Looking for Exodus

[JLG]

1) Exodus 1

We read about faithful men such as Job, Daniel and Samuel and many unfaithful kings from Israel and Judah. Now it’s time to think about Moses and the fact that it is difficult to have important responsibilities and stay faithful to God.

- Somebody added : especially when everything you do a huge crowd of people complain about it

- Yes, before they leave Egypt and after and constantly: like God, a good example of patience! But he was trained and prepared for such responsibilities while in Midian for many years!

- Grandmother’s recipes have always worked too hard work. Many good examples of faithfulness in the Bible come from people trained for many years in the wilderness.
That’s why the old testament is so fundamental!
We need good and bad examples to highlight the precious value of faithfulness especially in our artificial world!

- amen, it eventually cost Moses his life and exile from entering the promised land. When he lost his patience before the people at the rock and disobeyed

The damaging effects of complaining is a very good example from Moses writings I think and is fully applicable lesson in the apostles writings
 

 They all address the dangers of complaining , arguing , judging and condemning like sent on in the desert . And the benefits of forgiving and making peace and not arguing but just weighing what others have to say peacefully helping one another and being merciful and maybe most importantly thankful to the good Lord For his provisions even if we think we fancy something shinier and better thankful goes along way with the lord

He gave them miraculous bread from heaven and they complained and wanted meat , he gave them quail , and they complained the next time about the next thing “but they had red meat in Egypt !! We are good there, we're feasted …..

I enjoy your posts, keep em up brother !!

Yes but he led the Hebrews for 40 years, not bad for a demonstration of patience !

Definitely for the complaints and the Hebrews as a people are specialists both in Old and New Testaments ! Quite different from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob ! Even the Apostles needed a lot of training before understanding Jesus’ teachings and improving their attitudes !

Weighing what others have to say peacefully helping one another and being merciful and being thankful too : you are perfectly right ! It must be constructive ! But we also need to express our deep feelings, ask oneself ! We may learn a lot in a positive discussion, we may miss something or only visualize one aspect or only through one direction. Personally, I know better the New Testament so I now speak about the Old Testament. Thus I get more information about the Old Testament and it helps me to understand better the New Testament and how to improve my personal relationship with God through good and bad biblical examples and it is also a way to help people think about all the Bible !

Yes and being free from slavery they wanted to go back to Egypt and start again as slaves ! The Egyptians would have killed them ! But sometimes when you need a lot of time when you go in the wrong direction to open your eyes : that’s human history and it costs lives.

[JLG]

2) So Jacob goes to Egypt with 70 people meanwhile Joseph is already in Egypt. Then Joseph and his brothers die in Egypt and the Israelites grow in number. A new Pharaoh reigns in Egypt, one who doesn’t know Joseph. And he starts being afraid of the growing number of Israelites and he decides to oppress them with hard labor. But the Israelites keep growing. So he turns the Israelites into slaves and makes their lives more difficult. So Pharaoh decides to drown the newborns of the Israelites.

- Somebody added : amen good summary that was a fulfillment of this told to abram descendants 430 years before

“And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

But in the fourth generation they shall come hither ( to the promised land ) again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭15:12-17‬ ‭

[JLG]

3) Exodus 2

A woman gives birth to a child and hides him for three months then puts him in a papyrus basket by the bank of the Nile River. Her sister stays at a distance to see what happens to him. Then Pharaoh’s daughter sees the basket and the child in it. Then the sister asks Pharaoh’s daughter if she wants her to find a nursing woman so she calls his mother who nurses the child and receives a salary in exchange. When he is older, she brings the child to Pharaoh’s daughter. She names him Moses. When Moses is older, he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew so he kills the Egyptian and hides him in the sand. Another day, he sees two Hebrews fighting against each other. He wants to stop them but then they ask him if he is going to kill them as he killed the Egyptian. Pharaoh hears about it but Moses succeeds in escaping by going to the land of Midian. He sits by a well and the seven daughters of a priest come and get water for their father’s flock. But as usual, the shepherds come and drive them away but Moses helps them to get water and rescue them from the shepherds. Then the daughters tell their father Reuel. So he asks them to bring the man so he can eat with them. Then Moses stays with them and marries his daughter Zipporah. And they have a child, Gershom. Finally Pharaoh dies and the Israelites keep complaining and God hears them and remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Once again a situation of personal relationships between God and faithful men, many men taking benefit of a special relationship between God and few men here Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It shows how faithful God is because he maintained his covenant with the Israelites for a very long time because of them even if he left them on many occasions because they left him on many occasions. Finally they would definitely lose such a benefit. And through the Bible we have a living demonstration of that!

[JLG]

4) Like in the case of Samuel, we have some information about Moses' youth: he is raised by his mother before going to live with Pharaoh's daughter and through this education he knows who he is because he protects an Israelite against an Egyptian he kills. Moreover when he goes to Midian, he helps the priest's daughters against some shepherds. So right at the beginning, he shows good dispositions. His training in Midian will also help him to assume his future responsibilities.

[JLG]

5) Exodus 3

So Moses becomes a shepherd for his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock, he goes to Horeb, the mountain of the true God. There God’s angel appears to him in a flame. He wants to get closer but God tells him it is holy ground so he must take his sandals off. And he tells him that he wants to keep his promise to bring Israel to the promised land. And he tells Moses that he will send him to Egypt to bring his people to the promised land. Then Moses will tell the Israelites that he comes from God that he is sent by “I AM THAT I AM”, “I AM hath sent me unto you”, “the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations”. So Moses must tell the elders of Israel and ask Pharaoh for a three-day journey into the wilderness to make sacrifices to God. But Pharaoh will refuse and God will strike the Egyptians so Pharaoh will finally let the Israelites go away and bring with them gold and silver and clothes.

[JLG]

6) Exodus 4

God tells Moses to throw his rod on the ground and it becomes a serpent. And Moses takes it by the tail and it becomes a rod again. Then God tells Moses to put his hand under his garment and it becomes white because of leprosy. When he puts his hand out of his garment it comes back to normal. Then if he takes water from the Nile River and pours it on the dry land it will become blood. But Moses says he doesn’t speak correctly so God tells Aaron his brother will speak for him. So Moses goes back to Egypt with his wife and his son. Then God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and makes all the miracles he told him in front of Pharaoh. But Pharaoh won’t let the Israelites go out. And then God will kill pharaoh’s firstborn. Moses and Aaron meet in the wilderness and Moses tells him all that God told him. Then they both go to the elders of Israel and show them all the signs from God.

[JLG]

7) Exodus 5

Moses and Pharaoh go to Pharaoh and ask him to let Israel go in the wilderness to celebrate God but he refuses. So Pharaoh increases the Israelites’ work by forcing them to gather straw and not only make bricks. So the Israelites complain to Moses and Aaron about their increase of work.

[JLG]

8) Exodus 6

God says Moses that he appears to “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by the name of God Almighty but by his name Yah.weh he was not known to them”; And he made a covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan. And now he hears the people complaining and he remembers his covenant. The time has come to keep his promise and reveal to them who he is really. And he is going to free them from the Egyptians. So Moses tells the Israelites but they don’t listen because they are discouraged.

[JLG]

9) Exodus 7

So God warns Moses that Pharaoh will refuse to let the Israelites go in the wilderness but it is to show God’s power compared to the Egyptian gods. So God will strike the Egyptians again and again. And everybody will know who the real God is. So Moses is 80 and Aaron 83 at the time. Then Aaron’s rod becomes a big snake and it swallows the other snakes of the Egyptian priests. But Pharaoh doesn’t care. Then the waters of the Nile River turn into blood. And the fish die. And the Egyptians have no water to drink. But the Egyptian priests do the same.

[JLG]

10) Exodus 8

God sends frogs to Egypt but the Egyptian priests do the same. Then God sends gnats to Egypt but the Egyptian priests can’t do the same. Then Gadflies.