seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 20:22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: 23 Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.
24 “‘Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. 26 And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.’
Here's the link to the commentary I use.You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven: This makes it perfectly clear that God spoke the Ten Commandments to Israel from heaven. This happened at Mount Sinai, but God spoke from heaven.
An altar of earth you shall make for Me: As God began this expanded section of His law for Israel, the first law mentioned had to do with sacrifice and atonement. This was in expectation that Israel would break the laws God gave them, and need to atone for their sin by sacrifice, all with a view to the ultimate sacrifice God would ultimately provide.
You shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings: The distinction between burnt offerings and peace offerings was given later in greater detail. Yet the mere mention of them at the outset of the giving of the law indicates that man cannot keep the law and must have sacrifice to deal with this inability.
You shall not build it of hewn stone: If an altar were made of stone, it was possible or even likely that attention would be drawn, and glory would be given to the stone carver. God, at His altar, wanted to share glory with no man — the beauty and attractiveness would be found only in the provision of God, not in any fleshly display.
Nor shall you go up by steps: God wanted no display of human flesh at His place of covering sacrifice. Steps might allow the leg of the priest to be seen. God doesn’t want to see our flesh in worship.
God created us. He tried something new with humans. He gave us free will.IMHO... giving humans free will could be described as giving a boy a wild bucking bronco with a killer streak a mile long and asking him to tie it to his little red wagon and take it though a crowd while doing a tricky trot. It's just not likely to go off without a hitch.
Humans are going to use our free will wrong. We will make mistakes. "To Err Is Human."
God said when humans mess up, we will need to make an atonement sacrifice. So, God told us how to build a proper altar.
God says to build the altar of earth or stone. If we use stone, though, we are not to have it hewn by a carver. God wants us to appreciate His creation, not worship the stone carver. Besides, picking out the right rock requires more attention than just lopping off what doesn't fit!
Look at verse 26. I don't think the Israelites wore boxers or briefs. I think they just hung.
The commentary takes it a little further. The commentary says God doesn't want to see flesh. Well, isn't the face flesh? Aren't the hands flesh? It's like the commentary was too "spiritual" to say balls or testes. God says... "Don't use stairs... I don't want to see your balls".
Now look at verse 23. God doesn't want us to worship the stick that Moses carried. God wants us to worship HIM.
We have the ability to choose the right God. We have the ability to do the right thing. Sometimes we just make the wrong choice.
If there are no engraved sticks on the mantle... then we aren't likely to worship them.
Remember.... We are humans. We were designed with free will. We will use that free will and we will make mistakes.
That's why they say "To Err is Human".
