Christians often have negative attitudes about sacrifice in the OT. There's maybe four reasons for this:
(1) We don't really understand sacrifice very well at all. It's foreign to us, and confusing. And I include myself in this.
(2) We maybe know that the OT has a number of really barbed attacks on sacrifice. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and some of the psalms sharply attack sacrifice as not being the thing God most wants. God places a higher priority-- a higher value-- on people acting rightly toward each other. And if they refuse to do this, and instead act unjustly, and violently, God will ignore anything people sacrifice to him (Isaiah 1:10-17).
(3) When we think about sacrifice, we think about the Pharisees-- about people focused on external acts of obedience, at the expense the heart. We think of sacrifice as being legalistic, or maybe "works-based."
(4) We know that Jesus died as a sacrifice in our place, and that we Gentiles aren't expected to offer God any literal sacrifices. We also know that we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, instead of animals.
The bottom line, is that when we think about sacrifice in the OT, we come at it with a lot of baggage, and our baggage often keeps us from really taking the time to understand sacrifice, or appreciate it.
So when we get to passages that talk about sacrifice, what do we do? Maybe, we think about other aspects of the text. Maybe, we just cruise over the verses quickly. That's what I tend to do, at any rate.
But I've put myself in a bit of a pickle this morning. I didn't leave very much of Exodus 20 for today. And Exodus 21 not only has a different heading, but an entirely different subject matter.
So I found myself thinking, I should really teach only on Exodus 20:18-26. And the only way to do that, I thought at first, was by focusing on OT sacrifices-- something I knew very little about.
What I found, as I studied, is that all Scripture is useful. And what I learned is so interesting, and helpful, I might end up rabbit trailing for two weeks after this and talking about two different sacrifices-- the burnt offering, and the peace/fellowship offering. The whole subject is fascinating. This will end up being a little mini-series on sacrifice, within the Exodus series. And, amusingly, in the end, I'm not really going to talk about those two sacrifices today at all. I should. The passage would make a lot more sense if I did. But I'll save that for the next two weeks.
So for this morning, let's start by reading Exodus 20:18-20. We read these verses last week-- they form a transition of sorts:
(18) Now, all the people [were] seeing the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking,
and the people saw,
and they trembled,
and they stood far off,
(19) and they said to Moses,
"Speak-- you-- with us,
and we will listen,
and may God not speak with us, lest we die,"
(20) and Moses said to the people,
"Don't fear,
because, in order to test you the God/Elohim has come,
and in order that his fear/reverence would be before/upon your faces,
so that you don't sin,"
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William Propp, Exodus, notes that the preposition here usually translated "upon" ("upon your faces") often has the sense of "before." Reverence of God is something you keep in front of your faces, as you go through life.
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There is a wrong reason, and a right reason, to "fear" Yahweh. When Yahweh reveals himself-- even in part-- through the thick cloud, and thunder, and lightning-- it's scary. You find yourself thinking you are going to die. You find yourself wanting to create distance between yourself and God. And this is true for almost everyone who encounters God, throughout the OT.
But here, Moses reassures the people that they don't need to fear God killing them here. Or maybe, better, they don't need to fear that they will die, from simply being that close to God. God designed this encounter for two reasons: The first, was to "test" them. God wanted to know how they would react to his revealing himself. How do you respond, when God overwhelms you with his glory, and power? God wanted to know. And the second reason God designed this encounter, was in order that they would fear God from this point forward, so they don't sin. The rest of their lives, they will remember this day, this mountain. And if they keep that in mind, they won't sin.
And if we could do the same, I think it would have the same effect on us. It's hard to sin against God, when you keep in mind what God is really like.
So Moses says, "Don't fear. God did this so that you would fear God."
How do we put this together?
It's easier in English to explain this, than Hebrew. In the end, this is what Moses means: If you revere God, you don't need to fear him.
With this, we come to new verses. Let's start with verses 21-23:
(21) and the people stood far off,
while Moses approached to the thick cloud where God was there,
(22) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel:
"You have seen that from the heavens, I have spoke with you." ["from the heavens" focused in Hebrew].
You shall not make with/alongside me a god/elohim of silver or a gold/elohim of gold.
You shall not make them for yourselves.
When Yahweh spoke to Moses, He spoke "from the heavens." And that fact, is something that has an application for Israel. If Israel had seen God's form (Numbers 12:8), it would've been tempted to make an image of God's form in some way. But Israel saw nothing of God himself. Israel only saw the things that hid God from them-- the smoke, and clouds. So because it saw nothing, it should avoid the temptation to make an idol of gold or silver. No matter how skilled a metal worker you are, you can't possibly shape something that resembles God, in any way. When you worship Yahweh, you worship someone you don't see.
Now, what does Yahweh mean, when He says that you shall not make a god "with me," or "alongside me"?
You might find yourself struggling to worship and pray to a God that you can't see. And maybe, you tell yourself, I'll build an idol of Yahweh, to help me worship him. But Yahweh is not okay with this. Yahweh alone gets worshipped.
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It also means that He doesn't have a consort "alongside him" at an altar or sanctuary. If you google "Yahweh and his asherah," you'll find that Israelites very often did exactly what Yahweh said they couldn't do.
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Now, God has already told us all of this in the ten commandments, right? [Technically, this might not be completely true. "Alongside me" maybe has a slightly different nuance than "before me." God doesn't have a companion at the altars.]
Let's go back, and reread Exodus 20:1-6:
(20:1) and God spoke all these words, saying,
(2) "I-- Yahweh-- am your God/Elohim,
who is bringing you (masculine singular, here and always in the 10 words) from the land of Egypt-- from a
house of service.
(3) There will not be for you another god/elohim in front of me.
(4) You will not make for yourself an idol or any form that [is] in the heavens above, or that is on the earth
below, or that is in the waters under the earth.
(5) You will not bow down to them,
and you will not serve them,
because I-- Yahweh your God/Elohim-- [am] a jealous/zealous God/El,
counting (see Num. 1:19) the sin/guilt of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third [generation], and
upon the fourth, to the ones hating me,
(6) and demonstrating loyalty to a thousand [generations], to the ones loving me and to the ones
keeping my commands.
God has just told Israel, "Don't worship idols." Why does God think Israel needs to hear the command against idolatry again, immediately? Partly, it's because the command to love, and serve, and worship Yahweh alone, is the first and greatest commandment. It is the starting point for everything else.
I think the other part of it is that we humans have a built-in desire to "make" things to help us worship God. I don't know if God put that in us, or if that's part of our natural human response. But either way, we get itchy to "make" things for God.
And in verse 24, we find the same verb about "making." We aren't supposed to make idols. Instead, verse 24:
(24) An earthen altar you shall make for me,
that you will sacrifice upon it your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings-- your small livestock and
your cattle.
In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and I will bless you,
So you don't "make" an idol alongside Yahweh, to help you worship. What you make, is an altar.
Now, what kind of altar does God want?
God is not looking for something fancy. What God wants, is an "earthen" altar. An earthen altar, is probably going to look a lot like a flat-topped pile of dirt (Nahum Sarna, with many others, notes that this is the idea behind 2 Kings 5:17-- two mule-loads makes a decent-sized altar, apparently?). [Some scholars also suggest that the typical mud brick altar of the time would fit in here, and be considered an "earthen altar." I'm not sure that anyone knows the answer to that for sure.]
So you build these altars, and what do you sacrifice on them? There's two main types of sacrifices named.
There's a "burnt offering," and a "peace," or "fellowship," offering. Both of these sacrifices are made using animals from your herds. Many wild animals can be eaten (Deuteronomy 14:5), but only domestic animals can be sacrificed.
And notice. We get no explanation for these sacrifices. Everyone reading this knows exactly what these sacrifices are. They know what their purpose is.
The other thing I should say, is that the burnt offering, at least, is not a new thing. Noah offered a burnt offering at the end of the flood (Genesis 8:20). And when God told Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering (Genesis 22:2), Abraham knew what God wanted. We saw that even foreigners knew how to sacrifice a burnt offering-- Jethro just offered Yahweh one in Exodus 18:12, along with other unnamed sacrifices. [And the very closely related words in Ugaritic suggest that everyone offered the same sacrifices-- the real question was, which God did you offer them to.]
So God has talked about what the altars should be made from. He's talked about what should be sacrificed on them. And I'll probably talk more about these two sacrifices over the next week or two.
The other thing that needs to be said, is where these altars should be built.
That's the last sentence in verse 24:
"In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and I will bless you,"
What exactly does this mean?
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The phrase, "cause my name to be remembered," is tricky. Sarna, Exodus, 116, notes that the medieval Jewish commentators understand the verb to be causative (as in Isaiah 43:26, "cause me to remember"). Another place where it is clearly causative is 1 Kings 17:18, "caused my sins to be remembered."
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Throughout the OT, God reveals himself to individual people, at specific places. And what tends to happen, is that people respond to this by building God an altar in that place, and offering him sacrifices. In Genesis 12:6, God reveals himself to Abraham at Shechem, and Abraham responds by building an altar to God there. (also Genesis 13:4; 35:1). God revealed himself to Isaac in Genesis 26:24 in Beersheba, and Isaac built him an altar there (Genesis 26:25). In Genesis 28:10-19, God reveals himself to Jacob in a dream at Bethel, and Jacob builds an altar to offer sacrifices (so also Genesis 35:3, which shows the temporary nature of the built altars-- a second altar at Bethel, or a rebuilt one? Probably rebuilt). When God revealed himself to Gideon in Judges 6, Gideon responded by building an altar to Yahweh there, and sacrificing (Judges 6:24).
In all these places, Yahweh caused his name to be remembered, when He appeared to people. And those people built an altar, and offered sacrifices, in response.
But Yahweh also caused people to remember his name in more subtle ways. Jacob and Esau, two brothers in Genesis, had a terrible falling out. And Jacob, the younger brother, was scared that Esau was going to kill him. Eventually, they had a reunion that went well, and after their meeting was done, Jacob built an altar to Yahweh, and offered him sacrifices (Genesis 33:20). The fact that Jacob was still alive, and that the meeting went well, caused Jacob to remember God's name, and offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
In 1 Samuel 6, when the Philistines sent back the ark of the covenant after capturing it, the Israelites who received it offered a burnt sacrifice to Yahweh (1 Samuel 6:14).
Maybe the best example is found in 2 Kings 5. God healed a Syrian commander of leprosy, and this is how his story ends. Verse 15 (NRSV):
15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.” 16 But he said, “As the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!” He urged him to accept, but he refused. 17 Then Naaman said, “If not, please let two mule-loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god except the LORD. 18 But may the LORD pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the LORD pardon your servant on this one count.” 19 He said to him, “Go in peace.”
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other places where people build altars, independently of an appearance (Genesis 13:18; Exodus 18:12; Genesis 31:53-54-- an interesting story for its "peace offering"; 1 Samuel 7:15).
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The end result of Namaan's story, is that Yahweh caused his name to be remembered in Syria. Namaan built an altar in Syria, and from then on, worshipped Yahweh as God.
Now, let me add a wrinkle to all of this. Let's read Genesis 12:7-8 (NRSV no reason):
7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and invoked the name of the LORD.
We understand why Abraham built the altar in verse 7. But what caused Abraham to build an altar to Yahweh at Bethel, in verse 8?
Based on Genesis, we'd say, because he wanted to offer God a sacrifice there (maybe viewing it from a human perspective). If we read Exodus into it (viewing it from God's perspective), we'd say, "Yahweh simply caused Abraham to remember his name there, apart from anything else in Abraham's life."
So the idea in Exodus 20:24, I think, is that Yahweh causes people to think about him, and remember his name. And when that happens, wherever people are, they can build an altar to Yahweh, and offer him sacrifices there.
And when they do this, Yahweh offers them a promise. Let's go back to Exodus 20:24:
"In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and I will bless you,"
Yahweh says, if you sacrifice to him in these places, that He will do two things:
(1) He will come to you.
(2) He will bless you.
Does this promise, sound like a good promise? If we were Israelites, we might wonder if we are better off with Yahweh keeping his distance. When Yahweh comes close to his people, He comes with smoke, and lightning, and thunder, and earthquakes. Yahweh's presence is a terrifying thing, and we are better off if we can keep Moses between God and ourselves.
So we maybe find ourselves thinking, "Do we really want God to come close to us through sacrifice?" Is God's presence actually a good thing?
That's the question I want to tackle in the application.
Verse 25:
(25) and if an altar of stones you make for me, you will/must not build it with cut stones,
because [if with] your tool you have chiseled , you will defile/profane [it],
God knows that people have this impulse deep inside of them, to make God things, and to give God nice things (1 Kings 8:13). If you are committed to Yahweh as your God, you will want to give him your best. And you may look at the earthen altar, and think God deserves better.
God's preference is the earthen altar. But if you can't help yourself (and here I think God is accommodating himself to his people), and you just "need" to make a stone altar, you can't use any tools. Somehow-- and I can't explain why-- using any tool to chisel the stone, will defile the altar. God is okay with a stone altar-- but it can't look like we maybe want it to, with perfect edges, and clean lines.
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One commentator (can't remember who) suggested that part of it is that if you use a tool, you can shape the altars to all look the same. And different parts of the country will end up with distinctive altars, with the end result being that it might look like different gods are being worshipped. It's like half the country worships God at places that look like McDonald's, but three cities away, people all worship at a place that looks like Culver's. You look at the McDonald's, and the Culver's, and you wonder, "Is everyone worshipping the same God?" It's confusing, and possibly dangerous.
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Verse 26, is a great verse:
(26) and you shall not go up by steps upon my altar, [so] that your nakedness is not exposed upon it,
Most Israelites didn't wear underwear. The priests are the exception to the rule (Exodus 28:42; Leviticus 6:10; Leviticus 16:4). So when you build an altar, it has to be short. It can't have steps, because you can't accidentally give people a peep show when you're worshipping God.
Here again, if we were Israelites, we'd maybe find ourselves slightly unhappy. Not because we want to flash people accidentally. But part of giving God nice things, is making them big. You want to make God a raised altar, that's impressive, that's a tiny bit closer to heaven. But Yahweh says, "no stairs." You can't see people's private parts.
And it's possible, on a far more serious note, that this is the one thing a few of you most need to hear this morning. You shouldn't be putting yourself in a position where you see naked people. God's people don't go to strip clubs. They don't watch inappropriate stuff on TV, or smart phones, or computers. Nakedness is not something that gets exposed. With the exception of your spouse, if you have one, people don't see you naked. And you don't see naked people.
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A number of commentators talk about how sexual immorality was a key part of sacrifice in Canaanite culture (maybe copied in Exodus 32:6?). And here, God is maybe making sure that nothing goes in that direction where He is worshipped. "No nudity" is an anti-Canaanite law.
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So that's the end of our little passage. Let's do the application today in two steps.
First, let's think about God, and sacrifice, in general. What is God looking for, broadly speaking, with sacrifice? What does He want? What does He not want?
(1) Yahweh wants to make sure that He is the one being worshipped. If you make an idol, you are no longer worshipping Him. This is not okay. The first and greatest commandment is to love God-- and God alone-- with the entirety of who you are. And your worship has to reflect that.
(2) Yahweh is not demanding, with the type of altar Israel uses. And we maybe struggle with this. When we have big, festive meals at the holidays, we bring out the china. Somehow, the food looks better, and tastes better, on fancy plates, served from fancy bowls. And we think sacrifices should work the same way. That sheep should look better to God, if it's offered from a beautiful, perfectly squared-off altar. But God prefers dirt. What pleases God, with the sacrifice, is not the altar. It's not the china plate. What pleases him, is that you are thinking about him, and want to sacrifice to him. And God wants the focus to be on him, and not the altar (h/t someone). [There's maybe a tension here with Exodus 27:1-8-- or maybe it's more complicated than I've explained-- but I don't have to worry about that for a few weeks.]
The other thing we should think about today is how we view God.
When we think about God, and what He wants, and what a relationship with him should look like, we maybe have two different pictures in our mind.
The first, looks a lot like God on Mount Sinai. God is a glorious God. He's big; He's kind of scary. And God has expectations for his people-- He wants obedience. It's through obedience, that you demonstrate whether or not you love him. The people disobeying God hate him; the people obeying God, love him (Exodus 20:5-6).
So think about that as picture #1.
Picture #2 is found in Exodus 20:24:
"In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and I will bless you,"
In picture #2, Yahweh comes to his people in a way that's far easier for people to handle (Genesis 4:4?). His presence is real, but not so overwhelming.
So we have this two pictures, back to back in Exodus. In one, God is big, and scary, and overwhelming. You find yourself not wanting to get too close. In the other, God's presence is desirable, and to be sought after.
How do we put these two pictures together? How are they related?
My guess is that most of us resonate with the second picture, far more than the first. [This would really depend on the church, actually.]
One of our strongest desires, as God's people, is for God to come closer. We sing songs, letting the Holy Spirit know that He is welcome in this place. We pray, asking God to fill us, and this meeting, with his Spirit (Luke 11:13). We want God here, with us. This place is not just four walls and a roof. This is a place where we meet God. At least, that's our hope.
And this is not just a Sunday morning thing. All week, we seek God, and draw near to Him, so that He draws near to us (2 Chronicles 15:2). When we get up in the morning, we seek God and his kingdom first. And God is our last thought at night; our last words are addressed to him; our last thoughts are of Him.
We do all of this, hopefully, keeping in mind picture #1. We understand that God is a glorious, powerful God. We understand that He expects total allegiance, and obedience. When we are tempted to sin, we keep this picture of God in our mind, to help us stay on the right path.
But at the same time, we know that there is more to a relationship with God, than simply obedience. God isn't just a far-off God, dwelling in the heavens, surrounded by thick clouds and smoke that keep us from really seeing him, from really knowing him. In some ways, God hides from us. But in other ways, He doesn't hide from us at all. God wants to be close to us. And God wants us, to desire his presence.
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Motyer, The Message of Exodus, 28, is helpful here:
"The people backed off from the promised meeting with God, but the Lord was not to be deflected from his purpose to meet with them, and the altar, the place of sacrifice, was his appointed trystingplace (as they will soon more perfectly learn)."
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For many years, I focused mostly on picture #1, at the expense of today's passage. I understood that God should be revered, and obeyed. I understood God's expectations. But I missed out on today's picture. I didn't desire God's presence. I didn't really expect it. If I'd been forced to sing a song inviting the Spirit to be present in this place, it would've bothered me. Don't give me that charismatic stuff. Let me sing "Holy, Holy, Holy," instead.
Some of you are maybe like me. You struggle to keep both pictures in perspective. You tend to emphasize one, at the expense of the other.
If you focus exclusively on the ten commandments, and God's revealing himself in the thunder, smoke, and lightning, you will probably obey God. You will go through life, revering him. But you almost certainly won't delight in God. You'll probably lack joy. You'll probably feel far from God-- and you'd maybe just as soon that He stays far away. And so the challenge for you today, is to consider how close you want God to be to you. How badly do you desire God's presence? How hard do you seek it? God wants to be close to you. Do you want the same thing?
On the flip side, if you focus exclusively on picture #2, the end result is going to look a lot like the worst side of modern evangelicalism. You pray, and sing, that God would come close, and that you'd see his face. You want this relationship with him. And maybe, you assume that God is always close to you, always listening, always pleased, regardless of how you live.
But in all that, there's maybe not much emphasis on obedience, and growing in holiness. I was listening to Dallas Willard the other day, and he talked about how obedience is something that should become easy, and routine, for Christians. Spiritual growth is not so much about learning new things, as it is about growing in holiness. And if this isn't happening, it's because you don't intend to obey. When you sin, you confess. But there's no real attempt to get out of that sin, because you don't intend to get out of it.
And if that's you, your challenge is to remember the smoke, and thunder, and earthquakes. You need to remember God's expectations, and keep reverence of God before your face.
So is God's presence with us a good thing?
It is. God desires it. We should desire it. We should desire it, understanding who God is, and what He wants.
And if we desire God's presence, we should be seeking it. That's the bottom line. Seek God. Seek God's presence. Seek more of him. Seek to be closer to him.
Translation:
(21) and the people stood far off,
while Moses approached to the thick cloud where God was there,
(22) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel:
"You have seen that from the heavens, I have spoke with you." [from the heavens focused in Hebrew].
You shall not make with/alongside me a god/elohim of silver or a gold/elohim of gold.
You shall not make them for yourselves.
(24) An earthen altar you shall make for me,
that you will sacrifice upon it your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings-- your small livestock and your cattle.
In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and I will bless you,
(25) and if an altar of stones you make for me, you will/must not build it with cut stones,
because [if with] your tool you have chiseled , you will defile/profane [it],
(26) and you shall not go up by steps upon my altar, that your nakedness is not exposed upon it.
