December 17, 2007

  • Discovering God’s Character



    Exodus 15-18: Red Sea to Sinai

    We start out in Exodus 15 with the song of Moses and Israel over God’s
    victory over Pharaoh and the Egyptians. It is quite a passage of praise
    to the Lord. However, the wonderful feeling of freedom from bondage
    quickly gives way to fear at the end of a three day journey to Marah
    with them finding some bitter water located there.  The people grumble
    at Moses and the Lord has Moses put a branch in the waters and it turns
    them sweet. It is a very curious thing that the Lord instructs them
    that He is their “healer”.


    And He said, "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD
    your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His
    commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the
    diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am
    your healer."      Exodus 15:26 (NASB)


    One does not experience bondage and oppression of any kind without experiencing “hurt” of some sort. I wonder if the Lord is telling us that one of the very first things we
    need to do after experiencing victory over one’s enemies is to purge
    the bitterness that is left behind. From a practical point of view, the
    Lord knows we don’t do well with bitter hearts.


    See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of
    bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that
    there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own
    birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when
    he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no
    place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.      Hebrews
    11:15-18 (NASB)

    This is a very important verse since Hebrews 11:19 and following speak
    of Mount Sinai, the very destination that the people of Israel will
    be coming to in the days ahead. The Lord is our Healer… yes, it is necessary to let the past go and
    forgive. When the Lord gives us a new start, those things which will
    hold us back will appear. Let them go and He will heal us. Just as the writer of Hebrews tells us in verses
    26-28 of the same chapter, the Lord will shake out the things that can be shaken in our
    lives and leave the things that are unshakeable so that we might stand
    before Him in righteousness.

    They soon move to Elim where there are 12 springs of water and 70 date
    palms. Isn’t it curious that the Lord has “twelve” springs waiting
    there as in the 12 tribes of Israel?  Now it also seems curious after
    such an experience at Marah that they would come to a place that seems
    restful and without tension or worry but a place from which they will
    need to move on from in order to be where God wants them to be. It would
    seem to be an appropriate respite after dealing with the “bitterness of
    Marah”.

    They leave Elim and arrive in the wilderness of Sin which is between
    Elim and Sinai, halfway through their journey to Sinai… on the 15th day
    of the second month after leaving Egypt. As we will see in Exodus 19:1,
    the departure from Egypt to Mount Sinai is exactly three months long.

    At that point, the people grumble again. This time it is with Moses and
    Aaron. It is at this point, the Lord Himself provides the meat (quail)
    in the evening and a new thing comes about that has been an interesting
    subject surrounding the Wilderness Journey… manna… a name given by the
    people for the thing.

    From the text we find that manna was created as a flake-like thing from
    the evaporated dew of the morning that was fragile enough to be melted
    by the heat of the sun. It needed to be eaten the same day that it was
    gathered, was white and tasted like wafers and honey. It was described to be like coriander seed. Israel would eat manna
    during their entire 40 years of wandering in the wilderness until they
    came to the promised land.

    We also see the beginnings of the Sabbath starting here with
    instructions on how to gather the manna. The people would rest on the
    seventh day, probably a vast change from the life of oppression under which they lived while in  Egypt.

    As Israel leaves the wilderness of Sin and sets up camp at Rephidim,
    again they find no water to drink.  The people are about to lynch Moses
    and so he goes before the Lord and the Lord instructs him to strike the
    rock at Horeb so that water will come out of it.  The place was given
    two names:  Massah (test) and Meribah (quarrel) because the sons of
    Israel quarreled and tested the Lord.

    While at Rephidim, Amalekites came and fought Israel.  It is here that
    Joshua commands Israel’s army and Moses, Aaron, and Hur go to a hilltop
    and support Moses’ hands because the battle went well with Israel when
    Moses’ hands were in the air. In the end, Israel completely devastates
    the Amalekites. It is here we see the Lord makes a promise to
    completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven and will war
    against Amalek from generation to generation. It is here that Moses
    makes an altar and names it “The Lord is my Banner”.

    The next scene is Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, showing up with Zipporah, Moses’ wife and two children, Gershom and Eliazer.  It was a wonderful meeting with
    Moses sharing all the good things the Lord had done on their behalf and
    in spite of the hardships they had faced. Jethro takes heart in this
    and rejoiced about the Lord’s goodness and offers a burnt offering to
    the Lord and has a meal before the Lord with Aaron and all the elders
    of Israel.

    The next day, Jethro gives Moses some much needed advice concerning
    judging the people.  Moses should be the people’s representative to God
    and teach them His statutes and laws, their manner of life and the work
    they should do. He also told him to delegate a good deal of the work of
    judging the people to able, God-fearing men who love truth and hate
    dishonest gain and place them as leaders over thousands, hundreds,
    fifties, and tens. Jethro says if the Lord confirms what he was saying then he should go ahead and do it. Moses does and it works out well. We should also note something here.
    Jethro understands the heart of God. It shows when he tells Moses to
    choose God-fearing men who love truth and hate dishonest gain. Isn’t
    this what the Lord looks for in His people?

    Jethro then prepares to leave and Moses bids him farewell and Jethro returns to his own land.

    After this, Israel leaves Rephidim and travels to the wilderness of
    Sinai and they camp in front of the mountain… exactly 3 months after
    they left Egypt.

    In a sneak preview of Exodus 19, we see what the Lord’s intent was by
    what He would tell Moses to the tell the people once they reached the
    mountain…


    Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain,
    saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of
    Israel:



    'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore
    you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will
    indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own
    possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you
    shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'

     

    These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.      Exodus 19:3-6 (NASB)


    As we might discern, the Lord was never going to let them down on their
    journey to Mount Sinai.  In spite of their grumbling, not once would He
    have allowed them to go without water or food or the ability to fight
    off their enemies. This is a very profound thing. It pleased Him to
    call out Israel to do this thing in spite of the doubt and fear that
    seem to plague them at every turn. 

    This three month trek was one of destiny. One that would bring them
    face to face with their Lord and would be a turning point for the
    fledgling nation. We will soon be seeing the heart of God expressed in
    the law that He will deliver through Moses. 

    And the heart of God is not hard to understand since He makes it so plain to us through His Law.  As Jesus clearly said,


    And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'  This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it,
    'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'  On these two commandments
    depend the whole Law and the Prophets."     Matthew 22:37-40 (NASB)

    So whatever you read in the Law of God remember it all comes down to
    this. God asks us to be faithful to Him and return His love and
    devotion to us back to Him and to treat others as kindly as you would
    have them treat you.  There are few verses in the entire Bible so
    comprehensive, informative and yet simple. In this, we can both
    understand God’s heart and His desire that good comes to His people and
    to those we come in contact with… that in the end, everything we
    can see represented in Jesus Christ would be a reflection of His benevolent
    heart toward sinful man.  Mr.Vee