“So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” (24:8‬)

I had to stop myself from my usual nodding along and get real about this moment. If I ever heard of a friend involved with some religious practice where everyone made promises, and then the leader sprinkled blood on everyone to seal the deal, I’d yell, “CULT! CULT! Run for your lives!”

It’s weird what can seem normal after awhile. Enough times hearing a story and you stop asking questions.

But the Bible begs you to stay engaged, to keep asking why and to keep remembering the answer.

Why don’t we oppress foreigners?

Because that used to be us, and we know how it feels to be oppressed.

I’m a little too squeamish to be getting into many blood oaths, but they do have a special way of underlining the gravity of a promise.

We live in a society very separated from death (someone else handles the body when a loved one dies) and increasingly noncommittal. We feel its better to keep our options open.

The LORD was preparing Israel for a major thing and they needed to be one hundred percent committed. He was, after all, committed to them, because of His promises to Abraham.

How seriously do we take our commitment to the LORD? Do we think about our relationship with Him in terms of covenants, blood oaths, promises, etc? Why or why not? Is there a line you can think of which marks off just how far you’re willing to go with Him? Talk with Him about it today.

-Bethany