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Exodus 4-7
We are in The World Stream as we continue the story of Moses. We are reading from the Lexham English Bible this week.
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April 9
April 2
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Genesis 49:29-Exodus 3:22
We are in the World Stream today and will compete the book of Genesis and start the book of Exodus. We are reading from the World English Bible this week.
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Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis
Dear Lord Jesus, seasons come and go as the reading today encompasses a 400 year period. Let us take this calling of Moses very seriously for you call us to lead enslaved people into freedom. You’ve told us to receive nations into your Kingdom. We are to live for our Deliverer too;  Assure us also as you assured Moses – that you will be with us. Amen.
Jacob’s departure is upon us. I like his determination to not be buried in Egypt. They were a culture obsessed with the process and their definition of the afterlife. For Egyptian royalty, death was what one’s entire life was spent preparing for. It’s one of the matters Jesus is hinting about when he declared he was the God of the Living / not the Dead. Jacob wants to be sure that he is buried back on the other side of the Nile with his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham near Hebron. He finished his speech and … he was gone.
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Gen. 50 – the funeral for Jacob is ornate, and as soon as this is overwith, Joseph shows his good ethics yet again to assure his brothers that they were family and not enemies. Jump to the end of Joseph’s life and what does he insist? that his bones be carried out of Egypt when the Israelites leave. Fascinating reference to an Exodus that would take place 400 years later! Joseph soon breathes his last after being in Egypt 93 years. Interesting “book-ends” in Genesis: the warning in Genesis 2, “do not eat this fruit or you will surely die.”  At the end of the book, Jacob dies – and Joseph dies just a chapter later. Genesis seems to end with “I told you that this is where your disobedience would take you.”  At any rate the 4,000 year march from leaving Eden to the Calvary event is well on it’s way. Chronologically, we are 2200 years into it with 1800 years to go.
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Exodus 1 – As time goes by, the Israelites multiply being in very fertile ground in the Nile delta region. The new Pharaoh was the one that took command following the Hyksos Invasion of 1700 B.C. The Hyksos were in charge of north Egypt until Egypt pulled together again after it’s own civil wars and were able to defeat the Hyksos after 108 years of them being there. Egypt re established and the “New Kingdon” was upon them. Thus there was a new Pharaoh who “knew nothing about Joseph” as it reads in Ex.1:8.
The Israelites are enslaved to keep them under wraps. The boys are sentenced to die at birth to keep numbers down and to keep a rebellion at bay.
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2 – This is the chaos that Moses is born into. Moses is the most important figure of the Ancient World. From Eden to Jesus, no more important man than Moses comes along. He is hid from Pharaoh and his murderous edict – and then found by Pharaoh’s daughter! He could not have come closer to death!  [We see the same developments around Jesus’ birth in Matthew when Herod tries to kill the threat to his rule.]  Note that from vv. 1:10-12 –> 40 years went by; Moses spent 40 years in Pharaoh’s Palace – learning the ways of the Egyptians, [Ex. 2:5-11a] 40 years in the desert – learning that place and learning to be with God. during his 40 years in the desert [Ex. 2:11-22]. He starts a family there and come that time, the slavery back in Egypt is becoming unbearable under a different Pharaoh.
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3 –  God calls Moses to lead the delivery of His people from bondage. It’s one of the most vital and miraculous passages in the Bible. So much hinges upon this incident. Moses is in near disbelief at what is happening. He gives four huge reasons that prove his personal inadequacy to lead this endeavor. God flushes all Moses excuses. God tells him that they will come and worship on “this mountain” – OUT of Egypt. God will take them to a good and rich land, He will show them miracles and there will be provision, they will leave Egypt with great riches.
March 26
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Genesis 46:1-49:28
We are in the World Stream. Israel reunites with Joseph takes the time to bless his grandsons and his sons. We are reading from the God’s Word Translation this week.
46 – Jacob/Israel, after 13 or 14 years of not seeing Joseph and resigning to accept that he was dead, he is now convinced that Joseph is alive and commences on his journey to Egypt. God appears to him for the 7th (and final) time and assures him that what is happening is good and that his legacy is secure. He will not become Egyptian; he will just be there awhile. The listing of the family is a fascinating tabulation. Even though we live in a world of brevity, instant messages and updates and world-wide news and such, let us not be weary as we scroll through this family line. Jacob was a single man when he ventured to Haran in Genesis 29. Now 17 chapters later he is the head of a family of 70 people. He’s not alone! A study of where these 70 people were taken to becomes as large as the hemisphere they were all born in. The Genealogies of Genesis 5 & 10 are equally as fascinating. They too are our best indication or look or “window” (if you will) into the ancient world. Even secular scholars interested in genealogy marvel at the accuracy and revelation of these listings.
Jacob/Israel’s arrival in Egypt and the reunion with his son Joseph is a wondrous illustration of beautiful restoration and the goodness of God.
47 – The meeting between Israel and Pharaoh is cordial and encouraging. Israel and family are afforded the land north near the mouth of the Nile river; Goshen. It is an interesting picture to ponder when Israel and Pharaoh meet. The meetings of the leader of Israel and the leader of Egypt through the millennia would not always be such congenial encounters. Be that as it may, this one is Providence in the first regard. The nation of Israel would take the next 430 years to rest, be blessed, and to multiply.
The management of the famine as it is described in the rest of ch. 47 is politics and taxation as only politicians could pull off. The crisis is used in such a manner that before it is over, Pharaoh owns everything. A government is doing what governments do!! They could have managed and served and blessed as Jesus later urges leaders to do. But they tax and scheme and seize as godless governments do.
48 – The scene of ch. 48 is a prophecy that Jacob preveniently sees though no one else does. It’s a very human story of the switched arms and Jacob refusing to be “corrected” by his son Joseph. Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim are blessed by their grandfather Israel, whom they have just met, and it is Ephraim who receives the prominent blessing regardless. Their history plays out accordingly hundreds of years later. Interesting that Manasseh the King by this same name [1100 years later] turns out to be the most wicked king Israel ever had. He was the one who ordered for Isaiah to be executed in a ruthless and bloody manner
49 – The final word is given by Jacob/Israel to the 12 sons. The word to Reuben is again asserted in Chronicles 5:1-2 if you want to better understand it. Jacob is referring to Reuben’s deeds from Genesis 35:22. Simeon and Levi are receiving the scolding, as it were, for their reactions described in Genesis 34:25 when they killed hundreds of men in Shechem. The word to Judah favors most prominently. Shiloh is mentioned in v. 10 and Shiloh is referring to a Savior that is coming. It was the tribe of Judah that in time, gave us David. And it was David’s line that brought the Savior. Who is “The Lion of The Tribe of Judah”? This is Jacob talking nearly 18 centuries before John writes that down in Revelation 5:5. Amazing concepts being seeded in our minds and hearts and into history here! Jacob’s words play out in a remarkable parallel to where and what each of the tribes end up becoming as the centuries pass by. Their history is being foretold and Israel is right about it.
“Lord God, give us ears to listen and heed what you are telling us. You only wish to establish us and see us well as we serve you. May we heed your instruction and understand your prophecies as you grant us wisdom. Amen.”
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