15: A song unto the Lord. This song has war-like imagery and diction. It supports the claim that God fights for us and is our protector. In verse 2, the translations differ between "might" and "song." To me, these two words are very different. But, I'd like to think that when the people sang, it became their encouragement and strength for their soul. The Old Testament has many instances were God is out "warrior." In today's world, I feel that sometimes we get caught up in thinking that WE are HIS warriors and that we must fight for His victory. We forget that God is perfectly capable of defeating the enemy by Himself. The imagery of "the blast of your nostrils" (vs 8) and "you blew with your wind" (vs 10) goes back for me to creation; the giving and taking of life. There is so much praise given to God in this song! There is no talk of how we will worship you because you are great or general statements of his power. The people are specific and grateful. They do not talk about worshiping in the song, they do the act. I feel in today's world that the songs are very sentimental and surface level of praise. We repeat the same phrases over and over and never specifically tell God what He has done for us. I am not saying that making songs out of verse is bad, but putting personal experience into praise is what was traditionally done.
It is interesting that they name Miriam a prophet. There is no explanation for this, but I think it should be evidence to those that do not believe woman should have an authoritative role in the church. Miriam was considered a prophet. To me, that is much greater than a Shepherd or Deccan.
Then starts the complaining. In class, we talked about how some of the complaining might have been from the fear of their freedom. For years they were oppressed, and having to be out on their own is something new, they do not know how to handle making decisions on their own. This is also the first time in the wilderness God warns them about what he will do if they do not keep to his word and laws. Why the plagues were not enough to convince them, I do not know. The end image of a little oasis is pretty funny to me, that there just happened to be twelve springs of water for each of the tribes. How big was Elim? How did Moses keep up with all his people? Did some stay behind when they went into a city?
16: I don't know if people think it is or not, but the wilderness of Sin is not the name "sin" as in bad deeds, but pronounced differently, I forget what Dr. Pigott said, but I know it does not mean sin against God. Moses is wise when he challenges the people by saying, "your complaining is nor against us bur against the Lord." He is telling them that God is in control of their lives and they should not be so petty as to cry out from hunger. The Lord delivered them and they should have faith that he will provide. Moses reminds them constantly that the bread was from the Lord and not from him.
People say that manna fell from the sky. Though that is partially true, it was first dew. Not a substance like dew, it was dew. The passage does not include a comparison. The dew fell on the ground and when the sun rose the next morning, God turned it into bread. So in theory it fell from the sky, but not directly.
If I were Moses I would be furious with the people of Israel. Moses will give them a command, straight from God! and they will not follow his orders. Do they think God does not know what he is doing? Or do his commands differ from their past methods? It just slays me that they disobey every time.
19: How much time is three new moons? Three months? It has been a while since the people of Israel entered the wilderness. I think it was very wise that God wanted to speak with Moses in front of the people to renew their trust in Moses. God understands that the people may doubt Moses, so to prevent further disobedience, He gives them direct evidence that Moses is leader.
The definition of consecrate includes words like declare, dedicate, devote. The Israelites had to alter their way of living for three days in order to prepare for the Lord's coming. What if we did that in today's society. We say God is with us when we worship. So, on Sunday's God will appear. We must, on Friday and Saturday, consecrate ourselves for His presence. I doubt anyone could do it. In class, we talked about worship being an ACTION. How when we go to worship God, the perspective has shifted from us praising God to fulfill our needs than us praising God for his fulfillment. We should not expect to "get something out" of worship because we are suppose to be worshiping God. If you are giving yourself to Him while praising, then it does not matter if you have instruments or raise your hands. This shouldn't be about our comfort, it should be about God's glory. This subject of preparing yourself for the Lord is really challenging me lately. Today, I did not go to church because I have loads of homework. Does that mean I am not making an effort to draw close to Him? I can rationalize an answer in my mind that good grades will bring Him glory because he gave me the mind to accomplish the task. But, why do people stress "coming close" to God? If I believe in my heart the He is Lord and that I would give my life for Him and I have that peace that He is in control, then why do I have to struggle to know Him so well? I honors we are discussing hard questions that puts God's authority in jeopardy (don't tell Copeland I told you...) and I want to know why we have to ask ourselves those questions? Why is innocence of the truth not okay, if it can uphold my faith? [that was a really big rabbit, and there's a lot more on my mind but that'll be for another day]
The smoke around the mountains makes me picture the Hobbit in my head... I can see why God would warn the people against "breaking through." He knows they disobey and the chance to see God in all His glory, some would rationalize, is worth death. However, humans today would be more apt to break through because we know if we die we would go to heaven, but that is not so during this period. God was being compassionate on the people by preventing them from coming up the mountain.
20: This chapter begins with the ten commandments. (there will be a separate entry for those) Different traditions number the verses differently, but they all include the same "rules." I think it's odd that Moses straight up tells the people that God was testing them. In psychology, a double blind experiment is the most effective because bias against the result is less likely to occur. Here, Moses ruins the whole effect. If I were an Israelite, I would not take God's power so seriously, knowing it was only a test. In my mind, I would be pushing back to see if God really would punish.
I love that God creates the alter out of earth and of natural stone. He does not want man-made worldly things upon an alter that will be used to worship Him.
These chapters open a little light on how the Israelites praised God and how they followed (or did not follow) His commands.
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