Read Exodus 7:8-13

Summary

Many years ago I visited the glaciers on the South Island’s West Coast. You can walk right up to the terminus of the glaciers, where bits of ice calve off and crash down to the ground below. Warning signs tell you to keep away from the glacier face, in case a falling rock of ice strikes you. Unfortunately, some people ignore these signs, and pay with injury or death.

God is acting through Moses and Aaron to free his people from slavery in Egypt. In this passage, Moses and Aaron return to Pharaoh’s court to demand he free the Israelites. There, Moses and Aaron demonstrate a warning sign to Pharaoh and Egypt, one Pharaoh tragically ignores. The serpent sign authenticates the message of Moses and Aaron, and warns that God will overcome any who oppose him.

Our passage explained

v8-10

In verses six and seven of chapter seven, we read that Moses and Aaron obeyed God and spoke again to Pharaoh. As they prepared to go to a second audience with Pharaoh, God speaks to both of them, warning them that Pharaoh will say to them “Prove yourselves by working a miracle” (vv.7-8). Since they are claiming to speak on behalf of God, Pharaoh asks them to demonstrate that God exists, and that he should listen.

God wants to make clear that he is coming to free his people, and so he tells Moses and Aaron to “take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent” (v.8). This sign was not new to Moses, who had seen God work this sign at the Burning Bush (4:3). But it demonstrated God’s power to turn a “dead” part of Creation (a stick) into a living creature.

Moses and Aaron are faithful to God’s command. They went to see Pharaoh “and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent” (v.10) just as God predicted and commanded. With no trickery on Moses’ and Aaron’s part but only God’s divine power, the staff becomes a serpent, authenticating God’s messengers to Pharaoh and his advisors.

v11-13

At this point, any sensible leader should have recognised that the Creator God was speaking through Moses and Aaron, and listening was a sensible idea. But Pharaoh does not react this way. “Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers … the magicians of Egypt” (v.11).

Those summoned are not bureaucrats but magician-priests. Much as Nebuchadnezzar had a variety of magicians and sorcerers in his Court (Daniel 2), so too Pharaoh called on the educated elite of his society, who were also priests to the many Egyptian gods. These men preserved occultic knowledge in their society. 

Pharaoh’s calling of the magician-priests shows he views this as a contest between religions, not just between nations. The serpent sign is a direct attack on the religious system of Egypt, as well as Pharaoh (who had a snake on his crown representing his divine authority).

The magicians of Egypt copy Moses and Aaron’s sign. “By their secret arts… each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents” (vv.11-12). This was likely not a straight repeat of the sign, but a trick that looked the same. One commentator has suggested this was achieved by stunning snakes who would wake up when thrown on the ground.

However the trick was achieved, God’s dominance over the Egyptian gods and their occult magic arts is demonstrated when “Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs” (v.12). The supremacy of Moses and Aaron’s sign is shown by the serpent sign consuming the other snakes. There is no “draw” here; God is the decisive winner.

Despite the victory of God through the serpent sign, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them” (v.13). Pharaoh is committed to his alternative facts, and will not admit God is sovereign over him and Egypt. Thus the stage is set for God’s war against the gods of Egypt.

Our passage applied

Pharaoh’s hardened heart reminds us that signs do not guarantee listening. People sometimes claim that if God existed he would reveal himself, but the signs are already there (Psalm 19, Romans 1). The problem is not the lack of signs, but the stubborn heart. Only God can soften hearts so the signs are heeded.

This passage warns us to heed God’s message and signs. Ignoring God, his message, and the accompanying signs will prove fatal. 

We must also watch for the mimicking of true signs. These mimickings of God’s power, whatever the supposed sign or wonder, try to distract and entrance those in the world who are perishing, and even God’s people were it possible. We must discern the message that comes with the signs, and see if they are from God.

But we can be thankful that God overcomes the fake signs of this world. His divine power expressed through his Word and the accompanying signs show that he is at work in the world, saving his people and building his Church. In Christ, we will overcome the world’s enchantments.

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Read Exodus 7:1-7

Summary

When things go wrong, we often forget God’s promises. We focus on our own failures and inadequacies, and not on God’s power to save and conquer. Moses and the Israelites, faced with more oppression by the Egyptians, had forgotten God’s promises and lost hope.

In our last devotion, we saw God remind Moses of his nature as a promise-keeping God. In Exodus 7:1-7, God reconfirms to Moses his divine appointment as God’s ambassador and leader of his people. He reminds Moses of his divine mission, warns him of the struggle against Pharaoh to come, and promises again to deliver the Israelites to freedom.

Our passage explained

v1-2

Firstly, we see God reconfirm to Moses his divine appointment as God’s ambassador and the leader of the Israelites. Moses assumed his lack of speaking talent was a stumbling block to God’s purposes, but God does not agree.

Instead, God describes Moses as his ambassador, saying “see, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet” (v.1). Moses was not a commentator providing analysis and insight to Pharaoh, but the mouthpiece of God standing and announcing. What Moses announced, God was announcing. Aaron, who in early exchanges with Pharaoh would speak for Moses, was his mouthpiece in turn. 

The message they gave should be received as if God had directly stood and spoken to Pharaoh himself. God’s command was “you shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land” (v.2). Moses and Aaron were not self-appointed, but divinely appointed leaders of God’s people and ambassador for God, bringing the approved message of their Covenant King.

v3-4

While Moses was reminded of his divine appointment, he was also warned of the struggle against Pharaoh to come. “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you” (vv.3-4).

The passage clearly states that God himself will harden Pharaoh’s heart. While we use hard-heartedness as a reference to an uncaring attitude (and there is a sense where that is certainly true here), the hard-heartedness meant here is better understood as an increasing stubbornness and refusal to recognise God’s command. More than solely Pharaoh’s sinfulness, God will actively harden Pharaoh in judgment for his enslavement of God’s people.

This stubbornness carries on despite many miracles. Moses will perform “signs and wonders” but Pharaoh will not listen. “Tone-deaf” Pharaoh will lead his land into disaster, ignoring the signs of the times and God’s ambassador, speaking as God to him.

Despite the struggle to come between Pharaoh and God, God will deliver the Israelites to freedom. Foolish Pharaoh will bring judgment on the whole land, as God “will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment” (v.4). 

v5-7

God’s hand will be so apparent that “the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD” (v.5). Not only the Israelites, but also the Egyptians, will acknowledge God’s power and authority. The Egyptian religion of fake gods and a “divine” Pharaoh will be exposed for the nonsense it is.

Moses and Aaron respond to God’s words in faith. Unlike Pharaoh, their hearts are softened to hear God and believe him. “Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them” (v.6). Moses and Aaron go once again to Pharaoh, knowing his hard heart, because they trusted God’s promises. Their ages, at 80 and 83, are no barrier to them serving God to deliver the Israelites (v.7).

Our passage applied

The declaration of Moses as being like God reminds us that we should treat all of the Scriptures as God’s words. They were written by many men over centuries, but were written as if by God himself (inspired by the Holy Spirit). The Prophets and Apostles wrote as God’s ambassadors, and the message they bring is one from God himself.

This high calling extends to the Preacher as well. When the Preacher stands at the pulpit, declaring and explaining God’s Word, he serves as an ambassador for God to us. We ought to pray that our Preachers are always faithful to God who sends them, whom they represent.

Moses and Aaron faced a ruler who was not prepared to listen to God. God actively hardened Pharaoh’s heart, making Pharaoh more resistant to their message. God chose to make more stubborn a man who sinned against God and his people, to bring about his judgment and for God’s glory. It is not unfair that God acts this way, and so we can expect to see the same judgment applied to sinners in the world today.

But while Pharaoh’s heart was made more stubborn, Moses’ was softened. We can thank God for showing mercy and softening our hearts, even when like Moses we are disobedient and forgetful of God’s promises. Our deliverance does not depend on us, but on God who has shown mercy to us.

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Read Exodus 6

Summary

It is important to keep your promises. Keeping your promises shows you are trustworthy, and you can be relied upon. We teach our children to keep the promises they make, aim to do so ourselves, and expect it of our politicians.

In Exodus 6, we are reminded of how God is trustworthy. God keeps his promises. Responding to the cries of Moses and the Israelites as their burdens were made heavier for daring to dream of freedom, God reminds Moses and the people of his divine commitment to his promises. Exodus 6 shows God announcing his commitment, records God’s faithfulness through a genealogical account, and demonstrates that it is God’s strength that would deliver, not Moses’ abilities.

Our passage explained

v1-8

At the end of Exodus 5, Moses expressed to God his distress at the worse situation the Israelites were in, as they had to find straw to make their bricks. God calms Moses by announcing his commitment to redeem his people. God will cause Pharaoh to drive Israel out of Egypt, not simply let them go (v.1).

In the next few verses, God repeats his solemn promises, anchoring them in his name (“I am the LORD”, vv.2, 6-8). He is the same God who appeared to the Patriarchs as God Almighty, but will now fully reveal the meaning of his divine name to their descendants (v.3). He promised them and their descendants the land of Canaan, which he would now bring Israel to as he hears and act on his covenant promises (vv.4-5).

Because God is the same one who entered into a relationship with the Patriarchs, Moses is given a command to speak to God’s people. He is to tell them “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment” (v.6). Moses speaks as God’s agent, telling them he will free them from slavery, so they will be “my people, and I will be your God” (v.7). He will take them to Canaan, as promised to the Patriarchs (v.8).

v9-19

Sadly the Israelites do not listen to Moses’ words, because they are so downtrodden (v.9), but God is not deterred. He commands Moses to go to Pharaoh, and “to let the people of Israel go out of his land” (vv.10-11). 

While Moses appears to have accepted God’s promises earlier, the unbelief of Israel renews his doubts. He questions whether Pharaoh will listen (as the Israelites have not), because of his “uncircumcised lips” (v.12). He believes his inability to convince the Israelites demonstrates his inadequacy for service, but God still insists he has a duty to lead his people out of Egypt (v.13).

At this point the story pauses, as God’s faithfulness is recorded through a genealogical account. God’s promises were not made to individuals in a void, but to their descendants as well. Moses lists a partial genealogy of Israel’s descendants, starting with Reuben, then Simeon and Levi (vv.15-19).

v20-30 

As God’s instruments of deliverance (v.13), Moses and Aaron’s lineage are described (vv.20-22). Since Aaron and his sons will later have an important place as God’s priests, their line is mentioned (vv.23-25). This genealogical listing situates Aaron and Moses as part of God’s covenantal plan (vv.26-7), evidence of God’s faithfulness to generations.

After placing Aaron and Moses in historical context, the story resumes in a way which makes clear that God is the deliverer, not Moses. It returns to God’s command to Moses in verse eleven to command that Pharaoh let God’s people go, and Moses self-doubt in his calling from God due to his “uncircumcised lips” (vv.28-30). 

Our passage applied

Moses does not believe Pharaoh will listen. Why would he? He did not before, and even the Israelites do not listen. What follows must not be the result of Moses’ power, but God’s.

That Moses and the Israelites must realise God’s power will force Pharaoh to set them free reminds us that our own strength cannot release us from bondage and service to sin. Only God has the power to change our hearts, initially when we are saved and progressively as the Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus in our desire to love and obey God.

In the same way, people are not persuaded into the Kingdom of God by charismatic communication. Good public speaking skills may win you an election, but it is God’s power that converts. Our feeble words from “uncircumcised lips” are as effective in communicating the Gospel as any skilled speaker because of God’s power accompanying them, not because we use the perfect phrases or the right oratory skills.

That freedom from bondage promised by God and delivered to us by God’s son frees us for divine service. Like Israel, God rescues us so that we will be his people, he our God. The long line of believers rescued throughout history shows God keeps his promises, and we can trust in him.

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Read Exodus 5

Summary

Not many things are as easy as they first seem. Beginning in confidence, we are often taken aback by opposition or unanticipated roadblocks to goals. If this is true of everyday events, it is also true of putting sin to death and worshipping God as we ought to.

Moses’ return to Egypt had gone better than he anticipated, as the Elders and God’s people accepted his message and calling. But Pharaoh had no plans to easily let God’s people go, and in Exodus 5 we see the oppression that the Israelites faced grow. Exodus 5 shows the first confrontation with Pharaoh, the increase in the burden, and the cries of God’s people.

Our passage explained

v1-5

The first five verses discuss the first confrontation of Pharaoh by Moses and Aaron. After his return to Egypt, Moses and Aaron go with the Elders of Israel to an audience with Pharaoh. There, they relay God’s command to Pharaoh to “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness” (v.1). This command clearly stated that the Israelites belong to God, not the (supposed) god-king Pharaoh, and that they owe their life and work to God, not him.

If Pharaoh accepts this command, then releasing the Israelites from slavery is a logical consequence. Pharaoh is unimpressed by this idea, and sarcastically refuses to acknowledge God’s authority over him or do as God commands (v.2).

Since Pharaoh will not listen to God, perhaps he will listen to reason? Moses and Aaron attempt to soften the command by suggesting that if he does not let the Israelites worship their god, then he will lose them anyway (v.3). 

But Pharaoh is no more persuaded by this argument either, instead he sees their request as an upheaval of Egyptian society and suggests that Moses and Aaron are responsible for the Israelites standing around lazily, not working (vv.4-5).

v6-14

Instead of releasing the Israelites from their oppression, Pharaoh increases it. The same day, he requires that the Israelites also find the straw (previously provided) which they mixed with Nile clay to form the large, strong bricks used for their building projects (vv.6-7). But they must produce the same number of bricks as before. Pharaoh thinks all this talk of freedom and worshipping God means they have too much time on their hands, and must be kept busy before they rebel (vv.8-9).

The taskmasters and foremen go to the Israelites, sharing the good news of their extra burdens (vv.10-11). God wants them to be free to worship and serve him; Pharaoh prefers they continue to serve him. Whose word is more powerful? Pharaoh is suggesting with these commands that his words are.

The increase in the burden sees God’s people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather together the straw needed to make the bricks, while the taskmasters urgently command “complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw” (vv.12-13). The pressure builds and the foremen of God’s people, who in some sense collaborate with the regime, are beaten for the fellow countrymen failing to make the quota (v.14).

v15-23

The extra burdens unleash cries from God’s people. The foremen appeal to Pharaoh, asking why the state is imposing this burden on them (vv.15-16). They describe themselves as “your servants”, implying dependence on him, not God, for their well-being. Pharaoh inflexibly dismisses them, accusing them of laziness (vv.17-19) which puts the foremen in a difficult position.

The foremen approach Moses and Aaron, and blame them for their situation (vv.20-21). They reject Moses and Aaron as God’s spokesmen, since their situation has got worse, not better as promised. God’s relief has not come by Moses and Aaron, who only seem to make things worse.

Moses’ response appears to be bewilderment, since he cries out to God “why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me?” (v.22) Rather than God’s people being rescued, they have felt even heavier oppression (v.23). God’s answer to Moses’ lack of understanding will come later.

Our passage applied

Moses’ reaction reminds us that God’s working can be difficult to understand. We read God’s promises to sanctify and cleanse us from our sins, and wonder why we still struggle. We hear God’s Word proclaim his presence with us, and wonder why we feel distant from him. 

God’s purposes work out differently to our expectations, on his own timing. Sometimes to help us truly depend on God, he allows us to fall deeper into trouble. We should not assume instant satisfaction guaranteed, but like Moses turn to God for understanding.

This passage also demonstrates the world’s opposition to our worship of God. Pharaoh saw himself as more powerful than God, and increased the Israelites burdens to try and prove it. Likewise, the world will increase our burdens, whether through enticing attractions which encourage us to collaborate with the world, or through heavier burdens so we abandon thoughts of forsaking the world for Christ. 

But Christ has already overcome the world, and so too, trusting in Christ, will we.

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Read Exodus 4:18-31

Summary

In the latter part of Exodus 4, we see Moses’ faithful response to God’s call in his return to Egypt to rescue God’s people. But before Moses can see God’s promises begin their fulfilment, he must ensure his own life is fit for service as the mediator between God and his people.

Our passage explained

v18-23

After Moses’s encounter with God at the Burning Bush, Moses prepares to return to Egypt. Following the customs of his day, he asks and receives permission from his Father-in-law to return to “my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive” (v.18). In forty years since Moses’ exile, perhaps the Egyptian genocide against God’s people has harmed his family.

Perhaps understanding that Moses will still fear for his life due to his earlier slaying of an Egyptian (2:12), God encourages Moses that he can go because “all the men who were seeking your life are dead” (v.19). Moses responds in faith, packing his two sons and wife onto a donkey and carrying the staff which God empowered as a symbol of his presence with Moses (v.20).

As he sets out, God encourages and warns Moses of what awaits him. God commands Moses to perform miracles before Pharaoh, as proof of Moses’ calling and God’s demand (v.21). But he also warns Moses that God “will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (v.21).

Pharaoh’s hardened heart will stop him from releasing the Israelites, who God identifies corporately as “my firstborn son” (v.22). God’s people are dear to him, his children, with whom he has an ongoing relationship. Moreso, they hold a position of special status to God, as the firstborn. If Pharaoh will not let God’s son go, then “behold, I will kill your [Pharaoh’s] firstborn son” (v.23).

v24-26

But while Moses has responded to God’s call to ministry, he must ensure his life is fit for the role he has been called to. As a father, he was responsible for ensuring that his sons were circumcised in faithful obedience to the covenant made with Abraham (part of the Covenant of Grace). Failure to do this resulted in being “cut off” – ritual and usually fairly prompt actual death (Gen 17:14). 

On the return journey at a way station, God seeks Moses’ death (v.24) for a failure to circumcise one of his sons, possibly his younger son Eliezer. Moses’ wife must step in to save Moses’ life by circumcising her son, since Moses cannot. Her response “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” suggests she may not have approved of circumcision of her sons (and thus the delay to one of their two sons), but to save Moses must shed blood (vv.25-26).

v27-31

Previously, God promised Moses that his brother Aaron would be his spokesman (4:14). In verse 27, we see God’s fulfilment of his promise to Moses by sending Aaron out to meet Moses on the way. Aaron accepts Moses’ calling and their roles, and together they gather the elders of Israel to reveal God’s calling of Moses as his answer to their prayers (vv.28-30). 

Their response, and that of the Israelites, is to believe the message of God through Moses and Aaron. They respond to God’s hearing their prayers by bowing down and worshipping God (v.31). These verses show God’s promises to Moses fulfilled (3:18). Seeing God’s words coming true before his eyes would have reassured Moses for the greater battle coming – with Pharaoh.

Our passage applied

Likewise, God’s response to the anguish and prayers of God’s people encourages us to continue to seek God’s help. Our relationship with God does not change whether we are undergoing trials or blessings. God’s people hold a special status, we are his “firstborn son” by adoption, children of God whom he delights to protect and bless with a beautiful inheritance (Romans 8:14-17). 

Despite the troubles which lie before us, we can have confidence in our status as God’s beloved sons and daughters. God’s further message to Moses as he left for Egypt encouraged him to trust God; that the outcome was certain. The final victory of God over sin, death, and all who oppose him is no less certain.

But we must also heed the warning presented in these verses. Before Moses could serve as God’s mediator, he had to ensure his life was fit for service. His neglect of circumcision, the covenant sign of admission administered to his son, even after having come into the direct presence of the covenant-keeping God, was a roadblock to his calling, and nearly led to his death.

We too are called to live holy lives in response to God’s calling of us (1 Peter 1:14-16). Since God loves us and has adopted us as his children, we ought to glorify God by loving him and doing what he commands. While we fall short of this standard constantly, thankfully we have a mediator in Jesus Christ who fulfilled all righteousness for us and was cut off for our salvation, to save us from death.

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Read Exodus 4:1-17

Summary

Throughout history, when God has chosen to speak to the world through men, he has sometimes chosen to send signs and wonders to authenticate the message. Moses was a part of this pattern; not only did Moses receive a powerful call to the Ministry through the Burning Bush, but he was given powerful signs as well.

Despite the powerful signs God gave Moses to perform, he still shows extreme reluctance to return to Egypt. In this passage, we see God provide Moses with those signs, and also with a spokesman to speak for him. We see God’s mercy and provision despite Moses’ disobedience to his calling.

Our passage explained

v1

Still before God’s presence at the Burning Bush, in the opening verses of chapter four, Moses receives powerful signs to perform. Moses twice objected to his calling, doubting his worthiness to act as God’s servant (Exodus 3:11-12), and that the Israelites will believe God sent him and can deliver them from slavery (Exodus 3:13-15).

Moses’ third objection strings from his second:  while God has stated the Elders of Israel will acknowledge Moses’ leadership (Exodus 3:16-21), Moses does not believe that the Israelites, in general, will believe him (v.1). They will hear his message and respond to him that “The LORD did not appear to you” (v.1).

v2-9

To this objection, God provides Moses with three powerful signs that will conclusively demonstrate he is God’s servant. First, God causes Moses’ shepherd staff to turn into a serpent (vv.2-3), clearly an act of God’s power which would get the attention of the Israelites (v.5). More so, because Moses is to (dangerously) pick the snake up by the tail, not the neck, to turn it back into a staff (v.4).

The second sign shows God’s power beyond physical objects to humanity itself: Moses’ hand is turned “leprous” (likely a skin disease rather than leprosy) when he places it in his cloak, and restored when he repeats the trick (vv.6-7). This sign would be instantly alarming (as it was to Moses), and shows God has power over life to hurt and to heal.

The third sign, if the Israelites still will not listen, is “the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground” (vv.8-9). The Nile was the sacred source of life in Egypt, and so turning water from the Nile to blood demonstrates God’s power over life and death, despite what the Egyptian “gods” may claim about their own life-giving powers through the Nile waters.

v10-17

Despite these powerful signs, Moses still objects to his calling, so God gives him a spokesman. Moses states he is “not eloquent … slow of speech and of tongue” (v.10). In effect, Moses complains that he is not up to the job and God has not done anything to help his public speaking skills.

God objects to this argument as irrelevant, since God “made man’s mouth” and determines who can speak how well (v.12). He commands Moses to “go” because God “will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” (v.13).

Moses then becomes disobedient, asking God to send someone else (v.13). God’s anger at sinful disobedience is kindled, but despite this God has graciously sent Moses’ brother Aaron to meet him, because God knows Moses’ heart (v.14). Aaron will act as Moses’ spokesman, just as Moses speaks on behalf of God (vv.15-16). They will speak the words God gives them, not their own words.

Finally, God tells Moses to take his staff “with which you shall do the signs” (v.17). Moses and Aaron will take on a mighty empire with nothing in hand but a shepherd’s staff. But they will have God’s words, and his powerful signs to accompany them in the task. They go in God’s strength, not their own.

Our passage applied

Just as Moses went to Egypt with powerful signs that demonstrated God’s presence with him, so too Jesus’ ministry was accompanied by powerful signs. When John the Baptist’s disciples came to see if Jesus was the Messiah, he replied: “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Matthew 11:4-5). God’s powerful signs demonstrated Jesus was the promised Messiah, come to rescue us from slavery to our sins.

Thankfully Christ did not try to run away from his calling. At Gethsemane on the night he was betrayed, Jesus prayed to God for strength and humbly submitted to God’s will, even though he wished there might be another way. Where Moses disobeyed God, Jesus was humble and obedient all his days, all the way to the Cross. It is through Christ’s righteousness and his sacrifice we are rescued from slavery to sin.

We rely on God’s strength to win our battle against sin. Like Moses and Aaron, we have no power of our own but God’s words given to us in Scripture, and the powerful signs performed by God through Jesus. His strength, not ours.

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Read Exodus 3

Summary

We have all seen burning bushes, in person or on a screen. But never a burning bush which is not consumed. This unnatural wonder is a wonderful and fearful sign of God’s power. But its intent was to bring Moses into God’s presence, because Moses would play a key part in God’s fulfilment of his covenant promises.

Exodus 3 records the Call of Moses by God, as God appears to Moses at Mount Sinai at the Burning Bush. There Moses encounters God’s presence, receives God’s commissioning, and hears God’s challenge to Israel and Egypt.

Our passage explained

v1-5

Many years after Moses’ flight from Egypt, he is shepherding the (valuable) flock of his Father-in-law when he brings them to Horeb (v.1). There, the “angel of the LORD” (which refers to God himself) appears to Moses “in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (v.2) This would grab his attention as fire is a threat to his flock, but while it was burning “it was not consumed” (vv.2-3).

As Moses comes close to look at the unusual sight, he receives a personal summons from God, to which he responds positively (v.4). God instructs Moses to take off his sandals (a sign of respect) because he is standing on ground made holy by God’s presence (v.5). God identifies himself covenantally as “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”, causing Moses to cover himself at coming into God’s special physical presence.

v6-15

Now that Moses is in God’s presence, he receives God’s commissioning. God reveals that his presence with Moses is because he has seen his covenant people’s pain (v.7, cf. 2:23-5), and has come to rescue them and bring them to Canaan, a land where he will provide for their needs (v.8). God has come to act as judge and to correct an injustice (Israel’s slavery), and commissions Moses to “bring my people … out of Egypt” (v.10).

Moses responds to God’s commissioning with two objections. Firstly, lacking self-confidence, Moses questions his worthiness to act as God’s agent (v.11). God responds by telling Moses who he is less important than that God himself “will be with you”, and that he will recognise this when he leads the Israelites out of Egypt (v.12). In the meantime, he must trust in God.

Moses’ second objection is that the Israelites may not believe God sent him, or God has power to deliver (v.13). To this, God tells Moses “I AM WHO I AM”, the only unchanging, self-existent God (v.14). Further, Moses is to tell the Israelites that their covenant God, revealing himself as “I AM” and “Yahweh” has sent Moses to them to fulfil His covenant promises to them (v.15).

v16-22

In the remainder of the chapter, we see God’s challenge to both Israel and Egypt. Israel’s challenge is to accept Moses is God’s messenger, sent as part of God’s rescue plan. Moses was to tell the Elders of Israel that the God of their Patriarchs had heard their cries and was acting, to deliver them from slavery to the Promised Land (vv.16-17). God promises that “they will listen to your voice” (v.18), answering his earlier second objection.

The challenge to Egypt is to release God’s people from their bondage. Moses and the Elders were to go to Pharaoh and ask him to “let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God” (v.18). Since Pharaoh was viewed as a god in Egypt, leaving to worship God elsewhere was a challenge to Pharaoh’s divine authority and Egypt’s political-religion.

God is clear that the Egyptians will not meet this challenge, so God will strike them powerfully to force them to release the Israelites (vv.19-20). The trouble that will come to Egypt will be so great the Egyptians will gladly see them leave with their prized possessions, so those who plundered the strength of the Israelites will have their wealth plundered by their victorious, freed slaves (vv.21-2).

Our passage applied

The call of Moses reminds us that God is present with his people. He knows and hears all things, including when they suffer. So he knows our needs, and comes to help. God comes to Moses to commission him for ministry, the instrument through which God fulfils his covenant promises and His will.

In the same way, Christ’s coming to deliver us from the slavery of sin demonstrates God’s presence with us. God knows our need for salvation, and sent Jesus to not only live a perfect life but offer up a perfect sacrifice for our sins, so we can enjoy the blessings of God’s presence, as the Holy Spirit dwells in us.

Like Moses, we are inadequate to receive this on our own, or to share the news of this blessing to others. But like Moses, the important thing is not our character but that God is with us. We receive God’s promises by faith, until one day we see them fulfilled.

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Read Exodus 2

Summary

At Easter we remember God’s deliverance of us from our slavery to sin through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We remember that God keeps the promises he makes, and that they were fulfilled in Jesus. Through Jesus, God delivers us from slavery to be his people.

In Exodus Chapter 2 we see this foreshadowed in the beginning of God’s delivery of his people from slavery. Moses, who will eventually lead God’s people out of Egypt is born. But God must deliver Moses at birth and in adulthood from Pharaoh, showing his hand working as he hears his people and remembers them.

Our passage explained

v1-10

In the first ten verses, we see God’s hand moving as he delivers Moses at birth. A Levite couple have a child, who they hide for three months because of Pharaoh’s edict to kill male Israelites (vv.1-2). With hiding a growing child no longer possible, the mother trusts God to deliver her child by placing him in a basket “ark” in the Nile (vv.3-4), to be carried away from danger.

By God’s providence, the instrument of deliverance is one of Pharaoh’s daughters, who recognises the child is Israelite but takes him for her own anyway, and even arranges (through Moses’ sister’s initiative) for Moses’ own mother to care for him at her own expense! (vv.5-9). 

Once he was fully weaned, perhaps two to three, Pharaoh’s daughter legally adopted the Israelite Moses as a Prince of Egypt (v.10), where he would receive formal education.

v10-15

In adulthood, Moses will again need God’s deliverance, this time from his murder of an Egyptian. Despite being adopted as a prince, and receiving the benefits of that position, Moses still identifies himself as an Israelite and studies the way his people are treated (v.11). 

Seeing an Egyptian overseer beating an Israelite slave, he “struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” which ultimately led to his fleeing Egypt to avoid Pharaoh’s wrath when his act became known (vv.12-15). Acting in his own strength, Moses’ attempts to help his people fail.

v16-25

In Midian, God provides for Moses with a family. Moses escaped Pharaoh’s immediate reach and wrath, but now has no idea what to do, and is sitting by a well (a common meeting place in nomadic societies). God sends the daughters of a Midianite priest to the well to draw out water for their flock (v.16). Shepherds attempt to bully them away so they can take the water for their own flock, but Moses intervenes to help the daughters by driving away the shepherds and helping water their flock (v.17).

Moses’ generous act earns the respect of the Midianite priest, who invites him home for hospitality (vv.18-20). Moses begins to live with him, and even marries one of his daughters, Zipporah, with whom he has a son, named Gershom, whose name recognises that he is not home but a sojourner (vv.21-2).

The life and deliverance to date of Moses has occurred because God hears His People. The Pharaoh who wanted Moses dead has died, but the people continue in their groaning “because of their slavery and cried out for help” (v.23). God’s response is fourfold; he “heard their groaning, and … remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob… saw the people of Israel—and God knew” (vv.24-5). 

Our passage applied

The Israelites’ cries for freedom reach God’s ears. God hears, and “remembers”, which means more than recalling, but bringing to mind with intent to act. God is getting ready to intervene for his people as he promised the Patriarchs, and so he observes their plight and concerns himself with it, as he prepares to act.

We live in an age of instant gratification and satisfaction, where we want things now. But God’s plans take time. This passage shows that God is aware of his people’s suffering, but God’s timing is not always ours. Decades pass in this chapter, but God is still acting to deliver by sending Moses, his instrument, and protecting him from harm.

God is acting in this passage because God keeps his promises and cares for his people. God is not coolly indifferent to the suffering of his people, but not only hears their cries, acts as he promises, observes our suffering, and concerns himself with it. When we cry out, this passage shows that God hears, recalls, observes, and acts, in his own timing.

God acts on his promises to deliver his people, as he has for us all in Christ. At the right time, Christ came to die for the ungodly (Romans 5:6), so we may have eternal life. Enslaved to our sin, God redeemed us and set us free so we can worship God freely and glorify him. The promise made in the Garden of Eden and the deserts of Canaan was fulfilled thousands of years later when Christ was nailed to a Cross for our sins, and rose three days later.

This Easter we remember again that God hears, remembers, sees, and knows. God remembers his promises … and he acts.

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Read Exodus 1:8-22

Summary

There is a saying which jokingly states “Capitalism is man exploiting man, Communism is the reverse.” This cynical statement about political and economic systems reveals a truth about humanity after the fall; at one level or another, we seek to exploit and enslave others for our benefit.

The exploitation and enslavement of people, or opposition to progress and blessing, seems to occur quite often to God’s people. As God blesses his Church, various foes arise to attack it. This was the case for God’s people in Egypt. As they were blessed by God, they fell into oppression by the Egyptians. The rest of chapter 1 tells of the erasure of Joseph’s memory, the enslavement of the Israelites, and the attempted eradication of God’s people.

Our passage explained

v8-10

In verse eight we read of the erasure of Joseph’s heritage in Egypt. The Israelites were able to settle in Egypt because of Joseph’s wise rule, saving the Egyptians (and many others) from famine. His heritage would be remembered by many, just as leaders like Winston Churchill are remembered today, long after their death.

But “there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (v.8). While this could be interpreted as referring to a king who had not heard of Joseph (and this is possible), the implication in this verse is rather that he refused to acknowledge Joseph’s wise rule. The reason was likely prejudice (ethnic and religious). This erasure of Joseph’s memory in the rulers of Egypt was dangerous, because Joseph’s wise rule created goodwill the Israelites relied on in their sojourn in Egypt.

With Joseph’s memory institutionally erased, God’s people fell into enslavement, as described in verses nine to fourteen. The king turns the Egyptians against the Israelites by noting how they had multiplied and could “if war breaks out … join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land” (vv.9-10). 

v11-22

Instead of expelling them from Egypt, his “shrewd” answer is to enslave and exploit them, and so “they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens” (v.11). Yet despite this, God’s people still multiply in number even as the Egyptians ever more ruthlessly oppressed them (vv.12-14). This increasing hostility and affliction is joined by increasing dread by the Egyptians of the people of Israel (v.12).

While the Pharaoh sought control over God’s people through enslavement, they still multiply in number. So the Egyptians progress from enslavement to eradication. The Pharaoh commands the midwives to kill any newborn Israelite male (vv.15-16), which will effectively wipe them out in a generation. The two (possibly head) midwives, Shiphrah and Puah (v.15), refuse this because they fear God more than Pharaoh (who remains nameless unlike the God-fearing midwives, v.17).

The midwives further demonstrate their fear of God over Pharaoh by their deceptive answer, suggesting the Israelite mothers are quick birthers (vv.18-19). God in turn shows his blessing on the midwives for trusting him over man, by blessing them with children, just as he also further blessed the Israelites (vv.21-22).

With the midwives frustrating Pharaoh’s plans for eradication, Pharaoh then draws the Egyptians directly into his plans. He “commanded all his people, ‘Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live’” (v.22). All the Egyptian people are commanded to identify with his attempt to kill off God’s covenant people, by participating personally in the genocide of the Israelites.

Our passage applied

This passage shows how in history the conflict which started in the Garden of Eden between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent continues. Those who rebel against God and follow the way of Satan persecute those who seek to follow God. Opposition and oppression of God’s people is the fruit of rebellion against God. This takes different forms in different times, whether it is through seduction away from Christ with worldly pleasures, or through deliberate persecution of God’s people.

We also see that Covenant blessing brings opposition from those outside the Covenant. The Israelites were fruitful and multiplied, and this brought increasing opposition from Pharaoh. The more God blessed them, the worse it got. Likewise, the Church’s growth attracts opposition from the Devil and from rebel sinners. But God is greater than any other power and in him we will overcome all opposition (1 John 4:4).

Likewise, we also should not be surprised when non-believers fail to remember blessings they have inherited from Christian influence in society. Egypt’s prosperity rested on Joseph’s wise rule, but it was deliberately ignored and forgotten. Likewise, our society and our “rights” rest on the Christian heritage of rulers and leaders, seeking to apply Biblical wisdom to their rule for the common good. This is conveniently forgotten today, as it was in Egypt, even while those benefits are enjoyed.

This chapter demonstrates God’s blessing to us, his people, despite opposition and persecution. While we may endure opposition and persecution for God’s sake, God has already overcome the world in Christ. We too will overcome, hidden with Christ in God

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