Theological Commentary: Click Here
Today, I am
going to opt out of talking about the Ten Commandments. It’s not that I don’t think they are
important. They are the foundation to
God’s Law! However, much has been said
throughout the ages on the Ten Commandments that I am drawn to something else
in this chapter. Today, I am drawn to
the word fear.
Twice in
this chapter we hear Moses talk about the fear of the people. Interestingly enough, the two talks about
fear bookend the talk about the Ten Commandments. We hear about the fear of the people before
Moses went up into the mountain. We also
hear about the fear of the people after Moses comes down from the mountain and
the people have observed the mountain while Moses was up there.
Not only do
the talks about fear bookend the Ten Commandments, the talks about fear speak
to the actions of the people. Because
the people were afraid, they sent Moses up the mountain. Because the people were afraid, the turned to
Moses as their intercessory. Mind you,
it isn’t wrong for Moses to go up the mountain.
Neither is it wrong for people to have others that they look upon as
spiritual mentors and guides.
But what we
are talking about in this chapter when we get right down to it, is that the
people didn’t have a relationship with God as much as they had a relationship
with God through Moses. They people
weren’t in a direct relationship with God at all. They were merely riding the coattails of
Moses’ relationship with God.
Interestingly enough, this generation of people are also repeatedly
called the “wicked generation” all throughout scripture. I can’t help but think that these two things
are inherently related to one another.
Again, God
doesn’t mind if we have spiritual mentors and advisors. After all, that’s how Jesus functioned in the
life of His disciples! But God wants His
followers to each have a personal relationship with Him. We don’t have to have a human intermediary
between us and God. We should not let
our fear get in the way of knowing God personally as the wicked generation of
Hebrew people did.
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