Look what's ahead. A study in Exodus 13

Introduction

Most bookstores shelve predictive books. People want to know about the future. What is ahead? Will there be safety in the world of terrorism? Will another scandal riddle this administration or will another major corporation fall as Kmart or your local newspaper did? Personally, what about my future…where will I be and what will I be doing in a few years?

These are good questions to ask as we plan for our futures. These however, need other questions to be asked as well. Like, how shall I keep my commitments today into the future? How can I grow as a person during seasons of pain and joy?

Our text today tells us what the Jewish people are to do and how they should relate the events of their last 400 years and certainly their last few days in the future. 

God gives us certain devises to help us in the future with recollections of the past, so that information is not lost, and so that a greater lesson is learned. Today we will seek to unpack the past for the future for the past, so that in the end, God will be understood a bit more and our lives will be His a lot more. May I say it this way: God wants to be your Lord in the future.

Command #1:  Remember by observing a rite

       And he does this with a series of three commands which help us orient to the future. First in our study is the celebration of the Passover. We read in verses 6-10 we should keep this ordinance. We should eat matzos and we should have a time with children asking questions. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Not just one night as the seder, but for 7 days of intentional reflection.  This is an annual rite to observe. 

In fact, the Hebrew says (avad’ta et havoda)

The Hebrew word for work is repeated. Worship by observing this rite. Or another way of saying this is to “Serve by the service of this month. “(.10) You can’t miss the definitive nature of this command. If you want to be an observant Jew, if you want to worship God in the way He desires, then eat matzos. Sounds so weird, at least to me today. I think of worship and I think of singing or praying, but here, he says it’s in the eating.

What else happens during the annual reflection of the Passover? Children ask questions. And what are we to answer? 1) God did this for me (.8)  and 2) God spared us (14). In other words this is not only a historical reality to mark like we do with say, a tall ship parade into Sydney harbour. This is a memorial time for us to take this personally. God did something for me, for us. It’s not old and dusty; it’s very relevant today.

There are other requirements for this holiday of Passover. We are to remember. “This day” (.3), the event itself should serve as a reminder between our eyes (.9)…not a leather strap, but the event!. Even our first-born sons are in a way reminders of the horrible events on the Egyptians and the blessedness of redemption on that fateful night. So they are in a way belonging to God (.12), but the Hebrew says, “zikaron” that is, they are memorials to God.

God, Yahweh, wants us to use the future ceremonies of Israel to remind us of our glorious past, the times when we were most desperate for his help. We had begged for 400 years for deliverance, and he heard us. In the future, we will use the ceremonies of Passover, the eating of the original fast food, matzos, to remind us of his love and redemption. He doesn’t forget. He will answer. He will bring glory to himself. And we will be the people of his praise.

Command #2:  Look at things/ Don’t look at other things

We are given a series of things to look or not look at. And when we see or don’t see, we are complying with the standards of the Almighty. 

“Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders.” (.7)

So we are instructed that no chametz or s’or is to be seen. Wow, what a demand for the cleansing of houses. What you must remember is that this is a wilderness book. In other words, it’s for scouts not for LJ Hooker. What I’m saying is that this demand for sanitation and observance without leavening requires a spring cleaning of major proportions. The Jewish people are going on the move, for the next 40 years we wander. And then we enter this promised land, filled with milk and honey… at least in potential. But it’s a dry and desert land. It’s not the Hilton Hotel or the elegance of the Opera House. Think back to when Captain Phillip arrived in Botany Bay, then Sydney harbor. And imagine some few years later, they require a major festival with clean houses. Listen, the houses had not even been built yet! Exodus is a wilderness book. It’s the book of escaped slaves finding their way both literally and figuratively to Israel.

All this to say our future is one that God sees clearly, but we might have a hard time even being assured that we have. He knows one day from the other; we are struggling to get to the next one.

There are certain things he wants us to see to facilitate this memory activation. They are 

1)         Memorial feast/ unleaved cakes

2)         Sign on hand/forehead (.9)

3)         Pillar of cloud/ pillar of fire by night (.21)

All the things we are to see and the things we are not to look upon. Our bodies are one connect-the-dot puzzle. In other words, our eyes function together, and our ears point the way of hearing one thing. That’s why we are facing one way and have a hard time moving another (unless you play rugby for a living). Our thoughts are to be one direction, and our hearts are to be single. Didn’t Yeshua teach that as well?

The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6.22-23)

Jesus is teaching the singleness of affection to God and to man. Memorials are well and good, but they are not just a part of the life that is a patchwork fabric. We are to have a single design God is saying. We need singleness or clearness of eye. We see what God did; then we will remember who God is.

We wear signs on the hand or head and this teaches us to use all our bodies to remind us of God’s actions in the past. And if we are good students to this instruction, we will be encouraged about the God who is walking with us in the future. And that’s what the cloud teaches as well.

This implies motion, doesn’t it? The cloud sat for times and moved at other times. You couldn’t control it.  

God is not interested in being one of a list of concerns in your busy life. He wants to be the sum of it all. What you look at will tell you who is number one in your life.

Command #3:  Firstborn sanctified

       Finally, the third command is given. It’s in verse 2 and repeated in verses 12ff. And I’m fascinated by the Hebrew word for womb. The verse reads, all who open the womb (Kol rehem) The Hebrew phrase says literally “all the firstborn who open all the womb”. How graphic. How one by one this is. Amid a population of over 3 million people, God is concerned about one Jew at a time. This is good instruction for me and for us as well, isn’t it? When someone comes to our doors, we should be a community of welcome, whether it’s someone we know or not. Welcome each other.

But now let’s get back to the womb. The womb is the place of mercy. Note the link with the word racham, rachmonis, and rechem. These words imply mercy and is directly related to the word for womb. Mercy is a female trait they say, but it’s something that we can learn as blokes as well. Listen to this story from Yeshua:

He spoke about a pair of men who were praying. The one was a religious leader and was comfortable negotiating with God. He said, “‘God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer.  ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ (Luke 18.11)

He spoke with a confidence and almost self-consumption that makes even the worst of us a bit uncomfortable. Yeshua goes on to tell about the 2^nd man:

 “But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying,  ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ (Luke 18.13)

What a contrast! Mercy is a womb thing. Mercy is a God thing. And the first born is to open the mercy of God to the family and bring God’s mercy to the world. 

The firstborn was to be dedicated according to most translators. But may I coin a word? The firstborn was to be brought over, to be Hebrewed. This is a new use of the word. What happened to Abram when he left Ur is to happen to the children born to the people of redemption. 

This implies personal conversion. We must each one be brought over from what was to what will be. Abram became Abraham and founded not only the Jewish people but stands as a representative of all people who will be encountered by the Lord. All who believe in the God of the Scriptures and who follow Him are children of Abraham. Not just the racial children are children; but it’s a family of faith. And at that, individual faith. To me this implies personal conversion. 

In their lives the firstborn of the Jewish people are to be mercy bringers and themselves converted. But not only firstborn, rather they are representatives and chronologically first. So that we ‘remember God’ (.12)

We all need to have an Abraham experience of meeting the living God and of walking with Him in our journey of adventure. 

The major theme in today’s portion is that the future is in God’s hand (Psalm 31) and that includes our exodus route. Whether a book gets written and published and sold in the Dymocks or Angus and Robertson near you, we can count on the Lord who is the God who led us out of the house of bondage and gave us eternal life in Him.

Don’t forget that Yeshua was a firstborn son who clearly Hebrewed the Jewish people and who brought mercy to the many. Yeshua was careful about what he saw and what he avoided, and he observed the rites of the Lord, even the Passover hours before he was executed. If anyone can fulfill this passage today, it’s Yeshua, who died for our sins and rose from the dead.

 

So:  What lessons do we learn from today's teaching?

1)         Without a clear understanding of our history we will fail in the future

2)          Without commitments in the future, we will forget or mar the memory of the past

3)         God wants to be in personal relationship with each of us, Jew and Gentile. We all need a Hebrew experience, coming or crossing over from death to life.

4)         Moving forward is the only way to walk with God. Sitting still is acceptable at times, but when the cloud moves, you must move.

Passover, the real story (a study in Exodus 12)

Introduction

Today’s text is very familiar to many of us. If you are new to religion, then, it’s no doubt in part specifically new, but the greater picture is probably familiar. You might have seen this in the movies of the past, like The Ten Commandments or Prince of Egypt. Moses and the Jewish people are readying to leave Egypt after 400 years of bondage. The 10^th plague of the Death of the First Born occurs one fateful night at midnight and as a result Pharaoh, king of Egypt, evicts the Jewish slaves into the wilderness. This emancipation launches the Jewish people into world history and is the most central and defining moment for our people ever.

Chapter 12 of Exodus is a composite and a mandate for Jewish people for the last 3500 years. It collects the history and the liturgy and offers us a point of history and a point of relevance for our continued celebration of our lives.

Walter Kaiser wrote in his book, The Old Testament Documents, are they reliable and relevant? (InterVarsity Press, 2001),  “Even as many Jews eat the seder and read the Hagaddah, many Jewish and Christian scholars assert that an exodus never took place.” He cites several and then takes them to task. “Such estimates hardly begin to explain why this ceremony of the Passover is so strong in the memory and life of the Jewish people. As Alan Millard has said, “The tradition is so vital an element in Israelite history as to make a denial of the event all but incredible.” [The Bible: What can Archaeology Prove? (Phillipsburg, NJ, Presbyterian and Reformed, 1977, page 21)] Kaiser ends with “The question demonstrates how central an event such as this can be to the whole story of the Pentateuch.” (p. 132)

Passover as the central event of the Jewish people and of our calendar came from something and somewhere. Today’s text seeks to answer that for anyone who is truly enquiring.

There are 5 major themes in Exodus, all recapitulated here:

1)    Proof of God’s presence

2)    Defeat of Pharaoh and his gods

3)    Freedom/release from bondage

4)    Humiliation of Pharaoh and his people

5)    The moving to Israel

Timing of the event

It’s a wise idea on a camping trip to take a strong torch, especially if you are going to a place you don’t know. Thus 3 million Hebrew slaves are wise to travel on a full moon into a wilderness they’ve never experienced. But it was God’s idea, not theirs.

Also for future reference, it’s always nice to have an idea when the holiday is supposed to be celebrated and thus the 14^th/15^th of a Hebrew month, the time of the full moon, is always known. We don’t know when the 7^th might be, but all you must do is look up at nighttime and see the full moon. You can’t miss is in a calendar sense.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Another note about the rush from Egypt. The unleavened cakes seem to have been grabbed in a rush, and strapped onto their bowls or platters and taken with them. 

Ex. 12.34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.

It’s not a shopping trip to the Coles or Woolies that afforded us our matzos for the trip. We took our daily bread with us, but it wasn’t ready yet. Let me explain.

Yeast works its way through dough and makes it rise. Consicder sourdough. Each day a bit of dough is removed from a central batch. That gets mixed with a new mixture of flour and after baking becomes today’s bread.  You never use up your central batch, but it is the bank from which each day’s mixture is taken. The yeast of the original gets mixed into the new batches. Thus a bit of every days’ bread is linked with all other bread eaten for years. 

Maybe that will help us understand the words of the Apostle to the Roman believers

Rom. 5.15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

And again

Rom. 5.19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

We are inextricably linked to Adam, and perhaps the linkage of the dough and the daily batches will help you see this, as an object lesson. 

And we see the power of the redeemer, Yeshua, who bought us back from the corruption of leavening, received from our ancestor Adam. Praise the Lord.

The 5 themes (Proof of presence, conquest of Pharaoh and gods, Freedom, humiliation of Pharaoh, move to Israel)

So our 5 themes play like songs in a show, repeating and overlapping at times. We hear the music rise and then grow quiet. God has shown Himself strong, He has proved himself present in the plagues, or as John Durham in his Commentary on Exodus (Word Biblical Commentary series) calls them “his mighty acts.” God has shown Himself as real over against a king who admitted at the first he did not know about Yahweh and even fought against him. By the end Pharaoh begged for Moses to join him late at night and asked for God, Yahweh, Israel’s God,

Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have said. 

Ex. 12.32  “Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also. (In Hebrew, Gam oti). After all the also this and also that…also me!

God conquers Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt in each of the 10 mighty acts and brings His power to be seen. Nothing can be hidden from God Almighty. No one has power to stop him. He is Lord of all. 

He brings freedom to the Jewish people and to the herds and the flocks and to all things associated with the Hebrews. Look, even the mixed multitude which Durham translates as ‘a motley group’ probably included many Egyptians. They wanted the Jews out, but many Egyptians who had begun to catch on that their gods were not real gods back in the earlier plagues, now wanted to travel out of country with the conquering slaves. Imagine, leaving your country and your money system and your family and friends, and escaping into a wilderness of danger along with your former slaves. Why? Because their god is God!\

A ‘certain Bithiah, Pharaoh’s daughter” is listed in the geneaologies of Judah during this period. ( 1 Chronicles 4.18). God even included instructions for Gentiles who join the community of faith in celebrating the Passover here (v. 43-49) and in Numbers 9.14.

The humiliation of one group becomes the exaltation of another. The silver and gold used by the Egyptians for devilish worship and idolatry is given to the Hebrews. You see the tossing of the goods into the wagon train of the Jews almost like the sailors tossed the goods on Jonah’s boat in his story. “Take this stuff and get out of here.” It’s as if the goods are now tainted. If we can get rid of the Jews, then we can ward off the evil, they seem to think.

That same gold and silver is later used in the construction of the golden calf for evil, then later as instruments in the Tabernacle of God, used for good. Things are not holy in themselves, only when they are used for God’s purposes do they take on the title of good or bad.

And God wants us as his people to go to his land. Escaping slavery is one thing, but Israel represented freedom under God’s sovereignty for the Jewish people. We would be living in his land with his laws as his people. If you will, God’s conquest is not limited to the Egyptians, he wants to conquer us as well!

Passover as an event: The Lamb and the blood

The Jewish people for 3500 years have celebrated the Passover. Each year we eat bitter herbs and matzos and remind ourselves of the lambs that freed us from slavery.

It was impossible to miss the painted blood on the door. The father used the hyssop branch and splashed the blood on the 3 sides. It was at the threshold on the floor. It was on the top and sides. The angel of death could not miss it. You inside could not miss it. The smell, the sight… all reminding us of the death of the animal in our place. The sacrifice was complete as we had faith in it to deliver us from the last plague.

We who know Messiah Yeshua, know that he is the ultimate sacrifice lamb. Now, far from the blood of lambs that delivered us, we have the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, even our world. He delivers us from ourselves and makes us to know true freedom in the Lord. We have a relationship with God now and want to celebrate that.

King David picks up this theme of the forgiving hyssop.

Psa. 51.7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

David understood that the blood on the hyssop was more than freedom from Egypt. It was to get Egypt out of us. It was to free us from sin. Today only Yeshua can do that. And our prayer needs to be full to him.

 

So:  What lessons do we learn from today's teaching?

1)   One man’s evicting of another could be exile or could be freedom. We make the best of it by our actions and faith.

2)    What God wants, he will get done.

3)   Lambs delivered from Egypt, the Lamb of God delivers from death and sin.

4)   We are linked to Adam by race; we can be linked to Yeshua by faith.

A notification about the last plague. A short study in Exodus 11

It's almost time. Anticipation is great. The news about the plagues that befell the Egyptians was huge. Every week another mode of desolation hit the communities of the oppressors of the Jewish people. Darkness was so thick yesterday they couldn't see the ground or one another. No one moved. The people of Israel lived in Goshen, their detention centre, for decades, perhaps centuries, and had plenty of light. They knew that they were special. Now in the tenth plague, God was going to ensure that they understood the separation, the distinction, so that they would live differently when they left into the wilderness.

Remember, the rabbis teach that it took one whole year and nine plagues to do two things. 1) To convince the Egyptians to let my people go and 2) to convince the Hebrews that Moses was our leader. (See Ex. 2.14, 16.2, 17.3, Num. 14.2, 16.41, Acts 7.27) I know this is hard to imagine, but Moses probably didn't look like Charlton Heston or Chris Hemsworth. Imagine, if you can, Moses looking more like Woody Allen or Adam Sandler. Then this makes sense. It's no miracle for 3 million Jews to follow Hemsworth into the wilderness. It is a miracle indeed if even 30 Jews follow Woody anywhere. God used the plague to convince both camps. 

One more plague is coming, then a comprehensive exodus. No Jewish person will remain. Think about this. Almost as soon as they left, there was significant grumbling among the people. Why did you bring us out here to die? Where's the water? Where's the beef? Where's the garlic and leeks and onions? But the prediction of the final plague after 400 years of slavery and sadness, will cause everyone to depart. At midnight!

Whatever prevention God caused in the full escape of all the Jewish people previously, now, God says, he would ensure a final exodus by saying, "I will bring on Egypt." (.1)

Moses is told to ramp up the notification to all the Jewish people. First he says, tell the women to go and spoil the neighbours of silver and gold. (.2) And they might have wondered what this would accomplish. Was it only retribution for the troubles of the past? Was it only an "Oh yeah? We're going to take things from you like you took things from us?" No, as we find out later (Ex. 25.3), those items were needful for the construction of the furniture and other goods in the Holy Tabernacle. They also took textiles (Ex. 12.35) which would be employed in the Tabernacle as well. 

Was the spoiling deceptive as some aver? I need to borrow some things for our weekend retreat... could I borrow from you? I don't think so.  According to the Word Biblical Commentary, "Each of the four occurrences of the “despoiling” narrative in the OT (Exod.3:19–22; 11:2–3; 12:35–36; Ps. 105:36–38) makes plain that the Egyptians give their precious possessions to the Israelites gladly, because of Yahweh’s intervention. There is no hint of any deception, any “borrowing” with even an implied promise of a return of the borrowed items."

The problem, of course, in having goods like these is that they could be used for wrong things, like an idol of gold (Ex. 32.2) which brought 3,000 people to their deaths that day.  Having goods is not wrong; misusing them is what is wrong. Or another way of thinking that is, having goods is not wrong; when the goods have you, that's wrong. 

So God gave favour to the Hebrews. (.3) Each person who went to her neighbour received what they needed. The Egyptians were done with us. They wanted us gone, because they wanted the plagues to be gone. If we left, they thought, there would be no more blight, no more locusts, no more hail to ruin the crops, no more blood in the Nile, etc. They wanted the 'good old days.'

Even Moses was greatly esteemed in the people. Whatever had been the reports about him previously... now he is very great in their eyes. Why? He did what their magicians could not do. And he brought AND ended plagues on their houses. And in their lives. Anyone who can do all that?... they are significant.

Prediction of the comprehensive destruction of the first borns. That would end family lines as they understood them. Primogeniture is the norm, genealogically, but that would be decimated as a result of this plague. (.5)

There will be a great cry throughout Egypt. (.6) but against Israel, not even a dog would bark. (.7) The people of Egypt knew the story. They knew they were not responsible. They knew Moses was not responsible. They knew that there was a power encounter between the God of the Hebrews and the gods of Egypt and that their team lost. They didn't blame the umpires. They didn't blame the Jews. They blamed Pharaoh. 

GREAT favour, but not in the government. That may be something we should ponder in our days. With whom do we seek favour? From whom? Sometimes, our God will have us live in such a way that the kingdoms of this world are not on board with who we are. We don't need to run governments; we need to live in God's kingdom. We don't need to make his kingdom here on earth; that's his job, not ours. No matter who misquotes a Bible text about "if my people.. shall humble themselves and pray...." and applies it to a democracy (which was never in view in Bible days), seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness. It's not about our power; it's about God's power. (John 18.36, Matthew 6.33)

When Yeshua returns, then the kingdom of this world will become His kingdom (Rev. 11.15). Until then, we have our work cut out for us. To live in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14.17). To speak peace one with another and to love one another as He loved us. (John 13.34)

Back in Egypt, Moses is speaking to Pharaoh, (although we don't see when he went there) and said that all his servants would bow down to Moses.  That's an 'in-your-face' proclamation. It's not new, but it's dramatic. But don't miss this. The purpose of the final plague is listed. "So that you understand God made a distinction between Egypt and Israel." (.7) Distinction or separation is a key lesson from the beginning of the Bible and throughout Torah. Even throughout the entire Bible. 

God separated light from darkness. He separated clean from unclean animals. He separates us from the nations. At its root, the word KDSH (holy) includes this notion as well. You shall be holy, or separate, so that the nations of the world will know that I am the Lord. The whole purpose of holiness was not for Israel to be smug or proud of their goodness, but rather that the peoples of the earth would know who He is and get to know Him. Come out from among them and be separate. (2 Cor. 6.17)

Conclusion: What do I learn today as a result of reading this lesson?

1) Be holy so that others are DRAWN to Yeshua

2) Seek God's kingdom in my life and in the lives of my family

3) God can and will use ordinary people empowered by the Lord to bring about His purposes on earth

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ACTUAL TEXT

Ex. 11:1   Now the LORD said to Moses, “One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; ^aafter that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely. ² “Speak now in the ¹hearing of the people that ^aeach man ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold.” ^{3 a}The LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. ^bFurthermore, the man Moses himself was ¹greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

Ex. 11:4   Moses said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘About ^amidnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, ⁵ and ^aall the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ⁶ ‘Moreover, there shall be ^aa great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again. ⁷ ‘^aBut against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even ¹bark, whether against man or beast, that you may ²understand how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ ⁸ “^aAll these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves ¹before me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who ²follow you,’ and after that I will go out.” ^bAnd he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

Ex. 11:9   Then the LORD said to Moses, “^aPharaoh will not listen to you, so ^bthat My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ^{10 a}Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; yet ^bthe LORD ¹hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.