Day 22. Exodus 16-18

Exodus 16-18

Exodus 16

¹And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

Each month is 28 days, based on a lunar calendar. They are a whole 43 days into the journey. The people have no idea how long the trip is going to be. According to the Exodus account, this is the next station, the Sin Wilderness.

²And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:

God is leading them by day in a cloud and by night by fire, and the people STILL are murmuring against the people who led them out.

³And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

They would rather do work and be full, than be starving in the wilderness.

⁴Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

⁵And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

This is manna. No one knows exactly what manna was.

¹²I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.

They got bread in the morning and quail in the evening.

¹⁶This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.

An omer is about 3.64 liters.
¹⁸And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

It's not an exact measurement. It's about the amount that a person would need to eat in a day. For some, and omer was more, for some it was less.

The people weren't to save any of it.

²⁰Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

How did the worms get in, unless it was worms... worms just don't appear in things, although they believed it did.
²²And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

The people were worried about the Sabbath. Had they celebrated sabbath yet?

²³And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

This is the first mention of the word sabbath. Sabbath means "to cease". The seventh day of rest hadn't even been invented yet.

²⁴And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

²⁵And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

²⁶Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

Manna is already magical stuff that appears on the ground. Now it has the capability of knowing when it's sabbath.

²⁷And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

It's so magical that it doesn't even appear on sabbath.

²⁸And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

So far the only laws and commandments are the Noahide laws.

1. no idolatry
2. no murder
3. no theft
4. no promiscuity
5. no blasphemy
6. no eating live animal flesh
7. set up a government.

The sabbath law hadn't even really been formally set up yet. I guess if god says to do something, it's always a formal law.

³¹And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

It looked like frost, and was about the size of coriander seed. If it tasted like wafers with honey, why wouldn't they just eat it like that, why make bread out of it.

³²And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

³³And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.

Here we have an out of time order part of the bible.

³⁴As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

What is "the Testimony"? It was the ten commandments... Moses didn't have these yet.

³⁵And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

Forty years, that's a long time to eat anything.

Exodus 17

¹And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

Rephidim is the next station. This is where the people were thirsty.

³And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

First they claim Moses brought them out to kill them with hunger, and now to kill them with thirst.

⁵And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

⁶Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

So Moses got water.

⁸Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

Is this Amalek who was in the line of Esau?

⁹And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

Moses magic wand is useful again.

¹⁰So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

The picture to the right is "Victory O Lord!" by John Everett Millais. Aaron is on the right, in red. It was painted in 1871.

¹²But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Why was Aaron (the older brother) stuck holding up his younger brothers hands? Why was Aaron in better condition?

¹³And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

This is the first of many times that Joshua will kick some ass.

¹⁴And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

This verse is rather odd in the bible. Yes, the Amalekites have since become extinct. They aren't really mentioned under that name anywhere else than in the bible. In order to "utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek" they would have to be removed from the bible. This poses a problem. In order to actually remove them from remembrance, the bible has to be changed. So, there's a catch 22. Either the bible is right, or it's not... To remove them, it has to be wrong.

Exodus 18

⁵And Jethro, Moses' father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:

Jethro shows up to the camp, he takes Moses wife and two sons to him.

⁸And Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them.

⁹And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.

Goodness... it's all based on perspective. First Moses tells about the plagues, then about killing the Egyptian army in the red sea, and Jethro claims that's the "goodness" of the LORD.

¹²And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father in law before God.

I've always believed that Jethro was a worshiper of the "correct" god. Here we see that to be true.

¹³And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.

Moses was in charge. The man has so far spent less than a year living as a Hebrew, and now he's the person who judges them. Surely this upset the elders. Jethro asks Moses why he does it.


¹⁶When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.

Moses has known God since the burning bush days, and now he's the person who sets out god's statutes and laws. Jethro gives Moses some advice:

¹⁸Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
...

²¹Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

²²And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.

If Moses was actually the spokesman for god, why didn't god tell him to set up district courts?

²⁵And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

²⁶And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

So, Moses got him captains, lieutenants and sergeants. This is one of the first examples of delegation.

Points to ponder:

1. What is manna? Will it ever come back?

2. Amalek who? Oh yeah, he's in the bible.

3. Jethro may not be the judge of the people, but he definitely had influence over the guy who did.

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.