Blog

Exodus 21-24

“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you…….Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.  – Exodus 23:20-26 NIV

This promise follows on the heels of the Ten Commandments and the other various laws that the Israelites are to observe.  We are God’s people and his promises are true, but we have to uphold our end of the covenant.  We have to obey the laws that God has ordained, we have to listen to his emissaries and we have to worship the Lord God.  That seems like such a simple thing but we have as many problems doing that today as the Israelites did centuries ago. 

Most of us wander around here on earth half obeying and half doing our own thing.  In our hearts, we know God’s word is true and that all the things we chase after in this life will never fully satisfy. God’s plan has always been to give us life abundantly and to bring us to the place he has prepared for us…to bring us home to him.  That longing for home is deep within us even as we search for meaning here. Frederick Buechner writes “When a man leaves home, he leaves behind some scrap of his heart….It’s the same with a place a man is going to.  Only then he sends a scrap of his heart ahead.” (Listening to Your Life, p. 19, New York: Harper-Collins, 1992)

The Israelites may have left part of their heart in Egypt, but God had placed a longing for the promised land in them as well.  He set before them the path.  It is their choice to follow.

Exodus 19-20

Hidden in these chapters are both sides of the mystery of who God truly is.  Both sides were revealed to the Israelites and are waiting to be revealed to us as well. 

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. – Ex. 19:4-5 NIV

On the one hand, God’s people are his treasured possession.  He carries us on eagle’ wings and brings us to safety.  Yet this same God is so formidable, so far above us, that one cannot even touch the mountain when His presence is on it without being put to death. ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. – Ex. 19:12 NIV

How can we live with the understanding of these two sides of God.  The altogether loving and yet altogether frightening? 

God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments as a means of becoming perfect enough to have a relationship with him and as the writer of Hebrews says, In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. – Heb. 1:1-2 NIV

We all have the tendency to focus on only one of the aspects of God at the expense of the other.  Either we see him as loving and forgiving of all our foibles or we see him as a stern taskmaster that we must please by obedience and sacrifice. 

When we finally see him as both, then the fact that he carries us on eagles wings and we are his treasured possession becomes even more remarkable

Exodus 17-18

Moses must have felt he was getting nowhere a lot of the time.  First of all, he’s leading around a crowd of complaining people.  They don’t like the food; they don’t have any water.  And when they’re not complaining, they’re arguing among themselves all the time.  Moses has a full time job just judging their disputes. 

Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law came, bringing Moses’ wife and his two sons, to where the Israelites were camped.  He was so delighted to hear of how God rescued Israel that he offered a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God on the spot.  The next day, as he watched Moses serving as judge for the people, he was not so delighted by what he saw happening.  The people brought all their problems to Moses and the time that he should have been devoting to God and leading God’s people, was consumed with petty problems.  They were never going to get anywhere at that rate. 

When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws.”
 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”  – Ex. 18:13-23 NIV

God never intended for Moses to be the center of the universe for the Israelites.  That was God’s place.  Moses was to hear from God for all of the Israelites and teach them what he heard.  God had placed other capable men in the midst who could settle the petty disputes.  Men who could lead groups of ten, fifty or even hundreds and thousands.  That was the only way this unruly multitude was every going to get anywhere.

Exodus 13-16: Bitter and Sweet

The Israelites stole away from Egypt in the middle of the night, They didn’t have much chance to look back, but there was no need, the Egyptians were so glad to get rid of them that they gave them all their silver, gold and clothing.  They may not have known where they were going, but they had two pillars for guides:  cloud by day and fire by night.  When it appears that all is lost, they are caught between the sea in front and the Egyptians at their back, God provides a way, and the enemy pursuing them is killed instead.  Their song becomes:

“Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?”  Exodus 15:11 – NKJV

The bitter, undrinkable waters of Marah became sweet, and they were led to Elim with it’s twelve wells and seventy palm trees.  When they complained that they no longer enjoyed the pots of meat that they had in Egypt,  they were given quail in the evening and manna that tasted like honey wafers every morning.  The Israelites will grumble and be amazed, but they ate sweet manna for forty years.

Exodus 9-12

When Israel was in Egypt’s Land, Let my people go.
Oppressed so hard they could not stand, Let my people go.
“Thus saith the Lord,” bold Moses said, “Let my people go:
If not I’ll smite you first born dead, Let my people go.”
Go down, Moses,Way down in Egyptland;
Tell old Pharaoh “Let my people go.” – Old Negro Spiritual

This song doesn’t say that Pharaoh was a gambling man, but he was.  After the Egyptians cattle died, a plague of boils, and a plague of hail, he finally agrees to let the Israelites go, until it stops hailing and  then he changes his mind.  Moses and Aaron go back to Pharaoh and deliver God’s message that there will be a plague of locusts if the people can’t leave.  By this time, even Pharaoh’s servants are behind Moses.  Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”   Exodus 10:7 NKJV

And the bargaining continues…Pharaoh says he will let only the men go, but reneges and there is a plague of locusts.  But when the locusts are blown away, so is Pharaoh’s promise.  After the plague of darkness, he give permission for the people to leave, but not the flocks.  By this time, it wasn’t just God and Moses who were getting tired of Pharaoh’s shenanigans, even his own people were frustrated and more than willing for the Israelites to leave.  And the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.  Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.”  And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.  Exodus 11:1-3 NKJV

And then, the day for bargaining was past.  That was it, there would be no more.  There would be no more first born in Egypt.  The Israelite first born would be saved by the blood and the rest would be lost.  The die was cast.

Exodus 5-8

The Israelites were strangers in a strange land.  The land to which they fled to escape the famine had become their prison.  Instead of being treated royally as the relatives of Joseph who had saved Egypt, they have become the slaves.  And when Moses tries to rescue them, he makes matters worse;  they are forced to find their own straw to make the daily quota of bricks. So Moses returned to the LORD with their complaints

God’s response to Moses is, ‘You and your ancestors have not seen how mighty I am, but I’m about to show you and Pharaoh who I am.  I am going to lead you out of this land where you are imprisoned back to the land that was promised to your fathers.  The one that is rightly yours because I gave it to your forefather Abraham.’

This makes Moses brave enough to go to Pharaoh, but what does he ask for?  He doesn’t rear up like Charleton Heston and say ‘Let my people go’.  No, instead, he says, ‘Pharaoh, if you please, would you let us go into the desert three days journey from here and worship God?’  Pharaoh is not about to let the Israelites have a three day weekend.  They are his prisoners,  they have to keep producing bricks.

Gradually, Moses gets a little bolder with demonstrating the power of  God.  The ante is upped from bloody rivers, to frogs, to gnats.  All are irritants to Pharaoh, but not enough for him to let go.  God’s power is at work, but the heart of Pharaoh is not yet changed, and the hearts of the Israelites are not yet longing for a promised land.

Exodus 1-4

The descendants of Israel, who settled in Egypt to escape the famine soon wore out their welcome.  By the time the third generation was born, they were being forced into slave labor and their male children were being killed at birth.  Then one of Jacob’s great-great grandsons, Moses, the one who was saved, and should have been their savior, runs away.  He runs to Midian which is on the Sinai peninsula, a barren dessert land, with one remarkable feature.  There in the desert, was the ‘mountain of god’,  Mt. Hebron, or Mt Sinai, the place  it was rumored that god lived.  And there, in what was not to be the last time, Moses comes face to face with God,  in the only way Moses can see him at the time, as a burning bush.  The voice from the bush says that Moses has been chosen to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, and  gives Moses examples of the miracles he will perform to make Pharaoh let the Israelites go.  Moses argues with a burning bush, and becomes an unwilling messenger.  He barely escapes being killed by the Lords anger and finally after God sends Aaron to meet him, he returns from the mountain.  This is not the last time Moses will encounter this mountain, the holy mountain of the Lord, with burning bushes, smoke and fire, but the exact location of that mountain, is no longer known.  Has the place where God speaks to man disappeared, or has it’s location changed.

The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way:  “For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow  And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.)  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,  Hebrews 12 18-25 NKJV

Genesis 48-50

The house of Israel, all twelve of Jacob’s sons are now safely ensconced in Egypt.  Jacob’s heart is full because he has experienced what he never expected to see, a reunion with his long lost son Joseph.  Now, he can die a peaceful and blessed man.  All that remains is for him to pass a blessing on to his sons, and since family history repeats itself, the major blessing will not go to his eldest son, Reuben.  Nor will it go to the next two that were born, Simeon and Levi.  Jacob may have been old and feeble, his eyes may have been failing because of old age, but he could see clearly into the hearts of his sons.  Since the time they threw Joseph in the well, Judah had become the spokesman of conscience for the brothers:  in Genesis 37, Genesis 43, in his impassioned plea for Benjamin when Joseph wanted to keep him in Genesis 44 and in Genesis 46 when Jacob sent him on ahead get directions to the land of Goshen.  Jacob, the one whose name had been changed to Israel, saw into the future of all time and gave the blessing to Judah. 

“Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
You are a lion’s cub, O Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs 
and the obedience of the nations is his.
He will tether his donkey to a vine,
his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes will be darker than wine,
his teeth whiter than milk. Gen:49:8-12 NIV

And so, it comes full circle again.  Could Jacob see ahead to the future, did he see the same thing that the Disciple John saw on the Isle of Patmos?  “And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.  Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?”  And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it.  But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” – Rev 5:1-6 NKJV

Genesis 42-47

What were the sons of Jacob thinking in the years after they sold their brother into slavery in Egypt.  Did they grieve with their father every time Joseph’s name was mentioned?  As they watched their own sons grow, did they realize how painful the loss of one of their own would be.  Did they carry the guilt of their betrayal with them throughout the years. Or had their minds come to believe the story they invented, that Joseph had been torn to pieces by a wild animal. The one thing they were not doing was envisioning the powerful rise of their brother in Egypt and the luxurious circumstances he found himself living in as compared with their struggle to feed their family and flocks as the famine deepened.

And was Joseph’s family just a fleeting thought as he occupied himself with more pressing matters:  being the number two man in charge of all of Egypt, growing and protecting it’s vast wealth, and raising a family of his own.  Did Joseph spend his time thinking “I’ll get even with them.” or were his thoughts instead “Oh, if only I could see my father and my brothers.”?  Whatever any of their thoughts were  through the years, they were lost in an instant when Joseph finally reveals his identity to his brothers. “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.  And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.  But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.  For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.  And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Gen. 45:3-8 NKJV

 It was just as Joseph dreamed, his brothers bowing low before him.  They were brought low and he was built up, but it was all in God’s plan to save the twelve sons of Israel for something even greater. The individual stories pale before the greater plan.

Genesis 37-41

In the middle of the continuing soap opera of the family that is to become the Israelites, comes Joseph.  The much loved son of Jacob and the beloved Rachel who was unable to have children for a good part of their married life.  Rachel named him Joseph, which means God will add.  God did give Rachel another son, but she died giving birth. After Jacob buried Rachel, he moved back to stay close to his father, Isaac, until he died as well.  In his sorrow, it was only natural that Jacob would lavish attention on Joseph.  He was the son he had waited for and had preceded all of his sorrows, but he was a dreamer.  Was it because of his cherished position in his father’s eyes that he saw more than the others could see?  Or was he favored because he adored his father, and did everything possible to please him?  At any rate, he was an irritant his brothers and they conspired, first to kill him, then reduced their plans to throwing him in a well until he could be sold to some traveling Ishmaelites, descendants of their grandfather’s half brother, who were on their way to Egypt.

In reading these chapters, you get the sense that Joseph was naive in a worldly sense.  But that was only because he saw things at a different level, a higher perspective, if you will.  The Lord was with him.  Even in Egypt, he prospered, and those he worked for prospered.  When Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him and he was thrown in jail, the Lord’s favor made him successful there as well.  Joseph was always ending up in a tight spot, but God was always faithful and brought good out of his bad circumstances.  In return, Joseph never attributed his success to his own abilities or blind luck.

When asked to interpret dreams, Joseph always gave the credit to God.  “And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.” So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”  Gen. 41:15-16 – NKJV

Pharoah recognized that it was God that gave Joseph his wisdom.  “So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.  And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.” – Gen. 41:37:39  NKJV

And Joseph recognized that all of his blessing came from God.  “And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.”  And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”  Gen. 41:50-52 NKJV

Even in the worst of situations: thrown in a well, sold into slavery, falsely imprisoned, the favored one was still the favored one.