GOOD MORNING!
Today’s Readings are Exodus 10-12.
Click here to read today’s passages on BibleGateway.
Rabbit Trails
Reminder: When Pharaoh asked for forgiveness, how can we know that this wasn’t true repentance? His life showed no change. He was merely using whatever means necessary to escape his current situation. When we repent, we turn from our own wisdom and turn to the wisdom of God. This is reflected in our character, our way of life, and our actions.
The plague of darkness: The light that the Israelites had in their home is not represented by a usual word for light, instead the word is “owr” and it is the same word used for light in Genesis 1:3. It means illumination, enlightenment, or a light that is pleasing to YHWH. Conversely, the word for darkness is the opposite of this “choshek”. It a darkness that is deeper than just an absence of light. You can use the interlinear feature on Biblehub to see some of the other instances this is used in Scripture for a better understanding of the weight of this word.
I cannot stress enough how important this very true story of the Exodus of Israel is in our history as a people. So much so that we are commanded, on multiple occasions in the Word, to commemorate it each year, and we see our living example (Messiah) doing just that in His time here as well. God wants us to know this, to remember it, to teach it to our children, and it is a lesson that continually reveals more wisdom and truth to us throughout our walk.
Egypt was in utter and complete darkness. Thing about that. Complete. Total. Have you ever been in a large cave and turned the lights out? The darkness is smothering. This can be seen as both literal and figurative. But those who followed YHWH had light in their lives and He led them out of the darkness. How much darker our world is today – and He is still leading those who would turn to Him and follow His light.
How do you do that? He is telling us right now, and we are reading it step by step.
Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field. Exodus 9:20-21
The Father freely and generously gives wisdom and instruction to all who would seek it. It is up to us whether or not we heed it. We have the most unprecedented access to the Bible than at any other time in history and we will be held accountable for what we do with that access.
When I was a kid and scared at night, I’d put the covers over my head. In my childish mind, I felt that would render me invisible. A lot of believers avoid reading the Bible with similar reasoning – if we willfully avoid reading it, we expect to be able to claim innocence and avoid judgement for our disobedience to the Father. That’s simply not how this works.
Pharaoh is losing his esteem – In this time Pharaohs were seen as gods in and of themselves. We see in Exodus 10:7 Pharaoh having his judgement openly questioned by his own servants and check out Exodus 11:3! “Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.”
That’s a historical turnaround!
And now for some fun, Read Exodus 11:2, then read Genesis 15:13-14
I want to remind you, whenever someone gives you a verse, take a chapter. NEVER accept a verse taken out of context without going, putting it back where it came from, and reading the entire passage to discern the meaning. In fact, the Bible is made up of over 30,000 verses. In order to truly begin to understand, we must realize that every verse in the Bible is surrounded on all sides by verses that offer context. We can pull out a single verse and claim that as our life verse if we want, but true life is in all 30,000+ verses together. Any single verse has the weight of the remaining 30,000 bearing down upon it. And that is why I’m a WHOLE Bible believer!
This Coffee Chat was recorded January 19, 2023. The topic is What we each need to do in order to meet the challenge ahead of us.