To support the goal of reading the Exodus story, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read this defining Biblical story.
The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States "Passover and Exodus: Israel’s defining story" for Thursday, 1 September 2016
Exodus 11:1 Adonai said to Moshe, “I’m going to bring still one more plague on Pharaoh and Egypt, and after that he will let you leave here. When he does let you go, he will throw you out completely! 2 Now tell the people that every man is to ask his neighbor and every woman her neighbor for gold and silver jewelry.” 3 Adonai made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people. Moreover, Moshe was regarded by Pharaoh’s servants and the people as a very great man in the land of Egypt.
(iv) 4 Moshe said, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘About midnight I will go out into Egypt, 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the slave-girl at the handmill, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 6 There will be a horrendous wailing throughout all the land of Egypt — there has never been another like it, and there never will be again. 7 But not even a dog’s growl will be heard against any of the people of Isra’el, neither against people nor against animals. In this way you will realize that Adonai distinguishes between Egyptians and Isra’el. 8 All your servants will come down to me, prostrate themselves before me and say, “Get out! — you and all the people who follow you!” and after that, I will go out!’ ” And he went out from Pharaoh in the heat of anger.
12:5 Your animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats.
6 “‘You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Isra’el will slaughter it at dusk. 7 They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the house in which they eat it.
12:13 The blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over [Exodus 12:13 Hebrew: pasach] you — when I strike the land of Egypt, the death blow will not strike you.
12:(v) 21 Then Moshe called for all the leaders of Isra’el and said, “Select and take lambs for your families, and slaughter the Pesach lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop leaves and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame. Then, none of you is to go out the door of his house until morning. 23 For Adonai will pass through to kill the Egyptians; but when he sees the blood on the top and on the two sides, Adonai will pass over the door and will not allow the Slaughterer to enter your houses and kill you. 24 You are to observe this as a law, you and your descendants forever.
25 “When you come to the land which Adonai will give you, as he has promised, you are to observe this ceremony. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this ceremony?’ 27 say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Adonai’s Pesach [Passover], because [Adonai] passed over the houses of the people of Isra’el in Egypt, when he killed the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” The people of Isra’el bowed their heads and worshipped. 28 Then the people of Isra’el went and did as Adonai had ordered Moshe and Aharon — that is what they did.
(vi) 29 At midnight Adonai killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 Pharaoh got up in the night, he, all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was horrendous wailing in Egypt; for there wasn’t a single house without someone dead in it. 31 He summoned Moshe and Aharon by night and said, “Up and leave my people, both you and the people of Isra’el; and go, serve Adonai as you said. 32 Take both your flocks and your herds, as you said; and get out of here! But bless me, too.” 33 The Egyptians pressed to send the people out of the land quickly, because they said, “Otherwise we’ll all be dead!”
34 The people took their dough before it had become leavened and wrapped their kneading bowls in their clothes on their shoulders. 35 The people of Isra’el had done what Moshe had said — they had asked the Egyptians to give them silver and gold jewelry and clothing; 36 and Adonai had made the Egyptians so favorably disposed toward the people that they had let them have whatever they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
37 The people of Isra’el traveled from Ra‘amses to Sukkot, some six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting children. 38 A mixed crowd also went up with them, as well as livestock in large numbers, both flocks and herds. 39 They baked matzah loaves from the dough they had brought out of Egypt, since it was unleavened; because they had been driven out of Egypt without time to prepare supplies for themselves.
-------
The emotional impact of firstborn children dying broke through, at least briefly, Pharaoh’s refusal to let the Hebrews go. But the story’s focus was on God’s provision to “pass over” Hebrew children (the origin of the word Passover). Using a hyssop branch to put the blood of a sacrificed lamb on their doorposts delivered them from death into life. This was Israel’s defining story: saved by God’s power, they marched out of Egypt as free people.
• Exodus 12:24-26 was probably written long after that dramatic night of departure from
Egypt. But it fit in the story—it defined the central place this story held in Israel’s faith. They did not see themselves or their children as people whose existence came about because of their own power or ingenuity. They were people God delivered. In what ways do you see yourself, not as a self-made person, but as a person for whom the best parts of life are a gift from God?
• It seems like a trivial detail— “use unleavened bread for the Passover.” But it preserved the memory of a departure so rushed that there wasn’t time to let the bread dough rise, of a moment when God’s people had to respond NOW, not later. Have you ever faced a
situation in which delay was practically the same as refusing to move at all? How can you
live in readiness to respond to God, even if it leads to unexpected changes in your life?
Prayer: God of Passover, I thank you for delivering me from death into life. Help me not to forget your mighty acts on my behalf, but to remember to praise and serve you for saving me. Amen.
-------
Insights from Chris Abel
Chris Abel is the Young Adult Pastor at The Church of the Resurrection’s Leawood location.
I have a children’s Bible my grandmother gave me when I was young. I scribbled my name on the side, but most of the time I spent in the actual book was looking at the pictures. The book has beautiful illustrations, including one with Noah and the animals boarding the Ark (big boat) before a giant flood came.
There are no other people in the photo. Just cute animals. The polar bears are hanging with some peacocks, and Noah’s just petting the lions (pretty sure this is in the Bible). But I remember another illustration, and I cannot for the life of me remember where I saw it. It may have been one of the those “tracts” found in restaurants when Christians don’t want to leave a tip. This illustration is of the ark rising in the flood waters, and there are people screaming and climbing up rocks. I remember just staring at this picture and feeling the horror rising up in me. And my young self realized something terrible.
This wasn’t a story about cute animals.
The truth of the matter is, the Bible is full of stories about people. Stories that aren’t just cute children’s illustrations. There is betrayal and hurt and loss and brokenness in our Book. And there is a reason for that.
Life is also full of these things.
Perhaps you’ve been reading along with the story of Moses as Pastor Adam has been teaching. My Children’s Bible has no illustration of this part of the story. Nine plagues have hit Egypt and the Pharaoh still won’t free the Israelites who are his slaves. So God sends a spirit that takes the lives of every first born in the country. Every Egyptian family faces this loss. Even the animals lose their first-born. It can be hard to look at. It can be hard to understand why God would work through floods or the death of children.
Yet over the years, I’ve seen more to the story. In Genesis before the flood, the scripture tells us that humanity “ruined” the earth. The Hebrew here is “shachath.” When God sees what we’ve done to the gift God gave us, He speaks to Noah: “I am about to shachath them along with the earth.” The flood might seem like a disproportionate response to human sin. But these words are no accident.
God simply turns the actions of humanity back upon itself. Shachath leads to shachath; ruin leads to ruin. So back to Egypt. Here’s a story of loss, of punishment. Children are caught in the crossfire. It can seem disproportionate for a loving God. But Exodus begins with a story of how Egypt executed the Israelites’ infant children, and not just the first born. For years, perhaps decades, the Egyptians killed the children of the Israelites. Even Moses was nearly a casualty! Finally a day comes, 80-plus years later, when shachath led to shachath. The floodgates opened and the people who took the lives of children experienced the loss themselves.
The Bible isn’t a children’s illustration. It’s a book about life and death, and when we read it deeply it can be a book that points to the mistakes we’ve made and how to avoid them. Yes, we have a God of grace. But sometimes God lets our actions turn back onto ourselves. You’ve said it yourself: “What goes around comes around.”
What I see is a story where there were nine other plagues—each a chance to stop the shachath. At every turn, Pharaoh could have avoided these consequences.
This isn’t just a story about the Israelites versus Egypt. It’s a story about when we get a taste of our own medicine. It’s a story about how sometimes God lets us be on the receiving end of all the wrong we’ve dished out.
I don’t know about you, but this acts as a huge reminder for me to look at my own life and see if there are habits or actions that, if continued unchecked, might turn back onto me.
Sometimes, my friends, we are the Egyptians. But unlike them, we have stories like these to learn from. We have a chance to learn from their mistakes. Don’t just look at the cute illustrations. Read deeply.
-------
Join us for worship today - click here for information on worship times and locations. If you are not in the Kansas City area, you can take part in our worship via live Web stream at rezonline.org.
Download a printable version of this week's GPS.
-------
(iv) 4 Moshe said, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘About midnight I will go out into Egypt, 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the slave-girl at the handmill, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 6 There will be a horrendous wailing throughout all the land of Egypt — there has never been another like it, and there never will be again. 7 But not even a dog’s growl will be heard against any of the people of Isra’el, neither against people nor against animals. In this way you will realize that Adonai distinguishes between Egyptians and Isra’el. 8 All your servants will come down to me, prostrate themselves before me and say, “Get out! — you and all the people who follow you!” and after that, I will go out!’ ” And he went out from Pharaoh in the heat of anger.
12:5 Your animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats.
6 “‘You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Isra’el will slaughter it at dusk. 7 They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the house in which they eat it.
12:13 The blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over [Exodus 12:13 Hebrew: pasach] you — when I strike the land of Egypt, the death blow will not strike you.
12:(v) 21 Then Moshe called for all the leaders of Isra’el and said, “Select and take lambs for your families, and slaughter the Pesach lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop leaves and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame. Then, none of you is to go out the door of his house until morning. 23 For Adonai will pass through to kill the Egyptians; but when he sees the blood on the top and on the two sides, Adonai will pass over the door and will not allow the Slaughterer to enter your houses and kill you. 24 You are to observe this as a law, you and your descendants forever.
25 “When you come to the land which Adonai will give you, as he has promised, you are to observe this ceremony. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this ceremony?’ 27 say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Adonai’s Pesach [Passover], because [Adonai] passed over the houses of the people of Isra’el in Egypt, when he killed the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” The people of Isra’el bowed their heads and worshipped. 28 Then the people of Isra’el went and did as Adonai had ordered Moshe and Aharon — that is what they did.
(vi) 29 At midnight Adonai killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 Pharaoh got up in the night, he, all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was horrendous wailing in Egypt; for there wasn’t a single house without someone dead in it. 31 He summoned Moshe and Aharon by night and said, “Up and leave my people, both you and the people of Isra’el; and go, serve Adonai as you said. 32 Take both your flocks and your herds, as you said; and get out of here! But bless me, too.” 33 The Egyptians pressed to send the people out of the land quickly, because they said, “Otherwise we’ll all be dead!”
34 The people took their dough before it had become leavened and wrapped their kneading bowls in their clothes on their shoulders. 35 The people of Isra’el had done what Moshe had said — they had asked the Egyptians to give them silver and gold jewelry and clothing; 36 and Adonai had made the Egyptians so favorably disposed toward the people that they had let them have whatever they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
37 The people of Isra’el traveled from Ra‘amses to Sukkot, some six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting children. 38 A mixed crowd also went up with them, as well as livestock in large numbers, both flocks and herds. 39 They baked matzah loaves from the dough they had brought out of Egypt, since it was unleavened; because they had been driven out of Egypt without time to prepare supplies for themselves.
-------
The emotional impact of firstborn children dying broke through, at least briefly, Pharaoh’s refusal to let the Hebrews go. But the story’s focus was on God’s provision to “pass over” Hebrew children (the origin of the word Passover). Using a hyssop branch to put the blood of a sacrificed lamb on their doorposts delivered them from death into life. This was Israel’s defining story: saved by God’s power, they marched out of Egypt as free people.
• Exodus 12:24-26 was probably written long after that dramatic night of departure from
Egypt. But it fit in the story—it defined the central place this story held in Israel’s faith. They did not see themselves or their children as people whose existence came about because of their own power or ingenuity. They were people God delivered. In what ways do you see yourself, not as a self-made person, but as a person for whom the best parts of life are a gift from God?
• It seems like a trivial detail— “use unleavened bread for the Passover.” But it preserved the memory of a departure so rushed that there wasn’t time to let the bread dough rise, of a moment when God’s people had to respond NOW, not later. Have you ever faced a
situation in which delay was practically the same as refusing to move at all? How can you
live in readiness to respond to God, even if it leads to unexpected changes in your life?
Prayer: God of Passover, I thank you for delivering me from death into life. Help me not to forget your mighty acts on my behalf, but to remember to praise and serve you for saving me. Amen.
-------
Insights from Chris Abel
Chris Abel is the Young Adult Pastor at The Church of the Resurrection’s Leawood location.I have a children’s Bible my grandmother gave me when I was young. I scribbled my name on the side, but most of the time I spent in the actual book was looking at the pictures. The book has beautiful illustrations, including one with Noah and the animals boarding the Ark (big boat) before a giant flood came.
There are no other people in the photo. Just cute animals. The polar bears are hanging with some peacocks, and Noah’s just petting the lions (pretty sure this is in the Bible). But I remember another illustration, and I cannot for the life of me remember where I saw it. It may have been one of the those “tracts” found in restaurants when Christians don’t want to leave a tip. This illustration is of the ark rising in the flood waters, and there are people screaming and climbing up rocks. I remember just staring at this picture and feeling the horror rising up in me. And my young self realized something terrible.
This wasn’t a story about cute animals.
The truth of the matter is, the Bible is full of stories about people. Stories that aren’t just cute children’s illustrations. There is betrayal and hurt and loss and brokenness in our Book. And there is a reason for that.
Life is also full of these things.
Perhaps you’ve been reading along with the story of Moses as Pastor Adam has been teaching. My Children’s Bible has no illustration of this part of the story. Nine plagues have hit Egypt and the Pharaoh still won’t free the Israelites who are his slaves. So God sends a spirit that takes the lives of every first born in the country. Every Egyptian family faces this loss. Even the animals lose their first-born. It can be hard to look at. It can be hard to understand why God would work through floods or the death of children.
Yet over the years, I’ve seen more to the story. In Genesis before the flood, the scripture tells us that humanity “ruined” the earth. The Hebrew here is “shachath.” When God sees what we’ve done to the gift God gave us, He speaks to Noah: “I am about to shachath them along with the earth.” The flood might seem like a disproportionate response to human sin. But these words are no accident.
God simply turns the actions of humanity back upon itself. Shachath leads to shachath; ruin leads to ruin. So back to Egypt. Here’s a story of loss, of punishment. Children are caught in the crossfire. It can seem disproportionate for a loving God. But Exodus begins with a story of how Egypt executed the Israelites’ infant children, and not just the first born. For years, perhaps decades, the Egyptians killed the children of the Israelites. Even Moses was nearly a casualty! Finally a day comes, 80-plus years later, when shachath led to shachath. The floodgates opened and the people who took the lives of children experienced the loss themselves.
The Bible isn’t a children’s illustration. It’s a book about life and death, and when we read it deeply it can be a book that points to the mistakes we’ve made and how to avoid them. Yes, we have a God of grace. But sometimes God lets our actions turn back onto ourselves. You’ve said it yourself: “What goes around comes around.”
What I see is a story where there were nine other plagues—each a chance to stop the shachath. At every turn, Pharaoh could have avoided these consequences.
This isn’t just a story about the Israelites versus Egypt. It’s a story about when we get a taste of our own medicine. It’s a story about how sometimes God lets us be on the receiving end of all the wrong we’ve dished out.
I don’t know about you, but this acts as a huge reminder for me to look at my own life and see if there are habits or actions that, if continued unchecked, might turn back onto me.
Sometimes, my friends, we are the Egyptians. But unlike them, we have stories like these to learn from. We have a chance to learn from their mistakes. Don’t just look at the cute illustrations. Read deeply.
-------
Join us for worship today - click here for information on worship times and locations. If you are not in the Kansas City area, you can take part in our worship via live Web stream at rezonline.org.
Download a printable version of this week's GPS.
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment