Day 36 | Exodus 19-21 | Chronological Bible Reading Plan
Notes from the Reading:
CHAPTER 19
[The Lord calls Moses up the mountain and tells him he needs to get the people ready basically because He’s about to throw down some rules for them to keep forever.]
v5, “’Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my ow special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.’”
I feel like God was very clear with what He said. And then later the leadership group agreed they would obey Him. What do you think actually happened?
CHAPTER 20
[God is delivering the 10 Commandments to the people of Israel.]
In verse 5, it mentions how the sins of the parents will continue on to each generation after it, because they didn’t obey the Lord. Isn’t it great that it isn’t that way anymore? Just because those before us didn’t love and obey God doesn’t mean we will suffer for their sins if we DO love and obey the Lord.
v12, “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.’”
The commentary mentions that honoring your parents means to prize them, to care for them, to show them respect and reverance.
This verse is a tough one for some people. But I don’t think it needs to be tough, even if we struggle with the relationship we have with our parents or the lack of one.
I do not have a relationship with my father because we are constantly living in 2 very different seasons of life. And my mother passed away when I was a teenager. But I still respect my father and revere the knowledge he taught me, the fact that he did raise me the best he could as a single dad with the world against him and if I do need to step in to care for him, I will find a way to do that without allowing any other negative feeling to get in the way.
It’s very easy to honor, respect, prize and revere someone we may struggle with in relationship, if we choose to. And to honor them doesn’t mean we are obligated to have a relationship with them. But it also means we can’t be bad mouthing them, plotting and scheming against them or holding onto bitterness and hate in our hearts against them. I know there are awful things many of us have gone through with our parents, but with the love and power of Christ, we CAN forgive and move forward. Notice I said forgive and not forget. It’s wise to not forget so we don’t allow ourselves to get caught up in things we shouldn’t.
v19, “And they said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”
God knew they were going to break the rules and sin. It’s the reason why the rest of the chapter goes on to how to properly construct and alter.
And I know this section speaks on the people of Israel fearing God and that is why they no longer wanted to hear directly from God, but I also think (my opinion) that THEY also knew they would break the rules. And they didn’t want to be held accountable and it was easier to just complain and blame everything on Moses instead of actually owning up to something and coming to God directly.
CHAPTER 21
[We learn about the rules of keeping slaves and what happens when specific fights break out between people and animals.]
v7-11, These verses can feel a little uneasy because the Bible uses the term ‘slave’ but not in the way we think of slaves now. Selling a daughter to someone was the custom for providing her to the home for the purpose of marriage down the road. And there are parts of this law that protect against her not getting married and being ‘freed’ to move on with her life as she sees fit.