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

When Moses asked God what he should do if the Israelites did not believe him when he said God had appeared to him, God told him to throw his staff on to the ground.  When Moses did this, his staff became a snake.  What I had never noticed before was that Moses ran from the snake his staff became.  I am not sure how that plays into what I want to write today, but I wanted to point that out.  I want to start by talking about how Moses was reluctant to do as God commanded him.  In fact, turning his staff in a snake was God’s response to the second of the objections which Moses raised (the first was in yesterday’s passage when Moses asked what name he should say was the name of the god who sent him when people asked, and yes, when Moses asked that he was putting God in with all of the other gods).  Moses repeatedly made excuses for why God should send someone else.  Then, when God had answered all of his objections, he outright asked God to send someone, anyone, else.  Then, after convincing the Israelites to believe in him, Moses went to Pharaoh with God’s message, and Pharaoh dismissed him out of hand, not even giving him a chance to argue his case and demonstrate God’s power.  Not only that, but Pharaoh increased the oppression that the Israelites were suffering under.  Pharaoh made things worse for the Israelites and they blamed Moses for it.  God told Moses to remind the Israelites of the promises He had made to their ancestors and to tell them that He was about to fulfill them.  The Israelites refused to listen to Moses when he told them.  Immediately following the Israelites rejection of Moses, God told him to go to Pharaoh again.  Once again Moses resisted doing God’s will.  I have summed all of this up because I want to point out something.  Despite the fact that Moses resisted doing as God instructed to the point that he angered God, throughout the Bible Moses is held up as one of the greatest servants of God.  Then when he started the mission God had given him, things seemed to go wrong.  Sure, there was a little success at first as the Israelites were initially enthusiastic, but when Pharaoh refused to listen, they became disheartened.  Nothing good had happened for Moses or the Israelites by the end of the passage.  Things had actually gotten worse.  Yet, everything was going exactly according to God’s plan.  So, don’t be discouraged if things seem to be going wrong in your life.  Just do what God has called you to do and trust that He has a plan.

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

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

The pastor where I worship preached in this chapters one and two last Sunday.  He pointed out that, technically, Moses’ mother followed the pharaoh’s decree to throw Hebrew boys into the Nile when they were born.  He also pointed out, as the translators’ note in the NIV says, that the word translated as “basket” is the same as the one translated as “ark” in the account of Noah and the Flood.  Finally before I get into the devotional portion of my blog today, I noticed a few years ago that the Hebrew spelling of Moses is the same as the Hebrew spelling of the second part of Ramses.  When I thought about this it occurred to me that Ramses means “born of Ra”, or “son of Ra”.  The Hebrews did not say the name of God, so Moses could be read as “Son of (God)”.  Now the passage says that Pharaoh’s daughter named him Moses because she drew him out of the water.  The writer interpreted that to mean that she used the Hebrew word which means “draw out.”  However, she may have meant “son of …” because she had drawn him out of the water and did not know who his father was.  Which, to me seems to reflect the way God often works.  For that matter, even if Pharaoh’s daughter named Moses for the Hebrew word for “draw out,” it resembles the way in which God often works.  When, many years later, Moses returned to Egypt to lead the Israelites, the Egyptians would have heard his name as “son of the god whose name we do not speak”, putting him on the same level of the Pharaoh (most pharaohs had names which meant “son of ‘insert name of Egyptian god here'”).

Which brings me to the devotional portion of what I am writing today (I don’t always have a devotional portion, but I do today).  When God told Moses that He was sending him to pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses asked, “Who am I to go to pharaoh?” This was bit disingenuous on Moses’ part, he had been raised in the royal court of Egypt.  But God did not bring that up, instead God said, “I will be with you.”  Here’s the thing, Moses was right, the fact that he had been raised in the royal courts of Egypt were NOT what made him qualified to go to pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.  What qualified Moses to do that was the fact that God had sent him to do it.  Then Moses began to truly object to the mission which God was giving him.  “Yeah, but they’re going to ask me to tell them which of the gods you are.  What do I tell them?”  Moses know that God was not one of the gods worshiped by the Egyptians, the Canaanites, or any of the gods of peoples with whom the Israelites were familiar.  God’s answer to Moses was, “They know who I AM, just as much as you do.”

I want to take a moment to state the two important lessons.  The only qualification we need for the task God has assigned us is the fact that He assigned it to us.  And…no matter how much they want to deny it, the people God has sent us to know that He is God, and that He is good.  They may try to make excuses to not listen, just as Moses did, and that he was afraid the Israelites would do, but they know…and, if we follow God’s instructions, the Holy Spirit will reveal God to them.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 39-40.

When work was completed on the tabernacle, Moses inspected the work to ensure that all of the pieces had been put together according to the correct specifications.  If you have ever bought something which came in multiple pieces that you had to put together at home you know the importance of knowing what the final product is supposed to look like before you begin putting it together.   Since at this point, Moses was the only person who knew what the tabernacle was supposed to look like, he was the only person who could determine if all of the parts were correct.  Once Moses had determined that the pieces were constructed correctly, God instructed him to set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and place all of its furnishings within it. The passage tells us that Moses set up the tabernacle and its furnishings and as soon as he finished the glory of the Lord filled it.  The New Testament tells us that our bodies are now God’s Temple, so if we have finished preparing ourselves according to His instructions, the Lord’s Presence will fill us.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 36-38.

In yesterday’s passage, Moses repeatedly told the people that offerings of materials for the construction of the tabernacle was to be completely voluntary.  No one was obligated to make such an offering.  Today’s passage begins with those who were actually constructing the tabernacle interrupting their work to ask Moses to get the people to stop bringing more material.  People had brought in so much that more being brought in was interfering with them getting the tabernacle built.  We should approach giving with the same enthusiasm, and with the understanding that not everyone will, or should be, inspired to give.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 33-35.

My first thought when I read this passage was to wonder if, perhaps, over the years the order of some of this got changed during copying over the years.  However, that brought me to my current thoughts on it: God is all-powerful, therefore the order which we find this in today is the order in which He desires us to read it (or, as likely, reading them in the order which would not make us think they were out of order would not reveal anything about God’s Truth which reading them in this order does not, whether or not they were originally written in that order).  There may be those who read something about our relationship with God from the order these passages are in, but changing the order to the way my brain wants to say was how it was originally written does not currently change anything in my understanding of this passage.

In any case, I will write about what this passage says to me as we have it.  So, when Moses returned to the mountain after restoring order in the camp, God told him to leave the area around Mt. Sinai and lead the people to the Promised Land.  But that He would not go with them, otherwise He might destroy them along the way.  When the Israelites heard these words and were distressed.  As a result, they began removing their ornamentation even before they heard Moses tell them that God had told them to remove their ornamentation.  Then, a little later, Moses asks God who He will send with them when they go.  God tells Moses that His Presence will go with them, and Moses replies that if God’s Presence does not go with them He should not send them out from Mt. Sinai.  Moses then asks God how people will know that He is pleased with Him, if He does not go with them? And, what will distinguish Moses and God’s people from everyone else if God is not with them?

And now I finally get to the meat of what I want to write about this passage.  For me today the heart of this passage comes when Moses says to God, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. ”  I seek, and I hope that you seek, to please God so that He will continue to teach me His ways, to teach me how I may please Him more.  However, I also seek to please God so that He will be with me wherever He may send me.  What distinguishes me from others is God’s presence with me.  If God is not with me, I am no different than anyone else.  We are only God’s people inasmuch as God is with us, and anyone can be part of God’s people by seeking to be in His Presence.  I am not better than anyone else because what makes me distinct is God’s Presence.  Therefore what distinguishes me from others is not to my credit.  Rather credit for however I am distinct from others goes to God.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 30-32.

Moses was on Mt. Sinai for a long time talking with God and receiving God’s commands for the Israelite people.  This led the people to become discontent with sitting there at the base of Mt. Sinai and start to complain about why they weren’t travelling towards the “land of milk and honey” they had been promised.  Some of the people around Aaron told him that he needed to do something to maintain control, and probably suggested that he needed to make an idol to be the god of the Israelites.  So, that is what Aaron did.  It would also explain why Aaron did not lose his position as high priest for this affair.  After Aaron made the idol for the Israelites to follow as their god, they held a festival with sacrifices and other activities to celebrate their new god.  When Moses came down from the mountain the party was still going on, and the people, or, at least some of them, refused to stop partying.  So, Moses rallied the Levites to his side in order to restore order in the camp.  They had to kill 3,000 of the people in the camp before order was restored.

All of this happened because Aaron was not a strong leader.  He was in his position because he was a good public speaker (and Moses’ brother).  While there is much more to be learned from this passage, it illustrates the danger of selecting leadership because they are great orators.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 28-29.

My first thought when reading this was that the sacred, priestly garments would serve to make the priests stand out from everyone else.  As I thought about that, I struggle with the idea of a priesthood elevated above the “common man”.  I don’t think God desires us to elevate a small group of people as above everyone else, as between the ordinary person and God.  However, when I thought about it a little more I saw a connection with what I wrote on the 24th.  Those of us who follow Christ have been called forth into a holy priesthood.  Perhaps we should seek to dress in ways which make us stand out from those around us so that any who look will know that we strive to serve God.  Of course, if we do that we will also have to make sure that none of our casual utterances or actions bring dishonor to God, the way in which some drivers with a “fish” logo on their car bring dishonor to God by the way in which they drive.  I do not know what such clothing should or would look like, but I do believe the Church would be well served if its members could be visually distinguished from others by the casual observer.

Note: I come from a tradition which used to dress in a distinct manner (and some branches of this tradition still do). I think the reasons given for abandoning that dress were specious, but I also believe that many who wore such outfits thought that doing so made them better than others, without actually exhibiting the godly behavior to which I am referring.

I had not originally planned on writing that much about priestly garments.  Instead, I was going to make the focus of what I write today be on what God says at the end of this passage.  He said that after consecrating the tabernacle and Aaron and his sons, He would dwell among the Israelites and be their God.  They would thus know that He was their God and that He had brought them out of Egypt so that He could dwell among them.  Since creation, God has sought people who would know that He was God among whom He could dwell.  It was for this same reason that He came as Christ and died on the cross; so that we would know that He was God and He could live among us.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 25-27.

I have said before that I find detailed descriptions of how things were built, such as today’s description of the tabernacle and some of its furnishings, to be tedious.  As I was reading the description of how the tabernacle was to be built it struck me that perhaps the reason, or part of the reason, for this detailed description was to provide instructions for rebuilding the tabernacle.  After all, the tabernacle was primarily made out of cloth, which would eventually wear out.  The same would be true of the altar of burnt offerings, it would eventually wear out.  It is less obvious that the other things mentioned here would wear out, but a little thought reveals that they too would eventually suffer the ravages of time and need to be replaced.  So, that provides us with an explanation as to why these details were needed for the Israelites, but why do we still need them?  I do believe there are reasons we should continue to read these descriptions.  One part of that is something mentioned several times during this description.  At different points during the description, Moses was told to make sure that when these were built they were made according to the pattern or plan which he had been shown.  Which suggests that there existed an eternal version after which these are patterned.  Another reason we should read these descriptions is to learn that we should record how we worship God in our congregations so that those who come after have a model they can look at to do so themselves.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Exodus 22-24.

I am not quite sure exactly what all I am going to write today, my thoughts on today’s passage are not a coherent whole.  But I will start with verse 28 in chapter 22, which the translators chose to render as “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.”  In the translator notes it says that another possible translation would be “Do not revile the judges or curse the ruler of your people.”  Considering the context, I prefer this alternate translation.  I believe the command not to blaspheme God exists in enough other places that reading this as saying something else does not diminish our understanding that blasphemy violates God’s commands.  Also, I find my reading of this verse challenges my actions and words more than that chosen by the translators.  I am not tempted to blaspheme God, but I am tempted to revile the judges of my nation from time to time.  Whether I agree with their decisions, or the logic which they use to reach it, I need to work to respect them for the office God has put them into even if I do not believe they are godly people.  I need to remember that those in positions of government authority are in those positions because they are the people whom God desires to hold those positions.  God may have chosen them because of their wickedness, because those over whom they have authority have behaved wickedly, but God has chosen them and we must honor the position which He has given them.

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