TODAY’S MESSAGE

Exodus 20:1-17 God Speaks

The prophetic word given to Moses by YeHoVaH in Exodus 3:12 has been fulfilled as Moses has led the people of Israel to the mountain where he would serve YeHoVaH. The people have been invited to be "a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation", they have accepted, and they have consecrated themselves. They waited at the foot of Mt Sinai to learn the job description and receive the instructions from YeHoVaH, Himself.

The people have been sanctified and the ground was sanctified. All of Israel, and the mixed-multitude that joined themselves with Israel in their Exodus out of the land of Egypt, eagerly waited to meet the Holy One of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

The people assemble themselves at the lowest part of the Mount of Sinai waiting to hear God Speak the job description and receive the instructions from YeHoVaH, Himself, on how to be "a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation“.

• Ex 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying, 
• Ex 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 
• Ex 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 
• Ex 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 
• Ex 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 
• Ex 20:6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 
• Ex 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 
• Ex 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Ex 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: Ex 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 
• Ex 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 
• Ex 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
• Ex 20:13 Thou shalt not kill. 
• Ex 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
• Ex 20:15 Thou shalt not steal. 
• Ex 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 
• Ex 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
• Ex 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,

Spake – 01696 דִּבֵּר dabar {daw-bar'} 

Meaning:  1) to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing 1a) (Qal) to speak 1b) (Niphal) to speak with one another, talk 1c) (Piel) 1c1) to speak 1c2) to promise 1d) (Pual) to be spoken 1e) (Hithpael) to speak 1f) (Hiphil) to lead away, put to flight 

Usage:  AV - speak 840, say 118, talk 46, promise 31, tell 25, commune 20, pronounce 14, utter 7, command 4 misc 38; 1143

Saying – 0559 אָמַר 'amar {aw-mar'} 

Meaning:  1) to say, speak, utter 1a) (Qal) to say, to answer, to say in one's heart, to think, to command, to promise, to intend 1b) (Niphal) to be told, to be said, to be called 1c) (Hithpael) to boast, to act proudly 1d) (Hiphil) to avow, to avouch 

Usage:  AV - said 4874, speak 179, answer 99, command 30, tell 29, call 7, promised 6, misc. 84; 5308

Verse One informs us that Father is speaking to the Children of Israel just as He spoke to Creation, Mr. and Mrs. Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc.

Since their encounter with Moses in Egypt, until this very moment, the only persons YeHoVaH had spoken with amongst the Israelites was Moses and Aaron.

People who are not familiar with their Bible connect the Ten Commandments with stone tablets.

Before there were tablets of stones or scrolls there were the Words of God spoken directly from His mouth into the ears of the people.

When God spoke, did the people hear what He said?

Here are several reasons why I believe the people may not have heard YeHoVaH speaking.

When Moses brought the people to meet YeHoVaH, it was a spectacle to behold…

Ex 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. 

Ex 19:17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 

Ex 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 

Ex 19:19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. 

When YeHoVaH finished speaking, the people were afraid and believed that If YeHoVaH spoke to them, they would die.

• When YeHoVaH spoke, He said clearly He was YeHoVaH who brought them out of Egypt.
• They made images of gods.
• They proclaimed these were the gods that brought them out of Egypt, Ex 32:4.

When Moses was in the mountain receiving the Covenant, the people did what YeHoVaH told them not to do. Either they did not hear Him or they were flat out rebellious and did the opposite of what He said. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Ex 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Ex 32:5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD. 

Ex 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

• The Ten Commandments were delivered to the Israelites 3 times.
• The people were afraid. 
• The people feared if God spoke to them directly they would die, but this was after He had already spoken.
• The people did not want YeHoVaH to speak to them, therefore they never got to know YeHoVaH’s Voice.

YeHoVaH was the shepherd of a people who knew not His Voice.

The Ten Commandments were spoken. They are the words that man is to live by. 

The words from the mouth of YeHoVaH: 

Dt 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Mt 4:4 But he/Yeshua answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Lk 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Ex 24:3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.

Moses Wrote:

Ex 24:4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

The words YeHoVaH spoke in the hearing of all the people were written down on tablets of stone.

YeHoVaH Spoke.

Moses Wrote

What YeHoVaH Spoke.

The Mosaic covenant is a theological term not a Biblical term.

Moses did not create the Torah, he scribed or wrote it as YeHoVaH spoke to him.

Some believe Moses wrote the Torah or created the Laws in the Torah.

Others, in Egyptology, believe Moses took the writings of the Egyptians and incorporated them into the Law.

The only images of God the Israelites had were the images of the gods of Egypt. 

YeHoVaH gave Moses the Ten Commandments 3 times.

1.    Spoken: Exodus 20:1-17

2.    Inscribed by the finger of YeHoVaH:

Ex 31:18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. 

3.    Written by YeHoVaH:

Ex 34:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.

Ex 31:18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing/speaking with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

Dt 4:10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

Dt 4:11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

Dt 4:12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

Dt 4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

Dt 4:14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

Dt 10:4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.

To Be Continued