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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 39

Feb8

Day 39.  Reading Exodus 28 – 29. 

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Exodus 28.

Glorious holy garments show honor to the glorious holy God.

In this chapter, God shows Moses the patterns for the priests’ and high priests’ garments, which are extravagant to the max.  They were to be glorious, with meticulous details, and heavy (I think) with gold and precious stones.  They were not worn all the time but only when they ministered before the LORD God. 

Just imagine Moses writing down (or reviewing god’s writing?) the details for these items of clothing.  The colors of the robes and the embroidery, the gold ropes, chains, and bells, all those engraved precious stones, and everything reflecting “the glory and beauty” of their God.  

From the plain, knee-length linen undershorts to the royal blue robe with blue, purple, and scarlet pomegranates interspaced with golden bells along its hem to the gold plate with “Holy to the LORD” engraved on it, fastened to the front of his linen turban with blue cord. 

Just imagine!

There was also a checkered linen coat with an embroidered sash. (And undershorts, coats, sashes, and caps for Aaron’s sons.)

Then, the amazing accruements are described.  An apron-like ephod would be worn over the robe. It was made of embroidered linen, and attached to it by two straps over the shoulders was the breastplate. On the shoulder pieces were large onyx stones engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel in birth order, six on the right shoulder and six on the left. 

On the breastplate itself were twelve specific precious stones, in four rows of three, each one with the name of a tribe of Israel engraved.  Wearing this, the high priest represented all of Israel as he ministered to the LORD. All of the stones would have gold-filigree settings.

IN, or INSIDE this breastplate, the Urim and Thummin were kept.  Say what??  

  • “Their material and shape is not known. They were used by the High Priest to determine a “yes” or “no” verdict to the acknowledged leader of Israel who could NOT come before God personally as Moses had. They would be used for a specific direction for an immediate problem or crisis.”

God assured Moses that He had chosen specific people to make all these items and filled them with the spirit of skill.

Exodus 29.

Next, God told Moses how to consecrate Aaron and his sons (and the process for future priests).

A sacrifice of animals, unleavened bread, cakes, and wafers was prepared.  Aaron was to be brought to the entrance to the Tabernacle and washed with water (the bronze basin or laver). Then, the garments were to be put on him in order. Moses would take the specially made anointing oil and pour some over Aaron’s head and turban. His sons would be washed and dressed as well. 

The bull, one ram, and the unleavened bread products would be offered as a sin and food offerings. Finally, the second ram would be killed after Aaron and his sons had laid their hands on its head. With some of the blood, the altar would be sprinkled, and with some, Aaron’s and his sons’ right ear, thumb, and big toe would also be anointed. 

(Some of this ram’s meat would be reserved, boiled, and eaten by the priests, which is symbolic of how their physical needs would be met by the offerings from the people.)

This ritual would be repeated for seven days, and then the priests would be ordained.  Any priests following Aaron and his sons would participate in the same ceremony.

Weird, I know.

But all the rituals and sacrifices were symbolic of the only way sinful people (even the priests) were to approach their Holy God without dying themselves.

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 38

Feb7

Day 38.  Reading Exodus 25 – 27. 

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Exodus 25.

Besides the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments, God gave Moses a set of “blueprints.”

Moses was to ask the people of Israel to contribute to building a “sanctuary for God, that He might live with them.” Wow!  It wasn’t an arbitrary “bill.” They were to give as their hearts moved them. God listed the materials needed: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, fine linen, goat’s hair, tanned rams’ skins and goatskins, acacia wood, oil, spices, onyx, and other precious stones. 

WHERE WERE THE EX-SLAVES TO GET THESE EXOTIC ITEMS IN THE DESERT???   (God never asks us for what we cannot give.)

Remember Exodus 12:35-36.

  • “The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let them have what they asked. Thus, they plundered Egypt.“

God showed Moses exactly how to build the Tabernacle and all its furniture.  Inside the inner part of the tent (the Holy of Holies) was the Ark of the Covenant (or Testimony). “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.”

In the next room out (the Holy Place), Moses was to make three items, each representing how God would interact with His people: the Table for Bread, the Golden Lampstand, (and later described, the Alter of Incense.) And all these had utensils to be used with them.

Exodus 26.

Next comes a detailed description of the construction of the very movable two-room Tent containing that sacred furniture. It was made of wood-plated poles with rings to hold up the embroidered cloth panels made with loops and clasps. Layers of tanned skins of different types would make it completely waterproof.  All this could be assembled and unassembled as Israel journeyed through the desert.

Exodus 27.

Outside the Tent and just inside the gate to the courtyard surrounding it was the Bronze Altar for sacrifices. (Later described, between this altar and the Tent was the “Laver” to wash the hands of ministering priests before entering the Tent).

All the courtyard posts, bases, and bars were bronze or silver (150 ft long x 75 ft wide x 7.5 ft tall). The sturdy cloth hangings were made of fine twined linen. The linen at the gate was embroidered with blue, scarlet, and purple yarn. 

God gave Moses a recipe for the oil to be used in the Golden Lampstand (and later, a unique recipe for the incense to be used only on the Alter of Incense and the Priest’s sensors). 

It was almost unimaginable in beauty and glory. How would they ever make such a wonderful place? 

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Tomorrow, the priests’ garments and the consecration of priests with the many offerings.

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 37

Feb6

Day 37. Reading  Exodus 22 – 24. 

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Exodus 22.

Liability and Social Justice – sounds like today’s courtrooms, except God’s laws are righteous.

  • Restitution for theft of an animal (a person’s livelihood) is four or five times the worth.
  • You’re cool if a thief breaks into your home at night, and you kill him. But … better just capture him during the daytime. 
  • If a fire breaks out, catches dry grass, and consumes stacked or standing grain or a field … HE WHO STARTED THE FIRE SHALL MAKE FULL RESTITUTION!  
  • Full restitution is required if you borrow anything from a neighbor and it’s broken, lost, (or dies).
  • Rape of a virgin means paying a bride price and marrying her.
  • No witch shall live.
  • Do not mistreat or take advantage of a foreigner, widow, or orphan. SERIOUS penalties follow!
  • Never take interest when loaning money to a friend or fellow believer.
  • Never curse God … OR a ruler of your people. (Oops!)
  • The first of EVERYTHING belongs to the LORD.

Exodus 23.

Laws of righteous justice.

  • Don’t spread false reports or be a malicious witness.
  • Don’t join groups to do evil (rioting?)
  • Don’t pervert justice against the poor.
  • Don’t take bribes.
  • Don’t oppress foreigners.
  • Observe the Sabbath year so your fields and workers may have rest, and so the poor can collect the crops of grain, grapes, or fruit that are produced naturally.
  • Keep these three feasts of remembrance and gratitude to the Lord every year:
  • 1) Passover/Unleavened Bread, 2) Feast of Firstfruits (Weeks, Pentecost), and 3) Feast of Ingathering (Tabernacles/Booths).

And lest the people feel overwhelmed with all these regulations, God reminds them of the Promised Land. 

“If you carefully obey, then I will be an enemy to your enemies.”  “I will blot them out. You shall not bow down to their gods or serve them … but overthrow and break their pillars into pieces. YOU SHALL SERVE THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HE WILL BLESS YOUR BREAD AND YOUR WATER  … and take sickness away from you. None shall miscarry or be barren. You will live to your full age.”

Exodus 24.

Moses wrote all this down. He built an altar and made sacrifices to the Lord. He read these laws to the people, and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” Then Moses sprinkled blood on the altar and the people to confirm what they said.

And God called Moses, Aaron, two of his sons, and seventy elders up onto the mountain (part way, only Moses went near God). 

And they “saw the God of Israel.”  WHAT???

WHAT DID THEY SEE, for God has said, even to Moses, that no one shall see Him and live?  Verse 10 mentions the clear-as-glass sapphire stone under His feet. That is all that was revealed, or … perhaps in the terror of awe, they dared not raise their eyes higher than the pavement where God’s feet rested.

They all ate and drank there. Then God called Moses and his assistant, Joshua, up into the mountain of God to give Moses the Tables of Stone (10 Commandments).  Moses told the elders and gave them Aaron and Hur to help with the people if there were disputes while he was gone.

Moses went up, and the cloud of God’s glory covered the Mountain for six days before God spoke. It appeared like a devouring fire to the people of Israel who waited below. Moses entered the cloud and was on the mountain for forty days and nights.

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(And what a glorious vision Moses had of a place of worship and God’s presence with His people!!)

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 36

Feb5

Day 36. Reading Exodus 19 – 21. 

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Exodus 19.

After the exodus from Egypt and the Red Sea Crossing, Israel moved in stages across the desert for about three months, learning lessons about their God’s care for them and coming together as a “nation.” Finally, they arrived at Sinai and camped in front of the mountain.

(This was a fulfillment of God’s promise to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus 3:12. “I will be with you, and this shall be a sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”)

It’s good that Moses (at 80) is in good shape, for now begins a series of climbs up and down Mt Sinai to meet with the LORD. 

First thing: a contract between God and the people must be ratified. “IF you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

“All that the LORD has spoken, we will do,” they answered. Okay, cool.

Then, God told Moses to instruct the people on a few things. 

  • They were to clean and consecrate themselves.
  • They were to stay away from the mountain and not even touch its edge. (or die). 
  • When a ram’s horn sounded long and loud, they were to come to the mountain’s edge and wait.

Moses and the people obeyed. On the third day, smoke wrapped Mt. Sinai when the LORD descended on it in FIRE. The earth quaked, and a great smoke plum rose up like from a kiln. God’s voice thundered to Moses.  “Tell the people to keep back again!  NO LOOKEY-LOOS!  Then, get Aaron and come up to me on the mountain.“

Exodus 20.

On the mountain of Sinai, God gave His TEN COMMANDMENTS. (As a “preamble” to the “constitution” of Israel.)

  • NO other gods come BEFORE ME.
  • NO carving images of anything, and NO bowing down or serving anything but the LORD.
  • NO profaning the Name of the LORD your God.
  • REMEMBER what I said about the SABBATH Day. Rest, NOT work.
  • HONOR your parents.
  • NO murder.
  • NO adultery.
  • NO stealing.
  • NO lying about anyone in court.
  • NO coveting anything that anyone else has.

The people heard the rumbling thunder of God’s voice, felt the earth’s violent shaking, and saw the billowing fire and smoke.  They stood far off and pleaded with Moses to intercede for them. 

“Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, and that you do not sin.”

Exodus 21.

God then gave Moses some other laws to honor Him in worship and for righteous/fair treatment of others.

  • How to build and use altars for worship that will please God.
  • How to treat slaves and when to release them (REMEMBER, YOU were slaves!)
  • How to deal with those who hurt others by striking or cursing them.
  • What to do if violence causes a woman to miscarry or abort a baby.
  • Reinstating the Noahic law of “equal retribution for equal offense.” (eye for an eye, but no more)
  • Restitution if one of your animals hurts someone or what you do causes harm to another.

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(More tomorrow on liability, social justice, holidays (holy days), and that “carrot” in front of them: the conquest of the Promised Land.)

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 35

Feb4

Day 35. Reading in Exodus 16 – 18. 

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Exodus 16.

.Wow!  Walking through a Sea, seeing their enemies destroyed, experiencing joy, celebration, and worship, a miracle of sweet water from bitter water, receiving a glorious promise of health from God, and an oasis in the desert.   What more could Israel desire?

Food.

Grumble, grumble, grumble, (eight times it’s mentioned that the people grumbled against their situation, Moses, and even the LORD.) What a grumpy lot!! I guess hunger will do that to you. (Think of diets and fasts.)

Anyway, Moses goes to God, and God answers his prayer and their grumbling.  He promises to send them meat for dinner and bread in the morning for the whole day. And He does.  Quail came and covered the camp at sundown. The people caught them, stewed or roasted them, and ate the meat until they were … satisfied? (It doesn’t say.) The next morning, their 40-year daily food supply began to arrive.  “What IS it??? (The meaning of the word “manna.”) 

Quite a novelty – light, sweet, nutritious, and absolutely free. They did not LABOR for it.  They only had to gather it and prepare it into cakes, bread, porridge, or…?? Their choice.  Yummy and two quarts per person was all they needed to fill every tummy.  They loved it. They called it “bread/grain from heaven” and the “bread of angels.” (Psalm 78:25, 105:40) 

The Jews in Jesus’ time remembered it fondly. Jesus said it “pictured” HIM, the true bread of life. (John 6:31-35)

But it wouldn’t be long before these grumblers said they were “tired of THIS manna” and longed for the onions and leeks of Egypt.

  • Oh, LORD, what do I grumble about? (Lots of things!!) Please help me to have a grateful and contented heart!  You are so kind to supply my “daily bread.”

The people had to follow some instructions about Manna, such as eating it all the same day as gathered, except on the 6th day. That day they were to gather double because there wouldn’t be any on the 7th day. But it wouldn’t get stinky and wormy as on other days if “hoarded.”  They had to learn from experience, as WE do. 

This “day of resting” was established for Israel even before God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. By His example, God had shown them in creation how to rest after six days of work.  Rest and worship/fellowship with Him.

This daily bread supply fed Israel for 40+ years until they crossed into the Promised Land and could begin eating the foods of the land.  How faithful our God is! (A memorial jar of Manna was later kept in the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle/Temple.)

Exodus 17.

With food established, the congregation of Israel moved on in stages as the Pillar led them to the wilderness of Sin (Shin) and camped at Rephidim.  There, they QUARRELED and grumbled again. Their water skins filled at the oasis were once again empty. “Moses! Give us water! Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst!?”

God told Moses what to do. It took faith to do this. He once again was to take “the rod of God” (that he used to bring plagues on Egypt at God’s command) along with some elders of Israel to witness it and go to the rock at Horeb. “Strike the rock that I will show you and water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” Whoa!

Moses did that and God supplied enough continuous water to quench the thirst of the people and animals while they were camped there.  Moses called that place “Massa” and “Meribah, because the people quarreled and tested the Lord.

THEN!!! (Another test.) The hoard of Amalek came and attacked Israel at Rephidim. Yikes!! (The Amalekites descended from Esau and were nomadic.)  

Moses told Joshua to choose men and go out and fight them.  The plan was that Moses (with Aaron and Hur) would stand up on the hill overlooking the battleground and wage spiritual war. Whenever Moses held up his arms (with his staff), the fighting men of Israel would prevail.  When his arms were tired and drooped, Amalek would prevail.  (Eventually, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a rock, and they held up his arms. And so war was waged physically and spiritually till the sun went down.  

And Joshua (with God’s help) overwhelmed Amalek with the sword.

Then, God had Moses tell Joshua (and put into writing) His vow. “I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”  Moses built an altar there, claiming, “The Lord is My Banner,” confirming God’s total war on Amalek.

(It would take Joshua, King Saul/Samuel, and finally, Queen Ester & Mordecai to kill the very last of them. But God’s word stood until it was accomplished. Amen.)

Exodus 18.

Whoa!  Guess who came for a visit?  Jethro (Moses’ father-in-law, the priest of Midian), came and brought to Moses, his wife Zipporah, and his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. (Rephidim wasn’t too far from where Moses had lived in Midian.)

Moses went out to meet them and honored his father-in-law by bowing. They hugged and kissed and caught up with everything that God had done for Moses and Israel since he left. Jethro rejoiced with Moses and gave praise to God. “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I KNOW that the LORD is greater than all gods!”

Then, the older, wise Jethro watched as Moses dealt with the problems of the people in the camp.  Both petty and serious problems took all of Moses’ time as he interceded before God and made judgments.

“What are you doing, son?” asked Jethro. “This is not good. You are going to wear yourself out!” And he gave Moses some advice. “YOU bring the weighty things before God concerning his statutes and laws.  But, choose able men to judge over the petty grievances.”

Moses took his advice. He chose men as local judges. He was then free to judge the hard cases they brought to him.  Wow, what an opportune visit.  Moses had his family now and a way to relieve the tremendous load of the people that he carried.  God was so gracious to provide Jethro at that perfect time.

  • Thank you, Father, for caring for me, seeing my wrong choices, and sending others to lovingly correct me.

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 33 & 34 (Part 2)

Feb3

Day 34. Reading in Exodus 13 – 15. 

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Exodus 13.

Israel is out of Egypt! 

While it is fresh in their minds, the LORD instructs Moses to “consecrate to Me all the firstborn of Israel, man and beast. They are mine.”  Because God had spared these on the night of the tenth plague, they were HIS.  (Did they wonder what this commandment would involve? What would God do with them?)

And when they came into the promised land, they were to continue this practice. Every firstborn male (man and creature) was to be set apart for the LORD. (Donkeys were to be exchanged for lambs.)  God would not “kill” these firstborn boy children (whew). No, the people were to “redeem them” (buy them back) for a later established amount. (See Mary/Joseph doing this for infant Jesus in Luke 2:22-23)  Every time the people consecrated and redeemed their babies, they would remember HOW the LORD brought them out of Egypt. 

Another annual observance was instituted to remind them of that night and that journey. Not only were they to celebrate a Passover feast, they were also to eat only unleavened bread, like what they ate on that night of escape, for seven days. All to remember their deliverance! (Also, to point a later generation to the sinless Lamb of God, sacrificed for their salvation.)

Interestingly, God did not lead His newly freed people directly to the promised land. This would have caused them to travel through the land of the Philistines. They were not ready for war. They might have been scared out of their minds and wanted to return to Egypt.  Instead, the LORD led them into the wilderness and towards the Red Sea. He had a lot of things to teach these ex-slaves first. 

The LORD went before them as the ultimate leader and guide. He appeared as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He was their shade from the heat and a light and warmth in the cool desert darkness. Ever-present beacons of an Almighty and loving, promise-keeping God.

Exodus 14.

The LORD instructed Moses to lead the people in a circle and make their camp near a town with their backs to the Red Sea. It would look like they were trapped between “a rock and a hard place.” God told Moses that He had hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would pursue them. “But I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his armies.  Egypt will KNOW that I AM the LORD.”

Meanwhile, the weight of the loss of all the people of Israel dawned on Egypt when they looked at their fields,  construction sites, empty kitchens, and piling laundry. “What have we done that we have let Israel go from serving us!”

Pharaoh had monitored where the mass of ex-slaves was moving. When he learned they were backed up against the Red Sea, a sly smile came to his haggard face.  “Hahaha. They are trapped!”  God made Pharaoh’s heart like granite, and he, with all his horses and chariots and horsemen and army, pursued Israel … and overtook them, encamped by the sea.

The people freaked out! 

“Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us?  Didn’t we say to leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians? We would have been better off serving them than to die in the wilderness.”

Moses tried to calm them with words from the LORD. “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today. The Egyptians that you see today, you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Can you imagine their terror, with the sea lapping at their heels and that massive hoard of armed and wicked chariots and soldiers charging fast right at them??? WOW!

Could the Israelites now see the whites of the eyes of the armies of Pharaoh? Could they see his evil grimace and raging eyes as he charged them???

“What are you waiting for, Moses? Lift your staff and stretch it out over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea ON DRY GROUND.”

And as Moses turned to obey, the pillar of cloud rose and moved between Israel and the enemy hoard.  Blinded, they screeched to a halt. And as the night fell, the pillar became fire: a light to Israel but pitch blackness to the army.

All night, an east wind blew, heaping up water to the left and right and making a wide pathway through the sea as dry as desert sand.  And Israel went down that path, through the walls of water and up to the ground on the other side. 

At daybreak, the pillar lifted, and the army of Pharaoh pursued Israel.  As soon as the last Israelite stepped on the other shore, the wheels of chariots began to sink into a mire of mud as the water began to leak. They and the horseman tried to turn back, but in the confusion, horses and men fell and were trampled. Confusion and panic grew.

Moses then stretched out his staff over the sea again.  The walls of water smashed together, covering the mad king with all his hosts. Not one escaped. 

Israel “saw the great power of the LORD used against the Egyptians, and they feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and His servant Moses.”

Exodus 15.

So, Moses wrote a song about the event. He and the people sang the song. Then Moses and Aaron’s sister, the prophetess Miriam (with a tambourine in her hand), led the women out dancing and singing the refrain. Wow. What a sight and sound!

  • I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider, He has thrown into the sea!
  • The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”

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Then reality crashed on the crowd. A three-day journey from the Red Sea used all the freshwater they’d brought. They were thirsty. They came to a water hole, but it was bitter and brackish. (think stagnant)

The people grumbled (a habit they would exhibit ALL their days in the desert). “What shall we drink,” they groaned.

Moses looked to God, and the LORD showed him a dead tree branch.  Moses threw it into the water, and the water … became pure and clean and sweet!! 

As they were filling their water skins, the LORD spoke and made for them a STATUTE and a RULE, testing them. 

“IF you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in His eyes, and give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, THEN I will put none of the diseases (plagues) on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I AM the LORD, your healer.”

Then, surprisingly, the masses of Israel moved to Elim, an oasis with twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. And they camped by the water.

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Tomorrow = next disaster (or test).

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 33 & 34 (Part 1)

Feb3

Day 33. Reading in Exodus 10 -1 2. 

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Exodus 10.

After the horrendous hail had stopped, Pharaoh changed his mind yet again. 

The LORD said to Moses, “I have hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the heart of his servants.” Say to Pharaoh, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?  LET MY PEOPLE GO, THAT THEY MAY SERVE ME. If you refuse … I will bring locusts, such as you have never seen, to cover the face of the land. They will eat whatever is left from the hail. They will fill your houses.”

Then Moses turned and left the king’s presence.

Pharaoh’s servants begged him, “Let the men go that they may serve the LORD their God! Do you not yet understand that EGYPT IS RUINED??”

Moses and Aaron were called back in.  “Okay! Go! Serve the LORD your God. But who will go?” 

“We will go with our young and old, our daughters and sons, our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”

“I will NEVER let you AND your little ones go! YOU HAVE SOME EVIL PURPOSE IN MIND!!” yelled Pharaoh. “No! Only you and the men will go. That’s what you asked for!” 

And he drove them out of his presence.

And God sent the locusts when Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt. The early East wind brought them. The sky was dark. The land was covered with the winged insects, chomping, chomping.

Quickly, Pharaoh called them back. “Oh, I’ve sinned against the LORD your God. Forgive my sin only this once!  PLEAD WITH THE LORD TO REMOVE THIS DEATH FROM ME!!!”

Moses prayed. The LORD heard. He blew every last one of them into the Red Sea.  And … “The LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”

Then, without warning, God told Moses to stretch out his hand toward heaven. A complete, deep darkness descended on Egypt for three days. A darkness that could be “felt.” They could not see each other or their hands in front of their faces. They all were confined to their beds. (Goshen had light!)

“GO! Serve the LORD; your little ones may go with you! Only not your flocks and herds.”

“Sorry,” said Moses. “Everything must go. Not a hoof must remain. We don’t know what we’ll need.”

But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

“NO! Go away! I never want to see your face again!“

Exodus 11.

“I have one more plague yet,” said the LORD.  “After that, he will let you go.  He will drive you away completely. Now tell your people that every man and woman shall ask their neighbor for gold and silver jewelry.”

“Here’s what will happen, Moses…

“About midnight, I will go out in the midst of EGYPT, and EVERY FIRSTBORN in the land of Egypt SHALL DIE of Pharaoh, his servants, and his cattle. There will be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt. But not a dog shall growl in Israel.  And all Pharaoh’s servants shall say to you, “GET OUT, YOU AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW YOU!”

Exodus 12.

Earlier, God had told Moses about the glorious exodus and how it would go down for the Israelites. In fact, the exit from Egypt would signal a new calendar. This event would signal a new year – a new beginning as the “nation” of Israel.  It would be an event that should be remembered forever, told about to all generations to follow. It was to be “Passover.”

Moses had been instructed by God how to prepare the people.

  • They were to select a spotless lamb, watch him for 3 days to make sure he was perfect,
  • Then all of Israel would kill their lamb at one time and roast it whole. 
  • Its blood was to be caught and swiped on the doorposts and top bar of the door of their house. (VERY IMPORTANT TO DO THIS!!  Because when the Angel of the LORD came to kill all the firstborn of man and beast in Egypt … He would see that blood of the lamb and PASSOVER that house.) Everyone inside the “blood-stained” houses would live.
  • They were to have their things packed (including all the jewelry and clothing the Egyptians had given them) and to eat the lamb standing up in their travel clothes and sandals. 
  • They were not to wait for the bread to rise but bake/eat it without leaven.
  • None of them was to go outside until daybreak.

The people of Israel did all the LORD had commanded them through Moses. 

Midnight arrived.

Israel ate in silence. 

Then, they heard that great cry rise and echo through Egypt. Every house wailing for a loved one dead.

.Pharaoh summoned Moses. “GET OUT FROM AMONG MY PEOPLE!  GO!  Serve the LORD. Take your flocks and herds and everyone!  BE GONE!

All the Egyptians were URGENT with the people to send them out of the land in haste. “We shall all be dead!” they cried. 

So, after plundering Egypt, the promised children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-Israel began to move out of Goshen toward the city of Ramses—and then home.  And Moses took the bones of Joseph with them. (13:19)

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There were 600K men, plus women and children, and livestock. A “mixed” multitude of non-Jews (other slaves?) also went with them.

It was 430 years to the very day they came down, that they went out from Egypt.

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 32

Feb1

Day 32. Reading Exodus 7 – 9.  (February)

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Exodus 7.

“Let the “plagues” begin!” 

God renews His commission to Moses to tell Pharaoh to “Let the people of Israel go out of his land.”  He warns Moses that Pharaoh will NOT allow it, but so that the Egyptians will know that He is the LORD, He will perform “great acts of judgment.” When Pharaoh asks Moses to perform a miracle, Moses is to tell Aaron to throw down his staff in front of the king so it will become a serpent.

(Aaron will speak for Moses. Aaron is much more at ease with the Egyptian language than Moses, who has been away for 40 years.)

It goes just like God said, except Pharaoh’s sorcerers were able to make their staffs become snakes as well.  Did that surprise/worry Moses?  However, the “rod of God” swallows their “serpents” before Aaron picks it up.

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

Next, God tells Moses to meet Pharaoh by the Nile River as he goes out to get water. Moses is to repeat the request (“Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.”)  To show that the LORD is God (and not their pagan river god), Moses will tell Aaron to strike the water with his staff. When he does, ALL the water in Egypt will turn to blood. Pharaoh ignores the warning, so Aaron hits the water.

All the water in the Nile turned to blood, the fish died, and the river stunk. All the connecting canals, ponds, and pools became blood, and all the pots, buckets, and pitchers of water also became blood. (Egyptians had to dig in the sand along the river to get fresh water, or they would have died of thirst.)

And Pharaoh’s sorcerers did the same. Huh? How? And why not REVERSE the plague instead of making it worse. They couldn’t.

Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened.

Exodus 8.

A whole week later, Moses goes to Pharaoh and repeats the request. “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” If he doesn’t respond, Moses (though Aaron with the staff) will call up frogs from the River. Millions of frogs will swarm over the land and into their houses, bedrooms, beds, cooking pots, ovens, and kneading bowls.  YUCK!! 

(BTW, frogs were considered sacred to Egyptians, so they wouldn’t try to kill them.)

Pharaoh does not respond, so Aaron stretches the “rod of God” over the waters, and Voila! Up come those masses of amphibians.  And guess what!  The sorcerers made MORE frogs.  Seriously?? 

“Moses, Moses! Plead with the LORD to take away these frogs!” says the Pharaoh, now stepping on and throwing off the creatures. “And…. I will let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.”  Whoa! Really??

(I love this.) “Be pleased to command me WHEN I am to plead for you and our servants and your people that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile,” Moses (or Aaron) says. 

“TOMORROW!”   (Huh?  Why not this minute?)

“Okay, so you will know that there is no one like the LORD our God… tomorrow it is.“

Moses leaves and prays. God hears and answers. The frogs die and are gathered into piles. They stink, but they are no longer hopping into houses.

When Pharaoh saw there was a respite, he hardened his heart.

Then, without warning, Moses tells Aaron to strike the dust with his staff. He does, and the dust becomes gnats. (Think “no-see-ums,” you folks in the South.)  They swarmed and buzzed and landed on and bit man and beast. 

Ho, ho, ho! The sorcerers could NOT duplicate this one. “Pharaoh, this is the finger of God!” they cried.

But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

Next, Moses is told to meet Pharaoh again when he goes out to get water. “The LORD says, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else…flies will swarm everywhere! EXCEPT in Goshen where My people live.” And the next day, it happened. No “rod of God” this time. 

“Moses! Go, sacrifice to your God within the land!” Pharaoh cries, swatting at the awful insects.

“Nope. The offerings we shall sacrifice to the LORD are an abomination to the Egyptians. (They worshiped cattle.)  “We must go a three-day journey into the wilderness.”

“Okay, okay,” says the fly-covered Pharaoh. “I will let you go and sacrifice to the LORD in the wilderness, but you must not go very far away. PLEAD FOR ME!” 

“Okay, the flies will be gone tomorrow, but YOU’D BETTER NOT CHEAT AGAIN!”

And so, the LORD removed the flies so that not one remained.

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also.

Genesis 9.

The LORD sends Moses again to Pharaoh. “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me.'” 

This time, it would be a very severe plague on the livestock in the field. Horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks will die.  BUT NOT IN GOSHEN. The animals belonging to the people of Israel would be safe.

The next day, it happened as the LORD said, and the animals of Egypt died. (Pharaoh even sent to check in Goshen and found the Israelite animals well and chomping grass in the fields.)

But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened.

Next, God told Moses and Aaron to take handfuls of soot from the kiln and let MOSES throw it in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It will turn to fine dust, spread over Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast, says the LORD.  EEEK! 

So they did it before Pharaoh.  His sorcerers could not even stand on their feet because of the boils, as was true for all of Egypt.

But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh.

Next, Moses was to go before Pharaoh in the morning and say, “The LORD the God of the Hebrews says ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me.”  Furthermore, He said, “This time I will send all my plagues on YOU, YOURSELF, and the people, so that you may know that there is NONE LIKE ME in all the earth.“

God then explains why He continues to plague (and harden his heart). “For this purpose, I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that My Name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 

Then, through Moses, God proclaimed that the next day would bring hail like they had never seen, VERY HEAVY HAIL.  But, the merciful God warned all in Egypt who would listen to “Send and get any livestock you have in the field into a safe shelter. Every man and beast in the field will die when the hail falls on them.”

(Whoever feared the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into houses.)  Well done, you!

Moses then stretched out his hand toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth (lightning?). There was fire flashing continually in the hail, very heavy hail, not seen since Egypt became a nation.  And all in the fields; man, beast, plant, and tree were stuck down or broken.

But not in Goshen. 

Pharaoh sent for Moses. “This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. PLEAD with Him, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”  REALLY… Pharaoh?

“I’ll do it, O Pharaoh, but you do not yet fear the LORD God.”

And Moses was correct. As soon as the rain, hail, and thunder stopped, the king sinned again.

The heart of Pharaoh was hardened.

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Mass destruction and the final blow will come tomorrow for Pharaoh and Egypt. But deliverance for Israel, as God promised.

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 31

Jan31

Day 31. Reading in Exodus 4 – 6. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and meditate on it. What stood out to you?

Exodus 4.

From the burning bush, God told Moses that He was sending him back to Pharaoh to bring the children of Israel OUT OF EGYPT.

By now, Moses has twice told the LORD that he is “unable” to do it.  God has assured Moses that He would be with him all the way. God gave Moses His sacred Name by which he could persuade the people and even told him HOW He would rescue them. (Many times, Pharaoh would refuse, but God would plague Egypt until he agreed. )

“But the people won’t believe me,” Moses counters now.

Then, God gave Moses three signs to convince the people.  First, his staff turned into a snake and then back into a staff.  Next, his hand turned leprous, then back to clean. Finally, when Moses poured a little Nile River water onto the ground, it would turn to blood.  WOW!

“Oh, my Lord,” whines Moses, “I am not eloquent. I’m slow of speech and tongue.” (He’s spent the last 40 years with only sheep to talk to.)

God assures Moses that HE is God. He makes mouths (and ears and eyes with their deficiencies).  Moses is not to worry about that, but to “Go! I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

“Oh, my Lord. Send someone else.”

Okay, that is enough!  God is angry.  “Ok, Moses, but this is the last concession. Your brother is coming to see you. Tell and show him all I’ve revealed.  He will be your spokesman.  I’ll tell you what to say, and you can whisper it in his ear.” 

  • Wow.  Indeed, God has been exasperated with me like this many times as I make excuses not to obey Him.  Oh, the patience and kindness of our God!  Forgive me!  What a wonderful example I have in Jesus when it was time for Him to become human and die for my sins. No hesitation. And God said of Him, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Moses asks permission from his father-in-law to go and is graciously relieved of his shepherding duties.  He packs up his wife and son on a donkey. At a rest stop, God threatens Moses’ life. Why? Because he did NOT follow through with the covenant commandment of circumcision, which he should have done to his son when he was 8 days old.  Does Moses want to be part of God’s family or not?

While Moses lies dying, Zipporah circumcises their son and flaunts the foreskin. “You are a bridegroom of blood to me!” she says.  

God relents, and Zipporah is left alone with the boy until he heals before they return home. Moses leaves on foot to meet Aaron at the Mountain of God. He tells his brother everything God said, and together, the two men go to the elders of the people of Israel in Egypt and do the signs.  The people believe, and there is great rejoicing and worship of the LORD. 

Exodus 5.

Buoyed up by this reaction, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness‘.”

“Um, no!” answers Pharaoh. “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I don’t know him. I will not let Israel go.”

“Please let us go three days into the wilderness to worship our God, or He may send a pestilence on us.”

“No!  Get back to work!  You have too much idle time on your hands. Now you will have to find the straw for the bricks for yourselves instead of me supplying it.  AND YOUR QUOTA IS THE SAME!”

The elders of Israel go to Moses and complain. “You have made us stink in the eyes of Pharaoh! Things are worse than they were before!!!”

Moses goes to God. “Lord, why have You done evil to this people?  Why did You ever send me?  I have not delivered the people at all!”

Exodus 6.

“NOW, you will see what I will do to Pharaoh,” the LORD says. “For with a strong hand, he will send them out, and with a strong hand, he will DRIVE them out of his land.” (Just you wait and see!)

God speaks to Moses. “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan. 

  • 1) I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians HOLD AS SLAVES. 
  • 2) I have remembered my covenant. 
  • 3) Say to the people, “I am the LORD, and I will DELIVER you from slavery, I will REDEEM you with an outstretched arm with GREAT ACTS OF JUDGMENT. 
  • 4) I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.
  • 5) I will bring you into the land I swore to give to your fathers, and give it to you as a possession. I AM THE LORD.”

“Now, Moses, go in, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the people of Israel go out of his land!” 

And so the contest begins. In the end, Israel will be free and wealthy. Egypt will be broken and without an army, a leader, or a son to take his place.

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As the writer of this book, Moses takes a moment to give us his and Aaron’s genealogy.  Jacob’s third son, Levi, had three sons (important regarding the duties of the Tabernacle and Temple worship). They are Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.  Moses and Aaron are descended from the line of Kohath through Amram and his wife, Jochebed.  (Levi lived 137 years, Kohath lived 133 years, and Amram lived 137 years.  At this time, Moses is 80, and Aaron is 83. Their sister Miriam is somewhere between 87-92 (sources differ).

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 30

Jan30

Day 30. Reading in Exodus 1 – 3. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and meditate on it. What do you learn about God?

Exodus 1.

.And … the eleven sons of Jacob-Israel are named again (Joseph already has been in Egypt). They and all that generation die. And the children of Israel greatly increase, multiply, and grow strong so that the land is FILLED with them. 100 years after, the number of men, women and children had grown to TWO MILLION. They had become a nation, just as God had told Abraham.

Several Pharaohs had reigned since the one who elevated Joseph. The current king was ruthless and evil. He looked at the mass of strong Israelites, and fear gripped his heart. “If” war broke out, these “foreigners” might join the enemy army. So he gradually turned them into slaves with taskmasters to build store cities for him. When that didn’t slow the population growth, he worked them harder in the fields and in making bricks.

Then, this diabolical king (probably Thutmose 1) told the midwives to kill all boys being born to the Israelite women.  They refused and lied to him, so he made it a “national” law that everyone, seeing a Jewish baby boy, was to grab him and throw him into the Nile River to drown or to be food for the crocodiles.

How many were killed, we don’t know, but before we judge this wicked man, think of the hundreds of thousands of abortions our country has allowed (promoted) over the years.

Exodus 2.

During these atrocities, two descendants of Levi (Amram and Jochebed) marry and begin a family. They have a daughter (Miriam), then a son, a beautiful, healthy baby.  The mother keeps him as long as she can, but his cries will soon bring vengeful neighbors to take him to the Nile.  So, she does it herself, except her baby is wrapped up and placed into a watertight basket before going into the river. A gentle push and the baby’s amazing voyage begins. He is carefully watched by his older sister.

The baby floats into the reeds near the pool where Pharaoh’s daughter (and her ladies-in-waiting) are bathing. THEN it starts to cry. The ladies bring her the basket, and immediately, her heart goes out to the beautiful infant. She smiles and perhaps tickles the little one until it stops crying, then she takes it into her arms and cuddles it close. She opens the blankets and discovers that the baby is a boy … an Israelite boy. (He is circumcised.) But she already wants him for her own. 

Right then, Miriam steps up, bowing, and offers a wet nurse to feed the baby. Pharaoh’s daughter is not fooled, but she wants the boy and sees the practicality of having “his mother” feed him.  She promises to pay this “wet nurse” and expects the boy to be brought to her as soon as he is weaned. And so, for three to four years, Amram and Jochebed sing and speak the stories of their God and His promises to the little boy.

“God has chosen them. God is with them. God has promised to rescue them and bring them to their own land. God always keeps His promises.”  A lullaby and alphabet lesson of faith.

The time comes. and Jochebed presents her son to Pharaoh’s daughter. She’s done all she can to instill in the boy his Hebrew heritage. Now, she entrusts him to God. 

Your name is Moses (drawn out) because I drew you out of the water. “And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.” (Acts 7:21)

At forty, Moses was a man of stature, education, and importance. Raised an Egyptian, he nevertheless remembered that “his people” were Israel.  One day, as he watched how they were being treated, he saw a taskmaster mercilessly beating a Hebrew. Fury rose in him, and he struck the Egyptian down dead. Quickly, he buried him in the sand. (not a ‘smart’ move, as the wind would soon uncover the body).  

Moses felt good (if a bit scared) about his actions.  Surely, his people would recognize him as “their savior.”

NOT SO!  The next day, when he tried to break up a fight between two Hebrews, they reminded him of what he’d done to the Egyptian. “Who made you PRINCE and judge over us?”

Ah-oh!

Suddenly, Moses was afraid. Pharaoh would kill him if the stern man learned he’d murdered an Egyptian. So Moses ran.  He ran and ran, all the way across the desert he would one day lead God’s people.  He ran to Midian. (Midian was a descendant of Abraham by his second wife, Keturah.) 

At a well (where it seems all Hebrew men meet their wives), Moses met seven daughters of a priest of Midian.  When the man learned that a handsome, strong Egyptian had helped his daughters, he invited Moses to dinner.  The rest is history. Moses married Zipporah and they had a couple sons.

And he became a shepherd of sheep.  (This began the second 40-year phase of his education.  How do you lead, feed, run after, and care for a bunch of unruly, dumb sheep? Or people.)

Meanwhile, Pharaoh died. The slavery of Israel got tougher.  They groaned and cried out for help.  God heard the groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (For 400 years they’d serve another nation, then He’d bring them back to the land.)

“God saw the people of Israel, and God knew.”

Exodus 3.

One day, the 80-year old-shepherd Moses, was out with his sheep on the west side of the desert near Horeb (Sinai), the “mountain of God.” He was watching the white wooly backs serenely, when suddenly the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush, that didn’t itself burn. 

“Whoa. What’s going on here?”

“Moses, Moses!”

“What?  Here I am.”

“Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.”

And Moses quickly untied and took off his sandals.

“I AM the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look AT GOD.

“I have SEEN the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have HEARD their cry because of their taskmasters. I KNOW their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and bring them up to that good and broad land, flowing with milk and honey.

“Come,  I will send YOU to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

“WHAT??? I can’t do that!! Who am I to deliver Israel out of Egypt???”

“I will be with you, and this is a sign for you, that I’ve sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God ON THIS VERY MOUNTAIN.”

“Who shall I tell the people sent me? (A bush?)

“I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel. The LORD the God of your fathers… has send me. This is His name forever. Go, Moses, gather the elders of Israel and say that the LORD, the God of their fathers has appeared to you and promised to bring them up out of affliction.

Then, go to the king and ask that the people go a three-day journey into the desert to sacrifice to their God. He won’t let you go, so I will strike Egypt with plagues, and then he WILL let you go. And when you ask them, all the Egyptians will give you silver and gold jewelry, and clothing. AND YOU WILL PLUNDER THE EGYPTIANS!

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Tomorrow, we will see Moses’ response.