Recap
6 covering chapters 15 to 18
This
is a synopsis of the second four chapter group that form Part 3. (If
you click on any of he chapter headings they will take you to that
chapter)
A.
Overview:
Chapter
15 God versus a Tyrant (1)
15.1
Setting the Scene: Putting Egypt in context
15.2
The Call of Moses
15.3
Approaching Pharaoh: The opening gambits
15.4
The Start of the Plagues
15.5
Half-way Reflections
15.6
Some Temporary Conclusions
Chapter
16 God versus a Tyrant (2)
16.1
The Plagues Continue
16.2
Reviewing the Plagues: reviewing the gradual build up
16.2
The Final Plague
16.4
The Last Stage: Pharaoh's final folly
16.5
Concluding Thoughts
Chapter
17 Israel in the Desert Pre-Sinai
17.2
Observing the Context
17.3
Recapping Discipline, Correction & Judgment
17.4
Israel
in
the Wilderness prior to Sinai
17.5
At Sinai
17.6
To Summarise
Chapter
18 Israel in the Desert Post Sinai
18.1
Where we are
18.2
The Failure at Sinai
18.3
Moving on from Sinai
18.4
Summary
18.5
Conclusions
B.
Detail
Chapter
15 God versus a Tyrant (1)
The
end conclusion of God's activity with Egypt
was a large number of dead bodies.
The end conclusion of God's dealing with Pharaoh was the death of
Pharaoh and of his army. Were such acts just? Were they acts of a
God who described as love'
The
account begins with Moses a failure who God calls to lead Israel
out of slavery in Egypt
.
God's
plan is quite specific to challenge Pharaoh who will harden his
already hard heart and to keep on doing it until the climax. Pharaoh
will reveal his pride and stupid stubbornness.
The
plagues' come in very gradual but increasing intensity. Every opportunity
is given to Pharaoh to relent and let Israel
go. The hard slave master (and
we mustn't forget he is this) will not be told.
During
the course of what happens it becomes clear that Egypt
is steeped in occult practices
and superstitious fear.
God's
knowledge of the future is made clear together with His sovereign
power which cannot be resisted but so also is His grace which allows
Pharaoh and Egypt
to have time to reflect on what is happening and come to their senses.
That they refuse to do this merely shows the stupidity of pride and
the power of the occult to enslave.
Chapter
16 God versus a Tyrant (2)
The
gradual rolling out of the plagues continues, accentuating what we
saw in the previous chapter.
Eventually,
after NINE previous clear warnings and now a tenth verbal warning,
the death of the first born of Egypt
occurs and Israel
are released. Nevertheless Pharaoh
then chases Israel
and dies in the midst of the Red
Sea . It is a testimony to the
grace of God and the crass stupidity of mankind.
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Chapter
17 Israel in the Desert Pre-Sinai
The
complaint, if there is one, will be about God's harsh dealings with
the embryonic nation. Is the God who hands out death to this nation
be a God of love, especially when it is His own people. Doesn't it
leave Israel
wishing they were not His people? Didn't God say Israel
would be His treasured possession?
Are his actions in dealing with Israel
compatible with that description?
Israel
were, in a measure, ignorant
about the Lord, yet they had much knowledge of Him through His dealings
with the Patriarchs. They also had the knowledge of all that had happened
so recently in their deliverance out of Egypt
. Most importantly they also
had visible signs of His presence with them all the time. For these
reasons they had no excuses for their behaviour.
Nevertheless,
SIX times before arriving at Mount
Sinai there is grumbling about
their condition, grumbling against God and grumbling against Moses.
What is amazing is that God brings no form of judgment against them
and instead just blesses them with miraculous provision.
At
Mount Sinai
they have an amazing experience of the Lord meeting with them.
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Chapter
18 Israel in the Desert Post Sinai
The
incredible experience of the Lord that they have at Mount
Sinai makes the failure that
follows, in respect of the Golden Calf all the more terrible. The
judgment instituted is first of all human, and then divine. It is
a very restrained judgment, with only a relatively small number of
the population dying. It is a declaration, that now they have entered
into a covenant relationship with God whereby they have promised to
follow His design laws, and stick with Him, He will hold them to that
and will take action death if need be to keep the nation on the
right track.
Despite
this, in the weeks following, on their way from Sinai to the border
of the Promised Land, they grumble another eight times. This time,
God holds them accountable they should know better and so He takes
corrective or remedial action in each case to limit what is happening.
Even
when Israel
refuse to enter the Promised Land, the Lord kills no one. He simply
consigns them to forty years of abiding by their own decision, until
all the people over the age of twenty have passed away, when the next
generation can enter in. It is a remarkably restrained response.
Again
and again, although there is willful rebellion against the Lord, the
judgments are remarkably restrained. Most of the nation were not affected
by them.
C.
And So?
These
four chapters are examples of the restraint of God. We may object
to the fact of people dying, but the overall picture reveals a God
who holds back His hand again and again.
In
the case of Pharaoh, he could have judged the nation from the outset
and destroyed the entire nation by plague, but instead we see a series
of gradual warnings that only a fool would ignore.
in
the case of Israel
in the wilderness, the embryonic nation, before Sinai, are treated
almost with a gentleness and nothing bad is brought against their
grumbling. After Sinai, after they have had a unique experience of
God, in the face of their ongoing disobedience and grumbling the judgments
that do come are limited to those closest to the heart of the rebellion
mostly and the vast majority of the nation is untouched. It is a time
of learning, but their Teacher is remarkable in respect of the restraint
He shows when dealing with them. It could have been ten times worse
but it wasn't!