“…the people of Israel were convinced that the Lord had sent Moses and Aaron.” Exodus 4:31 NLT
“By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews 11:3…” And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. Hebrews 11:6 NLT.
“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it is the assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 NLT.
Frederick the Wise, the Elector of Saxony and the neighbor of the Augustinian Monk, Martin Luther, kept a twig from the burning bush as part of his extensive collection of religious relics. Moses didn’t keep any twigs from the bush—burnt twigs were useless to him. He needed something bigger than that. God gave him a big stick that turned into a snake, which would turn water into blood and part the sea. Extracting two million Jews from Egypt required divine hutzpah. Already, God had to reach into the sandy bowels of the Negev to call out Moses. At the same time, he was coaching up Moses’ brother Aaron and sending him to meet Moses at the Mountain of God. Moses, troubled but obedient, had received his father-in-law Jethro’s blessing to take Zipporah and his sons, none of whom had ever been to Egypt, on this dangerous mission.
A wooden weapon?
His only tangible proof of power was the staff he held in his hand. God used a stick of wood, and Moses figured God would use him—he hoped. It was a poignant scene: a man, his wife, and little boys on a donkey, the warrior walking with his staff, cries out to be painted by a master and displayed in a museum. He knew what lay before him; he carried a revolutionary message. The Pharaoh would reject his demand, God would harden Pharaoh’s heart, and then would come the killing of the firstborn. Not only that, God was mad at Moses for not circumcising his sons and was only saved by his wife’s quick and definitive action. Now, with a relieved wife and two wide-eyed boys wondering what had just happened to them, Aaron met them in the wilderness.
They embraced and compared notes. God had been talking to both of them, preparing them, building their confidence, because if they tried to analyze it, they would turn and run. Moses’ older brother had now become his wingman. They had not grown up together, but Aaron knew God’s hand was on Moses. He remembered the little wicker basket with his infant brother floating on the Nile. He knew Moses had grown up in the presidential palace. In submitting to his younger brother, he was submitting to God. Moses told Aaron everything—they were ready—and they went.
Willing and prepared doesn’t mean easy
Before Pharaoh could be confronted, the elders of Israel would need to be convinced. Moses and Aaron were pushing the rock uphill on this one. It would be something like trying to talk the United States Congress into leaving the country. Now that I think about it, what a capital idea. There were at least seventy elders, but probably more.[1]
Moses and Aaron had enough credibility to pull the elders together. Aaron spoke, and Moses performed his three signs. The staff turned into a snake, a leprous hand was healed, and it turned water to blood. A pretty good show—but then came the ask—and it was a big ask. Many generations of Jews who were now Egyptians, but Egyptian slaves, were being asked to leave everything they had built for hundreds of years. Can you even imagine such a decision? But there was one thing that held these people together. It is this amorphous, indescribable thing—Jewishness. Historian Tom Holland describes Jewishness this way:
“Broadly understood, as well, were some of the more curious details of the Judaeans’ history: that their distant ancestors had lived in Egypt; that they had been led to what became their homeland by a man named Moses; and that this same Moses had instructed them in a most novel form of worship. The precise details were too obscure to merit close study; but the outline was clear enough. The Judaeans believed that there was only one god, “almighty and eternal, inimitable and without end. Various laws had been given by this god to Moses. The Judaeans were obliged to circumcise themselves; to sit around every seventh day, “Sabbath,” as they termed it, in indolence and idleness; never to eat pork. No matter where they might live, whether in Judaea itself, or in Alexandria, or in Rome, they were all required to follow these prescriptions. Outlandish, of course, but obedience to the law given by Moses had at least enabled the Judaeans, in a world where they were vastly outnumbered by others, more powerful peoples, to preserve their identity. Whether at the table or in bed, they exist as a people apart.” [2]
One part genetic, another part religious, yet still difficult to nail down. There seems to be an often denied, yet indelible link to God. And it comes out in the simple statement, “When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped.” [3]
The influence of the soul
It begins down in the depths of a spiritual soul when that soul hears God speaking to it. Think about it for a moment—the Psalmist says,
“Bless the Lord, oh my soul.” The full statement is “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” [4]
The soul is the immaterial part of a person that is eternal and lives beyond physical death. It seems like a visitor to the human body. The soul sits in the depths of a person and is the residence of God and all that he is doing inside us. When we see the human remains of a person, we often say they are not here anymore. They are a departed soul, the soul has left the body, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The soul is what makes a body a person.[5] It is the answer to a critical question: What is consciousness? What does it mean to be alive, to appreciate the majestic beauty of the world, and yet know the wretchedness of evil? It is the soul. And when God talks to us, he is using our bodies, our senses, our brains, and all the tools of the human body to facilitate the conversation. But what comes to life, what penetrates our innermost being, is God’s word landing in our souls.
The Jewish people were given promises and stories of their patriarchs. And when they heard those stories, recited to them in Egyptian slavery, their souls came to life, they jumped inside their beings, and they became a convinced people. They were ready to leave it all behind. Human action starts when God’s word delivers new life and hope to us.
Specific to their need
It was clear: “When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery,” [6]
Concern specific to us from another person of great significance moves us deeply. When the President of the United States visits a community devastated by disaster, people are moved. They feel heard, cared for, and important. The President, standing in your driveway listening to your story in front of the rubble that once was all you owned, prompts something deep and healing. It’s a person listening, and so is the nation. In this case, it is their God standing there. He has heard their cries and seen their misery. Slavery has been noticed, and now he will keep the promises, the covenants given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the stories they have heard from childhood of a God who cares and has returned to get them.
Worship
There was only one thing left for the elders to do. They bowed down and worshipped. Why was this their response? Worship, in this case, is a natural response to an encounter with the holy. Holy meaning apart from, different, worthy, the bowing down isn’t just a habit. There are times when the most natural thing in the world is to fall to your knees because you are in the presence of the divine. Isaiah realized he was in the presence of God and that he was a man of unclean lips.
“I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5
The elders had spent their lives practicing worship. Each day in prayer, each Sabbath in congregation with others. But part of their misery was that practicing the Sabbath had made their work even harder. Egyptian culture did not follow a seven-day work week. They had a ten-day week with two days of rest. Months were divided into three 10-day periods, with the last two days of each period for rest. The interface was difficult; Jews took off four Sabbaths a month. But now they would have freedom, their land, and they could leave their captivity. Yes, it had been four hundred years; they had to wait a very long time, but that was the past; philosophical questions could wait; the need of the hour was the exodus. It is important to point out that in the first years, during the generations that knew Joseph, Jews were prosperous, built successful lives, and had established themselves prominently in the culture. It had only been somewhere between 150-110 years of slavery.
Worship in the West is done in a different climate of slavery. It is different from the daily slavery and misery of the Hebrews. The primary slavery in America is to self. We are what we feel, what we proclaim, what we desire. The raw nerve of need is rarely touched because our lives are buffered from suffering, and self-denial is culturally forbidden except to serve the self.
If I were God
If I designed my own religion, I would need to account for evil, demons, and the need for structure, accountability, and the daily struggle for the good. But I also would like to make religion more hip, groovy, musical with a good beat, something easy to dance to. I would probably write out hell, purgatory, and especially floating about the sky playing harps, and God forbid, spend forever singing hymns. And the final coup, make sure we all had something enjoyable to do forever, not an eternal ought to, but a forever want to. And after an acceptable pause, allow everyone in, even the bad people. Except for a few people I have known who I never want to see again.
The problem with my religion is that it doesn’t solve any problems or help anyone but me. Real religion is much tougher and deals with common problems that plague humanity. That is why God has provided pathways, traditions, and institutions to herd us along. These are primarily Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches. Thanks to Martin Luther, that glorious German gasbag, we have more than The Church. The Reformation forced The Church to become The Catholic Church, The Protestant Church, and The Eastern Orthodox Church.
Final words. The words of Jesus. He told us about the narrow gate, the eye of the needle, and himself being the door, the good shepherd, the bread of life, the light of the world, the resurrection, and the life. He topped it off with I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can get to the Father except through me. Therefore, he said, “Follow me.” So, you want to be convinced? Get walking, follow Jesus, and he will take you where you want to go, and he will teach you everything you will ever need to know. Ok, stand up, move your legs, get moving.
Bill Hull
From the Banks of Babylon
[1] There were approximately 600,000 men. With their families, the best estimate is a population of 2 to 3 million. Seventy elders were chosen to help lead the nation.
[2] Tom Holland, PAX, War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age, Basic Books, New York, [pages 103]
[3] Exodus 4:31b NLT.
[4] Psalm 103:1 KJV.
[5] When the body count is given regarding deaths in a natural disaster, those who perished are referred to as “souls.” This is because Western Christian culture assumes that the souls once resident in the bodies recovered or counted, are moved on to another realm.
[6] Exodus 4:31 NLT
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