Leviticus 1-7 - Laws Regarding Offerings

Here God sets up the rules for the various offerings the Israelites were expected to bring. I commented in an earlier post about how offerings are up to us and our own consciences, but these were required by God and so in that respect they were not really offerings. It's difficult to know what else to call them though. 'Demands' makes God sound like a diva or petulant child. 'Duties' would possibly be better, but I will stick to the Biblical word 'offerings'. However, it is worth remembering that these were written into the law and the covenant, and were compulsory if one wanted to obey God and remain under His provision and protection.

First comes the burnt offering. A young male animal, without defect, was to be taken to the Tent of Meeting. The person offering it would place his hand on its head, so that it could make atonement for him; then the priest would kill it, sprinkle its blood on the altar, and burn it as "an aroma pleasing to the Lord". So why make this sacrifice? The key is in the business about laying hands on the animal so it can atone for the person. No mention is made yet of sin and so this is not atonement for any particular wrongdoing. It is perhaps better understood as purification - through the sacrifice, the person was made clean in order that he may address God. It seems that this ritual was performed each time a person needed to talk with God, as a sort of introduction. Like shaking hands and giving your host a bottle of wine. But what about the sacrifice itself? I always presumed God wanted male animals because they were considered superior, but I now think it more likely that it is because they were more disposable - a herd could survive with only a few males for reproduction, but it needed many females to bear and suckle young. God was kindly making sure that the sacrifices didn't kill off the livestock. He did want the best though - not because He's selfish, but because He deserves it. And what of the "pleasing aroma"? Well, I guess the point is that this was not just about ticking boxes to get what you wanted, it was about satisfying God.

Next is the grain offering, which fulfilled the same purpose as the burnt offering, but replaced the animal with a mixture of flour, oil and incense. It is not made explicit in the text, but my Bible commentary tells me that the grain offering was considered a suitable substitute for those too poor to afford livestock. The old covenant can often seem very strict and unforgiving, and it was certainly tough justice, but it was not unbending. God sees our situation and He makes allowance accordingly. He only asks that we give from what we have and He never asks for more than we can afford, even if it may be more than we want to give.

Then there is the fellowship offering, which comes in three forms - the thanksgiving offering, the vow offering and the freewill offering. I think they all speak for themselves, really. This offering is similar to the burnt offering, except that the sacrificial animal could be male or female, suggesting this kind of sacrifice was less frequent and therefore they could afford to sacrifice a female; the thanksgiving offering also required a gift of several types of loaves; and while the innards and fat of the animals were burnt as an offering to God, the meat was eaten as part of a meal shared by the person making the offering and his family and friends. That brings us nicely to the purpose of this offering. The three types of offering are lumped together under the heading of 'fellowship' because they all involved a communal meal. Think of it like this. You've had some fantastic news, or you want to seal a deal, or you just feel like enjoying a good meal with some friends, so you organise a little get-together. But it's not a real party unless God is invited, so you go to His dwelling place to offer Him some of your meal before you get stuck in. It's an over-simplification maybe, but I love the idea of inviting God to the the party. I think we should that more often.

Now comes the sin offering, which is what people are really thinking of when they think of sacrifice. If a priest, a leader, an individual or the whole community sinned and did "what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands", even unintentionally, they had to make a sacrifice to God as atonement for their sin in order to be forgiven. If the sin was unintentional and unknown, the person could only make atonement once it had been brought to their attention and because of this, it was incredibly important that the people held each other accountable. I think it still is important. That doesn't mean judging or criticising each other, it means gently bringing attention to dangerous or inappropriate behaviour for the good of the other person, not for our own gratification or amusement. But onto the actual offering. Different sacrifices are specified for different people - priests must give a young bull, leaders a male goat, and individuals a female goat or lamb (although again, exceptions are made for those who cannot afford that). I'm not entirely sure why this was the case, but my guess is that individuals were called to give a female animal because a sin offering required a more costly sacrifice, but leaders and priests were exempted from this higher tariff because they did not have their own livestock and so it would be unfair for someone else to lose out on their behalf. That's jut supposition though, and I'd be grateful if anyone either knows any more information on this or knows where I can find it. Anyway,moving on. In the second half of this section, a list of specific sins is given. It is not an exhaustive list, but it includes sins which are accidental and sins of omission - the sort of sins that it is all too easy to try and excuse. I think the point of mentioning these specifically is that no sin is excusable and we can't try and wriggle our way out of the consequences.

Then there is the guilt offering, which sounds like it should be the same as the sin offering, but is slightly different. Whereas the sin offering covered sins against other people, the guilt offering was to do with sins against God. A person is called to bring a guilt offering because he has sinned "in regard to any of the Lord's holy things" and he must bring a ram from the flock and make restitution for his sin, adding one fifth of the value. My best understanding is that this refers to the defiling of sacred objects, and I presume that restitution was necessary as well as sacrifice because the guilty person had to compensate the priests for the loss of the defiled item, which could no longer be used because it was no longer holy. A person also had to bring a guilt offering if he did "what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands". This is the same phrase used in the passage on the sin offering, but here it is appended with "he has been guilty of wrongdoing against the Lord", so again I think it refers specifically to a sin against God - maybe blasphemy or breaking the Sabbath.

It's maybe worth asking here why animal sacrifices were necessary at all. Well, the law had already established that if you aggrieved someone, you had to make reparation - an eye for an eye, the full bride price, double what was stolen, and so on. Sacrifice was a way of making reparation to God. He is a spiritual being and doesn't need anything material, so nothing we could give would really be suitable, and therefore we may as well give anything. I think meat and grain were chosen because they are essentials, and so giving them up was a real sacrifice. It meant something to the person giving it.

Also included are some rules about what the Israelites were and were not allowed to eat. Fat and blood were forbidden, seemingly because they were God's share. Just as he asked for males because He knew the people needed the females more, He now asks for the fat and the blood because He knows the people need the meat. Again we see that He does not take what we cannot afford to give, and He makes sure we have what we need. Suddenly the offerings don't seem like such a burden.

This section concludes with the details of the priest's share (it has already been alluded to earlier on in the passage, but for the sake of clarity I left it until now to discuss it). A certain portion of each offering, be it grain or meat, was allotted to the priests for their food. This doesn't appear to have been a purely ceremonial thing. It is described as their "regular share" and it is my understanding that it was through this system that the priests were sustained. Their duties meant that they were unable to farm or keep their own livestock, so God legislated for this and made sure that they would not go without. But it all depended on the people giving their offerings - the priests relied on the community and the community had a responsibility towards them. The same goes for us now. We can't all do everything, and so we must support each other where we can and allow others to support us.

You may ask why we need to study these laws when they no longer apply. Well, they may not be part of the new covenant, but to appreciate the new we must first understand the old. When Jesus died, He took the place of each of these offerings, and so we can only understand the true meaning of His sacrifice in the light of these laws. Then there's the fact that some ideas - like accountability and responsibility for others - do still apply. And of course, whether a passage seems immediately relevant or not, it still reveals something of God. And isn't that the main point of the exercise?

Exodus 32-40 - The Golden Calf and the Glory of God

Moses is gone a long time, so the the people grow restless and begin to question him, and decide to make gods of their own. Aaron - Moses' brother and the high priest of Israel - not only allows this to happen, but is instrumental in the fashioning of the golden calf that the people then worship. If anyone should have known better, it was him, but he screwed up most spectacularly. No one is infallible. There is some comfort to be taken from that, but at the same time we must not use it to excuse our own bad behaviour. Saying "everyone else is doing it" does not make it acceptable.

God sees the people worshipping the golden calf and sends Moses away "that [His] anger may burn against them and that [He] may destroy them". Things could go very badly for the Israelites, but Moses appeals on their behalf, asking God to remember His promises and not to give the Egyptians any cause to question Him, and God listens to Moses and He relents. He reacts violently in the first instance, but then He calms down and acts mercifully. We are made in God's image and so we inherit His characteristics. For some that will mean having a quick temper, and that's okay as long as we learn to control it. We must mimic God's behaviour as well as His temperament.

Moses goes back down the mountain to the people and in his anger and disappointment he destroys the golden calf and smashes the two stone tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments. He then calls the faithful to him and tells them that God has ordered them to go throw the camp, killing friend and brother and neighbour. It's another one of those passages that you wish didn't exist, but I think it has something to say about loyalty and faithfulness - following God may mean making some difficult decisions and carrying out some tough tasks, but in all things His word is sovereign and His will is to be obeyed.

After striking the people with a plague – He may have promised not to bring disaster on them, but the law still demanded that He punish them – God tells Moses to move on and go up to “the land flowing with milk and honey”. But this time, He says He will not be going with them because if He did He would destroy them. At this point, we are told of how “the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”. I can barely speak, let alone write sensibly about a sentence like that. Almighty God, Creator of the Universe, Lord of Heaven and Earth spoke to Moses like a friend. He didn’t just bark orders at him or use him as a messenger or errand boy. He spoke to Him as an equal and chatted to him as a friend. It’s a mindblowing image, and it can often seem so incredible that surely it can’t be for us, but it is. That’s the sort of relation ship every single one of us can have with God. Wow. Just wow.

As Moses talks with God, he asks Him to teach him His ways, that he may know Him and continue to find favour with Him; and he asks Him to reconsider and go with the Israelites, that all may know that they are His people. God agrees to everything Moses has asked, but he still wants more. He knows that God is more than just a friend and He wants to know Him in all His fullness, so he asks God to show him His glory. It may sound rather cheeky, asking things of God, but I believe He welcomes it. God won’t force Himself on us, so if we want to see Him, we must seek Him out. He’s not hard to find, because He wants to be found. God tells Moses to meet Him on the mountain the following day, and He will show him His glory. All of His goodness will pass before him and He will proclaim His name, but he will cover him until He has passed so that he will only see His back, because no man can see the face of God and live (so presumably when the writer said God talked to Moses “face to face” it was a figure of speech). So the next day, Moses goes to the mountain and everything happens as God had said it would. God passes by Him and declares Himself as a God of love and compassion and forgiveness. Is it any wonder that when Moses returns to the people His face is glowing? Do we glow from our experiences of God?

Much of the rest of Exodus repeats commandments and instructions already given. I’m not entirely sure why these things need repeating at such length in the same book, but there you have it. Maybe it is something to do with the way the text was compiled, or maybe it is to make the point that we often need to be told something over and over gain before we’ll pay any attention. One small difference I have noticed, however, is the emphasis this time around on the involvement of the whole community. That phrase is used several times, and the writer seems to be at great pains to point out that that means both men and women. The Bible can be so patriarchal and misogynistic that it makes a refreshing change for the role of women to be noted so definitely. We have plenty to give too.

Exodus ends with the completion of the tabernacle and the consecration of the priests. It seems all is forgiven, because despite his earlier mistake, Aaron is still consecrated a priest to the Lord and God comes down to dwell among his people. And we are told that in all their travels, the Israelites moved on only as the cloud that was the presence of God moved, and so the cloud was in the sight of the Israelites always. God may not always be so visible in our own lives, but He is just as present and He wants us to follow Him. I guarantee it will be an adventure.

Exodus 25-31 - The Tabernacle

Having confirmed the covenant, God gives Moses instructions for the building of the tabernacle, the fashioning of priestly garments and the consecration off priests. There's a lot of detail here and it's tempting to wonder if this is really how the conversation went. Was God really such a fussy interior designer? Or did the tabernacle have to look like that for spiritual reasons? Rather than God describing the tabernacle, did Moses maybe see a vision that he felt obligated to replicate exactly? Or is this someone else's vision that is ascribed to God? How far we can trust that the Bible is an accurate record of God's word is a big question - huge, in fact - and it is one I will come back to when I can tackle it properly. For now, I'll take this passage at face value.

I won't go into all the finer points of God's instructions to Moses, although I will say that the tabernacle and priestly garments would have been rich and impressive. Instead, I'll just pick out a few points of interest. The first thing that strikes me is the fact that God instructs Moses to collect gifts only from "each man whose heart prompts him to give". He demands sacrifices, but He leaves offerings up to us. I guess that's the point - we have to offer them. There is a certain level that He requires, but beyond that it is up to act as we see fit. That may be an opportunity to get away with doing little or nothing, but it is also a chance to do something out of love rather than duty, and it is by these actions that our character will be judged. And just as God's dwelling place was built on the offerings of those whose hearts were moved to give, His kingdom will be built on the actions of those whose hearts are moved to serve.

The next thing that interests me is a reference to the bread of the Presence, presumably so called because it was bread laid on the altar in the presence of God. Bread is symbolic of sustenance and fellowship, as it feeds us and unites us as we come together to eat, and so this bread can be seen as a symbol of God's provision and desire to meet with us. It also provides some context for Jesus' claim to be the bread of life - He was using imagery the Jewish people would have been familiar with and recalling the first covenant and all of the promises and history that went with it. He did not come from nowhere - He was the continuation and fulfillment of all that had gone before.

There is also a reference to the Urim and the Thummim, two stones which were a part of the priestly get-up. I had no idea what these were, so I did a quick internet search which informed me that the words Urim and Thummim aer thought to translate as "innocent" and "guilty" and that it seems they were used for divination, to decide a verdict in a criminal case. This may seem strange as divination is generally associated with the occult, but it is not the occult practices themselves that are the problem, rather what is behind them. The occult draws its power from dark and evil forces, and that is why it is so dangerous and strictly forbidden; however, these stones drew their power from God, and so there was nothing wrong with them. It's like that old adage - it's not what you do, it's the way that you do it.

Having detailed the designs for the tabernacle and priestly garments, God lays out the ceremony for the consecration of priests. The priests were the link between man and God, acting as representatives for the people and interceding on their behalf. Jesus' death and resurrection won each one of us the right to have a personal relationship with God, and so Christian ministers are not called to perform that role, but they do still have a great deal of responsibility. They are put in place to be leaders, counsellors and teachers, for the Church. This doesn't make them better or more important than anyone else, but it does mean they need to be honoured, respected and supported by the rest of the Church.

A little later on, God establishes the idea of atonement money, where at each census, each man old enough to be registered gives a half shekel as ransom for his life. God is very clear that everyone is to give a half shekel - the rich are to give no more and the poor are to give no less. This may seem a little unfair - surely the poor should be allowed to give only as they can afford - but the point is that every life is worth the same. A person's worth is not dependent on his wealth.

God seems to have given His people an awful lot of work to do, but He's got it covered. He chooses a man named Bezalel to take charge of the craftmanship, saying that He has filled him with the Spirit of God as wells as skill and knowledge, and appoints another man named Oholiab to help him. God chooses specific people for specific jobs and equips them with everything they need to complete the task. Or maybe it is the other way round. Maybe He blesses us with gifts us and then finds use for them. However it is, He makes sure there is always someone capable of doing His work.

Exodus 21-24 - Laws of Justice and Mercy

With the Ten Commandments, God has set a basic moral standard, but now He gives Moses a list of laws which demonstrate how those commandments are to be put into effect. Here we find details of specific crimes and their punishments, and some basic rules for governing society. Again, God gives practical as well as moral and spiritual guidance.

First, some instructions regarding Hebrew servants. When the passage talks about buying servants, it may sound suspiciously like slavery, but this is not slavery as practiced in eighteenth century Europe and America. I've done a little reading, and according to my Bible commentary, the term "Hebrew servant" refers to an Israelite who has fallen into debt or destitution. When a person fell onto hard times, they could choose to sell themselves into servanthood, but their master could only own them for six years. When the six years were up, the servant could choose to either be released without debt and make a fresh start, or remain a servant in his master's house. It was always up to the servant, and at no point could anyone be held as a slave against their will. In fact, later on in this passage, kidnapping and selling another person is expressly forbidden. The only time one person was permitted to sell another was in the case of a father selling his daughter, but a daughter was her father's possession in as much as she was under his protection, and it was still about provision. This option was generally taken when a family couldn't afford a dowry, meaning the daughter would be unable to marry, and would therefore have no support after her parents had died. The law was very careful to make sure that a daughter sold as a servant would be cared for, and so this way she was guaranteed security, shelter and sustenance.

The system of servanthood was set up to provide a safety net for those in need. It is true that their lower status restricted their rights (for example, their master was allowed to beat them as long as they recovered within a couple of days), but it is also undeniable that they were better off than they would have been had they remained destitute. I'm not saying I agree with these practices - I find the idea of somebody owning another person abhorrent in any situation, and in no circumstance should a person's rights be restricted - but I think it is important to recognise that these laws were actually relatively kind, and the focus was on provision for the servant.

Next, we move on to personal injuries, and here we have a series of violent crimes and their appropriate punishments, mainly capital punishment. This area of the law worked on the basis of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". It sounds harsh, and I don't like it, but really it's only fair. If you take something, you should give it back. God wasn't being cruel or vengeful, He was being just. And there is some leniency here - provision is made for a sanctuary, allowing an accused person to defend their name and escape punishment if the death is judged to have been accidental. Still, this law is a prime example of the need for caution when reading the Old Testament. Jesus expressly taught against this kind of thinking (see Matthew 5:38-39) and His teaching must take precedence. If you want to learn about something, you look to the most recent information, right? Well it's the same with the Bible. So what changed? The simple answer is everything. When Jesus died and rose again, He ushered in a new way, a new law, a new way of relating to God. The old covenant was based on justice, but the new covenant is based on grace. Jesus took the punishment for our sins, so we don't have to. That's what's really unfair, but isn't it wonderful?

The next section deals with protection of property, and this works on the basis that a thief must pay back double what he took. Again, this is a law based on justice - the thief must make both restitution and compensation, making amends by undoing the damage he had done and then making up by giving of his own. It sounds to me like an excellent basis for an apology.

Now we have various laws regarding social responsibility. They're a bit of a mixed bag, but they're all aimed at making society run more smoothly. If a man rapes a virgin, he must marry her unless her father forbids it, but in either case he must pay the father the full bride-price for a virgin. I initally wrote that this law displayed a complete lack of consideration for the woman, and suggested that the needed to take human feelings into account.  I stand by that last point, and I still think the law would have caused a great deal of pain for those women forced to marry their rapists, but I think I may have missed something the first time around.  Any woman who had been raped would have been considered poor marriage material, and so I think this law was really about making sure the rapist was held accountable for his actions and the woman was provided for.  Of course it would have been better for society to have changed its thinking so that rape bore no stigma and a rape survivor was never punished for what she had suffered, but the law was more compassionate than I perhaps gave it credit for.

We are then told very briefly that sorcery and bestiality are punishable by death, but I think they will be dealt with again later. Next there are instructions to care for foreigners, because the Israelites were once foreigners too; and to care for widows and orphans, because they are vulnerable. If you take these laws together with the laws regarding servants, you can see the beginnings of the world's first welfare state. It seems that whatever certain corners of the church might think, God is a liberal and He does not just help those who help themselves. Finally, if you lend money, do not charge interest; and if you take someone's cloak as a deposit, give it him back before nightfall so he does not freeze. Basically act out of kindness, not just personal interest.

Now come reminders of a couple of the commandments. The section the NIV calls "Laws of justice and mercy" (from which I got the title of this entry) basically elaborates on the ninth commandment, demanding honesty in all legal proceedings and human interaction. The sabbath laws are then extended to include leaving fields fallow for one year out of seven, and it is made clear that the Sabbath is for all - servants and animals included.

Having set out His laws, God now establishes three annual festivals - the Feast of Unleavened Bread, to commemorate the exodus, the Feast of Harvest and the Feast of Ingathering. At these times, all the men of Israel must appear before God. It almost sounds like God is making a date with His people. He knows that we have tendency to stray, so He gives us these opportunities to come back to Him. He then promises that an angel will go before the Israelites to clear the way for them, and He warns the people against mingling with other peoples because He fears the will be tempted into worshipping their gods. We must follow Jesus' example in reaching out to everyone, but at the same time we must heed this warning and be careful that we do not allow others to lead us astray.

Finally the covenant is confirmed. The leaders of Israel set up twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes, because all the people are a part of the covenant, and then they make sacrifices and sprinkle the blood on the altar and the people. The first covenant was sealed with blood, so the second had to be too - that's part of the reason that Jesus died. Moses and the leaders then went up mountain and saw God. I missed this minor detail the first time I read the passage because it's said so casually. Meeting with God is always an awesome experience, and we should never dismiss or devalue it, but wouldn't it be great if it was so much a part of our lives that we could just drop it in to everyday conversation? The leaders then then eat and drink in God's presence to confirm the covenant. Sound familiar? Communion is our covenant meal, eaten in the presence of God, and maybe as we eat and drink we should think on that and remember all of His promises to us and the responsibilities we have to Him in return.

After this meal, Moses stays on the mountain for forty days. We'll see next time what else God has to say to Him.

Exodus 19-20 - The Ten Commandments

Three months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites reach Mount Sinai. God calls to Moses from the mountain and tells him to tell the people that if they obey Him and keep His covenant, they will be His "treasured possession". The Israelites had been shown favour by God before - He had brought them out of Egypt, after all - but that was because of the promises He had made to their ancestors, Abraham and Jacob. This is the moment when the Israelites themselves become a chosen people. I think the phrases God uses are really important. When He calls them His treasured possession, it doesn't mean that of all the people He only likes them. You may cherish one particular thing above all others, but it doesn't mean you stop like everything else. God never stopped caring about the rest of His creation. And it's interesting that this promise comes with a condition - God will favour them only if they keep His commands. God will prize them above all other peoples only if the prove themselves more worthy. However, that doesn't mean that His love was conditional, only their status. God also calls Israel "a kingdom of priests". If all of the Israelites are priests, then who is their congregation? It must be everyone else. God hadn't forgotten everybody else - He wanted to use Israel to reach them, to bring them into the covenant too. It's not God' fault if the Israelites selfishly kept God's promises to themselves.

Moses gives God's word to the people and they promise to obey Him, so He tells Moses to tell the people to consecrate themselves because He is going to appear to them. God also tells Moses to set limits around the base of the mountain because if anybody touches the mountain while He is there, they will die. He is very definite on this point and seems most anxious to make sure it is understood. I'm not entirely sure why the people couldn't come to near to God, though I think it's probably something to do with Him being so awesome and them being so lowly and sinful that neither of them could stand the presence of the other. Whatever the case, I think the most important point is that God wanted His people to see Him and experience something of His power, but He also wanted to keep them safe. Things are different now, though. Our sins have been washed away and we have been raised up, so that we can now enter the presence of God without fear. More of that later.

So the people consecrate themselves and gather around the base of the mountain, and God appears in great fire and smoke preceded by thunder and lightening. He certainly knows how to put on a show. And then He delivers to Moses the Ten Commandments. These seventeen verses are some of the most important and well-known in the whole Bible, but maybe because of that they are often skimmed over. They're so familiar that they can sort of fade into the background of our minds, but I think it's worth spending some time really looking at what they are and what they mean for us:

You shall have no other gods before me. To some, this may sound like a slightly redundant commandment. There are no other gods - when it comes to supreme divine beings, God's the only one - so how could we have any other gods, before Him or otherwise? The answer is we can't, but maybe that's not what this commandment is about. If, as in yesterday's passage, we understand 'gods' to mean something along the lines of 'rulers', then what God is really saying here is "You shall have no higher authority than me". God is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the big boss, the head honcho. It is His law that we obey, it is He who we most respect and revere, and it is from Him that we seek guidance and protection. No man has more power or authority than God, and all human leaders are under Him.

You shall not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. The first commandment was about who we obey and where our loyalties lie. This second commandment is about who we worship. The word 'images' is sometimes used in place of 'idols', but there is a clear distinction. There is nothing inherently wrong with making images (or objects or ideas for that matter) but they can become idols when we set them in place of God and begin to worship them, and that is what this commandment forbids. And notice God says we are not to make idols of "anything". This isn't just about worshipping statues of other (false) gods. It's about our attitudes towards everything - cars, shoes, money, power, fame, relationships...the list could go on. We should value nothing higher than God. But there's more here than just the commandment, because God goes on to say that He is a jealous God and that He will punish sinners' children to the third and fourth generations, but He will love to a thousand generations of those who love and obey Him. I don't believe God really does punish children for the sins of the father, I think what this really means is that God's anger is nothing compared to His boundless love.

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Although the word is not used in this verse, this commandment is essentially about blasphemy in its widest sense. The word blasphemy originally comes from Greek words meaning "I injure" and "reputation"- in essence, it is anything that injures God's reputation. That can include demeaning Him by using His name flippantly, making false promises in His name, attributing evil things to Him and seeking to excuse our own sin by claiming we were acting in His name. Taking the Lord's name in vain is often seen as a lesser crime because other than causing offence (to those dismissively described as sensitive) it doesn't appear to harm anyone, but is that really the case? Many writers, including Thomas Aquinas and the authors of the Book of Concord, have described blasphemy as the greatest of all sins because it is an offence specifically directed at God. He has feelings too, and we need to recognise that and make a conscious effort not to hurt them.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. This is the one that puzzles me the most. Not the commandment itself, but our inability to keep it. We're constantly complaining about how tired and busy we are, and here is God telling us to have a day off and just relax, and yet we don't listen. For intelligent beings, we can be incredibly dim at times. We clearly haven't quite got this one yet, so let's look for a moment at what God actually says. God tells us not to work on the Sabbath because he made the universe in six days and rested on the seventh. This tells us three things. 1) The only instruction is not to work. Somewhere along the line, so many Sabbath laws were invented that it became a nuisance and a chore, but here all God says is "don't work". In other words, chill out. That's all. 2) God made the entire universe in six days, so we have no excuse for not getting all of our work done in that time. We don't need to work every day, and we can afford to take a day off. 3) Even God rested. I very much doubt that He needed a break, so I can only presume that He took a day off simply because He wanted to. I don't know what He did during that time, but I'm sure He really enjoyed it. Taking some time out to relax and have fun is a good thing, and we shouldn't feel guilty about it. We have permission.

Honour your father and mother. It is often noted that this is the only commandment that comes with a reward - "so you may live long in land the Lord your God is giving you". I think it is this addendum that is the key to understanding the commandment. Family was hugely important to the Israelites - you only need to look at the number of genealogies given in the Old Testament to see that. Society was built around the family, and it was family that defined and preserved the nation of Israel as history, culture and religion were passed down from parents to their children. They could only live long in the promised land if the people remained united, and that could only happen if families held together. This was about more than just the people respecting their parents, it was about community. We should naturally honour our parents as fellow human beings, and as the people who brought us into the world and cared for us when we were most vulnerable, but we should also think a little wider and consider how we respond to society at large.

You shall not murder/You shall not commit adultery/You shall not steal/You shall not give false testimony about your neighbour. I'll treat these four together, because they all come under the general heading of "Be nice to other people". God doesn't give any reasons for instating these laws, and I don't think He needs to. They form the basic principles of any moral code anywhere at anytime and I don't think many would argue with any of them. Plenty of people break them, but mostly they do so in the knowledge that they are doing something wrong. But why is it wrong when we can gain a lot from committing any one of these acts? Well, you could argue that it's about maintaining a harmonious society, but that's only part of it. Deep down the vast majority of us know that we should treat people the way we expect to be treated simply because it's right. We were made in the image of a loving God, and it's hardwired into us to care about others.

You shall not covet. This is an interesting one, because jealousy has no direct victim. Being jealous of someone doesn't hurt them, so why forbid it? Well, it can lead to murder or adultery or theft, which can all in turn lead to lies, so maybe God forbids it as a preventative measure. I think that's probably part of it, but I don't think that's the whole story. Because covetousness does have a victim - the person doing the coveting. Jealousy leads to dissatisfaction with our own lives, which can eat away at us and make us miserable and angry. It can also lead to us neglecting and losing what we do have. Maybe God warns us against it because He is trying to protect us. That may explain why we shouldn't be jealous, but didn't God just describe Himself as a jealous God? Isn't that a little hypocritical? It puzzled me for a long time, but with a little guidance, I've come to believe that this is because God is jealous for us out of love, whereas we are jealous out of greed. God's motives are faultless while ours leave a lot to be desired, and that is the difference.

So, in brief, there are the Ten Commandments. Just ten laws we have to follow. Should be easy, right?

Exodus 13-18 - On the Run and In the Desert

Chapter 13 begins with God saying once again that the Israelites must commemorate the day of the exodus, and making even clearer the importance of passing stories and traditions down to the next generation (see yesterday's post). God also says that "this observance will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead". The sign on the hand serves as a reminder to oneself (I'm forever scribbling to-do lists on the back of my hand so I don't forget anything) but the symbol on the forehead is intended for other people (unless you can write backwards and carry a mirror around with you, it wouldn't be a great place for a shopping list). Our traditions and ceremonies are not meant to be secret exclusive practices that only believers can know about. We should celebrate in public so that all can see and all can know what God has done for us.

When God leads the Israelites out of Egypt, he takes them through the desert to avoid Philistine country, where they may have faced confrontation and conflict. The desert road would not have been easy, but God knew that if the Israelites faced war they would become afraid and go back to Egypt. Sometimes we must suffer one trial to avoid an even greater one. So God leads His people through the desert, appearing to them as a cloud during the day and as a pillar of fire at night, never leaving them for a moment. He appears to them in the form most appropriate to their circumstances so that they may see Him and follow Him without hesitation. He appears to us in different ways at different times too. He won't always be as obvious as a column of flames, but if we are on the look out for Him we will see Him always.

As in the manner of all good films, things were never going to go smoothly. Pharaoh realises that he has just lost his entire slave population and changes his mind about letting the Israelites go, so the Egyptians follow them and they find themselves trapped between an aggressive army and the Red Sea (or sea of reeds). They start to lose faith, but as always God has a plan. He tells Moses to raise his hand and part the waters so that the Israelites can walk through on dry land. He does exactly that, and the people begin to cross. It was by God's power that the waters were parted, but it still needed Moses to show faith and obedience and raise his hand. He had a part to play, and so do we. God wants to do wondrous things today, but He can only do them if we believe and are willing to act on His behalf.

So the Israelite cross the Red Sea in safety, but when the Egyptian army follows, the waters close over them and they are drowned. I've always hated the idea that God could so easily kill so many people, but reading the passage this time, I noticed that once again Moses has to raise his hand over the sea in order to close the waters. It wasn't God alone that killed them. The Egyptians were destroyed because Moses allowed it to happen by choosing to use the power God had given him. God gave us free will which means he won't do anything without our permission, so before we start blaming Him for everything that is wrong in the world, maybe we should look to ourselves and ask what role we have played.

Having escaped the Egyptians, the Israelites celebrate with a song. The lyrics are pretty much what you'd expect - God is awesome, He destroyed our enemies, we will praise Him, and so on - except for one line which reads "Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?" Hold on a minute. The gods? I though Judaism was monotheistic. I thought there was only one God. Well, there is. According to a number of commentaries, the word 'gods' only means 'princes' or 'mighty men'. Remember, we might use the name God now, but in the Old Testament He was known as the Lord - back then, the word god wasn't synonymous with God. So by referring to other gods, they didn't mean there were other Gods. Does that make sense? Basically, what this verse is really saying is that God is better than all the powerful and revered men in the world.

The celebrations don't last long, though. The Israelites soon find themselves in the middle of the desert with no water, and when they finally do find water it is bitter. It's not long before they start moaning. Moses asks God what to do, and God shows him a piece of wood which he into the water, making it sweet. God then makes another covenant with the people, althouh it is described here as "a law and a decree". He says that if the people listen to Him and do what is right in His eyes, He will not bring down on them any of the diseases He brought down on the Egyptians. It sounds like God is ruling by fear - obey me or bad things will happen - but isn't that how any authority or justice system works? We accept it from the law, so why not from God? He wasn't being unfair. It's important that we understand and make our peace with the old covenant, but we also have to remember that it doesn't work like that anymore. Things are different under the new covenant of grace, but we'll come to that in time.

Having solved the water crisis, the people now start to complain that they have no food. You can't really blame them for getting a bit grumpy - being stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to eat can't be pleasant - but they could have been a little more proactive, praying to God instead of having a go at Moses. God hears their grumbling and devises a solution. That night the camp is covered in quail, and the next morning the dew leaves behind bread like thin flakes of frost. It's not clear if the quail comes every night, but every morning the bread (which they call manna) covers the ground of the camp, and so the people have enough to eat. God tells them only to collect as much as they need for that day, but some people try to store some, only to find that by the next morning it has gone mouldy. If they are to eat, the Israelites must collect fresh bread every day. I think this is a beautiful metapor for our relationship with God. We need to keep coming back to Him for refreshment, day after day after day. Sometime when we have a great experience of Him we try to feed off that for days or months or even years, but it's not enough. That experience may have been amazing but it was meant for that time, and while it's important that we remember it and celebrate it, we still need to keep meeting with God because He has more to give us. And the best thing about it? He's always there and always ready to meet with us. If the Israeiltes had decided they didn't want to eat one day, there would still have been bread the next. And if we don't talk to God for a day or a year or even many years, He'll still be there the day we decide to go back to Him.

The Israelites move on and again find themselves without water. And again they grumble, quarelling with Moses and questioning God. Have they not yet figured out that God is looking after them and providing for them? Why do they still doubt Him after all He's done for them? Why do we do the same thing? God of course provides them with water, but they face a new problem when the Amalekites attack. Moses sends Joshua and some men to fight them, and he stands on the top of a hill overlooking the battle, with his staff in his hand. Moses lifts his hands to God, and while he keeps them raised the Israelites win, but when he lowers his hands they start to lose. When he gets weary, Aaron and Hur hold his hands up, and eventually the Israelites beat the Amalekites. Ignoring the fact that this means yet more death and destruction, we see here the importance of involving God in our lives. The Israelites only won while they (through Moses) were appealing to God for help, because that is when they were strongest. We too are stronger when we ask and allow God to support us.

Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, comes to vist him with Moses' wife and children. Jethro is described as a "priest of Midian", which means that he worshipped someone other than God. Despite this, he praises the Lord for all he has done for Moses and acknowledges him as the greatest. Because of Moses' witness, he came to recognise God. We don't know if Jethro was converted or stopped being a priest of Midian because of this, but whatever happened later, for that moment he worshipped God. Our lives are testimony to the awesome nature of God, and simply witnessing to others, telling them about our lives, can be a powerful act.

Jethro also gives Moses some advice. Moses has been acting as sole judge of the Israelites, and it is an all-consuming job. Jethro tells him he will wear himself out, and so he suggests that Moses spread the workload by appointing other judges who can take care of the less serious cases. When God gives us a task to do, He doesn't necessarily intend for us to go it alone, because sometimes it's just too much. There is no shame in asking for help.

Exodus 7-12: Of Plagues and Passover

Pharaoh is still refusing to listen to Moses and Aaron, so now God shows the Egyptians his full might, unleashing on them a series of ten plagues. Can you name them all? I normally get to about seven and then draw a blank, but this time I have the advantage of having my Bible sat next to me. So, in order, they are the water turning to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, the death of all livestock, boils, hail, locusts, three days of darkness, and the death of all firstbon sons. There is a basic pattern to the plagues - Pharaoh refuses to let the Israelites go, God sends a plague, Pharaoh promises to let them go if Moses prays for the plague to end, Moses prays and God ends the plague, Pharaoh goes back on his word and refuses to let the Israelites go, God sends a plague...and so on and so forth.

Why is Pharaoh so stubborn? You may remember that yesterday's passage claimed that it is because God hardened his heart, an idea many find difficult to accept as it implies that God made Pharaoh disobey Him and then punished him for the sin that He had caused, making God seem cruel and unjust. Today's passage doesn't make things any easier. Again it says that God hardened his heart (9:12, 10:1), but it also says that he hardened his own heart (8:15, 32) and in other places it says simply that his heart was hard (8:19, 9:35). So which is it? Did God harden his heart? Was he deliberately obstinate out of pride? Or was he just naturally stubborn? And why are so many possible explanations given? Maybe the writer believed that nobody acts outside of God's will and so Pharaoh hardening his own heart is essentially the same as God hardening it, making the two phrases interchangeable. Maybe it means that God allowed Pharaoh to harden his heart. Maybe "God hardened Pharaoh's heart" is just an idiom or a metaphor, a throwaway comment that doesn't really mean anything. Maybe Pharaoh's experience of God hardened his heart, but it wasn't intentional on God's part - it is possible to make someone angry without meaning to. Or maybe we just have to accept that God did something we don't like for His own reasons, and it's not ours to judge.

I won't go through each plague individually because that will soon get dull and repetitive, but I will draw out a few points. The first three plagues seem to affect everyone, Egyptian and Hebrew alike, but the later plagues are more discriminate and the Egyptians suffer while the Hebrews are spared. It's the same for us. Sometimes God protects us but sometimes we suffer as the world suffers. It's tempting to think that God should keep us from all harm, and many new Christians struggle when they realise this is not the case, but the truth is that we are still a part of the world and so we can not expect to be exempted from all of its woes and hardships. Bad stuff happens and sometimes we get caught up in it. We should be thankful for the times we are saved, and seek God's help in the times when we are not.

The plague of hail is the first that threatens life and God gives the people a clear warning, telling them to stay indoors because anyone caught in the hailstorm will die. We see here that God did not want to cause death and destruction - the plagues were a message to Pharaoh, not an act of violent revenge. People died because they would not listen, not because of God. It's like when people ask why a loving God would condemn people to Hell. Well, I don't believe He does. He tells us that is the ultimate conqesuence of our sinful lives, but then He gives us every opportunity to save ourselves. Like the Egyptians who went outside in the storm, we condemn ourselves by our own actions.

All the way through, Moses makes it clear that it is God at work. He tells Pharaoh when God will send each plague, and when each plague will be stopped. At one point he even lets Pharaoh appoint the hour when he will pray for the plague to end, so that Pharaoh will know it is stopped through prayer and not by coincidence. What about us? Do we tell people when we are praying for them so that they can see their prayers answered? Do we let others know how God moves in our own lives? In a secular society, it can be really difficult to talk about God, but we need to be really open about God and about His work so that others can recognise him as Lord.

Before the final plague, God tells the Hebrews to kill a lamb and smear its blood on their doorposts so that the angel of death will pass over them and they will be kept safe, and also to bake bread without yeast because they will not have time for it to rise. Over and over again in the Old Testament we see God giving people detailed practical instructions (think back to Naoh and the ark). It's easy to think that God is only there for moral or spiritual guidance, but He wants to help us with the everyday realities of life too. And He never tells us to do something then leaves us to it.

After the plague on the firstborn and the death of his eldest son, Pharaoh finally relents and lets the Israelites go. God killing all the firstborn sons in Egypt is another one of those episodes that makes most Christians very uncomfortable. Why would He do something so terrible? The phrase "drastic times call for drastic measures" comes to mind. God had given Pharaoh plenty of chances, but his heart was hard and it needed to be broken before he would listen. That doesn't mean God was happy about it. I am totally convinced that it hurt Him as much as it hurt Pharaoh. He doesn't want to cause us pain, it's just that sometimes He has to make us listen. When there are signs telling us to do something, or to stop doing something, it is wise to heed them straightaway before drastic measures are required.

And so after 430 years in Egypt, the Hebrew people set out once more. Six hundred thousand men, plus women, children and livestoock just walk out of the country. It must have been quite a sight to behold. God tells them to set aside this day and commemorate it, keeping vigil on that night every year in rememberance of the vigil God kept over them. This is the origin of the Passover meal that Jews still celebrate today, thousands of years later. The tradition has only lasted so long because the Hebrews who were part of the exodus told the next generation what had happened, and then that generation told their children, who in turn told their children, and so it keeps going. It is our duty to remember and celebrate God not only for ourselves but also for others, sharing with them so that they too can know who He is and what He has done.

Exodus 5-7: Moses speaks to Pharaoh

So Moses meets Aaron and the two of them speak to the Israelite elders, who believe their words and signs and worship the Lord. They then go to speak to Pharaoh, asking that he allow the Israelites to journey into the desert for the three days to hold a festival to God. Pharaoh refuses, declaring that he does not know the Lord and will not obey Him. Even when Moses threatens him with plagues, he will not listen. Instead, he orders his slave drivers to make the Hebrew slaves find their own straw but stil produce the same number of bricks, increasing their workload and their misery. They appeal to Pharaoh, but he will not listen, so the Hebrew people start to turn against Moses and Aaron, blaming them for their worsened situation. We too can find ourselves in similar situations. Often when we try to serve God, the Devil attacks and tries to make life harder for us, but it is only a sign that he is threatened. It seems reasonable to assume that Pharaoh punished the Israelites because he was scared that Moses would spark a rebellion, and in the same way the Devil only attacks us when we interfere with his plans. If he's bothering us, we must be doing something right.

Moses challenges God, asking why He has made things worse for His people. God simply repeats His promises and reminds Moses of what He did for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses seems satisfied by this because he doesn't question God further but goes and takes His message to the people, who are not so convinced. It's difficult to blame them - things were pretty grim - but God has proved over and over again that He is true to His word, and so when things appear to be going wrong and we find it hard to believe God's taking care of it, we can look back and see that He has always kept His promises before, and so we can trust that He will always keep them in the future.

Next comes a family record of Moses and Aaron. It strikes me while reading these genealogical lists that there are so many people about whom we know nothing except their family. So many people who are known only as the father or mother of someone else. So many people who may not have done anything of note except that because of them someone else lived, someone who maybe did change the world. Being a parent is an important responsibilty.

God then tells Moses once again to speak to Pharaoh. The doubt of the Israelites has shaken his confidence though, and once again he questions his ability to speak to Pharaoh. This time God tells him that He has made him like God to Pharaoh. That doesn't mean that he is equal to God or that he is a god, it just means that he is standing in for God. God can't come down and talk to Pharaoh himself, so He has put Moses in His place. He wants to use us in the same way. I once heard a story from Soul in the City. A group of teenagers had done some gardeing for an old man, and at the end of the day he told one of the organisers "I never knew Jesus looked like that". Would people say the same of us? I know I would love for someone to say that of me.

God also says that He will harden Pharaoh's heart so that He will not listen. I find this very difficult, because that would mean that "the mighty acts of judgement" that follow as result of Pharaoh's hard heart are God's will rather than a last resort. Would God really deny Pharaoh the chance to act honourably and punish Egypt without giving them the chance to redeem themselves? Was judgement inevitable and Moses' demands and threats just a set up so that Pharaoh would know the punishment was from God? Does it change how we see God if this is the case? Hopefully the rest of the story will resolve a few of those questions.

Anyway, Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and to prove that they are messengers from God, Aaron throws his staff before Pharaoh and it turns into a snake. Pharaoh then summons his wise men and magicians and they each do the same thing, because magic is more than just myth. There really are dark powers at work, powers that are outside of and opposed to God, and these powers are evil. The truth is that evil is real, and it shouldn't be ignored or dismissed because then it can keep on with his work without being challenged. We need to recognise evil and stand against it, but we have no cause to fear. When the Egyptian sorcerers turned their staffs into snakes, Aaron's snake simply devoured theirs. God is stronger than all the other powers at work in this world, and so we do not need to be afraid.

I'll end there for now because chapter seven continues with the first plague, and I want to deal with the plagues together tomorrow.

Exodus 1-4 - Moses Is Called

As Exodus opens, Joseph and his brothers are dead, but their ancestors have been fruitful and multiplied greatly so that there is now a significant Israelite presence in Egypt. A new Pharaoh comes to power and is concerned by the huge number of foreigners living in his land, so he enslaves them and "uses them ruthlessly". He then orders the midwives to kill all baby boys in an attempt to limit population growth, but they refuse to comply and let the babies live, telling Pharaoh that they were born before they arrived. We are told that "God was kind to the midwives", honouring them for disobeying Pharaoh. Unfortunately this isn't a get out of jail free card, and it doesn't mean God always supports civil disobedience or out-and-out lawbreaking, but it does highlight the fact that we obey a higher law than that of man. Where this is a conflict, it is His rule that we must follow.

One of the Hebrew babies saved by the midwives is a boy called Moses. His mother hides him away for a few months, then when she can hide him no longer she places him in a basket and puts it in the reeds along the banks of the Nile. It must have broken her heart to put her child in such a vulnerable position, but she knew that it was the only way she could save him. Sometimes we have to take a risk and trust that it will work out in the end. And it does work out because the basket is found by Pharaoh's daughter, who decides to keep the child. Moses' sister, Miriam, is hiding nearby and offered to take him to an Israelite woman who can care for him until he is old enough to enter the palace. Pharaoh's daughter agrees to this plan, and so Moses is returned to his mother and she is able to raise the son she had feared she may lose. Then when Moses is grown, he is taken to the palace, where he becomes the son of Pharaoh's daughter. It must have been so hard for Moses' mother to give him up again, but she would surely have been comforted by the fact that she had enjoyed years with him that she may never have had and the knowledge that he would be well cared for. It's a hideous cliche, but when things look bleak, maybe we should count our blessings.

So Moses grows up in the palace, watching the Hebrews at their hard labour, knowing that he could so easily have been a slave too. One day he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, and something inside him must snap because he kills the slave master and hides his body. I wonder if this was the first time Moses had ever stood up to the Egyptians. Did he ever speak to Pharaoh, who was by now his adoptive grandfather, about the plight of the Israelites? Or did he bottle it up out of fear until all of his anger exploded in this act of violence? There's certainly no Biblical evidence to suggest that he ever tried to capitalise on his unique position as a Hebrew who was also a member of the Egyptian royal family. Moses was surrounded by great injustice, but instead of acting sensibly and constructively, all he did was lose his temper. Are we sometimes guilty of doing the same?

His crime having been found out, Moses decides to run away rather than face up to what he has done. He flees to Midian, where he meets and aids a group of seven sisters. Out of gratitude, their father invites Moses to stay with them and gives him one of his daughters in marriage (don't get me started on the whole idea of woman as reward). So Moses settles in Midian and starts a family, and like Joseph and Abraham before him, he fonds himself a stranger in a foreign land. A few years ago, the church I went to developed a slight obsession with the idea of comfort zones and how important it is to come out of them. It became just another meaningless cliche, and there was a time when if I'd heard those words one more time I would have screamed, but maybe there is something in it. When we are comfortable we can find ourselves settling into our own little rut, but maybe when our world has been turned everything upside down and nothing is certain, it is easier to make the sort of life changes God wants us to make.

And God certainly has some changes in mind for Moses. He has heard the cries of the Hebrews and He has remembered His covenant with Abraham and now He decides it's time to act, and Moses is the man to help Him. So one day, as Moses is tending his father-in-law's flock, God appears to him to tell him of His plan, and boy does He do it in style. Moses sees a bush that appears to be on fire yet is not burning up and naturally he is curious and goes over to get a closer look, at which point God calls to him from the bush and tells him to take off his sandals because he is standing on holy groud. God may not always appear quite so dramatically, but do we recognise his presence in our own lives? How does it affect us? Do we ever stand barefoot before the bush?

God tells Moses that He has seen the suffering of His people, and He has come down to bring them out of slavery and into a land of milk and honey. And then comes the killer punch. He is sending Moses back to Egypt to speak to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out. "Who am I to speak to Pharaoh?" Moses asks, and God doesn't respond by telling Moses that he's awesome and amazing and the only man in the entire world who could do this, which is what Moses would probably have liked to hear. No, He simply says "I will be with you". Because Moses was missing the point. This wasn't about him, it was about God. He was only the errand boy. So often when we feel a calling we respond like Moses, telling ourselves and God that we're not good enough, but our ability to step up and do what God has called us to does not depend on our ability. It depends only on our willingness to let God use us.

Moses' next question is "If people ask me, what is your name?" God has already introduced himself as "the God of your fathers" so Moses knows who he's speaking to, but he wants to know more. Maybe it's just a delaying tactic, or maybe he wants to know for sure that he's not going mad, or maybe he genuinely wants to learn more about the God who's sending him out on a seemingly impossible mission. Whatever his reason for asking, God tells him "I am who I am...Tell them 'I AM has sent me to you'". Later, He says He is to be known as the Lord, "Lord" being derived from "I am". So God is what He is and that's all He has to say on the matter. It's a rather enigmatic and somewhat evasive answer, but maybe that is because there is more to Him than just a name, and He wants us to find that out for ourselves.

God tells Moses he must go to Pharaoh and ask him to allow the Israelites to go to the desert for three days to offer sacrifices to Him, but He knows Pharaoh won't listen, so He will strike Egypt and then Pharaoh will let them go. The plan seems fairly clear, but Moses hasn't finished asking questions yet. Now he asks what to do of people don't believe that God has spoken to him. God replies by first turning his staff into a snake, and then making his hand leprous before healing it again. By these signs, God says the people will believe that Moses has been sent by Him. God has answered every one of Moses' quetions, but he's still not happy, still complaining that he's not up to the job. God tells him to get on with it because He will tell him what to say, but Moses asks Him to send someone else. It's no wonder God gets annoyed with him. He understands that sometimes we need reassurance, but there comes a point when we have to stop asking questions and just do it. But God is infinitely patient and gracious and so He agrees to send Moses' brother Aaron with him to speak for him. Moses isn't going to get out of this one, but he is going to get some help. God will never give us more than we can handle.

And so Moses finally shuts up and starts his journey back to Egypt. There's a really weird incident on the way where it seems that God is about to kill Moses, but his wife appeases Him by circumcising her son. When I first read this passage, my notes were simply a long line of question marks. Why would God send Moses on a mission then try and kill him? Well, a little investigation shows that the passage should perhaps say that God was about to kill Moses' son, not Moses himself. It's still rather harsh, but now it makes a little more sense. God was presumably going to kill the boy because he had not yet been circumcised and was therefore breaking the covenant. When we make an agreement with God it is not to be taken lightly. We must keep up our end of the deal, or there will be consequences. I'm not saying that God will try to kill us, but it will affect our relationship with Him.

Genesis 42-50 - Joseph: Part Two

Last time we saw Joseph, he had been promoted from prisoner to prime minister. I think it’s interesting that Joseph rises to become a political figure and win great success by the world’s standards. It can be easy to think that worldly success and Godly success are mutually exclusive, but Joseph shows us that this is not always the case – sometimes the two coincide. God gave us this world to look after, so if we are going to steward it effectively for him, we are going to have to get involved in worldly affairs. We don’t have to be doing something obviously spiritual in order to serve God – He calls people to all sorts of roles, including positions of power. We shouldn’t shy away from it if that is what we are called to – we just need to learn to guard our hearts and keep God above all else.

From his position of power, Joseph has a huge impact. First off, by interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams and organising the storing of food, he saves thousands from starvation. We may not all save a country from devastation, though it would be nice, but it does go to show that God can use us in magnificent ways, no matter who we are or where we come from. If Joseph could go from shepherd boy to slave to prisoner to governor of Egypt, anything is possible. Secondly, Joseph brings God into a country where He was previously unknown. Potiphar saw that God was with Joseph, and Pharaoh appointed him to be his second-in-command because he was full of the spirit of God. There’s no indication that Potiphar or Pharaoh came to worship God, but Joseph still managed to sow a seed there. He was the sole believer in a country stacked full of false gods, and I guess we can all feel the same at times. Osiris may be gone, but we still have the false gods of hero worship and materialism to contend with, and it can fell like an uphill struggle. Joseph shows us that there is hope though – just by living the way God wants us to, we can bring people to see God, even in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

But onto today’s reading. Everything has worked out the way Joseph said it would and seven years of plenty have been followed by seven years of famine, and so the people go to Joseph for food. The famine spreads to other countries too, including the land where Joseph’s family still lives. When Jacob hears that there is food in Egypt he sends his sons to buy some, although he keeps the youngest, Benjamin, back for fear of losing him. And so Joseph’s brothers travel to Egypt and find themselves standing in front of the brother they sold into slavery, asking him for food. They do not recognise him, but he recognises them. He accuses them of being spies and questions them about their family. They tell him they are twelve brothers, but one is at home and one is no more. Joseph says he will not believe them unless they bring their youngest brother to him, and so he sends them away with sacks of grain but keeps Simeon in prison until they return with Benjamin. When the brothers open their sacks, they find the silver they used to pay for the grain – even after all they did to him, Joseph is looking after them.

The brothers return home and tell Jacob everything that happened. Even though it means leaving Simeon in prison in a foreign land, Jacob refuses to let Benjamin travel to Egypt. It seems that having lost Joseph, he has transferred his affections to Benjamin, and he is now the favoured son. This doesn't seem to cause a problem between Benjamin and his brothers, perhaps because they have learnt and perhaps because Benjamin is a little more sensitive, but it does show that the brothers' actions have not solved their problem. They're right back at square one because it was Jacob that was the problem, not Joseph. That doesn't mean they should have sold Jacob into slavery instead, but maybe if they talked to him in the first place, they could have sorted things out for good.

When the grain they bought in Egypt runs out, Jacob tells his sons to go and buy some more, but they fear Joseph and will not return without Benjamin. Eventually they convince Jacob to let them take him with them, and the ten of them set off for Egypt. They present themselves to Joseph and he brings Simeon to them, then invites them to stay and eat. Once they have eaten, he gives instructions to his men to fill his brothers' sacks with grain, then put the silver they have brought as payment in the sacks, and finally place his own silver cup in Benjamin's sack.

When when his brothers have left, Joseph sends men out after them, claiming one of them has stolen his cup. They all protest their innocence, saying that if they find the cup, the one who has it will die and the rest of them will become slaves. Joseph's men search their sacks and of course they find the cup in Benjamin's. They return to the palace, and Joseph says that he will release all of the brothers but the one who had the cup will remain as his slave. Judah knows it will break Jacob's heart to lose Benjamin and so he offers to stay in his place, and without even knowing it, he passes the test. When we know we are being tested, it's all too easy to cheat or second guess the examiner in order to give the right answer, but what does that say about us? That we are good at passing tests. It is those times when we pass without realising that we've even been tested that really show our character.

Having revealed himself, Joseph embraces his brothers and tells them to return to Canaan to collect their father and their families, and then come back and settle in Egypt where they will be given good land and will be protected from the worst of the famine. And that's exactly what they do. After many years of separation, Joseph's family are finally reunited in Egypt. Sometimes reconciliation takes time, but that doesn't mean it won't come. We don't know how Joseph's brothers reacted to him, but I should imagine that mixed in with whatever other emotions was a great deal of relief. Relief that he was safe, relief that they no longer had to keep up a pretence about what had happened to him, and relief that he had treated them so generously. Guilt and regret are heavy burdens to carry, and the brothers must have been glad to get rid of them at last. Do we carry similar burdens? Are there people we need to make amends with, apologise to, seek forgiveness from? If so, there's not time like the present.

All the while, the famine continues and people keep coming to Joseph to buy grain. Eventually they run out of money, so he tells them to bring him their livestock instead. They do, but eventually that runs out too. Desperate, they offer themselves and their land as payment and Joseph accepts, making them slaves to Pharaoh in exchange for food. The first time I read this I was both shocked and confused. How could Joseph enslave the whole of Egypt? Why couldn't he just give them the grain? After all, they grew it in the first place. But then it occurred to me that as important as he was, Joseph was still only second in command. If Pharaoh demanded payment then payment there must be. Maybe this is Joseph doing everything he can to help the people, finding alternative solutions once their money has run out. Maybe it was this or let the people starve. The people certainly seem grateful, declaring that Joseph has saved their lives. I'm a little less shocked now, but still confused. Was it acceptable for Joseph to enslave the people because it was better than the alternative? Do the circumstances excuse the crime? Do we sometimes have to choose the lesser of two evils? Or is that just another way of excusing sin? Is our choice ever as simple as one evil or another? Or does God always provide another way?

We're almost at the end of Joseph's story now. Jacob is an old old man, and he knows he will die soon, so he makes Joseph promise to bury him with his ancestors. He then blesses Joseph's sons, and despite Joseph's protests, he puts the younger son ahead of the elder. It's an echo of him and his own brother, but this time the younger son receives the first blessing through deliberate choice, not trickery. Jacob recognises that even though he is Manesseh is the firstborn, it s Ephraim who will be greater. Similarly, when Jacob blesses his own sons, he makes it clear that it is Judah who will be the greatest even though he is only the fourth born. And he is proved right as it is from the tribe of Judah that first David and then Jesus come. God chooses us according to His own plan, not social convention. After Jacob dies and is buried in Canaan, the brothers begin to fear that Joseph will turn on them and seek revenge for their actions, but he reassures them that what happened was God's will and they have no need to be afraid. And so Joseph's brothers remain with him in Egypt, and they are with him when he dies at the age of one hundred and ten.

The thing that strikes me most about the story of Joseph is that all the way through, we see that he was looked after by God. Time and again we are told that God was with Joseph, and Joseph himself tells his brothers that it was God that brought him to Egypt. I went to see the musical, ‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ a few years ago, and I was shocked to realise that there wasn’t a single mention of God in the entire production. Even worse, I didn’t notice until half way through the second act, and that showed me just how easy it can be to focus on the human stories in the Bible and forget about God. It’s easy to forget His presence in our own lives too, but we should never forget that God was with Joseph even in the pit, and He’s with us too. Free will means that God can’t stop bad things happening to us, just as He couldn’t stop bad things happening to Joseph; but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care, and that doesn’t mean that he isn’t there. When things go wrong, God wants to be the one to pick us up, dust us off, and give us the strength we need to get through whatever it is we’re going through. We just have to stop being stubborn or faithless, and stop trying to struggle through on our own, and allow Him to help.

On a personal note, I suffered from a major depressive episode seven years ago. During that time it felt like I’d lost everything – I knew no joy or peace or hope, my relationships with God and my family were badly affected, I lost friends on a permanent basis, and I lost the chance to say a proper goodbye to someone who meant a lot to me – but when I finally came through it, with more than a little help from God, I realised that I’d gained so much more. I experienced first hand God’s healing power and grew so much in my faith, I came out of it a stronger and happier person, and I became much closer to my family. It can be so easy to lose faith when we feel like we’re losing everything else, but we have so much to gain if we can hold on. I’m living proof of that, and Joseph’s...well he’s proof too, if not so lively.

Genesis 37-41 - Joseph: Part One

The closing chapters of Genesis tell the story of Joseph. He of the coat of many colours. The first thing we learn about Joseph is that he was Jacob’s favourite son. Joseph was “born to him in his old age” (chapter 37, verse 3) and he was the first son of his favourite wife, Rachel so it’s perhaps understandable that Joseph would be special to him, but that still doesn’t excuse the way he behaved. Jacob may not have been able to help the way he felt about his sons, but he could have helped the way he acted; and the same goes for us. The easiest thing in the world is for us to give in to our impulses and act according to our feelings, but none of us are perfect, so that’s not always the best thing for us or for other people – we need to act according to God’s mind, not our own.

As well as being unfair and ill-advised, Jacob’s behaviour also seems somewhat surprising when you consider that Jacob himself had learnt the hard way the damage that favouritism can do to a family – it was because Rebekah loved Jacob more that she helped him cheat Esau out of his blessing. Jacob’s family was torn apart by favouritism, so you would have thought that he would have known better than to treat one of his own sons as the favourite, but apparently he failed to learn from the mistakes of the past, and I’d say that was his biggest mistake. Each time we screw up, or we see someone else screw up, we’re given a marvellous opportunity to learn from that mistake and avoid messing up in the same way again; and we need to make the most of these opportunities.

Not only did Jacob love Joseph more, but he wasn’t subtle about showing it either – as Andrew Lloyd Webber has told the world, he gave him an amazing technicolour dreamcoat, or as the Bible puts it, a richly ornamented robe. I’m sure his brothers had already figured out by then that Joseph was the favourite, but this was like rubbing salt into the wounds by providing a constant reminder that they just didn’t measure up. And more than that, now people outside of the family would know, and that must have been humiliating for them.

The brothers were clearly hurt by their father’s behaviour, but there’s no indication that they ever confronted him about. Instead, we read that “they hated Joseph and could not speak a kind word to him”. Joseph certainly didn’t do a lot to help his cause later on, but isn’t it possible that he only became insensitive because his brothers pushed him out? And isn’t it possible that Joseph was as hurt by his brothers’ hate as they were by their father’s lack of love? By taking their anger out on Joseph, and leaving the hurt caused by their father to fester, the brothers prevented themselves from having a good relationship with either. Too often we do the same thing – someone hurts us, but instead of dealing with it, we hurt someone else. That may make us feel better for a time, but it doesn’t resolve the underlying issue – all that pain and bitterness is still there, and it’ll come back to bite us eventually. And in the meantime, we’ve inflicted that same pain on someone else, who may well go and hurt someone else in turn...and so the cycle goes on. Somewhere along the line, someone needs to be strong enough to put a stop to it.

The next thing we learn about Joseph is that he was a dreamer. He dreams first that his brothers’ sheaves of corn bow down to his; and then that eleven stars, then sun and the moon bow down to him. He tells his brothers about these dreams and “they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he said”. It’s interesting that the Bible makes a distinction here between the dream and Joseph’s words. It wasn’t just the dreams and their possible meanings that bothered them, it was also the fact that Joseph had told them – it must have seemed to them like he was gloating, and loving every minute of it. Our words can have a powerful effect, so we need to think first about the impact they will have on others, and if that impact is going to be negative and harmful, we should just keep them to ourselves.

It seems to me that if his brothers hadn’t spoken kindly to him since he got the coat, then he must have known they already resented him, so in deciding to tell them that he would one day rule over them, he either showed incredible arrogance and insensitivity, or a remarkable lack of intelligence. Whichever it was, he certainly made a bit of a faux pas. He was so caught up in his dreams, and what they meant for the future, that he didn’t think about the impact they would have on his relationships in the here and now. It would be easy to say that Joseph had to behave like that, because if he hadn’t angered his brothers so much they wouldn’t have sold him into slavery, and he wouldn’t have enjoyed the eventual success that he did; but if it was in God’s plan for Joseph to become the second most powerful man in Egypt, then it would have happened another way, and maybe it could have happened with much less suffering on all sides. It can be very easy to be so intent on the future that we ignore the present, but if we miss out on the here and now, we miss out on life. There’s nothing wrong with having dreams, but we need to make sure that we don’t let them take over and cloud our judgement.

But it’s not just dreams that confuse things. Feelings can do that too. One day, Joseph’s brothers see him approaching them and they plot to kill him. Reuben convinces them not to kill him but instead to throw him into a well, with the intention of freeing him later. The brothers tear his coat off him and throw him into the well, but before Reuben has chance to rescue him, the other brothers sell him to slave traders on their way to Egypt. They then kill a goat and smear Joseph’s coat with its blood, then take it back to Isaac, letting him believe that his beloved son has been killed by a wild animal. Joseph’s brothers allow their anger and their hatred to take over and overrule everything they know to be right, but we need to use our heads as well as our hearts.

At this point, the narrative goes of on a slight tangent to tell the story of Judah and Tamar. Tamar married Judah’s eldest son, but he was wicked and so he died. Then she married his second eldest son, but he too displeased God, so he died. Judah then promised to marry her to his third eldest son when he was old enough, but he did not keep his word, so Tamar tricked him into sleeping with her. Tamar was deceitful and an adulteress, but Judah still declared her more righteous than he because he had broken his word. This doesn’t excuse Tamar or mean that two wrongs make a right, but it does mean that we must acknowledge our own sins and the part we play in leading other people into sin.

The narrative now switches back to Joseph, who is a slave in the house of an Egyptian man called Potiphar. Potiphar can see that God is looking after Joseph and that he succeeds in all he does, so he puts him in charge of running his household. All goes well for Joseph, at least as well as can be expected for a slave in a foreign country, until one day Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses him of trying to attack her. Potiphar is understandably furious, and throws Joseph into prison. However, God is still with him, and he grants him the favour of the prison keeper, who puts Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners.

Some time later, the Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker are also thrown into prison and they begin to have strange dreams. Joseph interprets these dreams, and just as he predicts, the baker is hanged but the butler is reinstated. Joseph asks the butler to remember him to Pharaoh, but he forgets until some years later, when Pharaoh himself starts to have strange dreams. The magicians and wise men fail to interpret these dreams and Pharaoh becomes increasing agitated, and it is now that the butler finally remembers Joseph. He is summoned before Pharaoh and he tells him that he cannot interpret dreams on his own, but if he tells him his dreams, God will give him the answer he seeks. So Pharaoh tells Joseph his dreams, and Joseph tells him that they mean there will be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, and advises Pharaoh to appoint a man to oversee the stockpiling of food in preparation for the famine. Pharaoh sees something in Joseph and so he appoints him to this role, making him the second most important man in all of Egypt, and giving him a new name, great wealth and a wife.

I once came across a children’s version of the story of Joseph which quite simply stated that “Joseph was not very nice”. And it's true. He was spoiled; he was tactless, dim or proud, or maybe even a combination of the three; and he would tell tales about his brothers to his father. But we can already see that God is playing to his strengths and improving on his weaknesses. Joseph’s dealings with his brothers show that he couldn’t really get alongside people, but he clearly had a knack for managing them; and so whether he was a slave, a prisoner, or governor of Egypt, God always found a way of putting him in a position of authority.

God has also taught him some valuable lessons. When Joseph was thrown into a foreign land, where no one knew him and no one favoured him, I’m sure he learnt very quickly to rely on God rather than on himself; and being made a slave must surely have taught him the humility that he had had seemed to lack when he was with his family. It certainly seems that he had learnt these lessons by the time he was brought in front of Pharaoh – when Pharaoh asked if he could interpret dreams, he could quite easily have simply answered ‘yes’, but he didn’t. He told Pharaoh that the power to interpret dreams came from God, not him, humbling himself and showing that he recognised his reliance on God for his success. Joseph’s seeming arrogance landed him in the pit, but his humility landed him the top job in Egypt; and that change was only possible with the help of God.

God wants to do the same thing for each of us – he wants to bring out our strengths and diminish our weaknesses, and help us become the people he originally made us to be. However, He gave us all free will so He can’t just change us, and we shouldn’t expect Him to. We have to work with Him, and that mean spending time in prayer and reading the Bible, drawing closer to Him and learning more about the people he wants us to be.

Genesis 31-36 - Jacob: Part Two

By Genesis 31, Laban's sons have begun to notice that all of Jacob' wealth has come from their father, and the family attitude towards him has become slightly frostier. Jacob realises this, and God tells tim to return to the home of his father, so he makes plans to leave. Jacob means "deceiver" and he certainly lives up to that epithet here, gathering his wives, children, servants, possessions and livestock in secret, and leaving without telling anyone. He also tells Rachel that it is God that has given him Laban's flocks, when the previous chapter had made it clear that he gained them through his own scheme. He doesn't just lie and misrepresent himself, he also misrepresents God. We too can be guilty of that, and it can be hugely destructive. How many people have been put off God by bad experiences with believers? We must be honest about ourselves, but we must also be honest about God.

When Laban realises that Jacob has snuck off, he chases after him. After a confrontation, Laban and Jacob decide to make an agreement, that Jacob will take care of Laban's daughters, and that they will each stay on their side of the stones they have set up. As they make their vows, Laban reminds Jacob that God is a witness between them. It's a detail that's easy to forget but important to remember. "What they don't know can't hurt them" can never be an excuse for betraying someone - they might not know, but God does and it hurts Him.

Having made this agreement with Laban, Jacob decides to make peace with another member of his family and sends sends messengers to Esau, asking that he may find favour in his eyes. The messengers return to Jacob saying that Esau is coming to meet him with four hundred men. Jacob is terrified by this, presuming that Esau is coming to attack him, so he divides the people and livestock with him into two group so that if Esau attacks one, the other can get away. And then he does what he should have done in the first place. He prays. He asks God to protect him and reminds Him of the promises He has already made. Like Jacob, we have a right to hold God to His promises, and we can remember them as assurances in difficult times.

Jacob clearly still doesn't feel totally assured though, because he sends men to meet Esau with gifts, and he moves his family to safety across the brook. He still doesn't quite trust God enough to leave everything in his hands, he still has a little niggle of doubt, so he tries to sort things out by himself. Maybe it is because of this lack of faith that while Jacob is alone that night, a man comes to Jacob, and wrestles with him until dawn. Finally, the man wins by touching Jacob's hip and wrenching it out of its socket, and then he tells Jacob that his name will now be Israel, which means "he struggles with God". Because Jacob has not fought any ordinary man. He has wrestled with God. So often we feel guilty about our doubts and questions, and so we try to suppress them and plough through on our own, but we don't have to do that. God wants us to wrestle with Him. And when we do we will come away changed. Sometimes that change may be hard - Jacob came away tired and limping, and sometimes we will come away feeling challenged or humbled - but it will be worth it.

In chapter 33, Jacob and Esau finally meet again, and things don't go quite as Jacob was expecting. Instead of atttacking him or demanding recompense for his stolen blessing, Esau runs to him and embraces him, and only accepts Jacob's gifts after much insistence. He doesn't say it in so many words, but Esau has clearly forgiven his brother and is delighted to see him again. All of Jacob's fears prove unfounded, as so many of ours prove to be.

Esau then sets of back to his home in Seir, and Jacob says he will follow him slowly, moving at the pace of the flocks and the children. And so he travels on, setting up home first at Succuth then in Canaan. Here, his daughter Dinah is raped by a man named Shechem, who then demands that his father gets him Dinah to be his wife. He thinks he can marry her as though nothing has happened. But while a sin may be forgiven, it cannot be undone or easily forgotten, and things cannot always continue as they were. Our actions have consequences.

The consequences of Shechem's actions are that Dinah's brothers decide to make him pay for what he did to their sister. They promise that he can marry her, but only if he and the all the men of the city are circumcised. The men agree to this, and then three days later, while they are still in pain, Dinah's brothers enter the city and kill every male then plunder the city. The brothers clearly overreact, but at the same time Jacob appears to do nothing. Is either response right? Maybe they could have found a middle way, choosing justice over revenge or apathy.

God then tells Jacob to return to Bethel, where He had appeared to him before. Jacob obeys, and when he gets to Bethel, he builds an altar and God appears to him again, repeating His promises and again naming Him Israel. They do not seem to remain in Bethel long because this was a detour, not a destination. God just wanted to take Jacob aside and remind him of who He is and what He has done for him. Sometimes He'll take us on little detours too. He'll put us in a job or a town or a church we don't like, and it may not be obvious why at the time, but God will have something He wants to teach us. We just need to be open to it.

So Jacob and co move on again, but while they are on their way to Ephrath, Rachel dies giving birth to her second son, Benjamin. Jacob buries her, and they continue on their journey. Then his eldest son Reuben sleeps with on of his concubines. Jacob hears of this, but he doesn't seem to do anything. Jacob appears to have stopped reacting to anything. Dinah's rape, Rachel's death, Reuben's betrayal...none of them seem to elicit any response. Why is this? Has he stopped caring? Is he too afraid? Too indecisive? Or has he finally started trusting that God knows what He's doing?

Jacob finally arrives back at the home of his father, Isaac. It's not clear how much later, but at some point after Jacob's return, Isaac dies at the age of one hundred and eighty. He is described rather beautifully as "old and full of years". I love the idea that he was filled with all of the years he's lived, and the things he'd done and seen and experienced. What a wonderful epitaph that would make.

Genesis 36 details the line of Esau. There are so many names it makes my head start to swim, but some of the information appears to be repeated two or three times. The idea of family and that sense of coming from somewhere, being part of something, are really important. Verse 24 also contains a reference to a story that is not in the Bible, but which the writer assumes his audience will know. It's just a quick reminder that important as it is, the Bible is not the only truth, it is not all.