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.

Two months to the day after leaving Egypt the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai.  I will point out that we do not really know which mountain was Mount Sinai.  There are several theories, and I have heard one that sounds likely, but there is unlikely any way to be sure that any of them are correct.  At Mount Sinai, God made His presence known to the Israelites.  The Israelites were so intimidated by God speaking to them as He gave them what we know as the Ten Commandments that they asked that He just speak to Moses and Moses convey His commands to them.

I want to focus on what is the second or third commandment, depending on how you divide and number them, Exodus 20, verse 7.  In the King James Version it reads, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”  This led me, and many others, to misunderstand what it means.  To a large degree my misunderstanding resulted from those who taught me its meaning misunderstanding it.  I was taught that using “God” was a violation of this commandment.  I want to note that this interpretation derives from something many Jews still practice, and something which influenced the use of YVWH by many of those who wrote portions of the Old Testament.  Somehow, using other foul words as an expletive was a violation of this commandment as well. 

This training was so thorough that I did not notice for a long time that the NIV (and other modern translations) say something completely different: “You shall not MISUSE the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”  What we realize is that the teaching to avoid using “God” or “YVWH” derived from a desire to make it harder to misuse God’s name.  However, that misses the point.  When you use God, or people’s desire to be righteous, to further your self-interest, you are violating this command, even if you do not explicitly say “God”, or “YVWH”, or any of the other terms we use to refer to Him.

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.

Generally, I believe that most miracles are about timing, not about something where natural laws are suspended.  That is, many times God’s providence is demonstrated by Him arranging for completely ordinary things to happen at just the right time.  However, the story of the Israelites collecting manna in the wilderness does not fit into that.  The account tells us that for six days of the week there was manna on the ground each morning, but on the seventh day there was none to be found.  Furthermore, for five days of the week if they kept any of the manna until the next morning it went bad overnight, but on the sixth day they could keep it for the seventh.  I know of no purely natural mechanism which works in such a manner.  It tells us a lot about human nature that despite this Divine provision for their needs, the Israelites still complained and worshiped other gods.

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.

As I read Moses’ instructions to the Children of Israel concerning the dedication of firstborn male offspring to God I am reminded of Abraham’s offering of Isaac.  Both accounts address the issue of child sacrifice and dedicating children to God.  The Abraham/Isaac account addresses the idea that we can be dedicated to God and can dedicate our children to God without sacrificing our children.  This passage tells us that not only can we dedicate ourselves and our children to God without sacrificing our children, but that God commands us not to sacrifice our children.  Thus, sacrificing our children goes directly counter to being dedicated to God.  

The passage describes how the Israelites left Egypt in a roundabout, indirect fashion.  Many people over the years have attempted to determine what path they followed.  Unfortunately, we do not actually know to what actual location many of the place names listed in the Book of Exodus refer.  For that matter, we do not really know the date of Exodus, although this site makes a case I find compelling for 1446 BC.  The important point of all of this being that later when the Israelites spend 40 years in the wilderness we do not know with any precision where that wilderness was.

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.

I want to highlight Moses anger when he left Pharaoh’s presence for the last time.  Throughout the Bible we are warned against giving in to our anger.  However, sometimes that anger is justified.  In this case Moses’ anger was justified and appropriate.  Pharaoh had repeatedly agreed to let the people of Israel go, only to renege on that agreement when the crisis passed.  As a result, the people of Egypt, who had had no say in any of this, were about to pay a steep price.  Pharaoh had backed himself into a corner.  Pharaoh’s power was based on the idea that he was the embodiment of the gods of Egypt.  If he had let the people go after the frogs or the gnats, he could have passed it off as Moses had demonstrated that he was the representative of a god other than the gods of Egypt and he let them go to avoid a war among the gods.  However, after refusing to let them go then, he made it so that when he did let them go he was conceding that God was more powerful than the gods of Egypt.  Moses anger resulted from knowing that many innocent people were going to pay the price for Pharaoh’s stubbornness.  All too many leaders make the same mistake as Pharaoh out of stubbornness and pride, and those they should be serving end up paying the price.

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.

It seems unlikely that Moses would have expected Aaron changing his staff into a snake to impress the Pharaoh and his court.  Moses would surely have been aware that many of Pharaoh’s advisers could duplicate that.  The fact that Aaron’s snake ate the snakes of the others probably disconcerted them and Aaron bringing that staff to each successive meeting was a reminder of that.  Aaron bringing his staff to successive meetings with Pharaoh would have highlighted one of two things: either the fact that Pharaoh’s advisers no longer had their staves, or that they had clearly used sleight of hand to turn their staves into snakes if they still had their staves.

I find it interesting how Pharaoh came to view the successive plagues as bearable, after they had been lifted.  Comparing Pharaoh’s actions to other negotiators in bad faith I have seen is instructive.  Pharaoh dismissed the staff turning into a snake and the water in the Nile turning to blood as tricks of no consequence.  These were both similar to things which Pharaoh’s advisers used to show divine support for Pharaoh’s edicts.  Then, when each of the successive plagues after that occurred Pharaoh was desperate to have them end.  However, when they did end, he dismissed the idea that Moses and Aaron had anything to do with them and decided that they had merely ended on their own.  On each occasion Pharaoh became more committed to not giving in to Moses’ demands (really, God’s demands, but Pharaoh would not have seen it that way).  We can easily, and correctly, view Pharaoh as the bad guy in these accounts, but we need to learn not to make the same mistake of going back on our promises to God when our time of desperation comes to an end.

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.

I wrote yesterday about Moses’ reluctance to following God’s calling to go back to Egypt.  He continues with that in today’s passage, but I am not going to spend any more time on that. Except for this bit to encourage you to think about Moses’ interaction in today’s passage.

What I want to focus on is Pharaohs answer when Moses first demanded he let the Israelites to worship God and God’s answer to Moses when Moses complained that going to Pharaoh had just made things worse.  Pharaoh responded to Moses and Aaron by saying, “Who is he? and why should I listen to what he says?”  Some context, the Pharaohs considered themselves the son of one of their gods, usually the chief god.  They were the ultimate authority on what the gods wanted.  So, really what Pharaoh was saying was, “Who are you to speak on behalf of the gods?” 

Which brings us to God’s answer, the answer He gives to everyone who doubts His power and authority.  To understand that answer we need to consider the Hebrew derivation of God’s name, Yahweh or YHWH.  YHWH is closely related to the Hebrew word for “to be”.  When God told Moses, “I am YHWH,” He was telling him that He was that which is, that everything else existed only because He existed.  Pharaoh rejected God’s authority over him.  Moses went to God and said, in essence, “See, I told you so. I am not the right man to convince Pharaoh.”  God’s answer was that Pharaoh had no more ability to reject doing His will than he had of rejecting gravity.