When Moses returned from the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony, the people were impatient and built a golden calf to worship. When Moses questioned his brother about this, Aaron replied with the lamest excuse on record. “…they gave me this gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” HA!

“…please forgive their sin - but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
What book? (Phil 4:3, Ps 69:28, Rev 3:5)

Exod 34:33-35
When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the LORD's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.

Are our faces radiant after we have spoken with the Lord?
2 Cor 3:18
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

There are many times the words “without yeast” appear in reference to presenting offerings to God. In the New Testament, Jesus warned us about the "yeast" of the Pharisees.
Matt 16:11b-12
But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Notice how many times the words “a pleasing aroma” appear in Scripture, followed every time in this day’s reading by the words, “an offering made to the Lord by fire.” What is the significance of that for us spiritually?
Rom 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship.

2 Cor 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
Is this the "pleasing aroma" He expects from us? To spread the knowledge of Him?

The two tablets of the Testimony were inscribed by the finger of God! WOW!

Did God give Moses the plans for the building of the tabernacle while he was on the mountain? Did Moses write all those many, many details down on something or did he just supernaturally remember? Or did God refresh his memory from time to time?

The breastpiece for the priest was to be used for making decisions. How does that relate to us as Christians with the breastplate of righteousness?
Eph 6:14
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

Isn’t it remarkable that these men who were skilled in brick making now have been given skills as seamstresses for making the garments for the priests? Just an example of how God gives us spiritual gifts and uses us for tasks that we could have never dreamed of doing.

God spoke the words of the Ten Commandments the first time. The people did not want to listen to the voice of God. They instead heard thunder and saw lightning and smoke.
John 12:28-29
Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again."The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Who is this "angel" God sent to go with them who has the power to forgive sin?
1 Cor 10:1-4
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual foodand drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

John 5:22
Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son

Pretty clear...the "angel", God's Presence, was God, the Son.

Another example of how God, the Son interacted with people in the Old Testament is found in this passage.
Exod 24:9-11
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

And then we have this verse.
John 6:46
No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.

If no one can see the Father then how can Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, along with the seventy elders see God? Again, it's perfectly clear... the leaders saw God, the Son.

As we begin reading of the journey of the Israelites there is an interesting pattern that will emerge, one that is often overlooked. God tells the people that He will protect them from diseases if they will just listen to Him and follow His commands. At this time the only new commands they had were the ones given to them as they traveled, commands such as gathering manna daily six days a week. How hard was that??? It is only later when the people have consistently disobeyed and grumbled and complained that God sent Moses from the mountain with a set of laws carved in stone.

We often equate “carved in stone” as something that is unmoving, unwavering, unchanging, consistent, completely fixed. Yet some people today want to bend and change the Ten Commandments when they literally were carved in stone. Shouldn’t that tell us something?

There is a great lesson to be learned concerning the manna. The Israelites had to trust God daily to supply their needs. Shouldn’t we do that too? Just wake up each morning trusting God to meet our every need.

The Lord went ahead of the Hebrews as they may their exodus from Egypt. He guided them in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. They were following the Lord and He guided and protected them. The people were told to “Stand firm.” And “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to stand still.”

It is so hard for us to be obedient in standing still, isn't it? We tend to want to DO something.

Then the Lord tells the Israelites to “move on”. If only we would listen to the Lord and stand still when He tells us to and to move on when He tells us to.

Seems as if God displays a sense of humor when He causes the wheels of the Egyptian chariots to fall off.

The word "salvation" appears often in Scripture. Interestingly the English word salvation is translated from several Hebrew words. Sometimes salvation means “save or rescue”. However in the case of the word salvation used in Exodus 15:2, the Hebrew word is "yeshuw` ah." Sound familiar??? It should. It means “He who saves” – Jesus!

God’s instructions to the Hebrews concerning the Passover are very specifically detailed. The great significance of the Passover is in the prophetic symbolism. Some 1500 years later Jesus became the fulfillment of the Passover by becoming the Passover lamb. The days, hours, minutes, the directions and orders concerning the regulations of the Passover are exact. They are specific so that we can recognize the connections between the first Passover and the fulfillment in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The prophecies were fulfilled exactly. From the penning up of the lamb on the tenth of the month to the slaughter of the lamb at twilight on the 14th of the month, Jesus fulfilled these prophecies precisely. As we go through this study we will discover many prophecies that point to Jesus and the cross. Details are on the website www.philandpatti.com concerning the prophetic messianic symbolism of the Passover. Look under A Biblical View of Holy Week.

The Israelite men (by most records men were those over age 20 and under age 60, those who were of fighting age) who left Egypt in the exodus numbered 600,000, not counting women and children. Whew!

When the Lord instituted the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He said to do this as a remembrance of how He had brought them out of Egypt. “This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the Lord is to be on your lips”

A sign on our hand is what we do. A reminder on our forehead is what we think and remember. The law of the Lord should be in what we communicate to others.

How do we as Christians observe and honor our remembrance of what God has done for us?

If all the livestock died during Plague #5, what animals had boils in Plague #6? It seems as if there is a difference made between livestock and animals. Perhaps the animals with the boils were household animals or other animals not considered livestock.

It is after the plague of boils that it is God who hardens Pharaoh's heart.

During the plague of hail, again livestock is mentioned. Some time must have passed since Plague #5 for them to have livestock. They could have acquired more animals from outside the city of Egypt and from the land of Egypt. (Egypt is the city. The land of Egypt is the surrounding fields and country.)

In the plague of darkness, it says that the darkness can be felt. What kind of darkness can be felt? Praise God, that Jesus is our Light!

Notice that Moses continually asks Pharaoh to let the people go so that they may go and worship God.

“I will redeem you with an outstretched arm….”Moses delivered this amazing prophetic statement to the Hebrew slaves. God was telling them that He would redeem them from the yoke of slavery. He is telling us that He will redeem us with outstretched arms on the cross of Calvary. The people did not listen then. Do the people listen now?

Then the plagues came. And Pharaoh repeatedly hardened his heart.

Interesting comment in the commentary on page 103. Pharaoh avoids God through procrastination, compromise, and insincere repentance. Sounds like us today, doesn’t it? And to add insult to injury…with each attempt at resisting God, Pharaoh’s (our) heart gets harder until we are so unaffected by God’s influence in our lives that nothing could get our attention, not even with the death of God’s only Son.

When Moses was found by Pharaoh’s daughter, she gave him back to his mother to take care of him, and not only take care of him, but she paid Moses’ mother to do it! Isn’t it just like God?

The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses from within a bush. God spoke to Moses from within the bush. Can we connect some dots here???

God asked Moses to go to Egypt to bring the Israelites out. Moses offered up:
EXCUSES, ESCUSES, EXCUSES
1. Moses, "Who am I that I should go?" God, "I will go with you."
2. Moses, "What is your name?" God, "I AM."
3. Moses, "What if they don't believe me?" God, "You will show them signs and wonders."
4. Moses, "I don't speak very well." God, "I will help you speak."
5. Moses’ fifth excuse as to why he couldn’t go was “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”

How often have all of us offered up the same or similar escuses when God calls us to do His work?

Jacob singles out the sons of Joseph saying that Manasseh will become a nation and Ephraim will become a group of nations.

Jacob pronounces blessings on his sons. Their sins are not forgotten in the blessings that are given out. Reuben slept with Rachel’s maidservant. The men of Shechem were killed by Simeon and Levi. They are held accountable when the time comes for the blessings. It is at this point that Judah is given the scepter promise, the line of kingship. Later the kings will rightfully come only from the line of Judah.

Joseph’s response to his brothers concern that he held a grudge against them is laid to rest when Joseph makes this great statement, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good…”
How many times in our lives can we look back on events in our lives that seemed at the time to be devastating and yet God...

Joseph sent word to his father Jacob to come to live in Egypt. He told him not to bother about his belongings, that the best of Egypt would be his. Yet Jacob took all his possessions with him. This speaks volumes about trust. Jacob didn’t quite trust that he would be provided for. Quite reminiscent of the Jewish people. God sent His Son, Jesus, the new covenant and they held on to the old. Same thing happened to some of the early Christians, especially the followers of Peter and James. They still held on to the Jewish customs and traditions even though they were believers in Jesus.

Often we think of Benjamin during this time of famine as being a young boy or a young man. The truth is he was old enough to have ten sons.

As the famine becomes more and more severe, the Egyptians no longer have the money to buy grain. They begin to sell their livestock and eventually they sell their land and themselves into servitude. This sets the stage for the Israelites to acquire property and become dominant in the land of Egypt. At this point the Egyptians are becoming servants to the Israelites. The Israelites held on to the dominance of the Egyptians as long as any of Jacob's sons were alive. Gradually this situation was reversed. The Israelites later allowed themselves to become slaves to the Egyptians.

What must Joseph have thought when he saw the fulfillment of his dream as his brothers bowed down before him?

What is the significance of Reuben offering both his sons as “hostage” in the situation concerning the return of Benjamin? Why offer his sons, why did he not offer himself? If Reuben's sons were killed, then Reuben would suffer as Jacob suffered at the loss of Benjamin and Joseph.

Judah presents himself as a protector of Benjamin. It is the beginning of the alliance with Judah and Benjamin as they will later be known as the Jews.

Later, Judah’s character surfaces once again as he offers himself in place of Benjamin (a foreshadowing of Jesus’ offer). His willingness to defend Benjamin, to honor his father, and be willing to substitute himself is another reason the line of the Messiah comes through Judah.

“The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered…”

Joseph prospered? As a slave? How can this be?

When we have God's presence with us we will prosper…not by the world’s standards, but certainly by God’s standards.

We couldn’t help but notice the similarities between Joseph and the prophet Daniel.

Joseph refused to succumb to the temptation of Potiphar’s wife and called it a sin against God.

Notice when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, he gave God the credit. Even Pharaoh knew that the spirit of God was in Joseph.

This coat of Joseph's was a major source of contention between Joseph and his brothers. It was a symbol that Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons. This coat was probably of a kind worn by royalty, long-sleeved, ankle length and colorful. Most coats were knee length, short sleeve and plain.

His brothers already hated him and then when Joseph told them about his dreams they hated him all the more. Joseph’s brothers’ jealousy had reached a crescendo when they plotted to kill him.

Mention is made of a shrine prostitute. These people committed the act of prostitution as an act of worship, committed by both men and women. Judah, thinking he was with a shrine protitute, was with his daughter-in-law, who conceived and gave birth to twin sons.

The daughters of Lot have something in common with Tamar. Later in the timeline they will have something in common with another Biblical character. All have prominent roles in the genealogy of Jesus. Just another example of how God uses events laden with sin to fulfill His later purpose.

When Jacob was mourning the supposed death of Joseph, his daughters came to comfort him. Does this mean Jacob had other daughters beside Dinah?

While we may think genealogies are insignificant as reading material, but they are very significant in documenting genealogy.

As an act of defiance toward Isaac, Esau married Canaanite women including Ishmael’s daughters. These are women that Abraham didn't want Isaac to marry. The land of Canaan was given to Jacob as part of the blessing, passed from Abraham through Isaac. Esau was excluded from this blessing. By moving to the hill country of Seir, Esau was paving the way for Jacob to claim his blessing.

When God makes a promise, He makes a way for that promise to be fulfilled.

Can you think of any examples from your life?

WOW! Dinah’s brothers certainly took some drastic measures in their response to the rape. First of all they bargained with the men of Shechem to be circumcised, then while the men were still in pain, Dinah's brothers killed them. Wonder if it was all the brothers and how many men did they kill.

By the circumcision, they defiled the symbol of the covenant between God and Abraham.

Since Rachel had great difficulty in giving birth the birth of Benjamin may have been a breech birth. Interesting that this birth took place near Bethlehem.

Also interesting that Isaac lived many years after his "dying" blessing to Jacob.

Why did Rachel steal her father’s household "gods"? She believed that the household "gods" had powers and she thought her father could find out from these "gods" where she had gone with Jacob.

Amazing example of an encounter with God the Son when Jacob wrestles with the “man”. He wrestled with God to secure a blessing. Do we wrestle with God to secure a blessing or do we wrestle with God in defiance in order to get away from His authority?

When there is a change of name there is a change of character. When we become believers we take on His name. When we take on His name, we take on His character. That of course means we change our way of doing things, we change our character.

In response to Jacob’s cry of deception concerning the substitution of Leah for Rachael, Laban responds with “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.”

When we look at all the times that God bypasses the firstborn in favor of younger sons, it seems as if God says repeatedly that man’s ways are not His ways. God is telling us He doesn’t play by our rules.

If God set down the rules of marriage in the Garden of Eden to be between one man and one woman, why does Jacob have two wives and two concubines? Even though the custom of the day allowed such a thing, it was still contrary to God's plan. Another example of how God's people are called to be different from the world around them.

What on earth is the significance with the speckled, spotted, dark and light colored lambs, goats, and sheep? And what’s the deal with the white striped branches? Too bad Jacob didn’t know about Mendel’s genetic dominate/recessive gene chart.

Jacob received the birthright earlier when Esau bargained for a bowl of soup. Jacob deceitfully received the blessing, which gave him and his future descendants riches and power. The birthright was the scepter promise which gave him the right for future generations to be kings. The birthright was a legitimate purchase from Esau. The blessing was stolen. Did God allow Rebekah and Jacob to deceive Isaac when Jacob stole the blessing?

What is the significance of angels ascending and descending from heaven in the dream that Jacob had? Does it have something to do with angels interacting with humans now?

Why did Jacob think this was the gate of heaven?

Jacob names the place Bethel, which means house of God. It is here that God confirms the promise that He made earlier to Abraham.

Did Jacob honor the promise to give God a tenth? How did he know about giving a tenth?

The second wife of Abraham is often forgotten. After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife named Keturah and she bore him six sons. He even had sons by his concubines. He was 100 years old when Isaac was born, and then he fathered more children after age 100!

In the commentary on page 52 it mentions that the major events of the first 2500 years have been chronicled as only a brief outline. There are however other writings that fill in many details.

Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. This was a legitimate transaction, unfair though it may seem.

Gen 26:24
That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."

God promised Isaac that He would bless him because of what his father Abraham had done. Does that make us want to be obedient to the Lord knowing that it will bless our children and future generations?

The second wife of Abraham is often forgotten. After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife named Keturah and she bore him six sons. He even had sons by his concubines. He was 100 years old when Isaac was born, and then he fathered more children after age 100!

In the commentary on page 52 it mentions that the major events of the first 2500 years have been chronicled as only a brief outline. There are however other writings that fill in many details.

Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. This was a legitimate transaction, unfair though it may seem.

Gen 26:24
That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."

God promised Isaac that He would bless him because of what his father Abraham had done. Does that make us want to be obedient to the Lord knowing that it will bless our children and future generations?

When Rebekah offered to water the ten camels, did she understand how many camels there were and how much water that would be for that many thirsty camels? Wonder how many trips she made back down into that well.

Notice when the servant prayed, his prayer was answered ever before he had finished praying. Similar to what happens to the prophet Daniel

Dan 9:23

As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:

Can we be sure that as soon as we begin to pray that God will hear and answer our prayers? Are there some things that may hinder our prayers?

Gen 22:1-2
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

God told Abraham to take his ONLY son. Even though Abraham had another son, Ishmael, by Hagar, Isaac was the son of promise.

Notice all the parallels to Jesus in the sacrificing of Isaac. It was a three day journey for Abraham and Isaac. It was a three day journey for Jesus from the cross to the resurrection. Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice. Jesus carried the wooden cross for His sacrifice. Isaac was saved by the substitution of another sacrifice. We are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus. The place of Isaac's near sacrifice was Mount Moriah, the same place that Solomon built the temple (2 Chron 3:1), and the same place Jesus was crucified.

Who was the “angel of the Lord” with Abraham and Isaac? Sounds a lot like the Son of God.

Wouldn’t you think that Abraham would have learned his lesson when he went to Egypt? But no, he had to lie to Abimelech and tell him that Sarah was his sister, getting in even more trouble. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.....

God spoke to Abimelech telling him that Abraham was a prophet. Hmm...never quite thought of Abraham in that way before.

Finally Sarah conceives, after waiting 25 long years. What a great lesson for us to learn...to believe that God keeps His promises, no matter how long we must wait to see the fulfillment, or how slow God seems.

2 Pet 3:9a
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

When Abraham interacted with the three men, he spoke of the… “Judge of all the earth…” Who is the Judge of all the earth? And how did Abraham know that? We know from other Scripture that Jesus is the judge of all the earth, so that must mean that one of the three men was indeed the Son of God.

Why did Abraham bargain with the Lord for ten people? Why not ask specifically for all of Lot’s family?

Why did Lot’s wife look back? What exactly is a “pillar of salt”? Was this city Lot's wife's hometown? Did she look longingly back at the life she had there? This city was definitely "sin city". Before we become Christians we are dead in our sins. We are citizens of "Sin City". Once we become believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we are then citizens of "The Kingdom of Heaven". Shouldn't we live then as if we are citizens of the Kingdom? We should never look back at the life we had in "Sin City".

Who is "the word of the Lord" and "the angel of the Lord"? In many instances in Scripture these two phrases are synonymous for the Son of God.

When Sarai offered Hagar to Abraham, so that she and Abraham could have a child, she was doing what was culturally acceptable but it was morally wrong. How often do we as Christians do and say things that are acceptable by the world, but wrong by God's standards?

Again Abram didn't trust God or wait patiently on Him. And look what happened. If Abram had trusted God to take care of him during the famine and had not gone to Egypt, there would have been no Hagar.

If only we would obey God completely and trust Him completely and wait patiently on Him, life would be so much easier, wouldn't it???

God told Abram to leave his country, his people, his father’s household and go. Yet, Abram took possessions, and people, including Lot. He didn’t obey God completely. Incomplete obedience is disobedience . How often do we obey God only when it's something we want to do, completely ignoring other things that we should do? Complete obedience is not an easy thing to do.

Back to Abram. He next decided to go to Egypt, instead of trusting God to provide for him during the famine. If Abram had taken only what God told him to take, he wouldn’t have had to worry about taking care of all his entourage.

Then this man...Melchizedek...just who is He anyway??? See the book of Hebrews. It explains it very clearly!

Reflections

Most everyone thinks about reflections this time of year. We were reflecting on our year together in the Chronological Bible this morning. This has been a year of many significant and life changing understandings for us through the reading of God’s Word.

The end of any study for us is always bittersweet. While we are happy that we have completed a journey together, we are sad that the journey has come to an end. Within minutes of thinking those thoughts this morning, I opened up an email from Jewish Rabbi Daniel Lapin. Here is part of what he wrote.

“…the best way to envision our lives is as a spiral. When a birthday, a holyday, or an anniversary comes around again, we are indeed in the same station that we visited twelve months ago, however we are one floor up. We travel up a spiral and each waypoint we reach on the annual spiral cycle is multi-leveled.”

Another thought of Rabbi Daniel was that we should never…“view ourselves as actually concluding any of life’s challenges. For instance, on the Jewish holyday Simchat Torah, the final portion of the Pentateuch is read. Once the closing words of Deuteronomy “…all the great and awesome deeds which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel” are read, we do not then close the scroll and pat ourselves on the back. No, we immediately roll the scroll back to the beginning and continue reading the opening words of Genesis, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” ”

This would be our prayer for all of us in 2009. Go back to the beginning of the “scroll” and continue reading. According to Rabbi Daniel…
“Look back and see that you worked hard and are not in exactly the same place you were a year ago. Now look forward and see that you have at least the same amount of work ahead of you. You are not done. And, as long as you are alive, you don’t want to be done.”

SiYUM
(Hebrew word for conclusion)

We have all concluded another spiral on our journey upward.
Let’s continue the journey.