Category: Bible (Page 2 of 348)

On the way back to Egypt to begin the vast undertaking of freeing the Hebrews, Moses endured a bizarre and nearly fatal interaction with the Lord:

At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

What to make of this odd story? Why would the Lord seek to punish Moses with death, just as Moses was following the Lord’s directions to return to Egypt? Why didn’t God whisper encouragements or line his path with rainbows?

Apparently Moses failed to follow through on the rite of circumcision with one or both of his sons. In Genesis 17:10-14, God commanded Abraham to circumcise every male on the eighth day after birth as a sign of the covenant. Any uncircumcised male was to be cut off from the people because he broke the covenant. Moses was breaking covenant with his sons.

Moses may have been prepared to meet Pharaoh, but his family was not. Perhaps his wife, Zipporah, objected to this bloody practice? Maybe Moses gave in to keep the peace? The fact that in this moment of crisis, while Moses lay incapacitated, Zipporah instinctively knew what to do points to her understanding of the issue.

Moses was not fully prepared for the massive task laid before him. He choose to ignore one detail. Moses grew to understand God’s holiness more than anyone else who’s ever lived. Part of this learning involved his role as spiritual head of his family. The covenant required circumcision, and Moses needed to meet the requirements.

The Lord requires decisions from you and me as well. Perhaps one niggles at the back of your mind? Pay attention. Don’t ignore something God makes clear to you, and don’t set aside the teachings of Scripture.

We all follow the same Holy God who appeared to Moses in that burning bush. The Lord requires all we have and all we are—even the seemingly little things we keep putting off.

Exodus 4:24-26

Photo by Ian Barsby

You get what you deserve. Your karma, good or bad, will seek you out. What goes around comes around. The Bible states this universal truth this way, you reap what you sow.

Early in the Exodus story Pharaoh ordered the death of all new-born Hebrew boys. Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.

Fearing the latent power of his rapidly expanding slave population, Pharaoh decided on murder as a management tool. Hebrew mothers and midwives ignored the ruling and hid babies (Moses among them). But Egyptian enforcers followed orders, and children died at their hands.

Years later the bad karma caught up in the final plague visited on Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt died, unless their doorpost was marked with blood, from Pharaoh down to the lowest prisoner. As the Lord promised, there was loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.

Actions have consequences. A later prophet described sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). If anyone epitomized this description, it was Pharaoh. He sowed a homicidal order and reaped the death of his people’s greatest hopes.

I can’t help but wonder what consequences will follow from the callous disregard for life, both living and unborn, we see around us today? Choose life, as the scriptures say, and reap a full and good harvest.

Exodus 1

Photo by Picsea

King David dealt with some people he clearly did not trust. He appealed to God for help while reminding the Lord of the sharks swimming in his lagoon.

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

David, in his role of leading a nation, dealt at times with unprovoked attacks coming from those who appeared loyal. Deceit and backstabbing surrounded him as people jockeyed for positions of influence. The lust for power and its privileges turn some into wolves, although that’s probably doing wolves a disservice.

Shame will eventually submerge the treacherous. We don’t refer to shame much these days, it’s become an off-limits emotion, but the Scriptures aren’t afraid of the concept. Those who oppose the ways of God will find themselves disgraced and overwhelmed. The Lord allows the seditious to reap what they sow.

David closed his psalm with these lines: Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

Before the Lord, honesty and good character act as preservatives. These defend against wanton, treacherous attacks. Wait for the Lord. Be strong, take heart, and wait for the Lord. As David did, we may do so as well.

Psalm 25

Photo by Hennie Stander

Joseph ran into a streak of bad luck. First his jealous brothers tossed him into a hole, then they sold him to a band of slavers headed to Egypt. One minute the favored son, the next a slave slopping chamber pots.

It took years for Joseph to see anything good come from his circumstances. But over the years a plan a emerged. After gaining a position of massive influence, and saving both Egyptians and his own people from famine, Joseph told his brothers, You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.

But Joseph couldn’t see any of this from the pit. He guessed nothing of the good to come. Trudging along in a slaver’s caravan, sold into the household of a craven woman, and imprisoned for being a man of principle took Joseph from bad to worse. Not until that day standing before Pharaoh did he glimpse the hand of the Lord behind his misfortunes.

I wonder where the hand of the Lord might be hidden behind actions I find troubling? What situations might God turn evil intentions into good results?

Joseph dealt with cruelty, maliciousness and abandonment. Prison brought hunger and cold and beatings. From the bottom of that pit nothing looked possible. But with God all things are possible. Hang on long enough, and his goodness might just appear.

Genesis 50:20

Photo by Nacho Díaz Latorre