In yesterday's study Moses told the people to be strong and behold what the Lord is going to do. They won't have to fight the Egyptians for their freedom. The Lord is going to make a way for them to escape.
Now the Lord tells Moses to get on the move. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to move on.'" (Exodus 14:15) The Lord isn't saying there's anything wrong with crying out to Him for help. I think Moses probably began praying fervently the minute he saw the Egyptians coming over the hill. But it's time for action now. It's time to step ahead in faith. If Moses stands there praying on and on without performing an act of faith, the Egyptians will overtake the people.
"Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground." (Exodus 14:16) How did miraculous things get done while Moses was still in Egypt? Wasn't it by using his shepherd's staff? Whenever the Lord was about to bring a new plague upon Egypt, He instructed Moses to raise the staff. The Lord didn't need the shepherd's staff in order to do His work; the staff was an object used to get people's attention---to let them know something big was coming. Human beings can't see God face to face and we often need something tangible upon which to fix our eyes; Moses' staff was that object. Now the time for prayer is past. The time for action has come and the Lord tells Moses to raise his staff again. Something big is about to happen.
The Egyptians are obsessed with seizing the Israelites, so much so that they won't be thinking clearly when they reach the Red Sea. They're going to charge right in after them in a fit of wounded pride and anger. The Lord is going to do nothing to quell their rage. He's going to allow this scene to play out because the Egyptians are playing right into His hands. "I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and through his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen." (Exodus 14:17-18)
Something awesome happens next. The Lord---in the person of the pre-incarnate Christ---stands between Israel and her enemies. "Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel." (Exodus 14:19-20a) How do we know this is the Lord Jesus Christ? Because in the Old Testament, whenever we encounter a being called "the angel of the Lord", this is assumed to be an appearance of Christ before He was born into the world as a man. This is how the Lord interacted in a physical presence with Old Testament believers. No human being has ever seen God the Father. (John 1:18) In fact, the Bible tells us that if we met Him face to face in our human weakness, the glory of His holiness would consume us. We find this reference when later in Exodus Moses begs to see the face of the Lord, and the Lord informs him why this is not possible: "No one may see Me and live." (Exodus 33:20) The only way man can behold the face of God by looking upon the One who is "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being". (Hebrews 1:3) For further proof that Christ is the One who stands between the Israelites and the Egyptians at the Red Sea, the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 that Christ was present with the Israelites on their journey from Egypt to the promised land. He states that Christ, the Solid Rock, was with them every step of the way.
Christ has been marching in front of Israel as she makes her trek from Egypt to the Red Sea. In those days the king of a nation was also the general of the army who would ride out in front of his troops. Nothing helped the morale of the troops more than to see their supreme leader at the head of the army, going forward fearlessly in front of them. I don't think Israel has ever been referred to in the Bible as an army until in our passage today, but they are rightfully referred to as such, for they are the Lord's army even if He doesn't intend them to fight this particular battle. Until now He's been in front of them as their King and General, but now the Israelites need a rear guard while the Red Sea is being parted for them, so Christ moves in between them and Egypt's army. The cloud obscures them from Pharaoh's sight until the next morning so that he is rendered unable to make a move against them until the sea is ready for their crossing. "Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long." (Exodus 14:20b)
The Egyptians are stuck sitting right where they are. They are encompassed in a darkness that is both literal and symbolic---symbolic of the deep spiritual darkness of their wicked, hate-filled, idolatrous hearts. At the same time we find the Israelites enjoying a light that is both literal and symbolic. They don't have to sit in darkness while they wait for dawn. Their hearts aren't dark either, for they are placing all their hope and trust in the Lord. No one who places their trust in the Lord is sitting in darkness, spiritually speaking.
I feel grateful this morning thinking about all the times the Lord has stood between me and danger. Just as He moved to stand in between Israel and Egypt in today's passage, many times He has moved to stand in between me and an enemy, whether that enemy was the one we all have (Satan) or whether the enemy was a fellow human being who intended evil toward me. Many times the Lord has stood between me and an oncoming disaster to avert it. We are not even aware of all the times He has saved our lives, but I think when we get to heaven we're going to find out just how many times Satan desired to kill us through an accident or by disease or by the hand of a human being. We'll find out how many times Christ stepped in between us and danger, standing as an immovable and impenetrable force through which nothing could pass. Until the day comes when we behold Him face to face and bow at His feet in thankfulness for His protection, let's go ahead and start thanking Him now that He's preserved and protected us thus far. As the old hymn "Amazing Grace" says, "Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come." Amen! Thank You, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Monday, May 18, 2020
The Exodus. Day 50, The Red Sea Crossing, Part Two
When the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians approaching in yesterday's study they cried out in fear. As it is often human nature to do, they next look for someone to blame, and that someone is the man who convinced them God was going to rescue them from Egypt and take them into the promised land.
"They said to Moses, 'Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out into the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!'" (Exodus 14:10-12) They say, "If you wanted us dead you could have gone ahead and gotten us killed while we were still in Egypt. Why carry your charade of deliverance this far, by bringing us all out into a desert place where we're trapped? Why fill our minds with hopes of freedom only to allow us to be slaughtered? When you first came to Egypt and spoke to Pharaoh on our behalf, he made our work harder than ever. We told you to go away and leave us alone. But you persisted. You kept speaking to the king. You started calling on the Lord and Aaron started raising your staff over the land and plagues began falling upon Egypt. We started to believe you and trust you. Now here we are with everyone and everything that belongs to us, thinking we were on our way to the promised land and that we'd be free of Egypt forever, but Pharaoh and his army are about to grind us under their feet. We would rather have remained slaves forever than to die like this!"
I can relate to what they're saying because sometimes the Lord's deliverance doesn't look the way we expect it to look. There have been times when I've wanted and needed things changed in my life and the Lord went about changing them by methods I didn't expect---by methods I didn't welcome. I was pushed far out of my comfort zone by the methods the Lord chose to use. On top of that, Satan never wants anyone to be set free from bondage and he'll try coming after anyone who is escaping just like the Egyptians came after the Israelites. This means that, while the Lord is accomplishing our deliverance, it sometimes appears as if our circumstances become worse before they become better. I've said to the Lord, metaphorically speaking, "Leave me alone; let me serve the Egyptians." I've said, "This is too hard. I don't even think it can be done. Just leave me where I am. Better for me to struggle with this thing for the rest of my life than endure the strain and fear of trying to leave it behind. The stress of trying to break free is going to do me in."
But the Lord doesn't want those who belong to Him to live in bondage to anything. He wants to rescue us, and sometimes deliverance doesn't look the way we expect it to look and we question His methods. Breaking free of shackles and chains is almost certainly not going to be easy and in our human weakness we'll be tempted to say, "Leave us alone. Let us serve this thing. We've accepted Christ as Savior and the eternal destiny of our souls is settled. Isn't that what matters most? While we live in the flesh in a fallen world filled with temptation can we really be blamed for repeating the same sordid sin over and over, or for not being able to let go of a particular fear or obsession, or for struggling with an addiction we can't ever seem to lay down and walk away from? Getting free from these things is too hard! It's painful. It's frightening. We don't know what life is going to look like if we are set free. What will we do with our lives without this thing (this illicit relationship, this addiction, this fear that defines our every waking moment, and so on and so on)? Just leave this one thing alone. We still love you and still believe in Christ as our Savior. What's a little bondage to sin, really, in comparison to that?"
Oh, but a life where we're weighted down by shackles and where we're dragging chains behind us isn't good enough for God's children! He wants to give us an abundant life. (John 10:10) He tells us to lay aside the things that hold us back so we can run the race of life successfully and without being burdened and made weary by shackles of sin. (Hebrews 12:1-3) Does a marathon runner put on a weighted vest and ankle weights and wrist weights before he runs the race? No, that wouldn't be very sensible. He couldn't run the race with much endurance and he certainly couldn't win it. It's doubtful he'd make it to the finish line at all because he'd be sidelined by the strain of running while so heavily weighted down. God wants us to be winners! He wants us to run the race with stamina; He doesn't want us clutching our chests and gasping for breath. He doesn't want us falling behind and falling out. The process of breaking our shackles and chains loose isn't always pleasant, but it's necessary if we are to be strong and fit runners in the race of life.
Moses reassures the people. He doesn't waste time trying to convince them he hasn't deceived them. In fact, he takes their focus off himself entirely and puts their focus where it should be: on the Lord. The Lord is the one who is going to deliver them, not Moses. The Lord who performed such great wonders and signs in Egypt is the one who is going to deliver them from bondage in Egypt forever. "Moses answered the people, 'Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.'" (Exodus 14:13-14)
As I said a day or two ago in our study, sometimes the Lord does all our fighting for us. He tells us to stand back and watch what He's going to do. Other times He allows us to go on into the thick of the fight while He labors in the heat of battle right alongside us. He chooses whichever method best suits whatever He's currently accomplishing in our lives, but either way He is the one who brings the victory. With their backs against the Red Sea and with the Egyptian army hemming them in, He's going to choose the method of doing all the work for the Israelites. He doesn't tell them to charge at the Egyptians with whatever weapons are at their disposal. Even if the Israelites have weapons, which is doubtful since I doubt the Egyptians allowed them to possess any while in Egypt, they are not skilled in using them in battle. They are no match, militarily speaking, for these trained soldiers. They are helpless. They cannot successfully defend themselves. And God doesn't ask or expect them to. In tomorrow's study we find Him standing between His people and their enemies. We find Him going on the offensive. This battle is the Lord's and He is going to win it.
"They said to Moses, 'Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out into the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!'" (Exodus 14:10-12) They say, "If you wanted us dead you could have gone ahead and gotten us killed while we were still in Egypt. Why carry your charade of deliverance this far, by bringing us all out into a desert place where we're trapped? Why fill our minds with hopes of freedom only to allow us to be slaughtered? When you first came to Egypt and spoke to Pharaoh on our behalf, he made our work harder than ever. We told you to go away and leave us alone. But you persisted. You kept speaking to the king. You started calling on the Lord and Aaron started raising your staff over the land and plagues began falling upon Egypt. We started to believe you and trust you. Now here we are with everyone and everything that belongs to us, thinking we were on our way to the promised land and that we'd be free of Egypt forever, but Pharaoh and his army are about to grind us under their feet. We would rather have remained slaves forever than to die like this!"
I can relate to what they're saying because sometimes the Lord's deliverance doesn't look the way we expect it to look. There have been times when I've wanted and needed things changed in my life and the Lord went about changing them by methods I didn't expect---by methods I didn't welcome. I was pushed far out of my comfort zone by the methods the Lord chose to use. On top of that, Satan never wants anyone to be set free from bondage and he'll try coming after anyone who is escaping just like the Egyptians came after the Israelites. This means that, while the Lord is accomplishing our deliverance, it sometimes appears as if our circumstances become worse before they become better. I've said to the Lord, metaphorically speaking, "Leave me alone; let me serve the Egyptians." I've said, "This is too hard. I don't even think it can be done. Just leave me where I am. Better for me to struggle with this thing for the rest of my life than endure the strain and fear of trying to leave it behind. The stress of trying to break free is going to do me in."
But the Lord doesn't want those who belong to Him to live in bondage to anything. He wants to rescue us, and sometimes deliverance doesn't look the way we expect it to look and we question His methods. Breaking free of shackles and chains is almost certainly not going to be easy and in our human weakness we'll be tempted to say, "Leave us alone. Let us serve this thing. We've accepted Christ as Savior and the eternal destiny of our souls is settled. Isn't that what matters most? While we live in the flesh in a fallen world filled with temptation can we really be blamed for repeating the same sordid sin over and over, or for not being able to let go of a particular fear or obsession, or for struggling with an addiction we can't ever seem to lay down and walk away from? Getting free from these things is too hard! It's painful. It's frightening. We don't know what life is going to look like if we are set free. What will we do with our lives without this thing (this illicit relationship, this addiction, this fear that defines our every waking moment, and so on and so on)? Just leave this one thing alone. We still love you and still believe in Christ as our Savior. What's a little bondage to sin, really, in comparison to that?"
Oh, but a life where we're weighted down by shackles and where we're dragging chains behind us isn't good enough for God's children! He wants to give us an abundant life. (John 10:10) He tells us to lay aside the things that hold us back so we can run the race of life successfully and without being burdened and made weary by shackles of sin. (Hebrews 12:1-3) Does a marathon runner put on a weighted vest and ankle weights and wrist weights before he runs the race? No, that wouldn't be very sensible. He couldn't run the race with much endurance and he certainly couldn't win it. It's doubtful he'd make it to the finish line at all because he'd be sidelined by the strain of running while so heavily weighted down. God wants us to be winners! He wants us to run the race with stamina; He doesn't want us clutching our chests and gasping for breath. He doesn't want us falling behind and falling out. The process of breaking our shackles and chains loose isn't always pleasant, but it's necessary if we are to be strong and fit runners in the race of life.
Moses reassures the people. He doesn't waste time trying to convince them he hasn't deceived them. In fact, he takes their focus off himself entirely and puts their focus where it should be: on the Lord. The Lord is the one who is going to deliver them, not Moses. The Lord who performed such great wonders and signs in Egypt is the one who is going to deliver them from bondage in Egypt forever. "Moses answered the people, 'Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.'" (Exodus 14:13-14)
As I said a day or two ago in our study, sometimes the Lord does all our fighting for us. He tells us to stand back and watch what He's going to do. Other times He allows us to go on into the thick of the fight while He labors in the heat of battle right alongside us. He chooses whichever method best suits whatever He's currently accomplishing in our lives, but either way He is the one who brings the victory. With their backs against the Red Sea and with the Egyptian army hemming them in, He's going to choose the method of doing all the work for the Israelites. He doesn't tell them to charge at the Egyptians with whatever weapons are at their disposal. Even if the Israelites have weapons, which is doubtful since I doubt the Egyptians allowed them to possess any while in Egypt, they are not skilled in using them in battle. They are no match, militarily speaking, for these trained soldiers. They are helpless. They cannot successfully defend themselves. And God doesn't ask or expect them to. In tomorrow's study we find Him standing between His people and their enemies. We find Him going on the offensive. This battle is the Lord's and He is going to win it.
Sunday, May 17, 2020
The Exodus. Day 49, The Red Sea Crossing, Part One
In yesterday's passage we found Pharaoh and his officials mourning their decision to let the Israelites go. They are devoid of free labor now. Not only that, but perhaps they appear weak to the nations and tribes surrounding Egypt. Ancient Egypt had a number of enemies at that time who may have been on the alert for a good time to strike. Pharaoh intends to make a show of force and bring the people back, so in the passage we studied on Saturday he selected six hundred of the best chariots in Egypt along with all the other suitable chariots he could scrounge and assembled a unit of soldiers to pursue the Israelites and seize them in the desert.
The Lord does nothing to try to subdue the king's rage. The Lord doesn't delay the king's departure by sending a plague. The Lord doesn't use a human emissary to reason with him. Pharaoh has used up all his chances to heed the word of the Lord and the Lord is done with talking to him. Now there remains only defeat for Pharaoh. By maintaining his hard heartedness he is playing right into the hands of the Lord who has set a trap for him at the Red Sea. "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly." (Exodus 14:8) The Lord is finished trying to deal with the king's heart and says to him, "Be that way, then."
When Moses says in verse 8 that the Israelites were marching out "boldly" he doesn't mean "fearlessly". In the original language the word he uses means "pridefully, haughtily, lifted up, exalted". Is he telling us the Israelites left Egypt in a scornful attitude, looking down on the Egyptians? Is he saying they left without any regard for authority or that they are making more of themselves than they should? Or is he saying Pharaoh believes they are harboring these attitudes toward him and his nation? Honestly, it's unclear. I definitely think Pharaoh feels they are looking down their noses at him, but I am not certain that a group of people freshly escaped from centuries of cruel slavery is capable of feeling very lifted up in themselves. Are they elated by the destruction the Lord wrought upon Egypt? Probably, but who wouldn't feel Egypt got what was coming to her? Who wouldn't rejoice in the fact that it's going to take years for Egypt to recover? Compared to what Egypt's kings and citizens have done to the Israelites, it might even appear that Egypt didn't receive enough punishment, so it's easy for us to imagine that the Israelites may have gloated over the economic, agricultural, and familial tragedies that have befallen the land of their oppression. I can't blame them if they did. I am not sure Moses or the Lord is blaming them either when Moses says they marched out with heads held high. But Pharaoh can't abide the idea of anyone thinking they got the best of him. He's angry with God. He's angry with the Israelites. And I suspect he's angry with himself for budging even an inch. He intends to rectify his "mistake" immediately.
"The Egyptians---all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops---pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon." (Exodus 14:9) We don't know how many soldiers were in this group but they were numerous enough to block the Israelites' way out of their campsite. When the Israelites see the Egyptians coming, there's no place to flee. Their backs are against the wall, as the saying goes, except this particular wall is the Red Sea whose depths will swallow them up if they choose death in place of a return to slavery. Or at least, that would be their fate if the Lord didn't intend to step in and supernaturally provide an escape route.
"As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord." (Exodus 14:10) This is a distress cry, according to the original language. It's the type of shriek that emerges from the mouth of a person who is suddenly caught off guard and panic-stricken. They did not expect Pharaoh to come after them. They believe he's learned his lesson after the tenth plague and that he doesn't intend to oppose the Lord any longer now that the Lord has shown him who's boss. When the army appears on the horizon I think the entire assembly of Israel lets out a loud gasp at the same time and that gasp is one of horror, perhaps something like, "Oh, God! God help us, what will we do now?" If it were not for the following verses which we'll begin with tomorrow, we could easily conclude that when Moses says they cried out to the Lord he meant they called upon the Lord in this manner: "Lord, help us as You helped us in Egypt! Just as You rained plagues down upon our oppressors in Egypt, rain disaster down upon our pursuing enemies now! Lord, we have beheld Your power and might. Display Your power and might again and destroy our enemies. Send down fire and brimstone from heaven and obliterate them from the earth. We know You are on our side and we trust You to defend us and prevent us from being killed or captured." No, as we'll see in tomorrow's passage, their cry is one of despair and hopelessness. But we won't be judgmental toward them for their lack of bold faith in God's ability to come to the rescue. We will consider where they are coming from and why they don't yet believe their God will move mountains---or waters---to save them.
The Lord does nothing to try to subdue the king's rage. The Lord doesn't delay the king's departure by sending a plague. The Lord doesn't use a human emissary to reason with him. Pharaoh has used up all his chances to heed the word of the Lord and the Lord is done with talking to him. Now there remains only defeat for Pharaoh. By maintaining his hard heartedness he is playing right into the hands of the Lord who has set a trap for him at the Red Sea. "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly." (Exodus 14:8) The Lord is finished trying to deal with the king's heart and says to him, "Be that way, then."
When Moses says in verse 8 that the Israelites were marching out "boldly" he doesn't mean "fearlessly". In the original language the word he uses means "pridefully, haughtily, lifted up, exalted". Is he telling us the Israelites left Egypt in a scornful attitude, looking down on the Egyptians? Is he saying they left without any regard for authority or that they are making more of themselves than they should? Or is he saying Pharaoh believes they are harboring these attitudes toward him and his nation? Honestly, it's unclear. I definitely think Pharaoh feels they are looking down their noses at him, but I am not certain that a group of people freshly escaped from centuries of cruel slavery is capable of feeling very lifted up in themselves. Are they elated by the destruction the Lord wrought upon Egypt? Probably, but who wouldn't feel Egypt got what was coming to her? Who wouldn't rejoice in the fact that it's going to take years for Egypt to recover? Compared to what Egypt's kings and citizens have done to the Israelites, it might even appear that Egypt didn't receive enough punishment, so it's easy for us to imagine that the Israelites may have gloated over the economic, agricultural, and familial tragedies that have befallen the land of their oppression. I can't blame them if they did. I am not sure Moses or the Lord is blaming them either when Moses says they marched out with heads held high. But Pharaoh can't abide the idea of anyone thinking they got the best of him. He's angry with God. He's angry with the Israelites. And I suspect he's angry with himself for budging even an inch. He intends to rectify his "mistake" immediately.
"The Egyptians---all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops---pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon." (Exodus 14:9) We don't know how many soldiers were in this group but they were numerous enough to block the Israelites' way out of their campsite. When the Israelites see the Egyptians coming, there's no place to flee. Their backs are against the wall, as the saying goes, except this particular wall is the Red Sea whose depths will swallow them up if they choose death in place of a return to slavery. Or at least, that would be their fate if the Lord didn't intend to step in and supernaturally provide an escape route.
"As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord." (Exodus 14:10) This is a distress cry, according to the original language. It's the type of shriek that emerges from the mouth of a person who is suddenly caught off guard and panic-stricken. They did not expect Pharaoh to come after them. They believe he's learned his lesson after the tenth plague and that he doesn't intend to oppose the Lord any longer now that the Lord has shown him who's boss. When the army appears on the horizon I think the entire assembly of Israel lets out a loud gasp at the same time and that gasp is one of horror, perhaps something like, "Oh, God! God help us, what will we do now?" If it were not for the following verses which we'll begin with tomorrow, we could easily conclude that when Moses says they cried out to the Lord he meant they called upon the Lord in this manner: "Lord, help us as You helped us in Egypt! Just as You rained plagues down upon our oppressors in Egypt, rain disaster down upon our pursuing enemies now! Lord, we have beheld Your power and might. Display Your power and might again and destroy our enemies. Send down fire and brimstone from heaven and obliterate them from the earth. We know You are on our side and we trust You to defend us and prevent us from being killed or captured." No, as we'll see in tomorrow's passage, their cry is one of despair and hopelessness. But we won't be judgmental toward them for their lack of bold faith in God's ability to come to the rescue. We will consider where they are coming from and why they don't yet believe their God will move mountains---or waters---to save them.
Saturday, May 16, 2020
The Exodus. Day 48, Pharaoh Pursues The Israelites To The Red Sea, Part Two
Pharaoh and his officials are going to change their minds about allowing the Israelites to leave, but first we are going to discuss how the hardness of Pharaoh's heart and his pursuit of the Israelites causes the Lord to, as He said in yesterday's passage, "gain glory for Myself". (Exodus 14:4)
It's easy for us to see how the Lord gains glory from people's soft-heartedness. A person who loves and serves and obeys the Lord brings honor and glory to His name as they live according to His principles and as they set a godly example for others. But what about the person who refuses to serve the Lord? What about the person who is hard-hearted and cruel toward his fellow man? How is the Lord glorified in that?
Well, we'll start by saying that the Lord never wants anyone to be godless and cruel. But He's able to weave even such things as that into the tapestry of His plans. For example, you'll recall how Joseph's brothers hated him and sold him into slavery. They sinned grievously against him, yet years later Joseph said to his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20) The Lord didn't cause Joseph's brothers to hate him and mistreat him, but He knew they would sin against Joseph and in His omniscience and wisdom He wove these men's wickedness into His plans to save many people from the coming seven-year famine. God allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery where he would end up in Egypt and eventually become second-in-command to the man who was king in those days. This put Joseph in a position to lead the nation (through his relationship with the Lord who guided him) through the famine and to save not only untold numbers of Egyptian lives but the lives of his own family and likely other tribes who lived in the surrounding areas. God was glorified by the way He turned Joseph's misfortune into a blessing. He was also glorified by the way Joseph's brothers repented of and apologized for their sins against him when they were reunited with him in Egypt.
Pharaoh is never going to repent, as far as we know, but the Lord will still be glorified when He triumphs over Pharaoh and his army and leads the Israelites across the Red Sea bed on dry ground. The Lord has already shown His great power in Egypt by bringing a plague every time Pharaoh refused to let the people go. We've already seen that some of the Egyptians came to fear God. (Whether or not they worshiped Him, they certainly had to admit He exists and is a God whom no one should try to oppose.) The faith of the Israelites was strengthened when they witnessed the plagues the Lord brought, especially since the plagues spared the Israelites but touched all the Egyptians all around them. The Lord's name was exalted by what He did in Egypt and by those who acknowledged His existence and great power. Now, when Pharaoh and his army set out in pursuit of the Israelites, the Lord will perform one of the most famous miracles of the Bible and His people Israel will behold His power and give glory to the name of the One who fights for them. The people back in Egypt, who will soon hear of the defeat and death of Pharaoh's soldiers at the Red Sea, will no doubt tremble at the mention of the name of Israel's God. Some may even turn to Him, but even if they do not, they won't be able to dismiss Him from their minds. They won't be able to say that the God of Israel is not real and that He does not act on behalf of those who love and serve Him. This is how God gets glory from Pharaoh's hard-hearted disobedience. The Lord didn't make Pharaoh be the kind of man he is, but the Lord is able to use Pharaoh's sinful stubbornness to prove to many people that He is God and that the king is not---and neither are the false gods of Egypt.
I once was hard-hearted toward the Lord even though I was brought up in church. Thanks to my Christian mother, I can't recall a time early enough in my life when I didn't know the basic facts of the gospel, and yet I wanted little to do with Him until the summer I was twenty-two. For years I rejected His attempts to bring me into the fold while I ran about living in disobedience to Him. I actually relished the idea of living in opposition to all the things I'd been taught about godly living. But a day came when I couldn't run from Him anymore---when I didn't want to run from Him anymore---and His name was glorified by the way He changed me. Am I perfect? No, and I never will be while I live in this frail mortal body, but thanks be to God I'm not who I used to be! I was literally unable to change myself even if I'd wanted to, but when I gave my heart to the Lord, He changed me. All the glory for that is His. I've known a number of people whom He's changed from night into day. Their transformation was stunning and undeniably miraculous. They were once so hard-hearted and cruel and involved in so much desperate sin that nothing short of a miracle could have made them who they are today. So when we look back on the type of person I used to be, or when we look back on who these people I'm speaking of used to be, or when we look back at who you used to be, we see that God is glorified when the hard-heartedness of our past is compared to the softness of our hearts now.
When Pharaoh's son died, he briefly weakened in his resolve to keep the Israelites as slaves, but now several days have passed and he regrets showing any weakness. He regrets showing any fear of Almighty God. He and his wealthy cronies are looking around them thinking about how now they're going to have to pay people to do the labor in Egypt that was previously done by forcing the Israelites into slavery. This is unacceptable to them. Their country already lies in shambles and it's going to take a number of years to recover economically from the plagues. It will take even longer if they have to pay wages to laborers or if they have to purchase slaves from other nations. They decide to get their free workforce back. "When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, 'What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!' So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them." (Exodus 14:5-7)
This army plans to trap the Israelites, surround them, and take them captive. The soldiers no doubt intend to kill anyone who tries to fight back. As we said yesterday, the Israelites are going to find themselves caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, as the saying goes. And their situation will look hopeless. But no situation is hopeless when God is in it, and He is going to be there in a great and mighty way, and no man or woman or child will have to lift a finger against the army coming toward them. God will rescue His people. There are times in the Bible (and in our own lives) when God allows believers to participate in their own rescue---when they must engage in battle while He battles alongside them. But there are other times when He does all the work and simply says to His children, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10), and when He says, "You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm, and see the deliverance the Lord will give you." (2 Chronicles 20:17a) The Red Sea is a place where the Lord will say, "You will not have to fight this battle."
It's easy for us to see how the Lord gains glory from people's soft-heartedness. A person who loves and serves and obeys the Lord brings honor and glory to His name as they live according to His principles and as they set a godly example for others. But what about the person who refuses to serve the Lord? What about the person who is hard-hearted and cruel toward his fellow man? How is the Lord glorified in that?
Well, we'll start by saying that the Lord never wants anyone to be godless and cruel. But He's able to weave even such things as that into the tapestry of His plans. For example, you'll recall how Joseph's brothers hated him and sold him into slavery. They sinned grievously against him, yet years later Joseph said to his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20) The Lord didn't cause Joseph's brothers to hate him and mistreat him, but He knew they would sin against Joseph and in His omniscience and wisdom He wove these men's wickedness into His plans to save many people from the coming seven-year famine. God allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery where he would end up in Egypt and eventually become second-in-command to the man who was king in those days. This put Joseph in a position to lead the nation (through his relationship with the Lord who guided him) through the famine and to save not only untold numbers of Egyptian lives but the lives of his own family and likely other tribes who lived in the surrounding areas. God was glorified by the way He turned Joseph's misfortune into a blessing. He was also glorified by the way Joseph's brothers repented of and apologized for their sins against him when they were reunited with him in Egypt.
Pharaoh is never going to repent, as far as we know, but the Lord will still be glorified when He triumphs over Pharaoh and his army and leads the Israelites across the Red Sea bed on dry ground. The Lord has already shown His great power in Egypt by bringing a plague every time Pharaoh refused to let the people go. We've already seen that some of the Egyptians came to fear God. (Whether or not they worshiped Him, they certainly had to admit He exists and is a God whom no one should try to oppose.) The faith of the Israelites was strengthened when they witnessed the plagues the Lord brought, especially since the plagues spared the Israelites but touched all the Egyptians all around them. The Lord's name was exalted by what He did in Egypt and by those who acknowledged His existence and great power. Now, when Pharaoh and his army set out in pursuit of the Israelites, the Lord will perform one of the most famous miracles of the Bible and His people Israel will behold His power and give glory to the name of the One who fights for them. The people back in Egypt, who will soon hear of the defeat and death of Pharaoh's soldiers at the Red Sea, will no doubt tremble at the mention of the name of Israel's God. Some may even turn to Him, but even if they do not, they won't be able to dismiss Him from their minds. They won't be able to say that the God of Israel is not real and that He does not act on behalf of those who love and serve Him. This is how God gets glory from Pharaoh's hard-hearted disobedience. The Lord didn't make Pharaoh be the kind of man he is, but the Lord is able to use Pharaoh's sinful stubbornness to prove to many people that He is God and that the king is not---and neither are the false gods of Egypt.
I once was hard-hearted toward the Lord even though I was brought up in church. Thanks to my Christian mother, I can't recall a time early enough in my life when I didn't know the basic facts of the gospel, and yet I wanted little to do with Him until the summer I was twenty-two. For years I rejected His attempts to bring me into the fold while I ran about living in disobedience to Him. I actually relished the idea of living in opposition to all the things I'd been taught about godly living. But a day came when I couldn't run from Him anymore---when I didn't want to run from Him anymore---and His name was glorified by the way He changed me. Am I perfect? No, and I never will be while I live in this frail mortal body, but thanks be to God I'm not who I used to be! I was literally unable to change myself even if I'd wanted to, but when I gave my heart to the Lord, He changed me. All the glory for that is His. I've known a number of people whom He's changed from night into day. Their transformation was stunning and undeniably miraculous. They were once so hard-hearted and cruel and involved in so much desperate sin that nothing short of a miracle could have made them who they are today. So when we look back on the type of person I used to be, or when we look back on who these people I'm speaking of used to be, or when we look back at who you used to be, we see that God is glorified when the hard-heartedness of our past is compared to the softness of our hearts now.
When Pharaoh's son died, he briefly weakened in his resolve to keep the Israelites as slaves, but now several days have passed and he regrets showing any weakness. He regrets showing any fear of Almighty God. He and his wealthy cronies are looking around them thinking about how now they're going to have to pay people to do the labor in Egypt that was previously done by forcing the Israelites into slavery. This is unacceptable to them. Their country already lies in shambles and it's going to take a number of years to recover economically from the plagues. It will take even longer if they have to pay wages to laborers or if they have to purchase slaves from other nations. They decide to get their free workforce back. "When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, 'What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!' So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them." (Exodus 14:5-7)
This army plans to trap the Israelites, surround them, and take them captive. The soldiers no doubt intend to kill anyone who tries to fight back. As we said yesterday, the Israelites are going to find themselves caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, as the saying goes. And their situation will look hopeless. But no situation is hopeless when God is in it, and He is going to be there in a great and mighty way, and no man or woman or child will have to lift a finger against the army coming toward them. God will rescue His people. There are times in the Bible (and in our own lives) when God allows believers to participate in their own rescue---when they must engage in battle while He battles alongside them. But there are other times when He does all the work and simply says to His children, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10), and when He says, "You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm, and see the deliverance the Lord will give you." (2 Chronicles 20:17a) The Red Sea is a place where the Lord will say, "You will not have to fight this battle."
Friday, May 15, 2020
The Exodus. Day 47, Pharaoh Pursues The Israelites To The Red Sea, Part One
The Lord is setting the scene for a great miracle. He knows Pharaoh is about to change his mind and come after the Israelites so He tells the Israelites to set up camp in a particular area near the Red Sea. When the Egyptian army approaches, it will appear to all human eyes as if the Israelites are trapped. They'll be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, as the saying goes, with Pharaoh and his army behind them and a large expanse of deep water in front of them.
The average depth of the Red Sea in modern times is about 1,610 ft. Even if the depth was slightly lower in Moses' day (and we have no reason to assume it was, since the Bible makes no mention of a drought during the exodus) it would still have been far too deep for anyone to cross on foot or even on horseback. It would have taken an enormous number of boats to allow the approximately 2,000,000 in their party to cross over the sea. They don't have any boats and when the army approaches they wouldn't have time to board boats and cast off and make their escape even if they had them. So what are they to do? Where are they to turn when escape looks impossible? Did they flee slavery in Egypt only to be captured or slaughtered on the shores of the Red Sea? If they had no mighty Defender in heaven they'd be doomed. But they do have Almighty God on their side! They do serve a God who is able to make a way where there is no way.
How many times have your own circumstances appeared hopeless? How many times have you said in fear and despair, "There's no way!" and then suddenly a way forward opened up? Suddenly something changed and you had breathing room, you had a direction in which to move, and you saw a disaster averted. I can think of times in my life where I saw no place to take the next step---no place to put my foot on dry and level ground. That's the type of situation the Israelites are going to find themselves in here in Chapter 47, but a way is going to open up and they'll be able to take one step forward and then another and then another until they've made it to the other side of the Red Sea without even getting their feet wet! Praise be to the God who makes a way where there is no way!
The Lord tells Moses where the people are to camp. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.'" (Exodus 14:1-2) The Lord has the people turn aside to camp in a particular place. They are backtracking a bit. This delays their journey forward and they must have wondered why the Lord issued these instructions. They don't know He intends for them to appear trapped by the Red Sea when the king of Egypt comes after them, but even though their circumstances will temporary look dire, He has nothing but their best interests at heart. If He had not set this scene up the way that He has, one of the greatest miracles of the Bible would not have occurred. The Israelites need to see an astonishing miracle. They may not know they need it, but so many challenges and battles lie ahead of them that they are going to have to be able to look back on what the Lord did for them at the Red Sea in order to find the strength to keep on going. The miracle at the Red Sea has to be stored up in their hearts so that in the future, when they feel like they're between a rock and a hard place, they will know there is a God capable of moving heaven and earth for them.
Another reason for having the people backtrack a bit is so Pharaoh will hear about it and think they are lost. The Lord tells Moses what's going to be going through the king's mind. "Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.'" (Exodus 14:3) Pharaoh will laugh derisively at his former slaves and say to himself and to his officials, "These dummies don't know how to get back to Canaan! Just think of them, wandering around aimlessly in the desert where they'll die of hunger or thirst or heat exhaustion. They were far better off here in Egypt than they are now, but no, they just had to have their freedom! They thought they were going to go back to Canaan to become a great nation but instead they're lost in the desert. Sounds to me like they're easy pickings right now. Like a bird circling a carcass in the wilderness, I'm about to swoop down on them and snatch them up in my talons."
The Lord does nothing to stop Pharaoh from pursuing them. If He had stood in Pharaoh's way, the miracle at the Red Sea would never have happened and it must happen. It must happen for the glory of God so the Israelites will trust Him more fully. It must happen so the Egyptians will be forced to admit that the God of the Israelites exists and is a powerful foe to anyone who opposes Him and to anyone who oppresses those who serve Him. Pharaoh's grief over the death of his son has had time to turn to anger over the past several days and now he lays all the blame for his son's death at the Israelites' feet. He never once looks inward and acknowledges that every plague that hit Egypt was a result of his sinful stubbornness. He never repents of living in opposition to Almighty God. He's never sorry for his prejudice toward the Israelites or for his ill treatment of them. Instead he decides to pursue the people he blames for his misfortune. Instead of regretting his sins, he regrets ever letting his slave workforce leave his country.
God never forced Pharaoh to be a hard-hearted man; a hard-hearted man is who Pharaoh feels comfortable being. He has a natural tendency to be cruel and, lacking any desire to know or serve the Lord, there's nothing spiritual about him that makes him want to be a better man. He has no interest in changing and the Lord doesn't force him to change. On the contrary, the Lord uses the king's stony heart in His plan to do something utterly amazing for the Israelites. The Lord uses the king's hatred of the Israelites to---ironically---do the Israelites good. A blind rage enters the king's heart and the Lord does nothing to restrain his rage. The Lord does nothing to restrain Satan's influence on a man who has given himself over to pagan idolatry and cruelty, so in that sense we might say that the Lord allows the devil to encourage Pharaoh to go after the Israelites. "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them." (Exodus 14:4)
Join us tomorrow as Pharaoh and his soldiers saddle up and race toward the Red Sea. Join us as we discuss something that at first appears to be a paradox: how the Lord can be glorified by the hardness of a man's heart. It's easy for us to see how the Lord is honored by a person's love and obedience toward Him, but how on earth can someone's disobedience glorify the Lord? We'll take a look at this in Saturday's study when the Lord says that He will "gain glory for Myself through Pharaoh and all his army".
The average depth of the Red Sea in modern times is about 1,610 ft. Even if the depth was slightly lower in Moses' day (and we have no reason to assume it was, since the Bible makes no mention of a drought during the exodus) it would still have been far too deep for anyone to cross on foot or even on horseback. It would have taken an enormous number of boats to allow the approximately 2,000,000 in their party to cross over the sea. They don't have any boats and when the army approaches they wouldn't have time to board boats and cast off and make their escape even if they had them. So what are they to do? Where are they to turn when escape looks impossible? Did they flee slavery in Egypt only to be captured or slaughtered on the shores of the Red Sea? If they had no mighty Defender in heaven they'd be doomed. But they do have Almighty God on their side! They do serve a God who is able to make a way where there is no way.
How many times have your own circumstances appeared hopeless? How many times have you said in fear and despair, "There's no way!" and then suddenly a way forward opened up? Suddenly something changed and you had breathing room, you had a direction in which to move, and you saw a disaster averted. I can think of times in my life where I saw no place to take the next step---no place to put my foot on dry and level ground. That's the type of situation the Israelites are going to find themselves in here in Chapter 47, but a way is going to open up and they'll be able to take one step forward and then another and then another until they've made it to the other side of the Red Sea without even getting their feet wet! Praise be to the God who makes a way where there is no way!
The Lord tells Moses where the people are to camp. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.'" (Exodus 14:1-2) The Lord has the people turn aside to camp in a particular place. They are backtracking a bit. This delays their journey forward and they must have wondered why the Lord issued these instructions. They don't know He intends for them to appear trapped by the Red Sea when the king of Egypt comes after them, but even though their circumstances will temporary look dire, He has nothing but their best interests at heart. If He had not set this scene up the way that He has, one of the greatest miracles of the Bible would not have occurred. The Israelites need to see an astonishing miracle. They may not know they need it, but so many challenges and battles lie ahead of them that they are going to have to be able to look back on what the Lord did for them at the Red Sea in order to find the strength to keep on going. The miracle at the Red Sea has to be stored up in their hearts so that in the future, when they feel like they're between a rock and a hard place, they will know there is a God capable of moving heaven and earth for them.
Another reason for having the people backtrack a bit is so Pharaoh will hear about it and think they are lost. The Lord tells Moses what's going to be going through the king's mind. "Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.'" (Exodus 14:3) Pharaoh will laugh derisively at his former slaves and say to himself and to his officials, "These dummies don't know how to get back to Canaan! Just think of them, wandering around aimlessly in the desert where they'll die of hunger or thirst or heat exhaustion. They were far better off here in Egypt than they are now, but no, they just had to have their freedom! They thought they were going to go back to Canaan to become a great nation but instead they're lost in the desert. Sounds to me like they're easy pickings right now. Like a bird circling a carcass in the wilderness, I'm about to swoop down on them and snatch them up in my talons."
The Lord does nothing to stop Pharaoh from pursuing them. If He had stood in Pharaoh's way, the miracle at the Red Sea would never have happened and it must happen. It must happen for the glory of God so the Israelites will trust Him more fully. It must happen so the Egyptians will be forced to admit that the God of the Israelites exists and is a powerful foe to anyone who opposes Him and to anyone who oppresses those who serve Him. Pharaoh's grief over the death of his son has had time to turn to anger over the past several days and now he lays all the blame for his son's death at the Israelites' feet. He never once looks inward and acknowledges that every plague that hit Egypt was a result of his sinful stubbornness. He never repents of living in opposition to Almighty God. He's never sorry for his prejudice toward the Israelites or for his ill treatment of them. Instead he decides to pursue the people he blames for his misfortune. Instead of regretting his sins, he regrets ever letting his slave workforce leave his country.
God never forced Pharaoh to be a hard-hearted man; a hard-hearted man is who Pharaoh feels comfortable being. He has a natural tendency to be cruel and, lacking any desire to know or serve the Lord, there's nothing spiritual about him that makes him want to be a better man. He has no interest in changing and the Lord doesn't force him to change. On the contrary, the Lord uses the king's stony heart in His plan to do something utterly amazing for the Israelites. The Lord uses the king's hatred of the Israelites to---ironically---do the Israelites good. A blind rage enters the king's heart and the Lord does nothing to restrain his rage. The Lord does nothing to restrain Satan's influence on a man who has given himself over to pagan idolatry and cruelty, so in that sense we might say that the Lord allows the devil to encourage Pharaoh to go after the Israelites. "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them." (Exodus 14:4)
Join us tomorrow as Pharaoh and his soldiers saddle up and race toward the Red Sea. Join us as we discuss something that at first appears to be a paradox: how the Lord can be glorified by the hardness of a man's heart. It's easy for us to see how the Lord is honored by a person's love and obedience toward Him, but how on earth can someone's disobedience glorify the Lord? We'll take a look at this in Saturday's study when the Lord says that He will "gain glory for Myself through Pharaoh and all his army".
Thursday, May 14, 2020
The Exodus. Day 46, Camping In The Desert
The Lord doesn't lead the Israelites by the shortest route but instead leads them into the desert near the Red Sea.
"When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, 'If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle." (Exodus 13:17-18) The shorter road was the better road; it was a well-traveled trade route. But Egypt had military outposts along that road and had the Egyptian soldiers seen the enormous group making their exodus from Egypt they may have attacked the group in an effort to corral them and take them back to Egypt. The Israelites have arranged themselves in battle array while coming out of Egypt but their men are not trained warriors. They are probably in good physical shape due to their many years of forced hard labor but they are not swordsmen or archers. Being met with opposition by trained fighters during their first few days of freedom might have put them in such a panic that they would have fled back to the land of their captivity.
Later on the Israelites will have to engage the tribes of Canaan in battle to take over the promised land, but that time has not yet arrived and they are not yet mentally ready to fight. They've just been rescued from a land where they were treated as if they are less than human, where they were given very few rights, and where their sense of self was beaten down on a daily basis. They have some healing to do before they'll be mentally prepared to fight battles, and the Lord knows this, and He mercifully and lovingly takes them by the longer route that winds through a desert place. He plans to perform one of the most well-known miracles of the Bible there and this miracle is intended to demonstrate to them that the Lord is their strength. On their own they are not sufficient for the enormous task ahead of them in taking over the promised land, but their God is sufficient. He has everything needed to make up for any lack on their part.
"Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.'" (Exodus 13:19) Joseph made this request of his family in Genesis 50:25. He knew by then that Egypt would be the land of the oppression foretold by God when making covenant promises to Abraham. He knew his family and their descendants would be enslaved in Egypt but he also knew God would rescue them, and when God rescued them he wanted his coffin taken out of Egypt and buried in the promised land. Joshua 24:32 tells us that they fulfilled Joseph's request and that his remains were "buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver".
"After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people." (Exodus 13:20-22) The Lord, like a shepherd, leads His flock. Unfortunately for us in modern times, the word "sheep" has begun to be used in a derogatory manner to denote people who blindly follow and who will believe anything and who refuse to think for themselves. But this is not the Biblical definition of the relationship between sheep and shepherd. The Lord loves and cares for and protects His flock like the good shepherd He is. Shepherds had to be vigilant and ready at all times to chase away or fight predators. Shepherds had to be on the alert for wayward sheep that might wander from the fold so they could be led gently back. Shepherds tended ailments and injuries among the flock and sat up nights with any sheep that felt poorly. The sheep followed their shepherd because their shepherd loved them. Their shepherd was their source of strength, comfort, protection, health, and provision. They didn't blindly follow him. They followed him because he had proven himself trustworthy. The Lord is going to prove Himself trustworthy during Israel's time in the desert and He begins immediately by making Himself visible to them day and night. Shepherds must walk in front of their sheep; sheep will not be driven like cattle. This is why we find the Lord going in front of them, not behind them.
In tomorrow's study we will find them camping by the Red Sea and we will find the Egyptians regretting allowing them to leave. Pharaoh and his army will set out after them, but they are setting themselves up for failure because the Good Shepherd is going to make a way for His flock to escape.
"When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, 'If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle." (Exodus 13:17-18) The shorter road was the better road; it was a well-traveled trade route. But Egypt had military outposts along that road and had the Egyptian soldiers seen the enormous group making their exodus from Egypt they may have attacked the group in an effort to corral them and take them back to Egypt. The Israelites have arranged themselves in battle array while coming out of Egypt but their men are not trained warriors. They are probably in good physical shape due to their many years of forced hard labor but they are not swordsmen or archers. Being met with opposition by trained fighters during their first few days of freedom might have put them in such a panic that they would have fled back to the land of their captivity.
Later on the Israelites will have to engage the tribes of Canaan in battle to take over the promised land, but that time has not yet arrived and they are not yet mentally ready to fight. They've just been rescued from a land where they were treated as if they are less than human, where they were given very few rights, and where their sense of self was beaten down on a daily basis. They have some healing to do before they'll be mentally prepared to fight battles, and the Lord knows this, and He mercifully and lovingly takes them by the longer route that winds through a desert place. He plans to perform one of the most well-known miracles of the Bible there and this miracle is intended to demonstrate to them that the Lord is their strength. On their own they are not sufficient for the enormous task ahead of them in taking over the promised land, but their God is sufficient. He has everything needed to make up for any lack on their part.
"Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.'" (Exodus 13:19) Joseph made this request of his family in Genesis 50:25. He knew by then that Egypt would be the land of the oppression foretold by God when making covenant promises to Abraham. He knew his family and their descendants would be enslaved in Egypt but he also knew God would rescue them, and when God rescued them he wanted his coffin taken out of Egypt and buried in the promised land. Joshua 24:32 tells us that they fulfilled Joseph's request and that his remains were "buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver".
"After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people." (Exodus 13:20-22) The Lord, like a shepherd, leads His flock. Unfortunately for us in modern times, the word "sheep" has begun to be used in a derogatory manner to denote people who blindly follow and who will believe anything and who refuse to think for themselves. But this is not the Biblical definition of the relationship between sheep and shepherd. The Lord loves and cares for and protects His flock like the good shepherd He is. Shepherds had to be vigilant and ready at all times to chase away or fight predators. Shepherds had to be on the alert for wayward sheep that might wander from the fold so they could be led gently back. Shepherds tended ailments and injuries among the flock and sat up nights with any sheep that felt poorly. The sheep followed their shepherd because their shepherd loved them. Their shepherd was their source of strength, comfort, protection, health, and provision. They didn't blindly follow him. They followed him because he had proven himself trustworthy. The Lord is going to prove Himself trustworthy during Israel's time in the desert and He begins immediately by making Himself visible to them day and night. Shepherds must walk in front of their sheep; sheep will not be driven like cattle. This is why we find the Lord going in front of them, not behind them.
In tomorrow's study we will find them camping by the Red Sea and we will find the Egyptians regretting allowing them to leave. Pharaoh and his army will set out after them, but they are setting themselves up for failure because the Good Shepherd is going to make a way for His flock to escape.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
The Exodus. Day 45, The First Few Days Of Freedom, Part Three
In today's passage the Lord is speaking to the people through Moses telling them they are always to commemorate their rescue from Egypt and that they are to dedicate the firstborn males of their families or flocks or herds to the Lord.
"Then Moses said to the people, 'Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving.'" (Exodus 13:3-4) We know the Israelites spent 430 years altogether in Egypt, but we don't know how many of those years were spent in slavery. They were forced into labor sometime after the death of Joseph. Many scholars think the Israelites lived in Goshen for perhaps as long as two hundred years before a king (or dynasty) "to whom Joseph meant nothing" came to power and oppressed the Israelites. This is because in Exodus 1 we are told that the generation of Joseph and all his brothers passed on and that their descendants were fruitful and became so numerous that "the land was filled with them". It was after they became so plentiful in number that a king or dynasty of kings developed an irrational prejudice toward them. But whether the Israelites labored in forced slavery for four centuries or just for two centuries, even one day of this ill treatment was too much. And now, through all the generations to come, they are to commemorate the day the Lord set them free.
Moses continues, "When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites---the land He swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey---you are to observe this ceremony in this month. For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be anywhere within your borders." (Exodus 13:5-7) They had to eat unleavened bread on Passover night and they ate unleavened bread for the first seven days of the exodus because they had only unleavened bread dough with them. They had to leave Egypt hastily and did not have time to prepare dough with yeast, which is just as well since the addition of yeast would likely have caused the dough to spoil before they could use it all.
Through the generations to come, when commemorating their release from Egypt, they are to tell the story of their rescue by the hand of the Lord. "On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.' This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with His mighty hand. You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year." (Exodus 13:8-10) For whose benefit is this religious holiday to be observed? For the Lord's? No, I don't believe so. There is nothing God needs from man, but there is a great deal---everything in fact---that man needs from God. Commemorating a day when the Lord rescued the people will remind them, generation after generation, that the Lord loves them and is able to rescue them time and time again.
One of the best ways we can strengthen our trust in the Lord is to regularly remind ourselves of all the things He's already brought us through. Sometimes when I'm asking for help in prayer I'll start listing examples of times the Lord has helped me in the past. While I'm naming these things to the Lord and thanking Him for them, this honors Him of course but the primary purpose of it is to remind me that the God who has already done so many wondrous things for me is able to keep on doing wondrous things for me. He didn't suddenly change; God never changes. He is who He has always been and He is who He always will be. He's just as powerful today as He ever was. He still loves us as much as He ever did. His mercies are new every morning and this means He has an inexhaustible supply for us. We aren't going to "use up" the mercies of the One we serve. We're not going to reach a particular day when He'll say, "Sorry, My child, you've used up your share of mercy. I can't help you any more in this life. You have trusted in Me for salvation, so you'll get to spend eternity with Me, but until then there's nothing more I can do for you." No, as the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed, 'The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23)
"After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as He promised on oath to you and your ancestors, you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons." (Exodus 13:11-13) If the firstborn males of the livestock were not a type of animal acceptable to God for a sacrifice (such as a donkey) the people would offer an acceptable animal (like a lamb) in its place. The owner of the donkey could then retain the animal for his own use, such as riding the donkey or using it to pull carts or to perform other work on the farm. But if the donkey's owner refused to redeem it, he was not allowed to keep the donkey and had to kill it instead.
I had to do some research to try and find an answer for why the donkey had to be killed, but from what I was able to glean from various commentaries is that this redeeming of animals such as the donkey was intended to foreshadow the redemption that Christ (the Lamb of God) would bring about through His sacrifice of Himself. The donkey, for example, was of no use unless it was redeemed. It was of no use as a sacrificial animal and it could not be used for any other purpose unless it was redeemed by a lamb. Neither are we acceptable in the eyes of God unless we have been redeemed! What do we accomplish of any eternal significance if we don't give our hearts and lives to the Lord? Are we fit for the Lord's service if we don't honor and obey Him? Can we lead others to Christ if we don't belong to Him ourselves? If we are not redeemed by the blood of the Lamb then we are still in our sins and must answer for them in the presence of a holy God and Judge someday, and in that sense we are no better off than a dead donkey, for we are no use to ourselves or to God. We are lost and undone, consigned to an eternity separated from the presence of our Creator and from the presence of all that is goodness and light. Just as the donkey had no hope if not redeemed with a lamb, we also have no hope if not redeemed by the Lamb.
The people are to explain the meaning of the redemption system to their children. "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' Say to him, 'With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.' And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us up out of Egypt with His mighty hand." (Exodus 13:14-16) If a person had a message written on the back of his hand or on his forehead, he would see the message every day. Every time he used his hand or looked in a mirror he would be reminded of what the message said. The yearly observance of Passover and the observance of the dedication of the firstborn of flock and herd and family will be a perpetual message, and the message is that the Lord loves and the Lord saves and that there is nothing the Lord cannot do!
The people will soon see further displays of God's mighty power at work when He begins leading them through the wilderness and when He rescues them from Pharaoh's army at the Red Sea.
"Then Moses said to the people, 'Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving.'" (Exodus 13:3-4) We know the Israelites spent 430 years altogether in Egypt, but we don't know how many of those years were spent in slavery. They were forced into labor sometime after the death of Joseph. Many scholars think the Israelites lived in Goshen for perhaps as long as two hundred years before a king (or dynasty) "to whom Joseph meant nothing" came to power and oppressed the Israelites. This is because in Exodus 1 we are told that the generation of Joseph and all his brothers passed on and that their descendants were fruitful and became so numerous that "the land was filled with them". It was after they became so plentiful in number that a king or dynasty of kings developed an irrational prejudice toward them. But whether the Israelites labored in forced slavery for four centuries or just for two centuries, even one day of this ill treatment was too much. And now, through all the generations to come, they are to commemorate the day the Lord set them free.
Moses continues, "When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites---the land He swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey---you are to observe this ceremony in this month. For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be anywhere within your borders." (Exodus 13:5-7) They had to eat unleavened bread on Passover night and they ate unleavened bread for the first seven days of the exodus because they had only unleavened bread dough with them. They had to leave Egypt hastily and did not have time to prepare dough with yeast, which is just as well since the addition of yeast would likely have caused the dough to spoil before they could use it all.
Through the generations to come, when commemorating their release from Egypt, they are to tell the story of their rescue by the hand of the Lord. "On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.' This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with His mighty hand. You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year." (Exodus 13:8-10) For whose benefit is this religious holiday to be observed? For the Lord's? No, I don't believe so. There is nothing God needs from man, but there is a great deal---everything in fact---that man needs from God. Commemorating a day when the Lord rescued the people will remind them, generation after generation, that the Lord loves them and is able to rescue them time and time again.
One of the best ways we can strengthen our trust in the Lord is to regularly remind ourselves of all the things He's already brought us through. Sometimes when I'm asking for help in prayer I'll start listing examples of times the Lord has helped me in the past. While I'm naming these things to the Lord and thanking Him for them, this honors Him of course but the primary purpose of it is to remind me that the God who has already done so many wondrous things for me is able to keep on doing wondrous things for me. He didn't suddenly change; God never changes. He is who He has always been and He is who He always will be. He's just as powerful today as He ever was. He still loves us as much as He ever did. His mercies are new every morning and this means He has an inexhaustible supply for us. We aren't going to "use up" the mercies of the One we serve. We're not going to reach a particular day when He'll say, "Sorry, My child, you've used up your share of mercy. I can't help you any more in this life. You have trusted in Me for salvation, so you'll get to spend eternity with Me, but until then there's nothing more I can do for you." No, as the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed, 'The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23)
"After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as He promised on oath to you and your ancestors, you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons." (Exodus 13:11-13) If the firstborn males of the livestock were not a type of animal acceptable to God for a sacrifice (such as a donkey) the people would offer an acceptable animal (like a lamb) in its place. The owner of the donkey could then retain the animal for his own use, such as riding the donkey or using it to pull carts or to perform other work on the farm. But if the donkey's owner refused to redeem it, he was not allowed to keep the donkey and had to kill it instead.
I had to do some research to try and find an answer for why the donkey had to be killed, but from what I was able to glean from various commentaries is that this redeeming of animals such as the donkey was intended to foreshadow the redemption that Christ (the Lamb of God) would bring about through His sacrifice of Himself. The donkey, for example, was of no use unless it was redeemed. It was of no use as a sacrificial animal and it could not be used for any other purpose unless it was redeemed by a lamb. Neither are we acceptable in the eyes of God unless we have been redeemed! What do we accomplish of any eternal significance if we don't give our hearts and lives to the Lord? Are we fit for the Lord's service if we don't honor and obey Him? Can we lead others to Christ if we don't belong to Him ourselves? If we are not redeemed by the blood of the Lamb then we are still in our sins and must answer for them in the presence of a holy God and Judge someday, and in that sense we are no better off than a dead donkey, for we are no use to ourselves or to God. We are lost and undone, consigned to an eternity separated from the presence of our Creator and from the presence of all that is goodness and light. Just as the donkey had no hope if not redeemed with a lamb, we also have no hope if not redeemed by the Lamb.
The people are to explain the meaning of the redemption system to their children. "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' Say to him, 'With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.' And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us up out of Egypt with His mighty hand." (Exodus 13:14-16) If a person had a message written on the back of his hand or on his forehead, he would see the message every day. Every time he used his hand or looked in a mirror he would be reminded of what the message said. The yearly observance of Passover and the observance of the dedication of the firstborn of flock and herd and family will be a perpetual message, and the message is that the Lord loves and the Lord saves and that there is nothing the Lord cannot do!
The people will soon see further displays of God's mighty power at work when He begins leading them through the wilderness and when He rescues them from Pharaoh's army at the Red Sea.
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