The Story of How the People of God Became The Church VI. A Law is Given Along with New Forms of Worship

Now we come to to other parts of the story of the people of God as the travel from Egypt to Israel, including their 40-year sojourn in the land in between because of their disobedience and rebelliousness towards God. The two most important parts of this story are the renewal of the covenant with the giving of the law and the establishment of new forms of worship.

The way to a right life spelled out

            -     a place of meeting, priests and sacrifices

Janzen, Page 232: The Commissioning of Israel - Exodus 19:1-40:28

Theophany (the appearance of the divine to a person or group) and Covenant - 19:1-24:18

Israel has now been liberated, but for a purpose. Their purpose under the illegitimate ruler Pharaoh was as slaves to make bricks. However, their purpose under their God, who has called and saved them, is to be commissioned for a special task among the nations of the whole world.

19:5-6 They are to become a priestly kingdom and a holy nation, to model God's will for the world. As a kingdom of priests, they take on a mediating rule between God and the other nations. Their commission as priests is to reveal God's will to the people of the earth through the law they will be given, a law that needs to be taught and lived by example. This is thus a calling to service.

As they move forward, it is in following God, who continues to be the leader and take the initiative. Whereas Moses previously encountered God in a simple burning bush, now Moses and the people encounter God on what seems to be a burning mountain.

In 19:4, there is a telling comment in that God says, after summarizing what he did to the Egyptians, that he brought the Children of Israel to Himself. That is always God's ultimate and wonderful goal with we humans, to bring us back to him, to reconcile us to be once again in relationship with him, such as was enjoyed at the beginning of creation. Israel is to be his "treasured possession out of all the peoples" (19:5).

In beginning to renew the covenant here, God now makes it conditional: "if you obey my voice and keep my covenant" (19:5).

19:7-9 Israel's response is immediate and almost premature, as they have not yet been given all of the law. Nevertheless, 19:7 says that "The people all answered as one: everything that the Lord has spoken we will do!" Perhaps they just thought that they were saying that they were ready to do what God instructed in terms of what he was going to say to them.

This encounter with God should serve to strengthen Moses' position with the people and their respect of him as God's appointed leader and the go-between between them and God. However, as time goes on, we will see that this still does not prevent some negativity on their part towards Moses.

19:9-25 Instructions and Preparation for the Divine Appearance

It is interesting to notice that God gives the people time to prepare for his appearing to them and that it is said that this will occur on the third day. Does this remind you of another important third day? Indeed, Jesus, part of the triune God, also appeared to his people in a new and more obviously powerfully god-like way on the third day when he was resurrected.

Moses now also has a new task. Whereas his original commissioning was to lead Israel out of Egypt, his new role is to mediate God's will in the context of the renewed covenant for the delivered people in terms of new ways of living and worshiping. The people, on the other hand, are witness to fearful phenomena of great power but this same experience also attracts them to want to approach closer to this God who is reaching out to them. However, they are still sinful and under the penalty of death and so for their own protection, God still sets somewhat of a limit for the people at this time, in terms of their not approaching the mountain on which he is manifesting himself.

Exodus 20:1-17, 31:18, 34:1-10, 27-28 The Giving of The Law

Exodus 24:1-18 The Renewal of the Covenant with the Children of Israel

When Moses tells the people everything that God has told him, and has an altar built and offer sacrifices, "All the people answered with one voice, and said, ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do’… (24:3) Then (Moses) took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.’ Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, ‘See the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” (24:7-8)

Here the people seem to be hopeful, eagerly and voluntarily promising to do all that is required of them on their side of the covenant with the God of their ancestors. Now that they have seen God show his awesome power at work, they are more open to believing his promises and wanting to be part of the journey to see them fulfilled.

At a somewhat deeper level, we can compare what is happening now between The Children of Israel and their God and what had been going on between them and the Pharaoh earlier. Then, they were forced to be subject to and obey a ruler was not of their choosing and who did not have their best interest in mind at all. Now, they are coming back to the God of their ancestors whom they are also learning to recognize as their creator. They have also just seen him act as their Savior, saving them from the Egyptians. Having thus been freed from that bondage, they now freely choose to be subject to their God.

When we talk about the Pharaoh and his feelings towards the Hebrews, we know that, in fact, he would have liked to see them eradicated. As we know, there are still many neighbors of Israel today, who would like to see them eradicated. In part it is because they are of a different religion, Islam, and how some of them interpret that today. It was not always that way. Indeed, if you read the Koran, there are positive things in there about how Muslims are to relates to Jews and Christians. Others understand some of the hatred for the Jews as coming from the devil himself. Indeed, at one level this is not hard to understand, as we tend to recognize everything evil as coming from him. At a more profound level though, some writers see this as Satan's fury at the Jews for having given birth to the Messiah whose death and resurrection, as we read in the Bible, sealed Satan's doom. Satan is just using humans in his fight against God's people. He is jealous for God having chosen these people to ultimately be a part of God's new creation, whereas he himself has been expelled from God's heaven.

(Janzen, page 16: Law Codes, 20:1-21, the Book of the Covenant 20:22-23:33, the Theophany at Mount Sinai, Chapters 19, 24)

Janzen, Page 233: A Vision for Worship - 25:1-31:18

Exodus 25:1-31:18 New Forms and Place of Worship

(Janzen, page 16: Divine Instruction to Moses for Building the Tabernacle)

As part of this new relationship with a God whom they are understanding in a new and different way, and who has given them a new name for himself, it makes sense that they now need to be shown how this God wants to be worshiped, compared to the different ways of worship of the nations around them and how they are to worship their God.

In this section of the story, God instructs Moses first of all, as to what the people are to bring as an offering to provide the materials from which to make all that they will need for worship (25:1-9). If you have read all of Exodus so far, you will remember that when the Israelites left, they collected a lot of gold, silver, jewels and other items of value from the neighbors who were just too glad to give them whatever they wanted so that they would leave and spare them any further trouble. This was after all of their firstborn sons had been killed. So, they have a lot of valuable material to bring to use in the making of the tabernacle and all the objects in it that are going to be part of their worship. The Children of Israel had been instructed to collect these items, and now you can see further how that was part of God's plan. This instruction is followed by detailed instructions for all the components of worship (25:10-30:38). Then God points out to Moses that he has selected some gifted and wise men to lead this major construction project (31:1-11). As we have said before, God always takes care of all of the details.

In 31:18, after God has finished writing everything down that he told Moses, he gave him two tablets of stone with it written on it. This is The Law, subsequently often referred to as The Law of Moses. Then Moses discovers that the people have already turned away from God because of his long absence when he was with God and God was giving him the law, and have created another God to worship, and smashes those tablets in his anger. He has seen this people complain and be disobedient so often that he is losing patience with them. Chapter 34:1-10 describe the remaking of those tablets and God promising to make a covenant with the people. God shows again that he has more patients then we humans do.

Exodus 34:10-26 The Covenant Renewed

Janzen writes on page 19 that "this outline is based on what God does. God saves and then commissions people to service; this is God's agenda. God is Israel's rightful master and wrests his people from the grip of the illegitimate master, Pharaoh. He "deliberately named the four major sections" with titles including salvation because, although Exodus is "indeed a story of great political-social relevance… The book also transcends such relevance by leading a liberated Israel into the new service of its rightful master." Furthermore, the use of the term salvation "is intended to link God's saving act in the OT to those in the New" as "God's aim" is to lead the people "all the way."

Janzen page 22

When the Israelites eventually get back to Mount Horeb, "just as Moses… was sent by God on the mission to deliver God's people, Israel is now invited by God to a mission… to become for God a priestly kingdom and a holy nation to the rest of the world (19:6).… They hear God proclaim God's will for the people in the form of the 10 Commandments." Eventually, Moses "leads Israel in a covenant-conclusion ceremony that includes a communion meal and a blood ritual," the re-institution of circumcision.

Then God gives Moses the detailed instructions regarding the building of a tent sanctuary to “accommodate the presence of the holy God amidst his people." Ultimately, the frequently complaining and rebellious people "are eager to carry out the instructions for building the tabernacle."

Janzen, page 233: Building for God - 35:1-40:38

The Account of Tabernacle Building, 35-40)

The details of this process to a large extent are a repetition of the details of the plans that were given to Moses by God in earlier chapters. This is actually summed up in 39:42-43. The result is that God comes down and his glory fills the place of worship that the Children of Israel have made (40:34-38).

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Themes that help show the unity of the book are:

i.                Israel's initial enslavement to a wrongful master moving to being "freely committed in covenant to their legitimate master, God."

ii.               Again, whereas "in the beginning the Israelites do force labor as builders for Pharaoh; in the end, they are builders again, this time freely and enthusiastically building for God.

iii.              In the beginning, this God is apparently absent; at the end, the cloud of God's presence settles over the Tabernacle in the midst of God's people. God has truly redeemed his people and brought them ‘to myself.’"

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Janzen summarizes the theology of Exodus as follows:

1.     God's Saving Initiative and Israel's Response - how do we respond to God's grace?

2.     Salvation as Change of Masters - Israel changes from being subject (slaves) to "a usurping tyrant versus service” (as privileged partners) of “the legitimate master… The book assumes that the service of God is in itself a form of freedom."

3.     Commissioning of a People - already assumed to be God's people and in covenant with him, this book simply describes "a renewal of the Abrahamic covenant through its redirection toward a special commission on Israel's part to be a priestly kingdom and a holy nation for the whole world." We as Mennonites and Anabaptists continue this reference to ourselves as the people of God. We often use the phrase "priesthood of all believers." This recognizes the roles that God has begun to describe here for the people of God. It also recognizes that we all have, at some levels, an equal role to play as individuals in the people of God, carrying out his purposes.

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4.     Grace in the Form of Law - "the gift of God's directives for a new and better life under a new master… Based on Israel's experience of God's gracious deliverance."

5.     Grace as God's Holy (and awesome) Presence "in the midst of a people who can live fully and happily only if that presence is properly acknowledged and all of life is oriented towards it."