(Exo 33:13 KJV) Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
When you read this out of context, it sounds like a glorious New Testament idea. How wonderful to know His grace, how wonderful to follow, wonderful to be His people. What doesn’t show up in the context is that this is immediately after Moses was given the law on the mountain. Not only was it given to him by God once, but he had the carve it out by hand himself a second time. I think the law was fresh in his mind. I think he knew what it contained, and what it said. And yet here we have him talking about grace, and about knowing God.
The New Testament focuses on grace. Actually, Paul focuses on grace. Jesus never mentioned it. Paul’s emphasis is scripture. But we need the balance of the entire Bible, and we need to realize that the law is not evil if we take it in the way in which it was intended.
It would also be good for us to realize that the grace talked about here is the same grace that we find in regard to Noah. People like to talk about Noah, finding grace in the eyes of the Lord.
(Gen 6:8 KJV) But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.It would seem that Moses also had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I sometimes wonder if Paul ever read his Old Testament in the original Hebrew, or whether he just listened to what the rabbis told him and quotes from the Talmud. Grace was not a new discovery that he made. He simply took a truth that was being ignored and brought it into the light.
Grace and peace.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.