MANNA – WHAT IS IT? - YES!

Manna.

What?

Yes.

But what is manna?

Yes.

Who's on first? Yes, and what's on second, and I Don't Know is on third.

When the dew burned off every morning, a white flaky substance that was compared to frost appeared. The Hebrews looked at it, tasted it, and said to each other, “What is this?” In Hebrew, the words are “Man hu.” Thus their question turned into a noun - “manna.” The stuff the Lord fed Israel with in the wilderness.

This was God's answer to the peoples' grumbling. The Pentateuch regularly and repeatedly pictures the nascent Israelites as mumbling or griping. As I said in my notes last week, they regularly had a group that seemed to panic whenever life became difficult. I suspect they had some troublemakers, a sort of opposition party that wanted to take over from Moses. They looked back at the years in Egypt and forgot all the slavery, beatings, and attempts to kill their sons. Be careful when you look back and glorify the “good ole days.”

I find people who think youth today is going to hell in a hand-basket. So did some Roman writers two thousand years ago. I remember in the supposedly idyllic fifties the beautiful fifteen year old girl who didn't return one fall because she was pregnant. I remember the 15-17 year old boy whose daddy kept buying him cars to wreck – two Buicks and an Oldsmobile or vice-versa. He would get drunk and head out down Forsythe Avenue at 90 miles an hour (before seat-belts). There were bullies and nerds, prom queens and wall flowers.

And there was the boy who turned around in his seat before class and asked me, “Are you saved?” And the Jewish girl who looked me in the eye and said, “You believe in Jesus. I don't.” Just like there are today.

It's about attitude. Moses was called and impelled by God to lead Israel to freedom from slavery and into a new homeland and nation. I'm sure some people shared his vision. Others fought it.

Are you a grumbler? Complainer? Negative? Get over it! The Lord God reigns.

For the last eight years half our country griped and insulted our government. The ballot box flipped the government and the complainers. I read all kinds of gripes from both sides on Facebook. Occasionally, I feel a breath of fresh air when some Christian, often a pastor, reminds us that God is still on His throne.

Do we live as if He's in control? Do we follow Him rather than a political party?

The manna showed God could take care of His people in the desert – actually anywhere! When he added quail after another gripe session, He showed them He could go beyond the necessities.

How often do you panic in life? Remember Paul: I HAVE LEARNED whatever happens to trust God. In Philippians 4:11-13 he spells out how he can trust God whatever goes on around him. Note he had to learn it over time. If you want to see his credentials, read 2 Corinthians 11 for his curriculum. Many people believe in God, but don't believe he's involved with people. That's certainly not the God of the Bible, even in the earliest days. He knew Moses by name. He saw the pain of slavery. He intervened to turn them from slaves to refugees, and later make them citizens of Israel. If you look at your life, you can see the same Lord at work!

Note God first gave them the essential – manna. I feel sure it had all the nutrition, calories, and whatever to keep them alive and healthy. (I wonder if it was gluten-free?) But he also gave them a luxury – quail. One memorable Thanksgiving my wife hunted up a source for quail and substituted them for the traditional turkey. Excellent! People have sometime asked me whether it's ok to pray for a Cadillac. I tell them, “sure,” but recognize God will make sure you have transportation to do His will. He may or may not upgrade it for you. Life has been good for me with far more than just what I need. And that's probably true for most of you reading this.

 MOSES AND GOD
WHO'S ADVICE?

WHINERS:

At first I would be tempted to ignore this behavior on the part of the Hebrews, but over the next two or three books it becomes a pattern, revealing a major character flaw in a chosen group called to live by faith. Pharaoh had finally let the children of Israel go. Then reality set it. He made a huge economic and political mistake. Call out the army. Chase those slaves down, bring them back, punish them and put them to work.

The Hebrew chillun looked back and were no long chillin.' They panicked and shifted into a mean and sarcastic mode. “Are there no graves in Egypt?” That's sarcasm. The pyramids were already 2000 years old. You brought us out here to die in the desert! That was just choir practice for their repeated chant every time things went wrong. “Moses! You brought us out here to die!” And they re-wrote their own history, looking back on their years of slavery as living on the “fleshpots of Egypt.” Even to slaves the past looked like the good old days. Nonsense then, and nonsense now. All days are good days if we but knew what to do with them. I suspect the “good ole days” were good because we were children with no responsibilities except to play and go to school.

MOSES'S ADVICE:

“Chill, chilluns!” yelled Moses back. Stand still. Quit milling around. Watch and see what the Lord will do. Those Egyptians you see coming, take a good look. After today, you'll never see them again. That last part was true. The first part, not so good.

GOD'S COMMAND:

“Nonsense, Moses. Tell the people to go forward. Get a move on.!”
“But we're between the devil and the deep blue sea. There's no place to go. The Egyptian army is in sight behind us, and this Sea of Reeds is blocking our way ahead.”
“You chill, Moses. I said go forward. Now get with the program.”

AND THEN...

Moses stretched out his rod toward the water (I wonder how he knew to do that?) and the sea got out of the way. And God's people marched through on dry ground! The soldiers didn't hesitate much. They walked right over the seabed to recapture those slaves. By then the last slave was across, and Moses again raised his staff, allowing the waters to roll back. Their chariots and armor didn't float. Israel was free – more or less. How do you live in the desert?

Let's go back and look at Moses's decision of what to do. First, he knew that the Lord had sent him on a mission and letting the people panic didn't help. There's no sin in seeing an unforeseen danger or problem prop up and having all kinds of negative feelings pop up. Psychologists like to say we have three reactions: fight, flight, or play dead. Unless you're actually in immediate danger, rule out flight right off the top. Faith calls us to move forward. The response left out so far is to move in and solve the problem. Someone has said that Police and Firefighters go rushing in when everyone else is trying to get out! Psychologists also tell us that humans' natural first response to a new idea is “NO.” So we need to push past that. Sometimes “NO” is correct. Sometimes it's best to do nothing. But often getting past the comfort zone brings great results. FBC Ruston began a contemporary service 8 or 10 years ago. After the first year or two we flipped the 8:30 contemporary service to 11:00 to allow younger families to get their kids ready. Attendance has almost doubled from 500 to bumping against (and occasionally over) a thousand! It'ss only been a couple of years we moved the Sunday night service to Wednesday night. From barely 200 to 250 and climbing, we keep growing. What if the church had said no?

But God said go forward. Head directly into the obstacle. Someone has suggested that the Red Sea and the Jordan River did not begin to part until the first Hebrew led the way by stepping into the water on faith. If you only attempt what you already know you can do, you will never stretch yourself. More important, if you never attempt the impossible, you will never experience what God can do!

Since way back in college I've heard pastors and other committed Christians discuss how difficult it can be to recognize the Lord's leadership. Is the Lord really leading me to this next church, or is it my ego wanting a bigger church and salary? Certainly the Lord calls people to the bigger churches. Certainly He calls many to do other things. Today there are more opportunities than ever for laity to take mission trips and actually get involved in witnessing, drilling wells, and delivering medical care. You need to discover how the Spirit speaks to you and guides you.
Think back to the occasions where you know the Lord has led you. How did He do it? Can you remember other times when you were guided by your own desires that may or may not have had God involved. (Sometimes He uses our desires to guide us. Learn to know the difference.)

When Israel obeyed, they found freedom. But they had a lot of trouble keeping it and even more trouble enjoying it. Stay tuned...

PASSOVER

Pharaoh himself was considered a god. The ultimate power of gods is life or death. The LORD shows in the tenth plague he has power over life and death – even in Pharaoh's house. There is an Egyptian symbol called an ankh. It stands for life and looks sort of like a cross with a loop on top – you've seen them on jewelry.

God gave Israel a ritual to protect themselves from the angel of death that would come through the land that night. He further gave directions to keep observing that feast throughout the years, as a memorial. The observance would remind them of God's great deliverance from Egypt and His faithfulness to His covenant. The repetition would become a teaching tool for their children, who would be raised learning and repeating their foundation story every year.

Note some things we usually pass over (pun intended). First, this was a family barbecue, often a neighborhood cookout. The Lord instructed them to eat the entire yearling sheep with no leftovers. If your family couldn't finish an entire ram, you would invite a neighbor – or two or three more. Also the lamb was to be a perfect male, no blemishes. Later on in the law, many sacrifices added the requirement that the male would be the firstborn as well. I was walking one day through our parish fair barns and looking at the cattle brought in for judging. It struck me that these quality animals were the sort the law required for various offerings. They were indeed sacrifices. You brought your best, your contestants for the blue ribbon.

Fellowship would automatically arise between the families as they ate. I can even imagine people wandering from house to house testing the food! Next they were to paint their doors with the lamb's blood, signaling the death angel that he was to pass these people, God's people and obedient, when he killed the other first-born sons of Egypt. Our gospel song, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you,” comes from this event.

In the New Testament Passover still plays a major role in Jewish life. Jesus's last has now become the blood of Jesus on the cross. As the lamb's sacrifice saved the Hebrews in Egypt, that salvation was the reason Jesus's last supper was a Passover dinner. But there the symbolism changed. God was still Savior, but in a very different way. No longer was lamb's blood featured, but the focus is of the Hebrew firstborn, so Christ's sacrifice saves the lives of His followers. And in the Book of Revelation the Lion of the Tribe of Judah is a Lamb!

Jews today still observe Passover every spring. Even so, Christians continue to celebrate an altered Passover in our churches. Some observe the supper every Sunday, some monthly, and many Baptist churches feature it once a month. We tried holding Communion once a month in several churches I pastored, but we alternated between morning, evening, and Wednesday night services. In each church that approach came as a welcome change, but gradually diminished back to just mornings.

Christians use several names for the Lord's Supper, including Communion and Eucharist (which means thanksgiving). Roman Catholics and some other “high church” denominations call it mass.

There are several views of the Supper:

Transubstantiation – The elements (bread and wine) are genuinely transformed miraculously into the actual body and blood of Christ. Until recently, Catholic laity only ate the bread, and only priests drank the wine. Recently, I believe laity can now also be offered the wine. Taking these elements is believed actually to convey grace, metering salvation a bit at a time. My understanding is that the ideal is to go confess your sins to the priest, perhaps the night before, and eat nothing until the Mass. To Protestants this seems a works salvation, and many people believe that works is necessary, and that the Church conveys salvation.

Technical note: Historically in theology and philosophy they make a distinction between primary and secondary qualities of things. Secondary qualities are those we can observe, in this case the elements look, feel, and taste like bread and wine. But primary qualities are the essence of the thing, what it really is. And to the Roman Catholics, the primary qualities of the elements after being blessed by the priests are now actually the body and blood of Jesus.

Consubstantiation – The presence of the living Christ is actually in the bread and wine, but not in a real and physical sense. I find it unclear whether they believe it actually conveys grace.

A memorial – Baptists and many other Protestants believe the key to proper observance is Jesus's statement, “This do in remembrance of me.” Like the Passover, the Supper insures we remember God's salvation through the cross and resurrection. It is not a sacrament, actually imparting grace, but an ordinance, remembering Jesus Christ.

PLAGUES AND STUFF

Exodus 5-11

Reminder: My primary purpose in these notes is to add additional information besides what is written in the quarterly. In fact I often ignore that material, because I assume you have read that too. This week especially, I plan to make general comments about the 10 plagues the Lord threw on Egypt, rather than go systematically through them one at a time.

Reminder, Moses and Aaron came into the Egyptian palace a generation after Moses had been raised there. He was on familiar ground, and may even have known the present Pharaoh as a contemporary. He would certainly have been able to speak the language and know his way around the court.

Consider Pharaoh's problem. We always consider him a bad guy, an enemy of the Lord. Well, he was, and certainly he was cruel to the Hebrews. Still, he was a politician and an administrator. In our day, we can usually figure the final price of any building can be roughly divided between materials and labor, each being about half. So if through slavery he could build at half price, that's quite an economic advantage. When Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people go, the king sees money flying out the window. He also thinks how this will play before his Egyptian advisers. Perhaps there's a rival who will take such an opportunity to rebel or attempt a coup.

In ancient thought, wars on earth were also being fought in heaven between the various armies of the gods. The god who was victorious above was also the winner on earth. The plagues make this pretty clear. You probably have seen pictures of Egyptian gods, there were many of them. Some were worn as amulets. Each of the plagues attacked an Egyptian god and showed the LORD (YAHWEH) was superior.

Two or three examples should suffice to illustrate. The first plague was turning the Nile into blood. The whole land of Egypt has been called “The Gift of the Nile.” If you take a look at an aerial or satellite photo of Egypt, you will see a lot of brown sand with a lush green strip down the center. Clearly, the land watered by the river produces vegetation, including crops that enable civilization to prosper. Thus, the Nile itself was considered a god, yet the Nile preserved the baby Moses's life, and the Lord demonstrated His power by showing His control over the river.

One of the later plagues was complete darkness. Egytians worshiped the sun. in fact, one Pharaoh, Ikhnaton, made the sun's disk his chief god – aton being the name for the sun. When the Lord shut down the sun's light, He demonstrated clearly His superior power.

Note for half of the plagues, Exodus tell us “there was no plague in Goshen” (where God's people the Hebrews lived). Note we don't interpret this as meaning that Christians will escape the troubles of the world. Perhaps that's why not every plague is recorded as missing in Goshen. “God sends His rain on the just and the unjust.”

What's this bit about God hardening Pharaoh's heart? I'll indulge in a personal experience here. I mentioned in the intro that I wrote a student guide to Exodus for the beginning year of this series we still study from. The editors had previously designated the main teaching of one lesson that “God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh hardened his own heart.” At the writers' conference where we meet with the editors and other product writers, I argued intensely for changing this, because this seems to be a difficult concept for many people who are new to Bible study. It blew my mind that no one seemed to grasp what I was talking about. Yes, it's a Biblical concept, but it's not a simple one. Personally, I think the Hebrew mind has much greater tolerance for paradox than we do today. I waas only arguing the contradiction should not be the main truth of the Sunday School lesson. Much more important would be God's power over Egyptian gods and His care of His people in fulfilling the covenant.

My eventual solution that I thought would make the paradox clearer to the average church member went something like this. God said, “I know ole Pharaoh, and I'm gonna throw that ole boy into such a bind, it's gonna drive him through the roof. He's gonna see Me winning and fight Me every step of the way.”

Try reading chapters 5-11 in the Message. I recommend it.

EXODUS BEGINS

MOSES FIRST

Moses was perhaps the best prepared man, with the possible exception of Paul in the NT, to carry out God's impossible mission. Consider his education at the point he stood before the burning bush:

Raised in the Pharaoh's palace as a son of the Princess. Very likely he played with some of the courtiers now working in that palace – maybe even Pharaoh. He was therefore familiar with life among royalty and so would feel more at home there. He could even speak their language without an accent!

As the Princess's son, he had received the best education the world offered at that time among the most advanced society of that day.

With his Hebrew mother as his wet nurse and possibly his nanny later, he also received a Hebrew education, learning about Abraham through Joseph.

He developed great strength, and a strong attachment to his Hebrew people as shown in killing the Egyptian who was attacking a fellow Hebrew. His strength was also shown in running off the shepherds harassing Jethro's daughters and uncovering the stone well covering.

He fled into exile, married the daughter of a priest who seems to have worshiped the same God and had a gift for organization which Moses had not displayed. He then became Jethro's shepherd and wandered over 300 miles south into the area around Mt Sinai where he saw the burning bush. Have you realized that Moses had a lifetime of experience in the “wilderness” over which he led Israel for 40 years!

BACKGROUND: Chapter One links up with Genesis. Remember Jacob and his other 11 sons moved to Egypt during a drought when Joseph was equivalent to prime minister. But time passed, the dynasty changed, and a new king came to the throne. After all those years, the Hebrew population had grown tremendously. They had become a problem, comparable to today's refugee and immigrant problem. Just as the American South feared slave uprisings, so Pharaoh and his advisers feared the Hebrews would rebel and create problems. (If he only knew how much problem!) So Pharaoh decided to diminish the population of Hebrews, or at least their men. He did this by enslaving them and putting them to work on his various building programs. This reduced the time they had to conceive kids and wore them down. In addition they would be a financial boon reducing the cost of building.

He then turned to the Hebrew midwives and ordered them to execute any newborn male. The midwives resisted and excused themselves by saying the Hebrew women delivered before the midwives got there. Thus Moses survived birth, but Pharaoh made it legal for any Egyptian to kill boy babies. So his parents created a waterproof basket to place in a quiet pool of the river and set his older sister, Miriam, to watch him. Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river, discovered the baby that she recognized as a Hebrew baby, but decided to keep it. Thinking quickly, Miriam asked the princess whether she would like her to find a wet nurse for the baby. She then was able to bring the boy's mother into the picture to help in raising him.

As a young man, Moses identified with the Hebrews and killed a man, then fled for his life. He fled to Midian, which was probably across the Gulf of Aqaba from the Sinai Peninsula. Mount Jebel al Lawz in Midian is an alternate site proposed by some scholars to be Mount Sinai as opposed to what is today Mt Sinai on the other side of the gulf on the Peninsula. I prefer the traditional site, because the story takes them more directly there, and it is a much longer trip to Jebel.

Anyway, He arrived in Midian and came to a well, a normal meeting place for villagers, perhaps like a coffee shop today. A group of women shepherdesses we trying to water their flock, but some guys were harassing them and wouldn't let them. Underscoring Moses's strength, he ran the bullies off and helped the gals water their flocks. The women proved to be the seven daughters of a priest named Reuel, aka Jethro, who remarked they got home early that day. Their father insisted they go bring Moses home, which he did and hired him to tend his flocks.

He also married off his daughter Zipporah, which translates to Bird, or Birdie, or Little Bird. I once knew a lady named Bird, but her husband was neither Ruel nor Jethro...

Verses 2:23-25 are vitally important. While Israel was enslaved in Egypt and attacked on every side, God had not forgotten them. He remembered His covenant going back to Abraham. Even when we wonder whether God is dead, He remembers His promises to us. All of them. He also saw them. He was monitoring what they were going through.

The last two Hebrew words in Chapter 2 are “God knew.” Remember in the Bible the word know or knew is talking about experiential knowledge, involved knowledge, not merely head knowledge or theory. God understood their pain, and in Chapter 3He begins to move toward salvation!