Exodus: The Lord and His Pilgrims

40 Undated Bible Readings

Alec Motyer

• Publisher: 10Publishing
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781910587904
• eBook ISBN: 9781910587904

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'I was a slave under a king determined to put me to death. Moses said: take a lamb and shelter under its blood. I did so, and the Lord saved me.'

The testimony that an Israelite rescued from slavery in Egypt might have given sounds remarkably similar to how we might describe our own salvation today. We too have been saved from death through the blood of a Lamb. World–renowned Old Testament scholar Alec Motyer unfolds the drama of the book of Exodus in 40 daily readings. This rescue story will resonate with you as you appreciate afresh God's all–encompassing saving grace.

	DAY 1	READ Exodus 1:1–22

Whose word will win?

God keeps his promises – and God’s promise always come under threat. At first sight verses 1–7 say nothing that is not already in Genesis 46:1–27 – Israel’s arrival in Egypt; the tribes identified; and God’s reassurances to Jacob on facing such a risky move. But just comparing verse 7 with Genesis 46:3 will do here for our purposes: when God makes a promise, he keeps it! Did Israel in Egypt notice that this promise was being kept? Maybe not. Were they too preoccupied with the harshness of life to take into account what Pharaoh had noticed (Ex. 1:9) – the huge multiplication of the immigrant community? If so, they deprived themselves of the consolation of seeing the faithfulness of their God. A promise had been made and that promise was being magnificently kept. This truth – that God always keeps his promises – is actually a fair summary of the whole book of Exodus, but it is strikingly seen in the first chapter.

But hot on the heels of this great truth comes its biblical counterpart: there is no such thing as an unchallenged word of God. When the word comes, counterattack is immediate (Mark 4:15) and tribulation looms (Mark 4:17). Egypt is a case in point. Pharaoh saw increasing numbers, sensed increasing danger (Ex: 1:10), and mounted a considered response. First, we read of ‘burdens’, affliction and taskmasters who ‘ruthlessly’ make them work (vv. 11–14, ESV). As the developing story indicates, this continues (see 5:5ff.) even when it is seen not to work (1:12). Secondly, there comes the secret attempt to conscript the midwives (vv. 15–21). Their motive for non-cooperation is spiritual (v. 17), but we can see that God was standing by his word. Finally, Pharaoh resorts to a public policy of genocide (v. 22), and the chapter ends with this question hanging in the air: will the enemy succeed at long last?

No, the enemy will not succeed, but, simply staying with Exodus 1, we see first that the purposes of God cannot be halted (v. 12), and secondly, as Isaiah 59:19 puts it, ‘When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him’ (cf. Ex. 1:17).

REFLECTION

Trials are not ‘strange’ (1 Pet. 4:12); they are God’s intended way of spiritual progress (Jas. 1:2–4); and they accompany the outpouring of God’s love (Rom. 5:3–5).

	DAY 2	READ Exodus 2:1–22

God’s secret weapon

Aslan, the Great Lion of Narnia, was right: we are never told what would have happened. There is no point in saying, ‘Suppose Moses had got it right …!’ Stop speculating; just look at what is before our eyes: the marvellous working of God.

Out of a genocidal royal house (1:22) emerges a tender-hearted ‘daughter’ (she is called ‘Pharaoh’s daughter’ five times in 2:5–10, to stress her genetic inheritance) who takes the Hebrew child under her wing (vv. 6, 9–10). The place of death (1:22) becomes the place of life (2:10) – indeed the Nile, designed to drown Israel, in fact drowns Egypt (14:28)! The Hebrew mother, instead of being bereaved, is paid to bring up her child (2:9). Egypt’s destroyer is nourished in Egypt’s royal family (v. 10; cf. Acts 7:21–22). Pharaoh’s daughter does not know that her walk by the river is divinely ‘managed’ as to time and place; nor does Miriam know that her careful choice of a place where the baby’s ‘ark’ (as the NKJV puts it) will be held by rushes and not carried away by the current is hand-picked by God! Pharaoh’s daughter’s unthinking walk and the family’s plan of care are alike in his hand.

But it is a tense moment when Pharaoh’s daughter opens the ‘ark’. The Hebrew says, ‘When she saw him – the child –…’ She takes note of his masculinity; he is a child sentenced to death. Surely her lineage would cause her to promptly chuck the baby in the river? But no. Divine sovereignty destined this child not for the river but for the palace! How very marvellous is the providential working of God! Humanly speaking we would say Moses promptly got it all wrong and set God’s programme back by forty years (vv. 11–15; Acts 7:30), but God’s sovereign providence is more wonderful than that: what we think of as his forward planning has taken account of our errors. See how God had a home waiting for Moses in Midian (vv. 16–21) – a wife, family, and a flock (3:1) – so that he could learn to be the shepherd God’s people would need (Ps. 77:20).

REFLECTION

Divine sovereignty is at work in a world seemingly governed by chance (Prov. 16:33). Here we see the wonderful ‘blending’ of divine sovereignty and human responsibility (Prov. 16:9; Acts 2:23).

	DAY 3	READ Exodus 2:23 – 3:10

The new start

Nothing happens on earth until decisions are made in heaven. Israel’s situation is dire, but the vital question is what does God intend to do about it (2:23–25)? Moses is God’s chosen agent but the priority for him is not action (cf. 2:11–14!) but to meet and know God (3:1–6), who is:

•The prayer-answering God. There are three verbs in 2:23: to ‘groan’ and to ‘cry out’ (literally, ‘scream’) express need; the third, ‘to cry for help’ (NIV), is prayer – and that brings the vital change.

•The caring, promise-keeping God. In verses 24–25, there are four verbs of God identifying with his people: he ‘heard … remembered … looked upon … was concerned’ (NIV; literally, ‘knew’). The Lord’s ‘covenant’ is his promise to take and keep his people (cf. Gen. 6:18 – literally, ‘I will implement …’; 46:4).

•The living God (3:2), revealed in a self-perpetuating flame that needs no fuel to feed on. He is, therefore, a God independently free to do what he wills; he needs nothing outside himself and is utterly sufficient.

•The holy God (v. 5). On the one hand, God is inapproachable; on the other, he makes it easy for those who dare not approach him to come near (Heb. 10:22; 1 Pet. 3:18).

•The God of the past (Ex. 3:6), the present (v. 7) and the future (v. 8). He is the God who sovereignly conscripts and commands his chosen agents (vv. 9–10).

If you sense that the Lord’s dealings with Moses were more than a bit peremptory, you are right! From God’s opening words, ‘Moses, Moses!’ (v. 4), to his final ‘Come now’ (v. 10), Moses is given no room for manoeuvre. We forget this to our detriment. We come into the presence of God through the unobtrusive mediation of Jesus. We come through the forgiving Mediator to the forgiving Father. Grace provides the way in; love overshadows us. His divine voice says, ‘Come in, and welcome’; but we enter the presence of the awesomely holy One; we stand before the eternal Majesty; we come into the place of authority, conscription and direction. The only proper reply is, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears’ (1 Sam. 3:9).

REFLECTION

Think about the greatness of God. Psalm 86:8–13 will give your thoughts a framework. Use verse 10 as a repeated cry of praise.

	DAY 4	READ Exodus 3:11–22

Knowing God

From 3:11 – 4:17 Moses raises a series of objections to the Lord’s call, starting with his sense of inadequacy: ‘Who am I …?’ (3:11). The Lord in effect replies to this: ‘What matters is who am I!’ Christians should never pray to lose their sense of inadequacy but rather to fill their inadequacy with the adequacy of the God who promises to be with them (v. 12). This is, in fact, the significance of the puzzling and enigmatic name the Lord gives himself: ‘I AM WHO I AM’ (v. 14). As things work out in Exodus we could spell out the name like this: ‘I alone know who I am. You are dependent on what I reveal to you. In every situation I will show you that I am what you need.’ And indeed so it was. They needed a deliverer (from Egyptian power) and a redeemer to bring them to God: The Lord revealed himself as Deliverer and Redeemer (6:6–7). Indeed, this became, throughout the Old Testament, the basic definition of ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Day 1 Read Exodus 1:1–22
• Day 2 Read Exodus 2:1–22
• Day 3 Read Exodus 2:23 – 3:10
• Day 4 Read Exodus 3:11–22
• Day 5 Read Exodus 4:1–28
• Day 6 Read Exodus 4:29 – 5:21
• Day 7 Read Exodus 5:22 – 6:12
• Day 8 Read Exodus 6:28 – 7:24
• Day 9 Read Exodus 8:1–19
• Day 10 Read Exodus 8:20 – 9:12
• Day 11 Read Exodus 9:13 – 10:2
• Day 12 Read Exodus 10:1–29
• Day 13 Read Exodus 11:1 – 12:13
• Day 14 Read Exodus 12:1–42
• Day 15 Read Exodus 12:43 – 13:16
• Day 16 Read Exodus 13:17–22
• Day 17 Read Exodus 14:1–29
• Day 18 Read Exodus 14:30 – 15:21
• Day 19 Read Exodus 15:22 – 16:25
• Day 20 Read Exodus 16:26 – 17:16
• Day 21 Read Exodus 18:1–27
• Day 22 Read Exodus 19:1–25
• Day 23 Read Exodus 20:1–21
• Day 24 Read Exodus 20:22 – 21:36
• Day 25 Read Exodus 22:1–31
• Day 26 Read Exodus 23:1–33
• Day 27 Read Exodus 24:1–18
• Day 28 Read Exodus 25:1–40
• Day 29 Read Exodus 26 – 27
• Day 30 Read Exodus 28:1–43
• Day 31 Read Exodus 29:1–37
• Day 32 Read Exodus 29:38 – 30:21
• Day 33 Read Exodus 30:22 – 31:18
• Day 34 Read Exodus 32:1–35
• Day 35 Read Exodus 33:1 – 34:7, 29–35
• Day 36 Read Exodus 35:1 – 36:7
• Day 37 Read Exodus 37:1–29
• Day 38 Read Exodus 38:1–31
• Day 39 Read Exodus 39:42–43; 40:16–33
• Day 40 Read Exodus 40:34–38
• References