Posts with the category “exodus”

The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”33 The Lord replied ...  Read More

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the ...  Read More

“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.Exodus 25:8-9Imagine something with me. Walking to the Win Entertainment centre. You go past Chicko’s…. Oh wait… So sad… Anyway. Across the road and into those big doors. You go into the arena. What have you come to see?No… Not the Hawks. Not...  Read More

The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”Exodus 31:16-17We saw on Tuesday that we should rest well because when we do, we can work hard as those who work for the ...  Read More

The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”Exodus 31:16-17On Saturday, I suggested that one of the reasons we are tired is because of how we rest. Entertainment and...  Read More

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.Exodus 20:8-10We live in what one writer called the Age of Exhaustion. We feel ti...  Read More

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that ...  Read More

"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name".Exodus 20:7Blasphemy! Not a word we hear or use very often anymore. For the older migrant families among us, maybe something you would hear your grandparents say. But for most, you probably only heard it in the movies. What does it mean to misuse the name of God?Well, firstly, we ...  Read More

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me a...  Read More

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me a...  Read More

And God spoke all these words:2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.Exodus 20:1-2I want you to imagine something. You’re stopped at a red light and someone knocks on your window.  They say, “please get out of the car, I need the car.” Now, what do you do? Well, it depends doesn’t it?It depends on a few things. But almost certainly, who they are. For in...  Read More

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’Exodus 19:4-6Something I find myself doing constantly as a parent is making deals....  Read More

When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”15 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of G...  Read More

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so t...  Read More

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. 5 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 16:4-5There really is so much we could wrestle wi...  Read More

In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 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 16:2-3Fickle is the word that comes to mind. I’m not talking about Israel (well, I am), but I...  Read More

“In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you.You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.8 By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up.The surging waters stood up like a wall;the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.9 The enemy boasted, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them.I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them.I will draw...  Read More

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:“I will sing to the Lord,    for he is highly exalted.Both horse and driver    he has hurled into the sea.Exodus 15:1-2I want you to imagine something with me. Imagine Australians had been invaded and enslaved. Forced to work in hard labour, doing all the worst jobs. Receiving only the food you could grow on the side. No sick leave, no medic...  Read More

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”Exodus 13:1-2I wonder how you see yourself? Do you see yourself as belonging to God? Or is your life your own, to do with as you please? In Exodus 13, God tells Moses that all the firstborn children are to be ‘consecrated’ to God, which me...  Read More

That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your san...  Read More

21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strik...  Read More

17 Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”Exodus 5:17-18I try not to read politics into the Bible. We all have a tendency to want to polarise our times into good guys/bad guys but as the American election shows, sometimes i...  Read More

That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: 7 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Make the work ...  Read More

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”13 B...  Read More

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham,...  Read More

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.Exodus 2:11-12You can kind of imagine how this all played out in Moses’ life. It’s probably in one of the moves about him that I ca...  Read More

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summone...  Read More

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlesslyExodus 1:11-13It’s a fascinating irony of history that has played out time and time again. The more you try to squash...  Read More

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.Exodus 1:6-7Have you ever seen something grow? There’s something just so wonderful and encouraging about things growing (things that should grow that is). We have a little aquarium going...  Read More