Deuteronomy 5

Indeed, as I suspected yesterday, it looks like Moses is going to reiterate the law as a reminder to the Israelites of how they are to act in the Promised Land. Today covered the ten commandments, and a description of how the law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai.

I don't remember if I mentioned this during the original rendition of these ten laws back in Exodus, but the one that many modern Christians - myself included - disregard is the Sabbath. I've had jobs where I worked on Sunday (and Saturday, which may be a more accurate choice for a 'sabbath' since it is the end of our seven-day calendar week), and even now I often shop, travel, and do chores on that day. I would know for sure I was sinning if I broke any one of the other ten commandments, so why do I not feel the same way about the Sabbath? I wonder if it truly a law we need no longer follow, or if I just casually disregard it because of the era in which I live. I would be very curious to hear what others out there think on this subject!

Leviticus 25

Today's reading was all about Sabbath years for letting fields lie fallow, and Jubilee years. I've always been fascinated by the practice of giving back land to its ancestral owners, as the Israelites did every fifty years; in a capitalist society it seems so backwards, but as we have come into a period of financial crisis here in the US I can very much appreciate the idea of a periodic "reset" of assets. Returning land and freeing Israeli slaves would allow even the poor among their people to have a chance at getting back on their feet, but it only happened rarely so that people wouldn't become lazy and dependent on it. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the novelty and effectiveness of such a policy, though - after all, it was God's idea :)

Exodus 31

Oops - looks like I accidentally read ahead yesterday when I posted! God specifying craftsmen to head up the Tabernacle project is here in chapter 31, so I apologize for any confusion from those who read my last post.

The other main topic of today's reading is the Sabbath, which has been mentioned before as well. I've often struggled with this myself: does this still apply today? I know many Christians who won't do much at all on Sundays, taking that to be the modern Sabbath, but I myself find it hard to avoid any kind of work for a whole day. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to be lazy, I just have so much going on that I cannot imagine go 24 hours without getting anything done.

There is a phrase here that pertains to this question, though: verse 16 says "The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant" (NET). That only speaks to the Israelites, and while Christians are sort of the spiritual descendants of Abraham we are not (or at least many of us are not) directly related to them by blood. Does that mean that a modern Messianic Jew would need to observe the Sabbath, but the rest of us do not? I suspect I'll have to wait till I get to the New Testament to answer this in more depth.

Exodus 23

This chapter has some additional laws, along with guidance for observing the Sabbath and annual feasts. Toward the end there is also a description of how God will deliver the promised land to the Israelites, and it is a pretty amazing account. It is too bad that the Israelites didn't stick to the plan, or they would have had a fantastic existence: no miscarriage, full lifespans, no sickness, and enemies that would flee before them. Unfortunately they did not follow through with God's commands, as we will see in the coming chapters and books.

Exodus 20

Ah, a classic - the 'ten commandments'. These are pretty well known to most folks, and are a part of the foundation of modern Western law. The bits that particularly stand out to me on this reading are as follows:

- 'Thou shalt not murder' (verse 13): I don't know precisely how it comes across in the original Hebrew, but to me it seems that this only forbids unlawful killing - 'murder', as we call it today. Some people use this to say that all taking of human life is wrong, but I am convinced that things like the death penalty and warfare are not being discussed here. If you feel otherwise, please leave a comment with details on why.

- Keeping the Sabbath (verses 8-11): This is something I have actually pretty much given up on in my own life, but I wonder if I should re-evaluate that. I had somehow figured that this was obsolete, but then we don't assume the other commandments in this passage have expired - so why this one?

In that same section we get the reasoning for the Sabbath's importance: "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day" (11a). I take that to be further proof for a literal, six day creation; otherwise why would it may sense to translate that to our 7-day week?

Exodus 16

Today we see how God providentially fed the hosts of Israel while they traveled in the desert - which will extend for forty years. It is a pretty amazing thing, the way manna is described, and the fact that God was doing this for them every day (except Sabbaths) for so long ought to have been a good demonstration to them of His power and authority... but they will still disobey from time to time, as we'll see in the rest of Exodus.

The stand-out things today to me were as follows:

- God rationed out the manna, so that each person ended up with just the amount they needed. I bet gluttony was a hard vice to find among the Israelites in that era, simply because they didn't have anything excess to eat!

- Some manna was set aside to be preserved for viewing by future generations. Was that perhaps the first time-capsule? I suppose it was never intended to be opened, though, especially once it was placed inside the Ark.