STUMBLING INTO RELIGION
Several times the Israelites said that they would obey all God’s commandments. And yet we know that despite its good intentions, Israel failed to keep its commitment to obey. But while Israel slipped into disobedience, it grew in terms of religion.
It began even before the actual giving of The Law on Mount Sinai. Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments for forty days while the people waited below. Near the end of the forty days, the people became anxious for lack of someone visible to lead them. Moses had been their visible leader to that point, but now he was out of sight and they did not know what to do. What they did do was pressure Aron to That seems like a contradiction until you recognize that religion is what man designs, and obedience to commandments is God’s design. Consider these scriptures:
The resulting decline of obedience along with the growth of religion is the story of the Jews, and it is the story of Christians as well. The only difference is that the Jews know some of the history (it is reported in the Bible) and the Christians do not. What we mean by that is that Christians do not know that they are disobedient to the law, and Jews do not know that they created a new religion out of The Law that God gave to them.
The purpose of this article is to give a little history about how that all came to be and discuss the implications for both Jews and Christians
Sound confusing? It is, but God has given us his word that he will reveal deep mysteries to us. Pay close attention, however, because it is necessary to connect several dots to get to the truth.
Exodus 19:3-13 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “Lo, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD. 10 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, 11 and be ready by the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 And you shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, ‘Take heed that you do not go up into the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death; 13 no hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”
COMMENTARY: Three months (new moons) after deliverance from Egypt, God made his offer of a covenant relationship with Israel in verse 5: “Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Flush with gratitude for its deliverance, and filled with wonder over the miracles God had performed during the deliverance, Israel agreed to enter into covenant in verse 7 where it said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” They did this even though they did not know exactly what God would be expecting of them because the terms of the covenant (i.e. The Law which was to be obeyed) had not yet been revealed (i.e. spoken through God’s voice). In other words, Israel made a contract to obey God even though they did not know what God would require them to do.
APPLICATION: Israel’s response is not unlike the response everyone makes after being delivered from bondage into freedom. We are grateful for freedom and forgiveness while excited about the undefined new life we intuitively know we will experience. In this giddy state we are ready to agree to anything that God might require of us. We are ready to fully trust him for anything because of what he has already done for us.
We are fully ready to do this even though we do not at that point know much about God. He is as obscure for us as he was for Israel to whom he revealed himself in a thick cloud.
Upon Israel’s agreement to obey his voice and keep his covenant, God commanded that the people be consecrated (i.e. made holy, set apart through repentance), and he appeared to them on the third day. It is important to note here, that all references in the Bible to three days are symbolic of death and resurrection as is best revealed in the case of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Then God does a strange thing when he sets boundaries on the mountain. Symbolically, the mountain represents God, so it is hard to understand how he could first invite Israel to be his own possession and then warn them to keep their distance from him with warning that people who try to approach him (i.e. touch the mountain) would die.
At first this command seems to contradict God’s desire to be in covenant relation with Israel. But when we look at it from God ‘s point of view it is fully consistent with his desire for people to love him and serve him unconditionally and without reservation. We need to look at it with spiritual understanding — not literal interpretation that sees only physical death as the consequence of crossing the boundary to touch God.
A spiritual view says that the command is a test to reveal how much the people do trust him and love him. Those who do love him without reservation will be willing to die in order to touch him (i.e. know him intimately). This is fully consistent with New Covenant principles about spiritual death leading to spiritual life.
But, with respect to the issue of the law being a stumbling block, we find that there is even more to the story than spiritual death and resurrection. On a much deeper level of symbolism we see that this story begins to expose the terms of the New Covenant that Jesus came to mediate. We must not make the mistake of thinking, however, that it was impossible to be in a New Covenant relationship with God before Jesus came in the flesh. We must keep in mind that before Jesus came in the flesh we was very much present in the Spirit and that from the beginning of the Bible, he mediated that New Covenant relationship.
And that brings us to the subtlety of the law as a stumbling block. There are two ways to obey the law: 1) Religiously — as a matter of form or ritual. 2) Spiritually — as a matter of the law being written on your heart.
God knew that, while in Egypt, Israel observed and (no doubt) practiced religious behaviors that included worship of various types of gods in temples where religious priests designed and controlled all the worship. Since that was the model of religion that Israel knew, God knew that Israel’s tendency would be to engage in similar types of worship even while thinking it was worshiping him. That is why one of his commandments was that Israel should have no other gods before him.
Exodus 24:1-8 And he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abi’hu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship afar off. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the LORD; but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.” 3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he 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.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
COMMENTARY:
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