First Word - Exodus 20:1-2

20:1-2 - Just to give a context for exactly how significant chapter 20 is, the IM has a whole section devoted to just this chapter and TB has 4 hour long lectures about it, so it is substantial. Yesterday we established the fact that chapter 20 doesn’t necessarily comprise 10 “commandments” but instead more like 10 “foundational principles.” This matters because verse 2 says, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” This doesn’t sound much like a “commandment” to me but it sure does sound like a statement that can serve as a foundation that all other statements, commandments, beliefs, understandings, and behaviors can be built on. This is THE most important part of the whole thing, everything that God has been trying to do for the Hebrew people.

TB makes a couple of important points here, first is that while our version says “I am the Lord thy God,” the Hebrew actually says, “I am Yehoveh your Elohim, noting, “It uses BOTH God’s personal name AND His TITLE in the text… This was acutely important and necessary because all gods had names, and one needed to know just WHICH god was communicating his instructions. And so the god of the Hebrews gave the people of Israel His name: Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh.” Again, I want to point out the ancient belief that if you knew a god’s name then you could control that god, so the ancient “gods” would try to conceal their names from the people so that they couldn’t be controlled. This was just another way in which the actual true God of the universe was demonstrating to Israel that He was completely different than what they were used to.

It also might have been a way for Him to show them that he was committed to them, if they believed that knowing God’s name gave them some sort of power or significance with that God, them him giving the name freely might have made them feel like he was obligating Himself to them, which would have been an interesting tactic.As far as the part where He reminds them that he had “brought thee out of the land of Egypt, our of the house of bondage,” TB notes, “Yehoveh is also stating very plainly, that HE is the God of the Hebrews, that same one who struck Egypt, rescued Israel from Egypt, and brought them here, to Mt Sinai. And, therefore, it is ISRAEL with whom He is making this covenant, not anyone else… The Lord is also making something else very clear, and we all need to take note: those people whom the Lord has redeemed have obligations to Him. Among those obligations are loyalty and obedience to His principles and ordinances.”

When I first heard this, I was pretty irritated, like “I’ve been redeemed so I have obligations to God,” and I really had to think about it for a minute. I think that my reaction was mostly out of just being exhausted with life and responsibilities and stuff, but after thinking about it for a while, I started to remember that life is hard for everyone. I got to do a little self-reflection and see the hand of God in my life throughout and looking at even some of the worst things that have happened to me and seeing that God was trying to get me to understand the power that He has to intervene on my behalf and provide for me, it was comforting. It’s a lot to work through, I have a lot to work through, but the foundation here is exactly who God is, and who I am to Him, just like in the first “word” or foundational principle.

The IM makes two points that helped me put together that even when things go wrong for me, God is involved for my own good. The IM says, “The command of the Savior was : ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.’ In revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord taught that we must have an eye single to the glory of God.” This begs the questions, “who is this God that is so insecure that he needs our constant devotion and worship?” This seems like a reasonable question until we remember that God’s command for us to be only focused on Him constantly, isn’t for His benefit, but for our own. How does constantly being focused only on God benefit us? That has to open up the possibility that devotion to God aligns us to what is right in the world, and helps us become the best versions of ourselves. It’s one of those things that are counter-intuitive but are actually true.

The IM comments, “As first some may think that this demand for exclusive worship and devotion by God for Himself sounds selfish. But two things should be remembered. First as Lord and Creator of all the universe, and as one who has all power, knowledge, and glory, God does not need man’s adoration and worship to add to His state of being. So, His jealousy is not a protective concern for His own status. The second thing to remember is that the Lord taught Moses that God’s work is ‘to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.’ Anytime His children set anything before God in importance, they begin to thwart His work for them. He is the only source of power and knowledge sufficient to save. To set anything above Him lessens their ability to draw on that power and knowledge for their salvation.”

I’m in the middle of a debate within myself right now about just how involved I want to get with the upcoming election. On the one hand I am terrified of a certain outcome and feel like I should do everything I can to help avoid that, which probably means an active presence of social media posting about my beliefs and doing what I can to influence and educate others to convince them about the correctness of my argument. On the other hand, I feel like that would be ineffective for several reasons. Everyone has already made up their mind about who they are voting for and I’m not going to change anyone else’s mind, and they aren’t going to be able to change my mind. I’m just going to get more and more angry as people make their own arguments, which I vehemently disagree with, again and it will not matter whatsoever. The Book of Mormon shows us time and again the consequences of corrupt government and the only way out of those situations was righteousness and I don’t feel like engaging in those types of public discourse would increase my personal righteousness. Jesus already knows that the outcome is going to be, He already knows that the outcome of the entire world is going to be, He’s already seen the fall of empires a thousand times throughout human history, and He’s already worked it all out. There’s not a lot that I can do besides make my own personal choices, vote, and then work on being righteous, because that’s what effects change, personal righteousness.