"How old is your son?" asked the man behind the ticket counter.The father hesitated for a moment. It wasn't that the question was difficult to answer. His son was 12 years old, that...
I was in college when I first heard a preacher refer to Exodus 34:14, claiming that God was jealous. I must admit that I found this idea unsettling, even offensive. Jealousy, it seemed...
In our time of history, when tolerance and dialogue are the watchwords of interfaith interaction, Exodus 34:12-13 can sound harsh and extreme. What God said to Moses about how the Israelites are to...
Hi there, I'm Laura Boggess. In the summer of 1990, I had just finished my undergraduate degree in psychology and was preparing to move to a new city to attend graduate school. Before...
Psalm 66 celebrates God’s glory as it is revealed in his mighty works. This celebration is meant, not just for Jews, but for the whole earth (66:1). Yet how are those who have...
L.L. here, with Random Acts of Poetry-- remembering an exchange I had with Glynn. He's a businessman developing a habit. A poetry habit. I know this because he told me he wrote two...
It has often been said that Christians should be different from those who don’t follow Jesus. And rightly so. You could compile a list of dozens of ways in which the people of...
Can the Church exist online without ever meeting? Can our activities online become a kind of addiction? How do we balance our online activities with the real world? After attending the Christian Web...
In earlier chapters of Exodus, the Lord revealed to Moses the plans for the Tabernacle, the place where he would dwell among his people, in which sacrifices would be offered by the priests. After...
I must confess that my first thought as I read this verse was not equal to the gravity of its content. I remembered times on vacation with my family, when my children were...
Under the recently installed King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah’s livin’ large in Persia. He’s the cup bearer for the king, a trusted confidant and advisor. One day, Nehemiah's brother Hanani, shows up. He...
My husband and I had planned a quiet Friday evening at home. I didn't expect to end up—of all places—at a tattoo parlor. ...
Today I finish several reflections on Exodus 32, the story of the golden calf. Last Friday, we watched as Moses confronted Aaron concerning his leadership of Israel’s idolatry and as Aaron shirked...
Exodus 32 reveals that the idea of making an image to represent the “gods” originated with the Israelites. But, thereafter, Aaron enthusiastically led this idolatrous effort. He summoned the people...
L.L. here, with Random Acts of Poetry, on the anniversary of a hard, hard day. How do we face such difficulties in life? It is with humor, beauty and support that we partly...
As the Israelites were worshiping before the golden calf, feasting, drinking, and reveling, the Lord revealed to Moses, who was high upon...
Yesterday I began reflecting on the lamentable story of the golden calf. At the instigation of the Israelites, Aaron formed a golden calf so that the people might worship “the gods who brought ...
In the last several chapters of Exodus (chs. 25-31), the Lord had been revealing to Moses how Israel should worship. Exodus 32 interrupts this revelation with a shameful story of worship gone awry....
Over at Red Letter Believers, we encourage Christians to follow the Book -- to apply what Jesus tells us to do in our everyday life. ...
Exodus 30 adds instructions pertaining to the Tabernacle. The chapter begins with the design of the incense altar, a small golden altar that stood in the sanctuary of the Tabernacle, just outside...
