Sunday, November 05, 2006

The Exodus Regulations

Did you find your mind going numb reading about all the rules, the do's and don'ts that the Israelites were given?

What struck me about it was how practical the laws were.

Interestingly, they follow after Jethro's admonition to Moses for not delegating leadership. Moses was the only judge amongst two million people. Jethro urged Moses to delegate judges to rule over thousands, and hundreds, and tens. Moses did. Now not only Moses but dozens and dozens of other judges were seeking God for the right decision.

I think that the list of rules in Exodus that we read are the most relevant of the decisions Moses and the Judges had already made. They weren't random rules insertd to bore twenty-first century readers, but rather to reveal the the practical judgments that God was issuing to his people through Moses.

So instead of glossing over the rules, read them as a cultural insight into life three and a half thousand hears ago!

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