Lesson 2 July 6-12
Blueprint for a Better World …
Commentary in Navy Inspiration in Maroon
Sabbath AfternoonRead for This Week’s Study: Exod. 3:7, Matt. 22:37-40, Exod. 22:21-23, Deut. 14:22-29, 26:1-11, Lev. 25:9-23.
Memory Text: “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:18, NKJV).
In His mercy, God has always had people with whom He has maintained a special relationship. In the stories of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—among others—we see God yearning to rebuild the broken relationship with human beings. But this was not just for the benefit of these few individuals and their families. When they were connected with God and blessed by Him, it was part of a larger plan to repair that relationship and share the blessing with others. As God said to Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:2, 3, NIV). As he was blessed, he could be a blessing to others.
This blessing was to come through the nation of Israel and, ultimately, the Messiah, who would come from that nation. With the creation of the people of Israel, God was now working with an entire nation. So, He set about giving them laws, regulations, festivals, and practices that would be a way to live so that those who were blessed by God would be able to bless others, as well.
No doubt this principle still exists today.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 13.
Sunday ↥ July 7
The God Who Hears“I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering” (Exod. 3:7, NIV).
Four hundred years is a long time to wait, especially when waiting in conditions of increasingly harsh slavery. God had promised that He would return to His people and bring them out of Egypt, but for generation after generation they were left to build the wealth and prestige of their idolatrous oppressors, and all the while God seemed silent.
Then God manifested Himself in a unique way. He appeared in a burning bush out in the remote desert to an unlikely leader, a fugitive prince and humble shepherd named Moses. He gave the reluctant Moses a job to do, and the first part of that job was to go back to the Israelites in Egypt with the message that God had heard and seen their oppression—and, yes, He did care. In fact, He was about to do something to change their situation dramatically.
Read Exodus 3:16, 17. Why was it important for God to begin outlining His plan for these people with this specific message? What catches your attention about this statement from God?
But God does not stop there. Not only does He have a plan for a better land, He does not intend for the people to escape from Egypt destitute. For hundreds of years, they had contributed to the wealth of the Egyptian Empire. God foresaw the initial resistance from Pharaoh, but He assured Moses that the Israelites would be compensated for their years of hard labor: “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed” (Exod. 3:21, NIV).
After their years of oppression, God took the opportunity to establish a new kind of society with these former slaves. He wanted them to live in a different way and to establish a society that would continue to be sustainable and viable. His plan was that this new kind of society would be a model for the surrounding nations and, like Abraham, that the blessings they received from God would also bless the whole world.
How important is it to you that God is a God who sees the suffering of people in the world and hears their cries for help? What does this tell you about God? Consider Exod. 4:31.
Monday ↥ July 8
The Ten CommandmentsRead Matthew 22:37-40, then Exodus 20:1-17. How does Jesus’ summary of the commandments help your understanding as you read each of the Ten Commandments?
The Ten Commandments read like a constitution. After a brief preamble that sets out the basis on which these statements are made—in this case, the fact of God’s deliverance of His people—the document lists the core principles on which the nation is founded. In this case, there were specific commands about how human beings could best live out their love for God and love for each other. It is little wonder that many nations with a Christian heritage have drawn the basis of their laws from these guiding principles.
While many of these statements are brief, we should not underestimate the breadth of their impact and the comprehensiveness of the Ten Commandments as the law of life. For example, the sixth commandment—”You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13, NIV)—summarizes and includes “all acts of injustice that tend to shorten life” as well as “a selfish neglect of caring for the needy or suffering”. – Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 308. Similarly, the prohibition against stealing (see Exod. 20:15) condemns “slave dealing, and forbids wars of conquest”. It “requires the payment of just debts or wages”, as well as prohibiting “every attempt to advantage oneself by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another”. – Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 309.
We can easily tell ourselves that we are not bad people. For example, if we are not directly involved in murder or obvious stealing, it might seem we are doing OK. But when Jesus talked about the commandments, He made it clear that the commandments are not fulfilled simply by not doing a few specific acts. Rather, our thoughts, motivations, and even failure to do things we know we should can break the law of God (see Matt. 5:21-30).
So, imagine a society in which each of the Ten Commandments were taken seriously and lived out fully. It would be an active, vibrant society in which everyone enthusiastically acted on their love for God by loving and caring for each other.
Why do we tend to read the Ten Commandments “narrowly”, often ignoring the broader applications of these important principles to our lives? Why is the narrower reading easier to follow in practice?