Category: BIBLE/SCRIPTURE

Exodus 6:6

The Seder is the traditional Passover Meal that is Biblically commanded for the Jews, after nightfall on the first night of Passover or on the second night if you live outside of Israel.

It is the anniversary of the nation’s miraculous exodus from Egyptian slavery more than 3,000 years ago.

This meal includes reading, telling stories, eating special foods, singing and drinking 4 cups of wine.

The traditional reason why Jews drink 4 cups of wine at the Seder is found in Exodus chapter 6 verse 6.

In that verse Moses is to tell the Israelite people I am the Lord, I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from bondage, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements.

Those 4 cups of wine represents the three divine promises in this verse, and the divine promise in the following verse: those promises are:

• I will free you…
• I will deliver you…
• I will redeem you.. and
• I will take you to be my people.

There are actually three more promises in the following two verses but evidently four glasses of wine is quite enough.

These next three promises are:

• I will be your God…
• I will bring you into the land…
• I will give it to you for a possession…

IF you have counted you will take note that God makes a total of seven promises. That magic number seven is the most significand and recurring number in the first five book of the Bible.

The number seven, of course, is the number that signifies God is the Creator. Remember the world was created in seven days.

What may just be the most important verse in the Bible is “In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That sentence is so important because everything in the Bible rests on the belief that God is the Creator. IF anyone does not believe that verse they make the claim that the God of the Bible is nothing more than a fairytale. And then to top it off we learn that in the Hebrew that sentence contains seven words.

Because God says, “I will take you to be my people” it became the same language used in the ancient Jewish wedding ceremony where a man takes a woman for his wife and the woman accepts his proposal. That actually answers the question as to why the husband/ wife metaphor is used for God and the Israelites And right up and until this very day the traditional wedding ceremonies seven blessing are recited under the wedding canopy, and are repeated daily on the seven days following the wedding.

Moses was to tell the Israelites all that God had said with His seven promises. But the Israelites with their crushed spirits by their cruel bondage, refused to listen. So then God told Moses to go and tell Pharaoh King of Egypt to let the Israelites depart from this land. But Moses objected to this order from God on the grounds that the Israelites will not listen to him, the Pharaoh will not listen to him, and to top it all off, he does not speak well enough. So the Lord spoke to both Moses and Aaron and instructed them to tell Pharaoh to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt.

Then in the very next verse we are enlightened to the Israelite family tree. That genealogy listed Reuben, Simeon, Levi who lived 137 years, Gershon, Merari, and Amram who lived 137 years. and his wife Jochebed who were the parents of Moses and Aaron. Also listed were all the sons of all these leaders of tribes. Did you notice the only woman named was the mother of all these men? Not even Miriam, the sister who saved Moses life was mentioned!

There are multiple reasons why women are not listed in the Genealogy of Moses. Women’ behavior was extremely limited in ancient times. Unmarried women were not allowed to leave the home of their father without permission. Married women were not allowed to leave the home of their husband, without permission. They were normally restricted to roles of little or no authority.

They could not testify in court.
They could not appear in public venues.
They were not allowed to talk to strangers.
They had to be doubly veiled when they left their homes.

In the first creation story God is descried as creating both male and female at the same time.

But in the second creation story God formed only a man. Then he marched all the animals in front of Adam to find a suitable partner for Adam. When he found none suitable, God created Eve out of one of Adams ribs. Thus woman, stay home and obey your husband!

‘Women’s liberation’ has come a long way since then, baby!

Of course, in the New Testament the Apostle Paul spoke highly of the women in his churches, who worked diligently in the ministry. Making it obvious things really did change.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 16
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Exodus 4:13

God has chosen a leader to bring the Children of Israel out of bondage. And who does he pick but Moses.  One of the most instrumental leaders in history who didn’t speak well and didn’t want to be a leader!

Moses’ response to God was, “O Lord, make someone else your agent.” What a paradox. But Moses was an ideal leader because he really doesn’t want the job.  All through history most powerful National leaders ached to be to be powerful, influential, famous and rich!  But not Moses, he preferred to lead a simple life with his family.  Or maybe his problem was he feared returning to Egypt.  We can never judge another man’s motives.

Scripture says, “The Lord became angry with Moses”, but He gives him a crumb of consolation.  God said, “Your brother is coming to meet you, and he speaks very well.”

Wow, God is not expecting Moses to undertake this mission alone.  His brother can be his partner and he can do the talking.

God continues, “Aaron will be happy to see you, and he will be happy to speak, and I will tell both of you what to say.” God then instructs Moses to take that rod that turned into a snake, with him and to have It the rest of his life.

That rod represents Moses first encounter with God at the burning bush and it also serves as a reminder of his humble beginnings as a shepherd. Moses had his rod and David had his sling and with God on their side they overcame mighty foes.

Moses went back to his father-in-law, Jethro, and out of good manners, asked him if he could take his own wife, Zipporah, from her father’s house. The reason he told Jethro he was returning to his people was to check on their wellbeing, but he leaves out the part about meeting and getting instructions from God.

Jethro’s reply was, “Go in peace”.

The Lord told Moses, to “go back to Egypt and fear not because all the men who sought to kill you, are dead.”

With Jethro’s permission Moses took his wife and sons and mounted them on an ass, and went back to the land of Egypt. So, God sent Moses to Pharaoh to convince him to let his people go – BUT – He was also going to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the people go!

There were twenty different times that refer to the hardening or stiffening of Pharaoh’s heart and half of that were attributed to the direct act of God. It could seem unfair that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and made him the bad guy.  But there are two ways of looking at what God did.

One.  Maybe God believed Pharaoh deserved to be punished.  After all, if Pharaoh released the Jews on the first effort God would not have been able to punish him and the Egyptian nation for enslaving the Israelites for hundreds of years. 

Two. Or was it that if God had not hardened or strengthened Pharaoh’s heart, Pharaoh would have given in after the first or second plague and he would not have done it under his own free will.  By strengthening Pharaoh’s heart, he actually allowed Pharaoh to do exactly what he wanted to do.  God truly is just.

God told Moses he was to tell Pharaoh, that Israel is God’s firstborn son and they are to be set free so that he (that firstborn son being all the people) could Worship God, or God will slay his firstborn son. Though it is not noted or remembered by many students of the Bible, Pharaoh’s firstborn son was actually killed during the tenth plague (firstborn in all Egypt).

But poor Moses, he did not tell the Pharaoh about the killing of his son at that time.  Maybe he was afraid Pharaoh would believe it was Moses who was making a threat against his family and he may have had Moses killed instead.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 12
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Exodus 3:20

First Moses was told to go to the Pharaoh and ask him to allow them to go worship their God. Then God warned Moses the Egyptians would not let them go; God followed that up with “I will stretch out my hand and afflict Egypt with plagues.”

But before they were afflicted God and Moses must offer Pharaoh the option of freeing the slaves. Pharaoh could avoid afflicting his own people with the plagues if he just listened to God.

Take note. God always acts justly and for this reason He cannot afflict the Egyptians with plagues until Pharaoh had made them morally justified.

God’s plan that he shared with Moses was to incline the Egyptians to think favorably toward the Jews. He assured Moses that each woman should ask, or request of her neighbor, including any sojourner in her house to give her jewels of silver, and jewels of gold and clothing.

They could not just steal them or even demand them, even though they had earned them during their hundreds of years of slavery. No matter how these women had been treated in the past, they must now act with decency, even to their oppressors.Moses seemed to be getting nervous with these instructions. 

He asked God, “What if they do not believe me”?

God questioned, “What if they don’t believe I appeared to you?

God always has a way of proving Himself and this is no exception. He asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?”

Moses answered immediately, “It is a rod”. God said, “Cast it unto the ground.”

When Moses followed God’s order the rod turned into a snake. Moses jumped back! Then God told Moses to grasp it by the tail. Now Moses really had to depend on his faith. We all know you grasp a snake by the neck so it doesn’t bite you. But low and behold he grasped it by the tail and it turned back into a rod in his hand. But Moses, being human, wasn’t quite convinced. This is when God told him to put his hand in his bosom, or as we would say ‘stick your hand in your shirt’. When Moses drew his hand out it was flakey like snow. In this age He would have been diagnosed with leprosy, if there were an accuser who saw it. Then God told him to repeat the process and when he did and he pulled his hand out it was completely normal without any flakes.

God then said, “If they do not believe you or pay heed to the first sign, they certainly will believe you with the second sign. And if they are not convinced take some water from the Nile, pour it on dry ground and it will turn to blood.”

Moses had to believe this one by faith. There was no object lesson here. After all, Moses was in the desert and not by the Nile. Moses came up with another explanation, ‘or excuse’ as to why he could not follow the instructions by going to the Pharaoh. He told God he was slow of speech and slow of tongue.

What a predicament, one of the most influential leaders in history didn’t speak well. We remember he didn’t speak when he helped the Midianite women at the well. He didn’t speak when he killed the Egyptian overseer who was beating the Hebrew slave. But when he tried to use words to stop the two quarreling Israelites, he ended up having to flee But God was not impressed with Moses’ reasoning.

He asked Moses, “Who do you think it is that gives man speech? Now Go!”

Not much sympathy there! But then God adds, “I will be with you when you speak and I will instruct you what to say!”

God has His plans and it is NOT up to man to change God’s mind!

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 11
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Exodus 5:19

The ‘god king’ Pharaoh issued the order that the workers must now get their own straw to make the bricks, whereas in the past, they always had the straw delivered to them. And oh yes! They still had to meet their quota. Let’s face it, under a god King you have no Union and no grievance committee!

But they did find someone to whom they could grieve. When Hebrew foremen met Moses and Aaron on the path they said to them, ”May the Lord look upon you and punish you for making us loathsome to Pharaoh and his courtiers Putting a sword in their hands to slay us.” And if we were in their very same position we would not have liked Moses and Aaron either, because they had only made matters worse!

Moses was in a predicament! He loves the Lord but he also loves humans and is torn to see them suffering. This predicament made Moses cry out to the Lord, “O Lord, why did you bring harm and pain upon the people”, and “Why did you save me”?

We can bring Moses attitude right down to us. As mad as we may get concerning the sufferings of human beings we must love the Lord and direct our anger at the human who is causing the pain – and in this case it was Pharaoh!

Truth be told, Moses is having a hard time reconciling why God would send him on this mission that would turn out so badly. We just have to remember when God sent Moses He told him Pharaoh would refuse to let the Israelites go.

It is human nature to want good things to happen immediately and to lose patience when they take more time. But God was patient with Moses and he did not get angry in return.

He patiently told Moses, “You shall soon see what I will do to Pharaoh: he shall let them go because of a greater might! I AM the Lord.”

Moses believed Him and so should we.

But human beings have a tendency to be very impatient, especially when they are waiting for something good to happen, and Moses is no exception to that rule.

He said to God, “Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has dealt worse with this people and still you have not delivered Your people.”
The Lord had an answer for Moses, He reaffirms what he will do. He said, “You shall soon see what I will do to Pharaoh: he shall let them go because of a greater might; indeed, because of a greater might he shall drive them from his land.”

God continued, “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself know to them by My name, YHVH But remember early in Exodus He did reveal His name to Moses.

He continued telling Moses, that Moses can trust his promise because He “remembers” the promise He made to the patriarchs. And when God says He remembers, He means He is ready to act.

That fact is affirmed by what telling Moses, “I have now hear the moaning of the Israelites because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, And I remembered my covenant.

Tell the Israelites: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with extraordinary chastisements.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 15
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Chapter 5

God had told Moses to go to Pharaoh and to take the Elders with them. But It seems the elders all dropped out one by one and two by two, as they grew more and more fearful of appearing before the Pharaoh, ‘the god-king’.

Pharaoh, after all, was not expected to take kindly to Moses’s demands. So by the time Moses and Aaron reached Pharaoh none of the elders remained with them.

Those elders by virtue of their status were probably the older men in the community. If we think about it we realize young people are the most likely to undertake endangering situations. Old people are more fearful and more cautious. You can get caution, wisdom and strategic thinking from an older person. But if you want courage and risk taking you had better look for younger men. And for this mission physical courage was very necessary. Or maybe it wasn’t that they did not have enough courage. Maybe they disappeared along the way because they just didn’t have enough faith.

Sure, Moses had faith. After all God had shown him miracles, but the elders did not have any miracles to fall back on. And even then, when Moses and Aaron appeared before pharaoh they did not follow God’s orders. They were to tell Pharaoh that the Lord God of the Hebrews wanted them to make this journey but evidently the two brother forgot. Maybe they were nervous.

It may sound trivial, but Moses told them the ‘God of Israel’ instructed them rather than the ‘Lord God of the Hebrews’. Then to add insult to injury God told Moses to politely ask Pharaoh for permission to leave Egypt for a brief period. Moses was even supposed to ask please. But what did Moses do? He said “Let my people go that they may celebrate a festival for me in the wilderness. Details are important to God but not yet important to Moses.

Pharaoh had a quick answer, maybe even one that absolutely any person who is ignorant of God would ask. Who is the Lord that I should heed him? I do not know this Lord, nor will I let Israel go.

Then finally Moses and Arron got it right. They said the Lord is the God of the Hebrews who manifested himself to them. And then the next question they part they said correctly, “let us go a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God lest he strike us with petulance of sword”.

Then Pharaoh basically asks, “Why aren’t you working? And “Why are you being distracting to everyone?”

In Pharaoh’s anger or for retribution Pharaoh tells the taskmasters to stop supplying the slaves the straw to make the bricks, but to make them go get it themselves and then they are to make as many bricks as they had been making when the straw was provided to them.

These were impossible quotas they had to meet. Pharaoh had every intention of bringing division between the slaves and Moses and Aaron. And it worked. The system in Egypt was that the bottom rung were Jewish workers. In Hebrew the same word is used for slaves and workers. Next up the ladder were the foremen who were also Jews. And then above them were the Egyptian taskmasters who followed Pharaohs orders precisely.

When the foreman, who were Jews, came upon Moses and Arron standing in their path, they said to them, “May the Lord look upon you and punish you for making us loathsome to Pharaoh and his courtiers-putting a sword in their hands to slay us.”

Can’t you just imagine that we would have agreed with the slaves and wished that Moses and Aaron never went before Pharaoh, when all they have done to this point is to make matters worse for the slaves?

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 14
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Exodus 4:23

In Chapter 4 of Exodus God has just told Moses to tell Pharaoh that if he didn’t let his people go God would slay his firstborn son. That edict was actually carried out after the first ten plagues. But in verse 23 there is a sharp U-turn. God goes from telling Moses what to say to the Pharaoh, to telling Moses “Now I will kill your firstborn son.”

It is very confusing but after checking a multitude of commentaries, they all agree God is unhappy with Moses. In verse 24, we see written, At a night encampment along the way, the Lord encountered Moses and sought to kill him!

No one actually knows why God sought to kill Moses. But most scholars believe it had to do with the non-circumcision of one of his sons, because In verse 25, Moses wife Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin. She then announced she was part of a bloody religion. And she was very proud and happy she was protected by the blood of circumcision.

This story actually underscores the necessity of circumcision to be in God’s will. Then we seem to take another U turn, because in verse 27 The Lord told Aaron to go meet Moses in the wilderness. Aaron met Moses at the Mountain of God, the same Mountain where God met Moses at the burning bush, and Aaron greeted Moses with a kiss. Moses told Aaron about all of what God had told him to do. Together they assembled all the Elders of the Israelites.

Aaron was the one who spoke and told them all that the Lord had spoken to Moses and then Moses did all the signs the Lord had shown him. These signs were he turning of his rod into a serpent and the serpent into a rod again, putting his hand into and out of his bosom, when it was leprous, and then doing the same when it was well again, and taking water out of the Nile and changing it into blood. These things he did for the confirmation of his mission.

And believe it or not, they believed him! And not only did they believe him, they did not think he was using magic tricks. But they bowed themselves down in homage because God had seen their plight and taken note of the Israelites.

God had told Moses and Aaron to take the Elders with them to see the Pharaoh! But those Elders slowly disappeared along the way and by the time they reached the Pharaoh Moses and Aaron were alone. When God gives instructions His intent is that they should be followed exactly. But again Moses fails in that department. God told Moses to tell Pharaoh, “The Lord God of the Hebrews”, but Moses said “The Lord God of Israel”.

God had also told Moses to politely ask Pharaoh for permission to leave Egypt for a brief period. In fact, he was to use the word please. Instead Moses said, “Let my people go that they may celebrate a festival for the ‘I Am’ in the wilderness”. Instead of asking Pharaoh politely they demanded Pharaoh let them go. And they did not specify it would be for one week, as God had instructed.

Of course we believe no matter how Moses would have asked, Pharaoh would have said No. But Moses surely did not follow God’s instructions. Pharaoh’s response was, “Who is the Lord that I should heed him?” “I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go!”

Remember when God appeared to Moses with a job for him to do? Moses response was one of humility and he asked God, “Who Am I, that I should go to the Pharaoh?” Whereas the Pharaoh’s response is, “Who is the Lord that I should do His will?”

No sign of humility there! What a contrast! Moses saw himself as a simple human being, whereas Pharaoh saw himself, as did all the Egyptians, as a ‘divine being.’ That term, “Who is the Lord?” is what God recognizes needs to be crushed.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 13
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Exodus 3:15

God told Moses His name was ‘I am what I am’,  ‘I am who I am’, ‘I will be what I will be’ and ‘I will be who I will be’.  But those names were only for Moses to know.

On the other hand, God told Moses that when he went to the Israelites he was to tell them God’s name was “the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”, and that would be God’s name forever.

When you realize these Israelites had probably forgotten who God was or what He had done, it makes sense why when they left Egypt they did not trust Moses nor God and they begged to return to Egypt where thy had “leaks and garlic” for food condiments that were tasty.

Moses had three groups of people that he had to convince of God’s message: Pharaoh, the Israelites slaves, and the elders of Israel. We don’t actually know much about the Elders of Israel.  We don’t know if they were also slaves or a ruling class over the Israelites.  What we do know is they were credited with wisdom, and wisdom required respect.

At the end of God’s conversation with Moses He instructed him to use both the personnel name the Lord YHVH, which is Jehovah, and the universal name Elohim when introducing God to the Elders.

Moses was to tell them that God said, “I have taken note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt and I have declared I will take you out of the misery of Egypt and into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, , and the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Then Moses was instructed to take the Jewish Elders with him to the King of Egypt and tell him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, manifested Himself to us”.  Moses was then instructed to ask Pharaoh to permit the Israelites at least a weeklong sabbatical.  And when making his request, Moses was to be very polite and even was to say “please let us go to make a Sacrifice to the Lord our God.”

The instructions to the Israelites were they would travel a distance of three days out, have one day for sacrifices, and then three days back.  Of course we know Moses’s request will be anathema to Pharaoh.

To begin with, it was an affront to the Egyptian religion. Especially since the Egyptians worshipped many animals as gods.  Just think how many people today would be abhorred by animal sacrifice to a loving God?  And yet not too many people would reject a juicy steak or a tender chop at their dinner table?

Of course, public animal sacrifice is no longer practiced by mainstream religion today. But the Torah viewed animal sacrifice as an appropriate way of serving God. They rightfully believed animals were created for human beings to use for morally legitimate purposes, but they were never to abuse an animal.  Add to that the knowledge that nearly all sacrificed animals were to be eaten.

God then warned Moses that the king of Egypt would not let them go. Remember, God has always had foreknowledge from the beginning of time until forever. That can be hard for us to understand because we only have a human brain, but God stands outside of time. Time is irrelevant to God because He is timeless.

God followed up His instructions to Moses with the information that that He was certain that the king of Egypt will not let them go.  “No, not by a mighty hand”.

We know who had the mighty hand when God continued with, “And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty!”

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 10
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Exodus 3:10

While talking to Moses from the burning bush God said, “Come, I will send you unto Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people out of Egypt”. (3:10)
Think about it. Moses is leading a completely normal shepherd’s life when, out of nowhere, God Himself appears and asks him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. “And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”. (3:11)

Remember that phrase, ‘the meekness of Moses’ that was so frequently used as an example to us throughout the history of our country? Well, it was said because it was true, Moses was a truly meek man. He was strong in his beliefs and strong in justice but he endured injury with patience and without resentment. He had a quiet strength.

Actually, he was a meek man with a past. Moses knew he was wanted for murder in Egypt, and now he is asked to appear before a king who wants to kill him. But God always prevails and God said to Moses, “I will be with you”. (3:12) Basically God said, “Moses, you don’t have to worry, I will be your strength and protection.” God said, “That shall be your sign that it was I who sent you.” “And when you succeed because of me, you shall worship me at this very mountain.

It’s interesting to note that when God makes His request of Moses the first question Moses asks is, “Who am I?” The second question Moses asks is, “Who are you?” Said more politely, he has actually asked who shall I say sent me. Moses knew The Israelites had strayed so far from their faith they probably no longer even knew God or anything about Him.

It’s even quite probable that after having grown up in the Egyptian royal household knowing only the Egyptian gods and even now he was familiar with the Midianite gods that he needed to be reminded who God was. Or possibly Moses asked the question because he was anxious to know more about the Israelite God.

God said to Moses “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.” You will say Ehyeh sent me.
God just identified Himself to Moses with a name that has four different meanings, each one perfectly accurate. They were, “I am what I am”, “I am who I am” “I will be what I want to be” and “I will be who I will be”.

Actually Hebrew does not have a word for the present tense of the verb “to be.” There is no Hebrew word for “am” or “is” or “are”. In other words, to say I am Moses he could only say, “I Moses”.

What this leads to is the fact that terms “I am who I am” and “I will be” were never again mentioned in the Torah. God gave Moses the complete answer
for Moses only, but not for the Israelites.

The most commonly used name for God in the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible is essentially the verb “to be”. It is comprised of the Hebrew letters, YHVH. We now pronounce that word Yahweh. Yahweh is where we get the name Jehovah, and it is always translated “Lord”, even though YHVH actually means “Being,” or “Will Be,” or even just the word “Is”.

God simply “IS”.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 9
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Chapter 2-3

Moses fled from Egypt to Midian to protect his own life. While resting at the well where everyone got their water, Moses helped seven sisters by defending them against the shepherds. He was later invited to their father’s home and ended up marrying Zipporah, one of the seven sisters.

Scripture then says, (3:1) “While tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, Moses drove the flock into the wilderness where he came to Horeb the mountain of God”. What Scripture doesn’t say is why Moses drove the flock into the wilderness. That was a very unusual thing to choose to do. We can’t read minds and Scripture does not tell us but guesses are: He drove his flock to ungrazed land where plant life was plenty?

Or, perhaps he thought like Winston Churchill who was quoted as saying, “Every prophet has to go into the wilderness. He must have a strong impression of a complex society and all that it has to give, and then he must serve periods of isolation and meditation. This is the process by which psychic dynamite is made.”

Even scientists have an opinion about this type of isolation. They say, “Being alone and being lonely are two different things. Being alone is something we do to fuel our soul and energize our life, while being lonely is living a life that disconnects us from others. One fosters personal growth, and the other keeps us stuck.”

What we do know is Horeb refers to the region of Mount Sinai where God later reveals the Ten Commandments. Some, in fact, think it is another name for Mt Sinai. While at the Mountain of God, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush. This was no mere angel. This was an actual dialogue between Moses and God.

Here was this bush completely on fire, but it was never consumed by the fire. Only God can accomplish this feat. Moses continued looking at the bush and wondering why it did not burn up. It’s noteworthy that we all see miracles every day in our lives and rather than give the credit to God, we take them for granted. Just the act of a baby being born is a true miracle and yet how many people discard the baby to get rid of an inconvenience. We fail to respect God’s miracles given directly to us.

Moses, on the other hand, closely observed his miracle. Actually, the Hebrew word in the narrative that is translated into English as bush is seneh, which refers in particular to brambles or a thorn bush. And the question then becomes ‘how long do you look at burning brambles?’ When Moses turned aside God called out to him out of the bush. (3:6) “I am, the God of your father, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

God told Moses to not come closer but to remove his sandals from his feet because he was standing on holy ground. This spot was only holy because God was there. It was not holy before God appeared and we could not find that holy ground today. It seems there is about 200 square miles around that area that was declared a World Heritage site, which houses a monastery and could also contain that very area of the burning bush. But your guess is as good as anyone else’s.

The question is, what did Moses do? Why, he hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God! But God continued, “I have marked well the plight of my people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters. And yes, I am mindful of their suffering.” I’ll have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians! God is coming to rescue His chosen people. But they are not the only ones God rescues. We can all be thankful that God is the God of all people, not just the God of Moses, ancestors and descendants. He is our God as well. And He knows each of us by name and deed. He is not just the great Author of all of creation, He is a personal God to each person who believes.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 8
⇛ return to Exodus

Chapter 2-3

Moses had just escaped capital punishment for killing an Egyptian. He ran off to Midian and ended up helping seven sisters whom the sheep herders had pushed aside so they could water their sheep without waiting for their turn.

They returned to their father whose name was Reuel, Jethro, Jether and even Hobab. The intent is not to be confusing but to let us know that this man went by each of those names in different places in the Torah. Reuel, wondered how it happened they had returned home so quickly. It normally took much more time to do their job. It seems that Jethro and his daughters had gotten used to their late return because the shepherds bullied them. But Moses had not. They told their father (2:19) “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock”.

Jethro wanted to know more, he queried as to where this man was and why they left him alone. He instructed them to ask him in to break bread or in other words, to eat with them. After all, Jethro is not stupid. He wanted his daughters to get married. And especially he wanted them to marry someone who had demonstrated such noble characteristics.

What a delight for Moses to be invited in to a home with seven eligible daughters. And just as we would have thought that man with all those names gave Moses his daughter Zipporah as wife. In Hebrew the name Zipporah is pronounced Tzeeporah. We don’t know if she was beautiful or fetching or fantastic or not. All we know is she was given to Moses to marry, and she bore him a son whose name, given by his father, was Gershom. Gershom means stranger, sojourner or in exile. Moses own words were (2:22) “I have been a stranger in a strange land”.

A long time after that, and Scripture does not say how long after that, the king of Egypt died. And the Israelites were groaning under the bondage of slavery and they cried out for help from the bondage. And God heard their cry. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That is what Scripture says, but we know God never forgets but he does work according to His own timetable.

The problem is that from our perspective God never seems to step in early enough. Actually, when Scripture says God remembered it does not mean God forgot. God’s remembering means God has decided to act. It is human nature to wonder why God does not step in and straighten things out. Why has God not stepped in and stopped senseless killings signally or in mass.

And then we remember. Human beings have a free will. If God always intervened to stop evil we would not have free will – we would be robots. And we know ultimate justice is waiting for us. It will be the rule of heaven and it will last forever and ever.

But at this time in Israel’s history, God looked at the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

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