Exodus 15-17

Victory Dance

Two books into the Torah, and we have just happened across the oldest portion of scripture.

Exodus 15 is perhaps the oldest portion of scripture. Why is that? Because it was sung besides the Red Sea, by a group of people, in an act of liturgy. This was likely written down long before the rest of the Torah. It contains some of the most "raw" revelation of God.

God is depicted as a warrior God. Israel sings his praises like children applauding their favorite super-hero. "He has thrown the horse and the rider into the sea!" "He is my Father's God" His "Right hand shatters the enemy." This God is the toughest God that could ever exist. This God split a sea in half by blasting it with His nostrils. There is no statement of Monotheism per se, but there is a view that he is the supreme God. He is the toughest God. He destroyed the Egyptian gods, He conquered Pharaoh, he delivered them from Egypt, and because of that, He is the best God.

The song boasts about how the inhabitants of Canaan have already been defeated. The song shows their true confidence in God. They know that if God delivered them from Egypt, then surely, God can give them the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

But eventually...

The murmuring begins. "If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

It's funny how this happens almost immediately in the text. God is shown as faithful, and his people are shown as fickle. God demonstrates amazing power, they believe, they get a little hungry, and they doubt God's ability. God delivers them from this doubt by giving them bread and quail. He tells them to only gather for the day, but never for two days, unless it's the day before the Sabbath, then he would allow them to gather for two days. 

God is teaching his people to trust him. They are not to worry about the next day, but to believe in God's promise. God said that he would bring more Manna tomorrow. God oftentimes asks us to trust him for our sustenance. He has delivered us, and he will not let us go. He did not rescue us, He did not save us, He did not die for us, just to see us wither and die in the wilderness.

Now, Jesus said that He came from heaven, and compares Himself to the manna which fell in the wilderness, and tells us to eat His flesh. The body and the blood of our Lord is what sustains us. The Holy Communion is the pinnacle of Christian Worship. Through Holy Communion, we are able to stand at the feet of the Cross. We participate in an Eternal event. We encounter the crucified Lord, and take the position of John, at his feet.

The Murmuring Continues...

Essentially the same complaint occurs, except this time, the people demand water. Again they accuse the Lord of being incompetent. Apparently, Israel believes that God can deliver from Egypt, and from hunger, but not from thirst. It almost seems impossible to believe. Except if you put yourself in their shoes. In fact, if you were just entirely honest with yourself, you would acknowledge that you do this too. Imagine, walking, for days in the desert. No water. The sun beats down on your face, and you stagger around, and you look all around you, and in every direction all you see is sand. For all you know, you, and all your family, are wandering aimlessly.

But God delivers Israel again from their complaints. And He gives them water, and they are refreshed. But this leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of Moses. He names the river Massah and Meribah, which means Test and Quarel, and he writes, "The Israelites quarrelled and tested the LORD saying "Is the LORD among us or not?"

Exodus 17 and the Epistle of Barnabas

Recorded in Exodus 17 is the first war that Israel has to fight. Israel fights against Amalek. Moses, Aaron, and Hur go up to the mountain. When Moses' arms were raised, the people were victorious, when they dropped, the people would lose the battle. So Aaron and Hur stood beside Moses and lifted his arms up, so Israel would win the battle.

Now, Barnabas wrote an Epistle, and in this Epistle, Barnabas writes that this is a type of Jesus. That when Christians look to the cross, they are saved from their enemies, and that if Jesus' arms were never stretched out, there would be no victory over sin, death, and Satan.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Exodus 12-14

The Passover.

The Passover feast is the first in the liturgical calander of the Jews. In fact, it marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Now, there are certain rules for the Passover. These rules are meant to be reminders of how the Jews were delivered from Egypt. Among these rules was the unleavened bread. In the eating of unleavened bread, they remember that they did not have time to wait around for the yeast to rise, but they had to leave quickly, so they baked the bread without the leaven.

Another was that the lamb's bones could not be broken. Now Israel did not understand the meaning of this until far later. We see why the lamb's bones could not be broken from John. John writes that this was an allusion to Christ's death.

When a person was being crucified, they would choke on their own collar bone. When they wanted to take a breath, they would press up on their feet (that had nails in them) and pull up with their arms (that also had nails in them) and they would catch a quick breath, before going back down, and choking on their collar bone. This agonizing process could go on for hours, even days. But when the Romans wanted them to die faster, they would break the legs. When the legs were broken, they could not be pushed up on, and that person could not breath. Jesus however, died, before his legs could be broken.

The lamb's blood was applied to the door frame of God's people, and they were delivered from death. Death passed over, taking the first born from Egypt, but death passed over the Israelites. In the same way, Jesus was God's lamb, and His blood is applied to the saints. And when his blood is applied to the saints, they do not inherit death.

The Red Sea

After God's last plague, Pharaoh decides to let Israel Go. And God guides them to the red sea, with a pillar of fire by night, and a cloud by the day time. But Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues them to the sea. The people are terrified, and they call out to Moses, and accuse God, saying "did you deliver us from Egypt just so we could die here!?" But God tells Moses to put his rod over the sea. He obeys, and an east wind splits the Red Sea in half. They walk across on dry ground, and Pharaoh's armies are thrown into the Sea.

Many early Christians, including the Apostle Peter himself, saw this as a foreshadowing of Baptism. The individual is delivered from a sinful world, and inherit a new life. (Israel is delievered from Egypt, and starts a new nation.) The wickedness of the old life is washed away in the water. (The Egyptians were destroyed in the Red Sea.)

Now, there may also be some important parallels to point out between Moses and Jesus. So far, we have the following similarities.

1) Moses and Jesus both had to flee for their lives as infants. Kings were trying to kill them both.
2) Moses started his ministry after being in the desert for 40 years. Jesus started his ministry after being in the desert for 40 days.
3) Moses went to deliver Israel, riding on a donkey. Jesus went to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, riding a donkey.
4) Moses was rejected by his own people. Jesus was rejected by his own people.

There are more to come, for sure.

Exodus 6-11

God responds to Moses' stinging accusation. He assures that Egypt will not only let Israel go, but Egypt will beg Israel to leave, and in fact Israel will loot Egypt. But He offers something a little bit special to Moses. He offers him a revelation of himself. He says "I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them."

That's a pretty big claim. God was going to give Moses a revelation that not even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had! They knew God as the Almighty, but they did not know his true NAME. But that doesn't entirely make sense. From scripture, we know that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all called God Yahweh. 

What does Exodus 6:3 really mean? As for Exodus 6:3, I went into the original language, and I found that the Hebrew word "Lo" was there. The Hebrew word "Lo" is an interrogative particle. That means that the translation could be rendered "By my name Yahweh was I not known unto them?" Or, we could look at the definition of the name Yahweh that God gave Moses in Exodus 34:6-7. In other words, God was revealing something about his character that had never been seen by Israel before.

God does this by delivering Israel with 10 wonders. Now, God is not just waging war against Pharaoh. God is waging war against the gods that the Egyptians trusted in. God directly attacks multiple Egyptian gods, and conquers them, asserting his superiority.

The Egyptians worshiped the two gods named Khnum and Hopi. Khnum was the guardian of the Nile and Hopi was the spirit of the Nile. The Nile becomes the first victim of God's wrath. But Pharaoh's magicians were also able to turn water into blood, so Pharaoh refuses to let Israel God.
The second plague was the frogs. Their god Heqt would oftentimes appear as a frog. Yahweh shows that He controls the frogs, not Heqt. Yahweh turns their god against them. Heqt cannot stand before Yahweh. 

The biggest slap in the face came when God makes the sky dark. The darkness is so terrible, that the scripture describes it as "darkness that can be felt." He challenges the sun gods themselves. Horus, Re, Aten and Atum. He systematically goes through, and destroys all of their gods, and shows Pharaoh, the "god-king" that there truly is only One Almighty God, and He will deliver His people.

Lastly, I want to address this issue. Throughout this portion of scripture we see that God hardens Pharaoh's heart. What exactly does that mean? Some have argued that to harden Pharaoh's heart means that God made Pharaoh purposefully defiant. Others have said that God strengthened Pharaoh's resolve. Now, there is a very subtle distinction between these two positions. One is Calvinistic, and the idea being presented is that God gave mercy to Israel and delivered them, and God changes their hearts to one that is responsive to grace. But God shows His wrath to Pharaoh by making his heart irresponsive to grace. Whereas the later is Weslyan / Arminian. The thing being emphasized is that God was just allowing, or encouraging Pharaoh to do what he wants to do. The difference is very subtle, but it speaks volumes to God's character. Did God sovereignly decide to harden Pharaoh's heart to be unrighteous, or did God encourage Pharaoh in his own free will?

Exodus 1-5

Exodus is the second book of the Torah. It tells the story of Israel's deliverance from Egypt, and it focuses on one man. Moses. Moses' importance cannot be over-exaggerated. Moses wrote Genesis, and he also wrote the next three books of the Bible as well, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Here is where we see the origins of this incredible man. Without Moses, there would be no record of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. There would be no Judaism. There would be no Christianity. 

Why was Exodus written? Exodus was written so that nobody would ever forget what God had done for them. The traditions contained in Exodus is the central story of Judeo-Christianity. So much of the Bible relates back to Exodus. In the Hebrew Bible, God delivering Israel from Egypt, and the events in the Exodus, are alluded to in almost every book, and in the New Testament, oftentimes salvation is framed in such a way that Exodus is in view. Again, there is no over-exaggerating the importance and centrality of Moses and the Exodus narrative to the Judeo-Christian faith.

Now, Exodus doesn't just end with Moses and Israel coming out of Egypt. Exodus isn't just a narrative about being saved. But Exodus also deals with what it means to be delivered. It teaches what is expected of the people of God. It, along with the rest of the Torah, deals with the question, "how then should I live?"

"[Exodus] asserts that Israel exists as God's people only because of the gracious actions of the God who delivered them from oppression. And it also insists that their response to salvation be faithful obedience in the service of God's wider mission to bless all humanity." - The Wesley Study Bible.

The Story begins with a bad omen. A new King rises, and he doesn't know Joseph, and what Joseph did for Israel. All he sees is a great gathering of people, mightier than Egypt. He fears that one day, they'll figure out that they could revolt, and they could take Egypt. so he begins to oppress them, and force hard slavery on them, harder than it had ever been before. And still, the Israelites flourish. He then makes a command of such high atrocity, that it is unbearable to imagine. He commissions the midwives for a most unholy task. To murder all the male children as they are coming out of the womb. But the midwives fear God, and lie to Pharaoh, in essence saying "We never get there in time!" So he chooses to throw all these babies into the Nile River. But one woman who trusts God, sends her baby down a river in a basket.

This child is intercepted, and becomes a Prince of Egypt. But he also remembers his mother, and his people, and defends them when he can. One day, things go a little too far. He murders a man, and burries him in the sand when nobody is watching, because he was beating a Hebrew slave. When he is discovered, he runs away and starts a new life in Midian.

This is where he encounters God, in a fiery bush. God says that he has not forgotten Israel. Though they are going through a miserable time, he still remembers them, and it is now time for them to be delivered. He has heard their groaning, their crying, and he is going to take action, and Moses will be His mediator.

Moses is not so sure he likes God's idea. Moses feels unable to do what God wants him to do. Moses has more faith in his inability, than he does in God's ability. But God sets him straight. God makes the blind, and the seeing. God makes the deaf, and the mute, and the hearing and the speaking. God is the sovereign one who gives everybody their place in life, and God has called and created Moses for this role.

It's easy to tell God every reason why we don't qualify. It's easier for God to tell us why we don't qualify. But our being called has nothing to do with our abilities, but on God's desire to equip us for His will. And in this case, God equipped Moses with a partner. Aaron. God is an accommodating God.

God tells Moses that He is going to deliver Israel from Egypt with a "strong hand" and basically says "by the time I'm done with them, they'll be begging you to leave!" God was going to strike Egypt with all of his wonders. "Now Go!" He says "Tell Pharaoh to let my people go."

Moses delivers the message to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh does not appreciate God's message. He doesn't know Yahweh, and he doesn't care about His opinion, or His people. Instead, to spite Yahweh, he pushes even more work onto the Israelites. They suffer even more, and Moses ends this chapter with a stinging accusation.

"Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people."

Genesis 46-50

The end of the beginning. 

There is much to say, but at the moment I think I will only write about what is said of Judah.

Now, The promise of descendants is funneled through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, also called Israel. And the 12 sons of Israel fulfill the prophecy that Israel would be a great nation. Each son becomes a tribe, and that is important and good. But the specific covenant promise that interests me, is who is the Messiah?

So far we know that the Messiah is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We know that he will crush the head of the serpent. We know that all the world is going to be blessed because of him, and we know that his birth will be supernatural. And now we know that he is a descendant from the tribe of Judah. The funnel has become more specific. From Abraham. From Isaac not Ishmael. From Jacob not Esau. From Judah, not his other 11 brothers.

The book ends with the beginning of all of Egypt trading their freedom for safety. Something that we all understand right now in America. I just hope it isn't as disastrous for us as it was for Israel back then.

Genesis 37- 45

Predestination

Question: What did the Presbyterian lady say when she fell down the stairs?
Answer: Glad that's over.

Now, as fun as it seems to be among American Evangelicals to make fun of the concept of predestination, it's a very biblical topic. Now, Romans deals with predestination, and so does Ephesians, but I think that the best way to see how predestination "works" is by reading the story of Joseph.

The story of Joseph is what convinced me of a Calvinistic understanding of predestination, namely that everything that happens, God intends it to happen for his own glory and purposes. Now, some may read that statement and say, "hold on there chap, what about free will?" to which I respond thusly: free will and predestination are no more contradictory than infallible books written by fallible men, or a person being both God and human.

So what about Joseph's story convinced me of individual predestination? After all, predestination never appears in the text. Well, let's count the variables that are necessary for Joseph's story to happen.

1) Joseph needs to make his brothers jealous enough to sell him into slavery. 2) Joseph has to be sold to Potiphar. 3) Potiphar's wife has to be attracted to him enough to try to seduce him. 4) Potiphar's wife would have to tell so many lies about her servants that Potiphar doesn't believe her, and throws Joseph in prison instead of killing him on the spot. 5) He has to be thrown in jail with two other men. 6) Both of those men have to be thrown in jail. 7) Those men needed dreams to be interpreted. 8) A famine has to take over the then known world. 9) Pharaoh needs to believe in Joseph's interpretation of the dream. Most of these things are completely and entirely out of Joseph's control. But Joseph says two things that would imply that God is the one doing the work, not him, not anybody else.

The first is: "And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about." 41:32.God had prepared this famine. That famine was necessary and plays a big role in salvation history. Without that famine, Israel would never be enslaved by Egypt. And if they were never enslaved by Egypt, the whole message of scripture would be entirely different. This famine was part of God's plan to save the entire world through Jesus Christ.

The second is this: "You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good." Joseph is saying that the true force behind his brother's actions was God. Now, he does not deny that they sinned. He does not deny that their intentions were evil. But God had planned, and motivated their evil intentions for the good of the whole world. Joseph does not see a problem between God exercising his sovereignty and men exercising their free will. He holds them as non-contradictory.

Also, keep in mind that God had warned Abraham that his people would be enslaved by Egypt for 400 years. God had planned that to happen. And in Joseph's life, God set that plan into motion. Again, the ultimate goal of God's predestination was salvation for the elect.

Pneumatology

"Can we find anyone else like this - one in whom is the spirit of God?" 41:38

Growing up Pentecostal, I had believed that nobody was filled with the Holy Spirit until Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is, by far the most exhilarating, amazing experience that anybody could have. And part of being filled with the Holy Spirit is to be used by the Holy Spirit. To be His instrument in bringing about change in the world, sometimes by miraculous means. Some of these gifts were healing, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, faith, knowledge, wisdom, dreams, and visions, among others.

But I am confronted by Pharaoh's confession of Joseph. Pharaoh believed that Joseph was filled with God's spirit, and that enabled him to interpret dreams and have prophetic dreams. And of course he's right. Joseph indeed was filled with the Spirit. So what does that mean for Joel 2:28-32 and Peter's sermon in Acts 2? Perhaps the idea isn't that the Holy Spirit is being poured out on people, but that the Holy Spirit was available to all of God's people, instead of a select few.

Genesis 33-36

So Jacob's name means "Heel Grabber." And he wrestled with God. And God changed his name to Israel. Which means "Wrestles with God." Jacob is seen as wrestling for everything. He wrestles with his brother. He wrestles with Laban for his wife. He wrestles with the sheep that he's keeping. He wrestles with his own faith in his family God. And now, he wrestles with God himself.

He prays a prayer that I find is quite moving because it reflects a major character change in Jacob. Instead of being a thief, and a conman, who at root, believes that he has been cheated in life, or that his life is more important than anyone else,  his prayer reflects that of a humble man, who would not seek to harm anyone. "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,' I am not worthy of the least of ll the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. Yet you have said 'I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.'"

He first acknowledges that God has been faithful to his family. Which is a measure of gratefulness. He continues still with thanking him for his love and his faithfulness, knowing that he himself was not worthy of it. He is well aware that God has been so good to him, and that there was no way to be able to repay him. He attributes all of his success to God. He seeks to be reunited with his brother Esau, who he stole both blessing and birthright from. And he goes about it correctly. He does so with prayer.

That same night, God shows up, and wrestles him. Jacob refuses to let go of God until he gives him a blessing. So  God changes his name. Jacob actually wrestled with God, and left with only a limp. Now, of course, God could have destroyed Israel without even thinking about it. But this moment is where we see a real turnaround in Jacob He throws away all the idols in his family, and commits himself to worshiping Yahweh alone.

When he finally comes to meet his brother, he does so by presenting gifts, and humbling himself. He refers to his brother as "my lord" and bows to the ground before him. God has not only delivered Jacob from Esau's rage, but he has actually healed the broken relationship between Esau and Jacob. They embrace each other with tears, and joyfully speak of each other's family.

God is more than able to heal a family to the uttermost. That which has been broken, and shattered, God can put together again. He can mend broken hearts, and heal hurts.

But unfortunately for Jacob, pain was right around the corner again. Shortly after leaving Esau, his own daughter is raped by a rule of a local city. His sons are enraged, and avenge them. While the city was unprepared, and in pain, they went through the city and killed all of the soldiers. But Jacob knows that this did not heal anything. He understands that this will bring only more death, and more war. On top of all this, Israel's sons twisted the sign of the covenant, circumcision, into a trick to make their enemies vulnerable.

After this, even more heartbreak and pain comes his way when his beloved wife, Rachel, dies in childbirth. The son's name is Benjamin. Shortly after her death, his father dies. There is much sorrow in Jacob's life in these last few chapters. Esau, his brother, helps bury their father. Sometimes life can be like that. High heights, followed by low depths. But God is present through all of it.

The section ends with Esau's genealogy. Unfortunately, Esau married into the Canaanites.

Genesis 28-32

Okay, so, I have gotten fairly behind. I had a lofty goal, to read the Bible all in one year, and blog DAILY about my experiences and thoughts in God's word. Well, I've failed a bit. I'm about a month behind. But, If I continue to read 4 chapters a day I will be able to accomplish my goal. This is not an impossible feat. I must be diligent. I simply must be. 

Now, I am getting back on that "pony" with a quick post over my last reading. From 24-31. Now, alot happens here. We learn that Jacob is a decietful little bugger, and has well earned his name "heel grabber." Jacob is a sinner. He's a liar, and a bit of a thief, and that's for sure. But God has still chosen him for His purposes. One portion of scripture that I find very beautiful is where Jacob falls asleep, and he has a dream.

¹² And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; ¹⁴ and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed  in you and in your offspring. ¹⁵ Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” ¹⁷ And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” - Genesis 28:12-17

This is the place where God calls Jacob into covenant on a very official level. The promised Messiah is going to come through him. In fact, all of the Jews are going to come through him. But that is obvious. Everybody knows about Yahweh being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What people may not know is the connection between Jesus and Bethel. 

“Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” - John 1:51.

Notice the two underlined portions in Genesis and John 1. Jesus is claiming to be that ladder. Jesus is claiming to be the mediator between God and men. He is claiming to be the house of God, (Bethel) and the Gate of Heaven. This is indeed a bold claim for him to make. It is certain that Jesus did not believe Himself to be just any man. No. He saw himself as being present when God blessed Jacob. Jesus is our ladder to God.

Though there are many other things to take away from this portion of scripture, what is really important to take away are these two things. 1) That Jesus claims to be the only way to God. He does this by quoting a passage of scripture about a ladder between heaven and earth. And 2) that nothing a man can ever do can separate himself from God's loving call. God called This imperfect man, Jacob. And Jacob, even after he was called, committed many sins. He was still a thief, a liar, and a conman. But God would not allow him to slip too far away. In the next chapter, we see how God gets Jacob's attention.
Among many important things, Jacob gets married, twice, and this causes a lot of competition between Jacob's two wives. He was conned, in the same way that he conned others. Perhaps this is God's means of justice.