It’s so easy to read through the Old Testament and completely dismiss the laws, or the bloodlines, or the endless lists of parameters set in place for Israel. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read through the latter half of Exodus or the books of Leviticus or Numbers with glazed over eyes, reading it for just the surface value of what was going on. In truth, when you look below the surface value of Old Testament law, and you read it while asking yourself, “What does this show me about Jesus? Where is the cross and the gospel in this?” That’s when scripture begins to burst open and you can really see how God’s love and plan to redeem us is pouring out of every verse.

I say the word “slavery” and what do you think?

Do you think modern-day slavery? Do you think of vulnerable people that are snatched, stolen and taken to toil in terrible conditions and lifestyles?

Do you think of America in the 1800’s? When African people were sold off to work in fields and treated as less than even animals?

When you’re a kid, you want your parents to pray for you for a lot of things. When you go to sleep, they say your bedtime prayers. When you sit down to eat, they pray for your food. When you fall down and get hurt, they pray over the scrapes and bumps.And for a kid, it feels like the prayers are better because it’s your mom or dad praying. The funny thing is, over the years that Sam and I have been in ministry, the premise is still the same for churchgoers to ask their pastors to pray on their behalf. Some people just feel that their pastor’s prayers are more effective or better heard by God.

The final commandment is one that focuses less on outward actions and morality and turns inward. Each command that precedes it has to do with an external act– murder, obeying one's parents, theft, adultery, etc– and takes a look at an internal act that may not be readily apparent to another person, but takes place mostly in our hearts. Coveting. Desiring something that someone else has and we don’t. Letting jealousy run rampant in our hearts.

This ninth commandment sounds like something from the Bill of Rights or a rule in a court of law. In reality, it could apply to a legal testimony in a court of law, but in its most simple terms, this commandment warns us against lying or manipulating the truth. This commandment encompasses many different applications of falsifying truth. To put it mildly, it forbids those little, white lies that we convince ourselves are admissible and necessary. On the other extreme, it warns us against spreading or perpetuating rumors, exaggerating the truth, repeating stories without verifying information as truth, and keeping silent when we hear untrue stories to save face with others.

I have a friend who is the mother of two. When Sam and I lived in New York, we went to visit her and her family often. One Sunday, after church, we popped in to hear her very sternly scolding her oldest son who was probably about 11 or 12 years old at the time. Quietly, we sat down so she could do her thing. After sending him out to the yard and their townhome community with a roll of dog-poop bags, she turned to us shaking her head and explained that on their way home from church that day, she realized that he had stolen a candy bar while she was pumping gas. She said she didn’t care if it was a Snickers or a flat screen TV, her son wasn’t going to grow up to be a thief.

There is a lot of potential for sin surrounding sex. God has given us many parameters regarding it: who it is appropriate to have it with by gender and marital status. The freedom with which we are permitted to deal in it. No matter the way we look at it or try to slice the conversation, God is pretty clear about what He wants in that area for us.

Seems a pretty open and shut commandment. Don’t murder. Easy enough. Most people don’t really get the urge to premeditate and act on the actual slaying of another life.

But when God says “murder,” what does He actually mean? The word used here is “rasah,” which is a Hebrew word specifically meaning a premeditated killing. This would not apply to accidental killing, death related to self-defense, or death as punishment by law. To kill in the context of this word, rasah, is reserved for a murder born out of hatred or malice towards someone else. This could include vengeful murder handled outside of lawful verdict, assassination, and murdering due to bitterness or vindictiveness towards someone.

I remember being a kid, sitting in the church pew, and hearing this commandment. I remember looking over at my mom who was giving me a look that said, “Did you hear that?” I probably rolled my eyes because I thought God was backing her up on the whole 8 p.m. bedtime and doing my chores thing. Back then, that’s what honoring my parents meant: obeying them and following the rules. And sure, maybe that’s part of honoring– listening, heeding, and abiding. But it goes deeper than the age-old “because I said so” mentality that we’ve attached to that idea.

If the first commandment is about holding God as supreme over our lives, not having any idols or distractions that take precedence over Him, then it might seem at first glance that the second commandment is a little redundant. Sure, the second commandment talks about not making images and bowing down to them. In ancient times, those ideas were closely linked. The Egyptian gods all had likenesses and images. Each god had animals that incarnated and represented each of their deities. As such, these animals were considered sacred, such as the cat which represented Bastet the goddess of protection, pleasure and good health, or a jackal which embodied Anubis the guide to the underworld and protector of graves.

The Ten Commandments. What is your knee jerk reaction to them? Do you picture two stone tablets with each command written out? Do you think of the Old Testament law? Do you think of a moral code of ethics given to us by God? Ultimately, all those things are correct, but just because the Ten Commandments were given to the people of Israel and represents a part of Old Testament law, doesn’t mean we can just gloss them over or throw them away. Because despite the fact that they are found in the Law, doesn’t mean they don’t apply to us. At their core, these commandments are all things that we should gladly sign on to. Don’t murder. Don’t steal. Honor God above all else. Nothing about those things are negated by the cross or the New Testament.

It took Israel three months from their exodus of Egypt until they took up residence around Mount Sinai. In those three months, they saw the end of their slavery, deliverance from Egypt, they walked across the Red Sea, witnessed God’s miraculous provision of food and water, and won a war in God’s name. They saw evidence upon evidence of God’s love and care for them; His strength and power over their enemies and yet His protection over this chosen nation. Israel would go on to spend a long time in the wilderness of Sinai and a lot of their societal structure would be established there. Nevertheless, God wanted to meet His people at Mount Sinai the way He met Moses from within the burning bush.

It seriously boggles my mind how quickly Israel could forget God’s goodness, mercy, and provision towards them. The Jews left Egypt and began their journey in the wilderness in Exodus 15, and here we are in chapter 17 and already we’ve seen 3 different iterations of them having a need, shaking their fists and Moses and God about it, not trusting in God to fill it, and God supernaturally proving Himself by fulfilling their need with a miracle. And what’s worse is that those are just a couple of chapters at the beginning of a 40 year-long journey! We know that there are still many, many more times that Israel repeated that same pattern.

But we are the same way. And just think: If Israel found it hard to rely on God and constantly fell into habits of questioning Him despite the miracles and wonders they witnessed, how much more so is it for us?

The Israelites ate manna for all forty years they wandered in the wilderness. For a younger generation of Israelites, that was for all their lives. Think about that: Every day, for forty years, everyone would go out at the break of dawn and sweep up manna. And even though manna is known as “bread from heaven,” it didn’t drop down from the sky in loaves. Angels didn’t deliver it to the entrances of each tent wrapped in a tea towel and warm from God’s heavenly oven. No, every morning, Israel would wake up, head outside, and sweep up the manna– it materialized in the morning dew and as the sun rose, the water would evaporate off and leave behind a small seed the size of coriander or a mustard seed. Because it was so small and fine, most people swept it up rather than gathering it piece by piece; which they had to do early in the morning, because as the sun rose later in the day, that manna would also melt away.

In 2014, back in the days before this website existed, God laid it on my heart to go on a mission trip to Africa. At the onset, I thought the obvious path was to go with a family friend that had an organization in Tanzania. That mission would consist of traveling in the African bush, visiting tribes and ministering to them over the course of about two or three weeks. There were months of planning, between figuring out what vaccines I’d need, supplies, putting my finances in order to fund it, and travel logistics. Finally, it came time to buy the plane tickets and try as I did, confirming a booking proved impossible. I’d have the tickets, pick my seat, enter my payment information, and submit, but for some reason each time I tried, the seat was no longer available. This happened several times with multiple airlines before my mom stepped in and voiced my own concern: Something wasn’t right.

As Christians, we know not to sin. That’s pretty obvious, and for the most part, maybe it’s easy to refrain from those big ones: murder, theft, adultery, gossip, etc. But what about those sins that seem little and insignificant? What about a complaining attitude? Sure, complaining seems like a harmless thing to do. After all, isn’t it bad to keep our feelings bottled up? Isn’t it healthy to vent? How does a little complaining hurt? To that I say, it’s not so much about venting. It’s about the habits that constant complaining naturally leads to. In all truth, if we truly lean on God and trust Him to keep us and provide for us, what do we have to complain for?