No doubt the highlight to pull out today is the listing of the Ten Commandments. The first four of the ten commandments deal with man's relationship to God. We must have no other God but Him and must not worship any graven image. We tend to think think of this commandment as an "easy" one. We don't believe in Buddha or any of the Hindu gods and we don't have statues in our homes that we bow before. But an idol in our day and time, is anything that is put before God. Modern idols include money, possessions, career, children, status, physical appearance, youth, etc. All the worldly things we chase at the expense of our relationship with God. Idolatry is very much alive and well.
The third commandment, not to misuse the name of the Lord, is one that is routinely abused, even by Christians. The ancient Jews, and many to this day, so revere the name of the Lord, that they would not speak it or write it. You may have seen Jews type the letters YHWH or G_d, because they consider God's name too holy to spell out in it's entirety. We have lost that sense of reverence. The New Testament presents Jesus as such an approachable Friend, that we have forgotten the holiness of God. The careless use of His name is one symptom of that lack of respect. And by careless, I don't just mean profanity. The thoughtless utterance "OMG" carries the same weight.
The observance of the Sabbath is a subject I'd like to do some more research on. New Testament believers worship on Sunday instead of Saturday, but that is the least of our differences as it regards the Sabbath observance. The Hebrews did no work on the Sabbath, and prided themselves on the strict observance of that rule. In addition to the Scriptues, the Hebrews developed a collection of oral traditions detailing the minutiae of the Law and codified into a book in the 2nd century AD, called the Mishnah. These traditions were man-made extrapolations of the written Law. The fourth commandment had stipulations attached to it that regulated how much weight could be lifted (nothing heavier than a dried fig), what could be saved in a house fire, and what could be eaten (not an egg laid on the Sabbath!) The common man did not pay much heed to these restrictions in Jesus' day, but the Pharisees did. It was this group that criticized Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, and His disciples for picking grain to eat on the Sabbath. Jesus was quick to point out that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath", (Mark 2:27). So it is clearly wrong to obey the letter of the law above the intent, but in our day, we really don't do either. Sure we go to church, but do we set aside our regular work and activities on Sunday? Speaking for myself, I still throw in a load of clothes, cook dinner, and go to one of my son's basketball games in the evenings. Furthermore, my husband works in NASCAR and is at work almost every Sunday. Jesus' death and resurrection freed us from the legalism of the Jewish religion, but are we to throw out the baby with the bath water? Please weigh in on this discussion if this is an area in which you have some insight.
The remaining 6 commandments deal with man's relationship to each other and they are pretty straight-forward. We are to honor our parents. This was largely abandoned by my generation, reared by the parents of the late 60s and 70s who wanted to be our friends and who didn't want to create negative energy or suppress our creativity or self-confidence through discipline. How many of you heard your parents say "I would never have spoken to my mother the way you are speaking to me!" And it is worse now than it was then. Teachers, police officers, and authority figures in general do not command the respect of today's youth. So, the summation of my soapbox, is that we are not doing so well with this commandment either.
"You must not murder". No problem, but what about war and capital punishment? I'm not saying I'm for it, but the word used for "kill" is better translated "murder" and implies a criminal act...predatory killing if you will. This verb is never used in regard to war or capital punishment, both of which the Old Testament endorses (for lack of a better word).
"You must not commit adultery". Obvious in this context and illuminated later by Jesus statement that if a man looks upon a woman with lust in his heart, he has committed adultery. The OT gives the Law, and the NT gives the spirit of the Law.
"You must not steal", "you must not testify falsely", and "you must not covet". These are all pretty self-explanatory, but tougher to live by when the "spirit of the Law" is taken into account. Sure, we don't rob banks, but do we make photocopies at work for personal use? Do we return to the grocery store an item for which we weren't charged on our receipt? Do we "round up" our charitable contributions estimate on our income taxes? That's stealing. We may not testify falsely under oath in a courtroom, but do we lie? White lies or otherwise? And we may not think we covet anything our neighbor has, but are we envious of how nicely her husband treats her? Or how amazing his new car is? At times, of course.
As we read in the New Testament, the Law can be summed up in two phrases..."love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (commandments 1-4) and "love your neighbor as yourself" (commandments 5-10). Sounds pretty simple, but the Israelites would soon find out that these two things are completely unattainable for sinful man.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 22:16-24
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Manna, Quail, and Water from a rock
As if parting the Red Sea were not enough, God had several other miracles in store for His people...the daily provision of manna and quail. The key thing about this provision, is that the Israelites were to take only what they needed for that day's sustenance (daily bread) and to trust God to provide for the future. To hoard the food was to reveal a heart that was self-reliant instead of God-dependent. Supernatural provision would have been the only possible means of sustaining two million people in the desert for 40 years.
The next section of our reading was a brief description of the Israelites first battle with the people inhabiting the Promised Land. Remember, the Hebrews were former slaves, only very recently gaining their freedom and having no idea how to engage in battle. But Moses and his staff had taken part in some amazing miracles, so it must have been a natural course of action to raise the staff in battle. The cool part of this anecdote is the illustration of a leader being supported by those around him so that the work of the Lord would be carried out. Whenever Moses got tired of holding up his arms, Aaron and Hur held his arms up for him. We all need people like that in our lives..people who help us stay in the battle when our strength is gone. And just as importantly, we need to be such a person for others.
Next, Jethro shows up with Moses wife and sons. Though the Bible does not mention it, it is presumed that they were sent back home immediately after Zipporah performed the circumcision on their son, as he would have needed time to recuperate which traveling would not allow. I hadn't noticed they were missing, had you?
Hope you guys are sticking with it. I've heard it takes 30 days to form a habit, so we should be there!
Tomorrow's reading; Exodus 20-22:15
The next section of our reading was a brief description of the Israelites first battle with the people inhabiting the Promised Land. Remember, the Hebrews were former slaves, only very recently gaining their freedom and having no idea how to engage in battle. But Moses and his staff had taken part in some amazing miracles, so it must have been a natural course of action to raise the staff in battle. The cool part of this anecdote is the illustration of a leader being supported by those around him so that the work of the Lord would be carried out. Whenever Moses got tired of holding up his arms, Aaron and Hur held his arms up for him. We all need people like that in our lives..people who help us stay in the battle when our strength is gone. And just as importantly, we need to be such a person for others.
Next, Jethro shows up with Moses wife and sons. Though the Bible does not mention it, it is presumed that they were sent back home immediately after Zipporah performed the circumcision on their son, as he would have needed time to recuperate which traveling would not allow. I hadn't noticed they were missing, had you?
Hope you guys are sticking with it. I've heard it takes 30 days to form a habit, so we should be there!
Tomorrow's reading; Exodus 20-22:15
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Crossing the Red Sea
God laid out the ten plagues in Egypt so that the Israelites would know that He was Lord. Interestingly, verse 13:4 sets up God's plan for the defeat of the pursuing Egyptian army via the parting of the Red Sea, and ends with "after this the Egyptians will know that I am Lord". No doubt God has His eye on Israel at this point in time, but He is always working in the world at large. Many Egyptians actually did end up believing and left with the Israelites in the Exodus. Verse 12:38 describes "a rabble of non-Israelites" who went with them.
Just before the Red Sea is parted, God tells Moses to raise his hand over the sea and divide the water so that the Israelites could walk through on dry ground. What I like about this, is that God requests Moses' participation, not because He needed help but because Moses' leadership needed to be solidified... in his own heart and in the hearts of the people. This is the way God continues to work today. He does not need our help to accomplish His purposes, but He chooses to use us for our benefit. We get the privilege of partnering with God when we allow ourselves to be used by Him.
God knew that Pharoah would be so full of pride and rage at the thought of the escaping Israelites, (his former slaves and the source of the recent plagues), that he would pursue them. Again, the text reads "I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians", but remember that this indicates responsibility only to the extent that God set up the situation that brought about the hardening. In other words, He set the ball in motion.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 16-19
Just before the Red Sea is parted, God tells Moses to raise his hand over the sea and divide the water so that the Israelites could walk through on dry ground. What I like about this, is that God requests Moses' participation, not because He needed help but because Moses' leadership needed to be solidified... in his own heart and in the hearts of the people. This is the way God continues to work today. He does not need our help to accomplish His purposes, but He chooses to use us for our benefit. We get the privilege of partnering with God when we allow ourselves to be used by Him.
God knew that Pharoah would be so full of pride and rage at the thought of the escaping Israelites, (his former slaves and the source of the recent plagues), that he would pursue them. Again, the text reads "I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians", but remember that this indicates responsibility only to the extent that God set up the situation that brought about the hardening. In other words, He set the ball in motion.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 16-19
Friday, February 4, 2011
The Passover
Here come the remaining four plagues...
Hail: against the sky goddess Nut (mother of the sun god Ra)
Locusts: against Seth, the god of storms and disaster
Darkness: against the sun god, Ra
Firstborn: against Pharoah himself, revered as the greatest of all Egyptian gods
I was intrigued by the description of the "shifting wind" in regard to the plague of locusts. The Lord caused the wind to blow the locusts in, and caused that same wind to blow the locusts out. He is in control of the shifting of the wind...in control over whether a tornado or hurricane hits land or doesn't. In control of the shifting of the earth's plates that cause earthquakes and tidal waves. Certainly far more of these natural disasters miss us than hit us, but when they do hit, we can be sure God intended it as such. Some like to think that God could never authorize such destruction and suffering, but if we get our eyes off of this life, (which is hard because it is all we know), we can see the uses for suffering in the big picture of eternity. Did you know that it is estimated that roughly half of the US adult population attended church the Sunday following the 911 terrorist attacks? Suffering draws us closer to God, and it is a price worth paying if it results in an eternity in Heaven. Remember that God's purpose in orchestrating the ten plagues was that His people "would know that I am the Lord". In the big picture, with Israel being the line through which the Savior of the world would come and the Old Testament traditions be handed down, it was imperative that they KNOW that God was who He said He was. In an unmistakable way through these miraculous signs, God "proved" Himself to the Israelites and caused them to put their trust in Him.
Up until the last plague, Pharoah allowed his pride (remember he was revered as the greatest of all gods and probably didn't take kindly to being bossed around by Moses' God), to cloud his judgement. But after the plague that killed the firstborns, he was eager to be rid of the Israelites. He seethed with rage as he commanded Moses to leave, but said "bless me as you leave". It is clear that Pharoah knew that he was dealing with God Almighty.
The most important part of this entire reading was the description of the Passover. The Old Testament, in its' entirety, points to Jesus. Sometimes the prophetic references are obscure, but the parallels between Jesus and the Passover are not at all unclear. The Israelites are instructed to choose a lamb with no defects (think Lamb of God who was without sin), sacrifice it on an altar, (think crucifixion), and cover themselves in the blood figuratively, by smearing it on the doorframes of their houses, (think of figuratively taking in the blood of Jesus in the rite of Communion). And then God would "pass over" the houses on which he found the blood of the sacrifice, such that "this plague of death will not touch you". The obvious correlation is that when we identify ourselves with the blood of The Lamb, when we have in essence covered ourselves with his blood as our hope for salvation, we do not experience eternal death. It is no coincidence that Jesus was crucified during the Passover celebration. This was a well-orchestrated plan, put in place thousands of years before Jesus walked this earth.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 13-15:21
Hail: against the sky goddess Nut (mother of the sun god Ra)
Locusts: against Seth, the god of storms and disaster
Darkness: against the sun god, Ra
Firstborn: against Pharoah himself, revered as the greatest of all Egyptian gods
I was intrigued by the description of the "shifting wind" in regard to the plague of locusts. The Lord caused the wind to blow the locusts in, and caused that same wind to blow the locusts out. He is in control of the shifting of the wind...in control over whether a tornado or hurricane hits land or doesn't. In control of the shifting of the earth's plates that cause earthquakes and tidal waves. Certainly far more of these natural disasters miss us than hit us, but when they do hit, we can be sure God intended it as such. Some like to think that God could never authorize such destruction and suffering, but if we get our eyes off of this life, (which is hard because it is all we know), we can see the uses for suffering in the big picture of eternity. Did you know that it is estimated that roughly half of the US adult population attended church the Sunday following the 911 terrorist attacks? Suffering draws us closer to God, and it is a price worth paying if it results in an eternity in Heaven. Remember that God's purpose in orchestrating the ten plagues was that His people "would know that I am the Lord". In the big picture, with Israel being the line through which the Savior of the world would come and the Old Testament traditions be handed down, it was imperative that they KNOW that God was who He said He was. In an unmistakable way through these miraculous signs, God "proved" Himself to the Israelites and caused them to put their trust in Him.
Up until the last plague, Pharoah allowed his pride (remember he was revered as the greatest of all gods and probably didn't take kindly to being bossed around by Moses' God), to cloud his judgement. But after the plague that killed the firstborns, he was eager to be rid of the Israelites. He seethed with rage as he commanded Moses to leave, but said "bless me as you leave". It is clear that Pharoah knew that he was dealing with God Almighty.
The most important part of this entire reading was the description of the Passover. The Old Testament, in its' entirety, points to Jesus. Sometimes the prophetic references are obscure, but the parallels between Jesus and the Passover are not at all unclear. The Israelites are instructed to choose a lamb with no defects (think Lamb of God who was without sin), sacrifice it on an altar, (think crucifixion), and cover themselves in the blood figuratively, by smearing it on the doorframes of their houses, (think of figuratively taking in the blood of Jesus in the rite of Communion). And then God would "pass over" the houses on which he found the blood of the sacrifice, such that "this plague of death will not touch you". The obvious correlation is that when we identify ourselves with the blood of The Lamb, when we have in essence covered ourselves with his blood as our hope for salvation, we do not experience eternal death. It is no coincidence that Jesus was crucified during the Passover celebration. This was a well-orchestrated plan, put in place thousands of years before Jesus walked this earth.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 13-15:21
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Plagues begin
Though these plagues seem somewhat arbitrary, each one is directed at one of the Egyptian gods, as though to challenge one of these non-entities to prove their power. A later verse reads "Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements" (Ex. 12:12). These plagues were designed to show the Egyptians that their gods were not real, all the while authenticating the realness of the one true God to His people, the Israelites.
The first plague turned the Nile river into blood and was directed against Hapi, the god of the Nile.
The second plague of frogs was targeted at Heqt, the god of frogs, and Isis, a fertility god (somehow frogs were associated with fertility in that culture)
The third plague of gnats (sometimes translated "lice") fell to Kheper, the god of beetles and flies
The fourth plague of flies was another attack on Kheper
The fifth plague which killed all of the livestock, was meant for Apis, an image of a sacred bull
The sixth plague of boils challenged Imhotep, the physician god, and Thoth, the god of magic and healing
Notice that the first grouping of three plagues affected all of the people, while the next three spared the Israelites. Additionally, the first three plagues were initiated by Moses or Aaron raising their staff, while in the next three, they were simply messengers of what God would do. Once God had authenticated Moses and Aaron as his agents, He worked the remainder of the plagues without their participation, lest the people think that the power came from them instead of God. Notice also that Pharoah's magicians were able to replicate the first two plagues, though not able to reverse them, which would naturally have been preferable to creating more of the same malady! Though their powers were limited, and even they recognized that fact, we must acknowledge that they possessed supernatural abilities. We know that their power did not come from God, and we know that one of Satan's best tools is the counterfeiting of what God does. Many people have been fooled by false prophets and cult religions because of Satan's ability to mimic, (in a cheap unsatisfying kind of way), the one true God.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 10-12
The first plague turned the Nile river into blood and was directed against Hapi, the god of the Nile.
The second plague of frogs was targeted at Heqt, the god of frogs, and Isis, a fertility god (somehow frogs were associated with fertility in that culture)
The third plague of gnats (sometimes translated "lice") fell to Kheper, the god of beetles and flies
The fourth plague of flies was another attack on Kheper
The fifth plague which killed all of the livestock, was meant for Apis, an image of a sacred bull
The sixth plague of boils challenged Imhotep, the physician god, and Thoth, the god of magic and healing
Notice that the first grouping of three plagues affected all of the people, while the next three spared the Israelites. Additionally, the first three plagues were initiated by Moses or Aaron raising their staff, while in the next three, they were simply messengers of what God would do. Once God had authenticated Moses and Aaron as his agents, He worked the remainder of the plagues without their participation, lest the people think that the power came from them instead of God. Notice also that Pharoah's magicians were able to replicate the first two plagues, though not able to reverse them, which would naturally have been preferable to creating more of the same malady! Though their powers were limited, and even they recognized that fact, we must acknowledge that they possessed supernatural abilities. We know that their power did not come from God, and we know that one of Satan's best tools is the counterfeiting of what God does. Many people have been fooled by false prophets and cult religions because of Satan's ability to mimic, (in a cheap unsatisfying kind of way), the one true God.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 10-12
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Egypt
Right off the bat we have a bizarre encounter with God wanting to kill Moses because of his disobedience. The covenant of circumcision was a symbol of faith in God, much like our baptism. According to Genesis chapter 17, an uncircumcised male could be cut off from his people for breaking the covenant. It was a big deal. Maybe Moses' wife was opposed to it, which would be a reasonable emotion, or maybe Moses was simply lax. Either way, God would not have wanted to use a man who was not fully committed, and this oversight may have been seen as just that. In this incredibly abrupt passage, we learn only that God confronts Moses and was about to kill him. We don't know if this was an encounter similar to what Jacob experienced at Bethel (when he wrestled the angel of the Lord), or if it means something less tangible, like that God afflicted Moses with an illness so severe that he nearly died. Moses and Zipporah must have been having recent discussions about circumcision and God's requirement, because she instantly knew what the trouble was and rectified the situation.
When Moses and Aaron arrive in Egypt, they are welcomed as heroes. But when they didn't immediately "deliver" (pun intended), the people become too discouraged to even hear what the Lord was saying to them. There is definitely a lesson in there for us. God was speaking, but because He wasn't acting the way they thought best, the Israelites closed their ears to Him. Though he no longer has the support of his people, Moses continues to move forward as God leads. When God tells him to appear before Pharoah, he tells him not to worry because "I will make Pharoah's heart stubborn so that I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt". Two things to notice here. The first is that God can use ungodly people and actions to accomplish godly purposes. The Israelites had already been so discouraged that they no longer listened to Moses and Aaron, or God for that matter. If they were going to be inspired to make a break for the Promised Land and escape the bondage of their captors, they would need to have absolute confidence in Moses and in their God. He needed to work some miracles in order to authenticate Himself and His servants Moses and Aaron. Pharoah had to continue to refuse Moses' requests so that God could send the plagues and solidify the loyalty of His people.
Now secondly, and more tricky, is the fact that God says He will harden Pharoah's heart. Twenty times in these first few chapters of Exodus, Pharoah's heart is said to be hardened. Throughout the first 5 plagues, he hardens his own heart and in the following plagues, God hardens his heart. And there are a few more occasions where the verbiage is vague about who does the hardening of Pharoah's heart. The difficulty with these references, is that we reject the thought that God would force anyone to to turn away from Him, and furthermore to make a decision that would bring on such suffering and evil.
After doing some online research, I found out that the Hebrew language has idioms and colloquialisms just as we do. When we say that someone has a "chip on their shoulder" or that someone "bit their head off", we understand the meaning. But these types of phrases will be very difficult to translate 2000 years from now, I guarantee. The Hebrews had a figure of speech that allowed actions to be attributed to a person who merely set up the circumstances for that action to take place. A good example is that David is said to have "killed Uriah with the sword". In fact, Uriah was killed in battle, but it was David who ensured that he was put in harm's way and is therefore credited with the action itself. There are many other examples to be found of the same type of expression, but it is after 1:00 AM and I'm sure you catch my drift (another idiom, difficult to translate in 2000 years)! I am going to copy and paste what I read from a Christian apologetics website, as they explained how this figure of speech applies to the hardening of Pharoah's heart.
In the case of Pharaoh, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” in the sense that God provided the circumstances and the occasion for Pharaoh to be forced to make a decision. God sent Moses to place His demands before Pharaoh. Moses merely announced God’s instructions. God even accompanied His Word with miracles—to confirm the divine origin of the message (cf. Mark 16:20). Pharaoh made up his own mind to resist God’s demands. Of his own accord, he stubbornly refused to comply. Of course, God provided the occasion for Pharaoh to demonstrate his unyielding attitude. If God had not sent Moses, Pharaoh would not have been faced with the dilemma of whether to release the Israelites. So God was certainly the instigator and initiator. But He was not the author of Pharaoh’s defiance.
Notice that in a very real sense, all four of the following statements are true: (1) God hardened Pharaoh’s heart; (2) Moses hardened Pharaoh’s heart; (3) the words that Moses spoke hardened Pharaoh’s heart; (4) Pharaoh hardened his own heart. All four of these observations are accurate, depicting the same truth from different perspectives. In this sense, God is responsible for everything in the Universe, i.e., He has provided the occasion, the circumstances, and the environment in which all things (including people) operate. But He is not guilty of wrong in so doing. From a quick look at a simple Hebrew idiom, it is clear that God did not unjustly or directly harden Pharaoh’s heart. God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), He does not act unjustly (Psalms 33:5), and He has always allowed humans to exercise their free moral agency (Deuteronomy 30:19). God, however, does use the wrong, stubborn decisions committed by rebellious sinners to further His causes (Isaiah 10:5-11). In the case of Pharaoh’s hardened heart, God can be charged with no injustice, and the Bible can be charged with no contradiction. Humans were created with free moral agency and are culpable for their own actions.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 7:14-9:35
When Moses and Aaron arrive in Egypt, they are welcomed as heroes. But when they didn't immediately "deliver" (pun intended), the people become too discouraged to even hear what the Lord was saying to them. There is definitely a lesson in there for us. God was speaking, but because He wasn't acting the way they thought best, the Israelites closed their ears to Him. Though he no longer has the support of his people, Moses continues to move forward as God leads. When God tells him to appear before Pharoah, he tells him not to worry because "I will make Pharoah's heart stubborn so that I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt". Two things to notice here. The first is that God can use ungodly people and actions to accomplish godly purposes. The Israelites had already been so discouraged that they no longer listened to Moses and Aaron, or God for that matter. If they were going to be inspired to make a break for the Promised Land and escape the bondage of their captors, they would need to have absolute confidence in Moses and in their God. He needed to work some miracles in order to authenticate Himself and His servants Moses and Aaron. Pharoah had to continue to refuse Moses' requests so that God could send the plagues and solidify the loyalty of His people.
Now secondly, and more tricky, is the fact that God says He will harden Pharoah's heart. Twenty times in these first few chapters of Exodus, Pharoah's heart is said to be hardened. Throughout the first 5 plagues, he hardens his own heart and in the following plagues, God hardens his heart. And there are a few more occasions where the verbiage is vague about who does the hardening of Pharoah's heart. The difficulty with these references, is that we reject the thought that God would force anyone to to turn away from Him, and furthermore to make a decision that would bring on such suffering and evil.
After doing some online research, I found out that the Hebrew language has idioms and colloquialisms just as we do. When we say that someone has a "chip on their shoulder" or that someone "bit their head off", we understand the meaning. But these types of phrases will be very difficult to translate 2000 years from now, I guarantee. The Hebrews had a figure of speech that allowed actions to be attributed to a person who merely set up the circumstances for that action to take place. A good example is that David is said to have "killed Uriah with the sword". In fact, Uriah was killed in battle, but it was David who ensured that he was put in harm's way and is therefore credited with the action itself. There are many other examples to be found of the same type of expression, but it is after 1:00 AM and I'm sure you catch my drift (another idiom, difficult to translate in 2000 years)! I am going to copy and paste what I read from a Christian apologetics website, as they explained how this figure of speech applies to the hardening of Pharoah's heart.
In the case of Pharaoh, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” in the sense that God provided the circumstances and the occasion for Pharaoh to be forced to make a decision. God sent Moses to place His demands before Pharaoh. Moses merely announced God’s instructions. God even accompanied His Word with miracles—to confirm the divine origin of the message (cf. Mark 16:20). Pharaoh made up his own mind to resist God’s demands. Of his own accord, he stubbornly refused to comply. Of course, God provided the occasion for Pharaoh to demonstrate his unyielding attitude. If God had not sent Moses, Pharaoh would not have been faced with the dilemma of whether to release the Israelites. So God was certainly the instigator and initiator. But He was not the author of Pharaoh’s defiance.
Notice that in a very real sense, all four of the following statements are true: (1) God hardened Pharaoh’s heart; (2) Moses hardened Pharaoh’s heart; (3) the words that Moses spoke hardened Pharaoh’s heart; (4) Pharaoh hardened his own heart. All four of these observations are accurate, depicting the same truth from different perspectives. In this sense, God is responsible for everything in the Universe, i.e., He has provided the occasion, the circumstances, and the environment in which all things (including people) operate. But He is not guilty of wrong in so doing. From a quick look at a simple Hebrew idiom, it is clear that God did not unjustly or directly harden Pharaoh’s heart. God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), He does not act unjustly (Psalms 33:5), and He has always allowed humans to exercise their free moral agency (Deuteronomy 30:19). God, however, does use the wrong, stubborn decisions committed by rebellious sinners to further His causes (Isaiah 10:5-11). In the case of Pharaoh’s hardened heart, God can be charged with no injustice, and the Bible can be charged with no contradiction. Humans were created with free moral agency and are culpable for their own actions.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 7:14-9:35
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Moses
Some days, I will struggle to think of something to pull from the days reading, and other days, I will struggle to condense what should be 3 or 4 days worth of blog entries into one post. This is one of those days! We are back into the narrative history of the nation of Israel, picking up roughly 300 years after the end of Genesis. The Israelites have multiplied from a group of about 70, to a nation of about 2,000,000 (number based on the census taken after the Exodus). And no matter how Pharoah tried to oppress them, they continued to multiply. God still works that way today. Wherever Christians are persecuted or oppressed, the Gospel flourishes! So Pharoah intended to stop population growth and limit the strength of the nation by eliminating all of the baby boys born to the Hebrew women. But the two midwives who received his orders (who were obviously representatives of a much larger contingent of midwives), disobeyed and then lied to him. The Bible says that God blessed the midwives, which may seem strange given that they disobeyed an authority figure and also lied about it. But God did not reward them for lying, He rewarded them because they feared Him. God is always more interested in our hearts than in our actions. And furthermore, while we are instructed to obey our authorities, God's moral law is a higher authority. We are not expected to obey laws that contradict God's laws. The Egyptian midwives had a very difficult decision to make, knowing that disobedience of this kind could result in their own deaths, but they feared God over man, and were blessed for it.
Into this setting, Moses is born but must be hidden from Egyptian soldiers. The familiar picture of Moses floating down the Nile in a basket, which seems pretty reckless, is an exaggeration of what the text actually says. "She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. The baby's sister then stood at a distance to see what would happen to him." Much better. The hope was that someone would find him and take him in, and as God would have it, that someone is Pharoah's daughter, who has the power to spare his life. And as a bonus, Moses' Mom gets to raise/nurse him for a few years AND get paid for it! Moses is then raised as the Prince of Egypt, learning all kinds of things about their language and culture that would come in handy years later. As an adult, he begins to reconnect with his people, the Hebrews. His heart as their potential deliverer is revealed when he "takes the law into his own hands" and kills an Egyptian soldier guilty of beating a Hebrew slave. Moses was passionate about bringing justice to the Hebrews, but his methodology was all wrong. He wasn't acting as an agent of God, but a vigilante renegade. So he is removed from the scene for 40 years and given time to mature. He marries, starts a family, and tends sheep for his father-in-law Reuel (also called Jethro).
And then he sees the burning bush. I recently completed a Bible study by Priscilla Shirer called Discerning the Voice of God. She went into great detail about this episode. Apparently, bushes burn all the time in the desert, which actually makes sense when you think about it. The fact that this one wasn't consumed is what drew Moses attention, but he could have missed it. If burning bushes were a common sight, he could easily have passed right over it in his busyness or apathy. Priscilla used that illustration to parallel the way we often miss the ways that God is trying to speak to us. We may have burning bushes around us right now that we are not taking the time or interest to investigate. But Moses does investigate and is addressed by God Almighty. As we all learned as children, Moses is asked to present himself to Pharoah and demand the release of the Israelites. I can't imagine how daunting that assignment would have been and am pretty sure my response would have been just as "underwhelming" as Moses' was. Basically, Moses presents 5 different levels of resistence to God's command, and we can identify with every one of them...
1) Who am I? ( I am not good enough)
2) Is this really you? (did I hear that right or am I making it up?; tell me it's really you)
3) What will others say? (I'll be humiliated or ostracized or teased)
4) I can't do it ( this job is too hard; you are asking too much)
5) I don't want to do it
God patiently responds to each one, even giving Moses several "signs and wonders" to authenticate Himself. Because we now have the Holy Spirit and the written Word, God does not need to speak to us in such flashy ways. He speaks directly to our hearts. And while we may think a burning bush preferable to the still, small voice of the Spirit, the ancient Hebrews would gladly have traded places for the privilege of being able to hear from and speak to God at any time. God still places "burning bushes" in our lives if we will just take the time to notice them.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 4:18-7:13
Into this setting, Moses is born but must be hidden from Egyptian soldiers. The familiar picture of Moses floating down the Nile in a basket, which seems pretty reckless, is an exaggeration of what the text actually says. "She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. The baby's sister then stood at a distance to see what would happen to him." Much better. The hope was that someone would find him and take him in, and as God would have it, that someone is Pharoah's daughter, who has the power to spare his life. And as a bonus, Moses' Mom gets to raise/nurse him for a few years AND get paid for it! Moses is then raised as the Prince of Egypt, learning all kinds of things about their language and culture that would come in handy years later. As an adult, he begins to reconnect with his people, the Hebrews. His heart as their potential deliverer is revealed when he "takes the law into his own hands" and kills an Egyptian soldier guilty of beating a Hebrew slave. Moses was passionate about bringing justice to the Hebrews, but his methodology was all wrong. He wasn't acting as an agent of God, but a vigilante renegade. So he is removed from the scene for 40 years and given time to mature. He marries, starts a family, and tends sheep for his father-in-law Reuel (also called Jethro).
And then he sees the burning bush. I recently completed a Bible study by Priscilla Shirer called Discerning the Voice of God. She went into great detail about this episode. Apparently, bushes burn all the time in the desert, which actually makes sense when you think about it. The fact that this one wasn't consumed is what drew Moses attention, but he could have missed it. If burning bushes were a common sight, he could easily have passed right over it in his busyness or apathy. Priscilla used that illustration to parallel the way we often miss the ways that God is trying to speak to us. We may have burning bushes around us right now that we are not taking the time or interest to investigate. But Moses does investigate and is addressed by God Almighty. As we all learned as children, Moses is asked to present himself to Pharoah and demand the release of the Israelites. I can't imagine how daunting that assignment would have been and am pretty sure my response would have been just as "underwhelming" as Moses' was. Basically, Moses presents 5 different levels of resistence to God's command, and we can identify with every one of them...
1) Who am I? ( I am not good enough)
2) Is this really you? (did I hear that right or am I making it up?; tell me it's really you)
3) What will others say? (I'll be humiliated or ostracized or teased)
4) I can't do it ( this job is too hard; you are asking too much)
5) I don't want to do it
God patiently responds to each one, even giving Moses several "signs and wonders" to authenticate Himself. Because we now have the Holy Spirit and the written Word, God does not need to speak to us in such flashy ways. He speaks directly to our hearts. And while we may think a burning bush preferable to the still, small voice of the Spirit, the ancient Hebrews would gladly have traded places for the privilege of being able to hear from and speak to God at any time. God still places "burning bushes" in our lives if we will just take the time to notice them.
Tomorrow's reading: Exodus 4:18-7:13
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