THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST: GENESIS AND EXODUS (23)

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Key Passage: Exodus 20

	CHAPTER 19			CHAPTER 20
A Promised Blessing	A Prepared People	A Powerful God	Four Commands Godward	Six Commands Manward
	The Setting		The Ten	Commandments

OVERVIEW Israel could scarcely be called a nation. Up to this point, she’s just a vast group of unorganized people. Self-government was impossible in Egypt, and as yet there are no laws. But at Mount Sinai, in a setting designed to remove distractions and focus attention on God, the people received their charter as God’s chosen nation. After declaring their willingness to obey the commands they are about to receive, the Israelites spend two days preparing themselves to hear God. On the third day, beginning with an awe-inspiring display on Mount Sinai, God delivers the spiritual and moral principles by which the nation’s social and religious life will be conducted.

The tablets at Sinai were given to show

the need for the cross at Calvary.

OUR DAILY WALK "The Christian life is a bunch of dos and don’ts!" "The Christian life is liberty to do as I please!"

To be sure, in Christ there is freedom from bondage to sin and release from the guilt of past failures. But liberty does not mean license to live as you please. Just because the Israelites were free from Egyptian slavery did not mean they were free to follow their every desire. God still wanted them to live as His chosen people, so He gave them rules for their daily conduct – not a list of dos and don’ts to spoil their fun, but a series of commands for their protection and profit.

Imagine what a football game would be like without rules: no boundaries, no clock, no referees, no time limit. And probably no fun. Rules are essential for the enjoyment of life.

Read your way slowly and thoughtfully down the list of commandment in today’s reading again. Try to think of at least one reason why each command would make your life happier or safer if you kept it unquestioningly. Is there one you need to work on?

INSIGHT What Was the Hike up Sinai Like?

Mount Sinai is best identified as Jebel Musa, a 7,363-foot peak on the southern end of a mountain ridge two miles long and one mile wide. Before it stretches a plain adequate to hold Israel’s camp.