Wars and Rumors of War
The 10 Commandments were written in and on stone – in fact twice. After the Lord set His people free from the captivity, slavery, and genocide going on in Egypt, He gave them what some people have called “the stipulations of the covenant.” A covenant, similar to a treaty or a contract, establishes a formal relationship between two parties. In a way, it’s more potent because the word “covenant” comes from the word “to cut.” The covenant of circumcision was probably the clearest indication of the literal “cutting” and consequences of a relationship between God and His people. Something will be lost, and a new healing and meaning and binding relationship will take place… and the covenant will be remembered!
When God made a covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15) He had Abraham cut in half animals. Abraham fell into a “terrible” sleep (Genesis 15:12). The dead animals were a sign of what would happen if one of the parties were to break the covenant.
Abraham’s covenant was private, and occurred in a dream. The covenant that God made with Moses was also private, although simultaneously accompanied by thunder, lightning, and a smoking and shaking mountain (Exodus 19), so at least the people assumed that something significant was happening at that time.
But just so that people would realize that the auditory, visual, tactile, and olfactory display were not just happenstance, God gave Moses two tablets of the Law, called “the Testimony,” written on both sides of the tablets by the finger of God. Just in case they wondered what the conversation was about on the mountain, they had written proof.
As you recall, the first set was quickly broken by Moses, who shattered the stone tablets when he saw the idols that his brother Aaron had made for the people. An editorial comment from Moses about what he witnessed as he came down from the mountain is helpful today and always, “Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control – for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among the peoples – then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, ‘Whoever is for the Lord come to me!’” (Exodus 32:25 – 26).
“Letting people get out of control” is the precise reason that we have laws. Sometimes those laws are in the form of covenants or treaties. The laws are meaningless unless they are enforced.
The symbol of the laws written on stone was at least twofold – they were enduring and they were inflexible. And most likely Moses was carrying around two identical copies of the same law. Covenant parties each kept a copy for themselves, to know what they had mutually agreed to do to sustain their relationship. The reason that they were kept in the same place (in the Ark of the Covenant), is that God was with His people. Both parties were in the same place.
In today’s world treaties are established between countries to do something similar. To control behavior and “keep the peace.” Where no treaties exist, the potential for injustice and chaos to ensue is great. Hence we have the situation in the Ukraine. One thing that Vladimir Putin is concerned about is the fear that if the Ukraine joins NATO, Article V, known as the “collective defense article,” would protect this little country from a big threat like Russia. If such a treaty were to be signed between the Ukraine and the United States, it would be both formal and visible, and of course enforceable. Although the treaty would not be signed in stone, it would be considered inflexible. So Russia, as they have done in the past, struck first before that treaty was signed. Because without laws, there is ambiguity. And with no law to enforce, there is potential for people and nations to act outside the law – hence “outlaws.”
Jesus said that there would be “wars and rumors of war,” and certainly the last hundred years has been a tumultuous century. We are called not to fear, but to trust while being wise and discerning.
Moses would receive a second set of the commandments (Deuteronomy 10). It was a helpful reminder to see that one of the differences was that Moses was to make a smaller “ark” which was to be a temporary portable ark for the new set stone tablets. I had forgotten that. In one sense it may have served as a symbol to Moses to increase the sacredness of the tablets – these are not simply two pieces of stone that you could throw. It also may have been a sign of a more personal connection to the commandments. Moses was the one charged with making that temporary, smaller acacia wood ark.
When Jesus arrived, He was the “Word made flesh.” In other words, He was God’s Testimony/message to the world. The law has its limits. The 10 Commandments look more like a gravestone marker than a sign of life. Scripture says that Jesus came because He was “life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4). The vitality of Jesus’ love, revealed visibly on the cross, is a reminder that God remembered the covenant. Although He held up His side of the bargain, we broke ours, but He was able to keep the covenant enforced by taking the punishment for breaking it Himself.
The Law commanded us to “love God and love our neighbor.” But John would later write about the real motivation for loving God and loving each other. “We love because He first loved us.” (I John 4:19) St. Paul also brought that message wherever he went. Describing God’s love and grace in Christ, Paul would say “…you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.” (II Corinthians 3:3) We get our own personal copy of God’s Law (Rom. 2:14,15), and when the gift of faith comes – we get our own personal copy of the covenant of God’s protection – the Gospel written on human hearts inscribed by God. Our body becomes the ark, and it is far more effective than the Law and helping us to love our neighbor.
We should all be praying for the leaders of the world, that they might all know the love of God.