#37 Worship in Exodus
Worship to God takes many forms. Worship in Exodus took the form of sacrificial worship which the book of Leviticus goes over in great detail. In America today the most common form of worship to God is the Sunday morning Church service with music as worship. However in Exodus, worship usually took place in the tabernacle which was known as the dwelling place of God. Exodus 32-34 can be seen, “both as a warning against false (idolatrous) worship and as a charter for true worship in the land of Canaan, providing it with a priesthood (ch. 32), a validation (ch. 33), and a pattern (ch. 34)” (Davies, 144).
When we worship God today, we can create meaning for our present circumstances like in Exodus 15. We may sing about the just actions of God and for the things we need from God to fortify us in the actions we will take. For example, if a Church as a whole is going to provide food to the hungry after the service, they could worship God by singing songs that speak of God feeding the hungry, utilizing verses like Matthew 6:9-13 and Matthew 25:34-40. According to Davies, Exodus presents a form of worship that leads to action in the world. In Exodus 15 Moses and Israel worshiped God when the Israelites sang a song to the Lord about the deeds he did to save them from the Egyptians. When this was done “Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur” (Exodus 15:22). Whenever Israel worshiped God it led to action this should be true of us today that when we worship God it should lead to just action.
In Exodus symbolically God’s presence was on mount Sinai and transferred to the tabernacle. This meant that only Moses had access to God and then the high priests. God’s presence was later transferred to Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6). When Jesus died on the cross the dwelling place of God changed. The curtain in the temple that only the high priest could pass through once a year and symbolized the separation of God from man. But when Jesus died, “at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split” (Matthew 27:51). Then God’s presence was available to all the world forever changing the nature of worship. Today all congregants have access to God and may worship him differently. This means we no longer have the imperative to worship as one.
