Moses knows his time is short
He is concerned about communicating all that he can to the people of Israel before he departs from them and they cross over the river into The Promised Land.
That same proclamation is again coming from his voice toward the crowds: “Hear O Israel!”
HEAR O ISRAEL
The people listen up; and they learn that keeping the commandments is a critical factor to their happiness and well being inside the new land where they are going.
They hear an ever-consistent reminder to keep all of God’s commandments.
Again and again; Moses reminds the people that the commandments were part of their “covenant” with God.
At first, God spoke with them “face to face” out of the fire in the mountain.
The people were trembling and afraid; so Moses became the spokesperson who passed the words of God on to them. Still; with Moses standing between God and the people; everyone heard the booming voice and everyone heard the commandments.
COMMANDMENT ONE
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
COMMANDMENT TWO
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
COMMANDMENT THREE
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name
COMMANDMENT FOUR
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your town, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath Day.
COMMANDMENT FIVE
“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
COMMANDMENT SIX
“You shall not murder”
COMMANDMENT SEVEN
“You shall not commit adultery.”
COMMANDMENT EIGHT
“You shall not steal.”
COMMANDMENT NINE
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”
COMMANDMENT TEN
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
THE FINGER OF GOD WRITTEN IN STONE
Moses reminded the people that God gave these specific commandments to be followed and he wrote them down on two tablets of stone
He helped them remember how they all came to him and said “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty and we have heard his voice from the fire.”
They said back to Moses: “Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.”
SO THAT IT MIGHT GO WELL WITH THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN FOREVER
God was listening; He heard the people speaking to Moses in this way and so God said to Moses; “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good.”
“Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”
“Go tell them to return to their tents. But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.”
WALK IN OBEDIENCE
With those reminders and memories Moses told the people to be careful to do what the Lord God had commended of them. He instructed them not to turn to the right or to the left, but to walk in obedience to all that the Lord God had commanded, so that they could live and prosper and prolong their days in the land that they would come to possess.
God was starting an important tradition among His people. It was a tradition that needed to be passed on from generation to generation; otherwise why write it down in stone?
Writing in stone can last forever; and that was God’s intention with these commandments.
WRITE THEM INSIDE YOUR HEART
The very laws that made it possible for the Children of Israel to become a mighty and godly nation were the same laws that would also help God’s people living today to become great and powerful.
The commandments were not to live just on these stone tablets; but every follower of God was to have them written inside their heart.
These were the ways that humans could be able to live side-by-side with God and be happy and prosperous and content and blessed.
For centuries America has been a land that was blessed. We sing of those blessings in that old song called “God Bless America.” These are blessings that God has bestowed upon our country because we have basically been a nation founded upon God’s principles and a nation that has followed God’s ways, by abiding by those laws that reinforce God’s commandments.
DO NOT ADD OR SUBTRACT TO THEM
Undercurrents are underway now though that will revoke any of those laws, and people who do not believe in The One True God are trying to change our country and our laws.
Our founding fathers, who were in a very similar situation as Moses in this lesson; would not be pleased that all of their hard work and reminders of what is important are slowly easing away and being changed or abolished
Americans must stand for God’s way to live in order to be protected, and in order to keep prospering as a country. This is a critical time and we all must do our part.
TEACH YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN
We all must be thinking of creative ways to help the next generations know the truth and remember it.
One small thing that I desire to do at home this month is to hold a little camp for our grandchildren.
There they will learn the American values that are no longer being presented to them in the classrooms of our public schools. Their parents are doing an excellent job of teaching these things already at home; but now they will be reinforced by their grandparents; because we want them to grow up in a land of freedom and prosperity where justice for all prevails and all men are treated equal under God.
One session of our little camping session will be teaching God’s 10 commandments and that session will break it down into fun and easy to learn concepts with a Godly Play lesson written by Jerome Berryman called GOD’S BEST WAYS TO LIVE.
This core lesson of Godly Play has been very successful with helping children remember and understand that the ten commandments are God’s best way to live and they all spin off of a bible verse that says; “God is love.”
CHOOSING GOD’S BEST WAYS TO LIVE
Can we, like the Children of Israel, remember to put God first in our country and state and schools and home? I would venture to say that home is the most important part of this equation; and father’s and mother’s with a heart for God could establish a new foundation with the next generation of American children that would be Godly and founded on a love for our country and our nation that has been given to us as a blessing from God our Father.
As the Children of Israel prepare for the next part of their journey closer to the heart of God; let us do the same. Let’s bring our churches back and let’s bring godly values back to America.
Our God is the great God who led the people into the Land of Promise. He can do the same for us. God can heal our land. Let us pray for a strong and substantial nation of blessings again.
We can start by keeping the commandments that God thought most important for Moses to review with Israel. God’s ways are the best ways to live; no matter the circumstances of the nation. When the commandments stand and live from faithful people; the nation will turn and healing will come from Heaven again.