Tag: Getting God’s character right

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 23:6-9

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“You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit. Stay far away from a false accusations. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty. You must not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words of the righteous. You must not oppress a resident alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be a resident alien because you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Sometimes you come across a passage of Scripture that seems pretty straightforward on an initial reading. A bit closer of an inspection confirms this, but it can also help us see what made sense in the beginning with a little more depth and clarity. These verses once again remind us of the inherently just nature of God’s character. Let’s talk about what’s going on here, and then put them in the bigger context of the larger passage here at the beginning of Exodus 23.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 20:7

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“Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone punished who misuses his name.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’ve never been a big fan of nicknames that weren’t mere terms of endearment. On the last day of a spring break trip in college, after playing on the beach for several hours with lots of sunscreen everywhere but on the top of my feet, I burnt them to a crisp. They were bright red and I couldn’t wear shoes for days. It was a good thing most people were used to my going barefoot around campus. Some friends tried to give me the nickname “Chief Red Foot” as a joke. I gently, but sincerely spoiled their fun. As a credit to their own character, they accepted that I really didn’t want a nickname and stopped their efforts immediately. I like my name. I’m proud of it. I didn’t want to be known by any other appellation. God feels the same way, but even more passionately. He’s so passionate about it that He made getting it right part of His foundational commands to Israel.e Let’s talk about what He means here and why this mattered so much.

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Morning Musing: Malachi 3:6

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“Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What are some of the things we are taught to think about the God of the Old Testament nowadays? Best selling author and one of the infamous “Four Horsemen” of the New Atheists, Richard Dawkins puts it best in his book, The God Delusion, on page 51: “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving, control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” Ouch, right?

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Digging in Deeper: Joshua 10:40

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“So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings.  He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

I’ve said it before and let me say it again here: If we don’t get the character of God right, we won’t be able to make sense out of the Scriptures.  This is important all the time, but it is especially important in the narrative of Joshua where we find this verse, which, along with the other verses similar to it in this chapter and the next, gives people more trouble than just about any other portion of the Old Testament. Read the rest…