Texts: Exodus 3: 1-8a, 13-14; 4:13
THE STORY SO FAR
Jacob—Israel—has 12 sons, ten of whom are pretty rotten. They resent their father’s favoritism for the youngest two—Joseph and Benjamin. They throw Joseph down a well before selling him into slavery in Egypt. In Egypt, Joseph rises to the top power of the known world, feeds his brothers and in time forgives them. The whole family moves to the Goshen region, which is nice, and there they thrive for several generations.
They are called Hebrews, a word which comes from the name Abraham, as in the children of Abraham living in Goshen.
Along comes a Pharaoh who doesn’t much care for history or Joseph, and he feels that Egypt has too many Hebrews who could revolt, so he sets vicious taskmasters over them and turns Goshen into a forced labor camp, but the Hebrews thrive, so Pharaoh goes out to kill all the male babies.
MOSES IN EGYPT
Moses is born to a Levite couple (the tribe who will later be the priestly class of Israel). They hide Moses for three months and then put him in a basket and float him down the Nile. A daughter of Pharaoh rescues the baby, feels sorry for him, and reconnects him with his mother for nursing. Later, Moses becomes the adopted grandson of Pharaoh.
While walking his beat in the Goshen neighborhood, he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man, so Moses kills the Egyptian. Since murder is murder in every society, Moses runs away—goes on the lam into the desert.
While sitting at a well, he seems some men harassing a group of young women who are there to water their flocks. Moses comes to their aid, and is rewarded by their father, Jethro, a pagan priest. He gives Moses his daughter Zipporah for a wife.
BURNING BUSH
Moses seems perfectly content to settle down into the pastoral life of a Midian shepherd. But one day, while he was minding his own business tending sheep, he sees a burning bush that isn’t actually burning. When he checks it out, The Lord speaks to him: “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, and I have something for you to do.”
Moses seems glad for the plan in general, but when he realizes he will have to do some public speaking—which terrifies him—he asks whether or not God might have the wrong number. God simply tells him, “I will be with you.”
Moses isn’t convinced. When God lays out the plan, Moses tries to give God the third degree: “Lord, if I’m to do this, I need some serious authorization. If I, a stranger [and a murderer, don’t forget], tell them all this, they’re going to ask for my credentials. How shall I tell them about You and who You are? Who am I to tell them about You and Who You are?” It is as if Moses didn’t even hear the “I’ll be with you” part.
Moses goes for broke: “Give me your name so I can use it to authorize myself. So…what is it?”
God sighs. “Moses, I AM WHO I AM! God reveals himself to Moses as the one, true GOD in the midst of a pagan world of manmade idols. Moses says, “Okay, exactly how do you spell I AM WHO I AM?” and, I think, God sighs again. After this, Moses makes his faith clear: “Please Lord, can’t you ask somebody else?”
THE TEN PLAGUES
God puts Moses in place to rescue the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, but Pharaoh is a tough sell, to say the least, so God applies ten plagues to Egypt in demonstration of the seriousness of the matter.
Actually, the plagues are more than magical leverage; they are in fact recriminations of the pagan gods of Egypt. The ten plagues represent the defeat of ten of the major, Egyptian, pagan, deities.
1. Nile –––>Hapi (god of the Nile)
2. Frogs –––>Heket (goddess of Fertility)
3. Lice –––>Geb (god of the earth)
4. Hailstone ––>Nut (goddess of the sky)
5. Boils ––>Isis (goddess of medicine and peace)
6. Flies –––>Khepri (god of creation and rebirth)
7. Livestock –––>Hathor (goddess of love and protection)
8. Locusts ––>Seth (god of the storm and disorder)
9. Darkness ––>Ra (the sun god)
10. Firstborn ––>Pharaoh (Ultimate power in Egypt)
This last plague is the most significant, because it establishes the last straw—-the tipping point—in liberating God’s people.
PASSOVER
Passover is the event which defines Judaism over any other. In it, they remember all God has done for them. More significantly, the meal points toward a future rescue and redemption they cannot yet imagine. Consider the details:
1. The lamb of sacrifice had to be a year-old (in their prime) without defect.
2. No bones were to be broken.
3. Hyssop was used like a paintbrush.
4. Blood was painted on lintel and sides of door.
5. The lamb’s blood caused death to pass over.
6. All marked with blood were spared death.
7. Nothing of the lamb could be left overnight.
Parallels
1. Jesus was without sin or defect.
2. None of Jesus’ bones were broken during crucifixion.
3. Hyssop was used as a sop for the sour wine that was lifted up to him on the cross.
4. Jesus’ blood was “painted” onto the wood of the cross.
5.Christ’s blood causes death to pass over us.
6.All marked by Christ are spared death.
7.Jesus was taken down from the cross (unusual). Furthermore consider:
Moses’ life was threatened in infancy.
Jesus’ life was threatened in infancy.
Moses was a shepherd of Jethro’s sheep.
Jesus’ was a shepherd of his Father’s sheep.
Moses said, “Send somebody else, please.”
Jesus said, “Let this cup pass.” ‘
Moses turned the water into blood.
Jesus turned water into wine, and wine into blood.
The hyssop painted blood on the wood.
The hyssop raised bad wine up the cross.
The lamb’s blood saved the Jews from Death.
The blood of Christ saves his people from Death.
Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; by his blood we are rescued and spared Death.
THE EXODUS
When the air clears, Egypt is devastated and the Hebrew people leave town for the wilderness—back toward the mountain where Moses saw the burning bush. The people seem to be—almost immediately—dubious of the plan. It doesn’t take them long to begin their griping, like junior higher in long car trip:
“Are we there yet?”
“What are we having for lunch?”
“Moses, do you have any idea where we’re going?”
When they come to the Red Sea, the griping intensifies:
“Oh, this is great! What’s the matter, Moses? There aren’t enough cemeteries in Goshen? And here come the Egyptians! Great plan, Moses, let’s get slaughtered out in the middle of nowhere instead of at home!”
The Lord drives back the water all night until it is walling up on either side. The people—still griping, I imagine—begin walking though. All the people pass through, but Pharaoh and his armies were destroyed as the water is released upon them. Horse and rider are drowned in the sea.
The people sing for joy, but as soon as they catch their breath, they ask, “So what are we going to eat out here? I’m thirsty, too.”
MANNA AND GRIPES
God provides. Every day, when the Hebrew people awake, the ground is covered with what looks like frost, but the people gather it, make cakes with it, and they are sustained. Its name is manna, which translates to another adolescent gripe: “Eww, what is it?”
The people are cared for, but soon say, “We’re tired of this vegan stuff; we want some meat!” God, who has a sense of humor, says through Moses, “You want meat? I’ll give you meat until you vomit it from your nostrils.” And the people get meat, until they vomit it from their nostrils.
REMEMBER
One of the key ways faithfulness is expressed in the Old Testament is through the word “remember.” To remember how God has worked in the past is a key to maintaining present faithfulness.
No sooner are the people rescued, liberated and given new life than they begin to obsess over the problems of the moment. Our own gripes can come from that place that fails to remember how God has always provided for us.
In our story this week, it is God who does the remembering; specifically, he remembers his covenant with Abraham. It is God’s faithfulness to his own covenant that determines how he will act in the future. Of the things we can say about the God of the Old Testament is that he always keeps his promises; he always remembers his covenant. It is because he remembers his promises to Abraham—specifically, to number his descendants like stars in the sky and grains of sand on the seashore—that he will be faithful to Israel, even when they are disobedient. As we read through the Bible, keep your ear tuned for the word remember.
When we remember, we are taken out of our present anxieties to see the grand movement of God throughout all of history. We can take courage because we know—and we can always proclaim—that God is always faithful to his promises.
We stand on those promises, and when we remember, we find empowerment to trust, follow, and obey.†