Jethro Decides Its Time To Speak Up -- Exodus 18:1-6

 

Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.  And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Moses’ wife Zipporah, after he had sent her away, and her two sons, of whom one was named Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”  And the other was named Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”  Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mount of God.  And he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.”

As I come to this passage of scripture, I must provide what is referred to as “full disclosure”.  In the business world, Farlex defines this principle as follows according to “The Free Dictionary” online:

“The need in business transactions to tell the "whole truth" about any matter which the other party should know in deciding to buy or contract. In real estate sales in many states there is a full disclosure form which must be filled out and signed under penalty of perjury for knowingly falsifying or concealing any significant fact.”

So, based on that, please note I am indeed a “father-in-law” three times over and I have often been in situations where I felt I must speak up.  This continues to be the case at present.  Thus what is going on in this passage of Exodus is most relevant to me, and my own experiences will definitely reflect my comments.

Prior to this 18^th chapter of Exodus, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had only been mentioned in two other verses by name.  In Exodus 3:1, he is mentioned as Moses’ employer in Midian where Moses had fled from ‘downtown’ Egypt after he had killed an Egyptian.  In Exodus 4:18, we are told that Moses went to him and asked for permission to return to Egypt to see how his Israelite brethren were coping, and Jethro bade him “go in peace” while his wife and children remained behind.  Earlier in Exodus 2:16-21, between the two references above, we read of how Moses and the “priest of Midian” (a.k.a. Jethro) came to be related through marriage.

So here we have Jethro, his father-in-law hearing of all God had done for Moses and the Israelites, bringing them out of Egypt.  The Midianites including Jethro and Moses’ wife Zipporah and his sons by her were not part of this migration.  They had remained in Midian with Jethro, Zipporah’s father (although some argue Jethro may also have been her brother since the translation for both father- and brother-in-law in Hebrew is similar according to some scholars).  Zipporah had possibly been sent back with the boys because of the argument she and Moses had gotten into on their way back to Egypt (as recorded in Exodus 4:24-26).

Moses had named one of his sons ‘Gershom’ recognizing his own state or condition of having spent much of his life in a foreign land as per its translation.  It would be good for all Christians to at least think sometimes as if they had a son called ‘Gershom’ for we too are simply sojourners or those that tarry in a foreign land.  Our real home is heaven.  His other son’s name, Eliezer, completes the scene for Moses providing all that he needs as he remains away from home.  ‘Eliezer’ means ‘God is my help’ and He delivered Moses from the sword of his enemy, Pharaoh.  Maybe a son called ‘Eliezer’ would be good for all of us as well in order to remember that God is our help and He can deliver us from the sword of our Enemy.

So having heard about all that was going on in Moses’ life, Jethro decides to pay him a visit in the wilderness (at the mount of God where he was camped) and he brings along Moses’ wife and two boys.  But whether out of custom, or common courtesy, or not wanting to catch him by surprise, Jethro sends word in advance that he was on his way.  Can you imagine, if you had left (not divorced) your wife and your children several years ago, getting a message from your father-in-law (or maybe your mother-in-law) saying, “I’m on my way and I have your wife and children with me”?

What was Jethro up to and how would Moses react?  As always, the life of a Christian is not about what “comes across our path” but “how we react to it”.  Stay tuned.

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Another Promise of God We Sometimes Forget -- Exodus 17:14-16

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial, and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”  And Moses built an altar, and named it The Lord is My Banner; and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”
 

What a day of battle that must have been.  Was it the power of Moses’ arms being held up in the air that defeated the Amalekites at the hand of the Israelites?  And is that what God wanted Moses to write in his books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy)?  I do not think so.   I believe obedience, action, and reliance were all critical in their success.  First, there was the obedience of Joshua to put an army together and fight the Amalekites.  And note, he did not have a long time to do so for Moses told him the battle would occur ‘tomorrow’ (vs. 9).  And then there was action on the part of Joshua for the Scriptures say “Joshua did as Moses told him” (vs. 10).  But the leader Moses also acted.  He took two of his key assistants (Aaron and Hur) and went up to the top of the mountain with a plan.  Finally, Moses relied on the instrument that God had taught him to use to tap into God’s almighty power – his staff.  He knew that God would act through that and he knew that only God could win this battle for the Israelites.  It took Obedience, Action, and Reliance (OAR) to succeed in what God was willing to deliver for the Israelites.  It is with this OAR in our hands that we can manage to cross any turbulent waters that lie ahead of us in our lives.

This is what God wanted Moses to write down and have told to Joshua down the road.  We will see later in the book of Joshua after Moses is long gone, that Joshua relied on this very experience to know that he could count on the presence of God in his own life as a leader.  God knew how He was going to use Joshua for His people and He knew what Joshua had to learn while he was still young.  So, God says to Moses, “Write it down; recite it to Joshua.”

The Bible says God was going to blot out “the memory of Amalek from under heaven”.  Amalek was the grandson of Esau.  Genesis 36:12 tells us that he was born to Esau’s son Eliphaz by his concubine Timna, and thus Amalek also represents the ‘flesh’.  He is a representation of the ‘flesh’ that gets in the way of Israel moving towards the Promised Land.  God said He would erase them from memory and sure enough there are no Amalekites today called by that name.  Some cases have been made to identify originally the Armenians, then the Nazis, and finally the Palestinians as the descendants of the Amalekites.  From a scriptural perspective, I Samuel 15:7–8 implies that they were totally destroyed. A later story in I Chronicles 4:42-43 implies any that escaped were finished off in the days of Hezekiah.  As I studied this portion and what has been written about it, I came to the conclusion that the Amalekites represented the “enemy” of God and thus today the nomenclature has come to be applied to the “enemies” of God.  It may be a people group, it may be a religion, or it may be our own simple fleshly desires – the Amalekite within.

Whatever it is to mean for us, Moses built an altar as a memorial to that day.  And Moses named it “The Lord is My Banner”.  The battle with our own “Amalikites” will go one for the Christian from generation to generation, but God is our victory in battle.  There was no altar or statue built in honor of Joshua.  God wanted Moses to ensure that Joshua knew the victory was the Lord’s, not his.  Something that Joshua relied on later in life.

Matthew Henry indicates that idea of there being war against Amalek from generation to generation was a warning to Israel never to make peace with Amalek.  If the present-day Amalekites are indeed the Palestinians, then Henry’s idea may be one of the traditional causes for the situation in the Middle East today.  As an observer, it seems to me that whenever Israel moves towards peace because of the pressure put on her by the world, it ends up being weaker.

Finally, we note that the word ‘banner’ is used in the Scriptures three times.  First here in Exodus it is the “banner of victory”.   Later in Psalm 60:4, it is the “banner of truth”.  And then in the Song of Solomon 2:4, it is the “banner of love”.  My prayer today is that God has given you the ‘victory’ over sin and that His ‘truth’ has made you free, enabling you to both receive and then share His ‘love’.   Your life can be full of joy as you live under Him, “your banner”.  Know that God will keep His promise of eliminating all our Amalekites from our memory.  But in the meantime, He is sufficient for us.

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Maybe Not a "COLD WAR", but a War nontheless: the GLOBAL BULLIES are winning.

NOT a COLD WAR, agreed . . . but a NEW VERSION of WAR:  and we are NOT STANDING UP TO THE BULLIES:

I take issue with Thomas L. Friedman's article on "Taking a pass on a new cold war."  I maintain that he is wrong on at least two counts, maybe more:

It is true this is not a "cold war" we have entered between Russia and the West.  He explains why in his article below.  I am not convinced, however, that we won the cold war and thus can be smug about doing so.  In the enemy's eyes, his job is to find another way to beat us even if he changes the rules.

Putin wants to be all powerful and he needs other states to help him achieve the resources he needs and, to force them to do so, he has the backing of his "nukes".  He does not care about his people being prosperous.  Fair enough.

America and many countries in the west are focusing on being prosperous.  But here's one problem -- America is bungling it big time.  And in so doing, is making itself either an irrelevant "non-player" in games that others play differently (i.e. Putin and his grab for power), or ultimately an easy target for takeover.  Already, through the help of the current President, America has been taken over psychologically -- more and more not seeing it as the great country it used to be.  And the fall?  Well, as the song says, "We've only just begun."

Meanwhile Friedman's third category of states, the ones who find themselves in "disorder" continue to struggle and even grow in numbers.  Bottom line, the Russia-type players take advantage of them and the new-American types just can't be bothered with them.  All makes for a wonderful world, doesn't it?

Friedman asks the question, "So what do we do?"  But, alas, his answer is lame.  He simply declares the U.S. incapable of providing a fix to these situations albeit because of the things he has listed.  But he fails to mention one more -- the unwillingness of the current administration to stand up to the bullies.  Great leaders of the world stand up to bullies in defense of the weak.  And they don't threaten them with noodles like barring them from a G8 they never really cared for.

Friedman has no solution.  He would only agree with a solution that is "self-sustaining".  Well, I have news for you Thomas -- bullies are raised in every generation.  They are a constant thing to be dealt with.  Your easy and everlasting fix, short of a Divine Intervention, does not exist.

And he ends by simply saying, we should have learned to let them (the weak, the disordered ones) solve their own problems.  Not exactly the position the enemy is taking these days, is it?

I was bullied as a kid once and chased home regularly after school.  Then one day my dad happened to be home.  He saw my distress and picked up a broom and just stood behind me, ready to do what every father does who loves his kid.  He didn't have to do much, as I found my courage with him at my side.  And I also found my fists and my legs, reversing the chase.  The bully never bothered me again and actually protected me on occasion.  In my books, the best deterrent to bullies is a good shellacking or the threat of one.

But hey, you're likely a liberal and may well want to read Friedman on this.  So here's his column:
 "Don't Just Do Something.  Sit There."   Actually, the title says it all.
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As a Leader, You Can Stand Out But, by Definition, You Cannot Act Alone -- Exodus 17:8-13

 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim.  So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek.  Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”  Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other.  Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.  So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
 

While being camped at Rephidim where God provided water out of the rock for the Israelites to drink, Amalek came and attacked them.  The first time we heard of this name was back in Genesis 36:12 where we are told that Esau’s son Eliphaz had a concubine named Timna that bore him a son which they named Amalek.  This son became a chief in the land of Edom.  The word is translated “dweller in a valley”.  He and his tribe were part of the Edomites, who were descendants of Esau.  And interestingly, Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon tells us that Edom was another, less common, name for Esau.  So here we have the descendants of two brothers, Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac, in combat with each other.  The Israelites were from Jacob’s lineage and the Amalekites from Esau’s ancestry.

So Moses calls on Joshua, someone heretofore not mentioned in Scripture, to lead the defense against Amalek.  His name is translated “Jehovah is salvation”.  Later on we learn he was the son of Nun of the tribe of Ephraim.  The Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon tells us he ministered to the personal needs of Moses as well as being his armor-bearer.  Later, of course, he went on to be Moses’ successor as leader of the Israelites.

Moses ordered Joshua to choose an army to fight Amalek and shared with him the battle strategy.  Joshua had only one day to fulfill that order for the next day Moses was going to go on top of the hill (likely the same one as Horeb, or Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, from which God had provided the water) with the staff of God in his hand, and oversee the battle that was to take place.  Moses had learned to rely on the staff of God in his hands and would not go anywhere without it.  God could exercise His power through it and Moses knew it based on past experiences.  So, he became inseparable from it, holding it tightly in his hand.  What has God given you that can be used as an instrument through which He can exercise His power and show His glory?  What do you have in your possession (your money, earthly goods, home, connections, His Word, your talent)? Have you ever thought of using it as an instrument for God?  Moses was about to do so again. 

Joshua got his army together and together they fought against the Amalekites with Moses, Aaron, and Hur, we are told, watching from on top of the mountain.  Moses and Aaron we know, but who was Hur?  The translation of the Hebrew word is “hole” but no one seems to explain why or how that came about and what it depicted.  He was a chief assistant to Moses and Aaron.

At the top of the hill, Moses held his hand up over the battle going on in front of him down the hill.  As long as he did that Israel was winning, but when he would allow his hand to drop down, the enemy Amalek began to win.  The secret, for Israel, was in Moses keeping his hands outstretched.  Is not that the secret for many of us -- keeping our hands outstretched to the heavens, seeking God’s blessings in all that we do?  Is that not the secret for some that you and I are praying for – that we keep our hands outstretched seeking the mercy and protection of God upon their lives?  Is that not what we need to do with our jobs, our politicians, and all our involvements – keep our hands outstretched to God?

The text says that Moses’ hands were heavy.  That is, he became tired of holding up his arm over the land.  He became tired of reaching out to God, all alone, on behalf of his people.  It is natural that we become weary in our responsibilities.  We become weary in our prayer life, in our private devotions, and in our worship.  Aaron and Hur arranged for Moses to sit on a rock.  But they did not just say to him, “Hey, take a break.  Everything is going well, they will do okay. Don’t worry; be happy.”  No, while Moses sat to rest, Aaron and Hur supported his hands and held them steady, outstretched over the land so that Israel would continue to prevail over their enemies.  And they did this until the sun set.  As a result, Joshua defeated Amalek and his people.  God had given the Israelites the victory.

Do you get tired?  Do you let down your outstretched hands to God and start breathing easy?  Those are the moments, the days, the Enemy is waiting for.  It is in those moments he starts to prevail.  And if you are weary and get tired, engage others to help you in your cause.  Involve them in raising their arms to God in prayer for whatever it is you decide together.  In some cases, you will need to drive that involvement.  In other cases, true Christian friends in tune with your life and goals, and the spiritual desires of your heart, will join you on their own.  Welcome them.  Include them.  You will get tired at some point and they will need to take over.  Good leaders stand out but they do not act alone.

What we do not know is whether the strategy that Moses had shared with Joshua included the fact that Moses would be holding his hands outstretched over the battlefield.  Moses did not get direct instruction to do this – he just knew it would be what God was looking for.

Scripture says they did this “until the sun set”.  Once the sun set, either the job was done, or Israel’s brave warriors could not see Moses’ uplifted hands.  Either way, Moses, with Aaron and Hur’s help, remained faithful to the end of the task.  And God gave them the victory.  What about you and me?  Can it be said of us that we will remain faithful to our responsibility to cry out to God in prayer for something or someone until the sun sets on us?  I pray so.

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[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PRESENTS: JERUSALEM

When Laura Steen of the Toronto office of Allied Integrated Marketing offered me an opportunity to attend the Canadian advance media screening of Jerusalem, at the Ontario Science Centre, I readily accepted.  Jerusalem is big in our life – my wife has gone twice, I once with http://fifthgospelencounters.com/.  In many respects, the trip galvanized my love for the city.  I regret not having done a similar trip many years earlier.  However, better late than never.

I knew the film, as advertised to the press, was not going to be about Jerusalem’s pivotal role in my Christian faith.  I could not expect that of the key players that made it possible – very capable people like Director, Producer, and Writer Daniel Ferguson who has done excellent work on previous IMAX movies (yes, the film is delivered to us courtesy of four different cameras – an IMAX 15-perf 65mm; a Sony F65; a RED Epic; and a Nikon D800E); Producer George Duffield; Executive Producer Jake Eberts (who has 65 Oscar nominations, 27 of which he won; films include Gandhi, The Killing Fields, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances with Wolves, A River Runs Through It, and more); National Geographic; local film Patrons Mohammad & Najla Zaibak and Mark & Suzanne Cohon; and of course, the very public Ontario Science Centre.  No, this film was clearly going to challenge my ‘ownership’ perspective of this much-coveted part of the world that at one time was seen and acted as the centre of the known world, being well-situated geographically where Africa, Asia, and Europe meet.

The city is presented through the eyes, thoughts, lives, and hopes of three very real lovers of Jerusalem with strong ties to their beloved place of residence as well as their respective faiths – Christian, Jewish, and Muslim.

Through these brilliant and forthright young women, the film aims to change the way people think about Jerusalem.  It certainly does that.  It is evident, as one of the ladies said in the press conference after the screening, “the beautiful ancient wall around the Old City of Jerusalem is not the only wall in the place; while that one needs to remain, the social walls inside need to be torn down.”  The reference was to the fact that all three of the residents felt their people lived alone in the city, not knowing much about their neighbors who held two other religious and cultural perspectives.  But although the need was recognized as to what had to change, all agreed this was not “yet the time”.

Ferguson also wanted the viewer to feel he/she had actually been to Jerusalem.  He wanted to achieve that in a unique way, trying to capture over 5,000 years of history in 45 minutes by putting the camera into very special places and giving us glimpses of Jerusalem most of us would never see on our own or in groups.  Getting permission for some of those shots – low aerials over the city, underground tunnels and tombs, and even the now closed to non-Muslims Dome of the Rock – took years to obtain.  But it was indeed worth the wait.

 

It took me very little time to declare the film a success from a cinematic perspective.  It took me much longer to determine just how I felt about its purpose.  I noted a couple of things in the script.  When an American archaeologist shares some of the events that took place on the famous “rock” over which the Islamic Dome of the Rock now stands, she was very careful to state that “here Abraham was tested when he was asked to sacrifice his son” with no mention the son’s name.  For the Christian and Jew it was Isaac; for many Muslims it was Ishmael.  (You can read more on this at: http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/sacrifice.htm.)  I also noticed that even where all three religions were in agreement on a historical event that had significant religious, and often Christian implications such as the aspects of Christ’s existence and ministry, the script, otherwise handled excellently by all, including narrator Benedict Cumberbatch (you’ll remember him from his portrayal of Stephen Hawking, as well as the movie War Horse, The Hobbit Trilogy, Sherlock, and Star Trek into Darkness) often simply introduced it by saying “it is believed” or something similar.  The film could have benefitted both in its credibility as being capable of handling a religious topic – for as much as Jerusalem is a physical place, there is global agreement that it has spiritual significance – and in its purpose of trying to help us see it differently by not taking the “politically correct” or “scientific defense” of such facts.

In the Gospels, Jesus asks one of His close disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”  That’s a question that everyone ultimately answers, even by totally refusing to answer it or ignoring it.  As I watched Jerusalem I wondered how many might be facilitated in their attempt to provide an answer if they first considered the question, “What then is Jerusalem?”  The film goes a long way to answer that comprehensively.

Jerusalem opens March 7^th at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto (http://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/imax/film/40/), but hopefully will be seen elsewhere in Canada soon.  It has already opened in other countries.  See it.  Go there.  Better late; never is not an option.

 

-- Ken B. Godevenos, Toronto.   February 26, 2014

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Thanks for the Manna, But Our Throats Are Dry -- Exodus 17:1-7

Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.  He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”
 

Having finally understood how God intended to provide for their nourishment daily, and for their physical renewal on each Sabbath, the Israelites continue their journey across the desert “by stages”.  Several Bible versions use this phrase.  The King James Version (KJV) talks about the fact that they “journeyed . . . after their journeys”.  Some translate it as “from place to place”.  Whatever the pace, the people were moving away from the wilderness of Sin where God first gave them the Manna.

And the text says all the moving about of the Israelites was “according to the command (or literally the ‘mouth’) of the Lord”.  There comes a point in time when a people as a whole realize they must live according to the command or instructions of the Lord.  Usually, but not always, that happens, if it is to happen at all, when two things have occurred.  First, the group or the individual have tried their own ways repeatedly and failed.  Second, they have seen God provide in their lives and realize that He can be depended on.  You would think that having undergone both these experiences, the people of Israel would have settled this matter once and for all.  But with them, as with us, it was not to be the case.  We will return to this later.

And again, at the “command of the Lord” the people camped at Rephidim.  This literally means "rests" or "stays" or "resting places" and this is its first mention in Scripture.  So they leave or go from the wilderness of Sin, and they go to Rephidim, all according to the command of the Lord.  You would think, as a result, things would go really well for them there.  But the next phrase says otherwise.  Whereas our NASB text connects the next phrase to the previous one with an “and”, the NKJV, NLT, NIV, and ESV versions connect them with a “but”.  Even though the people did all according to what God wanted them to do, they were taken to a place where there was “no water for (them) to drink”.

Have you ever been there?  Have you ever been at a place in your life where you believe you are doing all that God wants of you at that point in time?  And you allow Him to lead you to where He wants you to be as part of His will for you – to your Rephidim – “but” there He provides “no water” for you.  There your troubles double.  While your stomach is full of His Manna, your throat is dying of thirst.  Just when all was falling into place nicely in your life, tragedy strikes.  I have been there.  It is not the most inspiring place for a Christian to be.  Yet, if God calls us out of a place, and He calls us into another place, we must realize that He does it for a purpose.  It is there we must wait on Him and discover that very purpose.

In the case of the Israelites, it seemed to be a continuous need for them to trust in the Lord and to recognize His Almighty power.  They had been hungry and He provided them with Manna.  Now they had no water.  Do you remember when you wanted something of God and He gave it to you?  Was it a spouse?  Was it children?  Was it a job?  Whatever it was, God may have given it to you.  But now, you want something else.  Do you rely on Him as knowing what is best for you or can the old adage, “What have you done for me lately (God)?” apply to your attitude as it did to the attitude of the children of Israel?

So what did the people do?  The text says they ‘grumbled’ against Moses.  I looked up some synonyms for that word to give us a better picture of what form grumbling may take.  I came up with complained, moaned, groused, protested, griped, objected, muttered, and I love this last one, bellyached.  Do any of those verbs describe our actions when we are unhappy with our lot in life; when we want something more from God?

And notice, one does not have to direct his or her frustration to the Source or Giver of all things, but instead we can take it out on one or more of those in our lives that He has put there – our pastor, our boss, our spouse, or parents, friends, and even our children.  At times like this, we can forget about God in our lives, but God does not forget about us.  While we focus on others as the cause of our problems, God sees this as our testing of His provision for us.

For the children of Israel in the wilderness, it was all Moses’ fault.  To them, they knew what was causing their troubles; they felt so confident so they could have easily won the game of “Clue” had they be playing it: “It was Moses, in the Wilderness, with Thirst!”  They were convinced that he was intent on killing them off along with their cattle and this was entirely his plan.  They demanded water now.

Now what do you do when you are the leader and you are misunderstood, falsely accused, and have been given a demand you cannot meet on our own?  May I suggest that you do what Moses did.  You cry out to the Lord.  You ask for His guidance and His protection, admitting your fear as a human being.  And you do it not just for yourself, but for those you are leading, that is, you do it selflessly.  Here is what I have discovered albeit later in life than I should have: Total and utter unselfish dependence on God is the ‘living password’ for Him to come to your rescue.

And God did just that.  He now acts through Moses.  He gives him precise instructions on what he must do, how to do it, where to do it, and in front of whom to do it.  One could not ask for anything more.  And Moses knew that.  He knew that if he totally and utterly depended on God unselfishly, God would provide the solution to his need.  And God used the equipment that He had earlier provided and taught Moses how to use – his staff – as part of that solution.  Never forget what God has given or taught you in the past, He will use it again for His glory.

Moses was to strike a particular rock; the one at Horeb, and it would give forth water for the people to drink.  Do you remember Horeb?  That is the place that Moses had led his father-in-law’s flocks to in the wilderness after he had killed an Egyptian and had fled from Egypt proper.  Its direct translation is “dessert”.  It is referred to as the “mountain of God” and is also known as Mount Sinai.  God often takes us back to His mountain when He wants us to accomplish something for Him.  And sometimes that means, we have to go through or to a “dessert” to get there.   

And Moses did just what God had told him to do and the rock did just what God said it would do.  But let us not miss a very important phrase in this whole account.  God had said the following, just prior to giving Moses his instructions: “Behold, I will stand before you there” on the rock at Horeb.  That is critical to our success.  God must be in it.  God must be there.  And the ‘there’ is where He wants us to be, not anywhere we go or want to go.

So the water comes and Moses names the spot in that mountain of Horeb, Massah and Meribah.  Massah is translated “temptation” and Meribah is translated “strife” or “contention”.  He names it such, with two names, because there the people quarreled with him and tested God, their Lord.  As we end our study of this short passage, we may finding ourselves asking the same question the Israelites asked here, “Is the Lord with me, or not?”  But unlike them, we must answer it with confidence, knowing as Believers that He indeed is, and we can rely on Him fully to provide not only for our hunger, but for our thirst.

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[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

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In Remembrance of God’s Delivery -- Exodus 16:31-36:

The house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey. Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded, ‘Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the Testimony, to be kept. The sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.)
 

The Israelites named their daily provision sent by God from heaven for their physical nurturing “manna”.  The writer tells us it was white in color, like coriander seed in appearance, and tasted like wafers dabbed in honey.  Wikipedia gives us this picture of coriander fruits:

Only of course it was all white in color.

And God also made arrangements for the Israelites to remember His provision to them.  He told Moses that they were to keep an ‘omer’ of this manna forever.  He wanted it as an exhibit to those that came afterwards, so that this part of history – and especially the fact that it was God who delivered them from slavery in Egypt and fed them daily in the wilderness -- is always remembered.

To accomplish this, Moses told Aaron, his brother, to take a jar, and fill it with manna.  (In Hebrews 9:4 of the New Testament we are told it was a jar of gold.)  As Christians today we have the opportunity to have the “Bread of Heaven” of which this manna was only typical (John 6:32).  I pray we treasure this Bread of Life in the same way.

Aaron was to put one omerful of manna in the jar.  Strong’s Lexicon tells us an omer is a dry measure of 1/10 of an ephah (about 2 litres).  Strong also defines an ephah as a dry measure of quantity about 9 imperial gallons (which is 40 litres).  There seems to be some contradiction between the first definition of an omer (2 litres or 1/10 of an ephah) and this definition of an ephah (40, rather than 20 litres).  Rabbinical writings give sizes of one-half this amount to comply with the definition of an omer.  In any case, Aaron did just that and he placed the jar, the text says, before the Testimony.

Matthew Henry translates the word “Testimony” here as simply the ark.  And this seems indeed to support the meaning given to this account in Hebrews 9:4.

We note that this manna was provided for forty years right up until the Israelites came to the land of Canaan.  While God is outside time, and can do anything by just uttering the appropriate command, we as His children need to be mindful neither to be in a hurry nor to think He is being tardy.  Remember when Jesus’ friend Lazarus died, people felt Jesus was four days late going to see his body.  But our Lord was right on time for what He wanted to accomplish through that event.  Both He and us are in a relationship that takes time, as we know it, so that His full plan for us to become more like Him will be fulfilled.

One of the greatest downfalls of many a leader is haste, often manifested with just plain impatience.  God made the children of Israel wander in the desert for forty years.  But the good news is He was there and He fed them daily.

Are you in the desert today because God wants you to learn something or to develop a characteristic that will be useful for His glory in the rest of your life?  If so, make sure you get your daily dose of Manna.  Make sure you are aware that God is there with you and He is providing for you.  And then make sure to remember it years later when you have reached your Canaan.

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[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

________________________________________________________________________

 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.