Psalm 119:25-32 Act 17:16-34
“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:2
Last week was the beginning of a series in which I intend to explore the Mosaic Law. And even though I began with our popular notion of “Ten Commandments” and will seek to explore each one in some depth, my prayer is that we can broaden the scope of our understanding so that we may begin to understand more of how the Lord has revealed Himself and why.
A pretext to all of this must be the life of Moses and how the Exodus came to be. It would not serve us well to jump into these so-called “Ten Commandments”, especially since these Ten are considered by some to be rather negative – “you shall NOT” – without a better understanding of how the Israelites got here. Besides, I think that the commandments, if examined more closely and prayerfully, will reveal more of what we can do rather than what we cannot do.
We know that Moses was born a Hebrew and we know that his mother placed him into a basket and floated him on the river since the pharaoh had decreed that Hebrew sons were to be destroyed by Egyptian midwives once born because the Hebrew nation was becoming great enough in number to be considered a national security threat.
Moses was rescued by the pharaoh’s daughter out of the river and raised as her son. He lived as an Egyptian until he was forced to flee for his life after striking and killing an Egyptian task master who was beating a Hebrew slave mercilessly. Moses wound up in Midian where he married, had a son, and began to live the life of a stock herder, tending to his father-in-law’s flock. Soon it was that the Lord called out to Moses and decreed that Moses would be the one who would lead this Exodus.
Why Moses? Even Moses himself questioned the Lord. Up to this time there had been no apparent knowledge that there was such a One as a Supreme God though we can reasonably assume that Moses had at least some knowledge of gods the Egyptians worshipped. So starting from nothing, the Lord makes Himself known to Moses in Exodus 4 by turning Moses’ shepherd staff into a serpent and making Moses’ hand leprous and then healing it. Moses then tried to protest that he was no eloquent speaker and would lack the ability to convince pharaoh to release the slaves, so the Lord told Moses that his brother Aaron would be his “spokesman” for this purpose. In the end, Moses was given his marching orders.
What I think Moses did not realize until much later was that his life from the very beginning was a divine plan already in motion. The Bible does not give us any idea how many Hebrew boys were killed by the midwives, but we do know that the midwives “feared God” and would not do it. Still, it is reasonable to assume that at least some children lost their lives right after birth in pharaoh’s vain attempt to control the slaves and their great numbers.
Notice the relationships that are being used. First of the all, the Lord has to establish Himself with Moses. Secondly, Moses already has a relationship back in Egypt not only with the Hebrews but also with the house of the pharaoh. It seems to me that if established relationships were not necessary, the Lord could have simply struck the Egyptian nation dead and the Hebrews could either take over the land themselves or just leave. What might have come from such a move? It would be impossible to say for sure, but we could be pretty sure that even with our fundamental knowledge of how relationships work in our own lives, this sweeping act may have accomplished very little in establishing the nation of Israel as the Lord’s own.
We must also be mindful of the fact that the time from Joseph until now is about 400 years. The Lord heard their cries as it is written, but there is no mention that the people cried out specifically to the Lord. But the Lord identifies them as “My people” so even though the people may have forgotten over the generations, the Lord has not. Now was the time to re-establish a relationship with Israel and reveal Himself once again.
Speculating about the 400 years of divine “silence” would be useless since there is nothing for us to fill the void with. For our purposes, however, we would need to consider that it is possible – in fact, very likely - that when life is running on an even keel as it may have been for Israel during much of this period and we are content with our lives, we tend to not have such a need for the Lord. We may offer Him a little prayer here and there and we will certainly offer Him our prayers while in church like we’re supposed to, but beyond that the silence might be as profound as this biblical period of apparent silence from the Lord.
It could also be just as easy to surmise that the Israelites in Egypt were exposed to Egyptian “gods” and were maybe even actively involved in the worship. If this were true, it would also provide a little relational background when Israel can see by their own lives and “sorrow” that these gods serve no useful purpose especially to those who need mercy the most. If these “gods” were real at all, they were only good for those whose lives were already in order. These were not merciful “gods”; they were self-serving “gods” if “gods” at all.
It is typical of human nature, however, that when things are not going so well and life tends to reach beyond our control, it is then when we need help. Suddenly we are able to remember childhood prayers and then just as suddenly, the Lord once again has a prominent place in our lives. That is, until things get back to normal.
“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. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. Exodus 20:4-5a
I suppose in many ways when we think of “foreign” gods, we might think in terms of statues. Many Protestants do not understand the use of statues in Catholic churches and have even maligned Catholicism in such a way as to infer “statue worship” in the Catholic Mass as “bowing down to them”, but this is far too narrow an interpretation – let alone application – of what this commandment speaks to us about today.
Irene Rubin is a political theorist who suggests that in the absence of any written policy, a conceived budget becomes the stated policy. That is to say, wherever the money is being directed and in what sums is a determining factor of what is considered important. In the United States, 60% of the federal budget is allocated to Social Security, Medicare, and federal and military retirement benefits. So even if there are written policies in place, it would be clear by the federal budget that old-age protection is what we seem to value most.
Consider our own spending priorities since money is a determining factor for most of us as to what we can or cannot do. Where does the lion’s share of our household budget go? What is most important to us? Or perhaps more telling, what are we most afraid of?
Or consider a life that is spiraling out of control as drugs, alcohol, and even sex as well as money are used as agents by which we seek to provide for ourselves some level of comfort that we can reasonably control. For most of the poor souls who suffer from such addictions, something is severely lacking in their lives and they will reach out for whatever is most convenient or handy in a vain effort to find some sort of fulfillment.
In the end we do know that no person and no single thing that is offered by this world can sustain us for long. As Jesus teaches us, thieves steal, moths eat, and rust destroys. And for those who have witnessed the death of a loved one, we even know that sooner or later all life in this world comes to an end.
Consider, however, that at a time when the American church shows to be in seemingly steady decline, United Methodist Reporter editor Robin Russell reports from Mozambique that even though the poorest of the poor in that nation have little to invest in the Church and the Church has seemingly invested little, Christianity in that tiny nation is thriving! Why is this?
Could it be possible that as they have so little, they are better able to appreciate the little things and be more susceptible to the Spirit working in their lives? Could it be that our American church is declining because we are distracted by the “gods” of this world that – at best – can only offer fleeting comfort? And that as soon as the “good” wears off from one, we move easily to the next worldly – and temporary! – “god” that will offer us whatever comfort we desire for the moment?
There is only One who is eternal, constant, and never-changing. The faith that Jesus teaches about that is built on a solid foundation is the faith that will sustain us in good times and bad. There is no mention whatsoever in the Bible in which we are promised riches, fame, fortune, and unending happiness and carnal satisfaction. In fact, we are virtually guaranteed a life of suffering IF we are faithful to the calling of the Lord.
The text clearly states that the Lord God is a JEALOUS God, but it is very important to understand that He didn’t just show up one day and make this proclamation. He has offered Himself to Israel through the hands of Moses to show them – AND EGYPT – who He is over a period of time and through a series of events. A relationship of trust was necessary to be established.
The carnal “gods” of this world which we encounter almost daily are never satisfied and will devour anything put forth, and nothing but emptiness, heart-ache, loneliness, brokenness, and pain will come forth from these “relationships”. These worldly, carnal “gods” are not “jealous”; they are SELFISH and self-serving. No good will come from such relationships primarily because there is nothing stable about them. These are not eternal, constant, and never-changing but are, rather, for-the-moment, intermittent, and EVER-changing from moment to moment and from generation to generation.
So even though the Lord God is a “jealous” God, there must be a sense of contentment and fulfillment that comes from serving YHWH because the satisfaction and fulfillment from such a relationship can never be taken from us by thieves, rust, or moths, and the service He expects from us is toward one another, the kind of service that gives life rather than destroys it.
“You will have no other Gods before me.” This is not a threat or an ultimatum. It is a promise and a blessing.
AMEN.
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