August 13, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Remember the law of My servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.” (Malachi 4.4)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

Some may be asking “Where is Horeb, I thought Moses received the Law at Mt. Sinai?” It is a good question and one whose answer demonstrates the transition from one perspective by which God was worshipped to another. Mount Sinai, a mountain found in what was called the Wilderness of Sin (pronounced tsin or tzin) is so named because those who lived there worshipped the Moon. That is, they ordered their lives according to the lunar calendar (a 28 day month), its phases (specifically the full moon and new moon) and the theological perspective of the Moon reflecting a greater light and thus bringing peace and surety in darkness. In some of these Middle Eastern cultures, the Moon represented “wisdom” (from which we get the image of the Old Man in the Moon and the Wise Old Owl whose eyes are large to gather in the light at night and thus be capable of hunting proficiently in the dark.) There are some scholars who believe that the “Wilderness of Tsin” represents for the Hebrews, the life of sin in which they had been held in bondage and from which they were truly delivered at Mt. Sinai receiving the wisdom of God and thus reflecting the light of His glory and grace. It would also stand to reason that this understanding would become a template by which the Hebrews would be judged as to whether they did or did not reflect the glory of God in their words and deeds. In essence, did they align themselves with the righteousness of God and reflect that image into the world? We should remember that Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, was a priest of God who lived in the region and probably worshipped at Mt. Sinai, the Mountain of the Moon (or God of the Moon which is distinctly different that a “Moon God” as was practiced by some who also lived in that same region.) Jethro’s influence would have been compelling on Moses’ maturing spirituality, especially as it stood over and against the early training he would have received in the courts of Egypt whose primary god was Ra the Sun God, the God of the Sun or the Sun of God.

It is from that train of thought that the mountain in the Sinai Desert was also known as Mount Horeb. The meaning of the title was “The Mountain of Elohim or YHWH.” In direct contrast to the god of their Egyptian oppressors, YHWH had proven to be superior in every way. YHWH was the God who ruled over all other gods including and especially the gods of Egypt such as Horus. Horus was a god represented as a man with the head of a falcon. We might remember such an image from the movie “Stargate.” The falcon was a powerful bird and hunted its prey by flying out of the sun to be unseen until the fatal kill. So, it was at the Sinai mountain that the Hebrews received the Word of God essentially “out of the fire of the sun,” this is the burning bush. Those commandments were, as I have proffered, “rules of righteousness.” They were the identifiers of who were truly God’s people. They did not fulfill the Law to be saved from the bondage of sin. Rather, in response to the freedom from oppression by ungodly rulers, they would be known as those who did not transgress the “rules of engagement,” if you will. When presented with the ideologies of the world, they would hold fast to what was the word of God.

Now in Malachi, as we read in the second verse of the fourth chapter, that those people who “honored the name of God would find the sun of righteousness rising over them with healing its rays.” The word used for healing also can be understood as salvation, restoration and reconciliation. They drew their life from the very presence of God and reflected His righteousness in the darkness of the world. These images were very real to them (even though they failed to meet the ideal many times). We can see these images in the gospel of Jesus as they carried through from the Old Testament to the New Testament in prophetic power. It is by the “Son of Righteousness” that the people of God are saved and thus define themselves to be the true children of God. As in the words given to Isaiah, “The people living in darkness have seen a great light.” This is mirrored in the Gospel of John, “He was the light of all men and the darkness could not consume Him.” Mighty ones of God, let this be said of us as well as we press forward through this darkening world which rejects the God of the Sun, Moon and Stars: Yahweh Elohim.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.