Exodus 20:22 And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’
The beginning of this chapter is well-known: The Ten Commandments. Much less known is this last paragraph. We recall that the whole reason God gave Moses to tell Pharoah that Israel was leaving Egypt was to Worship. God is about to tell Israel how to worship. It is altogether different from that of the worship of idols, beginning with the altar. It is to be simple, natural, modest - not flashy, high tech, and attended to by temple prostitutes. The focus is not to be on the place as much as the Person we come to worship. He is holy; we are to come humbly. Worship is mobile: God's people together can do it wherever we are - with Him as the focus. Worship: let's keep it that simple.
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