First of all we start out with two women that fear God more that Pharaoh. They ignore Pharaoh's order to kill all the Hebrew male babies at birth and because of that, God blesses them by giving them families of their own.
We then see the birth of one of the most well known men of the Bible. Many of you are probably somewhat familiar with the life of Moses, but there is some really interesting stuff that I'm guessing most of you probably haven't heard before. The first part that I would like to point out from the life of Moses is the "basket" that he is placed in and hidden in the Nile in. I remember from my time at CCU, I took a class called "Old Testament History". The professor in that class blew my mind when we got to this section because of what he told us about this basket. Other places say that it could have been other things, but I remember vividly the day that our professor explained that most likely the "basket" that was used in this story was actually more like a coffin. Moses, as a child, was laid in a coffin and sent down the Nile. God drew him out of the Nile and gave him a life with the daughter of Pharaoh. I just think the imagery there is incredible.
Later in chapter 2, we find out that even though Moses grew up as a son of Pharaoh's daughter, he knew that he was part of the Hebrew people. I don't know if that was because Pharaoh's daughter told him this or he could just tell because of his appearance, but he knew when he grew up that his people were the Hebrews. We also see that after he fled Egypt, Moses did marry and have children.
Chapter 3 is really really exciting. Moses gets to meet God face-to-face...kinda. I have always liked the "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground..." from 3:5. I have often thought of adopting a practice of anytime I am speaking about the word of God either in a youth group lesson or preaching in a Sunday morning service of actually taking my shoes off...just to make me remember while doing that that I am speaking and teaching on the Holy word of God.
We also see where Moses just completely argues with God's call in his life to go back and lead His people out of Egypt. We see excuse after excuse from Moses, and it's easy to think how silly Moses is being in not listening to God. But really think about how often have you done the same thing in your life. How often have you been given the chance to do something for God and you make excuses for why you shouldn't do that. I know I did that for years before I finally realized and accepted that God was calling me into ministry. The cool thing in Exodus is that God continued to try to use Moses even after excuse after excuse was given.
I thought it was really interesting that when Moses returned to Egypt that he was 80 years old. Actually it is really easy to divide Moses life into 3 sections. He flees Egypt when he is 40 years old, he returns and leads the people out when he is 80, he wanders in the desert for 40 years and then dies when he is 120...of course we have a few more days before we get to the death of Moses. Just thought I would throw that out to you now though.
Now we get to the really exciting stuff from this section of reading...the Plagues. Before I get into the plagues, I want to point something out. God hardened Pharaoh's heart. God did not want Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go easily because he knew that Pharaoh would quickly change his mind. God wanted to destroy Egypt and weaken it greatly in the Exodus of His people. He also wanted to let the whole world know that He truly was God and that He was really powerful. 9:16 states, "But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth".
I am not going to go into a detailed description of each plague or any event that takes place during the plagues. But the way the plagues happen and all the miracles that Moses and Aaron performed in front of Pharaoh and even the location of the crossing of the Red Sea, one theme surrounds it all. All of these things are a direct attack of the different god's of Egypt. Each plague represented something that a god of Egypt was supposed to control. The crossing of the Red Sea was also done in the sight of the altar or temple to the Egyptian god that controlled the sea. God specifically used all of these plagues to show that He was more powerful then any Egyptian god and that He actually existed.
Today was a really interesting read and I hope it was for you too. Any questions just ask.
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