Exodus 28 - the Priestly Vestments

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Aaron and his sons were priests. The Lord endowed certain Israelites with special talents and they were chosen to create fine priestly vestments for Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Using gold, violet, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linens they were to make breastplates, ephos, robes, brocaded tunics, miters and sashes. The garments were to be made so exquisitely that they would set off the priests from the rest of the Israelites. God wanted His priests to be distinguised and easily recognizable. Another thing He instructed Aaron to do was to have the sons of Israels names sewn into his breastplate so that when he made decisions regarding them they would be on his heart. 

Thank you so much for visiting me today. May God richly bless you and the reading of His word.

Exodus 27 - The Altar, Court and Lamp Oil

 

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God provided the Israelites with specific instructions for each step of creating the synagogue. The altar of the holocaust was to be made from acacia wood and to measure 5 cubits long by 5 cubits wide and 3 cubits high. Instruments to be used at the altar such as a rack, basket, shovel, pots for removing ashes, and so forth were to be made of bronze. God went on to explain in explicit design how the court yard and even the columns were to be designed and created and then the oil for the lamps was to be made from pressed olives.

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Exodus 26 - Decorating the Sanctuary

 

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Wouldn't it be something if we could visit the first sanctuary ever built? According to the above site, this is where the first church was built and it was built exactly to the specifications of God. The Israelites has a very close relationship to God. He had fed and nurtured them firsthand. He brought them out of land of their oppressors and was taking them to the "promised land".

Exodus 24 and 25 gave us some very specific instructions that he had given to Moses and the children of Israel. If we ever doubt for a moment that our God does think thoroughly through any of His undertakings, we have only to pick up the Bible and browse these chapters. In this chapter God tells His children what type of fabric he would like the tent constructed of and the veils. He explains how the walls should be made and of what type of materials. Remember this is the same God that designed an ark which protected Noah, his family and two of each type of animal and reptile throughout the flood. Our God is very detail oriented and very caring. 

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Exodus 25 - The Planning of the Sanctuary

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"Tell the Israelites to take up a collection for me. From every man you shall accept the contibution that his heart prompts him to give me." God said to Moses then he went into specific instructions on what would be needed to build the ark, table and lampstand. The instructions were precise and the results were sure to be something with so much splendor that nothing could compare.

Thank you so much for visiting me today. May God richly bless you and the reading of His word.

Exodus 24 - Moses Stays with God for 40 Days

 

God told them all to worship at a distance but Moses. Moses was invited to come up into the mountain and commune with God. He brought God's instructions back to the people and related them to them and they agreed to all that God asked. 

Moses then took Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 elders with him to the mountain where they beheld God. Under His feet there appeared to be beautiful tile made of sapphires as clear and blue as the sky. They were allowed to gaze upon God's image and live to tell of it. Then God instructed Moses to come with him to receive the stone tablets with the ten commandments on them. He took with him Joshua and his aide but they remained behind as he got closer. Moses entered into the cloud with God and remained there for 40 days and nights. 

To the Israelites God appeared as a consuming fire on the mountaintop, but they could see Moses enter into its midst.

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Exodus 21-23 - The Laws

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In both of these chapters God expounds upon the ten commandments clarifying the letter of the law pertaining to violence, property, cleanliness, and justice. 

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Exodus 20 - God delivers the 10 commandments

God delivered the ten commandments with great thundering, lightning, trumpet sounds along with a mountain filled with smoke. The people backed up and stood afar off as they were fearful that if they witnessed God they would die. They asked Moses to speak to God in their behalf and promised their obedience. The commandments are as follows:

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)
1	“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2	“You shall not make for yourself a carved 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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3	“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4	“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5	“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6	“You shall not murder.
7	“You shall not commit adultery.
8	“You shall not steal.
9	“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10	“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.” Posters of the ten commandments can be purchased here. image source

Thank you so much for visiting me today. May God richly bless you and the reading of His word. 

Exodus 19 - The Burning Mountain

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It was three months after they had escaped from Egypt. They set up camp in Sinai. Moses went up into the mountain to speak with God. God told Moses that if the people listen to Him they would be blessed above all other people and would a kingdom of priests and dearer than all others. When Moses carried this message back to the people they wholeheartedly agreed to listen and obey. He also told Moses that when the people witnessed Him speaking to him they would truly respect and have faith in him. 

Then God told Moses to instruct the people to sanctify and cleanse themselves for three days and to set the mountain as off limits for He would come down and speak to them. They were not to even set foot on the base of the mountain as it would needed to remain holy and pure. If they disobeyed they could be put to death. 

The morning of the third day a great trumpet sounded, there was great thunder and lightning, everyone in the camp trembled and a cloud encompassed the mountain. The Lord descended upon the mountain in a fire, and the very mountain shook. Moses spoke to God. God spoke to Moses in thunder. The people were warned again not to step foot even on the base of Mount Sinai. There were not to try to break through to get a glimpse of God. Moses went up in the mountain to commune with God. 

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Exodus 18 - Appointment of Minor Judges

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Moses is reunited with Zipporah and his sons

In Exodus 2 Moses had been invited to live with Jethro and his family and was given Zipporah his daughter in marriage. They had two sons. Jethro had heard of the wonderful miracles that God was performing and how God had helped Moses to conquer the enemy and free the Israelites from captivity. He, Jethro, brought with him Zipporah and their two sons. He sent word on ahead to Moses that he was coming to visit him. Moses came out to greet him and bowed low to show his respect. They greeted exchanging kisses as was customary, then went into the tent to talk about God's wonders. 

Moses appoints men to hear the minor cases

Then next day as Jethro, who himself is a priest, saw the many people come and line up to ask Moses to mediate for them, he suggested that Moses appoint certain Godly, respectable and wise men to sit over the lesser disagreements so that Moses would not have so much upon his shoulders. He agreed, selected the men and bid his father in-law farewell as he journeyed back to him homeland. 

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Exodus 17 - Water from a rock

In a particular stage of the journey, the Israelites became thirsty and began to quarrel with one another and with Moses. They again questioned why Moses had taken them from Egypt. They argued so angrily with Moses that Moses cried out to God that if the Israelites did not get water he feared that they may stone him.

God told Moses to take some of the elders with him along with  his staff then in front of the Israelites to take the staff and  to strike the rock at Horeb. The Lord said I will be there and cause water to flow from the rock that they may drink.

At Rephidim, Amalek came to challenge them to a war. Amalek was from an aboriginal tribe from southern Palestine and the Sinai peninsula. Joshua was instructed to select certain men to go with him into battle and Moses would stand at the top of the hill with his arms outstretched. As long as Moses held his arms up the Israelites were winning, but when he grew tired and lowered them the enemy would start winning so Aaron and Hur helped to support his arms and the battle was won. God told Moses he would blot out from memory in the annals of history the mention of Amalek, but will remember the victory of Joshua. An altar was built and praises made to God.

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Exodus 16 - Groaning and Grumbling

The Israelites cried moaning and groaning unto Aaron and Moses stating they would have been better off had the Lord let them die rather than to bring them to a desert to die of famine.

God told Moses to have the Israelites gather bread each morning enough for their family that day and not to gather more than they needed as He would supply enough each day. On the sixth day only could they gather extra so that they might rest on the sabbath. Some disobeyed and when they gathered too much it was spoiled in the morning, however when they saved some for Sunday it was good the next day. Moses warned them that their grumbling was not against Aaron and himself but against their God and they ought not grumble as God provides for them. He then asked them to present themselves to God and then they witnessed God in a cloud in the desert. He told them that in the morning they would have bread and in the evening they would have quail to eat. 

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Exodus 15 - At last the Israelites are free!

Imagine the feelings of relief felt by the children of Israel. They were born into slavery. Their parents and their parent's parents were too. Life had been hard for them and they certainly thought they were going to die as slaves, only moments before as they were trapped between the Red Sea and the armies. They sang of how the Lord opened the seas for them to pass on dry land but closed the same sea right behind them as the enemies pursued and swallowed them up. Verses 9 and 10 state they sang

""The enemy boasted, "I will pursue and override them; I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them; I will draw my sword; my hand shall despoil them!" When your wind blew, the sea covered them; and they sank in the mighty waters." The New American Bible

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