Daily Scripture Reading Exodus 20:18 - 21:11
The Bible frequently mentions the fear of God. Many Christians today think the fear of God is mere respect or admiration. They reject the notion that humans should be afraid of God.
The 20th chapter of Exodus illustrates the Biblical concept of the fear of God. This illustration also helps us understand when we should be afraid of God.
When Israel arrived at Mount Sinai, Yahweh came down to the mountain surrounded by thunder, lightning, and smoke. Yahweh gave Moses the ten commandments, which was the beginning of a long law code which governed the lives of the Israelites.
Ex. 20:18 ¶ And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and the people perceived it, and they shook and stood at a distance.
Notice the word “shook”. The people were literally quaking with fear. This is what the Bible means when it mentions the fear of God.
Ex. 20:19 Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself, and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.”
The Israelites were afraid the mere voice of God could kill them.
Ex. 20:20 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be with you, so that you may not sin.”
Take note of why God wanted the people to fear Him. He wanted them to be afraid to disobey Him. The thunder, lightning, trumpet, and smoke demonstrated God’s overwhelming power, which communicated the fact that Yahweh could instantly destroy any person who dared to disobey Him.
This is why and how we should fear God today. We do not need to fear death, hell, or eternal judgement. However, we should be afraid to disobey God’s commandments. We will stand before God someday and give an account of every word and deed (see Romans 14:12). Even though Christians will spend eternity in heaven, God can and will hand out consequences for our disobedience here on earth (see 2Cor 5:10).
Ex. 20:21 So the people stood at a distance, but Moses came near the dense gloom where God was.
Ex. 20:22 ¶ Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.
Ex. 20:23 You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.
Ex. 20:24 You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
Ex. 20:25 And if you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.
Look at the word “profane”. Cutting stones to build an altar would profane the altar. It was not acceptable to build an altar in any manner. It had to meet certain criteria.
Many Christians today think church buildings should be built as cheaply and easily as possible. They are quite content having church gatherings in drab, unremarkable buildings. While the Bible does not give us guidelines on how to build churches, or whether to even build church buildings, at some point we have to ask if the Creator is offended by our lack of standards. If we don’t have high standards for our church buildings, does that indicate we don’t care about God?
Ex. 20:26 And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’
The Israelites had to be careful how they approached the altar so that they didn’t expose their nakedness. Yahweh’s holiness demanded modesty. Perhaps His holiness demands modesty in modern churches.
Ex. 21:1 ¶ “Now these are the judgments which you are to set before them:
Ex. 21:2 ¶ “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.
Ex. 21:3 If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.
Ex. 21:4 If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone.
Ex. 21:5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’
Ex. 21:6 then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. Then his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.
This concept is not repeated in the New Testament; thus, this practice seems very strange to us.
Ex. 21:7 ¶ “And if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.
Ex. 21:8 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his treachery to her.
While selling daughters is revolting to us, at least these guidelines had protections for the females. A Hebrew female could not be sold to foreigners.
Ex. 21:9 And if he designates her for his son, he shall do to her according to the custom of daughters.
A female slave had to be treated like a daughter.
Ex. 21:10 If he takes for himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.
A female slave had a right to food, clothing, and conjugation.
Ex. 21:11 And if he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.
The Bible frequently mentions the fear of God. Many Christians today think the fear of God is mere respect or admiration. They reject the notion that humans should be afraid of God. The 20th chapter of Exodus illustrates the Biblical concept of the fear of God.
The thunder, lightning, trumpet, and smoke at Mount Sinai demonstrated God’s overwhelming power, which communicated the fact that Yahweh can instantly destroy any person who dares to disobey Him. This is why and how we should fear God.
We do not need to fear death, hell, or eternal judgement. However, we should be afraid to disobey God’s commandments. We will stand before God someday and give an account of every word and deed. Even though Christians will spend eternity in heaven, God can and will hand out consequences for our disobedience here on earth;
Does your church teach the Biblical concept of the fear of God?
At what point should we be afraid that our church building is too cheap considering we serve the Creator of the universe?
At what point should we be afraid to dress too casually in church?
Does the casual atmosphere in many modern churches indicate a lack of fear of God?
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. If you have already joined my email list, thank you and please tell others about Bible Mountain. If you have not joined my email list yet, please do so now. In order to join, go to Bible Mountain dotcom, click on subscribe, and that will take you to a page where you can sign up. Your email address will not be sold nor given away. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”