1. More evidence of God making provision for His priests.

2. Ignorance did not excuse the Israelites of their sin.

Today there is the popular misconception that “ignorance is bliss” and “what I don’t know can’t hurt me.” Some believe that it is better to let somebody continue sinning in ignorance than it would be to present the Gospel to them. Sin is the problem and it can result in the second death (eternal separation from God) whether a person did it knowingly and blatantly or in ignorance.

We should not and cannot expect on the Judgment Day to defend ourselves with a “Well I didn’t know that was wrong.” If we are relying on ignorance to cover a multitude of sins then we are looking in the wrong place.

Notice from Leviticus 1 the expectation for offerings, specifically the repeated instruction of an animal being “without blemish.” God expected the best, and deserves nothing less. It’s also worth noting, as we keep our mind’s eye on the entirety of the Bible, that God gave the best of Heaven (His son Jesus Christ).

The instructions God gave concerning the offerings and how they were to be carried out are, not surprisingly considering they came from God, detailed and specific. God is an orderly God and did not leave the priests to have to just learn on the go or play it by ear. At the same time, His requests are hardly of the over-demanding, outlandish behavior that some who have power might make.

You can also observe in the reading for this day that God made provision to take care of the priests (see especially Leviticus 2:10).

The contents of these chapters are straightforward enough and I do not have any exceptionally insightful things to say about them. These past several chapters have been good (although they might seem tedious to some) because they demonstrate that 1) God did not give them a task they could not complete. 2) His instructions were kept precisely. 3) When things are done properly it is all right for the people to be commended (the Bible says that Moses blessed them for the work that they did).

Lord willing, tomorrow we will move into Leviticus.

In Exodus 35 there was a call for people to willfully offer things. In Exodus 36 we find that the people gave so abundantly that it was beyond what was needed.

These chapters give detail of God’s instructions being carried out. The details might seem tedious to us, but it is good to see that instructions were being followed carefully.

Aaron ordered the people to bring gold to him. Some believe that this request was designed to change their minds about having a false god made. The theory is that Aaron’s request would give them pause and they would decide it was not worth the price. Nothing from the text can confirm for us that this is correct, but even if it were Aaron’s thought process it did not work. The people were so determined to have gods that they were willing to part with gold.

Moses was so angry with the people that he cast down the tablets God had given him. He also burned their idol in the fire, ground it into powder and forced the people to drink it!

Later in the chapter we are told that Moses found that the people were unrestrained. He called those who were on the Lord’s side to stand with him. The sons of Levi did so. Moses instructed them to go through the camp killing people, and they did. Sin merits death, so it cannot rightly be claimed that those who had sinned against God so blatantly were undeserving of their punishment. This was neither a random nor unjustified punishment.

Jesus instructed in the New Testament that unless we love God more than we love our earthly relationships we are not fit to be His disciple (see Luke 14:26). This does not require that we use deadly force against them, but it does mean we must not let any earthly relationship stand in the way of our relationship with God.

In Exodus 33 God provides assurance to Moses that He would not neglect Israel. They would, indeed, go to the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The idea of the Israelites being a “stiff-necked” people appears in all three of the chapters in today’s reading portion. This is an appropriate description for them, and unfortunately can be a pretty good description of us at times.

In Exodus 34 God continues to instruct Moses. He warns that Israel should not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. Idolatry would end up resulting from such a thing. Yet, we know from later in Israel’s history that they were guilty of precisely this. So we have proof positive that God knows what He is talking about, gives His commands for a reason (even if we don’t always understand the reason behind a command) and has our best interest in mind.

There are a few things in this chapter that clearly show God’s care. In Exodus 34:23-24 God explains that three times per year the men of Israel would go up to appear to the Lord. When this happens that would mean that a lot of Israelite land would be virtually defenseless, right? Wrong! God would protect the land while the men went up. He said in the second half of Exodus 34:24 “neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year” (NKJV).

What might otherwise be considered a “golden opportunity” for invasion would be nothing to worry about. God had things under control.

Also  notice Exodus 34:28. Moses went 40 days and 40 nights without bread or water. This is a feat which, to the best of my understanding, is not possible ordinarily. You or I could not survive that long without food and water. I conclude, then, that God sustained Moses miraculously.  Those who deny miraculous events in the Bible would have a problem here, but once again we get to decide whether we will believe man or believe the Bible. I will believe the Bible; and I hope that you will, too.

As the reading for Friday (forgive me that I’m technically posting Friday’s remarks very early Saturday morning) talked much about the priests the word/concept of “holy” appeared more than once. This was a concept God wanted Israel to understand. Not just anything is holy and that which is ought to be treated properly instead of irreverently.

You might have also noticed the concept of atonement several times in these chapters.

Near the end of Exodus 31 we see more Bible evidence that God’s Creation week was in fact dealing with literal days. If it were not then here in Exodus we have confusion.

We can be impressed by the fact that God was so detailed in His design. Even intricacies we would not think of were in the mind of God and specifically instructed.

The mind of God is beyond what we can fully grasp, but in places like this we can certainly appreciate it.

Early in Exodus 23 commands are given which show God’s concern for things to be done in an upright way and without partiality. Justice should not be perverted and should not be denied the poor. Verses 4-5 sound similar to the Golden Rule.

One can wonder how greatly the economy would be harmed if everybody agreed not to circulate a false report (Exodus 23:1). What would we put in the racks near the checkout at the market?

Instruction was also given in this chapter regarding their sowing and reaping, the feasts they were to observe before the Lord and their need to follow the angel God sent to guide them to the Promised Land. If the people were obedient they would have nothing to worry about.

In Exodus 25 you might take notice that God had specific instructions and the pattern He gave was to be followed. This concept of God having a pattern and the need to follow His specific instructions is a helpful one for us to gain now. When God gives precise instructions do well to give great attention to what He says and great care to heed it.

If you do that, it doesn’t mean you’re denying that you need pedals to ride a bike. Of course you need pedals to ride a bike, but that’s not the area that needs the attention at this moment. You might even be accused of believing that the tire is the most important part of the bike; after all you sure do talk about it a lot more than say, the chain.

Of course, you know that the other tire needs to be on the bike if it is going to function properly. So, if somebody says “you don’t believe pedals are necessary because you spend so much time talking about the tire” then you rightly understand the absurdity of their claim.You mention the tire not because it is the only part that matters, but because it is the part that is missing and needs to be noticed.

Sometimes members of the Lord’s Church are accused of something similar, though. They see in the Bible that baptism does play a role in salvation (Acts 2:38, 1 Peter 3:21 etc.). They emphasize the need for baptism because it’s an area that many who claim Christianity deny.

Because of that emphasis they are sometimes slandered with the claim that they don’t believe in grace or that they believe they are saving themselves through works of merit. Those claims are on par with saying somebody who stresses the missing tire doesn’t believe in the pedals.

By stressing a missing tire you don’t deny the rest of the bicycle. By stressing that New Testament emphasis on baptism you don’t deny the rest of what the Bible teaches regarding God’s gift of salvation.

Chapters 21-22 deal with rules that would apply to the Israelites’ civil affairs. What is not found in these chapters is any tolerance for a guilty party to deny their guilt or to try to pass their responsibility in the matter off to somebody else.