Reading: Devotional
March 2
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Joseph Who?
Exodus 1
I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun.
And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had
no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors
there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.
Ecclesiastes 4:1 (ESV)
Jacob and his clan numbered seventy when they arrived in Egypt. Over the next few decades they multiplied greatly. Jacob’s descendants were the envy of their Egyptian neighbors for their fertility and prosperity. In time, however, the culturally and religiously distinct Israelites came to be viewed with suspicion.
The matter came to a head with a change in Egypt’s leadership. One dynasty with its succession of Pharaohs was overthrown and those associated with that royal family were killed or, at least, lost their power, wealth, and influence. In such cases, it was not uncommon for the victors to rewrite history as well. In any event, the new king either did not know about Joseph or did not care. From that time on, Jacob’s descendants became progressively enslaved. Their forced labor was Pharaoh’s answer both to concerns about the increasing numbers of these foreigners and to a need for cheap labor for his many building projects.
By God’s grace, however, the cruelty and oppression did not slow down Israel’s population growth. Even Pharaoh’s order for what sounds very much like partial birth abortion did not work; those assigned the task feared God and so found ways to quietly disobey the king. And God blessed them for it.
Pharaoh next ordered the killing of all the male children whether or not they had been safely delivered. It was an order that severely challenged the continuing existence of Jacob’s offspring. What would now come of the promises God had made so long before to Abraham?
March 3
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Where Is God?
Exodus 2
“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
Psalm 12:5 (ESV)
The compelling question that was always on the hearts of the oppressed Israelites was: “Where is God?” For all they knew, God had entirely forgotten them and all his promises and didn’t even hear their cries for help. To be sure, the last verses of Exodus 2 say that God heard, remembered, and cared. But the Israelites did not know that at the time. All they could see ahead was more of the same mistreatment.
We who’ve heard the story know that help was on the way in the person of Moses. The whole first part of this chapter describes God’s providential care for him.
· As an infant Moses was rescued from certain death.
· Pharaoh’s daughter provided a protected environment in which Moses received the best Egypt had to offer.
· Moses escaped from the hands of those who sought to kill him for coming to the defense of a fellow Hebrew.
· Moses found a new home and life in Midian.
The prayers of those descendants of Jacob who remained faithful to God and persevered in crying out to him were heard, even though, to all appearances, the sufferers never got the hint of an answer. Indeed, what they learned more and more in the years ahead was that the God of their fathers never made a promise he couldn’t keep.
It would be eighty years from the time of increased oppression under the new Pharaoh until the people began to see what they could now believe only through faith. God was certainly working more slowly and obscurely than they desired. Still, he was working. It’s the very thing he continues to do today too, no matter what variety of oppression we must endure.
March 4
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What Is God Like?
Exodus 2:23–3:5
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple...
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Isaiah 6:1, 5 (ESV)
I’m sure that Moses and his kinfolk circulated stories about their ancestors. But they didn’t know much about the God who had made a great promise to Father Abraham—to make of him a great nation, to give that nation a land of their own, and to bless the whole world through them.
Was God forgetful? Had his promise to Abraham slipped his mind? Or was he an impotent God who sincerely wanted to follow through on his promise but didn’t have the power to do so against the might of Egypt? Was God impassive, unmoved by the cries of people in distress? What was God like?
Moses was the first of his generation who began to get an answer to those questions. It happened while he was tending sheep near Mount Horeb (perhaps better known as Mount Sinai). Moses learned there that the God who appeared to him was the same God who had before revealed himself to the patriarchs; God had not forgotten his people after all.
Moses also learned about the holiness and purity of God, as symbolized by the fiery bush, the bare feet, and the holy mountain. This frightened Moses; he knew that he did not deserve to be in God’s presence and was concerned that he himself might be consumed. His fear anticipates the fear Israel would later have just before God gave them his laws (see Ex. 19:16). However, Moses found that God, holy as he was, made it possible for him to stay there and talk to him. Furthermore, he found that God expected his service and would empower him for it.
March 5
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What Is Your Name?
Exodus 3:6-15
The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and
abounding in steadfast love…[The Lord is faithful in all
his words and kind in all his works.] The Lord upholds
all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
Psalm 145:8, 13b-14 (ESV)
When Moses came to understand that God wanted him to confront Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he wanted to know more about what God was like. So he asked him, “What is your name?” What he was really asking is, “Can you tell me more about what you’re like?”
In response, God told him, “I am who I am.” His response might also be translated, “I will be who I will be.” What God meant was that he would be revealing more about himself in the process of liberating his people from Egypt. Moses and Israel would come to know what God was like over time, as they saw God come through on his promises to Abraham’s descendants, including the promise to give them a land of their own.
It is at this time that Scripture begins to use another name for God, one that shows what he is willing to do for his people. Previous names emphasized God’s sovereignty and power. But with YHWH (Yahweh/Jehovah, translated in Scripture as Lord), God shows himself to be personal—not just an Almighty God, but one who wants to be in relationship with people. He not only sees and hears; he sees and hears in the expanded sense of those terms. That is, he has a heart for what he sees and hears; he is merciful and compassionate. “I am concerned about their suffering,” he says of Israel (Ex. 3:7).
This was the same God the patriarchs worshiped. However, he was more personal, merciful, and faithful than they had imagined, as Israel would come to know better in the days ahead by God’s promise-keeping and faithful actions on their behalf.
March 6
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Who, Me?
Exodus 3:10–4:17
Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord…
but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,
who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because
of our works but because of his own purpose and grace.
2 Timothy 1:8-9 (ESV)
God appeared to Moses in a spectacular way. He spoke of great things, of who he was, of what he had been doing, and of what he had planned for the future. That was all grand and exciting. But then God surprised Moses; he said, “So now go. I am sending you.” I imagine that Moses swallowed hard. “Who, me? You must be kidding, God. I’m not some great general. Don’t you know what kind of guy I am and how many foolish and sinful things I’ve done and how many times I’ve failed? And my age! I’m not the eager young man I once was. For goodness sakes, I’m eighty years old. Who am I that I should go and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Moses was timid when it came to getting in front of people. He knew his own faults. In fact, they loomed so large in his mind that he could not see his gifts and how God had prepared him for his task. Moses did not really doubt God’s ability to do what he promised; he doubted only that God could use him to do it.
What Moses did not know was that the knowledge of one’s own weakness and sinfulness is one of the best preparations for God’s work. So long as those whom God calls do not get lost in contemplating their inadequacy, they rely all the more on God to help them, and that is their salvation. Those who decide to obey God in a difficult situation, if they are wise, do so, not out of confidence in their natural abilities but, because they have confidence that God knows what he is doing and will help them do what he calls them to do. Indeed, if you burn with fire for the Lord, he will give you everything else you need to answer his call.
March 7
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Signs of God’s Presence and Calling
Exodus 3:11–4:17
Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be
put to shame because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Psalm 86:17 (ESV)
God was gracious in responding to Moses’s requests for signs of his presence and calling. The first signs were given right away, to convince both Moses and his skeptics; the other signs, Moses had to trust, would be given at the appropriate time.
· Moses’s staff became a snake and then was turned into a staff again; this would be a sign for Israel of the legitimacy of Moses’s call to leadership.
· Moses saw his hand change from healthy to leprous white and then back to healthy again; this was a sign both of God’s authority and the cleansing for the unclean that God intended for his enslaved people.
· Moses would not see the third sign until he appeared before Egypt’s leaders. Then, water taken from the Nile—honored as one of Egypt’s gods—would change to blood when it was poured out on the ground. It would be a sign to both Egypt and Israel of Yahweh’s authority over Egypt’s gods.
· Moses would have to wait even longer to see the final and culminating sign—another meeting with God at Sinai after he had led the people out of Egypt. At the time, Moses was probably not overly impressed with this sign; he preferred something more immediate. But he would need this sign of God’s presence and power more then than now. In looking back he would see faith justified and would have the strength to meet his continuing challenges as the leader of God’s people.
Sometimes you and I may get one of those more exciting and visible signs from God. But isn’t it true that God’s signs for us are often like the final one he offered Moses? “Walk down the road of obedience, and after a while you’ll know that I’ve been with you all along.”
March 8
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Declaration of another Dependence
Exodus 5:1–6:12
Live as people who are free, not using your freedom
as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
1 Peter 2:16 (ESV)
Pharaoh, the master of Egypt, had laid claim to the service of the people of Israel. He wanted their allegiance and service, but at the same time was afraid of their growing strength; their God-blessed multiplication threatened his mastery over Egypt. When Moses showed up demanding permission for Israel to worship their god, he impatiently dismissed him. He already knew something of the truth of a statement Jesus would make famous two thousand years later, “No one can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24). Pharaoh knew that if he wanted to keep Israel in service to Egypt, he could not allow their god to demand such all-encompassing service to himself.
Pharaoh correctly perceived the initiatives of God through Moses to be a sort of declaration of independence from Pharaoh. However, God’s desire for Israel’s freedom was not so that they could have the right of self-determination, but so the Israelites could declare their dependence on another ruler—Yahweh. As strange as it may sound to modern ears, there is no freedom apart from dependence upon the Creator and Redeemer of the world.
God made very clear to Moses that what he was doing here directly followed from the response Abraham had made to God’s call to be in relationship with him. In saying, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God” the Lord repeated the promise he had made to Abraham and reaffirmed that it was for Abraham’s descendants too. What God was after, with both Abraham and his descendants, recalled an even earlier time: the original servant partnership for which God had created humankind. The struggle over who had the rights to Israel’s allegiance would be a costly one to both Israel and Egypt.
March 9
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God Shows His Power over Pharaoh
Exodus 7—11
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Psalm 103:19 (ESV)
Step by step, God demonstrated to Moses and Israel, as well as to Pharaoh and Egypt, that he was the rightful king of Israel and powerful enough to claim their service. At Yahweh’s command, Moses came first with a sign of what was to come. Aaron’s rod became a snake that swallowed up all of the snakes the magicians of Pharaoh could throw at it. For one who had eyes to see, it was clear that Pharaoh would be overcome by Israel’s God in the conflict over Israel’s service.
But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not listen to God’s servants. So God began with the plagues which, in the biblical account if not in Pharaoh’s mind, came in waves of three, each group more disastrous than the preceding. In the end, Pharaoh’s heart remained hard. At times it appeared that he would break—he changed his mind briefly. But when the plagues disappeared, so did his repentance. At the end of nine plagues, Pharaoh’s heart was still hard, and he would not let the people go. His stubborn resistance to God’s claim was overcome only with the tenth and final plague, and then again only temporarily.
The plagues progressively destroyed life in Egypt. What God had spoken into existence, he now spoke out of existence. The water was affected, the land lost its ability to produce, the animals and plants were destroyed. The windows of heaven rained hail upon the earth, and the light bearing bodies that God had placed in the heavens were extinguished. The mighty Creator, who had so long before brought order out of chaos, now reversed that gracious work by bringing chaos out of order. In the end, God once again proved his ultimate authority and the legitimacy of his claim to the service of his people.
March 10
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Changing Attitudes
Exodus 7—11
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish,
but that all should reach repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)
As you read through the story of God’s deliverance of Israel, you can see the gradually changing attitudes of all the participants in this conflict. As for Moses, at first he was quite unsure of himself. However, with God’s reassurances, he soon made the transition from faltering lips to faith, strength, and confidence.
The Israelites made that same transition. At the beginning they shut their ears and hearts to Moses’s announcements of God’s purpose, but by the end they were ready to do just what the Lord had commanded (see Gen. 12:50). Their faith grew, their depression was lifted, and their hope was rekindled as they saw the power that Yahweh demonstrated over Egypt.
The attitudes of Egypt’s people were changing too. The Egyptians had been quite satisfied with Israel’s forced service. But they soon began to see that they were no match for Israel’s God. At first the magicians and sorcerers were able to simulate the plagues, but they failed in the third plague, unable to duplicate what Moses had done by the word of Yahweh. Nor did they have the power to reverse any of the plagues. They saw the power of Israel’s God in everything that was happening.
Pharaoh’s own officials begged him, “Let the people go. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?” (Ex. 10:7). In fact, all of Egypt came to regard Moses and his people so highly that, when Pharaoh finally gave them permission to leave, they showered the Israelites with gifts of silver, gold, and clothing (Ex. 12:35–36). Some of the Egyptians even joined Israel in their exodus, their joining being a testimony, not only of changed political allegiance but, of a change in who they worshiped.
March 11
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Hard-Heartedness
Exodus 7:3–5, 14; 8:19, 30–32;
9:7, 12, 33–35; 10:16–20, 27–29; 11:9–10
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
Hebrews 4:7b (ESV)
The story of the battle between the Lord and Pharaoh over the right to the allegiance of Israel contains several references to the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart.
On the one hand, the Bible makes clear that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. No matter what chances he got, he remained unrepentant. He thought better of his stance at times. In the hailstorm, he attested to the superiority of Yahweh, confessing, “This time I have sinned” (Ex. 9:27). But, right after the hail stopped, he reverted to rebellion. His repentance was temporary and superficial.
On the other hand, the Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. However, neither in Exodus nor in any other instances of hardheartedness can it be said that God is to blame for a person’s unwillingness to come to repentance.
So then, who must bear the responsibility for hardheartedness? The biblical answer is that it is the hard-hearted person. At the same time the Scriptures repeatedly affirm that God is sovereign over all, and that nothing is beyond his control.
Another point to make about hard-heartedness is this: For those who keep saying no to God there comes a point from which it seems there is no return. The more Pharaoh chose against God, the more he separated himself from God and bound himself into the straitjacket of hard-hearted rebellion. It is the same for people today as it was for Pharaoh: The more they resist stopping their rebellion in favor of dependence on God, the less free they become, and the more enslaved by the mastery of sin and Satan.
March 12
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What the Tenth Plague Meant to Egypt
Exodus 11:1–10; 12:29–32
All the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the Lord.
Numbers 3:13 (ESV)
For Egypt, as for Israel, the firstborn of families and flocks had special significance. They were the proof of blessing and the promise of a future, regarded by all as the best a family or nation had to offer. It was for that reason that the sacrifice of firstborn animals was held to be the best possible gift that could be made to appease a god.
In this milieu, it was a significant honor for God to refer to Israel as his firstborn (Ex. 4:22). This also makes clear what a terrible thing Pharaoh was doing. He had stolen the one selected to inherit God’s wealth and blessings. So God told Moses to say: “I told you, ‘Let my son go, so he may worship me.’ But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son” (Ex. 4:23).
The honor of being God’s firstborn was not without danger to Moses. Right after God told him what to say to Pharaoh, God showed great displeasure with Moses, who had failed his covenant obligation to circumcise his sons; it was a neglect that fell to his wife Zipporah to speedily rectify (see Ex. 4:24–26).
When the firstborn of Egypt died, everyone in Israel and in Egypt knew that Yahweh was the Lord and Master of both Israel and Egypt. Pharaoh had no choice but to let the Israelites go. Nor was Israel surprised to find out that when Yahweh brought them out of Egypt, they now owed him their firstborn (Ex. 13:2). The firstborn were to be used in the practices and support of God’s worship—to be set apart and made holy so that they could serve as ties to bind God to his people. For, as it was, there was a great gulf between them, a gulf that could be bridged only by God’s continuing grace.
March 13
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Protected by the Blood of the Lamb
Exodus 12:1–13:16
Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 9:22b (ESV)
You were ransomed…with the precious blood of Christ,
like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
1 Peter 1:18–19 (ESV)
The people of Israel were not immune from God’s judgment on the firstborn of Egypt unless they carefully followed his instructions and applied the blood of the Passover lambs to the doorposts and lintels of their dwellings. Then their firstborn were spared from death and became part of the victory parade that left Egypt. As a reminder of the deliverance that God had brought about, he decreed an annual celebration of the Passover, and the dedication to him of the first offspring of every womb. However, God said that lambs could substitute on the altar for firstborn donkeys. And he said that every firstborn son of Israel was to be similarly redeemed.
That pattern of substitutionary sacrifice had already been established in Abraham’s time when God provided a ram as a substitute for Isaac. Later the Levites were set aside for service to God as substitutes for Israel’s firstborn sons, and their livestock as substitutes for the firstborn of the rest of Israel’s livestock (Num. 3). By rights, the lives of all Israelites were forfeit to God as the one who had redeemed them. But what God wanted was that firstborn sons, as representatives of Israel’s strength, be set apart for his service in their life rather than by their death. Israel’s main duty was to live for God, not to die for him.
Since then, Jesus Christ has taken the place of all the firstborn who were set apart for God’s service. By his one sacrifice he has rendered blood sacrifice obsolete, for he has fully satisfied God’s requirement for holiness in himself. What’s more, the door is open to every person, through true faith in Christ, to a better inheritance than Israel’s firstborn ever dreamed of.
March 14
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Can God Finish What He Starts?
Exodus 13:17–14:14
My eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!
Isaiah 38:14b (ESV)
Israel was elated to leave Egypt but, as they followed the pillar of smoke and fire, they must have wondered if God really knew what he was doing. They wondered more when the first reports of the pursuing army came. The Israelites were trapped between the water and the army and armed only with primitive weapons against the steel and chariots of Egypt’s finest. With sinking hearts they knew they were doomed. And they blamed Moses for it. They had been happy enough to escape slavery but, the way they remembered it now, Egypt hadn’t been so bad after all, and they had told Moses to leave well enough alone.
To answer Israel’s terror, Moses gave the answer that people of faith must always give in the face of despair, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today...The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Ex. 14:13-14). What a statement for Moses to make. You’d almost think he knew ahead of time what God was going to do. But he didn’t. He was not only ignorant about how God would deliver Israel. He didn’t even know that God would deliver Israel. He had God’s promise; and he had faith, but that’s the only guarantee he had. So even though he may have said it confidently, Moses was all the while praying his heart out—that God would not make him out to be a liar but would do what Moses said he would do.
Today, too, we hardly ever know ahead of time how God will show us his saving grace. Nor do we know that he will, except by faith in his promises. Still he calls us to exercise that faith, both for ourselves and in order to build faith in others around us; he calls us to declare his saving word.
March 15
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Yes, He Can!
Exodus 14:14-31
Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
Psalm 98:1 (ESV)
In the midst of Moses’s desperate prayer, the Lord surprised him by questioning him about why he was crying out to him. It was not a criticism for praying, but one for prayer without appropriate action. No, Moses didn’t have the benefit of knowing in advance what God would do, but he was called to keep moving in the direction that God was leading, even though he could see ahead only as far as the fire of God’s presence.
With that, God moved between Israel and Egypt to keep them separate while Israel passed through the sea to safety. God’s salvation became more and more evident as the day progressed and the foes that pursued Israel got no closer. The actions of God, which meant favor for his people, threw the enemy into confusion, and the soldiers recognized the hand of Yahweh in it.
It was the same pillar of fire and cloud that stood between Israel and Egypt, and the same God who looked down on both. But what meant life for the one meant disaster for the other. What an apt picture of Judgment Day when we all will stand before the same God and what is joy and peace for some will be terror for others.
Egypt’s army realized too late what was happening. And so this mighty power that had challenged Yahweh’s right to the service of his people was overthrown and its army drowned in the sea. The victory was complete, finally and firmly establishing God’s right to Israel’s service. Yahweh’s power and faithfulness as well as his character as a kind, merciful, and powerful God—in question until now—was finally proved beyond doubt. For the first time Scripture says, “The people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant” (Ex. 14:31).
March 16
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Keep the Memory Alive
Exodus 15:1-21
Take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children.
Deuteronomy 4:9 (ESV)
Moses and the Israelites rightly celebrated their great deliverance from the power of Pharaoh and his army. They recounted the story of what God had done and how he had done it. They did that with God’s approval; in fact, God told them repeatedly over their forty years in the desert not to forget what he had done for them.
One who did not know better might think that the people should not need to be told not to forget. It seems impossible that anyone could forget such a miracle of deliverance as they had just experienced. And yet they would, and very soon. Not that the memory of it would actually disappear from their minds, but it would fade into insignificance in the light of other troubles.
If forgetfulness is so prevalent among those with personal experience of God’s saving mercy, how much more understandable it is for the next generations who hear the story secondhand. Those escaping slaves needed to keep celebrating and remembering, both to help them honor God, and to help the next generation to do the same.
There are too many Christians in our own day who do not regularly celebrate and remember what God has done for them. We can and should do this with regard to events in our own personal history. But we should also do this with regard to the shared history we have as God’s people. The salvation that the Israelites celebrated is also part of the story of every one who benefits from the grace of Jesus Christ. We who, by God’s grace, have received Christ’s help to escape the slavery of sin, need to celebrate and keep the memory alive.
March 17
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Hardship Continues
Exodus 15:22–16:3; 17:1–7
The Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness,
that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart,
whether you would keep his commandments or not.
Deuteronomy 8:2 (ESV)
The Israelites left the scene of their deliverance singing, thinking that the worst was behind them. But then they headed into the desert, traveling for three days without finding water. That was enough to crush any optimism. Finally they found water, but their elation was short-lived; the water was not fit to drink. They complained at Marah, finding bitter water and bitter disappointment.
The next hardship was a lack of food. They complained again, exaggerating the benefits of their former existence in light of the present food shortage. They continued in this manner with the next water shortage, blaming Moses for taking them away from Egypt, where at least there was water to drink.
It was clear by this time that their hardship was not over. What wasn’t so clear, however, was whether the people would learn to respond with faithfulness in the face of unexpected hardship. In fact, that was the point of these tests of Israel by the Lord. The Israelites were free from the power of Egypt but they needed to understand that the point of their freedom was that they live in a covenant relationship with their Creator and Redeemer, obeying and trusting him in good times and bad.
Even as God tested Israel, he provided signs of grace to encourage their trust. He made the bitter water of Marah sweet; he provided an oasis, Elim in the desert; he brought life-sustaining water out of dry rocks. He also provided food where none was available: quail in abundance, and then forty years’ worth of bread for forty years in the desert, one day at a time. Although they were not yet finished with hardship, it wasn’t all hardship.
March 18
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Lessons in the Manna
Exodus 16:4–36
He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna,
which you did not know, nor did your fathers know,
that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone,
but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 8:3 (ESV)
God promised that if the people followed his instructions regarding the manna, each person would have enough. He also told them not to worry about tomorrow; God would give them enough then as well. Some of the people of Israel didn’t quite believe that so they tried to store up manna for the future. Then they wouldn’t have to worry about tomorrow wondering if God would come through. But, it didn’t work. The manna spoiled and got stinky; it became food for maggots. The people learned eventually that they had to trust God for tomorrow, just as they had to trust him for today. There was no insurance that they could substitute for trust in Yahweh.
The purpose of the manna for Israel was not only to provide for the need of the people, but to test whether they would follow God’s instructions. Today, in God’s provision for us, he also tests us in the same way. Will we live in daily dependence on him, or will we try to provide some sort of insurance for ourselves to minimize that need for constant trust?
Good stewards save and invest, and even buy insurance. But they never try to make themselves less dependent on God. Every day we need to take advantage of the grace and gifts God offers. What we get will be enough. And it will be the same tomorrow—what he provides will again be just right. As we keep doing this we will come to know and trust God more and more. And we will come to know ourselves as continually and totally dependent on God, daily seeking more of his refreshing word and presence to nourish us and keep us going.
March 19
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Prelude to a Constitution
Exodus 19:1–6
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)
Moses and Israel were led by God to Mount Sinai, the place of the burning bush, where God gave them the constitution of his kingdom. God began with a statement of his authority to do this: His liberation of Israel imposed on them the duty to obey him and keep his covenant. Clearly, God was setting up not a demo-cracy—rule by the people, but a theocracy—rule by God.
It is important to note the order in God’s speech, which is the same as the order of the events in Israel’s life. First came God’s deliverance; then came God’s rules to live by. Obedience was not a precondition for Israel’s deliverance, but a consequence. It is the same for our salvation. There are no innate virtues that people must possess before God sets them free in Jesus Christ; salvation is a gift of grace. But, like God’s gift to Israel, salvation has consequences; grateful obedience is required of those who by grace have become God’s treasured possession.
Grateful obedience both honors God and becomes part of the means by which the world comes to know him. God informed Moses of the plans he had for his people; he wanted them to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6).
In other words, just as Moses had been called by God to be a mediator between him and Israel, so Israel was to be a mediator between God and the world—both the beginning of God’s reclamation of his world, and a living testimony to the benefits of life under God’s rule. Israel’s commission was thus a preview of the so-called Great Commission in which Jesus would instruct his disciples to go out and make more disciples (Matt. 28:18–20).
March 20
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Preparation for the Constitution
Exodus 19:7–25
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit,
bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
2 Corinthians 7:1 (ESV)
What the Lord did next was tell the people how to get ready to receive his constitution for the nation. That constitution would set the boundaries within which God’s people could live and prosper. To transgress those boundaries would mean disaster. By these serious preparations, God let his people know how holy he was in comparison to them and how highly he wanted his law to be regarded.
In effect God said, “You must make yourself clean and stay on the other side of the boundary. If you cannot obey this, you’ll never be able to live by my constitution either, because cleanliness and boundaries are essential to it. My law reflects my holiness, and if you violate that, you invite death.”
When the people had finished consecrating themselves, they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and saw a dense cloud of smoke cover the mountain. God was in the cloud and spoke to Moses so that the people could hear. We are not sure what they understood, but they knew, at the least, that it was the voice of God. Up until that time they had heard only second-hand about God’s communications with Moses; now, in the hours before God actually gave his word for Israel, they heard for themselves. By this, God let the people know that whoever refused to listen to Moses’s words was refusing to listen to God himself.
When the people saw this display of God’s might they were properly impressed. The mountain trembled violently, and so did the people. It was a solemn preparation for receiving the constitution that God was about to give the people.
March 21
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God’s Law in Today’s World—Part 1
Psalm 1; Deuteronomy 27:1–9
The law has but a shadow of the good things to come
instead of the true form of these realities.
Hebrews 10:1a (ESV)
The passages for today extol the virtues of living by the law of the Lord and the disastrous results of ignoring or rebelling against it. Those who do the later, Psalm 1 calls wicked. It says that they will not be able to stand in the judgment. But one might wonder which of the Lord’s laws the Psalmist is speaking about and how the laws given to Israel are relevant in today’s world. In answer, it will help to distinguish three types of law given to Israel, the first two of which we will consider today.
Civil Law: Israel was set up as a theocracy—a nation governed directly by God and subject to his laws. The teaching of the New Testament is that God’s kingdom now is not identified with a particular nation living by certain laws, but with a spiritual kingdom, ruled by Christ. Citizenship in this kingdom is open to all people, regardless of nationality, who have been forgiven by Christ and who live for his honor and glory. We conclude, therefore, that although there may be wisdom in some of ancient Israel’s civil laws, they were given only for those times.
Ceremonial Law: Many of God’s laws for Israel had to do with diet and proper and improper sacrifice. Although some people today still abide by the same dietary restrictions (for example, Jews and Muslims), most Christians no longer feel bound by Old Testament ceremonial laws. This is because of the New Testament testimony that the sacrifices and ceremonies of Old Testament times were meant only to foreshadow the coming work of Christ. The book of Hebrews is especially clear in proclaiming the truth that Jesus was the one sacrifice that ended all sacrifices and the temple of God who made the old temple irrelevant.
March 22
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God’s Law in Today’s World—Part 2
Psalm 1; Exodus 20:1–2
Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord.
Psalm 119:1 (ESV)
Moral Law: Laws in this category are not merely for certain historical situations, but obligatory for every time and place.
· An example is found in Leviticus 19:15: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.”
· Another example is the Ten Commandments, which were summarized already in Moses’s day as, “Love the Lord your God and…walk always in obedience to him” (Deut. 19:9), and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). This is the same summary Jesus gave of the moral law of God, concluding this way: “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:40)
The moral law of God says that there is right and there is wrong. And every person is created with a sense of how to distinguish the two. But it also helps us immensely to study the Ten Commandments that God gave his people Israel, and the commentary on them given by Jesus and the New Testament writers.
What made the Ten Commandments compelling for Israel was what their great God had done for them. He had rescued them from a life of slavery and delivered them into the freedom of his good care. That’s also what Christ did even more completely for all who have come to him in repentance and faith. But we still need direction on how to walk in the life to which God calls us. As Moses told Israel just before they crossed into the Promised Land: “[The words of this law] are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess” (Deut. 32:47). It’s not that God’s moral law gives life and freedom; God alone does that. But his moral law helps people walk in the freedom of obedience to him.
March 23
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How the Moral Law of God Helps Us
Psalm 19:7–14; 119:9–16
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Matthew 5:17 (ESV)
Before we take a look at the individual commandments, let us consider what John Calvin, one of the theologians of the Reformation, identified as three uses for God’s moral law.
· Civil Use: God’s moral law helps restrain evil in the world. Imagine how much more theft there would be if there were no laws against it and no penalties for stealing what belongs to someone else. The moral law of God is a deterrent in the civil sphere of life, with law enforcement to back up the threat.
· Theological Use: God’s moral law is a mirror reflecting both our sinfulness and his righteousness. Galatians 3:24 refers to the law as a tutor or teacher leading us to faith in Christ. In other words, the law shows us how hopelessly we fall short of the righteousness God requires. Just when we think we are not quite as bad as our neighbors, the law puts us on trial and compares us—not to those whose sin is most on display, but—to God. God does not do this to drive us to despair or to leave us there but so that we may seek our shelter from his anger over our sin in Christ’s righteousness alone. The law cannot save us, but it can drive us into the arms of Christ.
· Moral Use: God’s moral law is a guideline for conduct. Since sin entered the world we are incapable of perfectly obeying God’s rules. Even if we have not engaged in the most egregious violations of God’s Law and cannot be convicted in a court of law, we are nevertheless all guilty of such things as idolatry, bearing false witness, adultery, murder, and so on. We have failed in so many ways to meet God’s standards of loving him above all and our neighbors as ourselves. The moral law in its words and spirit, while it cannot save us, holds before us the standard of how God wants us to live, both then and now.
March 24
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No Other Gods
Exodus 20:1–3
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord
of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man…
Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“In him we live and move and have our being.”
Acts 17:24-28 (ESV)
God went to a lot of trouble to rescue his people from Egypt so that he could rule over them unopposed and they could serve him unhindered. Along the way he proved himself to be a gracious and merciful master. However, even gracious and merciful masters must have rules, and God does as well. So, while still leading his people to the Promised Land, God had them stop at the holy mountain where forty years prior he had appeared to Moses and called him to leadership. Here God made clear through Moses the sort of service he wanted.
The first of the commandments is the most important and the basis for all the rest. “You shall have no other gods before me” is not simply a prohibition against the worship of other gods, but a statement that there really is no one else who can be God. Since God alone has existed from eternity, everything else is part of his creation and therefore illegitimate as an object of service and worship. If Israel did not know this they could never hope to have the kind of relationship with God that he had saved them for. Nor can we if we do not know it.
Not even the best of God’s gifts are worthy of worship; they are all meant to help raise our hearts in thanksgiving to the one who gives them. All proper service to God begins with obeying this commandment, not reluctantly but, eagerly and with love that imitates God’s love for us. God is the only legitimate anchor of faith; there is no other life than what he provides by grace through faith in Christ. Each of us must start where God wanted Israel to start, by knowing that God is the only one who gets the credit for everything that we are and everything that we have.
March 25
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No Images of God
Exodus 20:4–6
[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Colossians 1:15 (ESV)
It is possible to worship the right God, but to do so incorrectly—the focus of the second commandment. Israel violated this commandment already at Sinai. After Moses had been on the mountain so long that the people despaired of his return they got Aaron to make them golden calves to precede the people in their travels. Aaron had reservations, but did so anyway. The next day “he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, ‘Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord’” (Ex. 32:5).
It seems that the people saw those golden calves not as alternate gods, but as aids in worshiping the one true God of Israel. But, even though the surrounding nations represented their gods by images, God outlawed this for his people.
The use of images in worship is forbidden because Christ is the only image of the invisible God (Col 1:15). This means that any representation of God other than Christ is not only false, but an insult to his exclusive claims: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). And also, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
The jealousy of God that this commandment speaks about refers to God’s unwillingness to let the people he created live in a way that can’t help but end in their destruction. Sin has consequences, not only for sinners, but also for their children and grandchildren. Whoever hates or even ignores God sees spiritual consequences for generations to come.
Thank God that righteousness has even greater benefits. For those who are faithful and serve him according to his desires, he shows love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
March 26
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Don’t Misuse God
Exodus 20:7
Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God,
that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
Hebrews 13:15 (ESV)
To take God’s name seriously is to take God himself seriously. By contrast, to misuse the name of God is to misuse God himself—to fail to show him the honor and respect he deserves. This might show up in any of a number of ways:
· Blasphemy: This might be expressed in cursing, or alternately, in false claims to be God.
· The claiming of God’s authority for non-biblical ideas or actions: Slavery in this country and apartheid in South Africa both existed because people falsely claimed God’s authority for it. Some of the secular reaction against Christians today is deserved in that Christians have sometimes used the Bible inappropriately to support their own political or social agenda. Scripture itself never defends slavery.
· Hypocrisy—the pretense of godliness: Paul speaks of such people in Titus 1:16, “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.” All such hypocrites take God’s name in vain.
· False doctrine—a twisting of what the Bible teaches: That God’s word is sometimes “hard to understand” doesn’t have to result in heresy or distortion of Scripture.
· Casual or irreverent use of God’s name: “Oh my God” is a very appropriate way to begin a prayer, but not as a substitute for “You’ve got to be kidding.”
God takes his name seriously because his name is directly related to his character. Again, to misuse God’s name misuses God himself. To discredit the name of God pours contempt on the very one we worship. It dishonors the only one is whom we may find life, both physical and spiritual, and both temporal and eternal.
March 27
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Sabbath Rest
Exodus 20:8–11
Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV)
The emphasis of this commandment is on regaining communion with God. The Bible is clear that both the “rest” that Abraham’s descendants experienced in the Promised Land, and proper Sabbath observance, would help God’s people keep their eyes on God, the only source of true rest.
However, neither the Promised Land nor the keeping of the Sabbath Day were the final rest that God had in mind; this would be found only in Jesus Christ, who provided a permanent answer for the sin that separates people from God. That explains Jesus’s invitation to the weary: “Come to me… and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). And also the confirming statement of Hebrews 4:3: “Now we who have believed enter that rest.”
That means that everyone in union with Christ is already living in the seventh day, the eternal Sabbath, the eternal Rest of God. Since Christ has come, the command for Sabbath observance that God gave through Moses is now fulfilled when people are born again and live as followers of Jesus Christ. Therefore, to break the Sabbath today, as Jesus himself made clear, is less about avoiding physical work on one day than about breaking covenant with Christ, who is the fulfillment of the Sabbath.
That said, until Christ’s work in and with us is fully accomplished, there are still strong and sufficient reasons to keep the tradition of setting aside one day each week for special meditation, prayer, fellowship, and attention to the Word and sacraments. That will help us make every day a day in which we never try to work alone, but always let the Lord work in us through his Spirit.
March 28
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Honor Your Parents
Exodus 20:12
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your
father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),
“that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
Ephesians 6:1–3 (ESV)
Here in the second table of the Law, the focus changes to how we relate to other people. Jesus summarized our duty by saying that we need to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. All neighbors need our love, but first in priority are our closest neighbors—our parents; we are told to submit ourselves to those whom God has placed over us in the home. This involves our obedience to them while we are young, and our continuing respect and care for them as they age.
Behind this command that children honor their parents, of course, is also the assumption that parents must care for their children in the same way God cares for all his children. It’s an assumption that Scripture expands upon in many places, but here the focus is upon the duties of children to their parents.
This command to honor parents is complicated by our parents’ sinfulness. Think of the difficulty that godly children of Moses’s day had in watching their parents, just a short while after they had received this commandment, sacrificing to the golden calves Aaron had made with their jewelry (Ex. 32).
Some parents today are physically, emotionally, or spiritually immature and even abusive and do not provide their children the whole-hearted love and good leadership they need. As a result, such children may find it difficult to understand or relate to a heavenly father who always loves them and has their best interests at heart. Even so, children are called to honor their parents, with the understanding that obedience to this command must be subordinate to and consistent with obedience to the first and greatest commandment, to love God above all.
March 29
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Not Murder, But Love
Exodus 20:13
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:43–45 (ESV)
This commandment, as with the ones that follow, is put negatively: “You shall not murder!” But this is much more than a prohibition; it is an encouragement to be pro-life—and not just in the restricted sense of how to treat an unborn infant. As Jesus later makes very clear in condemning murder and the root from which murder springs—hatred—God tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly to them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies.
Therefore, as the Heidelberg Catechism asserts, this commandment reaches beyond hate and murder to also forbid insulting or belittling our neighbors by thoughts, words, looks, or gestures. This turns what might have appeared to be the easiest commandment to obey into one of the most difficult.
Every time we engage in some hidden form of murder, whether it is insult, gossip, belittling, or something else, we attribute a fault or weakness to others that we do not think about in ourselves. That is a failure to take our own sin seriously enough. Christ’s goal in speaking of the root of murder is not to condemn or destroy us, but to restore us to full fellowship with God. So too, we are called to be praying and hoping for that very same thing in others.
Loving our neighbors according to the radical demands of the sixth commandment is meant in our day, as it was when it was originally given, not only for the benefit of God’s people, but to be an astonishing testimony that may lead those who see it in action to be drawn to the source of our freedom.
March 30
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Marital Faithfulness
Exodus 20:14
You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.”
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful
intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27–28 (ESV)
The single most important covenant described in the Bible is the covenant that God makes with people—and which he continually restores after people mess up on their end. In this covenant, God makes unconditional promises to love and care for his people, and based on his resolve and commitment to that covenantal relationship, his people are to submit themselves to him in love and obedient service.
God calls people to enter into similar relationships or covenants with other human beings, the foundational among them being marriage. In other words, the covenant of marriage is based on, and an imitation of, God’s covenant with people. And those who decide to enter into marriage must regard it as highly as God does.
The promises of a marriage covenant are sealed with sexual intercourse, which is why sexual intercourse is not to happen outside of the covenant bonds of marriage. Sexual activity outside of this institution and with someone other than one’s marriage partner is an attempt to enjoy the pleasure of this covenant without the responsibility of it. As many promiscuous people have found out, however, the gift itself becomes an empty thing apart from the covenant it is meant to seal.
Adultery is more than an act, too; it is unfaithfulness of the heart and mind. Adultery never enhances marriage, even if it happens consensually. Nor is marriage ever served when the partners in it are most concerned about the satisfaction of their own desires. Each marriage partner should ask, “What more can I do with God’s help to build our relationship and enhance our marriage?”
March 31
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Not Theft, But Work
Exodus 20:15
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor,
doing honest work with his own hands, so that he
may have something to share with anyone in need.
Ephesians 4:28 (ESV)
Scripture makes very clear that God, as the Creator, has the right of ownership over everything he has made. Still, this truth does not contradict the idea of individual property rights that is implicit in this commandment. It says that whatever we own—land, houses, toys—is really a gift of God for which he has made us responsible. And no one should steal what someone else has been given to control. No one has the right to take or invade another person’s property.
Nor, in keeping with the spirit of the command, does anyone have the right to defraud their neighbor by such means as inaccurate measurements, excessive interest, counterfeit currency, or fraudulent merchandising.
There are also less obvious ways in which people steal what is not theirs. How many people, for example, assume credit card debt or other obligations that are beyond their ability to repay? And how many live beyond their means with the result that they must default on loans or even declare bankruptcy?
Governments, too, can steal if they misuse funds given for certain purposes, or if they do a poor job with the resources they have, or if they live beyond their means in such a way as to place intoler-able burdens on future generations.
The Bible has no interest in helping people walk as closely as possible to the line of stealing. It informs us of the honesty and quality we owe our neighbors who buy from us, and also says that work is a gift of God to help us provide for our own needs as well as provide assistance to those who cannot adequately provide for themselves.
April 1
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Tell the Truth in Love
Exodus 20:16
Speak the truth to one another; render…judgments that are true and
make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another,
and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.
Zechariah 8:16–17 (ESV)
Throughout the ages, the main place this command has been applied is within the legal system. In ancient Israel, one protection against false testimony was the two-witness requirement for conviction on a charge. Similar safeguards are in place in today’s courts. And today libel, slander, and especially perjury, merit very serious consequences.
But the ninth commandment also applies to situations outside of the legal system. In keeping with the spirit of the law, which is to help us love our neighbors as we love ourselves, God’s concern is that people may know the truth and have the truth spoken about them.
This means more than just the avoidance of making incorrect statements. It’s possible, after all, to lie without speaking, by means of gestures or facial expressions. Also, such communications as gossip and rumormongering, even if technically accurate, and even if given under the pretense of being helpful and having regard for the truth, are inconsistent with the biblical ideal of loving our neighbors as God desires.
Humans are able to communicate in extraordinary ways, but we must never use this ability to tear down and destroy. God expects us to use our ability as he uses his: He keeps his promises and is reliable in all of his communications. God expects us to imitate him in these things. The Bible urges us to cling to the truth and defend it the best we can—by lifestyle as well as by words. In other words, if you want to keep the ninth commandment, do your best to understand and live by the spirit of this command of God.
April 2
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Contentment Rather than Coveting
Exodus 20:17
Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing
into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
1 Timothy 6:6–8 (ESV)
Someone has said that living beyond our means—or even wanting to do so—is a good definition of coveting, and I believe it. Both rich and poor are tempted to confuse material and spiritual blessings and to be discontented with the resources God has given them. It is not wrong to try to gain wealth or improve one’s material condition, for it is not money itself but the love of it that is the root of all evil. In fact, contentment is largely unrelated to material well-being. The lack of contentment is a spiritual issue.
Israel provides a historical example of the challenge to see God as a provider even in the absence of what we regard as essential. Even though God performed miracles for his people, beginning with the Exodus from Egypt, they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High (see Ps. 78:17). The one thing they did more consistently than anything else was grumble; they coveted what they did not have instead of being thankful for what they did have.
This commandment is related closely to the eighth. Both require a level of contentment with the resources that God has entrusted to us. The more we can remember that we’re created first of all for God and not for ourselves, the more the discontentment of covetousness can be replaced by contentment.
How do you see prosperity? Mainly as a way of increasing your ability to get and consume? Or mainly as a blessing of God that provides increased opportunities for giving and serving? The latter is what God wants for us, not merely for our own peace of mind, but because he wants us to use our resources to make a real difference in the lives of the people and the world he cares about.
April 3
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Confirmation of the Constitution
Exodus 24
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have
sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules…
I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.
Psalm 119:105–106, 112 (ESV)
After God’s people received the Ten Commandments and other laws, both civil and ceremonial, Moses and Israel’s elders made preparations to testify to Israel’s commitment to obey them. The people gave their verbal assent, but this was to be followed by a confirmation ceremony involving sacrifice.
At the Lord’s command, Moses built an altar at the foot of the mountain. Its twelve pillars represented the tribes of Israel. The sacrifices that the people made to God on this altar were a blood oath that they would abide by the terms of their covenant with God.
Some of the blood from the sacrificed animals was sprinkled on the altar as an offering of life to the Lord; this symbolized God’s forgiveness of the people and his acceptance of their offerings. And some of the blood was sprinkled on the people; this symbolized their willingness to be struck dead by God—the animal blood becoming their own blood—if they did not live by the terms of this covenant.
With that, Moses and other leaders of Israel ascended the mountain again, where they saw the God of Israel. It was an astonishing thing to them. Except for Moses, they had previously been warned to worship at a distance. Now, however, God invited all the leaders of Israel into his presence where they saw the glory of God and ate and drank; the blood of the sacrifice had sanctified them. This covenant meal was a foreshadowing of the new covenant meal, the Lord’s Supper, which has been made possible by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and which celebrates the eternal bond between him and those he died to save.
April 4
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The Tabernacle
Exodus 25—27
He will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal
me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.
Psalm 27:5 (ESV)
God’s instructions for the construction and use of the tabernacle (sacred tent) are very importance in the Exodus story. That’s because the tabernacle represented the point of contact between God and his people. God’s blueprint for this symbol of God’s presence with them was precise.
The outer court of the tabernacle had a basin for water to be used for ceremonial cleansing and a bronze altar for sacrificing burnt offerings to God.
The Holy Place within the tabernacle was furnished with:
· A table that held bread to show that God always provided for his people.
· A golden lampstand to remind the people that with God’s help they were called to be a light to the world.
· An altar where incense was burned to represent the prayers of God’s people.
In the part of the tabernacle called the Most Holy Place were the Ark of the Covenant holding Aaron’s staff, a jar of manna, and the Ten Commandments (see Heb. 9:4). This was God’s throne room, and only the high priest could enter it once a year to sprinkle lamb’s blood on the cover of the ark, blood that God would accept as a substitute for the people’s own. There, in this most sacred place, God would meet with Moses and give him his commands for the Israelites (see Ex. 25:22).
God was equally particular about the priests’ clothing and the exact procedures they were to follow in using and transporting the tabernacle. Each instruction of God and each part of the tabernacle and its furnishings was a message to Israel about the holiness of God and his conditions for remaining in their midst.
April 5
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Worship
Exodus 31:12–17
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!
Psalm 96:9 (ESV)
The Lord had bound himself in love to Israel even though they didn’t deserve such grace. He wanted to stay at the center of Israel’s life. His presence was to be shown not only by the tabernacle, with its furnishings, ceremonies, and servants, but by the designation of one day each week as holy to the Lord. Israel also had to honor the Lord in their other activities and on the other days of the week, but the tabernacle and the Sabbath were the clearest reminders for Israel that God wanted them to love him with all their heart and soul and strength (see Deut. 6:5).
Abraham Heschel calls the Sabbath “a sanctuary—a cathedral in time,” a day on which we are called to turn from the world of creation to the creation of the world. This continues to be a need and obligation for all of God’s people today. That is, our attention and desires need regularly and systematically to be turned from the gifts and opportunities God has given us, to the God in whom we live, move, and have our being.
Worship does several things in and for us:
· It cultivates the sense of God’s presence and helps give us an eternal perspective in our temporal lives.
· It helps prevent the disorientation that comes from overvaluing the activities and possessions of our lives.
· It makes us available in a special way for the power of God to renew our minds and make them conform more closely to his purposes.
More clearly than anyone, Jesus honored God’s intentions for the Sabbath. Everything Jesus did and taught came out of proper worship. Worship is equally indispensable for helping us live the balanced and fruitful life God wants for us.
April 6
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Rebellion against the Constitution
Exodus 32:1–14
My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.
Psalm 119:136 (ESV)
While Moses was receiving God’s law on Mount Sinai, the impatient people down below went to Aaron asking him to make physical images to strengthen their flagging faith and enhance their worship. Aaron succumbed to the pressure and manufactured an idol and an altar for it. Afterwards the people celebrated this idol and sacrificed to it. This was nothing less than rebellion against the constitution God had given the people.
God was so angered by Israel’s rebellion on this occasion that he threatened to destroy them and transfer his promises to Moses alone. God was certainly within his rights to do so, but Moses asked God to remember the covenant he had made with Abraham. Rather than justice, Moses prayed for mercy for the sake of the fame and reputation of God himself. We will do well to learn both from Israel’s inconsistency in their loyalty to God, and from Moses’s prayer on their behalf.
First, the commitment the people made to serve the Lord, although sincere, was too easily derailed by fear and impatience. “What if something has happened to Moses and we are actually alone in this world?” “Why is God taking so long; has he forgotten us?” Such questions plague God’s people today, too. When trouble comes, we also turn too easily to old and familiar idols for comfort. If we’d think it through, we’d know that these idols can’t help and that the only way to live is by faith—faith that we’ve got to build in the good times so that it becomes second nature when times get tough.
As to Moses’s prayer, how much God’s faithful people today need to ask God for mercy and delay of judgment as we see rebellion both in Christ’s body and in the world. Such prayer reflects God’s own long-suffering heart.
April 7
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The Effects of Sin and the Price of Mercy
Exodus 32:15–35
We have been sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:10 (ESV)
By their rebellious actions the people were actually saying that they preferred Egypt and its gods to waiting for the Lord and being ruled by him. Their sin had big effects.
· Those who persisted in rebellion, ignoring Moses’s call to get on God’s side, lasted no longer than Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea—they were put to death. Death should not have been a surprise; it was the very penalty the Israelites had agreed to earlier in the constitution ratification ceremony.
· Those who repented received God’s forgiveness. But God’s mercy did not totally erase all of sin’s effects for them. In fact, sin often continues to bear evil fruit even after it has been forgiven. In this case those whose lives were spared experienced a punishment much the same as Egypt’s people had earlier received in the plagues on their country.
Let’s also consider the price of God’s forgiveness. Although it is mercifully free for those who repent, it is never cheap. Moses, faithful servant and mediator that he was, put his own life on the line. He didn’t argue Israel’s guilt; that was plain. But he did offer to give up his own life and future if God would be merciful to Israel (see Ex. 32:32). After Moses prayed, Yahweh relented and was gracious, despite the unrighteousness of the people.
Moses was a forerunner and imperfect pattern for a perfect mediator who would come two thousand years later. Jesus also stuck his body between God and the people, between God and us, to absorb God’s righteous anger and to save us from death. He saved us even before we knew the extent of our trouble. What’s more, with Jesus’s sacrificial life and death, God expanded beyond measure the salvation that Israel experienced.
April 8
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How Can We Continue Without God?
Exodus 33:1–17
Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may
be saved…Give us life, and we will call upon your name!
Psalm 80:7, 18 (ESV)
Even with God’s forgiveness and his purging of persistent rebels from the camp, Israel faced an immense crisis. Although God promised an angel to help his people occupy the Promised Land, he himself declined to go farther with them. It had been God’s intention to travel with Israel in the tabernacle he had ordered to be constructed. But now the people were commanded to leave Sinai without first building the tabernacle. Sin did for Israel precisely what it always does for us—separated them from God.
Moses and all of Israel were devastated by the news. They understood that God’s presence was essential for their life and well-being. So Moses went to God in prayer. He said that he didn’t want to leave if God was not going with them. He asked, “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Ex. 33:16).
Here again, Moses was doing what Jesus would do in a much bigger way many centuries later, and also what Christians today are called to do for their communities and nations. He prayed for the continuing presence of God with his people. Religious institutions and ceremonies are not sufficient; all people have such things. It’s only the actual presence of God in and among his people that distinguishes them from the world and also provides them both protection and power for service.
The Lord answered Moses in the way he’ll always answer the prayer of every true servant for his presence: “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name” (Ex. 33:17).
April 9
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The Glorious Presence of God
Exodus 33:18–23; 34:29–35; 40:34–38
I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests…And [the people of Israel] shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the
land of Egypt that I might dwell among them.
Exodus 29:44–46 (ESV)
The point of Israel’s exodus from Egypt was that they might know and cherish God’s glorious presence with them. Moses had previews of this in the burning bush and when he brought the people back to Sinai to receive God’s laws. One time, God protected Moses in a rock cleft so that he might not die from exposure to God’s overwhelming glory (Ex. 33). The people knew when Moses had been speaking with God by his radiant face.
The climax of Exodus is found in the last verses of the book. The tabernacle had been completed according to God’s instructions, and then God, in all his glory, made himself at home with Israel. He was right where everyone could see the evidence of his presence and live in constant touch with him, close enough to lead and direct the people, yet separate enough so that their imperfect lives were not consumed in the holiness of his presence.
The Israelites had begun this journey not knowing much at all about God but, through the events of the exodus, they came to know the one who said his name was Yahweh as:
· Deliverer from slavery.
· King and Governor.
· Gracious and Forgiving God.
· The God who graciously consented to live among them.
It was the very thing for which God had created Adam and Eve and the whole human race. Israel was by no means as sinless as the first couple had been in the beginning, and their desert home was by no means as glorious. However, the glorious presence of God in their midst was nothing less than a taste of paradise.
Последнее изменение: четверг, 9 августа 2018, 15:09