OYB Feb 3

One Year Bible Blog: February 3rd readings

Exodus 17:8-16 and Exodus 18
I like that we have two different instances of Moses having to ask for help in order to carry out God's mission. In chapter 17, he needs the physical strength of Aaron and Hur to help him hold the staff up, while in chapter 18 he needed to delegate the duties of judging disputes. I know I'm one who doesn't like to ask for help. Guess I've got a lesson or two to learn.

There was one little thing that bothered me about chapter 17. Verse 14 reads:

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua; I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven."

I'm not quite sure how "writing it in a book" and "utterly blot out the remembrance" go together. ;)

Exodus 19:5-6
God is making it clear to Moses and the Israelites that, while they are especially precious to God, all of creation belongs to God. They (and us!) have been consecrated to a Holy purpose. I don't think this consecration is because God loves the Israelites more than the rest of creation. Rather, God wants to use the Israelites and their descendants to be a blessing to creation, because God loves all of creation.

Matthew 22:41-46
As far as I know, this is one of the very few places where Jesus answers one of the Pharisees' questions with a straight answer. But even with that, he follows it up with a question of his own, trapping them within their own legalese. I don't believe that Jesus really cared about the answer that the Pharisees gave. He just wanted to show to them, as well as the others listening, what a trap legalism could be.