Taking care of your temple

Exodus has left the building. We are moving on to book #4 in our year.

Think about how precise God instructed Moses when it came to the construction of the tabernacle. The tabernacle wasn't even permanent, it was a movable sanctuary that the Israelites used during their desert wandering period. In the Old Testament, God's presence was much more centralized around a certain geographical area. Scripture often gives us accounts where His Spirit would fill a room or a certain place, such as Exodus 40:35.

Now, however, the New Testament tells us that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We who know this often think of our spirits being filled with His Spirit. This is true, but I also believe that Scripture teaches that our physical bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit as well. I Corinthians 6:19-20 says "19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

Just a thought: as followers of Christ who are walking temples shouldn't we be known as people who take care of our physical bodies? Are we careful what food we intake, what mental input we subject ourselves to, how much sleep we get? Or do we abuse our body for the sake of being 'spiritual'? I believe taking care of our physical bodies is an obedience issue.

Exodus
35 How to make the tabernacle
36 Making the tabernacle
37 making the tabernacle furniture
38 making the tabernacle/outside fixtures

39 what the priests are to wear
40 setting up the tabernacle/the Glory of YHWH
Lev
1 burnt offering instructions
2 grain offering instructions

3 fellowship offering instructions
4 sin offering instructions
5 sin offering instructions
6 priestly instructions for the offering

Leviticus 4 tells us in verses 13 & 14 that if a community of people unintentionally sins against the LORD, they are guilty. One of the interesting things about Scripture is GENERATIONAL SIN. On a personal note, one of the things that drives me to unite a generation in prayer in the US is to confess and repent the sins of our nation.

WHERE DID THEY GET THE GOLD?

So...here the Israelites are, on the run, in the middle of the desert. Moses goes up on the mountain of God, and the people get restless. Chapter 32 is the infamous 'golden calf' episode in the Exodus account. They pool their gold together (mainly earrings, 32:2) and Aaron melds it together into the shape of a calf that they worship.

But remember, they were slaves to the Egyptians for 430 years. Where did they get enough gold to make this calf, and why a calf? Remember Exodus 11... "Now the LORD had said to Moses... 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold." 3 (The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.)" Other passages God mentions to Moses that they will plunder the Egyptians on the way out.

Mmmm...so God blesses the Israelites through the giving of the Egyptians, and then they turn it around and worship a man-made god in the form of a calf, which harkens back to the Egyptian religious culture they were previously immersed within. But it's worse than that. Aaron in v. 5 says to the people, "When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, 'Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.'"

So not only did they worship another god, but they mixed their Egyptian theological influence with the true God, YHWH.

What's happening right now economically in the US is a reminder that for followers of Christ our blessings, if turned against God, hurt ourselves more than anything else. When you are financially blessed it is easy to mix faith in finances and also the Giver of all things.

Today is Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance and sorrow. Today I'm repenting for the sins of our nation financially, but most importantly my own sinfulness in this area of trusting in the gifts rather than the Giver.

The Sabbath is the Sign

(Just so you know, if you are on track Wednesday February 17th you are reading Exodus 35-38.)

When reading the Bible, especially the Old Testament, it's easy to misunderstand the context of the story and wonder why something seems so important that comes out of nowhere. The Sabbath can be like this. God can seem unusually harsh in His punishment for not obeying the Sabbath.

But when you understand the covenant agreement that He made with Israel, you can easily understand why. A covenant, which was a standard practice in the Ancient Near East (ANE), is somewhat parallel to our modern day contract, but with much more weight behind it. A covenant came with several ritualistic components, which we don't have the time here to get into. Dr. Jim Garlow has a great book on the meaning of this ancient practice and it's foreshadowing of Christ's new covenant in his death and resurrection. I highly recommend it. It's called 'The Covenant.'

But when you read through this section that we are in you realize that the Sabbath is the sign of the covenant. (read 31:13) In other words, God offered to fulfill His end of the bargain, and the primary way in which the Israelites upheld their end of the deal was by obeying the Sabbath. It seems rather odd, because God's command to the people was in essence was to do nothing.

However, when you sit back and think about it, the Sabbath is one of the things that set the Jews apart from everyone else in the ANE. For example, the Sabbath and 7 day week was revolutionary at the time because they were the only ones who practiced this rhythm of the calendar. And taking a day off really set them apart. For them it is no different for us today, taking a day off every 6 days reminds us that we can't do it all. it's a weekly reminder that God needs to be in control of our lives.

So this Sabbath component to the covenant agreement makes sense because God is acclimating them to a different culture, a culture that is completely different than the one that surrounded them in Egypt. Instead, God is establishing at the beginning of their new relationship with Him that as His people they are to be 'set apart', or holy unto God in all they do. He is establishing this in their cultural practices.

***By the way, the 2 tablets didn't contain 5 commandments each on them, as movies would have us believe. Instead, on each tablet were all 10 words of God. Why? Because in the ANE it was standard that when a covenant was established between 2 parties, there would exist a copy of the agreement for each. So the 2 tablets had the entire copy on them, one for the Israelites, one for YHWH.

Chapter summaries:
Exodus
23 various laws/God's angel
24 the people confirm the Covenant with God
25 Tabernacle instructions (furniture)
26 Tabernacle specifications

27 rules for inside the Tabernacle
28 priestly garments
29 ordaining the priests
30 Tabernacle instructions (atonement money)

31 the Sabbath is the sign
32 Golden Calf
33 Moses' tent of meeting
34 New Tablets and Moses' radiant face

Tomorrow I will talk about something you may never have thought about before in the familiar story of the Golden Calf.

God on the mountain

Exodus 19 is one of the most mysterious passages in the Bible. I wish I was able to more fully understand it. I mentioned in a previous post (back in Exodus 3) about being challenged by a professor in college on what I would choose as my 10 most important chapters in the Bible. Chapter 20 would definitely be in that list, as it is God's "ten words" as the Hebrews call them.

We begin to get into a mixture of law and history/narrative woven together throughout the rest of Exodus. We've reached a turning point in which the Israelites are free physically from the Egyptians, and are being led by God. They are about to face many challenges and tests. Many times I've noticed that when God does a great work in our lives it is followed by a time of struggle and testing. Many times we will hear (as we have already heard) the people of God wanting to go back to the comfort of living in Egypt. The same can be for us, although it's not as tangible.

We can easily revert back to ways of living and thinking that are unbiblical and ungodly, but God wants us to live as free people, with no 'shackles' of bondage that hold us back. Whatever you may be going through right now, remember that if your life is surrendered to Him, you will always heading towards better days.


Exodus
19 God on the mountain
20 The 10 Words
21 Laws for the people
22 Laws for the people (property and social)

Moses goes from prophet to leader

When reading these passages, I saw something new this time. In Exodus 11:3 the text tells us that Moses was highly regarded by Pharaoh's officials and the Egyptian people. This is an interesting insight and changes my previous view of the story. I had thought that all of the Egyptians held Moses in contempt, but rather they held him in high regard. Funny then how one man, Pharaoh, held Moses and his people hostage and all the Egyptians had to suffer because of his poor leadership.

A lot of interesting things happen in this part of the Exodus, one of them being the contrast in leadership that we see between Pharaoh and Moses. At the end of today's reading we see Moses' father-in-law help Moses go from being a prophet to being a leader, a delegator. John Maxwell, a guru on leadership says that Exodus 18 is "the day Moses became a leader".

God gave Moses a message, and then He provided those around him that helped Moses to govern and lead the people. Chapter 18 shows us a template with which to help people delegate to lead large groups of people in an orderly fashion.

You may also have noticed the small emphasis given to the way God used the Egyptians to financially bless the Israelites on their way out of the land. More about that in the near future. But don't forget that important fact, it becomes something important in the story later.

My chapter summaries:

Exodus

11 the firstborn die in Egypt
12 God establishes the Passover/Israel leaves Egypt
13 Israel crosses the sea of Reeds
14 Israel crosses the sea of Reeds
15 all Israel praises God through a song
16 God provides daily bread (manna & quail)
17 God provides water & victory over the Amalekites
18 Jethro teaches Moses to delegate

Heading into Exodus

Sorry it's been a few days since I posted on the readings. Life has been a little hectic the last week or so, but I'm still hanging in there. I hope you are too. But remember, if you are behind, it's not that hard to catch up because of the weekly set up with the weekend giving you time to catch up and review.

We head out of Joseph's life, leaving Genesis, and moving into Exodus.


Genesis
47 Joseph rescues Epypt
48 Joseph's sons become Jacob's
49 Jacob blesses his sons/Jacob dies
50 Joseph reminds his brothers he loves them/Joseph dies

Exodus
1 God's people become slaves in Epypt
2 introducing Moses
3 Moses is called by God (burning bush)
4 Moses is given a sign and a mouthpiece, his brother Aaron
5 Moses confronts Pharaoh, things get worse
6 God reassures His promise of deliverance
7 The plagues begin: blood
8 frogs gnats and flies o my
9 animals, boils, hail
10 locusts and darkness

Exodus 3 could possibly be in my top 10 chapters in the Bible. I remember one of my professors asking us as students to pretend we could only have 10 chapters of the Bible, and to rationalize which ones would we choose. It was a great exercise and forced us to think what times in Scripture stand out as extraordinary. This episode in Scripture is pretty spectacular, and God reveals Himself in a new way to Moses and as a result to humanity. By the way, this is one of the most studied and written about chapters in all of the Bible.

Maybe you've heard it said, but burning bushes weren't uncommon in this time and geography. What is different is that Moses pauses long enough to notice some that is ordinary (a burning bush) and common become uncommon and holy (God's presence in the ordinary).

Perhaps you've been there, on an ordinary day you see an ordinary moment become supernatural and set apart by God. 'Holy ground' moments are to be treasured. But sadly, many times they are missed because we are too busy looking or waiting for the extraordinary rather than the ordinary.

Even the plagues, believe it or not, can be attributed to natural geographical occurrences in the region of Egypt, according to many scholars. (the main exception of course, is the last plague of the firstborn death). Those in tune with the Holy Spirit today can see the unseen movements of God in and around their lives in the common things and sometimes peculiar timing of the twists and turns of life.

Joseph

Gen
39 Joseph is framed by Potiphar's wife
40 Joseph interprets dreams while in prison
41 Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream and becomes 2nd in command of Egypt
42 Joseph reunites with his brothers
43 Joseph's brothers return to Egypt
44 Joseph tests his brothers
45 Joseph reveals himself
46 Jacob reunites with his favorite son

Biblical accounts will often thread a concept or idea in a story or emphasis. I don't think it's a coincidence that Joseph's cloak is a centerpiece of his story. At his introduction in Genesis, we learn that he was given a very valuable and significant gift from his father Israel in the form of a coat. His brothers were envious and later used it against him. And in Gen 39 we see Potiphar's wife taking his cloak and using it against him. Then later, Pharaoh gives Joseph robes of fine linen. (Gen 41:42)

In the Ancient Near East, your robe or cloak represented a lot of your identity. Remember, people didn't have numerous coats like most people have today. Each coat or cloak was original and different, and its owner sort of formed an identity with this piece of clothing, and it came to represent that person. It was customary in fact that when two people entered into a covenant (an ancient form of agreement) they would exchange coats as a symbol of exchanging or taking on the other person's identity.

So Joseph's identity changed in his story in Scripture between receiving his coat from his father, to it being taken by Potiphar's wife, and then given by the most powerful person in the land. These first two 'setbacks' involving his coat/identity were set ups for something greater later on in his life.

Joseph in chapter 45 tells his brothers that it wasn't them who had sent him away, but rather God. Others may be mistreating you, but remember you never know how God might be working through any circumstance in life.