I love commentaries--except perhaps the fact that after I read it, I can't understand how I missed such an obvious thing! Ah, well, God is patient with slow learners and blind disciples!
The inclusion of the lamp piece is explained by McGee as a reminder that all we do must be in the light and power of Jesus Christ! Perfect explanation, isn't it? It also was a blessing to me to consider that God asks us to participate by bringing things to Him. He does not need us to prepare and present 'oil' and 'bread'--the Spirit and Jesus Christ--but we have the privilege of participation. With the privilege is the reminder: we need to feed on Christ and live in His light.
The next passage is a hard reminder of the sacredness of God--of the Holy Ground upon which we walk. Within the nation of Israel, His name was not even spoken; it was fervently protected. We, too, must protect the name of Christ at all times. Even as the death penalty is pronounced for blaspheme, God's instructions make clear that human life, too, is to be honored. Clearly God views even animal life as valuable--though not as valuable as human life. Bringing all of those concepts together, we are confronted with the reality that God is the giver of life, the source of life: we must honor Him above all and at all costs.
Final note relates to the young man who blasphemed. The commentary points out that he was part Egyptian and part Israel. Sadly, he failed to leave Egypt--the world--behind; it evidently kept calling to him and kept him from true reverence for the King of Kings. We must not let our natural man draw us back. We must not unite our hearts and our lives to the world.
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