READING FOR JUNE 13, 2024: EXODUS 2, GALATIANS 5, PSALM 53 EXODUS 2 We learn that both parents of Moses were from the tribe of Levi. When Moses was born the couple already had a daughter and son. Knowing of Pharaoh’s command, giving birth to a baby boy at that time would have made most couples much more concerned than normal. Hebrews 11:23 explains how they were able to cope: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” This is another example when obeying man’s law would have violated God’s law. We must make the same decision in these rare cases.
The parents further demonstrated that faith by releasing Moses into God’s care by putting Moses in an ark and placing it in the Nile. Note that the Hebrew word for ark (tê·ḇaṯ) is used only here and with Noah. In a literal sense, Moses’s mother still obeyed Pharoah’s command to place her baby boy in the Nile. The manner in which God orchestrates the parents’ faith, Pharoah’s daughter’s bathing habits and maternal sensibilities, Moses’s sister’s initiative, and even Moses’s good looks and cries shows what a masterful conductor of all creation our Lord is. All these events transpired to provide Moses with the opportunity and education to lead his people out of bondage. “After he had been put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in speaking and action” (Act 7:21-22).
One can imagine how difficult it was for Moses, as a biological Hebrew and adopted Egyptian, to watch an Egyptian mistreat a Hebrew slave. “But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them being treated un- justly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian” (Act 7:23-24).
When he returned the day after, Moses thought he was helping by resolving a fight between two Hebrews. He learned that his killing of the Egyptian was common knowledge and he also learned to his surprise that his countrymen did not desire his help. “And he thought that his brothers understood that God was granting them deliverance through him; but they did not understand” (Acts 7:25).Moses left his high position to deliver those in slavery but was rejected. In this, he was a forerunner of Jesus. “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the boast of our hope” (Heb. 3:5-6).
Once again, we witness significant human interaction occurring at a well. Moses displays the sense of fair play and courage that got him into trouble in Egypt. Apparently still dressed in his royal garment, the Midian priest’s daughters assumed he was an Egyptian. The priest,
READING FOR JUNE 13, 2024 CONTINUED: EXODUS 2, GALATIANS 5, PSALM 53 exhibiting middle-eastern hospitality, offered Moses food, then a place to stay, and finally his daughter Zipporah. The lesson is always be kind at a well (or its 21st century equivalent). In the meantime, even though there was new leadership in Egypt, the Hebrews’ suffering continued. Now, however, they cry out, which was never mentioned before. It says God heard these cries, remembered his covenant with them, and took note of them. Going through hard times? CRY OUT TO GOD. HE HEARS US, HE REMEMBERS US, AND HE CARES FOR US. GALATIANS 5 In Galatians 4 we saw Paul concerned that the Galatians were “meticulously” keeping certain holy days. Here Paul mentions another legalist practice: circumcision. Paul said if these works could save us, Christ came and died for no reason. Holding onto any one of the Mosaic ceremonial practices for salvation means that we would have to keep the whole law, which, as mentioned earlier, is not possible. Paul says those seeking to justify themselves by keeping the Law actually fall from grace, meaning they are unsaved or lost. Again, Paul wants to know who is teaching this deadly doctrine. He wishes that person would not stop at just cutting off his foreskin but cut off his entire genitalia. WOAH! Let’s trust Christ, instead. Paul wants us to free in Christ, free from doing the works of the Mosaic law, and free from, not to, sin. He stresses that this freedom means we will not carry out the works of the flesh. No amount of inclusivity allows for those who practice this lifestyle. What Paul said what was clearly wrong in his day has today become increasingly celebrated: “sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (vs. 19-21). Instead, our lives in Christ should naturally demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (vs. 22-23). PSALM 53 Notice David says the fool says “in his heart there is no God”--not in his mind! This fool also practices a sinful lifestyle. Perhaps this means the main obstacle to faith is not intellectual, but self-centeredness. That’s what initially kept the famous philosopher Mortimer Adler from faith: “He concluded that he didn't receive the grace of faith because he didn't want to convert, he didn't want to change his secular-liberal lifestyle and take up the challenges of Christian living. He wanted to study God, but also keep him at a distance. David also says in verse 1, “No one does good.” Consider the following from an interview with the author of a book valued by many entitled Original Blessing: Putting Sin in its Rightful Place: “My frustration is the Church talks about unconditional love out of one side of its mouth and then says this original sin thing out of the other. You really do have to choose. They are competing messages. Either we are born connected and designed for a relationship with God—or we are born as sinful, inclined to evil, separated from God.” Remember John the Baptist’s entire ministry was repentance and Jesus’s started the same way (Matt. 4:17). Here is how to answer the above author’s misplaced frustration: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”(Rom. 5:8).
