Year 1, Day 59: Exodus 10

To Know I Am Lord

Before I begin in earnest, I want to give God some glory.  Some of those who are reading may have been following Tom’s and my conversation in the comments regarding God’s nature with respect to the hardening of the hearts.  That has led both of us to a new understanding regarding God’s purpose in the plagues!  For me at least, that new understanding in purpose is not so much judgment upon the Egyptians but rather an opportunity for all to see the power of the Creator.

Not only is this Creator powerful, but as Tom pointed out a day or so ago – God is also specifically powerful in that He can target an audience (Egypt) and simultaneously spare an audience (Goshen).  I know that this has fundamentally changed my understanding of the purpose of the plagues.  Then I hit Exodus 10:2:  “… and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

It really hit me and I thought the following.  “Here it is, Lord, plain as day.  You had spelled out your purpose all along: to ‘know that I am Lord.’  It’s just that all the other times when I read this passage I focused on the ‘dealt harshly with the Egyptians’ part instead of the ‘know that I am Lord’ part.  Oh God, how could I have been so singular in my focus that I totally miss what you set so plainly before me?”  How many other places in scripture do I pick up on the words I want to read and ignore the words that God is trying to use to convey His full truth?

So there you go.  They say confession is good for the soul, so I have set a bit of confession for the world to see.  I love when God takes a simple task like “read the Bible and post on a blog” and totally works out a big and bold new theological understanding out of it.  Exodus 10:2 has really hit me hard today in making sure that I do not forget that the plagues were not judgments as much as they were opportunities to know God.

Compromise

Beyond that, Exodus 10 has so much great stuff left in it.  We only have 2 plagues – locusts and darkness – but these two plagues reveal so much about human nature and the struggle against God.  So let’s dive right into this work and realize the extent that Pharaoh will go to compromise with God.  This compromise, of course, is so that Pharaoh can retain some semblance of remaining powerful and in control even in God’s presence.

First, notice that when threatened with locusts Pharaoh “decides” to let the men go and worship but the women and livestock must remain behind.  Pharaoh’s bravado his taken a pretty big hit as his country is being assaulted and he is powerless to stop it.  Even Pharaoh’s advisors and the people of Egypt begin to come to Pharaoh and say, “Let them go, for we are being ruined.”  So Pharaoh does what all human beings do when faced with a decision they do not desire to make: compromise.  Pharaoh looks for an opportunity to still exert his will.  He capitulates, but he capitulates on his terms.  Only the men can go.

Now, I’m assuming we all understand the worldly reason for this.  If only the men go, then they will be sure to come back because their wives, daughters, and livestock are still in Egypt.  This is clearly an attempt by Pharaoh to remain in control.  That is really sad. 

When God really gets a hold of a person, he doesn’t want compromise.  God wants complete control.  God wants confession that God is truly in absolute control.  God doesn’t want to share us with the world; God wants us so that through us He can also gain the world!  Pharaoh just doesn’t get that.  But in truth, who among us can say that we always get it, either?

Pharaoh is at a point in his life where He cannot deny the existence of God or even God’s power.  But he is refusing to be humble and let God be in control.  Ultimately it is his inability to get beyond this fact that will get him killed.  Human pride, human greed, and human dominance are all incredibly dangerous weapons antagonistic to the walk of a person following God.  Because Pharaoh will never let go of the control, even his path to compromise will be his undoing.

Declining Relationships

Before we get to the humanity revealed in the ninth plague, notice something new here.  God leads Moses directly from locust to darkness.  As the ninth plague begins, we miss out on the customary warning trip from Moses to Pharaoh.  Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, and we move straight into darkness with no warning.  God’s patience greatly exceeds our own, by God’s patience also has limits.  Pharaoh has shown his last card.  Pharaoh is not willing to embrace the truth that he must let go of control.  Pharaoh is not willing to let go of his pride, his greed, or his dominion.  So God moves through the ninth plague and sets us up for the tenth plague.

Exposing the Core of Humanity

As the ninth plague comes to a close, notice the nature of humanity that is exposed by Pharaoh.  Exodus 10:28 tells us that Pharaoh drives Moses out of his presence forever.  Here we have the ultimate truth of what pure humanity is about.  Pure humanity is about the terrible-twos.  Pure humanity is about throwing a tantrum when things don’t go our way.  Pure humanity is about turning our back on the only source of help that we need because it isn’t on our terms.  Pure humanity is self-centered.  Pure humanity is that part in us that says, “I’ll take my ball and my bat and go home if I can’t have my way.”

Pharaoh drives Moses and Aaron out of his presence because God has called his bluff and continued to tell Pharaoh that Pharaoh cannot share the stage of power with God.  So Pharaoh throws his tantrum and turns his back on God completely.  Pharaoh chooses separation from God and ultimately death because he mandates that life must be orchestrated on his terms.

How often is that true for us?  For me?  How many times do I miss out on what God is doing being I’m too pig-headed to let go of my humanity and instead follow God?  How often do I not make a disciple for Jesus Christ because I’m too concerned with myself and satisfying my thoughts and making sure it gets done my way?  Far too often, I’m afraid.  Far too often I miss out on what God is doing because I’m just too human.  I’m just too self-centered on my plans and my agendas to really get to doing what God wants me to do.  I have far too much Pharaoh in me than I would care to admit.

Huh.  I guess this is really the same thing I confess in the beginning.  For all my life I have been too focused on my own desire to see the plagues as judgment that I missed out on what God is really doing.  So it seems I have another reason to give glory to God today.  God has been able to use Exodus 10 to bring me full circle and teach me the same lesson in two completely different ways.  I guess this is a pretty important lesson for me to learn.  God has gone to great lengths to teach this to me on this day.

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Year 1, Day 58, Exodus 9

Death In The Plagues

Exodus 9 gives us some more serious plagues to consider, and the consequences of the plagues begin to ramp up.  The truth is that we cannot say that this is the first chapter of plagues to bring about death.  Back in the very first plague we saw the death of everything in the Nile that depended on the water to live.

Hardening of the Heart, Continued

Chapter 9 gives us yet another clue in the “hardening of the heart saga” that is the plagues.  Here for the first time we have Pharaoh coming to Moses with a true confession.  Pharaoh says to Moses that he has sinned before God.

The reason I believe this to be a true confession is because Exodus 9:34 tells us that after the hail stops Pharaoh sinned yet again.  Had the confession not been true, it would have made more sense to say that Pharaoh continued in his sin.  I realize that I am splitting a very fine hair and I fully admit that I could be in the wrong and that Pharaoh’s confession was not honest.  But at least for the time being I will read it as to give Pharaoh the benefit of the doubt.  At the very least, we are beginning to see that Pharaoh’s bravado is being weakened by God’s displays of power.

Of course, this gives us an important point to consider.  Is true confession the same as true repentance?  I do not believe so.  True confession is simply an acknowledgment of wrongdoing.  True confession merely says “I am in the wrong, God is in the right.”  Notice that these are actually Pharaoh’s exact words.  On the other hand, true repentance takes confession one step further.  True repentance takes confession and brings it together with changed behavior. 

That is precisely what we don’t get here out of Pharaoh.  He is willing to confess, but not willing to repent.  He confesses, but when the plague is removed Pharaoh doesn’t change.  This is changed behavior, this is continued behavior.  There may be true confession here, but there is in no way true repentance.

God’s Declaration

The one other point that I would like to bring out here is God’s declaration in Exodus 9:15.  God declares that by now He could have easily wiped Egypt off of the face of the map.  That is precisely true.  God could have easily destroyed the Pharaoh and his kingdom with any of these plagues.  The fact that they are still alive implies that their destruction is not God’s true end. 

If their destruction is not God’s true end, then the hypothesis that I spoke about yesterday on the plagues has even more merit.  These are not judgments as much as they are opportunities to come face-to-face with the power of the Creator.  If God simply wanted to judge the Egyptians and bring His people out of Egypt, he could have slaughtered all the Egyptians in righteous judgment for their sinful humanity.  But God didn’t do that.  The destruction of the Egyptians was not His true end.  God allowed them to witness His power and attempt to give them time to change.  God desires true repentance, not judgment.

There’s another neat outcome of this line of thinking.  Have you ever wondered why God would use ten progressively worse plagues when He could have just gone straight for the jugular?  After all, He’s God.  He knew which buttons He could push to get His people out.  But He doesn’t go there right away.  God sends progressively worse plagues to allow the Egyptian people time to discern their relationship with God.

To see this in action, look at the middle of the seventh plague.  Do you see something unusual?  God warns the Hebrew people about what He is going to do and intentionally allows them to have time to remove their livestock from the fields.  Exodus 9:20 specifically identifies that those who feared the Lord removed their livestock from the fields.  Only a God who was concerned with relationship would give the Egyptians time to save themselves.

Of course, this scenario applies to any of us.  By this point in our lives, any one of us has committed enough sin to truly come face to face with the reality that we deserve to die condemned.  But here we are, still reading!  We are not dead, and we have not yet come to that point of judgment in our lives.  Repentance is still possible!  Here we are with the possibility of being in a relationship with God!

Of course, those who truly follow the Lord Jesus Christ ultimately need not fear judgment.  Yes, we will all stand guilty before the Lord, even those in Christ.  But those in Christ are promised eternal life knowing that Jesus Christ has already paid our due.  Jesus Christ has already taken the punishment upon Himself so that we need not bear it.  While we will all endure judgment, those in Christ need to fear it.  Like the God-fearers among the plagues in Egypt, we might see judgment around us but we will come through unscathed.

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Year 1, Day 57, Exodus 8

Today we get plagues 2, 3, and 4.  Frogs, gnats, and flies, oh my!

Free Will

In lieu of the comment I just left a few minutes ago on yesterdays post, I find it interesting here that the question raised by my good friend seems to be applicable here.  The heart of the question ultimately is about the character of God and His interaction with the concept of “free will.”  To apply this thought in a new direction, let me ask a question that I had never thought of myself until I read Exodus 8 again this time through: “Is God just when He makes a distinction between Goshen and Egypt starting with the 4^th plague?”

Now, of course the answer is yes – if for no other reason than we know that God is always just.  But, that answer is about as satisfying as a cup of coffee on a 100-degree day when the air conditioning is broke.  So let me try to flesh that question out a bit more and try to answer it a little more effectively.

During the first three plagues – Nile water to blood, frogs, and gnats – God did not keep the Hebrew people from experiencing the same joy of seeing God’s power as the Egyptians were able to experience.  God turned the water blood red, God sent frogs all throughout Egypt and Goshen, and God brought gnats everywhere.  So what is it about God’s justice that allows the Hebrew people to be free of the plagues from the fourth plague on?  Are the Hebrew people really any less sinful than the typical Egyptian?

Free Will – Viewed Through a Different Lens

I think the answer lies in understanding God’s point in the plagues.  The plagues are not a judgment – as much as we would like them to be.  In years past when I read this story I always saw this as a story where Pharaoh and those heathen Egyptians “get what they deserve.”  Up until now, this story was always a story of “God’s People versus the Pagans.”

But having come through my new understanding of Exodus 7, I now see this chapter differently.  The plagues are indeed a horrible experience.  I cannot imagine having lived through that.  But they are also an awesome experience.  The Egyptians and the Hebrew people are given the opportunity to see the Almighty at work.  In a sense, this story may be the closest we get to seeing the power of the Creator after the work of creation is done.  The obvious exception to this is Jesus on the cross and in the tomb, but since that involves a deity I put that in a whole different category of events.  This exodus story is not so much about judgment upon the Egyptian people as it is an opportunity for anyone to truly get in touch with the divine creative process and see God’s hand at work.

Too often we as human beings ask to see God’s power – and we assume that we will see it in beautiful ways.  Too often we seek God to work in our life and assume that means things will go well for us.  But the reality is that God is in the hurricane just as much as God is in the butterfly.  God is in the forest fire just as much as God is in the firefly.  God is in the waterfall just as much as He is in the dragonfly buzzing over the serene lake.  These plagues are not judgments of a wrathful God against a heathen people.  From the greatest perspective these plagues are an opportunity for the Egyptians and the Hebrews alike to see who really is in control of this world.

And then respond to Him if they so choose.

Return to the Free Will Debate

Given that frame of mind, it is no longer proper to ask why God is just in removing Goshen from being under the influence of the plagues.  Goshen is no longer under their influence because the Hebrew people have seen the earlier demonstrations and are ready to go out and worship this God.  The Hebrew people had first disregarded Moses and what God is doing through Him.  But now they see, and they are ready to get on board.

That’s why we get so much talk in this chapter about the Hebrew people wanting to go and worship their God.  The Hebrew people see the demonstrations of power and get it.  In contrast, Pharaoh’s heart continues to be hard – as we hear with each and every plague that comes.  Pharaoh just isn’t interested in seeing God for who God is.  The Hebrew people get what God is calling them to do; Pharaoh doesn’t.

The Plagues: A Positive Spin

One other thought.  Today I presented an idea to which most people will inherently react very poorly.  Who wants to see these plagues as a positive thing – an opportunity to get personal with God?

For that record, who wants to see something like a hurricane as a positive thing?  When hurricanes come don’t we always hear about “What kind of horrible God would do a tragic thing like that?”  What we should be hearing is “How awesome is God that He can bring something as powerful as that into existence!”

Or, take the concept of death.  How many of us really want to see death as a good thing?  How many times do we hear someone say, “How could God take away my loved one?”  What we should be saying is “How awesome is God that He can bring about true healing through a simple process like death!”  How awesome is God that through the gate of death He can fix our problems and not only restore us, but restore us to eternal life!

I know.  I get it.  In times of tragedy those thoughts are hard to muster because we are human.  We want to focus on the abusive destruction of the hurricane.  We want to focus on the pain of losing a loved one.  We want to focus on the judgment that the Egyptians are receiving because God is powerful.  But if we think about it, all of these things make much more sense when thought of as tremendous opportunities to get up close and personal with God who is the Almighty, who is the Creator, and who is everything we need in this world. 

The plagues are an opportunity to get to know God.  Massive natural disasters are an opportunity to draw close to God.  Death is an opportunity to drawn closer to God.  We don’t usually see it that way, but that’s our problem of perspective.

In that light, while the plagues might have been absolutely miserable to live through, they are a wonderful opportunity to see God’s power.  May we be so blessed as to truly know God’s power without having to see it in all of its awesomeness.

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Year 1, Day 56: Exodus 7

Pharaoh’s Heart

Okay, it’s time for the whole “hardening of the heart” conversation.  I have wrestled with this issue for decades, and I still continue to wrestle with it.  The Bible is very clear throughout the next few chapters.  Sometimes we will hear the words “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” and sometimes we will hear the words “Pharaoh hardened his own heart.”  As far as I can tell, each set of words is accurately translated in each passage.

“What’s the dilemma?” you might ask.  Well, for me the dilemma has always been that if God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, then Pharaoh didn’t really have a choice to let the people go.  If he didn’t have a choice, then the punishment is unfair because God is punishing Pharaoh for something that God forced him to do.  Mind you, I believe God is powerful enough to force Pharaoh to do anything.  But the thought of God forcing Pharaoh to undergo the plagues doesn’t jive with the God that I know from the entire rest of the Holy Scripture.

On the other hand, the Bible is clear that in some places “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”  So how do we justify the authority of scripture with God’s creation of free will within us?

I have come upon a new theory – one that I like better than all the others.  It isn’t perfect, I’ll confess.  But I don’t think there is a perfect answer to this question because if there was people would stop asking it generation after generation.  Since this question is always asked when this passage is studied, it means that this question is hard and points to the very core of what it means to be in relationship with God.  That means that it is a great question to wrestle with.

So, here’s my new understanding: If we look at the places where God speaks of hardening Pharaoh’s heart we can see that God is actually speaking with respect to the signs of power.  In other words, God is not forcing the hardening of the heart as much as He is displaying great power and making demands against Pharaoh that Pharaoh will not accept.  God is not forcing Pharaoh to resist God; rather God knows that Pharaoh will resist Him and God uses Pharaoh’s belief that he is a god against him.

The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith has a great quote on this very topic:

“The Bible teaches that human beings are free to make choices (Genesis 2:19; 4:7; Ezekiel 18:2–32). God is good (Psalm 25:8; 34:8; 100:5) and always acts consistently with His nature. Yet people can choose to rebel against God’s goodness, and consistent rebellion can lead to their hearts being ‘hardened.’ As the saying goes, ‘The same sun that melts butter also hardens clay.’ Egyptian pharaohs believed they were divine, and Pharaoh would never have been inclined to submit to the Israelites’ God. Each time God placed a demand on him, he became more determined to resist. Thus it was both God’s demands and Pharaoh’s own pride-motivated stubbornness (Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34) that led to his hardened heart. God would use Pharaoh’s stubbornness for a good end, to demonstrate His power and extend His reputation (Exodus 9:16).”

I really like this quote, because to me it does a great job explaining why the Bible flips between expression of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh hardening his own heart.  God did not force anything upon Pharaoh.  Rather, God knew that as His displays of power got strong, so would Pharaoh’s resistance to them.  When God says “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” there is a particular claim that is being made. God is saying that His displays of power will be so great that Pharaoh’s heart will be hardened because of Pharaoh’s own stubbornness. 

If Pharaoh believes himself to be a god, then God is going to raise the ante.  God will do incredible things in Pharaoh’s midst until the pinnacle of Pharaoh’s pride is breeched.  Ultimately, God used Pharaoh’s false belief in his divinity against him.  That is a thought into which I can really buy.

Snakes

Let’s move beyond that discussion and move into thoughts about the actual snake incident.  Through this incident we see the willingness of the people to believe the Pharaoh’s claim to be divine.  Aaron, a representative of the God of the Hebrews made his staff into a snake.  The magicians, representatives of the Pharaoh whom they claimed as divine, also turned their staffs into snakes.  The fact that Aaron’s snake consumes them is a clear indication that God’s power is greater than the Pharaoh’s power.  We have a clear demonstration from God that He is powerful – more powerful than Pharaoh. 

In truly human fashion, Pharaoh isn’t interested in hearing about it.

The same is true about the water Nile.  The water turns blood red.  The Pharaoh’s magicians accomplish the same feat.  But what they are missing is that they cannot turn it back into regular clear water.  If the Egyptian magicians really wanted to prove something, they should have tried to undo what God had done!

God has assaulted the biggest avatar of the Egyptian gods and no Egyptian can do anything about it.  The water remains blood for seven days.  Even if the Egyptian magicians did turn the water blood red, nothing can be done to prevent God’s authoritative statement against the Egyptian gods of the Nile.  God has made a second claim of supremacy over Egypt.

Pharaoh still wants nothing to do with it.

It is unfortunate that humans always feel like they have to be in control.  How often do we let our demand for control interfere with what God is trying to say to us?  The snake event and the water in the Nile were seemingly harmless points at which Pharaoh could have taken notice and moved on in a greater understanding of God.  But that is not what happened.  God’s displays of power get Pharaoh’s hackles raised and the standoff between Pharaoh and God is confirmed.

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Year 1, Day 55: Exodus 6

More Genealogies

Today’s reading is primarily split into two parts.  I’ll deal with the second half of it first because it is a genealogy and thus easier to deal with and move ahead. 

You might be wondering about the genealogy and what its purpose is.  In truth, genealogies are usually used to prove the validity of one of the major characters of the story.  We already know Moses’ validity through the first two chapters.  On the other hand, Aaron is a character who is new to the story and about to step up and take a primary role.  If you look at this genealogy you can see that this listing has more to do with Aaron and his future line than Moses.  That is the purpose of this particular genealogy.  Through the validity of the genealogy we can see for certain that Aaron is a legitimate character and therefore the role he is about to perform is legitimately from God. 

What can we learn from this?  God is not at all against legitimizing those people to whom He has called into service.  I’m willing to be all of us who are legitimately trying to be God’s ministers in this world could establish quite a pedigree of faithfulness within our own lives and even the lives of those who came before us!  Each of us should be able to point to a bastion of faith or two that taught us the religious ropes.

Mind you, it is not about the pedigree.  Who taught us our spirituality doesn’t make us any better people.  God is God and He alone should be worshiped, not our pedigree. What our pedigree does show that we aren’t making this stuff up as we go along!  Like Aaron and all the genealogies before us, our pedigree helps establish us in the line of God’s hand at work.

God’s Name, revisited

Now, let’s come back to the first part of this chapter.  God makes a very interesting claim in Exodus 6:3.  Certainly God had made himself known to Abraham – even if not Isaac and Jacob, although a case can be made for them as well.  The name of God, YHWH appears all through the book of Genesis with respect to Abraham and the others.  So clearly we cannot take God’s claim here at the surface level of thought.  God must be up to something deeper than telling Moses that he got to know God’s personal name while the others didn’t have access to that secret knowledge.

Some argue that this sentence should actually be a rhetorical question.  In this case, God is asking, “and by my name did I not make myself known to them?”  Grammatically, there can be some legitimacy to this because Hebrew is a difficult language to fully understand the true punctuation of the author.  Sometimes it isn’t clear in Hebrew as to what is a question and what is a statement.  However, I personally do not think this is the correct understanding – although it is at least worth considering as a possibility.  I think God is still deeper than a rhetorical question.

I believe God’s point here is that while Abraham may have received the name, Isaac may have received the promise, and Jacob may have seen God work in his life to change him – Moses and the Hebrew people here will see an ultimate display of God’s sovereignty.  God is going to reveal Himself in a new way in Exodus.  God is going to reveal Himself as a God who is more powerful than any other god who is worshipped by humans.  God is not just a four letter tetragram: YHWH.  God is more than just a name.  He is a God of power and He is in absolute control.  I think this is truly the understanding that God implies in this most unusual claim in Exodus 6:3.

Building Character in Moses

If we look at how God responds to Moses’ plea, we can see God establishing His faithfulness.  God reminds Moses that He called them initially – that is, God called Abraham and all of his offspring.  God reminds Moses that He allowed Abraham and his descendants to dwell in Canaan through the covenant.  God reminds Moses about the promise that He has made to the Hebrew people. 

God is a God of faithfulness.  I love that when Moses is most full of doubt, God reminds Moses of His faithfulness.  When Moses is most full of questions about his own character, God doesn’t focus Moses on Moses.  When Moses needs a boost, God focuses Moses on God.

I believe this is a huge point.  When I am weak, having people tell me how good I am is only so good.  But having people tell me how good God will cure my self-doubt.  When I am reminded of the power and awesomeness of God, I will learn that my own failings and inabilities are nothing next to the character of God.  When I am weak, He is strong.  See 2 Corinthians 12:10.

In the end, it is up to God to prove Himself to Moses rather than God prove Moses’ character to Moses.  Yes, Moses has gone before Pharaoh and Pharaoh had none of it.  Moses has again gone before the Hebrew people and they are in no condition to want to believe God much less work towards emancipation.  Moses himself is doubting.  There is only one being in Egypt who absolutely believes with absolute certainty that the Hebrew people will soon be free: God.

Not Moses.  Not Aaron.  God.

Therefore, Exodus 6:10-13 should be ultimately read as a testimony to how everything that happens from here on out should be given to the glory of God.  God is the only one in Egypt who is absolutely faithful to the promise He made to Abraham.  That’s a good place to stop for the day.  God is absolutely faithful.  In the midst of our failure, our doubt, and our struggle, God is absolutely faithful.  Praise be to God.

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Year 1, Day 54: Exodus 5

Bricks without Straw

“You have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and you have put a sword in his hand to kill us.”  “Why, Lord, did you do evil to these people?  Why did you send me?”  These are classic quotations that expose the human mindset. 

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not trying to judge Moses and his fellow Hebrew people.  The reality is that when humans are confronted with problems we always begin our attempt to solve the problem with complaining about how things aren’t working out.  Granted, after that little pity-party we usually get to a more productive end and discover God’s ultimate plan.  But the reality is that as human beings we have to work through the short-sightedness of our human mindset before we can achieve the long-sightedness of God’s plan.

Pharaoh’s Answer

In that context, let’s take a little look at Pharaoh’s response to Moses’ initial proclamation to allow the people to leave.  Moses is only asking for a three day trip into the wilderness.  Yet Pharaoh can only think about the work that they would miss out on if he capitulates.  He cannot stand seeing the people missing work, so he responds by denying the presence of “the Lord” – a God whom he does not know. 

The world has so very little respect for God and His Word in comparison to their own agendas, tasks, and lives that they can see, feel, touch, and experience.  Pharaoh’s circumstances that are known – needing bricks for his building campaign – is much more important to him than anything a God whom he doesn’t know could possibly be saying to him.  Take notice of this response, because it is very common in the world.

The Hebrew Response

Unfortunately, the Hebrew people turn to Pharaoh to solve their problem before they turn to God.  The Hebrew people turn to Pharaoh and consult him as to how they can be expected to make bricks without straw.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I do think that when we have a problem we should try to work it out and come to a mutual understanding between those in conflict.  But we should turn to God first before going forth and trying to solve the problem.  There is a saying that God’s grace goes before us whenever we are successful.

The Hebrew people seem to miss out on that fact.  So do I, quite honestly.  How many problems have I tried to solve because I thought I knew the right course of action, but in truth I forgot to pause and check with God’s will first?  I think that is just human habit, and a bad one at that.  These Hebrew people go about trying to solve a problem that God is planning on using to remove them from bondage completely!  They miss the boat this time, and I am no better.

Moses Gets Grief for His Effort

When the people come to him with grief, notice that the people don’t come to Moses for help but rather to give him grief.  However, Moses does turn to God first.  So Moses actually does what is right. 

But if we look at Moses’ words we can still see the human lack of confidence and foresight into God’s plan.  Moses hears their grief and accuses God of doing evil to the people.  Moses hears their grief and doubts his own ability to lead. 

I think Moses is being very human here.  As I asked with the Hebrew people, so I also ask here.  How many times have I done the same thing?  Even when I turn to God, how many times do I turn to God because I am actually lacking faith in what God is doing?  How many times do I turn to God and rather than asking God to reveal Himself instead I blame God for bringing about a roadblock to what I thought should happen? 

I’m no better than Moses in this chapter.  The truth is that I find that I have a lot in common with Moses.  It’s fun to lead when things are going well.  It is frustrating to lead and easy to complain when things are going poorly.

Yet – as we shall see in the next few chapters – God is good.  God sees Pharaoh’s unwillingness to listen, the Hebrews’ unwillingness to come to Him, and Moses’ self doubt.  He and He alone uses all of that to make a wonderful thing.  God will use all of those negative human reactions to show us how great an emancipator He can be. 

The fact that God is interested in emancipation is ultimately good news for those of us who are guilty of sin.  The fact that we all have something from which we can be freed means that we should be keenly interested in a God who makes claims all throughout His Word that He is capable of freeing us from whatever bondage we are in.

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Year 1, Day 53: Exodus 4

Who Doesn’t Start With Excuses?

Reality begins to set in for Moses here in Exodus 4.  As I commented with Jacob, so I will comment here with Moses.  One of the things I love about Moses is that he was not a bastion of faith that does everything right on the first time.  In fact, I’ll just go ahead and say that you will hear this comment from me all over the place as we read the Bible.  This is one of the things that makes the Bible (and Judaism/Christianity) so believable when I find so many of the other religions so unbelievable. 

In the Bible we have humans acting like humans and God still uses them and loves them.  Humans aren’t perfect in the Bible, but God loves them anyway.  It makes what Christ did on the cross believable.  Other religions are set up by people who seem to never make mistakes and set an unattainable goal.  That’s a shame.  But our faith is a faith that lifts up flawed humans and says that God can use them anyway.  That’s pretty cool when you think about it.

So in what way is Moses flawed in this passage?  Moses starts by saying that they will not believe him.  From a divine perspective – of course he is flawed.  They will believe him if God purposes them to believe him.  Moses has a crisis of faith when God has already told him that the way is clear.

From a human perspective we can completely understand where he is coming from.  Moses has murder on his record.  He has killed someone, and both the Hebrew people and the Egyptians had already shown their rejection of him.  He has some reason to doubt just how accepted he would actually become.  Naturally, though, if someone who has killed someone came to you and asked you to follow them, would you?  Now you know why Moses has reason to doubt.

Why Excuses?

I think this trait that we are seeing in Moses is pretty common in human beings.  We get really excited about doing certain things.  We get really excited during the vision process.  But when it comes time to make the vision into a reality that is when we often fail.  It is hard work to do what God desires because the world is always so opposed to that work.  I can understand Moses’ reaction from this perspective, too.  Moses is awed by God and God’s vision; it is a glorious vision.  But when it comes time to act Moses is also awed by what exactly has to happen in order for it to come to fruition that it seems a bit daunting.

God’s Response

God responds and gives him three sets of signs.  God gives him the staff.  God gives him the leprous hand.  And God gives him the ability to turn the Nile water into blood.  This last one is serious – because the Nile was the divine property of the Egyptian gods.  When Moses would change his staff, he was doing something to his own property.  The same thing is true with turning his hand leprous.  But turning the Nile water into blood would be a direct attack from Moses – and therefore God as God gave Moses that ability – against the Egyptian gods.  But this is a process God desires; it is a challenge God desires Moses to do.  God gives Moses these signs so that he could act.

More Doubt

But Moses isn’t done doubting.  He cautions God that he isn’t really the world’s best speaker.  He might not have the sway that God would like him to have with either the Hebrew folks or the Egyptians.  Again God’s plan is awesome but met with the natural human doubts of Moses.

Here God tells Moses about Aaron.  Here’s something interesting that I found as I read through this passage.  God says that Aaron is coming out to meet Moses.  I find that really interesting.  Most people think that by this time in the story Moses is already 80 years old.  They say he spent 40 years in Egypt, 40 years with Jethro, and then 40 years leading the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness.  If this is true, then it’s been roughly 80 years since he was taken out of the Nile as a baby.  After 80 years Aaron comes looking for Moses because he’s curious on his own to find him? 

No, only God could bring that about this timing.  What we can read into the passage given this back-story is that God anticipated Moses’ excuses and doubts and already has Aaron coming out to meet Moses.  I find that pretty cool, too.  God knows Moses’ failings with respect to his humanity and sets Moses up to succeed anyway.  God knows Moses so well that he already knows the excuses will come.  Rather than discard Moses because of his character flaws, he works with him!  How cool is that? 

The next time any of us doubt our ability, we need to remember that if God is in control and we follow God then we can trust that God has set us up to be successful in our venture.  Granted, success is defined by God’s standards and not our own.  But rest assured that if we trust God and follow His leading, God will see our actions and results as a success.

I realize this is easier said than done.  It is easy to be consumed in our own failings.  It is easy to be convinced of the impossibility of our success.  But we serve a God that can overcome our obstacles and still use us along the way!

I hope that you enjoyed this passage as much as I did – and are inspired to evaluate your own talents in light of what God was willing to do for Moses in order that he should be used.

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Year 1, Day 52: Exodus 3

A Most Important Chapter

Exodus 3 lets us in on a little bit more of Moses’ development.  This passage gives us several iconic moments in Hebrew history.  We have the burning bush story.  Within the burning bush story we have the point where God gives His name to Moses.  He we are also told of the great plundering that God will do to Egypt through the Hebrew people.  So, let’s take each of these moments and talk a little about what each one means from a spiritual perspective. 

Burning Bush

The burning bush gives us a neat perspective of God.  God is in the bush, it is burning, yet the bush is not consumed.  So it is in God’s judgment!  Just yesterday I preached a sermon on 1 Corinthians 3:10-23 in which Paul encourages the Christians in Corinth to build using materials that will withstand judgment.  God judges, we cannot escape that.  We will all be judged.  But those who follow God and practice God’s ways will not be consumed. 

Even in this story of the Exodus we will see that while the Hebrew people and the Egyptians are both subject to judgment, the Hebrew people come through the judgment while the Egyptian people are set back quite far.  I won’t say that Egypt is destroyed because clearly they are not utterly wiped from the face of the earth.  But they do not come through the judgment without having suffered considerable loss. 

God is an all-consuming God, burning away and destroying all that is not found within His presence – that is, righteousness.  It is a hard teaching because most people just want to hear about the God who loves us not the all-consuming fire.  But it is nonetheless who God is.

We should be very careful to understand the point of Exodus 3:7-10.  The words are there, but the message is assumed and often lost.  God has indeed heard their cry, seen their oppression, known their suffering, and come down to deliver them.  If we take those words only at face value, it sounds like God has simply come down to rescue the Hebrew people.

While that is not a wrong statement, it is not a righteous statement.  That statement makes the work of the exodus centered on the Hebrew people.  We know that is wrong, because God’s work centers on God.  God is the ultimate center of life.  So yes, God did see, hear, know, and come down to deliver the Hebrews. 

But for what purpose did God do this?  Was it just so that they could be free?  Let it not be so!  God saw, heard, knew, and came so that He could bring His people out of Egypt to serve and worship Him!  To focus only on the freedom of the Hebrew people is to take a divine story and put a purely human emphasis upon it. 

The story is not complete until we remember that they were delivered in order to serve and worship God!  Of course, when the Hebrew people forget this lesson in a few hundred years and start worshipping themselves and not God, they will go back into bondage under the Assyrians and the Babylonians.  So we can understand that this is really the point of the exodus.  The exodus is not about freedom – it is about choosing what master we want to serve.  It’s about choosing God.

The same is true about Jesus Christ, by the way.  Jesus Christ came to “set the captives of sin free,” of course.  But as Paul indicates in Romans 6:15-23 (especially Romans 6:18 and Romans 6:22) we do not become free to do whatever we want.  We are freed out of sin in order to become slaves of God.  Yes, we are indeed no longer slaves of sin.  But just as the Hebrews are freed out of Egypt to serve God, so we too are freed out of sin to serve God.

God’s Name

Let’s turn to the naming of God.  There is something you should know.  I personally find the human use of the word “Yahweh” abhorrent, and this is the only time you will find that in print here on this blog.  Hebrew tradition allows for the name to be written as YHWH (Since the Hebrew alphabet doesn’t use vowels, but rather uses points above and below the letters to represent vowels).  Although it can be written, these letters are never to be spoken.  For this very reason in Hebrew tradition they would say “Adonai” (or “Lord” in English) whenever they would be reading and the letters YHWH would appear only ever in the text. 

I do the same out of respect for God.  This is also why in some Bibles you have the word “LORD” printed in all caps in the Old Testament.  Everywhere the word “LORD” appears in all caps it is a place where we can know that the Hebrew literally prints the name of God.

There is a simple reason for never pronouncing the name of God, and it comes out of Moses’ reaction to God here at the burning bush.  Moses averts his eyes in an act of submission.  In culture, you show respect for a being more powerful than you by avoiding eye contact and by referring to them using titles of respect.  To use someone’s given name says to them that you consider them an equal.  A case in point is that when I was a teacher my students did not call me “John” but rather “Mr. Fraser.”  Moses finds it important to not speak God’s name and to instead take a position of subservience, so I will do the same.  I do not use the YHWH name for God because I do not ever wish to give the appearance to another that I consider God my equal. 

The word YHWH is an interesting word in Hebrew, however.  The word literally means “I am,” “I cause to be,” or even “I am always present.”  All of those names are significant expressions of God.  I prefer the simplest translation of “I am” because it is the most useful.  When Moses delivers the Hebrew people out of Egypt through God’s displays of power, Moses can say that the source of power is the “God who is.”  A hundred years later when David is writing psalms to the Lord he can still praise the “God who is.”  The reality is that God always “is.”  There is no time where God “isn’t;” God always “is.”  That is why “I am” is my favorite translation of God’s name.

Predictions of Plunder

Now let’s turn to this issue of plundering.  The Hebrew people will go with great riches.  This should not be looked at as stealing.  It is wrong to steal, and God would never tell His people to steal.  However, if the demonstrations of God are so powerful and so terrible that those who do not believe in Him will pay you to get away from them, that isn’t stealing.  And as Exodus 12:35-36 indicates, the Hebrew people asked the Egyptians for their wealth and the Egyptians gave it away just to get God and His people out of their midst.

That raises one last question.  Did you ever wonder why the Egyptian people didn’t convert to the most powerful God?  Clearly God is the most powerful being ever.  When people see manifestations of His power, why do they not convert? 

The answer is actually easy.  They do not because the price is too high.  To serve a God who is that powerful means to really change who we are.  Anyone can worship dead gods who cannot take retribution when we don’t obey.  Anyone can serve bank accounts and possessions that after they serve their usefulness they can be discarded.  But to serve God means real change.  So it is often easier to cast such a God away from us than follow Him.  This is why the Hebrew people plunder the Egyptians rather than convert them and take them with them.  It is a horrible, sad reflection on humanity.  But it is the truth.

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Year 1, Day 51: Exodus 2

Self-Centered Humanity

As Exodus 2 begins, we are reminded of the Hebrew’s plea for help.  Moses is born and had to be hidden.  As Exodus 2 ends, we are clearly reminded of the Hebrew people’s cry for help.  But here’s the question: Why was God waiting so long?  What purpose was being served by keeping the Hebrew folks under oppression in Egypt?

I hate to say it but that question ultimately points to our human self-centeredness.  I am guilty because I ask the question myself.  But think about it for a second.  Where does the focus of that question reside?

To ask that question implies that the only thing in the world that matters is the Hebrew people.  The Hebrew folks are important for sure, but they are clearly not the only ones in the world who matter.  While the Hebrew folks are in Egypt, God is giving the Egyptians and opportunity to see Him through the Hebrew people.  Before the Hebrew people come to claim Canaan as their inheritance, God is giving the Canaanites one last opportunity – a few hundred years of opportunity – to turn from their ways. 

Yes, it is a shame the Hebrew people had to be in oppression as long as they were, but do not think that God was simply ignoring them or that He was waiting for the “proscribed amount of time” as we heard in Genesis 15.  God was at work in the world, and the Hebrew folks had to wait for God’s work to be satisfied elsewhere in the world before their own freedom could be brought about to teach the world even more about God’s salvation.

Moses’ Early Years

Now let’s focus on Moses.  First, notice how Moses’ mother fears for him and cares for him.  She does all that she can to hide him from being noticed.  She even appoints his sister to watch over him and make sure that he is cared for.  It may seem strange for a mother to abandon her baby to the Nile River, but in a day and age where babies were being actively sought out and killed this action cannot be judged.  Moses’ mother was just trying to do whatever she could to get him through the current hardship.  All that Moses’ mother does here is out of her love and compassion – love and compassion that she no doubt received from God.

Moses grows up in the palace, and he no doubt learns the lessons of how to be a good leader and take charge.  In him here we see a little bit of Joseph.  Joseph was clearly a gifted man and filled with God’s Spirit.  But in the beginning Joseph was impulsive as he told his dreams to his brothers and brought their ire against him.  Here we see Moses being impulsive as well.  Moses sees a Hebrew being beaten and Moses checks to make sure nobody is looking.  Then Moses kills the Egyptian. 

Now, I can understand Moses’ desire to help.  Certainly that is coming from a good root.  But Moses’ impulsiveness leads him to kill the Egyptian, which is a bad thing.  Moses’ impulsiveness led him to act before consulting with God.  Not that Moses is a bad man, but like Joseph he could stand to learn a few more lessons about patience and waiting upon the Lord.  Well, like me, too.  I am just as guilty as Moses in this regard.

Moses’ Middle Life

Moses then flees Egypt while also fleeing his own people since both the Hebrews and Egyptians have cause to reject him.  Moses goes out and meets Jethro and ends up marrying one of Jethro’s daughters, Zipporah.

Jethro will prove to be a tremendous advantage to Moses as he teaches Moses how to lead and how to refine his impulsiveness.  More than once in Exodus and the books to follow we shall see Moses consulting with Jethro in order to glean some wisdom.  We are reminded of the lesson with which we opened this blog post.  When Moses’ impulsiveness forces him out of Egypt, God does not abandon the plan.  God tweaks the plan and delivers Moses into the hands of someone who can show Moses what God is doing in his life. 

We have a great story here about how our own sinfulness cannot interrupt God’s plan.  God always has a way to overcome our sinfulness rather than let our sinfulness destroy His plans.  Of course, this doesn’t give us permission to sin.  It does give us permission to live boldly and trust that a living God will forgive us when we make mistakes and work with us to bring about His ways for this world.

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Year 1, Day 50: Exodus 1

New Beginnings

We begin a new book today.  I’m actually very excited about it.  Fifty days of reading into a new year, and we are actually beginning our second book of the Bible!  And what a book it is. 

This is the book that gives us Moses – one of the four biggest names in the Old Testament (Abraham, Elijah, and David being the other three).  This is the book that gives us the greatest spiritual conflict ever recorded: the God of the Hebrews versus the gods of the Egyptians.  This is the book that gives us the 10 Commandments.  This is the book that reaffirms God’s covenant with the people.  So many good things are in this book that it will be a great read.

Oh, and for the record the name Exodus is a Greek word that means “The way out.”  As we talked yesterday, little has changed in the last 2,000 years.  People are still being oppressed in this world by the world.  Having a book that is written under the purpose of knowing “the way out” is an important tool in this age!

Main Themes of Exodus

As we look through this book, let me introduce you to seven main themes for which we can keep a look-out.

• The first theme is seeing Egypt as a stereotype for the world as the world tries to keep God and God’s people in bondage.
• The second is that Pharaoh, or any leader of the world, is a form of Satan’s minion – people who seek worship of themselves and who willingly go forth to oppress whatever God is trying to do in the world.
• The third is to see Israel as a type of Godly community, or assembly or church, that God delivers out of the world, leads on a pilgrim journey, and protects.
• The fourth is to see Moses as a precursor of Christ.  This does not mean at all that salvation comes through Moses.  Of course not!  Rather this implies that Moses is one of the standards to which God’s Messiah will be compared so that we can know when God’s great Messiah comes on the scene.
• The fifth theme is to envision the crossing of the Red Sea as a type of resurrection, a deliverance out of the world of bandage and into a true relationship with God as the authority figure.
• The sixth theme is to see the manna as the precursor to the crucifixion much like we see Moses as the precursor to Christ.
• The last theme is to see the smitten rock as a precursor to Pentecost and even the smitten Christ.  Just as the rock was smitten and water came forth, so when Christ was smitten living water, the Holy Spirit, came forth.

Keep these images in mind as we go through this story and see how God uses the story of the Hebrew people to prepare them for the coming of Christ 1,500 years later.

The People Grow in Number

Let’s move on to the actual story, shall we?  The first comment that I would like to revisit from the end of Genesis is that the Hebrew people become more and more numerous.  In fact, the Hebrew grew so numerous that they become a threat to the Egyptians.  Of course, this is God’s plan.

God prospers the Hebrew people so that they will be forced to leave Egypt and head back to His promise.  The prospering of the Hebrew people brings about pain in the short-term, as we hear about in Exodus 1; but in the long term it brings about their emancipation, their freedom, and their fulfillment in relationship with God.  As we saw with Joseph yesterday, the prospering of the Hebrew people wasn’t so much because God loved them more but that God was at work within them to bring about His ultimate plan.

Slavery

In fact, let’s talk about slavery for just a moment.  Have you ever been backed into a corner and found yourself entrenching so deeply into that which you believed that you came out swinging?  Often, that is precisely what being made a slave, being bullied, or any other form of oppression does.  Oppression forces us to focus on what is important, make us tough, and propel us to stand up for that which we believe and for which there can be no compromise.

Pharaoh intended for the slavery to crush the will of the Hebrew people.  The slavery just made them tough, willing to stand up and be led out of Egypt by God, and able to survive the journey to God’s promise.  The same can be true of us.  It is often that when we look back upon those moments of oppression and being bullied that we actually see the moments where God was hardest at work making us the spiritual leaders that we are called to be.

Egyptian Midwives

The last point that I wish to bring up is this discussion about the midwives – and specifically their account to the Pharaoh.  As I read up on this passage in various commentaries, I found a question that every author desires to point out.  I will bring it out as well.  Understand that there is great contradiction among the teachers that I use to inform my own spiritual understanding of the scripture.  The question is: were the midwives lying to Pharaoh?

On one hand, the Bible tells us that lying is absolutely wrong and it always represents a path that leads away from the godly life.  If these women were indeed lying, then their action is wrong.  It is possible to take a black and white approach to this passage.

A few commentaries that I read tried to justify the lying because we “cannot always choose between pure good and pure evil.”  Sometimes the world is gray and we are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils.  Certainly that is true.  I think of Bonheoffer in WWII Germany as he participated in a plot to kill Hitler.  Murder is wrong in whatever form it takes, but Bonheoffer nonetheless participated in a plot to kill Hitler. 

This opens an interesting ethical debate.  I believe that the justification of choosing the lesser of two evils still implies choosing and evil path and still requires repentance.  Evil is evil, even if God uses it to bring around a good result.  Take Joseph’s brothers at the end of Genesis as proof of this.  Even though God used the selling of Joseph into slavery to save Israel and his children, the brothers still had to repent of their action because the act was fundamentally wrong.  Whenever we compromise “right” by arguing the “lesser of two evils” we are compromising true faith.  That doesn’t mean reality doesn’t force us into those situations.  But it does mean that we usually need to repent even if we are choosing the best of a horrible situation.

Other commentaries argue that the midwives may have been telling the truth.  The women might have intentionally been slow in doing their tasks or inviting other midwives to go to help the births along.  God might have also blessed the Hebrew women with unusually short periods of labor in the child-bearing process.  So it is certainly possible that the midwives could have been telling the truth to Pharaoh.

However, I find this argument distasteful.  It seems willing to use human rationality in order to intentionally ignore scripture in order to sidestep the moral dilemma raised about the lying of the midwives.  Exodus 1:17 is very clear in that the midwives “did not do as Pharaoh asked and let the male children live.”  I think this verse shows a conscious choice on behalf of the midwives.  For the record, I think it is a great conscious choice to value human life by not killing the Hebrew boys.  But I believe it is a conscious choice and that implies we must go down the ethical discussion above regarding the option of choosing the lesser of two evils.

In the end, I like this chapter because this chapter is applicable to real life.  Here we have women facing a difficult choice.  Do they obey the Pharaoh and violate ethics?  Do they disobey the king and then be forced to choose between lying about it and being honest?  These are difficult choices the midwives make. 

But that is life, is it not?  We are often making difficult choices in life.  While ethics are black and white, living in this world is not as easy.  The book of Exodus will constantly confront us with these kinds of stories that invite us to realize that life gets messy sometimes.  Ultimately that is okay.  So long as we follow God’s ways and repent when we stray down the path of wrong-doing God is there to forgive and love.

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