Today started with revisiting the ten commandments. God made a covenant with the people of Israel, given at Mount Horeb (Sinai) and was now being confirmed. This bound Israel to the Lord as their absolute Sovereign, and to his laws and regulations as their way of life. Adherence to the covenant would bring to Israel blessings of the Lord, while breaking the covenant would bring against them the punishments described as “curses.”
“The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at the time, to declare to you the word of the Lord.”
-Deuteronomy 5:2-5
The covenant was made with those who were present at Sinai, but since they were representatives of the nation, it was made with all succeeding generations as well.
The ten commandments are both the basis and the heart of Israel’s relationship with the Lord. It is almost impossible to exaggerate their effect in subsequent history. They constitute the basis of moral principles throughout the Western world, and they summarize what the one true God expects of his people in terms of faith, worship, and conduct.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
-Deuteronomy 5:6-21
1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall make no idols. Shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
4. Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
5. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. And you shall not commit adultery.
8. And you shall not steal.
9. And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. And you shall not covet your neighbor. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s wife, house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
These words the Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, and they were written on two stone tablets. The Lord had shown his glory and greatness, and his voice was heard out of the midst of darkness while the mountain was burning with fire. At that point, the people feared God. That pleased the Lord with him saying, “Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!”
To see the ten commandments first mentioned in Exodus go to:
https://liveandlearnjourney.com/day-24-exodus-19-21/
For an extension and explanation of the ten commandments go to:
https://liveandlearnjourney.com/the-ten-commandments-explained/
The greatest commandment
-Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 13-18, 20-25
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you–for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God–lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord.
When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statues and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed us signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statues, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.'”
The last part of today’s reading was about the chosen people. I enjoyed reading this, as I have been curious for more information on this topic. I understand that it goes all the way back to Abraham and the covenant God made with him and as a result, with the people of Israel. The overall theme for this was God’s love for his people!
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people of his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.
-Deuteronomy 7:6-9, 12-14
And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you…You shall be blessed above all peoples.
So what about me and everyone else who is not part of the people of Israel?Ultimately, what does this mean for the rest of us?
Who are the people of Israel in today’s world?
In answer to your question, the Israelites where chosen by God, with that came the responsibility to represent him properly in both words and actions which they did not do all the time. You will learn in the New Testament that we (all those that believe in Christ) are chosen