A Final Plague Threatened

Story: A Final Plague Threatened

Passage: Exodus 11

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh

Summary: God had Moses and Aaron warn Pharaoh that there would be one last plague.  The Israelites were supposed to ask their neighbors for gold and silver jewelry and they would give it to them.  Moses warned Pharaoh that God would come down in the night and kill the firstborn of every person in Egypt from the Pharaoh to the lowliest servant.  Even animals would be affected.  After this Pharaoh will let the Israelites go.

Notes:  Not only would Pharaoh let them go, God says he will drive them out of Egypt.  Apparently, the Hebrews are not winning any popularity contests with Pharaoh.  Interestingly though, the Egyptian people seem to like them.  God says that their neighbors will just give them jewelry as they leave.  Moses is apparently a great man Egypt.  This final plague is awful.  Every firstborn child in Egypt will die.  This even affects animals.  The poor livestock in Egypt really took a hit from these plagues!  Egypt would be messed up after this is all over!  According to God though, the Israelites would not be affected.  His protection even extends to the Hebrew animals.  It is interesting to me that God lumps animals in with the people for Egypt and Israel.  I assume that this is because the animals also have the breath of life.  It appears to me that God set up a hierarchy of creation.  He set animals above many things, but under humans.  Humans were over creation in general but under God.  It is interesting that Moses was “hot with anger” after this encounter with Pharaoh.  I wonder if he inherited some of God’s frustration while delivering God’s message or if Moses himself was upset with Pharaoh. This passage concludes with a sentence which basically serves to change the direction of the narrative.  We are about to slow down and get more detail.  Any time the narrative slows down to give more detail there is a good chance that we are coming to an important part of the redemptive story of the Bible as a whole.

Questions:  Were the Israelites really immune to this final plague?  Did Pharaoh really not think that his son would die?  Hadn’t God come through on all of His other plagues?  What was the general reaction of the Egyptian people when they heard about this plague?   What have the magicians been doing for the last several plagues?

Lessons: Once again we learn that Pharaoh was not listening so that God’s wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.  This passage serves to show that God wants to be glorified.  The Egyptians elevated Pharaoh above God.  Pharaoh was considered to be a god himself.  God does what is necessary to show the Egyptian people that He alone deserves worship and glory.  He unleashes His power and judgment on Pharaoh and Egypt so that they would know that He is God.  It is vital that we understand that God is about God and that we give Him the worship and glory that He deserves.  From creation forward, we see that our purpose is to bring Him glory.  

Darkness

Story: Darkness

Passage: Exodus 10:21-29

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh

Summary: God told Moses to stretch out his hand and the land would be covered in darkness.  Moses obeyed and the land was dark for 3 days.  Pharaoh told Moses to go and they could take their kids with them.  But they were not allowed to take their livestock.  Moses said that they needed their livestock so that they could make sacrifices.  Pharaoh got really mad and told Moses to never show his face again or he would die.  Moses left.

Notes: This is described as a darkness to be felt!  That’s ridiculous!  For three days the people could not see each other and stayed home.   This was another plague which was unannounced.  Goshen was unaffected.  I wonder what caused this darkness.  I almost feel like the laws of physics had to change for the light to be so divided.  Pharaoh was fully aware that the Hebrews wanted to escape.  That is why he was going to allow all of the people to go without the animals.  The Israelites couldn’t escape into the desert without their livestock.  This would effectively keep them on a leash.  When Pharaoh heard Moses demand to take all of their animals he knew Moses was trying to trick him.  He was furious and vowed to kill Moses the next time he saw him.  Moses agreed and said he would never see him again.  This won’t turn out to be true, but this is one of the last times the two of them will see each other.  Once again, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened because of God.  God had one last display of power planned.  This last plague would prove to be significant in His redemptive plan for the world.  Because of this, we will get more description for the upcoming plague than for the previous nine.

Questions: What did the Hebrews think of this?  Were the Israelites getting any warning before the plagues?  Did the darkness confuse the Egyptians?  Did Pharaoh really think Moses would take the Israelites out of Egypt without their animals?

Lessons:  In this passage we see Moses standing his ground and easily speaking to Pharaoh on God’s behalf.   He is radically different from the Moses we saw at the burning bush.  Moses has seen the power and authority of the one he serves.  He realizes that he is on the winning side and it totally transforms him.  Are we totally transformed?  We are also on the winning side and we serve the same God with the same power.  Do we act like it?  We need to get a hold of the fact that we serve God, not some idea.  We are on the correct side and we need to let that transform the way we live our lives.

Locusts

Story: Locusts

Passage: Exodus 10:1-20

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh

Summary:

God warned Pharaoh through Moses that He was going to cover the land with locusts.  Pharaoh’s servants begged him to give in to Moses’ demands.  Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron back and said he would let the men go worship. He refused to let all of the Israelites go however.  So God sent locusts into the land and they ate whatever plants survived the hail.  Pharaoh repented and asked Moses to plead on his behalf to God.  God took away the locusts.  But Pharaoh hardened his heart again.

Notes: First of all, God says that He is doing these plagues so that the Israelites and their children will know that He is the Lord.  This is interesting because God is hinting at the fact that they would need some reminding.  God’s issue with Pharaoh was that Pharaoh refused to humble himself.  The root issue here is pride.  I think this is the root issue for all sin, but this was a blatant representation of it.  Pharaoh’s servants realized what was happening and begged Pharaoh to let them worship God.  They pointed out that Egypt was already ruined.   Pharaoh agreed and said that they could serve the Lord in the desert, but he wanted to know who all was going to go.  Moses told him that the adults, children and animals were all going to go.  Pharaoh was not happy and assumed that Moses was trying to trick him.  I love that he swears by saying “the Lord be with you if I let your little ones go.”  Obviously the Lord was with Moses and Pharaoh did let everyone go eventually.  Pharaoh told him to take the men and worship since that is all they need.  Moses left and God sent in locusts.  I find it interesting that the passage specifies that the locusts came in with an east wind.  Pharaoh then sounded repentant.  He admitted to sinning against God and Moses, He asked for forgiveness and asked Moses to plead to God for him.  Moses did and God blew the locusts into the Red Sea.  Interestingly, He did not have the locusts die in the land like He did with the frogs.  Pharaoh hardened his heart again though.  This story shows that you can say all the right things and sound repentant but you might not be in your heart.  Pharaoh said the right things but he did not mean it.  I just want to point out that Pharaoh’s issues stem from him worrying about his image.  As one of the most powerful men on earth, it would look terrible if he allowed his entire slave base to just walk out of the country.  If he wanted to maintain his image, he could not afford to let them go even for a short time.

Questions:  How many of Pharaoh’s servant supported Pharaoh by this point?  What did the Egyptian public think?  Was Moses surprised that Pharaoh knew that the Israelites were going to try to run for it?

Lessons:  This passage shows me the importance of being truly repentant in your heart.  As prideful humans, this is impossible unless we let the Spirit convict us of our sin an.  If we listen to the Spirit, we will see how insufficient we are compared to Christ and He will lead us to His forgiveness.  If our repentance is based in making much of God rather than making much of ourselves, Christ’s amazing grace and mercy is ready for us.  If we are not truly repentant though, we are leaving ourselves open to His punishment and judgment.  

Hail

Story: Hail

Passage: Exodus 9:13-35

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh

Summary: 
God warns Pharaoh that the next plagues will be on Pharaoh’s heart.  God warns that hail will fall that will kill anyone outside. Those who feared God took cover and were spared, but those who ignored God were struck down.  It did not hail in Goshen.  Pharaoh said he had sinned and said he would let them go.  Moses doubted Pharaoh’s sincerity but he prayed and God stopped the hail.  But Pharaoh hardened his heart again and did not let the people go.

Notes: I actually found a lot of interesting stuff in this passage!  First, the Lord specifies that now the plagues will be sent on Pharaoh himself, or on his heart depending on how you translate the Hebrew.  God gives the reason for this; that they may know there is none like God in all the Earth.  God actually goes into a lot of detail explaining the reason for these plagues.  He points out that He could have wiped Egypt out long ago.  The reason for all these drawn out plagues is not merely punishment, but so that God’s name would be proclaimed in all the Earth when they see His power.   In fact, God says that this is the reason He raised Pharaoh up.  I find this terrifying honestly.  I have heard it said that God is for God.  God’s ultimate will is for His own glory.  That is why He created us, that is why He saved us, for His own glory.  This is hard to accept, I prefer to think I play a bigger role in God’s plans, but this passage sure seems to support it.  It seems that we exist to bring God glory.  Pharaoh did not willingly glorify God, but God still used his life to bring Himself glory.  God’s end goal was not punishment for Pharaoh, but glory for Himself.  In fact, everything God does indeed seems to be for His own glory.  Eternal punishment seems cruel, but it is just.  God is the only perfect holy being.  He is the only one in the universe who deserves glory and worship.  When we choose not to give that glory and worship to Him but rather focus it on creation, we disqualify ourselves from eternal unity with Him.  Think about it, what is the purpose of heaven?  Is it for our enjoyment and pleasure?  No! It is for worship.  Heaven is about glorifying God for eternity because He alone deserves it!  Once we turn our worship to other things, it makes total rational sense that we are no longer able to worship Him for eternity without some change in us.  That change came through Christ.  But anyway, my point is that God’s glory comes first.  That is the reason that the Egyptian people suffered through ten agonizing plagues rather than being instantly wiped out.  God is not cruel. God just deserves the glory we are giving to other things.  He is jealous for our attention.  We find out in the next verse that Pharaoh was still exalting himself above the Israelites.  That is the core issue here.  Pharaoh was making himself god, as was the Egyptian tradition.  Pharaoh was not just denying the true God, he was blatantly trying to replace Him.
This is an interesting plague in that God allowed people who believed and feared Him to be spared.  We read that some of Pharaoh’s servants did indeed fear God and took shelter.  Some left their servants and livestock outside though.  I wonder if any Hebrew slaves were left outside.  Anyway, apparently it hailed for quite some time.  Pharaoh sounded repentant.  He claimed he had sinned against God and he was wrong.  Moses straight up told Pharaoh that God would end the hail, but Pharaoh was lying.  This ended up being true.  Pharaoh once again hardened his heart.  This is called sin by the way.  Pharaoh did nothing physical that was sinful here.  Simply hardening his heart was considered sin.  I find it interesting that some of the crops had not grown yet and were thus unaffected.  Even in God’s judgment, He provided for the Egyptian survivors.  This shows that even in His justice, He was loving.  Even as He destroyed, He provided.  This also supports the fact that His main goal is His glory.

Questions:  Were any Hebrew slaves left in the storm?  Why did God raise Pharaoh up just to destroy him?  Why was Pharaoh still not repentant?  How many Egyptians believed God and were spared?

Lessons:  This passage shows us a little bit about the character of God.  We see examples of His righteous jealousy.  While this is a little scary, it is also encouraging.  It shows us that God deserves and desires our worship.  When we give God glory with our lives, He is pleased.  This isn’t selfish because He deserves that glory.  This passage should show us how important it is to not exalt ourselves, others, or other things above God.  We need to give Him the glory He deserves.  Our whole lives need to be for His glory and not our own.  When we put our image, our finances, our comfort, etc. above Him, we are giving our affections to His creation which does not deserve our affections.  Keep your affections on the creator.

Livestock Die and Boils

Story: Livestock Die and Boils

Passage: Exodus 9:1-12

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh



Summary: Moses warned Pharaoh that if he didn’t let them worship, god would strike the Egyptian livestock with a plague.  Pharaoh ignored the warning and all of the Egyptian livestock died, but not one of the Hebrew livestock died.  Pharaoh still hardened his heart.  God told Moses to throw handfuls of soot from a kiln into the air and the people and animals would get boils.  They did it and it happened.  The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not let them go.

Notes: This is the second plague which did not affect the Israelites.  The cow was considered sacred in Egypt.  To kill all of the cows was a direct attack on the Egyptian religious system.  I find it interesting that Pharaoh actually checked to see if Israel was indeed unaffected by the plague, but when he saw it was true, he did not let them go.  The next plague came without warning, just like the gnats.  These boils were painful and probably burned.  The animals were also affected by this plague.  That is the animals who were not livestock were affected.  The Egyptians had a God of medicine.  The magicians did not appear in public because they also had boils.  This showed that God was stronger than their god of medicine.  I wonder if they were required not to appear so that the Egyptian people would not know that they too were affected.  It amazes me that Pharaoh still hardened his heart!  At this point, he had to know that he would be ruined if he kept denying God.

Questions:  Why did Pharaoh harden his heart when he knew that God was behind these plagues?  How did the Egyptian people feel about what was going on?  Were they angrier at the Israelites or Pharaoh?  How did the Hebrews feel at this point?  Did the boils affect Israelites as well?  Was Pharaoh affected?

Lessons:  Pharaoh looks like an idiot in this passage.  We need to careful to learn from his mistake though.  When God told him what to do and what the consequence would be if he did not obey, Pharaoh ignored and despised God.  How many times does God give us a command with a promise or a consequence?  How seriously do we take it?  Let’s be honest here, often times we don’t take it that seriously.  Aren’t we just acting like Pharaoh when we do this?  We need to take God’s word as if it was spoken by an all powerful and holy ruler and creator of the universe.  Because it was.

Flies

Story: Flies

Passage: Exodus 8:20-32

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh

Summary:  God gave Pharaoh another chance.  This time if he didn’t obey, He would send swarms of flies into Egypt.  Houses would be filled; even the ground would be covered.  This time though, God would spare Goshen, where the Israelites lived.    This happened and Pharaoh decided the people could sacrifice within Egypt.  Moses said that wasn’t good enough so Pharaoh gave them permission to leave as long as the flies disappeared.  Moses prayed to God and the flies disappeared, but Pharaoh hardened his heart and didn’t let them leave.

Notes: This plague was the first to leave the Israelites unharmed.  God did this to show the Egyptians that He was the Lord.  The flies, just like the gnats, made the Egyptians’ sacrifices invalid.  The Hebrew actually only calls it a swarm.  It does not specify what it is a swarm of.    It could have been any insect really.  Pharaoh compromised and decided they could sacrifice in Egypt.  Moses reminded him about the social issues with them sacrificing in Egypt and then Pharaoh clearly promised that they could leave.   I find it interesting that Pharaoh wanted Moses to plead for the flies to leave.  That shows that he knew God was behind this.  He did not cry out to God himself though and he didn’t seem to actually fear God very much since he immediately took back his promise.  This time, the passage says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. I wonder if God was involved in this or if Pharaoh’s pride had taken over at this point.

Questions:  Why did Pharaoh harden his heart when he knew that God was behind these plagues?  How did the Egyptian people feel about what was going on?  Were they angrier at the Israelites or Pharaoh?  How did the Hebrews feel at this point?  Did they actually believe that Pharaoh was letting them go?  Was there celebrating?

Lessons:  Sometimes we cry out to God when things are tough.  But then, when things are good we forget Him and rely on ourselves.  This is exactly what we see happen here.  I suspect that Pharaoh did not deliberately lie to Moses, but rather that he rethought things after the flies left.  As awful as this looks to us, we do the same thing.  When we are clearly insufficient, we let God be God.  But as soon as we have the slightest hint of control, we make ourselves our god and we put the true God second.  When we do this, we are just as guilty as Pharaoh was in this passage.

Frogs, Gnats

Story: Frogs, Gnats

Passage: Exodus 8:1-19

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh

Summary:  God told Moses to go to Pharaoh again.  If Pharaoh did not listen, God would send frogs to fill the land.  Moses obeyed and Pharaoh did not listen so frogs filled the land.  Pharaoh’s magicians duplicated this as well.  Pharaoh called for Moses and told him that if he got rid of the frogs, he would let them go worship.  Moses had Pharaoh pick a time for the frogs to leave and Pharaoh picked the next day.  Moses cried out to God and the frogs died the next day and stink.  When Pharaoh saw the frogs were gone he changed his mind and didn’t let Israel go.  Then God told Moses to tell Aaron to strike the dust of the earth. The dust became gnats which covered all the people and animals.  The magicians could not duplicate this so they decided that this was done by God.  Pharaoh did not listen though. 

Notes: God chose frogs because the frog was worshipped in Egypt.  It was illegal to kill a frog.  The Egyptians soon realized how stupid it was to worship frogs.  I love that the magicians duplicated this as well.  All they did was contribute to the problem.  Pharaoh’s magicians could never solve the problem, only duplicate it.  Pharaoh was treating Moses like God.  Instead of crying to God himself, he went to Moses.  Pharaoh promised to let the people leave to worship the Lord.  Moses wanted Pharaoh to know for sure that God was responsible for the frogs though so he made him pick a time for the frogs to leave.  Pharaoh picked the next day which would have been impossible by natural causes.  But God did it.  The frogs died wherever they were, even in the houses.  The passage says that the land stank.  I’m sure that was an understatement.  They piled the dead frogs in heaps.  I wonder if there were people whose job it was to cart the heaps of frogs to the Nile and dump them in.  Pharaoh changed his mind.  He didn’t care about his promise; he just wanted to be rid of frogs!  The next plague came without warning to Pharaoh.  I find it interesting that Aaron is still doing all of the actions.  I wonder if Moses was wishing he had listened to God the first time now.  God would tell Moses what to do and Moses would then have to tell Aaron to do it.  The gnats were significant because the Egyptians were obsessed with cleanliness.  If yo had a bug issue, you weren’t allowed to worship.  The passage states that this plague also infected the livestock which means the animals couldn’t be sacrificed.  This plague put Egypt’s religion on hold.  God was showing His superiority over their idols.  Up to this point, Israel is also affected by these plagues.  The magicians can no longer imitate these plagues.  They now realize that this is God’s doing and not Moses’.  At this point, I bet they are panicking as they realize what they are up against.  Pharaoh however will not listen to logic and does not listen.  Unfortunately for Pharaoh, God’s just getting started. 

Questions:  What did the Israelites think of these plagues?  Did they get mad at Moses?  Did Moses care anymore?  How did the magicians create frogs?  Why couldn’t they produce gnats?  Were they panicking as they realized who they were up against?

Lessons:  God is more powerful than anything.  He deserves all of our attention.  When we put something ahead of God, we are making a huge mistake.  Sometimes I think we subconsciously decide something is more important than God.  We would never state that out loud, but we act like it.  God shows in this passage that He is bigger and more powerful than anything the Egyptians worshipped.  We need to make sure we don’t put creation above the creator in our hearts.  

Water Turned to Blood

Story: Water turned to Blood

Passage: Exodus 7:14-25

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh

Summary:  God told Moses that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.  Moses was to take his staff and go to Pharaoh in the morning when he went to the water.  Moses was to tell Pharaoh to let the people go.  To show Pharaoh that He was God, God was going to turn all the water into blood.  Moses did what God said and the Nile was turned into blood.  It smelled and the fish died.  Even water in containers turned to blood.  The people had to dig by the Nile to find clean water.  But Pharaoh’s magicians duplicated the miracle so Pharaoh did not believe.  The water was blood for seven days.

Notes:  I find it funny that God starts by saying that Pharaoh’s heart is hard.  Of course it is!  God had just told Moses that He had made his heart hard!  Anyway, God is communicating through Moses here.  God refers to the staff being in His hand.  It is obviously actually in Moses’ hand, but this shows the close relationship between God and His prophets.  The water all turned to blood.  There are people who think this occurred naturally because when the Nile would flood, it would turn red which would kill the fish.  If this were the case, why did Pharaoh find it significant?  And how were ponds and containers of water affected?  The Egyptians could drink from the Nile which also implies this was not a normal occurrence.  The magicians repeated this sign as well!  I have a couple thoughts on this.  One, how did they find fresh water?  Also, why did they not just fix the bloody water?  It appears that Satan has the power to do signs and wonders.  This is actually consistent with the rest of scripture, however whenever we see him doing a miracle, it is always destructive and never constructive.  When the passage says Pharaoh turned and went into his house, I picture him spinning on his heels and defiantly leaving the scene.  His heart was truly hardened.  IT sounds like he did not even consider that this might have come from a God.  Meanwhile, His people had to dig to find clean water for a week.  This plague directly combated the river gods that the Egyptians had.  In a desert country like Egypt, the Nile river had spiritual significance.  God showed that He had power over the Nile.

Questions:  How much of the Nile was affected?  How did the magicians duplicate this?  What did the Israelites think of this plague?  Were they affected too?

Lessons:  God is powerful and jealous.  The Egyptians had abandoned God for their own handmade idols.  God wanted them to acknowledge Him again and He did it by displaying His power.  I am convicted about the things I put before God in my life.  God is not afraid to take drastic measures to display His glory to those who choose to ignore it.  This just reinforces the importance of a constant focus on Christ and living a life with the purpose of glorifying the only God who deserves the glory.

Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh

Story: Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh

Passage: Exodus 7:1-13

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh

Summary:  God told Moses that He had made him like God to Pharaoh.  Moses would speak what God told him to speak and Aaron would say it to Pharaoh.  God warned that Pharaoh would harden his heart even though God would use signs and wonders.  Egypt would know that God is God when He leads His people out of Egypt.  Moses and Aaron obeyed.  Pharaoh demanded a sign so Aaron cast down his staff and it became a snake.  Pharaoh’s magicians were able to imitate the sign but Aaron’s staff ate their staffs.  But Pharaoh would not listen.  

Notes:  I have a few thoughts on this passage.  First of all, this passage gives us a little bit of insight into the dynamic of God speaking to us through prophets.  If Pharaoh represents humanity, then Moses was representing God.  Moses spoke and Aaron repeated Moses’ words to Pharaoh.  Thus, even though Aaron did the work, the credit goes to Moses.  In the same way, the prophets’ messages were not from themselves, but from God.  I find it interesting that Pharaoh did not deny them because he had hardened his heart, but rather because God had hardened his heart.  Pharaoh had the choice to listen to Moses, but God had hardened his heart so he did not.  I believe God left Pharaoh with the choice to listen, but He altered Pharaohs heart enough that he had no desire to listen.  Thus God was in total control even though He technically gave Pharaoh the choice.  Sometimes I think we don’t have free will, but rather we simply have will.  God can and apparently does manipulate that will, but it is technically still our will.  At first glance this is terribly unjust.  The poor Pharaoh has no choice but to deny Moses and eventually pays for it with his life.  How is that just?  But we need to remember that A. he did have a choice to listen even if he didn’t have the will to listen and B. Pharaoh deserved death just like all of us.  The injustice here is not that Pharaoh died when we had no choice but to oppose the Israelites, but rather that the Israelites lived even though they continually stopped following God.  That is the injustice.  Verses 6 and 10 show growth in Moses and Aaron.  In both those verses we read that Moses and Aaron did “just as the Lord had commanded them”.  They were done arguing.  Whatever God told them a couple of chapters ago transformed them.  They knew Pharaoh would ignore them but now they were prepared.  They had regained their focus on God and not on their circumstances.  I don’t know how Pharaoh’s magicians turned their staffs into snakes.  I don’t know if it was an illusion or if they actually turned them into living snakes.  I have to think it was an illusion because life coming from something dead should only be done by God.  If it was an illusion, they must have been confused when Aaron’s staff ate theirs but was no bigger when it became a staff again!  This would be enough to convince me that I should pay attention, but God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart enough that he does not even seem to consider listening to them.

Questions:  What did the magicians think when their staffs were eaten?  At what point did Moses and Aaron regain their focus?

Lessons:  God does not use prophets in the same way that he used to, but in the New Testament we see that one of the gifts of the Spirit is prophecy.  The Spirit acts like a prophet for us now.  He is the go between for us and God.  We also should learn from Moses and Aaron’s obedience.  This is obviously quite a change from their former ways.  We need to be as obedient as Moses.  When he heard his mission would fail he stayed with it because his success was not based in results, but in obedience to God.

The Genealogy of Moses and Aaron

Story: The Genealogy of Moses and Aaron

Passage: Exodus 6:14-30

Characters:  Lots of random people

Summary:  This is just a list of people in the genealogy of Moses and Aaron.  At the end, we get a summary of where the story of Moses is right now.  God tells Moses to speak to Pharaoh and Moses expresses doubt that Pharaoh will listen to him.

Notes:  I always wonder about the lives of the people mentioned in lists like this.  We know nothing about them, but their lives were probably just as interesting as those who are mentioned.  Interestingly, this genealogy includes a Canaanite woman, and a man marrying his Aunt.  Every now and then, a wife is mentioned by name. Today, we have no idea who some of these names were, but in Moses’ time, these names must have been well known. The genealogies are given the most detail for Aaron’s descendants and Korah’s descendants.  This is because both families will play a role in the coming chapters.  This passage is giving background for the upcoming narrative.

Questions:  Why were these people mentioned?  How many cool stories did these people have that we no longer know?  How well known were these names to the original audience of this book?

Lessons:  Honestly, a lesson is hard to pull from this passage.  We see at the end of the passage once again that God tells Moses what to do and Moses doubts God.  We can shake our heads at Moses’ stupidity all we want, but are we any different?  Do we trust God with the impossible or do we limit our trust in Him to what is already possible?

God Promises Deliverance

Story: God promises Deliverance

Passage: Exodus 6:1-13

Characters:  Moses, God

Summary: God told Moses He was going to lead them out of Egypt.  He said He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but He did not tell them His name.  He promised to give them Canaan and now he heard the Israelites crying out and He remembered His covenant.  God told Moses what to tell the Israelites.  God was going to redeem them with great acts judgement.  God would take them as His people and they would take Him as their God.  The people did not listen though because they were broken.  God told Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the people out of the land.  Moses objected but God gave Moses and Aaron a charge to bring the people out of Egypt.

Notes:  There are a few interesting things in this passage.  God started this dialogue by outlining His history with Israel.  Now He was going to fulfill His covenant.  He told Moses exactly what to say to the people.  Interestingly, it sounds like Moses did not argue this time.  God promised the people that He would deliver them and redeem them with acts of judgment.  He would take them as His people and He would be their God.  You get the sense that God is a husband telling His girl that He’s chosen her and He’s committed to her.  In fact, in the context of the rest of the Bible, this is exactly what God is telling Israel!  He speaks of His delivering them as if it had already happened.  Moses told them that, but they didn’t listen.  The passage even explains why they didn’t listen.  They had broken spirits and harsh slavery.  Sometimes, when we are extremely oppressed and discouraged, it is easy to get caught up in our own problems and not believe God is really there.  This is exactly what Israel was doing.  God was unfazed though and he told Moses to go to Pharaoh next.  Moses felt that if his own people didn’t listen to him, why would Pharaoh?  The passage says the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.  I don’t know exactly what God said here, but apparently it gave Moses and Aaron the confidence they needed to obey.


Questions:  What did God tell Moses and Aaron?  Did anyone in Israel believe God was going to deliver them?  Why did God still love these people?

Lessons:  Sometimes, it is easy to get caught up in our circumstances and lose trust in God.  The Israelites did this and so did Moses.  God knows what to do to wake our hearts up to Him again.  It is vital that we trust Him, but when it is hard, we need to pray that God will give us the ability to trust Him.  He knew what to say to Moses and Aaron to give them purpose again and He can do the same for us.