MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2023

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Monday, March 20, 2023

 

Changing the Perception of God

 

The events of Mount Sinai initiated a transformation in the Israelites’ perception of God and their understanding of how to worship Him.  Unlike the gods of Egypt, their God was to be heard, not seen. In order to help them understand God’s message at Mount Sinai, Moses cautioned the Israelites to be very careful about two things:

 

  1. READ:  Deuteronomy 4: 9 – 14.  What did God tell them to remember about the Mount Sinai experience?

 

 

 

  1. READ:  Deuteronomy 4: 15 – 20.  What did He tell them never to do?  Why?

 

 

  1. READ:  Exodus 20: 1 – 4; 34: 17; Deuteronomy 4: 23, 24; 5: 4 – 10, 22

Which of God’s commands shaped how the Israelites would know (experience) Him?

 

 

a.     READ: Psalm 115: 2 – 8.  How different would the Israelites’ experience of God be from that of the visual gods of other nations? Why?

 

 

b.    READ:  Deuteronomy 4: 25 – 29. What would be the consequences if Israel disobeyed this command?

 

 

  1. READ: Deuteronomy 4: 5 – 8, 32 – 40.  What did Moses say to encourage the Israelites – who had just come out of a culture that identified with hundreds of visual deities – to be confident and secure in their identity as the people of the one true and invisible God?

 

 

a.     Which actions and characteristics of God would make Him real, present, and important to the Israelites.

 

b.    Which actions of the Israelites would make God real and present with them?

 

c.     How important were God’s words becoming to the Israelites?