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Family Code

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Family Code

Prologue

  • After the fall & decline of man, we see God restart the project by establishing an exclusive relationship with Abram (who was later called Abraham)
    • Too long, please open your Bible Genesis 12: 1-3
  • Abraham’s descendants grew and became a nation, and God entered a covenant with them. Part of that agreement was what we know as the Ten Commandments
    • Too long, please open your Bible Exodus 20: 1-17
  • These commandments are relational in nature, and they address either our relationship with God, or our relationship with other people.
  • Following the narrative of Genesis 3&4, we see that the first two sins are disobedience and murder (violation of a relationship with God, and man).

Israel’s relationship with God

  • We know that God is transcendent and to be worshipped, hence the sacrificial laws that God gave Israel.
  • Even though He is Israel’s God, we see a lot of family-related metaphor used to describe His relationship with Israel

Father

God is depicted as the Father of Israel, showing His authority, guidance, and care.

“Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you. Deuteronomy 32:6

Mother

This metaphor focuses on God’s nurturing, protecting, and disciplining role, similar to that of a parent raising a child.

“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.” Isaiah 66:13

Husband

God is portrayed as the faithful husband to Israel, emphasizing a covenantal relationship marked by love, commitment, and sometimes disappointment when Israel is unfaithful

“For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. Isaiah 54:5

Israel’s relationship with one another

  • As part of God’s covenant with Israel, God gave a number of instructions regarding how they should live. These instructions affected every are of their lives.
    • Too long, please open your Bible Exodus 22: 21-27
    “You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. Exodus 23: 10-11
    ‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ‘Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19: 9-10
    ‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity. ‘You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin; I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. Leviticus 19: 35-36
    Too long, please open your Bible Deuteronomy 10: 17-22
    Too long, please open your Bible Deuteronomy 15: 7-15
    “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns. “You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the LORD and it become sin in you. Deuteronomy 24: 14-15

The New Testament

  • In God’s loving & generous nature, He gave Jesus to humanity. This gift was what ensured that His exclusive relationship with Israel was not made open to the rest of the world. He created a new multi-ethnic family.
  • We still see God’s heart expressed in the early church and through instructions in th epistles regarding how to live & relate with one another.
    • Too long, please open your Bible Acts 2: 42-47
    Too long, please open your Bible Acts 4: 32-37
    Too long, please open your Bible Romans 12: 3-21
    Too long, please open your Bible Romans 15: 1-7