It's an interesting NT study to substitute the word “cover or covering” for atonement. You'll find it works in many places. One particular place is 1 John 2:1, where KJV uses “propitiation” and nowadays almost always “atonement.” The latter is better, IMHO, that propitiation, but I still wonder whether John was thinking, “He is the covering for our sins...”

I can't help but note God named his sub-contractors! He knew their names and the quality of their work. Besalil, son of Uri, son of Hur, plus Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. The Lord even knew their lineage! Further, He has equipped them with special wisdom and technical wisdom to carry out the Lord's command.

I find it easy to believe also that God led Moses and his subs to choose the laborers to put together the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. One of the most important concepts in the Christian life is discovering, developing, and utilizing the gifts God has given each of us. Key passages to follow up here are Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and I believe 1 Peter 2.

By giving of their personal jewelry and other materials, all Israel had a part in the building. Thus when you contribute to a building fund, you can later point ot it and say you had a very real part in its construction.

WAR
ORGANIZING
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

War

As the covered wagons drew up in circles to fight off marauding Indians, so the Israelites had to confront Amalekites. These warriors were from the tribe of Amalek and could be compared to our Indians. Don't think of this as a full fledged war, such as we read in the days of David. Rather, this is a passing action to drive off this group that hoped to plunder these strngers moving through their desert.

Moses appointed Joshua the military leader. A fine choice, for he eventually took over when Moses died, but now he's about to fight his first battle. Recognize the Lord's hand in this battle. The Israelites were in great physical condition, as construction workers are today. But they were not soldiers and would not have had many actual weapons. The victory was definitely as much a miracle as the manna, quail, and plagues.

Moses when to a hilltop to oversee the battle. Aaron and Hur accompanied him. They noticed that when Moses held up his staff for all to see, Joshua's side began to win. As the day wore on, and Moses grew tired, however, his arms failed and he lowered the rod. Aaron and Hur noticed that when the rod dropped, the Amalekites recovered lost ground, so they immediately propped up Moses arm and kept, as it were, the flag flying!

                        Organization

By now, they were approaching Sinai, where Moses originally saw the burning bush. They were also back into his father-in-law Jethro's terriroty. (Notice in the Hebrew and KJV it's ALWAYS “Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses.” By the end of the book we definitely know their relationship!) Anyway, Jethro shows up with Moses's wife nd two sons. The wife's name was Zipporah, or Birdie, and the older son was called Gershom, because Moses had been a “stranger in a strange land.” Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein wrote a book by that name, a visit from a man from another planet, whose earthly experience loosely followed that of Jesus. Good book. I recommend it. Gave us the word “grok.”


Anyway, Moses goes to greet them, ignores his wife, and kisses his father-in-law. Does that seem strange to you? Moses gives Jethro a full retelling of all the Lord had done for them. Jethro rejoices and offers sacrifice to the Lord. Apparently Jethro worshiped the same God in much the same way. Just as the patriarchs seem to have returned to places of origin to find wives, so perhaps Moses may have done likewise, looking for his own Little Bird.

The next day Moses went out as appears to be his habit to “judge” the people of Israel. Long lines awaited an audience with him, and this went on all day. That night, Jethro asked his son-in-law what he had been doing. Moses couldn't help but brag a little. “They all trust my judgment and come to me whenever they have squabbles and disagreements.”

Rather than being impressed, Jethro tells Moses he is out of his every-loving mind! You are worn out, and nobody wants to stand in line all day with someone they're squabbling with. Get some organization here. I'll show you how.” And they set up a hierarchy. At the borrom a judge would handle only ten families. Over ten of those judges was another level, a judge of a hundred. Likewise over a thousand. It must have functioned like our appelate court system.

Now catch this, because I have never seen it in a commentary, but it practically screams at me. In the next couple of chapters, God is going to give Moses the law, not just the Ten Commandments, but much more. Before the Lord did this, He led Moses to set up and organization to teach and administer that law! Likewise, God is providing for our future right now!

                                        Making a Covenant                       

When Israel arrived at the base of Sinai, the Lord spoke to Moses very beautifully: “I have brought you on eagles' wings to myself! He pointed to what they had seen Him do to Egypt and all He had done to escort them across the desert. Then He offered them the same covenant He had offfered to Abraham. “If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.”

The people all responded together, “WE WILL DO EVERYTHING THE LORD HAS SAID!”  Note this especially, because next week we will see that their piety disappeared like the morning dew.

Then the Lord gave them a ceremony to mark the beginning of the covenant with His new people. The next day, He appeared to them from the mountain in earthquakes, smoke, and lighting. In the background came the sounds of thunder and a trumpet (probably a shofar – the ram sheep horn.)

In the middle of the last century, a theologian pointed out that God always gives before He demands. In the NT, He gives us His Son before he demands we receive that gift. It is so here. God brought them to Sinai on eagles' wings. He reminds them that He freed them from Egypt and led them across the desert to Sinai. Now His demand is they accept Him as their God and obey His commands. Note that He still gives them the choice, which they clearly accept!

God today still gives and demands. When we consider how much He has done for us, those memories and thanksgivings can impel us to follow His calls!

                                        The Ten Commandments

Introducing the Ten Commandments, also known as The Ten Words, God again reminds the people of His gift before laying down His commands. He had brought them from Egypt and freed them from slavery, THEREFORE...

Note He also identified Himself clearly. He is Yahweh, written without vowels, YHWH, four letters called the Tetragrammaton. As revealed to Moses in Chapter 3, the name is based on the verb to be. I like Paul Tillich's characterization of God as the Ground of Being (the source of existence, the Creator). But this is meant as a personal name, reflecting personhood of God. What does it mean to say God is a Person. A Russian theologian said it means at least what we mean in referring to a human as a person.

The First Commandment: No other gods. Because there are no other gods. Some interpreters try to accommodate this commandment to the prevailing polytheism by reading it to mean they should not put any gods ahead of Him, although they may worship some lesser gods. I don't agree that this reading will fly, because the whole thrust of the Bible is that there IS no other god. The prophets wonder why a man can carve an idol himself, then set it on  a shelf and worship it as a god! You MADE the god, therefore you are greater than the god, therefore it is NOT a god! Freud had a sharp observation, though he took it in the wrong direction, when he pointed out that humans tend to create their own gods. Is football one of my gods? Or do I keep it as only a pastime? Is my family my god, or do I accept my children , their mates and descendants as one of God's good gifts and responsibilities to me? A handy way to check: where do you spend your time and your money?

Second Commandment: No graven images, no idols. Traditionally many Roman Catholic interpreters have counted this as part of the First Commandment and divided another, usually coveting, into two. This avoids the argument around the statues of saints. Probably we should recognize when Israel made the golden calf, they were violating this command, not the First. Likely they conceived of Yahweh as a young bull, which we find showing up elsewhere as well. The problem with a physical representation of God is the same as described above. If YOU made it, you are superior to it. Also you confine your god to a particular place. And God will not be confined. “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit!”

Third: You shal not take/take up/pick up/bear/ or carry the name of YHWH your God in vain/to a falsehood. This is why traditionally Jews do not pronounce the word “Yahweh.” When they see in scripture the Tetragrammaton, they read “adonai,” Lord. Whenever you see in your Bible the word LORD in all capital letters, you can know that the Hebrew text reads the name of God, YHWH. In some Jewish writings, you will find them substitution The Name or even writing G_d to avoid breaking this commandment. By the way, if you interpret this literally, expressions such as “my God” and “Good Lord” are worse than other four-letter words we find offensive. The idea behind the command is that when you call His name, you think of Him and invoke His presence. Therefore always use it with reverence!

>NOTE: These first three commandments are definitely part of the Judaeo-Christian heritage. Many who object to placing the Ten in public places paid by tax dollars have trouble at this point. It seems to them that the public space should respect all citizens' beliefs, including atheists, Buddhists, and others. Others respond by pointing out their place in the history of law and perhaps add another law code such as Hammurabi's  which came even before this one. Still others contend America was founded on faith in the Christian God, so there should be no problem.

The Fourth: Remember the Seventh (Sabbath) Day and keep it holy. The Lord goes on to specify no work for anyone in Israel, including slaves. Many Orthodox and Conservative Jews observe the rule until this day. Senator Joe Lieberman had another member of Congress who was his friend and a Gentile come to his apartment on the Sabbath to turn on the lights and the coffee maker.

One reason to observe the seventh day, was because God rested from His acts of creation on that day. It was a way of remembering the Lord. One of my seminary profs was convinced this law was written into our bodies. He said if we did not observe it, our bodies would rebel and we would end up sick. In one of my churches a young couple sought to save money by finishing the interior of their new house: installing sheet rock and painting. They took the weekends to do this, and their church attendance disappeared along with their recreation. He came to me one day and reminded me of a sermon on this point. “We worked every weekend, and we both ended up in bed two weeks with the flu.”  Our bodies do need rest, and our spirits need worship!

THE SECOND “HALF” or the last six.
The Fifth: Honor your parents. This does apply to children, of course, but remember it was presented first to adult males. The command was for adult children to honor their older parents. A society that respects its senior adults, is a healthier society and a longer-lived one.

In Ephesians 5, Paul encourages families to live in love and respect. Note that each has a responsibility to the others. Children are to obey their parents. Up to what age? While Jesus was always respectful to His mother, He clearly defined His separateness at the wedding: “Woman, what difference does it make to me/us?) Yet even from the cross, He looked after her welfare in handing her care to the beloved disciple.

And Paul immediately cautions fathers against driving their children into rage. I once knew a fine man, who could have been an even better father. He thought children had to be broken like wild horses. I  was not surprised when two of his kids had severe mental problems, though getting past them they were fine people. Children are not slaves to be kept in line, but God's creations who need to be taught, loved, and developed. Discipline should come from the word disciple, which means follower or learning. In this commandment, implied is the idea that if you take care of your parents, your children will honor you.

Commandments 6-9 in verse 13.
No murder - “kill” is correct, but its use elsewhere shows the word refers to murder of another human being, and probably intends a fellow Israelite. These were the foundation code of a nation, remember. And the same Lord who gave the commandments also led them into battles, both defensive and offensive. One can rationally argue against war, but this is not the verse to use. Notice that Jesus did expand the verse into emotions – there is guilt before you actually kill someone. Anger, cursing, denigrating remarks all are liable for punishment.

I have often heard people arguing that anger is the same as murder and that lust is the same as adultery. I disagree. I would much rather have you get mad at me, swear at me, and accuse me of all kinds of stuff than to murder me. And I expect any woman would prefer a man to stop at lust rather than go on to rape, even “date rape.” Grudges and lust are indeed sin, but I would maintain there are degrees of sin depending on how bad the hurt from them is.  Sin is sin because it hurts someone, including the sinner.

No killing does point to the sacredness of life. I feel it legitimate to question the widespread abortion that stops millions of lives from coming into the world. Likewise today especially, we can evaluate Christian responsibility in the face of a nuclear armed world. Indeed, war itself is a huge problem, although the church has usually accepted the concept of a just war. I strongly suspect we may need to preach and teach more often about murder itself in a world with way too much drug and gang related shootings, What are our Christian responsibilities for dealing with violence?

No adultery: As used in the OT, it refers to relations with another man's wife.  As mentioned above, Jesus brought lust into the picture. Today we are faced with an incredible shift of popular ideas in my lifetime. The public idea right after WWII was that marriage, lasting marriage, between a man and a woman was the normal way to look at it. Sex was within marriage and for the most part, there was much less extra-marital sex then than now.

Washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, and other appliances came along that freed women from much housework. Women went to work during the wartime shortage of men, and they continued to work after the war. This opened opportunities to meet others and find more temptations. Then the birth control pill came along, and the fear of pregnancy decreased. One thing led to another, so today society's general attitude is that anything goes between consenting adults. Again we need to revert to teaching the proper place of sex in the Christian life.

No Stealing: This seems fairly simple. We need to continue to preach this to kids. Perfectly good kids can be found walking off from another's house with a toy in his pocket. And how do we update this for our time? I confess I don't like to pay for any program I can get free for my computer, pad, or cell. I turn to YouTube for music, since I can find any version of any piece of music I choose. But ASCAP is correct when they point out that artists and writers deserve pay for what they produce. Plus what do we do about computer theft of private information, whether by hackers or the government?

No False Witness: The word translated neighbor can also mean simply another person. This command is the basis of the legal system. Later in the law, two witnesses that agree must be present to convict. Jesus said you don't need to swear. Answer simply, yes or no or whatever, and your testimony should always be true. Today, I'd be tempted to translate it, “No Gossip!”

Thou Shall Not Covet: You don't look longingly at anything that belongs to another. This is the only command that deals directly with thoughts and emotions. Coveting leads to adultery and stealing. Don't try to “keep up with the Joneses” or anyone else. With God's guidance, create your own life!

Ten Laws for Israel. Ten Laws for the world. Ten laws for you and me!