... for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.) – Numbers 27:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 20, 2012): Numbers 27

As Moses came off of the mountain carrying the two stone tablets, the law was confined to ten rules. Scholars have long argued about their authorship, arguing that there is evidence of Hittite and Mesopotamian influences, but that really should not be much of a surprise. The premise of the Torah is that this is the way that God has intended for all of us to live. Even back in Genesis, the instruction that Abraham was given was that he would be blessed so he could be a blessing to the rest of the world. Israel’s purpose has always been to be a blessing to the world. And as Christianity found its roots in Judaism, it has also picked up on that responsibility. But the laws were not designed to be reserved for only one group of people. We all bear the responsibility as we begin to learn about and reflect the desire that God has for our lives. That the root of Jewish law would be seen in other cultures of that time period is not really much of a surprise.

But for the Jews, the law did not stop there. Jewish tradition asserts that the total law found in the four books of Exodus through Deuteronomy actually total 613. That would be 603 more laws than could be fit on the stone tablets that Moses carried off of the mountain. So that begs the question - why the ten? And the answer is that the Ten Laws or Commandments really form the backbone of all the law that would be given. In most instances, the 603 laws just illustrated how the ten could be kept and through them how God would be honored. And the key word in that last sentence is honored.

If we can accept that to be true, then maybe among the ten there might be just one. And that one is not the first commandment, but the third. The third commandment simply states “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” (Exodus 20:7) We often relegate the intent of this commandment to just our undignified habit of using foul language, but that is not really what God was getting at. The intent of the third commandment is that we are not to do anything that would throw dirt on the name of God. We are not to do anything that would cause God (and the name of God) to be dishonored. And just as the 603 laws support the Ten Commandments so the other nine commandments actually describe ways that God could be dishonored; ways for us to throw dirt on his name.

And it was the third commandment that Moses had violated. Oh, he had violated other commandments. We know that he had murdered and we suspect that he had lied in his conversations with God when he complained that he could not speak well (growing up in the family of the Pharaoh, public speaking would have been a major part of his early education), but when it came to laws that he had violated that would keep him out of the Promised Land, it was the third that would do that – Moses had disobeyed God’s command to honor him in all that he did.

God demands that he should be honored in all things that we, his creation, would accomplish in this life. It is that honor that makes everything that you will do today a sacred act toward God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 28