In Exodus 20:22-23, Yahweh has Moses tell the Israelites, “You’ve experienced firsthand how I spoke with you from heaven: ‘Don’t make gods of silver and gold and then set them alongside me.’”
Not an easy thing for them to do, though, because in Egypt they’d grown up with all sorts of gods and goddesses, over 2,000 of them, to provide for their every need. That was the culture: if there was a need, create a god or goddess to take care of it. But now the Israelites were being told in verse 2, that “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Don’t then,” verse 3, ”have any other gods besides me.” In other words, they needed no other God than him, because from now on he, and he alone, would provide for all their needs.
And he’d dramatically proved his point by “bringing judgment on all the gods of Egypt,” Exodus 12:12, which he’d done by each of the plagues he’d inflicted on Egypt representing a god the Egyptians idolized, and their gods had been powerless to stop him. So he demonstrated his obvious superiority over their gods. And then he explained why he’d done it too, in Exodus 20:4-5, when he told the Israelites to “not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven or on earth, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” Jealous in the sense that he wanted to be their provider and no one else.
And from that point on he set about proving he could be their total provider, by first of all putting on a fearsome display of his power at Mount Sinai (20:18), and following it up with a promise in verse 24, that “Wherever I cause my name to be honoured, I will come to you and bless you.” On any future occasion, then, wherever and whenever he showed his power again, realize that it too was entirely for their benefit. Or put another way, trust him to provide, knowing he had the power to do so, and he would make his presence and provision very real to them.
Their trust, therefore, was hugely important, which they could show by “making an altar of earth (or pile of stones) for me and sacrificing your burnt and peace offerings on it” (24-25). Nothing elaborate, no cut stones using tools, and no steps up to it either (26) – so nothing impressive made by human hands that could be idolized like the gods of Egypt.
Because what Yahweh was creating in Israel was belief in him, with no elaborate man-made rituals or buildings required to get him to provide. And not only was it his power he wanted them to trust in, it was making them into “A wise and understanding people” too….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 