Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Exodus 4:1) And Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or hearken to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”
In the last chapter, God told Moses to take the elders of the children of Israel and go to Pharaoh and request that he allow the Hebrews to go three days' journey into the wilderness, that they might sacrifice to the LORD their God. Moses had his doubts that Pharaoh would listen to him, and God had assured him He would be with him. God had told Moses that Pharaoh would refuse at first, but would eventually let them go after God struck Egypt with all His wonders. Then Moses doubted that the people would go with him, and even after God gave His personal name, told him what to tell the people, and even told him that when the people left they would not go empty-handed, Moses apparently still didn't believe the people would listen to him. Maybe Moses didn't really doubt that the people would eventually go as the Lord said, but he knew the people would have questions and objections and he just wanted to be prepared with how to address them.
(2) And the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A rod.” (3) And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. (4) And the LORD said to Moses, “Put forth your hand and take it by the tail.” And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand; (5) “That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
The Lord patiently answered Moses's next objection. He empowered Moses to work a miracle that would convince the people that it indeed was Almighty God who had appeared to him. When Moses cast his rod or staff to the ground as God instructed him to do, it turned into a serpent which made Moses flee from it. God then instructed him to pick up the serpent by the tail, which he did. I think it had to take great faith in the Lord for Moses to reach out and grab what had just frightened him enough to make him run from it. I think this demonstrates that Moses did indeed have faith in the Lord God, but his objections came from the feeling of his own inadequacy to facilitate God's plan. Indeed when Moses caught the serpent by the tail, it became a rod again. God told Moses that by observing this miracle, the people would believe that the Lord God of their fathers had appeared to him.
(6) And the LORD said furthermore to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. (7) And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” And he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. (8) “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe you, nor hearken to the message of the first sign, that they will believe the message of the latter sign.”
God empowered Moses with another miracle. It was not by Moses's act of moving his hand into and out of his bosom that brought disease or cured it, but this miracle signified that Moses, by the power of God, would bring terrible diseases or plagues on Egypt, and that at his prayer they would be removed. Although the plagues would be God's acts, and Moses would only be putting into action what God planned to do anyway, God was giving Moses the power to start and stop them when he said or asked, as in prayer. By this, God said, that even if the people did not believe by the first miracle that He had appeared to Moses, they would surely believe by this sign. It was Albert Barnes in his Notes on the Bible, who said that the "instantaneous production and cure of the most malignant and subtle disease known to the Israelites was a sign of their danger if they resisted the command, and of their deliverance if they obeyed it. The infliction and cure were always regarded as special proofs of a divine intervention."
(9) “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land; and the water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”
God instructed Moses on one last miracle He would empower him to perform for the people. By this demonstration, the children of Israel could see how easily the Lord could destroy the land of Egypt. The Lord had given Moses miraculous power in his rod and in his own hands, and with this last miracle, the people could see that those miracles could be used to destroy Egypt and make a way for them to leave the land. By all of these signs they would surely know that it was Jehovah Elohim who had appeared to Moses and would deliver His people.
(10) And Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
Even after all this, Moses still had doubts that he could convince the people. The word translated as "eloquent" was actually two words meaning "man of words" or even "champion of words". Moses didn't consider himself a master of words, not before God appeared to him, and with all the miracles God had empowered him to do, that was one thing that hadn't changed. With the double expression of "slow of speech" and "slow of tongue", it is apparent that Moses felt inadequate in two different areas regarding speech. When I looked at the original words, the word translated as "speech" was "peh" and literally meant "mouth", and the word translated as "tongue" was "lashon" and meant "tongue" or "language". I believe Moses felt he was slow in speech and either slow in the Hebrew language (since he had been educated in Egypt) or slow to form the right words or thoughts. It is interesting to think about how inadequate Moses felt in his ability to speak to the people, but with God at the helm, he was remembered by Stephen in Acts 7:22 as a man mighty in words! It was Matthew Henry in his Commentary on the Whole Bible who pointed out that even the apostle Paul whose great eloquent letters make up a large part of the New Testament, had a weak body and contemptible speech, according to 2 Corinthians 10:10. But isn't that always the way with our Lord? When we are weak, He is strong, and we may be strong through Him!
(11) And the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? (12) Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
God reminded Moses that He was the one who made Moses's mouth. He knew perfectly well what Moses's mouth was capable of and He would be with him to tell him what to say.
(13) And he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of him whom You will send.”
The interpretation of this answer by Moses is a little difficult. At first I wrote it as interpreted by the NKJV translators, as well as most of the other newer translations. That might be the correct interpretation, but as I have studied and learned before, oftentimes the newer translations miss important details. Most of the newer translations interpret this line of Moses's as meaning "Send someone else", and it is apparent that he means something of the sort by the reaction that God has to this statement. But it was from reading the old commentaries of people like Adam Clarke and Dr. John Gill, and even from the 1599 Geneva Bible Translation Notes, that I learned that many ancient commentators thought Moses was referring to the Messiah. In that case the line would read correctly just as it is, but I will capitalize to make it clearer: "Please send...Him whom You will send." Moses pleaded with God to go ahead and send the One, the Messiah, the one He planned to eventually send anyway. Moses knew God's plan for a coming Messiah to deliver His people. Wasn't this a job for the Messiah? Oh, how much we can miss when we study the NIV or other newer translations of the Bible! I have studied this before and have been fascinated to learn just how much has been removed in the NIV, especially in matters considering the deity of Jesus Christ. A study and some very interesting links to fascinating examples can be found at this blog post, Which Version of the Truth Will You Use? For this reason, I love studying the older commentaries because they were studying the older translations of the Bible, before people got so wise in their own eyes and decided they knew better than all the Biblical scholars before them what was meant! But I digress.
Back to Moses and his objection: I just heard an interesting teaching yesterday on Gideon, and what God looks for in someone He will use to fulfill His purpose. Humility--that seems to be the number one priority. God first uses the humble, and He uses the weak, so that He may work through them. It would be much more difficult to work through a proud person who would pat himself on the back for what he did or was about to do. Not that God couldn't bring that person to his knees and use him anyway, as He has surely done, but a humble-hearted person who loves and seeks to follow the Lord would appear to be His first choice. And by choosing a weak person, God is shown strong, and there can be no doubt Who is performing the act at hand. So Moses was indeed humble; he didn't see himself in any way capable of doing what God had proposed and he listed all his objections. However, he might have been going a little too far and showing a lack of faith, because God kept telling him He would be the One working through Moses. But then again, for the first time, I better understand what Moses meant. He wasn't telling God to just send somebody else. Rather he was asking about God's coming Messiah, as he knew that was the One who would ultimately deliver God's people, and this would have surely seemed like that deliverance to Moses.
(14) And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also look, he is coming out to meet you; and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart."
Even though I can better understand Moses now that I see he was asking about the Messiah and he wasn't just saying to send anyone else but him, God's anger was still kindled. Actually, one of the old commentaries used this as the reason why it couldn't have been the Messiah of whom Moses had spoken. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, wrote, "Surely this would not have been the case had he only in modesty, and from a deep sense of his own unfitness, desired that the Messiah should be preferred before him. But the whole connection shows that this interpretation is unfounded." Personally, I don't see how Moses referring to the Messiah would have prevented God's anger, whereas anyone else would not. Moses was still saying, in essence, he didn't want to go, that wasn't this a job for the Messiah? God knows the heart of man, and he knew this was more than humility on Moses's part; this was a lack of faith in the Lord God who told him He would be with him and would tell him what to say and do; and He even told Moses how it would turn out!
Even though God's anger was kindled against Moses and his apparent lack of faith, He did not reject him for this service, but gave him help. Dr. John Gill pointed out that God still seemed to prefer Moses for this job over his older brother, and pointed out that Moses did in fact show "himself to be a faithful historian in recording his own weaknesses, and the displeasure of God at them." God had a plan for Aaron the Levite, too, in the Levitical priesthood, but He also used Aaron to help Moses and to give him confidence to proceed. Aaron could speak well, and the Lord apparently called him to join Moses in this mission. When the Lord said, "...look, he is coming out to meet you", Aaron wasn't immediately in sight, but I believe He was saying that at that moment the Lord had called Aaron and he was happy and willing to answer the call. When he met up with Moses, he would be glad in his heart, rejoicing in their mission and ready to heartily cooperate with Moses in the task at hand.
(15) “And you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. (16) And he shall be your spokesman to the people; and he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. (17) And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
God continued to tell Moses how he could use Aaron as his spokesman. It seemed God would still go to Moses first and then Moses would, in turn, instruct Aaron on what to say, and God would be with both their mouths, guiding them for His purposes. Aaron would be Moses's spokesman to the people, speaking as Moses himself would or should have; and Moses would speak to Aaron the exact words of God, as if God Himself were speaking directly to Aaron. God further instructed Moses to take the rod with him, as that would be the instrument with which he would do the miracles or wondrous signs.
(18) And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” (19) And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt; for all the men are dead who sought your life.”
Moses had been living in the land of Midian, but most recently had been tending the flock of his father-in-law at the "backside of the desert" at Mount Horeb, when God appeared to him at the burning bush. Moses returned to his father-in-law and asked for leave to return to his people in Egypt, which he apparently had not seen or heard from in 40 years. Jethro gave his consent and good wishes to Moses's reasonable request. It was at that point, when Moses had returned to Midian from tending the flock, that the Lord appeared to Moses again and confirmed that he should return to Egypt, but he further informed him that the men who had sought to kill him were now dead. That surely brought assurance and confidence that he was doing the right thing.
(20) And Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
Moses indeed packed up his wife and sons and returned to Egypt, taking what was then referred to as the "rod of God" as it was the one with which he would perform the miracles of God.
(21) And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand; but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go."
The Lord told Moses that when he returned to Egypt he was to do the miracles with which He had empowered him, not only before the people, but before Pharaoh, as well. However, God let Moses know that Pharaoh would not let the people go. It might seem a harsh thing that God would harden Pharaoh's heart that he would not let the people go, and then he and the Egyptians would suffer because God had hardened Pharaoh's heart. It is important to know that God did not harden the heart of an otherwise just or innocent man. Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart against God and His people, but God could turn or soften anyone's heart, as He did at the end. Nothing ever happens that God doesn't allow to happen, so in effect, He Himself hardens or softens the heart. God could have softened Pharaoh's heart sooner, but He would not until He had struck Egypt with all His wonders. Also it is important to remember that this hardening of Pharaoh's heart was a righteous judgment for a long series of oppressions and cruelties. Yet another fact to remember is that God often allows bad things to happen or even causes them to happen to get His people to turn back to Him! Of course, that is where ultimate salvation is. Often people have to get to their lowest points before they turn back to God, so God allows those things for their salvation! I thought Adam Clarke addressed this beautifully in his Commentary on the Bible:
"From the whole of Pharaoh’s conduct we learn that he was bold, haughty, and cruel; and God chose to permit these dispositions to have their full sway in his heart without check or restraint from Divine influence: the consequence was what God intended, he did not immediately comply with the requisition to let the people go; and this was done that God might have the fuller opportunity of manifesting his power by multiplying signs and miracles, and thus impress the hearts both of the Egyptians and Israelites with a due sense of his omnipotence and justice. The whole procedure was graciously calculated to do endless good to both nations. The Israelites must be satisfied that they had the true God for their protector; and thus their faith was strengthened. The Egyptians must see that their gods could do nothing against the God of Israel; and thus their dependence on them was necessarily shaken. These great ends could not have been answered had Pharaoh at once consented to let the people go. This consideration alone unravels the mystery, and explains everything. Let it be observed that there is nothing spoken here of the eternal state of the Egyptian king; nor does anything in the whole of the subsequent account authorize us to believe that God hardened his heart against the influences of his own grace, that he might occasion him so to sin that his justice might consign him to hell. This would be such an act of flagrant injustice as we could scarcely attribute to the worst of men. He who leads another into an offense that he may have a fairer pretense to punish him for it, or brings him into such circumstances that he cannot avoid committing a capital crime, and then hangs him for it, is surely the most execrable of mortals. What then should we make of the God of justice and mercy should we attribute to him a decree, the date of which is lost in eternity, by which he has determined to cut off from the possibility of salvation millions of millions of unborn souls, and leave them under a necessity of sinning, by actually hardening their hearts against the influences of his own grace and Spirit, that he may, on the pretext of justice, consign them to endless perdition? Whatever may be pretended in behalf of such unqualified opinions, it must be evident to all who are not deeply prejudiced, that neither the justice nor the sovereignty of God can be magnified by them."
I love that! It is what I have truly come to know in my heart, that God is always fair and just and He knows the hearts of men. He knows what it will take to bring them to their knees back before Him, and He knows if they will ever accept Him. So when unbelievers use the question of people dying unfairly as examples of how there cannot be a just God, it just doesn't fly with me. For one thing, they are seeing this world and living in it, as reward, and that is not our reward; we are just passing through this sinful place. God said in Isaiah 57:1 that sometimes He chooses to have mercy and take people out of this sinful place to save them from the evil to come. So when innocent children suffer and die, they go to His bosom, and are so much happier than we could ever be on this earth. When good innocent people die, it's worse for the people left on earth, and that is possibly where salvation comes to those who are left. That could be one of those lowest points that brings a person to God. In John 9:1-3, Jesus's disciples asked Him about a blind man they had seen, and wondered who had sinned that he was born blind. Jesus said that neither he nor his parents had sinned to bring this judgment on him, "but that the works of God should be revealed in him." It was so that Jesus could heal him and bring others who witnessed it to salvation! I often think about this example when I hear Word of Faithers presuming to know the will of God and saying that God wants you to be healed and it is only your lack of faith holding you back. In this case, they would have been wrong. It was not God's will that this blind man be healed as a child, but at the time when Jesus would heal him for the benefit of witnesses who might become saved. Now back to Moses:
(22) “And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Israel is My son, My firstborn. (23) And I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me; and if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”’”
As God had said He would, He told Moses exactly what to say to Pharaoh. He was to begin with "Thus says the LORD..." Pharaoh must know his message came from Jehovah. Moses must let Pharaoh know Israel's relationship to God, and God's concern for Israel. It was from reading Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible that I understood that the expression, “Israel is My son, My firstborn”, would have been something that Pharaoh well understood. Pharaoh's official designation was “son of Ra.” Quoting Mr. Barnes, "In numberless inscriptions the Pharaohs are styled 'own sons' or 'beloved sons' of the deity. It is here applied for the first time to Israel; and ...emphatically in antithesis to Pharaoh’s own firstborn." Moses was to demand of Pharaoh that he let God's son go in order that he might serve Him in a place He had designated, in a place safe and free as a son, not there in Goshen in oppression and servitude. Finally, Moses was to threaten Pharaoh with the death of his firstborn, which meant his own firstborn, as well as the firstborn of all his subjects, if he refused God's firstborn. I don't know if this was something Moses was necessarily supposed to say to Pharaoh at his first meeting with him, but it was something to which Pharaoh's refusals would ultimately lead.
(24) And it came to pass on the way, at the place of lodging, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. (25) Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses's feet, and said, “Surely you are a bloody husband to me.” (26) So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a bloody husband” because of the circumcision.
This is a rather difficult passage that seems out of place. Moses, who was usually so good about writing about his own weaknesses and about God's displeasure with him, seems to have left a line or two out in this situation. It's obviously about circumcision; that much we know. There are many different thoughts about this, and even about whom God intended to kill. At first thought, it would seem to be Moses. God had just finished talking to Moses and told him what to say to Pharaoh, and as Moses was on his way, God sought to kill him. Note how Moses's wife, Zipporah, was the one who jumped into action and quickly performed the circumcision on her son, and then God let Moses go. I explored the thoughts of the early commentaries of Barnes, Clark, Gill, Henry, Scofield, Wesley, and even the 1599 Geneva Bible Translation Notes, on this. As Zipporah was the one who jumped into action, but then perhaps seemed disgusted with Moses as she threw the foreskin at his feet and called him a bloody husband (definitely because of the circumcision, as the scripture pointed out), there are a couple of different thoughts about this. One could be that Zipporah was the one who stood in the way of the circumcision before. Zipporah was a Midianite, and I have read that the Midianites most likely waited until age 13 to circumcise their sons, whereas God had instructed it be done on the 8th day. It seems reasonable to believe Zipporah knew about circumcision as she performed it correctly. Maybe Zipporah was the one who was the hindrance, and when she saw God's displeasure, jumped into action, saying essentially, "Okay, okay, I did the bloody act!" Or perhaps Zipporah recognized that Moses had been lax in his duty and she jumped into action. It could be that since God had sought to kill Moses, perhaps Moses was struck very ill and unable to perform the circumcision, and Zipporah, realizing what had to be done, quickly performed the deed.
It was Adam Clarke who suggested that verse 23 may not have been part of what Moses was supposed to tell Pharaoh, but was in fact, a message to Moses himself. That seems reasonable, since it doesn't appear that Moses was to tell Pharaoh upfront that God would kill Pharaoh's firstborn if he refused to let His firstborn go. Consider that God was telling Moses to let Moses's son go to serve the Lord, which he couldn't do until he was circumcised, and if he refused to do it, then God would kill that son. Perhaps the "him" that God sought to kill was the son, and that is why the mother hen Zipporah jumped into action so quickly to save her son. However it played out, it is evident that this was all about circumcision; and one other thought, is that Zipporah was not disgusted about the circumcision at all, but that her exclamation was more of congratulations or maybe thankfulness to God for the espousal of the child to God by the covenant of circumcision. After the quick circumcision of her son, God let Moses or his son, or maybe both, go. The plan to kill was withdrawn as a direct result of the circumcision.
(27) And the LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” And he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him.
This is when God actually sent Aaron to Moses. In verse 14 above, God spoke about Aaron already coming to meet Moses. God knew it would be, but it looks like this is when He actually told Aaron to go. Perhaps Aaron was already receiving some leading of God's Holy Spirit, but this was the time he heard from God to go meet Moses. It appears Aaron obeyed immediately and God obviously led him to the mountain where He had met Moses previously. There the brothers met and kissed.
(28) And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. (29) And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.
Moses told Aaron all of what the Lord had said to him, and about all the miracles He had empowered him to use. Aaron was ready and willing to proceed with God's plan, and the brothers gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.
(30) And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. (31) And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Aaron, as Moses's spokesman, spoke all the words that the Lord had given Moses that he had certainly relayed to Aaron. It was Moses who performed the miracles in the sight of the people. I believe these were now all the people, after having first gone to the elders. The people believed that it was indeed God who had met with Moses, and when they realized that God Himself in His grace and mercy took a personal interest in them and their affliction, they bowed their heads in worship, surely thankful for His goodness and mercy.
The chronological study that I am doing is from A Chronological Bible Reading Schedule by Skip Andrews, and it now takes me back to Stephen in Acts with a recap:
(Acts 7:30) “And when forty years had passed, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush."
Stephen was continuing what he had previously started in the retelling of Moses and his call, and was referring to 40 years after Moses had fled to Midian. Stephen referred to the mountain as Sinai, whereas Moses called it Horeb. I have read that both are peaks of the same mountain. He told how an angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush.
(31) “When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came to him, (32) Saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and dared not look."
Moses wondered at the sight because as we read in Exodus, the bush was burning, yet was not consumed by the fire. When Moses turned aside to look at it, the Lord called out to him from the burning bush, saying He was the God of his fathers, the God of the living, the God of the covenant, and Moses dared not look upon God.
(33) “Then the LORD said to him, ‘Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. (34) I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’"
Stephen continued to retell the story of Moses at the burning bush where the Lord told Moses he was on sacred ground because of the Lord's presence. The Lord then told Moses that He had seen and heard the oppression of His people and that He had come to deliver them, and that He would send Moses to Egypt.
(35) “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. (36) He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of
Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years."
Stephen referred to Moses as one who was initially rejected (Exodus 2:13-14), but was indeed the one God had sent to be the deliverer of His people. Stephen said Moses did, in fact, bring the people out of Egypt, after performing miracles in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness. Stephen told the story of Moses as an example of God's deliverer who was first rejected by his people, but indeed delivered, as a picture of Christ who was sent as God's deliverer from the bondage and oppression of sin and of Satan, one who was also rejected by His people. As surely as Moses did deliver the people from Egypt, so much more so had Christ delivered His people from the bondage of sin and death!
Moses is one of those inspirational characters of the Bible, who was flawed and imperfect as we all are, but God worked through him to accomplish great things! He was a reluctant hero in the beginning, even arousing the anger of God, but God didn't reject him; He still used him to do mighty things. Moses was even a fugitive from the law! I believe that should give us all hope that God can use us no matter how miserable our beginnings! It matters how willing our hearts are to do His will now!
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Moses and the Burning Bush
Continuing from the last blog post a chronological study of the Bible:
(Exodus 3:1) Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
In the last chapter, it appeared that Moses's father-in-law was Reuel. Probably Reuel was the patriarch of the family, and as we read about the sons and daughters of Jacob, or the sons and daughters of Abraham, who were actually descendants further down the line than first sons and daughters, so was probably the case with the daughters of Reuel. We read elsewhere (Acts 7:30) that forty years had passed since Moses first came to Midian, so perhaps Reuel had died, and now Jethro was the patriarch of the family. Some of the early commentaries wrote that Jethro was actually Moses's father-in-law, the father of Zipporah, and Reuel was her grandfather, where others believed Jethro was Moses's brother-in-law, Reuel being his father-in-law. The original word "chathan" which was translated as "father-in-law" was generally understood to mean that, but its actual literal meaning is "to contract affinity through marriage (especially through the bride)", so father-in-law or brother-in-law, either one, would seem reasonable. I tend to believe Jethro was Moses's father-in-law as he would later become someone from whom Moses would take "fatherly advice".
Moses tended the flock of his father-in-law, and at this time led the flock to the back part of the desert, where there were probably good pastures for feeding the flock. He came to Horeb, the "mountain of God", a name that was probably given it after the incident which happened next, or perhaps after God gave His people the law from this mountain. Horeb and Sinai were two peaks of the same mountain.
(2) And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
In Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible, Mr. Clarke wrote that this was no ordinary angel, "not a created angel certainly... but Jesus, the Leader, Redeemer, and Savior of mankind." Some other Biblical scholars agree, but it was from studying Clarke's writings that I was referred to other passages in the Bible that convinced me it was true. The original word translated as "angel" was "malak", a "messenger", and the word used for "LORD" was Jehovah. This messenger of Jehovah would a few verses later give His name. He could be speaking for Jehovah God, but Who is the Word of God? John 1 tells us clearly that the Word of God is Jesus. Additionally, Clarke pointed out that in Exodus 23:20-21, God spoke of an Angel He would send. He said to beware of that angel and obey His voice because God's name was in Him, and God's name was Jehovah, so that appeared to be the same messenger of Jehovah as is referenced in verse 2 above. I'm not sure that I understood that phrase to mean Jesus before. These same words were used for the angel of the LORD who spoke to Hagar. Maybe the identity of this messenger of God is not what is most important, but we can be certain any messenger would be given the full authority needed to fulfill the will of God at any given time. Maybe Jesus, the actual Word of God, is who God chose to use from time to time, whereas He may have used a created messenger at other times. Either way, we can be sure what Moses was about to experience was from God Himself.
(3) And Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”
Moses wrote about this incident after it happened, so he came to know that it was the Angel of the LORD appearing to him in that bush, but I don't believe he knew it at the time, or at least not at first. However, he was very interested in trying to figure out how that bush was burning, but was not being burned up.
(4) And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
The first thing that caught my attention was that the LORD saw, and God called. The LORD is "Jehovah", the name for God Himself. The word translated as "God" is "Elohiym", and it's plural! That is something I'm not sure I ever before realized. I've known that Elohim was a name for God, but more specifically, it appears to be the name for the entire Godhead--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jehovah God saw, and then Jehovah God, with the Word Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of God, called to Moses. Note that "Eloahh" is the singular form of Elohiym.
Note that the scripture says, "when the LORD saw...". That would seem to imply that if Moses had not taken notice of the burning bush, God would not have spoken to him at this time. 40 years before this time, Moses seemed to have received a calling that he would rescue his people, but it didn't seem the time was right then. Maybe even now at this time, God was testing Moses to see if he was ready. In Paul's writings in the New Testament he wrote about the spirit in man (Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 2), and the natural man with the spirit of the world cannot see the things of God. I think back to Esau, who did not appear to see the things of God, but valued more the base things of the world. Jacob, on the other hand, constantly strove for the blessings of God. You might think a burning bush that was not consumed would interest anyone, but I am willing to bet there was a spiritual element to this burning bush (obviously, right?) that perhaps only one ready to receive the spiritual things of God would perceive. Maybe it's like that when God calls us to salvation. Of course, God would already know if we were going to accept Him or not, just like He already knew that Moses would turn aside to see the burning bush, so are these tests really necessary? I believe they are for us ourselves. How many times can we look upon in our past where we can see the leading of God's Holy Spirit that we may not have recognized at the time? It's important for us to begin to recognize and discern the things of God and I believe God may give us practice for our benefit. Oh, maybe it's not really designed as "practice"; He's always there and always working, refining us as gold. But it is important for us to learn to recognize the Holy Spirit because there are many false spirits in the world and many masquerading as angels of light. Once we start to recognize the Holy Spirit, we are more apt to look for His leading in the future. God saw that Moses was ready to hear Him and called audibly out to him. Moses answered right away. It surely must have taken him by surprise, but in his spirit he must have known this was God calling him, and he answered immediately, ready not just to listen, but to do whatever He asked of him.
(5) And He said, “Do not draw near this place; take your shoes off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
Moses turned aside toward the burning bush, but God commanded that he not come near, that he keep his distance. He furthermore told him to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. I don't believe it was previously known as holy, as some have suggested, but was holy because of the presence of God at this moment. If it had always been considered holy ground, Moses would surely have known about it. He was instructed to remove his shoes as was the custom of respect and submission, but more than that, this ground was made holy because of the presence of the Lord, and Moses was being cautioned not to enter it lightly or rashly or with irreverence. Moses was to approach God with a solemn pause, observing proper distance because of the awesome majesty and power of the Lord God, and he was not to tread near with soiled shoes.
(6) Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
God told Moses that He was the God of his father Amram, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The significance of this statement is more apparent when you consider Jesus's words in Mark 12:26-27a (and other places):
“And concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living..."
By this statement, God declared to Moses that He was God, the God of his fathers gone before him, teaching him that there was a future state for those who looked to God and had faith in His promises. Abraham was dead, yet God said, "I am the God of Abraham", not "I was (when he was living)..." Abraham's soul lived, as did the souls of Moses's fathers before him who had faith in God's promises, and that should give Moses confidence in the fulfillment of the promises made to his forefathers. Moses realized he was in the presence of God and hid his face, probably ashamed as well as afraid to look upon God.
(7) And the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows."
The Lord told Moses that He had seen the affliction of His people in Egypt. Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, pointed out that the word translated as "taskmasters" above was a different word than the one used previously, and indicated more like "oppressors, harassers, or tyrants". God saw, God heard, and God knew... I believe that was expressed in three distinct ways because God knew the hearts and inward secret sorrows that were not openly expressed.
(8) "And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. (9) Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them."
Furthermore, God told Moses He had come down to deliver His people from the Egyptians. Because God is omnipresent and is everywhere, He didn't actually physically move from heaven above down to Egypt to deliver His people, but He did make Himself manifest to Moses to declare His plan of deliverance. However, in the form of Jesus Christ, God did indeed come down from heaven to deliver us! Not only was God going to deliver His people out of the hand of the Egyptians, but He was going to bring them to a good and large land, in contrast to the small tract of Goshen. It would be a vast land of richness and abundance, a place then occupied by the Canaanites, etc. God repeated that He had indeed seen the oppression of His people.
(10) “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
God concluded with His commission to Moses that he go to Pharaoh as an ambassador for his people, to negotiate their release from the burdens and oppression, and to bring them out of Egypt.
(11) And Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Moses saw himself as weak, insufficient, and incapable of performing the task at hand. As Moses thought of himself, he couldn't see that it was even possible that he could accomplish such a thing.
(12) And He said, “Certainly I will be with you; and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Moses was right, he himself could not do such a thing, but God told him that He would surely be with him to accomplish the task. The words "shall be" were added by the KJV translators for what they thought was clarity, but I don't believe God was telling Moses that the sign would be that he would serve God on that mountain. Rather, I believe He was saying that this, the burning bush, was the sign that God was surely with him and was the One sending him on such a seemingly impossible mission. Then when he had brought the people out of Egypt, they would return to this mountain and serve God there.
(13) And Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Not only did Moses feel inadequate to challenge Pharaoh, but he felt inadequate to convince the people. Although that question that Moses expected the people to ask always seemed a strange one to me, it is true that at this time in their existence the children of Israel had been deeply entrenched in Egyptian customs and probably in their superstitions and idolatrous ways. They probably spoke of many gods who did this and that, and when Moses told them about a supernatural deliverance, he was probably right to assume they would want to know to which god they could attribute such a feat. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, pointed out that the Israelites at this time probably didn't have much knowledge of the true God. They lived in oppression under idolatrous pagan tyrants and were surely surrounded by false gods and superstitions. They certainly had no written Biblical word at this time. I guess I never thought of it like that before. For that reason, maybe I can understand a little more the people's lack of faith during the exodus, a little... God certainly showed Himself to be the Almighty true God, but to a people who were surrounded by so many gods who constantly failed them, maybe that is the reason they seemed to lose faith so easily. At any rate, Moses expected the people to ask him the name of the god who would deliver them, sort of like, "by whose authority, do you propose these things?" Moses suspected they would probably test him to decide whether or not they would cooperate with him.
(14) And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God answered Moses without hesitation. It wasn't a stupid question proposed by a fearful would-be hero. The original words given by God were, "Hayah Asher Hayah", and they denoted self-existence, a God eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He was the God who was faithful and true to all His promises, unchangeable in His word and in His nature.
(15) And moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”
God, Elohim (the plural Godhead), told Moses to tell the people that Jehovah Elohim, "yehovah" itself meaning "self-existent or eternal", the true eternal God of their fathers, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that God, had sent Moses to them. No matter how long they had lived in oppression and idolatrous surroundings, they surely remembered the true eternal God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! If the name "I AM" was new or confusing to them, they surely knew Jehovah Elohim of their fathers, a name more familiar and one that surely stood as a memorial to them through the generations since Abraham. With the new name given personally by God, and with the reference to the Lord God of their fathers, specifically, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God made Himself known to His people that He might revive among them the religion of their fathers, and remind them of His covenant and raise their expectations that now was the time.
(16) “Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt;" (17) And I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.'"
God then told Moses to gather the elders of Israel and tell them exactly what God had told Moses. The "elders" were probably not men of any authority in church or government, as the people surely were not able to govern themselves. In this case, the word probably just meant the older men, probably the elder heads of their tribes of families. Once again God instructed Moses to call Him the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Additionally, by telling the people that God had said He had "surely visited" the people and that He would bring them out of Egypt to the land flowing with milk and honey, it was an exact fulfillment of the prophetic prediction of Joseph in Genesis 50:24, when he said that God would surely visit them and bring them out of that land to the land which He had sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
(18) “And they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now let us go, we beseech you, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’”
God assured Moses that the elders would listen to him and would go with him to the king of Egypt. This first petition to Pharaoh was a humble one and one that would have caused no inconvenience or damage to the Egyptians. It was a reasonable request that they be allowed to go three days' journey, which was undoubtedly to that "mountain of God", which was said to have been a three days' journey, to worship their God in a place He would have appointed to worship and serve Him purely away from the idolatry of Egypt. Indeed it was God's plan to remove His people completely from Egypt, but if this simple reasonable request had been granted, then the people would have been free, but of course, they weren't, and God knew that. In being so modest and reasonable in this first request, the denial of it would prove just how unreasonable and inexcusable Pharaoh's actions were.
(19) “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.”
Indeed, God did know that Pharaoh would refuse this request, but it was important for Moses to proceed in this humble way and let Pharaoh prove who he was. The words translated as "no, not even" above have various other negative meanings and perhaps should probably have been translated as "not without", as we know that even though Pharaoh refused after many demonstrations of God's mighty hand, he eventually did let them go.
(20) “And I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.”
Even if the proper translation and sense in verse 19 was that Pharaoh would not let them go even by a mighty hand, God said that once He struck Egypt with all His wonders, he would let them go. That little word translated as "all" was "kol", and it literally meant "the whole". After Egypt was struck with the totality of God's wonders, then Pharaoh would let them go. God let Moses know that eventually Pharaoh would relent. I'm sure that bit of prophecy would give Moses faith to persevere even though it would seem to him that Pharaoh would never let them go.
(21) “And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall come to pass, that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed. (22) But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who dwells near her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; and you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
God told Moses that when His people left, they would not go empty-handed. He would give His people favor with the Egyptians so that they would gladly give them all kinds of jewels and clothing. I'm sure it wouldn't be for some great love for the Hebrews that the Egyptians would do this, but rather recognizing the power of their great God, they would be glad to be at peace with them and be rid of them with anything they asked. God said in that way they would plunder the Egyptians. Actually, the original word, "natsal", which was translated as "plunder" also meant "rescue" or "recover". That is actually the better sense of the word. In this way, God's people would justly be repaid for all their hard service to the Egyptians. This would be the fulfillment of a prophecy given to Abraham in Genesis 15:14, “And also that nation whom they serve I will judge; and afterward they shall come out with great substance.”
(Exodus 3:1) Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
In the last chapter, it appeared that Moses's father-in-law was Reuel. Probably Reuel was the patriarch of the family, and as we read about the sons and daughters of Jacob, or the sons and daughters of Abraham, who were actually descendants further down the line than first sons and daughters, so was probably the case with the daughters of Reuel. We read elsewhere (Acts 7:30) that forty years had passed since Moses first came to Midian, so perhaps Reuel had died, and now Jethro was the patriarch of the family. Some of the early commentaries wrote that Jethro was actually Moses's father-in-law, the father of Zipporah, and Reuel was her grandfather, where others believed Jethro was Moses's brother-in-law, Reuel being his father-in-law. The original word "chathan" which was translated as "father-in-law" was generally understood to mean that, but its actual literal meaning is "to contract affinity through marriage (especially through the bride)", so father-in-law or brother-in-law, either one, would seem reasonable. I tend to believe Jethro was Moses's father-in-law as he would later become someone from whom Moses would take "fatherly advice".
Moses tended the flock of his father-in-law, and at this time led the flock to the back part of the desert, where there were probably good pastures for feeding the flock. He came to Horeb, the "mountain of God", a name that was probably given it after the incident which happened next, or perhaps after God gave His people the law from this mountain. Horeb and Sinai were two peaks of the same mountain.
(2) And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
In Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible, Mr. Clarke wrote that this was no ordinary angel, "not a created angel certainly... but Jesus, the Leader, Redeemer, and Savior of mankind." Some other Biblical scholars agree, but it was from studying Clarke's writings that I was referred to other passages in the Bible that convinced me it was true. The original word translated as "angel" was "malak", a "messenger", and the word used for "LORD" was Jehovah. This messenger of Jehovah would a few verses later give His name. He could be speaking for Jehovah God, but Who is the Word of God? John 1 tells us clearly that the Word of God is Jesus. Additionally, Clarke pointed out that in Exodus 23:20-21, God spoke of an Angel He would send. He said to beware of that angel and obey His voice because God's name was in Him, and God's name was Jehovah, so that appeared to be the same messenger of Jehovah as is referenced in verse 2 above. I'm not sure that I understood that phrase to mean Jesus before. These same words were used for the angel of the LORD who spoke to Hagar. Maybe the identity of this messenger of God is not what is most important, but we can be certain any messenger would be given the full authority needed to fulfill the will of God at any given time. Maybe Jesus, the actual Word of God, is who God chose to use from time to time, whereas He may have used a created messenger at other times. Either way, we can be sure what Moses was about to experience was from God Himself.
(3) And Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”
Moses wrote about this incident after it happened, so he came to know that it was the Angel of the LORD appearing to him in that bush, but I don't believe he knew it at the time, or at least not at first. However, he was very interested in trying to figure out how that bush was burning, but was not being burned up.
(4) And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
The first thing that caught my attention was that the LORD saw, and God called. The LORD is "Jehovah", the name for God Himself. The word translated as "God" is "Elohiym", and it's plural! That is something I'm not sure I ever before realized. I've known that Elohim was a name for God, but more specifically, it appears to be the name for the entire Godhead--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jehovah God saw, and then Jehovah God, with the Word Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of God, called to Moses. Note that "Eloahh" is the singular form of Elohiym.
Note that the scripture says, "when the LORD saw...". That would seem to imply that if Moses had not taken notice of the burning bush, God would not have spoken to him at this time. 40 years before this time, Moses seemed to have received a calling that he would rescue his people, but it didn't seem the time was right then. Maybe even now at this time, God was testing Moses to see if he was ready. In Paul's writings in the New Testament he wrote about the spirit in man (Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 2), and the natural man with the spirit of the world cannot see the things of God. I think back to Esau, who did not appear to see the things of God, but valued more the base things of the world. Jacob, on the other hand, constantly strove for the blessings of God. You might think a burning bush that was not consumed would interest anyone, but I am willing to bet there was a spiritual element to this burning bush (obviously, right?) that perhaps only one ready to receive the spiritual things of God would perceive. Maybe it's like that when God calls us to salvation. Of course, God would already know if we were going to accept Him or not, just like He already knew that Moses would turn aside to see the burning bush, so are these tests really necessary? I believe they are for us ourselves. How many times can we look upon in our past where we can see the leading of God's Holy Spirit that we may not have recognized at the time? It's important for us to begin to recognize and discern the things of God and I believe God may give us practice for our benefit. Oh, maybe it's not really designed as "practice"; He's always there and always working, refining us as gold. But it is important for us to learn to recognize the Holy Spirit because there are many false spirits in the world and many masquerading as angels of light. Once we start to recognize the Holy Spirit, we are more apt to look for His leading in the future. God saw that Moses was ready to hear Him and called audibly out to him. Moses answered right away. It surely must have taken him by surprise, but in his spirit he must have known this was God calling him, and he answered immediately, ready not just to listen, but to do whatever He asked of him.
(5) And He said, “Do not draw near this place; take your shoes off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
Moses turned aside toward the burning bush, but God commanded that he not come near, that he keep his distance. He furthermore told him to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. I don't believe it was previously known as holy, as some have suggested, but was holy because of the presence of God at this moment. If it had always been considered holy ground, Moses would surely have known about it. He was instructed to remove his shoes as was the custom of respect and submission, but more than that, this ground was made holy because of the presence of the Lord, and Moses was being cautioned not to enter it lightly or rashly or with irreverence. Moses was to approach God with a solemn pause, observing proper distance because of the awesome majesty and power of the Lord God, and he was not to tread near with soiled shoes.
(6) Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
God told Moses that He was the God of his father Amram, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The significance of this statement is more apparent when you consider Jesus's words in Mark 12:26-27a (and other places):
“And concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living..."
By this statement, God declared to Moses that He was God, the God of his fathers gone before him, teaching him that there was a future state for those who looked to God and had faith in His promises. Abraham was dead, yet God said, "I am the God of Abraham", not "I was (when he was living)..." Abraham's soul lived, as did the souls of Moses's fathers before him who had faith in God's promises, and that should give Moses confidence in the fulfillment of the promises made to his forefathers. Moses realized he was in the presence of God and hid his face, probably ashamed as well as afraid to look upon God.
(7) And the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows."
The Lord told Moses that He had seen the affliction of His people in Egypt. Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, pointed out that the word translated as "taskmasters" above was a different word than the one used previously, and indicated more like "oppressors, harassers, or tyrants". God saw, God heard, and God knew... I believe that was expressed in three distinct ways because God knew the hearts and inward secret sorrows that were not openly expressed.
(8) "And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. (9) Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them."
Furthermore, God told Moses He had come down to deliver His people from the Egyptians. Because God is omnipresent and is everywhere, He didn't actually physically move from heaven above down to Egypt to deliver His people, but He did make Himself manifest to Moses to declare His plan of deliverance. However, in the form of Jesus Christ, God did indeed come down from heaven to deliver us! Not only was God going to deliver His people out of the hand of the Egyptians, but He was going to bring them to a good and large land, in contrast to the small tract of Goshen. It would be a vast land of richness and abundance, a place then occupied by the Canaanites, etc. God repeated that He had indeed seen the oppression of His people.
(10) “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
God concluded with His commission to Moses that he go to Pharaoh as an ambassador for his people, to negotiate their release from the burdens and oppression, and to bring them out of Egypt.
(11) And Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Moses saw himself as weak, insufficient, and incapable of performing the task at hand. As Moses thought of himself, he couldn't see that it was even possible that he could accomplish such a thing.
(12) And He said, “Certainly I will be with you; and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Moses was right, he himself could not do such a thing, but God told him that He would surely be with him to accomplish the task. The words "shall be" were added by the KJV translators for what they thought was clarity, but I don't believe God was telling Moses that the sign would be that he would serve God on that mountain. Rather, I believe He was saying that this, the burning bush, was the sign that God was surely with him and was the One sending him on such a seemingly impossible mission. Then when he had brought the people out of Egypt, they would return to this mountain and serve God there.
(13) And Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Not only did Moses feel inadequate to challenge Pharaoh, but he felt inadequate to convince the people. Although that question that Moses expected the people to ask always seemed a strange one to me, it is true that at this time in their existence the children of Israel had been deeply entrenched in Egyptian customs and probably in their superstitions and idolatrous ways. They probably spoke of many gods who did this and that, and when Moses told them about a supernatural deliverance, he was probably right to assume they would want to know to which god they could attribute such a feat. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, pointed out that the Israelites at this time probably didn't have much knowledge of the true God. They lived in oppression under idolatrous pagan tyrants and were surely surrounded by false gods and superstitions. They certainly had no written Biblical word at this time. I guess I never thought of it like that before. For that reason, maybe I can understand a little more the people's lack of faith during the exodus, a little... God certainly showed Himself to be the Almighty true God, but to a people who were surrounded by so many gods who constantly failed them, maybe that is the reason they seemed to lose faith so easily. At any rate, Moses expected the people to ask him the name of the god who would deliver them, sort of like, "by whose authority, do you propose these things?" Moses suspected they would probably test him to decide whether or not they would cooperate with him.
(14) And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God answered Moses without hesitation. It wasn't a stupid question proposed by a fearful would-be hero. The original words given by God were, "Hayah Asher Hayah", and they denoted self-existence, a God eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He was the God who was faithful and true to all His promises, unchangeable in His word and in His nature.
(15) And moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”
God, Elohim (the plural Godhead), told Moses to tell the people that Jehovah Elohim, "yehovah" itself meaning "self-existent or eternal", the true eternal God of their fathers, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that God, had sent Moses to them. No matter how long they had lived in oppression and idolatrous surroundings, they surely remembered the true eternal God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! If the name "I AM" was new or confusing to them, they surely knew Jehovah Elohim of their fathers, a name more familiar and one that surely stood as a memorial to them through the generations since Abraham. With the new name given personally by God, and with the reference to the Lord God of their fathers, specifically, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God made Himself known to His people that He might revive among them the religion of their fathers, and remind them of His covenant and raise their expectations that now was the time.
(16) “Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt;" (17) And I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.'"
God then told Moses to gather the elders of Israel and tell them exactly what God had told Moses. The "elders" were probably not men of any authority in church or government, as the people surely were not able to govern themselves. In this case, the word probably just meant the older men, probably the elder heads of their tribes of families. Once again God instructed Moses to call Him the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Additionally, by telling the people that God had said He had "surely visited" the people and that He would bring them out of Egypt to the land flowing with milk and honey, it was an exact fulfillment of the prophetic prediction of Joseph in Genesis 50:24, when he said that God would surely visit them and bring them out of that land to the land which He had sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
(18) “And they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now let us go, we beseech you, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’”
God assured Moses that the elders would listen to him and would go with him to the king of Egypt. This first petition to Pharaoh was a humble one and one that would have caused no inconvenience or damage to the Egyptians. It was a reasonable request that they be allowed to go three days' journey, which was undoubtedly to that "mountain of God", which was said to have been a three days' journey, to worship their God in a place He would have appointed to worship and serve Him purely away from the idolatry of Egypt. Indeed it was God's plan to remove His people completely from Egypt, but if this simple reasonable request had been granted, then the people would have been free, but of course, they weren't, and God knew that. In being so modest and reasonable in this first request, the denial of it would prove just how unreasonable and inexcusable Pharaoh's actions were.
(19) “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.”
Indeed, God did know that Pharaoh would refuse this request, but it was important for Moses to proceed in this humble way and let Pharaoh prove who he was. The words translated as "no, not even" above have various other negative meanings and perhaps should probably have been translated as "not without", as we know that even though Pharaoh refused after many demonstrations of God's mighty hand, he eventually did let them go.
(20) “And I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.”
Even if the proper translation and sense in verse 19 was that Pharaoh would not let them go even by a mighty hand, God said that once He struck Egypt with all His wonders, he would let them go. That little word translated as "all" was "kol", and it literally meant "the whole". After Egypt was struck with the totality of God's wonders, then Pharaoh would let them go. God let Moses know that eventually Pharaoh would relent. I'm sure that bit of prophecy would give Moses faith to persevere even though it would seem to him that Pharaoh would never let them go.
(21) “And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall come to pass, that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed. (22) But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who dwells near her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; and you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
God told Moses that when His people left, they would not go empty-handed. He would give His people favor with the Egyptians so that they would gladly give them all kinds of jewels and clothing. I'm sure it wouldn't be for some great love for the Hebrews that the Egyptians would do this, but rather recognizing the power of their great God, they would be glad to be at peace with them and be rid of them with anything they asked. God said in that way they would plunder the Egyptians. Actually, the original word, "natsal", which was translated as "plunder" also meant "rescue" or "recover". That is actually the better sense of the word. In this way, God's people would justly be repaid for all their hard service to the Egyptians. This would be the fulfillment of a prophecy given to Abraham in Genesis 15:14, “And also that nation whom they serve I will judge; and afterward they shall come out with great substance.”
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Moses, the Prequel
I have been doing a chronological Bible study, the order of which was set forth by Skip Andrews here. Before continuing in Exodus, chapter 2, the chronological order directed me to Hebrews in the New Testament:
(Hebrews 11:23) By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
We learned at the end of the first chapter in Exodus that Pharaoh's last command to the people was to kill any boy Hebrew baby they came across. With this passage from the New Testament about the great faith of Moses, we learned that his parents hid their baby Moses for the first three months of his life. In reality, verse 23 spoke of Moses's parents' faith. They saw Moses was a special child and it was said they were not afraid of the king's commandment. I believe the sense is that once again they feared God more than men. They must have feared the commandment somewhat or they would not have hidden Moses, but their passion to save their beautiful baby was stronger than any fear of the king. As they were included in Hebrews' great people of faith, I have to believe when it says "they saw", that perhaps by the Holy Spirit of God, they knew Moses was special and must be saved. However, even without a unique vision from God, God-fearing people of faith would know that the king's commandment was against the laws of God and contrary to God's promise to multiply His people.
(24) By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, (25) Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (26) Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
I'm not sure why the rest of the Hebrews passage about the faith of Moses would be placed chronologically before the rest of Exodus 2, but it is, and I find myself studying something that has not happened yet in Exodus 2. I believe the sense of the passage in this chronological place was to show that Moses, regardless of his upbringing, identified with the children of Israel. Although he could have surely enjoyed much honor and many benefits by being considered the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he had more regard for the promises of God. Even though he would suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than probable ease and honor and comfort as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses chose to follow God. Moses was surely lifted up by God to be used by Him, and we know that God spoke to Moses, and the Holy Spirit of God surely inspired Moses to write the first five books of the Old Testament, so I feel certain that Moses had received prophetic knowledge of the coming Messiah, and that was by far the greatest reward, worth all the suffering that might come.
(Acts 7:17) “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, (18) Till another king arose who did not know Joseph."
Next in the chronological study, I was directed to Acts 7:17-29. Although this passage does not really take place chronologically before the rest of Exodus, Stephen was speaking about the time of Moses, and his speech may provide a more complete picture of the events leading up to the rest of Exodus. As Exodus 1 began, so began Stephen's retelling of the time when the children of Israel grew and multiplied in Egypt and there arose a new king who did not know Joseph.
(19) “This man dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil affected our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, that they might not live."
Stephen told of how the new pharaoh dealt with the children of Israel in Egypt. He used the original word "katasophizomai", which to me looks like a combination of "catastrophe" and "schizophrenia", and the meaning might actually be closer to that than you might think! The KJV translators used the phrase "dealt subtilly" which was similar to the word used by the pharaoh in Exodus 1:10 when he said he wanted to "deal wisely" with the Israelites, which was more craftiness and deceit than it was wisdom. Strong's gave the meaning of the original word as "to be crafty against, that is, circumvent". Consider "catastrophic splitting" or breaking, as we previously learned the Egyptians were trying to do to the Israelites, and "katasophizomai" covers it pretty well! Stephen told of how the pharaoh's evil plans affected their forefathers, that they should cast out their babies that they, and therefore the Hebrew nation, might not live and grow.
(20) "In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months. (21) And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son."
Stephen told how Moses was born during this time and was nourished in his father's house for three months, but was apparently cast out as ordered by the king, and was taken by Pharaoh's daughter to be her son.
(22) “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."
It appears that Moses had the finest education, being "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians". He was "mighty" in words and in deeds. The word translated as "mighty" was "dunatos", and it meant "powerful" or "capable". As a learned man, he had a command of language and was a capable man of great abilities. We will learn later in Exodus that Moses considered himself slow of speech, so being mighty in words may not have meant that he was a great orator, but he was a learned man wise with words and possibly with a vast vocabulary and understanding of language. However, as Stephen was speaking about Moses in the past after the exodus, he might have been referring to Moses's mighty communications and deeds as he led the children of Israel from Egypt.
(23) "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel."
It appears that Moses lived in the palace of Pharaoh for 40 years, and at the end of that time, it came to him to visit his people, the children of Israel, probably by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God.
(24) “And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. (25) For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand."
We will learn when we return to Exodus that the Egyptian was striking a Hebrew, one of Moses's brethren, and Moses defended his brother by killing the Egyptian and hiding him in the sand. Moses was probably beginning to feel the leading of God to be the deliverer of his people and supposed that the people would understand that he was stepping in to save them, but they didn't see it that way at all.
(26) “And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and would have reconciled them, saying, 'Sirs, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ (27) But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? (28) Will you kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' (29) Then Moses fled at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons."
The next day Moses appeared to two Hebrew men who were fighting and tried to intervene and reconcile them. However, when he asked why they were fighting, the one who was apparently in the wrong, shoved Moses away, and basically asked what right he had to interfere in their matter. When the man asked Moses if he would kill him as he killed the Egyptian the day before, Moses fled. We learn a little more of this incident in Exodus 2, that Moses was careful to be unobserved when he struck the Egyptian, so he now knew that what he had done was known, and he surely feared what would happen to him if Pharaoh heard what he had done. It appears that Moses made no further attempts to deliver Israel, but settled as a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:1) And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.
The last thing we read in Exodus 1, was that Pharaoh had commanded his people to cast any Hebrew boy babies into the river. We now read of a man of the house of Levi who at this time married a daughter of Levi. We learned previously this was Amram, Moses's father, and Jochebed, his father’s sister.
(2) And the woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.
Moses's mother conceived and bore Moses during the time of that terrible decree that all male Hebrew babies be destroyed. Moses's siblings, Aaron and Miriam, were older than he was, so were no doubt born before this decree. Moses's mother hid him for three months. You would think that any mother would try to hide her newborn baby and do all that she could to save her child from an evil law that would have him killed. However, from the Hebrews passage above, we learned that Moses's parents had great faith, faith in God and His will, and not fear and therefore a kind of faith, in a godless king and government. Stephen said above that evil affected their fathers so that they cast out their young children. Yes, it was an evil king and an evil law, but the people themselves cast out their babies. Moses's parents chose not to do this evil thing. They instead chose God; they chose life! Is that not a beautiful picture of what we should do when faced with an evil law and government? They did the right thing and they were considered among the great people of faith in Hebrews!
(3) And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. (4) And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
When Moses's mother felt she could no longer hide him, she made a little boat for him, put him in it, and laid him in the reeds by the river's bank. She knew Moses's fate was death if she kept him with her, so her only hope that he might live was to put him in a basket and hope someone else would find him and save him. She even had his sister watching to see what would happen to him. When you think about it, Moses's mother must have placed him near where she knew the Egyptian princess might find him. Otherwise, if any other Egyptian had found him, he or she would have obeyed the king's commandment and killed the baby boy. If any Hebrew found him, he would be no safer than he was with his mother.
(5) And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to fetch it. (6) And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Sure enough, Pharaoh's daughter came to that location in the river to wash and saw the little boat among the reeds. She sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it and saw the crying baby, she had compassion for him, realizing he was one of the Hebrew children, destined to die.
(7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
Moses's sister had obviously been prepared for this possibility, and immediately asked Pharaoh's daughter if she should get her a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for her.
(8) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” And the maid went and called the child's mother.
I believe the maid here refers to "the maiden", Moses's sister, rather than the princess's own handmaiden. Pharaoh's daughter thought that was a good idea she had and sent her to find someone to nurse the baby. The girl went and fetched her own mother, also Moses's mother, again, obviously having been coached in this.
(9) And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
And so Moses was saved from death, and his mother received the additional blessing of being paid to take care of her own child! I love how God works this way! I recall once when I was questioning whether my husband and I in good conscience could accept Social Security disability payments from such a wicked government as ours that promotes the killing of innocent babies, among many other evil things. He reminded me of this incident in the Bible where Moses's mother received wages for nursing her own child from the very household that killed Hebrew babies. Don't get me wrong, I believe there are or will be times when we must refuse to do evil if it is in conflict with God's laws, but in this instance, and in the matter of paying taxes to a wicked government, we have models. Jesus taught us to pay our taxes, and in the matter of accepting money from the government, we must remember that it is all God's anyway, and if He chooses to bless us with the government's money, we can accept it and thank and praise Him. However, I don't doubt that if it was in a person's heart not to accept money from an ungodly government, that God, knowing the person's heart, would find another way to bless him. That's the way our awesome God works! He is sovereign above all things and everyone, and He knows the heart of every man and woman.
(10) And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Apparently, when the time of nursing was over, Moses's mother brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became the son of Pharaoh's daughter. She called his name Moses, the original word being "mosheh", meaning "drawn forth".
The chronological order of this particular Bible study now takes me to Exodus 6:23 and Numbers 26:60:
(Exodus 6:23) And Aaron took for himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
(Numbers 26:60) And to Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
As Aaron was older than Moses, it is assumed that he was grown and married while Moses was still young and living in the palace of Pharaoh. Aaron took Elisheba as wife, the daughter of Amminadab, and the sister of Nahshon, a prince of the tribe of Judah. Elisheba bore Aaron four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:11) And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
I'm not crazy about this chronological order, as we have already been told about this incident by Stephen in the New Testament, long after it happened, but we are now returned to the time it originally happened. Moses was grown, 40 years old, according to Stephen, and he went out, apparently from the palace of Pharaoh where he had up to this point lived, to see his people, and he observed their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
(12) And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
In this original telling of this incident, we see that Moses sought to be unobserved in what he did. He obviously felt justified in defending his brother, and from Stephen's telling, may have even felt led by God to rescue his people, but he surely knew that the slaying of an Egyptian would never be seen as justified by the Egyptians and by Pharaoh.
(13) And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your neighbor?” (14) And he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” And Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!”
Moses was trying to hide what he did from the Egyptians, but he surely didn't expect his own people to spread the story and turn on him. He feared that surely this news would now spread to Pharaoh.
(15) Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
Sure enough, when Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. That is when Moses fled to the land of Midian. As he came to Midian, he sat down by a well.
(16) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
The original word translated as "priest" was "kohen" and meant either "priest" or "prince". It was suggested by early commentaries that he might have been a priest of the one true God, or at least as a descendant of Abraham, might have retained the knowledge of the true God, and might be considered a priest of His. Otherwise, Moses who was being drawn to his own people, surely would not have married one of his daughters, as we will soon learn he did. In addition, if the seven daughters were daughters of a pagan prince, they more than likely would not have been drawing water for their father's flock, but would have surely had servants for such a task. If their father was a prince, then the daughters were honorably born, and humble and industrious.
(17) And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
Rude shepherds coming to the well, and possibly even to the very troughs the maidens had already filled, drove the maidens' flock and possibly the maidens themselves out of their way. Moses, ever the man of honor and justice, helped the maidens and watered their flock.
(18) And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”
When the daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian, came to their father, he asked how they could have finished so soon. Evidently, with Moses's help, they watered their flock and returned much faster than usual.
(19) And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”
Reuel's daughters mistook Moses for an Egyptian, probably judging by his dress and speech. I suppose he had been raised as an Egyptian up to this point.
(20) And he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”
The girls had surely been modest and didn't even consider bringing a strange Egyptian man home with them. However, their father recognized the man's kindness and wished to show his gratitude, and asked that they call the man to come eat with them.
(21) And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
Moses was content to live in or among Reuel's household, and eventually was given his daughter Zipporah in marriage to him.
(22) And she bore him a son; and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”
Zipporah bore Moses a son whom he named Gershom, which literally meant "refugee". Moses felt forced to leave his people to escape Pharaoh and was a stranger in this foreign land.
(23) And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
In the process of time, the current king of Egypt died, the one who had sought to kill Moses, but apparently things did not change for the children of Israel. They cried out to God because of the severity of their oppression and bondage at the hands of the Egyptians.
(24) And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. (25) And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
God heard His people and "remembered" His covenant. It's not as if God ever forgets; He is ever mindful of all things. The sense of this "remembering" was that at that point, it was the proper time for God to act and to fulfill His promise and His covenant, proof that He remembered. God looked upon His children and acknowledged them and their oppression. God obviously had seen them and their situation for years leading up to this point. Apparently this was the proper time for God to act. In Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, Mr. Henry observed that God heard, remembered, looked, and acknowledged the people, after they cried out to Him. Verse 23 didn't say specifically that they cried "to God", but it certainly can be inferred, because before this time they groaned and bore their troubles and fretted inwardly, but they finally reached the point where they cried out. That is certainly the way with our God, and that theme is repeated throughout the Bible, that God waits until His people turn back to Him and realize they need only Him, and then He acts in a big way. Matthew Henry also pointed out that in verses 24 and 25, God's name is mentioned 4 times. The way he expressed it was, "The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to four different expressions of a kind intention towards them....The frequent repetition of the name of God here intimates that now we are to expect something great, Opus Deo dignum - A work worthy of God. His eyes, which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf." God was about to work in a big way!
(Exodus 6:25) And Eleazar Aaron's son took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife, and she bore him Phinehas; these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.
Since this is a chronological order I am studying, apparently sometime after Moses married Zipporah and began having a family, Aaron's son Eleazar also married. He married one of the daughters of a man named Putiel, and she bore him a son named Phinehas. These men were some of the heads of the Levites, mentioned among the sons of Levi in Exodus 6.
(Hebrews 11:23) By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
We learned at the end of the first chapter in Exodus that Pharaoh's last command to the people was to kill any boy Hebrew baby they came across. With this passage from the New Testament about the great faith of Moses, we learned that his parents hid their baby Moses for the first three months of his life. In reality, verse 23 spoke of Moses's parents' faith. They saw Moses was a special child and it was said they were not afraid of the king's commandment. I believe the sense is that once again they feared God more than men. They must have feared the commandment somewhat or they would not have hidden Moses, but their passion to save their beautiful baby was stronger than any fear of the king. As they were included in Hebrews' great people of faith, I have to believe when it says "they saw", that perhaps by the Holy Spirit of God, they knew Moses was special and must be saved. However, even without a unique vision from God, God-fearing people of faith would know that the king's commandment was against the laws of God and contrary to God's promise to multiply His people.
(24) By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, (25) Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (26) Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
I'm not sure why the rest of the Hebrews passage about the faith of Moses would be placed chronologically before the rest of Exodus 2, but it is, and I find myself studying something that has not happened yet in Exodus 2. I believe the sense of the passage in this chronological place was to show that Moses, regardless of his upbringing, identified with the children of Israel. Although he could have surely enjoyed much honor and many benefits by being considered the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he had more regard for the promises of God. Even though he would suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than probable ease and honor and comfort as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses chose to follow God. Moses was surely lifted up by God to be used by Him, and we know that God spoke to Moses, and the Holy Spirit of God surely inspired Moses to write the first five books of the Old Testament, so I feel certain that Moses had received prophetic knowledge of the coming Messiah, and that was by far the greatest reward, worth all the suffering that might come.
(Acts 7:17) “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, (18) Till another king arose who did not know Joseph."
Next in the chronological study, I was directed to Acts 7:17-29. Although this passage does not really take place chronologically before the rest of Exodus, Stephen was speaking about the time of Moses, and his speech may provide a more complete picture of the events leading up to the rest of Exodus. As Exodus 1 began, so began Stephen's retelling of the time when the children of Israel grew and multiplied in Egypt and there arose a new king who did not know Joseph.
(19) “This man dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil affected our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, that they might not live."
Stephen told of how the new pharaoh dealt with the children of Israel in Egypt. He used the original word "katasophizomai", which to me looks like a combination of "catastrophe" and "schizophrenia", and the meaning might actually be closer to that than you might think! The KJV translators used the phrase "dealt subtilly" which was similar to the word used by the pharaoh in Exodus 1:10 when he said he wanted to "deal wisely" with the Israelites, which was more craftiness and deceit than it was wisdom. Strong's gave the meaning of the original word as "to be crafty against, that is, circumvent". Consider "catastrophic splitting" or breaking, as we previously learned the Egyptians were trying to do to the Israelites, and "katasophizomai" covers it pretty well! Stephen told of how the pharaoh's evil plans affected their forefathers, that they should cast out their babies that they, and therefore the Hebrew nation, might not live and grow.
(20) "In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months. (21) And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son."
Stephen told how Moses was born during this time and was nourished in his father's house for three months, but was apparently cast out as ordered by the king, and was taken by Pharaoh's daughter to be her son.
(22) “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."
It appears that Moses had the finest education, being "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians". He was "mighty" in words and in deeds. The word translated as "mighty" was "dunatos", and it meant "powerful" or "capable". As a learned man, he had a command of language and was a capable man of great abilities. We will learn later in Exodus that Moses considered himself slow of speech, so being mighty in words may not have meant that he was a great orator, but he was a learned man wise with words and possibly with a vast vocabulary and understanding of language. However, as Stephen was speaking about Moses in the past after the exodus, he might have been referring to Moses's mighty communications and deeds as he led the children of Israel from Egypt.
(23) "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel."
It appears that Moses lived in the palace of Pharaoh for 40 years, and at the end of that time, it came to him to visit his people, the children of Israel, probably by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God.
(24) “And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. (25) For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand."
We will learn when we return to Exodus that the Egyptian was striking a Hebrew, one of Moses's brethren, and Moses defended his brother by killing the Egyptian and hiding him in the sand. Moses was probably beginning to feel the leading of God to be the deliverer of his people and supposed that the people would understand that he was stepping in to save them, but they didn't see it that way at all.
(26) “And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and would have reconciled them, saying, 'Sirs, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ (27) But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? (28) Will you kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' (29) Then Moses fled at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons."
The next day Moses appeared to two Hebrew men who were fighting and tried to intervene and reconcile them. However, when he asked why they were fighting, the one who was apparently in the wrong, shoved Moses away, and basically asked what right he had to interfere in their matter. When the man asked Moses if he would kill him as he killed the Egyptian the day before, Moses fled. We learn a little more of this incident in Exodus 2, that Moses was careful to be unobserved when he struck the Egyptian, so he now knew that what he had done was known, and he surely feared what would happen to him if Pharaoh heard what he had done. It appears that Moses made no further attempts to deliver Israel, but settled as a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:1) And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.
The last thing we read in Exodus 1, was that Pharaoh had commanded his people to cast any Hebrew boy babies into the river. We now read of a man of the house of Levi who at this time married a daughter of Levi. We learned previously this was Amram, Moses's father, and Jochebed, his father’s sister.
(2) And the woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.
Moses's mother conceived and bore Moses during the time of that terrible decree that all male Hebrew babies be destroyed. Moses's siblings, Aaron and Miriam, were older than he was, so were no doubt born before this decree. Moses's mother hid him for three months. You would think that any mother would try to hide her newborn baby and do all that she could to save her child from an evil law that would have him killed. However, from the Hebrews passage above, we learned that Moses's parents had great faith, faith in God and His will, and not fear and therefore a kind of faith, in a godless king and government. Stephen said above that evil affected their fathers so that they cast out their young children. Yes, it was an evil king and an evil law, but the people themselves cast out their babies. Moses's parents chose not to do this evil thing. They instead chose God; they chose life! Is that not a beautiful picture of what we should do when faced with an evil law and government? They did the right thing and they were considered among the great people of faith in Hebrews!
(3) And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. (4) And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
When Moses's mother felt she could no longer hide him, she made a little boat for him, put him in it, and laid him in the reeds by the river's bank. She knew Moses's fate was death if she kept him with her, so her only hope that he might live was to put him in a basket and hope someone else would find him and save him. She even had his sister watching to see what would happen to him. When you think about it, Moses's mother must have placed him near where she knew the Egyptian princess might find him. Otherwise, if any other Egyptian had found him, he or she would have obeyed the king's commandment and killed the baby boy. If any Hebrew found him, he would be no safer than he was with his mother.
(5) And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to fetch it. (6) And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Sure enough, Pharaoh's daughter came to that location in the river to wash and saw the little boat among the reeds. She sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it and saw the crying baby, she had compassion for him, realizing he was one of the Hebrew children, destined to die.
(7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
Moses's sister had obviously been prepared for this possibility, and immediately asked Pharaoh's daughter if she should get her a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for her.
(8) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” And the maid went and called the child's mother.
I believe the maid here refers to "the maiden", Moses's sister, rather than the princess's own handmaiden. Pharaoh's daughter thought that was a good idea she had and sent her to find someone to nurse the baby. The girl went and fetched her own mother, also Moses's mother, again, obviously having been coached in this.
(9) And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
And so Moses was saved from death, and his mother received the additional blessing of being paid to take care of her own child! I love how God works this way! I recall once when I was questioning whether my husband and I in good conscience could accept Social Security disability payments from such a wicked government as ours that promotes the killing of innocent babies, among many other evil things. He reminded me of this incident in the Bible where Moses's mother received wages for nursing her own child from the very household that killed Hebrew babies. Don't get me wrong, I believe there are or will be times when we must refuse to do evil if it is in conflict with God's laws, but in this instance, and in the matter of paying taxes to a wicked government, we have models. Jesus taught us to pay our taxes, and in the matter of accepting money from the government, we must remember that it is all God's anyway, and if He chooses to bless us with the government's money, we can accept it and thank and praise Him. However, I don't doubt that if it was in a person's heart not to accept money from an ungodly government, that God, knowing the person's heart, would find another way to bless him. That's the way our awesome God works! He is sovereign above all things and everyone, and He knows the heart of every man and woman.
(10) And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Apparently, when the time of nursing was over, Moses's mother brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became the son of Pharaoh's daughter. She called his name Moses, the original word being "mosheh", meaning "drawn forth".
The chronological order of this particular Bible study now takes me to Exodus 6:23 and Numbers 26:60:
(Exodus 6:23) And Aaron took for himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
(Numbers 26:60) And to Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
As Aaron was older than Moses, it is assumed that he was grown and married while Moses was still young and living in the palace of Pharaoh. Aaron took Elisheba as wife, the daughter of Amminadab, and the sister of Nahshon, a prince of the tribe of Judah. Elisheba bore Aaron four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:11) And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
I'm not crazy about this chronological order, as we have already been told about this incident by Stephen in the New Testament, long after it happened, but we are now returned to the time it originally happened. Moses was grown, 40 years old, according to Stephen, and he went out, apparently from the palace of Pharaoh where he had up to this point lived, to see his people, and he observed their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
(12) And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
In this original telling of this incident, we see that Moses sought to be unobserved in what he did. He obviously felt justified in defending his brother, and from Stephen's telling, may have even felt led by God to rescue his people, but he surely knew that the slaying of an Egyptian would never be seen as justified by the Egyptians and by Pharaoh.
(13) And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your neighbor?” (14) And he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” And Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!”
Moses was trying to hide what he did from the Egyptians, but he surely didn't expect his own people to spread the story and turn on him. He feared that surely this news would now spread to Pharaoh.
(15) Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
Sure enough, when Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. That is when Moses fled to the land of Midian. As he came to Midian, he sat down by a well.
(16) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
The original word translated as "priest" was "kohen" and meant either "priest" or "prince". It was suggested by early commentaries that he might have been a priest of the one true God, or at least as a descendant of Abraham, might have retained the knowledge of the true God, and might be considered a priest of His. Otherwise, Moses who was being drawn to his own people, surely would not have married one of his daughters, as we will soon learn he did. In addition, if the seven daughters were daughters of a pagan prince, they more than likely would not have been drawing water for their father's flock, but would have surely had servants for such a task. If their father was a prince, then the daughters were honorably born, and humble and industrious.
(17) And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
Rude shepherds coming to the well, and possibly even to the very troughs the maidens had already filled, drove the maidens' flock and possibly the maidens themselves out of their way. Moses, ever the man of honor and justice, helped the maidens and watered their flock.
(18) And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”
When the daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian, came to their father, he asked how they could have finished so soon. Evidently, with Moses's help, they watered their flock and returned much faster than usual.
(19) And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”
Reuel's daughters mistook Moses for an Egyptian, probably judging by his dress and speech. I suppose he had been raised as an Egyptian up to this point.
(20) And he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”
The girls had surely been modest and didn't even consider bringing a strange Egyptian man home with them. However, their father recognized the man's kindness and wished to show his gratitude, and asked that they call the man to come eat with them.
(21) And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
Moses was content to live in or among Reuel's household, and eventually was given his daughter Zipporah in marriage to him.
(22) And she bore him a son; and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”
Zipporah bore Moses a son whom he named Gershom, which literally meant "refugee". Moses felt forced to leave his people to escape Pharaoh and was a stranger in this foreign land.
(23) And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
In the process of time, the current king of Egypt died, the one who had sought to kill Moses, but apparently things did not change for the children of Israel. They cried out to God because of the severity of their oppression and bondage at the hands of the Egyptians.
(24) And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. (25) And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
God heard His people and "remembered" His covenant. It's not as if God ever forgets; He is ever mindful of all things. The sense of this "remembering" was that at that point, it was the proper time for God to act and to fulfill His promise and His covenant, proof that He remembered. God looked upon His children and acknowledged them and their oppression. God obviously had seen them and their situation for years leading up to this point. Apparently this was the proper time for God to act. In Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, Mr. Henry observed that God heard, remembered, looked, and acknowledged the people, after they cried out to Him. Verse 23 didn't say specifically that they cried "to God", but it certainly can be inferred, because before this time they groaned and bore their troubles and fretted inwardly, but they finally reached the point where they cried out. That is certainly the way with our God, and that theme is repeated throughout the Bible, that God waits until His people turn back to Him and realize they need only Him, and then He acts in a big way. Matthew Henry also pointed out that in verses 24 and 25, God's name is mentioned 4 times. The way he expressed it was, "The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to four different expressions of a kind intention towards them....The frequent repetition of the name of God here intimates that now we are to expect something great, Opus Deo dignum - A work worthy of God. His eyes, which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf." God was about to work in a big way!
(Exodus 6:25) And Eleazar Aaron's son took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife, and she bore him Phinehas; these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.
Since this is a chronological order I am studying, apparently sometime after Moses married Zipporah and began having a family, Aaron's son Eleazar also married. He married one of the daughters of a man named Putiel, and she bore him a son named Phinehas. These men were some of the heads of the Levites, mentioned among the sons of Levi in Exodus 6.
Friday, January 31, 2014
The Children of Israel Increase Despite Oppression
Continuing a chronological Bible study set forth by Skip Andrews, we return to a passage in Genesis 47, before continuing with Exodus, chapter 1:
(Genesis 47:27) And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly.
Genesis 47:27 gives a brief synopsis of Israel (Jacob) and his descendants who remained in Goshen in the land of Egypt and grew and prospered there.
(Exodus 1:1) Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob. (2) Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, (3) Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
Exodus begins with a recap of the names of the children of Israel (Jacob) who came to Egypt with Jacob. The men's names were listed and it was said their households came with them. The sons of Leah are listed first, followed by Benjamin, son of Rachel, who is mentioned before the rest even though he was the youngest, because they were sons of hand maidens. Joseph, the other son of Rachel, is not mentioned because he was already in Egypt, and did not go there with Jacob.
(4) Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. (5) And all the souls who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy souls, for Joseph was in Egypt already.
The four sons of the hand maidens are mentioned last. All the people who came to Egypt from Jacob's family numbered 70 people. Genesis 46:26-27 explained how this number was reached. There were 32 souls from Leah's children, including their children; 16 from Leah's maid's children; 7 from Rachel's maid; 11 from Rachel through Benjamin; and three more with Joseph and his two sons who were already in Egypt, and Jacob himself made a total of 70 souls.
(6) And Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. (7) And the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, and multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
As part of the set-up for the book of Exodus, we are told briefly about Jacob's family in Egypt. That entire generation died, but the children of Israel continued in Egypt, growing abundantly in number and in might.
(8) Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. (9) And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; (10) Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there fall out any war, they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so get them out of the land.”
There was a new pharaoh, one who did not know Joseph, or at least did not realize that Egypt had been blessed because of Joseph's faith in God. All he could see were that those children of Israel were now more and mightier than the Egyptians. He seemed to fear that they would eventually fight against the Egyptians and leave Egypt. By that statement, it is obvious that Egypt prospered because of the children of Israel, but Pharaoh didn't connect the dots to understand why. Egypt was blessed because of the former pharaoh's favor upon Joseph, who was blessed by God. Maybe this new pharaoh had heard the children of Israel speak of their eventual return to their promised land in Canaan, and he wanted to devise a plan that would keep them in Egypt.
(11) Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
The Egyptians set taskmasters over the children of Israel, captains over burdens, as the word suggests. The burdens were probably heavy forced labors, but the word also means tax burdens. Their burdens may have been a bit of both. The children of Israel were forced into hard labor for little pay because of their high taxes. Their labors profited Pharaoh, and were probably designed to diminish their wealth and their spirits. The children of Israel built "treasure cities" for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses, which may have been store or supply cities for treasure. I have read that Pithom might be the same as Pathumus, or Patmos. It is easier to see that Raamses is probably Rameses, and in the words of Biblical scholar Adam Clarke in his Commentary on the Bible, it "is supposed to have been the capital of the land of Goshen, mentioned in the book of Genesis by anticipation; for it was probably not erected till after the days of Joseph, when the Israelites were brought under that severe oppression described in the book of Exodus."
It was from reading Adam Clarke's commentary on this scripture that I learned that some writers of his time or rather up to his time (1762-1832), believed that the Israelites built the pyramids. Why had I never considered this? Perhaps because I bought into the taught secular notion that the pyramids were much older than they probably are. Could the pyramids have been places where Pharaoh laid up his treasures? Indeed, the historian Josephus (37-100 AD) said that the Israelite slaves built the pyramids! “The Egyptians contrived a variety of ways to afflict the Israelites; for they enjoined them to cut a great number of channels for the river, and to build walls for their cities and ramparts, that they might restrain the river, and hinder its waters from stagnating upon its overrunning its own banks; they set them also to build pyramids, and wore them out, and forced them to learn all sorts of mechanic arts, and to accustom themselves to hard labor.” Of course, this makes perfect sense! Secular historians and archaeologists have long pondered how such ancient structures could have been so precisely built in a time predating such engineering and technological knowledge. Some have even wondered if aliens supplied the know-how! They would rather believe in aliens than believe they could have miscalculated the age of the pyramids. There is a great article on this here by answersingenesis.org. It seems so simple an explanation to Bible believers, especially when you consider other scriptures that spoke of the hard labor of the Israelite slaves, and that they were making bricks (Exodus 5). But why would an alien explanation be a surprise from the same secular world that would rather believe that something evolved from nothing rather than believing in a creator God?
(12) But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. (13) And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. (14) And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.
Evidently the Egyptians thought making the Israelites work much harder under heavy burdens would weaken them, but the more they afflicted them, the more they grew. That grieved the Egyptians and therefore they made their lives bitter with all types of hard labor and made them serve with rigor. The word translated as "rigor" was "perek" and it meant "rigor" or "cruelty", but also came from a root word that meant "fracture" or "break apart", so they were literally trying to break the Israelites with all types of hard labor.
The chronological study I am doing inserted a couple of verses from elsewhere in the Bible to set up what comes next in Exodus 1:
(Numbers 26:59) And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bore to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam.
(Exodus 6:20) And Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven.
This is an example of why I love studying a chronological version of the Bible. With the combination of the two verses above, we get a more complete picture than when reading just one verse. Not only did Amram marry the daughter of Levi, but she was also his father's sister. In the verses leading up to verse 20 in Exodus 6, we learned that Amram was the son of Kohath, who was a son of Levi. Therefore, a son of Kohath married Kohath's sister. That meant that Moses who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament freely admitted that his father took his aunt as wife, something that would become strictly forbidden later as recorded in Leviticus 18:12. This had the potential of being seen as a blot on Moses's family, but I believe this shows that Moses sought to tell the truth, whether or not it made him look good. I have heard current apologist Frank Turek speak of such things as indicators that the Bible is true and not a fabrication. If you were making up a tale, wouldn't you be tempted to leave out the parts that might be embarrassing? Amram, a grandson of Levi, married Jochebed, a daughter of Levi, and she bore him three children, Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. Amram lived to the age of 137. Now back to Exodus 1:
(Exodus 1:15) And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; (16) And he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
The hard labor wasn't doing anything to diminish the Israelites, so the king decided to start having babies killed to keep the Israelites from growing "more and mightier" than the Egyptians. He instructed the Hebrew midwives to kill all boy babies as they were being born. Girls could live, but all boys were to be killed by order of the king. In my reading of the old commentaries and of the historical writings of Josephus, I believe the two midwives mentioned in the passage above were probably chiefs among many midwives, and not the only two Hebrew midwives. Also "Hebrew midwives" did not mean they themselves were Hebrew, as they have decidedly Egyptian names according to these early writers, but they were the midwives for the Hebrew women.
(17) But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. (18) And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and have saved the male children alive?” (19) And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
This is one of my favorite passages! As Peter said in the New Testament, the midwives decided they "ought to obey God rather than men". They obeyed God rather than even the king! When the king asked them why they spared the boy babies, they even lied to him saying the Hebrew women were so strong they were giving birth before the midwives got to them.
Is this not a picture of late-term abortions? Is this not a perfect example of the right Godly response to such abhorrent procedures? Obey God rather than man's law when the law is in direct conflict with God's holy laws. There is no doubt that is a baby in the womb, and "thou shalt not kill"! Even if it means lying... But wait, isn't lying against one of the ten commandments of God? I couldn't help but think of the liberals' point of view that performing a wrong is okay if it is for the "greater good". Well, I suppose as long as the things of God are the greater good, and not the things of man that are contrary to God's law... But then I really looked at the commandment against lying. It didn't say "thou shalt not lie". It said not to "bear false witness against thy neighbor". You are not to spread an untruth against another human being! You are not to slander him and gossip about him, thus hurting him or his reputation. You are to love your neighbor! The midwives did not lie against another person, but rather chose to obey God and to love the Hebrew women and their babies in perfect harmony with God's law.
(20) Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. (21) And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
God blessed the midwives because of their actions to save the boy babies. Back to the question about whether or not the midwives were sinning and whether or not God blessed sinful behavior--God knows and judges the heart of a person; it says again that the midwives feared God, so their hearts were toward God and doing His will. I am confident that they were not wrong or sinful when they lied to Pharaoh. God blessed the midwives and made them households, which I believe is the intent of the original word used here. Additionally, the Israelite people multiplied and grew mighty, in part because of the actions of the midwives saving the boy babies.
(22) And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”
Of course, Pharaoh meant only the Hebrew sons and not "every" son, as killing Egyptian babies would have done nothing to keep the Israelites from growing more and mightier than the Egyptians. When Pharaoh saw that his plan failed with the midwives, he then charged all the people to cast any boy babies into the river that they should come across, but to allow the girls to live.
(Genesis 47:27) And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly.
Genesis 47:27 gives a brief synopsis of Israel (Jacob) and his descendants who remained in Goshen in the land of Egypt and grew and prospered there.
(Exodus 1:1) Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob. (2) Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, (3) Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
Exodus begins with a recap of the names of the children of Israel (Jacob) who came to Egypt with Jacob. The men's names were listed and it was said their households came with them. The sons of Leah are listed first, followed by Benjamin, son of Rachel, who is mentioned before the rest even though he was the youngest, because they were sons of hand maidens. Joseph, the other son of Rachel, is not mentioned because he was already in Egypt, and did not go there with Jacob.
(4) Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. (5) And all the souls who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy souls, for Joseph was in Egypt already.
The four sons of the hand maidens are mentioned last. All the people who came to Egypt from Jacob's family numbered 70 people. Genesis 46:26-27 explained how this number was reached. There were 32 souls from Leah's children, including their children; 16 from Leah's maid's children; 7 from Rachel's maid; 11 from Rachel through Benjamin; and three more with Joseph and his two sons who were already in Egypt, and Jacob himself made a total of 70 souls.
(6) And Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. (7) And the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, and multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
As part of the set-up for the book of Exodus, we are told briefly about Jacob's family in Egypt. That entire generation died, but the children of Israel continued in Egypt, growing abundantly in number and in might.
(8) Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. (9) And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; (10) Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there fall out any war, they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so get them out of the land.”
There was a new pharaoh, one who did not know Joseph, or at least did not realize that Egypt had been blessed because of Joseph's faith in God. All he could see were that those children of Israel were now more and mightier than the Egyptians. He seemed to fear that they would eventually fight against the Egyptians and leave Egypt. By that statement, it is obvious that Egypt prospered because of the children of Israel, but Pharaoh didn't connect the dots to understand why. Egypt was blessed because of the former pharaoh's favor upon Joseph, who was blessed by God. Maybe this new pharaoh had heard the children of Israel speak of their eventual return to their promised land in Canaan, and he wanted to devise a plan that would keep them in Egypt.
(11) Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
The Egyptians set taskmasters over the children of Israel, captains over burdens, as the word suggests. The burdens were probably heavy forced labors, but the word also means tax burdens. Their burdens may have been a bit of both. The children of Israel were forced into hard labor for little pay because of their high taxes. Their labors profited Pharaoh, and were probably designed to diminish their wealth and their spirits. The children of Israel built "treasure cities" for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses, which may have been store or supply cities for treasure. I have read that Pithom might be the same as Pathumus, or Patmos. It is easier to see that Raamses is probably Rameses, and in the words of Biblical scholar Adam Clarke in his Commentary on the Bible, it "is supposed to have been the capital of the land of Goshen, mentioned in the book of Genesis by anticipation; for it was probably not erected till after the days of Joseph, when the Israelites were brought under that severe oppression described in the book of Exodus."
It was from reading Adam Clarke's commentary on this scripture that I learned that some writers of his time or rather up to his time (1762-1832), believed that the Israelites built the pyramids. Why had I never considered this? Perhaps because I bought into the taught secular notion that the pyramids were much older than they probably are. Could the pyramids have been places where Pharaoh laid up his treasures? Indeed, the historian Josephus (37-100 AD) said that the Israelite slaves built the pyramids! “The Egyptians contrived a variety of ways to afflict the Israelites; for they enjoined them to cut a great number of channels for the river, and to build walls for their cities and ramparts, that they might restrain the river, and hinder its waters from stagnating upon its overrunning its own banks; they set them also to build pyramids, and wore them out, and forced them to learn all sorts of mechanic arts, and to accustom themselves to hard labor.” Of course, this makes perfect sense! Secular historians and archaeologists have long pondered how such ancient structures could have been so precisely built in a time predating such engineering and technological knowledge. Some have even wondered if aliens supplied the know-how! They would rather believe in aliens than believe they could have miscalculated the age of the pyramids. There is a great article on this here by answersingenesis.org. It seems so simple an explanation to Bible believers, especially when you consider other scriptures that spoke of the hard labor of the Israelite slaves, and that they were making bricks (Exodus 5). But why would an alien explanation be a surprise from the same secular world that would rather believe that something evolved from nothing rather than believing in a creator God?
(12) But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. (13) And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. (14) And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.
Evidently the Egyptians thought making the Israelites work much harder under heavy burdens would weaken them, but the more they afflicted them, the more they grew. That grieved the Egyptians and therefore they made their lives bitter with all types of hard labor and made them serve with rigor. The word translated as "rigor" was "perek" and it meant "rigor" or "cruelty", but also came from a root word that meant "fracture" or "break apart", so they were literally trying to break the Israelites with all types of hard labor.
The chronological study I am doing inserted a couple of verses from elsewhere in the Bible to set up what comes next in Exodus 1:
(Numbers 26:59) And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bore to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam.
(Exodus 6:20) And Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven.
This is an example of why I love studying a chronological version of the Bible. With the combination of the two verses above, we get a more complete picture than when reading just one verse. Not only did Amram marry the daughter of Levi, but she was also his father's sister. In the verses leading up to verse 20 in Exodus 6, we learned that Amram was the son of Kohath, who was a son of Levi. Therefore, a son of Kohath married Kohath's sister. That meant that Moses who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament freely admitted that his father took his aunt as wife, something that would become strictly forbidden later as recorded in Leviticus 18:12. This had the potential of being seen as a blot on Moses's family, but I believe this shows that Moses sought to tell the truth, whether or not it made him look good. I have heard current apologist Frank Turek speak of such things as indicators that the Bible is true and not a fabrication. If you were making up a tale, wouldn't you be tempted to leave out the parts that might be embarrassing? Amram, a grandson of Levi, married Jochebed, a daughter of Levi, and she bore him three children, Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. Amram lived to the age of 137. Now back to Exodus 1:
(Exodus 1:15) And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; (16) And he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
The hard labor wasn't doing anything to diminish the Israelites, so the king decided to start having babies killed to keep the Israelites from growing "more and mightier" than the Egyptians. He instructed the Hebrew midwives to kill all boy babies as they were being born. Girls could live, but all boys were to be killed by order of the king. In my reading of the old commentaries and of the historical writings of Josephus, I believe the two midwives mentioned in the passage above were probably chiefs among many midwives, and not the only two Hebrew midwives. Also "Hebrew midwives" did not mean they themselves were Hebrew, as they have decidedly Egyptian names according to these early writers, but they were the midwives for the Hebrew women.
(17) But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. (18) And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and have saved the male children alive?” (19) And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
This is one of my favorite passages! As Peter said in the New Testament, the midwives decided they "ought to obey God rather than men". They obeyed God rather than even the king! When the king asked them why they spared the boy babies, they even lied to him saying the Hebrew women were so strong they were giving birth before the midwives got to them.
Is this not a picture of late-term abortions? Is this not a perfect example of the right Godly response to such abhorrent procedures? Obey God rather than man's law when the law is in direct conflict with God's holy laws. There is no doubt that is a baby in the womb, and "thou shalt not kill"! Even if it means lying... But wait, isn't lying against one of the ten commandments of God? I couldn't help but think of the liberals' point of view that performing a wrong is okay if it is for the "greater good". Well, I suppose as long as the things of God are the greater good, and not the things of man that are contrary to God's law... But then I really looked at the commandment against lying. It didn't say "thou shalt not lie". It said not to "bear false witness against thy neighbor". You are not to spread an untruth against another human being! You are not to slander him and gossip about him, thus hurting him or his reputation. You are to love your neighbor! The midwives did not lie against another person, but rather chose to obey God and to love the Hebrew women and their babies in perfect harmony with God's law.
(20) Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. (21) And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
God blessed the midwives because of their actions to save the boy babies. Back to the question about whether or not the midwives were sinning and whether or not God blessed sinful behavior--God knows and judges the heart of a person; it says again that the midwives feared God, so their hearts were toward God and doing His will. I am confident that they were not wrong or sinful when they lied to Pharaoh. God blessed the midwives and made them households, which I believe is the intent of the original word used here. Additionally, the Israelite people multiplied and grew mighty, in part because of the actions of the midwives saving the boy babies.
(22) And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”
Of course, Pharaoh meant only the Hebrew sons and not "every" son, as killing Egyptian babies would have done nothing to keep the Israelites from growing more and mightier than the Egyptians. When Pharaoh saw that his plan failed with the midwives, he then charged all the people to cast any boy babies into the river that they should come across, but to allow the girls to live.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
From the Death of Jacob to the Death of Joseph
Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Genesis 50:1) And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
In the last verse of the last chapter, Jacob had died, and it appears that Joseph immediately fell upon his father's face and kissed him and wept over him.
(2) And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.
As they were still in Egypt, and Joseph was second in command only to Pharaoh, the physicians were seen as Joseph's servants, and he commanded them to embalm his father, which they did. Embalming was a common practice in Egypt, and it was very necessary in Jacob's case if his body was to be taken back to Canaan which would take some time.
(3) And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
It apparently took forty days for the embalming process to be completed, and Jacob's body lay in state another thirty days, where it is said, even the Egyptians mourned the loss of Jacob.
(4) And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, (5) ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’”
Joseph asked the principle men of Pharaoh's court to speak to Pharaoh for him, probably because he was still in mourning for his father. The verse said that the days of mourning had passed, but Joseph was probably still in mourning attire, and it was said that no man could appear before the king in such a fashion. He asked the men to relay to Pharaoh for him that his father had made him swear to bury him back in the land of Canaan. He requested to be able to do that and he promised he would come back.
(6) And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.” (7) And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, (8) And all the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father’s house; only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen.
Pharaoh agreed and fully encouraged Joseph to go bury his father as his father had asked him. Not only all of Joseph's household and his father's household (except the little ones) went with Joseph to bury his father, but so did the servants of Pharaoh, all the elders of Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. They must have had great honor and respect for Joseph.
(9) And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great company. (10) And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very grievous lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
What is surely described is a huge funeral procession, and then the funeral. "Atad" meant "bramble, thorn, or buckthorn", so this place was either called Atad because of the thorns or was owned by a person so named because he was a great farmer in this area of thorns. The threshing floor would have been a smoothed out or open area among the thorny brambles. This place was said to have been "beyond the Jordan". Coming from Egypt, it would seem as if the procession had made it through Canaan and was now on the east side of the Jordan. However, I have read that Moses in his writings of the first five books of the Bible, used the term "beyond the Jordan" to mean "westward of Jordan". "They", the members of the funeral procession, mourned with a great and grievous lamentation, but "he", Joseph, made a mourning for his father for seven days. Since it appears that there are two distinct descriptions of mourning, it has been said that perhaps the louder mourning might have been made by the Egyptians when they first arrived, so that the inhabitants of the country would know why they came, to peacefully bury their dead, and not to invade or make war on the inhabitants. Joseph mourned for his father for seven days, which was the time of mourning afterwards observed by the Jews.
(11) And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians"; therefore the name of it was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
Indeed the inhabitants of Canaan did see the funeral of Jacob in the threshing floor of Atad, and recognized it as a very grievous occasion. They even gave the place a name, which literally meant "meadow of Egypt", to commemorate the time the Egyptians came into Canaan for that funeral.
(12) And his sons did to him according as he commanded them. (13) For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place.
Jacob's sons did as he had asked them to and indeed took him back to Canaan and buried him where he had asked to be buried, where his fathers before him had been buried in the cave of Machpelah that Abraham had purchased as a burial place for Sarah.
(14) And Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. (15) And when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and will certainly repay us for all the evil which we did to him.”
After they buried their father, Joseph and his brothers and all who went with him to bury his father, went back to Egypt. Now that their father was gone, Joseph's brothers were afraid that he might retaliate against them for what they had done to him. It's interesting that his former words to them about this matter seemed to have been forgotten; such is a guilty conscience, I suppose, never at rest.
(16) And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, (17) 'So shall you say to Joseph, “I pray you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you"', and now, we pray you, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
The brothers sent a messenger to Joseph which included a supposed message from their father. If that conversation did happen between Jacob and Joseph's brothers, it was not made known in scripture, but I suppose it could have happened. It seems a little suspicious, but Jacob may have indeed encouraged his sons to humbly ask Joseph's forgiveness. The brothers didn't tell Joseph that their father commanded that he, Joseph, should forgive his brothers, but rather their father commanded them, the brothers, to beg forgiveness, and that seems reasonable enough to be truthful. The brothers took it a step further and asked for forgiveness themselves as servants of the God of his father. Not only did they appeal to him as all sons of their father, but as all servants of a gracious and forgiving God. Joseph wept, probably partly because they still felt so guilty, but possibly at the thought of his father also begging for their mercy. He was obviously very touched by their words.
(18) And his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
The brothers had previously sent a messenger to Joseph with their words. They now went to him themselves and fell down in submission before him declaring themselves servants to him, thus fulfilling Joseph's dream of the eleven stars making obeisance to him.
(19) And Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? (20) But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive. (21) Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will nourish you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Joseph's question about being in the place of God could be taken two ways, and maybe both were meant. First of all, it was not up to him to judge their previous actions. He had forgiven them and he certainly wouldn't take it upon himself to judge them further. He went on to tell them that what they might have intended for evil, God intended for good to save many people from starvation, so the implied question would be how could he question God and do anything differently. Joseph may have also meant that his brothers should not bow before him, a man, but that glory should belong to God alone. He comforted his brothers and told them that he would continue to provide for them and their children.
(22) And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household; and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. (23) And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
Joseph and his family, including his father's household, remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to 110 years of age. He lived to see the third generation of Ephraim's children, which I would assume would be his great-great-grandchildren. The second generation of Manasseh's children, or at least the children of Manasseh's son Machir, were also brought up under Joseph's guidance.
(24) And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." (25) And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
Surely some of Joseph's older brothers had gone before them, but to those who remained and maybe to some of their sons who stood in their stead, Joseph comforted them with the same assurance his father had given him, that God would be with them and bring them back to the promised land. Perhaps Joseph spoke first to his brothers and then to the broader group of all the children of Israel, which would have been the descendants of Jacob. He "took an oath", showing unwavering confidence about the return of the sons of Israel to the promised land. It is interesting to note that Joseph was so sure of this fact even though he had not seen it in his lifetime, and that is probably because he spoke under the spirit of prophecy through faith in God's promise. As a matter of fact, Joseph is one of the "heroes of faith" later mentioned in Hebrews, specifically Hebrews 11:22, "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones."
(26) So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Joseph did die at the age of 110, and his body was embalmed and put in a coffin, but apparently not buried until the children of Israel had received their inheritance in Canaan:
"And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph." - Joshua 24:32
(Genesis 50:1) And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
In the last verse of the last chapter, Jacob had died, and it appears that Joseph immediately fell upon his father's face and kissed him and wept over him.
(2) And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.
As they were still in Egypt, and Joseph was second in command only to Pharaoh, the physicians were seen as Joseph's servants, and he commanded them to embalm his father, which they did. Embalming was a common practice in Egypt, and it was very necessary in Jacob's case if his body was to be taken back to Canaan which would take some time.
(3) And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
It apparently took forty days for the embalming process to be completed, and Jacob's body lay in state another thirty days, where it is said, even the Egyptians mourned the loss of Jacob.
(4) And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, (5) ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’”
Joseph asked the principle men of Pharaoh's court to speak to Pharaoh for him, probably because he was still in mourning for his father. The verse said that the days of mourning had passed, but Joseph was probably still in mourning attire, and it was said that no man could appear before the king in such a fashion. He asked the men to relay to Pharaoh for him that his father had made him swear to bury him back in the land of Canaan. He requested to be able to do that and he promised he would come back.
(6) And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.” (7) And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, (8) And all the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father’s house; only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen.
Pharaoh agreed and fully encouraged Joseph to go bury his father as his father had asked him. Not only all of Joseph's household and his father's household (except the little ones) went with Joseph to bury his father, but so did the servants of Pharaoh, all the elders of Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. They must have had great honor and respect for Joseph.
(9) And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great company. (10) And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very grievous lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
What is surely described is a huge funeral procession, and then the funeral. "Atad" meant "bramble, thorn, or buckthorn", so this place was either called Atad because of the thorns or was owned by a person so named because he was a great farmer in this area of thorns. The threshing floor would have been a smoothed out or open area among the thorny brambles. This place was said to have been "beyond the Jordan". Coming from Egypt, it would seem as if the procession had made it through Canaan and was now on the east side of the Jordan. However, I have read that Moses in his writings of the first five books of the Bible, used the term "beyond the Jordan" to mean "westward of Jordan". "They", the members of the funeral procession, mourned with a great and grievous lamentation, but "he", Joseph, made a mourning for his father for seven days. Since it appears that there are two distinct descriptions of mourning, it has been said that perhaps the louder mourning might have been made by the Egyptians when they first arrived, so that the inhabitants of the country would know why they came, to peacefully bury their dead, and not to invade or make war on the inhabitants. Joseph mourned for his father for seven days, which was the time of mourning afterwards observed by the Jews.
(11) And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians"; therefore the name of it was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
Indeed the inhabitants of Canaan did see the funeral of Jacob in the threshing floor of Atad, and recognized it as a very grievous occasion. They even gave the place a name, which literally meant "meadow of Egypt", to commemorate the time the Egyptians came into Canaan for that funeral.
(12) And his sons did to him according as he commanded them. (13) For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place.
Jacob's sons did as he had asked them to and indeed took him back to Canaan and buried him where he had asked to be buried, where his fathers before him had been buried in the cave of Machpelah that Abraham had purchased as a burial place for Sarah.
(14) And Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. (15) And when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and will certainly repay us for all the evil which we did to him.”
After they buried their father, Joseph and his brothers and all who went with him to bury his father, went back to Egypt. Now that their father was gone, Joseph's brothers were afraid that he might retaliate against them for what they had done to him. It's interesting that his former words to them about this matter seemed to have been forgotten; such is a guilty conscience, I suppose, never at rest.
(16) And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, (17) 'So shall you say to Joseph, “I pray you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you"', and now, we pray you, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
The brothers sent a messenger to Joseph which included a supposed message from their father. If that conversation did happen between Jacob and Joseph's brothers, it was not made known in scripture, but I suppose it could have happened. It seems a little suspicious, but Jacob may have indeed encouraged his sons to humbly ask Joseph's forgiveness. The brothers didn't tell Joseph that their father commanded that he, Joseph, should forgive his brothers, but rather their father commanded them, the brothers, to beg forgiveness, and that seems reasonable enough to be truthful. The brothers took it a step further and asked for forgiveness themselves as servants of the God of his father. Not only did they appeal to him as all sons of their father, but as all servants of a gracious and forgiving God. Joseph wept, probably partly because they still felt so guilty, but possibly at the thought of his father also begging for their mercy. He was obviously very touched by their words.
(18) And his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
The brothers had previously sent a messenger to Joseph with their words. They now went to him themselves and fell down in submission before him declaring themselves servants to him, thus fulfilling Joseph's dream of the eleven stars making obeisance to him.
(19) And Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? (20) But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive. (21) Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will nourish you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Joseph's question about being in the place of God could be taken two ways, and maybe both were meant. First of all, it was not up to him to judge their previous actions. He had forgiven them and he certainly wouldn't take it upon himself to judge them further. He went on to tell them that what they might have intended for evil, God intended for good to save many people from starvation, so the implied question would be how could he question God and do anything differently. Joseph may have also meant that his brothers should not bow before him, a man, but that glory should belong to God alone. He comforted his brothers and told them that he would continue to provide for them and their children.
(22) And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household; and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. (23) And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
Joseph and his family, including his father's household, remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to 110 years of age. He lived to see the third generation of Ephraim's children, which I would assume would be his great-great-grandchildren. The second generation of Manasseh's children, or at least the children of Manasseh's son Machir, were also brought up under Joseph's guidance.
(24) And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." (25) And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
Surely some of Joseph's older brothers had gone before them, but to those who remained and maybe to some of their sons who stood in their stead, Joseph comforted them with the same assurance his father had given him, that God would be with them and bring them back to the promised land. Perhaps Joseph spoke first to his brothers and then to the broader group of all the children of Israel, which would have been the descendants of Jacob. He "took an oath", showing unwavering confidence about the return of the sons of Israel to the promised land. It is interesting to note that Joseph was so sure of this fact even though he had not seen it in his lifetime, and that is probably because he spoke under the spirit of prophecy through faith in God's promise. As a matter of fact, Joseph is one of the "heroes of faith" later mentioned in Hebrews, specifically Hebrews 11:22, "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones."
(26) So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Joseph did die at the age of 110, and his body was embalmed and put in a coffin, but apparently not buried until the children of Israel had received their inheritance in Canaan:
"And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph." - Joshua 24:32
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