I went for a walk this morning. No pictures yet. I had no storage space left on my phone. Yikes! But I hadn't been on a walk for a while, so it was a lot of fun. Sometimes it's hard to find the motivation, but I always feel better after a nice long walk. What about you?
So, speaking of walks, the Israelites are still walking through the desert.
In today's reading, Exodus 19-21, they are stopped at Mount Sinai.
Does that sound familiar?
It's where Moses gets the Ten Commandments.
- You shall have no other gods before me
- You shall not make for yourself and idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth; You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God...
- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain...
- Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Honor your father and your other, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery
- You shall not steal
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
- You shall not covet your neighbor's house...wife...servant...ox...donkey...or anything...
Actually, the people get a lot of commandments in chapters 20 & 21.
One thing I find particularly interesting (please don't hit me) is that in chapter 21, God sets laws for governing the correct and fair treatment of slaves/servants. Including giving them the opportunity to leave after a certain period of time.
I won't get into the whole thing, but I see this with new eyes now that I've read it a few times. The first time none of it made sense to me, but now it does. God saw that the Israelites would be influenced by the cultures they encountered, and that slavery/servitude would become common, so He foresaw the need for laws to govern this practice.
In fact, checking my concordances, the original word - which I can neither spell nor pronounce - simply means servant, or bond servant (think bonded/indentured servant). Most slaves in Israel were not what we would think of when we hear the word, although they were considered property in many ways.
So, imagine that someone owes you a debt they can't pay. They could work off the debt by becoming indentured to you for a period of time. They become a servant who works for no pay, but you have to take care of their basic needs and their health. When their contract is up, they go free. If you don't honor the terms of the contract (and Jesus has a parable on this) then you are in big trouble.
Now, don't get me wrong. I do not condone slavery or even indentured servitude, which is a form of slavery. But some cultures practiced it (look at the Egyptians), and some cultures abused it, with no regard for God's laws.
So, what I found interesting about the reading today was that God placed strict guidelines in His Word for the proper treatment of people. No matter who they were or where they came from.
So, that's my musing for today. Let me know what you thought. We're moving right along through the Israelites' exodus.
Join me tomorrow as I read Exodus 22-24.
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