Exodus 20

Exodus 20:19

Then they said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die."

 I've always wondered at the source of the Israelites' fear of God's voice at this point.  I see two main possibilities for that answer.  The first is that the Israelites feared God's power, having had many demonstrations of what He could do should they displease him.  He already did terrible harm to the Egyptians, and wiped out the Egyptian army for good measure, so they know full well what could happen to them if He should decide this was all a bad idea.

The second possibility is that they feared God's holiness.  For this, I take my example from Isaiah, when he sees God.  He realizes that he is unclean, and unworthy to be anywhere near God, and fully expects to die for the simple act of being within sight of Him.  Here God had just spoken directly to the entire nation, giving them their first rules, and they know full well that they're already in violation.  So perhaps they are reacting out of fear that they are already judged and found wanting, and nothing they can do will change that, so they must maintain some type of separation between themselves and God, for their own safety.

I personally think the first option is more likely, but I wish the second were true.  Either way, it is clear that something has changed between then and today.  In modern Christianity, people long to hear from God, to have that booming voice tell them what they should be doing, how they should be living their lives.  I can't say that I've ever heard that voice, booming or otherwise, more than once in my life.  Yet in that yearning, we seem to have lost the reverence for God's holiness, the awareness that He holds the power of creation and destruction of anything should he find it unworthy (which by implicit definition is everything).  How would we lead our lives differently if we kept awareness of how powerful God truly is, and how unworthy we are to even be close enough for hearing His voice to be possible?  By grace he welcomes us in, and we tend to take that privilege for granted.

Exodus 19

Exodus 19:12

You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

Interesting how things have changed between the old covenant and the new. Here come God's people to Him, to receive His word and law, and one of the first things that happens is that they're restricted from coming near him. The very dirt of the slope was so holy through God's mere presence that it could not be defiled with their touch. Today, we seem to think that there are no boundaries, no limits to where we should go or what we should do. We are God's chosen, made heirs and children to Him, so we can do almost anything.

On the other hand, the Israelites had it much simpler in many ways. They know that there is a specific line that they cannot cross, and they know the exact penalty if the break the rules and go there. The fences are clearly visible, where everyone knows them precisely. Today, the fences are much more difficult to see. The writings of the New Testament are much more loosely defined in what is and is not permitted. There is great discord in the meaning of what is written; is this passage stating fact or metaphor, stern condemnation or cultural-laden hyperbole? On that day at Mt. Sinai, the boundaries were literal; today, they're a smudge on a map, which might not even be there.

Exodus 18

Exodus 18:21

Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.

Maybe it's because primary elections were yesterday, and here in Texas we elect our judges, but this verse caught my attention. Specifically, a couple things here were of particular interest. I'll try to keep this as far from a critique of modern politics as I can.

The first was the criteria for leaders. To begin, leaders must fear God. Any leader who does not honor God will easily become prideful, and try to rule in God's place instead of guiding based on His law. The second is that he be a man of truth. One can be a wise guide of others, but have a nasty evil streak himself (for example, ) which he sees no problem with, as long as it "does not affect his public work." The third is that he must hate dishonest gain. This is almost synonymous with the second, but not quite. Many people can are men of truth, but just kinda look askance (or the other way) when a friend breaks the rules.

The other thing of interest was the division of leaders. You have judges for thousand, hundred, fifty, and ten. I wonder how things would be different if we were to divide our leadership this way. In my department at work, we have leaders of about six, then a leader of 20, then a leader of 50, and a leader of 1000, so we're not too far off. However, at churches today, we have leaders of hundreds, for the most part. If you were ask me who my "leader of ten" was, I couldn't tell you. There's the top leadership staff, and few people at lower levels (though in my case, all those lower levels are also staff, so I don't know if that counts or not). I wonder if our churches would improve if we divided things out more cleanly, so that everyone knew who to talk to with any questions or issues. I think at the least, it would make things much easier on Jim.