About God’s Way with Us

by Peter L. DeGroote

 

 

 

Notes for Bible Talk: September 7, 2005

Please read:

Exodus 20: 1-6

 

 

 

 

 

Bible Talk is an informal discussion of biblical passages, ideas, and related material.

The discussions are on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 pm, following the Service of Word and Table. Occasionally, they will not be held due to special events.

These Notes are intended to assist participants in thinking about the passages and some of their implications prior to the gathering.   

Usually, the Notes are prepared and the discussion is led by Rev. Peter L. DeGroote

 

 

The sources for biblical quotations are labeled as follows:

NRSV: The New Revised Standard Version, Copyright ©1989, The National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States.

SV: The Scholar’s Version; i.e., The Five Gospels, The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus, Robert W. Funk and Roy W. Hoover, and The Jesus Seminar, Copyright © 1993 by Polebridge Press.

TM: The Message, The New Testament in Contemporary Language, Copyright © Eugene H. Peterson 1993. navpress, Colorado Springs.

M: My paraphrase.

 

 

1. The Ten Commandments are the earliest recorded set of laws in the biblical tradition. During the next four weeks, we will explore those commandments and their continuing relevance. Following that, we will observe that the basic concept that underlies both Ten Commandments and Jesus' teaching are the same; i.e., human life was created for harmonious relationships with God and each other. We often call those relationships love; i.e., the love of God and others.

 

2. Like most biblical teachings, the Ten Commandments come to us within a story. Moses goes to a mountain top shortly after the Israelite’s liberation from slavery in Egypt and receives the commandments from God. Occurring early in their time as a nomadic people around the fringes of civilization, the Ten Commandments are a kind of tribal constitution, the rules for the road and for their life together. They are commonly divided into two parts. The first three concern our relations with God; the remaining seven concern our relations with each other. Our focus herein is on the first three.

 

3. The Israelites did not believe that they had freed themselves from slavery in what was then the world's most powerful Empire. They gave credit to their God, whom they called Yahweh, who had defeated the many gods of the Egyptians. Moses, their leader, went to the mountain where he had earlier communicated with God through a vision of a burning bush. At that time, God told him to go and free his people. Now that they were free, Moses led them back to where it all began. Meditating on the mountain, he heard the words: I am the Lord (Yahweh) your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.  (NRSV)

 

    Those words are the first commandment. It is a formula: I am/who did this for you/therefore you will. Is it an order? That depends on your view of God. If you think God gives orders and punishes us when we don't follow them, you will think of it as an order. If you think of God as one who works to free us from the different kinds of slavery, persecution, depression, and meaninglessness that are so common to the human experience, then it is a condition of God's continued help. In this case, the Commandment is understood as "If you want me to continue to be involved in your lives, you cannot give your loyalty or trust elsewhere." To put it more directly: "I cannot help you if you are unwilling to trust me."

 

4. The second commandment is about idols. Don't make idols out of anything on the earth, in the heavens, or under the water. It refers to the ancient practice of forming idols from gold, precious metals, wood, and clay as objects of worship. It also refers to sun worship, seeing gods in the stars, the wind, etc, all a part of the ancient world. In short, we cannot find anything in the created world worthy of our worship. God made the created world for life. God is the One to be acknowledged and thanked.

 

5. The 3rd commandment concerns the wrongful use of God's name. It is common to think it refers to cursing, obscenities, and general vulgarity. It does, but leaving it there is superficial. God is present in creation. Don't call God to action for your benefit; don’t claim God's activity on your behalf. Our purpose is to live in harmony with God, not to attempt to use God for our own purposes.

 

6. Two of the many possible observations:

 

A. It was a world of many gods and much of the Exodus drama is focused on demonstrating that the Israelite's God (Yahweh) was more powerful than the gods claimed by others. We are also observing the first stage in a long struggle to establish the understanding of one God—that struggle continued through the biblical history, and continues today. One example is in the claim that "their God is not our God." Another is found in the conflicts between Christians over who is the bearer of God's truth and authority. Another is the introduction of many loyalties in the Church that have little to do with trusting God. 

 

B. We are also reminded of what some call God's "terrible freedom." God is not detracted from God's purpose and asks for our loyalty. While we are distracted from trusting God, God retains a singleness of purpose. Trusting God leads us to a life in harmony with God and God's creation. (Faith) The result is a discovery of the purpose of human life that makes sense to us, as well as the discovery of purpose for our won lives. That does not mean that the discovery of others will be the same as our own. Nor does it mean that those who discover conclusions about life that are different from our own are wrong. God is free to deal with individuals on a personal basis.

 

God's freedom has been called terrible because God will continue to do as God will, our plans for God being irrelevant. We are asked to give up control, not only for this moment, but also for a lifetime.

 

 

 

 

Peter L. DeGroote