This morning marks a pivotal point in our study of the Book of Exodus. The people of God arrive at Mount Sinai where they will spend eleven months at the foot of this mountain. The rest of the Book of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers up until chapter 10 all take place during this time period.
Bible scholars break the Book of Exodus into two halves and this morning we begin the second half of the book. The subtitle for the first half could be ‘What has God Done’ and before we move forward into the second half, lets briefly recap what has happened. God ensured Israel’s survival in the first eighteen chapters. The Lord heard the cries and realized the plight of the Israelites and also remembered the covenant that God made with them. God provided the means for their deliverance mainly in the person of Moses. Yahweh demonstrated superiority over Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods (with small g’s) in a contest to see who was best. At the end, the final plague was a dramatic killing of the first born of all the Egyptians and it set apart Israel as God’s own. Then the Lord not only brought Israel out of Egypt but parted the Red Sea and allowed the Israelites to cross safely while drowning the Egyptian army. And last week we heard how God provided food and water for Israel as they traveled through the desert. That is quite an action story! WOW!!! No wonder it has made such good material for numerous films.
Today, we learn that God’s people have reached Mt. Sinai. It is the actual beginning of what is referred to by Biblical scholars as the Pentateuch, or the first five Books of the Bible. Although Genesis and the first half of Exodus are included in the Torah, the spelling out of God’s expectations on God’s people actually begins in this chapter of Exodus. We move from stories of what God has done to what God expects from the people of Israel. Listen now for the first seven verses in the 19th Chapter of Exodus where God proposes the relationship God will have with Israel. (read scripture – The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!)
Listen again to verses 4 and 5 of today’s lesson:
You have sees what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples.
God is setting up the relationship God will have with the Israelites. In the chapter’s ahead in Exodus, expectations in the form of legal codes, commands, and institutions will be made. We will hear the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments and the Book of the Covenant in Chapters 20-23 and see that there is a typical chain of communication about this covenant where God speaks to Moses and Moses, in turn, speaks to the people.
Elizabeth Achtemeier who was an ordained Presbyterian minister, author, and professor of Old Testament at Union Seminary writes guidelines for us as we approach this next section of Exodus.
- First, she said that although it seems like a bunch of legal texts, we must realize that Ancient Israel did not see the Law as a burden they had to fulfill in order to receive God’s grace, but rather that it was a gift. God’s grace was received like a present.
I have to admit, with my somewhat rebellious nature, receiving a law as a gift seems counter-intuitive. Laws to me are meant to be scrutinized. But when I realize that we live under laws that make our society run smoothly and allow us to have our rights and civil liberties, I can see why we must live under a structure and not just guidelines, but imperatives and constitutional imperatives. The Law, allows all to live fully. - The second guideline is that we approach this next section with the understanding that the Torah, or law, of God, provides guidance for us in order that we might live in a relationship not just with each other but with our Holy God.
The classic definition of sin is acting in a way that makes you distant from God. When we live in a manner that makes us feel not good about ourselves and distant from our loving God, we live in sin and are not happy. We are not living the life of wholeness and shalom that God offers to us. If we realize the truth in that statement, we can accept the Law as a gift as it gives us the road map to a closer relationship with God.
And think about the times in your life when you have not felt at one with God. When you perhaps put other material things or yourself as the gods in your life. Your priorities are not in line with the values and ethics Jesus taught us….. Somehow it always ends up making your life a little empty. It is not a happy way to live and you are not living the full life in which God intends. Some of you might remember the materialism of the 80’s. The ethic was to climb the corporate ladders even if it meant stepping on people and taking them down on your way up. I remember a person describing a friend who I thought was extremely altruistic and Christ like as the type of person he ate for breakfast. TV Shows like Dynasty and Dallas serve as markers for the culture of that time. And some feel that we are in a period much like it now. Ethics and morality of caring for others have taken a back seat to economic gain and we know this leads to empty lives. Guidelines can be our safety nets in ensuring happiness and fulfillment in life. Facebook had a statement this week attributed to a Southern Pastor that went viral among clergy. It said ‘Preaching that we are to LOVE our neighbor, WELCOME the stranger, and STAND UP for the marginalized does not mean you are making a political statement; it means that you are making a BIBLICAL STATEMENT! - The third guideline that Achtemeier says we should think about as we read the laws of God is the truism, ‘How we live our lives reflects how we feel about God.’ I have quoted my Old Testament professor in College before who started each lecture with the statement: ‘The proper worship Of God is the emulation of God’s nature.’ In other words, we live our lives well when we try and live out the love and grace that we experience in God. This belief was hammered into me as a child. My mother put a sign on the wall in my bedroom which said essentially the same thing. ‘What you are is God’s gift to you. What you do is your gift to God.’
- Achtemeier’s forth guideline is in the same genre. She says obedience to God’s laws reflects our gratitude to God for the freedoms God has given us. In other words, our living as God wants, our discipleship, our following God’s laws, is a physical statement of our faith and thanksgiving to God for what we have been given. Our actions reflect our faith. We are hearing a lot about this lately as the Christian right is criticized for its judgmental and often bigoted statements. DO they reflect God’s nature? If they do not, if they do not follow the ethic of love that knows no boundaries, we must ask, ‘to what God are they worshipping?’
- Achtemeier’s final guideline as we continue into our journey of Exodus, is that we should not and can not apply specific laws to our society. These laws were written to a different culture and a different era and understanding of science. We need to hear the essence of the law and why it was recorded to glean any meaning and purpose for our daily lives. You all have heard the story about A.J. Jacobs, the young man who lived for a year in Manhattan while trying to actually follow all the laws in the Bible. He wrote a book about it which is witty without being snarky. He found that living with a set of over 700 rules written for a world of nomadic, desert dwelling herding people was impossible in our modern world. He tried to focus more on the 10 Commandments than say the Prohibitions on fiber mixing and trimming your beard. Not eating shellfish or pork might have had some purpose in ancient Israel, but did not make sense in our day. He also spent time with groups who are devoted to living Biblically and found that even they picked and chose which laws to live by instead of following them to the letter.
So…. we now enter the second half of our summer with the Israelites on Mt Sinai. We will have a little break next Sunday from Exodus to celebrate Christmas in July (with the record breaking heat we need it!) and then move forward into the story of the Laws of Moses. Hopefully we will together discover the timeless and transcendent truths of this part of the Torah and know that this is indeed a story about God’s love for God’s people. Yes, dear friends, you are indeed God’s beloved children. Amen.