This is meant to be a fun reading (with some commentary) for all ages through Scripture. Please do not take this as a substitute for reading through the Bible on your own.
Previously, the Israelites were safe after their escape from Egypt, though they still had the wilderness to survive, and the Israelites would complain quite a bit along the way. Their first trial was the water at Marah. Just as Marah means "bitter", so the water tasted when the Israelites tried to drink it. Yet when Moses cried out to God for help, the Lord showed him some wood that he was able to throw in the water to make it taste better.
God made it clear at this time that God would be with them. All they needed to do was listen to God and they would be fine.
Next, the Israelites faced hunger. They were most displeased and complained, even daring to say that they wished they had died by God's hand when they were still in the land of Egypt. At least then, they claimed, they had food to eat. They complained to Moses and Aaron, though both realize it is really God that they are complaining against and they tell the people so.
The Lord then tells Moses that God will provide bread rained down from Heaven. Yet God also wants to test how well the people will follow God's word and instruction. They are to leave none of it until morning. On the 6th day of each week, God will rain down an extra portion so that they can rest on the 7th day and give praise to the Lord. This is the day that will be called the Sabbath, or a day of rest. It reflects the rest God took at the start of Creation.
When the Israelites first gather the bread from heaven, they aren't sure what it is. In fact, they say "what is it?" which in Hebrew is manna. This is how the bread from heaven became known as manna.
However, some of the Israelites do not listen to God's instructions and leave some of the manna until morning. This mana doesn't stay well, like if you leave your food out too long and it gets moldy and gross. The people's inability to listen concerned and frustrated God.
The Israelites complain once again after they travel through the Wilderness of Sin. At this time they find no water to drink, and once again whine to Moses, wishing he had never taken them out of Egypt. At this point in time, God reaches out again to Moses. God tells him to strike a rock at Horeb with his staff and that when he does so, water will come out for the Israelites to drink.
For a short time, Moses makes his way to his father-in-law Jethro, the priest, who is amazed at all that God has done for the Israelites. He also sees how much Moses is burdened by the people coming to him and asking for his wisdom and discernment from God, even over the most petty of disputes. Jethro doesn't want Moses to get burned out, so he suggests Moses start to delegate some tasks, the smaller issues, to others. Moses starts to take his advice and starts a system where minor cases are decided by the people themselves. God will affirm and cement this system later.
The Israelites, after 3 new moons since their journey from Egypt, make it to the area God has asked them to go. This place is called Mount Sinai, and it may be the same mountain as Mount Horeb, if not near to it. Mount Horeb is where Moses first encountered God. Now all of Israel will make a covenant with the Lord to follow God's Commandments. God asks that Moses, Aaron, and 70 of the elders of Israel (so named based on Jethro's suggestion that Moses needs help with his duties) to approach and worship to receive God's word, but only from a distance.
The Lord asks the Israelites to make a 3 day preparation to receive God's Commandments. These rules, known as the Law, will be what the Israelites are to follow as part of their covenant to be God's people.
The Law involves many pieces as it is spread throughout the First 5 Books of the Bible, also known as the Books of Moses or, in Hebrew, Torah, which means "Teaching" or "Law". The Law includes everything from how the Israelites were to live to how they were to worship. Some of these laws are thought to meant to help the Israelites remain healthy, particularly when it comes to food. Others think these laws are simply to remind the Israelites to be pure and blameless before the Lord. The true purpose of all the Law, however, is to set the Israelites apart from all other people. Israel is to be "a light to enlighten the nations" so that others would take notice and, hopefully, come to know God too.
Others sometimes complain that the Law can be too harsh, and sometimes it can appear to be so. However, the Law also enacts a lot of mercy. For example, if you had to sell yourself into servitude, or slavery, to free yourself from debts, all would be forgiven on the 7th year, a Sabbath year reflecting the 7th day of the week and of creation. This year was known as the Year of Jubilee. In it, all slaves were freed, all debts forgiven, and all land that was sold would be returned to its original owner.
There were also cities of mercy set up to protect people who were accused of wrong. These villages were a haven to ensure that true justice could be given.
There was also the practice of the scapegoat. The people would tie their sins on this goat and then release it into the wilderness. This was to protect the people from their sins since the goat would take on the consequences. This also led to the phrase in our language of "scapegoat" for one who takes the fall or blame.
There were many other ways God ensured protection for the people from the wrongs. God also instituted sacrifices that would be offered up in place of people's sins, or even in thanksgiving for things that God had done. God asked for this worship in place of the idols set up by other religions in the area, including that of the Egyptians.
Most of all, God time and time again asked the Israelites not to mistreat any strangers or foreigners in their midst for, as God says, "you were once strangers in the land of Egypt."
As God starts to share the Law with the Israelites at Mount Sinai, God begins with a summary of the Law in the form of the Commandments. There are 10 of these Commandments, which are as follows:
- I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods besides me.
- Don't make for yourself any idol of anything. Period.
- Don't wrongly use the name of the Lord your God. That means don't say God's name out of any malice, or just don't take the Lord's name in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. That means taking a break on the 7th day, because that is what God did after creating all that is. In doing so, God blessed this day as a day of rest.
- Make your parents heavy. That means taking care of them in their old age, in particular so that they do not go hungry.
- Don't murder.
- Don't be unfaithful to your spouse. In other words, respect the bonds you have made with others and don't break them.
- Don't steal.
- Don't bear false witness. If someone in authority asks you to say what happened, don't say a lie that could get the wrong person in trouble.
- Don't covet something that belongs to your neighbor. That is, if someone has something that you want, don't take it. Remember and recognize that it doesn't belong to you and don't desire to have it for your own.
Later in the Law, these Commandments get shortened into two categories:
- Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might. And,
- Love your neighbor as yourself.
Based on these categories, the 10 Commandments are sometimes phrased differently based on our duty to both God and our neighbor. In this form, based on what is found in The Book of Common Prayer, the Commandments look like this:
- We are called to love and obey God and bring others to know the Lord.
- We are called to not put anything before God.
- We are called to respect God in our thoughts, words, and deeds.
- We are called to set aside times to be with God in worship, prayer, and study on a regular basis.
- We are called to love and help our family members, especially our parents.
- We are called to respect life, pray for peace, and move ourselves away from hatred and prejudice.
- We are called to use our bodily desires as God intended us to use them.
- We are called to be honest and fair in all our dealings with others, to seek justice, and help others find what they need in order to live.
- We are called to speak the truth and to not mislead others by remaining silent.
- We are called to resist the temptation to envy, greed, and jealousy and to rejoice in that which those around us have to offer.
God also told the Israelites the pattern for how they were to worship. Because the Israelites had not yet found a home, they were to set up a movable worship place, or tent. This place was called the Tabernacle.
God also had the Israelites build an ark called the Ark of the Covenant. This was a chest that could also be carried. On top of it was what was called the mercy seat. This was the place which God would give commands to the Israelites. This also served as a reminder of God's continual presence with the Israelites. To drive this point home, the Ark was meant to be placed in the Tabernacle when the Israelites found places to rest and worship in a location know as the Holy of Holies. The Ark was also to carry a written copy of the Commandments placed within it.
God also set aside a group of people to serve as priests. This group was the family Moses, Aaron, and Miriam were born into: the Levites. Out of the Tribe of Levi, the priests of Israel would come. They would be set aside to be a go between with God and the people. They would have special clothing to mark them apart. They also would not hold land within Israel, but they would be completely sustained by food offerings the other Israelites brought as gifts to God. The idea is that that this would help encourage continual worship of God. Since the livelihood of the Levites was based on the Faith and the faith offerings of the other Israelites, the hope was they would encourage their fellow Israelites to continue to worship the Lord.
Now Israel, once the Hebrews enter that land, wold be broken up into 12 territories, one for each of Israel(also known as Jacob)'s sons. Since Levi would not have their own land, Joseph's tribe was split in two, named for his sons Manasseh and Ephraim, so that there could be 12 tribes holding land in Israel. Thus the land owning tribes, and divisions, of Israel are as follows:
- Reuben
- Simeon
- Judah
- Dan
- Naphtali
- Gad
- Asher
- Issachar
- Zebulun
- Manasseh
- Ephraim
- Benjamin
This is why the blessing of Joseph's sons Manasseh and Ephraim by their grandfather Israel (a.k.a. Jacob) is so important, because it explains where these two names for the Tribes of Israel came from.
After God had presented the Commandments and other parts of the Israelites' Law and worship, the Lord asked Moses, and no one else, to approach the mountain. God gave some of the instructions for the Law and worship to Moses specifically, though God's true purpose was to give Moses 2 tablets with the 10 Commandments written on them for the Israelites to remember. God wrote on these tablets with God's own finger.