John Worgul

For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.   Exodus 20:4-6 Most people, on first thought, … Read more

You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve them.  Exodus 20:4 For Catholics, the first commandment is in two parts; the general prohibition to have no other … Read more

You shall have no other gods [in my face].  Exodus 20:3 The Hebrews did not work with abstract ideas; truth is always made vivid by concrete ideas or “motifs” ─ images from nature. So it is here with the Ten Commandments, beginning with the first one. The prepositional phrase often translated “before me” can literally … Read more

And God spoke all these words, saying…  Exodus 20:1 Open my eyes, that I may behold, wondrous things out of your law. Psalm 119:18 Law is given in love; law is foundational to relationship. Law is a good and necessary thing; without it there is chaos. But how do we relate to Old Testament Law … Read more

Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  Exodus 20:1f. The stage is set: The people are about to encounter the Living God before His Holy Mountain.  Moses ascends into the dark clouds to receive God’s word for … Read more

On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud blast of the shofar, so that all the people in the camp trembled.  Exodus 19:16 With our mind’s eye we see Israel before the mountain on the morning of the third … Read more

So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people. When he set before them all that the LORD had ordered him to tell them, all the people answered together, “Everything the LORD has said, we will do.” Then Moses brought back to the LORD the response of the people. Exodus 19:7f. YHWH is lofty and His dwelling … Read more

Moses went up to the mountain of God. Then the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying: This is what you will say to the house of Jacob; tell the Israelites: You have seen how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  Now, if … Read more

After they made the journey from Rephidim and entered the wilderness of Sinai, they then pitched camp in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain.  Exodus 19:2 We joke about sometimes saying that someone is “as old as Moses.”  Well, it is evident that Mount Sinai was known to be holy, associated with the … Read more