Friday, July 27, 2007

Exodus 20

The Ten Commandments

Exo 20:1 God spoke, and these were his words:
Exo 20:2 "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.
Exo 20:3 "Worship no god but me.
Exo 20:4 "Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth.
Exo 20:5 Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the LORD your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.
Exo 20:6 But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws.
Exo 20:7 "Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the LORD your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.
Exo 20:8 "Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 You have six days in which to do your work,
Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work---neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country.
Exo 20:11 In six days I, the LORD, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the LORD, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.
Exo 20:12 "Respect your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.
Exo 20:13 "Do not commit murder.
Exo 20:14 "Do not commit adultery.
Exo 20:15 "Do not steal.
Exo 20:16 "Do not accuse anyone falsely.
Exo 20:17 "Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns."

What can I say? Still meaningful and powerful and relevant today. Hearing some sermons and sometimes even in reading some Christian literatures, there’s this tendency to make the ten commandments non-relevant because no one can really be expected to follow them, no one can perfect them, it cannot save, Christ is the fulfillment of the law, grace abounds etc. But the ten commandments has guided God’s chosen people for almost all its existence and that, I think, should make me think twice about relegating the Ten Commandments to “simply revealing sins”--it is still a powerful guide on Christian living.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Exodus 19

Exo 19:16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud appeared on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled with fear.
Exo 19:17 Moses led them out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

I was preparing my Sunday school lesson about the doctrine of God when I encountered the word “transcendence.” I was a little apprehensive to use the term “transcendence” in the class because it’s not an everyday word—too fancy. But once in a while I had this feeling that in talking about God, we can’t help but use fancy words because God is too much for ordinary words.

The Israelites went out of their camp to meet God. Of course, they can’t stand the holiness of God; they wouldn’t survive if they caught even just a glimpse of God’s glory. God is communing with the Israelites but there’s a natural divide that the Israelites cannot bridge--the perfection, holiness, spirituality and glory of God.

Exo 19:21 and the LORD said to him, "Go down and warn the people not to cross the boundary to come and look at me; if they do, many of them will die.

Christ bridged that gap.

Gal 4:4 But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law,
Gal 4:5 to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.
Gal 4:6 To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, "Father, my Father."
Gal 4:7 So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.

But still God is God and as long as I am here in this world my understanding of God will still be limited by what I can understand about Him but through Christ I can now come into God’s presence without fear for I am justified in God’s presence, declared holy by the blood of Christ.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Exodus 18

Exo 18:24 Moses took Jethro's advice
Exo 18:25 and chose capable men from among all the Israelites. He appointed them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.
Exo 18:26 They served as judges for the people on a permanent basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses but deciding the smaller disputes themselves.


Jethro must have seen Moses haggard, tired and stressed because Moses is doing everything by himself. He’s making big and small decisions and he’s settling big and small disputes, in short he’s governing Israel alone. Jethro advised Moses to organize Israel, to give responsibilities to responsible Israelites and for him to work only at the important matters about government. Moses listened to his father in law’s wisdom and he was freed of most of his burdens.

God is a God of order.

This reminds me of Paul and the Corinthians. The Corinthians was a disorganized church. There was factionalism, tongues, super spirituals vs. baby Christians and immorality and legal suits and many others. What is Paul’s admonition? “Hey you people, behave! Put everything in order!” (1Co 14:40)

Organization….hmmmmm…lives should be organized according to God’s will, churches should be organized according to God’s will, everything should be organized according to God’s will.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Exodus 17

Exo 17:11 As long as Moses held up his arms, the Israelites won, but when he put his arms down, the Amalekites started winning.
Exo 17:12 When Moses' arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on, while they stood beside him and held up his arms, holding them steady until the sun went down.
Exo 17:13 In this way Joshua totally defeated the Amalekites.


Moses must have been so tired holding both his hands up while the battle rages on below him. So, Aaron and Hur helped by holding his hands up. The Israelites won the battle because God helped them, because Moses held up his hands, because Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands, and because Joshua and the Israelites fought bravely.

God helps Christians win their battles if they do their part, if they help one another like Aaron and Hur helping Moses (Gal 6:2) to hold up his hands to bless the Israelites while they fought for the Lord, by fighting each of their individual battles bravely (Gal. 6:5) the way Joshua fought the Amalekites, and by putting one’s trust in the Lord (Isa. 40:31) the way the Israelites had done when battling the Amalekites.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Exodus 16

Exo 16:1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim, and on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai.
Exo 16:2 There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron
Exo 16:3 and said to them, "We wish that the LORD had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death."
Exo 16:12 "I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them that at twilight they will have meat to eat, and in the morning they will have all the bread they want. Then they will know that I, the LORD, am their God."


God heard the Israelite’s complaining and acted on them.

Maybe complaining to God is not that bad. Maybe complaining to God about circumstances and money and all that needs and wants is not bad because the scripture says that God hears complaints and acts on them. Like the Israelites and Sarah and Ishmael’s mother, they all complained and God heard them.

Yes, there’s nothing wrong with complaining to God for God hears my complaints. The wrong here is when I think that God is obligated to hear and act upon my complaints positively and instantly. Yes, there’s the error especially if I thought of biblical verses as if the verses were magic enchantments to make God “behave favorably” to my complaints. One theologian says that this kind of thinking about God belongs to the realm of magic and technology. He’s right. Sometimes I think that my God is too small, an idol, an enchantment, a servant at my beck and call.

God hears my complaints and acts on them according to his will and his sovereignty as the true God. Faith is believing in the truth that God is sovereign and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Exodus 15

The song of Moses and Miriam

Vs. 1-18

The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.

Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.

The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.

Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.

Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.

Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.

Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.

The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.

Amen.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Exodus 14

Exo 14:13 Moses answered, "Don't be afraid! Stand your ground, and you will see what the LORD will do to save you today; you will never see these Egyptians again.
Exo 14:14 The LORD will fight for you, and all you have to do is keep still."


The exodus had already begun and Moses has led the Israelites out of Egypt and they camped in the desert. The pharaoh hardened his heart, just as the Lord told Moses, and he pursued the Israelites. The Israelites, upon seeing Pharaoh’s troop, became restless and told Moses, “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.”

Moses must have been a very patient man. As the leader and the pastor of the Israelites, people who have been enslaved by the Egyptians for hundreds of years, he faced the great challenge of leading a weakened people out of Egypt and out of bondage. When the going got tough and the great challenges came, the Israelites looked back and longed for the “comfort” of their former condition. They would rather have been a slave who knows that they will always be a slave than freemen with a promise of a land of their own. The Israelites faith in the Lord wavers every now and then and despite this, God still loved them and is still faithful to them.

Why is it that I can’t keep still? Whenever I have no money, I can’t keep still and I always looked back to the time when I was having fun, when I can do things that I can’t do now…etc.

God why is it that bad people have money? Why is it that politician have a lot of money? Why is it that I’m angry because I have no money? Why?

Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

God I’m sorry that I sometimes forget that you’re blessing is not measured in money in good living, in an easy life. I always forget that the only measure of your blessings that we do not deserve is the blood of Christ, and that alone should be enough to grant peace in my heart. Help me be still and know that you are God, help me be still and be focused on You and your work, I pray that Your vision for my life will be my vision and not the vision of my old, sometimes creeping back, old nature. Help me God, help me God.

Amen.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Exodus 13

Exo 13:11 "The LORD will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, which he solemnly promised to you and your ancestors. When he gives it to you,
Exo 13:12 you must offer every first-born male to the LORD. Every first-born male of your animals belongs to the LORD,
Exo 13:13 but you must buy back from him every first-born male donkey by offering a lamb in its place. If you do not want to buy back the donkey, break its neck. You must buy back every first-born male child of yours.
Exo 13:14 In the future, when your son asks what this observance means, you will answer him, 'By using great power the LORD brought us out of Egypt, the place where we were slaves.
Exo 13:15 When the king of Egypt was stubborn and refused to let us go, the LORD killed every first-born male in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. That is why we sacrifice every first-born male animal to the LORD, but buy back our first-born sons.
Exo 13:16 This observance will be a reminder, like something tied on our hands or on our foreheads; it will remind us that the LORD brought us out of Egypt by his great power.' "

I remember doing an oral report on Filipino Literature. I was explaining the Filipino pagan moon dance that symbolizes sacrifices to the native Filipino deity, Bathala. I was explaining sacrifices when the instructor, of all the people in the classroom, asked me why the need for sacrifices. I told the instructor that every religion has an idea of sacrifice, of redemption. Then not satisfied with my answer she asked the difference between Christian sacrifice, the death of Jesus, and the pagan sacrifices. I was stumped for a while, but I told her that the Christian sacrifice is the perfection of sacrifice, of one sacrificing for the redemption of all. I don’t know if the instructor was convinced but in reality that what Christ had done; he sacrificed himself for all humanity.

Col 1:13 He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son,
Col 1:14 by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.
Col 1:15 Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things.
Col 1:16 For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him.
Col 1:17 Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place.
Col 1:18 He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body's life. He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things.

Even the Lord God sacrificed his first born for our redemption. I should be reminded of this like a sign on my hand and my forehead.

Sometimes I forget this.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Exodus 6-12

Exo 6:6 So tell the Israelites that I say to them, 'I am the LORD; I will rescue you and set you free from your slavery to the Egyptians. I will raise my mighty arm to bring terrible punishment upon them, and I will save you.
Exo 6:7 I will make you my own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the LORD your God when I set you free from slavery in Egypt.
Exo 6:8 I will bring you to the land that I solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the LORD.' "

The Lord saw the suffering of his people and He reminded the Israelite of his covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses asked the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go but Pharaoh’s heart was hard just as the Lord told Moses. The Lord sent plagues to Egypt until the Pharaoh learned that he and his magicians were powerless against the Lord.

The Israelites celebrated the feast of pass over.

Exo 12:50 All the Israelites obeyed and did what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
Exo 12:51 On that day the LORD brought the Israelite tribes out of Egypt.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Exodus 5

Exo 5:22 Then Moses turned to the LORD again and said, "Lord, why do you mistreat your people? Why did you send me here?
Exo 5:23 Ever since I went to the king to speak for you, he has treated them cruelly. And you have done nothing to help them!"

Moses went to pharaoh and asked him if he could let the Israelite go so that they can make sacrifice to the Lord. Pharaoh refused and made the Israelite’s life more difficult by not giving them straws for making bricks while at the same time forcing the Israelites to make the same number of bricks.

The Israelites blamed Moses for their difficulties.

“Lord why do you mistreat your people?”

This is the impatient question of a person that had been under slavery for so long, like the Israelite. For these people there is comfort in the security under slavery and freeing them is more difficult than enslaving them.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Exodus 4

Exo 4:31 They believed, and when they heard that the LORD had come to them and had seen how they were being treated cruelly, they bowed down and worshiped.


The Lord ordered Moses to perform the miracles he had shown to Moses in order to convince the pharaoh to free the Israelites. But the Lord knew that the pharaoh would resist.

When the Israelites heard that the LORD had come for them, they all bowed down and worshipped him.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Exodus 3

Exo 3:13 But Moses replied, "When I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is his name?' So what can I tell them?"
Exo 3:14 God said, "I am who I am. You must tell them: 'The one who is called I AM has sent me to you.'


Moses was tending his father in law’s sheep when he came upon the holy mountain of Sinai. There the Angel of the Lord appeared as a burning bush and spoke to him about freeing the Israelites out of Egypt.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Exodus 1-2

Generations had passed and the Egyptians have forgotten Joseph. The Egyptians were threatened by the growing number of the Hebrew so the king enslaved the Hebrews and he ordered the midwives throw in the Nile River every Hebrew male baby born. The midwives didn’t do what the king had ordered and in return they were blessed by God.

Moses was born. In order to save him from the Egyptians, his mother made a papyrus boat and floated the baby down the Nile River. The baby was picked up by an Egyptian princess and she named the baby Moses. Then the baby’s sister volunteered to provide a sitter for the baby—Moses’ mother.

Exo 2:11 When Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his people, the Hebrews, and he saw how they were forced to do hard labor. He even saw an Egyptian kill a Hebrew, one of Moses' own people.
Exo 2:12 Moses looked all around, and when he saw that no one was watching, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.
Exo 2:13 The next day he went back and saw two Hebrew men fighting. He said to the one who was in the wrong, "Why are you beating up a fellow Hebrew?"
Exo 2:14 The man answered, "Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me just as you killed that Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and said to himself, "People have found out what I have done."

Moses saw the suffering of his people and was moved by it. But he was also disappointed at the Hebrew’s attitude towards their condition. It seemed that they had accepted their fate and were surrendered to it (2:14). When Moses killed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew he was forced to leave Egypt and flee to Midian. There he met his wife Zipporah and she gave birth to their first son Gershom.

God heard the groaning of his people and He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Moses was destined by God to lead God’s people out of Egypt.

God hears his people’s groaning.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Genesis 39-42

The Story of Joseph

C. 39 Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife and when Joseph resisted the wife of Pothipar’s advances, he was accused of Rape and was imprisoned.
The Lord was with Joseph and Joseph was made in charge of those held in prison.

C. 40 Joseph interpreted the cupbearer and the baker’s dreams.

C. 41 Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams.

Gen 41:39 The king said to Joseph, "God has shown you all this, so it is obvious that you have greater wisdom and insight than anyone else.
Gen 41:40 I will put you in charge of my country, and all my people will obey your orders. Your authority will be second only to mine.
Gen 41:41 I now appoint you governor over all Egypt."

C. 42 Joseph’s brother’s

Gen 42:21 and said to one another, "Yes, now we are suffering the consequences of what we did to our brother; we saw the great trouble he was in when he begged for help, but we would not listen. That is why we are in this trouble now."
Gen 42:22 Reuben said, "I told you not to harm the boy, but you wouldn't listen. And now we are being paid back for his death."
Gen 42:23 Joseph understood what they said, but they did not know it, because they had been speaking to him through an interpreter.
Gen 42:24 Joseph left them and began to cry. When he was able to speak again, he came back, picked out Simeon, and had him tied up in front of them.

Joseph cried upon seeing his brothers. He can have his revenge on them but God’s grace in him made him forgiving and humble. He tricked his brothers so that he can see his younger brother and his father.

Joseph’s brother remembered what they did to Joseph and they were repentant.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Genesis 38


Gen 38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, because she had her face covered.
Gen 38:16 He went over to her at the side of the road and said, "All right, how much do you charge?" (He did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.) She said, "What will you give me?"
Gen 38:17 He answered, "I will send you a young goat from my flock." She said, "All right, if you will give me something to keep as a pledge until you send the goat."
Gen 38:18 "What shall I give you as a pledge?" he asked. She answered, "Your seal with its cord and the walking stick you are carrying." He gave them to her. Then they had intercourse, and she became pregnant.
Gen 38:19 Tamar went home, took off her veil, and put her widow's clothes back on.


What is God telling me in this story? I don’t know maybe I don’t have to understand this one.

Gen 38:24 About three months later someone told Judah, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has been acting like a whore, and now she is pregnant." Judah ordered, "Take her out and burn her to death."
Gen 38:25 As she was being taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law: "I am pregnant by the man who owns these things. Look at them and see whose they are---this seal with its cord and this walking stick."
Gen 38:26 Judah recognized them and said, "She is in the right. I have failed in my obligation to her---I should have given her to my son Shelah in marriage." And Judah never had intercourse with her again.

Tamar was accused of prostitution and when Judah found out he ordered that her daughter be taken out and burned. But he was humiliated when he found out that he was the one who made her daughter into a prostitute by sleeping with her.

How easy it is for me to pass judgment but how humiliating it is to find out later that in passing judgment I am passing judgment upon myself, like what happened to Judah.

I have failed in my obligations…I thank the Lord that it’s not late there’s still time to make up for it.


Praise the Lord for Pastor Pete Calderon’s operation. Pray for his recovery.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Genesis 35-37


C. 35- The death of Rachel and Isaac.

God has never faltered in his covenant with Isaac.

C-36 Esau’s descendants

C-37 Joseph’s dreams

Gen 37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

Joseph was his father’s favorite son. This caused his brothers to envy him. Joseph had visions and in his visions he saw his brother bowing down to him. This drove his brother to get rid of him by selling him to the Midianites, slave traders. Joseph was sold in Egypt.


Joseph’s brothers like Cain was taken over by their envy. They plotted to kill him but Reuben, who loves Jacob but not love Jacob enough to strongly oppose his brothers and protect Joseph, instead suggested that they threw him in an empty cistern. Then they sold Joseph.

This is a story that imparts a lesson about parenting—favoritism causes resentment. Jacob suffered because of this; he was heart broken when he heard the news that Joseph was slain by wild animals not knowing that it was his sons that did harm to Joseph.

But more importantly this story imparts a lesson on envy and the evil that it brings in the heart of men, evil that causes one to think of evil things about his brother, evil that makes one do harm to his brother; the evil that breaks the fellowship of love between brothers.

But the story does not end here for it still God’s will that prevailed.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Genesis 34

Gen 34:30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have gotten me into trouble; now the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and everybody else in the land will hate me. I do not have many men; if they all band together against me and attack me, our whole family will be destroyed."
Gen 34:31 But they answered, "We cannot let our sister be treated like a common whore."

Shechem. Son of Hamor, ravaged jacob’s daughter Dinah. Shechem loved Dinah so he asked his father Hamor the Hivite, to negotiate with Jacob about marriage. Jacob’s son agreed but on the condition that Hamor and his people was to be circumcised. The Hivites agreed and circumcised all the Hivites so that they will be worthy of Jacob’s people. Unfortunately Jacob’s sons deceived the Hivites and when the opportunity came, they attacked and killed the Hivites.

Jacob was very disappointed at what his son had done.

If it was my sister maybe I would have done what Jacob’s son did. The Bible was quiet about Dinah, on how she felt about all these things. Maybe her grief was so great that it drove her brothers into a killing frenzy. But the Hivites humbled themselves to Jacob and did all what Jacob’s sons had suggested they do, but in the end they were still executed by Jacob’s son.

A difficult story in the Bible since I tend to think that the Bible is God’s word, the Bible is all goodness, spirituality and all those religious and beautiful and powerful ideas about the book. But this is a story that tells so much about human nature and not about God. Learn from it, this is the message of the story and of the Bible.

I should learn from it.

__________________________________

Pray for Pastor Pete Calderon’s operation. Pray for financial provisions, healing and strength. Pray for his ministry.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Genesis 32 and 33

Gen 33:1 Jacob saw Esau coming with his four hundred men, so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two concubines.
Gen 33:2 He put the concubines and their children first, then Leah and her children, and finally Rachel and Joseph at the rear.
Gen 33:3 Jacob went ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
Gen 33:4 But Esau ran to meet him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. They were both crying.

This is a beautiful story of brotherly love and reconciliation. Better read, not explained.

Gen 33:20 He put up an altar there and named it for El, the God of Israel.

Again a memorial for the Lord’s faithfulness to Jacob.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Genesis 31

Gen 31:44 I am ready to make an agreement with you. Let us make a pile of stones to remind us of our agreement."
Gen 31:49 Laban also said, "May the LORD keep an eye on us while we are separated from each other." So the place was also named Mizpah.


This is the way the people in the early Old Testament settle differences, they separate and make covenant of peace making God as their witness from Abraham and Abimilech to Isaach and Abimilech and now between Jacob and Laban. They separate in peace with the promise and the assumption that each will keep his part of the bargain, or the oath breaker will have God to reckon with for his infidelity.

There is a lesson in all these. When conflicts arises where there’s no solution, separation in peace is a valid option and can be a blessing too.

Don’t use the name of God in vain, like in a promise that in the first place is not meant to be kept.

Gen 31:51 Here are the rocks that I have piled up between us, and here is the memorial stone.

This practice of erecting a memorial is good. I am thinking of practicing this in our church. I am teaching the Sunday school teachers and in our sharing time they have a lot of ideas and proposal for Sunday school projects and trainings etc. The problem is the people in my church tend to forget things. So one day I’ll just tell them to erect a stone in the sanctuary for every project proposed and after each project is accomplished, the stones will be removed from the sanctuary. Hmmmm… I don’t know but…the sanctuary may end up looking like Stonehenge. People in my church are good Christians they just have to be nudged into action once in a while.

I have to erect more memorials for God has been faithful to me and my family.