I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     On the third day, God descended onto the mountain top and called Moses up to Him. God then sent Moses back down to warn the people not to cross the boundaries around the mountain and to bring Aaron back up with him. Moses went down the mountain and gave the people the message God had given him. While Moses was at the base of the mountain, God gave the people the Ten Commandments (at least that is how I read the passage, there is some ambiguity in the passage). The people’s reaction to this was fear. They asked Moses to speak to God for them and pass God’s words onto them. They asked that God not speak to them directly. This is a human tendency. We are constantly trying to place someone as an intermediary between ourselves and God.
     The passage goes on to describe the rules God gave the people for how they would treat their slaves and in cases of personal injury. Seen from the light of the way we treat people today, these rules often seem horrendous. Yet when seen in light of the way slaves were treated by the societies around them (and even in many societies today) one sees a very different picture. Perhaps at some point I will do a study of slavery as implemented by Old Testament law. I am sure that many have done a more thorough and comprehensive study than I would do. However, it is a subject that, every now and again, I get curious about and think about doing a detailed study (and if I write it as a blog post, I am more likely to actually do it at some point).

     Jesus follows up His previous teaching by expounding on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He points out how they create rules of behavior that they insist must be followed but that focus on superficial good behaviors while excusing more significant bad behaviors. Jesus condemns them for creating rules that give the appearance of righteousness without actually leading one to behave righteously. Jesus tells us that it is more important to behave righteously than to appear to behave righteously.

     The psalmist cries out to the Lord, requesting to be heard. However, he asks more than just to be heard, he asks for God to speak. How often do I listen when I pray? When I pray do I spend time silent waiting for God to reply? Do I expect God to reply? At the end of today’s psalm the psalmist praises God because He has heard him. How would the psalmist know that God has heard him unless he has heard God’s reply? Perhaps the reason we so often feel that God does not listen to our prayers is because we do not pause to listen to His answers.

     I had never noticed before how much space the writer of Proverbs dedicates to advising against sexual immorality. Once again today’s passage is about the value of wisdom and insight in keeping one from sexually immoral behavior. If the writer of Proverbs spent so much time advising on keeping proper sexual morals, perhaps we would do well to spend more time teaching on the issue.