Come Follow Me with Sam

  Welcome! No post this week! Look at  the last post  here if you missed it. Have a great study! 

 Welcome! The summum bonum of Exodus. Exodus 20 is in a way the summit point of the entire book. This is where God offers to the people of Israel everything, even to come back into his presence. It was also a fulfilling moment of the promis of Abraham that through this people the whole earth would be blessed. This had deep ties to the priesthood. I talked about this year during our reading in Section 84 , check it out to understand better the connection. In Chapter 19, God, through Moses, warns that this cannot be taken lightly. To approach the presence of God when not ready is to risk one's life. This can be very intimidating to those who understand it, but it misses the point. God wants us and is preparing us for this moment, and is hastening the day that we can do this. It is up to us to be part of this hastening ourselves, so that God can 'quicken' us, so that we can endure His presence. In the temple ceremony, where we ritually enact this, it is not a process to test ...

Welcome! Exodus as a Liberation Chiasm As we are about to reach a pivotal point in the book of Exodus I think it is a good time to point out that the book of Exodus is the story of the liberation of the Israelites from terrible bondage. It first tells the story of physical liberation from the hands of the Egyptians, then it tells the story of spiritual liberation from the traditions of the Egyptians. Chapters 14-17 help to emphasize the point that while the Lord has made His people physically free, They are not yet spiritually free. Once in the desert, they are angry with Moses enough to stone him. Knowing only bondage, they expect a God who will take care of them in soft bondage of having an easy life with all their needs provided for rather than the Egyptians who took care of them in a harder bondage of work. God does not want them to be in bondage at all, soft or hard. He wants them to be free. at this point they are free physically to go where ever they want. Unfortunately they fin...