August 2025 – Page 5 – jeffersonvann

Exodus 3

Exodus 3

Exodus 3:1 At that time Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the open country[1] and came to Horeb, God’s mountain.

Exodus 3:2 And the agent[2] of Yahveh[3] appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and noticed the bush was burning, but it was not consumed.

Exodus 3:3 And Moses said, “I will go over to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

Exodus 3:4 When Yahveh saw that he went over to see, God called to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Notice me.”

Exodus 3:5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, because the place on which you are standing is sacred[4] ground.”

Exodus 3:6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Exodus 3:7 Then Yahveh said, “I have certainly seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their slavedrivers.[5] I know their sufferings,

Exodus 3:8 and I have come down to strip them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and extensive land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place now possessed by Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Exodus 3:9 And now, notice, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

Exodus 3:10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may rescue my people, the sons of Israel, from Egypt.”

Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and rescue the sons of Israel from Egypt?”

Exodus 3:12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this will be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have rescued the people from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.”

Exodus 3:13 Then Moses said to God, “Notice, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”

Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”

Exodus 3:15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, Yahveh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my permanent[6] name, and this is how I am to be remembered for all generations.

Exodus 3:16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, “Yahveh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, and this is what he said, “I have seen you and what has been done to you in Egypt,

Exodus 3:17 and I promise that I will bring you up from the trouble of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”‘

Exodus 3:18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘Yahveh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the open country, so that we may sacrifice to Yahveh our God.’

Exodus 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless forced by a mighty hand.

Exodus 3:20 So I will stretch out my hand and hit Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.

Exodus 3:21 And I will give this people favor[7] in the eyes of the Egyptians; and when you go, you will not go empty,

Exodus 3:22 but each woman will ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives as a guest in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You will put them on your sons and on your daughters. This is how you will strip the Egyptians.”

[1] מִדְבָּר = open country. Exodus 3:1, 18; 4:27; 5:1, 3; 7:16; 8:27, 28; 13:18, 20; 14:3, 11, 12; 15:22; 16:1, 2, 3, 10, 14, 32; 17:1; 18:5; 19:1, 2; 23:31.

[2] מַלְאָךְ = agent. Exodus 3:2; 14:19; 23:20, 23; 32:34; 33:2.

[3] יָהְוֶה = Yahveh. Exodus 3:2, 4, 7, 15, 16, 18; 4:1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 19, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31; 5:1, 2, 3, 17, 21, 22; 6:1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 26, 28, 29, 30; 7:1, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 25; 8:1, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31; 9:1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 35; 10:1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27; 11:1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10; 12:1, 11, 12, 14, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31, 36, 41, 42, 43, 48, 50, 51; 13:1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 21; 14:1, 4, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31; 15:1, 3, 6, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26; 16:3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 23, 25, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34; 17:1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 14, 15, 16; 18:1, 8, 9, 10, 11; 19:3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24; 20:2, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 22; 22:11, 20; 23:17, 19, 25; 24:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 16, 17; 25:1; 27:21; 28:12, 29, 30, 35, 36, 38; 29:11, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 41, 42, 46; 30:8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 34, 37; 31:1, 12, 13, 15, 17; 32:5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35; 33:1, 5, 7, 11, 12, 17, 19, 21; 34:1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 14, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 32, 34; 35:1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 21, 22, 24, 29, 30; 36:1, 2, 5; 38:22; 39:1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 42, 43; 40:1, 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32, 34, 35, 38.

[4] קֹדֶשׁ = sacred. Exodus 3:5; 12:16; 15:11, 13; 16:23; 22:31; 26:33, 34; 28:2, 4, 29, 35, 36, 38, 43; 29:6, 29, 30, 33, 34, 37; 30:10, 13, 24, 25, 29, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37; 31:10, 11, 14, 15; 35:2, 19, 21; 36:1, 3, 4, 6; 37:29; 38:24, 25, 26, 27; 39:1, 30, 41; 40:9, 10, 13.

[5] נָגָשׂ = slavedriver. Exodus 3:7; 5:6, 10, 13, 14.

[6] עוֹלָם = permanent, permanently. Exodus 3:15; 12:14, 17, 24; 14:13; 15:18; 19:9; 21:6; 27:21; 28:43; 29:9, 28; 30:21; 31:16, 17; 32:13; 40:15.

[7] חֵן = favor. Exodus 3:21; 11:3; 12:36; 33:12, 13, 16, 17; 34:9.

Exodus 3 quotes:

“The practice of removing the sandals on entering sacred places, and even houses on visits of courtesy, has ever been, and still is, general in the East.”

Alford Henry. The Book of Genesis and Part of the Book of Exodus : A Revised Version with Marginal References and an Explanatory Commentary. Strahan 1872. p. 229.

“Thus ‘I am that I am,’ God is an ultimate fact ; He cannot be explained by anything else, but only by Himself. And, again, ‘ I am — always — that which I am — now, and always have been,’ as in the New Testament, ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.’

Then. I am, because I am,’ there is no cause for God’s existence outside of Himself.

Then, too, ‘ I am who am,’ God is pure and essential being.

And, again, ‘I will be that I will be,’ or ‘I become that which I will, or choose to, become’; God is lord of His own destiny.”

Bennett, W. H. Exodus: Introduction. New York: H. Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1908. p. 58.

“The third chapter of Exodus is filled with revelation and interaction. It includes a theophany (the appearing of God) and the story of Moses’ call. Moses meets God for the first time in the burning bush, where God calls him to go back to Egypt. We are reminded of the oppression there and hear the first two of Moses’ five objections to God’s call. Exodus 3 gives the name of the Lord, repeats the promise of land to Abraham’s family, and predicts Pharaoh’s resistance. Finally, God promises to do “wonders” until the Egyptians let the people go and send them away with silver, gold, and clothing.”

Bruckner James K. Exodus. Hendrickson Publishers ; Paternoster 2008. p. 39.

Exodus 3 links:

ACST 51- The Regenerator – jeffersonvann
Spring up, Oh Well
Yahveh

Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, July 7, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, March 10, 2023
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, July 10, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Saturday, July 8, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Sunday, July 9, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, March 10, 2021

EXODUS in Jeff’s library

Exodus 2

Exodus 2

Exodus 2:1 Then a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a daughter of Levi.

Exodus 2:2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and seeing that he was special, she concealed him three months.

Exodus 2:3 When she could conceal him no longer, she prepared for him a basket made of papyrus and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.

Exodus 2:4 And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

Exodus 2:5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave,[1] and she took it.

Exodus 2:6 After she opened it, she saw the child, and noticed the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

Exodus 2:7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

Exodus 2:8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So, the girl went and called the child’s mother.

Exodus 2:9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So, the woman took the child and nursed him.

Exodus 2:10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She called his name Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Exodus 2:11 Then after Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

Exodus 2:12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.

Exodus 2:13 When he went out the next day, notice, two Hebrews were fighting together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”

Exodus 2:14 He answered, “Who made you an official and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing has been made known.”

Exodus 2:15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses ran[2] from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

Exodus 2:16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

Exodus 2:17 The shepherds normally came and would drive them away, but Moses stood up and saved[3] them, and watered their flock.

Exodus 2:18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “Why have you come home so soon today?”

Exodus 2:19 They said, “An Egyptian rescued us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

Exodus 2:20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

Exodus 2:21 And Moses was agreeable to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.

Exodus 2:22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, because he said, “I have been a foreign guest in a foreign land.”

Exodus 2:23 And after many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue came up to God.

Exodus 2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

Exodus 2:25 God saw the sons of Israel – and God knew.

[1] אָמָה = female slave. Exodus 2:5; 20:10, 17; 21:7, 20, 26, 27, 32; 23:12.

[2] בָּרָח = run, run through. Exodus 2:15; 14:5; 26:28; 36:33.

[3] יָשַׁע = save. Exodus 2:17; 14:30.

Exodus 2 quotes:

“The stories of Exodus 2 lead to verses 23-25. The point is that if humans can rescue other humans who are caught in strife, then how much more will the God that we know from Genesis, full of compassion and mercy and who has an established covenant relationship with his people, rescue them? If the daughter of Pharaoh can hear cries and be merciful against the stated will of her father, how much more will God hear, given his stated obligation to Abraham and his descendants? If Moses can see his people’s trouble and the trouble of a group of daughters of a priest of Midian, then how much more so will God, whose nature is to have mercy? If a priest of Midian can take on board a lonely fugitive and give him a home, then how much more so will the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, do so? If humans can do it, how much more so will God? This is the point of this chapter—God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. He looked on the Israelites and he was concerned. Where God ‘remembers’, ‘looks upon’ and ‘is concerned’, we can expect to see action.”

Reid, Andrew. Out of Darkness : Exodus 1- 18. Matthias Media, 2005. p. 15.

“Exodus 2:9 “took the boy and nursed him” Breastfeeding is the natural means planned by the Creator to forge an irrevocable bond between a mother and her child. This providential intervention gave the opportunity for physical and emotional bonding between Moses and his godly mother, giving to him immersion in her faith and values in his earliest, formative years.”

Patterson, Dorothy Kelley, Touched by Greatness : Women in the Life of Moses. Christian Focus, 2011. p. 38.

“Exodus 2 includes Moses’ birth, his amazing deliverance and adoption (2:1-10), his identification with “his” Hebrew people, the killing of an Egyptian, his escape to the land of Midian, his marriage to Zipporah, and the birth of their son, Gershom (vv. 11-22). The chapter concludes with a reminder of the groaning of the people in Egypt and God’s attentive ear (vv. 23-25).”

Bruckner, James K. Exodus. Hendrickson Publishers ; Paternoster, 2008. p. 26.

Exodus 2 links:

as luck would have it
Exodus- God saw and knew
God’s mountain
IN A DREAM #4 – jeffersonvann
preparing for the mission
the Gershom years

Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, July 6, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, March 7, 2019
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, July 5, 2017

EXODUS in Jeff’s library

DAYS OF A HIRED MAN

DAYS OF A HIRED MAN

Job 7:1-10 NET

¹“Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man? ² Like a servant longing for the evening shadow, and like a hired man looking for his wages, ³thus I have been made to inherit months of futility, and nights of sorrow have been appointed to me. ⁴If I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise?’, and the night stretches on and I toss and turn restlessly until the day dawns. ⁵My body is clothed with worms and dirty scabs; my skin is broken and festering. ⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and they come to an end without hope. ⁷ Remember that my life is but a breath, that my eyes will never again see happiness. ⁸ The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. ⁹ As a cloud is dispersed and then disappears, so the one who goes down to the grave does not come up again.¹⁰He returns no more to his house, nor does his place of residence know him any more.

We are now well into our reading of Job, and we are discovering that it differs from the other books we’ve read in the Old Testament in many ways. The other books mainly focus on the historical progress of God’s people, from the patriarchs to the establishment and history of Israel. However, Job doesn’t mention Israel at all. Job may have been a patriarch, but there is no effort within the book to establish any historical or ethnic connection with the Hebrew people.

So, why is the book of Job in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible? One reason is that the Old Testament was written to answer questions that God’s people had about life. Some questions didn’t relate to which nation they belonged to. These questions were about the meaning of life, the purpose of living, and how to handle life’s challenges. So, in addition to the Torah and the historical books, a collection of wisdom literature was inspired by the Holy Spirit to address these questions.

Some wisdom literature was created to help people make wise decisions in life. The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes focus on this topic. The Song of Songs—often called the Song of Solomon—highlights the beauty and joy of human love and courtship. God wanted His people to understand that human love is not evil. It is a gift from God and should be celebrated and enjoyed within proper boundaries. Proper relationships with the opposite sex are part of God’s wisdom.

Many people have written books, poems, and stories that fall into the category of wisdom literature. Most of this literature is now gone, lost over time. However, some books and documents have been preserved. The Holy Spirit guided the writing and preservation of the Old Testament wisdom literature so that we can all benefit from it.

Most of the wisdom literature addresses what is known as conventional wisdom. This can be summarized as the belief that doing what is morally right will lead to God’s blessing of health and prosperity. Psalm 1 illustrates this by describing the wise person as a tree planted by the water, thriving and bearing fruit. In contrast, the wicked are the opposite of the wise; they will not endure because they have chosen to walk the path that leads to destruction.

With all these teachings that express conventional wisdom, the LORD saw it necessary to provide another kind of wisdom literature. We needed to understand that although it is generally true that the righteous will be blessed and successful in life, it is also true that sometimes the righteous will not experience that blessing. God has a message for those who suffer. Conventional wisdom offers only one answer to that question: you suffer because you made a mistake, you did something wrong, you committed a sin.

In the book of Job, his so-called friends were experts on the subject of conventional wisdom. They delivered long, drawn-out arguments trying to convince Job that he needed to repent and regain God’s favor. To them, the calamities Job suffered, the pain he experienced, and the losses he faced all pointed to some hidden sin he must have committed. We need to be careful when we read Job because sometimes we are reading those arguments, and the Holy Spirit wants us to see that their arguments are flawed.

The book of Job offers another view on the problem of suffering. In Job’s case, he was suffering not because God was angry with him, but because God was proud of him. Satan received permission to hurt Job because he believed that if Job endured enough pain, he would curse God.

The LORD eventually intervenes and rescues Job, but the main point of Job is not about the rescue. God is sovereign over our lives and has every right to allow us to suffer certain things, even if we are His obedient children. This serves as a helpful exception to the usual understanding of God’s justice.

There are also examples of this exception in the New Testament. One example is recorded in John chapter 9. The disciples encounter a man who was born blind. They ask Jesus who committed the sin that caused this man to suffer the fate of blindness at birth. Did his parents do something wrong, or would he do something wrong during his life, and would God punish him for it before he does it? Jesus told them that suffering was not caused by sin. It was allowed because God wanted to perform a miracle in his life. All suffering is caused by the existence of evil in this world, but it cannot always be traced to a particular evil.

Before he suffered, Job was a textbook example of conventional wisdom. He was a good man, obedient to God and considerate of others. God blessed him with great wealth, excellent health, and high honor. He considered himself a free man. However, through a series of unfortunate events, Job lost all his wealth, health, and honor. Today’s text describes how Job felt about that major reversal. He now saw himself as a hired hand, with someone else calling the shots, and Job did not like that at all.

In this section, Job lists several complaints. His description of the days of the hired man is important because it highlights what it truly means to face hardship. Let’s examine each of those complaints one by one.

Job complains about the WORK of a hired man (1-3a).

After years of living as a wealthy landowner, Job is now experiencing what it’s like to be part of the other half. He used to have an army of servants doing the hard work for him; now, it’s just him. So, he describes human life as “hard service,” and the Hebrew word he uses is the same one often translated as “army.” I know a little about what it means to be a soldier in the army, and it can sometimes be grueling work. One of the things that makes it tough is that you’re not doing what you want to do. You’re under someone else’s command—sometimes a lot of people. It can also be useless work.

Tennessee Ernie Ford sang a song about the work of a hired man. It was called “Sixteen Tons.”

“Some people say a man is made out of mud
A poor man’s made out of muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that’s weak and a back that’s strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter, don’t you call me, ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store.”

All of us want to do what is right and succeed. But we all go through times in life when we ask the same questions Job asks here: Why does it have to be so hard? Why does so much of our effort just lead to more effort tomorrow?

Let’s take a moment to step back and understand what’s happening. This is the Bible—God’s word to us. It tells us that God knows what we are going through and how tough it can get. He understands our nature. He remembers that we are made of dust. He sees our sweat. He hears our moaning. His message to us is not, “Quit your complaining; you deserve what you get.” His message is “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” He told the Israelites, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Job also complains about the REST of a hired man (3b-4).

He talks about his nights, but he does not spend them resting. He spends them sorrowing. He says, “The night stretches on, and I toss and turn restlessly until the day dawns.” The time he is supposed to rest is full of restlessness. He is consumed by sorrow over his past loss and anxiety about his fears of the future.

God wants His people to rest. He commanded the Israelites to take one full day off each week. They had been slaves, and He understood that they might want to keep working. But He told them to stop what they were doing regularly and trust Him. Why do we struggle so much with resting in the Lord’s presence? God wants us to take our burdens off our backs and give them to Him. Yet, we often want to keep carrying those burdens ourselves.

Job complains about the BODY of a hired man (5)

He says his body is covered with worms and dirty scabs; my skin is broken and oozing. He had spent many years being the picture of health, and now he is the picture of death. Satan was not satisfied with stealing all of Job’s possessions and family. He wanted to steal his health too.

Jesus said that false shepherds are thieves and that all they want to do is steal and kill and destroy, but he came that people might have an abundant life.

We don’t have to go through the same health problems Job faced to see that our bodies often push back against us. As we get older, things tend to stop functioning as they should. We need extra devices to help with weak eyesight, hearing, and even heart issues.

The New Testament tells us that we will receive a new body when Jesus returns. That new body will not grow old or wear out; it is designed for eternity. Job didn’t know all the details about this new body, but he did understand the coming resurrection. He said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (19:25-26). The only way that could happen is if God raises him from the dead. Job knew that his current mortal body would be replaced by Job 2.0.

The message is that although our bodies may someday fail us, our God never will. He has a replacement body for us, one that is indestructible and created to glorify Him forever.

Job complains about the END of a hired man (6-10).

He knows his days are numbered, and it is not a very big number. He is heading for his grave. Someone else will live in his house because he will not be going back there.

Some people teach that death is not real. They believe your body dies, but you keep on living forever somewhere else. That was not what Job believed. His complaint was genuine because death is a fact. The Apostle Paul says that the penalty for sinning is death, and all of us have to pay that bill. The good news is not that death is an illusion. The gospel good news is that a new resurrection life awaits those who put their faith in Christ.

Job experienced a sudden, drastic upheaval in his life. He confronted his mortality, and it didn’t happen gradually. Go outside and look at the clouds, and if you keep watching, they will disperse and disappear. Job’s message is that this is our destiny. Conventional wisdom says that the goal in life is to be wise and successful. Job said that won’t last. We need to understand this. Only by facing our mortality can we learn to look up to God and receive the gift of His grace.

Jesus Christ revealed the promise of resurrection, life, and immortality through the gospel. Job grapples with his mortality, and rightly so—it’s a common struggle for all of us. Yet, we can also cling to his hope of a Redeemer who will come to reclaim us from the grave.

“Many still mourn
And many still weep
For those that they love
Who have fallen asleep
But we have this hope
Though our hearts may still ache
Just one shout from above
And they all will awake

And in the reunion of joy
We will see
Death will be swallowed
In sweet victory

Where is the sting
Tell me, where is the bite
When the grave robber comes
Like a thief in the night
Where is the victory
Where is the prize
When the grave robber comes
And death finally dies”[1]

[1] “Grave Robber” by Petra.

Exodus 1

Exodus 1

Exodus 1:1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each man with his house:[1]

Exodus 1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

Exodus 1:3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

Exodus 1:4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

Exodus 1:5 All the throats[2] coming out of the loins of Jacob were seventy throats; Joseph being already in Egypt.

Exodus 1:6 Joseph eventually died, and all his brothers and all that generation.

Exodus 1:7 But the sons of Israel had been fruitful and greatly crowded Egypt; they multiplied and grew very strong, so that the land[3] was filled with them.

Exodus 1:8 Then a new king – who did not remember Joseph – began reigning over Egypt,

Exodus 1:9 And he said to his people, “Notice,[4] the people of the sons of Israel are too many and too strong for us.

Exodus 1:10 Cooperate! let us deal wisely with them, or else[5] they will keep multiplying, and, when war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”

Exodus 1:11 Therefore they set officials[6] over them to force heavy burdens[7] upon them. They built store cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses.

Exodus 1:12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they permeated the country. And the Egyptians detested the people of Israel.

Exodus 1:13 So they callously made the people of Israel work as slaves

Exodus 1:14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they callously made them work as slaves.

Exodus 1:15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,

Exodus 1:16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, you will kill him, but if it is a daughter, she will live.”

Exodus 1:17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live.

Exodus 1:18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the boys live?”

Exodus 1:19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, because they are strong and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

Exodus 1:20 So God treated the midwives well. And the people continued to multiply and grew very strong.

Exodus 1:21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them houses.

Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh ordered all his people, and this is what he said, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you will throw into the Nile, but you will let every daughter live.”

[1] בַּיִת = house, home, inside. Exodus 1:1, 21; 2:1; 3:22; 6:14; 7:23; 8:3, 9, 11, 13, 21, 24; 9:19, 20; 10:6; 12:3, 4, 7, 13, 15, 19, 22, 23, 27, 29, 30, 46; 13:3, 14; 16:31; 19:3; 20:2, 17; 22:7, 8; 23:19; 25:11, 27; 26:29, 33; 28:26; 30:4; 34:26; 36:34; 37:2, 14, 27; 38:5; 39:19; 40:38.

[2] נֶפֶשׁ = throat. Exodus 1:5; 4:19; 12:4, 15, 16, 19; 15:9; 16:16; 21:23, 30; 23:9; 30:12, 15, 16; 31:14.

[3] אֶרֶץ = land. Exodus 1:7, 10; 2:15, 22; 3:8, 17; 4:3, 20; 5:5, 12; 6:1, 4, 8, 11, 13, 26, 28; 7:2, 3, 4, 19, 21; 8:5, 6, 7, 14, 16, 17, 22, 24, 25; 9:5, 9, 14, 15, 16, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 33; 10:5, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22; 11:3, 5, 6, 9, 10; 12:1, 12, 13, 17, 19, 25, 29, 33, 41, 42, 48, 51; 13:5, 11, 15, 17, 18; 14:3; 15:12; 16:1, 3, 6, 14, 32, 35; 18:3, 27; 19:1, 5; 20:2, 4, 11; 22:21; 23:9, 10, 26, 29, 30, 31, 33; 29:46; 31:17; 32:1, 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 23; 33:1, 3; 34:8, 10, 12, 15, 24.

[4] הִנֵּה = notice. Exodus 1:9; 2:6, 13; 3:2, 4, 9, 13; 4:6, 7, 14, 23; 5:16; 7:16, 17; 8:2, 21, 29; 9:3, 7, 18; 10:4; 14:10, 17; 16:4, 10, 14; 17:6; 19:9; 23:20; 24:8, 14; 31:6; 32:9, 34; 33:21; 34:10, 11, 30; 39:43.

[5]פֵּן = or else. Exodus 1:10; 5:3; 13:17; 19:21-22, 24; 20:19; 23:33; 33:3; 34:12, 15.

[6] שַׂר = official. Exodus 1:11; 2:14; 18:21, 25.

[7] סִבְלָה = burden. Exodus 1:11; 2:11; 5:4, 5; 6:6, 7.

Exodus 1 quotes:

“In Exodus 1:7 we are told that “the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them”. The language here is reminiscent of Genesis 1:28 where humans are blessed by God and told to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it”. We are being reminded that God’s purpose to bless the whole world is being carried out through the descendants of Abraham.”

Reid, Andrew. Out of Darkness : Exodus 1- 18. Matthias Media, 2005. p. 35.

“The actual situation in Egypt and the implications of the biblical text are in very good agreement, therefore, if we understand the rise of a new king over Egypt in Exodus 1:8 to mean the change to the Nineteenth Dynasty, and if we refer to the time under the early kings of that dynasty the statement of Exodus 1:13: “They made the people of Israel serve with rigor, and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field; in all their work they made them serve with rigor.” It was for this reason that ever afterward when the Israelite people looked back to Egypt they called it “the house of bondage” (Exodus 13:3, etc.).”

Finegan, Jack. Let My People Go; a Journey through Exodus. [1st ed.] ed., Harper & Row, 1963. p. 21.

“The midwives’ courage and fear of the Lord contrast with a powerful, yet paranoid, pharaoh. Although the chapter begins with the patriarchal list, the hope of the Israelites was in the daily life of the Hebrew home and childbirth. Here we see the beginning of the key role women played in God’s deliverance of Israel from crisis in Exodus 1-4 (see also Exod. 2:1-10; 4:24-26).”

Bruckner, James K. Exodus. Hendrickson Publishers ; Paternoster, 2008. p. 22.

Exodus 1 links:

a bad turn within God’s will
Exodus- opportunities
Exodus- The flip-side of blessing
no vacancy
strange deliverance

Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, July 3, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Saturday, July 1, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Sunday, July 2, 2017
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, March 9, 2023

EXODUS in Jeff’s library

Genesis 50

Genesis 50

Genesis 50:1 Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.

Genesis 50:2 And Joseph commanded his slaves — the healers — to embalm his father. So, the healers embalmed Israel.

Genesis 50:3 Forty days were required for it, because that is how many days are required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

Genesis 50:4 And when the days of mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, and this is what he said, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please appeal to Pharaoh on my behalf, saying,

Genesis 50:5 My father made me swear, and this is what he said, ‘Notice, I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there will you bury me.’ Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.”

Genesis 50:6 And Pharaoh replied, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

Genesis 50:7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the slaves of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

Genesis 50:8 as well as all the family of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s family. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen.

Genesis 50:9 And both chariots and horsemen went up with him. It was a very heavy group.

Genesis 50:10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very loud and heavy lamentation, and he mourned for his father seven days.

Genesis 50:11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a heavy mourning by the Egyptians.” This is why the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan.

Genesis 50:12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them,

Genesis 50:13 because his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place.

Genesis 50:14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Genesis 50:15 When Joseph’s brothers realized that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay us in full for all the wrong we did to him?”

Genesis 50:16 So they sent word to Joseph, and this is what they said, ” Before he died, your father gave this instruction:

Genesis 50:17 ‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the slaves of the God of your father.” When this word was presented to him, Joseph wept.

Genesis 50:18 Then his brothers also came and threw themselves down before him; they said, “Notice us; we are your slaves.”

Genesis 50:19 But Joseph replied to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant to wrong me, but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day.

Genesis 50:21 So now, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little children.” Then he consoled them and spoke kindly to them.

Genesis 50:22 Joseph lived in Egypt, along with his father’s family. Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.

Genesis 50:23 Joseph saw the descendants of Ephraim to the third generation. He also saw the children of Makir the son of Manasseh; who were counted as his own.

Genesis 50:24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am going to die. But God will certainly come to you and lead you up from this land to the land he swore by oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Genesis 50:25 Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath. And this is what he said, “God will certainly come to you. Then you must carry my bones up from this place.”

Genesis 50:26 So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten. After they embalmed him, his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Genesis 50 quotes:

“The word for coffin here is the Hebrew ‘aron, meaning a chest or ark. This is the same word that was used for the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament. Its use here, of course, refers to the coffin in which the body of Joseph was placed. So great was Joseph’s faith in the promise of a land that he requested that his bones be taken from the land of Egypt to the Promised Land when the children of Israel left Egypt (w. 24-25, cf. Heb. 1 1 : 22). This mummy case, or coffin, remained with the Israelites through the forty-year wandering in the wilderness. It was taken from Egypt at the time of the exodus (Ex. 13:19) and was later buried in Shechem (Josh. 24:32).”

Davis, John James. Mummies, Men and Madness. BMH Books, 1972. p. 100.

“When you have totally forgiven another person, you do not want them to be afraid of you. Do you know the feeling of wanting another person to be just a little bit afraid of you? You refuse to be very friendly so that they remain worried whether or not you have forgiven them. Perhaps you give them the ever-so-slight cold shoulder— the type of thing that another could not be absolutely sure about. We are all experts at this, aren’t we? Or we act as though we do not see them, or we say all the right words— we even put on a smile— but we convey an unloving feeling so the other person still feels unforgiven, because this is what we want them to feel. We have all done that, haven’t we? Why? We want to control them so they will be afraid of us.”

Kendall, R. T. God Meant It for Good. MorningStar Publications, 1988. p. 201.

“Joseph testifies about the power of God’s presence in his life and in the world at large (see Genesis 50:20). This testimony is the fundamental message of the story of Joseph and of the book of Genesis as a whole. In this verse, the Hebrew word that is translated as meant in the NRSV can also be translated intended or planned. Thus Joseph tells us that God plans good for the world, even in the face of human evil.”

Hinton, Linda B. Genesis. Abingdon Press, 1994. p. 141.

Genesis 50 links:

“all live to him!”
ACST 7 The Source
GOD BACKSTAGE – jeffersonvann
Joseph- key to forgiveness
Joseph- permission for a funeral
the God factor
THE GOD WHO REVEALS HIMSELF – jeffersonvann
THE MEN WHO COULD SEE THE FUTURE – jeffersonvann

Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, January 30, 2019

GENESIS in Jeff’s library