The First Proclamation They shall do just as I have commanded you. The Lord said to Moses: You yourself are to speak to the Israelites: “You shall keep my sabbath, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people.
Prayerful Awareness Within a few months from the time they left Egypt, the Israelites reached Sinai and encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. The Lord God summoned Moses to the mountain to meet Him and there was a delay in his return. Aron his brother who played the role of spokesman for him before Pharaoh was there with the people. During the absence of Moses, the people approached Aron and suggested the making of a god to be their leader. Then Aron got the people to collect their carvings and turned out a golden calf for them. The people started worshiping the calf crying out “You are our god who brought us out of the land of Egypt”. But the commandment of the Lord says “You shall not have other gods beside me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth, you shall not bow down before them or worship them for I am the Lord your God.” The Lord saw how the people are disobeying Him ignoring this commandment and turning away from Him to a false god. He immediately sent Moses back to the people to deal with that situation warning him that His anger will destroy them. In a similar setting in Genesis 18 when the Lord was threatening to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham started pleading with the Lord to save the two cities. But it failed because there were no other innocent people except Lot and his family who were allowed to escape. Like Abraham Moses too pleaded with the Lord reminding Him with what great power He brought out these people out of bondage in Egypt and if He allows His anger to rise up against them, He will be confirming the inference of the Egyptians that He is taking them out to get rid of them by allowing them to die under difficult conditions in the desert and the mountains. He went further to draw His attention to His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that He will make their descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky and to give them the promised land as their heritage. The Lord responded favourably to this appeal of Moses and decided to give up His idea to punish them.
Prayer Starter Before St. Augustine turned around to God he led a sinful life. His mother St. Monica prayed hard for years for his repentance. Finally he gave up his immoral life and became a priest and was appointed a bishop. Later he helped numerous others to turn to God. Subsequently both of them were declared saints. Like in the parable of the Merciful Father and the prodigal son, God our Father in heaven is waiting with hands stretched out for our repentance and return to Him to embrace and accept us.
