Welcome Back to the Bible Blog!

Hey!  Four weeks in!  Woo Hoo!!!  Only 11 months to go and we’re all the way through.  If you are a day or two behind, don’t worry.  It doesn’t take long to catch up!  Just try to make this an everyday habit.  In fact, if you’ve been diligent to do this every day it probably has already become a habit.

So this week’s blog…

The story picks up with 2-3 million Israelites standing on the shores of the Red Sea.  About to go for a leisurely dip?  Looking to sun themselves on one of their first days of freedom?  Nope!  Their greatest fear is about to come true.  Egypt, the world’s most formidable army, is bearing down on them.  Their backs are to the sea.  Their fate is just about to be sealed and they’re terrified.  Wouldn’t you be?  So they start to complain to Moses about their plight.  But God’s word comes through Moses as he tells them, “you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14)

Q:  How many times in your life when the world seems to be crashing down on you has God been whispering in your ear, “You need only to be still”?

Not too many verses later after God rescued them we read, “And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” (Exodus 14:31)  Too bad this didn’t last…

So…

… they complain about bitter water (Exodus 15:22-27)

… they complain about lack of food (Exodus 16:1-3)

… they complain about lack of water (Exodus 17:3)

… they complain… and complain… and complain!

Q:  After being remarkably blessed by God, have you ever resembled “complaining Israel”?  (hint:  we all have)

Enter Jethro!  (I just love that name, Jethro!)  Moses’ father-in-law comes to the rescue!  There really can be wisdom in the older generation.

Q:  Do we remember to respect them and listen to them?

The “Thou Shalts”!

The Ten Commandments enter the picture! (Exodus 20:1-17).  Notice the pattern?  The first 4 concern our relationship with God and the last 6 concern our relationship with each other.

So did you think these were the only “rules”?  Read on and we begin seeing all kinds of rules for how we are to live with God and each other, including personal injuries and even injuries to our animals.  The list is just getting started?

Q:  Why do you think there are all these rules and guidelines?

Q:  With so many rules listed, why do you think the 10 Commandments get all the attention?

Someone pointed out to me that there seems to be a strange command of God in Exodus 20:26… “do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.”  What?  Hmm… the answer may be found in Exodus 28:42-43.

Let’s pitch a tent!

Between Exodus 20 and Exodus 28 we have the designs and plans for the Tabernacle and all its implements, including what the priests would wear.  Notice how God has specifically gifted each of them for the exact work they are to do for Him?  Their work brings God glory!

Q:  How has God gifted you?

Q:  What can you do to bring God glory?

Remember above we talked about “Complaining Israel”?  Incredibly blessed by God, rescued by Him, having Him make water drinkable, provide manna from Heaven, provide water from a rock, and yet… they can’t wait 40 days for Moses to return from the mountain top?

The Golden Calf

Can you believe Aaron’s story to Moses?  “Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:24b)

Of all the ridiculous stories… sounds like ones I’ve told at times.  How about you?

Let’s hear from you…

[Blog rules/protocol can be found in the Week 2(&1) blog…]

Week 3 – Bible Blog! (Genesis 43 – Exodus 12)

Welcome Back to the Bible Blog!

[Blog rules/protocol can be found in the Week 2(&1) blog…]

So how are you doing with your daily reading?  It’s been three weeks already and you should be up to Exodus 13-15 for today.  If you are a day or two behind, don’t worry.  It doesn’t take long to catch up!  Just try to make this an everyday habit.  In fact, if you’ve been diligent to do this every day it probably has already become a habit.

Judah – his name sounds like the Hebrew word for, “praise” (Gen 29:35).  Remember that Genesis chapter 38 seemed a little odd for its placement (not to mention its content) in the middle of Joseph’s story?  We see a glimpse of the reason in Genesis 49 as we read Jacob’s blessing to his 12 sons.  Judah’s older brothers, Reuben, Simeon & Levi, were not given enviable blessings from their dying father, but Judah… Judah was given a great blessing for the line of promise would come through him!  “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet” (Gen 49:8-12).  The story of Judah and Tamar (Gen 38) was intended to preserve the story of the line of promise.  We’ll see later that Judah & Tamar are mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1:3).

Jacob & Joseph are, “gathered to their people” – “Gathered to his people” is a euphemism for, “he bought the farm”, “he kicked the bucket”, “he passed away”,… in other words, he died.  We read at the end of Genesis that Joseph died after getting his brothers to promise that when God rescued his people from Egypt that his bones would be carried out of Egypt by the surviving Israelites (Gen 50:24-25).

And Then There Were 400 Years of Silence…

Four hundred years separate Genesis from Exodus (and most of you simply took a few hours break before continuing your reading ;).  However, God predicted all that we began reading this week.  In Gen 15:13-14 He told Abram (not yet renamed Abraham), “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.  But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterward they will come out with great possessions.”

After 400 years God calls Moses (a kind of son of the King – he was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter) to lead His people out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10).  When changing a staff into a snake doesn’t convince Pharaoh that Moses’ God is The God, God begins to test Egypt with 10 plagues!  These plagues demonstrated that Israel’s God was THE GOD!  Each plague was a challenge to an Egyptian “god,” demonstrating that their gods were powerless.  Only Israel’s God was really God.

It’s interesting to note that God mentions at least 4 times that He spared the Israelites from a particular plague (flies, livestock, hail and darkness), but not the final plague, the death of the firstborn son.

For this plague God commanded Moses to have the Israelites sacrifice a one year old lamb, smear the blood of the lamb on the posts and over their doors, and stay inside for the night.  Among other directions, including making bread without yeast (called ‘unleavened’ bread) he told them to prepare for God’s deliverance.  Late at night an angel would come throughout the land of Egypt and kill the first born male (humans and animals), but when he saw the blood of the lamb he would “pass-over” these houses without harming them.  This would become known as Passover and would be an annual festival to mark how God had saved them and rescued them from bondage in Egypt (Exodus 11-12).

Hmm… 400 silent years and then the deliverer comes.  Does this sound familiar?

Between the last book of the Old Testament (Malachi) and the first book of the New Testament (Matthew) there were… 400 years of silence.

Then the Deliverer comes!  Jesus, the Prince of Peace (prince… you know, a kind of Son of the King!) comes to deliver us from our bondage to sin and death (Romans 6).  Celebrating Passover with His disciples, what some call “The Last Supper”, Jesus institutes a new memorial.  He takes the bread and says, “This is my body” and the cup of wine, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood,” and says this is, “given for you,” for me, for all who believe!  (The Egyptians didn’t believe and they were not spared.)

Jesus is called The Lamb of God who takes away sins.  He’s called The Bread of Life!

So Here’s the Question…

Moses was a child of bondage, raised in the palace, guilty of murder, self-exiled, shepherd wanderer who at the age of 80 was called by God to do what Moses believed he couldn’t do.  He was a stuttering nervous man.  However God accomplished amazing things through him (when he submitted to God).

Are you guilty of some terrible sin?  (Moses was a murderer.)

Are you too old?  (Moses was 80 when God called him.)

Are you not very eloquent?  (Moses stuttered.)

What can you do for God?  You’ll never know until you submit to Him.

So, what do you think?  Any thoughts on this or other elements of what we read this week?

Let’s hear from you!