Day 19 – September 26, 2023: Exodus 22-25 and Psalms 6, 146

So we find ourselves knee deep in the laws and regulations of the people of Israel. This includes the well known eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We see this actually in yesterday’s reading, so go back over that if you would. For today…, we see laws of restitution, social and religious laws, laws of justice for everyone including the slave and the immigrant and the widow and the virgin. We read about the sabbatical year and the sabbath, the festivals that the Lord wanted the people of Israel to celebrate are mentioned as well. This is why it is called the law, because there are so many laws which the Israelites were commanded to follow

The ark of the covenant is very interesting. In it were to be placed the 10 commandment tablets that the Lord gave to Moses and the manna from heaven that was to be kept as a remembrance for all that the Lord had done. Fascinating in this same reading we see that not only Moses but the 70 elders all see the presence of God. I had forgotten that even the 70 elders had seen him. We know that doesn’t happen again until Jesus comes on the face of the earth and those around him witnessed and experienced the living God in the flesh, in Jesus himself.

The Psalms each speak about a recovery from serious illness. The first, Psalm 6, cries out to God in the midst of the suffering, but then ends, as most Psalms do, with a recognition that God does heal and that God is the one who brings about restoration. That is a great way to end.