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.

I want us to think about this passage a bit and how we do similar things.  The people of Israel left Elim, which was a rather pleasant place, but would not support their numbers for very long, especially not with their flocks.  As they travelled in the desert, they complained about the lack of food.  So, God provided them with manna.  Now, let’s think about how this worked.  Those who needed a lot because they had a lot of mouths to feed, found that they had enough.  Those who needed less found that they only had what they needed.  Those who put some aside for the next day found that it spoiled by the next day, but there was more to be gathered the next day…except on the sixth day, when there was two days’ worth and it did not spoil over night.  Get that: five days a week there was enough manna for one days’ meals and if you tried to put some aside for the next day it spoiled. On the sixth day, there was two days worth of manna, and it did not spoil if you kept it for the next day.  Finally, on the seventh day there was no manna to collect.  This continued until they entered the Promised Land.

Despite receiving this daily and weekly reminder of God’s miraculous providence, when they came to a place without water they complained that they were going to die of thirst.  They had complained that they were going to die of hunger, and God provided.  They were still experiencing that provision in a way which should have reminded them daily, or at least weekly, of God’s great power.  Yet, now they were complaining about the lack of water.  How often do we do something similar?  All too often, instead of recognizing how God has provided for our needs, we fail to have faith that He will do so again.  We worry, fret, and complain.  Let us strive to trust that God will provide for us, as He has done in the past (and is likely doing in other aspects while we are complaining about a new problem).

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.

I am not sure where I am going to go with today’s blog.  The first thing which struck me was toward the end of the passage when God told the people of Israel, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, …, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians,…”  In the context one could easily conclude that the diseases mentioned are those from among the ten plagues.  However, I do not believe that is the case.  When one looks at the history of disease one quickly sees that when people begin to gather in cities disease becomes much more common place than when people live a more rural existence.  Interestingly, while population density plays a role in the spread of many of those diseases, most of them also spread as a result of human behavior.  So, if we do what is right in God’s eyes, we will be less likely to experience disease…and if we all, as a society, do what is right in God’s eyes, we will not experience those diseases at all.  This applies to all types of social ills,  The higher the percentage of people in a society who do what is right in God’s eyes, the fewer social ills the people of that society will experience.  The best part about this is that if we, individually, do what is right in God’s eyes, we ourselves will be less likely to experience the negative impact of many social ills.

NOTE: My title today is an oversimplification

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.

Every time I read this passage it feels like someone, perhaps the original writer, added some of the later descriptions of the instructions for the Feast of Unleavened Bread on to the instructions which Moses gave the Children of Israel before the first Passover.  I am not saying Moses did not give these instructions at that time, just that it feels like the instructions would have been more bare-boned, with the explanatory parts about celebrating in memory of this event left out.  It feels that way because the description of when they actually left indicates that it was sudden and urgent.  The meal they would have eaten needed to be one which could be prepared and eaten quickly and easily without using anything they would want to take with them.  My real point here is that we can easily miss the fear and urgency which the Israelites must have felt as they prepared to leave Egypt.  Something momentous was about to happen and they did not truly understand what was going on.   Moses had assured them that if they followed his instructions all would be well, but how could they be sure.  There will be times in our lives where we feel a little bit of what they were feeling that night.  I pray that you never feel more than a little of that feeling.

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.

There are two main points in this passage which I want to highlight today.  First, Moses did not want to go back to Egypt.  He was content with his life as a shepherd of Midian.  Each of his objections was just an excuse.  He raised issues which had validity, but once God had addressed them, Moses begged God to send someone else.  Yet, when God insisted, Moses went.  Second, when Moses confronted Pharaoh, things got worse for the Israelites, not better.  We need to remember that this is often the case when God begins to act.  Generally, God does not begin to make things better until the situation is such that no one can take credit for the change.  So that we know things got better through God’s action, not because of ours.  Really, these two points are related.  God chose Moses to rescue the Israelites because Moses knew that he did not have the skills to accomplish it on his own.  And God allowed Pharaoh to make things worse so that everyone would see that the Israelites were released through God’s power, not Pharaoh’s good will.

I initially said there were only two points I wanted to touch on.  However, as I re-read to write the above I was struck by the fact that Moses had not circumcised his sons until he was returning to Egypt.  Further, it is interesting that it was his Midianite wife who did so when she perceived that God was angry with Moses.  The reason this is significant is that the Midianites were also descended from Abraham (by way of Midian, who was born to Keturah who Abraham married after the death of Sarah).  Further, Moses’ father-in-law was a priest of God.  Did Moses not circumcise his sons because the Midianites did not circumcise their sons?  But if that was the reason, how did his wife know to do so in this situation?  Just some food for thought.

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.

When I first started to actually pay attention to history, I “learned” that the Exodus has to be a myth because none of the Egyptian (or other archeological records) support the idea that the events in Exodus happened.  Then I learned about the Hyksos “invasion” and rule over Egypt.  My mind immediately thought that a Hyksos ruler becoming Pharaoh would perfectly explain the line in today’s passage where it says, “a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.”  However, I was told that would not work because the Exodus happened long after the Hyksos were driven from Egypt.  As I learned more, I discovered that despite historical scholars dating the Exodus to the 13th Century BC (1300-1200 BC), Biblical dates put the Exodus at 1446 BC.  While I question the logic of arriving at such precise dates from Biblical sources (all other written records from the time period when the Old Testament was written were not concerned with precise dates), it fits with the date of the transformation in character of an Egyptian Pharaoh (before 1446 BC Pharaoh Amenhotep II was portrayed as arrogant and bombastic, after 1446 he was portrayed as thoughtful and wise).  And 1446 BC would have been about 100 years after the Hyksos were driven from Egypt.  Which allows time for what happened in verses 1-15 to happen.  Relative to my questioning of using the Bible for precisely identifying a year, there are debates about the chronology of Egypt.  One set of scholars has Amenhotep II ascending to the throne in 1454 BC and another saying that happened in 1427 BC.

While there are many spiritual lessons for us in this passage, this year I am going to spend a little more time on the “history” of the passage (although I hope, as always, that you read the passage for yourself).  One of those points is Moses’ name.  If the Exodus happened in 1446 BC, the Pharaoh when he was a child would have been Thutmoses III.  Note the similarity in names.  This is especially important when you realize that the first part of Thutmoses was a variation of the name of the Egyptian god Thoth, and that the name meant “born of Thoth.”  Similarly, other Pharaohs had names which ended in “moses” or “mses” and started with the name of an Egyptian god.  Now, the Israelites did not speak the name of God, as a general rule.  So, Moses being raised by a daughter of Pharaoh, who knew he was a Hebrew (an Israelite), may have named him “__Moses”, meaning “born of __” where “__” was the unspoken name of God.

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 39-40.

Today’s passage describes the making of the outfits worn by the priests in detail.  Once again, earlier we saw the description of the design God had given Moses for these, now we have the description of how they were actually made.  Sometimes I wish I had enough knowledge of sewing to see if I could duplicate these (without the carved gemstones).  Additionally, I would like to see two completely different people attempt to duplicate these from these instructions to see how different (or not different) they turned out.  Once the writer is done describing how the Tabernacle and the priestly garments were made, he describes the process of setting up the Tabernacle for the first time.  A casual reading of the passage would lead one to believe that Moses put the pieces of the Tabernacle together by himself.  However, several of the items would have been extremely difficult for one person to do and a few seem impossible.  

Having written all of that, this passage conveys the value of ritual and careful attention to detail in worship.  They are not always necessary, but they sometimes help us get into the right frame of mind to worship God properly.

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 36-38.

I wrote a couple of days ago that I struggled with what to write about the passage where it described the plans God gave the Israelites for the Tabernacle.  I have a similar problem with today’s description of how the Tabernacle was constructed.  Initially, today’s passage felt like it was merely a rehash of the previous, with a few more details thrown in.  However, there are some differences.  The passage describing the plans gives an idea of what the Tabernacle, and its accoutrements , would have looked like.  Today’s passage actually describes details necessary to make the parts actually functional.  Or, to put that another way, the previous passage would have allowed you to make a model of the Tabernacle, while today’s passage would allow you to produce a working replica. 

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 33-35.

In this passage it refers to Moses going out to the Tent of Meeting then a little later mentions Moses telling people to bring offerings for building the Tabernacle.  Yet later in the Bible the Tabernacle is referred to as the Tent of Meeting.  So, what does this mean?  Well, the Tabernacle was overseen by the priests, but this Tent of Meeting appears to have been Moses’ special province.  My reading suggests that the Tent of Meeting referred to here was a tent which Moses set up outside the camp to go to to speak with God.  Later, the Tabernacle took over that purpose, once it was completed.  Now I find it interesting that Moses went back and forth from the Tent of Meeting and the camp, but Joshua appears to have lived there.   It appears to me that Joshua spending all of his time in the Tent of Meeting served two purposes.  First, since the Tent of Meeting was outside the camp someone needed to be there to take care of the tent and ensure that it was secured against weather.  That was Joshua’s job.  Second, and more important, Joshua was training to become Moses’ successor.  He needed to spend time there studying and learning to do God’s will.  By maintaining a separation from the rest of the camp, Joshua was able to develop his skills without the distractions of the camp.

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 30-32.

There are a couple of points in the account about the Israelites and the gold calf which Aaron made for them which I don’t think I have ever seen anyone discuss.  A casual reading of the passage leads one to believe that all of the Israelites were involved in worshiping the gold calf, but a closer reading suggests otherwise.  The first hint that not all of the Israelites comes when Moses calls for people to join him and side with the Lord.  Now, if all of the people were taking part in the celebratory worship of the calf, why would Moses expect anyone to join him?  More importantly, after the Levites joined him, he told them to go through the camp and kill everyone, yet they only killed around 3,000.  Does that mean that only 3,000 of the Israelites were worshiping the golden calf?  No, probably not.  

It reads to me like a group of malcontents became convinced that everyone was looking for an alternative now that Moses had been gone for over a month, but in fact only a small portion of the population had given his extended absence any thought.  When Aaron declared the celebration many of those who were part of the original group and many others joined the celebration, but when Moses called for people to join him a lot of those sobered up and moved away from the celebration.  The 3,000 killed represents those who chose to oppose Moses reasserting his authority over the Israelites.  Another point worth examining is that the passage says that all of the Levites sided with Moses.  Yet, after the battle to re-establish Moses’ control, Moses told them that some of them had killed their own sons and brothers.  That tells me that either some members of the tribe of Levi did not side with Moses, or the “Levites” mentioned here were not necessarily members of the tribe of Levi, instead being those who sided with Moses whether they were descendants of Levi or not.  

Now that I have said all of that, what does this mean for us?  It tells us that it does not take a large number of people to start a larger group down the wrong path and, more importantly, it only takes a small number of people willing to stand up to them to get people to come to their senses.  It may seem like everyone is doing wrong, like their is no point in standing up for what is right.  But, you will usually find that if you stand up and say, “Wait, that is wrong,” more people will side with what is right than you expect…and fewer people will stand with the wrong than you thought.

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 25-27.

This is one of those passages which I struggle to find something to write about because I just don’t find the detailed description of how something would be built/look like very interesting.  However, it is important that it be here so that we can the significance of symbolism used elsewhere in the Bible.  Without the detailed description of the construction of the Tabernacle here we would not fully comprehend the description of the curtain in the Temple which tore in half when Jesus died.  Which brings me to the thing which I truly noticed for the first time today.  God told Moses, and by implication the high priests, that He would speak to them from between the two cherubim which made up the atonement cover of the Ark.  I had known sort of known that God did this, but never noticed that He explicitly said that He would.