WORD Wednesday II

Exodus 20 - The Commandments

1. Key Terms -

• Graven (v.4) - carved, chiseled, created
• Iniquity (v. 5) - sin
• Vain (v. 7) - for no worthy purpose, emptiness
• Covet (v. 17) - crave, wish, long for, desire
• Hewn (v. 25) - cut, fitted

2. There are two commandments that tell us what we SHOULD do. The other commandments tell us what NOT to do. We can receive guidance by looking at each of those commandments and writing them as a "thou shalt" phrase, to see ways in which we can keep each commandment. For example, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" to "Thou shalt bring life"

• Keith and I had fun with this one! We will share a few:
• "Thou shalt not steal" - "Thou shalt give!"
• "Thou shalt not bear false witness" - "Thou shalt speak truth"
• "Thou shalt not covet..." - "Thou shalt be joyful for thy neighbor's blessings"
• We loved doing this little exercise. It shows us how liberating the Gospel of Christ really is. It is often said that Christianity is far too strict, and allows for little movement, but with such an exercise we see how much we CAN do.
  

3. Which of the Commandments do you think the world needs to pay more attention to today? Why?

• "Thou shalt not commit adultery" - It seems like nowadays people are not taking the covenant of marriage seriously. Many are allowing their weak flesh to take control of their actions. We have many examples of this at the moment, and chose not to speak of names.. but nonetheless, feel this is a commandment that is taken very lightly in today's society.

4. What did the children of Israel do after hearing and seeing the things in Exodus 20: 18-21? Why do you think some people choose to not get any closer to God or to draw away from Him?

• The children of Israel removed themselves, and stood afar off. They feared the presence of God.
• We had a good discussion in regards to this last question. In our opinion, people fear judgment. People feel conviction. They take offense to these things, and take a step back. People do not want to face the Lord for fear of having done wrong, and are not ready to make the necessary steps to make things right with God.

Please share your answers! We would love to hear your thoughts!