17 YITRO (Jethro - his abundance); Ex 18:1-20:23, Mark 7&8

[Bruce Bertram]

Jethro comes to visit his son-in-law, and they have a barbecue and invite other leaders to a picnic.

11“Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.” 12Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God. (Exodus 18:11-12 NASB95)

Before he leaves, Jethro also gives Moses some advice on how to move some of the weight of responsibility off his own shoulders and on to other leaders, which Moses does. He appoints leaders of tens, fifties, hundreds, thousands and whatever else he needed to spread out the burden of government.

In the third month the people arrive at the wilderness of Sinai, at the mountain of God. They prepare for the momentous occasion of hearing what God wants from them as they represent Him and His promise to all the nations. God descends to the mountain as the sound of a shofar (trumpet) gets louder and louder, and there is thunder and lightening and smoke (also see Acts chapter two). There is also some discussion of keeping their distance from the mountain, and a request from the people that Moses relay what God says. God lays His requirements for His people out on two simple stone tablets.

2“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3“You shall have no other gods before Me.
4“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
8“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9“Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11“For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
13“You shall not murder.
14“You shall not commit adultery.
15“You shall not steal.
16“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:2-17 NASB95)

In Mark 7 Jesus deals with the accusation from the religious leaders that He and His disciples do not follow the traditions of the rabbis, such as those for hand washing, by contrasting what Moses said with what they say. The two do not match up.

8“Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” 9He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. (Mark 7:8-9 NASB95)

So Jesus goes on to speak of the difference between being unclean outside as opposed to inside.

14After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. (Mark 7:14-15 NASB95)

Jesus goes to Tyre, where a Syro-Phoenician woman (not a Jew) asks for a healing for her daughter. He says not to throw the children’s bread to the dogs, but she responds that even the dogs eat the children’s crumbs. Moving on to Decapolis (ten cities), where He heals a deaf and dumb man and continues to add to His reputation. Jesus and the disciples have another picnic where this time 4,000 people are fed. Going on to Dalmanutha, Jesus again has the Pharisees try to test Him by asking for a sign. He goes on to warn the disciples about the ‘leaven of the Pharisee’s’ as they travel to ‘the other side’ (probably of the Sea of Galilee), using the example of the large picnics, but at first the disciples don’t understand. In Bethsaida Jesus heals a blind man, and as He and the disciples are on their way to Caesarea Philippi, He asks the disciples about what the people are calling Him. Peter ends up saying, “You are the Christ,” which Jesus orders them to keep to themselves.

Now Jesus starts to speak of His upcoming death, and at one point Peter rebukes Him, but Jesus says that Satan should “get behind Me” showing that Peter needed to be more aware of the plans of God. We round out chapter eight by these words of Jesus.

36“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:36-38 NASB95)

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

9He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. (Mark 7:9 NASB95)

In Exodus 18 Moses sets up a godly leadership structure. These leaders were to help the people understand the Words of God and decide what was right according to His teachings. Each leader was given a group of people to help, from 1,000 to 100 to 50 or 10. They were tasked with deciding small or easy disputes and taking the difficult problems to Moses. In this way Moses didn’t have to continue exhausting himself to mediate every tiny little disagreement in a nation that numbered more than 2 million people.

In Mark 7 we see that leadership gone terribly awry, because traditions developed by men have gotten between God’s Word and the people who need explanations and help living it out. Instead of godly leadership the elders have turned into hypocrites, a word which literally means an ‘actor’ and is a name for a person who says one thing but does another. In this case the elders say they want the Word, or say they are teaching it, but do not really follow it themselves.

1Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. (Luke 12:1 NASB95)

What they follow, instead, is a series of interpretations which collectively are known as the ‘traditions of the elders’ (verse 5). Other names for it are ‘oral law’ or even ‘law,’ and ‘tradition of men.’ Paul in Colossians 2 calls it “philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world” (verse 8, see also 20, & 22). In Romans 14 he starts out the chapter by speaking of “passing judgment on (people’s) opinions,” and in Galatians 1:14 he speaks of persecuting believers because of his “ancestral traditions.” It’s very conceivable also that when ‘law’ is spoken of, frequently it refers to the ‘law of men’ or the ‘principle of law’ as opposed to the ‘law of God,’ because God’s Word, even if we regard it as ‘law,’ is really life.

Jesus speaks of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod in Mark 8:15, using the reminder of the big picnics where thousands of people were fed by just a few loaves of bread. These remarks are followed a few verses later by Jesus asking the disciples about what the people are saying of Him, and Peter caps the discussion by making the declaration that Jesus is the Messiah or Anointed One of God. This series of comments seems to be used by Mark to show how the elders ‘say’ they want God’s rule as represented by the Messiah, but don’t accept the Messiah when He is clearly revealed. In other words, the bread at the picnics (among many other miracles and wonders) was an obvious sign of Jesus’ position and should’ve been accepted as testimony by the elders. That is, if they really wanted the Messiah in the first place.

Moses delivers the Ten Words from God in Exodus 20, which the Elders are to use as the guidelines for living righteous lives and for making their rulings in disputes. The deviation comes in when what is written isn’t enough, and traditions intrude. For Paul, to go “beyond what is written” leads to arrogance.

6Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. (1 Corinthians 4:6 NASB95)

Jesus puts it that what comes out of the mouth (lip service, quoting Isaiah in Mark 7:6,7) comes from the heart and is the true indicator of whether or not a person is clean or unclean.

13Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, 14Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.” (Isaiah 29:13-14 NASB95)

Obviously referring to what was coming out of the mouths of the elders at the time, Jesus drives the point home in effect by contrasting the cleanliness of the hands with the cleanliness of the heart.

20And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23“All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” (Mark 7:20-23 NASB95)

In the past (before Sinai) God dealt with individuals who loved Him. Now in Exodus He is taking a step to deal with a nation as a whole. Before, various individuals such as Enoch (Genesis 5:21-24) and Abraham (Genesis 26:5) walked with God and followed His Word to the letter. Now He is doing something different in forming a nation that will represent Him to the rest of the world, if they follow what He says as a group as well as individuals. The Word of God, including the Law, seems to be primarily an individual thing first. As individuals interact together it becomes a group thing. Individuals are the basic building block of a group, whether that group is a family unit or a clan or a tribe or a nation. God still deals with individuals first, and the individual must decide for his or her self whether or not they will follow. In a nation, there are people who don’t follow and people who do.

How does this relate to ‘traditions of the elders?’ Because we, as individuals, must learn the Word and require an accounting of our elder’s teachings compared to His Word. Every thing that is taught must be measure up to the written Word of God, and we should refuse to follow any elder who deviates from the plain writing.

Have you ever heard a leader or elder, pastor or priest or rabbi, defend themselves by saying “touch not the Lord’s anointed?” This is from Scripture such as 1 Samuel 24 and 26, where David refused to kill Saul because he was the Lord’s anointed. So what the leaders are saying is that somehow they are ‘anointed’ and anybody who questions their teachings is doing something bad. In reality, from Scripture such as 1 Chronicles 16:22, 2 Corinthians 1:21, 1 John 2:20 and 2:27 all of us His children are anointed, on the one hand, and on the other there is only one Anointed One, the Christ or Son of God, also called Jesus. If we are all anointed, then pastors or rabbis cannot claim special anointing except perhaps in their capacity as God given elders. We should show respect to them, and give those who labor in the Word double honor, as we also honor our fathers and mothers, but that doesn’t mean they are immune to ‘testing the spirits’ and ‘searching the Word to see if these things (are) true.’

1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1 NASB95)

2‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. (Revelation 2:2-3 NASB95)

Watch therefore, and be ready, testing the spirits and refusing to tolerate evil men. Even the men who claim to be anointed, or who occupy the position of elder. Give honor where honor is due, but remember that out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

1I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:1-4 NASB95)

Remember too that all who are God's children are anointed, so 'touching the Lord's anointed' is not the same as questioning leadership. As Peter says, sanctify the Anointed in your heart, and do not fear the intimidation of elders who have allowed the traditions of men to override the plain doctrine of God.

14But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, 15but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:14-16 NASB95)

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Exodus 18:1 - 20:26; Isaiah 6:1-7:6, 9:6-7; Mark7 and 8; Matthew 5:17-32, 15:1-11, 19:16-30; Mark 7:5-15, 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30; Acts 6:1-7; Romans 2:17-29, 7:7-12, 13:8-10; Eph. 6:1-3; 1 Tim. 3:1-14; 2 Tim. 2:2; Titus 1:5-9; Hebrews 12:18-29; James 2:8-13; 1 Peter 2:9-10

In our piece of manna this week the Law is given. It is a momentous event accompanied by thunder, lightning, cloud, smoke, and the sound of a great trumpet. It is the gospel, according to Hebrews 4:2. Why is it the gospel? Because the good news is that God is with us. The Law lays out the terms of His residency in the nation of Israel.

Just before the fireworks get started, Moses sets the terms before the elders. God says, in essence, “If you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The elders (representing Israel) respond that they will do it.

So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. (Exodus 19:7–8, ESV)

Some have taught that Israel said they would obey before they heard all of the Law. Therefore, they were arrogant, thinking they could do anything God asked. Following the Law, it is further said, is impossible. According to this line of thinking, Israel was over-confident and prideful, not knowing the high standard that would be set for them. The torturous reasoning of this teaching makes God’s living oracles into a test that Israel couldn’t pass. The Law was only given in order to bring them to Himself by grace through faith rather than the merit of their own actions.

This line of reasoning is absolutely not accurate according to the Word.

First, the Law existed before Sinai. There are many instances of people obeying specific laws long before this particular event. From the sacrifices of Abel to the Sabbath, God’s Word was already known. All Israel already knew essentially what was in the Law. There is also the implication that God would not require anything that couldn’t be done, because He was a loving, just, and merciful God. He would not play the sadist and lay on Israel behavior requirements that could not be met. Not even to show that they couldn’t be met. God doesn’t play games like that. Only man would think up stupidity such as giving someone a law to follow that couldn’t be followed.

Second, there were people who obeyed God in such a way as to be commended by direct blessing, and in one case (Enoch’s) by God “taking him.” Abraham was said by God to have obeyed (Genesis 26:5) in such a way as to be given the promise, which is the Messiah Jesus the Christ as a descendant (and a Land and other blessings). Obviously, following God was not a matter of ability, but willingness.

Third, God says the Law is easily obeyed.

“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. (Deuteronomy 30:11–14, ESV)

Jesus says that His Words are the same as the Father’s, and that His yoke is easy and light. His yoke would be the same as the Father’s yoke, and this yoke is the Law.

Fourth, Israel was already ‘saved’ from Egypt, baptized, and brought to the mountain to hear how to live with God in their midst. They didn’t have to earn His presence. It wasn’t in reverse order – as in “live this way and you might earn my presence.” In grace and love God rescued them from the world, gave them a constitution to live by, and would’ve given them a place that was their own forever if they hadn’t wanted to wait 40 years first. He intended to live with them in His tabernacle, and the whole arrangement would’ve been close to a return of the conditions in the Garden of Eden before the fall if Israel cooperated. It’s not that Israel couldn’t do it, it’s that they wouldn’t. This condition still prevails in mankind – all we have to do is choose Him, and the rest is paradise. But we don’t. We come up with all kinds of excuses, but they are just excuses, not reasons.

The parable of the rich young ruler is a case in point. The guy asks Jesus what he needed to do “to inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30). Jesus reminds him about the commandments. This is not a tongue-in-cheek recommendation. It is a serious, real, concrete reminder that life is in God’s Laws. Jesus was not testing the poor guy with something he couldn’t do; He loved him (Mark 10:21). When Jesus said for the ruler to add to his obedience by giving up his money and following Jesus, it was a bona fide offer. The next step in this guy’s walk would be to recognize Jesus as God and follow Him, simply because He said to do it. The ruler went away sad. Not because he “couldn’t” get rid of his possessions, but because he didn’t want to. Hopefully, the young man later realized what was meant and responded accordingly. We all have a number of chances to respond to God. Let’s hope the rich young ruler took God up on His offer eventually.

Jesus loves us too. He points the way to returning God’s love by living the Law and commanding us to live it also (Matthew 5:17-32). It is not the Law that cannot be done. Properly followed, it is jammed full of love for God and each other. Filled with the Spirit, as Jesus says, it is easy and light. The Law starts out with the command to love God and worship Him only.

…but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:6, ESV)

Worship contains the idea of obedience. We cannot worship God with song yet spurn His ways and still be accepted by God. Empty praise and strong vows we do not intend to keep are abhorrent to Him. Lip-service has no appeal to God, and He will not accept less than whole hearted devotion.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8, ESV)

Shalom
Bruce