Sun.’s Devo - The Ten Commandments

Read: Exodus 19:16-21:21; Matthew 23:13-39; Psalm 28:1-9; Proverbs 7:1-5 On the morning of the third day, God blew a loud trumpet so loud, that the people trembled. They all met at the foot of the Mountain and Mt. Sinai was completely in smoke because God descended upon it in fire. The whole mountain quake greatly and the sound of the trumpet got louder and louder. Then the Lord came down upon the mountain and warned Moses to tell the people not to come any closer or they would die. *** God told Moses and Aaron to come up on the mountain, but not the priests or the people. God then gave them his commandments that we call the Ten Commandments. The people begged Moses not to let God speak to them again because it scared them so much. Moses told them that he spoke to put that fear in their hearts of him so that they would obey what he said. *** God told Moses that they were never to make him an altar of gold or silver or hewn stone but of the earth and of rough stone. And they must not make steps up to the altar or it would expose their nakedness. *** Then God went into a bunch of laws having to do with how to treat their slaves. A Hebrew slave would only be a slave for 6 years unless he chose to keep serving his master after the six years. If so he must pierce his ear to the master’s door. *** If a female is sold as a slave and she doesn’t please her master, she may be redeemed but not sold to foreigners. If she was married to his son, then she would be treated as a daughter. If he took another wife, the first wife should be taken care of with all the privileges of a wife. If she isn’t, then she can go free with out being redeemed. *** If a person accidentally kills another and there was no premeditation in it, that man must go to a city of refuge. But if a man kills a person with intent, then he must be put to death. Anyone who strikes or curses their father or mother must be put to death. Anyone who assaults another must pay for damages and the time he spent not being able to work. But a man who beats his servant to death must only be punished, unless they live a day or two and then he is acquitted because they are his property. *** In Matthew, Jesus nailed the scribes and Pharisees. He rebuked them for keeping people out of God’s kingdom and not entering themselves. They put more importance on a person’s gift than the reason they were giving the gift. He rebuked them for all their outward acts of piety when their hearts were full of extortion, self-indulgence, hypocrisy and lawlessness. They were blindly leading the people and making the laws so hard to follow that no one could be righteous in their eyes. He asked them how they expected to escape the condemnation of hell. They built monuments to honor the very prophets that their father’s killed. And they would continue to kill them… and him. The blood of all the prophets from Abel to Zechariah would fall on them and their generation. This would happen because they would kill the fulfillment of all the prophets. *** One day, God’s people will say, “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” *** Lord, may our hearts be clean and pure. Thank you for the blood of Christ that makes us righteous.