I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 19-21.

    Today’s passage contains what we know as the Ten Commandments. Jewish tradition refers to them as the Ten Words, or Ten Sayings, depending on how one translates the Hebrew word “Aseret ha-D’varim”. The Jewish term makes it easier to make sense of them, since the first two do not clearly divide into two separate commands, but do separate into two distinct separate statements. Looked at this way the Ten become the following (I have left out the additional text because you can read it for yourself):

1. I AM the Lord your God.
2. You must not have any other god but Me.
3. Observe the Sabbath by keeping it holy.
4. Honor your father and mother.
5. You must not murder.
6. You must not commit adultery.
7. You must not steal.
8. You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
9. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, or any of his property.

Knowing that, in Jewish eyes, these are the “Ten Sayings”, not the “Ten Commandments” makes a lot more sense out of Jesus’ answer to the question about what the greatest commandment is, since “Love your neighbor as yourself” is not one of these ten.

    I have rarely heard, or read, anyone comment on the connection between the second Saying and the instructions on building an altar. The Israelites were instructed to use an altar made out of packed earth or uncut stones. Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but this instruction seems to be designed to keep people from worshiping the altar itself.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 16-18.

    The Book of Exodus contains story after story about relying on God to meet our needs.The Israelites fretted and complained about their lack of food, convinced that they were going to starve in the wilderness. After seeing how God provided food for them, they still complained when they came to a place and found not water there. In both instances, God provided for their needs. Manna is in many ways the perfect example of how God provides for us. They received just enough manna for each day, except on the sixth day, when they received enough for the sixth and seventh day so that they would not need to gather manna on the Sabbath. This is how God provides for us. He provides just enough for today, unless He has something coming up where He does not want us to spend time gathering for our needs. Or, another way to look at it, when God provides us more than we need for our immediate needs, we had better put some of it aside for the future.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 13-15.

    When the Israelites left Egypt they were not yet ready to face those between them and the Promised Land, let alone face those who occupied the Promised Land. So, God had Moses lead them around the area between Egypt and the Red Sea (today we would consider this area as part of Egypt, but in that day because it was mostly uninhabited, it was considered no man’s land). Receiving reports indicating they were doing this, Pharaoh decided either that he could retrieve his slave labor force, or that they were a threat. As a result, he led his army out after them (probably just his elite forces he had at ready to put down riots and to deal with bandits). When the Israelites saw Pharaoh’s army, they panicked. This was despite the mighty miracles they had just witnessed (a theme which continues through out Exodus).

    When the Israelites panicked, Moses calmed them. This is a key lesson for us. We will not be ready to follow God’s lead out of a bad situation if we are panicking. Two separate things happened next. First, God intervened so as to delay the Egyptian army. Then while the Egyptians were figuring out how to deal with the unexpected obstacle (whatever the cloud of smoke and pillar of fire was, it must have been something the Egyptians considered to be natural), God parted the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to escape through it. This also must have been viewed by the Egyptians as a natural occurrence, otherwise they would not have been so eager to pursue the Israelites across it.

     Through all of this, the Egyptians saw natural events while the Israelites saw Divine intervention. I was not going here as I started to write this. I was about to wrap up my thoughts on how important it is for us to not panic, to trust that God will act to rescue us from our difficulties (or otherwise use them to bring glory to His Name and bless us), when it struck me how the two sides here saw things so differently. Despite, having a realization that there was Divine intervention when their chariots got stuck in the mud of the Red Sea bed, I suspect that the Egyptians ended up seeing it as all just natural events. Do we have the ability to see how God’s Divine hand has used what are otherwise natural events to bring His plan to fruition?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 10-12.

    It seems to me that someone edited this passage to make the instructions for Passover clearer (that may have been the original author). Unfortunately, that makes it harder for us today to follow the timeline in this story. The wording in Chapter 10-11 seems to suggest that God told Moses about His plan to strike the firstborn of the Egyptians when Pharaoh told Moses to never come before him again. However, the wording of chapter 12 seems to say that Moses knew about God’s plan before he went to see Pharaoh on that occasion. As I read through this to choose my words, I realized that there are other ways to interpret the timing of the events described than what I have normally thought as I read this.

    The Passover instructions which the Israelites had for that first Passover were all designed for them to be ready to go when God sent the word for them to go. The meal which they prepared was one which could be quickly prepared and which could be eaten while traveling. They were not lounging around in their evening wear, even though this happened at night. They were dressed and ready to travel. We are to live our lives ready to go when God tells us to go.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 7-9.

    When Moses started his mission to rescue the Israelites from bondage in Egypt he must have felt that he was right to ask God to send someone else. He failed ten times before Pharaoh finally left the Israelites go (there are two more failures in tomorrow’s passage). Moses must have wondered, did he say the wrong thing? Or, did he time praying for relief from the plagues too soon? What could he, what should he have done different to get Pharaoh to fulfill his promise to let the Israelites go? Surely if he was just a little better at choosing his words, or timing his actions, he could have gotten Pharaoh to release the Israelites sooner. Yet, those failures were part of God’s plan. It turns out that they weren’t failures after all. The lesson in this passage is that we have not failed as long as we are doing the work which God has sent us to do.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 4-6.

    We hold Moses up as a great man of God, but when God called him, he had reason after reason why it could not be him. In yesterday’s passage when God first told him to go, Moses said, “But they are going to ask me who sent me. What name should I give them for You?” God’s answer was, “I am who I am.” I am pretty sure that in the Hebrew of the time that was pretty close to “I am the one who was, and is, and is to be.” Which is a statement of eternal presence. While the Israelites probably worshiped the gods of Egypt to some degree while they were in Egypt, they still had the stories from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob which came to be Genesis.

    His first objection met, Moses asked, “But what if they won’t listen to me?” So, God gave him a couple of simple, but impressive miracles to perform. I am pretty convinced that these three miracles are symbolic of something more. I am not sure what the symbolism means, but I am going to take a shot at it. The first represents power over the natural world, over plants and animals. The second represents power over the human body and its health. The third represents power over the very stuff of life. OK, I do not really like my explanation of the symbolism here. I think there is something different to it. I will have to spend some time looking. However, God points out that after performing these three miracles the Israelites will believe that Moses was sent by God.

    Having to concede his second objection, Moses says, “But I am a lousy public speaker. I am lousy with words, I lose my train of thought, and I stutter.” To which God replied, “Who made people able to speak in the first place? I will be with you and I will put my words in your mouth.” God recognized that Moses was scared of looking like a fool (aren’t we all?). He promised him that no matter what happened He would still be with him and care for him. He promised that the success or failure of Moses’ mission would not rely on Moses’ choice of words. Whatever mission God is sending us on, He promises us the same. The success or failure of our mission does not depend on our skill. It depends only on us having faith in God to do the task He sets before us.

    Finally having used up all of his objections, Moses flat out admits that he does not think he is up to the task and asks God to send someone, anyone, else. God was angry, not because Moses asked questions about practical things. However, God was angry because Moses believed that God had gotten it wrong by calling him to do this task. God is OK with us asking questions about how we will accomplish His will. He is OK with us pointing out our deficiencies related to the task to which He is calling us. However, God is not OK with us questioning His judgment in choosing us for the task to which He is calling us. God knew exactly what He was doing when He called us to our ministry (and yes, He has called each and every one of us to a ministry).

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 1-3.

    Pharaoh ordered the midwives to perform sex-selective abortions, well, technically, he told them to kill the male babies as soon as they were born to make it look like they were still-born. When that failed, he ordered outright infanticide against the male children of the Jews. The logic behind these actions is telling. Pharaoh was afraid that, if Egypt was invaded, the Israelites would join with the enemy and use the opportunity to escape Egypt. The purpose of the policy was to weaken the Israelites and keep them dependent on Pharaoh.

    Moses was raised as part of the Egyptian royal family, but knew his Hebrew roots. When he became an adult, he went to see hat life was like for the other Hebrews. he saw how they were mistreated and wanted to make a change. When he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and thought no one was around he killed the Egyptian. However, he was mistaken and was forced to flee Egypt. Years later when God called him to return to Egypt and lead his people out, Moses remembered his failure as a young man. When he was young and confident, Moses wanted to fix the problems he saw, but he was not ready for the mission God had for him. It was only after he had matured further that God could use him. God did not want Moses to free the Israelites by his force of personality. God wanted Moses to free the Israelites by His power.