Water turning to blood was the first plague we saw in Exodus 7. In this chapter we will see plagues two, three and four. We said the plagues would gradually get worse. Beginning with the plague of flies only the Egyptians are affected, no one in the land of Goshen.
Exodus 8
The Lord spoke to Moses “Go to Pharaoh and say to him ‘This is what the LORD says, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.
Continue readingExodus 7 is exciting stuff. There is a side note in the text about Moses’s age that reminded me to talk about the timeline of his life. Then Moses and Aaron appear before Pharaoh and thrown down. Aaron literally “throws down” his staff and it becomes a serpent. The magicians of Egypt can do the same thing but it’s not as cool as what Aaron’s staff does.
Exodus 7
The Lord said to Moses “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
Continue readingGod repeats some promises to Moses about his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and explains he has heard the children of Israel’s outcry and will keep his promises. He tells Moses they knew him as God Almighty but he did not tell them his name. Here is a link to a Read the Bible bonus feature on The LORD that I mention in the discussion.
Exodus 6
Then the LORD said to Moses “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: for by my strong hand he will let them go, and because of my strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
Continue readingMoses and Aaron appear before Pharaoh and ask him to let them go into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD God. Pharaoh does not let them go but rather increases their work load. The Hebrews are mad at Moses, the Egyptians are mad at Moses, he cries out to God that they are worse off than before; and he has no idea, God is just getting warmed up.
Exodus 5
Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’”
Continue readingMoses raised two objections in Exodus 3 while speaking with God at the burning bush: Who am I that I should appear before Pharaoh and who will I say sent me? There will be two more specific objections and one “but I don’t want to.” Has anyone thought about the question from yesterday: Exactly who is Moses talking to at the burning bush?
Exodus 4
Moses answered and said “But they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice, for they will say ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’”
Continue readingMoses at the burning bush; you have probably heard this story, hopefully you have read the Bible and net just seen the movies. You may have colored pictures of this event in a children’s Sunday School class at some point . Let’s make sure we have read it and not just rely on our head canon. Moses will make a total of five objections after God tells him to appear before Pharaoh and lead his people out of Egypt. We will see the first two in this chapter and get to the others tomorrow.
Below is what I am reading. If you want to know what I look at when preparing to read a chapter of the Bible, it’s the KJV text plus each of these, all at the same time. If you ever want to see a single verse in every English translation there is, Bible Hub is better suited for that.
Continue readingExodus 2 begins with the birth of Moses. Which is a problem since all males born to the Hebrews must be thrown into the Nile by order of Pharaoh. Moses’ mother hides him for three months and then technically – technically – does cast him into the Nile, just after placing him in a little boat she made for him. That alone might not have saved him but getting rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter does the trick.
Exodus 2
A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.
Continue readingWe are turning a page, literally and figuratively, and beginning the Exodus from Egypt today. The Ten Commandments starring Charleston Heston is a very different movie than DreamWorks The Prince of Egypt. But have you read the book? You’re welcome to join our little book club as we begin the true story of Moses as recorded… by Moses… in the Book of Exodus.
Exodus 1
Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.
Continue readingWhen I started reading Genesis at chapter 1 on March 1, it was an experiment really. It was an idea that I decided to try not knowing if it would work or if anything would come of it. We have finished one book of the Bible together… out of 66. There are many books shorter than Genesis; nothing in the new Testament is 50 chapters long but then again some Old Testament books are longer and a few are much longer.
We are finishing Genesis on Easter Sunday. As I have said, I don’t if that means anything but it is interesting. We will start the Exodus account tomorrow morning which should be familiar territory for most of us. Then we will take a break and read the Gospel According to Matthew before facing our biggest challenge yet: Leviticus. By my figures that will be June 19th, a date that is very important to me if no one else.
Continue readingWhen the Read the Bible series started I knew it would be a little rough around the edges. The best way to fix it was to start and see how it went, then make adjustments. I started out recording the readings and the discussion on my phone and later downloaded recording and editing software. When I first starting making cuts and edits, I was just throwing those things away. Eventually I realized some of them were funny. AFV has been on television for over 35 years. I watched TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes before that. We laugh at failure, as long no one is (seriously) hurt.
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The Master's Table 