Jethro's Advice 18 Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, 3 along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”), 4 and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”). 5 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God. 6 And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,” 7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. 8 Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” 12 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. 13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” 17 Moses' father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.” 24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. 27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country. While I don't think anyone has ever asked me the question, this is the exact passage that Liberty University uses as its model for student leadership and discipleship. It is because of this passage here that I really got involved in student ministries, being an accountability partner, and small-group discipleship. It is that time in my life that radically altered my perception of Christianity and discipleship. However, those are applications to be made from this passage and not the direct teaching of this passage as this passage speaks directly to those in authority--whether that be government authority, or as an employer, or even in some spiritual authority as I was saying with my position in Student Leadership at Liberty University where I was responsible for watching over the physical and spiritual health of a small group of guys on my hall.
At this time, Moses was acting as both prophet and priest. As prophet, he spoke to the people for God, and as priest, he spoke to God for the people. Remember that at this time there was no Law yet, so the people came to Moses to fulfill another more obscure role that we really won't see fleshed out until the time of the conquest called a judge (while in some ways this is like a modern-day judge, it's really not the same). In the role of judge, Moses was to make sure that God's justice would be done in each and every situation and to hold court, hear cases and render just decisions, but what makes him different than a modern-day judge is that he wasn't looking at precedent, but was going directly to God for answers and God would give Him the wisdom to make the right choice or would speak directly to Moses to tell him what to tell that people. This role was so important that this position of judge over the people would be referred to as Moses' seat. While the king would later be charged with rendering such decisions, it is not David or even Solomon (the man who was given wisdom because he asked for it) who would be known for this position, but Moses who would be the one who would hold court all day long ever day to the point where the people were wearing him out, and his father-in-law, Jethro, was concerned for his mental health and stability. Moses needed a friend (in this case a "father figure") to come to him and tell him that he would be no good to anyone if he didn't take care of himself, and what he needed to do in this case to take care of himself was to learn to delegate authority and become a manager of the managers--he didn't need to micro-manage and try and do everything himself. He needed to realize that God had gifted others in the community, in this case gifts of discernment and wisdom on how to apply justice, and that there should be a system of "lower courts" that would hear the small cases that didn't need Moses' attention and Moses then only needed to worry about the biggest cases which he needed to speak directly to God about. As you can probably guess by the way that I described it, this is also the passage on which the model of the court system in the United States of America was framed around, but since not all of us are judges and we're usually not trying cases, let's talk some more practical applications for each and every one of you. Jethro's advice is so good and so clear, that I want to quote it again first before I dig into it again 17 Moses' father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.” This is one of the first places that we see qualifications for being a leader of God's people, and the list of qualifications looks a lot like the qualifications for a deacon and an elder given by the writers of the New Testament epistles later on (specifically Paul). It not only important to choose someone with giftedness, but someone who is trustworthy, honest, and has integrity--integrity was the word that I really learned a lot about during my time in Student Leadership. Another way to talk about integrity is "authenticity"--the person is the same person in every situation no matter who they are around. They are not one person when in front of their "church friends" and another person when hanging out with their "work friends." They realize their identity is something that goes with them wherever they go and is something that cannot change on a whim--if it can change on a whim, then it's not your identity because that's what the word "identity" means--a characteristic that will not change. Jethro said the purpose of this advice was not only to take care of Moses, but so that Moses could take care of the most important things for the people, and we see the apostles in the book of Acts follow a similar model when they establish the role of deacons for the church to take care of all the things that don't need the attention of the apostles (See Acts 6:1-7 and see the characteristics used to choose the deacons and see if they don't come directly from this "Jethro Principle." Also see I Timothy 3:8-13 and Titus 1:5-16. Again see if you can't see the Jethro Principle at play here in the qualifications for an elder/bishop/overseer/pastor (many English words coming from the same word in Greek). The church (God's people) can't function properly when they put all of the responsibility on a single man--we often do this with our pastors, and like Moses in this passage, they get burnt out. Pastors are usually terrible at learning to delegate, and often need people gifted with the gift of administration to come alongside them and be a "safety valve" for them to keep things from getting to them and funnel things to the right people who are responsible to take care of it in the church, because if the pastor hears about it, he thinks he needs to take care of it, and that keeps him for doing the things that God has really called him to do (again, see Acts 6 where the apostles commissioned deacons to help with issues that were important but could and should be entrusted to others). Please do your church and pastor a favor and don't run to your pastor with every little issue. Set up some system according to the Jethro Principle within your local community so that little issues get taken care of at the lower levels and only the big issues get taken care of by the elders, as their primary responsibility is to provide spiritual leadership, not to handle disputes or get involved in politics. They are to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word according to Acts 6--everything else should fall to others such as deacons and other members of the church according to the model given to us in Scripture. Don't expect your pastor to come and visit you in the hospital or conduct a funeral for your great-aunt who never set foot inside your church, or to preside over every wedding--especially for your third cousin twice removed who lives five states away. All these burdens that we put on pastors wear them out and keep them from doing what they are called to do--lead the people through prayer and teaching and preaching the Word of God. Most of us are guilty of this, and most of us have pastors that have trouble getting involved in the minutia and feeling responsible for all of it, which doesn't help. Can you be a Jethro in your pastor's life and say to him, "What you are doing is not good." How will you exercise the Jethrol Principle in your life? Will you learn to delegate responsibility to those who are trustworthy? Will you be the person who is trustworthy that others can delegate responsibility to? Remember that God gave the entire Body of Christ to each other to help each other out so that none of us do it alone. We are one Body with many parts, each with different gifts. Let's remember to recognize the gifts of others and look for people with the right qualifications to help bear the burden of ministry and follow the principle that while not directly in the Bible seems to come out of this passage that "many hands make light work." Who can help easy your heavy burden today? How can you help ease someone else's heavy burden?
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Israel Defeats Amalek 8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” Before we start today, let's take a trip down memory lane to see where we've heard of Amalek before, because this is not the first time that name has appeared in the Bible. We saw it several times in the book of Genesis, and I may have even pointed out at that time to remember this particular name because it would come back.
The first time we see Amalek mentioned is in Genesis 14 as a territorial reference during the battle between the many kings of the nations and city-states where Lot was captures and Abram and his Amorites that were with him repel the invaders and rescue Lot and meet Melchizedek (we spent quite a bit of time talking about him). However, we didn't really learn anything about the Amalekites here other than they lived in a territory near the Amorites that was also under attack by these pagan kings from the East. The reason for this is because this is an allusion to us and the Amalekites didn't really exist yet (it was just a helpful geographical reference for the readers as it was a history that was written after the events took place). We see that Amalek wasn't born until Genesis 36 when the descendants of Esau are described. He was the son of Eliphaz, Esau's son, and one of Eliphaz's concubines, Timna. That should give us a little more context now as we know there is bad blood between the sons of Jacob, the Israelites, and the sons of Esau, the Edomites, and these Amalekites are part of the larger Edomite clans though they are not the group that calls themselves "Edomites" or lives in the land called Edom. That's all we know about Amalek so far, but it won't be the last we see of them here in the Old Testament--in fact, the LORD is going to make a promise concerning them at the end of today's passage that there will be some conflict throughout all generations between the Amalekites and the Israelites. This is also the first time that we see Joshua mentioned as a military leader. Moses chooses him to choose able-bodied men to go out and fight against the Amalekites, but we will learn something interesting about Joshua here (coincidentally, Joshua is the same Hebrew name that "Jesus" comes from Yeshua, which means "Savior"--he will be another one of the "types" of Christ in the Old Testament, so pay close attention to him). We also see Aaron (we know who he is, the brother of Moses) and Hur, we really don't know who he is--we literally don't know anything about him other than the times that he's mentioned here in the book of Exodus, but we do know that he was of the tribe of Judah. So Moses is there representing the role of the prophets, with Aaron there representing the office of the priests (the high priest), and Hur there representing the office of the king (as the scepter would not pass from between the feet of Judah if you recall the blessing giving by Jacob before his death). All three offices standing together in solidarity in the face of the attacking enemy. While Joshua and his men were fighting the battle down in the desert below, the real battle was going on high up on to of a hill nearby where Moses would keep the staff of God lifted up in his arms, and as long as the staff was raised, the Israelites would be willing, but as soon as Moses' arms got tired and the staff started to fall, the Israelites started to lose. So Aaron and Hur stood one on each side and lifted up Moses' arms when they got tired and helped him bear the weight of the real battle that was going on, and they did they gave Moses a stone to sit on while they supported him, and they did this until sunset (remember that's when the next day starts for the Israelites) and the enemy was thoroughly defeated. God knew that it would be important for Joshua to remember this story because God had already chosen Joshua at that point to be Moses' successor, even though no one else knew that yet. God tells Moses to write this particular story down and keep telling it over and over again to Joshua so that he would remember, "The battle belongs to the LORD," and that it is He who gave them victory over the Amalekites just as He would with every other enemy they would face during the Exodus and the Conquest of Canaan. We see again that pivotal moments in history are marked by the building of an altar and lead God's people to worship. There was a physical reminder to look at and remember who God is and what He had done, and once again we learn something new about God and God gets a new name--The Lord is My Banner"--Jehovah Nissi. A banner would be carried in front of the military unit to show which regiment or group they belonged to--this idea is still used today with tanks and planes being marked by what division or squadron they belong to. Some today are more feared than others because they are part of the "special forces" or they are simply known for their military prowess, excellence in battle and for never quitting, never retreating, and never surrendering, and especially for leaving no man behind. This is the same idea--the LORD would go before them in battle and everyone would see what He had done and strike fear in the hearts of their enemies because of this event and others like it. While each tribe would raise their own banner to signal that all the tribes of Israel marched together as one nation against their enemies, it would be the LORD that would unite them all and His name and glory they would be fighting for and He would get credit for every victory and He that would drive them out and defeat them with hornets, and hailstones and that would make the walls of Jericho fall down on the people inside later. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Psalm 20:7) Water from the Rock 17 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Once again, in a few short verses, we seem to be right back where we started with the people of Israel (again, put yourself in their situation and honestly evaluate if you would respond and react differently). God had made the pillar of cloud/fire move, so they packed up camp and followed Him away from the oasis where they had plenty of fresh water and shade that we studied about, and they moved out towards Rephidim and set up camp there. The people realize there is no water for them like the last place where they camped (my guess is they assumed the LORD would lead them to another oasis), so they quarreled and grumbled against Moses and the LORD saying to Moses, "Give us water to drink." Moses correctly responds with, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" They are once again making it out as if this problem is too difficult for the Lord to handle and putting Him and His servant Moses to the test, and they are looking to the man, Moses, not to God for their provision. We just talked last time about God supplying their daily bread, but we already talked before this about how vital water was in the desert, and how the first thing God showed them after they came across the Red Sea was that He could turn "bitter" water that they could not drink into "sweet" water that they could drink--but God had started off with water there and just transformed it. Could He make water where none seemed to exist? Surely this seemed like a harder, more difficult task. Was it too hard? The people seem to think so, though part of them still believes that crying out--even if it is with the wrong kind of spirit--will do them some good.
The people return to their same old tune of "We would have been better off back in Egypt." Seriously?!?!?! I really don't know how Moses continued to put up with this as we saw early in his life that he was not a patient person and was prone to rage. God certainly transformed him during his 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and we can only hope that the 40 years that Israel will spend there (they don't know that yet), will do the same for them. Moses cries out to the Lord for help because he says the people are ready to stone him. Moses seems like he can be a little dramatic at times, so I'm not sure the situation was that bad, but it very well might have been because all the people believed they were going to die. He tells Moses for him to take the staff of God in his hand--the same one that was used to turn the Nile River into blood--and for him and some of the elders to pass before the people. This should have been an indication to the people to calm down and that something miraculous was about to happen. Then, on the very mountain where Moses met God at the burning bush, and we believe the very same mountain that would later be called Mount Sinai or "the mountain of the LORD," where the LORD would give the book of the Law (the Old Covenant) to His people, we see that God makes Living Water (you'll see why I capitalized this in a minute when I quote from the New Testament) flow from the Rock of that mountain when the Rock was struck with the staff of God. I know this seems like a big jump to make, but this is a picture of Jesus being "struck" by the Father when He died on the cross, and "living water" (eternal life) flowing abundantly and freely from Him. We'll come back to another place later where Moses is not told to strike the Rock, but prophesy to the Rock and he strikes it out of anger and God punishes him for it. People wonder why it was such a big deal the second time since that is what worked the first time. Well, first, it was disobedience and was out of anger, but the issue is that Moses messed up the imagery that God was using. The Rock of our Salvation would only be "struck" once for our salvation--at the cross on a different mountain--Mount Calvary. After that, all we need to do is speak God's words back to Him about the provision and salvation that He has promised and Living Water will flow forth from the Rock in abundant supply wherever and whenever we need it. Before you think that I'm reading too much into this, let's see what the New Testament authors have to say about this. 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 English Standard VersionWarning Against Idolatry10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. John 4:7-15 English Standard Version7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” We'll come back to this picture more and more throughout the Old and New Testament where the Messiah would be called the Rock and the Cornerstone, and we are told that the Rock that the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone so that all who fall upon it will be broken, but all whom it falls upon will be crushed (synopsis of multiple Old and New Testament passages). We do not go to Jesus to crucify Him a second time to receive new blessing, because Jesus' sacrifice was sufficient when He died once and once for all. When He said "It is finished," He meant that the debt was "paid in full," and nothing more could be added to or taken away from the sacrifice that He had made. This is why all we need to do now is call upon the name of the Lord, and we too will be saved, just like these people who realized they needed water in the desert and just like the woman at the well who eventually realized her need for the Living Water that would spring up in her to eternal life. Jesus is all we've ever needed, and only Jesus, the Rock from which Living Water pours forth in abundant supply, can quench our spiritual thirst and meet our every need. Bread from Heaven 16 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.” 9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” 13 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.) Before we get started on today's passage, I want you to recall something that you've probably already read in the New Testament related to this. I'll just post the link because it is a long passage--https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A22-71&version=ESV. In that passage, among other things, Jesus refers to Himself as the Bread of Life after the Jews try to tell Him that Moses gave the people manna from heaven to eat--WRONG! It was God who provided the bread for the people to eat, not Moses, and Jesus says that He is The Bread of Life come down from His Father in Heaven and all who eat of Him (we've talked about what this means before, but it does not mean cannibalism) will live forever, and His words are the words of life and are spiritual food, and unless people were willing to "eat His flesh" and "drink His blood," they did not belong with Him--even the disciples called this a "hard teaching."
Alright, with that out of the way, let's talk about today's text where God has just brought His people across the Red Sea and miraculously turned bitter water into sweet water for them to drink, and led them to an oasis for water and shade and shelter. While it's only been a couple of chapters in our Bibles, it's been two-and-a-half months that the people have been camped out here near the Red Sea. Can you imagine the grumbling and complaining about "Why aren't we moving?" "Are we there yet?" and all the rest. Once they start to move though, the people realize they no longer have enough provisions for the journey due to the delay--again, I think this was intentional so that they would look to God to provide for all their needs according to His riches in glory. (See Philippians 4:19). They again question if God brought them out into the wilderness simply to kill them (notice a recurring refrain?) not by the death of Pharaoh's army, or of drowning, or of dying of thirst, but this time of starvation. Their food supplies are dwindling and they are in the middle of a desert where, pretty much by definition, there is no source of food able to support even a few people, let alone the millions of people making the Exodus through the wilderness of Sin right now. Yet, the people longed for their bellies to be full with the meat that they used to be able to eat in Egypt. God does not appear to get angry with them as I would expect, but instead hears their grumblings and interprets them as cries for help. He speaks to Moses to give him instructions to give to the people regarding the provision He is about to provide. He is going to make "bread" come down from heaven (though this is probably not the best word because the people call it "manna" meaning, "What is it?," so it's probably unlike any "bread" that they knew of). The people were instructed to go out each morning and collect just enough for each day according to the number of people in their household--an omer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omer_(unit)#:~:text=In%20traditional%20Jewish%20standards%20of,separate%20therefrom%20the%20dough%20offering.) for each person for each day. And God made sure to tell them not to collect more than they needed because it would not keep until the next day with the exception of not collecting manna on the Sabbath, so they were to collect a double-portion the day before so that they would have enough to eat on the Sabbath as well. Also, God heard their cries for meat and said that He would provide them meat in the evenings and bread in the mornings and by this they would see the glory of the Lord. Quail came and covered the camp--the number of quail we're talking about here is inexplicable, and the quail always showed up at their camp every evening so that the people didn't have to go hunt for anything, and the manna from heaven came down with the dew in the morning so that when the dew dried up, the manna was left behind. All the people needed to do was go out and collect it, but it was readily available to them, but God would not force-feed it to them. In the same way Jesus, the Living Word, and the Bible, the written Word, are right there available to feed us every morning and every evening in abundant supply, but we must still do the work to hear the words and meditate on them and apply them to our lives. God gives us exactly what we need for each day, but we should not expect the Word that we received for today to be sufficient to get us through tomorrow. We must approach these "words of life" that The Bread of Life has brought down from heaven to give to us and make it "our daily bread" which is part of the Lord's prayer--"Give us this day our daily bread." I believe Jesus is referring to spiritual food, not just physical food in this prayer. Some did not listen and tried to save some, not trusting God to provide each and every day, but God sent works to eat what was leftover every day with the exception of the day they gathered double on purposes so as to not break the Sabbath. Only that day did the Lord not send the worms to eat the leftovers and make them stink. Each may was to fully eat and digest what the Lord had provided for Him for that day because he could not carry over today's "daily bread" into tomorrow. Again, some people didn't listen to the Lord's command and tried to gather on the seventh day, even though they were commanded not to, and there was no manna given to them that day, and those who had not prepared went hungry. God had given the people the seventh day as a day of rest from the beginning (see Genesis 1 and 2). We'll see this clearly when we get to the fourth commandment in Exodus 20, 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. As a bit of an aside here, this verse among others just like it is why I believe in literal, six-day special creation. God commands His people to rest on the seventh day of the week because that's the model He set for them in creation (really the Sabbath was given to all men, not just to the Jews, though only the Jews have been faithful in observing it). Paul will address the issue of Christians meeting on the first day of the week instead of the seventh day of the week when we get to the Pauline epistles--it's one of the reasons I saved them for last, but the idea of the Sabbath will not go away, even for Christians. As I said, it is a day for all men, and a day that is supposed to be special, set apart and "holy" so that it is like no other day in the week. God wants us to not be about our common business (like collecting quail and manna) and to give 100% of our attention to Him that day and listening to what He has to say to us. At the end of today's passage, the manna is described as being, "like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey," but that's not really the important part of this paragraph. God ordered that certain things be kept as a memorial of what God had done for the people and there would be something called "The Ark of the Covenant" later. We'll see it all throughout the Old Testament as a physical reminder of God's presence to the people of God and the other nations assumed that this was the "god" of the Israelites and that it was some kind of idol that had special powers that gave the people of Israel blessings and military victories and that all they needed to do was steal the Ark and those blessings and victories would belong to them--it didn't work out that way though. Why do I bring up the Ark? Because God would command three things to be kept in the Ark, and we see God ordering the people to prepare for that here. The first would be an omer of manna. The first would be Aaron's staff that would bud, the second an omer of manna, and the third would be the stone tablets with the Law written on them. These are signs of God's power (power to bring life from something that is dead), His provision that can give life to His people in the desert, and the Law which we think as something that brings death, but God meant for it to protect His people from harm and to bring about life and blessings if they obeyed it. All of these symbols were to show that the covenant God made with His people was one where He provided salvation, protections, and provision in impossible times and it was only of Him, by Him and for Him that we have our life. When God's people looked to the Ark of the Covenant they were supposed to look and remember that these things though not visible to them were still on the inside of the Ark and it was there as a reminder. The other nations who did not have this history had no idea what was on the inside that they could not see, and therefore they could not see the Ark with the same kind of eyes as the Jews did. The power would not lie within the box of gold--even if you watch the History channel today, they seem to talk about the Ark of the Covenant this way. The power was brought by the presence of the LORD living among His people in the Shekinah glory of the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire that chose to dwell on the "Mercy Seat" of the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle once it was set up--again, we're getting there, but I think it's important that we realize that the Tabernacle and all of it's instruments are physical representations of something greater--we talked about this in the book of Hebrews, and they model things that are in heaven. It was important for them to be made to exact specifications because they were designed after real things, but in they were to point towards something even more real than the physical representation here on earth to tell us something about the realm that God lives in called heaven and as we study these things moving forward, we will see how the entire Tabernacle is a picture of Christ when "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling (literally "tabernacled") among us." So, application questions for today. Are you more like Paul saying, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." or are we like the Israelites that every time we hit adversity we grumble and complain that God must just want bad things to happen to us and never intended to fulfill His promises to us? Do we trust for him to provide for us physically, financially (the context of Philippians 4:19), and spiritually on a daily basis? Do we somehow imagine that we can get everything that we need for the entire week on Sunday (like the Israelites) only to realize that if we try to carry that through to another day that it rots and stinks and is full of worms? Have we learned the spiritual discipline of getting up early every morning to meet with the Lord and gather our daily bread for the day? (Notice they didn't have all day to gather, because as soon as it started to get warm, the manna melted away like frost would). Do we consume everything that God has for us digest each and every day? As we continue to study about the Exodus, maybe see anew the words of Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths (or some versions say "make your paths straight")." All the people needed to do was trust in the Lords provision and follow the pillar of cloud/fire when it moved and set up camp when it stopped. Understand anew what Jesus meant when He said, "Give us this day our daily bread," as He is The Bread of Life and we need our daily portion of Him each and every day. Unless we "eat His flesh," we have no part in Him. Hard words? Yes, absolutely! But truer words have never been spoken. Look to Jesus in the same way that the people of Israel looked at the manna come down from heaven. Without that bread they would have died physically, and it's not something they could just eat once, but something they had to come to daily--Jesus is just like that for us spiritually. Do we take God's supernatural provision for granted? Do we ascribe God's provision to someone else in the same way that the Jews did in the time of Jesus where they said that it was Moses that gave them manna to eat in the desert (do we give credit to our pastors and spiritual leaders where the glory belongs only to God)? Do we see God's glory revealed through His miraculous provision as He intended? Is His provision something that we treasure in our hearts like what was inside the Ark of the Covenant? I'm sure the Holy Spirit can speak to each of you personally and ask you even more things as He leads you into all truth as Jesus promised. Bitter Water Made Sweet 22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” 27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. A much shorter passage again, but an important one. The people of Israel had just seen the 10 plagues and miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea, and yet their thinking has not yet been transformed to realize that if God was with them, nothing in this physical world or the spiritual one could stand against them. They have traveled three days through the desert where water is scarce and they had no way to get enough water for all of their people, flocks and herds. Did God really bring them out into the desert to kill them all? They had just asked that at the Red Sea, and they will ask it again here. The only source of water they could find was brackish water and could not fit for drinking as it was "bitter" and made the people sick.
We now see a picture that we won't understand until many thousands of years later that this "bitter" water is us and we may think that we're as important as water in the desert, but we are utterly useless to anyone because we are unable to give or sustain life since we are full of sin, and sin leads to death, not life. It is only when God tells Moses to throw a tree (a symbol of the cross of Christ) into the water that the water is transformed to "sweet" water that is free of the pollutants that were making the people sick. How much more so did God change the "bitter" hearts of those who have repented and undergone the regeneration (being "born again") that is brought about by the power of the gospel to make what was "bitter" "sweet." God once again renews His covenant with His people there, but this is a different kind of covenant--a conditional one. God says that if they will be obedient, diligently listen to Him, and do what is right in His eyes, then He will not bring on them any of the plagues that were brought onto the Egyptians, and He gives Himself a new name here, "I AM the LORD, Your Healer"--Jehovah Rapha. After this, the Lord led them to a place of 12 springs near 70 palm trees (these numbers have some significance bionically, but it is enough to understand that it was enough "living water" and shade to protect them and provide for them for the time they encamped there). God intentionally led the people to the bitter water instead of leading them directly to the 12 springs of living water with the 70 palm trees because God knew they had a lesson He needed to teach them and they needed to learn something new about Him they wouldn't learn any other way other than experiencing it. Do you ever feel this way in your life and want to take a "short cut" to escape the "bitter" times of life and head straight to the oasis? Have such situations made you question the character and nature of God, specifically either his power, love, and goodness? If so, you will empathize much with the Israelites as they go through the wilderness and struggle to understand God's plan and why God has led them the route that He has. They are particular fickle and seem to live by the lyrics, "What have you done for me lately?" But, are we that different? If we were about to die of thirst, would we make the connection that the God that just parted the Red Sea for us was going to make the water drinkable? We would have not really seen or even heard of that before other than when God changed the water to blood and then turned it back to regular water. So, try to put yourself in the story and see everything through their eyes for the first time. They are used to gods that have limited dominion over certain things and for whom some tasks are just too difficult or outside their power that they posses. They will have trouble not thinking of the LORD like this and will be tempted to think, "Did we follow the wrong god?" Or maybe thinking, "I don't remember the Egyptians dealing with this. Maybe we chose the wrong side." It will take a long time and the death of an entire generation (40 years) before the people will be ready to enter the Promised Land and even then Joshua will have to speak to them at the end of his life and charge them to say, "15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”" (Joshua 24:15). These are some of Joshua's last words before he died, but the people swore to follow God faithfully, though we know that didn't happen. Again, we have the benefit of knowing the beginning, the middle and the end of the story. We know the people will be unfaithful. We know that they will go back into slavery and God will have to use evil empires to humble them and bring them back. We know they will commit idolatry and all kinds of wickedness, and we know that even when God came down in the flesh to teach them and redeem them, most of them would not believe Him. So why would God choose such a people for Himself? For the answer to that question we're going to have to dig much deeper into the Old Testament, but I encourage you to see yourself and ask the same questions--God knew everything about you before salvation and everything you would do after salvation. So, why would God choose to redeem you when He knew that you weren't going to be faithful to Him and be perfectly obedient? Where is the line where someone no longer deserves God's grace for you? Are you willing to have God apply that same standard to you? The answer is that we don't lose our salvation and don't stop being the people of God--ever. There are those who claim to be born into the family and then choose to leave of their own free will, but that's different. The Song of Moses 15 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. 4 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. 7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. 8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ 10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. 13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. 14 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. 16 Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. 17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. 18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.” 19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.” So what was the response of the people to the deliverance and salvation that was provided? We saw in the last chapter that it caused them to fear the LORD, but it also led them all to worship The people and Moses together sang a song that became part of the way that the people of Israel would remember the LORD and His marvelous works, especially their salvation. We too should sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs that give testimony to what the LORD has done in our lives. Hymns like "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and "Behold Our God" come to mind along with some others. We'll see Moses write other songs too to help the people of Israel remember the Promised Land and their time in the desert (see Deuteronomy 32) And we see in Revelation 15 that the Song of Moses (probably referring to this very song here) is one of the few songs that it seems that everyone in heaven will know the words too and that the choir of all saints from all nations and all times and all places will join together to one voice to sing "The Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb" )See Revelation 15:1-4). These will be the lyrics on our lips right before God pours out the final seven plagues of His wrath on the unbelieving, rebellious world that still remains. Both salvation and vengeance belong to the LORD and to the Lamb who sits on the throne. Compare these words from that song to the lyrics of The Song of Moses that is recorded here:
3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Rev. 15:3-4) One other passage of Scripture in song from that we know was authored by Moses is Psalm 90. I encourage you to read and pray through that today as it is another song that reaches beyond what the LORD did for His people Israel and is the story of our God as well. Notice how in all of these songs, the focus is on the Lord and what He has done. We are mere spectators and the recipients of His blessing, grace, and mercy. Whether it's creation, redemption, protection, providence, or all of them together as God's perfect plan of salvation, it should make us sing of Him and His works so that we bring all glory, honor and praise to Him and testify before all peoples and make them wonder at who this God is and what He has done to put music in our hearts and in our mouths. Surely we were created unique from all the rest of creation not just to have a relationship with God, but to worship Him--especially in song, for no other creature can sing like we can. Others may learn to imitate the tune and lyrics (some birds can sing with perfect pitch), but they are not singing in response to the Lord and what He has done--they are simply engaged in vain repetition of words they can't possibly understand. No one can sing these songs like those who have actually experienced and responded to these events in their own lives by the faith that God provides which brings about regeneration. He is the one that puts the song in our hearts. This song also looked forward to what the Lord was sure to do, and would remind the people that in the good times and bad that God was on His throne and still working out His plan to bring about His plan and establishing His covenant with His people.join with me today and with Moses and all the people in the book of Revelation when we join together with these words recorded in Revelation 7 (emphasis added): 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:9-12) Crossing the Red Sea 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. 10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” 15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” 19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. This is another one of those moments in Israel's history that was pivotal that God continues to draw their memory back to when He reminds them of who He is because of the things He has done, and the people reach a place where there is no other way forward other than the miracle that God provides and no turning back once they go forward--much like the decision that many of us faced when we came to repentance and chose to follow Christ. The journey ahead is long and hard, but if our decision is real, there never, ever any going back the way we came--that is not an option.
God knows exactly what He's doing and tells the Israelites to camp at an indefensible position with the sea cutting them off from any possibility of retreat. God causes Pharaoh to desire once again to go back on his word and to try to pursue the Israelites to try to enslave them once again, but God has other plans for Pharaoh and his army. God's agenda in all this? To prove once and for all to all of Egypt that He alone is the Lord and there are no other gods worthy of their worship. It is the people of Egypt that are enslaved to the powers of darkness, and God also wants them to be free, but it will take a lot for the scales to come off their eyes. After the plagues, it is amazing that Pharaoh could even muster up 600 chariots and soldiers to ride in them to chase after the .Israelites. This was not only a huge show-of-force, but could possibly represent all that was left of his cavalry at that point since so many of the animals and livestock had been destroyed and I'm sure many of the soldiers were killed during the plagues as well. Pharaoh was going to make one last-ditch effort to save his pride and possibly his nation, and Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen and army caught up with the people and surrounded them. The Israelites were in an impossible situation because they had an army they could not fight all around them with the exception of the Red Sea that was in front of them, but they had no way to cross it on their own. The people implored Moses to cry out to the LORD as they did for salvation, as it looked like God had put them in a lose-lose situation and the people wondered if they went through all this just to surrender and admit defeat now. Surly that's not the result that God wanted, and His name was on the line now. I love Moses' answer to the people as this are words we also need to live by when we see impossible situations like this, "13 And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”" God's reply is also quite remarkable here, "15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. " God expects us move forward even when the path looks impossible, especially in light of the power that He has already demonstrated. Remember the question God asked Abraham after He told him that he would have a son in his old age and Abraham doubted? "14 Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14a) God put the pillar of cloud (the Shekinah Glory that we talked about last time) between the Egyptians and the Israelites so that the Egyptians were confused and so that the Egyptians would not be able to see the escape that God was providing for His people until it was too late. The Lord kept the Egyptians busy until His people had safely crossed over and then removed the pillar of cloud so that the Egyptian army could see that the Israelites had escaped on dry ground and Pharaoh ordered his army and chariots to give pursuit. But the Lord made the ground that had been dry so that the chariots and soldiers got stuck in it, and he caused the walls of water to fall in and collapse on the Egyptian army and drown Pharaoh and his men. The nation of Egypt had been humbled, though maybe not brought to their knees as God would have liked. They lost their economic and military dominance in a very short period of time--everything that God had given them during the years of favor when Joseph had been leading and having the people fear the Lord was removed in a very short time because a new Pharaoh that did not fear the Lord came in and showed no respect for God or His people. And the end result of it all is that Israel, Egypt and all the surrounding nations learned to fear the LORD and his awesome and awful power (depending on which side you were standing on). We'll see that when the people get to Canaan how the Canaanites have heard about the ways in which the Lord has provided protection and salvation for His people. |
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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