Exodus

     As you read the Bible, do you ever wonder about the origins of the various groups of people mentioned or about the areas they occupied?  Do you have trouble grasping the Jewish calendar and holidays?  Do you ever struggle to visualize the tabernacle or its contents?  Is it hard to keep track of the movement of biblical characters?
     Let's mention one more thing before beginning our discussion of the book of Exodus.  You noticed last week that some passages in Genesis referred to Jesus, and that several of the characters were compared to the Christ in the New Testament.  Does Jesus appear in the book of Exodus?
     Exodus chapter 12 contains the origin of the Passover lamb.  Compare this with 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; John 19:39 and 1 Peter 1:19.
     Chapter 16 tells about the manna that was provided by God to feed the Israelites.  See how Jesus applies this in John 6:48-51
     The following chapter describes a rock which sends forth water.  Take a look at John 4:13-14, 7:38-39 and 1 Corinthians 10:4 to see who is OUR living water.
     In Exodus the Israelites construct a tabernacle.  A great veil is used to separate the most holy part of the tent.  Hebrews 10:20 associates the veil with the sacrifice of Jesus.
     Aaron, the brother of Moses, is named High Priest in the book of Exodus.  The book of Hebrews describes Jesus as OUR high priest.
     As Genesis closes the family of Jacob, or Israel, has moved to Egypt to survive the remaining five years of famine.  The 130-year-old patriarch lives another 17 years in this foreign land.  His son Joseph, who has been elevated by God to the second-highest position in the land, eventually dies at the age of 110.  This is where the book of Genesis ends and the story of Exodus begins.
     "Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph," we learn from Exodus 1:8.
     The Israelites have grown to become a great nation, and the Egyptians are afraid that these descendants of Jacob might overpower them.  So the Egyptians try to control the Israelites through slavery and oppression.  All of this should be no surprise, since God has already told about it, including the amount of time involved, in a discussion with Jacob's grandfather Abraham nearly 200 years before Jacob moved to Egypt.
     "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years," God reveals in Genesis 15:13.
     "But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve;" God continues in the next verse, and afterward they will come out with many possessions."
     "Then in the fourth generation they shall return here," God adds in verse 16.
     The total time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years, as we learn in Exodus 12:40-41.  Exodus 6:16-20 tells us that Levi, one of the sons of Jacob, had a son named Kohath, who in turn had a son named Amram.  Amram and Jochabed were the parents of Moses.  So Moses was in the fourth generation.
     When the Pharaoh issues an order to kill every baby boy, Jochabed puts her new son in a basket and places it in the Nile River.  It is discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter who adopts the child.  Mose's sister, who has been watching, offers to find someone to take care of the baby.  The Pharaoh’s daughter accepts and Moses is taken to be reared by his own mother.  Not only is he saved from death, but his mother is actually paid to take care of him.
     As a grown man Moses sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, so he kills the Egyptian.  But the Pharaoh hears about the incident and Moses flees for his life.
     Here we see a premature effort by Moses to help his afflicted brethren.  He doesn't know, yet, that God has selected him to free the Israelites, but it is interesting to notice that his efforts this time end in total failure.  Not even the Pharaoh's adopted grandson can deliver the descendants of Jacob, at least not as long as he is depending on his own power.  But he does have one strength that is useful in freeing the Hebrews.  What is that strength?  

     Moses doesn't like to see his people suffer.  But his attempt to help one of them by his own physical strength results in his being driven out of Egypt.  When Moses arrives in the land of Midian he helps seven young women whose flock is being kept from water by some shepherds.  But it is still not the strength of Moses that God plans on using to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
     You see, it is the power of God that is to be used to free the Israelites, and not the power of a single man or even of the nation as a whole.
     "But, indeed, for this cause I have allowed you to remain," God explains in Exodus 9:16 in the midst of the plagues, "in order to show you My power, and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth."
     In Deuteronomy 4 Moses tries to impress on the Israelites the importance of obeying God.  To do this, he reminds them of how God freed them from Egypt.
     "Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them," Moses remembers in verse 37.  "And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power."
     Many years later God sends a message to King Zerubbabel through the prophet Zechariah, explaining to him the only hope for the Jewish people.
     "Not by might nor by power," God stresses in Zechariah 4:6, "but by My Spirit."
     But what is it, then, about Moses that makes him so special?  The answer is found in Numbers 12:3.
     "Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth," the Holy Spirit interjects in this passage.
     Unlike most people, Moses understands that his weakness is his strength.  Only when we let go of ourselves can God take over and do things the way they should be done.  The apostle Paul is another spiritual giant who understands this.
     "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves," Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:5, "but our adequacy is from God."
     "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness," Paul quotes God in 2 Corinthians 12:9.
     "For when I am weak," Paul concludes in the next verse, "then I am strong."
     After sending ten plagues on the Egyptians, God uses Moses to lead His people out of captivity.  God parts the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to cross on dry land, then He closes the waters to drown the pursuing Egyptian army.  No, this was not a natural occurrence involving shallow water and low tides as some try to claim.  There are biblical reasons why we know this, including the fact that the Jordan river is divided three times in a similar manner.  So any explanation for one must fit all four occasions.
     But perhaps the simplest argument for the authenticity of this account comes from the lips of a child.  A teacher was explaining to the class that the crossing of the Red Sea was not a miracle.  She claimed that the Israelites crossed a rather passable area during low tide.  The water was a couple of inches deep, the teacher stated.
     "It's a miracle!" a little boy shouted in joy.
     "What's a miracle?" the teacher responded.  "I just explained how it happened."
     "It's miracle that the entire Egyptian army drowned in two inches of water," the little boy replied.
     All too often small eyes are able to see what we cannot.  When we try to compromise and make the Bible something other than the inspired word of God, we end up with an even greater dilemma.
     "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Jesus asks in Matthew 18:1.
     Jesus then places a child in the midst of the people who are listening.
     "Truly I say to you," the Lord continues in verses 3-4, "unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
     "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
     Let's become more like Moses and Paul in our humility.  Let's become like children so we can accept the truth that will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)