Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea Series

The Story of Moses : Exodus 13-14

Time to Go!

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

06-08–2025

The Great Emancipator

On Jan 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The Proclamation paved the way for the eventual abolition of slavery through the Thirteenth Amendment and had a lasting impact on the struggle for civil rights in the United States.

Lincoln, like the Founding Fathers had a sense of his destiny. He told Charles Sumner that this document would be the “great event of the 19th century” and “the name that is connected to this matter will never be forgotten.”

He had spent the morning at a reception and his hands trembled from so many handshakes.

He took a minute and rubbed his hands. He said, “If the signature looks shaky, people will think I hesitated.”

He signed the document firmly, ensuring his signature was clear and decisive.

He became known as the “Great Emancipator.”

Nearly 3,000 years before Lincoln was born, there was another Great Emancipator that was preparing the Israelites to finally leave Egypt and over 400 years of slavery - Moses.

Review

Last week, we saw the last plague play out and the absolute shock and mourning of the Egyptians over the death of the first born.

The Israelites who put the blood of the lamb on the doorframes were passed over by the death angel.

God instituted Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread to help the Israelites remember God delivering them from Egypt.

In chapter 13, God also institutes the redemption of the first born:

“The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” (Exodus 13:1-2)

This, like the Passover, foreshadowed the idea of substitutionary atonement. The first born is redeemed, not by sacrificing them, but by consecrating them to God.

As this group of over two million people left Egypt, they were only about a two weeks trek to the Promise Land if they went the way of the Philistine road.

The problem with that road is that there were multiple fortresses along the way staffed with soldiers. And on the Philistine road they might encounter…Philistines!

“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” (Exodus 13:17) 

These people weren’t soldiers. They were brick makers. They were slaves. They were young and old. They were not ready for any kind of conflict.

 “So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.” (Exodus 13:18)

Wait…what? That’s the opposite way to the Promised Land. They were expecting to be attacked but now they seemed to be headed toward a dead end.

“ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”

360 years before, Joseph had made it clear where he wanted his bones buried:

“Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” (Genesis 50: 24-25)

The writer of Hebrews mentions his faith:

“By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.” (Hebrews 11:32)

When he died, he was embalmed and placed in a coffin, awaiting the time when the Israelites would leave Egypt.

“After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.  By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.  Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

They are now standing on the cusp of deliverance. Nothing seems to be in their way.

They didn’t have a map but they had a GPS (God’s Positioning System). By day, there was a pillar of cloud to guide them. The cloud also provided shade from the Middle Eastern sun.

The pillar of fire by night also guided them and provided warmth during the cold nights in the desert.

The NET Bible states:

"God chose to guide the people with a pillar of cloud in the day and one of fire at night, or, as a pillar of cloud and fire, since they represented his presence. God had already appeared to Moses in the fire of the bush, and so here again is revelation with fire. Whatever the exact nature of these things, they formed direct, visible revelations from God, who was guiding the people in a clear and unambiguous way. Both clouds and fire would again and again represent the presence of God in his power and majesty, guiding and protecting his people, by judging their enemies." (NET)