Bible Discussion Thread

pt. 2

I love how God had Moses speak of God's greatness, power, and mercy in these verses that re-state the commandments. He did not just give out a set of commandments, but He wanted them to remember how He worked among them to deliver them from Egypt, doing miracles and showing great power and to know that He is a merciful God, who cares about them. He is not aloof, nor is He just an inanimate force-He is a Person with attributes that tell us what He is like in His Person and in His relation to the Israelites. He is the same today. He is a Personal God-God With Us-involved in our day to day lives and working in and through us to accomplish His will and pleasure in which He brings glory to Himself in all of His ways.

Moses reminds the Israelites how God spoke at Sinai. He used His voice. He demonstrated His Presence using things He created-fire, thunder, lightning, smoke, darkness, pillar of fire and of cloud, His glory was seen in the tabernacle. But these are His" coverings", His manifestations to show His Presence to the people. It is that we cannot perceive Him unless He reveals Himself to us in some way that is compatible with our human make-up. We SEE the visual manifestations. We HEAR His Presence. We experience His power and miracles. He wrote the commandments on the tablets of stone for all to see and read.

Vs. 24 speaks of their physical experience with God's Presence and, it says, they saw that God does talk with men and that He LIVETH. He is not an inanimate force or idol that can not do these things. They were terrified that if they continued to hear God's voice they would die. They were truly afraid that this experience of God would kill them, so they beseeched Moses to draw near to God on the mountain and hear what God says. Then he would come to them and speak what God said to him. They promised to hear Moses and to do what God commanded. God knew all that they had said to Moses and each other. He knew all of their thoughts and emotions.

pt. 3