Exodus 16: Second crisis for the Israelites: lack of food. God decides to rain bread on them, but he decides to test them. He tells the people that they need to gather as much food as they need for each day, but no more. Then on the 6th day, they will take enough for that day and the sabbath. At twilight they eat meat, and the morning they gather their bread for the day. Some people try to hoard some bread on the first day and it goes bad. Some also try to gather food on the sabbath. God gets angry because some people fail to listen to him. They seem to at least learn for now. We also learn that they are in the wilderness for 40 years.
7/27 Reading (Exodus 13-15; Luke 19)
I had a lot to say on this reading.
Exodus 13: This chapter starts with God telling Moses that all firstborn of the humans and animals should be consecrated to him, declaring them his. It then jumps to reiteration of the seven day celebration his people are supposed to have every year (passover) with unleavened bread. The people are told to tell their children about what happened, making this an educational experience. On a side note, as an educator, this is definitely an effective way to do that. Back to the text. The story they returns to discussion of the consecration of the firstborn, this time specifically saying males. I have to admit that when I first read this I thought God was telling them that they all had to sacrifice their firstborn males. Glad I was wrong once I read a little further.
7/26 Reading (Exodus 10-12; Luke 18)
There are some days where reading the Bible is a challenge. Itās not necessarily a chore, just challenging to read. Sometimes itās the message in the text, sometimes itās everything else going on with work, or sometimes itās just because Iām tired. Today was one of those days.
Several parts of this reading today seemed to bother me.
Exodus 10: The eighth (locusts) and ninth (darkness) marvels occur in this chapter. Pharaoh seems like he is slowly coming around after his officials tell him that he needs to let Moses and his people go. He relents, but says they canāt take any of the young people. Moses says it needs to be everyone. Pharaoh says no. On with the locusts. Those little pests destroy all remaining vegetation in the land. Pharaoh begs them to stop and pray to God for him. God gets rid of the locusts, but āthe Lord hardened Pharaohās heartā (Ex. 10.20) again! Seriously!!! Then after the next marvel (darkness) occurs, Pharaoh says all people can go, but no livestock. Moses disagrees. Again, āthe Lord hardened Pharaohās heartā (Ex. 10.27). Pharaoh steps up his rhetoric and tells Moses the following: āāGet away from me! Take care that you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.āā (Ex. 10.28) On to the 10th plague, which is sad.
7/25 Reading (Exodus 7-9; Luke 17)
I feel that something may have finally clicked while reading the Gospel reading for today.
Exodus 7: This chapter starts with God telling Moses to take Aaron and see the Pharaoh. God tells Moses to have Aaron turn the staff into a snake in front of the Pharaoh as well as turn the Nile water into blood and kill off all the fish. Turning the water into blood is the first plague (the text refers to this as marvels, not plagues). Pharaohās magicians are able to match this, so his āheart hardensā as God said it would. Before turning the water into blood Aaron also turns his staff into a snake. I find it interesting that Aaron is the one doing these things, not Moses. I know that Moses said earlier that he couldnāt speak well, but here it seems like heās more like a figurehead. I know that doesnāt end up being the case, but if you just look at this chapter, it definitely seems to be this way.
7/24 Reading (Exodus 4-6; Luke 16)
I had some trouble with some of this reading today.
Exodus 4: Moses continues to tell God that he is not the right person to do this task. He presents his next two problems to God: (3) āBut suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, āThe Lord did not appear to youāā (Ex. 4.1) and (4) āO my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongueā (Ex. 4.10). To answer his third problem, God shows Moses how to turn his staff into a snake, how to damage and reheal his hand, and how to turn water from the Nile into blood. To answer his fourth problem, God says āThen the Lord said to him, āWho gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Ā¹Ā² Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.ā (Ex. 4.11-12)
7/22 Reading (Exodus 1-3; Psalms 10-14)
Exodus 1: This chapter quickly moves into the rising hatred the Egyptians have towards the Israelites. This happens when a new King of Egypt steps in who didnāt know Joseph. He wanted to fight them and destroy them. But, they kept reproducing even as more and more challenging tasks were imposed on them by the Egyptians. The Pharaoh then charged the Hebrew midwives to kill any newborn boys, but they didnāt because they feared God. They lied to the Pharaoh about why they didnāt do it, so God protected them. So, Pharaoh told his people to throw any newborn boy into the Nile.
Introduction to Exodus
Iām looking forward to starting Exodus. As a first time reader of the Bible, what I know about Exodus comes from what others have told me, the bits and pieces Iāve read, and from movies. The cartoon, Prince of Egypt, was pretty good and the movie Exodus: Gods and Kings, was definitely entertaining. However, I canāt rely on those films as my primary source of information.
7/21 Reading (Genesis 49-50; Luke 15)
Genesis 49: This chapter is about Jacobās (Israelās) final blessings to his 12 sons, who end up being the 12 tribes of Israel. The blessings vary, but it seems that Judah and Joseph end up with the more favorable blessings. The oldest, Reuben, doesnāt because he slept with Jacobās concubine in Genesis 35. The next two brothers, Simeon and Levi, donāt take his place because they killed Shechem, the one who raped their sister in Genesis 34. Judah is elevated to the āfirstbornā status. Joseph ends up with a more favorable blessing as well. This chapter finally ends with Jacob telling his sons again that he wants to be buried with his ancestors (Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, etc.) in Canaan. After this Jacob (Israel) dies.
7/20 Reading (Genesis 46-48; Luke 14)
Genesis 46: Israel and his entire family are on the move to join Joseph in Egypt. I noticed again that the text uses Israel and Jacob interchangeably. Even when it is God speaking to him. For example, āWhen Israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. Ā²God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, āJacob, Jacob.ā And he said, āHere I am.āā (Gen. 46.1-2) Iām still a little confused as to why this happens? I understand that itās probably not that important, I just find it interesting.
7/19 Reading (Genesis 43-45; Luke 13)
Genesis 43: Reading this chapter reminded me that God renamed Jacob Israel, yet the text refers to him as Jacob in Gen. 42. The text refers to him as Israel in this chapter. Itās interesting how this one starts out. Apparently some time has passed because they are now out of grain again. They seem to have forgotten about the brother who is still in prison. Israel charges them with returning to buy more grain, but they declined because they were told they had to return with the youngest brother, Benjamin. At first Israel says no, but Judah convinces him saying āThen Judah said to his father Israel, āSend the boy with me, and let us be on our way, so that we may live and not dieāyou and we and also our little ones. ā¹ I myself will be surety for him; you can hold me accountable for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.āā (Gen. 43.8-9) Israel agrees and tells them to all bring gifts for the man (Joseph) along with the money from the first trip and more money to pay this time.