The Exodus
Exodus 14:21-31
At the end of Genesis, Egypt and Palestine were in the grips of a famine and Joseph had been reunited with his father, Jacob, and his brothers after they came to Egypt to buy food. Joseph invited them to stay with him in Egypt. God used the next 4 centuries to fulfill 3 promises to Abraham and his descendants. The first was that they were to increase in numbers. (Gen. 46:2-4) Egypt was just the kind of place where that could happen. It had a predictable supply of water in the Nile River, a temperate climate and less exposure to invasion than other countries. This provided an environment where Jacob’s descendants could grow significantly. The political climate of Egypt was also favorable as well. Wealth flowed into Egypt from all over the world along with craftsmen and traders as Egypt increased it borders in Palestine and Syria and to the south. This was a time of benevolent rule and peace. And because of Joseph’s service to Egypt and its ultimate rescue during a great famine, his family enjoyed the political favor of Egypt.
But the second promise fulfilled is that the Israelites would be afflicted. The Scriptures tell us a time came when a new Pharaoh rose to power who had no knowledge of Joseph’s contribution or of his family. With its newfound wealth, Egypt began great building projects requiring forced service to complete. The Hebrew people fell under oppression and servitude along with conquered Asiatic people. The Hebrews made mud bricks, which was filthy and miserable work and had daily quotas that Egyptian records show slaves rarely met. The Hebrew time as Egyptian slaves was unbearable as they were worked “ruthlessly” and their lives were “bitter” due to “hard, cruel” service. As a result, Israel languished in “misery” and “suffering” and their spirits were “broken.” And so they cried out to God to deliver them and he heard them and responded. The third promise would happen only when these first two had transpired: the gift of the promised land. And what we finb is that all of this happened for a reason and were part of a larger plan.
In response to the growing threat of the number of Hebrews, Pharaoh demanded the killing of all Hebrew babies. But in response to Israel’s cries for help, God saved one child, Moses who grew into a man. Even though he had mishaps and flaws, he was used by God to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. God revealed himself to Moses in a burning bush and charged him to go free His people from slavery. God equipped him for this calling and what followed was an epic showdown between Pharaoh and Moses that included 10 plagues. Pharaoh finally relented after the Passover of the spirit of death over Egypt killing the Egyptians babies. The Hebrews were freed and after a dramatic escape, they entered the wilderness where they will travel for 40 years in a kind of spiritual bootcamp as God molded, shaped and prepared them for the challenges and calling that lied ahead. At the end of the journey, God gives the Law to teach them the expectations of relationship with him and how they were to live together as one nation.
The exodus marks the real beginning of the history of Israel as a people and a nation. From this point on, the Bible speaks of a nation unified by God. It tells the story of Israel’s continued struggle with sin and obedience. Despite all of this, God chose them for a special role and sticks with them. The escape from Egypt is a watershed event in the Hebrew’s people’s life. Yet, we cannot separate this miraculous event from the journey in the wilderness nor the conquest of the promise land or the giving of the Law. These make up the grand story of God’s deliverance. What we find is that these four events together became THE defining event in the life of Israel, their understanding of their purpose in life and how they are to live as one people.
In the great narratives of the Old Testament, the central character is always God and reveals who He is. What do we learn about God in our readings this week? God is all powerful. This is not the first time we have seen the power of God. In Genesis, God is the author of all creation who spoke everything into existence. We see God has the power to destroy through the flood. And we see God has the power to give life by helping a couple who is long past child bearing years overcome their barrenness. We see that God is able to work in spite of the sin of his children and the terrible events that happen to them. Nothing will thwart God from accomplishing His will. But in Exodus the question of God’s power is infinitely challenged. The Hebrew people are now enslaved in the most powerful nation of the world. A lone man, Moses, is enlisted to challenge the Pharaoh of Egypt, who is considered to be a god himself, to free the Hebrew people. What transpires is an epic showdown with the God of Israel and his emissary pitted against the god Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. Clearly, from the eyes of the world, all of Egypt and maybe even some of the Hebrews, Moses was outmanned and outgunned. But time and again, God’s proves his power through each plague, the Passover, the parting of the waters of the Red Sea and even the journey in the wilderness as he provides water and manna. James Martin writes, “In reality, the Lord’s route was designed to get Israel out of Egypt and away from Egyptian control in such a way that only he, the Lord Almighty would be recognized as deliverer of the Hebrew people.” The Lord’s promise was done in such a way that the reputation of the God of Israel spread to the surrounding nations. For centuries to come, the nations of the world feared the God of Israel and no one doubted His power.
The second thing we learn is that God never just delivers us from something, God always delivers us for something. In other words, we are saved for a purpose. At the burning bush, God reveals himself by announcing His name and His plan. Remember, God is what God does. God’s name Yahweh comes from the root of the verb “to be” and essentially relates to the concept of being and the idea of one who brings others into being. Moses, a murderer in exile is chosen by God to become His spokesperson and deliverer of the Hebrew people. But as the biblical text expands its focus from individuals to a people, we see God calls these Hebrew slaves into being not only as a free people but to be His chosen people, a light unto the nations calling all people into relationship with the one true God. From this point on, they are, to quote the Blue’s Brothers, “on a mission from God.” This would define their purpose and their life with God and others from this day on.
Fast forward 3500 years from the time of Moses. I am on a tour bus which is climbing some 4000 feet over 20 miles on the highway from Jericho to Jerusalem and struggling to maintain its speed. Everyone on the bus is exhausted from the time in the desert and wilderness around the Dead Sea. I took the opportunity to walk up to the front of the bus and sit next to our tour guide, Julie Baretz, a New Yorker who has married an Israeli and become an Israeli citizen. I began to ask her about the Jew’s understanding of God’s call upon their life as a nation. She shares that roughly 90% of Israeli’s are not practicing Jews as the nation has become more and more secular. I then ask her about God’s call to be a light unto the nations. Would she say that the Jews and Israel are living up to that calling? And she answers, “That’s really not the way we look at ourselves. You have to understand that every day is about just surviving when you are surrounded by nations that want to destroy you.” She then politely asks me about the Great Commission and how Christians are doing with that. And I explain not so well and that in our Methodist tradition the average person brings one person to Christ their entire lifetime. Yet we’re called to make disciples of Jesus Christ. God never just delivers us from something, but always delivers us for something. So what about you? How are you participating in God’s plan of salvation? Are you being salt and light to the world? Who have you brought to faith in Jesus?
Third, God' has covenanted with the Israelites. The first part of the book of Exodus tells the story of Moses’ struggle against Pharaoh to free the Hebrews and the dangerous escape and journey to Mount Sinai. It is here that God made a covenant with Israel. This is not only the central event of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, but also in Israel’s life and relationship with God. The covenant is constantly referred to throughout the Old Testament from Joshua to the prophets, Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Central to the covenant is the giving of the Law which shapes the story of Israel, it’s understanding of itself and its relationship to God. It serves as the standard for judging Israel’s success or failure, obedience or rebellion and sin as well as that of Israel’s kings. The covenant shapes how Israel interpreted their entire story in light of its fidelity to the covenant and thus God.
It is in this covenant that God profoundly tells Israel, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” God has chosen the Israelites. From this perspective, the covenant is unconditional and nothing can break it. God has bound himself in relationship to Israel. God promises to be its protector and helper, not only against foreign enemies but against sickness, disease and chaos. Most of all, God promises to be present in good times and bad and in time of obedience and times of sin and rebellion for he has laid claim to this people as His own. The Law is a detailed explanation of what God expects of Israel in this relationship. And if Israel is obedient, then God will bless them, but if they disobey, then God will punish them. The Mosaic Covenant is especially significant because in it God promises to make Israel “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Israel is to be God’s light to the dark world around them. They were to be a separate and called-out nation so that everyone around them would know that they worshiped Yahweh.
This unifies the Hebrews into the nation of Israel, based not on blood but instead on submission to the divine will and the confession that He alone is God. It clarified and formalized God’s relationship to Israel. The richest expression of what the covenant with God meant to Israel is found in Exodus 34:6-7, “The Lord, (is a) the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
For hundreds of years, suffered in captivity and they were literally dying in their faith. But it was the hand of God that reached out and delivered them from from captivity and death to new life, a relationship with Him and a new purpose. In the Exodus and God’s deliverance, they knew they were taken from death and not just given life but life but life with a purpose. God literally saved the Hebrews for a great work. They were no one and now they were someone. They were saved for life and the invitation to be God’s light in the darkness in the world around them. They were to be a separate and called-out nation so that everyone around them would come to worshiped God and receive the same life God who had saved them had given them.
Bob Goff tells the story of he and his friend Brandon going to Washington DC on business and being close to Capital Hill at midnight. They saw a bunch of cars awkwardly parked around the Library of Congress and barricades and so they decided to investigate. They discovered that it was a set for the filming of National Treasure 2. They set out a plan. They ran back to their hotel and changed from their suits to blue jeans and t-shirts to look the part of the film crew. They then went back, dodged a couple of security guards, ran across a couple of lawns and through some bushes. They finally got to the side entrance where the crew went in and walked right in as if they belonged there and nobody said a thing. They followed the signs and arrows that said, “Set” on it. Finally they got to a metal detector with a guard standing it by who said, “Where are your crew badges?” We don’t have them. He mumbled something to his girlfriend about inept crew members and then waved them through and yelled at them, “Badges next time!” They turned a few corners until they found themselves on the set, in the middle of the Library of Congress at 2 am with its millions of books on shelves. They were filming the scene where they were looking for the Presidential book of secrets. After the filming, they began to plan their escape without getting caught. Suddenly Nicholas Cage and Diane Kruger rounded the corner and without even thinking, they fell into their entourage as if they belonged and walked right out without a question being asked and had another thrilling adventure. And then he writes, “There are a lot of things I don’t get invited to. I’ve never been invited to the Oscars or Paul McCartney’s birthday or to a space shuttle launch. I’m waiting my invitation to the National Treasure 3. If I got an invitation to any of those…I’d definitely go. There’s nothing feeling like being included. There’s only one invitation it would kill me to refuse, yet I’m tempted to turn it down all the time. I get the invitation every day when I wake up to actually live a life of complete engagement, a life of whimsy, a life where love does…It’s an invitation to actually live, to fully participate in this amazing life (and God’s plan of salvation) for one more day. Nobody turns down an invitation to the White House but I’ve seen plenty of people turn down an invitation to fully live. “
What about you? Do you realized that you have not just been saved but saved for a special relationship with God so that you might have a special mission to participate in God’s plan of salvation for all people? Jesus died for you not so that you would live but so that might have abundant life in him through His mission in the world. Bob Goff closes with, “Accepting an invitation to show up in life is about moving from the bleachers (or pews) to the field….It’s about having things matter to us so that we stop thinking about those things and start doing something about them. Simply put, Jesus is looking for us to accept the invitation to particicpate…When we accept life’s invitation, its contagious too. Other people will watch us and start seeing life as more amazing, more whimsical than before. When you show up to the big life, the people, the type who don’t think they’re invited start seeing invitations everywhere… They don’t think about their pain or weakness any longer. Instead they think about how incredible a big life really is and how powerful the one who is (inviting is)…Jesus wants us to come….The one who is inviting you is way more powerful than any of the impediments we think we’re facing and He has just one message for us. He leans forward and whispers quietly to each of us, “There’s more room…” Amen and Amen
