Moses has been at the top of Mount Sinai 40 days and 40 nights receiving the 10 commandants and other instructions regarding the tabernacle and the priests. Then the Lord tells Moses to go down from the mountain bc the people have corrupted themselves. So Moses comes down with the stone tablets and finds the people in a full blown party worshipping a golden calf. In anger, Moses casts down the stone tablets and breaks them. Then he turns the calf into powder and makes the children of Israel drink it. When Moses questions Aaron, Aaron basically says the people made him do it and he just threw their gold in the fire and out popped this golden calf. 🤨 Sure Aaron. We all know you made that gold calf. Anyway, the Levites team up with Moses and the Lord and they killed 3,000 of the calf idol worshippers. Moses went back to the Lord to intercede for the people. God sends a plague on the people and tells Moses He will send an Angel to go before them into the promise land but God can not be in the presence of these stiff-neck people! Moses refuses to go without the Lord. Smart man! So Moses goes back up Mount Sinai another 40 days and 40 nights with 2 new stone tablets. The Lord says He will go with them but He also says DO NOT make covenants with the people around them or worship their gods! Have the children of Israel learned their lesson with the golden calf incident? Keep reading to find out.

(Exodus 32:1-34-35)

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Today the Lord gives very specific instructions for the consecration of priests. As part of this process the priests were to have the blood of a slaughtered animal placed on the right ear, right thumb and right toe. I read several articles that all said something like this about the blood on the priest: The blood on the ear covers the priest for the hearing of His Word, the blood on the thumb covers the priest for the labor for the Lord, and the blood on the toe covers the priest for walking in His ways. God also gives instructions for building the incense altar where incense will be perpetually burned before the Lord and once a year the high priest will make atonement for the people. This will be called the Day of Atonement and we will read more about it later but basically atoning for the sins of the people is a bloody mess! That is how serious our sin problem is…that all these innocent animals have to be killed. Remember though, the Lord is working His plan to send the final sacrifice but in the meantime, things get bloody. Ok, so after the Lord gives the instructions for building the tabernacle, we read that the Lord has also gifted certain people “with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship…” to complete the job. So the Lord not only gives us instructions but He also gives us all that we need to complete those instructions. Pretty cool. Lastly, He tells the children of Israel to rest on the Sabbath or they will be put to death. You wouldn’t have to ask me twice! 😳 Alrighty, so today’s reading ended with this: “And when He has made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” I wonder what all the people were doing while Moses was on the mountain? 🤔 We find out tomorrow so keep reading.

(Exodus 29:1-31:18)

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Today the Lord gives instructions for the tabernacle, the portable temple. The tabernacle is broken down into 3 sections: the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. The outer court is where the sacrifices are offered. The Holy Place has 3 items inside of it: 1) a table for the showbread, 2) a lampstand with seven lamps, and 3) the altar of incense (in tomorrow’s reading). The Most Holy Place contains the ark, which holds the stone tablets where Moses wrote the Lord’s commandments, and the mercy seat. God said about the mercy seat, “there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel”. Next the Lord selects Aaron and his sons to “minister to Me as priest” and He gave specific instructions for their clothing. Part of the instructions included having the names of the 12 tribes of Israel engraved on the ephod, “on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel”, and on the breastplate, “So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy places as memorial before the Lord continually”. See, the Lord is carrying out His redemption plan through the sons of Jacob. One day the people will not have to carry around a portable temple. One day the people will be the temple! “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, whom is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) But for now the Lord has chosen the tabernacle as His meeting place. Keep reading bc the tabernacle will become a temple and then Christ will come and buy His people with His blood making our bodies the temple of the Holy Spirit.

(Exodus 25:1-28:43)

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God goes on to give further instructions regarding the care of His people such as virgins, strangers, widows and orphans. He also gives instructions for 3 annual feasts: Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover), Feast of Harvest (Pentecost), and the Feast of Ingathering (Feast of Booths or Tabernacle). The Lord then tells His people that an Angel will go before them to bring them into the place the Lord has prepared for them. He tells the people to obey the Angel and if they obey, the Lord will be an “enemy to your enemy and an adversary to your adversaries”. He says He will cut off all the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and the Jebusites but it won’t happen “in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you”. Once again, not the quick and easy way but the way that is for their good! Then, He warns the people NOT to make covenants with the people around them nor serve their gods. He knows this will lead to their destruction. Remember what happened when Seth’s descendants who were calling upon the name of the Lord began intermarrying with Cain’s descendants who weren’t? It wasn’t pretty. 🌧🌊 God’s instructions for His people are always for their good and His glory. So Moses tells all the people the Lord’s instructions and they say “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient”. Really? Will they really? 🤔 Keep reading to find out!

(Exodus 22:16-24:18)

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Today the children of Israel receive the 10 commandments. The purpose of the commandments is 1) for the people to realize their own sin 2) to show God’s grace and mercy and 3) to further reveal God’s holiness. NO ONE can perfectly keep the commandments except the ONE to come. Remember that our righteousness is not based on how well we follow rules. Abraham was declared righteous long before God even gave these rules. Our righteousness is based on our faith in the Lord. The beauty of how it all works though is that the closer you draw to the Lord, the more desire you have to walk in obedience…it’s the sanctification journey which anyone following Christ is on and no one is going to nail this perfectly. Also, did you see where the Lord said in Exodus 20:23-24 “…You shall not make anything to be with Me…An altar of the earth you shall make for Me…” God is not pleased with anything we can bring Him or do for Him. He is pleased by our faith and worship of Him. (Hebrews 11:6) The Lord goes on to give instructions regarding the treatment of servants, personal injury cases, and the protection of property which highlights that God is a just God and He values ALL life. We will see more and more how the Lord is in the details of everything…so keep reading!

(Exodus 20:1-22:15)

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Today the Israelites journey into the Wilderness of Sin and begin sinning with all their complaining. They start reminiscing about the “good ol’ days” back in Egypt…you know, where they were slaves and Pharaoh ordered their baby boys to be killed. 🤔 Once again the Lord provides for His grumbling group by sending them manna and quail. He also gives them specific instructions about gathering the food to teach them to trust in His daily provisions. This lesson is not easily learned. The next journey there is no water. The people complain AGAIN. God provides for them AGAIN. Next, the Amalekites attack Israel. (Remember them? Descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother, that we read about on Jan 13.) This is when we meet Joshua. Moses tells Joshua to take some men and fight the Amalekites. Keep your eye on Joshua bc the Lord is training him up for an important task down the road. After the Israelites defeat the Amalekites, the Lord tells Moses to write “for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”. The Amalekites will show up again later in the Story. Then, Moses receives some wise advice from his father-in-law, Jethro, to appoint men to help him manage the people. We end the reading today with the Lord at Mount Sinai. Keep reading to find out the Lord’s instructions to His people.

(Exodus 16:1-19:25)

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God led the people out of Egypt but not the easy, quick way. He took them the long way. “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt”. We have seen that God’s ways are not always easy but He is always working behind the scenes for our good. So the children of Israel come out carrying Joseph’s bones as promised and the Lord leads them by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire. But when the Egyptians pursue them, the children of Israel question Moses. “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?” See, the children of Israel are on a faith journey too. They did not know what the Lord was doing behind the scenes so they lashed out at Moses. God is going to take them into the wilderness and teach them how to walk by faith but it isn’t going to be an easy process. It never is but oh how it’s so worth it! Next, the Lord again works on behalf of the Israelites and delivers them through the Red Sea, crushing their enemies. Then Moses and the children of Israel sing a beautiful song of worship and praise to the Lord. And Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, leads the ladies in worship and dance. But…3 days later…no water. The praise stops. The complaining starts. How long will it take Israel to learn to trust the Lord? Keep reading to find out!

(Exodus 13:1-15:27)

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Today we read about the final 3 plagues: locust, darkness, and death of firstborn. The Lord tells Moses that there will be a final plague, the death of the firstborn of everything “But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” God then instructs the children of Israel to take a male lamb without blemish and place the blood on the doorpost and the lintel of their homes. Any house under the blood will be passed over by the plague. “It is the Lord’s Passover.” God tells the Israelites to keep this day as a memorial so they will never forget what the Lord has done for them. So all the firstborn in Egypt are struck and there is a great cry. The Egyptians urge the Israelites to leave quickly but the Israelites plunder the Egyptians first. So the Israelites leave with great possessions as the Lord told Abraham would happen back in Genesis 15:13-14. “Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed multitude went up with them also…” So we see that anyone who puts their faith in the Lord by being under the blood of the spotless male lamb is brought out of Egypt. Jesus, the spotless man, whose blood will save us from far more than circumstantial, worldly oppression is coming down the road but next up…the Israelites escape through the Red Sea. Keep reading.

(Exodus 10:1-12:51)

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Today we read about 7 of the 10 plagues: blood, frogs, lice or gnats, flies, livestock, boils and hail. The magicians of Egypt could do the first two plagues. It probably would have been more helpful if the magicians had turned the blood back to water and gotten rid of the frogs 🤷‍♀️ but anyway, luckily for the Egyptians, the Egyptian magicians’ magic stops after the second plague. The magicians come to the realization that “…This is the finger of God…” We also see the Lord setting His people apart during the plagues: “…I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between My people and your people.” “And the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.” “Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.” God’s people are to be set apart but that doesn’t mean that others with faith in the Lord can’t become one of His people. Did you notice in Exodus 9:20-21 that some of Pharaoh’s servants are starting to fear the Lord? We will see that not only the Israelites come up out of Egypt but it is a mixed multitude so keep reading!

(Exodus 7:14-9:35)

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Today God tells Moses to return to Egypt but He calms Moses’s fears by letting him know that the ones who sought his life years ago, after he murdered the Egyptian, are now dead. In addition, He sends his brother Aaron with him as his mouthpiece. So one thing about God is that He ALWAYS does what He says He is going to do. The Lord told Moses to say to Pharaoh, “…’Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn’”. This is exactly what will eventually happen but things get worse for the Israelites before they get better. Their labor is increased greatly and they endure physical beatings. See, the Lord is less concerned about our immediate comfort and more concerned about displaying His glory to the world. God then says, “Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under your burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians…’” But it is going to be God’s way and in His timing so keep reading to see Him move!

(Exodus 4:18-7:13)

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