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Showing posts from October 5, 2026

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Browse at Your Own Pace

Begin wherever your curiosity leads. The studies will be here when you’re ready. When I shared my first Matthew study on Facebook today, I mentioned that I planned to post daily, though I might not share every post on Facebook. As I continue setting up this blog, I’ve realized that what matters most to me is making my past studies available for anyone who wants to explore them. For now, I’ll be adding posts to my heart’s content as I work through those studies. Some days that may mean one post; other days it may mean several. I’ll continue reading through and preparing each one before sharing it. There is no need to keep up with everything as it appears. This blog is becoming a place you can browse at your own pace—begin with a book, a question, or a study that interests you, and follow from there. The Bible Books page gathers studies by book, while Study Threads helps connect topics that travel through more than one book. The labels on individual posts also bring related material to...
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43. Ten Commandments: Remembering His Name—Honoring the One It Reveals

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 3: God’s Name As we close our examination of the third commandment, we return to the responsibility it places before us. Exodus 20:7 forbids taking God’s name in vain and warns that the person doing so will not be held guiltless. The name we speak belongs to the One whose authority we are invoking. Read Exodus 20:7. Across these posts, we have examined remembrance, representation, truthfulness, and love. Now we bring those threads together. Remember the name He revealed In Exodus 3:15, God identifies Himself to Moses and gives His name as a memorial for all generations. The ASV renders that name Jehovah ; the Hebrew is YHWH (יהוה) . We examined the difference between a name and a title, including how LORD appears in place of the name in some English translations. Recognizing that difference helps us attend to what the passage actually contains. Read Exodus 3:15, ASV. Remembering His name also calls us to remember whose instruction we are following. Fami...
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42. Ten Commandments: Honoring His Name in What We Say and Do

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 3: God’s Name We have examined the name YHWH (יהוה) , the responsibility of speaking in His name, and the need to test what we attribute to Him. That examination also reaches our everyday words and actions. What do they reveal about the God we claim to honor? The Father’s name is to be treated as holy When Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, he begins: “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” — Matthew 6:9, LSB The following verse directs attention to the Father’s kingdom and will. His name belongs within that relationship: we approach Him, honor Him, and seek His will. This gives us something to examine in ourselves. When I speak His name, am I willing to submit what I want to what He instructs? Let our words be truthful In Matthew 5:33–37, Jesus addresses oaths. He tells his hearers not to swear by heaven, earth, Jerusalem, or their own heads, and directs them toward a plain yes or no. Even the things someone might invoke in an oath a...
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41. Ten Commandments: A Name for All Generations—Why Does It Say LORD?

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 3: God’s Name If God identifies His name as a memorial for all generations, we should pay attention to how that name appears in the Scriptures we read. In Exodus 3:15, the ASV uses Jehovah , then records: “this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” — Exodus 3:15, ASV The Hebrew name is YHWH (יהוה) . Yet a reader opening another English translation may find LORD in the same place. What happened to the distinction between a name and a title? Look at the same passage In Exodus 3:15, the ASV prints Jehovah , while the KJV prints LORD . The Hebrew text contains YHWH (יהוה) at that location. The name remains in the Hebrew passage; the English rendering differs. Seeing the two versions alongside the Hebrew helps us recognize something we might otherwise read past. Compare Exodus 3:15 in the ASV , the KJV , and the Hebrew text . A title can express authority. A name identifies the one being named. When LORD stands in the place of...
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40. Ten Commandments: Speaking in His Name—Who Sent Us?

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 3: God’s Name Our previous post asked what we attach to God’s name. Now we must examine the source of the words we place beneath that authority. When I say that God has spoken, taught me, or directed me, I am making a claim about Him. That claim deserves careful examination—including when it comes from my own mouth. A person can speak without being sent In Jeremiah, God says: “I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied.” — Jeremiah 23:21, LSB Their activity did not establish their commission. They were speaking, but God denied being the source. Verse 16 identifies visions originating in their own hearts. Verse 22 describes what standing in God’s council would have produced: His words being heard and people turning from evil. This requires us to examine both the message and where it leads. Does it call us to heed God, or reassure us while we continue resisting His instruction? Read Jeremiah 23:16–22. Using Hi...
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39. Ten Commandments: Taking His Name in Vain—What Are We Attaching to It?

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 3: God’s Name Having examined God’s name and the authority entrusted to His Son, we return to the third commandment itself. Exodus 20:7 forbids taking the name of YHWH (יהוה) in vain and warns that God will not leave its misuse unpunished. The name belongs to Him. We are accountable for what we attach to it. Read Exodus 20:7. The Hebrew verb translated take is נָשָׂא — nasaʾ , which can mean to lift, carry, or bear. The word translated vain , שָׁוְא — shavʾ , carries senses of emptiness, worthlessness, or falsehood. These words direct our attention toward how the name is taken up and used. The connected passages help us examine the responsibility involved. Read Exodus 20:7 in Hebrew alongside English. Attaching His name to a falsehood Leviticus 19:12 explicitly prohibits swearing falsely by God’s name, identifying that act as profaning His name. The surrounding instructions also prohibit stealing, deception, and lying to one another. Read Leviticus 19:1...
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38. Ten Commandments: The Father’s Name and the Son’s Authority

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 3: God’s Name When people discuss God’s names, they sometimes place Jehovah and Jesus together without explaining the distinction. Our study requires us to preserve who bears each name and the relationship Scripture describes. YHWH (יהוה) is the name we examined in Exodus 3:15. Jesus , represented by the Greek Iēsous in G2424, comes from a Hebrew name carrying the meaning YHWH is salvation . The meaning points toward YHWH (יהוה) . A name that refers to God does not, by its meaning alone, make its bearer the God it names. Matthew 1:21 connects the naming of Jesus with his work of saving his people from their sins. We must follow that connection while preserving the Father–Son relationship described in the passages around it. Read Matthew 1:21. What does a signet reveal about authority? Esther 3:10–11 describes the king giving his ring to Haman and granting him authority concerning the people. Later, the ring is taken from Haman and given to Mordecai. Es...
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37. Ten Commandments: Remembering His Name—Representing Him in Love

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 3: God’s Name God’s declaration in Exodus 3:15 gives us a foundation for this study. After identifying Himself to Moses, He says: “this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” — Exodus 3:15, ASV, excerpt YHWH (יהוה) is the name given in the Hebrew text. The ASV renders it Jehovah. The instruction reaches beyond Moses’ generation. Remembering His name belongs to the generations that follow. As we examine the third commandment, we must keep both the name and the One it identifies before us. Jeremiah brings a serious warning into this discussion. God describes prophets who speak lies in His name and recount dreams arising from the deception of their own hearts. He identifies their intention to make His people forget His name, comparing it with their fathers forgetting His name because of Baal. Read Jeremiah 23:25–27, LSB. Notice the details together: they claim His name while leading people away from remembering Him. The surroun...
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36. Ten Commandments: God’s Name—Beginning with Who He Reveals Himself to Be

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 3: God’s Name Our examination of idols and images brought us back to whom we trust, serve, and represent. The third commandment continues that examination by drawing our attention to God’s name. Before considering what it means to take or carry His name in vain, we need to begin with the name itself: YHWH (יהוה). Exodus 3 places the discussion within God’s response to His people’s suffering. He has seen their affliction, heard their cry, and announces that He will deliver them. He commissions Moses to go to Pharaoh. When Moses questions his ability to carry out that task, God assures him of His presence. Moses then asks what he should say when the Israelites ask for the name of the God who sent him. Read Exodus 3:7–13, LSB. The answer includes this Hebrew expression: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה — Ehyeh asher ehyeh The LSB renders it “I AM WHO I AM.” Another recognized rendering is “I will be who I will be.” The Hebrew verb carries the sense of being or beco...
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35. Ten Commandments: Idols and Images—What Have I Placed Before God?

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 2: Closing Summary As we close our examination of the second commandment, we return to the question that has followed us throughout: what receives the trust, devotion, and obedience that belong to God? Exodus 20:4–6 addresses making images, worshiping them, and serving them. It also connects love for YHWH (יהוה) with keeping His commandments. Our examination must therefore include both what we honor and how we live. Read Exodus 20:4–6, LSB. Scripture takes this examination inward. Ezekiel describes idols established in the heart. Paul explicitly identifies greed as idolatry. These passages show why looking only for a statue leaves part of the matter unexamined. Ezekiel 14:1–6; Colossians 3:5, LSB. The examples below bring together the applications we have considered. The question in each case is the place we give something in our allegiance. A person A leader, preacher, teacher, spouse, child, grandchild, friend—or we ourselves—can receive an allegiance...
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34. Ten Commandments: Turning from Idols—Whom Do We Now Serve?

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 2: Idols and Images Recognizing an idol brings us to a response. What changes once we recognize that something has received devotion, trust, or authority that belongs to God? Paul describes the Thessalonians’ response: “you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God” — 1 Thessalonians 1:9, LSB, excerpt Notice the direction: to God, from idols, to serve. The movement includes leaving an allegiance and entering into service. Removing an object or changing a religious label does not, by itself, explain whom we now follow. The next verse preserves another important detail. They await God’s Son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues them from the coming wrath. God and His Son retain their distinct roles within the same description of faithfulness. Read 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10, LSB. Honoring the Son belongs within turning to the God who sent and raised him. We need to preserve the relationship the passage gives us. This bring...
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33. Ten Commandments: A Jealous God—Love, Loyalty, and What We Pass On

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 2: Idols and Images The second commandment includes both a prohibition and an explanation. After forbidding the worship and service of images, God declares His jealousy, warns of consequences reaching through generations, and speaks of lovingkindness toward those who love Him and keep His commandments. We need to keep those statements together. They concern our relationship with YHWH (יהוה), the allegiance He requires, and the seriousness of turning away. Read Exodus 20:4–6, LSB. What does the surrounding Scripture show us about that jealousy? Exodus 34 places it directly within a warning against worshiping another god. The passage describes the danger of relationships and agreements that draw Israel into other worship. It then describes that unfaithfulness through the language of prostitution, including how the next generation can be drawn into it. Read Exodus 34:12–17, LSB. The context gives the word its direction: God requires faithfulness to the cove...
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32. Ten Commandments: The Cherubim and the Manna—God’s Pattern Has a Purpose

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 2: Idols and Images When we read the instructions for the cherubim in Exodus 25, we must keep their purpose in view. God gives Moses a pattern, specifies its arrangement, and explains where He will meet with him. These details belong within our continuing examination of archetypes and shadows: what God establishes, how its parts relate, and what Scripture reveals about the reality toward which they point. In Exodus 25:8–9, YHWH (יהוה) instructs the people to make a sanctuary so that He may dwell among them. Its construction and furnishings must follow the pattern He shows Moses. The cherubim belong within that instruction. There are two , one at each end of the mercy seat. Their wings extend upward over it. Their faces are toward one another and toward the mercy seat. The testimony is placed inside the ark. God then identifies where He will meet with Moses and speak: above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim. The figures occupy their appointed place...
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31. Ten Commandments: Becoming Like What We Trust

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 2: Idols and Images Having examined idols within the heart, we must consider what that allegiance produces. Psalm 115 carries the discussion beyond the object and into the condition of those who trust it. The psalm describes idols made from silver and gold. They possess the outward features of living beings, yet those features do not function: mouths cannot speak, eyes cannot see, ears cannot hear, and feet cannot walk. Then comes the warning: “Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.” — Psalm 115:8, LSB Notice everyone who trusts in them . The warning reaches beyond the craftsman to the person placing confidence in what was made. The LSB footnote also gives are like them as an alternative rendering. Both readings connect the worshiper’s condition with the idol. The following verses direct Israel, Aaron’s house, and those who fear God to trust YHWH (יהוה), who provides their help and protection. Read Psalm 115:4–11, LSB. T...
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30. Ten Commandments: Idols in the Heart—What Am I Unwilling to Surrender?

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 2: Idols and Images Our examination of images must also reach inward. We can question a religious object while leaving our own attachments untouched. Ezekiel describes elders of Israel coming to sit before him. Outwardly, they are approaching a prophet. Yet YHWH (יהוה) identifies something their approach does not resolve: “these men have set up their idols in their hearts” — Ezekiel 14:3, LSB, excerpt Notice that they are still coming to inquire. Their religious activity exists alongside an allegiance that separates them from God. Verses 4–5 connect their idols with estrangement from Him. Verse 6 calls them to repent and turn away. The required response reaches beyond appearing before a prophet: they must relinquish what has drawn their hearts away. Read Ezekiel 14:1–8, LSB. This brings a question directly to me: am I seeking God’s instruction while protecting something I have already decided He cannot ask me to surrender? I may ask for guidance while ac...
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29. Ten Commandments: The Cross—Where Are We Directing Our Devotion?

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God’s Image Study • Commandment 2: Idols and Images In the previous post, we examined the bronze serpent. Its connection to something God had done did not authorize the people to burn incense to it. That distinction brings us back to a subject explored in my earlier study, The Cross... Walking by Faith or by Sight . What happens when an object associated with Jesus becomes a focus of religious devotion? A cross may appear above a building, behind a preacher, around someone’s neck, or at the front of a procession. Familiarity can make its place seem beyond question. But the second commandment asks us to examine where our devotion is directed—including the things we have learned to regard as sacred. We must be willing to ask that question of ourselves. What does Paul mean by the cross? Paul speaks of “the word of the cross” in 1 Corinthians 1:18. Follow his explanation through verses 23–24: the proclamation concerns Christ crucified, and Paul identifies Christ as God’s power and wisdom. ...
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28. Ten Commandments: The Bronze Serpent—When an Object Receives Devotion

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God’s Image Study — Inside the Mind — Where the Word Leads We return to Commandment 2 after our connected False Christs Study with a question: Can something associated with God’s work become an object of misplaced devotion? The bronze serpent gives us a concrete account to examine. We must follow its beginning, its purpose, and what people later did with it. In Numbers 21, the people speak against God and Moses. Serpents come among them, and many die. The people acknowledge their sin and ask Moses to pray for them. Moses prays. YHWH (יהוה) then instructs him to make a serpent and place it on a standard. Those who have been bitten are to look at it and live. Moses makes the bronze serpent, and the passage records the promised result. See Numbers 21:4–9 . The object’s origin matters. Unlike the golden calf, this serpent was made in response to God’s instruction. The passage identifies a particular purpose and the action the bitten person was to take. Making it and looking at it belonged ...
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