Exodus 23-24; Psalm 21:1-6; Acts 5

Exodus
23:1-9 - Laws regarding:

• Legal matters - honesty without partiality, even to the poor
• Finding a lost or hurt donkey belonging to an enemy
• Bribery
  
• Oppression of resident aliens

23:10 - Sabbath year and day; other gods

23:14-19 - Festivals

• Unleavened bread in the month Ahib
• Harvests
• Ingathering
• Also - No leavening; no kid boiled in its mother's milk

23:20-33 God's promise to the people: I will give you the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, from the wilderness to the Euphrates.

His expectation: Make no covenant with these people; do not worship their [local] gods.

24:3 - The people promise: "All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do."

Blood of the Covenant: Moses offers sacrifices and dashes the blood on the people, and they repeat their promise.

24:9ff - Summary of mountain experience - precursor to the giving of the Law:

• Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu go partway up the mountain
• Moses and his assistant Joshua go further than the others
• A cloud covers the mountain for 6 days
• On the 7th day God calls Moses out of the cloud
• Moses goes up and disappears from sight for 40 days and 40 nights
• To the people below, God's appearance on the mountain looks like a devouring fire.

Comment: v. 12 - When God says wait, he means wait! Note the patience of Moses and the others as they wait for those 7 days, anticipating but not knowing exactly what is going to happen. And of course, I want details: How did they eat and sleep up there? Did others bring them what they needed?

Psalm 21:1-6
Verse of note: v. 1 - David gives the glory to God for his victory in battle, as should we all. "In your strength the king rejoices, O LORD, and in your help how greatly he exults!"

Acts 5
1-11 - A terrifying and troublesome account of punishment for deceit. Could it be that Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives not only because of their dishonesty -- showing a lack of trust in God -- but because this was in the early stages of the young church and was a reminder to all that God was in their presence?

Possible lessons from this incident:

• Gifts to God (or others) are given through our own free will.
• Gifts to God are for Him, not for show
• We may fool others about our motives, but not God.

12-16 - Great numbers added to the Lord. Could it be that a negative sign, i.e. the death of Ananias and Sapphira, be more powerful than a positive sign? That fear is a greater motivation than wonder alone?

17 - Jealousy also a powerful motivation - the high priest and other Sadducees imprison the apostles. Comment: Nothing impresses these people -- not the death of Ananias and Sapphira, not the apostles' miraculous release from prison. They are blinded by jealous rage.

29 - Peter and John do not back down. "We must obey God rather than any human authority."

33-39 - Gamaliel's influence was amazing.

• He appealed to the council's trust in their own set of beliefs: If this is of man, it will fail, so don't worry about it.
• At the same time, he gave the apostles the benefit of the doubt - But if this is from God, you won't be able to stop it.
• Those who were upset were Sadducees, who denied resurrection from the dead.
• Gamaliel was a Pharisee, who accepted resurrection.
• But Gamaliel was a member of the council and well respected, a teacher of the law.
• Psalm 21:1 would fit well in this victory: "In your strength the king rejoices, O LORD, and in your help how greatly he exults!"