eBookBe My People - eBook [ePub] (Be My People - eBook [ePub])
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426725890 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 306 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Be My People
Sermons on the Ten Commandments
By Ross W. Marrs
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 1991 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-2589-0
CHAPTER 1
THE FIRST WORD
I am the LORD 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. (Exod. 20:2-3)
The Choosy God
Any consideration of the first or all of the Ten Commandments must begin with this prologue, this reminder that there is one who has taken initiative to bring a people out of bondage. The Exodus writer recalls the event:
The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of slavery their cry for help rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them. (Exod. 2:236-25)
All too many imagine the God we meet in the Hebrew scriptures to be a God of wrath and judgment. The prologue to the Ten Commandments says otherwise. We take the commandments seriously, not because we are afraid not to or because we will go to hell if we do not, but because they are a proper response to a God who makes us God's own even when we have not deserved it. Surely those rag-tag slaves in Egypt, who had been buried in slavery perhaps more than four hundred years (see Exod. 12:40), had nothing to offer God. The Egyptians had reclaimed the throne for their Pharaoh in 1580 BCE (see Exod. 1:8), and it is probable that the Pharaoh who enslaved them was Rameses II, who ruled Egypt from 1291 to 1225 BCE. (See Elmer W. K. Mould, Essentials of Bible History [New York: Ronald Press, 1951], p. 96.)
God's coming to them was a story of sheer grace. Once no people, now they are made God's people. This initiative and claim by God requires obedience as their response to sheer grace. As Christians, we have heard the same word. Paul put it down for us in his letter to the Romans: "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).
This is the God who has come to a worthless people, who do not even know who he is, and has taken great risks on their behalf. The preachers of Israel remind the people that this God has made them in his image (Gen. 1:26), has given them dominion (Gen. 1:266), and has given them his name (Exod. 3:13-15).
"You shall have no other gods before me" (Exod. 20:3). If the recently freed slaves who stand at the foot of Mount Sinai are the first to hear these words, it seems clear that for them this is no call to monotheism. Here we encounter henotheism, the claim that Israel's God is to be regarded as first above all other gods. It is an admonition that (if there are other gods) this God, I AM, Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is to be their God. Yahweh has taken possession of these people, and they are to obey the commands.
If, however, these words were penned into the story of Israel when the Torah was fashioned in Babylon, the first word is a call to monotheism. One only has to read the record of the kings of Israel and Judah to learn that they were a mixed lot so far as faithfulness to Yahweh was concerned. Many of them, Ahab the worst, led the people into the worship of foreign gods. The writer of II Kings summarizes the situation at the time of the Assyrian exile of the northern tribes and says of the people: "They worshiped the LORD but also served their own gods" (II Kings 17:33).
Exile in Babylon forever cured the Israelites of their "awhoring after other gods"; ever since, they have been incurably monotheistic. When Ezra and Nehemiah bring the people back home, it is for the purpose of establishing a single-hearted people on the basis of religious purity. "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" (Lev. 19:26).
It does not matter to which time you assign these words because in Israel the people saw themselves as sharing the experiences of those who had come before them. If God had addressed their ancestors, they too had been addressed. If their ancestors had undergone an experience, that experience was also theirs. Listen to the pronouns in the creedal form of the response that the people are commanded to make when they come into their new land: "The Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression" (Deut. 26:6-7, italics added).
There are those among us who imagine this command to have been proper for a primitive and superstitious people of long ago. We have heard that they lived among a people who worshiped many gods. They saw the splendor and majesty of Egypt and were impressed with their gods. They saw the success of those who worshiped the baals when they came to Canaan and were convinced that these nature gods could assure agricultural success. They were no doubt influenced by the worship of the golden calf that was current among the Canaanites. They were dazzled by the processionals of the worshipers of Marduk in Babylon; some converted and never looked back.
We can understand their temptations. But us? We are monotheists, and this is not our problem. Perhaps we need to take another look at ourselves. Just a cursory glimpse will reveal that all the old gods still prowl among us and win our favor. One does not identify the gods of a people by those they call by name but by those they serve. Who would deny that we are a people who bow at other altars, that, like the people of the eighth century BCE, we too fear the Lord and worship our own gods?
The baals of Canaan, fertility gods of the past, still claim their devotees in those who revere sex and intercourse as the pivotal forces in life. Who can watch television for more than a moment and not be confronted by some modern baal promising youth and beauty and the gift of a life force and virility that will make us admired by all?
Who would deny that we are a people who have listened to the promises of the god Mars, god of war. We pour out our treasure, and then lay the lives of our young upon the altar of Mars. We build machines of destruction and name them with peaceful names—and we know all the time that, while we may escape war, we may fall victim to a depletion of our resources brought on by our fears, anxieties, and greed. When someone suggests that we can close a military base, not build one more submarine, let one rocket go unfinished, mark off one squadron of planes, we are reminded that even though we do not need them for war, we need them to keep the wheels of our economic system turning. What promised peace has, instead, become a bondage.
Whether taken from a bottle or as a pill or in a snort of powder, many still seek the comforts, reassurances, and thrills promised by Bacchus, god of the vine. On the one hand, there are those in our society who struggle to reveal the fabric of individual lives and of society torn asunder by the addictions that ravage and destroy, while on the other hand both government and business encourage this worship because of the income it generates.
Mammon reigns supreme in a society that truly does believe that meaning and worth are to be had through many possessions.
Venus and Cupid lurk in every corner and on every street by convincing many that romantic love will last and that when we are "in love" we are ready for marriage.
Minerva dangles the temptation to believe that our own intelligence and wisdom are enough for us and that we no longer need God, that we have come away from superstitious times and now are enlightened and can make life on our own. Who would not say that we are like those of Israel of long ago, who "feared the Lord but also served their own gods." Jesus' commentary on the First commandment is a reminder that those who chase after all the gods cannot be a people of unity, wholeness (shalom), and peace. He said that, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth" (Matt. 6:24).
The message to the slaves who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai was clear. God had taken initiative to free them from bondage and had brought them to this place to make a covenant with them. Yahweh was to be their (only) God, and they were to be God's people. Their response was obedience.
The message to those who followed Ezra and Nehemiah back to Jerusalem was the same. It was God who had come to bring them home.
The prophet Isaiah had declared it:
Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the
LORD'S hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
"In the wilderness prepared the
way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a
highway for our God....
Then the glory of the LORD shall
be revealed,
and all people shall see it
together,
for the mouth of the LORD has
spoken. (Isa. 40:1-3, 5)
When Jesus is asked to name the first and greatest commandment he will have a ready response, garnered from knowledge of the scriptures of Israel: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:29-30). The message in our own day is as clear now as it was then. If we are to have community, if we are to have peace with one another, we must begin with single-hearted allegiance and loyalty to the God who has claimed us.
In Christ, God has taken the initiative for our time. This is the God, Matthew writes, who is Immanuel, God with us. God's pursuit of us continues as it has continued through the ages. The God who came to Eden and asked of the first man and woman, "Where are you?" is the same God who comes in Christ at the end of the scriptures and invites: "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me" (Rev. 3:20).
Wherever a people bow at no altar or at many altars and call upon the names of many gods, there can be no unity and no community. What they value, their view of life, their attitudes toward one another, their allegiances, that for which they will sacrifice will be shaped by their concept of the god(s) they worship. Like a giant social centrifuge, the whirling winds of multiple faiths will tear the fabric of the nation asunder.
In any nation in which many declare that no gods are needed, there is no central place of allegiance to bind the people into one.
In a nation where the name of God is mouthed faithfully at church by a people who pay homage at many other altars all week, we ought not to be surprised at the moral and personal dilemmas that afflict us.
In a nation that considers itself Christian but is fascinated with the power of the gods of other nations, there ought not to be surprise at our lack of national goals and direction.
You shall have no other gods before me. Whether this command declares that Yahweh is first among all the gods, or whether it means that Yahweh alone is god, the meaning is the same. There is one who comes to us in our darkest moments and delivers us and then lays claim to us and our obedience.
That obedience is not demanded just so that we measure up to some arbitrary rules meant just to see if we can make it, but because in obedience life is found. Those who hear this word and do it are made whole. Those who seek God's will above all else gain the gift of shalom, peace, wholeness.
The prophet Isaiah spoke a needed word for his people as they faced exile to Babylon. That word still stands as God's word to all the nations at any time:
Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god. (Isa. 44:6)
THE SECOND WORD
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LOWD your god am a jealous god, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exod. 20:4-6)
The Jealous God
Imagine the scene when the commandments were first given. Here, according to the biblical story, is a motley group of rag-tag slaves recently freed from Egyptian bondage, standing at the foot of a smoking mountain, ears ringing from loud trumpet blasts, shaken by the trembling earth, and hearing the command: "You shall not make for yourself an idol." I will never forget those scenes in the movie The Ten Commandments, in which Charlton Heston, as Moses, covers his face while God blasts the words of the commands (in Hebrew), onto the tablets of stone. You can imagine the fright of the people standing at the foot of that mountain.
One is likely to conclude that these people would know very little about idols, but such is not the case. Take time to review the story of their ancestors, and you will soon come upon the story of Jacob and Laban and their argument over Jacob's wanting to strike out on his own. Just as a precaution, Rachel, daughter of Laban, filches her father's household gods while he is away, and she and Jacob begin their run for freedom. Biblical writers always like to poke fun at idols, and they do a good job of it here. When Laban catches up with the two refugees, he is more interested in recovering his idols than anything else and wants to search the caravan. Rachel has hidden them under her saddle and pleads "the way of women" as her reason for not wanting to dismount. Laban is bilked, but best of all the idol is shown as not even having the power to cry out for help.
They had seen idols in Egypt, too. Brilliant representations of the sun god Ra must have impressed them. That they remember the idols of Egypt is recorded in the story of their impatience with Moses, who has climbed the mountain to talk to that invisible God. They convince Aaron, brother of Moses, to make them a golden calf and throw a great festival for the occasion. It must have been some party, because the noise caught God's attention.
If you are a historian and wish to claim that these commands were for those who were leaving Babylon and returning home to establish a holy community, the case is the same. The exiles also knew about idols. They had stood and watched the splendor of the processionals of Marduk in Babylon, and they would get the message, too.
To such as these, and to all since, the command has stood clear: "You shall not make for yourself an idol."
Why?
Why would such a thing matter to one who was really God? Weren't all those other people able to better conceive their gods when they had images handy? Wouldn't that make God more real for them?
Part of the answer is contained in the command itself: "I the LORD your God am a jealous God" (Exod. 20:56). The case against idols is even stronger in an older source. In Deuteronomy 27:15 we read: "Cursed be anyone who makes an idol or casts an image, anything abhorrent to the LORD, the work of an artisan, and sets it up in secret."
Idols are abhorrent to God, and God is jealous because when idols are made, the Creator is blended with creation. A constant theme of the Hebrew scriptures maintains that Yahweh is not to be identified with nature; it is Yahweh who created all things, sustains all things, and provides a future for all things. Other cultures with whom Israel came in contact identified the powers of the universe as gods, gave their worship to the baals, lords of the land, that represented the powers of nature. That worship was designed to placate and influence the gods so that they would shower their blessings on the people.
Yahweh showers blessings on God's people without being asked. God's bounty is given to all, the deserving and the undeserving. To confuse God with nature is to erase the divine fingerprint from creation and reduce the creator to a lesser functioning power.
Everywhere one turns these days there are those who declare that they find God in nature. God is, for them, in the beauty of the sunrise and sunset, experienced in the clean smell of the air after a rain, embodied in the beauty of a flower. But what is one to say when nature turns upon us without cause? What is one to say about the devastation of tornadoes and floods? What about the droughts that erase the flowers from the landscape seemingly with no reason? What does the worshiper of nature say to that?
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Be My People by Ross W. Marrs. Copyright © 1991 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
PREFACE,INTRODUCTION,
THE FIRST WORD: The Choosy God,
THE SECOND WORD: The Jealous God,
THE THIRD WORD: What's in a Name?,
THE FOURTH WORD: A Link Between Heaven and Earth,
THE FIFTH WORD: FOCUS on the Family,
THE SIXTH WORD: What God Thinks of Us,
THE SEVENTH WORD: The Need for a People Who Blush,
THE EIGHTH WORD: Hands Off!,
THE NINTH WORD: Who Can You Trust?,
THE TENTH WORD: A Matter of the Heart,
THE LAST WORD,
SUGGESTED READING,