Yahweh's Army sent ahead to clear the lands for his people. Can you believe this?
 

How Yahweh relates with his creations (series 80)

Exodus: Breaking down of 10 Commandments and By-Laws

Bible Texts (Concordant Version of the Old Testament and Concordant Literal New Testament with keywords Concordance (Main text: Exodus chapter 23-Completion)

The breaking down of Ten Commandments is associated with a lot of by-laws and if you have been reading the past three blogs, you would agree with me that it is a lot to do with. However, all these instructions are mainly for the children of Israel but many of them are applicable to Gentiles because of these instructions are based on good conscience, justice and equity. Any nation that practices most of these instructions adequately stands to create and re-create Godly and goodly generations.

This week's blog will take another dimension as instructions concerning Israelites/Jews' traditions will be briefly discussed. A navigating messenger will be discussed. The main reason Yahweh delayed Israelites from entering their Promised Land would be discussed too.

Verse 14 through 19: In these verses, Yahweh instructed Israelites to observe three kinds of festivals. The first festival is Unleavened Bread. This festival should be observed in the month of Abib. This was the month the Israelites left the land of Egypt. While observing this festival Yahweh commanded these people to come to his presence with substance and not with empty hands. Does this mean that Elohim Yahweh wanted to take gifts from these people and consume them? Does it mean that Yahweh was going to keep the substances the children of Israelites bring to his presence during this festival in his backyard in Heaven? May be Yahweh was asking for return of favor for his wonderful work by liberating the Israelites from their Egyptian Task Masters? The answer to these three questions is NO.

You see my dear blog readers, Yahweh is not a human that consume what we have. After all, he is the maker of everything in Heavens and Earth. For him to ask anything from people is like you are asking a young child whom you just gave a bag of candies to give you a couple of them back. Do you think an adult truly would like to eat the candy he gave to the little one? Not really. He would probably be testing the behavior of such little one. God of Heavens and Earth does not need our properties but he asked of them to test our actions/reactions towards him. Haggai 2:8 established that Silver and Gold belong to Yahweh. Psalm 24:1 also informed us that the Earth and its entirety belong to Yahweh. So, it could be culled from these verses that Yahweh wanted his people to demonstrate heart of gratitude and giving.

The second festival is Feast of Harvest. In this festival, Yahweh instructed his people to celebrate the harvest of first fruits of their yield/produce from what they have sown in their field. Yahweh takes cognizance of first fruits a lot. Even in verse 19, he instructed his people to bring the beginning of their first fruits to his house. This means a lot to him. Once again, he is not going to eat any of these but he wanted his people to gather them before him and celebrates in his presence with these fruits. Imagine how you would feel when you receive your first ever salary from work. It is surely a thing to celebrate. This festival is not about the priests to receive the harvest but for the children of Israelites to celebrate in the presence of Yahweh with these fruits. It is not an overstatement to say that Yahweh loves people to rejoice and party before him by exhibiting their first fruits in his presence. This kind of festival delights him so dearly. This festival is strictly for the Israelites because they farmed and reared animals in those days. There are more to discuss on this, especially when the time comes for me to discuss the issue of tithing in the nearest future.

The third festival is ingathering at the going forth of the year when the Israelites gather their yields from the field. That is, Yahweh instructed his people to celebrate the gathering of their harvests when the year is going to an end.

While all these three festivals have their denotations as you may have pictured them in your mind, there are also connotations to them. The last festival stands up most to me as I can observe that the current eon is heading towards the last harvest of true believers in this world. The Ark of Noah of the current time is almost getting closed but it is just a matter of a few months, a few weeks and a few days.

Yahweh instructed his people that three times, every male shall appear before him. Some people may take offense in this according to nowadays Western culture brainwash ideologies with rebellious attitudes. This is Yahweh's instruction and not anyone's ideology. Some people have concluded that the scriptures were written with gender bias. This is another rebellious attitude towards Yahweh's fiat. Any true believer will not bother on these issues because the instructions are not manmade.

Yahweh dislikes contacting blood sacrifices with leavened substances. This also means Yahweh prefers pure and virgin offerings not contacted with any contaminated or adulterated substance. He wants it pure and sacred to himself.

Verse 20 through 27: There are lots to discuss on these verses. However, it would be summarized as follows:

Ø  Yahweh warned his people of a Messenger he would send ahead of them. This Messenger would be a Spirit. He would navigate the Israelites to the Promised Land. He would be sensitive to the behaviors of the people of Israel. Therefore, he should not be offended.

Ø  This same Messenger would bring the Israelites to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Gergashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Remember, the Messenger is the navigation used by the Israelites to reach the cities mentioned. However, it was Yahweh that would suppress these cities for the Israelites.

Ø  Yahweh instructed the Israelites not to bow down to the gods these cities serve but should only serve Elohim Yahweh. By observing these instructions, Yahweh promised to remove illness from his people. None of their women would suffer miscarriage. None of them would be barren. The numbers of the days of these people would be fulfilled. That is, each of them would live a fulfilled life.

Ø  As the Israelites continue to obey his instructions, he would send his dread/fear before them and towards their adversaries. This you can find in the book of Joshua chapter 6:1-2 as the children of Jericho were afraid of the approaching of the Israelites towards them. In Joshua 9:1-3, the Gibeonites heard of the Israelites, so they devised a way to form an alliance with them.

There are three things that stood up to me from verse 28 through 31:

Ø  Yahweh would send his Hornets before the Israelites to drive away the Hivite and the Canaanite before the Israelites reached these cities. Hornets are insects. Do you see how Yahweh deals with his creations? Hornets would go in large numbers to drive the occupants of these two cities away from their lands for the children of Israelites to occupy. Imagine that. Of course, this is nothing short of  a miracle. There is nothing Yahweh cannot do. The Israelites did not have to fight war to occupy these two lands.

Ø  Yahweh would not drive the occupants of the rest cities out their lands the same time as the first two lands mentioned above so that the beasts would not be able to occupy them by the time the Israelites reached these places. So, Yahweh kept the rest cities occupied until the Israelites grew in numbers to be able to occupy these lands. Now, a thought came into my mind on this verse. For the most part of my life, I used to think that the reason the Israelites kept traveling in a circle for 40 years instead of 40 days was because of their sin of lack of faith. This is actually true but this week blog reminds me of the fact that the population of the Israelites was not enough to occupy all the lands promised to them. So, while we think of the punishment for Israelites' sin, we should remember that during this time, Yahweh had something else in his mind for the Israelites. Thus, our thoughts are not  Yahweh's thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Therefore, they had to grow in numbers while they kept traveling in circles until the appointed time for them to enter these lands. Indeed, Yahweh has plan for humanity. He will execute his plan at the right time. However, while it seems his plan is not working, it is already working without realizing it until we finally see that Yahweh has never stopped working on each person to ensure we achieve our expected ends.

Ø  Yahweh discussed the boundaries of the Israelites in verse 31. He has given the Israelites the boundary from sea of Weeds unto the sea of Philistines and from the wilderness unto the stream. If you check the map of Mid-Eastern part of the World, you would see that Israelites land share boarders with Egypt to Syria, Saudi-Arabia and Iraq. Just so you know, the Philistines migrated from Egypt. So, Philistines are also Egyptians. Can you imagine how big the land of Israelites would be according to this bible verse? You can also read Genesis chapter 13 and 17 for details of this map as recorded on my previous blogs for details. However, the map you are looking at shows how the land of Israel has been encroached by other countries that surround it.

                                                                                     

                                                                                   

It may be hard to believe but this is Yahweh's promise. Can you imagine what you are seeing here when you compare it with the words of Yahweh? Will Yahweh's promise ever come to pass? Does Yahweh lies? What about Numbers 23:19 and Matthew 24:35?

Ø  Yahweh warned the Israelites not to contract a covenant with foreigners. Yahweh knew the implication of disobeying this instructions because he did not want his people to be contaminated with "unleavened cities" around them. Remember that Yahweh wants his people to be virgin and un-contaminated. That is why he set them apart for himself. He knows that people that walk with wise would be wise but the companion of the fools shall be destroyed (Proverbs 13:20). Now, you may be a little confused on the fact that in the beginning of chapter 23, Yahweh instructed his people not to suffer the sojourners among them. However, verse 32 through 33 instructed them not to covenant with the foreigners so that they would not be trapped by things that would make them offend Yahweh. In Joshua chapter 9, the Israelites were first trapped by covenanting with the Gibeonites and they suffered dearly in the book of 2 Samuel 21:1-14. There are more to discuss on this chapter in the nearest future. What about King Solomon? He covenanted with foreign women and their gods and he paid dearly with his life. The Israelites were divided into 2 kingdoms because of this transgression in relative sense but in absolute sense, Yahweh was fulfilling his agenda for the Israelites and the rest of the world. This would be discussed in the future as well.

 In conclusion, this week blog taught us a lot about how Yahweh relates with his people.

I hope you have been blessed by this week's blog.

Please, leave your comments and questions in the chatting platform below.

Shalom!.

 

 

 

 

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