What we hold

Pharaoh finally told the Israelites that they could leave their place of slavery to go worship their God. As they were leaving, God told them to ask their Egyptian neighbors for jewelry and clothing and things made of silver and gold. In essence, they plundered their captors as they left the country. This must have felt sweet to the Israelites. They were kicking butt!

Some of them probably ate every day from their new silver plates, or toasted their neighbor with the fancy gold goblet that their overlord used to drink from. Some of them probably donned their new beautiful clothing for special occasions. Some might have kept their new treasures tucked away, a bit overwhelmed by all the splendor but quietly very happy.

After a few months, the Israelites watched Moses ascend Mt. Sinai. We know he came back with the Ten Commandments, but it was really more than that. Moses returned from meeting God with a whole new culture, a way for the Israelites to live that included a system of justice and a way to worship Yahweh, the God to whom they had been formally introduced during this Exodus experience. One of the components of the new religion was a Tabernacle, a tent where God's presence would live.

And guess what? Anyone who was willing could donate articles of silver and gold and fine fabrics of all kinds! The Tabernacle would need jewels, too. Can you see Ben looking down at his tunic, Ruth thinking of her bracelet tucked in her bedroll, and Levi considering the fifteen gold plates on which he's been serving manna? God does not require them to give their plunder over. He asks anyone who has a willing heart to give.

When they enter the Promised Land, forty years later, they are forbidden to take any plunder from Jericho, the first city. Subsequent plunder will be theirs to have, and they will settle in a land of wealth. But now, at the foot of Mt. Sinai, with their new goodies in hand, God says, "Do you want to give those things to me?" God is always more concerned with what we hold in our hearts, than what we hold in our hands--but what I'm holding onto physically might actually represent what is holding my heart.