Verse 26: saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”
Verse 27: Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
‘Diligently listen to the voice of the LORD’. Perhaps he would have more to say to me if I diligently listened. And to do right in his eyes, because he sees everything I do. I dont know how relevant the Egyptian thing is but probably best to avoid that considering the context of the verse. ‘I am the LORD, your healer’ Praise God!
I think it is interesting that God provided 12 springs of water. There were 12 tribes of Israel right? So that would help prevent fighting over water and that sort of thing.
Also you can see God testing them by saying that, in verse 25 and then in 16:4 where he gives them bread from heaven for them but says only to gather enough for one day each time, to test them to see if they will obey and walk in his law. This is before he gives them ‘The Law’ in chapter 20 onwards. Even in chapter 20, verse 20: ‘Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you,that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin” ‘
Any thoughts? Comments welcome.
-Paul
(Clipart from Clipartheaven.com)
June 26, 2007
So I was a rabbit…And my superiour espionage skills had lead me to believe that there were others of my kind somewhere nearby so I went hunting for them. Then I saw it: builtifully built combinations of wood and wire, they truly were homes for those fellow rabbits but i longed for them to be free into the human-cage where i roamed. There were two females and 3 males. ‘This must be the last survivors of the plague and of the drought, kept here as specimins by the humans. This was shocking to me as I had always believed what my mum told me, which was that the only way into heaven was to have one’s bones bleached in the Australian sun, but when these rabbits grew old, I knew, they would be buried in the ground, as if they were nothing but part of the Earth. I set about to free them, digging around the base of the cages, but I couldn’t get though. There was some kind of smooth rock all around the edges. But I kept trying. Then suddly to my shock I was in human hands again! But these ones were bigger and stronged and held me comfortably. ‘A wild rabbit’ they yelled, but not at the screaming pitch that would attract predators. These were obviously slightly less-inferior humans but let me tell you what made me have a grudge against them:
After they caught me in their garden, with their rabbits, I thought that at the very worst I would be put into a magnificant home like the other rabbits there had, but no, I was put into a wire cage the same as in the previous human-cage. And much to my horror, there was no food or water. I was there for four days, including 3 nights where yet another fox circled my cage. This time, It was I who was humiliated. Then, on the fourth day, a big human and a smaller human came and took me out of the cage and the big one told the little one that it was ‘cruel’. I didn’t understand cruel. For me, that wire cage was just like being in the desert if I closed my eyes. I had only been humiliated by the way that fox didnt curl up and die when i cursed it, like the previous one. On this day I was put into one of the rabbit-homes, which I shared with two brothers, Katrina and Pashun. I mocked them for there names and then began to realise one of my previously unrealised ambititions: Dominance.
June 24, 2007
