341 And Jehovah said to Moses, Hew for thyself two tables of stone like the first; and I will write upon the tables the words that were upon the first tables, which thou hast broken. 2 And be ready for the morning, and go up in the morning to mount Sinai, and stand there before me on the top of the mountain. 3 And let no man go up with thee, neither shall any man be seen on all the mountain; neither shall sheep and oxen feed in front of that mountain. 4 And he hewed two tables of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to mount Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.
5 And Jehovah came down in the cloud, and stood beside him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. 6 And Jehovah passed by before his face, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clearing [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth [generation]. 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped, 9 and said, If indeed I have found grace in thine eyes, Lord, let the Lord, I pray thee, go in our midst; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for an inheritance!
10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels that have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people in the midst of which thou [art] shall see the work of Jehovah; for a terrible thing it shall be that I will do with thee.
11 Observe what I command thee this day: behold, I will drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 Take heed to thyself, that thou make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which thou shalt come, lest it be a snare in the midst of thee; 13 but ye shall demolish their altars, shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs. 14 For thou shalt worship no other God; for Jehovah—Jealous is his name—is a jealous God; 15 lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and then, when they go a whoring after their gods, and sacrifice unto their gods, thou be invited, and eat of their sacrifice, 16 and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. 17 —Thou shalt make thyself no molten gods.
18 —The feast of the unleavened bread shalt thou keep: seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded thee, at the appointed time of the month Abib; for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 19 —All that openeth the womb [is] mine; and all the cattle that is born a male, the firstling of ox and sheep. 20 But the firstling of an ass thou shalt ransom with a lamb; and if thou ransom [it] not, then shalt thou break its neck. All the first-born of thy sons thou shalt ransom; and none shall appear before me empty. 21 —Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest; in ploughing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 22 —And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat-harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 Thrice in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel. 24 For I will dispossess the nations before thee, and enlarge thy border, and no man shall desire thy land, when thou goest up to appear before the face of Jehovah thy God thrice in the year. 25 —Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left over night until the morning. 26 —The first of the first-fruits of thy land shalt thou bring into the house of Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk.
27 And Jehovah said to Moses, Write thee these words; for after the tenor of these words have I made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
28 —And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread, and drank no water.—And he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words. 29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai—and the two tables of testimony were in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain—that Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone through his talking with him. 30 And Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him. 31 And Moses called to them; and they turned to him,—Aaron and all the principal men of the assembly; and Moses talked with them. 32 And afterwards, all the children of Israel came near; and he gave them in commandment all that Jehovah had spoken with him on mount Sinai. 33 And Moses ended speaking with them; and he had put on his face a veil. 34 And when Moses went in before Jehovah to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel what he was commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone; and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
351 And Moses collected all the assembly of the children of Israel, and said to them, These are the things which Jehovah has commanded, to do them. 2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of rest to Jehovah: whoever does work on it shall be put to death. 3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings upon the sabbath day.
4 And Moses spoke to all the assembly of the children of Israel, saying, This is the word which Jehovah has commanded, saying, 5 Take from among you a heave-offering to Jehovah: every one whose heart [is] willing, let him bring it, Jehovah's heave-offering—gold, and silver, and copper, 6 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and byssus, and goats' [hair], 7 and rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and acacia-wood, 8 and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the incense of fragrant drugs; 9 and onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate.
10 And all who are wise-hearted among you shall come and make all that Jehovah has commanded: 11 the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its bases; 12 the ark, and its staves; the mercy-seat, and the veil of separation; 13 the table and its staves, and all its utensils, and the shewbread; 14 and the lamp-stand for the light, and its utensils, and its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15 and the altar of incense, and its staves; and the anointing-oil, and the incense of fragrant drugs; and the entrance-curtain at the entrance of the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burnt-offering, and the copper grating for it, its staves, and all its utensils; the laver and its stand; 17 the hangings of the court, its pillars, and its bases, and the curtains of the gate of the court; 18 the pegs of the tabernacle, and the pegs of the court, and their cords; 19 the garments of service, to do service in the sanctuary, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to serve as priests.
20 And all the assembly of the children of Israel departed from before Moses. 21 And they came, every one whose heart moved him, and every one whose spirit prompted him; they brought Jehovah's heave-offering for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 And they came, both men and women; every one who was of willing heart brought nose-rings, and earrings, and rings, and bracelets, all kinds of utensils of gold: every man that waved a wave-offering of gold to Jehovah. 23 And every man with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and byssus, and goats' [hair], and rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, brought [them]. 24 All they that offered a heave-offering of silver and copper brought Jehovah's heave-offering. And every one with whom was found acacia-wood for all manner of work of the service, brought [it]. 25 And every woman that was wise-hearted spun with her hands, and brought what she had spun: the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the byssus. 26 And all the women whose heart moved them in wisdom spun goats' [hair]. 27 And the principal men brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; 28 and the spice, and the oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the incense of fragrant drugs. 29 The children of Israel brought a voluntary offering to Jehovah, every man and woman whose heart prompted them to bring for all manner of work, which Jehovah, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done.
30 And Moses said to the children of Israel, See, Jehovah has called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and he has filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 32 and to devise artistic things: to work in gold, and in silver, and in copper, 33 and in cutting of stones, for setting, and in carving of wood, to execute all artistic work; 34 and he has put in his heart to teach, he and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: 35 he has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work of the engraver, and of the artificer, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in byssus, and of the weaver, [even] of them that do every kind of work, and of those that devise artistic work
23 On that day came to him Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection; and they demanded of him, 24 saying, Teacher, Moses said, If any one die, not having children, his brother shall marry his wife and shall raise up seed to his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brethren; and the first having married died, and not having seed, left his wife to his brother. 26 In like manner also the second and the third, unto the seven. 27 And last of all the woman also died. 28 In the resurrection therefore of which of the seven shall she be wife, for all had her? 29 And Jesus answering said to them, Ye err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels of God in heaven. 31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not God of [the] dead, but of [the] living. 33 And when the crowds heard [it] they were astonished at his doctrine.
34 But the Pharisees, having heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, were gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, demanded, tempting him, and saying, 36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 And he said to him, Thou shalt love [the] Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy understanding. 38 This is [the] great and first commandment. 39 And [the] second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments the whole law and the prophets hang.
41 And the Pharisees being gathered together, Jesus demanded of them, 42 saying, What think ye concerning the Christ? whose son is he? They say to him, David's. 43 He says to them, How then does David in Spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand until I put thine enemies under thy feet? 45 If therefore David call him Lord, how is he his son? 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did any one dare from that day to question him any more.
(Read Matthew 22:23-33)
The doctrines of Christ displeased the infidel Sadducees, as well as the Pharisees and Herodians. He carried the great truths of the resurrection and a future state, further than they had yet been reveled. There is no arguing from the state of things in this world, as to what will take place hereafter. Let truth be set in a clear light, and it appears in full strength. Having thus silenced them, our Lord proceeded to show the truth of the doctrine of the resurrection from the books of Moses. God declared to Moses that he was the God of the patriarchs, who had died long before; this shows that they were then in a state of being, capable of enjoying his favour, and proves that the doctrine of the resurrection is clearly taught in the Old Testament as well as in the New. But this doctrine was kept for a more full revelation, after the resurrection of Christ, who was the first-fruits of them that slept. All errors arise from not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God. In this world death takes away one after another, and so ends all earthly hopes, joys, sorrows, and connexions. How wretched are those who look for nothing better beyond the grave!
(Read Matthew 22:34-40)
An interpreter of the law asked our Lord a question, to try, not so much his knowledge, as his judgment. The love of God is the first and great commandment, and the sum of all the commands of the first table. Our love of God must be sincere, not in word and tongue only. All our love is too little to bestow upon him, therefore all the powers of the soul must be engaged for him, and carried out toward him. To love our neighbour as ourselves, is the second great commandment. There is a self-love which is corrupt, and the root of the greatest sins, and it must be put off and mortified; but there is a self-love which is the rule of the greatest duty: we must have a due concern for the welfare of our own souls and bodies. And we must love our neighbour as truly and sincerely as we love ourselves; in many cases we must deny ourselves for the good of others. By these two commandments let our hearts be formed as by a mould.
(Read Matthew 22:41-46)
When Christ baffled his enemies, he asked what thoughts they had of the promised Messiah? How he could be the Son of David and yet his Lord? He quotes Psalm 110:1. If the Christ was to be a mere man, who would not exist till many ages after David's death, how could his forefather call him Lord? The Pharisees could not answer it. Nor can any solve the difficulty except he allows the Messiah to be the Son of God, and David's Lord equally with the Father. He took upon him human nature, and so became God manifested in the flesh; in this sense he is the Son of man and the Son of David. It behoves us above all things seriously to inquire, "What think we of Christ?" Is he altogether glorious in our eyes, and precious to our hearts? May Christ be our joy, our confidence, our all. May we daily be made more like to him, and more devoted to his service.
