Exodus 20:13 -- Do Not Murder

Exodus 20:13 Do not murder.

This command is simple.  Do not murder.  Do not kill another person.

Exodus 21:12 “Whoever strikes a person so that he dies must be put to death. 13 But if he didn’t intend any harm, and yet God caused it to happen by his hand, I will appoint a place for you where he may flee. 14 If a person schemes and willfully acts against his neighbor to murder him, you must take him from My altar to be put to death.

The one who murders unintentionally will be sent to a place to flee.  If the person comments the crime knowingly and intentionally, he must also die.

Luke 23:24 So Pilate decided to grant their demand 25 and released the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will.   

I am wondering here if the Jews had forgotten their command of putting murders to death.  Here, the people chose to release a murderer.  He was able to go free, and not suffer the punishment the Lord had deemed for ALL murderers.

Acts 5:29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered by hanging Him on a tree.

Since the Jews had cried out for the murderer to be released and called for the death of an innocent, Christ, they themselves are murderers.  Even though they did not drive the nails, even though they did not use their hands to shed His blood, they were still guilty of the murder.  All they had to do was cry "Release Him" and Jesus would have been freed and the murderer receiving his just consequence.

1 John 3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

If you just hate another person, you are a murderer.  Just thinking about someone in a hateful way is the same as murdering that person in the eyes of God.  We must strive to think no ill thoughts towards anyone, not even those who hate us.  

Exodus 2:1-10 -- The Story of Baby Moses

Exodus 2:1 Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.
5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. Seeing the basket among the reeds, she sent her slave girl to get it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child—a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a woman from the Hebrews to nurse the boy for you?”
8 “Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

This is the story of Moses as told to all young children who attend Sunday School.  For the person who has been going to church their whole life, they can't help but know this story.

Moses's mother hid him so the Egyptians would not kill him, since Pharaoh had ordered the deaths of all the baby boys.  I guess Aaron was a good bit older to not have been killed or needing to hid him.  We know that Moses's sister, who is mentioned in this story, is Miriam.  She was very brave to approach Pharaoh's daughter without being called.  Also, I bet it brought joy to Moses's mother that she was able to nurse him before she had to leave him with the Egyptians.

It seems from the passage that Moses stayed with his mother until he was weened and then returned to Pharaoh's daughter.

This story is mentioned in two other part of the Bible as well:

Acts 7:17 “As the time was drawing near to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt 18 until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt. 19 He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them leave their infants outside, so they wouldn’t survive. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home three months, 21 and when he was left outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son. 22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions. 

I find it odd that his passage says he was powerful in speech.   In just a few chapters, we will read the following verse:

Exodus 4:10 But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant—because I am slow and hesitant in speech.”

Moses did not feel he could do it on his own, he felt as though he was not adequate to do the job God wanted him to do, but God gave him the abilities he needed to fulfill what he needed to do.  The second area the story is mentioned is here:

Hebrews 11:23 By faith, after Moses was born, he was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict.

Moses's parents were indeed fearful of God, and not Pharaoh.  They knew where their ultimate allegiance should lay.  They knew that even if their son did not survive, that God's will would have been done.

Genesis 40 -- Joseph Interprets Dreams

Genesis 40:1 After this, the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,3 and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined. 4 The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to them, and he became their personal attendant. And they were in custody for some time.
5 The Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker, who were confined in the prison, each had a dream. Both had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning. 6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked distraught. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”
8 “We had dreams,” they said to him, “but there is no one to interpret them.”
Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

God is the creator of dreams and the interpreter.  God used Joseph to interpret the dreams of the who officials. 

Genesis 40:9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream there was a vine in front of me. 10 On the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and its clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”
12 “This is its interpretation,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. 13 In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand the way you used to when you were his cupbearer. 14 But when all goes well for you, remember that I was with you. Please show kindness to me by mentioning me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison. 15 For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should put me in the dungeon.”

It is true.  Joseph had not done anything wrong.  A lie had put him in prison.

Genesis 40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was positive, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my head. 17 In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
18 “This is its interpretation,” Joseph replied. “The three baskets are three days. 19 In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from off you—and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh from your body.”
20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he gave a feast for all his servants. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. 21 Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position as cupbearer, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had explained to them. 23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

I am sure it crossed his mind that what Joseph said came true, but for whatever reason he did not mention him to Pharaoh.

Dreams are just one way God can speak to and through his people.  

Matthew 2:21 So he (Joseph) got up, took the child and His mother, and entered the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. 23 Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that He will be called a Nazarene.

Acts 2:16 this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 And it will be in the last days, says God,
that I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity;
then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
18 I will even pour out My Spirit
on My male and female slaves in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will display wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below:
blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the great and remarkable Day of the Lord comes.
21 Then everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Genesis 9:1-17 -- The First Covenant

Yeah, so I got completely wrapped up in other things this morning and did not even think about the blog or my daily reading!  Man, I do not want to fall into that routine again.  I've been really enjoying typing up these posts!

Genesis 9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. 3 Every living creature will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. 4 However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. 5 I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man’s brother for a man’s life.

I discussed before how Noah and Adam receive similar commandments on being fruitful and what they could eat. You can ready my post titled Mmmmm... Meat to see what I said on that.

Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds man’s blood,his blood will be shed by man,for God made man in His image.

Whoever kills man shall be killed by man.  Very straight forward.  If you kill someone, then you too shall die.  The reason for this is that we are made in HIS image.  The death of an animal does not require the death of the one who killed it.  That is because man is set apart from the animals.  We are made in the image of God where as animals are not.

Genesis 9:7 But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”

We know that Noah's family was fruitful and multiplied and eventually they did spread all of the earth.  It seems that at first all the people stayed relatively close together.  In chapter 11 we read that "from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth."  This being after the attempted Tower of Babel.

Genesis 9:8 Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, 9 “Understand that I am confirming My covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. 11 I confirm My covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by the waters of a flood; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Never again will the Lord cause a flood that will wipe off all life.  He promised and the Lord always keeps his promises!

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?

1 Kings 8:7 The Lord has fulfilled what He promised. I have taken the place of my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised.

Acts 13:23 “From this man’s [David's] descendants, according to the promise, God brought the Savior, Jesus, to Israel.

The above passages show just some of the promises that the Lord has kept.

Genesis 9:12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: 13 I have placed My bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.14 Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember My covenant between Me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. 16 The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and every creature on earth.”

The Lord even gave a sign to Noah and his people to show that he will never destroy the earth by flood again.   He placed a rainbow in the sky.  Now, every time we see a rainbow, we can remember the covenant and promise God gave to Noah and his family.