One evening, my five-year-old daughter and I read a Bible story together. When we finished, I quizzed her about it. "What was Abraham's name before God changed it?"
I asked. She looked puzzled, and then offered, "Lincoln?"
Reminder: ‘Read the Book!’ The meaning is in the Book, not in the information in or about the Book. In our Bible, ‘story’ is the primary verbal means for bringing God’s Word to us. Our preference is for information over story because it is impersonal. This allows us to take things into our own hands and take charge of how we will live our lives. But we don’t live our lives by information; we live in relationship, and the story we are reading shows us how we fit into God’s Story. Beware of becoming a ‘victim of the paralysis of analysis’ as you read the story. You can do your close examination in detail at another time. Enjoy ‘living’ in the Book we are reading.
The next ‘chapter’ in the story we are reading and thinking through is ‘Exodus’. If you are following the chronological chart, it shows Israel as a household nearing the end of 400 years of slavery in Egypt. Nearly 300 years have elapsed since the death of Joseph. Genesis 50:26 reads: So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
‘Exodus’ means ‘exit’ or ‘way out’. It has to do with ‘leaving’; a departure; it is used of a large group leaving a certain place. Without Genesis, the book of Exodus has no meaning. It begins with the word ‘Now’, which can also be translated as ‘And these’. ‘And these are the names’ means it is a continuation. ‘And’ is a conjunction; a ‘connecting’ word. God’s Story is just continuing. The story in Genesis gives attributes of God, such as omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign, merciful, forgiving… These are revealed in His acts. There are also some titles given to God: God told Abraham, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:1). God assured Abraham that He was his Sovereign, his King, as the source of his reward; Hagar called the Lord “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees” (Genesis 16:13); on Mount Moriah Abraham experiences the Lord’s deliverance, so names the place “The-Lord-Will-Provide” (Genesis 22:14), thus honoring his God as ‘Jehovah Jireh’, just as he earlier said to Isaac, “God will provide for Himself the lamb…” (Genesis 22:8). What are some of the acts of God in Genesis that to you describe God’s attributes?
Some shared: God ‘feels’: He felt sorrow at the flood; He is the ‘Provision’ for Abraham, Isaac and Noah. The reference to God as a ‘shield’ gives the thought of a ‘hedge’ of protection. When we think of ‘the-God-Who-Sees’ it makes us trust Him. He ‘set apart’ a chosen people. When Hagar encountered Yahweh all alone in the desert, she discovered that He was not just the God of Abraham. We learn through God’s encounters with Abraham that Yahweh will provide, and it’s never too late to believe that He will provide.
God’s Story related in Exodus easily falls into two main sections: God’s Road to Freedom (chs. 1-19); God’s Control in Freedom (chs. 20-40). In our Session 6, we covered Exodus chapters 1-11: Moses, Pharaoh, Plagues. We will complete the first main section of Exodus in our next session (Passover), and then continue into section two (chs. 20-40).
In Egypt God’s people were hatched, and later enslaved. And God went to Egypt to fetch them out. A new character enters the story: Moses, who is introduced as a newborn son hidden for three months. Discovered by an Egyptian princess in an ark of bulrushes floating among the reeds in the Nile River, she gives him a Semitic name that literally means ‘Drawn Out’.
Someone shared: It is interesting to think about the fact that with the princess caring for Moses, Pharaoh was the one who ended up paying for Israel’s deliverer!
Before he reached forty, Moses became a murderer when he came upon an Egyptian and an Israelite fighting. Moses’ effort to deliver an Israelite from oppression proves vain when he seeks to be a judge of Israel, as Exodus 2:14 points out: “Who made you a prince and judge over us?” Realizing that he had been seen killing the Egyptian, Moses fled to Midian, on the east of the Red Sea in what is now Saudi Arabia. It was a radical change of life: from a palace to a desert. Enslavement was easy; liberation was hard. He married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, and looked after his flocks. He named his son ‘Gershom’, meaning ‘Stranger There’, for he had not forgotten his Egyptian home. The name of Moses’ son shows that Moses knew he didn’t belong in Midian.
Some shared: Moses tries to prove that he’s not qualified. ‘Send someone else.’ ‘Here am I Lord, send Aaron!’ Moses may very well have feared the Egyptian leaders since someone might remember that he was accused as a murderer. This is the first time we see Moses encounter the true God. He’s just starting to ‘figure God out’. He’s getting to know who God is as Yahweh identifies Himself in the burning bush. He did not learn humility while in Egypt for forty years; so he thought he could convince God that he was not qualified. Maybe Moses feared the ‘attorney general’ of Egypt if he returned to the land where he murdered someone. Moses does not seem afraid when he meets God for the first time. When Moses objected, it is the first recorded time that God was angry. Moses was still controlled by fear when he thought of returning to Egypt; his faith was still being strengthened through tests. As with Moses, our tests are between ‘me and God’! In hardening Pharaoh’s heart, it could be that God was letting Moses know that it was going to be a very difficult task but He would still be with him. The “I AM” reminds us that it is not always easy to come to the point of obedience – we need to pass the ‘test’.
All of Moses’ objections were met by God’s sovereign plan:
· “Who am I?” is met with “I will be with you.”
· “What shall I say?” is met with “Go and gather the elders of Israel, and say… Yahweh… appeared to me, saying, ‘I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt… and I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt.’”
· “Suppose they will not believe me?” is met with three signs showing God’s control over creation.
· “I am slow of speech” is met with “I will be with your mouth.”
· “Please send someone else” is met with “What about Aaron? I will help both of you to speak.”
In all of these, God is showing Moses that He has him covered!
PHARAOH
Some shared: When we remove our focus from God in the story, we get a ‘Pharaoh syndrome’ and blame God for what is going on in our lives. It’s easy to look at Pharaoh and say it’s not fair, but the Hebrews treated God unfairly. They didn’t deserve God’s salvation anymore than Pharaoh did. God allowed the start of Israel’s destruction, but He was also preparing Moses to deliver them. When is life fair? But we know that God is just. We need to see the whole story to take in the significance of Pharaoh’s hardened heart. Pharaoh was predictable, and God knew Pharaoh. God never exercised judgment without warning. The story is about God and how His power is demonstrated. The story never justified the hardened heart. God reveals something – Pharaoh’s hard heart – and then He proves it! It looks like Pharaoh almost enjoyed having his heart hardened. Pharaoh wanted signs and it only hardened his heart. God confirmed what was already in Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh blamed Moses and not God! He associates all the things that happened with Moses rather than God. When God gave signs and wonders, it hardened Pharaoh’s heart even more, whereas it made the Hebrew leaders believe Yahweh all the more.
We paused during our session to reflect upon the God who revealed Himself to Moses in a burning bush that never burned up. We know that He has revealed Himself to us through His Word, and for this we are so grateful that we wanted to take time to celebrate the Lord’s Table together.
We will continue with God’s Story in Exodus in our next session, beginning with the significant encounter Israel had with Yahweh during the Passover.
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