Day: August 15, 2016

Indiana Jones – Raiders of the Lost Ark

By Josiah Cain

josiah ark

Well if there is one thing you probably noticed about today’s reading, that is, it was repetitive. The amount of instructions were so long because every other sentence was like, do this exact same thing again on the other side. Besides all of the long winded instructions, what else was there? I actually think there is a lot of value hidden in these words.

The first thing I noticed was how specific the instructions got; it was just like yesterday’s reading where the situations that were described got really specific. I think this shows us that God really does have an exact way that He wants us to do things sometimes.

Also what a cool job it would be to build God’s tabernacle and His ark. The ark is such a historically important object that Hollywood even decided to make a movie about it. Also the tabernacle was the first place that God really calls His dwelling place, the first time we see God dwelling amongst His people since the Garden of Eden.

Another thought I had was how everything the ark and tabernacle were built out of was expensive. I think that material doesn’t really change the holiness points of structures but I think it did impact the Israelite’s view of the whole ordeal. The Israelites had to put some skin in the game if they wanted to really build the ark and tabernacle. All of the materials mentioned did not come cheap and easily, especially in the middle of the desert.

All in all, this might not have been the most thrilling section to read but it is still important because God put it there. I hope you did learn something about the tabernacle and the ark. It might have also made you appreciate the fact that God hasn’t asked you to build Him a giant tent in your back yard. Once again thanks for reading!

Why So Many Rules? (Exodus 21-23)

Josiah - rules

In these three chapters we get a long list of dos and don’ts. There are so many specific situations mentioned in these chapters about how to pay back someone for a stolen ox or what to do if you beat a slave etc. What surprised me most about this section is the intense punishment for a lot of these rules! Did you know that if you strike one of your parents you should be put to death according to the Exodus law?!? That is crazy to me, thankfully though I can’t remember ever hitting my parents so I’m all clear on this rule.

Another topic mentioned a lot in these chapters is the, ‘no other gods’ theme. It is twice mentioned that there is only one God; I love how the entire Old Testament reinforces this idea of one God. This makes me think of Exodus 34:14 which says that God is a “jealous God”. Most people think that God being jealous is a bad thing but it is actually beautiful. This means that God values us and our praise so much that He only wants it for Himself. YHWH created us to worship Him and no one else but Him. In case you’re new to the whole Bible thing YHWH is the name of God. It brings me such joy to know that there is an all powerful God out that there that cares about me enough to be jealous for me and my praise. He could literally have anything He wanted but God gave us the choice and He fights for our praise.

This section reminds me of my appreciation for the new covenant, the one that we are all under as Christians. Reading all of these rules made me exhausted and I could hardly bear the idea of having to follow them all of the time. I was thinking of how glad I am that Jesus came to fulfill the law so that we are no longer made to keep any of these specific rules. However this doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want now; if anything Jesus raised the bar for Christians. Instead of the whole eye for an eye concept, we are to turn the other cheek. Instead of repaying an enemy for what we stole, we must love and pray for our enemies. Jesus on one hand has set us free from exact law keeping, but he has put on us a greater burden of true love. I encourage you to thank God for the sacrifice of giving His son for us and to thank Jesus for being willing to die for you and move you under the new covenant.

If I had to summarize these three chapters into one sentence it would be this. Long story short God had a lot of rules to follow and back then breaking one of them meant serious business. Until tomorrow and thank you for taking the time to read this!

 

— Josiah Cain