Israel needed to continually remember God’s protection and provision for His people. He does this through a “Passover Lamb” (Exodus 12:21). The flat unleavened bread recalled the haste of their departure, and the bitter herbs reminded them of all their suffering in Egypt. But most important is the lamb, which is the clearest picture for Israel of the coming “Seed” (Genesis 3:15). This Seed would come through the line of Shem (Genesis 9:26), the line of Abraham (Genesis 22:15), the line of Isaac (Genesis 26:24), the line of Jacob (Genesis 28:14), and then the line of Judah (Genesis 49:10).
Exodus 12 describes the event of the Passover:
- Take the lamb (v.3): It was not the spotlessness of the living lamb that delivered them, but the blood of the slain lamb.
- Sprinkle the blood (v.7): It was not enough to slay the lamb. The blood must be applied.
- Eat the lamb (v.8): After applying the shed blood, nourishment came.
- With unleavened bread (v.8): Leaven (yeast) is often an example of sin, which is dealt with through the shedding of blood.
- Bitter herbs (v.8): There is the true bitterness of sin before deliverance.
- Roasted in fire (vs.9-10): There was feasting on the lamb after it passed through fire, with nothing to be left over. Deliverance is complete.
- Its legs and its entrails (v.9): No bone was broken on the lamb. Deliverance is not through broken bones, but only through shed blood.
- Eat it in haste (v.11): Provision for the journey was prepared in advance. Everything is ready once the blood is shed and applied.
Some shared: The Passover was an ‘attention-getter’ for Israel.
The ‘lamb’ is not a new concept for Israel. We are introduced to a lamb for sacrifice with Abraham and Abel in Genesis. The lamb is needed repeatedly. It is representative of the coming ‘Seed’, which is first mentioned in Genesis 3:15 to the serpent.
The reason why Israel was to offer a lamb is because God told them to; that is all they needed to know at that point. It was necessary to select the lamb on the tenth day and keep it until the fourteenth day in order to determine if it was without defect. I wonder if it could have become a ‘pet’ to the family. The instructions for the Passover are given as a matter of fact, which means that Israel was probably acquainted with the process for offering sacrifices to God. To slaughter the lamb and sprinkle its blood was not a neat and tidy process – it was a mess that needed to be cleaned up, and very likely a sorrowful time.
The story does not necessarily give us any indication that Israel understood all the implications of what was going on at the time of the Passover. The event would be told later to generation after generation.
Some wondered if any of the Egyptians participated in the Passover. Some clues in the story that could allow for God-fearing Egyptians to participate are: the reference to the ‘mixed multitude’ (Exodus 12:38) that accompanied Israel in the exodus; and also God’s instruction to Moses and Aaron in Exodus 12:48: “And when a stranger [anyone who isn’t an Israelite, CEV] dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the Lord.”
The Egyptians were familiar with those in Israel who feared their God: “…the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them…” (Exodus 1:17). There is no indication in the story that Israel offered sacrifices in Egypt; rather it seems to suggest the opposite in Exodus 8:25-26: Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.” And Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing the abomination [be detestable, NIV] of the Egyptians to the Lord our God.” Egyptians deified the animals customarily sacrificed by the Israelites.
JOURNEY TO SINAI
There are two maps that are of interest to the exodus from Egypt to the Canaan border:
Recent archaeological discoveries have the crossing of the Red Sea at the base of the Gulf of Aqaba, with Mt. Sinai in the Land of Midian.
Whatever the path, Israel was to follow Yahweh, and they struggled to learn this in their journey of faith.
There are no less than 600,000 Israelite men of military age, plus women, children and some others known as a mixed multitude that leaves Egypt. But after 400 years in Egypt it may be easy to take a Hebrew out of Egypt, but it is not easy to take Egypt out of a Hebrew!
God preserved the nation from facing the Philistines by steering them clear of the coast, which would have been the shortest route, and instead took them through the desert. They needed more tests on their journey of faith.
Son: “We learned about how Moses went behind enemy lines to rescue the Jews from the Egyptians. Moses ordered the engineers to build a pontoon bridge. Then, after the people crossed, he sent bombers back to blow up the bridge and the Egyptian tanks that were following them. And then...”
Father: “Hold on, son! Did your teacher really tell it like that?”
Son: “No, but if I told you what he said you would never believe it!”
Faith not tested is not faith, and this is shown by the way Israel reacted to being caught between sea and mountains with water before them and Pharaoh behind them. Their response: panic. As God drives back the waters so Israel can cross in safety, and as He sends the wall of water rushing down upon Pharaoh’s forces, the truth of the Lord’s words taught Israel a lesson: “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:14). Some suggested that this means: “Shut your mouth”; “Be calm”; “Be still”. It basically suggests, like us, that they did not appreciate what the Lord does for us.
Moses and Israel broke out in a song to the Lord for the victory over the enemy. It was a song recognizing the Lord of my salvation.
God’s designed method of providing for the Israelites taught them obedience and daily dependence upon Him. They chose rather to complain, which was an invitation to God’s divine judgment. Moses reminded the people that even though he hears their complaints, the Lord also hears them and He cares for them personally: “Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord” (Exodus 16:8).
Some shared: Complaining doesn’t accomplish anything; it is vain; it is contagious; it shows we don’t see things like God does. At times of complaining it is better to stop and see how God sees things. Rather than complain about cold weather, wear warm clothes! Complaining shows a lack of trust; our eyes are off the good things God is doing. There are times that instead of complaining we are simply to get on with living, as Exodus 14:15 shows: And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.” Some translate this as: “get moving” (NLT); “move on” (NIV). Turning to the Lord and reminding Him of His promises is not necessarily complaining.
God’s mercy is specifically demonstrated when Moses instructed Aaron to say to Israel in Exodus 16:9: “Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints.” Then the children of Israel looked toward the wilderness and saw the glory of the Lord that appeared in the cloud. And then the Lord spoke to Moses in Exodus 16:12: “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.”
What was the reason for God’s daily provision to Israel? What was Israel’s response? It is described when they became thirsty in Exodus 17:3: …the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” How would it feel to be in the company of complaining people who forget the mercy and provision of the Lord?
Some shared: Even though they complained, God still used Israel; He doesn’t give up on them. God indulged the complaining, but He still required obedience.
Someone asked if facing a struggle and talking about it is necessarily complaining. It suggested that our attitude in hardships is crucial. It is one thing to fail seeing God’s hand while discussing our hardships, and acknowledging God in our struggles.
It had to be quite an undertaking to take two to three million people and livestock into the wilderness and care for them. Someone estimated that the daily requirement would take 75 semi-trucks for food and 1,200 tankers for water; and that doesn’t include provision for their livestock.
When Israel thirsted, they blamed Moses for bringing them out of Egypt.
God’s Story of His continual provision and the people continual testing their God, leads us into the second natural division of Exodus: chapters 20-40 show us God’s control in freedom.
In preparation for how God guides Israel in their freedom, we need to think about Israel’s new community life. In Exodus 6:7 God told Moses to tell Israel: “I will take you as my people.” Bringing people into community takes quite some doing. If this community is left to itself, it will continue in the pattern already evident in the beginnings of the exodus from bondage: grumbling, chastised leaders, testing God, and longing for the ‘good ole’ days’ where at least they could taste their food! The problem is that when a community is left to itself, slavery becomes attractive because there is no need to think; just follow the rest, since chains can look like freedom!
Community is complex and difficult. Living in community as the people of God is basically messy. Look at Israel: the congregation consisted of many people of various moods, ideas, needs, experiences, desires and disappointments, blessings and losses. Exodus 6:7 goes on to show that the community of Israel needed to “know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens…” This congregation needed nurturing and guidance. It would need directions for the way to live and what to believe. What if you kill a person but didn’t mean to? What if you get in a fight with your slave and knock his or her tooth out? What if you borrow a donkey and it gets injured or dies? What’s the penalty for a man who seduces a virgin? How old must a newborn goat be before it can be offered as a sacrifice? What’s the recipe for how much flour you use in baking bread for the tabernacle? What is your responsibility regarding your relatives who have fallen on hard times? If a man is jealous of his wife, though he has no evidence of her unfaithfulness, what is he to do? In a judicial case if you can’t decide whether it is manslaughter or murder, what do you do? Read on to find out from God’s Story what the other issues of life are in a community that belongs to God.
Some shared: “I AM” shows how God meets every need. He meets every single need; He is everything. There is no need for dozens of gods, like all the gods of Egypt that God took on. Are we content to embrace God as long as we can keep our other ‘gods’? Don’t we do the same thing as Israel did when they connected with the gods of Egypt and the God of Israel?
There is a difference between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. God provided for the needs of Israel; they complained when their needs were not attended to.
Israel’s new-found freedom was not a freedom to do what they wanted but rather a freedom to worship and serve God. We easily give up freedom for ‘so-called’ security.
Israel did not have the control of supplying their needs in Egypt. They simply worked under bondage for their food. After the exodus they had to take personal responsibility in really trusting God. Like them, we want to see where the food is coming from.
God was not providing Israel with freedom to have a reckless faith, but to know what they needed to do to trust Him. As Israel, we are required to do things God’s way and not our way.
God’s rules were not given to place Israel under bondage, but to provide freedom to serve God. There would be no question about how to do that because God gave the rules that were necessary to serve Him without guesswork. We should not look at God’s ‘laws’ as burdensome.
God acts on His promises when He attends to our needs.
In preparation for our next session, read Exodus 20-40 and think about God’s Story as it relates to the requirements for living in a community belonging to God.
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