First the Vertical
We tend to think of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt as a unified group. There’s very little evidence to suggest they saw themselves as such. They were almost all children of Abraham but their forefather Abraham had died almost five hundred years earlier. They had some leaders but no single man who had grown up with them and who they wanted to lead them. Moses was absent from their midst for all but the last part of their time in Egypt.
God brought them to the foot of Mt. Sinai where they would camp for a year – learning much about their God and themselves. It was from Mt. Sinai that God gave them the Law. This extensive system of laws reflected God’s holy character and His expectations of the people if they would truly be “His” people.
Two things about the Law immediately stood out. The first was that it easily divided into two parts. The first part related to how to get along with God; the second, how to get along with each other.
The second obvious thing was the order God put on these two parts. His first emphasis was on how to get along with Himself. The second, how to get along with each other, would never work without the first. People who can’t get along with God will never easily get along with each other.
Human nature hasn’t changed. Any emphasis on Christian community will fall flat unless those involved have a right relationship with their God. First the vertical, and then, and only then, the horizontal. That’s God’s irrevocable order.
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