Samson

For the past month we’ve been studying different Judges, also known as prophets, who led Israel. Deborah and Gideon both spoke with God and guided Israel as God wished them, even though in Gideon’s case it wasn’t exactly an eager leadership.

As we previously discussed Deborah and Gideon continued the tradition started by Moses and Joshua. That is Israel did not have a proper king or leader, but rather a prophet who spoke to God and told the people what it was that God desired of them. This essentially makes the prophet the leader of Israel, but not in the same context as say a king. The tribes of Israel could pretty much rule themselves as they liked—as long as they obeyed God’s law—and the Judge only really stepped in when either the people had a dispute they couldn’t solve themselves, the people were going against God, or another nation was messing around with Israel. This is different from a king in that a king has absolute power and is rarely so hands off. It’s a king’s job to know every bit of his countries business. A king would also unite the tribes under a single rulership, instead of as individual nations loosely held together by a judge.

However, for now we have judges. And the Judge we are studying today is Samson. Please open your Bibles to Judges 13. Can someone read Judges 13:1-5?

13 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat anything unclean, 5 for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a nazirite[a]to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

Once again the Israelites did something evil and God allowed another nation to take over them, this time for forty years. This other people were the Philistines. For forty years they oppressed the Israelites, and God did not raise up a judge to save them. Until now.

A man named Manoah and his wife had no children. Then an angel appears to them and says they will have a child, a son. And God will raise up this son to deliver Israel from the Philistines.

But he is also to be a Nazirite. Nazirite? What does that mean? Well the angel says it means he can’t have alcohol, eat anything unclean, or cut his hair. But how would his parents know what a Nazirite was? Was that a thing?

Yes, yes it was. Please turn back to Numbers 6. This entire chapter describes what it means to be a Nazirite, the specific laws and rules that that person must follow in order to be a Nazirite.

Can someone read Numbers 6:1-9?

6 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When either men or women make a special vow, the vow of a nazirite,[a] to separate themselves to the Lord, 3 they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink; they shall drink no wine vinegar or other vinegar, and shall not drink any grape juice or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All their days as nazirites[b]they shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

5 All the days of their nazirite vow no razor shall come upon the head; until the time is completed for which they separate themselves to the Lord, they shall be holy; they shall let the locks of the head grow long.

6 All the days that they separate themselves to the Lord they shall not go near a corpse. 7 Even if their father or mother, brother or sister, should die, they may not defile themselves; because their consecration to God is upon the head. 8 All their days as nazirites[c] they are holy to the Lord.

9 If someone dies very suddenly nearby, defiling the consecrated head, then they shall shave the head on the day of their cleansing; on the seventh day they shall shave it. 

A Nazirite basically means someone who has consecrated themselves to God and basically becomes a priest. Remember that priests could only be men from the tribe of Levi. But becoming a Nazirite is open to a person of any tribe—and allows them to become a sort of priest for a time, consecrating their life to God. And the Bible specifically says it can be either a man or a woman, that both can take this vow and become a sort of lay-priest. To show that they are set apart from other people, like priests and not a common person, they had to obey these certain laws. They couldn’t drink alcohol or even eat grapes. They couldn’t cut their hair. They could not go near a dead body and should they accidentally do so they had to follow a very specific cleansing ritual that involved shaving their head to show they were temporarily out of service, if you will.

And that’s just part of the rules, there are even more.

Can someone read Judges 13:24?

24 The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him.

So this couple have the baby, they name him Samson, and he grows and God blesses him.

Alright can someone read Judges 14:1-4?

14 Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. 2 Then he came up, and told his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she pleases me.” 4 His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord; for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Samson grows up into a man and one day he sees a woman, a Philistine woman. And he wants to marry her. His parents are like…”umm is that a good idea? The Philistines are our oppressors! Can’t you just find a nice local girl?” But Samson is like “newp, I want to marry her.” And the Bible says specifically, that this is because God wants Samson to marry this Philistine girl so Samson will have an excuse to get angry with the Philistines and go to war with them.

It’s been shown in past stories that God doesn’t really need an excuse. If God wants to end an oppression he usually just tells the Judge “hey, it’s time to go overthrow these guys and be free!” So why is it different now? Well perhaps it’s Samson who needs an excuse. Maybe he’s complacent in his life. Maybe the Israelites are complacent under Philistine rule and wouldn’t follow Samson’s call to battle if it came. We don’t know. All we know is that because Samson marries a Philistine girl it allows him to get to know and get annoyed by some Philistines.

Someone read Judges 14:5-9.

5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. 6 The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson. 8 After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

Samson and his parents are traveling down to see this girl he wants to marry. On the journey he gets separated from his parents and comes across a lion. And Samson is so strong that he’s able to tear the lion apart with his bare hands. That makes Samson ridiculously strong.

But it also means Samson just touched a dead body, and Nazirites aren’t exactly supposed to do that. But if they do—cuz it happens—they’re to do the purification ritual. So you would think when Samson meets back up with his parents, he would tell them! But does he? Nope.

So Samson goes down and talks to the Philistine woman and is like “Yep, I definitely want to marry her!” Then when he’s traveling again between the town he is from and wherehis future wife lives, he sees the dead body of the lion and some bees have basically made their hive in it. Then Samson—the Nazirite who is not supposed to touch a dead body—gathers honey from inside it and eats it. Then he takes it home and his parents eat it—and he doesn’t tell them it’s from a dead body. So now they’re all unclean and Samson has told no one.

Why? Why does Samson do this?

Well I don’t think it’s nefarious. I don’t think right here Samson is trying to flout God’s law or get himself or his parents in trouble. Having read the whole story I honestly think it’s just that Samson doesn’t always think his actions all the way through—a crime we all often commit. He’s a man of the moment. He sees a woman—he likes her so he wants to marry her. He sees a lion so he kills it. He sees honey so he eats it. He’s not exactly the sort of guy who sits around contemplating philosophy and academia. He’s a man of action. And sometimes that makes him a little reckless.

Anyway, so Samson marries this Philistine woman, whose name we never really know. Can someone read Judges 14:12-20?

12 Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments. 13 But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.” So they said to him, “Ask your riddle; let us hear it.” 14 He said to them,

“Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.”

But for three days they could not explain the riddle.

15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?” 16 So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, “You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” He said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?” 17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people. 18 The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,

“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”

And he said to them,

“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have found out my riddle.”

19 Then the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

So Samson goes back to his wife’s family and—thinking he’s clever—he thinks of an unfair riddle. “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” And he wants his family and his wife’s family to solve it—if they do he’ll give them a present.” The answer is of course the honey he got from the lion. But….it’s not exactly a riddle you can solve with logic. It’s exactly the sort of unfair riddle that’s not a riddle at all, but more of an inside joke or bizarre knowledge tests. Sort of like Bilbo asking Gollum “What’s in my pocket?” in the Hobbit. That’s not a riddle at all.

Needless to say people are frustrated—because it’s a stupid riddle. And the Philistines ask Samson’s wife to get the answer from Samson. So she goes before him and cries and is all overdramatic like “You hate me! Tell me the answer.” And Samson is like “I haven’t even told my parents. Why would I tell you?”

Which…terrible marriage advice from Samson, you guys. You should tell your spouse everything.

But she keeps crying and pushing him for the answer so finally he tells her. And then of course she tells everyone else. And then they give the answer to Samson. Who knows they got it from his wife. Here’s another piece of “don’t take marriage advice from Samson.” Guys, never call your wife a cow. Ever.

Anyway, Samson is so angry about them using his wife like this that instead of giving him the presents he promised, he kills thirty guys. And then goes home.

Without his wife.

Definitely not a happy marriage.

Which is what Samson’s wife’s parents think. Samson just killed a whole bunch of their people after calling his wife a cow, and just all around not being very nice with his unfair riddle. So they’re like “Welp, we better find another husband for our daughter.”

After a while Samson comes back and finds out his wife was given away. He’s all like “WHAT?” and his wife’s father is like “We thought you hated her.”

Samson is so mad that he burns down their fields. The fields of the Philistines, who are the rulers of Israel at this moment.

When the Israelites here about this they’re furious.

Three thousand Israelites from the tribe of Judah come to Samson and are like “Dude! Why would you burn the field of the people who rule us??” This sort of supports the theory that the Israelites wouldn’t have followed Samson into battle against the Philistines if he tried, and perhaps why God is going about this on a more individual level, as opposed to like Gideon gathering a whole army.

Anyway Samson is like “They started it.” And the Israelites are like, “Whatever dude, we have to turn you into the Philistines because they’re our rulers and you attacked them.” But at least they promise not to kill Samson but instead just bind him up and turn it in. They’re going to leave it up to the Philistines to exact judgement on Samson.

Someone please read Judges 15:14-15.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him; and the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached down and took it, and with it he killed a thousand men.

The Philistines come to get Samson to exact their revenge, but Samson is so strong that he breaks free from his bonds and then finds a jawbone of a donkey and kills a thousand men with a donkey’s jawbone.

Jawbones are pretty strong, but not that strong. This speaks more to Samson’s fighting ability and massive strength than the strength of a jawbone.

In verse 20 of this chapter it says “Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistine” which indicates that it’s after this that Samson becomes a judge but also that during his twenty years they don’t overthrow the Philistines, they still live under their rule.

But this is not the end of the story of Samson. In fact, we’re just now getting to the most famous part of Samson’s story: Samson and Delilah.

Can someone read Judges 16:4-8?

4 After this he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 The lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her, “Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great, and how we may overpower him, so that we may bind him in order to subdue him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes your strength so great, and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you.” 7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that are not dried out, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else.” 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not dried out, and she bound him with them. 9 While men were lying in wait in an inner chamber, she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a strand of fiber snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

Samson falls in love with a woman named Delilah. We don’t know if she’s a Philistine, an Israelites, or someone else. But Samson fell in love with her and there is nothing in the text to indicate Samson was married to her. In fact earlier sections, if anything, seem to indicate that after his disastrous first marriage Samson is less inclined to get married again—which once again goes directly against the rules God has laid out for his people.

The Philistines ask Delilah to figure out Samson’s weakness—basically like in the Disney movie Hercules when Hades wants to use Megara to get to Hercules. Samson lies to her and tells her if they bind him with a certain type of string than he will be like any other man.

So she binds him up—presumably while he’s sleeping—and then shouts “SAMSON THE PHILISTINES ARE HERE.” But Samson breaks the strings and is not captured by the Philistines.

You would think at this point Samson would be like “huh, I told Delilah how to hurt me and then she immediately tried to hurt me. Maybe I should not trust her and not hang out with her and certainly not love her.”

But that is not what Samson does.

Can someone read Judges 16:13-14?

13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies; tell me how you could be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and make it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web,[a] and made them tight with the pin. Then she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

Instead of Samson getting mad at Delilah for trying to betray and kill him, Delilah gets mad at Samson and is like “YOU LIED TO ME.” And instead of responding, “Well you tried to kill me.” Samson just lies to her *again* about how to make him weak.

Why on earth would anyone want to stay with someone who is obviously trying to kill him? Well the text says Samson loved her, I think it’s more likely he was deep in lust with her and just wanted to be able to continue to sleep with her. So he appeases her.

So Samson lies to her again, she tries it again, and again it doesn’t work. Rinse and repeat.

Can someone read Judges 16:15-20?

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.” 16 Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death. 17 So he told her his whole secret, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be like anyone else.”

18 When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “This time come up, for he has told his whole secret to me.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hands. 19 She let him fall asleep on her lap; and she called a man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. He began to weaken, and his strength left him. 20 Then she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” When he awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles; and he ground at the mill in the prison.

Delilah again is like “Why do you keep lying to me?” And keeps pressing him about it and finally he tells her the truth. That he has never cut his hair from the day of his birth, as God asked of his mother, and should his hair be cut, his incredible strength would leave him.

And Delilah basically goes immediately to the Philistines and is like “pay up!” So they pay her and she cuts his hair. And when he wakes up, he can’t break free. His strength has left him. His hair is gone.

The Philistines capture him and gouge his eyes out and make him their prisoner.

Samson is kept prisoner for a while, because it brings the Philistines joy to have this mighty warrior humbled before them. They mock him for their enjoyment.

Can someone read Judges 16:28-30?

28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “Lord God, remember me and strengthen me only this once, O God, so that with this one act of revenge I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He strained with all his might; and the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life. 

Samson prays to God and is like “please, just give me strength one more time so I can end this.” And God does. Samson grabs the two pillars he is standing between and pulls them in. The building then collapses all around them killing himself and all the people inside.

He killed more with his death than he ever did with his life.

This…isn’t usually how these stories go is it. Usually our judge has a victory against his oppressor, freeing Israel, but Samson is defeated. Samson is repeatedly hotheaded and in the end defeated by his own lust and refusal to see the truth about the woman he chose to hang out with.

There are so many things we can talk about with this story. How it’s important to think through our actions and how what we might do reflects on ourselves, our families, and God. How the people you hang out with can change you and use you, and that’s why it’s so important for us to surround ourselves by good people. We can talk about lust and love—how they’re not the same—and you shouldn’t let yourselves be driven by lust or desire, especially when you know that person doesn’t feel the same about you.

But I think the most important thing is that…sometimes people fail. Sometimes we fail our people, we fail God. Samson failed. He didn’t save Israel. His greatest accomplishment resulted in his own death. People will fail us. It is as they say “to err is human.” Humans make mistakes. We do the wrong things. You can’t put your faith solely in any one person to save you, or complete you, or never fail you. Only God is that faithful.

And he is faithful as we will see going forward. Just because Samson failed it didn’t mean the end for Israel. There is hope, because God has a plan.

A king is coming.

Gideon

Okay so a lot of people weren’t here last week so a brief recap. We are now in the period of time where the Israelites are in the Promised Land. They don’t have a king, instead they are led by God through people called prophets, men and women who talk to God. At any one time there is one prophet leading the people of Israel and that person is sometimes also called a Judge, since people often went to prophets for judgement and the like.

Last week we talked about Deborah. This week we’re talking about Gideon. This is actually one of my favorite Bible stories because I feel it is so relatable and ridiculous and awesome all at the same time, so I hope you guys enjoy it.

So this is the set up for the story. The Israelites are being oppressed by the Midianites. If that name sounds familiar it’s because Midian is where Moses went when he fled Israel. This is a group of people that have been around for a while, and as often happened in the ancient world, there were skirmishes and fights and wars and one group would conquer the other. In the case the Midianites have conquered Israel for about seven years, and God has allowed it—the text says because Israel had done something bad, and God was trying to correct this course. Possible this was the period between Deborah being a judge and a new judge being established and the Israelites strayed. It’s heavily implied in this section and others that the Israelites basically started worshipping other gods, which is literally like rule one of the ten commandments.

So the Midianites are now in charge, because God wants to remind Israel who their true God is, and they have basically bankrupted Israel, stealing all their stuff and taking it for their own gain. And the Israelites aren’t happy about this so they’re crying out to God. “Please help us!” And God is like “Hey I’ve got you. I’ve always had you—remember Egypt. But you need to stop worshipping other gods.”

And as God does in this time, to save them, he chooses a prophet to lead them to freedom. He happens to choose a guy named Gideon. Let’s see how Gideon takes this news. Can someone read Judges 6:11-18?

11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.” 13 Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” 15 He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 16 The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.” 17 Then he said to him, “If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.”

When we’re introduced to Gideon he’s beating wheat in a wine press. Why is this important. What does it mean. Basically he’s doing a job that would normally be done in the fields in a safer area where the Midianites won’t see him. Because remember the Midianites are like locusts, if they see something they want—like wheat, aka food—they’ll just take it. So you have to do tasks like that in secret.

So Gideon is just minding his own business, basically doing his job when an angel appears to him. But he doesn’t realize it’s an angel at first—which is why he just calls him sir. And the angel is basically like “God is awesome and has our backs!” And Gideon is like “If God has our backs why are our lives so awful?” And then the angel is like “Welp, God has chosen you to be the next leader of Israel! Surprise.” And remember, Gideon thinks this is just a random dude, so he’s like “Whatever, man. I’m a nobody. Stop messing with me.”

But the angel is persistent, he’s like “God has our back.” And at this point Gideon is getting a little suspicious about who he is talking to so he’s like…”Okay, give me a sign who I’m speaking to. I need to know. But don’t you go and disappear on me while I go to get the stuff.” And the angel is like “Okay, whatever.”

Someone read Judges 6:19-23.

19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. 20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, “Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.”

Gideon goes back to his house and basically brings back some food for the angel. The angel gives Gideon some specific instructions on what to do with the food and then BOOM. Spontaneous combustion of the food and the angel just vanishes from sight. Gideon is like “Holy moly, I was talking to an angel of God.” But then God (possibly in the form of an angel or possibly just directly talking to him) is like “don’t be afraid. We’re cool.”

Someone read Judges 6:24-27.

24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord is peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, in proper order; then take the second bull, and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the sacred pole that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the Lord had told him; but because he was too afraid of his family and the townspeople to do it by day, he did it by night.

So God then gives Gideon instructions. He’s like “Hey, your dad has this alter to Baal. That’s not cool. Remember the whole first commandment about not having other Gods? Yeah, so I’m going to need you to tear down that alter and build me a new one.”

Gideon gets a direct order from God. Seems like a no brainer that he would do what God says and he does….but not right away. Gideon is terrified what everyone is going to do to him if they see him doing this thing, because that alter to Baal would be sacred to his family and neighbors—even though they’re all Israelites who are supposed to be worshipping God. So Gideon does it, but under the cover of night.

How do you think people are going to feel when they wake up the next morning and see their alter gone? [Let them answer.] Yeah I think they’ll be pretty upset. Let’s see. Can someone read Judges 6:28-32?

28 When the townspeople rose early in the morning, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the sacred pole beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29 So they said to one another, “Who has done this?” After searching and inquiring, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.” 30 Then the townspeople said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so that he may die, for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the sacred pole beside it.” 31 But Joash said to all who were arrayed against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you defend his cause? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been pulled down.” 32 Therefore on that day Gideon[c] was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he pulled down his altar.

People are furious when they wake up and see their alter is gone. They immediately what to know who did it. And somehow they find out it was Gideon. Maybe one of the servants who helped him told, maybe someone saw them, I don’t know but I doubt it was Gideon who went forward and boldly declared it to be himself. The townspeople go to Gideon’s dad and are like “Give us your son because we’re going to kill him for what he did.”

Now Gideon’s dad doesn’t seem cool with this plan so he offers an alternative plan. He’s like “Well, shouldn’t it be Baal who cares that Gideon took down his alter? If that’s the case, we should let Baal take care of Gideon. After all if Baal is a god than he’s powerful enough to do whatever.” And the people are basically like “I guess that makes sense.”

Someone read Judges 6:33-35?

33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came together, and crossing the Jordan they encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 But the spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon; and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.

So the Midianites are amassing, maybe to take the Israelites again, maybe to do something else. And Gideon feels the spirit of God come upon him and basically he sounds a trumpet and send out messengers and brings together a whole army to follow him. Which seems like a pretty brave move for the guy who took down an alter in the middle of the night to do. Maybe Gideon has learned bravery?

Let’s read Judges 6:36-38.

36 Then Gideon said to God, “In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.

Gideon has not in fact learned bravery.

Gideon is literally amassing an army to take down the Midianites and he’s like “I don’t know God. Are you sure you mean me? Are you sure you want me to do this? I’m not sure. Sooooo I’m going to do a little test.” He puts a fleece of wool out and is like “If when I wake up it’s wet with dew but everything else is dry, then I know. I know you mean me.”

And of course God means him so the fleece is wet the next morning and the ground is dry. So Gideon should be good now, right? He should be like “Alright God! Let’s go defeat some Midianites.”

Yeah, no. He’s not like that.

Someone read Judges 6:39-40:

39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

Gideon is like “I guess the whole fleece being wet thing could have been a coincidence, so why don’t we try this again. Please do the opposite this time. Fleece dry and ground wet.” And I’m sure in heaven God is rolling his eyes but he’s like “Ok, Gideon, let’s do this.” So the fleece is dry and the ground is wet.

At this point Gideon seems to get the message that indeed God has chosen him. So can someone read Judges 7:1-3?

1 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops that were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

2 The Lord said to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ 3 Now therefore proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.’” Thus Gideon sifted them out;twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained.

So Gideon gathers all these troops. Basically he gathers 32,000 men and God is like “You know, this army is too mighty. If you have that many men, people may actually believe it’s the might of the men and not God who delivered you. And that’s not what I want. So why don’t you tell everyone who is scared that they can go home.”

I’m sure at this point Gideon was like “Does that include me?” And God was like “No.” The Bible doesn’t say that but I could totally see it happening.

Anyway, twenty-two thousand men leave leaving ten thousand behind.

I’m sure at this, Gideon is getting a little nervous but like “ten thousand isn’t too bad for an army.” Can someone read Judges 7:4-8?

4 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The troops are still too many; take them down to the water and I will sift them out for you there. When I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; and when I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” 5 So he brought the troops down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon, “All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths, you shall put to the other side.” 6 The number of those that lapped was three hundred; but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water. 7 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes.” 8 So he took the jars of the troops from their hands, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel back to their own tents, but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

So ten thousand men and God is like “Nope, still too many. Let’s winnow it down some more.” Which I’m sure promptly caused Gideon to cry. I would. So God tells them to go to the water and everyone who drinks like a dog by putting their head in the water should be put on one side and the others who drink like civilized people on the other. And then! Does God choose the civilized people? NO. He chooses the ones who lapped like dogs. Says send everyone else home.

Three hundred men, Gideon is left with. THREE HUNDRED. If I was Gideon we would be cueing a freak out at this moment.

As if that wasn’t enough does God have Gideon hand out swords to everyone? No. Instead he gives them trumpets and jars—which will also be referred to as pitchers. So basically water carrying clay jars. What the heck are they supposed to do with trumpets and jars against the army of Midian?

Someone read Judges 7:9-14.

9 That same night the Lord said to him, “Get up, attack the camp; for I have given it into your hand. 10 But if you fear to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah; 11 and you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to attack the camp.” Then he went down with his servant Purah to the outposts of the armed men that were in the camp. 12 The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley as thick as locusts; and their camels were without number, countless as the sand on the seashore. 13 When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling a dream to his comrade; and he said, “I had a dream, and in it a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell; it turned upside down, and the tent collapsed.” 14 And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel; into his hand God has given Midian and all the army.”

It’s the time to attack the camp and God is like “hey Gideon it’s time, but if you’re scared you should go down into the enemy camp with your servant—cuz I know you’re scared and won’t want to go alone. Then afterward, you’ll feel better.”

I’m sure Gideon was like “yeah right, God” but he does it anyway. So he goes down with his servant to this enemy camp and then he hears two men talking about a dream. And one of them literally says “That’s because God is going to deliver Midian to Gideon.”

Talk about a confidence booster!

Someone read Judges 7:16-22.

16 After he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of all of them, and empty jars, with torches inside the jars, 17 he said to them, “Look at me, and do the same; when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets around the whole camp, and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

19 So Gideon and the hundred who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 So the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 Every man stood in his place all around the camp, and all the men in camp ran; they cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah,[a] as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.

So Gideon goes back to his camp and divides his people up. And he gives them the battle plan which boils down to this: They’re going to make a lot of noise.

They’re going to blow trumpets. They’re going to smash their clay pitchers. They’re going to shout “FOR THE LORD AND FOR GIDEON.”

The 300 dudes are like “Cool.” And they do it. And it works. “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” they shout, while blowing trumpets and smashing pots. And the Midianites, they just flee. They run in terror.

Gideon then sends out some messengers and make sure they capture the leaders of the fleeing army. Which they do. And they kill them and they win.

This is probably an even crazier battle plan than Jericho and it works. 300 men, no weapons between them, and they win. And no one doubts that it’s God’s might and not Israel’s that brought the Midianites down that day.

This ridiculous winning strategy is one of the reasons why I love this story but it’s not the only or most important one. I think there is something critical in the story of Gideon. Something people often overlook.

There are multiple verses in the Bible about how we shouldn’t test God. Deuteronomy 6:16, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Isaiah 7:12 “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to test.” Luke 4:12 “Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And yet…yet Gideon tests God three times. Once he tests the angel, asking him to prove who he is. Twice he puts out a fleece for God, asking for a different sign.

And each time God just patiently does what Gideon asks, proves that Gideon is the one God wants and is talking to.

The night of the battle when Gideon is undoubtedly uncertain if they’re going to be able to win with 300 men and no weapons, God doesn’t rebuke Gideon and say “Hey why are you so unfaithful? Just believe and do what I say!” No, instead God tells him to go down to the other camp and gives him yet another sign that Gideon will prevail.

He even lets him take his servant with him! Which not two chapter earlier, Deborah rebuked Barak for being scared to go alone, and here God is telling Gideon it’s ok. It’s okay to be scared, take your servant.

Why is this different? Why is this story different?

Gideon is constantly described as being afraid. He’s hiding in a winepress when the angel finds him. He’s too afraid to take down the alter during the day so he does it at night. He’s too afraid to go to the enemy camp at night. He also thinks he’s nothing special, tells the angel that it can’t be Gideon the angel means will save Israel because Gideon is a nobody, a nothing.

Is Gideon a coward? Some have described him as such, but coward makes it seem so selfish. As if Gideon is only concerned for his own safety, and I don’t think God would be so patient with such a selfish desire. So why is God so patient with Gideon when we’ve seen him be so impatient with everybody else?

I read this story and all I saw was anxiety. Gideon is afraid, he is anxious. It’s not just a selfish fear for his own life, he literally believes he can’t be the man God means, that if God puts his faith in Gideon that Gideon will fail God. And to me, Gideon just screams of a textbook case of anxiety.

Anxiety isn’t just being worried. We all worry. Anxiety is a level of worry and uncertainty that most of us can’t understand. An anxious person often needs constant reassurance, needs to be told multiple times not to worry about a thing.

This isn’t faithlessness, this is mental illness. And I think that is why God is so patient with Gideon. It’s not that Gideon doesn’t believe. It’s that Gideon is so anxious he can’t be sure that the signs really mean what they mean or if his mind is playing tricks on him or if he’s remembering wrong. If this was just plain old-fashioned testing, I think God would get angry with Gideon. But instead God holds Gideon’s hand through this whole process and constantly reassures him, never rebukes him. And he leads Gideon to a victory that Gideon could have never imagined.

God met Gideon where he was at. God saw this anxious man and said, “This is the one I want to lead my people” and because God knew about Gideon’s anxiety he was patient and compassionate. God always meets us where we at and he can use us no matter what may be wrong with us.

And God knows any mental illness we may have is not faithlessness. Brokenness, just like a broken bone or an illness, but not faithlessness. And God has always been willing to work with broken people.

And that’s why the story of Gideon is so important. 

Deborah and Jael

Recap of where we are in the Bible: the Israelites are now in the Promised Land. They have settled there and are no longer wandering, they are home. Does Israel have a king? No. What is the leader of the Israelites called at this point? [Let them answer.]

A prophet. I know it can be confusing because it modern speech “prophet” usually means someone who like sees the future, but remember that’s not what it means in the Bible. A Prophet is just someone who talks to God. And during this time period in Israel’s history, because the prophet talks to God, the prophet is usually the leader of the people. The Israelites have no king, God is there king, and the prophet is the person who tells them what God wants them to do.

Moses was the first prophet of Israel, then Joshua. But then Joshua dies and someone becomes prophet after him and then another person becomes prophet after him, etc. This goes on for a long time! And the book of Judges is the story of Israel during this time when many different prophets led them. So for the next three weeks we’re going to look at a few specific prophets. Some of my favorite Bible stories come from this section of the Bible, and today is one of them.

Today we are going to talk about Deborah. So please open your Bibles. Can someone read Judges 4:1-3?

4 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. 3 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.

These verses set up what’s going on. Ehud was the last prophet of Israel. Basically he dies and the Israelites start to stray from God. So to teach them a lesson, God allows this king called Jabin to conquer them. Jabin has a huge army and oppressed the Israelites for 20 years, so the Israelites are pretty miserable.

Alright can someone read Judges 4:4-5?

4 At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.

So the new prophet is a woman named Deborah. The Israelites may be oppressed but they still have a leader, and it’s Deborah. The text says she sits under a tree and people come to her for her judgements. Why hasn’t she gone out and conquered these invaders, like Joshua or Moses might have? Well remember, it’s God who has allowed Jabin to oppress the Israelites. Deborah is a prophet of the Lord and she’s not going to go against God’s will. But when God tells her it’s time to be free, she’s also not going to go against that either! Which is what we’re about to see. Can someone read Judges 4:6-9?

 6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. 7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Deborah summons to her a guy named Barak. I bet that name sounds familiar to you, doesn’t it? Yep it’s Barak just like Barak Obama. So anyway, Deborah calls this guy Barak to her and basically says, “God says it’s time for us to be free! you’re going to take out the army of Jabin and be free! And you, Barak, are going to be the general who does this.”

But Barak is basically like “I don’t to go alone, please come with me.” Is he scared to go alone? Maybe. Or maybe he knows all the stories about prophets in the past leading Israel to freedom, and he knows he’s no prophet. He’s just a general. But Moses with his hands could cause an army to rise or fall. And God has Deborah’s back just like God had Moses’s back. Or maybe he’s thinking having a prophet there will cause the people to remember those stories and for them to fight harder. Regardless, it does show that Barak doesn’t have complete faith in the instructions that Deborah has gotten from God, that he doesn’t have complete faith in God’s plan. Barak wants to add onto it.

And Deborah responds that she will obviously go if that’s what he wants, but because he asked and didn’t fully trust in God’s plan, he won’t be the one remembered for defeating the bad guys. That this bad general, Sisera, will be delivered to the hand of a woman.

Remember, back then, women were not considered the equal to men. Deborah gets a pass because God chose her, and not even men with stupid ideas about oppressing women are going to go against what God has said. But to most dudes of the time, saying that a woman would get the glory instead of you was like horribly insulting. Because they basically didn’t consider women as real, full people. So what should be Barak’s glory going to a woman is a little bit of a punishment.

Of course it’s also possible that Barak is a good general who doesn’t care about glory. He only cares about the victory and getting his people free. So in that case, he may not care if it’s Deborah or some random woman who gets the glory as long as it’s for God’s glory and God’s people are freed. We don’t really know. All we really know about Barak is that he clearly trusted Deborah and was willing to follow her lead.

Let’s read Judges 4:10-13.

 10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and ten thousand warriors went up behind him; and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites,[a] that is, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had encamped as far away as Elon-bezaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

12 When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him, from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the Wadi Kishon.

So Barak does as he’s told and it doesn’t go unnoticed. This Kenite called Heber sees it. The Kenites were allies of the Israelites, claiming they were descended from Moses’s in-laws. But for some reason this guy Heber sides with the other team in this fight. So when he sees Barak gather all these men, he basically goes and tattles on him to the enemy general, Sisera. So the enemy general is like “heck no, I’m not letting an insurrection happen on my watch!” And he gathers his massive army to fight them.

Can someone read Judges 4:14-17?

14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. The Lord is indeed going out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him. 15 And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic[a] before Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot, 16 while Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-ha-goiim. All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; no one was left.

17 Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.

Deborah tells Barak that today is the day he’s gotta fight Sisera, so Barak goes out with his ten thousand men. Sisera’s men panic and basically Barak’s army tears them through like a hot knife through butter. I think we can safely say the Israelites are successfully defeating their enemies. But Sisera is trying to get away. He gets out of his chariot and flees on foot, all the way to Heber’s camp, and Heber’s actual tent. Heber’s probably not even in this fight, this is just a not so far away campsite most likely. Heber is allied with Sisera, but there’s a difference between allies who will spy for you and allies who will die for you. Heber’s not the die for you kind. But Heber is certainly the kind of ally that would try to shelter Sisera. So Sisera runs to his tent and ends up at the tent of Heber’s wife, Jael.

Someone read Judges 4:18-20

18 Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” 

So Jael comes out and meets and is like “you can come in here we will keep you safe and hide you.” He believes her because he has no reason not to. Heber—her husband—is allied with him. So he comes him and she hide shim by covering him with a rug. And then he’s like “I’m thirsty.” So she gives him milk. And because he’s still very demanding, he’s like “Can you stand at the entrance of the tent and if anybody asks you anything just cover for me.”

She agrees.

He falls asleep.

Now can someone read Judges 4:21

21 But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died.

Jael straight up kills this dude. He falls asleep in her tent, where she offered him shelter, and gave him stuff to drink and pretended like she was going to hide him. And when he falls asleep does she protect him. No. Instead she drives a tent peg through his head.

Jael’s not playing around.

But why does she kill him? Her husband is his ally.

Well, let’s not forget that husbands and wives aren’t always on the same page about things. People would have taken it fore granted back then that a wife must do what a husband says. So if a husband allies with someone, the wife is obviously allied with him to, because a wife was generally so subjugated by her husband she couldn’t go against him without major repercussions. Men could beat their wives without getting in trouble back then, so a woman was taking her own life into her hands by defying her husband. But Jael obviously was still loyal to the Israelites, as most Kenites were. Or maybe she saw what Jabin was doing to the Israelites and disagreed. Or maybe she loved and trusted God and knew this was what God wanted her to do. We don’t know why she did it. We just know she made a decision—independent of her husband’s will—and did what she thought was right.

Can someone read Judges 4:22-24?

22 Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

23 So on that day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 Then the hand of the Israelites bore harder and harder on King Jabin of Canaan, until they destroyed King Jabin of Canaan.

Barak pursues Sisera and Jael comes out to meet him like “I’ve got him for you.” She takes him to the tent and shoes him Sisera dead.

And so between Barak’s army and Jael’s swift action, the Israelites win that day. Jabin is overthrown and the Israelites are freed.

This victory is rarely talked about as Barak’s victory, even though he was the general who led the troops. Deborah’s words have come true. This victory is tied tightly to two women: Deborah and Jael. It was Deborah’s leadership and Jael’s quick thinking that led to the victory.

This story is important for a number of reasons. But mainly because this is a story that focuses on women, and women in rolls that aren’t normally attributed in society.

For thousands of years women have been kept out of leadership roles, told that it’s simply something women are not capable of, something we’re not built for. For thousands of years women have been told they are not capable of being soldiers, of making tough decisions that need to be made. Women have been told to behave and be a certain way, and if a woman existed outside of those bounds she was not treated well. In this story we have two women who do what God requires of them, and it goes directly in the face of what society requires of them as women. Because those are not the same thing. What God requires of us and what society requires of us do not always align.

God required Deborah to lead. It didn’t matter that the Israelites had a patriarchal culture. God is not. And he called Deborah to lead just as he had called Ehud, Joshua, and Moses before her.

God required Jael to be a soldier, even though women were not allowed to be soldiers back then and women certainly were not allowed to go against their husbands. But Jael did both, because it was what God required of her.

We answer to God first, always.

There are many denominations still today of Christianity that tell women they are not equal to men. That women are only supposed to do and behave certain ways. But we see clearly in this story that that is not God’s rule. Deborah and Jael are far from the only women in the Bible to make decisions for God and to lead and to do things that society may not view as appropriate for women. We already talked about Rahab, who hid Hebrew spies from her people. We will talk about Ruth, Naomi, Esther, Anna, Dorcas, Junia. There are so many women who are for more than the boxes that society has tried to place them in.

Can someone flip to the New Testament, Galatians 3:28. Remember Galatians was a letter written by Paul to the Church at Galatia.

28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

What Paul is saying here is that it doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or a boy, a Jew or not, poor or rich, oppressed or privileged, before God in Jesus we’re all the same. God can and does use us all for his glory and purpose. We are all here to serve God. We are all held to the same standard and we all serve the same God.

And this is why I think the story of Deborah and Jael is so important. It’s one of the few Biblical examples we get of women, doing exactly as God wants them to do, living the life God wants them to, and that includes traditionally non-feminine activities.

Male or female, you are not beholden to societies views of gender roles. You are beholden to God. The most important role in your life is being a follower of Christ.

Joshua

Note: When I did this lesson I was pressed for time. Also the teacher of the other hour of Middle School Sunday School was not going to be there, so I taught both hours, so there wasn't as much reason for me to write up a pretty post explaining all my notes. So this post is basically just my notes. Next time I do this set of lessons I will come back and pretty this up, but for now, I present my notes.

Note: I recommend giving the lessons "What is the Law?" and "The Ark, the Tabernacle, and the Temple" before giving this lesson to give the students some context.

• Joshua 1:1-9

o   After Moses death God hands leadership of the people over to Joshua

o   Tells him to go into the promised land and take the land back

• Joshua 1:10-11

o   Joshua readies the people to cross the Jordan

• Joshua 2:1-7

o   Joshua sends spies in to look at the land, but more specifically to a city called Jericho.

o   The spies are given lodging by a woman named “Rahab.” Rahab is the only person other than Joshua who is named in this section, not even the king of Jericho is named. That shows she is very very important and a key player here. But the story also emphasizes Rahab’s very low status: she is a prostitute.

o   Rahab covers for the spies when the king asks to have them. She lies and says they’re gone and basically sends the soldiers on a bunny trail. She goes far above and beyond what is required even under hospitality laws of the time. Why?

• Joshua 2:8-14

o   She spares them because she has heard of what they have done and believes they will conquer the land. She wants mercy and she wants in, and she wants her whole family to be spared. The spies agree.

• Joshua 2:15-21

o   Rahab helps the spies to get out of the city and tells them the best way to avoid being captured.

o   The spies are like “we’re totes gonna come back and conquer this place, so if you want to make sure we keep your promise, tie some scarlet thread in your window so we know it’s yours. And shelter all your people in there. If they go in the street, it’s gonna be an all out battle, so all bets are off.”

• Joshua 2:22-24

o   The spies leave and do as Rahab instructed. Then they report back to Joshua and basically are like “invasion is a go.”

• Before we go on to the invasion, a moment about Rahab.

o   As mentioned before she is a critical part of this story ,one of the few named players outside of Joshua.

o   Her role is so critical and important that this is not the last time we will hear her name. Can somsone read Matthew 1:1-6

o   This is the geneology of Jesus, only a few verses of it because it’s long, but the in tehw hole geneology of Jesus only three women are mentioned and Rahab: a Canaanite prostitute is one of them.

o   No matter who you are, and no matter how low you might think you’ve come to be, you are a part of God’s plan, like Rahab, and God can use you to great things.

• Joshua 3:5-7

o   Joshua is like “tomorrow we’re a go. So prepare yourselves.”

o   The ark of the covenant, the physical reminder that God is with them, is to go ahead of them.

o   And God is like “I got you and I got your back. I’m with you like I was with Moses.”

• Joshua 3:14-17

o   Another parting of a river, but this time it’s the Jordan river so they can cross into the promised land. And instead of a staff, it’s the ark of the covenant.

• High level of what happens next:

o   They cross and they spend several days praising God and celebrating, via Passover and other holy traditons, because they are finally in the promised land, and they know it is God who got them there and not themselves. So they take this rest after their long wandering but before they conquer the promised land in order to praise God.

• Joshua 6:1-5

o   So the Israelites are camping right outside of Jericha and Jericho has this huge impenetrable wall and basically God is like “I’m going to give Jericho to you.” And then he gives Joshua the CRAZIEST BATTLE PLAN EVER. 

o   March around the city and the walls will just fall down.

o   Why? Why this battle plan? Well only God could pull this off, this is an obvious miracle, so even though the Hebrews were about to win a huge victory against the people of Jericho, God wants to make it clear that it’s his victory. And they could not have done it without him.

o   So they do this. They enact the plan. And we’ll skp ahead to the seventh day:

• Joshua 6:16-21

o   What the heck just happened here?

o   Well first off God’s plan worked. The walls came down.

o   Joshua warns his people that this is God’s victory and city, not their’s. Jericho is not to become their city now, they’re not gonna take all the stuff and live flat off the land. The only stuff they’re going to take is the bronze, iron, silver, and gold, and that’s so they can use it in places like the Tabernacle.

o   And then they’re told to kill everyone except rahab and her family.

o   Pause

o   Uh, what? How do we feel about this? This was a really cool story until we got to the part about killing every man woman child and animal in the city, right?

• How do we deal with this? Theories and Thoughts:

o   A) God told them to do this and this is what had to happened. If they hadn’t killed them things would have been much worse.

o   B ) They didn’t actually kill everyone despite what the text says, because in Joshua we’re told that (Joshue 11:16-23) Joshua takes the whole land and kills everyone in it. However, we know later that these people keep coming back and attacking them (in Judges). So they didn’t actually kill everyone. Some people escaped. Though this theory doesn’t exactly absolve the Israelites or God of the intent to murder.

o   C ) These books are not “history” as we think of history. Pure unbiased history is still a myth—we can’t even really manage that though we strive towards that. Back then the idea would have been completely foreign. Therefore this idea that they murdered everyone is just “hyperbolic” language. It’s an overexaggeration of what actually happened. What we get from this then is that the Israelites did conquer the land, they were successful, God had their back, but maybe they didn’t actually completely and utterly destroy them.

o   D ) Total and complete destruction of your enemies is kind of how things went back then and it’s impossible for us to even wrap our head around the fact that it didn’t bother people. Example A: Carthage.

o   E ) Some scholars and historians think the book of Joshua was written much later than these events. Possibly during the time when the Kingdom of Israel was disbanded and under the subjugation of the Assyrians (we’ll study this much later). During this time the Jewish people would feel completely helpless and like maybe God has abandoned them. So writing down and remembering this story, reminds them their God is powerful and capable of defeating their enemies and if he’s not doing now it’s because what is happening is meant to be, and not because God is not powerful. Thus the story becomes a story of hope for people in exile.

• So how do we deal with this?

o   Well whatever you believe, whether you think God commanded this for an ends justify the means kind of thought or you think the story is a little more hyperbolic, we know that God is NOT commanding us to go murder our enemies. Jesus makes this very clear.

o   In fact one of the common misconceptions Jewish people had about jesus when he arrived was that a Messiah would be a military Messiah, that he would sweep in like Joshua and free them from the reign of Rome. But that is not what happened. Instead we got a servant leader, who washed his own follower’s feet and let himself be put to death so he could save us.

o   And Jesus was very clear what we were to do regarding our enemies. Read:

• Read Matthew 5:43-48

o   The events of Joshua are very specific, a very specific time and set of circumstances. We are not under that time. We are not under those circumstances. We are under Jesus, he is our head and we are his followers. So as Jesus commands us we will do. Love your enemies.

The Ark, the Tabernacle, and the Temple

Note: I made a powerpoint to accompany this lesson, so I could show the class what some of these things looked like. Instead of uploading the powerpoint, I will link to the images I used in this. 

Last week we talked about the Law. Today I want to discuss something that goes hand-in-hand with that and you guys had a lot of questions about last week. That is, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and the Temple.

These three things basically all represent the same thing: God’s presence among the people of Israel. Basically physical facilities that could remind the people of their covenant with God and also be a way for people to worship God. To fully explore that we’re going to have to talk about what each of these things is, starting with the Ark of the Covenant.

So what is the Ark of the Covenant? Get your Bibles and let’s turn to Exodus 25:10-22.

10 They shall make an ark of acacia wood; it shall be two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 11 You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make a molding of gold upon it all around. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side. 13 You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, by which to carry the ark. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 You shall put into the ark the covenant that I shall give you.

17 Then you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width. 18 You shall make two cherubim of gold; you shall make them of hammered work, at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other; of one piece with the mercy seat you shall make the cherubim at its two ends. 20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat[e] with their wings. They shall face one to another; the faces of the cherubim shall be turned toward the mercy seat. 21 You shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the covenant that I shall give you. 22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant, I will deliver to you all my commands for the Israelites.

These are God’s instructions to the Israelites on how to build the Ark of the Covenant. Also if you’re wondering what a mercy seat is, it’s basically the lid. I don’t really know why they call it that.This may be hard to follow and imagine so fortunately for you I brought a visual! [Slide 2] I know some of you have seen this movie. This is Raiders of the Lost Ark. In that movie, the lost ark they are looking for is the Ark of the Covenant. And we’ll talk about later why it’s a lost ark, and not something we still have. For this movie, they actually made a fairly accurate replica based on that section we just read. 

So this is what it looks like but what is the Ark of the Covenant? It’s basically like a big chest or piece of luggage. Except that in those verses we just read God said he will appear above the angels in the ark and from their deliver his commandments to Israel. So God is going to appear above this Ark! That’s pretty cool.

The other thing is implied in it’s name: the Ark of the Covenant. It’s a visible and physical reminder of the covenant yes, but it also contains the covenant. Can someone read Exodus 40:20?

20 He took the covenant and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and set the mercy seat above the ark;

Basically the stone tablets on which Moses wrote God’s words and brought down from the mountain? They put those in the ark of the covenant. So the actual words, the physical contract more-or-less, is in the Ark of the Covenant.

But it’s not the only thing in there.

Can someone read Exodus 16:33-34?

33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord, to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the covenant, for safekeeping.

They place a jar of manna in with the covenant. An “omer” is just a Hebrew unit of measurement. Why did they put it in there? I think because God wanted them to have a physical reminder of how he cared for them for their time in the desert, how God literally fed them. So when they doubted God’s power or love, they could see that and think “Oh yeah, remember that time God literally fed us with manna from heaven?”

The last item in the Ark of the Covenant is described in Numbers 17. As you flip there, some context. Basically, one of the Hebrews had enough of Moses and Aaron’s leadership. He was like “Why do these old dudes get to lead us? Aren’t we all equal before God? Why do we have to listen to them? They just want to control us!”

And basically Moses was like “Well, we’ll let God decide who should lead.”

So God told Moses to have each tribe elect someone they wanted to lead them. Then they would present a staff—like a wooden walking staff—with that man’s name carved in it. For the Levites that was Aaron. And God said he would one of them bud—so basically one of these dead staffs of wood would suddenly start having stuff grow on it, something only God could do. Whoever’s staff budded would get to lead.

Can someone read Numbers 17:8-11?

8 When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.” 11 Moses did so; just as the Lord commanded him, so he did.

So it was Aaron’s staff that sprouted, Aaron that God chose. And to remind them of that, God instructed Moses to place the budded staff in the Ark of the Covenant, to remind them that God chose Aaron to be the leader.

This section also mentions the tent of the covenant. What is that? Well, remember during this time the Hebrews are wandering through the desert. They have no place to call home. They have no unmoving temple or church they can go to. The Ark was basically the heart of their mobile church, and that mobile church—which those verses called the tent of the covenant—is usually referred to as the Tabernacle.

The Tabernacle is basically a church tent. [Slide 3 ]. Remember the Hebrews are nomads at this point. They do get to the Promised Land, but because they were scared to go inside, they have to wander for 40 years. So for 40 years they’re wandering in the desert. During that time they have this portable temple they can use where they can go worship God and make sacrifices.

The Tabernacle is described in detailed in Exodus 25-31. This includes descriptions of the Ark of the Covenant, which is placed in the tabernacle when it’s set up, to the dimensions of the tent, to what exactly the priests had to wear. [Slide 4]

You can see here that the Ark of the Covenant is placed inside the Tabernacle behind a veil in the “Most Holy Place.” So imagine this set up like a tent that’s gated in. If you go through the gate you see an alter and a tent. If you go in the tent, you’re still separated from the most holy place by a veil. And behind that veil God would come in the form of smoke. Only certain people were allowed in these different parts. While some priests could enter the courtyard, they couldn’t enter the tent. Some could enter the tent, but most would not be allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest would be allowed to do that.

I want to be very clear on something here. The Tabernacle was more than a church. I’m sure you hear in church service and maybe from adults that a church is just a building. A church itself is no more or less holy than anything else. But the Tabernacle was different. The Tabernacle was where God dwelled.

And the same was true of the Temple.

You see the Tabernacle was basically a temporary measure while the people wandered and had no permanent home, while they were outside the Promised Land. Eventually—much later—when the Hebrews settled in Canaan and were established there, they built a Temple. [Slide 5: Image 1, Image 2 and Image 3] We will get to this story much later, because it’s not built until King Solomon is King of Israel and we’re still pretty far away from that happening in our study.

You’ll hear this Temple referred to most often as Solomon’s Temple, but it can also be referred to as the First Temple or just the Temple. The temple had a very similar internal set up to the Tabernacle in that they were still varying levels of who was allowed well and in the innermost part was still the holy of holies behind a veil where the Ark of the Covenant was (Slide 6). This Temple was literally viewed as the place on earth where God lived.

Of course God was not just limited to the temple. God could and did speak to people outside of the Tabernacle and Temple. For one example of that let’s turn to an interesting story in Numbers.

In this story in Numbers, the context is basically that the Israelites have not yet entered the Promised Land but are wandering around in the area just east of the Jordan. They keep running into other people groups and for various reasons having to fight them. Basically to those other tribes, the Israelites look like a scary invading army who might try to take all their land. So they just kept having all these battles and because God was with them and on their side, they kept living.

There was this one guy named Balak who is basically the leader of a specific people group, and he is terrified of the Israelites coming in and destroying his people. So he decides his best bet is to call to the number one sorcerer in the land, a guy named Balaam.

Now Balaam actually thinks God is super powerful. Now when I say he believed in God I don’t want you to confuse him with someone who worshipped or loved God. Basically Balaam was a sorcerer who believed in many gods, and that they were all real, and that includes our God—the God of the Israelites. He also thought the God of the Israelites was super powerful, could defeat them all, and therefore didn’t want to go against him,

However, in the end his leader Balak pressures Balaam into coming to him anyway. God is not very happy about this situation. Alright can someone read Numbers 22:22-27?

22 God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back onto the road. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. 26 Then the angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 

So Balaam is heading out and riding his donkey. And because God wants his anger at Balaam and his king to be known—because his king basically wants Balaam to curse God’s chosen people—God puts an angel in his way three times. Each time the donkey sees the angel but Balaam doesn’t. So the donkey turns off the road, or runs into a wall, or finally just cowers where she is so that they don’t run into what must be a terrifying angel.

Balaam doesn’t see the angel. He just thinks his donkey is being willful and disobedient. So he just keeps beating her trying to make her move on.

Can someone read Numbers 22:28-31?

28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29 Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!” 30 But the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way?” And he said, “No.”

31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face.

God makes it so the donkey can speak! That’s pretty miraculous! And she’s like “Why do you keep beating me?” And instead of dying of shock like I would of, Balaam instead says, “Because you keep messing up! And I’m so angry I might kill you.” And then the donkey is basically like “When have I ever failed you before?” And Balaam is forced to concede the point that—well—she’s been a good donkey.

Then God opens Balaam’s eyes and he sees the angel! And he’s terrified and falls to the ground before this angel.

Now can someone read Numbers 22:32-35?

32 The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me. 33 The donkey saw me, and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let it live.” 34 Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now therefore, if it is displeasing to you, I will return home.” 35 The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but speak only what I tell you to speak.” So Balaam went on with the officials of Balak.

The Angel is basically like “if your donkey hadn’t stopped you I would have killed you. So your donkey saved your life.” And Balaam realizes that God must really not want him to go. But really God could’ve killed Balaam at any moment. He didn’t have to let the donkey see the angel to stop him from running into it. He didn’t have to let the donkey talk. And he certainly didn’t have to let the angel explain himself. But God chooses to do these things because he’s trying to teach this foreign sorcerer about him so when Balaam goes before his king he’ll refuse to raise a hand against the Israelites.

In the end Balaam goes to his king and he speaks God’s words to the king.

So why are we talking about in this story? Well because in this story God uses a donkey to speak to a foreign sorcerer. He then uses that foreign sorcerer to speak to his king. God can and does use anything and anyone to speak to people. He did then during the time of Moses and he does now. So why all this business with the Tabernacle and Temple where only certain people were allowed to go in to see God?

Because they were different. They meant something different. The Tabernacle and Temple were like God’s home on Earth, a place he would always be and where you could visit him. They were physical reminders of God and his constant presence on this earth.  

In the end, Solomon’s temple was eventually destroyed by the Babylonians. During this event, it seems the Ark of the Covenant was lost. Possibly the Babylonians took it because we know from many verses in the Bible that they basically ransacked the Temple and took anything gold or worth money, and that would certainly include the ark. The ark is not explicitly mentioned as something the Babylonians took, however, so some people think that it might have been hidden away before the Babylonians reached the Temple. We may never know. This is why the Ark is referred to as the Lost Ark. Literally no one knows what happened to it or where it is.

A second temple was later built—and that is the temple that Jesus visited during his time on earth. [Slide 7] This temple was built during Old Testament times, lasted through Jesus’s time, and then was destroyed by the Romans in around 70 AD. This temple was built to be identical to the first, because the temples weren’t just built to be aesthetically pleasing. Like the ark and the Tabernacle, the instructions for the Temple are in the Bible and were required to be built in a specific way. The major difference between the first Temple and the second was that the Ark of the Covenant was not in the second temple.

The Wailing Wall (slide 8) is one of the few remaining bits of the Temple that still exists today. The Wailing Wall was the Western Wall of the Temple courtyard.

So why is there no new Temple? You would think that after World War II, when Israel was given back to the Jewish people—as a safe place they could go after the Holocaust, the first thing they would want to do is rebuild the temple, right? After all, without the temple they can’t make the sacrifices that are Biblically required of them. If you ever wonder why Jewish people don’t still make sacrifices, that is why. They must make sacrifices on the alter in the temple, and there is no temple today. Therefore, they can’t do this important act of their faith. So why don’t they rebuild the temple?

Well, because nothing is ever that simple. There are many Biblical requirements that must be followed to rebuild the Temple—many of which we can’t meet today. Such as the high priest being a descendant of Aaron. The alter must also be placed in the exact same physical location it was before, and we know longer know that to the same accuracy. But another big issue is the Dome of the Rock.

Do you guys see the gold dome in that picture? That is the Dome of the Rock. It is one of the holy sites of Islam. Many people believe that the Dome of the Rock is built where the Temple originally was. So to rebuild the Temple in the exact same place would require it being moved, and that would be an act of war. (Note: Emphasize that this is NOT because of any stereotypical view they may have of Muslims, but rather because knocking down someone's holy site is just really really not cool. That site is holy in Islam and therefore must be treated as such. And to knock it down would be the equivalent of walking up to someone and punching them in the face and stabbing them in the back at the same time.)

Now some Jewish people believe that there will be a Third Temple. That a Messiah will come who will be able to negotiate all the political differences, sniff out the true location of the alter, and who is of the bloodline of Aaron. This Messiah might be Elijah come back or Moses or some other such thing. Not all Jewish people believe this, because Judaism is a diverse faith where people interpret things differently.

And this idea of a Third Temple and the Messiah coming is not all that far off from what Christians believe. We believe Jesus is the Messiah, but when Jesus first came the Temple still existed. Islam didn’t yet exist as a religion. There was no dispute to be settled. However, the book of Revelations points to a second coming of Jesus. Is it possible that when Jesus comes back the temple will be rebuilt? It’s definitely possible. There are things in the Bible that point to the presence of a third temple to come.

However, it’s not something we as Christians often think about or dwell on. Why? Why don’t we care about this place where God literally lived. You would think we’d want to rebuild God’s house? Right???

But when Jesus came to this earth and died and was resurrected everything changed.  I want you guys to turn to Mark 15:33-38. Remember Mark is in the New Testament and it’s the second Gospel.

33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah.” 36 And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

When Jesus died the veil was torn. (Turn back to slide 6). The veil, the thing that separated the part of the temple where God literally was from the rest of the temple, the rest of the world. Yes high priests could go back there, but even then, they didn’t do it very often. Just once a year to offer the highest sacrifices. Now that veil was torn.

Obviously God could move on either side of the veil if he wanted to, so what does this mean? It’s a symbol, a symbol of what Jesus just did. He brought down the separation between God and man. He was God among us, God made incarnate who walked among us and experienced everything we did. Now because of Jesus and the Holy Spirit we all have access to God all the time.

Let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before “your body is a temple.” And I’m sure you’ve heard it in a glib way, that is basically just like “respect yourself and your body, your body is a temple.” But have you ever thought about that? Thought about what that means? Your body is a temple. The temple is the place where God lives. God lives in you. The Holy Spirit resides in all Christians. We don’t need to go to a special place to see God, we have God with us all the time. Each one of us is part of the Temple. God resides in each one of us. That’s why we need to respect our bodies and not defile them, because when you do that you are disrespecting God’s house.

We are the Body of Christ. We are God’s house. And that’s why to Christians the church is just the building. We are the church.

What is the Law?

For the past two months, we’ve been studying Moses. Over the last two weeks, we watched The Prince of Egypt, to help catch up the rising sixth graders, on the story of Moses. But that movie ends at a critical part. It ends with Moses coming down the mountain carrying down some tablets.

When Moses went up on that mountain—as we studied—he spoke to God for a long extended period of time—so long that the Israelites actually thought he might have died. But during that time God told him a lot of stuff. One of the most important things God gave him was the Law, which he wrote down on tablets to bring to his people.

When we studied Moses we kind of skipped over what exactly was on those tablets, what it was, and what it meant, because that’s actually a huge topic. So today that is what we’re talking about. What is the “Law?” This is something referenced all over the place in the Bible—not just the Old Testament, but Jesus is constantly talking about the Law. The apostles also argued constantly about the law, who should obey it, who shouldn’t. Jewish people today even have long discussions and disagreements about to what extent they are required to follow the law: which one of the big divisions between Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed Jews. So this discussion of “What is the Law and who must follow it” is something that has been debated since Moses all the way until today. For over three thousand years people have been discussing this very topic.

So today we’re going to talk about it. Obviously we can’t get through all the nuances in an hour, but I want to give you guys a decent understanding of what the Law is and why we as Christians don’t follow it today.

Please go get your Bibles.

Before we open to anything who can remind us what God’s covenant with Abraham is? [Let them answer.]

That’s right, God made a covenant with Abraham to be his God and the God of his people and to make him the father of many people. At this point we’ve seen how Abraham’s descendants have become many people. You have Ishmael whose descendants formed their own people group. You have Esau, whose descendants became the Edomites. We didn’t study this—but after Sarah died, Abraham remarried and had more children who went on to become different people’s. Also now we have the Israelites who are descended from Jacob, Abraham’s grandson.

God made the initial covenant with Abraham—to be his God—and then renewed it with Isaac, Abraham’s son, and then Jacob, Abraham’s grandson. After all those years in Egypt—over four hundred—it’s possible the Israelites may have worried that the covenant no longer held. But obviously, God went to great lengths and performed many miraculous acts to free them from Egypt. In case that wasn’t enough, God also re-established the covenant in words. Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 19:3-6.

3 Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: 4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”

God reiterates that the Israelites are his people—that they are the children of the covenant. And that he will make them a “priestly kingdom,” they are to be the example of God in the world. For their end of the deal? They just have to obey his voice and keep the covenant. So the men must be circumcised, and all of them must listen to God.

For Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God basically had a one-on-one relationship with them. God could tell them what they should do or what they were doing wrong, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob needed to listen to that voice. But now we’re talking about thousands of Israelites. God could talk to each of them individually, he certainly has that power, but instead he is choosing to make himself known through a single prophet—in this case Moses. That’s a set up we’re going to see go on for a while in the history of Israel. There is one single prophet who talks to God and relays God’s thoughts to the people. This prophet is then the leader of the people—in both a religious and government sense. Israel is the definition of a theocracy at this time—it is both a nation and a religion. The idea of separation of church and state is completely foreign to them.

To underscore this, we have the Law. God gives Moses Laws which are both religious and civil laws. These are the laws of the nation of Israel. And it covers everything from their relationship with God, to what do you do if an animal you own accidentally hurts another person, to what sort of crimes merit the death penalty. So for the Israelites to keep the covenant, in addition to circumcision they must obey the law.

The initial revelation of the law is also the most famous: The ten commandments. Let’s turn to Exodus 20:1-17.

20 Then God spoke all these words:

2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me.

4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 You shall not murder.

14 You shall not commit adultery.

15 You shall not steal.

16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

We can already see from these laws alone that God is concerned not just by our relationship with him but by our relationships with others. The first four are God laws. Don’t have any other gods. Don’t make any other idols. Don’t use God’s name in vein. Remember the Sabbath.

The others are people to people laws. Honor your parents. Don’t murder. Don’t have an affair. Don’t steal. Don’t lie or gossip about your neighbor. Don’t covet other people’s stuff.

These all seem pretty basic how to lead a good life while following God rules. But God also gives Moses more law later. The entire book of Leviticus is basically nothing but laws. Someone read Leviticus 2:11.

11 No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you must not turn any leaven or honey into smoke as an offering by fire to the Lord.

This is one verse from a whole section on offering grain to God. And it basically says that any bread offering made to God can’t have yeast in it. It needs to be flatbread. That’s super specific right? And definitely a religious law—a law dictating an appropriate sacrifice to God.

Someone read Leviticus 13:3-4

3 The priest shall examine the disease on the skin of his body, and if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous disease; after the priest has examined him he shall pronounce him ceremonially unclean. 4 But if the spot is white in the skin of his body, and appears no deeper than the skin, and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest shall confine the diseased person for seven days.

This section? This is a leprosy test. Leprosy is a skin disease that could be very contagious and detrimental. So this section basically tells people that if they think they have leprosy to go before a priest. It then tells the priest what to do to determine if it is or is not leprosy and then what to do with the person in either case.

Someone read Leviticus 19:23.

23 When you come into the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall regard their fruit as forbidden; three years it shall be forbidden to you, it must not be eaten.

This is a law about when it’s cool to eat the fruit from a tree after you plant it.

What I’m getting at here is these are a lot of laws that cover a lot of topics. Laws on how exactly to celebrate specific holidays. Not just like “Christmas is cool, you should celebrate it.” But like “here are the very exact things you must do to celebrate Passover.” There are laws on who you are and are not allowed to marry. There are laws about how to treat a poor man and laws about how to treat strangers. There are laws about what they’re allowed to eat and what they’re allowed to wear. The Israelites couldn’t eat—still don’t eat—pig, and they couldn’t wear mixed material clothes. And there are very specific laws on how to treat and worship God. These are a lot of laws.

There were even laws on who is allowed to be a priest. And I don’t just mean like now how we have church bi-laws about how to select a pastor and what sort of education one does or does not need to be a pastor and whether or not women are allowed to be pastors. I mean only people of the house of Levi where allowed to be priests at all, and of those, there were a few very critical things that only people directly descended from Aaron were allowed to do as like High Priest.

And if you went against these laws, there were punishments, and some of those punishments were you would die. If the wrong person touched the wrong holy object? They would be struck down dead instantly.

Now some of these laws it might be easy to see why we don’t follow anymore. God was giving them laws for running a nation, something they had never done before. So some of these civil laws are all about maintaining law and order. We live in different countries now. We have different civil laws, that makes sense.

Some of the laws, like the tree one about not picking fruit for three years, that’s just some basic agriculture sense that God was trying to give them because they didn’t necessarily understand agriculture yet. So that also makes sense.

But what about the other laws? The ones that are moral, or seem to be. And who decides what’s a moral verses civil law anyway? Because it’s not like they had any separation of church and state! They were all tied up in each other! Who are we to tell the ancient Hebrews that eating fruit in the second year isn’t immoral?

So why? Why don’t modern Christians follow the law?

This is actually something that the first Christians actually argued bitterly about. Like there were factions, and it was one of the first major divisions of the early church. Were people who were not Jewish required to follow Jewish law, once they became followers of Jesus? And even ahead of that, some people were concerned that Gentiles shouldn’t be allowed to be Christians at all! The Jewish people were God’s people after all. Jesus came for them first, the Gentile second. So why waste time on Gentiles when there were still Jewish people to be saved?

Please turn to Acts. Acts is the history of the early church and chronicles a lot of these debates and discussions. In Acts there is a story about a Roman man named Cornelius and Peter.

Cornelius was a Roman centurion, so basically an officer in the Roman army. Despite that he believed in God and basically deeply respected the Jewish people. One day he’s going about his business when he has a vision and in the vision God tells him to send for Peter—who was on of Jesus’s disciples and now one of the early leaders of the Christian church. So Cornelius dispatches some trusted servants to go get Peter.

Meanwhile Peter has a vision of his own. Can someone read Acts 10:9-16?

9 About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” 15 The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

Peter has a vision where he sees a large sheet covered in all sorts of animals, specifically the sorts of animals he’s supposed to eat. In the vision God tells him to kill and eat the animals, and Peter is like “no way God, I’d never do anything that would make me unclean.” Because remember it would have been against Jewish law to eat some of these animals. And doing so would make you basically dirty in the eyes of God. There was a long drawn out process to get clean again.

But then the voice said “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

It happens three times and Peter is confused by this. He has no idea what it means. Then Cornelius’s servants show up to get Peter.

Now a Jewish guy hanging out with some Romans? Not cool back then. But Peter goes with them because he realizes what the vision means. He says it in Acts 10:28.

28 and he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.

The vision wasn’t about a food. I mean it is okay to eat whatever. God isn’t going to call you unclean because you ate bacon this morning, even though eating pig is against the Jewish law. But this vision wasn’t about the food. It was about the Gentiles. God told Peter not to call unclean what God has made clean. And that’s the Gentiles. Before this, Peter would have doubted any Gentile could really follow Jesus.

The Jews were God’s chosen people, but through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God made a way for Gentiles to come to God.

Peter later had to declare this decision in front of the whole Christian council. Because there was a huge argument on whether Christians had to follow Jewish law to be saved. Turn to Acts 15.

Some context. This is a council that is being held in Jerusalem where basically the argument boiled down to whether or not Gentiles had to be circumcised. Remember circumcision was the mark of the covenant God made with Abraham, the only thing God required of Abraham. Circumcision was a painful medical procedure—remember these are not people with modern medicine and ways to numb skin. This medical procedure basically requires removing a large area of skin. Painful.

Needless to say most of the Gentiles didn’t want to do it. However, many of the Jewish people were adamant. If this was the sign of the covenant, didn’t Gentiles have to do it to? Didn’t God require it of them too?

Alright let’s read Acts 15:6-11.

6 The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. 7 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. 8 And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; 9 and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. 10 Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? 11 On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

Peter is basically like “You guys know God sent me amongst the Gentiles to preach to them.” The Cornelius story was the start of that. And he’s like God made them clean. This is the whole let no one say is unclean what God made clean. And Peter is like “No one was able to ever fulfil the whole law anyway, we all always messed it up. So why put this burden on these people when we weren’t even able to handle the burden? And last point: we’re saved by grace alone.” Mic drop. Walk off the stage.

We’re saved by grace alone might be a phrase you hear a lot and you might be uncertain what it means. It basically means that Jesus’s actions covered us, and it’s not our actions of keeping the law or doing the right things that work our way into heaven or being Jesus’ followers.

We are not part of the Old Covenant that covered the Jewish people. We are part of the New Covenant.

This can all be rather confusing. It can seem like God changed the rules. In the beginning people had to do all these things and actions to be right with God. Now we’re just covered, free and clear because we believe in Jesus! It seems a lot easier, and it seems a lot different. And the answer—as with most things in the Bible—is both yes and no.

Let’s look back at what Jesus says. Turn to Matthew 5:17-20

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus says he didn’t come to abolish the law but fulfil it. And he also says whoever breaks the commandments will be the least in the kingdom of heaven and whoever holds them will be great. But also that it’s basically impossible to uphold them. That’s what he’s seeing with that last part. Your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees who are the most righteous among us!

That’s also what Peter was referring to when he said that no one was able to keep the law. It was always impossible. That’s why in the law there are requirements of sacrifice—to cover the sin and breaking of the law that people did. Without those sacrifices to cover people’s sins, without that loophole, people would be separated from God because of even one breaking of the law, one sin.

And then Jesus came and he was the ultimate sacrifice who covered all of us. That’s why we don’t need to do animal sacrifices anymore. We’re covered by the ultimate sacrifice. Of God’s own son.

And if that is all still confusing to you and you’re still befuddled over whether or not we should follow the law, let’s go back to a section we’ve studied before. Matthew 22:34-40.

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

The whole law boils down into two laws, as we saw in the Ten Commandments. The first four are about loving God and the last four are about loving your neighbor. Because in the end that is what we’re called to do, love.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

If we keep those commands, we are keeping the intent of the law. But your salvation, your covering by Jesus is not requisite on you doing that. Jesus loves us no matter what we do. We are saved by grace, a gift we can’t and haven’t earned. But if you want to keep the heart of the law, the heart of what God was trying to do by giving the people of Israel these laws: then love God and love your neighbor.

Simple but not easy. And it is something we should always strive to do.

Jesus even says this again later in his farewell address to his disciples. It’s the night before he’ll be betrayed and he’s giving a farewell speech—though they don’t know it. In John 13:34-35, Jesus says “34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Most of us (all I think) in this room are not Jewish. We are not descended from Jewish people and no one in our family is Jewish. We are by definition Gentiles. The law is the Jewish law for the ancient Jewish nation of Israel. But we are followers of Jesus and therefore we are called to do this new commandment Jesus has given us. We are to love another. It is our love and kindness and gentleness and grace with each other that should mark us as followers of Jesus to the world.

It’s the hardest thing to do. To be kind to that annoying kid in your class. To practice grace and gentleness with the bully who picks on you. Sometimes it’s impossible. But it is what we are called to, and that and loving God are the only two laws that for us ultimately matter.

Moses and the Promised Land (Moses Part 7)

Last week we talked about the Israelites, and how they seemed to be trusting Moses more than they trusted God. God was working all these miracles for them, and yet as soon as Moses left them to go up a Mountain to talk to God they freaked out and made a new God to worship. Today we’re going to talk about what Moses did on that mountain, what happened when he came back down and saw that the Israelites were worshiping a false god, and what happens after.

We’re going to pick up right before Moses goes up the mountain. Can someone read Exodus 19:18-20?

18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. 20 When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

God descends on this mountain in way that I imagine almost makes it seem like the mountain is about to turn into a volcano! There is smoke, the earth is shaking, there is fire. There is even a heavenly trumpet blasting! God’s presence is big and obvious here. So Moses goes up the mountain to talk to God.

While up on the Mountain God basically gives Moses the Law. If you’ve ever flipped through these first couple of books in the Bible before you’ll notice a ton of Law. We’re going to do a whole Sunday on what is the law and what it means. But basically, it’s the rule set God is giving to Moses and saying, “These are the rules I expect the Israelites to live by.” These rules would be everything from how to worship God to what sort of fine you have to pay if an animal you own accidently hurts someone else. Basically ancient Israel does not believe in separation of church and state. The church and state are one. The word for this you may hear in your government classes is “theocracy.” So while in our society if you blaspheme against God, God is disappointed in you but you won’t go to jail, in their society God will both be disappointed in you and you’re going to jail.

Like I said we’re going to spend a whole Sunday on this alone, but basically there are a lot of rules, which is partly why it takes so long for Moses to come down the mountains. He’s got to write it all down!

So God is on the mountain with Moses, right? But God can be everywhere and see everything. So even though he’s talking to Moses, he sees what’s going on with the Israelites. Do you think God is happy about how the Israelites have decided to make themselves a false god? [Let them answer.]

Well let’s see. Can someone read Exodus 32:7-10?

7 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8 they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”

God is very angry with the Israelites. He has given them everything and as we talked about last week, maybe they were never really trusting in God in the first place. Now they’re worshiping an idol that they made, a golden calf they made from their own jewelry. Rather than worshiping God, they are worshiping something they know is fake! So yeah God is mad.

But then God says “Leave me alone, Moses, so I might destroy them all and then I’ll just start over again with you. You’ll be the new Abraham.”

Woah. God’s going to destroy all the Israelites and start over again with Moses? What do you guys think Moses might think of this plan? Is he going to be like “Okay God, cool. Get rid of these people who are an absolutely burden to me.”—because let’s be honest, Moses doesn’t love his job as their leader. Or is Moses going to be like “Woah, God. That seems a little extreme. Maybe we should give them another chance.” What would you guys say if you were Moses? [Let them answer.]

I think I would be tempted to let God just start over again. Be like “Okay, cool, I’ll be the new start. Get rid of these dolts!” But let’s see what Moses says.

11 But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Moses is basically like “But these are your people who you saved from Egypt! You don’t want to destroy them!” And he gives God a 2 point argument. (1) What would the Egyptians think, if God saves the Hebrews just to destroy the Hebrews himself? (2) Don’t forget you swore an oath God.

And then it says God changed his mind.

Let’s talk about this. Did Moses convince God to change his mind? Sure, seems that way. And this is not the only time in the Bible for something like this to happen. In fact, this is the first of several times, where God tells a prophet he’s going to do something crazy wrathful, which then forces the prophet to either make an argument against God doing the wrathful thing or causes the prophet to take action. This sort of story is usually taken a couple of ways.

(1)    God’s mind can’t be changed. God always knew what he was going to do, but was trying to teach the prophet a lesson, or basically test the prophet to see what he would do. In this case, would Moses—the weary, put upon leader of the Israelites actually stand up for them? Or would he just be like “Sure, God. Do what you want.”

(2)    God’s mind can be changed, and stories like this demonstrate the power of prayer. Moses interceded and begged on behalf of his people, and only through Moses prayer did God decide not to take the action he was going to take.

There are of course shades of gray between these interpretations where they overlap. I’m not going to tell you which interpretation is right because I’m not sure we really know. And it’s possible the situation may chance in each case. Which camp you fall into generally lines up with your denomination sort of beliefs. In our case, as Presbyterians who generally believe in pre-destination, we would probably fall into Camp 1. This was always God’s plan, and God wanted Moses to fight on behalf of the Hebrews, to teach Moses that he really did care about them. People who fall into a more free will camp, might be inclined to see more of the second option, and see Moses as truly having changed God’s mind on this account.

Either way we learn from this that God gets deeply angry and hurt when we go against him, when despite all he has given us, we turn to false idols and turn our backs on him. We also learn that God is not quick to make wrathful decisions. He could have struck down the Hebrews instantly and mentioned nothing to Moses. He didn’t need Moses’ permission to do his actions. Instead he told Moses and gave Moses the opportunity to speak on his people’s behalf. I think this shows that God just doesn’t care about the relationship between him and us alone, but rather he also cares about how we as a community care about each other. Did he even want Moses in charge if Moses really didn’t care about the Israelites? But here Moses proves he does care. Just as our leaders should honestly care about us. Just as I honestly care about you.

So no smiting happens. God allows the Hebrews to live. And Moses finally heads down the mountain. Can someone read Exodus 32:15-16?

15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back. 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets.

The tablets referred to in here are the tablets on which the law is written. Most people when they imagine these tablets, imagine them with only the ten commandments written on them. But it says the tablets were covered on both the front and back. So I imagine it was more than just the ten commandments, but probably all of the law. And I imagine they were also probably rather large tablets.

Can someone read Exodus 32:19-24?

19 As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.

21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are bent on evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

Even though Moses knew the people had started worshiping an idol, he hadn’t seen it for himself. So he comes down the mountain and he sees it, and he is furious. He literally throws the tablets he’s holding—the tablets covered in God’s word, God’s own hand writing according to the previous section—and breaks them. Because remember these are stone tablets so they would be breakable.

I think it’s safe to say Moses has a little bit of an anger management problem.

When Moses went up the mountain he left his brother Aaron in charge. So naturally he goes to Aaron and is like “WHAT THE HECK, AARON?” And Aaron tries to explain himself, tries to be like “they asked me to do it.” But is Aaron’s excuse really viable? [Let them answer.]

Yeah, no. Aaron should have been like “this is not okay.” He was put in charge. He could have stopped it. In a lot of ways, I think Aaron just gave into the pressure. He wasn’t as confident in his relationship with God as Moses was, God didn’t talk to Aaron in the same way. So he just sort of caved when the people asked him to something he probably knew was wrong. Sometimes we do this too. It’s called peer pressure. We know we’re not supposed to do something, but we do it anyway. And that doesn’t excuse us. What Aaron did was wrong.

And there is a punishment. God sends a plague down on them, a plague like a sickness. Some people die from it. Our actions have consequences.  In this case, they thought God would do everything for them, and they could just do whatever they wanted, scot free. But that wasn’t the case.

Eventually God lifts the plague, and the people are able to continue on their journey to the promised land.

Before they set off again, Moses goes back up the mountain to talk to God some more. At the very least, he has to make new tablets, since he destroyed the last ones in his anger. So Moses goes up the Mountain to talk to God. In Exodus 33:11 it says “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.” That’s kind of an amazing image. Sort of like how in the beginning of Genesis, God literally walked with Adam and Eve. But despite the fact that is says “face to face” it doesn’t mean actual face to face. It means that more metaphorically, as in like personal discussions in private. In French there is a similar phrase “tête-à-tête.” Tête alone means “head” but all that phrase really means is private, personal conversations. That’s what it means here. How do we know it’s not face to face? As in actual faces. Well because a little later Moses has a conversation with God about wanting to see God’s face. Can someone read Exodus 33:18-23?

18 Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” 21 And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; 23 then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”

If these verses seem familiar to you, it’s because we’ve talked about them before, when we talked about Jacob wrestling with God. But in the context here, we see that Moses has been serving and talking to God for a long time now. Since he saw that burning bush in the desert and God told him his name was “I am who I am.” But in all that time, Moses has never seen God.

I think it’s a very human thing to want to see someone we’re talking to. I know I’ve had several friends that were basically pen pals for a long time before I saw them face to face, and when I finally did it brought my heart such joy. I think it’s a human desire that we want to see those we love face to face. And Moses loves God, so it makes sense.

But God says no one can see his face and live. However, he tells Moses to stand behind a rock, and then God will basically cover Moses while he walks by and Moses can see God’s “back” or basically like afterglow, the glory that trails behind him. But not his face. And even that has a tremendous impact on Moses. Can someone read Exodus 34:29-35?

29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34 but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Moses finally comes down the mountain, with new tablets in hand, and his face is literally shining. Not like metaphorically glowing like people might say about a pregnant woman. No, his face is so bright that he has to put a veil over his face. And Moses only saw God’s like back and it has that sort of physical effect on him. Because God’s glory is so great, it physically affects Moses. It’s amazing.

Eventually they do leave Mount Sinai and continue on their journey to the promises land. Before they go they construct a couple of things that we’ll talk about in more detail when we talk about the law, but the most important is the Tabernacle, which is basically like a portable tent church, so Moses has a place to talk to God on the journey.

Eventually they do make it all the way to the promised land of Canaan. We’re going to skip ahead to the book of Numbers now. So skip past Leviticus, which is pretty much a whole book of the law, and to Numbers, the fourth book of the Bible. Can someone read Numbers 13:1-3?

 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites; from each of their ancestral tribes you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them leading men among the Israelites.

God tells Moses not just to barge into the promised land. But rather to send spies ahead—one from each tribe—so twelve spies—to go figure out the lay of the land. Now can someone read Numbers 13:25-29?

25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

The spies spend 40 days in the promised land and then come back and give a report. Basically, they’re like “The land is so beautiful, omg, here is even some sample fruit. BUT the people there are super scary and there are even GIANTS.” The descendants of Anak would be the giants. Most of the spies are basically like “So let’s not go there.”

But then one spy says something else. Can someone read Numbers 13:30-32?

30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size.

Caleb is one of the spies. He’s like “Who cares if they’re strong? We’ve got God so we’re stronger, so let’s go.” But the other spies are still just like “NOPE. Not gonna happen. They are giants.”

Needless to say when the Israelites here this report, they freak out. They don’t want to go to the promised land. They are scared and basically are like “I can’t believe God brought us out of Egypt all the way over here to just kill us now. We should go back to Egypt.”

Caleb tries to convince the people otherwise, that they should go and take the promised land. That God has got their back and everything will be fine. Moses I think is mostly just exasperated at this point and can’t believe they are having this same argument again. The most important reaction to all of this is, of course, God’s. Can someone read Numbers 14:20-24?

20 Then the Lord said, “I do forgive, just as you have asked; 21 nevertheless—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord— 22 none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested me these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

The Hebrews have basically shown they don’t believe in God again. They don’t believe God has their back if they enter the Promised Land. And God’s reaction is basically “fine, you don’t believe? You don’t get to go.” There punishment is the people who did not believe will not get to step foot in the promised land. Caleb, however, who believed, will get to. Because of this, the Israelites are sent to wander in the desert for 40 years.

Now Moses—he believes God—he’s just trying to lead the people. So that should mean he gets to enter the Promised Land—assuming he lives that long. However, we’re going to see that eventually Moses’s own struggle with his temper catches up to him.

Here we have another case of the people not having water, and complaining about it. They want Moses to give them some water. So Moses goes to God and asks for water. Now Can someone read Numbers 20:7-12?

7 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 8 Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.

9 So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

God gives Moses very specific instructions. He is to speak to the rock and it will provide water. Moses goes out to his people and you can just tell from how he talks to them that he’s frustrated. He calls them rebels, he’s a little snarky “Shall I get you water from this rock?” And then instead of speaking to the rock, he strikes it with his staff twice.

The water comes, but is that what God told Moses to do? No. He told him very specifically, he was to speak to the rock. This is just one in a line of examples of Moses’ temper getting the better of him, like breaking the stone tablets. So Moses is to be punished too, for disobeying God.

God tells Moses that Moses will not be the one who leads the Israelites in the Promised Land. Moses too will die before the Hebrews reach that place.

In the end, however, God does let Moses look at the Promised Land, just not enter. I need everyone to skip ahead another book of the Bible to Deuteronomy. We’re going to skip to the very last chapter, chapter 34. And I want us to read the whole chapter, so I’ll read it.

34 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. 4 The Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” 5 Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. 6 He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. 7 Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. 8 The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.

9 Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.

10 Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. 11 He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, 12 and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Moses eventually got everyone to the Promised Land, but he himself never got to enter. Moses, who was once a baby in a basket who floated down the Nile, then became Prince of Egypt, then a shepherd, and finally the reluctant leader of Israel. He succeeded in his task, and God let him look upon the land that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had once lived in.

But then it was the next generation’s turn to lead, and Joshua—the new leader of Israel—lead them into Canaan.

And that is the story of Moses.

Moses and the Israelites (Moses Part 6)

Last week we talked about the last plague God sent to Egypt, the death of the firstborns, and we talked about Passover--the Jewish holiday that commemorates this event. After this tenth plague, Pharaoh finally relented and finally let the Hebrews leave Egypt. So today we're going to start with that. Can someone read Exodus 12:37-41?

37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. 38 A mixed crowd also went up with them, and livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds. 39 They baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

40 The time that the Israelites had lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. 41 At the end of four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all the companies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

The Israelites had been in Egypt for 430 years according to these verses. I want us to think about that for a moment. 430 years. How long ago was 430 years from now? 1587. Do you guys know anything about 1587? What the world was like then? Where your ancestors were?

Well let's see,  in 1587 Queen Elizabeth the First was queen of England. In 1587, Shakespear was alive but had not yet written his first play. In 1587 the Pilgrims had not even come to America yet. The Spanish had, I believe. So if you're of Spanish or obviously Native American descent, your ancestors may have been in America. Otherwise, your family hadn't come here yet. They were all living in some other country and probably didn't know America even existed.

Do you guys know the names of any of your ancestors who were alive in 1587? [Let them answer.] Yeah, most people don't unless you're descended from some big name person like the Queen of England. So your family wasn't likely here in 1587. Do you consider yourself American? [Let them answer.]

Why do I bring this up? Because the Hebrews had been in Egypt longer than your families have been here. And yet they didn't consider themselves Egyptian. They never assimilated. Yet it had been the only land they had ever known. The only land their parents, grandparents, great great grandparents and farther back than most of us can remember. And suddenly they are leaving.

So they're greateful to leave this oppression, to not be slaves anymore, but do you think this leaving of the only land they had ever known for generations was maybe a little scary? [Let them answer.]

Yeah. I think they were both happy and terrified. They had no idea what the world outside of Egypt might be like. And they were going to a promised land their families hadn't been to for hundreds of years. While they would have stories of what it was like--the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that we've read--they would have no idea what it's really like. And places can change a lot in 430 years.

And needless to say, they probably didn't have directions on how to get there. We'll see in the next verses how God is going to take care of that. Can someone read Exodus 13:17-22?

17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God thought, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt prepared for battle. 19 And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph who had required a solemn oath of the Israelites, saying, “God will surely take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones with you from here.” 20 They set out from Succoth, and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

There is a couple of things in this section. (1) God is personally picking the path the Hebrews are going in. So it doesn't matter that they don't have the right directions. He doesn't want them to face war so immentently after leaving Egypt, so he picked a more scenic direction. (2) Moses takes Joseph's bones with them out of Egypt. Remember Joseph was the most trusted man in all of Egypt in his day. So his body was probably fairly well preserved. We still have bones of Egyptians from back then, so it's not crazy that they would have access to his tomb and be able to take his remains with them. By taking Joseph's bones, Moses is fulfilling a promise Joseph made the people make, that they would take his remains back home, to his original homeland, the promise land, one day. (3) God led the Israelites with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. A lot of times this is visualized as like a tornado going ahead of them, leading the way.  Don't you think that would have been amazing to see? The Israelites were literally being led by God. Miraculous.

Alright can someone read Exodus 14:5-9?

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” 6 So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; 7 he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

So the Israelites leave and suddenly Pharaoh realizes what he's done. Time has passed since the last plague, and he's without the people who they relied on as slaves. Also the plagues devastated Egypt. Egypt has lost everything: it's crops, it's livestock, it's slaves, and it's firstborn. This is probably the moment in the Pharaoh's grief where he is feeling rage, and all of his rage and anger at losing everything is directed at the people who--from his perspective--caused it. The Israelites. So he and his entire army suits up and goes after them.

Can somsone read Exodus 14:10-14?

10 As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”

So the Israelites see Pharaoh coming--they see this whole army bearing down on them. The Israelites are a lot of people, but they're not an army. They don't have weapons. They have like children in their arms. If Pharaoh comes in on chariots, he will slaughter them.  So they're basically like "OMG WHAT WAS THE POINT? TO FREE US JUST SO WE CAN DIE NOW????" And Moses is like "You guys need to chill. God's got us." And that just might be the understatement of the year. Because what happens next is probably the most famous Biblical miracle. Can someone read Exodus 14:19-22?

19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

The tornado that was leading the Israelites? Suddenly it moves and cuts off the Egyptians from getting to them. They can't get through it, and the Israelites are temporarily safe. But they're backed up to a sea. Moses turns to the sea, stretches out his hand, and God parts the water. He literally parts the water so that they walk on the sea's floor and it is dry, with walls of water around them, like they're walking through a canyon made of water. The Hebrews then walk through this canyon of water to escape the Egyptians.

Now can someone read Exodus 14:23-31?

23 The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Presumably the tornado separating the Egyptians and Hebrews drops, because now the Egyptians pursue them into the water. But then the tornado of fire comes back and send them all into a panic, but it's kinda hard to turn your chariot around in the bottom of a chasm of water. God basically makes their chariot wheels start getting stuck and the like. Then once all the Hebrews are through the water, God has Moses raise his hand again and the sea returns to normal, flooding the Egyptians. The entire army of Pharaoh is drowned.

The Israelites were terrified of this army, but God showed them no one is more powerful than him. Not even teh most powerful army on the face of the planet. Because remember that is what the Egyptians would have been at that time. The most powerful country with the most powerful army in the world. God is stronger than that.

And these Hebrews who believed in the beginning of this story that God wouldn't really be able to free them from slavery, are finally beginning to really believe that God is on their side.

Now the Hebrews are truly free from Egypt. They are not only seperated from Egypt by the Red Sea, but pharaoh's entire pursuing army is dead. They spend most of the next chapter just singing praises to God. They are amazed and they finally believe, they really are God's chosen people.

But things don't stay all hunky dory because the Hebrews, like us, were only human. Can someone read Exodus 15:22-25?

22 Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 He cried out to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he put them to the test.

Three days after they've left the Red Sea, they have not found any water. We've talked about this before: how long can you last without water? [Let them answer.] Three days. So assuming they had canteens and jugs of water they were carrying with them, they are probably still fine but getting worried. Water is something you need easy access to in order to survive. This is why you can get it for free everywhere in America from water fountains in public and most restaurants. No one wants anyone to die from dehydration.

Then they do find water but it's "bitter." That probably means it's salt water, which is not drinkable. If you drink salt water, you will dehydrate faster than you hydrate because of the salt. So the people are worried and they take it to Moses.

And God tells Moses to throw a stick in the water and he makes it drinkable! Yay God is still taking care of them!

Can someone read Exodus 16:2-3?

2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Again we have the same kind of worry as the water. They don't have good and they're afraid they're going to die in the middle of the desert. Do you guys think God is going to take care of this too? [Let them answer.] Well let's see. Can someone read Exodus 16:13-15?

13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat."

God once again provides. In the evenings quails come and cover the camp. Quails are birds, and basically they're kind of like small chickens from a food perspective. So the people would be able to get a quail and cook it, and be satisfied. God also provides them in the morning with a strange substance that the people don't know what it is. Here Moses tells them it is a bread God is providing them. If you look ahead to Exodus 16:31 the Bible says this about this strange food: "The house of Israel called it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made of honey."

Manna. If you ever here someone say "Manna from heaven" this is what they mean. Or sometimes it's used a saying to mean something needed God is miraculously giving you. Whatever manna was it was clearly very delicious and filling.

Now can somsone read Exodus 17:1-6?

17 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Once again water is a concern. Remember they're traveling. And where your water comes from depends on where are you--the nearest lakes or springs or wells. They didn't have hotels they could just check themselves into that had running water. The land provided the water to them. So they become concerned again when they have a couple of days with no water. And they came to Moses and are angry with him. "Give us water!"

Moses is angsty about this. He sees all the stuff God has been providing them and is basically like "Don't you know God will provide?" But the people are just like "YOU BROUGHT US OUT HERE TO DIE."

I think when people read these stories they tend to identify a lot with Moses in this situation, seeing these people are ungrateful and not willing to trust in God. But I think we should be a little more generous than that when we read this story. These people had lived in Egypt their entire lives. In Egypt they had food. They had water. They understood how the world worked. Suddenly there life is like an extended camping trip where every day is a new surprise, a new challenge, a new fear. I think they're like a lot of us when we go camping for the first time. We're used to a life of running water and toilets and suddenly, we're in the wilderness without any of those things. It's very scary to be in the wilderness and be uncertain about where you're going or when you'll get there.

And Moses is impatient with them. Remember Moses never really wanted this job in the first place. He kept trying to get out of it. He didn't want this life. He wanted to stay a shephard in Midian with his wife's people. Instead he's leading this group of needy people who are relying on him. The Hebrews look to Moses and they basically see God. Yes it is God who is providing, but what the people see is Moses lifting his staff to part the Red Sea, Moses throwing a stick in the water to make it sweet, Moses bringing quails and manna.

I think the people are idolizing Moses a little bit. And this next story certainly isn't going to make that any better. Can somsone read Exodus 17:8-16?

8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the sun set. 13 And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner. 16 He said, “A hand upon the banner of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

The Israelites basically run into an army on their travels. And they have to fight them. Here we are introduced to Joshua--who is basically the leader of the Hebrew army, such as it is. Moses tells him to go fight this army and that Moses will watch out for them. And so Joshua does. And when Moses raises his hands, the Hebrews begin to win! When his hands fall because he is tired, they begin to lose. So Aaron and another guy basically prop him up so his hands stay up.

This basically makes it seem like--to the Israelites--that Moses is magical. We know God is just using Moses, but from their perspective, they've never like actually seen God. They've only seen Moses come and promise he would save them. Moses raise his staff to bring about plagues. Moses find them water. Moses get them food. Moses save them from this army. And I think that explains what happens next.

Moses leads the people to a mountain called Sinai, which Moses climbs to go talk to God. We're going to study what goes on between Moses and God on this mountain next week. But basically Moses goes up there and disappears for several days.

Up until this point the people have been wholy relying on Moses. So when he disappears. They don't really take it well. Can someone read Exodus 32:1-6?

32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” 6 They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

Moses doesn't come down in a timely fashion and people freak out. They basically ask Aaron to make them a new god and he does! Aaron, Moses' own brother, who should know better than anyone. Why? After everything God has done for them! After everything they have seen. Why are they doubting God?

Well I think it's because they didn't really believe, not really. They didn't see it as God providing them, they say it as Moses providing for them. They saw Moses as god. So when Moses went missing, god went missing. And suddenly here they were, in the wilderness, alone, without their god. So they wanted something else to idolize, something else to believe in in the place of Moses. So they made a golden calf, something they knew wasn't really a god. Something they made with their own hands. But they were scared and alone.

I think people do this all the time. I think we think we're believing in God sometimes, but really we're believing in a stand-in for God. That thing can be our pastor, our parents, a teacher, a friend, or any numerous things. We think "God doesn't talk to me. God only talks to them." And so we listen to that person's words more closely, and don't listen for God ourselves. And we make that person sort of like God to us. And when we lose that person, it can be devastating. Suddenly we don't know how to hear God, because that person was the only way we had to connect to God, or so we thought.

But while Moses left the Israelites, did God? [Let them answer.] No! God can be everywhere and with all of us. He can speak to each one of us. There isn't one special perosn that only hears God. There wasn't even back then. Aaron had heard God speak, God had come to him in dreams and spoken to him. And yet he too doubted, putting more faith in Moses.

You don't need someone else to act between you and God. You can go to him directly. And if you lose someone close to you who kept you accountable and near God--whether through that person moving or leaving or dying--that doesn't mean you lose God. You can still stay with God. You can have your own personal relationship with God, and you don't need to rely on anyone--your parents, your pastor, or your teacher--for that.

And we're going to stop here this week. Next week we'll talk about what exactly did happen with Moses on that mountain and how he reacts when he comes down and sees what has happened.