June 9, 2024
Reading: Exodus 3:15-17
Focus: Exodus 3:17 – ‘And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
Father God, thank You for being the God Who keeps promises. You promised salvation as far back as Adam and Eve and You kept that promise. Help us to always remember that You are THE Promise Keeper. In Jesus Name, Amen.
God has identified Himself as the eternal God. The God of the ancestors of those Israelites who were now suffering in Egypt. He has confirmed that He has not forgotten them. He is stating that now is the time for the promise of deliverance to be fulfilled. Moses, who once may have thought he could deliver his people, has learned that he can do nothing without God. That he must walk in the path that God lays out for him and for the people of Israel. God now begins to tell Moses what will happen in general terms. The specifics will be seen as time unfolds.
Each verse in this section has the steps of their deliverance. First, Moses tells the elders of Israel who he is and Who sent him. He will tell them that “I AM” sent him to keep the promise made generations ago. To bring the Israelites out of their suffering. God said that He had visited them and had seen their suffering. He promises that they will be delivered. Here is a picture of Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, came to this earth and personally saw and experienced the suffering of humanity. Not just the physical suffering but also the spiritual suffering. Jesus was promised when Adam and Eve were driven from Eden. God always keeps his promises. His timing is not ours. Although I know that sometimes we wish He would work on our time schedule.
The time of the suffering of Israel was coming to an end. Moses was being sent to the Israelites to begin the process of deliverance. First, the elders were to be informed. Now, these elders were heads of the families of the different tribes of Israel. These tribes were the offspring of the sons of Jacob. These elders were the judges, guides and often times priests of the people. They kept the histories of the people. They led them in worship. They were responsible for keeping the Israelites a pure bloodline. These were the ones that Moses would approach first. Then they would pass the information to the people. Here we begin to see Israel rather than the children of Israel. Israel is a fledgling nation at this point. The elders would be pivotal in the process of turning tribes and families into a nation.
Second, God confirmed that the elders would listen to Moses. Together, they would approach Pharaoh with a very simple request. “Our God has met with us. Let us go into the wilderness, three days journey, to sacrifice to and worship our God”. Three days journey would not take the people out of Egypt or out of any lands under Egyptian rule. They would not be asking for Pharaoh to let the people go permanently. There was no suggestion that they were going to try to escape. It would be an easy, reasonable request. Just a desire to worship their God. The Egyptians understood the desire to worship and to make sacrifice to a god. Even slaves were allowed time to worship their own gods.
The thing is, Pharaohs were considered gods on earth. He was better than other gods. These people were Haibiru, Hebrew. A landless, stateless people who had no homeland and no king. They were beneath the notice of Egyptians because they were shepherds. God knew that Pharaoh would not be favorable to such a request. There were just too many Israelites. For them all to leave, for about a week, was not a comfortable thought. Lots of work would be left undone for all of that time.
God knew what Pharaoh would say. Let’s say He knew his heart. Pharaoh was pitting himself against the God of the ages. The Creator God. Suffice it to say that Pharaoh thought he was better than the God of the Israelites. Therefore, if anything occurred to him and his people, it would be on his head, and his head alone. The buck stops with the Pharaoh.
God then tells Moses that He would prove to Pharaoh that he was just a man and that his gods were ineffectual. Pharaoh and his gods against the One True God. God states that He would move against Pharaoh and the Egyptians with wonders that Moses could not even imagine. In the end, Pharaoh and his gods would be soundly defeated. God would prove, once and for all, that those gods had no power whatsoever to defeat the God of Moses.
Then God assures Moses that the Israelites would not leave Egypt poor and destitute. God would move the hearts of the people to be extremely generous to the departing Israelites. If you look at verses 21 and 22, you will see evidence that the Israelites were not completely isolated from the Egyptians. Some were apparently living in the home of Egyptians. God says that the women would ask their neighbors and of the women living in their houses for gold, silver, jewels and clothing. AND that these items would be gladly given to the Israelites with no thought of it being returned. The Egyptians knew that items to be offered to gods would not be returned. If nothing else, it would be earned wages for tens of decades. Fair recompense for the slavery inflicted on the Israelites.
One takeaway from this group of verses is that God KNOWS our future. He KNOWS everything that will occur. So, for me, it makes perfect sense to trust God with my future. I don’t know what it hold, but God does. Worrying about it will not change it one whit. Prayer and trust will get us through what ever comes our way. Another thing, God will fight for us. All we need do is follow His instructions. I know that some people will wonder if you’ve lost your mind, but when you try to explain God to someone, tell them of what God has done for you or for people you know. Provide them proof that God does concern Himself in all that concerns us, no matter how small. There is nothing that we need to keep to ourselves because God doesn’t need to concern Himself about it. I am not saying that we just sit back and let God do His thing. I am saying that we do our job, work at what we must and lean back in faith on God, knowing that He will work all things together for good. Faith is not a noun. It is a verb.
Do you trust God to keep His promises?
Father God, Thank You for Your continuous care for us. Thank You that You care about all that concerns us, big or small. Help us to trust that You will fight for us and bring us out of our distress. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Food For Thought
- Why was it important that the elders of the people were involved in Moses’ approach to Pharaoh?
- Do you think that Moses was shaking his head at what God was telling him? Why or why not?
- Why do you think it was important that Moses and the elders ask for just a 3-day journey to worship God?
- Why do you think that the Egyptians were so inclined to give the Israelites gold, silver and jewels, other than God inclined their hearts to do so?
- How often do you wish God worked on your timetable? Why?
