Month: January 2021

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Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 16

Although Elim sounds nice, the travel continues. Why not stay in Elim? Well, it’s neither the mountain of the Lord (Mt. Sinai) nor the promised land of Canaan for starters. More directly, though, the cloud and fire that leads them places ain’t staying in Elim. When the magic cloud and fire move, you pack up your goods and head out as well, twelve springs and seventy palm trees or otherwise.

They keep heading south (towards Sinai) and travel through the wilderness of Sin (Hebrew “Ciyn”, pronounced “seen”, unrelated, and not the same word, as “sin” being a transgression and separation from God). They are back in a desert and it’s been one month since they left Egypt. They have grumbled already against there being a lack of drinkable water, now the same complaint will arise due to lack of food. Before we are too harsh on them, these complaints are not completely without merit. The food and water issues are legitimate (otherwise God wouldn’t step in to remedy them). Even as they were overworked and deprived of the right to worship appropriately, lack of food or water was not mentioned as one of the issues in Egypt. Certainly, there is truth in the change of their situation here.

However, lest we be too easy on them, let’s not forget that they are following the aforementioned magic cloud on the daily. They have seen the mighty hand of Lord against the Egyptians, they have seen their first born spared, the nation that kept them as slaves send them out with jewels, a sea be held back to give them dry land to traverse it, and that same sea fall upon their hapless pursuers to close out God’s judgment against them. They had seen enough to know that Yahweh was the one true God, was more powerful than any ruler or god that might come up against Him, and that this one true God was with them and for them. And yet, here they are, grumbling.

Remember, they are a people in training. God was clear back in Exodus 6 that the Israelites weren’t simply being set free from Egypt, they were being brought to a new situation and identity, one in which they were to be the people of Yahweh, in His service. It is clear that they do not yet know how to do that. These times of testing are necessary so that God may demonstrate His faithfulness to them. Whereas the plagues and wonders in Egypt were aimed to ensure that the Egyptians knew who indeed was the Lord, these tests during the time in the wilderness will do much the same thing for the Israelites. Trust is not just a concept that can live within our mind, it must be acted upon, demonstrated. The Israelites will struggle, as we certainly do today, in putting complete faith in God for provision, trust in His way of doing things. In a nation where we are generally capable of providing for ourselves in almost every way, we must be cautious of not re-defining faith as purely a notional (shadow) concept.

God affirms this notion of testing in v. 4. After the people complain (insinuating that they might as well have died at the hand of the Lord in Egypt around pots of meat than at the hands of Lord’s lack of provision here in the desert), God tells Moses that He personally will provide bread to the people. This is a test as to whether they will walk in His law (torah) or not. Again, they are a people in training. God is showing His faithfulness so they will begin to trust Him in all that He is about to command them (following basic instructions on collections of free honey wafers will pale in comparison to the commands God will give them at Sinai and beyond).

Moses and Aaron receive the word from God and pass it on, but first they make sure it’s clear to the people that they are not worth grumbling at, the complaint is between the people and Yahweh. I don’t think Moses and Aaron are trying to deflect blame, instead they are trying to make sure it is clear that God is about to step in to solve (vs. Moses doing it, as they may have believed after the bitter water incident at Marah). This point is confirmed as Aaron is talking to the people and the “…glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud” in that moment. (The Lord has yet to provide such an exclamation point to any proclamations of mine.) Then God promises that they will eat meat at twilight and then bread in the morning. From this the people will know that Yahweh is the Lord their God. (This is interesting in that, back to chapter 6, God says they will know He is God when He gets them out of Egypt. Now the definition includes the provision action about to take place. There is a lot of grace and patience in this chapter that these people don’t particularly deserve.)

In the evening, quail show up and cover the camp. This is a one-time action that is a direct response to their grumbling about there being no food. And it’s not a meager amount, it covers the camp. The next morning, there is an interesting flaky substance on the ground that God has provided for them. The people see it and ask “what is it?” (Hebrew “man hu”, which is basically what they end up calling it (“manna”). Moses explains to them how it works. The Lord will provide it every morning and each person is supposed to gather what they can eat (an omer per person is the expectation), just enough for one day. Of course, there’s one in every crowd who thinks he is going to take advantage of the situation and tries to take extra, and the next morning it is covered in worms and had a stank on it. This makes Moses angry. As the sun gets hot, the manna melts. (It isn’t clear whether there are piles of manna-lick available for the animals at this point, I’m assuming there are.)

On the sixth day of the week, God provides twice the amount of manna for them (two omers each). He’s giving them the means to be able to rest. Moses tells them that the next day is a Sabbath (means “cease work”) so he gives them double the amount so they don’t have to collect any the next day. Unlike every other day, this double portion can be kept overnight without risk of worms and stank. Of course, there’s one in every crowd who doesn’t pay attention to the situation and some of them head out on day 7 looking to gather manna. God says He will give them rest and make sure provisions exist to ensure it and these wandering goons are out there the next morning trying to do more work. God is not pleased.

I’ll quote this in full as it remains important: “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and laws? 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.” So the people rested on the seventh day.”

A few things. The Sabbath is a gift. This day of rest was foreshadowed in the rhythms of God’s creation and He is instilling it in His people now. (Note, this is before the official 10 commandments). Fellas, we need this. If your life does not permit a consistent pattern of rest, you’re taking a gift that God has crafted for you (one that you need) and throwing it back at Him. Not a wise move. Sure, you don’t have to open your birthday presents, but you’d be a damn fool not to. That’s what’s happening when you are rejecting a day of rest. Put the priority on it (I’m guilty as charged on this).

Also, don’t over crank on the “…let no one go out of his place…” business. The context here was the collection of the manna, not a general house arrest because it’s Saturday. The goal was to provide a day of rest that would not require them to do the work they had to every other day.

God commands that some of the manna should be kept over the generations as proof to the Israelites that God has provided for them. Ultimately, it will be placed in the Ark of the Covenant along with the 10 commandments and a stick (yet to come). At the end of the chapter, we’re told that the people of Israel are fed on this manna for 40 years. This is a non-Moses addition to the text, at the time he dies they are still being fed by the manna.

Broadly, I was struck (probably convicted) by a few things. One, God has set them up to have to completely trust in Him day after day after day. The food was there every morning but wouldn’t last the night. You couldn’t horde it, couldn’t keep it to make you more powerful or rich than the next man. You got just enough, the rest went to worms. I’ll reinforce what I said earlier, at our level of wealth our understanding of “trust” runs the risk of being just a thought exercise. What things need to be on the table in your life to truly trust in God with? There’s not a difference here, boys, we’re in training to be the people of God. Let’s not get stuck at the grumbling/hording manna level of maturity.

Also, God’s provision and patience is a mercy that is undeserved yet intentionally and thoroughly provided. He gives what His people need, even in the face of their complaints and accusations. And even the manna itself, in a world where available sweeteners are either dried/condensed fruit or honey (which had to be harvested in the wild, which most folks weren’t doing), what God provides to make daily bread is quite possibly the best thing they’ve ever tasted.

Finally, take the rest.

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Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 11

Things have come to a head, one more plague is to come and Pharaoh will release the Israelites completely. The goal has always been the complete freedom of God’s people (remember, God has promise to keep with these folks and the land of Canaan, which we were reminded of in chapters 3 & 6) and it was always going to be done through the humiliation of Pharaoh and all the so-called gods of Egypt. The power of Yahweh, the one true God, has been clearly demonstrated over and over again. Of course, we know that it was always going to end in 10 plagues, but neither Moses nor Pharaoh knew that. These have likely been occurring over a number of months with the Hail and Locust damage happening February/March based upon the state of the flax and barley at the time.

As part of the groundwork of this exodus action, the people will need some goods. Moses is to speak to the Israelites and have them request that their neighbors hand over some gold and silver jewelry. Again, knowing what is to come, we perhaps shudder at the thought of God providing all these jewels from the hands of the Egyptians as proof of the power of Yahweh when we know those same jewels will be used later to craft a golden idol to be treacherously worshiped in Yahweh’s place by the impatient Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai.

However, it’s also interesting to consider the reactions of the Egyptians in relation to the Pharaoh. They’ve kind of abandoned him. They seem to think highly of Moses (not only Pharaoh’s servants but also the Egyptian people) who are presumably handing over stuff to the Israelites because it’s clear that Yahweh has dominance in the area. Where the Pharaoh remains stubborn, I think we’re getting the impression that the plagues are having the appropriate effect on everyone else.

So Moses takes the final warning to Pharaoh, obviously unconcerned with the previous threat of his death if he were to enter the presence of Pharaoh again. The word is from the Lord so when it says, “About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt…”, we should read that as God personally involving Himself in this action. Yes, His hand has caused all the plagues so far, but the major impacts have been third party (hail, locusts, darkness, blood, frogs, etc.) This time, God is doing the work Himself. It’s happening at midnight as a grace, everyone who is going to die will likely die in their sleep. The great cry throughout the land will not be those who are dying, but those who are finding that they have died.

And it’s everyone, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the slave girl, as well as the…cattle? Have we so quickly forgotten that us humans share a creation day with the animals and are functioning under the same directive to multiply? To include the cattle is to indicate a sense of complete domination and a demonstration of the cascading effects of the sins of Egypt and the power of God. And firstborn isn’t likely limited to sons, the word can be ambiguous, and chapter 12 describes there not being a house in Egypt that wasn’t impacted, so only girl households are apparently touched.

But for the people of Israel, there shall be no trouble, not even barked at by a dog (think of a dog as on the same level as a rat in that time, a dirty nuisance). How this will be true will be shown in the next chapter. The result of this will be the final humiliation of Pharaoh, the death of his son and all of those most loyal to him turning to Moses and begging for the Israelites to leave. Then Moses leaves in hot anger (presumably he was mad the whole time and probably tied to the death threat from earlier).

And yet Pharaoh will not listen. This final demonstration must be completed in service of God’s promises to His people and in service to the revelation of the truth to those who falsely worship the gods of Egypt.

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Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 6

As chapter 6 starts, we find a Moses who seems a bit disoriented. He knew enough from what God has previously said that there would be reluctance on the part of Pharaoh to just let the people split (God gave him signs and wonders for a reason specifically to combat doubt). However, the impact this had on the Israelites and their subsequent rejection of Moses doesn’t appear to have been anticipated. This conflict between our expectations and God’s execution isn’t specific to their time. God’s timing only sometimes coincides with our expectations and his idea of the hardships we need to go through only sometimes coincides with our idea of how much we can take.

In response to Moses’ exasperation of God not delivering His people as expected, God largely ignores the protest and reminds him of what he said back in chapter 3, that it will take a mighty hand to change Pharaoh’s heart and that many wonders must be done in the land to get that to happen. We must not forget that this isn’t a battle between Moses and Pharaoh, or even Israel and Egypt, it’s between Yahweh and the so-called gods of Egypt.

We should likely see the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, when it occurs, as part of this same battle. The Pharaoh was considered a pure person, a manifestation of the gods themselves. For Yahweh to be able to do whatever he wanted with Pharaoh’s heart shows a domination over those gods already. This is temporary, not an indication of God’s permanent or eternal judgment upon the man himself, but a demonstration of God’s power to communicate a truth and make a point. This shouldn’t be a surprise, every time we pray for something we’re generally asking for God to suspend someone’s free will or a natural process and to intervene in a supernatural way. The broad question is, do we trust God to suspend free will in the appropriate times for the right reasons? Well, if we can’t trust God to be just, we can’t trust him with anything. So, generally I’d say that it must be able to be done in a just and fair way.

The promise remains the same. Who are they dealing with? Yahweh (the same Yahweh that makes promises of land to Abraham, et al). Further, He has heard their groaning, has been with them in it, and now the time has come for that His faithfulness in this promise will be demonstrated to not only the Israelites but to those who have oppressed them as well. Even more, there is a unique connection between Yahweh and these folks that no one else has. They will be liberated for a special relationship where He will be their God and they will be His people. When would this happen? v. 7 answers. They will know for certain the truth of this when they have been delivered out of Egypt.

Moses pulls all this together…and the Israelites don’t want to hear it. From their perspective, they got burned the last time they put their hope in this deliverance. No thanks, this brick load burden leaves us no time for these promises anymore. Interestingly, Pharaoh wanted to work them harder to keep them from following lies. It’s working, but instead they’re missing the truth. Pessimism will do that, especially pessimism that is comes from being let down when your expectations, unreasonable or otherwise, weren’t met. Just something to watch, boys.

Still, God’s faithfulness doesn’t wane even when folk be stubborn about it. So, he sends Moses to talk to Pharaoh anyway. Moses tries to bail again, this time claiming that disbelief that Pharaoh will listen when his own people will not (this seems reasonable) and further by claiming that he has “uncircumcised lips”, meaning that he isn’t ready, things aren’t in order on his end to go and convince Pharaoh of this thing. Granted, we get that Moses remains a little disoriented and disenfranchised by the relative lack of success so far. Yet, when God says it’s the thing then it’s the thing. So, He insists that Moses and Aaron are the right fellas to get this promise delivered.

Now we run into a genealogy out here in the middle of everywhere like a pair of undies on the lawn. You wonder why it’s there? Why is this happening and who thought it was a good idea? Well, if we look, it’s focused on tracing the connections between the lineage of the man Israel through to Aaron’s grandson Phinehas. Notice it’s a selective genealogy. We only get the first 3 sons of Israel, for example. When we hit Levi, we then start following him because it’s his line that produces Amram, the father of Aaron and Moses. The level of detail for those that follow that line also varies. This is not unusual, Biblical writers use genealogies for specific connections or to reinforce specific narratives and will skip generations or bail on tracing certain branches because it’s not important to the point of the story.

So why is this here? Multiple reasons. It provides an affirmation that these leaders, Moses and Aaron, are legit and their line can be traced back from Levi all the way through Phinehas (who is a priest during the time of the Judges). Their future priestly duties are understandable given that lineage. Also, that the Israelites aren’t ethnically pure as the genealogy points out connections to a Canaanite woman in v. 15. This isn’t a surprise, really, the group that leaves Egypt was likely a pretty mixed bag and probably includes Egyptians who wanted to leave with them. The initial recipients of these writings from Moses could see a bit of themselves in the genealogy. We also see quite a few ladies, highlighting the importance of proper marriages for priests, something that will show up later in the laws that God gives them.

The end of chapter 6 resumes where the lawn undies interrupted but makes reference that one of the points of the genealogy was to orient how readers/hearers of this story were to understand Moses and Aaron. Now we’re back to the question again of Moses’ ability to do this thing on God’s behalf. This leads to a chapter 7 where, as expected, God will largely again ignore this protest and affirm His commitment to what is to go down.

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Study

Angel of the Lord

The phrase that is usually translated “the Angel of the Lord” shows up in in the Old Testament 67 times (including the description of the character in the burning bush). It is a curious phrase considering what it leads us to ask about the identify of this angel and its relationship to God. The Hebrew here is “mal’ak yahweh”, and because of how its constructed must be a specific definition (THE angel of the Lord) as opposed to something more broad (AN angel of the Lord). Think similarly of how we might see the phrase “the River Euphrates”. We recognize that this is a specific river called the Euphrates, not a river in or of Euphrates. The second word is used to provide clarity on how to understand the specificity or use of the first one. (This is coming to a point, I promise).

So, given those rules, it’s possible we could read the phrase “mal’ak yahweh” as “the angel that is Yahweh” or “the Angel Yahweh”. But this seems problematic. We know that God is not an angel, per se, or is at least not limited to that distinction in a moment in time. The other option is some kind of impostor angel who takes on God’s identity in certain situations.

Complicating this further is the number of Old Testament passages where “mal’ak yahweh” is either called or recognized as the Lord. Remember in Genesis 16, we have an Angel of the Lord (v.11) who talks to Hagar and promises she will be safe. In response, it says, “…she called on the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing.” Who spoke to her? The Angel of the Lord…who she just called God (or at least attributed God qualities to.) Or Genesis 31, when the Angel of God shows up to Jacob to tell him to leave Laban and go home. In v.13, the angel says about itself, “I am the God of Bethel…”

The strongest of all these connections happens in Exodus 3, within that burning bush. In v. 2, it is the Angel of the Lord who first appears in the burning bush. When Moses turns to see, in v. 4 it says that the “Lord” saw and that “God” called out to him from the bush. Unless there’s a switcheroo happening that is omitted from the text, it sure seems like the Angel of the Lord is indeed God Himself.

That leaves a reasonable question as to why. Why not show up as “God” instead of an Angel of the Lord? To a certain extent, trying to nail down the motivations of God and, the human rendering of their interaction with God, will often feel unsatisfactory. Often, we can’t really know, we can just speculate. But I have two thoughts. One, the identification seems to progress. We start with a description of a messenger/angel/being who is acting on the Lord’s behalf. And then as the narrative progresses the true identity is realized. Further, given how we understand the nature of God, specifically his omnipresence, it’s difficult to conceive that He can be represented at a specific moment/location in time, especially embodied in something that appears human (not necessarily the bush here, think about the Hagar interaction, wrestling with Jacob, etc.)

So how to think about it? It think it’s pretty this is the presence of God vs. some sort of other being acting on His behalf. In resolution of the representation a specific moment/location in time vs. omnipresence, think of it like a video-conference. You get the sense of the presence of someone in a room through a video screen and speaker, even though they are not fully present.

Alternatively, this is where we find the thought that this is a pre-birth (or pre-incarnate) Jesus. We have experience in Jesus understanding a God who can be physically manifested in tandem with retaining all the attributes and authority of God (being still God, of course). Thus, when we see the phrase “the Angel of the Lord”, we can think of it as God, but specifically Jesus.

It’s not a slam dunk for me that we are to see that as always specifically Jesus. But given that we should rightly see the Angel of the Lord as God Himself in some form or another, I’m not sure it particularly matters.

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Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 3

Click on the link to view the image of the Sinai Peninsula. Notice the mountains in the middle of peninsula in the middle of the picture. Mount Sinai (and perhaps Mount Horeb) is located here.

Also shown is the northern portion of the Red Sea, as this satellite picture is taken looking from the Southeast. There are two “bunny ears” on this northern portion of the Red Sea that create the Sinai Peninsula. These two are the larger Gulf of Suez to the left (and you can barely see the Suez Canal which connects to the Mediterranean Sea at the very very top) and then the Gulf of Aqaba, the smaller “ear” to the right.

Back in Genesis, after Sarah died, Abraham married Keturah, and they had several children, including Midian. Midian is the patriarch of the Midianites, who began dwelling on the coasts of the Gulf of Aqaba. So, the west side of Aqaba (Sinai) and the east side (Arabia) saw the Midians hanging out. So since Jethro is a Midianite, and a priest, perhaps it’s possible that he serves God, since his great—great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents were Abraham and Keturah. Dunno.

Now, we pick up chapter 3 with Moses and his new family. Jethro has entrusted Moses to watch his flock o’ sheep, and Moses and his flock meander to Mount Horeb (some say that this is Mount Sinai). Exodus calls this the mountain of God. Moses comes across the burning bush, which is described as the angel of God who has appeared as fire inside a bush. Growing up, I recall the burning bush, but never remembered the fire actually being the angel of God. So that’s new to me.

When Moses sees that the bush isn’t consumed, God calls out to him. Moses takes off his sandals as ordered, and God reveals himself as the God of the Patriarchs, whom we know all about from Genesis.

Overwhelmed, Moses hides his face. This comes at a time when God hasn’t spoken directly to anyone since Jacob, so it’s been a long time. I would hide my face too.

The Word of the Lord:
“7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.
8 So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
9 Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.”

Having said that, God orders Moses to Egypt.
Moses: Who am I to do this task?
God: I’m with you. That’s all you need. Also, you’re going return to this mountain to worship Me.
Moses: Who do I say sent me?
God: I AM THAT I AM. I AM has sent you. Tell them that this is My Name…forever. They will listen.
Moses: (continues listening)
God: Say this: What we wish to do is go into the wild for three days, to worship our God. But I know that Pharaoh isn’t going to let you go, unless forced. So I’m going to force him using plagues and miracles. You’ll be leaving Egypt soon.”

In many ways, this is a straightforward chapter. It’s a pretty famous one too. The burning bush, mentions of the land flowing in milk and honey, and discussions of the name “I AM.”

I Am that I Am (Hebrew: Hayah) means “existed” in Hebrew; it’s usually translated in English Bibles as “I am” or “I will be” (or “I shall be”). It is literally translated as “I Am Who I Am.”

The ancient Hebrew of Exodus 3:14 lacks a future tense such as modern English has, yet a few translations render this name as “I Will Be What I Will Be,” given the context of Yahweh’s promising to be with his people through their future troubles.

This promise portends that God is going to be more active among the children of Israel. We have God specifically choosing Moses for an important task involving the liberation of the descendants of Abraham.

God declares his goodwill for these people also, a goodwill which exists because of Abraham.

God then tells Moses exactly how the children of Israel are going to be delivered from Pharaoh. He tells Moses that the time to fulfill promises has come. Moses is going to try to wriggle out of this a bit (he is human of course). However, God (of course) has an answer to his lame objections every time. You’ll see more wrigglings in coming chapters.

God also reveals himself to a Hebrew for the first time in over a century, and he does so in miraculous fashion. No one else sees this, however. Moses has no way to prove this to Jethro or his wife at this exact time. It speaks to the great faith of Moses that he’s going to leave his safe house in Midian, and head down to Egypt nonetheless, where’s probably wanted for murder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh7tgX_Uaqs

Important note for all of us. How many times does God tell us to do something, but we come up with our own lame excuses? Moses is going to go back to where he’ll likely be executed, but he goes with the protection of God, having seen a miracle that no one else has.

Finally, 20 years ago, the Prince of Egypt came out. I was always a big fan of the film. It wasn’t scripturally perfect by any means, but the story of the Exodus remains an epic one that God orchestrated. I always enjoyed the burning bush scene. Here’s that scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poZr9HjMizQ&app=desktop

End of Chapter 3

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gulf_of_Suez_from_orbit_2007.JPG