Year 7, Day 59: Exodus 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I don’t mean to beat the same drum over-and-over again, but I love how chapter 10 opens.  God says to Moses, “I am doing these things so that you may know I am God and may proclaim what I do here to others.”  The plagues are still about God’s greatness more than anything else.

In fact, can you feel the progression of God’s greatness as it grows throughout the plagues?  At first, Moses went to Pharaoh and said, “I want my people to go and worship God.  Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and began to lose ground.  By the time this chapter starts, we hear Pharaoh willing to let the men go, but not the women and children.  By the time this chapter ends, Moses finds himself in a position to tell Pharaoh that the women and children aren’t enough anymore.  Now it has to be the men, women, children, and livestock.  Pharaoh is losing ground with every hardening of his heart.

This truly is what the exodus story is all about.  God is so great that the people will leave, pushed out under Pharaoh’s own command, and take not only their own possessions but a good bit of Egypt’s wealth, too.  When we dig in our heels in rebellion against God, things don’t usually go well for us.  We may feel like we are winning in the time being, but we eventually lose.  We lose more as we dig our heels in more.  Our fall is greater the longer our rebellion lasts.

On the other hand, the longer our rebellion lasts the greater God seems.  Our fall might be great, but if we are willing to consider it our rebellion can lead us to a more convince perspective of God.  This is why God keeps coming back to Moses to tell him that these plagues are all about the greatness of God.

I have one more topic to discuss before I conclude.  Look at how Moses and Pharaoh part company as the chapter ends.  Pharaoh warns Moses to not come before him again.  Moses obliges the request.  What does this mean?  There will be no warning against the greatest and last plague.  In his fury, Pharaoh really shoots himself and his people in the foot this time.  Keep this in mind as we read through the next chapter.  Pharaoh’s stubborn anger is truly to blame for the great fall of Egypt at the hand of God.

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Year 7, Day 58: Exodus 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today we encounter the plagues of the livestock, boils, and hail.  What we see in these stories is more of the same.  Moses goes before Pharaoh to warn him.  Pharaoh feigns interest until the danger is past and then hardens his heart.  Pharaoh’s character is really starting to show.

What we also get an opportunity to see in this passage is that our sinful nature – our rebellion against God – affects the other people around us, too.  When Pharaoh doesn’t relent before the plague of the boils, even the magicians are so covered in boils that they are unable to do their job.  When Pharaoh doesn’t relevant before the plague among the livestock the animals in the field suffer for it, as well as those whose livelihood depends upon them.  When Pharaoh doesn’t relent before the plague of hail, the whole of the land suffers – even the plants.  But in this case there is an even worse effect.  Do you see how Pharaoh’s hardness of heart is beginning to leech out into the people?  Not everyone listened to Moses.  Some people follow the lead of the Pharaoh and ignore God’s warning.  The hail comes upon those people and their possessions and destroys them.  Our sinful nature has an impact upon those around us.

We also get an opportunity to see another great example of the point that I spoke last about yesterday.  Do you hear the reason that God gives for these events?  Look at Exodus 9:16 very closely.  God has raised up this very situation so that His name would be proclaimed among the nations.  The Exodus is about God’s greatness and mankind’s understanding of His greatness.  Leading the people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land has to do with God’s greatness and our understanding of it.  Yes, God loves us.  He sends His blessings down upon us.  He wants us to enjoy the creation that He has set before us and to be free from those who would oppress us.  But ultimately what is significant is not me and how much God loves me.  What is significant is God and how great God is.  That should be our true focus.

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Year 7, Day 57: Exodus 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today I have three thoughts.  They do all tie together in that they are a part of the Exodus story and they all relate to our relationship with God.  In truth, though, they are separate thoughts.

First, let’s return to the overarching conversation of the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart that always surrounds this passage.  Three times we see Pharaoh’s heart harden.  Verse 15 gives us insight into God’s involvement in the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.  It says that Pharaoh’s heart hardened as God said it would.  God gives Pharaoh three more times in this story to let the people go, and three times Pharaoh says he will let them go but changes his mind.  Pharaoh’s heart isn’t in it for the good of mankind.  Pharaoh’s heart desires to not lose his slave population.  His heart weakens under pressure, as most of us do.  But when the pressure goes away, his heart reverts back to its hardness.

Second, let’s talk about Pharaoh’s magicians.  Do you notice that the magicians can imitate God with the frogs?  But then they cannot imitate with the gnats.  They don’t even try with the flies.  Human beings can occasionally imitate the work of God.  When I think about this, I think about big things like seeding rain clouds to make it rain, or the nuclear processes for creating fission and fusion power, or even curing diseases.  We can do some things that God can do – albeit not in the same method.  But we must also remember that we are merely imitating a greater power.  No matter what we learn to do with great effort, God can do far more with far greater understanding.  Our greatness should never be reason to think less of God.  We are like the Egyptian magicians in that we will eventually reach our limit in our imitation of God.

The last idea that I would like to speak about is the reason for God to separate the plagues, beginning with the fourth plague.  Beginning with the flies, we see that the plagues will only impact the Egyptian people and not the Hebrew people.  Be extraordinarily careful with this.  It is so easy to speak about this in terms of God loving the Hebrew people more or God not wanting to put the Hebrew people in jeopardy.  When you think this, don’t forget that God did subject them to the first three plagues!  Read the actual words that God uses when describing His motivation for separating the peoples.  God does this s that the Egyptians will know that He is God.  God isn’t sparing His people, at least not as His primary motivation; He is demonstrating His power!  God is revealing His character while Pharaoh reveals his own.  Yes, God does love the Hebrew people.  However, He loves all mankind.  His love isn’t the issue here.  God’s character and Pharaoh’s understanding is the issue.

For the record, look up most healing stories that Jesus does in the New Testament.  Yes, Jesus loves all the people that He heals.  But f you are careful and read the reason for the healing, you will find the same rationale.  Jesus heals so that God may be known in the world.  Miracles – and the Egyptian plagues are indeed miracles – have more to do with revealing who God is than demonstrating His love.

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Year 7, Day 56: Exodus 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

The conflict begins between God and Pharaoh.  From God’s perspective, this is a conflict between an egotistical man and an eternal almighty God.  However, from the perspective of the Egyptians, this is a battle between gods.  This is a supernatural conflict between the power of the God of the Hebrews and the power of Pharaoh, who was himself considered a god among the gods of the Egyptians.

Notice how this story starts.  God does supernatural acts.  There are consequences to the acts.  Aaron’s staff becomes a snake and eats the snakes of the Egyptian magicians.  The Nile turns to blood and the Egyptian people can no longer find water to drink and use to cook.  We start relatively small compared to what is about to come.

Notice that Pharaoh’s heart remains hard.  Why does it remain hard?  It remains hard because Pharaoh refuses to attribute God’s work to Him.  Pharaoh’s magicians come in and imitate God’s work and give Pharaoh every reason to doubt.  Pharaoh can doubt because he takes the opportunity to attribute God’s work to that which he can explain.

Learn this lesson.  When God acts, it is important that we acknowledge His action.  How will we ever be faithful to Him if we do not acknowledge His presence in the first place?  How will we ever see His hand at work if we are constantly attributing His work to others?  This is the first reason why Pharaoh’s heart is hardened.  God starts with small miracles capable of being imitated to allow this aspect of Pharaoh’s character to come to the surface.

Before I leave this post, though, I feel the need to make sure that we don’t go to the other extreme, either.  We do not want to go too far and attribute everything to God.  This behavior leads to superstition and ritualized religion.  We often hear this when normal natural disasters strike such as hurricanes and droughts.  God can bring large events like that upon us, but sometimes they just happen or they can even be manmade!  For example, read up on the dustbowl in the early 1900s in western America.

What we need to seek is genuine relationship with God, not ritual and superstition.  It is important to attribute God’s action to Him, but to not see everything that happens as a direct result of God’s will.  They only way to strike this balance is to be in relationship with Him, listening to Him and seeking His will.

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Year 7, Day 55: Exodus 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Have you ever read through the first 20 chapters of Exodus and wondered about the passages that say, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart?” We haven’t had any of them thus far, but we are about to get a string of them in the next four or five chapters.  If you are like me, you’ve wondered how it is that Pharaoh can be blamed for his actions if it is God who is hardening his heart.

I almost always have this struggle when I read these chapters.  However, I think that there is a clue to this in the opening verses of today’s chapter.  God clearly says that He is about to do something to Pharaoh.  However, in the same breath he also says that it is with a strong hand that Pharaoh will send the Hebrew people out of Egypt.

Obviously, God wants His people to leave Egypt.  God also knows the hardness that dwells within the heart of Pharaoh.  God is willing to give Pharaoh any and every opportunity to see the hardness that dwells within him.  God isn’t going to force Pharaoh into anything, but God is certainly willing to shape Pharaoh’s world so that the hard and rebellious inner character deep within can come out to the surface.

God has done this all throughout the witness of the Old Testament thus far.  God placed Adam and Eve in the garden in the presence of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  He didn’t force them to eat it, but he allowed Adam’s and Eve’s inner character to come forth.  God favored Abel’s sacrifice over Cain’s, putting Cain in a position to feel anger.  God didn’t want Cain to kill his brother, but God put him in a position to allow that character to come forth.  The same can be said of Abraham and them many experiences (both good and bad) that he has.  The same can be said of Jacob with Esau, Laban, his wives, and his children.  The same can be said about Joseph and his ups and downs.

This really isn’t any different than what God does with us.  God places us in situations where we can show our inner character.  Sometimes, like Joseph in Potiphar’s house or Abraham coming from Ur, we get it right and the character that comes to the surface is a good one.  Other times, like Jacob with Laban or Joseph’s brothers in the story of Joseph and his coat, the character that bubbles forth is self-serving and repulsive.  Yet we are always in places in which we can see the person who lives within.  We can always look, celebrate the positive, and seek to change the negative within ourselves.

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Year 7, Day 54: Exodus 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

No good task goes unpunished.  That’s my usual reaction to this chapter.  Moses goes and does what God asks.  He meets with the Hebrew people and they seem favorable to him.  Yet, when he goes to talk with Pharaoh, things go poorly.  Pharaoh is disagreeable and starts to take it out on the Hebrew people in general.  Pharaoh makes life miserable for the Hebrew workers.  The Hebrew people come back and turn on Moses.  They tell Moses that they expect God to look upon him with displeasure because in their eyes he has made their life miserable.

This is a rather common experience among people who try to do the work of the Lord, to be honest.  Often the Lord calls people to work in the lives of others.  Working in the lives of others usually implies change and challenge.  Change and challenge are scary to most people, often causing fear and rejection.  In fact, do you remember Moses’ reaction yesterday?  Moses was scared and hesitant to obey God because God challenged him.  God was big enough to take the challenge and give Moses time to accept the challenge.

Moses, being human, doesn’t learn this lesson.  Moses doesn’t have the eternal perspective of God.  He doesn’t know how God is going to unfold His plan.  He can’t see how this part of the story is necessary to getting the Hebrew people out of Egypt for good, having plundered the Egyptians along the way.  Instead, Moses turns to God and gives God the same kind of grief that the Hebrew people have given him.  The Hebrew people are short-sighted.  Moses is short-sighted.

The reality is that when we start following God, we need to expect some rejection.  There will always be people who do not want to listen to what God has to say in their life.  There will always be people who want to continue living as they are.  If you spend much time reading God’s Word at all, you will realize that rejection along the way is to be expected.

What is important is that we cannot let the rejection keep us from obedience.  People’s acceptance or rejection doesn’t change God’s calling for our life.  We cannot know the end that God has for us if we follow Him in obedience.  We must pursue His will while enduring the rejection of the world around us.  That, literally for Moses and figuratively for us, will lead us to the Promised Land.

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Year 7, Day 53: Exodus 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today we get another glimpse of the implementation of God’s plan.  It is easy to become fixated on the events of this story because of the miraculous nature of them.  Moses’ hand becomes leprous when he sticks it inside of his cloak.  Moses’ staff turns into a serpent until he grabs it by the tail.  God promises that He will turn the Nile water into blood if absolutely necessary.  These are captivating elements of a story indeed.

Although it is easy to get fixated on the events, when we do so we miss a significant portion of the story.  Look at how Moses acts in the story.  We get a great glimpse of human nature here.  In the last chapter, we saw how God used Moses’ curiosity to get his attention.  Now, however, when God puts the focus on Moses’ upcoming action we begin to see a little hesitation within Moses.  Moses wonders why they would believe him.  After all, he is a murderer.  Why would they believe the words of a murderer?

Perhaps there is also a hint of fear within his words.  God is asking some big things from him.  In order to accomplish them, he is going to need to go before the Hebrew leaders.  He is also going to need to go before Pharaoh – likely the son of the Pharaoh who raised him – and make requests.  There are many good reasons for him to fear.  God is setting out a difficult road, fraught with many difficult activities to come.

Notice that God does not abandon Moses in spite of his hesitation or his fear or whatever else that he is feeling.  God doesn’t expect us to blindly follow with absolute courage.  He expects us to follow in human ways.  He expects us to be fearful, especially when asking great things.  He expects us to be timid from time to time.  He expects us to be confused and not understand.  These are all normal things for us to experience and they do not prohibit God from using us.

One of the great things about studying God’s Word is being free to look at the people God uses.  When we do, we get a long list of flawed, yet obedient, servants.  God’s Word does show us incredible acts of supernatural power.  But perhaps even more importantly it shows us His action through some very normal human beings.  That is a God who desires to be in relationship with us.

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Year 7, Day 52: Exodus 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today we get to continue the story of Moses with the burning bush.  I love this story because it shows us the natural curiosity of Moses.  Here is a bush that won’t burn.  Logically speaking, Moses should run away.  This is something clearly beyond his capacity to understand and his capability to imitate.  Logically, he should head the other way without looking back.  But his curiosity is stronger than his logic.  God uses Moses’ curiosity to open a door that logic could not open.

When Moses arrives at the bush, we get an opportunity to relearn a very important lesson.  The presence of God is significant.  It isn’t the burning bush that is holy.  It isn’t the piece of ground that is sacred.  We don’t see these acres of ground venerated again in the Bible in remembrance.  The ground is holy because the presence of God is within it.  God’s presence changes the nature of things from mundane to holy.  This is true about us as people, too.

Look also to the exchange between Moses and God.  Do you hear how Moses speaks?  Moses distinctly uses the word “if.”  He is not entirely sold on the idea that God is setting before him.  However, God is okay with this.  God has no trouble with Moses warming up to the idea.  Once more we see that God is patient with us.  God knows that we cannot see what He sees and we cannot know what He knows.  Yet, even in our doubt and slowness in understanding He still works with us.  He wants us to be a part of His plan.  He wants to include us in His work.

Finally, let’s take a look at the famous “I am who I am” passage.  This could also be translated as “I am what I am” or even “I will be what I will be.”  What is the point of all of this?  God’s character does not change.  God may change His plan.  God may allow us to affect how He does things in the world.  God may give us a choice as to how to participate in His work.  However, God does not change who He is. His character is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  He is reliable.  He is trustworthy.

There is a consistent theme running through this passage.  The ground where God happens to be is made holy because of God’s constant presence.  Moses is curious and growing, but God’s nature is constant.  Moses is cautious about committing, but God’s nature is constant.  God knows what He is doing and how He will get humanity to where He needs us to go.  His methods may be flexible, but His character is true.

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Year 7, Day 51: Exodus 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Once more we see that God uses people with flaws.  That’s a really nice way of saying that none of us are perfect.  That’s also a really nice way of saying that each of us have things about us where we are prone – if not automatic – to doing wrong.

Moses is raised up in the house of Pharaoh.  There can be no doubt about his heritage, though.  Egyptians don’t look much like Hebrew people.  I can’t think of any reason why his Egyptian mother would have hidden his identity from him, especially as he grew older.  When Moses is a young adult, he sees one of his Hebrew people getting beaten up by one of his Egyptian people.  Moses clearly chooses to stick up for his Hebrew brethren.  He kills the Egyptian.  The Pharaoh is not pleased, and he seeks to kill Moses.  There can be no doubt.  Moses’ first claim to fame is that he murdered someone in a crime of passionate anger.

But look at the very next story.  God doesn’t abandon Moses.  God doesn’t say to Moses, “I have no use for you since you killed someone.”  No.  God uses that which is within Moses in a way to suit his purposes.  Moses clearly has a well-defined sense of justice versus injustice.  God plans to use it.  God may not approve of the murder of the Egyptian, but that doesn’t mean Moses gets kicked to the curb.

Moses sees the women of a priest being mistreated by some shepherds.  They are unable to water their flocks.  Moses comes in, sees the injustice, and sets the record straight.  Notice that nobody dies in this story.  God’s been working on Moses’ heart.  Moses still has passion about the injustice that he sees being done, but he is able to reign it in and give a more productive outcome.

As a result, Moses is accepted.  Moses finds a home.  Moses even finds a wife.  Moses develops a meaningful life, even though he is a murderer at the beginning of this story.  God can always use us if we are willing to work on our sinful desires and learn to tame them.

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Year 7, Day 50: Exodus 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Notice the change within the context of Egypt as we jump from Genesis to Exodus.  No longer is the story being written out of the perspective of respect.  No longer do we see Pharaoh’s and Joseph’s relationship affecting the story.  Of course, over 400 years have gone by, so why would those relationships affect the story?  That would be like us in the modern day respecting one another because of the relationship of people who live before America ever became a country in the first place!  It makes sense that Pharaoh would now be afraid of the massive number of Hebrew people and forget about Joseph.  I don’t fault the Pharaoh at all for being fearful of these Hebrews.  I will fault him for many things in this story, but not this.

What I do want to lift up out of the story today is the respect that these midwives have for life.  They know Pharaoh’s order.  They no doubt know the consequences for disobeying Pharaoh’s orders.  Yet, they don’t obey Pharaoh anyways.  The Hebrew babies continue to be born and live!  These midwives are willing to put their own life on the line for the sake of the life off these babies.

There isn’t any reason for these women to do this other than their respect of life.  They are Egyptian midwives, so it isn’t like these Hebrew people are family.  The midwives are not likely being paid great sums of money to turn their heads the other way.  The Hebrew people are being treated as slaves, so I wouldn’t expect them to be overly wealthy.  As I just said, the Hebrew people are looked upon as slaves, so it isn’t like they command much respect in Egypt, either.  These midwives are letting the Hebrew children live simply because it is the right thing to do.

I want to lift this up today.  Here is a group of people who are willing to disobey the orders of superiors when the orders are not just.  This is a group of people who are willing to compromise their own livelihood – perhaps even life – for the right thing.  They are not getting their ethics from the expectations of the culture around them.  They are judging right from wrong from a code of ethics that dwells within them.

God loves them for it.

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Year 7, Day 49: Genesis 50

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I really love Joseph’s maturity in this passage.  There are three significant events with which we can see this maturity.  Let’s look at each one individually.

First, Joseph experiences the death of his father.  It is not easy to lose a parent, especially when the relationship is good and the feelings between child and parent is one of respect.  Joseph valued his father’s role.  However, notice that Joseph doesn’t mourn with abandon when he dies.  Joseph does lose himself.  Joseph’s world isn’t over.  Joseph mourns maturely.  He lets the sadness within him out, but he is able to compose himself and move on after the fact.  He is able to keep his promise to bury his father as well as continue to be a good servant to Pharaoh.

Then, we see Joseph go before Pharaoh.  Joseph is mature enough to go humbly.  He asks for permission to leave.  He does not go in making demands; he does not go in a wreck of a man.  Notice how Pharaoh responds.  Pharaoh gives him time to go.  But Pharaoh also gives him supplies. There appears to be a great number of people who go with Joseph to mourn.  Pharaoh seems to give more than his blessing; he gives him enough of a retinue that the people of Canaan take notice!

The third place that we see the maturity of Joseph is when his brothers come before him.  Naturally, I can see them being a bit concerned.  They could easily have thought that Joseph was just treating them nicely out of respect for their father.  After all, they had hurt the very man who was now Pharaoh’s greatest aide.  But I love Joseph’s perspective.  Joseph isn’t focused on who hurt him.  Joseph is focused on how God was able to work through it.  Joseph has the maturity to be focused on what God has done through him rather than what others have done to him.

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Year 7, Day 48: Genesis 49

Theological Commentary: Click Here

God’s generosity continues to abound in this chapter.  We have another genealogy, but this time in a voice of prophecy.  We get to hear about Jacob’s sons and the roles that they will play in the future.

Rueben was the eldest.  But his sin caused him to fall from grace.  Yet, he is not outcast.  He will continue to be a part of the Hebrew people.  His offspring will be welcome among God’s people and they will even have a role to play.  Our sinfulness can be redeemed.  Our sinfulness can be forgiven and we can have a home with God.

The same is true for Simeon and Levi.  They are also brothers who committed violent acts in their youth and who lived by the sword.  But we know that the offspring of these brothers will continue to be among God’s people.  In fact, the people of Levi will become the Levites and priests that become the spiritual backbone of the people!  Their sinfulness is overcome as well.

We can even look in the opposite light towards the majority of the middle brothers.  We are talking about the likes of Naphtali, Dan, Gad, Benjamin, Ashur, and Issachar.  These brothers have a very subtle role.  They don’t have the big type-A personalities of their brothers.  But they have a role, too.  They may not be the natural leaders, but they will still be a part of God’s people.  We don’t have to be big in fame or glory or reputation to be a part of God’s people.  We can be followers, so long as we are following the right God.

The end of Genesis gives us a good look at life through God’s eyes.  He loves those with big personalities.  He loves those with small personalities.  He loves those prone to mistakes.  He loves those who play it safe and do what is expected of them.  Whatever we are and whatever role we play, there is a place for us in His grace, love, and care.

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Year 7, Day 47: Genesis 48

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Once more we see a picture of grace in the book of Genesis.  Joseph hears that his father may not have too much longer to live.  When he hears this, he takes his sons to Jacob and asks for him to bless the sons.  Jacob willingly does this.

Naturally, this makes a bunch of sense.  Jacob spent a good portion of his life without Joseph.  Joseph’s children have not known Jacob like Jacob’s other grandchildren know him.  Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son from his favorite wife.  There seem to be every reason for Jacob to bless Joseph’s boys.

On the other hand, there are some hidden reasons why Jacob could not have wanted to bless them.  Jacob didn’t know them all that well.  They were children from a marriage that Joseph had with an Egyptian priest’s daughter. 

What I like about this chapter is that Jacob does not dwell on these reasons.  Instead, Jacob blesses the children.  Jacob looks to the positives and dwells on what the relationship means instead of looking at the negatives in life.  This is truly a show of grace.  Jacob desires to bestow his blessing upon them.

As we look at this blessing, we very much see an additional place of grace.  Jacob blesses the younger son as if he were the eldest.  In fact, we know that Jacob does this intentionally.  At first, we might simply say that Jacob was the younger and got his brother’s blessing, so he is just continuing the tradition.  But I truly think that there is more to it than that.

Let’s look back through Genesis.  Seth (and Abel) were both chosen ahead of Cain.  Isaac was chosen ahead of Ishmael.  Jacob was chosen ahead of Esau.  Joseph was chosen ahead of the vast majority of his brothers.  The pattern we see in Genesis is that the former is looked over in favor of the latter.

There is a profound spiritual message being passed along here.  We hear in the book of Hebrews that in Christ God is doing a new thing.  Hebrews 10:8-10 states that God has been working throughout history to “do away with the first” in order to “establish the second.”  God does away with the old system of forgiveness/repentance/sanctification in favor of a new system of forgiveness/repentance/sanctification through Jesus’ death on the cross.

This is a sign of grace in its own right.  God gives us grace when we do not deserve it.  He passes over our guilt with His forgiveness and even pays the cost Himself!  This is indeed a pattern that God is creating through His servants in the Old Testament.  When Jacob blesses the younger son over the elder, Jacob is laying down the foundation of a long line – and an even longer line in the future – of preparing His people to accept that the second is preferred to the first.  God’s grace through Christ on the cross is far more preferred than the sacrificial system for forgiveness.

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Year 7, Day 46: Genesis 47

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Once more we see the prosperity and the wisdom of Joseph.  Before the story of the chapter is finished, Pharaoh owns all the land in Egypt and essentially turns the whole nation into sharecroppers.  The people receive their grain from Pharaoh and have to give a portion back to Pharaoh in return.  Joseph’s wisdom – his ability and desire to listen to God, really – sets him up to be a blessing to the people as well as to his Pharaoh.

That being said, I want to take a side trip and risk chasing down a rabbit trail.  Did anyone else besides me notice the portion that Pharaoh requires?  Jacob tells the people that one-fifth will return to Pharaoh and four-fifths will be kept by the people.  That’s twenty percent!

When I read that, I really was impressed by how little God demands of us.  Yes, He wants our submission.  But He only asks that we tithe ten percent of what we are given by his hands!  That’s incredibly generous, especially with what Pharaoh demanded!  The people returning out of Egypt during the Exodus should have heard God’s request and felt an ease of burden, not a great taxation!

For that matter, look at what our own countries ask of us.  In America, it’s not uncommon for American citizens to pay on the average of 20% of their income in federal income tax.  This doesn’t even count state and local taxes.  It also doesn’t count sales tax.  When we look at it in this perspective, God really is generous.

Those living in other countries have more to see.  On the average, Americans pay less tax.  We typically receive less benefit for our tax, too.  But some countries pay as much as 40% of their income in tax. (Aruba has the highest taxation rate at 58.5% and there are about ten countries with a tax rate of 50% or higher.)  In this light, God’s tithe is really quite generous.  I think perspective really helps.  How generous is a God that asks for ten percent when fellow human beings tax one another as much as 50%!

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Year 7, Day 45: Genesis 46

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In this chapter we continue to get a taste of God’s provision.  We see it first in God’s interaction with Jacob.  Jacob seems a bit hesitant to go to Egypt.  He packs everything up, but on his way out of town he stops to worship God.

This makes much sense when we think about it.  Abraham went down to Egypt and got himself into a bit of trouble.  Isaac also went down to Egypt and got himself in a bit of trouble.  Isaac has simply learned his lesson from his father and grandfather.  He is anxious to meet his son, but he knows that when his people go to Egypt there is often trouble.

Because of this, God comes to Jacob and encourages him to go.  God provides for the motivation that Jacob needs in the moment.  God tells Jacob that it will be alright and that he has a plan.  God tells Jacob that Joseph has got things under control.  Jacob listens and goes to his son in Egypt.

We also see God’s provision for the Hebrew people when they get to Egypt.  Because of his relationship with Pharaoh, Jacob is free to negotiate fertile land for them to dwell in while performing the duties of shepherds for the Pharaoh.  This is a pretty good deal in my opinion.  The Hebrew people are allowed to live and even prosper while being granted purpose in their new homeland.  God uses Joseph to provide for His people as well as to reward Pharaoh and his faithfulness to Joseph.  God’s  provision is truly a beautiful thing.

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Year 7, Day 44: Genesis 45

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Joseph unfolds his plan.  He reveals himself to his brothers.  He is not dead; he is their provider!  In this we see an incredible act of forgiveness and restoration.  For those reasons alone, this is a powerful chapter.

Today, though, I want to look at the relationship between Pharaoh and Joseph.  Remember that at one time Joseph was a forgotten slave accused of thrusting himself upon the wife of a government official.  Now, he has Pharaoh’s respect and admiration.  Pharaoh comes to Joseph’s brothers and lavishes grace upon them.

This grace comes because Joseph did not live his life in bitterness.  He was able to forgive his brothers.  He was able to move past the false accusation of Potiphar’s wife.  He was able to overlook being forgotten in prison.  He was able to focus on what God set before him and do his best in those circumstances.

However, as we move to Genesis notice how this relationship changes.  Right now, Pharaoh has respect for Joseph and his God.  He is willing to work with the Hebrew people and support them because he is grateful for what Joseph has done.  But this will not remain the same.  A Pharaoh will come who will not treat Joseph’s people as nicely.

I think what we learn here is a good lesson on character.  Joseph, in all of his forgiveness and patience was a man of impeccable character.  This Pharaoh was a man of good character.  That is why this story has such a positive ending.  Men of good character are able to lead and produce good results.  We’ll see what men of poor character produce when we turn to the Exodus story.

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Year 7, Day 43: Genesis 44

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Joseph’s moment comes.  He has been building this moment from the very beginning.  He has lavished grace upon the Hebrew brothers.  He let them return with food and their money after the first trp.  He has treated them with honor, bringing them into his own house to feast, even.  He gave Benjamin a great portion, even more than his brothers.  He has given the Hebrew brothers every luxury.

The brothers have in turn respected the grace they’ve received.  They did return with Benjamin as requested.  They did come into the place of feasting with humbleness, admitting that they didn’t actually pay for the first load of food.  They did stick up for Simeon and returning to Egypt against their father before the food ran out.  They have demonstrated that they trust Joseph.

However, Joseph requires more than trust.  He wants to hear repentance.  Joseph is happy to be in a position to save his family.  That alone is remarkable.  Many humans, after being sold into slavery by their own family, would be content letting them starve!  Not Joseph.  Joseph is overjoyed to be in a place to help them.  But he wants to hear their repentant heart. Thus, he plants a gold cup in his brother’s sack so that he will have every reason to put the brothers under great stress.

Judah comes through.  When Benjamin is made to look guilty, Judah could easily have easily turned on Benjamin.  However, Judah volunteers to give up his own life to save Benjamin.

Before we get to the conclusion of this post, let’s look at a detail as to why this scheme might have been devised in the first place.  As Judah recounts the story, he tells us a detail that was omitted as the narrator of Genesis told the story.  Apparently tin the first visit to Egypt, the brothers told Joseph that one of their brothers was dead.  It is likely that Joseph would feel the need to correct this little lie.  One of their brothers isn’t dead, he was sold into slavery.

In any case, Joseph now sees what he wants to see.  The brothers are humble.  Judah is even willing to trade his own life for the life of his brother.  These brothers have some maturity underneath them now.  They have a bit of repentance.  They have honored Joseph after dishonoring him horribly so many years ago.  It has taken a while for these brothers to mature and be able to put it on display, but God has been with Joseph through it all.  Joseph is now ready to unfold the whole story.

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Year 7, Day 42: Genesis 43

Theological Commentary: Click Here

The plot thickens.  Joseph’s brothers return home and the food runs out.  There is an argument between the sons and Jacob about returning.  Eventually it is decided that the sons have to return with Benjamin in order to get more food.  Jacob has to choose between dying of starvation and potentially losing his only remaining son from his favorite wife, Rachel.

Isn’t it funny what fear can do for us?  Don’t forget that Simeon was held back in Egypt in prison!  Jacob is afraid of losing another son, so he plays it safe and lets him rot in prison rather than potentially losing another.  When we are in places of greatest gain, we are also usually in places of greatest risk.  Fear steps in and often tempts us to play it safe.  Jacob is content potentially starving and letting Simeon stay in jail rather than letting the sons return to Egypt with more food.

Keep in mind that the fear isn’t usually rational.  The fear is often a perceived fear.  But just because it is perceived doesn’t mean it is real.  Has Egypt given Jacob any reason to fear?  Did the brothers not return with plenty of food having spent none of their money?  The only bad thing that happened was that Simeon was retained until they should return.  Jacob assumes that Simeon is retained because Egypt wants to harm Benjamin.  That is a perceived fear, but it is not a rational one.  So often fear keeps us from enjoying God’s blessing.

Notice what it is that gets Jacob through his fear.  Necessity is what motivates Jacob.  Literally, the food runs out and the threat of starving becomes quite real.  Jacob moves past his fear when he hits rock bottom.  This is why so many of us experience the need to hit rock bottom before we can go forward.  So long as we can, we bunker down and hide in our safe places.  Need brings us out.  Need causes us to leave our safe place.  Need opens us up to being in a position of receiving and appreciating God’s blessing.

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Year 7, Day 41: Genesis 42

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Just because one is righteous does not mean that one cannot enjoy a little bit of sport.  I know this lesson very much from being a pastor and being a teacher.  When trying to get another person to learn something, there are multiple approaches.  You can lecture the right answer and let the person learn passively.  You can set the student free to discover the answer themselves.  Or, you can disciple the student by asking leading questions that lead the student to the answer.  There are proper times to choose each of these techniques.  The third technique is my personal favorite, though.

In order to lead the student through a series of guided questions – those in the know call this the Socratic Method, named after its designer, Socrates – know that dialogue and conversation are the key.  The disciple maker asks questions that continually push the learner to the edge of their knowledge base in order to cause them to learn more.  As the disciple learns, the disciple maker pushes a little further.  In this way, the student grows.  The student always feels precariously close to the tipping point of overextending, but the disciple-maker always has the disciple securely in their hands.

This process is often made more fun when the disciple-maker, or master teacher, has a sense of play.  When the master teacher can use their sense of play to create relationship, the learning becomes personal, intimate, and a genuinely shared experience that is eventually enjoyed by all.

This is what Joseph is doing to his brothers.  They are at all times safe in his hands.  The problem is that the brothers do not realize it.  They don’t recognize Joseph.  However, Joseph takes this opportunity to help them get up to speed with how God has been moving in their life.  Joseph wants to teach them to trust God and to realize that God was able to take their sinful act of selling him as a slave into a great thing.

However, Joseph doesn’t just lecture them.  They wouldn’t have learned the lesson as well by just giving them the answer.  They wouldn’t have learned the lesson by listening to one of Joseph’s sermons.  Joseph teaches the lesson to the brothers by guiding them through a series of situations.  First, there is the interview.  Then, there is the imprisonment.  Then, there is the return trip home leaving Simeon in Egypt.  Then, there is the debate with their father about bringing Benjamin.

In all of these things, the brothers perpetually feel like their life could come crumbling down at any moment.  They are fearful for Benjamin and fearful for Simeon.  They are afraid of the wrath of their father.  What they don’t know, and can’t know, is that they whole time they are resting quite safely in Joseph’s most skilled hands.  Even more importantly, they are learning that they rest completely and securely in God’s most capable hands. 

That’s a great thing to learn.  I love Joseph’s playful method of teaching this lesson to his brothers.  I don’t think it is mean-spirited or in bad taste at all.  Joseph keeps them safe while constantly putting them on the edge of their comfort zone.

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Year 7, Day 40: Genesis 41

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Genesis 41 only confirms what we already know from the past chapter.  Joseph wasn’t freed from the prison because God was not ready to bring glory to Himself.  God was caring for Joseph the whole time, but God’s plan was not ready.  Joseph patiently awaits God’s timing.  For two whole years Joseph is in prison waiting for God’s timing.

Joseph gets his chance, though.  The Pharaoh has a dream.  In this, I find an incredible thing.  There is a reason that God was not ready in Joseph’s prior moments of faithfulness.  God wasn’t ready because the timing wasn’t ideal.  You see, in the prior moments Joseph was ready for God to act.  But nobody besides Joseph was ready.  In this moment, the Pharaoh of the land is ready to hear from God.  The Pharaoh’s heart is opened.

What can God do with a heart that is open to Him?  God can certainly use the Pharaoh to spare Joseph.  God can use the Pharaoh to spare Egypt.  God will even use Pharaoh to spare the nations around Egypt.  Because God waits for Pharaoh’s heart to be open, God can do all of these things.  Rather than free Joseph when Joseph is ready, God can free Joseph when the world is ready to listen to him and observe his wisdom and obedience to God.

What I find remarkable is that Joseph seems to know all of this.  When he is released and told the dream of Pharaoh, do you see his response?  Joseph says, “God revealed this.”  Joseph isn’t bitter towards God.  Joseph is merely waiting for God to act.  When God is ready, Joseph is likewise ready to step in and make sure that the glory goes to God.  That’s remarkable.  After all that has been done to Joseph, here is a patient man waiting to serve God when God is ready to bring glory onto Himself.

Joseph is one of my favorite patriarchs.  He starts off so bold and arrogant.  However, he humbles quickly and becomes quite the servant of God.  Here he is, barely middle-aged, and he is willing to wait for the hearts of others to be open to God before expecting God to act.  There is a deep and profound wisdom in this man named Joseph.

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Year 7, Day 39: Genesis 40

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Genesis 40 intrigues me.  He we see Joseph seemingly do all of the right things.  He is faithful in prison.  The captain over the prison respects Joseph so much that he seems to ask Joseph to mentor these two servants of Pharaoh who are imprisoned.  Joseph even interprets the dreams correctly!  Yet what does all of this get him?  The cupbearer is restored, the baker is hung, and Joseph continues to rot in prison.  It’s easy to read through this story and wonder what the point is.

It’s actually worse than that.  It’s easy to read through this story and think that God isn’t loyal.  After all, shouldn’t God reward Joseph for doing the right thing?  Shouldn’t God have arranged for Joseph’s release from prison?

Naturally, these questions are wrong.  However, in exploring them we find out the mistake that they represent.  Each of these thoughts is rooted in Joseph being the focus.  But Joseph isn’t the focus.  He never is and he never should be.  The focus is God.  The focus is God’s glory.  He is the focus, not some human.  This story is about how God can redeem and rescue us, not how we deserve to be rescued.

That really is the crux of this story.  Joseph remains in prison because the time is not right for God to rescue and redeem him.  God has plans for Joseph.  God desires to save him.  In fact, we know that He will save Joseph.  But the time is not now.  God’s plan is not for Joseph to know rescue imminently.

This is a really important lesson for us to learn in our own lives.  God desires to impact our life.  But He does it on His timing, for His agenda, so that He maybe glorified.  It isn’t about our worth and our deserving nature.  It is about Him and His glory.  The next time we feel like God has not been fair to us, we need to remember that the only reason we have that thought is because we have put our focus on ourselves rather than God.

For the record, Joseph himself doesn’t make this mistake.  We don’t see Joseph complaining about God’s lack of faithfulness.  Joseph remains strong and faithful even when he feels forgotten in prison.

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Year 7, Day 38: Genesis 39

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Sin continues to surround the story.  In fact, once more it is sin of a sexual nature!  Genesis has much to teach us, but one of the reoccurring themes in Genesis is that our downfall is often sexual in nature.  Our lust, our passion, our carnal urges are hard to control.  Perhaps even worse, when our carnal urges go unfulfilled or rejected, it arouses feelings of anger, irritation, and even vengeance.

It is Potiphar’s wife that is to blame in the story.  She desires something she should not have.  Scorned, she plots to get Joseph in trouble.  Joseph flees, but Potiphar believes his wife.  Joseph is thrown in prison.  Because of the lust of a single woman, one man’s life is irrevocably changed.

However, today I want to focus on what is nested within a world full of sin.  Look at Joseph within this chapter.  Joseph is faithful.  Having been sold into slavery and then traded around until he lands in Potiphar’s house, he still remains faithful.  He is faithful to Potiphar.  He works hard and gives his best.  He does the job that is asked of him.  He works hard to make his master proud.  he could have become embittered, but he doesn’t.

Because off this, God is with him.  God walks through life with Joseph.  Even after Joseph is mistreated once more and thrown into prison, God causes Joseph to be prospered.  God desires us to be His representative to whichever world we find ourselves.  Joseph lives a godly life in slavery, in prison, and while leading Potiphar’s house.  The circumstances don’t change Joseph’s pursuit of godliness.  I think that is my favorite part of this story.

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Year 7, Day 37: Genesis 38

Theological Commentary: Click Here

We just got started with the story of Joseph, and immediately we take a small hiatus.  Today we stop and talk about Judah.  Our theme remains the same, though.  We continue to talk about the human penchant for sin and the brilliance of God’s oversight through it.

Let’s talk about human sinfulness.  This whole story hinges upon the desire for Judah to fulfill his own desires rather than live in obedience to God.  We start this story by hearing that Judah took a wife from among the Canaanites.  Judah took a wife from a people who would lead him away from God and his ways.  Why did he do this?  He did this because his assessment of her outward beauty was more important to him than his assessment of her inner character.  His own desires are more important to him than God’s desires for him.

In due time, Judah’s wife dies.  In his mourning, he goes looking for consolation.  where does he find consolation?  He tries to find consolation in a prostitute and is tricked into having sex with his own daughter-in-law!  Again, we see the underlying rule of Judah’s sinfulness.  His passion rules his heart.  He isn’t a thinking man, he’s a man of passion.  Rather than decide between sin and righteousness, he pursues sin.  He wants consolation and he decides that the best consolation is with a woman who can give him a sexual release.

Unfortunately, this general tendency is a tendency within us all.  Some of us are able to control our passions more than others, but all of us have certain passions that do rule over.  We might not struggle with the same sexual passions as Judah, but we all do have passion that rules over us.  We all have our buttons that can be pushed that causes passion to flare up and we choose sin instinctively.  It is good for us to study stories like this so that we can recognize where these tendencies exist and combat against them.

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