Desert Experience

God provided for the peoples

survival in the desert but the
people continued complaining
to him.

The Manna is a substance

produced by the action of insects
on tamarisk bushes.
The Quails pause to rest in the
Sinai region during migration and
are easily caught for food.

These are nevertheless the gifts of

God for their survival but then the
people continued to complain who
have been used to a comparative
luxury of life in Egypt. The people of
God are not slow to complain as they
journey to the mountain of God.

Three months after they had been

freed from the Egyptians, the
Israelites reached Mt. Sinai.

There Moses
was summoned
by God to give
his message
that as a people
they are bound
to God by a
covenant,
requiring them
to behave
according to
certain laws

The Sinai
covenant
demanded the
people of Israel
to behave as
Gods people
under Gods
laws and
conditions.

Exodus 24:3 ,
the people
ratified the
covenant :
We will do
everything
that the Lord
has told us.

They became one

nation and united
in God as they
shared in the
sprinkling of the
blood of the lamb
on the altar and on
the people.
Israels obedience
to the covenant
was the basis of
enjoying life with
God.

Still the people complaint of the

hardships encountered in the desert and
so God punished them by wandering for
forty years in the desert and some are
stuck dead by God. The people who came
out of Egypt were not worthy to see
promises of God to be fulfilled.

Some of these experiences:

The Golden Calf
Rebellion at Kadesh
the people chose somebody to lead
them back to Egypt
Miriam and Aaron rebelled against
Moses
The Bronze Serpent

The desert experiences provided

Israel the knowledge of their own
God. Who Yahweh is and his
character. Yahweh shown Himself
as a Providential God who provides
the needs of his people while they
were still in their journey towards
the Promised Land.

The desert experiences of the

people of Israel helped them to
form themselves as a community
and a nation with common
experiences bound together by the
covenant with God. Their
conscience were form to care for
the poor, liberation of slaves and
particular sensitivity to foreigners.
These were traces of early social
awareness of the people of Israel.

Did your ever know of a lawless

society?
Did you hear news of pirates in
Somalia abducting seamen passing
along the gulf near their country?
Perhaps you heard what kind of
government do they have in their
country? Can you comment on this?
On the other hand why did you sign the
contract in your Student Handbook?

What is expected of you when you

signed the Student Handbook?
follow and obey the rules and
regulations of the institution
behave and act as expected by the
institution
share in the vision-mission of the
institution
to accept the penalties stipulated in
the policies of the institution
whenever violations are committed
by misconduct or misbehaviour.

Rules and regulations are meant for the

common good and at the same time they
express the ideals of the institution.
These rules and regulations are
commonly known as laws that
prescribed ways and means by which
we are to conduct ourselves in relation
to others. They imply a certain kind of
moral behaviour. Let us now examine
how God and Israel enter into a
covenant law.

Moses was
regarded as the
great Hebrew
lawgiver and
leader who led the
Israelites out of
slavery in Egypt to
the land of
Canaan, where
they settled as an
organized nation.

The Biblical
accounts show
that in the third
month after the
Exodus, Moses
went to the peak
of a mountain in
the Sinai desert
while his people
were encamped at
the foot of this
mountain.

There he received
the moral law for
their community
life, the Ten
Commandments,
which became the
basis of what later
known as the
Mosaic law, or the
Torah.
(Ex. 20:2-17)

The function of the

Mosaic law was to
make known the will
of God to his people.
It was not regarded
as ordinary law, but
as the explicit
expression of the will
of God demanded by
the Covenant; the
basis for the
community life of
Israel.

The Ten
Commandments
served as guide
for decisions
about what was
right and wrong.
The Mosaic law
was the central
and the
distinguishing
mark of the
Jewish religion.

COMMANDMENT

First
I , the Lord, am
your God. You shall
not have other gods
beside Me.

Second
You shall not take
the name of the
Lord, in vain.

Third
Remember to keep
holy the Sabbath
day.

VALUE
PROTECTED

VIOLATION

PROMOTION
(Upholding the
Commandment)

God as first
priority

Idolatry,
materialism

Knowing and loving

God, gratitude for
all his blessings

Respect for
Gods name,
sacred persons,
places, things
and events

Blasphemy,
inattentiveness in
prayer

Behaving properly
in Church and
during prayer
times, not using
religion for selfish
motives

Sunday worship
and rest

Non-observance of Celebrating Sunday

Sunday obligation liturgy, having
family bonding and
healthy leisure time

COMMANDMENT

Fourth
Honor your father
and your mother.

Fifth

VALUE
PROTECTED

You shall not

commit adultery.

PROMOTION
(Upholding the
Commandment)

Respect for
Parents and
legitimate
authority

Disrespect,
disobedience,
taking parents
for granted

Respecting and
following ones
parents, helping
in household
chores

Respect for
life

Suicide,
smoking,
fighting

Taking care of
ones health

Respect for
sexuality as a
God-given gift

Indecent
exposure,
pornography

Respecting girls

You shall not kill.

Sixth

VIOLATION

COMMANDMENT

Seventh
You shall not
steal.

Eighth
You shall not bear
false witness against
your neighbour.

Ninth
You shall not covet
your neighbours
wife.

VALUE
PROTECTED

VIOLATION

PROMOTION
(Upholding the
Commandment)

Respect for
private
property,
justice and
stewardship

Stealing,
vandalism,
and cheating

Taking care of
borrowed books,
observing waste
segregation

Good name,
reputation,
truthfulness

Lying,
gossiping,
slander

Giving sincere
compliments, being
truthful in thought,
word and deed

Clean thoughts Lust

Turning away from

temptations

COMMANDMENT

Tenth
You shall not covet
your neighbours
goods.

VALUE
PROTECTED

Simplicity,
gratitude for
ones blessings

VIOLATION

PROMOTION
(Upholding the
Commandment)

Envy, discontent Being for the

for what one has success of
others, not
showing off
ones wealth or
privileges