Tag Archives: poetry

EXODUS 35 ON SABBATH & ON BUILDING THE CHURCH

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August 23

EXODUS 35

Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. 2 Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”4 Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. 5 Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats’ hair, 7 tanned rams’ skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, 8 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 9 and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. – Exodus 35:1-8

EXODUS 35 ON SABBATH & ON BUILDING THE CHURCH

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

The Lord created all things in six days then rested on the seventh day

Since he made us in his likeness, he wants us to work and also rest

When we work, we get wrapped up in our toil and may forget to praise God

The seventh day is a holy day so we can honor and praise the Giver of life

All believers must participate and contribute to build the church of God

The Lord gives us resources not for our own use but to build God’s church.

This was the third time God mentions the Sabbath in his holy book aside from Ex. 20:8-11 and in Dt. 5:12-16. It must be very important to him. Jesus also talks about the Sabbath in Matthew 2:27-28 and says that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Why do you think God made the Sabbath? We are sinful people and if we constantly work all week, we will surely forget to rest and give thanks and glory to the Lord. It is easy for us to forget what God has done when we keep on working. Our focus shifts to our efforts and our achievements instead of on God who gave us the capacity to work and the resources to do so. When we rest, we get a respite from toil and remember our Source and Giver of Life. We also get refreshed after rest. Some people get sick when they constantly work because they get obsessed with what they do and be out of balance.

REFLECTION

  • Why is the Sabbath one of the most ignored laws of God nowadays?

EXODUS 34 WRITING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

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August 21

EXODUS 34

25 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. 26 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”27 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

                                                                     – Exodus 34:25-28

EXODUS 34 WRITING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

The Lord asked Moses to stay with him in writing the covenant

He was with the Lord forty days and forty nights

He didn’t eat bread or drake water as he wrote the words

It is God who told him what needs to be written on those tablets.

According to inspiredscriptures.com In Canaan, if one wished to gain favor with a deity, he or she would slay a young goat in milk and present it to the deity (The Ras Shamra tablets, Archeology and Bible History, by Joseph P. Free. pg 105). Orthodox Jews, however, now interpreted these verses to prohibit serving animal meat with cheese. But this interpretation is incorrect. Abraham once served a meal with meat and cheese (milk and curds) (Gen. 18:7-8).In Exodus 23:19 the Israelites were commanded to bring the best of the firstfruits of their soil to the house of God and they were prohibited to cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. In Deuteronomy 14:21, they were prohibited to eat anything that they found already dead. They can give it to foreigners in their town or sell it to these foreigners, but they were not to eat it.

When Moses fasted forty days and forty nights, it was a foreshadowing of Jesus’ fasting those same number of days and nights in the desert and he was tempted by the devil. When Moses was told to write the words of the covenant, he needed to be pure. If we serve the Lord, we also need to be holy and pure as God is holy.

REFLECTION

  • Why do you think Moses fasted when he was writing the ten commandments?

EXODUS 34 FEASTS TO OBSERVE COMMANDED BY GOD

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August 20

EXODUS 34

18 “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. 19 All that open the womb are mine, all your malelivestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20 The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. 22 You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. 23 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. – Exodus 34:18-24

EXODUS 34 FEASTS TO OBSERVE COMMANDED BY GOD

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

God commanded the Israelites to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread

By observing it, they will be reminded to keep themselves pure and clean

The Feast of Weeks were to be observed and they were to bring their firstfruits

They are to work six days and on the seventh offer their best harvest when they rest

The Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end was also required from them

God will bless all the males three times a year so they can triumph over other nations.

Why did God ask his people to observe these feasts? I think that it is to protect them. By nature, we do not easily want to give glory to God. These feasts were reminders for the Israelites what he required of his people. He wants his people to live their lives in total dependence on him and to remember all the things that He has done for them. It is easy to be selfish, that is our inclination.  By observing these feasts, they will be reminded that it was all God’s doing that they were delivered from the Egyptians. It also shows them that God expects them to stay holy for Him since they are serving a Holy God.

REFLECTION

  • How different are the feasts of the world that we attend or participate in from the feasts that God required from his people to observe?

EXODUS 34 COVENANT RENEWED & COMMAND TO DESTROY IDOLS

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August 19

EXODUS 34

10 And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.11 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.17 “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.– Exodus 34:10-17

EXODUS 34 COVENANT RENEWED & COMMAND TO DESTROY IDOLS

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

The Lord gave his people requirements for the renewed covenant

He will bless them and give them favor so all nations will know he is God

He promised to drive out all those living in Canaan so that they can occupy it

They were to destroy all the altars and pillars and cut down their Asherim

He is a Jealous God and wouldn’t want them idolizing other gods

They were not to yoke with pagans or make images to make idols.

In this account, we see God’s mercy for his people. Because they repented of their idolatry of the golden calf, they were given another chance to prove their faithfulness to the Lord. So, God renewed his covenant with them but reiterated his command to destroy the poles, altars and images that were created of other gods. God was clearly teaching his people how important it is to do this so that they can stay faithful to him. In turn, the Lord will bless them and grow them into a prosperous nation that other nations will know that it was God who gave them all these favors. God was very clear about his character about being jealous and so the Israelites were prohibited from participating in their paganism.

REFLECTION

  • Why were they prohibited from participating in worship of other gods?

EXODUS 34 THE NEW STONE TABLETS

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August 18

EXODUS 34

The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” – Exodus 34:1-9

EXODUS 34 THE NEW STONE TABLETS

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When Moses got mad at the idolatrous sin of the Israelites

He threw the tablets of stone at their unfaithfulness

The Lord God instructed Moses later to cut two tablets of stones after

Then God wrote again in those new stone tablets what was in the first tablets.

It is interesting to know that there was no mention of God confronting Moses when he threw the stone tablets at the Israelites upon the discovery of their worship of the golden calf. I would surmise that Moses’ anger was legitimate to God because he knew that they had committed a grievous sin. He hated that they were unfaithful to God when they idolized that golden calf. God showed his approval of his anger when he instructed Moses to get two new stone tablets so he could write again his laws on it.

REFLECTION

·       How does God manifest his mercy in this account?

EXODUS 33 MOSES REQUESTS TO SEE GOD’S GLORY

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August 17

EXODUS 33

17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” – Exodus 33:17-23

EXODUS 33 MOSES REQUESTS TO SEE GOD’S GLORY

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Moses desired so much to see the glory of the Lord

He requested to be given favor to see the God he served

Because the Lord knew that if Moses sees his glory, he would die

So, he told him to go and hide in a cleft of a rock as he passed by

Moses was granted to see God’s back even though he didn’t see his face

What a privilege it was for Moses to be given that favor to see God’s presence!

Have you ever desired to see or know someone so closely and so intimately? This was Moses’ request to God. After years of obeying God and being used by the Lord to deliver his chosen people, Moses’ hunger to know his Master grew deeper as well. His relationship with the Lord grew through those forty years that he led the Israelites in the wilderness. What a big shift it was from the first time God showed himself to him in the burning bush. Moses was reluctant when he was instructed to talk to Pharaoh to release the Israelites from bondage. He didn’t know the Lord then, but after God had used him to do miracles and wonders, Moses’ desire to want to see the Lord was insatiable.

There were only a few people in the Old Testament whom God showed himself to. Jacob wrestled with God, who assumed the form of an angel. Moses was able to be shielded from dying by God himself when he saw God’s back by instructing him to hide in the cleft of a rock. God made sure that he was safe from dying.

REFLECTION

  • Share an experience when the Lord showed or made himself known to you.

EXODUS 33 MOSES’ PRAYER FOR ASSURANCE

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August 16

EXODUS 33

12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”  – Exodus 33:12-16

EXODUS 33 MOSES’ PRAYER FOR ASSURANCE

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Moses trusted the Lord so much and asked for assurance

Because he had a relationship with God, he could ask him favor

Even if Moses didn’t know the rest of God’s plan

He was reassured by God that they will give them rest.

Trust is an important ingredient in a relationship. In Exodus 3, we recall how God appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Moses was reluctant to go to Pharaoh to ask him to release the Israelites, but God also reassured him that he will be with Moses as he delivers the people from the Egyptians and lead them to the Promised Land. Moses was given all the powers and signs during the ten plagues in Egypt. From that time, we can surmise that Moses has developed his trust in the Lord by this time. Although this account happened after the great sin of the golden calf, we can still witness here God’s faithfulness. He could have just annihilated the Israelites for worshiping that calf, but the Lord still shows mercy and favor to his people.

The Israelites travelled 40 years in the wilderness and those number of years must have built that trust that Moses have for the Lord. In verse 13, Moses was still asking the Lord to make himself known to him. God’s ways are not our ways. He will reveal himself to anyone who would want to deeply know him, but not necessarily understanding God’s ways. It’s God prerogative how much understanding he wants to happen.

REFLECTION

  • Why is it important to trust God even if we don’t understand things?

EXODUS 33 THE TENT OF MEETING

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August 15

EXODUS 33

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. – Exodus 33:7-11

EXODUS 33 THE TENT OF MEETING

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

Moses was persistent to restore the Israelites’ relationship with God

So, he built his own tent to be the tent of meeting outside the camp

When Moses went out to the tent, everyone would rise up at their tent’s door

Then they waited until Moses went inside and then the pillar of cloud came

As soon as they saw the pillar of cloud, they would rise up and worship

Moses’ assistant Joshua would not depart from the tent until Moses returns.

Moses was relentless to reconcile the Israelites with God and so he made his tent a meeting place between him and God so the Israelites could worship the Lord. Even though Moses didn’t see God face to face as he would die if he did, the pillar of cloud was the way God communicated and directly spoke with Moses. When the pillar of cloud came, the Israelites knew that God’s presence was at the tent of meeting and that Moses is directly having a conversation with the Lord.

At this time, the Israelites repented from their grievous sin and gave up all their ornaments when they knew that God’s punishment would come upon them.  This was the time for restoring their relationship with God by truly worshiping him alone and being in his presence through Moses’ intercession.

REFLECTION

  • How did God show mercy to the Israelites in this account?

EXODUS 33 THE ORDER TO GO TO CANAAN

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August 14

EXODUS 33

The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” 4 When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’” 6 Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

                                                                   – Exodus 33:1-6

EXODUS 33 THE ORDER TO GO TO CANAAN

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

After Moses’ intercession for the Israelites’ grievous sin

The Lord God ordered Moses to bring them to Canaan

They could have been punished and not reach that promised land

But the Lord was faithful to fulfill his covenant promise to Abraham

There was one thing that they lost: God will no longer be with them

The people of God mourned and stripped themselves from ornaments.

The Lord wasn’t going to be with them as they travel to the Promised land. Despite their grievous idolatry, the Lord was still going to bring them to the land that was promised to Abraham, but they won’t be accompanied by God anymore. They mourned and stripped themselves from their ornaments.

Many people think that they can just go ahead and sin and there won’t be any consequence to what they do.  They haven’t realized that God hates evil and will not tolerate or condone it. Once we have sinned, there is a corresponding consequence to it. God is love and sin opposes the very essence of God. He hates sin therefore it needs to be punished when even if it is his own people who commits it.

REFLECTION

  • How do you think the Israelites feel after hearing the consequence of their sin?

EXODUS 32 MOSES’ ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE ISRAELITES

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August 13

EXODUS 32

30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” 33 But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

35 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. – Exodus 32:30-35

EXODUS 32 MOSES’ ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE ISRAELITES

A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses

When the Israelites sinned against God with the golden calf

Moses wanted to compensate for their sins to God

He asked God for the forgiveness of their grievous idolatry

Telling God to blot him out of the book of life for their sake

But the Lord didn’t grant it because those who sinned have to be punished

Moses’ attempt to save the Israelites was an overstepping of his boundary.

I think it was not appropriate for Moses to ask forgiveness for those who sinned against God. Even Jesus himself didn’t do this. When one of his disciples asked him for an assurance for a place in his Father’s house, Jesus’ answer was that it wasn’t up to him but it is his Father who knows whom he chooses.

Moses have overstepped his role as someone that God appointed to lead the deliverance of the people out of Egypt. It wasn’t up to him to make atonement for sins that is grievous to the Lord. It’s as if he was taking the place of Jesus and wanting to sacrifice his life for sinful people. He cannot atone for their sins because he too was a sinful man. Only a sinless man like Jesus can appease God’s wrath against sin. Even the act of asking God forgiveness for other people whom he was leading was I think arrogance and sinful because he wasn’t a savior. He was just someone God used to bring them out of Egypt.

REFLECTION

  • What do you think of Moses’ attempt to save the Israelites in this account?