Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 19:1) In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, that same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai. (2) For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the desert of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mountain.
The third month of the Jewish calendar, Sivan, contained part of our May and part of June. It was then that the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sinai. The above passage could also be read that it was three months after they left Egypt that they came into the wilderness of Sinai. That day was one and the same, as the new calendar began on the original Passover when the Israelites began the great exodus (Exodus 12:2). The people had left Rephidim and had come to the wilderness or desert of Sinai. I have noted previously that Horeb and Sinai were two peaks of the same mountain. Horeb was on the western side, near to which lay the plain of Rephidim, and Sinai was on the eastern side, at which the wilderness or desert of that same name lay. The Israelites camped at the foot of the mountain.
In this particular chronological study, I am using an order set forth by Skip Andrews. It now takes me to Numbers 33:15:
(Numbers 33:15) And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai.
This is just an abbreviated account of the same fact. We now return to Exodus 19:
(Exodus 19:3) And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: (4) ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.'"
Moses went up to God, which suggests that God was in the pillar of cloud now situated above the top of the mountain. The Lord called to Moses from there and told him to speak to the people, calling them both "the house of Jacob" and "the children of Israel". Perhaps this was to remind them of Jacob's former and lower state of life as the people may have likewise felt lowly, but now they were called by the name given Jacob by God as they were partakers of the promises made to Jacob or Israel. God told Moses to remind the people of what He had done to the Egyptians, and how He lifted the children of Israel up and carried them as on eagles' wings, denoting the strength, size, speed, and care, with which He brought them to Himself.
(5) "‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant,
then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the
earth is Mine. (6) And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Moses was to tell the people that God had said to them if they would obey Him and keep His covenant, they would be His special people above all people, as He had sovereignty over the whole world. They would be a holy nation of priests consecrated to God. Instead of being in their former lowly state of servitude to the Egyptians, they would become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation of God.
(7) And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. (8) And all the people answered together, and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses returned the words of the people to the LORD.
Moses took the words of the Lord to the elders of the people and laid before them God's proposal for a covenant between Him and the people. I assume that the elders then took the words to the people, or else they answered for the people; either way, the people answered unanimously that they would do just as the Lord had spoken. Moses then took the words of the people back to the Lord.
(9) And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” And Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.
I believe the point of what the Lord was telling Moses was that He would come to Moses in a different form that they would recognize as their Lord speaking directly to Moses, so that they would know that the Lord spoke directly with Moses, and they could forever trust him. This "thick" cloud would be different from the normal pillar of cloud the people were used to seeing. This cloud is better described in a later verse as a smoke of a fire that enveloped the whole mountain and the mountain even quaked (Exodus 9:18). The fact that Moses told the Lord the words of the people is repeated. It seems like the thoughts put forth in this verse are reversed, but at any rate, Moses relayed to the Lord the unanimous words of the people, and the Lord told Moses He would speak to him in a manner that the people would have no doubt was the Lord speaking directly to him.
(10) And the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. (11) And be ready for the third day; for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people on mount Sinai."
The Lord told Moses to go back to the people and they were to purify themselves inside (spiritually, set aside for the Lord) and out for the next couple of days, for on the third day the Lord would come down Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
(12) “And you shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up into the mountain or touch its border; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. (13) There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether man or beast, it shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.”
Moses was to set up a boundary for the people and and to tell them that they be careful not to go up on the mountain or even touch its border, under penalty of death. My first thought was that whoever touched the mountain would not necessarily be "put to death", but would instantly die, because God was a consuming fire Who could not be approached. However, the scripture seems clear that anyone touching it was to be put to death by stoning or shot with an arrow. All the early commentaries agree that the "it" in the first part of verse 13 refers to the one who dared to disobey and touch (or the animal that wandered up and touched) the mountain, rather than the mountain itself. No one was to touch or try to pull back the one that touched the mountain, as he or it would be an unclean and accursed thing and should rather be immediately stoned or shot. When the trumpet sounded long, that was the people's signal to come to the mountain, but obviously not up it.
(14) And Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. (15) And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come at your wives.”
Moses went down from the mountain that apparently he alone was allowed to climb, to go back to ready and purify the people. They washed their clothes, and Moses told them to even abstain from sexual relations with their wives in order to be purified and sanctified before the Lord.
(16) And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. (17) And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the lowest part of the mountain.
On the third day, when the Lord had said He would come down the mountain to the people, in that morning there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud on the mountain. A trumpet sounded so loudly that the people in the camp trembled. We can only imagine the awesome power and terror with which the Lord began His descent to the people. There was thunder and lightning and a long sound of a trumpet so loud it must have come from a band of angels, and it terrified the people and made them tremble. Moses brought the people out of the camp to the foot of the mountain to meet with God.
(18) And Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
Not only had there been thunder and lightning, and a tremendous sound of trumpeting, but now there was fire and smoke and the whole mountain quaked. What an awesome and terrifying sight this must have been to the people, realizing the power of so great their God so near their presence!
(19) And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. (20) And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
The blast of the trumpet sounded long and became even louder. It would seem by the scripture that Moses, knowing this was the sign of the Lord coming down the mountain to meet the people, spoke to the Lord, and the Lord answered him by an audible voice. However, this event was recorded in the New Testament in Hebrews, chapter 12, and it appears that what Moses actually spoke was, "I exceedingly fear and quake" (Hebrews 12:21), to which the Lord answered in an audible voice, probably one designed to comfort and encourage Moses, as well as to be heard and understood by the people. The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai and called Moses up to the top of the mountain, and Moses indeed went up.
(21) And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish. (22) And let the priests also, who come near the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.”
It appears that just as Moses went up the mountain to the Lord, he was sent back down with a message to the people. The Lord did not want their curiosity to get the better of them and cause their deaths, so He sent Moses to warn them not to break through to sneak a peek at the Lord. The Lord had a warning for the priests, as well. Perhaps because of their positions as priests, they might have felt they had no need of extra purification, but it seems the Lord was warning them to make sure and sanctify themselves lest the Lord break forth and smite them. Up until the time that the Lord instituted the Aaronic priesthood, priestly duties and sacrifices were performed by the firstborn or heads of families. Even these priests, who officiated for their respective families, and were therefore said to come near to the Lord at other times, must now keep their distance, and conduct themselves with a great deal of caution.
(23) And Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and sanctify it.’”
Then Moses answered the Lord in a manner which suggested there was no need for him to do what the Lord had just told him to do, which I find interesting. He told the Lord that because He had already warned them, they had already taken precautions, set boundaries, and warned the people against crossing the set boundaries.
(24) And the LORD said to him, “Away, get down, and you shall come up, you, and Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break forth upon them.” (25) So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
Moses should have realized that the Lord knew better than he did that the people needed yet another reminder and warning. Dismissing Moses's reply that he need not go back down to the people to give them further warning, the Lord sent him back down to warn the people and the priests not to attempt to break through to come up to the Lord. However, the Lord did tell Moses that Aaron might come back up with him, but no one else. So Moses went back down to speak to the people as the Lord commanded him.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Jethro's Wise Counsel and the Appointment of Judges
Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 18:1) When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses's father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt; (2) Then Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses's wife, after he had sent her back,
Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard all that the Lord had done for Moses and the children of Israel, bringing them out of Egypt. He then took his daughter, Moses's wife, Zipporah, and went to meet him. It is not clear when Zipporah and Moses's sons returned to Midian to her father, but it may have been when they were on the way to Egypt from Midian, at the inn, when Zipporah took the sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses's feet (Exodus 4:25). That was the last we read of her until now. Perhaps she had been alarmed at the danger to which one of her sons had been exposed, and afraid of even worse, left Moses and returned to her father. Or perhaps Moses, foreseeing the troubles to which his wife and children were likely to be exposed had he taken them to Egypt, sent them back to his father-in-law until such time when God would deliver His people. Jethro, now finding that God had delivered them and destroyed their enemies, went to visit Moses and to bring his wife and sons back to him.
(3) And her two sons, of whom the name of one was Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land”; (4) And the name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”. (5) And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God.
Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took Moses's wife, Zipporah, and his two sons with him. Gershom was Moses's firstborn son, as we read in Exodus 2:22, and his name literally meant "refugee"; he was born when Moses had fled to Midian to escape Pharaoh and was a stranger in that foreign land. Moses's second son was Eliezer, which literally meant "God of help" or "God is help"; he so named him because God was his help and delivered him from Pharaoh. Jethro came with Zipporah and her sons Gershom and Eliezer, to Moses in the wilderness where he camped at Mount Horeb.
(6) And he said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.” (7) And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him; and they asked each other about their welfare, and they went into the tent.
Jethro obviously sent word to Moses when he was a way off that he was coming with Moses's wife and children. Moses went out to meet him, bowed out of respect to him, kissed him, and they each asked about how the other was doing, and then went inside the tent.
(8) And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. (9) And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.
Moses told Jethro about all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians in order to deliver Israel from their hands. He told him about all the hardships they had encountered in the wilderness, and how the Lord had delivered them out of each and every one. Jethro was very happy to hear of all the good things the Lord had done for Israel.
(10) And Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. (11) Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, for in the thing in which they dealt proudly, He was above them.”
Jethro gave the glory to God for what He had done. Now Jethro knew that the Lord was greater than all the other gods. In all the ways they acted proudly, whether it was the way they enslaved the children of Israel, or the magicians who tried to mimic the Lord, or Pharaoh himself laying down the law, in all the ways they dealt proudly, the Lord was greater than the Egyptians and all their gods. It was Matthew Henry who pointed out in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, "While the Israelites were themselves murmuring, notwithstanding all God's goodness to them, here was a Midianite rejoicing." Jethro was a priest, a Midianite priest. What exactly did that mean with regard to his belief in the one true God? He was a godly man; that part seems obvious by his words and behavior. I don't believe Moses would have married the daughter of a pagan priest. Some say he was always a believer in the one true God, and this was just confirmation to him. Others believe he was at this time converted to the one true God. I believe it might be a little of both. Midian was a son of Abraham from his wife Keturah (Gen. 25:1-2). I have read that the Midianites worshiped a variety of gods, but as Abrahamic descendants, they would have had knowledge of the one true God. From scripture, we have to assume they had indeed turned away from the one true God as they were not included with God's children of Israel. Jethro, having knowledge of the one true God, and having now heard of His miraculous rescue and provision for His people, was convinced that this was the one true God, greater than all other gods he may have worshiped previously.
(12) And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses's father-in-law before God.
I believe it may have been to confirm with a sign of his belief in the one true God, and his desire to worship and give glory to the Lord, that Jethro then gave a burnt offering and offered sacrifices to the Lord. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to share and eat in the place of the offered sacrifices to the Lord.
(13) And it came to pass on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. (14) And when Moses's father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit, and all the people stand by you from morning until evening?” (15) And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. (16) When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.”
Even though his father-in-law had come for a visit, it appears that on the next day, Moses was back to work, apparently counseling the people, answering inquiries, and judging controversies between people. It appears to have been an unending task, as people were lined up before him from morning until evening. Jethro asked Moses about it, I think his point being why Moses "alone" sat and judged the people from morning until evening. Moses answered matter-of-factly that he did it because the people came to him. He realized that they saw that God worked through Moses and spoke to him, so they came to him to know the will of God; and I am sure Moses was happy to be a mediator between God and the people, happy that they trusted him to be led by God, and happy they sought their Lord's will. Additionally, when the people had a matter they could not solve, they came to Moses to judge between the parties, making known God's laws in each situation.
(17) And Moses's father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. (18) You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself."
How many times do good people of integrity pile too much on themselves thinking it is their responsibility? Jethro, as the wise father-in-law, was teaching Moses to delegate! Sometimes it takes an outsider to see more clearly what is going on and what is needed. Jethro could see it was no good the way it was being done at present. Not that anything was morally wrong, but he could see how time consuming it was, and that Moses would wear himself out at that rate, and then wouldn't be any good to any of the people. The people's patience would probably wear thin having to wait in lines all day to hear what Moses had to say.
(19) “Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the causes to God. (20) And you shall teach them ordinances and laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do."
Jethro was a wise man and may have been given understanding and a solution to Moses's problem by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He had just confessed that the Lord was greatest of all, and had sacrificed to the Lord, and might well have received insights from the Holy Spirit, as he made it a point to tell Moses to listen to him, he would give him counsel, and God would be with him. Moses was to stand before God between God and the people as their mediator, which sounds like what he had been doing, but it would come to mean just the difficult cases would come before Moses. Moses would teach the people about God's ordinances and laws; then they would not have to bring every little thing to him. He would not just teach them legalism, but he would show them the way in which they should walk before the Lord, and the works they should do. He would teach them about their way of life as children of the Lord.
(21) “Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. (22) And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. (23) If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.”
Additionally, Moses was to select men from all the people to be "rulers", as the scripture says, but their jobs appear to be judges; perhaps "wardens" or "overseers" or "managers" might be the preferred definitions of the word "sar". Although scripture doesn't say exactly how this was to work, I found this rather concise and sensible description of how it worked from the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by Canne, Browne, Blayney, Scott, and others: "Whatever matter the decarch, or ruler over ten, could not decide, went to the pentecontarch, or ruler of fifty, and thence by degrees to the hecatontarch, or ruler over a hundred, to the chiliarch, or ruler over a thousand, to Moses, and at length to God himself. Each magistrate had the care or inspection of only ten men; the decarch superintended ten private characters; the hecatontarch ten decarchs; and the chiliarch, ten hecatontarchs."
I love this description of how Moses was to select judges! They were to be men who feared God, men of truth, and unselfish men who hated covetousness, the idea being that they would do their work for God, and would never pervert justice for personal gain. Imagine if we selected judges by that criteria now! Our land wouldn't be filled with the blood of tens of millions of unborn babies, for one thing! The men Moses selected were to judge at all times, taking care of all the small matters, bringing to Moses only what was too difficult for them to judge. In this way, it would be easier on Moses, as he would have "lower court judges", so to speak, bearing some of the burden of judging the people with him. Jethro offered this good advice and plan, but was modest enough to leave the decision of whether or not to invoke it, to Moses under the direction of God. However, if he did follow this plan, Jethro added that Moses would be able to endure and continue helping the people, and the people would be able to go to their places in peace, having had their disputes handled in a much more timely manner.
(24) So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
Knowing the nature of Moses, I am quite sure he did pray about the matter and receive confirmation from God, and did follow the advice of his father-in-law. Moses was not afraid to take the advice of an outsider or "inferior". John Wesley said it well, "Those are not so wise as they would be thought to be, who think themselves too wise to be counselled; for a wise man will hear, and will increase learning, and not slight good counsel, though given by an inferior."
(25) And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. (26) And they judged the people at all seasons; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
Moses indeed chose judges from among the people and made them heads of groups of people, and they judged the people's smaller matters at all times. Only the more difficult cases were brought to Moses.
(27) And Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way to his own land.
After that, Moses "let" his father-in-law leave. Perhaps he had been encouraging him to stay, as many of the commentaries I read point to a passage in Numbers believing it to be the same time as this, when Moses was doing just that. Perhaps he reluctantly allowed this wise counselor and aid to him to depart back to his own country. It does seem that Jethro now had, if not a new, definitely a renewed and enhanced knowledge of the Lord that he would now take back to his people in Midian. I am struck by this awesome example of how God often uses people to enact His will. God could have easily told Moses Himself how to set up this "judicial system". By using Jethro, someone who could have been considered Moses's inferior, Moses was helped by remaining humble and teachable. A "lesser" man could have certainly become terribly prideful by this time. God, in His mercy, was constantly teaching and refining Moses. In addition, think of all the good that could come from Jethro going back to his people to tell them of all that the Lord had done, and how he was convinced that He was the greatest of all gods. I always love watching a Godly plan come together!
(Exodus 18:1) When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses's father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt; (2) Then Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses's wife, after he had sent her back,
Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard all that the Lord had done for Moses and the children of Israel, bringing them out of Egypt. He then took his daughter, Moses's wife, Zipporah, and went to meet him. It is not clear when Zipporah and Moses's sons returned to Midian to her father, but it may have been when they were on the way to Egypt from Midian, at the inn, when Zipporah took the sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses's feet (Exodus 4:25). That was the last we read of her until now. Perhaps she had been alarmed at the danger to which one of her sons had been exposed, and afraid of even worse, left Moses and returned to her father. Or perhaps Moses, foreseeing the troubles to which his wife and children were likely to be exposed had he taken them to Egypt, sent them back to his father-in-law until such time when God would deliver His people. Jethro, now finding that God had delivered them and destroyed their enemies, went to visit Moses and to bring his wife and sons back to him.
(3) And her two sons, of whom the name of one was Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land”; (4) And the name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”. (5) And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God.
Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took Moses's wife, Zipporah, and his two sons with him. Gershom was Moses's firstborn son, as we read in Exodus 2:22, and his name literally meant "refugee"; he was born when Moses had fled to Midian to escape Pharaoh and was a stranger in that foreign land. Moses's second son was Eliezer, which literally meant "God of help" or "God is help"; he so named him because God was his help and delivered him from Pharaoh. Jethro came with Zipporah and her sons Gershom and Eliezer, to Moses in the wilderness where he camped at Mount Horeb.
(6) And he said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.” (7) And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him; and they asked each other about their welfare, and they went into the tent.
Jethro obviously sent word to Moses when he was a way off that he was coming with Moses's wife and children. Moses went out to meet him, bowed out of respect to him, kissed him, and they each asked about how the other was doing, and then went inside the tent.
(8) And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. (9) And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.
Moses told Jethro about all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians in order to deliver Israel from their hands. He told him about all the hardships they had encountered in the wilderness, and how the Lord had delivered them out of each and every one. Jethro was very happy to hear of all the good things the Lord had done for Israel.
(10) And Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. (11) Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, for in the thing in which they dealt proudly, He was above them.”
Jethro gave the glory to God for what He had done. Now Jethro knew that the Lord was greater than all the other gods. In all the ways they acted proudly, whether it was the way they enslaved the children of Israel, or the magicians who tried to mimic the Lord, or Pharaoh himself laying down the law, in all the ways they dealt proudly, the Lord was greater than the Egyptians and all their gods. It was Matthew Henry who pointed out in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, "While the Israelites were themselves murmuring, notwithstanding all God's goodness to them, here was a Midianite rejoicing." Jethro was a priest, a Midianite priest. What exactly did that mean with regard to his belief in the one true God? He was a godly man; that part seems obvious by his words and behavior. I don't believe Moses would have married the daughter of a pagan priest. Some say he was always a believer in the one true God, and this was just confirmation to him. Others believe he was at this time converted to the one true God. I believe it might be a little of both. Midian was a son of Abraham from his wife Keturah (Gen. 25:1-2). I have read that the Midianites worshiped a variety of gods, but as Abrahamic descendants, they would have had knowledge of the one true God. From scripture, we have to assume they had indeed turned away from the one true God as they were not included with God's children of Israel. Jethro, having knowledge of the one true God, and having now heard of His miraculous rescue and provision for His people, was convinced that this was the one true God, greater than all other gods he may have worshiped previously.
(12) And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses's father-in-law before God.
I believe it may have been to confirm with a sign of his belief in the one true God, and his desire to worship and give glory to the Lord, that Jethro then gave a burnt offering and offered sacrifices to the Lord. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to share and eat in the place of the offered sacrifices to the Lord.
(13) And it came to pass on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. (14) And when Moses's father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit, and all the people stand by you from morning until evening?” (15) And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. (16) When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.”
Even though his father-in-law had come for a visit, it appears that on the next day, Moses was back to work, apparently counseling the people, answering inquiries, and judging controversies between people. It appears to have been an unending task, as people were lined up before him from morning until evening. Jethro asked Moses about it, I think his point being why Moses "alone" sat and judged the people from morning until evening. Moses answered matter-of-factly that he did it because the people came to him. He realized that they saw that God worked through Moses and spoke to him, so they came to him to know the will of God; and I am sure Moses was happy to be a mediator between God and the people, happy that they trusted him to be led by God, and happy they sought their Lord's will. Additionally, when the people had a matter they could not solve, they came to Moses to judge between the parties, making known God's laws in each situation.
(17) And Moses's father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. (18) You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself."
How many times do good people of integrity pile too much on themselves thinking it is their responsibility? Jethro, as the wise father-in-law, was teaching Moses to delegate! Sometimes it takes an outsider to see more clearly what is going on and what is needed. Jethro could see it was no good the way it was being done at present. Not that anything was morally wrong, but he could see how time consuming it was, and that Moses would wear himself out at that rate, and then wouldn't be any good to any of the people. The people's patience would probably wear thin having to wait in lines all day to hear what Moses had to say.
(19) “Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the causes to God. (20) And you shall teach them ordinances and laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do."
Jethro was a wise man and may have been given understanding and a solution to Moses's problem by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He had just confessed that the Lord was greatest of all, and had sacrificed to the Lord, and might well have received insights from the Holy Spirit, as he made it a point to tell Moses to listen to him, he would give him counsel, and God would be with him. Moses was to stand before God between God and the people as their mediator, which sounds like what he had been doing, but it would come to mean just the difficult cases would come before Moses. Moses would teach the people about God's ordinances and laws; then they would not have to bring every little thing to him. He would not just teach them legalism, but he would show them the way in which they should walk before the Lord, and the works they should do. He would teach them about their way of life as children of the Lord.
(21) “Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. (22) And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. (23) If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.”
Additionally, Moses was to select men from all the people to be "rulers", as the scripture says, but their jobs appear to be judges; perhaps "wardens" or "overseers" or "managers" might be the preferred definitions of the word "sar". Although scripture doesn't say exactly how this was to work, I found this rather concise and sensible description of how it worked from the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by Canne, Browne, Blayney, Scott, and others: "Whatever matter the decarch, or ruler over ten, could not decide, went to the pentecontarch, or ruler of fifty, and thence by degrees to the hecatontarch, or ruler over a hundred, to the chiliarch, or ruler over a thousand, to Moses, and at length to God himself. Each magistrate had the care or inspection of only ten men; the decarch superintended ten private characters; the hecatontarch ten decarchs; and the chiliarch, ten hecatontarchs."
I love this description of how Moses was to select judges! They were to be men who feared God, men of truth, and unselfish men who hated covetousness, the idea being that they would do their work for God, and would never pervert justice for personal gain. Imagine if we selected judges by that criteria now! Our land wouldn't be filled with the blood of tens of millions of unborn babies, for one thing! The men Moses selected were to judge at all times, taking care of all the small matters, bringing to Moses only what was too difficult for them to judge. In this way, it would be easier on Moses, as he would have "lower court judges", so to speak, bearing some of the burden of judging the people with him. Jethro offered this good advice and plan, but was modest enough to leave the decision of whether or not to invoke it, to Moses under the direction of God. However, if he did follow this plan, Jethro added that Moses would be able to endure and continue helping the people, and the people would be able to go to their places in peace, having had their disputes handled in a much more timely manner.
(24) So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
Knowing the nature of Moses, I am quite sure he did pray about the matter and receive confirmation from God, and did follow the advice of his father-in-law. Moses was not afraid to take the advice of an outsider or "inferior". John Wesley said it well, "Those are not so wise as they would be thought to be, who think themselves too wise to be counselled; for a wise man will hear, and will increase learning, and not slight good counsel, though given by an inferior."
(25) And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. (26) And they judged the people at all seasons; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
Moses indeed chose judges from among the people and made them heads of groups of people, and they judged the people's smaller matters at all times. Only the more difficult cases were brought to Moses.
(27) And Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way to his own land.
After that, Moses "let" his father-in-law leave. Perhaps he had been encouraging him to stay, as many of the commentaries I read point to a passage in Numbers believing it to be the same time as this, when Moses was doing just that. Perhaps he reluctantly allowed this wise counselor and aid to him to depart back to his own country. It does seem that Jethro now had, if not a new, definitely a renewed and enhanced knowledge of the Lord that he would now take back to his people in Midian. I am struck by this awesome example of how God often uses people to enact His will. God could have easily told Moses Himself how to set up this "judicial system". By using Jethro, someone who could have been considered Moses's inferior, Moses was helped by remaining humble and teachable. A "lesser" man could have certainly become terribly prideful by this time. God, in His mercy, was constantly teaching and refining Moses. In addition, think of all the good that could come from Jethro going back to his people to tell them of all that the Lord had done, and how he was convinced that He was the greatest of all gods. I always love watching a Godly plan come together!
Sunday, November 23, 2014
The Lord is My Banner
Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 17:1) And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink.
In their wilderness trek, the children of Israel now journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Rephidim. It was by instruction from God that the people were led to camp there, and yet they came to a place where there was no water for them to drink. The chronological study I am doing is one ordered by Skip Andrews, and it now takes me to Numbers 33, which gave a little more detail:
(Numbers 33:12) And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. (13) And they departed from Dophkah and camped at Alush. (14) And they moved from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
We see from this passage that actually the Lord led the people through two other stations (Dophkah and Alush), before bringing them to Rephidim. Moses, in his Exodus account, apparently didn't record every camp probably because nothing eventful took place there; now the people were brought to a place where they were again wanting water and not finding it. Now back to Exodus:
(Exodus 17:2) Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the LORD?”
The people, unbelievably, quarrel with Moses and demand water from him. Had they not learned anything from their last need of water (and their subsequent need of food) that was ultimately provided by their Lord? Moses again directed them away from him and to their actual supplier, the Lord. He accused them of tempting the Lord because they obviously did not have faith in Him to provide them with water, even though He had shown Himself to be faithful in providing all their needs up to this point.
(3) And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”
Moses had already addressed the people and reminded them it was not him to whom they should complain. Then it said "they thirsted...and the people murmured", so I would assume because they didn't immediately get water after contending with Moses the first time, they really started murmuring and complaining, once again using the old complaint that he brought them out of Egypt just to kill them in the wilderness. Being without water would have been especially hard on children and cattle, so perhaps the meaning is not that they truly thought that Moses brought them out to kill them, but that they sincerely believed that would certainly be the result if they didn't get water soon.
(4) And Moses cried to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”
Moses cried out to the Lord because it seems the anger of the people toward Moses was so great that he believed they were ready to stone him. He didn't necessarily pray that God do something for the people, as I believe he had shown in what he said just before, that He knew the Lord would provide for the people, but he honestly did not know what to do with this people whose fevered pitch was so high that he feared they were about to stone him.
(5) And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. (6) Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
The Lord told Moses to go out before the people, taking with him some of the elders, and it seems direct them nearer to a particular rock at Mount Horeb. I have read the rock remains to this day, and is red granite, 15 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 12 feet high, and lies in the wilderness of Rephidim, to the west of Mount Horeb. The Lord told Moses to take his rod with him, specifically his rod with which he had struck the river. The Lord would stand upon that rock; probably that pillar of cloud that led them through the wilderness would then stand on that particular rock. Moses was to take his rod and strike the rock and water would come out of it for the people to drink. Moses did as the Lord instructed, and he did it in the sight of the elders.
(7) And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
"Massah" meant "temptation", and "Meribah" meant "strife" or "contention". It is unclear to me if there were two different places, or if Moses called the place two different names in remembrance of the people's murmuring against the Lord. It doesn't appear that the scholars of old had a consensus either. Since they were at one rock, and the scripture said, "he called the name of the place...", I choose to believe Moses called the place by both names. He was memorializing not the miracle of the provision of water by the Lord, but the people's tempting of the Lord and their contention with him. It seems the people actually questioned whether or not the Lord was among them or not. That makes the fact that the Lord presented Himself on that rock at Horeb seem a direct answer to the people's question. Yes, indeed, He was with them, and He alone provided them with water.
(8) Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
Amalek was the son of Eliphaz, who was the son of Esau (Gen. 36:12), and the Amalekites may have held some hatred for the people of Israel because of Jacob's birthright and blessing, as has been suggested. However, this may have been a random attack for the purpose of plunder. According to another passage in Deuteronomy (Deut. 25:17-18), the Amalekites did not boldly confront the Israelites as a nation invading their land, but rather came up from behind and attacked their feeble, faint, and weary ones who lagged behind. It may be that both facts were true. The Amalekites thought of the Israelites as enemies, and they sneakily attacked them from behind so as to plunder them more easily. The timing of this attack is interesting, too. Did God send the Amalekites because the people had tested Him? I'm not suggesting it was a punishment, but it certainly became a teaching moment. God certainly allowed the attack, just as He allowed all the struggles for food and water. His people easily could have been constantly provided with a steady stream of food and water and easy sailing, but facing these daily difficulties and having them daily remedied by their Lord, kept them in constant remembrance and dependence on God. How quickly we forget the blessings of the Lord when we have hardship! Sadly, it seems we must be reminded daily, and in His mercy, our sweet Lord patiently gives us what we need.
(9) And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” (10) So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
Moses called on Joshua to choose and organize men to go out and fight the Amalekites. Meanwhile, he said he himself would stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand. Moses had called on Joshua to lead the men into battle, but he himself had a most important job, as well. On top of the hill, in view of the Israelite army, with that rod of God lifted up as encouragement and a reminder of God's promise and provision, Moses surely prayed to God and spiritually ministered to the children of Israel. Joshua did as Moses has directed him, and likewise, Moses, with Aaron and Hur, went to the top of the hill. We will find that they were needed to assist Moses. Aaron is, of course, Moses's brother, and it has been written by the historian Josephus that Hur was Miriam's (the sister of Moses and Aaron) husband. That part is not clear in scripture, but he was obviously someone in whom Moses had much confidence, as he was paired with Aaron by Moses another time, as well (Exo. 24:14).
(11) And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
There are a couple of different ways to look at this verse. From verse 9, we learned that Moses planned to stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand. When the rod was up, it may have inspired the Israelites to fight on, and when they could not see it, their hearts failed them and the Amalekites prevailed. The verse could refer to Moses raising his hands toward heaven in prayer. The ancient targums interpreted it that way. Dr. John Gill wrote that even among the "heathens", Moses "was famous for the efficacy of his prayers". Perhaps when Moses was the most stretched out and upward in prayer, he was the most fervent in prayer, and Israel prevailed; and when he faltered in prayer, Amalek prevailed. Probably both ways of looking at this verse are correct. When Moses was stretched upward to heaven, he was the most fervent in prayer, AND the Israelites saw the rod which inspired them to go onward. When Moses faltered in prayer, likewise did the people when they couldn't see the rod of God. Either way, or both ways, it's a perfect illustration of the spiritual battle in which we are engaged daily. When God is lifted up, we are victorious over our spiritual enemies, and when we falter in our faith and in our walk with God, the enemy can prevail. The daily battles move back and forth from victory to defeat, and it is a reminder that we should be in constant prayer with our Lord, the One from whom all victories come.
(12) But Moses's hands were heavy; and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Moses became tired and weary and he couldn't keep his hands held upward, so they brought him a stone so that he could sit down, and Aaron and Hur, on either side of him, held his hands upward, and in this way, he was able to keep them up until the sun went down. And when his hand was up, we know that Israel prevailed.
(13) And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
In fact, we do read that Joshua and his army defeated the Amalekites in this, the first war of the Israelites.
(14) And the LORD said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
God told Moses to specifically and literally write about this war in a book to be a lasting memorial. It was to be recounted especially in Joshua's hearing because God would eventually completely blot out the memory of the Amalekites. The Israelites had not yet completely annihilated the Amalekites, but Joshua was chief in this first war against them. God knew His plans for Joshua, and I believe He wanted Joshua especially to remember what Amalek had done to Israel and especially how God had saved them from Amalek. He wanted him to know, as well as all posterity by the written account, that in the process of time Amalek would be totally destroyed and not even remembered (except, in history, I suppose).
(15) And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovahnissi; (16) For he said, “Because the LORD has sworn the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
Moses built an altar and called it Jehovahnissi, which literally meant, "Jehovah is my banner". The Israelites fought under the banner, and therefore under the direction of their Lord, in His name, and in defense of His truth. Much has been written about how this is the incorrect translation of verse 16. It is supposed what was meant, and what was scrambled by unfortunate translations of contractions and hyphens, was that because the hand of Amalek was upon the throne of God, therefore the Lord would have war with Amalek from generation to generation. I don't really have a problem with the KJV translation as it stands. The Lord indeed had already said that He would ultimately completely put out the remembrance of Amalek, which does insinuate there would be a continued struggle with Amalek until that obliteration was achieved. I believe making the altar to the Lord that was looked upon as their banner of their Lord, would serve as a reminder to the people that they were never to form any union with the Amalekites because they were sworn enemies of the Israelites, doomed to ruin. Dr. John Gill wrote this about Amalek: "Amalek may be considered as a type of antichrist, whose hand is against the throne of God, his tabernacle, and his saints; who, with all the antichristian states which make war with the Lamb, will be overcome and destroyed by him."
(Exodus 17:1) And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink.
In their wilderness trek, the children of Israel now journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Rephidim. It was by instruction from God that the people were led to camp there, and yet they came to a place where there was no water for them to drink. The chronological study I am doing is one ordered by Skip Andrews, and it now takes me to Numbers 33, which gave a little more detail:
(Numbers 33:12) And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. (13) And they departed from Dophkah and camped at Alush. (14) And they moved from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
We see from this passage that actually the Lord led the people through two other stations (Dophkah and Alush), before bringing them to Rephidim. Moses, in his Exodus account, apparently didn't record every camp probably because nothing eventful took place there; now the people were brought to a place where they were again wanting water and not finding it. Now back to Exodus:
(Exodus 17:2) Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the LORD?”
The people, unbelievably, quarrel with Moses and demand water from him. Had they not learned anything from their last need of water (and their subsequent need of food) that was ultimately provided by their Lord? Moses again directed them away from him and to their actual supplier, the Lord. He accused them of tempting the Lord because they obviously did not have faith in Him to provide them with water, even though He had shown Himself to be faithful in providing all their needs up to this point.
(3) And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”
Moses had already addressed the people and reminded them it was not him to whom they should complain. Then it said "they thirsted...and the people murmured", so I would assume because they didn't immediately get water after contending with Moses the first time, they really started murmuring and complaining, once again using the old complaint that he brought them out of Egypt just to kill them in the wilderness. Being without water would have been especially hard on children and cattle, so perhaps the meaning is not that they truly thought that Moses brought them out to kill them, but that they sincerely believed that would certainly be the result if they didn't get water soon.
(4) And Moses cried to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”
Moses cried out to the Lord because it seems the anger of the people toward Moses was so great that he believed they were ready to stone him. He didn't necessarily pray that God do something for the people, as I believe he had shown in what he said just before, that He knew the Lord would provide for the people, but he honestly did not know what to do with this people whose fevered pitch was so high that he feared they were about to stone him.
(5) And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. (6) Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
The Lord told Moses to go out before the people, taking with him some of the elders, and it seems direct them nearer to a particular rock at Mount Horeb. I have read the rock remains to this day, and is red granite, 15 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 12 feet high, and lies in the wilderness of Rephidim, to the west of Mount Horeb. The Lord told Moses to take his rod with him, specifically his rod with which he had struck the river. The Lord would stand upon that rock; probably that pillar of cloud that led them through the wilderness would then stand on that particular rock. Moses was to take his rod and strike the rock and water would come out of it for the people to drink. Moses did as the Lord instructed, and he did it in the sight of the elders.
(7) And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
"Massah" meant "temptation", and "Meribah" meant "strife" or "contention". It is unclear to me if there were two different places, or if Moses called the place two different names in remembrance of the people's murmuring against the Lord. It doesn't appear that the scholars of old had a consensus either. Since they were at one rock, and the scripture said, "he called the name of the place...", I choose to believe Moses called the place by both names. He was memorializing not the miracle of the provision of water by the Lord, but the people's tempting of the Lord and their contention with him. It seems the people actually questioned whether or not the Lord was among them or not. That makes the fact that the Lord presented Himself on that rock at Horeb seem a direct answer to the people's question. Yes, indeed, He was with them, and He alone provided them with water.
(8) Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
Amalek was the son of Eliphaz, who was the son of Esau (Gen. 36:12), and the Amalekites may have held some hatred for the people of Israel because of Jacob's birthright and blessing, as has been suggested. However, this may have been a random attack for the purpose of plunder. According to another passage in Deuteronomy (Deut. 25:17-18), the Amalekites did not boldly confront the Israelites as a nation invading their land, but rather came up from behind and attacked their feeble, faint, and weary ones who lagged behind. It may be that both facts were true. The Amalekites thought of the Israelites as enemies, and they sneakily attacked them from behind so as to plunder them more easily. The timing of this attack is interesting, too. Did God send the Amalekites because the people had tested Him? I'm not suggesting it was a punishment, but it certainly became a teaching moment. God certainly allowed the attack, just as He allowed all the struggles for food and water. His people easily could have been constantly provided with a steady stream of food and water and easy sailing, but facing these daily difficulties and having them daily remedied by their Lord, kept them in constant remembrance and dependence on God. How quickly we forget the blessings of the Lord when we have hardship! Sadly, it seems we must be reminded daily, and in His mercy, our sweet Lord patiently gives us what we need.
(9) And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” (10) So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
Moses called on Joshua to choose and organize men to go out and fight the Amalekites. Meanwhile, he said he himself would stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand. Moses had called on Joshua to lead the men into battle, but he himself had a most important job, as well. On top of the hill, in view of the Israelite army, with that rod of God lifted up as encouragement and a reminder of God's promise and provision, Moses surely prayed to God and spiritually ministered to the children of Israel. Joshua did as Moses has directed him, and likewise, Moses, with Aaron and Hur, went to the top of the hill. We will find that they were needed to assist Moses. Aaron is, of course, Moses's brother, and it has been written by the historian Josephus that Hur was Miriam's (the sister of Moses and Aaron) husband. That part is not clear in scripture, but he was obviously someone in whom Moses had much confidence, as he was paired with Aaron by Moses another time, as well (Exo. 24:14).
(11) And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
There are a couple of different ways to look at this verse. From verse 9, we learned that Moses planned to stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand. When the rod was up, it may have inspired the Israelites to fight on, and when they could not see it, their hearts failed them and the Amalekites prevailed. The verse could refer to Moses raising his hands toward heaven in prayer. The ancient targums interpreted it that way. Dr. John Gill wrote that even among the "heathens", Moses "was famous for the efficacy of his prayers". Perhaps when Moses was the most stretched out and upward in prayer, he was the most fervent in prayer, and Israel prevailed; and when he faltered in prayer, Amalek prevailed. Probably both ways of looking at this verse are correct. When Moses was stretched upward to heaven, he was the most fervent in prayer, AND the Israelites saw the rod which inspired them to go onward. When Moses faltered in prayer, likewise did the people when they couldn't see the rod of God. Either way, or both ways, it's a perfect illustration of the spiritual battle in which we are engaged daily. When God is lifted up, we are victorious over our spiritual enemies, and when we falter in our faith and in our walk with God, the enemy can prevail. The daily battles move back and forth from victory to defeat, and it is a reminder that we should be in constant prayer with our Lord, the One from whom all victories come.
(12) But Moses's hands were heavy; and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Moses became tired and weary and he couldn't keep his hands held upward, so they brought him a stone so that he could sit down, and Aaron and Hur, on either side of him, held his hands upward, and in this way, he was able to keep them up until the sun went down. And when his hand was up, we know that Israel prevailed.
(13) And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
In fact, we do read that Joshua and his army defeated the Amalekites in this, the first war of the Israelites.
(14) And the LORD said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
God told Moses to specifically and literally write about this war in a book to be a lasting memorial. It was to be recounted especially in Joshua's hearing because God would eventually completely blot out the memory of the Amalekites. The Israelites had not yet completely annihilated the Amalekites, but Joshua was chief in this first war against them. God knew His plans for Joshua, and I believe He wanted Joshua especially to remember what Amalek had done to Israel and especially how God had saved them from Amalek. He wanted him to know, as well as all posterity by the written account, that in the process of time Amalek would be totally destroyed and not even remembered (except, in history, I suppose).
(15) And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovahnissi; (16) For he said, “Because the LORD has sworn the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
Moses built an altar and called it Jehovahnissi, which literally meant, "Jehovah is my banner". The Israelites fought under the banner, and therefore under the direction of their Lord, in His name, and in defense of His truth. Much has been written about how this is the incorrect translation of verse 16. It is supposed what was meant, and what was scrambled by unfortunate translations of contractions and hyphens, was that because the hand of Amalek was upon the throne of God, therefore the Lord would have war with Amalek from generation to generation. I don't really have a problem with the KJV translation as it stands. The Lord indeed had already said that He would ultimately completely put out the remembrance of Amalek, which does insinuate there would be a continued struggle with Amalek until that obliteration was achieved. I believe making the altar to the Lord that was looked upon as their banner of their Lord, would serve as a reminder to the people that they were never to form any union with the Amalekites because they were sworn enemies of the Israelites, doomed to ruin. Dr. John Gill wrote this about Amalek: "Amalek may be considered as a type of antichrist, whose hand is against the throne of God, his tabernacle, and his saints; who, with all the antichristian states which make war with the Lamb, will be overcome and destroyed by him."
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Manna and the Bread of Life
Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 16:1) And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.
In the last study, the Israelites had come to Elim where there was plenty of water and shade, after having been without water three days and murmuring against Moses because of the bitter water they finally found at Marah. They now left Elim and went into the wilderness of Sin, which was between Elim and Sinai. It had been a month since they left Egypt for it was now the fifteenth day of the second month, and they had left Egypt on the fifteenth of Abib or Nisan, the first month.
(2) And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. (3) And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots and when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
And now the Israelites were complaining about Moses and Aaron again. It looks like they only had provisions for about a month, because they now complained about starving to death. It's not that they shouldn't be able to present to Moses their problem, but note how they did it. They always seem to be sarcastic and murmuring against Moses and Aaron rather than directly stating their problem. They actually said they would have rather died at the hand of the Lord in Egypt when at least they had their fill of meat and bread. This would seem to imply they would have preferred to be killed by the plagues with which God had struck Egypt rather than to starve to death in the desert. The Lord had just told them at the end of the last chapter that if they would heed the voice of the Lord and follow His commandments, that He would not bring any of the afflictions He had put on the Egyptians for He was the Lord who healed them. And now they used that very example of dying at His hands in Egypt as something they would prefer to have done rather than having faith that He would "heal" them from their hunger? What faithless ingrates! It's quite astonishing to read how quickly they lost faith after all they had witnessed and had been promised, yet I'm afraid and ashamed that it is a perfect example of how we all can get so easily disheartened when things get a little tough.
(4) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law or not. (5) And it shall come to pass that on the sixth day they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Moses had obviously in turn taken this problem to the Lord as he usually did when the people complained to him. The Lord answered this ungrateful murmuring crowd in the most kind and merciful way! He would rain bread from heaven for His children! He would provide their daily bread, but He would also be testing them. They would learn to trust and depend on Him to provide their daily needs, but just what they would need in a day. They were instructed to go out every day and gather the same amount they would need for that day. On the sixth day they would gather twice as much as they usually gathered in one day.
(6) And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt. (7) And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, for He hears your murmurings against the LORD; and what are we, that you murmur against us?”
Moses and Aaron then told the people that at evening they would know that the Lord had brought them out of Egypt. They obviously knew they had been brought out of Egypt, but they would realize it was completely the Lord's doing, and not by the work of Moses and Aaron, as they had claimed with their murmurings (verse 3). In the morning they would see the glory of the Lord; that word "kabod" meant "glory" and "splendor", and also "abundance" and "copiousness". They would see the glorious magnitude of their Lord, for He had heard their murmurings against Him. The Lord wasn't going to provide for them because they had complained, but because of His promise to them. The point Moses was making was that their murmurings were against the Lord, because all he and Aaron had done was to follow His command.
(8) And Moses said, “This shall be, when the LORD shall give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full, for the LORD hears your murmurings which you murmur against Him; and what are we? Your murmurings are not against us but against the LORD.”
Moses expounded on his original statement that the people would know it was the Lord who had brought them out of Egypt and that they would see His glory. This would come about when they saw that the Lord indeed provided meat for them in the evening and bread to their fill in the morning. The Lord heard their murmuring and He would provide for them. God patiently and mercifully answered their murmurs, not that He hadn't planned to provide for them all along. That is the point; God was patiently showing the people that they could depend on Him. HE was the one who brought them out of Egypt and He was the one who would provide for them in the desert. Moses again pointed out to them that when they grumbled and complained, they were grumbling against the Lord and His plans being implemented. They had no cause to murmur against Moses and Aaron; they were only obeying God.
(9) And Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your murmurings.’” (10) And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
Moses told Aaron, who was his spokesman, to gather the congregation of the children of Israel, and have them come before the Lord, that pillar of cloud that was always before them. As Aaron was doing this, the children of Israel looked and saw the glory of the Lord appear in the cloud. The children of Israel were reminded in a very visual way that their Lord was the One leading, guiding, and providing for them. We aren't told exactly what the people saw, but I can imagine it was an extraordinary brightness or rays of bright light possibly emanating from an image of Christ. Whatever they saw, you can be certain they had no doubt it was their Lord they saw.
(11) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (12) “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”
Out of the bright and glorious cloud, I believe the people heard the Lord speak to Moses. It was necessary that they know that Moses spoke the truth when he had told them they murmured against the Lord and that He had heard them. Audibly, so that the children of Israel heard, the Lord told Moses to tell the people that in the evening they would eat meat, and in the morning they would be filled with bread, and they would know that He was their Lord God, the One who led them and supplied all their needs.
(13) And it came to pass, that at evening the quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. (14) And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the frost on the ground. (15) And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, “What is it?”, for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."
Sure enough, in the evening quails came and covered the camp, and the people had plenty of meat to eat. The next morning when the dew lifted, there were small round things that appeared as frost on the ground on the surface of the wilderness. When the children of Israel saw it, they didn't know what it was, and asked among themselves, "What is it?" The word "manna" actually means "a whatzit"! The KJV actually translated, "It is manna", rather than "What is it?" The newer translations all found that an incorrect and unfortunate translation, because later scriptures point out they had never seen it before and couldn't possibly have known what it was. However, when I discovered that the word meant "a whatness (so to speak)", according to Strong's, I found it perfectly plausible that they could have themselves named it a whatzit. Either way, the gist is the same, they didn't know what it was, and Moses told them it was the bread the Lord had given them to eat.
(16) “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’”
Moses went on to tell the children of Israel what the Lord had commanded they do with the manna which He gave them. They were to gather it according to the need of their household (or their tent in the wilderness), one omer for each person. We will later read that an omer was a tenth of an ephah. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, wrote that an ephah, from the word "to bake", probably referred to the amount that was baked at one time, but then he gave a rough liquid measure. It was Dr. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, who gave the best definition of a dry measure, "in corn measure, six gallons, three pints, and three solid inches", and therefore an omer would be about three quarts, or about six pints, as Clarke and others put it. An omer per person certainly sounds like more than enough.
(17) And the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. (18) And when they measured it by an omer, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack; every man had gathered according to each one’s need.
The people gathered the manna. "Some more, some less" appears to mean that some gathered more than others because they had larger families, because when they measured it by omers, each man had gathered according to his family's needs. It may be that what was gathered was brought to a measuring place and then meted out by omers, so that the man who gathered much, still only received one omer per person, and the one who gathered less, also received one omer per person in his family.
(19) And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” (20) Notwithstanding, they did not heed Moses, but some of them left part of it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank; and Moses was angry with them.
In verse 4, the Lord had told Moses that the people were to gather a certain rate every day that He might prove (or test) them, whether they would walk in His law or not. Moses told the people they were not to leave any of their manna until the next morning. The point was to make them dependent on the Lord for their daily bread. Well, it was to have them obey the Lord, and then to trust Him for their daily needs. By saving it until the next day, some of them disobeyed the Lord, and were in effect, not trusting Him for their next day's needs, but were trying to arrange for it themselves. When they did that, they found the manna did not last until the next day, but bred worms and stank. It made Moses angry that they had not obeyed the Lord.
(21) And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need; and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
Not only could they not save manna until the next morning, but they had to gather what they needed for the day in the morning. They couldn't gather a little for breakfast, and then expect to go back out in the evening to gather for dinner. When the sun was hot in the day the manna melted, and there was none left for gathering.
(22) And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
On the sixth day the people gathered twice as much manna as they had been gathering daily, exactly twice as much, two omers for each person. It would seem that they didn't intend to, that it was perhaps more easily gathered, and that it unknowingly wound up being twice as much when it was measured, because the rulers of the congregation, in turn, went to Moses with the news, as if they had not expected it. We had been made privy to this in verse 4 above, when the Lord had told Moses the people were to gather twice as much on the sixth day, but evidently, Moses had not yet told the people. When you look at verse 4 again, that it would come to pass that on the sixth day they would prepare what they brought in, and it would be twice as much as they normally gathered daily, along with verse 22 where it came to pass that they seemed to unknowingly gather twice as much, it points to a miraculous doubling of the manna that the people were not even aware of at the time of gathering. After all, they had been shown that the manna could not be gathered one day and then saved till the next day, so the rulers went to Moses to tell him of their predicament.
(23) And he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said, ‘Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and that which remains, lay up for you to be kept until the morning.’” (24) And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.
This was the one day that the people were allowed to gather twice as much manna as they usually did, and they were instructed to prepare what they would for the day, and save the rest for the next day, the holy Sabbath day to the Lord. Miraculously, the manna did not breed worms and stink when it was saved from the sixth day until the Sabbath like it did when it was saved from any other day until the next.
(25) And Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. (26) Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, in it there will be none.”
On the Sabbath day, when they found their manna with no worms or bad smell, Moses told the people to eat it that day, because they would not find any manna on the ground on that Sabbath day. He reiterated the command that they should gather manna six days a week, but not on the seventh or Sabbath day. There have been some who have tried to claim that the manna was a naturally occurring phenomenon, but the way this manna fell and was used obviously debunks that theory.
(27) And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.
Whether it was willful disobedience or a curiosity to see if what Moses had said the Lord had declared was indeed true, some of the people went out on the Sabbath to try to gather manna, but found that indeed there was none.
(28) And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? (29) See, for that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days; every man remain in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”
God saw their actions as disobedience. In verse 4, He stated that He would be testing the people to see if they would walk according to His law or not, and in this, some of them obviously did not pass the test. The Lord had given them the Sabbath. It was a blessed gift from the Lord. Indeed, in Mark 2:27, Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Albert Barnes in his Notes on the Bible, said it beautifully:
"For his rest from toil, his rest from the cares and anxieties of the world, to give him an opportunity to call off his attention from earthly concerns and to direct it to the affairs of eternity. It was a kind provision for man that he might refresh his body by relaxing his labors; that he might have undisturbed time to seek the consolations of religion to cheer him in the anxieties and sorrows of a troubled world; and that he might render to God that homage which is most justly due to him as the Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, and Redeemer of the world. And it is easily capable of proof that no institution has been more signally blessed to man’s welfare than the Sabbath. To that we owe, more than to anything else, the peace and order of a civilized community. Where there is no Sabbath there is ignorance, vice, disorder, and crime. On that holy day the poor and the ignorant, as well as the learned, have undisturbed time to learn the requirements of religion, the nature of morals, the law of God, and the way of salvation. On that day man may offer his praises to the Great Giver of all good, and in the sanctuary seek the blessing of him whose favor is life. Where that day is observed in any manner as it should be, order prevails, morals are promoted, the poor are elevated in their condition, vice flies away, and the community puts on the appearance of neatness, industry, morality, and religion. The Sabbath was therefore pre-eminently intended for man’s welfare, and the best interests of mankind demand that it should be sacredly regarded as an appointment of merciful heaven intended for our best good, and, where improved aright, infallibly resulting in our temporal and eternal peace."
The Sabbath was for man's benefit. The Lord had provided a way for the people to have a complete rest without worrying about the gathering of the day's food. He intended that they not leave their homes on the Sabbath day, but there some of them went, testing God and Moses and therefore losing benefit to themselves in their disobedience. Mere rest from work was not the only benefit of the Sabbath; it was a time of worship and reflection of their Lord and provider. Obviously, they were missing that, too, while they were out testing their God instead of thanking and worshiping and resting in His provisions. Moses reiterated the command that the people should gather manna six days, and that the Lord provided two days' worth on the sixth day, so that no man was to leave his place on the seventh day.
(30) So the people rested on the seventh day. (31) And the house of Israel called its name Manna; and it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
The people rested on the Sabbath day as it was intended by the Lord. The children of Israel officially gave this bread of the Lord the name of Manna. Initially they used that word to mean a whatzit of sorts, but it now became the name of the bread from heaven that fed the Israelites in the wilderness. Manna was described as being like a coriander seed in form and figure, but white, and it tasted like wafers made with honey.
(32) And Moses said, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, ‘Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” (33) And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omer full of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.”
Moses told the people that the Lord had commanded they preserve an omer of manna for their posterity, so that they could see the bread with which He fed them in the wilderness after He brought them out of Egypt. He further instructed Aaron to put an omer of manna into a pot to preserve it for future generations. How miraculous the very stuff that could not be kept overnight without breeding worms and stinking, now could be kept forever as a reminder and memorial of their Lord's blessing and provision. This is mentioned again later in the New Testament, specifically Hebrews 9:4, "...the ark of the covenant...in which was the golden pot that had manna..." How often do we read in scripture that a record or memorial of some sort was to be kept for the next generations? God's blessings were not just for the people at the present receiving them, but were to be a proof and reminder of His continual blessing upon us:
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, gave this wonderful reminder, "Eaten bread must not be forgotten. God's miracles and mercies are to be had in everlasting remembrance, for our encouragement to trust in him at all times."
(34) As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.
As the Lord had commanded, Aaron indeed preserved the manna and "laid it up before the Testimony". Since Moses wrote about this event afterward, and the ark of the testimony, or covenant, was indeed coming, perhaps he meant that, as most of the old commentaries seem to imply. However, we have already been told that the Lord wanted Moses to preserve in writing a record of events, specifically from Numbers 33:2, chronologically ordered before this current event, but also alluded to in other verses when God told Moses to pass the reports of events to the next generation. Perhaps there was already the beginnings of a preserved Testimony before there was an ark of the Testimony.
(35) And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (36) Now an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.
Here we are given a couple more facts about the bread of God, manna. It was provided to the children of Israel for forty years all during their wilderness trek, until they came to the land of Canaan. Additionally, we learn that an omer is a tenth of an ephah, a statement that seems a little out of place here, and was already discussed after verse 16 above.
The main subject of this chapter is the miracle of manna, God's bread from heaven to sustain His children. God wanted His children to learn to trust and depend on Him for their daily bread. That He alone was their provider was evident in the way that the manna would not last overnight during the week, but did on the Sabbath. The children of Israel were taught to observe a Sabbath rest and know that God would take care of those who would rest in Him. Finally, they were to show and tell their future generations what God had done for them in the wilderness.
This manna is a beautiful illustration of the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Just as the Israelites would have perished in the wilderness without the bread from heaven, so would all our souls perish had Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, not come down from heaven to save us all from eternal deaths. As Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread, we learn to daily depend upon the Lord for our immediate needs. We must make note that we aren't fed without any effort on our parts. That is not to say that we have to work for our salvation; we don't. However, the children of Israel were expected to obey God with regard to how they were to gather their daily bread. They were to work in daily communion with God. As the apostle Paul wrote in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 3:6-9), one plants and another waters, but God gives the increase, and "we are laborers together with God". Additionally, Paul pointed out that this work in which we labor with God is built only on the foundation of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11). As I reread verses 17 and 18 above, I was struck by the correlation of Jesus Christ to the manna that was gathered by each man. Some gathered more and some gathered less, but when it was meted out, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to his need. Is that not a perfect picture of Christ as illustrated by the parable of the workers in the vineyard? The workers who came late were paid the same wages as the workers who started early. They were told upfront what their wages would be. All who come to Christ, the Bread of Life, receive His salvation from their sins. Some come sooner, some come later, but as the Israelites, some of whom gathered more, and some of whom gathered less, they all had just what they needed. The people had to gather the manna in the morning while it was found because when the sun waxed hot, it melted and could not be found. Likewise, we are to seek the Lord and his bread of life while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6). The children of Israel were taught to observe a Sabbath rest, and Jesus Christ became that sabbath rest for us. Again it was the apostle Paul who wrote that a relationship with Christ freed us from the works of the law and gave us rest in the work of Christ to save us from the penalty of our sins (Hebrews, chapter 4). As the Israelites were instructed to show and tell future generations about God's bread of life, so are we instructed to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the true Bread of Life.
(Exodus 16:1) And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.
In the last study, the Israelites had come to Elim where there was plenty of water and shade, after having been without water three days and murmuring against Moses because of the bitter water they finally found at Marah. They now left Elim and went into the wilderness of Sin, which was between Elim and Sinai. It had been a month since they left Egypt for it was now the fifteenth day of the second month, and they had left Egypt on the fifteenth of Abib or Nisan, the first month.
(2) And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. (3) And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots and when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
And now the Israelites were complaining about Moses and Aaron again. It looks like they only had provisions for about a month, because they now complained about starving to death. It's not that they shouldn't be able to present to Moses their problem, but note how they did it. They always seem to be sarcastic and murmuring against Moses and Aaron rather than directly stating their problem. They actually said they would have rather died at the hand of the Lord in Egypt when at least they had their fill of meat and bread. This would seem to imply they would have preferred to be killed by the plagues with which God had struck Egypt rather than to starve to death in the desert. The Lord had just told them at the end of the last chapter that if they would heed the voice of the Lord and follow His commandments, that He would not bring any of the afflictions He had put on the Egyptians for He was the Lord who healed them. And now they used that very example of dying at His hands in Egypt as something they would prefer to have done rather than having faith that He would "heal" them from their hunger? What faithless ingrates! It's quite astonishing to read how quickly they lost faith after all they had witnessed and had been promised, yet I'm afraid and ashamed that it is a perfect example of how we all can get so easily disheartened when things get a little tough.
(4) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law or not. (5) And it shall come to pass that on the sixth day they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Moses had obviously in turn taken this problem to the Lord as he usually did when the people complained to him. The Lord answered this ungrateful murmuring crowd in the most kind and merciful way! He would rain bread from heaven for His children! He would provide their daily bread, but He would also be testing them. They would learn to trust and depend on Him to provide their daily needs, but just what they would need in a day. They were instructed to go out every day and gather the same amount they would need for that day. On the sixth day they would gather twice as much as they usually gathered in one day.
(6) And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt. (7) And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, for He hears your murmurings against the LORD; and what are we, that you murmur against us?”
Moses and Aaron then told the people that at evening they would know that the Lord had brought them out of Egypt. They obviously knew they had been brought out of Egypt, but they would realize it was completely the Lord's doing, and not by the work of Moses and Aaron, as they had claimed with their murmurings (verse 3). In the morning they would see the glory of the Lord; that word "kabod" meant "glory" and "splendor", and also "abundance" and "copiousness". They would see the glorious magnitude of their Lord, for He had heard their murmurings against Him. The Lord wasn't going to provide for them because they had complained, but because of His promise to them. The point Moses was making was that their murmurings were against the Lord, because all he and Aaron had done was to follow His command.
(8) And Moses said, “This shall be, when the LORD shall give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full, for the LORD hears your murmurings which you murmur against Him; and what are we? Your murmurings are not against us but against the LORD.”
Moses expounded on his original statement that the people would know it was the Lord who had brought them out of Egypt and that they would see His glory. This would come about when they saw that the Lord indeed provided meat for them in the evening and bread to their fill in the morning. The Lord heard their murmuring and He would provide for them. God patiently and mercifully answered their murmurs, not that He hadn't planned to provide for them all along. That is the point; God was patiently showing the people that they could depend on Him. HE was the one who brought them out of Egypt and He was the one who would provide for them in the desert. Moses again pointed out to them that when they grumbled and complained, they were grumbling against the Lord and His plans being implemented. They had no cause to murmur against Moses and Aaron; they were only obeying God.
(9) And Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your murmurings.’” (10) And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
Moses told Aaron, who was his spokesman, to gather the congregation of the children of Israel, and have them come before the Lord, that pillar of cloud that was always before them. As Aaron was doing this, the children of Israel looked and saw the glory of the Lord appear in the cloud. The children of Israel were reminded in a very visual way that their Lord was the One leading, guiding, and providing for them. We aren't told exactly what the people saw, but I can imagine it was an extraordinary brightness or rays of bright light possibly emanating from an image of Christ. Whatever they saw, you can be certain they had no doubt it was their Lord they saw.
(11) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (12) “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”
Out of the bright and glorious cloud, I believe the people heard the Lord speak to Moses. It was necessary that they know that Moses spoke the truth when he had told them they murmured against the Lord and that He had heard them. Audibly, so that the children of Israel heard, the Lord told Moses to tell the people that in the evening they would eat meat, and in the morning they would be filled with bread, and they would know that He was their Lord God, the One who led them and supplied all their needs.
(13) And it came to pass, that at evening the quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. (14) And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the frost on the ground. (15) And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, “What is it?”, for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."
Sure enough, in the evening quails came and covered the camp, and the people had plenty of meat to eat. The next morning when the dew lifted, there were small round things that appeared as frost on the ground on the surface of the wilderness. When the children of Israel saw it, they didn't know what it was, and asked among themselves, "What is it?" The word "manna" actually means "a whatzit"! The KJV actually translated, "It is manna", rather than "What is it?" The newer translations all found that an incorrect and unfortunate translation, because later scriptures point out they had never seen it before and couldn't possibly have known what it was. However, when I discovered that the word meant "a whatness (so to speak)", according to Strong's, I found it perfectly plausible that they could have themselves named it a whatzit. Either way, the gist is the same, they didn't know what it was, and Moses told them it was the bread the Lord had given them to eat.
(16) “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’”
Moses went on to tell the children of Israel what the Lord had commanded they do with the manna which He gave them. They were to gather it according to the need of their household (or their tent in the wilderness), one omer for each person. We will later read that an omer was a tenth of an ephah. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, wrote that an ephah, from the word "to bake", probably referred to the amount that was baked at one time, but then he gave a rough liquid measure. It was Dr. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, who gave the best definition of a dry measure, "in corn measure, six gallons, three pints, and three solid inches", and therefore an omer would be about three quarts, or about six pints, as Clarke and others put it. An omer per person certainly sounds like more than enough.
(17) And the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. (18) And when they measured it by an omer, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack; every man had gathered according to each one’s need.
The people gathered the manna. "Some more, some less" appears to mean that some gathered more than others because they had larger families, because when they measured it by omers, each man had gathered according to his family's needs. It may be that what was gathered was brought to a measuring place and then meted out by omers, so that the man who gathered much, still only received one omer per person, and the one who gathered less, also received one omer per person in his family.
(19) And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” (20) Notwithstanding, they did not heed Moses, but some of them left part of it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank; and Moses was angry with them.
In verse 4, the Lord had told Moses that the people were to gather a certain rate every day that He might prove (or test) them, whether they would walk in His law or not. Moses told the people they were not to leave any of their manna until the next morning. The point was to make them dependent on the Lord for their daily bread. Well, it was to have them obey the Lord, and then to trust Him for their daily needs. By saving it until the next day, some of them disobeyed the Lord, and were in effect, not trusting Him for their next day's needs, but were trying to arrange for it themselves. When they did that, they found the manna did not last until the next day, but bred worms and stank. It made Moses angry that they had not obeyed the Lord.
(21) And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need; and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
Not only could they not save manna until the next morning, but they had to gather what they needed for the day in the morning. They couldn't gather a little for breakfast, and then expect to go back out in the evening to gather for dinner. When the sun was hot in the day the manna melted, and there was none left for gathering.
(22) And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
On the sixth day the people gathered twice as much manna as they had been gathering daily, exactly twice as much, two omers for each person. It would seem that they didn't intend to, that it was perhaps more easily gathered, and that it unknowingly wound up being twice as much when it was measured, because the rulers of the congregation, in turn, went to Moses with the news, as if they had not expected it. We had been made privy to this in verse 4 above, when the Lord had told Moses the people were to gather twice as much on the sixth day, but evidently, Moses had not yet told the people. When you look at verse 4 again, that it would come to pass that on the sixth day they would prepare what they brought in, and it would be twice as much as they normally gathered daily, along with verse 22 where it came to pass that they seemed to unknowingly gather twice as much, it points to a miraculous doubling of the manna that the people were not even aware of at the time of gathering. After all, they had been shown that the manna could not be gathered one day and then saved till the next day, so the rulers went to Moses to tell him of their predicament.
(23) And he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said, ‘Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and that which remains, lay up for you to be kept until the morning.’” (24) And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.
This was the one day that the people were allowed to gather twice as much manna as they usually did, and they were instructed to prepare what they would for the day, and save the rest for the next day, the holy Sabbath day to the Lord. Miraculously, the manna did not breed worms and stink when it was saved from the sixth day until the Sabbath like it did when it was saved from any other day until the next.
(25) And Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. (26) Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, in it there will be none.”
On the Sabbath day, when they found their manna with no worms or bad smell, Moses told the people to eat it that day, because they would not find any manna on the ground on that Sabbath day. He reiterated the command that they should gather manna six days a week, but not on the seventh or Sabbath day. There have been some who have tried to claim that the manna was a naturally occurring phenomenon, but the way this manna fell and was used obviously debunks that theory.
(27) And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.
Whether it was willful disobedience or a curiosity to see if what Moses had said the Lord had declared was indeed true, some of the people went out on the Sabbath to try to gather manna, but found that indeed there was none.
(28) And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? (29) See, for that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days; every man remain in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”
God saw their actions as disobedience. In verse 4, He stated that He would be testing the people to see if they would walk according to His law or not, and in this, some of them obviously did not pass the test. The Lord had given them the Sabbath. It was a blessed gift from the Lord. Indeed, in Mark 2:27, Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Albert Barnes in his Notes on the Bible, said it beautifully:
"For his rest from toil, his rest from the cares and anxieties of the world, to give him an opportunity to call off his attention from earthly concerns and to direct it to the affairs of eternity. It was a kind provision for man that he might refresh his body by relaxing his labors; that he might have undisturbed time to seek the consolations of religion to cheer him in the anxieties and sorrows of a troubled world; and that he might render to God that homage which is most justly due to him as the Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, and Redeemer of the world. And it is easily capable of proof that no institution has been more signally blessed to man’s welfare than the Sabbath. To that we owe, more than to anything else, the peace and order of a civilized community. Where there is no Sabbath there is ignorance, vice, disorder, and crime. On that holy day the poor and the ignorant, as well as the learned, have undisturbed time to learn the requirements of religion, the nature of morals, the law of God, and the way of salvation. On that day man may offer his praises to the Great Giver of all good, and in the sanctuary seek the blessing of him whose favor is life. Where that day is observed in any manner as it should be, order prevails, morals are promoted, the poor are elevated in their condition, vice flies away, and the community puts on the appearance of neatness, industry, morality, and religion. The Sabbath was therefore pre-eminently intended for man’s welfare, and the best interests of mankind demand that it should be sacredly regarded as an appointment of merciful heaven intended for our best good, and, where improved aright, infallibly resulting in our temporal and eternal peace."
The Sabbath was for man's benefit. The Lord had provided a way for the people to have a complete rest without worrying about the gathering of the day's food. He intended that they not leave their homes on the Sabbath day, but there some of them went, testing God and Moses and therefore losing benefit to themselves in their disobedience. Mere rest from work was not the only benefit of the Sabbath; it was a time of worship and reflection of their Lord and provider. Obviously, they were missing that, too, while they were out testing their God instead of thanking and worshiping and resting in His provisions. Moses reiterated the command that the people should gather manna six days, and that the Lord provided two days' worth on the sixth day, so that no man was to leave his place on the seventh day.
(30) So the people rested on the seventh day. (31) And the house of Israel called its name Manna; and it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
The people rested on the Sabbath day as it was intended by the Lord. The children of Israel officially gave this bread of the Lord the name of Manna. Initially they used that word to mean a whatzit of sorts, but it now became the name of the bread from heaven that fed the Israelites in the wilderness. Manna was described as being like a coriander seed in form and figure, but white, and it tasted like wafers made with honey.
(32) And Moses said, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, ‘Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” (33) And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omer full of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.”
Moses told the people that the Lord had commanded they preserve an omer of manna for their posterity, so that they could see the bread with which He fed them in the wilderness after He brought them out of Egypt. He further instructed Aaron to put an omer of manna into a pot to preserve it for future generations. How miraculous the very stuff that could not be kept overnight without breeding worms and stinking, now could be kept forever as a reminder and memorial of their Lord's blessing and provision. This is mentioned again later in the New Testament, specifically Hebrews 9:4, "...the ark of the covenant...in which was the golden pot that had manna..." How often do we read in scripture that a record or memorial of some sort was to be kept for the next generations? God's blessings were not just for the people at the present receiving them, but were to be a proof and reminder of His continual blessing upon us:
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, gave this wonderful reminder, "Eaten bread must not be forgotten. God's miracles and mercies are to be had in everlasting remembrance, for our encouragement to trust in him at all times."
(34) As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.
As the Lord had commanded, Aaron indeed preserved the manna and "laid it up before the Testimony". Since Moses wrote about this event afterward, and the ark of the testimony, or covenant, was indeed coming, perhaps he meant that, as most of the old commentaries seem to imply. However, we have already been told that the Lord wanted Moses to preserve in writing a record of events, specifically from Numbers 33:2, chronologically ordered before this current event, but also alluded to in other verses when God told Moses to pass the reports of events to the next generation. Perhaps there was already the beginnings of a preserved Testimony before there was an ark of the Testimony.
(35) And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (36) Now an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.
Here we are given a couple more facts about the bread of God, manna. It was provided to the children of Israel for forty years all during their wilderness trek, until they came to the land of Canaan. Additionally, we learn that an omer is a tenth of an ephah, a statement that seems a little out of place here, and was already discussed after verse 16 above.
The main subject of this chapter is the miracle of manna, God's bread from heaven to sustain His children. God wanted His children to learn to trust and depend on Him for their daily bread. That He alone was their provider was evident in the way that the manna would not last overnight during the week, but did on the Sabbath. The children of Israel were taught to observe a Sabbath rest and know that God would take care of those who would rest in Him. Finally, they were to show and tell their future generations what God had done for them in the wilderness.
This manna is a beautiful illustration of the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Just as the Israelites would have perished in the wilderness without the bread from heaven, so would all our souls perish had Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, not come down from heaven to save us all from eternal deaths. As Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread, we learn to daily depend upon the Lord for our immediate needs. We must make note that we aren't fed without any effort on our parts. That is not to say that we have to work for our salvation; we don't. However, the children of Israel were expected to obey God with regard to how they were to gather their daily bread. They were to work in daily communion with God. As the apostle Paul wrote in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 3:6-9), one plants and another waters, but God gives the increase, and "we are laborers together with God". Additionally, Paul pointed out that this work in which we labor with God is built only on the foundation of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11). As I reread verses 17 and 18 above, I was struck by the correlation of Jesus Christ to the manna that was gathered by each man. Some gathered more and some gathered less, but when it was meted out, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to his need. Is that not a perfect picture of Christ as illustrated by the parable of the workers in the vineyard? The workers who came late were paid the same wages as the workers who started early. They were told upfront what their wages would be. All who come to Christ, the Bread of Life, receive His salvation from their sins. Some come sooner, some come later, but as the Israelites, some of whom gathered more, and some of whom gathered less, they all had just what they needed. The people had to gather the manna in the morning while it was found because when the sun waxed hot, it melted and could not be found. Likewise, we are to seek the Lord and his bread of life while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6). The children of Israel were taught to observe a Sabbath rest, and Jesus Christ became that sabbath rest for us. Again it was the apostle Paul who wrote that a relationship with Christ freed us from the works of the law and gave us rest in the work of Christ to save us from the penalty of our sins (Hebrews, chapter 4). As the Israelites were instructed to show and tell future generations about God's bread of life, so are we instructed to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the true Bread of Life.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
The Tree of Life, the Lord Who Heals You
Continuing a personal Bible study I am doing with the chronological order set forth by Skip Andrews:
(Exodus 15:22) So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
Moses had just brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea by the miraculous parting of it by God. They now came from the Red Sea and went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and had found no water.
(Numbers 33:8) And they departed from before Pi Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped in Marah.
Numbers 33:8 gave a little more detail about exactly where the Israelites had been and were now. Before they went through the Red Sea, they had journeyed from Succoth and had camped at Etham at the edge of the wilderness (Exodus 13:20). Then the Lord told Moses to turn and camp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea (Exodus 14:2). When they left Pi Hahiroth, they passed through the midst of the Red Sea into the wilderness on the other side, also apparently called the wilderness of Etham, and they camped at Marah.
Some have speculated that since scripture said they had previously camped at Etham, "supposedly" crossed the Red Sea, and returned to Etham, that there probably was not a miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, or at the very least, they went into the sea and came right back out where they went in. I have found a couple of good explanations for this. Actually, the wilderness surrounding the Aqaba Peninsula of the Red Sea, which is where the Israelites most likely crossed, is surrounded by wilderness, and this old map shows that it could be a wilderness by the same name on both sides:
Exodus 13:20 first said that they camped "at Etham", "at the edge of the wilderness", and this one stated they went "in the wilderness of Etham". But Exodus 15:22 said they came out of the Red Sea into the wilderness of Shur, which isn't shown on the above map. Albert Barnes, in his "Notes on the Bible", wrote that the wilderness of Etham was the part of the wilderness of Shur that adjoined Etham, and that the "wilderness of Shur" referred "to the whole district between the northeastern frontier of Egypt and Palestine. The word is undoubtedly Egyptian, and is derived probably from the word Khar which designated all the country between Egypt and Syria proper." I read another possible explanation for the confusion from a site linked at the map below, that suggested that Numbers 33:8 never mentioned Etham at all, but that the original word was "them". Indeed, my source for the Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions shows Etham to mean "with them". Steve Rudd wrote in the article that Numbers 33:8 should have read more like, "They journeyed from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and they went three days' journey in the wilderness all of them together and camped at Marah." Mr. Rudd used a different Bible translation, but I can get the gist of his meaning; they journeyed three days in the wilderness (of Shur, the same wilderness mentioned in Exodus 15:22) and all of them camped at Marah. Therefore the wilderness of Shur mentioned in Exodus 15:22 is the same place as the wilderness of Etham mentioned in Numbers 33:8. Here is Mr. Rudd's map of the exodus including these places:
While on the subject of Bible translations, I have preferred the King James Version ever since I read some convincing articles about the questionable veracity of some of the newer translations, and I wrote about those a few years ago in a blog post entitled, Which Version of the Truth Will You Use? I have recently received a comment and links that suggested the sites I referenced for my decision were not properly sourced, lacked proper proof, and were from a rather radical way of thinking. I have posted some of those comments and links in the comment section of that original post. It is true I have not totally researched the subject, and am certainly no expert on the it. I welcome more educated opinions, as at this point, I don't choose to spend that much time on the study of the history of the different manuscripts and Bible translations. I do believe that God is well able to preserve His Word, and we get enough from any translation to know Him. Right now I am enjoying the commentaries of the scholars from the 1700 and 1800's, who would have used the KJV, as they are giving me insights I have not had occasion to consider from more recent writings. If I live long enough to finish my current study, I will definitely make a more in-depth study of the early manuscripts!
Now we return to Exodus, chapter 15. After going three days into the wilderness and finding no water, the Israelites came to Marah, but they couldn't drink the water there because it was bitter. Indeed the name Marah means "bitter". The water had to have been extremely bitter for people who had been three days without water and who must have been very thirsty, not to be able to drink it. The people began grumbling against Moses and asking him what they were to drink.
(Exodus 15:25) And he cried to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them, (26) And said, “If you will diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and will do what is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
When the Israelites complained to him, Moses in turn, cried out to the Lord for help. The Lord then showed him a tree. Interestingly, that original word "yarah" meant "throw, shoot, or cast". It was sometimes used figuratively to mean "to point out" (as if by aiming a finger), and therefore, could also imply "teach", and finally perhaps "show", but that seems the weakest of all the meanings. The Lord showed Moses a tree; "he" cast it into the water and the water was made sweet. It sounds like the Lord showed it to Moses and Moses threw it in the water, but learning the complete true meaning of the original word, it makes me wonder if the Lord Himself threw the tree into the water. Probably not, as He had been using Moses all along to perform His miracles, but I don't see anything in the words that would completely negate that idea. Any capitalization of "He" is done by me out of respect and not done by the KJV translators. Some of the other translations use capital letters, and don't in this instance, so they all believe it was Moses who cast the tree.
Why throw a tree instead of touching his rod to the water? Some scholars believe there was something in that particular tree that made the waters sweet. I doubt that. Even if it were true, it's not likely one tree would have sweetened flowing water enough for their huge number of people and cattle. I prefer to believe as some others wrote that the tree was symbolic of Christ, the Tree of Life. Indeed, the scripture went on to say that the Lord gave them an ordinance and there He proved them. It's not that He gave them any particular new law to follow, but He showed them a principle, that if they looked to the Tree of Life, He would sweeten the bitter things of life, but without Him, it was too bitter to handle. In fact, the Lord told them that if they would diligently listen to their Lord, do what was right in His eyes, listen and keep His commandments, He would put none of the diseases that had plagued the Egyptians upon them, because He was the Lord who healed them from those afflictions. I think it's important to point out that God doesn't seek to punish all who do not obey Him, but rather without His protection and intervention, the things of life will punish us; we experience that "hell on earth", so to speak. If and when He does bring about a "punishment", it is always about teaching the people where their salvation really lies and bringing them back to Him. One other point about using the tree to sweeten the waters--perhaps an added result is that Moses didn't come to depend on his own "power" through the rod, but could plainly see that the power was always the Lord's, used by any number of means.
(27) And they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the waters.
The Israelites then came to Elim, a name which meant "palms" or "palm trees". This place had plenty of water and shade for all of them and their livestock, and there they camped by the waters. Note the significance of the numbers--twelve wells, perhaps one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and seventy palm trees, which may represent the seventy elders which will come to be appointed by Moses. Again I see this as a picture of a life following the Tree of Life. He will bring you through the bitter trials of life to a place of blessing and plenty. We must remember that He doesn't always take away the bitterness of life, but He does help us through it. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) That scripture is not meant to mean that we can do any superhuman thing we want because Christ strengthens us; rather it means we can persevere through all things because of Christ who strengthens us. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me..." (Psalm 23:4) We still have to walk through the valleys, but God is with us.
(Numbers 33:9) And they removed from Marah, and came to Elim; and in Elim were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees; and they pitched there.
Chronologically, we now go forward again to Numbers, chapter 33, which chronicles the travels of the Israelites after they left Egypt. Verse 9 also told that they left Marah, the place with the bitter waters, and came to Elim, where there were twelve fountains or wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.
(10) And they removed from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. (11) And they removed from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin.
The children of Israel then moved from Elim and camped again by the Red Sea, surely another part of it. From there they moved into the Wilderness of Sin. What an interesting and appropriate name for the wilderness where the Israelites would wander! It appears the people moved from one "wilderness" to another, at first at the edge of the wilderness, then in the wilderness of Etham, in the wilderness of Shur, and now in the wilderness of Sin. Quoting Matthew Henry in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, "Our removals in this world are but from one wilderness to another."
This was a short study this time, but as it sets up the complete chapter of Exodus 16 for next time, I will stop here, and resume the chronological study in the next blog post.
(Exodus 15:22) So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
Moses had just brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea by the miraculous parting of it by God. They now came from the Red Sea and went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and had found no water.
(Numbers 33:8) And they departed from before Pi Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped in Marah.
Numbers 33:8 gave a little more detail about exactly where the Israelites had been and were now. Before they went through the Red Sea, they had journeyed from Succoth and had camped at Etham at the edge of the wilderness (Exodus 13:20). Then the Lord told Moses to turn and camp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea (Exodus 14:2). When they left Pi Hahiroth, they passed through the midst of the Red Sea into the wilderness on the other side, also apparently called the wilderness of Etham, and they camped at Marah.
Some have speculated that since scripture said they had previously camped at Etham, "supposedly" crossed the Red Sea, and returned to Etham, that there probably was not a miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, or at the very least, they went into the sea and came right back out where they went in. I have found a couple of good explanations for this. Actually, the wilderness surrounding the Aqaba Peninsula of the Red Sea, which is where the Israelites most likely crossed, is surrounded by wilderness, and this old map shows that it could be a wilderness by the same name on both sides:
Exodus 13:20 first said that they camped "at Etham", "at the edge of the wilderness", and this one stated they went "in the wilderness of Etham". But Exodus 15:22 said they came out of the Red Sea into the wilderness of Shur, which isn't shown on the above map. Albert Barnes, in his "Notes on the Bible", wrote that the wilderness of Etham was the part of the wilderness of Shur that adjoined Etham, and that the "wilderness of Shur" referred "to the whole district between the northeastern frontier of Egypt and Palestine. The word is undoubtedly Egyptian, and is derived probably from the word Khar which designated all the country between Egypt and Syria proper." I read another possible explanation for the confusion from a site linked at the map below, that suggested that Numbers 33:8 never mentioned Etham at all, but that the original word was "them". Indeed, my source for the Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions shows Etham to mean "with them". Steve Rudd wrote in the article that Numbers 33:8 should have read more like, "They journeyed from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and they went three days' journey in the wilderness all of them together and camped at Marah." Mr. Rudd used a different Bible translation, but I can get the gist of his meaning; they journeyed three days in the wilderness (of Shur, the same wilderness mentioned in Exodus 15:22) and all of them camped at Marah. Therefore the wilderness of Shur mentioned in Exodus 15:22 is the same place as the wilderness of Etham mentioned in Numbers 33:8. Here is Mr. Rudd's map of the exodus including these places:
While on the subject of Bible translations, I have preferred the King James Version ever since I read some convincing articles about the questionable veracity of some of the newer translations, and I wrote about those a few years ago in a blog post entitled, Which Version of the Truth Will You Use? I have recently received a comment and links that suggested the sites I referenced for my decision were not properly sourced, lacked proper proof, and were from a rather radical way of thinking. I have posted some of those comments and links in the comment section of that original post. It is true I have not totally researched the subject, and am certainly no expert on the it. I welcome more educated opinions, as at this point, I don't choose to spend that much time on the study of the history of the different manuscripts and Bible translations. I do believe that God is well able to preserve His Word, and we get enough from any translation to know Him. Right now I am enjoying the commentaries of the scholars from the 1700 and 1800's, who would have used the KJV, as they are giving me insights I have not had occasion to consider from more recent writings. If I live long enough to finish my current study, I will definitely make a more in-depth study of the early manuscripts!
(Exodus 15:23) And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore the name of it was called Marah. (24) And the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
Now we return to Exodus, chapter 15. After going three days into the wilderness and finding no water, the Israelites came to Marah, but they couldn't drink the water there because it was bitter. Indeed the name Marah means "bitter". The water had to have been extremely bitter for people who had been three days without water and who must have been very thirsty, not to be able to drink it. The people began grumbling against Moses and asking him what they were to drink.
(Exodus 15:25) And he cried to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them, (26) And said, “If you will diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and will do what is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
When the Israelites complained to him, Moses in turn, cried out to the Lord for help. The Lord then showed him a tree. Interestingly, that original word "yarah" meant "throw, shoot, or cast". It was sometimes used figuratively to mean "to point out" (as if by aiming a finger), and therefore, could also imply "teach", and finally perhaps "show", but that seems the weakest of all the meanings. The Lord showed Moses a tree; "he" cast it into the water and the water was made sweet. It sounds like the Lord showed it to Moses and Moses threw it in the water, but learning the complete true meaning of the original word, it makes me wonder if the Lord Himself threw the tree into the water. Probably not, as He had been using Moses all along to perform His miracles, but I don't see anything in the words that would completely negate that idea. Any capitalization of "He" is done by me out of respect and not done by the KJV translators. Some of the other translations use capital letters, and don't in this instance, so they all believe it was Moses who cast the tree.
Why throw a tree instead of touching his rod to the water? Some scholars believe there was something in that particular tree that made the waters sweet. I doubt that. Even if it were true, it's not likely one tree would have sweetened flowing water enough for their huge number of people and cattle. I prefer to believe as some others wrote that the tree was symbolic of Christ, the Tree of Life. Indeed, the scripture went on to say that the Lord gave them an ordinance and there He proved them. It's not that He gave them any particular new law to follow, but He showed them a principle, that if they looked to the Tree of Life, He would sweeten the bitter things of life, but without Him, it was too bitter to handle. In fact, the Lord told them that if they would diligently listen to their Lord, do what was right in His eyes, listen and keep His commandments, He would put none of the diseases that had plagued the Egyptians upon them, because He was the Lord who healed them from those afflictions. I think it's important to point out that God doesn't seek to punish all who do not obey Him, but rather without His protection and intervention, the things of life will punish us; we experience that "hell on earth", so to speak. If and when He does bring about a "punishment", it is always about teaching the people where their salvation really lies and bringing them back to Him. One other point about using the tree to sweeten the waters--perhaps an added result is that Moses didn't come to depend on his own "power" through the rod, but could plainly see that the power was always the Lord's, used by any number of means.
(27) And they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the waters.
The Israelites then came to Elim, a name which meant "palms" or "palm trees". This place had plenty of water and shade for all of them and their livestock, and there they camped by the waters. Note the significance of the numbers--twelve wells, perhaps one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and seventy palm trees, which may represent the seventy elders which will come to be appointed by Moses. Again I see this as a picture of a life following the Tree of Life. He will bring you through the bitter trials of life to a place of blessing and plenty. We must remember that He doesn't always take away the bitterness of life, but He does help us through it. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) That scripture is not meant to mean that we can do any superhuman thing we want because Christ strengthens us; rather it means we can persevere through all things because of Christ who strengthens us. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me..." (Psalm 23:4) We still have to walk through the valleys, but God is with us.
(Numbers 33:9) And they removed from Marah, and came to Elim; and in Elim were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees; and they pitched there.
Chronologically, we now go forward again to Numbers, chapter 33, which chronicles the travels of the Israelites after they left Egypt. Verse 9 also told that they left Marah, the place with the bitter waters, and came to Elim, where there were twelve fountains or wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.
(10) And they removed from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. (11) And they removed from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin.
The children of Israel then moved from Elim and camped again by the Red Sea, surely another part of it. From there they moved into the Wilderness of Sin. What an interesting and appropriate name for the wilderness where the Israelites would wander! It appears the people moved from one "wilderness" to another, at first at the edge of the wilderness, then in the wilderness of Etham, in the wilderness of Shur, and now in the wilderness of Sin. Quoting Matthew Henry in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, "Our removals in this world are but from one wilderness to another."
This was a short study this time, but as it sets up the complete chapter of Exodus 16 for next time, I will stop here, and resume the chronological study in the next blog post.
Friday, October 3, 2014
The First Recorded Song of the Bible
Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 15:1) Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying,
“I will sing to the LORD,
For He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!"
The Lord had just led the Israelites through the midst of the Red Sea and had drowned their enemies, the Egyptians, there. Moses had told the people to hold their peace and watch what God would do, and now that He had delivered them, they broke out in a song of praise to the Lord. This is the first song recorded in scripture, and it appears to have been composed by Moses. They would sing to the Lord because He had gloriously triumphed over Pharaoh and the Egyptians, leading and then drowning Pharaoh's horses and horsemen in the sea.
(2) “The LORD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;
He is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation;
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him."
The name Moses used for the Lord in verse 2 is "Yah" or "Jah", an abbreviated form of Jehovah, the name he used in the first verse. The strength of Moses and the children of Israel to stand against Pharaoh and the Egyptians and to enter the Red Sea was made possible only by their faith in the Lord alone. He was their strength and because of all He was and for all He had done for them, He was the subject of their song. By delivering them out of the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, He had literally physically been their salvation, but He had also become their salvation spiritually and eternally. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:2, that the children of Israel "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea". The Lord is their God and they will prepare him a "navah". "Home" might be a better translation than "habitation"; the sense is that the Lord will have a home with them, in their hearts, or rather, they would be at rest with Him. He was their fathers' God, for what He had done for them now, He had promised their fathers and had done for their sake and for their descendants. They would exalt Him and lift Him up in their eyes and in their hearts with song and praise and worship.
(3) "The LORD is a man of war;
The LORD is His name.
(4) Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;
His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.
(5) The depths have covered them;
They sank to the bottom as a stone."
"The Lord is a man of war." Like the heavily armed battleship by the same name, the Lord was well able to deal with all who would strive against Him. Jehovah was His name, "the self-existent and eternal one". The Lord had cast Pharaoh, his chariots, his army, and all his chosen captains into the sea. Note that it was not said that they wandered into the sea and then the Lord drowned them. The Lord Himself drove their enemy into the sea where they were drowned. The depths of the sea had covered their enemies and they sank to the bottom, never to rise up against them again.
(6) “Your right hand, O LORD, has become glorious in power;
Your right hand, O LORD, has dashed in pieces the enemy.
(7) And in the greatness of Your excellency
You have overthrown those who rose up against You;
You sent forth Your wrath;
Which consumed them as stubble."
The right hand of the Lord, signifying that the Lord Himself and no one else, completely destroyed their enemy. Now that right hand had become "adar", or I believe the best translation is "magnified" in glory and power. In verse 7, I again think there is a better translation. Rather than "greatness" for the word "rob", it is more often translated as "abundance" or "multitude". Certainly the Lord's excellency or majesty is great, but it is abundant in excellency; once again His excellency has been magnified as He alone overthrew those who rose up against Him. The word translated as "wrath" is "charon", and literally means "burning of anger", like a fire that consumed their enemies like stubble or straw.
(8) "And with the blast of Your nostrils
The waters were gathered together;
The floods stood upright as a heap;
And the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea."
The blast of God's nostrils was that east wind which drove the waters back, and gathered them together to stand as mounds. The waters were made firm to stand as walls.
(9) “The enemy said, ‘I will pursue,
I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil;
My lust shall be satisfied on them;
I will draw my sword,
My hand shall destroy them.’"
Pharaoh, the enemy of Moses and the Israelites, sorry he had let them go, set his mind to pursue the children of Israel, took a huge army with him to overtake them, and surely planned to get into his hands all the riches the people of Israel took with them when they left Egypt. Certainly Pharaoh's desire for revenge and gain would be satisfied when he captured the Israelites, but I believe there was more to it. That word translated as "lust", which is a good translation, but that word "nephesh" literally means a "breathing creature" and is most often used for "life" itself, or "soul". Pharaoh had become consumed with keeping the Israelites as slaves. His stubborn pride always led him to resist Moses even when he had just witnessed what the Lord of the Israelites could do. This lust of his would be satisfied when he overtook them and completely destroyed them this time once and for all.
(10) "You blew with Your wind,
The sea covered them;
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
(11) Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
(12) You stretched out Your right hand;
The earth swallowed them."
Their enemy had planned to destroy them, but their Lord blew His wind and covered the enemy with the sea, and they sank like lead. The Lord had proved more powerful than all the Egyptian gods. There was none like Him! The question became a rhetorical one. He alone was magnificent in holiness or sacredness, so holy He could not be approached without the deepest reverence and fear, doing miraculous wonders that no false god could duplicate. The Lord exerted His power and the earth seemed to swallow their enemies as they sank out of sight.
(13) "You in Your mercy have led forth
The people whom You have redeemed;
You have guided them in Your strength
To Your holy habitation."
Their merciful Lord had led His people out of bondage in Egypt. He had physically saved His people, yes, but they were spiritually redeemed or ransomed from the bondage of the enemy, Satan, and sin. They were God's people and He led them out of Egypt by His strength, and He would continue to guide them to His holy land He had chosen for His people. Again I believe this could mean spiritually, too, as He had redeemed His people and still was guiding them or refining them to be His holy people.
(14) "The people shall hear, and be afraid;
Sorrow shall take hold of the inhabitants of Palestine.
(15) Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed;
The mighty men of Moab,
Trembling will take hold of them;
All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away."
The inhabitants of the lands in their path would hear of their great God and what He had done and would be afraid. With sorrow, amazement, fear and trembling, all the inhabitants of Canaan, their promised land, as well as the inhabitants of the lands adjoining and leading to their promised land, would melt away before them because of their God's reputation and the knowledge of what He had done for His people.
(16) "Fear and dread will fall on them;
By the greatness of Your arm
They will be as still as a stone,
Till Your people pass over, O LORD,
Till the people pass over
Whom You have purchased."
Fear and dread would fall on the inhabitants of the lands they would pass through, including the inhabitants of the promised land to which the Lord would bring them. Because of the Lord's awesome power and might, they would be still as stones not daring to stir a foot to act against the children of Israel until they crossed over into the land that the Lord had procured for His people. The original word "qanah" meant "procured", "purchased" or "redeemed", again I believe a reference to the fact that God's people have been redeemed with a price by Jesus Christ who shed His blood for them. Jesus Christ as God Himself paid the price for our salvation! God actually PAID for it! What a mind-blowing thought! The God of the universe cared enough for us sinful shameful wretched creatures to come to earth in human form and shed His blood in an excruciating manner to pay for our sins! The thought brings me to tears.
(17) "You shall bring them in and plant them
In the mountain of Your inheritance,
In the place, O LORD, which You have made
For You to dwell in,
In the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established."
The Lord would not only bring them in to their promised land, but He would plant them, giving them a fixed permanent habitation in Canaan, in the "mountain" of the inheritance He was giving to His children. "Mountain" might refer to the hilly or mountainous nature of the land, as described later in Deuteronomy 11:11, "a land of hills and valleys", or may be used figuratively. The Lord was planting them in the place that He had made for He Himself in which to dwell. The Lord literally made everything and every place, but this was a place He had prepared for His people where He would dwell among them in a sanctuary, or a holy consecrated place that He had established for His people to worship Him.
(18) "The LORD shall reign forever and ever.”
This was the end of Moses's song, and I like what Adam Clarke suggested in his Commentary on the Bible, that it was "the grand chorus in which all the people joined". The KJV said "...for ever and ever". Interestingly, the two words both translated as "ever" are two different words. The first, "olam", was very interesting to me. It meant "concealed" or "the vanishing point", which was understood to mean "until there is no more", or "eternity". The second "ever" was "ad" and meant "perpetuity" or "continuing onward". The sense of both together is that it is forever till the end of time and continuing after that. The Lord will reign forever and ever with no end! Amen!
(19) For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
This verse marks the return of scripture from the song back to the narrative. It summarizes what had happened just previous to Moses's song. Pharaoh's chariots and horsemen had followed the Israelites into the sea. The Israelites had crossed on dry land when the Lord parted the sea for them, but He brought the waters back down to drown their enemy.
(20) And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. (21) And Miriam answered them:
“Sing to the LORD,
For He has triumphed gloriously;
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!”
Miriam would have been the sister of both Moses and Aaron, and is also called a prophetess, as it appears she may have been inspired by the Holy Spirit to lead the women, and we will later learn that the Lord spoke by her as well as by Moses and Aaron (Numbers 12:2). The word "nebiyah" also meant "poetess" and may have meant someone with a gift of song, although Dr. John Gill in his Exposition of the Entire Bible pointed out that it surely couldn't have been for singing alone, as all women who sang would have been called prophetesses, which was not the case, "though sometimes in Scripture prophesying intends singing". Miriam took a timbrel, or a tambourine, and led the women with their tambourines in dance and in a repeat chorus of the song (note it is a repeat of verse 15:1).
(Exodus 15:1) Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying,
“I will sing to the LORD,
For He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!"
The Lord had just led the Israelites through the midst of the Red Sea and had drowned their enemies, the Egyptians, there. Moses had told the people to hold their peace and watch what God would do, and now that He had delivered them, they broke out in a song of praise to the Lord. This is the first song recorded in scripture, and it appears to have been composed by Moses. They would sing to the Lord because He had gloriously triumphed over Pharaoh and the Egyptians, leading and then drowning Pharaoh's horses and horsemen in the sea.
(2) “The LORD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;
He is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation;
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him."
The name Moses used for the Lord in verse 2 is "Yah" or "Jah", an abbreviated form of Jehovah, the name he used in the first verse. The strength of Moses and the children of Israel to stand against Pharaoh and the Egyptians and to enter the Red Sea was made possible only by their faith in the Lord alone. He was their strength and because of all He was and for all He had done for them, He was the subject of their song. By delivering them out of the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, He had literally physically been their salvation, but He had also become their salvation spiritually and eternally. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:2, that the children of Israel "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea". The Lord is their God and they will prepare him a "navah". "Home" might be a better translation than "habitation"; the sense is that the Lord will have a home with them, in their hearts, or rather, they would be at rest with Him. He was their fathers' God, for what He had done for them now, He had promised their fathers and had done for their sake and for their descendants. They would exalt Him and lift Him up in their eyes and in their hearts with song and praise and worship.
(3) "The LORD is a man of war;
The LORD is His name.
(4) Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;
His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.
(5) The depths have covered them;
They sank to the bottom as a stone."
"The Lord is a man of war." Like the heavily armed battleship by the same name, the Lord was well able to deal with all who would strive against Him. Jehovah was His name, "the self-existent and eternal one". The Lord had cast Pharaoh, his chariots, his army, and all his chosen captains into the sea. Note that it was not said that they wandered into the sea and then the Lord drowned them. The Lord Himself drove their enemy into the sea where they were drowned. The depths of the sea had covered their enemies and they sank to the bottom, never to rise up against them again.
(6) “Your right hand, O LORD, has become glorious in power;
Your right hand, O LORD, has dashed in pieces the enemy.
(7) And in the greatness of Your excellency
You have overthrown those who rose up against You;
You sent forth Your wrath;
Which consumed them as stubble."
The right hand of the Lord, signifying that the Lord Himself and no one else, completely destroyed their enemy. Now that right hand had become "adar", or I believe the best translation is "magnified" in glory and power. In verse 7, I again think there is a better translation. Rather than "greatness" for the word "rob", it is more often translated as "abundance" or "multitude". Certainly the Lord's excellency or majesty is great, but it is abundant in excellency; once again His excellency has been magnified as He alone overthrew those who rose up against Him. The word translated as "wrath" is "charon", and literally means "burning of anger", like a fire that consumed their enemies like stubble or straw.
(8) "And with the blast of Your nostrils
The waters were gathered together;
The floods stood upright as a heap;
And the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea."
The blast of God's nostrils was that east wind which drove the waters back, and gathered them together to stand as mounds. The waters were made firm to stand as walls.
(9) “The enemy said, ‘I will pursue,
I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil;
My lust shall be satisfied on them;
I will draw my sword,
My hand shall destroy them.’"
Pharaoh, the enemy of Moses and the Israelites, sorry he had let them go, set his mind to pursue the children of Israel, took a huge army with him to overtake them, and surely planned to get into his hands all the riches the people of Israel took with them when they left Egypt. Certainly Pharaoh's desire for revenge and gain would be satisfied when he captured the Israelites, but I believe there was more to it. That word translated as "lust", which is a good translation, but that word "nephesh" literally means a "breathing creature" and is most often used for "life" itself, or "soul". Pharaoh had become consumed with keeping the Israelites as slaves. His stubborn pride always led him to resist Moses even when he had just witnessed what the Lord of the Israelites could do. This lust of his would be satisfied when he overtook them and completely destroyed them this time once and for all.
(10) "You blew with Your wind,
The sea covered them;
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
(11) Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
(12) You stretched out Your right hand;
The earth swallowed them."
Their enemy had planned to destroy them, but their Lord blew His wind and covered the enemy with the sea, and they sank like lead. The Lord had proved more powerful than all the Egyptian gods. There was none like Him! The question became a rhetorical one. He alone was magnificent in holiness or sacredness, so holy He could not be approached without the deepest reverence and fear, doing miraculous wonders that no false god could duplicate. The Lord exerted His power and the earth seemed to swallow their enemies as they sank out of sight.
(13) "You in Your mercy have led forth
The people whom You have redeemed;
You have guided them in Your strength
To Your holy habitation."
Their merciful Lord had led His people out of bondage in Egypt. He had physically saved His people, yes, but they were spiritually redeemed or ransomed from the bondage of the enemy, Satan, and sin. They were God's people and He led them out of Egypt by His strength, and He would continue to guide them to His holy land He had chosen for His people. Again I believe this could mean spiritually, too, as He had redeemed His people and still was guiding them or refining them to be His holy people.
(14) "The people shall hear, and be afraid;
Sorrow shall take hold of the inhabitants of Palestine.
(15) Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed;
The mighty men of Moab,
Trembling will take hold of them;
All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away."
The inhabitants of the lands in their path would hear of their great God and what He had done and would be afraid. With sorrow, amazement, fear and trembling, all the inhabitants of Canaan, their promised land, as well as the inhabitants of the lands adjoining and leading to their promised land, would melt away before them because of their God's reputation and the knowledge of what He had done for His people.
(16) "Fear and dread will fall on them;
By the greatness of Your arm
They will be as still as a stone,
Till Your people pass over, O LORD,
Till the people pass over
Whom You have purchased."
Fear and dread would fall on the inhabitants of the lands they would pass through, including the inhabitants of the promised land to which the Lord would bring them. Because of the Lord's awesome power and might, they would be still as stones not daring to stir a foot to act against the children of Israel until they crossed over into the land that the Lord had procured for His people. The original word "qanah" meant "procured", "purchased" or "redeemed", again I believe a reference to the fact that God's people have been redeemed with a price by Jesus Christ who shed His blood for them. Jesus Christ as God Himself paid the price for our salvation! God actually PAID for it! What a mind-blowing thought! The God of the universe cared enough for us sinful shameful wretched creatures to come to earth in human form and shed His blood in an excruciating manner to pay for our sins! The thought brings me to tears.
(17) "You shall bring them in and plant them
In the mountain of Your inheritance,
In the place, O LORD, which You have made
For You to dwell in,
In the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established."
The Lord would not only bring them in to their promised land, but He would plant them, giving them a fixed permanent habitation in Canaan, in the "mountain" of the inheritance He was giving to His children. "Mountain" might refer to the hilly or mountainous nature of the land, as described later in Deuteronomy 11:11, "a land of hills and valleys", or may be used figuratively. The Lord was planting them in the place that He had made for He Himself in which to dwell. The Lord literally made everything and every place, but this was a place He had prepared for His people where He would dwell among them in a sanctuary, or a holy consecrated place that He had established for His people to worship Him.
(18) "The LORD shall reign forever and ever.”
This was the end of Moses's song, and I like what Adam Clarke suggested in his Commentary on the Bible, that it was "the grand chorus in which all the people joined". The KJV said "...for ever and ever". Interestingly, the two words both translated as "ever" are two different words. The first, "olam", was very interesting to me. It meant "concealed" or "the vanishing point", which was understood to mean "until there is no more", or "eternity". The second "ever" was "ad" and meant "perpetuity" or "continuing onward". The sense of both together is that it is forever till the end of time and continuing after that. The Lord will reign forever and ever with no end! Amen!
(19) For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
This verse marks the return of scripture from the song back to the narrative. It summarizes what had happened just previous to Moses's song. Pharaoh's chariots and horsemen had followed the Israelites into the sea. The Israelites had crossed on dry land when the Lord parted the sea for them, but He brought the waters back down to drown their enemy.
(20) And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. (21) And Miriam answered them:
“Sing to the LORD,
For He has triumphed gloriously;
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!”
Miriam would have been the sister of both Moses and Aaron, and is also called a prophetess, as it appears she may have been inspired by the Holy Spirit to lead the women, and we will later learn that the Lord spoke by her as well as by Moses and Aaron (Numbers 12:2). The word "nebiyah" also meant "poetess" and may have meant someone with a gift of song, although Dr. John Gill in his Exposition of the Entire Bible pointed out that it surely couldn't have been for singing alone, as all women who sang would have been called prophetesses, which was not the case, "though sometimes in Scripture prophesying intends singing". Miriam took a timbrel, or a tambourine, and led the women with their tambourines in dance and in a repeat chorus of the song (note it is a repeat of verse 15:1).
Sunday, September 14, 2014
The Miraculous Parting of the Red Sea
Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 14:3) “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ (4) And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.
In the last study, we learned the Lord was not leading the people by a direct route, because He had said when they met opposition by the Philistines, they would have turned and run back. The Lord told Moses to tell the people exactly where to camp which seemed to hem them in on two sides with the Red Sea in front of them. Now we learn there is another greater motive in this decision. When Pharaoh heard that the people were not in a direct path straight out of Egypt, but appeared to be wondering around in the wilderness, he would assume they were lost and confused, and were now hemmed in with no chance of escape should his army come up behind them. Even after all he had seen and had experienced, Pharaoh, in his pride and hard heart, would see a chance to go after the Israelites. The scripture said that God Himself would harden Pharaoh's heart. As has been discussed before (more completely in the post on Exodus 4, especially verse 21), God would never harden the heart of an otherwise innocent human being, but He did not soften the heart of an unrepentant man such as Pharaoh. He allowed him to have and act on his prideful thoughts that he might overcome the children of Israel after all. The purpose for this, as explored in that previous post, and confirmed here, is that by delivering His people from what appeared to be an impossible escape, His glory and honor would be magnified upon the actions of Pharaoh and his army, and the Egyptians would have no doubt that He alone was the Lord. By knowing the true God, the Egyptians, those enemies and persecutors of the children of God, might actually be spiritually saved by seeing and coming to the truth. How simply God could have swept His people right out of Egypt, but by delivering them miraculously time after time after time, He was patiently teaching those who witnessed the miracles and those of us who would read the history of them centuries later, that He alone was and IS the one true Lord. When the last part of the scripture above said, "And they did so", that referred to Exodus 14:2, which was studied in the last post, when God told the people exactly where to camp. They did as He said.
(5) And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
Pharaoh knew that the people had left, but he might have imagined that they still just intended to go three days' journey into the wilderness to serve their Lord, and would return, as Moses had first asked of Pharaoh. After all that had happened as a result of his refusal, you would think he would know better, but that is part of the hardening of his already proud and obstinate heart. When he knew for certain that the Israelites had fled Egypt with no apparent intention of returning, Pharaoh and his servants questioned why they had ever "let" them go.
(6) And he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. (7) And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
Pharaoh readied his own chariot for the pursuit, and took "his people" with him. It seems he took more than his servants and his army with him. He took 600 chosen chariots which could have been the ones chosen as his personal army, but then it added that he took all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them. Much discussion was made among the old commentators about just who was meant by all these people. Perhaps Pharaoh took all the people along with their chariots and they were made captains over them, or maybe he just took their chariots for his service and his own men captained the use of the chariots. I tend to believe that since the purpose of this hardening of Pharaoh's heart to pursue the Israelites was to show the Egyptians that God alone was Lord, it was certainly a huge number of the Egyptians who did indeed go. For maximum impact and impression on the people who would witness the next miracle, I believe there was a maximum number of Egyptians who went in pursuit.
(8) And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with a 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 camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. (10) And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.
The Lord indeed hardened the heart of Pharaoh, as He had said He would, and Pharaoh indeed pursued after the children of Israel, who had gone out with boldness. However, when Pharaoh and the Egyptians caught up with them at their camp and they saw them approaching, they became afraid and cried out to the Lord.
(11) And they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? (12) Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”
The people cried out to the Lord who was their true help, but then they became bitter and sarcastic toward Moses, and blamed him for bringing them out of Egypt into this wilderness where they felt sure they would die. They even told Moses, in effect, "we told you so", by referring to a time in Egypt when they had told him to leave them alone and just let them serve the Egyptians--possibly a reference to the time Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people go and serve their Lord, and Pharaoh then made it harder on the people by taking away their straw.
(13) And Moses said to the people, “Fear you not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will show to you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. (14) The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
Moses answered the people's gloom and sarcasm with calm and comfort, telling them not to be afraid, to just be still and watch the Lord act on their behalf. Moses spoke in great faith; either God had told him what He would do, or he knew it by spirit of prophecy from the Holy Spirit, or maybe he had even learned to trust the Lord completely. God said he would harden Pharaoh's heart to come after them; Moses surely understood it was not to now let him overtake them after their miraculous departure from Egypt! Moses told them after today they would not see those Egyptians again. Once again, he told the people to be still, be silent, and the Lord would fight for them.
(15) And the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. (16) But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea."
It would seem that although Moses spoke in faith to the people, he was inwardly crying out to the Lord, as the Lord spoke directly to Moses when He asked why cry to Him? I suppose He could have been asking why do "you" the children of Israel as a whole, cry out to Him. Perhaps this was the voice Moses was hearing when he answered the children in great faith that caused him to know the Lord was about to act in a big way on behalf of the Israelites. God told Moses to tell the children to go forward. Go forward! Toward the sea! Don't stand there crying; keep going forward! The Israelites would be asked to go forward in faith before they saw what God would do! God told Moses to then lift up his rod, stretch it out over the sea, and divide it! As simply as that! The children would then walk through the midst of the sea on dry ground.
(17) “And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them; and I will gain honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. (18) And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gained honor for Myself upon Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
In my attempt to retype the best translation for my study, I almost fell for the simplicity of the NKJV that didn't omit as many words as the NIV, but still would have missed something important. I once did a study of the different Bible translations and saw just how much the NIV, especially, deleted from the original Bible texts (see here), but I sometimes go with the plainer, easier to understand, language of the NKJV, but here it omitted words that seemed redundant, but to Bible scholar Matthew Henry, they were important purposeful words--"And I, behold, I will..." The NKJV would have us believe it should be just, "And I indeed will..." The NIV considered all the words redundant, and just translated, "And I will..." Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, wrote that this phrase was expressly used to show God's sovereignty--"I, see here, I alone will do this thing..." So much of God's sovereignty, and especially the divinity of Jesus Christ, is missed in the NIV and newer translations of the Bible; I can't say enough about that, and strongly encourage a thorough study on the subject. I have many great links in my past blog post entitled, "Which Version of the Truth Will You Use?"
Returning to the scripture above, God alone would harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they would follow the Israelites into the sea. Seeing the children of Israel run through the sea, they would be fearless and thoughtless about the dangers, and run straight through the sea themselves. With this final miraculous act against and over Pharaoh, completely destroying him so that he could not again rise up against the children of Israel, the Egyptians would ultimately know that the Lord of the Israelites was the one true omnipotent and eternal God.
(19) And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. (20) And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these; so that the one did not come near the other all that night.
How dramatic this must have been! The Angel of God, who may have well been Jesus Christ Himself, as touched on in the last blog post (especially Exodus 13:21), in the pillar of cloud, moved from His location as leader in front of the Israelites, to go to the rear of the congregation. The Lord in the cloud was now positioned to protect the Israelites from the Egyptians who were behind them. The same cloud was darkness to the Egyptians, but was light to the Israelites by night, so that neither camp came near to the other all that night.
(21) And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
It appears that Moses must have stretched his rod out over the sea that night, and the Lord caused an east wind all that night that divided the waters of the sea and made a path of dry land in the midst.
(22) And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
The children of Israel went through the midst of the sea probably in the very early morning, as will be confirmed a couple of verses later. For all the naysayers who through the years have tried to explain the natural phenomenon that created a way through the Red Sea for the Israelites to cross, the verse above stated that the Israelites specifically went through on dry ground with the waters as walls on either side of them. No natural occurrence could have managed that! Besides, God had already stated that He, behold, He alone would accomplish this.
(23) And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. (24) And it came to pass that in the morning watch the LORD looked upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and troubled the army of the Egyptians. (25) And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them with difficulty; so that the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.”
Since neither camp came near to the other during the night, it can be assumed this is indeed in the early morning that the Israelites crossed through the Red Sea, and now the Egyptians began to pursue them. In the morning watch, probably the last night watch right before dawn, which I assume is the time when all this activity began, the Lord looked upon the Egyptians now pursuing the Israelites, and "troubled" them. The original word, "hamam", meant "to put into commotion" or "confuse". The Lord created chaos for the Egyptians. He caused the wheels of their chariots to come off, and this must have been so dramatic and impressive, that they knew it was the Lord Himself doing it. They understood that the Lord fought for the Israelites against them and they desired to turn away and flee from them.
(26) And the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” (27) And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it, and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. (28) And the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
After confusing the Egyptians, probably both to slow them in their pursuit of the Israelites and to keep them in the midst of the sea longer when they tried to retreat, the Lord told Moses to stretch his hand out over the sea so that the waters that stood as walls would now return as they were and would come down upon the Egyptians. Moses did so, and as dawn broke and morning appeared, the sea returned as it had been before, and the Egyptians were caught trying to flee against it, which was, of course, futile, and they were covered by the waters of the Red Sea. All the chariots, which most assuredly included the chariot of Pharaoh himself, all the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh, who had gone into the sea after the Israelites, were drowned. Not a single one of them remained. In keeping with the possibility that the Lord may have used this great miracle to save even some of the Egyptians who would come to know Him as Lord and Savior (as discussed in the post on Exodus 4, especially verse 21), I don't believe the scripture necessarily meant that every last Egyptian was drowned, but only those who had followed the Israelites into the sea. I believe it is possible that some not in the midst of the sea remained to tell of this awesome miracle. Now the sea kept them from pursuing even if they wanted to, but I believe it is possible that there were Egyptians who now knew the true Lord (verse 4) because of what they had just witnessed, and lived to tell about it.
(29) But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (30) Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. (31) And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.
The Lord had drowned every last Egyptian who had gone into the sea after the Israelites, but all the children of Israel had walked upon dry land in the midst of the Red Sea, with walls of water on each side of them. In this way, the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, for up to that point, He had delivered them out of Egypt, yes, but now they had been completely saved from their enemy when the Egyptians were totally destroyed. The Israelites saw the dead Egyptians on the shore, meaning the tides of the sea must have deposited them all on the shore. Many of the old Bible commentaries point to this as the time when the Israelites, by the spoils of the Egyptians, were probably furnished with riches, clothing, and arms, that were later used in their wars on the way to the promised land. Even the historian Josephus wrote that the arms of the Egyptians were cast upon the shore where the Israelites camped, and Moses gathered them up and armed the Hebrews with them. This was how they came to have arms, since it was not likely they came out of Egypt with arms; and it was how they were able to fight battles as they did in the wilderness and when they came into the land of Canaan.
The children of Israel saw what a great work the Lord did in completely delivering them from the Egyptians and destroying their enemy, that they now feared and revered their Lord, and they believed and trusted Him and Moses as His servant, now that they had seen Him so mightily fulfill all His promises that He had made through Moses.
The chronological Bible study I follow set forth by Skip Andrews, now takes me to Hebrews, chapter 11:
(Hebrews 11:27) By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
Hebrews, chapter 11, told of the great Biblical heroes of faith. Hebrews 11:23 began telling of the life of Moses, and it continued here in verse 27. By faith, Moses left Egypt behind, not fearing the wrath of the king, as he did fear him many years before when he fled to Midian (Exodus 2:15). Moses patiently persevered through all the many appearances before the king, through all the trials and difficulties, to lead the people out of Egypt. He was able to endure because he had great faith in God as if he personally saw Him before him leading him all the way.
(28) Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
"Kept" is a weak translation of the original word, "poieo", which literally meant "to make". Through faith in God, Moses instituted the Passover, beginning with the very first Passover when the children of Israel sprinkled blood on their door posts so that the destroying angel who struck all the firstborn in Egypt would pass over their houses.
(29) By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians attempting to do were drowned.
Finally, by faith in God, Moses led the people right through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, which it actually was, but it was as if there had been no sea blocking their escape, at least not in their path between the walls of sea on either side. When you imagine such a sight, it must have taken tremendous faith in God to walk through those huge walls of water that were a seeming impossibility to the natural mind. They passed through, but when the Egyptians attempted to follow them the same way, they were drowned. Although Moses was the real hero of faith who first led them through the Red Sea, the scripture above said, "By faith, they..." It would seem it would take faith to trust that one could pass through walls of water and not have them pour back down on them and drown them. When the Egyptians attempted to follow just because they had seen the Israelites do it, they were drowned. I don't know that this means it was by faith alone that they were saved, and that all who were allowed passage had saving faith. I believe God planned to save His people Israel, at any rate, but it did prove to the children of Israel that this passage way was made by God alone, confirming that they should place their faith only in the One who could save them. The drowning of the Egyptians by the return of the waters was in accordance with natural laws, and showed the Israelites that they, too, would have been destroyed if God had not made the way for them.
By way of conclusion to this post about the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, I refer back to the last verse in Exodus, chapter 14, where the people "saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses." Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, wrote, that after reading that, we would "have been led to conclude that this people would have gone on their way rejoicing, trusting in God with their whole heart, and never leaning to their own understanding; but alas! we find that as soon as any new difficulty occurred, they murmured against God and their leaders, despised the pleasant land, and gave no credence to his word. Their case is not a solitary one: most of those who are called Christians are not more remarkable for faith and patience. Every reverse will necessarily pain and discompose the people who are seeking their portion in this life. And it is a sure mark of a worldly mind, when we trust the God of Providence and grace no farther than we see the operations of his hand in our immediate supply; and murmur and repine when the hand of his bounty seems closed, and the influences of his Spirit restrained, though our unthankful and unholy carriage has been the cause of this change. Those alone who humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, shall be lifted up in due season. Reader, thou canst never be deceived in trusting thy all, the concerns of thy body and soul, to Him who divided the sea, saved the Hebrews, and destroyed the Egyptians."
(Exodus 14:3) “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ (4) And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.
In the last study, we learned the Lord was not leading the people by a direct route, because He had said when they met opposition by the Philistines, they would have turned and run back. The Lord told Moses to tell the people exactly where to camp which seemed to hem them in on two sides with the Red Sea in front of them. Now we learn there is another greater motive in this decision. When Pharaoh heard that the people were not in a direct path straight out of Egypt, but appeared to be wondering around in the wilderness, he would assume they were lost and confused, and were now hemmed in with no chance of escape should his army come up behind them. Even after all he had seen and had experienced, Pharaoh, in his pride and hard heart, would see a chance to go after the Israelites. The scripture said that God Himself would harden Pharaoh's heart. As has been discussed before (more completely in the post on Exodus 4, especially verse 21), God would never harden the heart of an otherwise innocent human being, but He did not soften the heart of an unrepentant man such as Pharaoh. He allowed him to have and act on his prideful thoughts that he might overcome the children of Israel after all. The purpose for this, as explored in that previous post, and confirmed here, is that by delivering His people from what appeared to be an impossible escape, His glory and honor would be magnified upon the actions of Pharaoh and his army, and the Egyptians would have no doubt that He alone was the Lord. By knowing the true God, the Egyptians, those enemies and persecutors of the children of God, might actually be spiritually saved by seeing and coming to the truth. How simply God could have swept His people right out of Egypt, but by delivering them miraculously time after time after time, He was patiently teaching those who witnessed the miracles and those of us who would read the history of them centuries later, that He alone was and IS the one true Lord. When the last part of the scripture above said, "And they did so", that referred to Exodus 14:2, which was studied in the last post, when God told the people exactly where to camp. They did as He said.
(5) And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”
Pharaoh knew that the people had left, but he might have imagined that they still just intended to go three days' journey into the wilderness to serve their Lord, and would return, as Moses had first asked of Pharaoh. After all that had happened as a result of his refusal, you would think he would know better, but that is part of the hardening of his already proud and obstinate heart. When he knew for certain that the Israelites had fled Egypt with no apparent intention of returning, Pharaoh and his servants questioned why they had ever "let" them go.
(6) And he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. (7) And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
Pharaoh readied his own chariot for the pursuit, and took "his people" with him. It seems he took more than his servants and his army with him. He took 600 chosen chariots which could have been the ones chosen as his personal army, but then it added that he took all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them. Much discussion was made among the old commentators about just who was meant by all these people. Perhaps Pharaoh took all the people along with their chariots and they were made captains over them, or maybe he just took their chariots for his service and his own men captained the use of the chariots. I tend to believe that since the purpose of this hardening of Pharaoh's heart to pursue the Israelites was to show the Egyptians that God alone was Lord, it was certainly a huge number of the Egyptians who did indeed go. For maximum impact and impression on the people who would witness the next miracle, I believe there was a maximum number of Egyptians who went in pursuit.
(8) And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with a 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 camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. (10) And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.
The Lord indeed hardened the heart of Pharaoh, as He had said He would, and Pharaoh indeed pursued after the children of Israel, who had gone out with boldness. However, when Pharaoh and the Egyptians caught up with them at their camp and they saw them approaching, they became afraid and cried out to the Lord.
(11) And they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? (12) Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”
The people cried out to the Lord who was their true help, but then they became bitter and sarcastic toward Moses, and blamed him for bringing them out of Egypt into this wilderness where they felt sure they would die. They even told Moses, in effect, "we told you so", by referring to a time in Egypt when they had told him to leave them alone and just let them serve the Egyptians--possibly a reference to the time Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people go and serve their Lord, and Pharaoh then made it harder on the people by taking away their straw.
(13) And Moses said to the people, “Fear you not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will show to you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. (14) The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
Moses answered the people's gloom and sarcasm with calm and comfort, telling them not to be afraid, to just be still and watch the Lord act on their behalf. Moses spoke in great faith; either God had told him what He would do, or he knew it by spirit of prophecy from the Holy Spirit, or maybe he had even learned to trust the Lord completely. God said he would harden Pharaoh's heart to come after them; Moses surely understood it was not to now let him overtake them after their miraculous departure from Egypt! Moses told them after today they would not see those Egyptians again. Once again, he told the people to be still, be silent, and the Lord would fight for them.
(15) And the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. (16) But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea."
It would seem that although Moses spoke in faith to the people, he was inwardly crying out to the Lord, as the Lord spoke directly to Moses when He asked why cry to Him? I suppose He could have been asking why do "you" the children of Israel as a whole, cry out to Him. Perhaps this was the voice Moses was hearing when he answered the children in great faith that caused him to know the Lord was about to act in a big way on behalf of the Israelites. God told Moses to tell the children to go forward. Go forward! Toward the sea! Don't stand there crying; keep going forward! The Israelites would be asked to go forward in faith before they saw what God would do! God told Moses to then lift up his rod, stretch it out over the sea, and divide it! As simply as that! The children would then walk through the midst of the sea on dry ground.
(17) “And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them; and I will gain honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. (18) And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gained honor for Myself upon Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
In my attempt to retype the best translation for my study, I almost fell for the simplicity of the NKJV that didn't omit as many words as the NIV, but still would have missed something important. I once did a study of the different Bible translations and saw just how much the NIV, especially, deleted from the original Bible texts (see here), but I sometimes go with the plainer, easier to understand, language of the NKJV, but here it omitted words that seemed redundant, but to Bible scholar Matthew Henry, they were important purposeful words--"And I, behold, I will..." The NKJV would have us believe it should be just, "And I indeed will..." The NIV considered all the words redundant, and just translated, "And I will..." Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, wrote that this phrase was expressly used to show God's sovereignty--"I, see here, I alone will do this thing..." So much of God's sovereignty, and especially the divinity of Jesus Christ, is missed in the NIV and newer translations of the Bible; I can't say enough about that, and strongly encourage a thorough study on the subject. I have many great links in my past blog post entitled, "Which Version of the Truth Will You Use?"
Returning to the scripture above, God alone would harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they would follow the Israelites into the sea. Seeing the children of Israel run through the sea, they would be fearless and thoughtless about the dangers, and run straight through the sea themselves. With this final miraculous act against and over Pharaoh, completely destroying him so that he could not again rise up against the children of Israel, the Egyptians would ultimately know that the Lord of the Israelites was the one true omnipotent and eternal God.
(19) And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. (20) And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these; so that the one did not come near the other all that night.
How dramatic this must have been! The Angel of God, who may have well been Jesus Christ Himself, as touched on in the last blog post (especially Exodus 13:21), in the pillar of cloud, moved from His location as leader in front of the Israelites, to go to the rear of the congregation. The Lord in the cloud was now positioned to protect the Israelites from the Egyptians who were behind them. The same cloud was darkness to the Egyptians, but was light to the Israelites by night, so that neither camp came near to the other all that night.
(21) And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
It appears that Moses must have stretched his rod out over the sea that night, and the Lord caused an east wind all that night that divided the waters of the sea and made a path of dry land in the midst.
(22) And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
The children of Israel went through the midst of the sea probably in the very early morning, as will be confirmed a couple of verses later. For all the naysayers who through the years have tried to explain the natural phenomenon that created a way through the Red Sea for the Israelites to cross, the verse above stated that the Israelites specifically went through on dry ground with the waters as walls on either side of them. No natural occurrence could have managed that! Besides, God had already stated that He, behold, He alone would accomplish this.
(23) And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. (24) And it came to pass that in the morning watch the LORD looked upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and troubled the army of the Egyptians. (25) And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them with difficulty; so that the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.”
Since neither camp came near to the other during the night, it can be assumed this is indeed in the early morning that the Israelites crossed through the Red Sea, and now the Egyptians began to pursue them. In the morning watch, probably the last night watch right before dawn, which I assume is the time when all this activity began, the Lord looked upon the Egyptians now pursuing the Israelites, and "troubled" them. The original word, "hamam", meant "to put into commotion" or "confuse". The Lord created chaos for the Egyptians. He caused the wheels of their chariots to come off, and this must have been so dramatic and impressive, that they knew it was the Lord Himself doing it. They understood that the Lord fought for the Israelites against them and they desired to turn away and flee from them.
(26) And the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” (27) And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it, and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. (28) And the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
After confusing the Egyptians, probably both to slow them in their pursuit of the Israelites and to keep them in the midst of the sea longer when they tried to retreat, the Lord told Moses to stretch his hand out over the sea so that the waters that stood as walls would now return as they were and would come down upon the Egyptians. Moses did so, and as dawn broke and morning appeared, the sea returned as it had been before, and the Egyptians were caught trying to flee against it, which was, of course, futile, and they were covered by the waters of the Red Sea. All the chariots, which most assuredly included the chariot of Pharaoh himself, all the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh, who had gone into the sea after the Israelites, were drowned. Not a single one of them remained. In keeping with the possibility that the Lord may have used this great miracle to save even some of the Egyptians who would come to know Him as Lord and Savior (as discussed in the post on Exodus 4, especially verse 21), I don't believe the scripture necessarily meant that every last Egyptian was drowned, but only those who had followed the Israelites into the sea. I believe it is possible that some not in the midst of the sea remained to tell of this awesome miracle. Now the sea kept them from pursuing even if they wanted to, but I believe it is possible that there were Egyptians who now knew the true Lord (verse 4) because of what they had just witnessed, and lived to tell about it.
(29) But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (30) Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. (31) And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.
The Lord had drowned every last Egyptian who had gone into the sea after the Israelites, but all the children of Israel had walked upon dry land in the midst of the Red Sea, with walls of water on each side of them. In this way, the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, for up to that point, He had delivered them out of Egypt, yes, but now they had been completely saved from their enemy when the Egyptians were totally destroyed. The Israelites saw the dead Egyptians on the shore, meaning the tides of the sea must have deposited them all on the shore. Many of the old Bible commentaries point to this as the time when the Israelites, by the spoils of the Egyptians, were probably furnished with riches, clothing, and arms, that were later used in their wars on the way to the promised land. Even the historian Josephus wrote that the arms of the Egyptians were cast upon the shore where the Israelites camped, and Moses gathered them up and armed the Hebrews with them. This was how they came to have arms, since it was not likely they came out of Egypt with arms; and it was how they were able to fight battles as they did in the wilderness and when they came into the land of Canaan.
The children of Israel saw what a great work the Lord did in completely delivering them from the Egyptians and destroying their enemy, that they now feared and revered their Lord, and they believed and trusted Him and Moses as His servant, now that they had seen Him so mightily fulfill all His promises that He had made through Moses.
The chronological Bible study I follow set forth by Skip Andrews, now takes me to Hebrews, chapter 11:
(Hebrews 11:27) By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
Hebrews, chapter 11, told of the great Biblical heroes of faith. Hebrews 11:23 began telling of the life of Moses, and it continued here in verse 27. By faith, Moses left Egypt behind, not fearing the wrath of the king, as he did fear him many years before when he fled to Midian (Exodus 2:15). Moses patiently persevered through all the many appearances before the king, through all the trials and difficulties, to lead the people out of Egypt. He was able to endure because he had great faith in God as if he personally saw Him before him leading him all the way.
(28) Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
"Kept" is a weak translation of the original word, "poieo", which literally meant "to make". Through faith in God, Moses instituted the Passover, beginning with the very first Passover when the children of Israel sprinkled blood on their door posts so that the destroying angel who struck all the firstborn in Egypt would pass over their houses.
(29) By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians attempting to do were drowned.
Finally, by faith in God, Moses led the people right through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, which it actually was, but it was as if there had been no sea blocking their escape, at least not in their path between the walls of sea on either side. When you imagine such a sight, it must have taken tremendous faith in God to walk through those huge walls of water that were a seeming impossibility to the natural mind. They passed through, but when the Egyptians attempted to follow them the same way, they were drowned. Although Moses was the real hero of faith who first led them through the Red Sea, the scripture above said, "By faith, they..." It would seem it would take faith to trust that one could pass through walls of water and not have them pour back down on them and drown them. When the Egyptians attempted to follow just because they had seen the Israelites do it, they were drowned. I don't know that this means it was by faith alone that they were saved, and that all who were allowed passage had saving faith. I believe God planned to save His people Israel, at any rate, but it did prove to the children of Israel that this passage way was made by God alone, confirming that they should place their faith only in the One who could save them. The drowning of the Egyptians by the return of the waters was in accordance with natural laws, and showed the Israelites that they, too, would have been destroyed if God had not made the way for them.
By way of conclusion to this post about the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, I refer back to the last verse in Exodus, chapter 14, where the people "saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses." Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, wrote, that after reading that, we would "have been led to conclude that this people would have gone on their way rejoicing, trusting in God with their whole heart, and never leaning to their own understanding; but alas! we find that as soon as any new difficulty occurred, they murmured against God and their leaders, despised the pleasant land, and gave no credence to his word. Their case is not a solitary one: most of those who are called Christians are not more remarkable for faith and patience. Every reverse will necessarily pain and discompose the people who are seeking their portion in this life. And it is a sure mark of a worldly mind, when we trust the God of Providence and grace no farther than we see the operations of his hand in our immediate supply; and murmur and repine when the hand of his bounty seems closed, and the influences of his Spirit restrained, though our unthankful and unholy carriage has been the cause of this change. Those alone who humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, shall be lifted up in due season. Reader, thou canst never be deceived in trusting thy all, the concerns of thy body and soul, to Him who divided the sea, saved the Hebrews, and destroyed the Egyptians."
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