We are getting closer to Christmas!
We’ve now talked about the nine ladies dancing, eight maids milking, seven swans swimming, six geese alaying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtlwdoves, and a patridge in a pear tree.
Remember that each of these coincides with a lesson we are meant to learn about God.
Now we move to Day Ten.
Ten Lords Leaping
The Ten Lords are the Ten Commandments. Now before we move further, I want to remind everyone reading this that as my Old Testament Survey professor used to say ” Nineteen comes before twenty.” These are not a list of rules that God gives because he wants to restrict us. Rather they are stated relational boundaries. Because of who God is there is an appropriate way that we are to approach him. We have the right to call out Abba Father, but our father is still the King.
Exodus 20 outlines the 10 Commandments. It is easiest to think of them as being in two distinct groups: those that show how we are to relate to God and those that show how we relate to other people. Let’s begin.
1. Ex. 20:3 – Don’t have other gods before Me. When I was in college we learned that a technical definition of “god” was anything that we decided was worthy of being worshiped. Here God tells us that we are not to substitute anything else in our lives for him.
2. Ex. 20:4 – Don’t make for an idol for yourself. In other words, don’t make something that is meant to be a representation of God. When we attempt to give God a physical form, we begin to think of him in those terms, and that means that since we gave him that form, we are the ones who control what he can do. We tricknourselves into believing that we control the creator of the cosmos.
3. Ex. 20:7 Don’t misuse the name of the LORD your God. We tend to take this very literally, and people are either afraid to say God or OMG. You shouldn’t abuse the OMGs – make them count- but a name is a reputation. It is a person’s honor. If your ever seen The Crucible (and if you haven’t, you should) the play/movie ends with the main character tearing up a paper that is his confession to a crime he didn’t commit. He says that it is his name that he would be selling if he allowed himself to hand that paper over. If you claim Christ, act like it. Don’t misuse that name.
4. Ex. 20:8 – Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy. This isn’t for God, but for us. We need rest: physically, me tally. Spiritually. And what Sabbath does is allow us to remember that God is in co teol, and he will m provide what we need. It isn’t all on us to do the work.
5. Ex. 20:12 – Honor your father and mother. Don’t do things that are going to destroy your parents. This doesn’t mean allow them to sin, or to allow them to do something that would be illegal or abusive to you or someone else, or to drag you into sin. But it does mean that you should make sure you don’t deliberately do something to shame your parents and to allow them to have dignity as they age. I’m seeing this now with my grandparents and how my parents are trying to let them have dignity, to make decisions while they still can, and to let them be as independent as possible.
6. Ex. 20:13 – Do not murder. Self explanatory, you should hate someone so much that you end their life. Life is precious, don’t take it needlessly. This is not to be confused with kill. To kill is different from murder. One is personal, the other is done as corporal punishment or during war.
7. Ex. 20:14 – Do not commit adultery. The marriage bed is sacred. Do not bring anything onto it that violates your spouses sense of security, innocence, or safety. Don’t even think about doing it.
8. Ex. 20:15 – Don’t steal. Work for what you get.
9. Ex. 20:16 – Don’t give false testimony against your neighbor. Don’t ruin the reputation of someone else through lies or gossip. Liable is a real thing, and damaging someone’s reputfor the juicy gossip or because you want to get ahead doesn’t do anyone any favors.
10. Ex. 20: 17 – Don’t covet your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, or animals. If I were to break this down, I’d say this means: don’t want something that someone else has so bad that you are prepared to do whatever you have to or are prepared to do anything to get it.
This is my break down on the 10 Commandments. I hope that you found it helpful, and I parse these out a bit more on my YouTube channel Vlogmas 2023 Day 20).
Road Trippin With Rachael 
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