Exodus 24 40 days up a mountain

Exodus 24

This is the famous chapter where Moses goes up mount Sinai and receives the definitive written version of the 10 commandments.

I’m not sure why covenants sealed in blood are so important, but Moses arranges sacrifices of animals to God and sprinkles blood on the alter and on the people to seal the covenant.

All the people say that they will obey God, but given their past record I am not sure how well they will do!

Moses leaves his brother Aaron, Hur, and Joshua (his assistant) in charge of camp while he goes up the mountain to receive all the laws of God written in stone by God’s own hand.

He is gone for 40 days – that is pretty nearly 6 weeks up a mountain with no food or water.

Exodus 23 Legal principles still around today

Exodus Chapter 23

The chapter starts with some legal guidance which is supposed to hold true even in the UK courts,-do not help the guilty by slanting your evidence. The oath in the British legal system is that "I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

Also do not automatically condemn the rich by showing favouritism to the poor and vice versa.

Some people may be shocked that the Bible says  do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. It is a command to think for yourself  – recognise if things are being done wrong and make a decision not to and to oppose if it is wrong.

There are laws in the Bible on how you should treat your enemy – if he is struggling help him, if you find something of his, give it back to him. 

How is one supposed to carry on a pointless feud when they behave like this??

Bribes are also forbidden in law cases – they distort vision and warp the words of the innocent.

There are some patterns for farming as well in this chapter

Every 7^th year do not plant crops or tend fields and vinyards, this would allow the soil to recover every so often. 

in medieval England there was a 4 year rotation with a field being untended every 4^th year. This stops the soil becoming depleted and gives a chance to re-build nutrients.

Every 7^th day is a day off – note this applies to everybody even slaves and foreigners

There are also 3 major festivals which each merit time off work – Passover, first fruits and harvest.

The end of the chapter is a promise and a warning – God will be with Israel and settle them in the promised land but they have to do as God says.

Exodus 22 Social justice

Exodus 22

Basically if you steal something according to this chapter you have to pay back double, if you cannot afford it you can be sold off along with your family if things are that bad.

The next one is that if a man seduces a girl who is not engaged and sleeps with her he basically has to marry her, if her father refuses he must still pay as if he had married her.

There are a few things here that seem to carry the death penalty – sorcery – why only female sorceress have to die I don’t know.

Bestiality is also prohibited as is worship of other gods.

Next bit is something that certain political parties in the UK would do well to listen to – “Do not ill treat or oppress a foreigner”.

Do not take advantage of the widow or fatherless – God apparently does not take well to this.

Money lending at interest is prohibited (apart to foreigners – this is one reason why Jews became moneylenders.)

Why does eating meat from an animal killed by wild animals make you unholy?  

Exodus 21 from a 21st century perspective

Exodus Chapter 21

Here are a number of general rules that apply to all citizens of Israel.

Slavery is not allowed – to me that is simple here a Hebrew person may hire himself out but only for 6 years then he is allowed to go free – any debt is paid and he may leave.

If he was married at the start of his term of service, his wife and children may go free, but if not then they are stuck. The man may choose to stay with the master who takes him before the judges and drills through his ear with an awl against the doorpost (Yuk!)

I think it is more than a bit unfair on Women in this chapter – if a man is forced to send his daughter off to be a servant, she is stuck for life unless she is redeemed by a close relative. The only thing is that she cannot be sold outside Israel. If the master marries the servant girl to his son, she becomes his daughter and must be treated as such, if she is married off then neglected, she is free to leave.

I do not condone any of this behaviour in the 21^st century, by the way, and inequality on the basis of gender is, I believe, wrong as is slavery.

Next comes some interesting laws on personal injury –

The Bible makes a distinction between murder and manslaughter

Remember the promise honour your father and mother so you will live long in the land – if you don’t, well they can take care of that (legally)!

Kidnappers – or slavers here are as bad as murderers.

Injuries must be compensated – and anybody who beats a slave so that they die must be treated as a murderer.

Here is the basis of the law “Lex Talionis” An eye for an eye.

If anybody permanently damages a slave – the slave is immediately allowed to go free

There is a duty of care for dangerous animals with extra penalty if the animal is known to be dangerous.

There is also a duty of care with regards to excavations and holes.

It is interesting that health and safety legislation can be found as early as Exodus in the Bible 

All in all I don’t quite know how to take this chapter – it seems at once barbaric and anti women and pro slavery, yet in some ways remarkably fair compared to other legal systems  in the ancient world. 

Perhaps if we put it into context – a slave in the Greek or Roman world could just be killed or maimed by their master for no reason.  Also it is interesting to note that in many other legal systems the social status of both victim and perpetrator are taken into account when judgement is passed.  In Exodus it does not matter your status, the law applies to kings and commoners alike. 

Exodus 19 and 20 The top 10 (commandments)

Exodus Chapter 19

The scene is set for the 10 commandments – this takes a whole chapter.

God warns the Israelites to be ready as they camp near mount Sinai. The mountain is set apart by God as holy and anything uninvited will be killed.

Israel has two days to prepare for God to speak to them. On the third day God speaks to the Israelites from a cloud covering the mountain and it scares them.

Moses goes up the mountain to see God.

According to Jewish scholars there are some 613 laws in the Bible – of which about 348 are things that are forbidden (such as murder) and 265 are things that are commended – such as honouring you parents, defending the poor, not oppressing foreigners, that sort of thing 

Exodus Chapter 20

The 10 commandments

An old chap once remarked that if God wanted us to go metric he would have had 12 apostles- personally I think that if God wanted us to stick with Imperial units he would have given 16 commandments!

So these are the famous 10 commandments 

So many people treat them a bit like a history exam - Choose any 3.

For those that do not know the 10 commandments are basically

1                     Worship God only, don’t put anything else before or alongside him

2                     Do not make images or idols and worship them (they tend to blind people to exactly who they are worshipping) this has a promise attached – God will show love to generations of those who follow his teaching

3                     Do not misuse the name of God

4                     Remember to keep 1 day a week as holy and not for work

5                     Honour your parents so you will have a long life in the world

6                     Do not murder (or kill)

7                     Do not commit adultery

8                     Do not steal

9                     Do not give false testimony

10                 Do not covet anything that your neighbour has

Of these 5 relate to strangers and friends alike, 2 are family and work life balance and 3 are related to our relationship with God.

At least 3 of these commandments are in UK law even today. 

General consensus is that if we all obey the 10 commandments the world would be a better place.

There is a rule given at the end of the chapter that an alter must not be made from dressed stones and should not have steps up to it – “else your private parts may be exposed”  Note to self - don't build an alter with steps and dressed stone.

Exodus 19 Government of the people by the people and for the people

Exodus Chapter 18

Moses father in law pays a visit bringing Moses wife and sons with him.

Jethro (priest of Midian) praises the God of the Israelites acknowledging that no other god that he knows could have done what God did.

In the morning the Israelites came to settle differences with Moses acting as judge.

Jethro sees this and realises that Moses is going to wear himself down trying to sort out all the complaints himself.

What he suggests is to Moses is that he should arrange the community into “communities” as it were with a judge for each small community, circuit judges over a few communities with Moses free to look at only the hardest cases.

A similar idea was put forward in the BBC TV comedy “Yes Minister” – where approximately 200 houses would elect a local representative, the cluster of representatives would elect one to the next level up (County council) who would elect people to a national parliament – this would mean that everybody would personally know somebody who knows somebody who is in national government.

This system would effectively kill off the party political system that we have today in the UK, which is why the idea was quietly and very quickly abandoned - after all why abolish a system that got you into power in the first place?

Though my personal opinion is that I am really not a fan of the party political system that we have in the UK and any system that breaks the party monopoly would be a good thing.

Exodus 15-17 Wandering, and complaints.

Exodus Chapter 15

This chapter starts with a song of praise to God for his mighty miracle – it is actually quite an interesting song of praise

Miriam (Moses elder sister) takes a tambourine and dances and praises God.

Given that Moses is 80 years old, Aaron is 83, I guess Miriam would be getting on for her late 80’s

Having crossed the sea, the Israelites camp at a place called Marah. There was water there but not drinkable, and the people complain to Moses about this (as though it is his fault!)

God shows Moses a piece of wood which Moses chucks into the water and it becomes good to drink.

I’m not sure if there is a scientific reason for this.

God issues a promise to the people but there is a requirement in return – if they listen and do what is right and obey God’s commands, then none of the plagues that afflicted Egypt would strike them

They then move on to a place called Elim where there are 12 springs of water.

Exodus Chapter 16

The Israelites now move into deeper desert toward the Sinai Peninsula.

You would think that having witnessed the struggle that God unleashed on Egypt in the form of the plagues, followed by receiving costly parting gifts from the Egyptian people, a dramatic night time departure, an even more dramatic rescue and defeat of the Egyptian army, seeing God turn bad water into good using a bit of wood, that the people would have a little bit of trust that God who can do all this would be able to give them something to eat. 

You would think - but they apparently thought otherwise!

Instead they complain that they were better off doing hard labour in Egypt, because at least they had food to eat there.

God provides a type of bread, Manna from heaven for the Israelites to eat.

Notice that even if you give some people a fully detailed instruction manual, and you tell them personally what to do and anything else you can think of it won’t make a blind bit of difference?  Moses told the people not to try and store Manna overnight, but those who do not listen try it and it stinks and is full of maggots.

On the sixth day the rules change – gather twice as much and store it overnight and it will not go bad.

Sure enough on the seventh day the non listening types go out to look for manna

The promise from God that if the Israelites follow Gods commands has lasted for nearly a chapter!.

A portion of Manna was kept in the Ark of the Covenant, along with the original 10 commandments (as we will see later on) until Indiana Jones finds it – oh wait is that fictional?

Exodus Chapter 17

One thing that the Israelites seem to notice pretty quickly after leaving Egypt is that the desert is not particularly well supplied with water.

Their response is to complain to Moses and Aaron. God points out a rock and tells that Moses should strike a particular rock.

They called the place Massah (testing) and Meribah (Quarrelling)

The Amalekites attack Israel in the desert, Moses sent Joshua off to lead the army while Moses, Aaron and Hur (the character of Ben Hur in the famous book is a descendant of this man) go to a hill.

While Moses arms are held up the Israelites win, but when he lowers his arms the Amalekites start to win, so Aaron and Hur wind up having to hold his arms up.

Exodus 14 "A Red Sea pedestrian - and proud of it"

Exodus 14

Pharaoh has another change of mind – God does not lead the Israelites directly away from Egypt, but rather Pharaoh sees his cheap labour force apparently wandering aimlessly between the desert and the red sea.

Pharaoh has a habit of changing his mind, through the plagues he changed his mind when each plague stopped, he now regrets letting a huge labour force go, so he sends out the army to recapture the Israelites.

For the first time the Israelites start complaining that they would have been better off as slaves in Egypt.

Now comes a moment that is pivotal in the history of Israel, God instructs Moses, who stretches out his staff and a path is created through the sea.

The Israelites cross the sea on dry (ish) land but, when the Egyptian chariots follow them,it all goes horribly wrong. The chariots get stuck, the wheels come off and the 600 chariots basically get bogged down. 

It may be worth noting that chariots were the elite shock troops of armies at this stage in History, extremely powerful and fast they were the equivalent of tanks or possibly helicopter gunships in the modern army.

Moses stretches his hand again and the waters go back and drown the Egyptian army.

I heard a probably apocryphal tale of a sceptic and a believer talking about this – “It was a miracle” said the believer, “God led his people through the sea as on dry land.”

“You fool,” says the sceptic, “the sea there is only 2 feet deep”

“Well that is even more of a miracle”

If you have seen the film “Bruce Almighty” there is a moment there when Bruce realises he has the powers of God, at the time he is sitting in a diner with a bowl of tomato soup and there is "a parting of the red soup" moment.

I like to credit my sources and the title of this blog post comes from Monty Pythons Life of Brian. I happen to think it is very funny, if somewhat controversial (Even today). 

Exodus 13 - First born

Exodus 13

God claims every first born for his own in this chapter – does this have anything to do with the death of the first born in Egypt? God, having killed the first born of Egypt claims every Hebrew male and every first born livestock. 

A lamb must be offered to God to redeem a first born child, and a horse or donkey can be bought back from God if desired (fortunately the option is not there for children!) but first born of livestock are to be sacrificed to God as a memory of the exodus and the cost of freedom.

God re-iterates the regulations of the Passover, nothing with yeast may be found in any house for 7 days at Passover. 

The annual remembrance of passover in spring and the ritual giving to God of every first born is to be a constant reminder of "the power of God's mighty hand" rescuing Israel from slavery.

It also points back to the suffering of the Egyptians - lest Israel become too arrogant they are forced to remember that they were once slaves and their masters paid a heavy price

The Israelites start the journey towards the promised land. The most direct route is along the coast – but that way is defended and God chose to lead his people through the desert.

Note they are carrying Joseph’s coffin with them when they go after 400 years.

God leads his people by day and night in the form of a pillar of flame by night and cloud by day.

Do you ever wish that God would show us the way like that today? Come to think of it perhaps it is best not, can you imagine the carnage if I followed a cloudy fiery pillar down the motorway? 

Exodus 12 Passed over - or Passover?

Exodus Chapter 12

The Passover is started in this chapter, It is a tradition that continues right to this day. I have, in the past celebrated what I sincerely hope is a recognisable version of the Jewish Passover and I have to say I got a lot out of doing this observation as the Christian celebration of holy communion is based around this meal originally.

There is a bit in the modern Passover celebration where 4 sons ask questions, one of the questions is "why do you celebrate the Passover?" And the reply is taken from verse 27 “This is the Passover, it is what God did for me” – the question was asked to you, but not for me. Rabbi Gamaliel (who taught St Paul) declares that each person should identify personally with the liberation from slavery and rejoice in freedom.

Another part of the modern Passover Seder (ritual or service) commemorates and remembers the darkest hours of the history of Israel – the holocaust under the Nazis.  During the oppression and in a concentration camp Jewish inmates struggled to maintain their traditions and their faith, and the passover was celebrated in spite of severe slavery and oppression to remember and celebrate freedom. The passover ends "Next year in Jerusalem" - this year we may be slave labour in a concentration camp, but next year....

The Passover is usually celebrated wearing shoes and outdoor clothes, and the story is told over the meal. Most celebratory meals in history (for example Ancient Greece or Rome) would have liberal quantities of alcohol before any story telling and certainly people would usually be settled in for the long run and the stories received in a state of inebriation. This is not the case with the Passover meal - the story is told before the meal with ritual glasses of wine.

The Exodus happened 430 years after Jacob and co went down to Egypt and they took Joseph's coffin and bones with them. When the moment finally came – and Moses request is granted, Pharaoh turns it into a command and the Israelites are effectively driven from the land without even waiting for dawn.

This is part of the reason for the no yeast rule – it is to remember that things happened so quickly that there was no time for the bread to rise.

If you are interested in the Passover Seder and doing a passover, it takes about 3 hours or so (though somehow it never seems to last that long) and there are many resources online.

My lasting memories of the passovers I have celebrated are I spent an evening with God, friends, food and wine which I is not a bad way to spend Thursday evening before Easter!

Exodus 6-11 A tough question

Yesterday's blog post covered the 10 plagues on Egypt. Yet it has left me with a rather uncomfortable feeling, that I'd like to take a day off the Bible to explore with your permission (or without it, after all I did not ask!)

Abraham asked God "should not the judge of the earth do right?" so what am I to think of the suffering wrought on the Egyptian nation in the plagues?

Critics of religion like Richard Dawkins will no doubt tell me that this story is living proof of a vengeful and vicious God who does not deserve belief let alone worship, and that I am not using my brain when I follow Jesus and believe in a loving and merciful God. Where was God when every first born son in the land died? I can almost hear his challenge.

Somehow I find the scientific explanation actually helps me here, if it seems that natural order sent these plagues, the God is not being malicious or vengeful directly It changes the question from "Why did God cause this suffering?" to "why did God allow this suffering?"

Why should God allow these things to happen? I hear the question echo across the web. 
Perhaps a partial answer could be if God wrote the laws of the cosmos and nature who are we to get all upset when bad things happen as a result? Why should God set aside the laws that govern the cosmos for our benefit? 
If God did not write the laws of nature as Atheists believe then it is all the luck of the numbers. I'm very sorry Egypt, but your number is up due to these natural occurrences, tough luck you caught a bad break, shame about that. 

If I fall from a cliff, is it wrong for gravity to make me hit the base? If I am caught unprepared for a thunderstorm is it the fault of the weather or a vengeful god? Of course not! Gravity has a number of terrific benefits - not least being able to find my keys where I put them down! And as for the weather - If I am not prepared for bad weather I've probably lost my British Identity!

Another thought - Abraham pleaded with God for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, did nobody plead for the Egyptians?

There is one other thought, later on God sets apart the first born from Israel as holy to him. and later still Jesus, God's only begotten Son, suffered a horrific death - perhaps nothing God dishes out is so bad that God himself is not prepared to share the same pain?

I don't think I'll ever have a full and totally satisfactory answer to this question - the simple answer is I honestly don't know and sometimes it bothers me. However I would far rather believe in a God who, i believe, is just and right and holy, than have to live in a godless universe populated by chance, where there is no meaningful moral background or higher authority than society or the state.

I'm also haunted by the question - if Pharaoh had let the Israelites go initially would the plagues have happened? We will never know.

Exodus 6-11 A Plague or 10

This is going to be a long post, I hope you are sitting comfortably - take a deep breath and here we go - 

Exodus chapter 6

God tells Moses that he will now start working wonders, reminds Moses that he has been the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and has not forgotten his promise to give Israel the land of Canaan.

Moses tells this to his people but they are too despondent to listen.

We then get a family tree of Moses, which is of vital importance to somebody - but it really is not me!

Exodus Chapter 7

Moses and Aaron have a showdown with Pharaoh and we get the 10 plagues of Egypt.

One thing I did note is the age of Moses and Aaron, they are 80 and 83 years old! God has obviously taken lessons from the Government about retirement age!

The chapter starts quite weird – Moses is to be like God to Pharaoh with Aaron as his prophet.

Moses and Aaron start off quite low key – They throw Aaron's staff on the ground and it turns into a snake.

However the Egyptian magicians do the same trick – only Aaron's staff eats theirs!

Pharaoh is unimpressed.

Next comes plague number 1 – God tells Moses to confront Pharaoh on the banks of the river Nile.

Moses strikes the Nile with his staff and all the water turns, according to the bible, to blood.

The Egyptian magicians do the same thing – which seems a bit odd to me and would not improve matters much!

I saw a TV documentary about the plagues of Egypt that suggests that the plagues may have been a sequence of natural events, perhaps a miracle can be described as something happening at just the right moment?

In the documentary the blood plague is attributed to a particular algal bloom, which has been noted elsewhere – this particular bloom is very red and kills most of the life in the river.

Exodus Chapter 8

Moses and Aaron go back to Pharaoh and demand that he let Israel go free to worship. Pharaoh does not let them go, and as promised the land was overrun by frogs

Again the Egyptian magicians do the same thing – again it does not seem to improve matters!

Pharaoh says that he will let Israel go if Moses will get rid of the frogs. 

Moses agrees, the frogs all die, apart from the frogs in the river, and have to be cleared out of houses and even ovens and food preparation areas.

However once the crisis is over Pharaoh has a change of heart.

The TV documentary suggested that the population explosion of frogs was connected to the lack of predators caused by the Algae coupled with rapid transformation of frogs from tadpoles to evade the poisonous water.

Next we get gnats –the Egyptian magicians try and replicate this one too, but they fail and tell pharaoh that the plague is divinely inflicted by the finger of God

The documentary suggested that the death of the frogs would have led to an explosion of gnats and flies that are the frog’s normal food.

The Plague of flies – this plague is the first to differentiate Egypt proper from the area of Goshen (where the Israelites lived), Egypt is totally overrun by flies and nothing can keep them out of houses and the bible says the land is ruined.

Pharaoh seems to relent a bit and tells the Israelites that they can sacrifice to God but they cannot leave the country, but is refused as the Egyptians would not approve of the Israelite sacrifices.

Pharaoh agrees, the flies are removed and Pharaoh again has a change of mind.

Exodus Chapter 9

Next a plague afflicts the livestock of Egypt and they all die, but not one animal belonging to Israel died when Pharaoh investigated.

This may have been due to a disease carried by the insects of the last 2 plagues

Now Moses takes some soot from a furnace and throws it into the air and boils break out on the Egyptians – it is so bad that the Egyptian magicians cannot even put in an appearance.

This may too have been caused by infection from insects? Or possibly from contamination from meat.

Plague of Hail

Hail affects the land of Egypt and is so severe that anybody and any animal that is not under cover is killed. The hail destroys the flax and barley crops.

Again Pharaoh has a change of heart once the crisis is over.

Scientists postulate that this plague, as well as locusts and darkness could have been caused by a massive volcanic eruption on an island north of Crete which exploded.

The volcanic ash and energy combined with storms and created massive hailstorms.

Exodus Chapter10

The plague of locusts

Moses and Aaron demand again that Israel be allowed to leave. This time Pharaoh’s officials urge pharaoh that the country is in a mess and he should consider granting the request before worse things happen.

Pharaoh demands that only the men can go and the women and children must stay behind. Moses and Aaron are driven out of the palace – things are getting serious now.

The locusts destroy any remaining crops and fruit trees and “every green thing” .

Pharaoh climbs down and summons Moses and Aaron to request that the locust plague be ended. Then, guess what, once the crisis is past he changes his mind.

Scientists think the locusts we driven to swarm like this as a result of weather anomalies caused by volcanic ash fallout.

The Plague of darkness

Moses spreads out his hands and darkness falls over Egypt for 3 days.

Pharaoh offers the Israelites a chance to go and worship but their flocks and livestock must stay behind.

Moses and Aaron say this is not acceptable as they would have nothing to offer to God.

Pharaoh, rather impolitely, declines this demand and tells Moses and Aaron that if he sees them again he will kill them.

Moses tells Pharaoh that he has seen the last of him.

Darkness may have been caused by the ash cloud from the volcano.

Exodus Chapter 11

The plague of the firstborn

God tells Moses of just one more plague – after which Pharaoh would not only let Israel go but drive them out.

The Israelites then are encouraged to ask their Egyptian neighbours to give them a leaving gift

Moses tells Pharaoh that about midnight death will strike down the firstborn son in every household whether it is Pharaoh in the palace to the most wretched slave. A loud wailing will be heard in Egypt. But in Goshen (where the Israelites lived) there would not even be a dog barking at an animal.

Moses leaves Pharaoh having given this devastating message “hot with anger”

The theory is that due to the hail and locusts there is little in Egypt left to eat.

There is a mould that grows on badly stored foodstuff that is toxic, and the eldest son would be the one who got the first share of any food and so would have been more likely to get poisoned.

Did natural events to create these plagues?  – there is a possible natural explanation for the plagues if it makes you happy. However the Bible maintains that God was behind the plagues, and used them to ram home his message.

Whether God used natural events or not, the timing and impact of these plagues echoes through the ages.

Every year Jewish people celebrate the Passover where they remember these events.

More of that tomorrow folks.

Exodus 5 Confronting government

Exodus Chapter 5

With the approval of the Israelite community, Moses and Aaron go in to see Pharaoh and present God’s demand.

Pharaoh responds by saying “I don’t know your God, the reason you are doing this is that you are lazy and a dose of hard work will sort you out”

From now on the Israelites have to find straw to make strong bricks, but the number they have to make has not been reduced.

Straw in bricks is actually quite important, it is mixed with the clay and the straw is much better in tension while the clay is very poor, so the straw adds strength to the bricks, the only problem is that straw and clay are not usually handily located in close proximity.

The subsequent beatings and punishments have a demoralising effect on the Israelites – they see that Moses has made a bad situation far, far worse. And the community  does not seem inclined to suffer in silence.

Moses rounds on god and says This is not what you promised.

Exodus 4 Can't somebody else do it?

Exodus Chapter 4

Moses still is not convinced and the conversation continues.

God gives Moses 3 signs – his staff will turn into a snake if he throws it on the ground and if he puts his hand in his pocket it will come out leprous, put the hand back in it will be fine. The third sign is to take some river water and pour it on the ground and it will be blood when it lands.

Note - Leprosy was far more feared in the ancient world, so Moses second trick is likely to get people's attention.

Moses then mentions he has a bit of a stutter and cannot go to Pharaoh - Funnily enough it does not show in the writing!

God says that he gives the gift of speech and can strike dumb and a stutter is no handicap

Moses is left now with only one last option –

“Can’t somebody else do it?” 

It seems that God finally lost patience and allows Moses brother, Aaron, is coming, he can speak for you but the words will be yours.

Moses takes leave of his father in law, Jethro, and returns to Egypt

There is an odd moment on the way back – Moses does not appear to have circumcised his sons and when God meets him, he nearly dies. Zipporah (Mrs Moses) circumcises her son.

Moses tells the Israelites what God has told him and shows the signs, they believe that God has responded to their cries and worship.

I like that Moses tries his very hardest to wriggle out of his calling, but God really will not relent and eventually Moses becomes a great spiritual and political leader.

Exodus 3 - Burning bush and encounters with an enigmatic God

Exodus Chapter 3

This is a seminal chapter in the Jewish faith.

In fact the story really begins with an encounter between Moses the shepherd and a Burning bush that did not burn up.

Question – When bad things are happening do you wonder, as I have and  often do, if God cares or even notices? This chapter shows that God is aware of evil happening and in this case decides to take personal action and get Moses to intervene

Notice just how keen Moses is to take on this challenge?

Who am I to do this? – asks Moses

God replies – I will be with you and you will bring the Israelites out and worship here.

What if the Israelites ask “who sent you”? Asks Moses

Tell them I am – Replies God

God then assures Moses that his people will listen and support him, and that Pharaoh will eventually let them go, but god says he has to be shown by demonstration who God is. And by doing this the Egyptians will give them gifts just to go away and leave them alone.

It is interesting and as true today as it was then, that those chosen by God are not always either expecting to be chosen, nor is what they are asked to do very often at the top of their "to do list"

Exodus 2 Introducing Moses

Exodus Chapter 2

Exodus 2

We now get the introduction and birth of Moses, one of the big characters of the first 5 books of the Bible – Indeed he is traditionally credited with writing these books (known as the Torah or Law)

Moses is born to Israelite slaves who hide him for 3 months to protect his life from the edict to kill all baby boys. 

Eventually they despair and (sort of) obey the law by placing young Moses in a basket and releasing it onto the Nile river. 

Moses big sister, Miriam, follows the basket until he is fished out by an Egyptian princess who falls in love with the baby and decides to keep him. 

At this point Miriam pops up and offers to find a nurse for young Moses – his own mother, who now is paid to look after her son!

Moses lives with his parents until he is old enough to move into the palace with his adoptive mother.

For interest the name Moses is actually Egyptian and means “drawn forth” as she had drawn him out from the river.

Next thing Moses is grown up and spots an Egyptian beating one of his people, Moses then commits murder to protect his relative, but his attack is witnessed.
When Moses realises that his crime is known and his life is in danger, he runs away to Midian, helps a shepherd woman with her sheep and gets taken in by her family. Reminds me of Isaac and Rebecca a bit.

Moses marries the young woman Zipporah and has 2 sons, apparently settling down.

The end of the chapter reminds us that while Pharaoh's, Monarchs, prime ministers, presidents etc come and go, God is watching what is happening.
This is interesting to me, elsewhere in the Bible it says that God sometimes takes time to act. If things are going wrong, it does not necessarily mean that God is indifferent, or even that God approves, it might be that God is waiting for the best time to intervene.

Later in the book we find that Moses was 80 years old when he returns to Egypt, but we do not know how long before Moses was born the Israelites were enslaved, but we can tell that it is the greater part of a century before God knew it was time to act. 

Exodus 1 - Sons and slavery.

Exodus Chapter 1

Exodus chapter 1 takes up where Genesis leaves off – with about 70 descendants of Israel living in Egypt.

Next moment it seems that about 300 years have passed and a new Pharaoh who is not familiar with the history of Joseph.

It seems that the Israelites have not been idle in the meantime and they are becoming a very significant minority in the country.

Pharaoh decides that unless they are bought into line they might side with enemies and tip the balance of a war, so he enslaves the Israelites and makes them work hard to take their minds off having children.

I wonder if the precedent for being able to make people slaves on a whim started with Joseph's financial dealing in Genesis?

Unfortunately it does not work – if anything the birth rate goes up.

Pharaoh then tells the midwives to kill all baby boys of the Israelites and reduce the population that way.

The Midwives don’t like this and carefully ignore the demand, so Pharaoh seems to lose the plot (and, as we shall see, not for the last time).

Can anybody explain how, if you want to reduce the ratio of Israelites to Egyptians, making EVERYBODY kill their new born sons will help in any way? 

Especially when he knows that the Israelites will happily ignore the edict.

The End - of the Beginning.

Genesis Chapter 50

Jacob is embalmed in Egypt with full ceremonies, which took forty days and then there is an official mourning period in Egypt of 70 days, Jacob is then carried to Canaan to be buried with with his ancestors. Jacob must have made an impression, or it is a measure of Joseph's power that many prominent Egyptians make the journey.

Jeseph’s brothers make one more request – in the name of Jacob they ask Joseph to forgive past wrongs, but Joseph appears to have forgiven the bad they did to him and was happy to look after them and their families in Egypt.

The book ends with the death of Joseph at the age of 110 and surrounded by his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren

Joseph arranges that his bones will be carried out of Egypt when Israel finally leave and is embalmed and buried in a coffin – the only person in the Bible recorded as having a coffin.

This is the end of the first book of the Bible 

What have I learned from Genesis? The main characters in this book are all somehow flawed, whether it is Noah getting drunk, Abram lying about Sarai, Isaac lying about Rebecca, Jacob is extremely tricky and not averse to underhand tricks, Jacob's children are kind of messed up in one way or another, however God chooses those who are "normal" to reveal himself to, that is as true today as it was for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

If you, dear reader, have found something new and feel like sharing, please feel free to leave a comment.

Tune in next for Exodus – Egypt, plagues, Moses, Passover, and the 10 commandments (Proof that God likes the metric system if it were ever in doubt – if not there would have been 16 commandments!)

Jacob's famous last words

Genesis Chapter 49

Jacob is dying, for real this time, and decides to give his honest opinion of his 12 sons – no holes barred it seems – they get the following –

Reuben once firstborn in position – lost his place when he bedded Jacob’s concubines in Genesis 35.

Simeon and Levi  - are seriously violent – they will be scattered within israel. Israel wants no part in their schemes, as they commit murder and cripple animals when they get angry (see Genesis 34)

Judah seems to be a ok guy in Jacob’s eyes and is given the sceptre, dark eyes and white teeth.

Zebulun will live by the sea

Issachar is a donkey who is not satisfied and will be made to work

Dan is a lawyer, and a snake in the grass that unseats horsemen perhaps there is a connection? 

Israel at this stage says he trusts in God for salvation (presumably from his sons?)

Gad will be attacked but fight back

Asher will be a chef

Naphtali actually turns out to be Bambi apparently!

Joseph is an ok bloke as well – fruitful, blessed and get Jacob’s blessing

Benjamin is a wolf.

Jacob dies at the end and makes his sons promise to bury him in the family tomb in Canaan where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah are buried.  

I like that Israel says all this stuff, tells his children to bury him in the family tomb, he then puts his feet up and "joins his ancestors in death"

Joseph's children and grandfather

Genesis Chapter 48

This is a somewhat odd chapter – I’m sure there is some deep theological reason for this chapter.

Jacob blesses Joseph’s 2 sons born in Egypt after Joseph is made prime minister, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Jacob basically adopts them as his own sons, which means that they have a direct inheritance of the promise that God has given to Israel. 

Jacob makes it clear that to Joseph that any future sons would be Josephs and not his.

it is interesting later on in the Old Testament that Joseph does not inherit a tribal portion in the land when it is granted, but Ephraim and Manasseh do have lands granted.

He blesses Ephraim and Manasseh and crosses his arms to give the better blessing to the younger son – Jacob possibly did this deliberately, after all he was the younger brother.

To be a Pilgrim

Genesis Chapter 47

Jacob and his family meet with Pharaoh. One of my favourite lines from the Bible is in this chapter when Jacob answers a question from Pharaoh “How old are you?” with 

“The years of my pilgrimage  are one hundred and thirty., but I am not as old as my ancestors”

Several years ago now I took part in a pilgrimage called student cross (www.studentcross.org.uk) where, with other people we did a pilgrimage to Walsingham in Norfolk. I define a pilgrimage as "a physical journey to a destination with a spiritual dimension." in the case of Student cross it is a holy week journey carrying a cross across country.  

Israel's description of life as a pilgrimage is interesting to me as Christians believe that the end of this life is not the final end, and there is a destination we are still trying to get to, and as we have seen with Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob and Joseph there is a great future waiting whatever our situation right now.

The next thing – Joseph, having invented income tax at the start of the famine now sells the stockpile of grain to the hungry populous, in the first year he takes all the money , in the second year buys their cattle, the third year he buys all their land and effectively makes them slaves to the state - he allows them to stay on the land but now as tenants and they have a perpetual tax on all they own.

I wonder if this is laying down the land for unease between the Israelites and Egyptians in the book of Exodus?

Also notice that Jacob having been melodramatic about his grey head going down into the grave, and "I must see Joseph before I die" lives for another 17 years in Egypt. He seems to be every bit as bad as his father Isaac! 

Immigration procedures when moving to a new country (Jacob style)

 Genesis Chapter 46

Israel sets out stopping only to worship God at a significant place from his past, Beersheba, where Jacob's grandfather made an oath. Although Jacob is going on about dying and he wants to see Joseph before he does die, he still stops to worship. there may be a message here?

There are 70 direct family members of Jacob who go to Egypt, in the form of children and grand children.

Joseph goes out and has a fond re-union with his father, Jacob on the outskirts of Egypt and instructs his family on how to what to tell Pharaoh to make sure that they are welcomed into  the land and also that they are well taken care of.

I guess it helps getting fast track through immigration if you are the father of the prime minister! 

Generally this is a heartwarming chapter but there really is not a lot here that gets me  excited. 

To err is human

Genesis Chapter 45

Joseph finally cannot stand it any more and sends all the Egyptians away and reveals his identity to his brothers

Joseph forgives his brothers – he explained how God used their action to save lives and that he now has no further axes to grind. Somehow I suspect he may be less sanguine about all this had they turned up while he was in slavery or prison!

Joseph arranges for Jacob and family to move down to Egypt giving them carts to bring the families down and even goes so far as to tell his brothers not to quarrel on the way.

Jacob’s comment “I’m convinced that my son Joseph really is alive. I must go and see him before I die”

I guess if there is one thing that this chapter demonstrates is that God can use bad things for good in his plan - though God would rather we do the RIGHT thing in the first place.

My glass is half - hold on somebody has nicked it!

Genesis Chapter 44

Joseph plays one more trick on his brothers, first he gives them as much grain as they can carry, tops it off with the silver from this trip and last trip, and tops off Benjamin’s sack with his own silver cup.

The Bible mentions that Joseph uses this cup for divination, but I don't honestly know if Joseph actually tried this sort of thing

He then lets them go but sends people after them threatening slavery for the guilty person but the rest can go free.

Benjamin is found red handed and they all return to Egypt but now Judah steps in to try and protect him to spare his father.

Tell you what, the Bible chapter setting allows some pretty impressive cliffhangers!

Back to Egypt

Genesis Chapter 43

Famine is still bad in Canaan and Jacob really has no choice but to send back to Egypt for more grain, only this time Benjamin must go with them.

Arriving back in Egypt Joseph arranges for his brothers to have dinner at his palace.

Somewhat shocked, and given past performance, Joseph's brothers try and give the money back for the last lot of grain and some gifts from Canaan, only to be told that as far as Egypt is concerned the money is in the treasury and nothing is outstanding. They also release Simeon from prison, which is nice.

Joseph asks after his father and greets his full brother. but has to leave the room to avoid showing his emotions.

Joseph arranges a meal for his family and arranges them, apparently by accident, in age order and Benjamin seems to need fattening up as he gets loads more food than the others

I'm not sure why the Egyptians are so unwilling to share food with Hebrews, but apparently they enjoy an uneasy relationship.