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."

The Story of How The Story of The Bible Became The Story of The People Of God V. Part II. The People’s Delivery from Egypt (Moses)

2016 4 24

2. The Commissioning of Moses (3:1-7:7) continued (again, I am drawing on Waldemar Janzen's Genesis in The Believer's Bible Commentary, subsequently referred to in the instalment below with the appropriate page reference as, e.g., Janzen 82 ff.)

Exodus 4:18-20 Moses gains his father-in-law's permission to return to Egypt. Interestingly, there is no record of Moses telling Jethro about his most important encounter with God in the desert. This would appear to be particularly worth paying attention to as we have read that his father-in-law was a priest, so it would seem reasonable for his son-in-law to consult with him to discern about matters such as this. Furthermore, we read that Jethro did provide some help in terms of leadership to Moses later on when they met in the desert after the Children of Israel left Egypt, so we know that Moses did value his wisdom. Indeed, one wonders whether the preparation that perhaps Moses had spiritually doing his years with Jethro and his family had something to do with God's choosing Moses' tribe as the priests for The Children of Israel, although it was Moses' brother Aaron who was given the leadership here. Perhaps the writers simply thought we would understand that this was discussed as the reason for Moses leaving, although what the text says is that Moses asked to be allowed to go back to his relatives in Egypt and see whether they were still living (4:18).

Here we again have the Lord repeating to Moses, "Go back to Egypt; for all those who were seeking your life are dead." Supposedly this should reassure Moses and remove one of his fears about returning to Egypt on this mission God is sending him on. Does this saying also sound familiar to something that was said about someone else in the Bible? Look in the New Testament at Matthew 2: 19-21. You will remember that when the wise men came from the East and told King Herod they were looking for a new king that was born he, in his jealousy, had ordered all the baby boys in the area to be killed to preserve his own line. Jesus' parents had fled with him to Egypt to save his life. In these verses in Matthew, Jesus' father Joseph is told to return to Egypt for those who sought his life are dead. Now he was going to be free to grow up to do his task.

Moses, like other Old Testament characters, as we have said before, is often seen again as a type of Jesus, and this is one of those parallels in their lives. He is now free to go back to Egypt to do his task.

4:27-31 Moses had complained to God in 4:10-17 that he was not a good speaker so how could he persuade Pharaoh to let his people go. God had said he could use his brother Aaron as his mouthpiece. Here we read of Moses meeting Aaron and telling him everything. Then they meet with the "elders of the Israelites" and "Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs in the sight of the people. The people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had given heed to the Israelites and that he had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped." It seemed that Moses and Aaron had gained the trust of the leaders of the children of Israel so they were on side with the plans to leave Egypt. Now they just had to convince the king.

6:2-9 Janzen 97 ff. - In the preceding passages, Moses and Aaron had gone to Pharaoh to ask for the release of the Hebrews. All that had done was make their work harder, which had cause the people to turn against Moses. When Moses complains to God about all of this, this is the answer he gets:

"I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as ‘God Almighty,’ ‘El Shaddai,’ but by my name ‘THE LORD,’ ‘YAHWEH,’ I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites who the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the Israelites,' I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.' Moses told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery."

So, here we read of God again identifying himself as the God of his ancestors who had “established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens.” (verse 4) He tells Moses to tell the children of Israel that “I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm in his mighty acts of judgment. I will take you my people, and I will be your God… I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." (verses 7-8) God is now making it clear that all of this action is because he is continuing to honor his covenant commitment with Moses' ancestors. They had become a numerous people, which begins to fulfill one of the promises, but they were still up in their own land. Furthermore, we are not sure that they were existing in much of a relationship at this time with the God who held his covenant with them. Just the same, God is promising to do was responsible party to a covenant would do when the other party is in trouble, which Israel is. He has not forgotten them and his covenant with them, although they may have. Now he is stepping up to take the next step in what this covenant relationship is going to be. He will free them, deliver them, redeem them, take them as his people and be their God. When Moses conveys this message to the children of Israel though, unlike the first reception Moses and Aaron had when they met with the Hebrew elders, this time they cannot hear the message "because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery." (Verse nine)

So here, for the first time in Exodus, the language of the covenant reappears. The same promises that we have seen given to the ancestors named here, are now repeated to Moses to be passed on to those descendants. However, just as The Pharaoh's heart has been hardened and he is not inclined to let the people go, the Israelites themselves now are no longer able to believe that Moses can do anything for them. Moses’ task is getting harder.

We have spoken of Moses as a type of Jesus. Do you see further parallels here between the story of Moses and the story of Jesus? We mentioned one of those parallels right at the beginning of the stories of these two individuals, referring to both King Herod and the Pharaoh wanting to kill baby boys.

Remember that Jesus also was not received by the leaders of his day. Indeed, he was rejected by his own people overall for the most part. He did indeed do a great saving work for us, just as Moses was to help God perform for the Children of Israel. However, perhaps like with Moses and Aaron, it was not until another spokesperson, Aaron, was identified, who became the Chief Priest and therefore the ancestor of all the subsequent Jewish priests, that God's plans were able to be accomplished. Jesus himself is referred to in the New Testament as a High Priest, and we as believers, Christians, are referred to as his children and also as priests. It is through his descendants that the church has grown to become what it is today. Just as Moses needed a spokesperson to accomplish God's tasks, Jesus needs us as his spokespersons in the world to carry on his mission.

Janzen 40

Another way in which Moses and Jesus are similar in that both were used by God to carry out missions of salvation through liberation from enslavement. As recorded in Luke chapter four, where Jesus was quoting Isaiah 61, he states that his mission was to free the prisoners and liberate the captives etc. That is what God is doing with his people here in Egypt under Moses as well. The difference here in Exodus is that the liberation, salvation, consist of one people whereas under Jesus liberation and freedom from oppression is available to all. Thus, the book of Exodus has been held up by the oppressed such as black slaves, or poor laborers in Third World countries, to show that God is on the side of the poor and oppressed and resists oppressors like Pharaoh. Here, all of this is included in the language of covenant faithfulness though, but that is something we have come to understand also applies to the church. Thus, Exodus also contains "a specific message regarding election, covenant, obedience and service."

Going back to the story and the resistance Moses was running into both with the Pharaoh and his own people, we read that in spite of all that, and God's bringing 10 plagues on Egypt until they were finally at a point where the Children of Israel were allowed to go free, they were delivered. The actual story of the beginning of that begins in Chapter 11 through 12. This included the institution of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as well as a return to the consecration of the firstborn, as described in chapters 12 and 13. Chapter 14 – 15:21 is a story of their ultimate delivery from Egypt with the crossing of the Red Sea - for God had miraculously opened up the waters for them to pass - and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army by the returning waters when they tried to pursue the children of Israel into the sea.

Chapters 15:22 to 19 tell the story of the beginning of their travels towards the promised land and their arrival at Mount Horeb for worship, now referred to as Mount Sinai, which, you will remember, God had promised Moses was the sign by which he would know that God was really calling him and empowering him to do this. Chapter 18 is a different part of the story, describing how Moses is reunited with his family and also gets some advice from his father-in-law, whom you will remember was a priest, about who how to delegate the work of being a judge in Israel.