We have just completed the 19th Chapter in Exodus where the Jewish nation is camped by Mt. Sinai.  This is a couple months after they were led out of bondage in Egypt by the miracles of God, through the parted waters of the Red Sea.  There was complaining during their two month trek concerning food and water, and each time they complained, God answered and delivered.  But as soon as another need came up they didn’t seem to remember how faithful God was the last time they complained. 

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Now they are camped at Mt. Sinai and they stay here for quite some time.  This is where God gives the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments on them.  But before He gives the commandments He wants Moses to convey His covenant with them.  Exodus 19: 4You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  5Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.  6And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.  8And all the people responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has commanded."

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God is reminding them all of what He has done to bring them here and that He wants them to be His own special treasure.  Wow, how could you not agree with that, to have the God that created and sustains all creation, claim you as a special treasure!  They were very smart to agree to that covenant, but this is where the story turns…..

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It isn’t too many chapters (32) from here when Moses is back up on Mt. Sinai again for instruction from God when the people convince Aaron that they should make an idol to worship, a calf made out of the golden jewelry that they fleeced from the Egyptians as they left Egypt.  What short memories these people had.  They just recently agreed to a covenant with God that they would obey His commandments and do everything that the Lord has commanded. 

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The second commandment that God gave them, they blatantly violated it with a golden calf, to worship.  When Moses recited the commandments from God to the people, here is what it says about the 2nd command,     "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.  5You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.  6But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those* who love me and obey my commands.

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They disregarded the promise of God to lavish unfailing Love on them, and call them His special treasure, so they could worship a golden calf.  Why does this happen to humans?  In Jeremiah 17:9 it says why, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? And Proverbs, There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.  Basically, man’s wisdom for maneuvering this world is useless.  Without God guiding us we can do only wicked things!  The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple, Prov. 19:7.

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