The following is possibly one of the best facebook notes I have ever read. It was posted by my fellow scholar Isaac Burch in the wee hours of the morning on May 2nd, 2011. I felt it was worth looking up and reading again.
I don't often write notes, but this was weighing on me.
Tonight it was announced that Osama bin Laden was killed. Initially, I found this exciting but for some reason I was filled with uncertainty. Bin Laden had killed thousands and deserved death so we should be excited, right? There were many on Facebook and elsewhere that were celebrating and I understand that this brings some closure for those who lost loved ones in the 911 tragedy and the resulting wars. Although it is a relief to know that this evil man will not cause any further death, all I feel though, is a deep sadness for the entire situation.
Bin Laden was an evil man who did hideous things, but that does not make his death worth celebrating any more than we would celebrate the death of his victims. Death is never a thing to be celebrated regardless of whose it is.
The universe and all that is in it is the masterpiece of the Master Artist. He created something beautiful, and loved it enough to let it choose whether or not to love him back. We chose not to. Now, because of our decision, His creation is tearing itself apart, and as his creation suffers, so does He. He doesn't have to. He could have simply wiped the slate clean and begun anew, but instead, He chooses to suffer with us even as we reject him.
God weeps with us as we weep for those murdered in the 911 attacks. God weeps with us as we weep for those who have lost their lives in the war. God weeps with us as we weep over the anguish which surrounds us.
And God weeps for Osama bin Laden as we celebrate his death.
When we murdered Christ, his blood bought the forgiveness of the entire world. Whether we choose to accept that forgiveness is up to us but this doesn't change the fact that God deemed our lives valuable enough to purchase with his own blood. When we celebrate the death and suffering of one whose sins were paid for by the blood of the Son of the Most High, we spit on His gift.
God led the Israelites through the desert. God wanted His people in the desert. He could have taken them along the coastal route, but He chose to lead them through the desert instead in order to test them.
The desert is a place of testing because in the desert you cannot make it unless you rely completely on God.
God didn't just want to see what His people believed and knew in their hearts; He wanted to see that belief put into action in their lives.
He appeared as a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night.
After traveling for two days, God led the Israelites to a well.
However, the water was bitter and they couldn't drink it.
The Israelites became angry and began to grumble against Moses.
God told Moses to put a stick in the well, and the water became sweet.
The place was named “Marah,” which means “bitter” because the water was bitter, and because the Israelites had a bitter spirit.
The Hebrew root of the word "Marah" also refers to "deliberate, defiant disobedience."
The Israelites failed their first test. They showed God what was in their hearts... and their hearts were bitter.
But God still chose to provide for their needs anyway, and showed them that they needed to rely on Him to heal them of their bitterness, just like he turned the bitter water sweet.
God led them away from "Marah" and they came to a place called Elim where there were twelve wells and seventy palms.
Bread from Heaven (16:1-36)
Later, the Israelites began to grumble against Moses again.
They wanted the food that they had back in Egypt.
God provided food for them.
He sent bread from heaven for them each morning.
Every evening, he sent flocks of quail through the camp.
When the Israelites first saw the bread from heaven lying on the ground, they said, “What is it?”
They named the bread “manna,” which means “What is it?”
The text says that the manna looked like “thin flakes of frost” ...so every morning God gave them Frosted Flakes...
God never gave them more than what they needed for the day – their “daily bread.”
When some of the Israelites tried to hoard the manna, it became infected with maggots. They were trying to rely on their own cleverness rather than on God's daily provision.
The Water from the Rock (17:1-7)
God led the Israelites to another desert.
There was no water and the people grumbled against Moses again.
Moses asked, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?”
Moses complained about them to God, claiming they were about to stone him.
God told him to go hit a rock with his staff.
When Moses did that, water began gushing forth from the rock and everyone had enough to drink.
Moses called the place “Massah and Meribah,” which means “testing and quarreling.”
The Amalekites Attack Israel (17:8-16)
The Amalekites attacked the Israelites.
They were the first people to declare war on Israel.
Joshua led the Israelites in battle.
Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill and watched.
Every time Moses lifted his arms towards heaven, the Israelites were winning, and every time he let his hands drop, they were losing.
Moses held up his arms towards heaven all day.
Aaron and Hur held up his arms for him when he became too exhausted.
Joshua defeated the Amalekites, but he didn't do it alone. He had Moses' help... and Moses didn't work alone either, he had the help of Aaron and Hur. And none of them would have succeeded if it weren't for the help of God.
Jethro Visits Moses (18:1-19:2)
The Israelites were on their way towards Mount Sinai in the land of Midian.
Moses’ family came from Midian to visit Moses out in the desert.
Moses told his father-in-law Jethro about everything that had happened in Egypt.
Jethro praised God and offered sacrifices.
The next day, Moses sat in the judge’s seat and all the people lined up to present their various cases and disputes to him.
By the end of the day Moses was worn out.
Jethro showed Moses how to set up a proper system of courts and judges, saying, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.”
After three months of desert wandering, the Israelites finally came to the desert of Sinai and camped at the foot of the mountain.
At Mount Sinai (19:1–20:21)
After three months in the desert, Israel arrived at Mount Sinai.
Also known as Mount Horeb.
We don’t know the location of Mount Sinai.
At Sinai, God meets with His people.
God makes a covenant with His people.
The Sinai Covenant added further to the Abrahamic Covenant.
If Israel would be faithful to Him, God promised to make them into a “kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”
God appeared on the mountain in a great cloud of smoke, with lightning.
The people were afraid and wanted Moses to be their intermediary.
Moses told the people what God said, and the people agreed that they would be faithful to the covenant.
The Ten Commandments (20:1-17)
1. You shall have no other gods before me…
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol…
3. You shall not misuse the Name of the LORD your God…
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy…
5. Honor your father and your mother…
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet…
More Laws (20:22–23:13)
Idols and Altars
Don’t make idols
Don’t make your altars really fancy…
Don’t climb up altars on steps… a.k.a., nobody wants to see up your robe.
Hebrew Servants
Set them free after seven years…
Personal Injuries
“…take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”
Protection of Property
If you steal someone’s sheep, you must pay them back four sheep…
Social Responsibility
“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.”
Laws of Justice and Mercy
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.”
The Sabbath Law
Farm the land for six years, let it rest in the seventh year
Work for six days, rest on the seventh day
God’s Angel to Prepare the Way (23:20-33)
“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.”
-- Exodus 23:20-21
“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.”
-- Exodus 23:27-30
The Golden Calf (32:1–33:6)
Moses was gone for a long time, and the Israelites began to wonder if he was ever coming back.
They went to Aaron and said they wanted a new god.
Aaron used their gold jewelry to make a calf for them to worship.
While Moses was still on the mountain, God told him what the Israelites were up to.
God said, “I’m going to go destroy them all and then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.”
Moses begged God to change His mind... and He did.
When Moses came down the mountain, he found the Israelites worshiping the golden calf.
He was angry and threw the stone tablets of God's Law to the ground and they broke.
Moses ground the idol up into powder and dumped it in the people’s drinking water.
Aaron lied to Moses about what happened.
The people were out of control.
Moses rallied the Levites to his side, and the Levites went through the camp and killed 3,000 of the rioters.
Moses and the Glory of the LORD (33:7-23)
Moses continued to have conversations with God.
Moses asked God to teach him His ways.
God promised that His presence would always go with them.
One day, Moses asked to see God’s “glory.”
“Then the LORD said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.’”
-- Exodus 33:21-23
The New Stone Tablets (34:1-28)
God commanded Moses to carve out new stone tablets to replace the ones Moses smashed.
God rewrote the Ten Commandments onto Moses’ tablets.
“Then the LORD said: ‘I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you…’”
-- Exodus 34:10
The Radiant Face of Moses (34:29-35)
When Moses returned from the mountaintop, he did not realize that his face was “radiant” from speaking with God.
The people were terrified of him.
Moses gave God’s commands to the people.
After Moses stopped talking, he put a veil over his face.
Moses would remove the veil when he would go and talk with God, and put it back on when he talked to the people.
The New Testament says that Moses wore a veil because he didn’t want the people to watch the glory “fade” from him.
Moses had horns?
When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, he misinterpreted “the radiance” of Moses to say “the horns” of Moses.
This is why art following this time period portrays Moses with horns.
The Ark (37:1-9)
Also known as the “Ark of the Covenant.”
Not to be confused with Noah’s Ark…
God gave them specific instructions on how to build it.
It is a wooden chest (like Noah’s ark)
It is overlaid with gold (unlike Noah’s ark)
There were two golden cherubs on top.
God told Moses that “the presence of the LORD” would come to rest between those two cherubs.
No one was allowed to touch it.
It was stored in The Most Holy Place (or Holy of Holies) in the Tabernacle.
Later, God told Moses to keep the 10 Commandments inside the ark.
The Tabernacle (25:1–31:18; 35:4–40:33)
God gave specific instructions on how to build the Tabernacle.
The Israelites were already familiar with this design, because it followed the same pattern that the Egyptians used for their tents of worship. Except, instead of Pharaoh standing in the Holy of Holies as a god; Yahweh, the God of Israel, was there in His rightful place.
The Tabernacle was to be God’s tent among all of the tents of the Israelites.
God’s presence would dwell in this tent – in the midst of His people.
God was trying to teach His people that he desires to live within us.
Layout of the Tabernacle
The Glory of the LORD fills the Tabernacle (40:34-38)
Similarities to Genesis 1…
In Genesis, there are seven commands from God to create the universe.
In Exodus, there are seven commands from God to create the Tabernacle.
In Genesis, God lives in His “house” - the universe.
In Exodus, God lives in His "house" - the Tabernacle.
The God who fills the whole universe chooses to live in a desert tent... within his people... within us.
“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
-- Exodus 40:34-35
