Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:11-12

11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?

12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

When the Israelites saw the Egyptian army approaching they first begged the Lord to save them, but then they complained to Moses. Their conduct towards him was entirely inappropriate, and shows that they did not honor the station that he held as God representative. The people gave Moses three accusatory questions, and each reveals a different form of insincerity and disrespect.

  1. Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?
    In their first question the people utilized great sarcasm and irony. At face value, the question wondered whether Moses thought Egypt was too inadequate of a place to die, and so had he thought it better to instead bring them here for their demise? Obviously that question wasn’t genuine, though. It was a rhetorical question, meant only to mock Moses for his lack of foresight.
  2. Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
    This question had the Israelites dodging any personal responsibility for this situation. The way it was phrased suggested that they had no choice in the matter, that Moses made them pack up their belongings and leave the land. Yes, Moses had told them to do it, but of course they could have refused. They didn’t refuse, though, they chose to leave, presumably with gladness because they thought they would make a clean getaway. Now that the tables have turned, though, they behaved as if they were being compelled against their will all along.
  3. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?
    They doubled down on the idea that Moses was short-sighted. This time, though, the accusation was genuine. When Moses first demanded the release of Israel, Pharaoh had doubled the burden on their backs. Then the people had complained to Moses, stating that they were better off before. It is this moment that they are referring back to with this final question. They are, in essence, saying, “We told you that it was better to leave us be! Now just look what you’ve done!”

It is understandable that the people would have felt hurt by the sudden turn of events. Because of their infantile faith, it is understandable that they would have even felt betrayed. But the way that they manifested these pains and fears was completely inappropriate and dishonest. They had chosen to throw their lot with Moses when things looked promising, but then they turned against him when things looked bad. They pretended to have not been complicit in the making of this situation.

The fact is, they had been complicit for many years, even before Moses came to them. For generations they had begged God to free them. They had requested some sort of divine intervention millions of times over in their prayers. Probably they hadn’t anticipated that their deliverance would transpire in this particular way, but that just shows that they weren’t as converted to the idea of freedom as they thought.

This was an important lesson to the Israelites, and also to us all. Do we really want the deliverance that we ask God for if we don’t get to control the form that deliverance takes? Are we praying for substantial changes in our lives, but imagine it happening by magic with no involvement and no risk on our part? When we pray for what we want, do we really want it no matter the cost? If we are going to petition the Lord to get involved in our lives, then we need to be compliant with whatever “mysterious ways” He uses to grant our request.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 14:8-10

8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.

9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.

The expression “with a high hand” means to go with a confident and bold air. It would seem that the Israelites had an attitude of now being home free, certain that all their woes had been left behind them. Thus, it must have been quite the whiplash when they suddenly saw Pharaoh in pursuit.

Verse 10 tells us that the Israelites were “sore afraid,” and it seems that they saw no hope in having a battle with the Egyptians. As mentioned yesterday, there were certainly more in the Israelite camp than there were of the Egyptian soldiers, even there were more Israelite men able to bear arms than there were of their enemy. The problem, presumably, was that they did not have any arms to bear. The Israelites would be raising fists against spears and bows. It would be a slaughter. And with the sea at their backs and no option to retreat, the Israelites were absolutely powerless.

Note, then, their immediate reaction of crying to the Lord. This was the only course that remained to them, the only avenue of hope. God had worked miracles for them before, but the stakes were higher now than ever before. This was the first time where they needed a miracle simply as a matter of basic survival. This was the first time that if God didn’t come through for them, it would be an immediate death sentence!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 13:17-19

17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

18 But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.

19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

Today’s verses give a few tidbits of information about the manner in which Israel departed Egypt. Let’s take a look at each of them in order.

First of all, the Israelites already knew what their destination was, but there remained the question of which route to take get there. Verse 17 suggests that the most direct route would have been through the land of the Philistines, but God would not allow it. His people were fresh in this world, newly exposed to its dangers in a way that they had not been for centuries. Yes, servitude in Egypt had not been ideal, but at least it had come with the protection of the Egyptian armies. Traveling through hostile Philistia would introduce the people to war sooner than they were ready for it. Thus, God commanded that they take the longer but safer route through the wilderness.

While Israel might not have been deemed ready to face battle, verse 18 does say that they were “harnessed,” which means arrayed in military fashion. They did not wander forward as an unordered blob, but structured into proper rows and columns and companies, like soldiers marching to war. This might have been to improve order, and also to begin their training for the battles that they would eventually be required to face.

Finally, verse 19 makes the point that the Israelites took the bones of Joseph with them, fulfilling the prophecy that he had made many years prior. What a long sojourn from the Promised Land this had been for him. The last time that Canaan had been Joseph’s home was just before his brothers sold him into slavery. He was the original Egyptian-Hebrew, and his bones had rested among his people in that land for centuries. But, in spite of the years apart, he was still a son of a patriarch, and the Promised Land was his proper resting place. At long last, he was being brought back to where he belonged.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 13:5

5 And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.

As I mentioned before, the Israelites who left Egypt were as far removed from Joseph as we are from William Shakespeare. Obviously, they were even further removed from Abraham, to whom God had originally promised the land of Canaan. From when God gave Abraham His promise to the birth of Isaac was a period of approximately 25 years. Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob was born, and Jacob was 130 when he entered Egypt. The Israelites dwelled in Egypt for 430 years. Thus, God’s original promise for Abraham’s seed to inherit the land of Canaan was now 645 years old when Moses led the people out of Egypt. Of course, because of some rebellion that we will soon read about, the fulfillment of the promise would be delayed another 40 years, making a wait of approximately 685 years. For comparison, 685 years before today was 1,338, at which time the Byzantine Empire was still standing!

But God had already fulfilled one of His promises to Abraham. He had made the man’s descendants into a great nation, approximately with 2 million souls, and the fulfillment of that promise was preparatory to Israel having the strength to claim the second.

No matter how much time has transpired, no matter how forgotten by man the promise might be, and no matter how many unexpected twists and turns come along the way, God will not forget or renege on His word. Many generations might pass away, but His pledge will not.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 13:1-2

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.

God had spared the lives of all the Israelite firstborn, but that didn’t mean He was leaving them untouched. Just as the Israelites had marked their doors with the blood of the lamb, God had marked all of Israel’s firstborn sons to serve Him.

Notice that God says to “sanctify” the firstborn, not to “sacrifice” them. These boys would not be killed like the Egyptians, but they would still be giving up their lives in the service of God. They would be the priests to carry out the rituals of the temple, performing sacrifice and making atonement for the masses. And just as every family in Egypt was touched by the death of their firstborn, so too every family in Israel would be linked to God, also through their firstborn. Every Israelite would personally know someone who was part of this sanctified work, the firstborn would be the leaven that raised the whole nation.

Of course, this arrangement would only persist for a season. In time, the tribe of Levi would prove itself more faithful, and as a reward God would assign them to be the new priest class. All other tribes would retain their firstborn sons, then depending on the righteousness of more pure families to keep their connection to God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 12:50-51

50 Thus did all the children of Israel; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

51 And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

In the final verses of this chapter we hear that the Israelites did all that they were instructed by the Lord. Of course, it is easier to be faithful when one has just been redeemed. In the flush of victory, obedience can become effortless. The Israelites had just gone from slavery to absolute freedom literally overnight. At this point there was no wilderness, no hardship, and no temptation to be doubtful or stubborn. But all of those hardships would come, and then faith and compliance would be far more precious.

Of course, we do anticipate a time when we all worldly burdens will finally be taken from our shoulders forever. We will have a respite from hardship and sin without end, and then being faithful should be perfectly effortless. But that time will only come in the next life, whereas here on earth refuge and peace are only fleeting. We can have the occasional season of “all is well,” but things always darken eventually. We are not here to learn how to be faithful when unburdened, we are here to learn how to be faithful no matter what. In every situation. And if it ends up taking forty years in the wilderness for us to get to that point, then so be it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 12:48-49

48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will 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 one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.

49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.

In these verses we have the first instances of God providing a path for a any person, even one who was not a direct descendant of Abraham, to become a part of His covenant people. Previously, God had chosen specific individuals to extend His promises to. Isaac was chosen and not Ishmael, Jacob and not Esau. Now, though, any outsider could enter into the fold of God through the sign of being circumcised. Then they would be “as one that is born in the land.”

“As one that is born in the land” means to receive the same rights, privileges, and covenants that chosen people enjoyed. They would receive the same promises that God had given to Abraham, with all of its accompanying blessings, both in this life and the next, culminating in the promise of eternal salvation. This was the most generous and hopeful gift imaginable, a path to salvation for all, an opening of the doors that Jesus would expand further many years later.

But it was, of course, necessary for the outsider to sincerely take on the Hebrew covenants and obligations to receive these promises. Too often it is argued that since the gospel is freely offered to all people that it cannot then have any requirements of those people. But the thing that is being freely offered is a law, while obtaining the positive outcomes of that law depend on it being followed. The gift from God is the opportunity to first accept His terms and then receive His rewards.

God reinforces this in verse 49 when He says “one law…to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.” One law, but God has described two different outcomes: one where a person becomes a part of the covenant through circumcision and one where a person remains a outsider by declining God’s offer. God is not contradicting Himself by stating “one law,” but with two outcomes, as every law necessarily separates people into different categories. Having a legal age limit to drive, for example, is just one law, but it dictates two outcomes depending on a citizen’s age. So, too, God’s law is freely given to all, but that doesn’t mean that the positive side of it is in force for all, only for those who meet the terms for it. That is still a gift, though, because it is a path for us to claim God’s greatest blessings, where otherwise we would not have any means to do that.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 12:43-47

43 And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:

44 But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.

45 A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.

46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.

47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

God instructed how the Passover feast was to be conducted in relation to those who were not natively part of Israel. This would include both foreigners and servants, and servants were further divided between owned servants and hired servants. Only the owned servant were eligible to participate in the Passover, and only if the servant had been circumcised, thus making him an official part of the Israelite household. He would then live under the umbrella of the lord of the house and would observe the same rituals that his master did.

Hired servants and other foreigners would still be free men under their own jurisdiction. As such, they were not to be included in the feast, and were, in fact, forbidden from participating.

Meanwhile, of the native Israelites God instructed that “all the congregation shall keep it.” There were to be no exceptions, regardless of age, gender, position, or status. Each family was responsible to host the meal in their own house (or in the house of a neighbor if both families were small), but not to pass food from one abode to another.

In all of this I see the Passover as being symbolic of receiving the testimony of the gospel. The foreigner and the hired servants represent the outside unbelievers, who the true disciple may otherwise associate with, but which are still distinct and do not hold the same convictions and responsibilities. The owned servant is the new convert, temporarily borrowing from the testimony of other believers, relying upon the nurturing of the experienced faithful. The native Israelites are the disciples who have fully come into their own testimony, no longer relying on the faith of another to be imparted to them. The Israelite household is the sphere of faithfulness that the true disciple maintains, capable of nurturing and sheltering all who dwell within its borders. We are all meant to progress from the foreigner, to the servant, to the native as we receive our first testimony, increase it from the strength of others, and finally come to a fulness of our own.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 12:40-42

40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

42 It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.

In these verses we learn that the Israelites lived in Egypt for a total of 430 years. Of course, not all of that time was spent in servitude. There is an unspecific gap of time between when Jacob and his sons came into the land and when a later Pharaoh decided to subjugate the Israelite people. It seems likely that most of their time was spent in freedom, as they were not put under Egyptian oppression until they had grown to a mighty number, and the population growth would have started relatively slowly, becoming exponentially greater with each passing generation.

430 years was long enough to make all the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the great patriarchs, distant history to the current generation. Consider that 430 years before today’s date would have been 1593, which was the time period of William Shakespeare and Galileo Galilei. Shakespeare is as far removed to us as Jacob was to Moses. Not completely removed, still well known and with a clear line of connection in between, but removed still the same.

Thus, it was a new Israelite nation that emerged from Egypt, far different from the one that went in. This new Israelite nation was one that knew nothing of its forefathers’ land of inheritance. It was one that had become accustomed to living under another’s rule. It was one that had been surrounded by all manner of false gods and strange practices. But in spite of all this they were being called to reconnect with their foreordained place in the world.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 12:21-23

21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.

22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

23 For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

Thus far we have heard the instructions that God relayed to Moses and Aaron, now we have an account of Moses and Aaron repeating the instructions to the elders of Israel. A few more details emerge in this telling, such the Israelites using hyssop for their brush, dabbing it in the blood of the lamb and striking it upon all three parts of their door: the lintel and both posts.

Hyssop was a shrub native to the area, renown for its medicinal properties. It appears multiple times throughout the Biblical record, perhaps most notably when it is dipped in vinegar and raised to the lips of Jesus when he thirsted on the cross. It is, therefore, yet another symbol that ties Israel’s sacrifice of the lamb at Passover to the atonement of Jesus Christ. It also occurs to me that the lintel of the door and its two accompanying posts could also be considered a representation of Christ between the two thieves at the time of his crucifixion.

The Israelites were also warned that they must not exit their houses during that night. The following text then suggests that God, Himself, would pass through their midst, personally walking their streets and observing the blood upon their door posts. Perhaps not only God, either, for there is also reference to “the destroyer,” whom God would not allow into the protected houses. This is a very dramatic image, and whether it described things as they would occur literally or symbolically, it seems clear that God was very near to His people in this pivotal moment, His power all about them, even while they dwelled in the midst of an enemy.