Exodus 5: 3-9: “And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.”
The first time that we read about Hebrews in the Bible is in Gen 14: 13 (“And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew;”). This means that Moses was referring back to Abraham when he mentions the Hebrews. This also means that the Lord was reminding Moses of the promise that He made to Abram (Gen 15 : 12-16, “And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”). The only thing that is completely certain in life is that the Lord will keep His promises and the Lord was careful to remind Moses that He remembered His promises and that He would keep them in His own time in His own way with absolute integrity. Even though the Hebrews were slaves, they still belonged to the Lord and the Lord would make sure that they were under His will and not the will of the Egyptians. The Lord wanted His people to worship Him and gave Pharaoh a choice, “either let My people worship me, or suffer the consequences of going against My will.” Pharaoh decided to test the Lord and suffered the consequences. (compare Prov 16: 25, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”) It seemed right to Pharaoh to defy the Lord and Pharaoh died. This reminds us “ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6: 23) The choice today is stark: believe and have life or reject and face eternal death and separation from the Lord.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
No comments:
Post a Comment