Exodus Part 13 God Takes a Wife
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Exodus Part 13 – God takes a Wife
May 29, 2016
Bo Weaver at The Bridge Church in Wilder, KY
As you might have guessed from the video, we are talking today about the Ten Commandments.
We resume our study of the book of Exodus in chapter 19 and verse 1.
Exodus 19
In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.
A few things to point out from these verses:
“The mountain,” to which verse two refers is Mount Horeb, the mountain where God first called Moses to go to Egypt and demand that Pharaoh to let God’s people go.
You may recall that when Moses protested, saying;
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11
God responded by saying;
“I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” - Exodus 3:12
Some scholars believe that it was approximately one year from the time God first called Moses to go down to Egypt until he returned with the newly delivered children of Israel.
God was true to His word, as He always is.
I’m guessing that this was a little longer than Moses expected.
I’m also guessing that it was a bit more stressful than Moses imagined it would be – but then most impossible tasks are!
Think of it, one 80 year-old shepherd armed with his shepherd’s staff and God – secured the deliverance of some 3 million Israelite slaves from what was then the most powerful nation on the earth.
God had said, “This is how you will know I sent you; you will worship me on this mountain.”
And now here they are; Moses, along with 3 million former slaves arecamped at the base of that very mountain in the Sinai Wilderness.
God keeps His promises!
Verse 1 tells us that it is in “the third month” that the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sinai.
You might recall that when God instituted the feast of Passover, which is the commemoration of the event by which God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, that God said that this would be “the beginning months for the children of Israel.”
This inaugurated the Jewish religious calendar.
Every year in the first month of the religious calendar, the month Nisan (nee-sahn), the children of Israel would celebrate the Passover.
It is now the third month since their deliverance from Egypt and the next great event to take place will be God giving to His people the Ten Commandments.
We have all heard of the Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue.
The Ten Commandments arethe heart of the moral law of the Bible, also referred to in Scripture as the Law of Moses.
The Ten Commandments are also foundational to many of the laws in this country, as evidenced by their presence at the Supreme Court building in Washington.
As you walk up the steps to the Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of some of the world's law givers and each one is facing one figure in the middle — which is Moses holding the Ten Commandments.
As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on the lower portion of each door.
Inside the courtroom, you can see on the wall right above where the Supreme Court justicessit a display of the Ten Commandments.
We’ve all heard of the Ten Commandments and I believe we understand that these commandments given by God to his servant Moses informed the children of Israel what God requires of those who want to walk in relationship with Him, but today I want to suggest to you what many Jewish rabbis believe and that is the Ten Commandments are actually to be understood as wedding vows between God and His people, Israel.
When we consider to verses that precede the giving of the Law, they read like a proposal of marriage.
Look with me at verse 3 of Exodus 19:
Exodus 19
3And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children 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.
5Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6And 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.”
God says,“remember what I did for you?”
“I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.”
Delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt was only part of God’s objective.
He brought them out of bondage in Egypt in order to bring them to Himself.
He says;
“... if you will keep my covenant.”
That is the essence of what a marriage is; it is the uniting of two lives into covenant relationship.
You can make a covenant with someone other than a spouse, but you cannot marry someone without entering into covenant with that person.
God says them;
“you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people.”
This is the language of love.
This is the kind of thing a man says to a woman he wants to marry.
The Ten Commandments do form the heart of the moral law of God, but I believe that the motivation behind them is more than just an attempt on God’s part to get people to straighten up.
I believe they are the vows God is proposing to the people with whom He wishes to enter a deep and abiding relationship.
I believe that in a relational sense, but certainly not in a sexual sense God is proposing marriage to the children of Israel.
V. 6
“These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
God is giving the message to Moses and now Moses goes back down the mountain to “pop the question” to children of Israel.
V. 7
7So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him.
Moses is climbing up and down the mountain relaying messages from God to the elders of Israel and from the elders to God until God knows the elders have accepted His proposal.
V. 8
8Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.
This is the “yes” God has been waiting for.
9And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.”
So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.
10Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
We see this in verse 8:
“Okay, get ready!”
“Wash your clothes, get all cleaned up. Look your very best because in three days there’s going to be a wedding, the likes of which the world has never seen!”
V. 16
16Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Clearly, God decided to take care of the decorations personally.
17And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
19And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. 20Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Now we are ready for the ceremony.
When I officiate a wedding, after some opening remarks and the reading of some Scripture, we eventually come to the section called the vows.
VOWS
(I instruct the bride and groom to repeat after me)
I, (groom’s name), take you, (bride’s name), to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.
At the rehearsal I like to kid and say the correct answer is:
“I do.”
God elects to forego the opening remarks and gets right to the vows.
We see these in Exodus chapter 20.
Exodus 20
And God spoke all these words, saying:
2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3“You shall have no other gods before Me.
We know this as the first commandment; “no other gods before Me, the One true God.”
Reading these as marriage vows God is saying to the children of Israel;
“When you say ‘yes’ to Me you are saying ‘no’ to all other lovers.”
“You are pledging complete fidelity to Me, Your one and only God.”
That is not an unreasonable request of a spouse, is it?
In some vows the phrase “forsaking all others” is included.
Who would want to marry someone who refused to “forsake all other lovers?”
God want’s no less from His people.
Complete faithfulness must characterize this union the children of Israel are now entering with God.
The second commandment reads as follows:
V. 4
4“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Imagine getting married and following the wedding and the reception the time finally comes when you get away to leave for your honeymoon.
The bride goes into the bathroom to freshen up and to put on the negligee she has selected just for this occasion.
When the bride comes back into the room she sees that her new husband has put on the nightstand next to the bed a framed photograph of his old girlfriend.
How ludicrous would that be?
In the second commandment God reiterates that He expects faithfulness on the part of His people and He does not want them hanging on to the idols of Egypt, or to take unto themselves the idols of neighboring countries when they come into the Promised Land.
God simply does not want anyone or anything to come between Him and the people to whom He has pledged Himself.
God wants to be first in the hearts of those to whom He has pledged Himself.
No other gods, no idols, no counterfeits.
He wants a people who are faithful to Him.
I have to ask you; is God first in your heart, or have you allowed other things, or other people to take up space in your heart so that God no longer occupies the place of primacy in your heart?
It’s not always a bad thing that crowds God out.
It doesn’t even have to be sinful.
But if anything or anyone displaces God from first in your heart – that thing becomes an idol.
Again, God just wants a faithful and devoted bride.
Verse 7 contains the third commandment.
7“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
How many believe taking the Lord’s name in vain has to do with using God’s name as a swear word or in a casual or disrespectful manner?
I believe this commandment does forbid such use of God’s name, but if we are viewing these commands as wedding vows, how else might this commandment apply?
When a woman marries a man, even in 2016, it almost always involves the taking of that man’s last name, does it not?
So, what would it mean to take that person’s name in vain?
I believe it would include taking that person’s name, but not living out the covenant relationship into which you have entered.
This could be being legally married but not being emotionally or even physically available to that individual.
It could involve being married but not living like you are married.
Or, it could be being married to a person but living in such a way as to dishonor that person in some way.
It could be failing to live up to the covenant nature of the relationship of which taking a person’s name speaks.
It can go both ways.
When a man marries a woman who takes his name, that man has an obligation to provide for and protect that woman.
Covenant speaks of the complete sharing of your life with another person.
It speaks of devotion and commitment.
God entered into a covenant with Abraham.
But before Abraham was Abraham his name was Abram.
God changed his name.
Abram means exalted father, while Abraham means father of a multitude.
Not only does the name change speak of God’s promise to multiply Abraham’s descendants, but the letter “h” is the most dominant sound in the personal name of God.
We really don’t know how to pronounce the personal name of God.
It was regarded by the Jewish people as so sacred and holy that it was not spoken aloud and so we have lost the pronunciation.
We know that it was represented in Scripture by the letter YHWH.
Some have transliterated this to Yahweh, but we really can’t be sure of the pronunciation, other than to say the h is part of the name.
When God entered into a covenant with Abram, he added the letter “h” to his name.
He did the same when He changed the name of Abraham’s wife from Sarai, to Sarah.
We do something similar in marriage.
The woman takes the name of her husband.
I believe the third commandment touches on this.
God is saying, “When you enter into covenant with Me you take my name, the way a wife takes the name of her husband.”
“Don’t take my name if vain.”
Be entering into covenant with God, the children of Israel would forever be known as the people of God.
In this covenant relationship God would be their God and they would be His people.
In the New Testament followers of Jesus first began to be called “Christians” in Antioch.
Christian in Greek means “little Christs.”
We who claim Jesus as Savior bear His name.
God says to us, “Don’t bare the name of my Son in vain.”
“If you are going to take His name, then represent it well.”
Again, this is a covenantal concept like that of a marriage.
We are viewing the Ten Commandments like wedding vows.
Verse 8 talks about the fourth commandment, which has to do with keeping the Sabbath.
8“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
Verse 11 tells us what is behind this commandment.
11For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
By keeping the Sabbath we are reminded that God created all that is.
It is a way of reminding ourselves that we did not create ourselves, but that we are the product of His creative power.
This allows us to be reminded that we don’t have value just by what we can produce, but by who made us.
In Egypt the children of Israel had value only by means of what they could produce for Pharaoh.