The Lord is still speaking to Moses from the burning bush in the desert. Moses has asked Him what he should say when he returns to Egypt to tell the Israelites that God has sent him to bring them out.
"God also said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers---the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob---has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, the name you shall call Me, from generation to generation.'" (Exodus 3:15) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have all passed on but the people hold them in high esteem. These men worshiped the one true God and He did great things for them. The Israelites in Egypt are to be told, "The same God who protected and helped and delivered Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in all their struggles in life will do the same for you."
The Lord tells Moses exactly what he is to do when he arrives in Egypt. "Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers---the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob---appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites---a land flowing with milk and honey." (Exodus 3:16-17) God has not forgotten the promises He made. During the last four centuries, and especially after being enslaved by the Egyptians, the Israelites may have wondered from time to time whether God had changed His mind. The promise seems a long time in coming---but it is coming, and soon.
"The elders of Israel will listen to you." (Exodus 3:18a) I think, in many ways, what Moses fears most is that no one will listen to him. In Moses' youth, when he was at his strongest physically and politically, the Hebrew people rejected him. Now he's being told to go to them again at the age of eighty, after spending forty years leading sheep from pasture to pasture, with his long hair and long beard and his shepherd's robes and his skin wrinkled and browned by the sun. What power does he have in Egypt? What influence? The last king wanted him dead and the current king is certainly no fan of his. Moses knows he's going to be an unwelcome presence to all the native Egyptians and possibly an unwelcome presence to the Hebrews as well. All that might have been true if God had not prepared the hearts of Moses' people. They are going to be receptive to his message.
After the elders listen to Moses and agree among themselves that God has indeed spoken to him, this is what must happen next: "Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.'" (Exodus 3:18b) Is the Lord telling Moses and the elders to lie to Pharaoh? If Pharaoh allows them to make the three-day journey, expecting them to return, are they supposed to flee into the wilderness instead? I don't think that's what's going on here. God Himself does not and cannot lie. (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18) In the Scriptures the Lord never has anything good to say about those who tell lies. There are too many verses for me to reference here, but if you have the time you might want to google something like "Bible verses about lying". You'll find a long list of results that clearly show how God feels about telling lies. No, I don't think God is asking the people to lie to the king. I think that, if the king says yes, the Lord is telling the people to actually go a three-day journey into the wilderness for sacrifice and worship, then they are to return to Egypt.
This would accomplish two purposes that I can think of off the top of my head. One, the people could benefit from three days of rest from their work and three days set apart to worship the Lord in the desert. Such a thing would have fortified them spiritually for what lies ahead of them: moving out into the promised land and taking it over from the pagan tribes who currently inhabit it. Two, if the king agreed to giving the Israelites three days off to observe their religion, he would have been well on his way to allowing the Lord to do a great work in his heart. If the king's heart had been soft enough to grant this request, and if he'd seen that the people peacefully worshiped their God in the desert and then returned to him as promised, he might have begun to see that the prejudices and fears he harbors toward the Israelites are unfounded. Contrary to what he thinks and to what his father thought and to what kings previous to his father thought, the Israelites are not waiting for the right time to revolt against Egypt or to join with the enemies of Egypt and overtake the land. They merely want to live their lives in peace and worship their God in peace. They want to make their own living and be good citizens. There is no need to oppress them and force them into slavery. They never bothered anyone during the time of Joseph and they don't want to bother anyone now. If Pharaoh had said "yes" to this one small thing, he might have eventually and willingly said "yes" to giving them their freedom. Perhaps he'd have even said "yes" to making the one true God the Lord of his life and the Savior of his soul.
This is a pivotal moment in the life of the king. This is the hinge upon which the door of his life turns. This is the test that will make him or break him. And he fails it. The Lord knew all along that he would. "But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him." (Exodus 3:19) Though He's well aware that Pharaoh will not obey Him, He gives him the opportunity anyway. This is how the Lord deals with every human being. He gives us opportunity after opportunity to turn to Him, even when He knows some of us won't. In the final judgment, no one will ever be able to claim He never gave them a chance. Because the king of Egypt says "no" to the Lord the very first time he's asked to do something for the Lord's people, his heart is going to grow harder and harder. Each time he's asked to do something, and each time he says "no", the shell around his heart becomes more impenetrable. That's what happens to any human being who repeatedly says "no" to the Lord. The one who says "no" over and over becomes more and more difficult to reach. The shell around their heart is so thick and so hard that it's possible to reach a point where nothing will ever get through. Because the king's heart grows continually harder in the book of Exodus, the Lord has to bring plagues into the land of Egypt---each more severe than the previous plague---until Pharaoh eventually relents. "So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go." (Exodus 3:20)
The Egyptian people will have softer hearts than their king toward Moses' people. "And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians." (Exodus 3:21-22) The Israelites want to leave Egypt so badly that they'd do it if it means fleeing with nothing but the clothes on their backs, but the Lord is going to bring them out with more than they had when they arrived four hundred years ago. Jacob was a well-to-do man and he and his family entered Egypt with a fair amount of worldly goods. But Jacob's descendants are going to leave Egypt with more wealth than he ever saw in his lifetime. These people are going to number perhaps as many as two million, and they are going to be loaded down with gold and silver and clothing and household items, and they are going to be accompanied by their large flocks and herds. They need these things to survive and thrive when they leave Egypt. God is going to make certain they have what they need. The culture that's responsible for their enslavement and misery is going to be the very culture He uses to supply their physical and material needs when they leave the land of oppression.
God is going to supply what we need in our day too, even though a plague is in our land right now and even though we feel oppressed by uncertainty and fear. He's going to provide for those who call upon His name. I don't know how He's going to do it, but I bet the Israelites also wondered how He was going to supply their needs. Did they ever, in their wildest dreams, imagine He'd use the Egyptians to give them the goods? I highly doubt it. Our provision may come from sources we can't imagine right now, but it will come because God is faithful to those who love Him and who are called by His name. He has a great number of people in the United States of America who serve Him and acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior and King. For the sake of His children, He will act for the good of our country. He will come through.
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