Revelation, Moses and the 10 Commandments

pp. 63-72

Think Pair Share

1) What is “revelation”?

2) What is “self-revelation”?

3) In what ways has God revealed himself to you?

God Loves us with a passion This is the Catholic understanding of moral living

This is revealed to us through Scripture (the bible)

It is revealed through God’s covenant with Moses and in the new covenant with Jesus.

Christian ethics are based on this understanding.

How does God reveal Himself to us? God speaks to us in the midst of everyday life (sometimes indirectly through experiences).

God encounters us through sacred Scripture.

We need to resist our culture’s tendency to be skeptical and take the time to really listen.

We call the bible the word of God because through it God enters our hearing and experience.

Moses (Exodus 1:1-2:10)

Leader, founding father, prophet and lawgiver of the Israelite people.

Moses, saved by his mother disobeying the decree of the Pharaoh, was “drawn from the reeds” by the Pharaoh’s daughter.

Raised in the house of the Pharaoh in abundance and luxury.

Moses (Exodus 2:11-24)

Moses is aware that he is an Israelite and one day saves a fellow Israelite from death by killing his Egyptian overseer.

He flees to Midian and marries the priest Jethro’s daughter Zipporah

The Call of Moses (Exodus 3) Moses encounters God in the form of a burning bush, while herding his father-in-law’s sheep.

“Moses, Moses!” – God

“Here I am.” – Moses

“Come no closer. Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!” - God

The Name of God (Exodus 3:14) “I am, who am”

Written as YHWH and is never spoken.

It is replaced when read, by the word Adonai, which is “Lord”.

An acknowledgement of God’s existence.

Moses’ Mission

God calls Moses’ to be a prophet and mediate been God and the people (mouth of God)

Moses tries to convince God he is the wrong person.

He is to lead them to the mountain of the Lord, in the power of the holy name of YHWH.

At first Moses and Aaron cannot convince the Pharaoh to let the people go, forcing God to use the 10 plagues.

Finally The Pharaoh gives in after the tenth plague. The Israelites have eaten the Passover meal and leave the land of their oppression.

The Egyptians try once more to force them back to Egypt, but the Israelites make a miraculous escape by parting the Red Sea.

They finally arrive at the mountain.

Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19) God tells Moses to tell the Israelite that God has delivered them from slavery and brought them to Him. If they obey God’s voice and keep His covenant, they will be a treasured people amongst all people.

God reveals himself to the people as a dense cloud, so that the people could hear God speaking to Moses.

The people were instructed to cleanse themselves in preparation for the third day when God would reveal himself to them by descending on Mount Sinai.

God descended as fire causing the mountain to be wrapped in smoke. Moses was instructed to set out boundaries around the mountain: to keep it holy and so the people couldn’t break through to God.

The Decalogue (Exodus 20) Literally translates to the Ten Words and known as the Ten Commandments.

They appear in Exodus and Deuteronomy with slightly different wording and formatting.

They are adapted and interpreted in our modern catechetical formula.

They state what God expects of the people bound by the covenant

They were first written in stone by the finger of God and then by Moses.

The first three commandments contain words how to love and honour God.

The last seven concern the human community

The Greatest Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40) “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

The first deals with God and the second deal with community and self. They summarize all the commandments in the Torah.

The Ten Commandments only make sense in the context of the covenant. They state a type of relationship to which Israel is privileged.

The covenant presents Israel as a free people set free by God’s liberating action. Israel called on God for help as descendents of Abraham and Sarah and this was honoured through the promise made to Abraham.

Ancient Covenants

Covenants were treaties between a sovereign nation and a vassal nation. They have 5 traits:

1) Preamble – names and titles2) Historical prologue – historical background between the 2 states

3) Submission – what is expected from the vassal

4) Witnesses – gods of the 2 parties and their deified entities (mountains, rivers etc.)

5) Blessings and curses – what will happen if they are or are not loyal

The covenant at Sinai is similar to ancient covenants, but is also far greater than any ancient covenant.

God’ s covenant is a bond of love, calling us in our freedom to respond in love.

God’s commitment is founded in love.

God’s commitment is forever.