Category: BIBLE EVENTS

At this point the Israelites are at God’s Mountain, -Mt. Sinai, and they are warned they cannot touch the mountain when God is there.  When God was no longer there they could go to the mountain because it was not holy if God was not there.

Having fear for what God can do, this fact truly frightened the Israelites.

In the Talmud there is a legend that depicts God holding the mountain over the heads of the people and threatening to drop it on them if they did not accept the law.  The point being made is the Israelites accepted the law out of fear.

When you think about it logically that seems to be what makes people obey a law?  If we are truthful, it is very convincing that we are persuaded to obey by the combination of love or fear.   

I behave myself because I don’t want to suffer the consequences of misbehaving, or, because my love for the law giver makes me want to keep the object of my affection happy, whether parents, spouse, or other authority.

Moses led the people out of the camp toward Gad where they took their places at the foot of the mountain.

Mt Sinai was all in smoke, because the Lord was on it. The Lord had come down upon it; and the whole mountain trembled violently. The Lord had come down upon it in fire. And as Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder.

The Lord had come to the top of Mt Sinai and called Moses to the top with Him. He then told Moses to go down, warn the people not to break through the land to graze. He also said the Priests must remain pure.  After this he reiterated that the people  werenot to come to the mountain or they would die.

Per normal, telling them once is not enough but poor Moses is naïve enough to think that since they were warned they would not come to the mountain

God, being much wiser than Moses knows curiosity will be stronger than the rule to stay away from the mountain. Genesis chapter 20 makes it abundantly clear that it is God who gave the Ten Commandments and they were not Moses’ idea.

No human is the sole source or responsible for all the words in the Ten Commandments.  God is the sole author and giver of these rules that are given to the people.

The Ten Commandments are also called “the Decalogue”.  The Decalogue is the alternative name for the Ten Commandments, and actually means Ten Words.

The Ten Commandments are the first and only example of a covenantal relationship between deity and an entire people. They are unique in that God revealed His will not just to a single prophet or to a privileged class, but to an entire people; all of whom became answerable to its terms.

The Ten Commandments focuses not only on the relationship with the ruler, but also on each individuals behavior toward every other individual. They treat both religious and social obligations as expressions of divine will. The Ten Commandments are laws that are simple, absolute, and devoid of qualification.

God gave the Ten Commandments to the ancient nation of Israel. He chose to give theCommandments in the no-man’s land of a desert rather than in the land of Israel. This seems to signify that they are not just for one nation but apply to all people, from the beginning of their giving clear through to the end.

These biblical principles given to the Jews are set principles given by God, relating to ethics and worship, and play a fundamental role in Judaism and Christianity. 

The first and second commandments go hand in hand, both emphasizing the need to give our worship exclusively to the one true God

The commandments were written on two tables of stone by the finger of God.  The Jews are to follow the commandments anywhere and everywhere thy go, and not just when they are in Israel.

The Commandments are listed in both Exodus and Deuteronomy

⇛ return to Exodus

How very fortunate it was that Jethro loved and cared for his family.  And because he did, he came to have great respect for his son-in law, Moses
and all the work Moses had to do.

It was because he saw how taxing it was for Moses to judge every situation for the Israelites that he devised a plan that became the judicial system for that nation during Moses’ lifetime.

Moses, in return, must have had great respect for his Midianite father-in-law, because that was the system he adapted to govern all his people.

The judicial system was set up with heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.  It was set up in military style and worked so well that it freed up Moses’ time. Then Jethro went home to his own land, and his own job.

On the third new moon after leaving Egypt, the Israelites entered the wilderness of Sinai. They made their encampment in front of Mount Sinai, God’s Mountain.

And Moses went up to God. God called from the mountain and said: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptian, how I bore you on Eagles wings.

Well, it’s easy to recall the death of all the Egyptians armies, but when he says he bore the Israelites
on Eagles wings, it takes a little more explanation.

It is very rare for God to do but He is using poetic language to explain what he did for the Jews.

This is where we get a lesson on birds. God is comparing Himself to the Eagle that carries its young on its wings. Other birds put their young between their feet.

It seems the birds fear the birds that fly higher than they do, that would snatch the birds off their backs.
But eagles fly the highest so they protect their babieson their wings.

Using that example God is expressing His protective love for His people. In this verse God is expressing
His love for His people by destroying their enemies 
and his care for His people by carrying them on His wing.

God then said, “If you will obey Me faithfully, and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possessions.”

God just said He will be their God and they shall be His people “IF” they will obey His Headship in their lives. And we all know who it was that fell down on the job! But they are not without hope as 
the prophet Hosea said later that God is ready and willing to take them back when they acknowledge they must follow Him. God made it clear that all the earth is His, and He had a chosen people.

After listening to God and knowing what God’s desire was, Moses was to go to the people 
and tell them what God expected.

He did and all the people said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.  After telling the people God’s desires Moses returned to God.

God instructed him to tell the people that they must stay pure today and they were to wash their cloths.

Then on the third day the Lord will come own,
in the sight of all the people, on Mount Sinai.

The people were warned to not go up the mountain
and to not touch the mountain and if they do they will be put to death.

A ram’s horn was used in a long blast to let the people know when it is safe to return to the mountain.  Then they may climb the mountain
because without God there it is no longer a holy place.

On the third day, as morning dawned, and they had cleansed themselves, and washed their cloths,
as morning dawned, there was thunder and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain,
and a very loud blast of the horn, a dense cloud upon the mountain and all the people in the camp trembled.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 51
⇛ return to Exodus

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 and away from Pharaoh.

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.  Moses asked God, 
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites?”

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”.  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 50
⇛ return to Exodus

Chapter 34
Having gone through the Passover and witnessing the miracles of God that saved them from Egyptian slavery, the Jews have been following God’s demands continually up and to today concerning Passover. Those were God’s instructions, to the Jews so that they not forget the Passover. Not to mention the fact that the Torah, those first five books of the Old Testament, tells them again and again the importance of remembering the Exodus. God intervening forcefully and unequivocally on behalf of the Jewish nation was without doubt a unique moment in history.

One of the reasons why God instructed the Jews to always remember the Passover was so they could be happy. Heaven knows that with all the persecutions they have gone through over all these years they have not had a lot in their lives to be happy about. Remembering the good from the past gives people a good thing to concentrate on. Something powerful takes place when people assemble to express gratitude. 

IF we are only grateful at the time something good happens, we may never be grateful again, unless good is done repeatedly. Remembering the good is a statement of faith, and it helps to maintain that faith. This must be the reason why the Lord instructed them to teach this to their sons and to celebrate seven days with only unleavened bread.

They were to take the time and trouble to educate their children about God and the Exodus. Can you even imagine if every father would fulfill the request to regularly teach their children about God and His teachings?

Verse 9 of chapter 13 says, “And this shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead -in order that the Teaching of the Lord may be in your month- that with a mighty hand  the Lord freed you from Egypt. This is the main verse that led the Israelites to wear tef-ill-in.

The definition of tefillin is two small leather boxes that contain words from the Torah that are worn, especially during prayer time, hanging low on a person’s forehead and around a person’s arm. Actually the Torah does not mention the word tefillin.  

In fact, the Torah does not specify that this “sign” must be an actual physical object. But archeological evidence has documented, tefillin have  been physical objects for years. My curiosity about these phylacteries led me to check out more information on tefillin.

I learned these phylacteries consisted of small strips of parchment, on which are written certain passages from the Law which are then folded tight, placed in small boxes, and attached by bands to the left wrist and to the forehead at the hours of prayer. It is well known that a similar custom prevailed in Egypt; and this fact has made an objection to the Mosaic institution of phylacteries.

It has been thought that Moses would not have encouraged an Egyptian superstition. But the adoption of Egyptian customs, purged from their superstition, is in the spirit of the Mosaic institutions, and presumably in no way reprehensible.

If the Israelites were addicted to wearing amulets, like the Egyptians, it is explained, it would have been a wise provision to substitute for the magic charms of sorcerers to the solemn words of the Law, and in this way to turn a current superstition to a good account. And we know that man, even today chooses how they will display and worship God, or anything else.

It is evidenced by the fact of wearing crosses on a necklace, tattoos on our bodies, piercings on our head and clothing to signify who we are and what we believe. None of that is instructed in Scripture so we don’t have the Word of God to approve or condemn the custom.

But as humans we sometimes feel the need to show our righteousness. Right or wrong, we know tefillin cannot make or break us because: For by grace we are saved… not of works… lest any man should boast.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 34
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In Exodus chapter thirteen, verse 2, the final plague in Egypt was the death of the firstborn of all households.

God revealed to Israel the one and only way they would be spared was to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and brush its blood on the lintel and doorposts of their homes. Only then would the Angel of Death pass over their homes and spare their firstborn. After the Passover the Lord switched to new instructions concerning the first born child in each Jewish family. These rules preceded the Levites, when a sub group within the Levites, carried out all the rituals involving animal sacrifice that were designated. In other words, these men were set aside for temple service. The Lord’s rule was: Sanctify unto me all the first-born. To “sanctify” means to “consecrate”, “set apart”, from a common to a sacred use.

The foundation of this duty rested on the fact that the Israelites, having had their first-born preserved by a distinguishing act of grace, from the general destruction that overtook the families of the Egyptians, were bound in token of gratitude to consider them as the Lord’s peculiar property At that time in Jewish history a mother’s first child was supposed to be dedicated to the priests. They were consecrated to service for God. Later in the Torah there was a law which designated that 31 days after the child is born the father could pay a priest five silver shekels to “redeem” or free the child from temple work A shekel is 14 grams of silver. A U.S. silver dollar contains 9.83 grams of silver. And we know that the price of the silver in any coin today sells at a very inflated rate, but at this time in history.

And even today, the price was never intended to be a large sum of money. It was not to be a burden for poor people to redeem their first born son. It may seem extreme to have to give your first born to the temple. But to Sanctify unto God all the firstborn was a reasonable demand when you stop to realize that the existing firstborn of Israel, were spared by God when the Egyptian firstborn were destroyed. The firstborn should be regarded as God’s and set apart for His service. But the command is limited, when it says “whatsoever openeth the womb”.

To be clear, in that command we learn it says that every child which is the firstborn of his mother. So if a man had many wives, either together or successively, his first child by every one of these was a firstborn, and, if a male, he was claimed by the Lord. But if a female came first, and afterward a male, that male was not devoted to God, because it was not the firstborn. Thus the parents were not to look upon themselves as having an interest in their firstborn, if males, till they had first solemnly presented them to God, and received them back from him again, by special right and title, as being by singular favor preserved from the common destruction.

The firstborn of man, if male, were claimed for the sacred ministrations of the priestly office and the firstborn were to be redeemed at a certain rate, which was part of the priest’s maintenance. But after the Jewish commonwealth was formed, the Levites were chosen to officiate in their stead.

The extension of the demand to existing beasts was also reasonable, since they too had been spared. God’s further requirement, that henceforth all the future firstborn should also be His, was intended to perpetuate the memory of the recent deliverance, and to help to fix it in the mind of the nation.

The substitution of a redemption in the case of unclean beasts was necessitated by the circumstances of the case, since they could not be sacrificed; and the redemption of the firstborn sons naturally followed when the Levitical priesthood was established, and their services were no longer necessary.

Can you imagine giving away your firstborn son to be raised by a priest and committed to temple service for God. It wasn’t meant as a punishment, it was meant as a privilege.

And it even carried down in our lifetimes when you think about the fact that in many Old Catholic families it was a privilege to have your first born son become a priest. First born sons seem to come equipped for special service or position in most families even today.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 33
⇛ return to Exodus

After all the rules for the Passover were given Moses brought all the elders of Israel together and told them to go pick out their lambs, slaughter the lambs, then take a bunch of hyssop, to be used as a paint brush, dip it in the blood of the lamb and paint the doorposts and the lintels.  After that was accomplished they were to close the door and stay inside until morning. Moses’s explanation to them was when the Lord goes through to smite the Egyptians, He will see the blood  and not let the Destroyer enter and smite the first born.

It’s interesting that God wants the Israelites to teach their children the meaning of all that is going on. God encourages the education of children, especially when it comes to God and His will for our lives. There are actually four verses in the first five books of the Bible commanding the education of the children on the Exodus.

On Passover when the child raises the question regarding the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, they are to be told “because He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, but saved our houses.” The questions and answers weredesigned to have them grow up knowing God’s power to both destroy and to save. We are all to fear God, it is the basis of morality. Psalm 111:10 tells us “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

Those Israelites must have felt the fear of God because they obeyed and did what Moses told them.It was in the middle of the night that God struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt who did not have the blood on their doorposts. And this death included the cattle. Pharaoh arose in the night, with all his courtiers and all the Egyptians because there was a loud cry in Egypt; for there was no house where there was not someone dead. That was when Pharaoh declared the Israelites were to leave. His words were, “Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you! Go worship the Lord as you said. Take your flocks and you herds, and be gone!”

And then what did Pharaoh do?  He asks, “May you bring a blessing upon me?”

A presumptuous man, if nothing else.  But I suppose he could ask for some pittance of self-aggrandizement, after all God already told the Israelites to ask for all the gold and silver the Egyptians owned.  Actually, by the time Pharaoh 
‘let the people go’ they had stripped the land of Egypt of all their wealth and God had even taken their first born sons. It’s hard to imagine just how difficult life would be for the Egyptians with their wealth gone and their free labor gone.

That exodus of the Israelites would take 600 thousand men, not to mention the women and the children.  Can you imagine how bereft the Egyptians felt with all this gone? Then Scripture says, “a mixed multitude went up with them.  These would be added to the number of Israelites who left.  And the Israelites also took their livestock.”

The Israelites lived in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years to the day.  But only about two hundred of those years had they lived as slaves.  When they finally got out from under the heavy hand of Pharaoh, they left without preparation.  Can you imagine uprooting your entire family without packing and without food provisions?  All they had to eat was the unleavened bread they had been instructed to eat. The law of the Passover said no foreigner shall eat of it. A slave could eat of it once he was circumcised. Hired laborers could eat of it. It was to be eaten in one house, nothing of the Passover meal could be taken outside the house. Every man who eats it must be circumcised. Then God said “one law shall be for the citizen and the strange who dwells among you.” It was unique in the world that both citizens and non-citizens would be treated equally under the law.

All those Israelites obeyed God’s laws regarding their exodus.  And that very day the Lord freed the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troop by troop.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 32
⇛ return to Exodus

The blood placed on the posts of the door frame and the lintel was ‘for the Jews and not for God.’

In my naïve thinking, having heard this story from the time I was a small child until now, I was under the perception that that blood was placed there so God could see who was faithful to Him. But that turns out to be a joke when we realize God said it was a sign for the Jews and not for Himself. It was there to assure the Israelites that they will be spared in spite of the death that will be taking place all around them. As well as saving the Jews from destruction, God is a teacher to them. Remember all those things we all were forced to memorize in school?

Well, God has SIX things He told the Jews to remember or memorize, and they do it right up to this day.
The FIRST was the Sabbath, “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”
The SECOND was the Exodus. “You shall not eat anything leavened with it…so that you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt as long as you live.”
Number THREE was Receiving the Law at Sinai, “So that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eves…. and make them known to our children and your children’s children, the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb….”
The FOURTH was “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey after you left Egypt, how, undeterred by fear of God he… cut down all the stragglers in your rear.”
FIVE was The Golden Calf and other incidents in which the Israelites angered God.  “Remember, never forget, how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness.”
And finally the SIXTH remembrance was, God’s punishment of Miriam for speaking ill of Moses. “Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.”

Not only would it be difficult for me to remember all these things, but I must admit I don’t recall ever hearing of some of them in the first place. How very much easier we have it as grace believers.  Yes, there are verses we know by heart and concepts that we know even better, but basically it’s important to understand, and believe: “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him  shall not perish but have everlasting life.” And then added to that:  “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”

After God tells the Israelites to remember the Passover, He adds; you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. And the interesting part of that entire scenario is whether today’s Jews remember their God or not, they do remember to celebrate the Passover. Added to the remembrance through celebrating Passover the Jews were given another instruction. That instruction was to eat unleavened bread for seven full days. In fact the instruction was extended to include that they must remove all leaven from their houses.

Leaven is a substance, such as yeast, used to produce fermentation in dough or in a liquid. It includes anything that modifies or lightens, such as baking powder that is used to produce a gas that lightens the dough. It mingles with or permeates whatever it is introduced to. Fermentation is a form of decomposition and therefore represents decay and death. Not only were they to remove all leaven from their homes, but Scripture says, “Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.” Being cut off is one of the most severe punishments in the Torah. There is some confusion as to what being “cut off” means but the consensual thought is it would be to “cut off from God and His people.”

Some Jewish people still practice the prohibition of yeast for seven days, others may think of it as a quaint ritual or as simply pointless. But nonetheless the Torah says, “You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day.”

How much easier Christ’s death has made it for us.  “For by grace are ye saved through faith… lest any man should boast.”

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 31
⇛ return to Exodus

God’s first rule to the Israelites, before He took them out of Egypt, was to sacrifice a lamb; but not just any lamb.  It had to be a yearling, without blemish. Take note, this was a sacrifice to God so it had to be perfect. It could not be their least desirable animal.  If it were the least desirable it would not be a sacrifice. The definition for sacrifice in our world has the definition of a loss or something you give up, usually for the sake of a better cause. How often have you thought of the sacrifices parents make for the sake of their children?  All a parent has to do is to remember the time and sleep they gave up to rear a child. Even forgetting the financial cost, it is a sacrifice to take total care of another human being. But in the realm of worship a sacrifice is the act of offering something to a deity in propitiation, which is the act of gaining or regaining favor or goodwill of someone or something, such as the ritual slaughter of an animal or person. Or the sacrifice could be used to give homage, respect or reverence to God, or even to someone like the Pharaoh who thought he deserved the treatment that was reserved for God.

This sacrifice was the ritual slaughter of an animal to show total respect for God. On the fourteenth day of the month they weren’t allowed to slaughter it until twilight at the end of that day. From the slaughtering of the sacrifice they were to take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts, and on the lintel of the door fame, or the top board of the door frame. That blood was to show the Egyptians that they were killing one of the Egyptian gods and flaunting their action.  They were showing respect to their own God and total disrespect to an Egyptian god.

That very night they were to roast the lamb over an open fire and immediately eat it. It is thought that roasting would be the quickest way to cook that meat but it had a second advantage. Roasting over an open pit would be the surest way to remove all the blood from the meat.  Remember, they were not permitted to eat blood.  Later, the Lamb of God would sacrifice His blood for our sins. If there were any lamb leftovers they were not permitted to eat them the following day.  Now not only were they instructed how they were to eat that lamb, but they were instructed as to their attire while eating that meal. They were to eat it with their loins girded, their sandals on their feet, and have their staff in their hand.  Not only that, but they were to eat in a hurry.  No dawdling over this meal! And not only that, but they were not permitted to eat the leftovers the next day.  They had better eat them all or dispose of them.

Then God tells them why these instructions were so very important:  That night God will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first born of Egypt, both man and beast. But then He goes one better and says, “I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt.”  This is evidently meant to convince them and us that only God is God and other gods are false.

The sad part of the situation today is that even though every nationality recognizes a god, they don’t know who the God of creation, the God of the Bible, and the one true God is. That truth applies to people in every country of the world God created. In our own nation one out of every four people do not believe in organized religion. These people call themselves the nones.  We are told we need to get used to the nones and their practices because they claim they are not going anywhere, and some believe that in the coming years they may even dominate the cultural landscape. As well as the nones we have people who say they have faith, just not in a God who judges peoples actions. Faith in the one true God has been replaced by ‘spirituality’. A lot of people won’t say the word God because that’s not popular.  But they will say universe.

And of the ones who do believe in religion, well, it is not even God who they believe in. One of the religions that is extremely popular is yoga!  After all the main focus of yoga is meditation because when you are performing the poses, you are meditating and that’s very spiritual in their minds. We look back at the Egyptians and wonder at their lack of knowledge of the One True God and yet we must look around and realize many of us who live in the Christian Nation of the United States of America are no better off than the Egyptians were.

When we go back to the Bible narrative, it says, after telling the Israelites what they were to sacrifice and how they were to do it, God gave more instructions. Those instructions about being dressed for flight when they ate. He informed them that that night He would go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first born in the land of Egypt, including both man and beast. He also said he would mete out or easier to understand, He would pass out in measure, punishments to all the gods of Egypt.

He continued with, ‘the blood on the house where you are staying shall be a sign to you when I see the blood I will pass over you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.’

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 30
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Prior to the tenth, and the most dreaded plague, God tells Moses and Aaron the list of laws that the Israelites must follow. God has foresight.  He knows that man does not always understand or even listen and it seems very plausible that He is preparing them for their journey out of Egypt. Because God is taking them out of a country they have lived in for over four hundred years and have been slaves in that country, to the Egyptian master, for a little less than 200 years, He wants them to know they will be responsible to Him in their behavior.

Today we use the term, “Freedom is not free.” With freedom comes responsibility. Without responsibility and rules we would end up in anarchy. Following God’s laws will be their responsibility. You can probably imagine what the very first law God gave to Moses was before they left Egypt, it was the law of celebrating Passover.

God said, “This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months. It shall be the first of the months of the year for you.” This month that God is talking about is Nisan. Which is the spring month that includes Passover. It is celebrated as a time of rebirth, renewal, new beginnings, and the Creator of the world. It would be their first “Happy New Year”.

But actually, the Jewish calendar has two different first months. The other is called Tishrei, the autumn month that includes Rosh Hashanah, which is also the New Year. In the Jewish Torah, they celebrate two New Years. Passover takes our minds to when Jesus Christ said, “You are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He continued by saying, “Whoever sins is a slave of sin.”

That concept is as true today as it was at the time of Moses, and all throughout history. Freedom is a process, not a destination. It is a promise from God’s Word. Maintaining your freedom requires good choices. Once set free, good choices help us remain free. God wanted those Israelites to know they would be responsible for their own freedom. He would set them free but they would have to keep their own freedom. God will not take them out of Egypt until they reaffirm their connection with Him. Then they will only remain free by worshipping God and following His rules. It is a requirement that the Israelites will worship their God.

That all begs the question, “How does one worship God?”

Yes, we can do it corporately in a religious service, but the Bible continually tells us that we worship God with our ethical behavior. Micah 6:8 makes it clear when it says, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”

The Law is actually there to remind the Israelites they are being liberated from Egypt in order to serve God. After that reminder, God tells them that in order to worship, it requires a sacrifice. In ten verses God outlines the law of the Paschal sacrifice. The first thing we have to know to keep the law is that the word Paschal is nothing more than the Hebrew word for Passover. The entire community must partake of this celebration. On the tenth day of each month every family, or every household shall take a lamb. The only exception is if a family is too small for a lamb, they may share it with another family.

With understanding we can know that the requirements God places on His people are not frivolous, they are an object lesson to teach even the dumbest of His chosen, and they are even meant to teach the Egyptians and anyone else who cares to learn. The lamb was one of many animals worshipped as gods by the Egyptians.  So now the Israelites must slaughter a god of their oppressors. If we remember our first lesson on the plagues, we learned the plagues were not an attack on the people but an attack on the false Gods. The plagues were to prove God was more powerful than their false Gods. Today some people tend to believe the sacrifice of those animals was inhumane. But If anyone objects to the sacrificing, or killing, of these animal we must just remember the sacrificed animals were eaten.

That begs the question, “Who are we to object to eating unless you are a vegetarian. Added to that is the fact that it is an object lesson for Christians. Scripture says, “Jesus Christ is the lamb of God that was sacrificed for our sins.”

Of course we know that sacrificial lamb had to be spotless, without blemish, a male that was taken either from the sheep or from the goats. It must be watched over until the fourteenth day of the month. God’s orders are to be followed precisely. How much easier we have it today. To please God all we have to do is believe in Jesus Christ.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 29
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The Israelites obeyed the Lord and they went to their Egyptian neighbors and asked for objects of silver and objects of gold. And what does God do? Well, Scripture says he disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people. In other words He gave the Egyptians a tendency, toward the Israelites, to give them gold and silver. We can only assume that left to their own devises the Egyptians would not be inclined to give the Jews their valuables.

There are theories as to why that happened but among the many theories is that of Josephus, a name we are used to hearing in our church. He was a first century Romano-Jewish historian, who believed the Egyptians were willing to give the Israelites anything they requested, including their most valuable possessions, just to finally get rid of them. But then we still have the question as to how does that fit with Scripture when it tells us God disposed their hearts favorably toward the people. However, just because we don’t know exactly how God changed their hearts at this moment, what we do know is it could only be accomplished by an all-powerful God.

Following that thought we then have the verse that follows after, that says, “Moses himself was much esteemed in the land of Egypt, among Pharaoh’s courtiers and among the people”.  In spite of every plague that came upon the Egyptians, they had great respect for Moses. Then we come upon another paradox. Moses had told Pharaoh he would never see his face again, and now Moses is speaking to Pharaoh. Thus we see Moses did speak again to Pharaoh, although the message was not good. In fact, it may be the worst message Moses ever had to give to Pharaoh. Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: Toward midnight I will go forth among the Egyptians and every first born in the land of Egypt shall die. The first born male in Pharaoh’s family right on to the first born male in the slave girls family, and the first born among all the cattle.”

It all sounds so very cruel to kill all the firstborn under Pharaoh’s control, but then we have to remember this is not an arbitrary decision by a pouting God.  Back in Exodus 4 verses 22 and 23 God told Moses: “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:  And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”

And then we get an euphemism that is not really familiar to us.  Pharaoh is told, “Not a dog shall snarl at any of the Israelites, at man or beast, so you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.”

Moses ends his conversation with Pharaoh by telling him all his courtiers would come and bow low to Moses and tell him to depart with all that was his. After all the warnings to Pharaoh, Moses got angry and left Pharaoh’s presence.  And as sad as it turns out to be, God warned Moses that Pharaoh would not listen to him “so God’s marvels may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

In spite of the fact that Moses and Aaron had performed all these marvels before Pharaoh, God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he would not let the Israelites go.  Pharaoh was not about to turn loose of all these productive workers he did not have to pay. It’s obvious it is going to take something earth shatteringly horrible to change Pharaoh’s mind.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 28
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