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Foreign.
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Hey, it's Shelby and Paul. Here we are in Exodus talking through chapters 20 through 23 today. So in these chapters, we have the giving of the Ten Commandments. There's a lot to talk through here. Paul, why don't you start us off in chapter 20?
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Yes. So we have at the beginning of chapter 20 an important statement from God. In verses two through three, he first declares who he is, right? And like we talked about before, God revealing His name as Yahweh, now is this new declaration of something about his character, that he's this deliverer, right? And so he reminds them, before he tells them how they are to live, he reminds them who he is and what he's done for them. Right? He is Yahweh, who brought them out of Egypt. Right. And, you know, like we said earlier, right? Like, God's salvation makes Israel his people first before they obey. Right? And so, you know, it's a reminder that the way that they live doesn't determine who they are. Right? And this law that he gives them is the formal establishment of Israel as a nation. And this covenant, which theologian Gerald Bray, he defines it as relationships that God establishes with people on the basis of his promises. And so here God has made this promise. He's going to deliver them. He's done it. And so now he's giving them this new relationship, this new special relationship only with Israel. And now he's about to tell them how they're supposed to live.
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B
Okay, so he's going to tell them how they're supposed to live based on their relationship. There are, like. I think if we went into our office and looked into. We have, like, these bookshelves just filled with all these books we used for research. And we looked for books on the Ten Commandments, we could pull, like, several off the shelves. But, Paul, you've got, like, three minutes. So can you break down the Ten Commandments for us?
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Yeah, yeah. I want to highlight one of the commandments, actually. I want to talk about the third commandment, right? So you have in verse seven, it says, you shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain. Right. And I think growing up, I was often taught this meant, you know, I shouldn't use God's name flippantly, Right. I shouldn't use his name in speech in ways that are disrespectful, you might say. And I think while this command does include our speech, I think it also goes much deeper into our lives. And if you remember, we talked about how names carry the person's character Right. And so as Christians and the Israelites also, we are God's people. And so we represent his name, which means that we represent his character. And so it's kind of like an ambassador. Right. For countries, if a US Ambassador goes to another country, they represent the whole of that country. And so if that ambassador is disrespectful, that country will consider the whole US the whole US has disrespected their country. Right. And so this is kind of the same way. Right. You might think of the phrase, like in English, that you're going to drag someone's name through the mud. Right. That's a negative thing. And saying their reputation. Right. And so what this means, this command is essentially to not just avoid disrespecting the literal name God, but to disrespect, not disrespect his whole character in the.
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Way that we live.
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And so when we act outside of God's will, we misrepresent his name and we take his name in vain.
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Right.
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And so it's more than just how we speak. And I think that's an important thing to remember, even for how we live today.
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Yeah. And may that be a plug for you to go and pick up a book on the Ten Commandments. Because while each one, if you just read it, literally is a great principle, there's so much more in there about how we live as God's people. What else do you want us to take away from these chapters today, Paul?
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Yeah. So we have a lot of laws here beyond just the Ten Commandments. And I want to point to something that the study said. It said that laws are an expression of values. And then later it says that the laws in these future chapters, these later chapters, they show the value that God places on people. Right. And I think that's the thing to take away from these laws, is that human life is the thing that God values above all else. Right. And I think that's really honestly what it looks like to obey the third commandment. Right. Is when we respect people, we value people and their lives, we represent God's name. Well.
- [04:25]
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Yeah, I love that. I think something that I'm walking away from this with is just the question, do my thoughts, do my actions align with who God is and his character, and am I representing him well to the people around me? I think that's a great question that diving into that third commandment brings up today. If you don't have the year in the Bible studies and. And you're wondering what Paul was referencing, we're going to go ahead and put a link in the show notes for you to check out those studies. That way you can not only be reading each day's chapters with us, but you can also be going deeper by reading the study content and doing the reflection and prayer prompts as well. We'll see you back tomorrow for more from the Book of Exodus.