How Things Work: A Brief History of Reality
BOOK II: The Power of Three (Science & Religion) – Consideration #90. "The Exodus"
Tuesday July 4, 2023
Jews read the books of Moses not just as history but as divine command. The question to which they are an answer is not, "What happened?" but rather, "How then shall I live?" And it's only with the exodus that the life of the commands really begins.
– Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
PREFACE
Moses and the Passover: (Exodus 6-13)
Welcome Everybody!
Moses, and his brother Aaron, go to Egypt and find that God’s predictions are once again accurate. Despite good speech and miracles, the Pharaoh, much like Moses, refuses to believe and obey the God of Israel. Even the Israelites did not believe and obey; leading Moses to complain even more:
“If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”
Exodus 6:12
What Moses doesn’t know is that God had earlier been thinking about killing him because of his constant questioning and lack of faith but took pity on Moses for his wife’s sake and spared him. However, the wrathful nature of God was about to be demonstrated.
“Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
Exodus 6:1
After a series of miracles and plagues including turning the Nile River into blood, a plague of frogs, an infestation of lice, gnats, and flies, the death of livestock and cattle, boils, hail, locusts, a thunderstorm of fire, and darkness for three days, still, the Pharaoh would not “let His people go.” So, God initiated the tenth and final plague, that for future Jews would come to be known as the night of the Passover.
This is what the LORD says: "About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again."
Exodus 11:4–6
God commands Moses to tell the Israelites to mark the top of their doors with lamb’s blood so the Angel of Death will pass over them; they and their children will be safe. When the sun rises, all of Egypt’s first-born males are dead, including the Pharaoh’s son. The Israelites had not been harmed. What Pharaoh had implemented as an initial strategy against the Israelites; God had implemented as His final judgement against him. In the midst of his tremendous grief, the Pharaoh lets the Israelites go free. However, later, in the midst of his tremendous anger, he will go after them.
“…what should have been a relatively short trip took forty years.”
The Bible states that God purposely took the long way, as opposed to the short way, to His destination. In fact, what should have been a relatively short trip took forty years. God uses this time to purge the Israelites of their wickedness and sin, essentially allowing a “new generation” of “specially prepared” human beings to enter the Promised Land. And they were led day and night on their journey personally by God.
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.
Exodus 13:21-22
CONSIDERATION #90 – “The Exodus”
Parting the Red Sea (Exodus 14)
However, the Pharaoh had changed his mind regarding his hasty decision to free the Hebrew slaves and decided to pursue the Israelites.
“What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.
Exodus 14:6-7
As the Pharaoh catches up with the Israelites their lack of faith once again prevails, as they suddenly turn against Moses.
“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
Exodus 14:11-12
Ironically, Moses is now in the position of having to demand faith from the Israelites.
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Exodus 14:13-14
With this declaration of faith, God commands Moses to demonstrate His glory.
Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord… ”
Exodus 14:16-18
Moses then uses his staff to separate the Red Sea. The Israelites pass safely between the two walls of water. However, when Pharaoh and his army pursue, Moses releases the waters upon them.
…and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen – the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
Exodus 14:27-28
Moses had demonstrated faith and obedience under pressure, the Israelites had safely passed through the Red Sea, and God had demonstrated His power and glory not only to the Egyptians, but to the Israelites as well. However, the journey was just beginning as were the complaints from the Israelites.
POSTSCRIPT
The Miracle of Manna and the Sabbath (Exodus 16)
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
Exodus 16:2-3
God tells Moses that he has heard the people grumbling, and that He would provide sustenance for them if they obeyed the rules. By this time, Moses has learned a serious lesson and now understands the importance of paying attention and listening to God.
Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”
Exodus 16:8
Moses was becoming the prophet God had hoped for. From a theological perspective, trusting God means listening to God. Listening to God means paying attention to what He says. Paying attention to what He says always works out, no matter how unlikely. Therefore, if you have faith, recognize, and accept what God wants from you, and follow through with the actions God expects from you, you will live under God’s grace. Now, Moses would impart this knowledge to “His people.” That evening, Moses and the people of Israel experience that grace.
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.”
Exodus 16:13-15
The Israelites called the heavenly bread “manna,” and it sustained them throughout their forty-year journey in the dessert. However, God was becoming impatient with “His people” and demanded that they follow the rules regarding manna. The first test for the Israelites would be to see if they could follow God’s instructions relating to the “Sabbath.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
Exodus 16:4-5
God instructs them to collect the manna for six days only, collecting twice as much on the sixth day. Needless to say, some of the Israelites did not follow these instructions to the letter. This angered God, who was becoming frustrated trying to work with human beings again. So, He explicitly and forcefully reinforces the commandment.
Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” So the people rested on the seventh day.
Exodus 16:27-30
However, the Israelites continued to complain about their suffering, sometimes actually threatening Moses. At this point, even Moses is becoming frustrated with the people he had helped free from bondage.
Next week Moses becomes overwhelmed with the responsibility of overseeing the new nation of Israel and establishes the first “representative” form of government to handle the day-to-day empirical challenges of life…
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Expand the Conversation by Upgrading to “Reality by a Thread!”
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If you find yourself growing tired of the same old meaningless fluff, this may be the Podcast you’ve been looking for!
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Coming This Holiday Season!
The Fifth Book in the “How Things Work” series:
Book V “Quantum Consciousness – Recognizing and Understanding the Arch of Human Conscious Awareness”
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