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Those who chose [choose] to respond were called Israel—chosen of God.
They were delivered from the evils of Pharaoh and led out into the desert,
but their minds were set on having everything their way; the wrong way that
caused more disobedience, pain, and suffering. Gratitude for the Passover
and deliverance was replaced with ingratitude, just the way evil desired; the
people took without giving back. They envisioned no pain, no struggle, and
only milk and honey. Did that happen the way they thought? No. They
were tested, and they fell short, constantly misunderstanding. They lacked
trust and acted (sinned) in ways that were contrary to the will of God. Even
as Moses was receiving the commandments, impatience overwhelmed the
people, and they began to worship Egyptian false gods once again. They
took what evil offered because they had become accustomed to false gods
and graven images while in Egypt; what they wanted or could see was more
important than what they could not see. Evil was always present in their
minds, so purification was necessary and the time of deliverance extended.
God’s own hand inscribed the Ten Commandments in the stone tablets,
providing perfect insight the first time. Moses went to the mountain a
second time, and God asked Moses [mere man] to inscribe the word in rock
the second time or repeat what God did the first time. In other words, the
second time the word was given to mere man, he was to complete it exactly
the way God had shown the first time. The first time God Himself gave the
words, then, man had to follow and inscribe the commandments or repeat
the work a second time.
“The L
ORD
said to Moses, ‘Chisel out
two s t one t ab l e t s
like the first ones,
and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you
broke. Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present
yourself to me there on top of the mountain. No one is to come with you
or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may
graze in front of the mountain.’ So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like
the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the L
ORD
had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.
Then the L
ORD
came down in the cloud and stood there with him and
proclaimed his name, the L
ORD
. And he passed in front of Moses,
proclaiming, ‘The L
ORD
, the L
ORD
, the compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to
thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not
leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for
the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’”
