Day 17. Exodus 1-3

Exodus 1-3

Exodus is the second book of the bible. It means "departure". It is believed to have been written by Moses. The Hebrew name is Shemot, meaning "names". Much of this book is the basis for the movie, The Ten Commandments.

Exodus 1

¹Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

⁵And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

Thirty three came from his marriage to Leah. Sixteen came from Zilpah, the concubine. Fourteen came from his marriage to Rachel. Seven came from Bilhah, the concubine.

⁷And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

There were a lot.

⁸Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

This isn't necessarily the next pharaoh. In fact, there were probably several pharaohs in between the death of Joseph and this point.

The pharaoh was scared that the Israelites were more powerful than the actual Egyptians, so he put them into bondage. He had them build treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Pithom was re-discovered in 1883. Evidence in the city points to Rameses II as the oppressor.

¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

Kind of like antibiotic resistant diseases.

¹⁴And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

They made them work hard.

¹⁵And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:

¹⁶And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

The people were great in number... and yet they only had two people who delivered the babies. Shiphrah and Puah. Apparently, midwives were only used when the delivery was going to be rough (like twins, with the ribbon incident; or when Rachel had difficult labor with Benjamin).

¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

Pharaoh called the two in and asked why there were boys. They said the Hebrew women delivered before they got there.

²²And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

This is the opposite of China today.

BEIJING (AP) — Abortions of girl fetuses are expected to leave China with 24 million more men than women over the next decade, according to a study that warns the imbalance will dash many young men’s chance at marriage and lead to increased crime.

China enforces strict family planning controls, including limiting most couples to having one child. Because of a traditional preference for male heirs, many families terminate pregnancies of girl babies in order to be able to continue trying for a boy. Infanticide of baby girls has also become a problem.

Exodus 2

¹And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

²And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

³And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

The people of Israel are already breaking their families into tribe.

⁵And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

Here's the answer to a trick question that is often asked by kids in Sunday School.

How many animals did Moses take on the Ark?

When the child responds two of each, they are then told that it was Noah. HAHAHA. Sometimes, the person then goes and makes an ass of themselves with a statement like in the question on the link (#13). Zero, Moses didnt have an ark, Noah did!

Well, mister fire hot jokes.com you are incorrect. Moses did have an ark. So, the correct answer to the trick question is 0, Moses was just a baby in his ark, and there was no room for any additional animals.

⁶And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.

Then she had her helper go get a nursemaid for the child.

⁸And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.

Well, that's very convenient. Moses mother managed to be the nursemaid for Moses. (Although he's not named Moses yet).

¹⁰And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

The painting is "Baby Moses Rescued From the Nile" by Nicolas Poussin, in 1638. Those Egyptian women sure do look white.

Verse 10 makes it seem as though Moses means "out of the water". Moses is basically the same name as Rameses. Ra-meses. Ra is the god name, meses means "born of". So Moses was named "born of the god..." (insert god name here). My belief on Moses name is this: Moses originally had a different name, possibly named after the god of the Nile, Hapi, making his name Hapimesses. Later on, when he became a follower of Jehovah, he would have changed his name to Jehovahmesses. Except that they aren't to use god's name like that, so he changed his name to Moses, "born of the god who shouldn't be named".

¹¹And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

¹²And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

At what point did Moses find out he was a Hebrew and not Egyptian. He may have found out in the shower in Egyptian gym class, when he noticed he was circumcised and none of the other Egyptian boys were.

Word of Moses killing the Egyptian got around.

¹⁵Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

Midian was one of the sons of Abraham through Keturah. The area would have been named after him.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

¹⁷And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

Moses assumes that he's helping the correct people.

¹⁹And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

²⁰And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

²¹And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

So Moses moves in with Reuel, the father of Zipporah. Reuel means "god is his friend", Reu-el.

²²And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Moses has a son, Gershom. Gershom means "a sojourner there". Imagine naming your child, "not born at home".

Pharaoh dies, God suddenly remembers his kids.

Exodus 3

¹Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

Reuel is now named Jethro. Jethro means "his excellence".

²And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Yippie, the burning bush.

³And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

Moses said, "dude, a burning bush, awesome, I gotta see this".

⁴And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

⁵And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Take off your shoes, this is holy ground. I'm not sure how much cleaner feet would be than shoes. Especially if they are sandals.

⁶Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

If Moses was raised as an Egyptian, would he know who these people are? One of the previous pharaoh's didn't know Joseph, why would Moses (raised an Egyptian) know the history of the slave people?

⁷And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

⁸And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

These are the people I will displace. The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (The Jebusites are my favorite).

¹⁰Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

God's going to send Moses to the pharaoh.

¹¹And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

Moses tried to be humble (more on that later). He didn't want to do it. He was happy as a shepherd out in Midian. He didn't need the hassle of going back to Egypt.

¹³And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

¹⁴And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

It's god speaking, not Popeye. If it were Popeye, he'd say "I yam, WHAT I yam" not "I AM THAT I AM". You'll not that I AM is in all caps. That's because it's one of the names of god. Additionally, LORD is routinely printed in all caps, that's because LORD is also one of the formal names of the god of the bible. Normally, LORD is replacing Yahweh (YHWH).

¹⁵And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

When I was a child at Sky Lodge Christian Camp, one time I heard one of the counselors say "God's last name isn't damnit". He never really took into account that god's first name isn't "god".

¹⁶Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:

¹⁷And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

Land of Milk and Honey, not "The Land of Rape and Honey"



¹⁸And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

The people are to say that they are just going to go on a three day trip to do some sacrifices to their god. Then, just keep going.

¹⁹And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.

²⁰And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

God knows that Egypt won't let them go, he wants to do the plagues.

²¹And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty.

²²But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.

Not only will they let you go, they'll give you all their gold so that you leave.

Points to ponder:

1. Where would Moses learn about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob? Granted Jethro could (and probably did) teach him about Abraham, but the Isaac and Jacob story wouldn't be part of his heritage.

2. How did the Egyptians never figure out Moses wasn't the son of the Pharaoh's daughter? Did they not notice that she was never pregnant?

3. Why is Reuel renamed to Jethro?

4. How did the Canaanites, Hittites, Armorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites survive the 7 year famine?

5. Unless Al Jourgensen changes his mind, you won't be able to see Ministry again. Revolting Cocks has been passed on to Josh, Clayton and Sin. He's got to get back together with Jello to finish up Lard. I'm not sure if he has any plans for the other side projects. Oh and Fix, the Ministry Movie, comes out this summer.