Exodus 37-40: And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age

1.  The construction of the Tabernacle (con’d) (Exodus 37-39)

2.  The Tabernacle Erected (Exodus 40)

3.  Conclusion and re-cap of the 2nd Book of Moses

1.  The construction of the Tabernacle (con’d) (Exodus 37-39)

Exodus 37-39 sees a direct obedience of the people to the LORD’s instructions to Moses.  Here especially is the extent of the freewill offering of the people mentioned in Exodus 38:21-31:

21These are the records of the tabernacle,^(L) the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were recorded at the commandment of Moses, the responsibility of the Levites^(M) under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 22^(N) Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses; 23and with him was^(O) Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.

24All the gold that was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering, was twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels,^[e] by^(P) the shekel of the sanctuary. 25The silver from those of the congregation who were recorded was a hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary: 26a^(Q) beka^[f] a head (that is, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone who was listed in the records, from twenty years old and upward, for^(R) 603,550 men. 27The hundred talents of silver were for casting the^(S) bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil; a hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent a base. 28And of the 1,775 shekels he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their capitals and made fillets for them. 29The bronze that was offered was seventy talents and 2,400 shekels; 30with it he made the^(T) bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting,^(U) the bronze altar and the bronze grating for it and all the utensils of the altar, 31the^(V) bases around the court, and the^(W) bases of the gate of the court, all the^(X) pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court.

First and foremost is the active participation of the responsibility of the Levites, who have not succumbed to the violent unchristian behaviour which would have plagued their future (c.f. Genesis 48-50 with Jacob’s ‘blessings’) if they did not repent and display their allegiance to God by the slaying of the 3000).  Ithamar (“land of palms”) is Aaron’s youngest son (Exodus 6:23) and he is responsible for the actions of the Levites.  I find this quite odd: why aren’t Aaron’s two elder sons present?  Perhaps this is indicative of their relationship with God.  Nadab and Abihu may have contributed somewhat to the making of the Tabernacle, but being the two eldest sons who actually dined with God, it is disappointing that their obedience is not even mentioned in Scripture.  This may be prophetic of the reason why they were destroyed later on (Leviticus 10:1).

The financial value of the free-will offering

Secondly of course is the offering given in v.24-31.  The amount is not small – William Brown had this to say about the value of the sockets for the silver foundation of the Tabernacle itself (100 silver sockets):

“Each socket weighed a talent (Exodus 38:27), equal to 1500 oz., worth, when the silver was raised for the foundation, at least 400 GBP (British pounds), so that the value of the hundred was not less than 40,000 GBP… [then, in reference to the price which the Israelite men paid (Exodus 30:13)]… When all the pretty glittering coins were counted, it was found they numbered 603,550, being the same as the number of men (Num 1:46), showing that every man paid his ransom money.  The 603,550 half shekels, divided by 6000, the number of half shekels in a talent, show that the total amount in talents was 100 talents, and 1775 shekels (or 7/12ths of a talent).  This summation exactly agrees with that of the sacred historian”

He goes on to speak of the significance of the historical accuracy of the detail given and the symbolism provided by it under the subtitle “Christ the Church’s Sure Foundation” in his chapter “The Silver Foundation”:

“The beautiful shining foundation made of the ransom silver, worth forty thousand pounds sterling, constituted a very costly basis, from which our thoughts not unnaturally rise to an infinitely more valuable one, even to Him “who gave Himself a ransom for all”.  Prophets and apostles alike testify that He is the sure foundation on which the spiritual edifice rests.  Had the sockets not been made of the atonement money as commanded (Exodus 30:16; 38:27), but of some other material, God certainly would not have acknowledged the tabernacle as His palace-temple.  He never would have enthroned Himself in visible symbol on the mercy seat.  In like manner, those who substitute their own good works, or anything else, in the room of the Redeemer, on which to build their hope of salvation, are building on the sand, and cannot form a part of that building which is an “habitation of God through the Spirit,” for “other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Christ Jesus”.  Rest, then, on Him, and on Him alone, and your hope will be founded on Rock that will never fail you, and you will be one of the living stones of the great spiritual temple, and He who dwelt between the cherubim will dwell in you, and be your God.”

That, however, is just the silver foundation, and what great symbolism this foundation provided.  Only men were allowed to bring silver, and this re-inforces not sexism, but the headship of man over the woman, and the role of man in relation to his church.  The church is sanctified by the head – and so the salvation is provided symbolically through man, so to preach the message of Christ the man blessing his bride, the church.

What of the gold offering?  This is the offering contributed to making the golden walls of the tabernacle (Exodus 38:24), 3000 GBP worth of gold used in covering one board of the tabernacle – and in covering them ALL would be 144,000 GBP.  The entire gold offering weighed 29 talents and 730 shekels – equal to 43,865 ounces.  Thus, the approximate value of gifts for the tabernacle, including the gold (this is a table taken from Brown’s work):

Gold – 184,344 GBP

Silver – ~17,603 GBP

Brass – ~331 GBP

Probable higher price of the precious metals at the time of the Exodus – (an additional) 50,000 GBP

Grand Total:  252,168 GBP (by William Brown’s time; when his book on the tabernacle was written, it was 1899.  If you can figure out the exchange rate of 1 GBP to whatever currency you feel most comfortable working in to the exchange rate of that today, then the tabernacle may have costed at least 1 million GBP by today’s standard.  This, however, doesn’t include the value of the other voluntary offerings and needful materials, and as Brown stated, it would be quite safe to round the original figure from 252,168 GBP to 300,000 GBP by the 1899 exchange rate standard.

And no doubt, these various colourful, and beautiful materials contributed in a variety of ways: from one, which is the finances spent on the tabernacle is sufficient to magnify what the woman with the alabaster flask did with the expensive ointment (Matthew 26:7) – it is an act of reverence, faith, and acknowledgement of the divinity of the Son of Man by contributing this amount of money towards the building of the tabernacle.  It isn’t a financial stress; but it is a worshipful privilege to partake in the theatre of God’s glory.  The gold gilded boards must have shone majestically as they stood on the ransom silver, and like the Christians who rest on our ransom silver symbolised by Christ the man, we too will shine with unfading glory and holiness represented by the gold.

The tenons and sockets at the foot of every board of the tabernacle takes hold of two atonement money sockets, and the sockets in their turn took hold of the boards firmly.  Our faith is like the board hands, since it is by faith that we can even cling onto our ransom money Christ; yet the perfecter and founder of our faith is Christ himself (Hebrews 12), and his love will never depart us like the clinging of these tenons and sockets (Romans 8:38 ).  The golden bars encircle the boards and helped (along with the silver sockets) to support them, representing the arms of God which protect and support His children; and the pillars mentioned so often are also strong supports of the tabernacle, helping to sustain the roof, and the veils were suspended from them.  This is what Revelation 3:12 has to say about the representation of the pillars:

12^(A) The one who conquers, I will make him^(B) a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him^(C) the name of my God, and^(D) the name of the city of my God,^(E) the new Jerusalem,^(F) which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

So also, let us conquer in His name, let us conquer by His grace, let us conquer and become a pillar in His temple and partake in the brightness and glory which the tabernacle materials are only shadows of.

2.  The Tabernacle Erected (Exodus 40)

There are a few things to question in this final chapter of Exodus:

(a)  Why is the Tabernacle set up on the first day of the first month (v.1-2)?

This being the beginning of the new year, it is a sign of the tabernacle pointing towards a renewed start, a new creation being realistically filled with the glory of God (but symbolically shown by the Shekinah glory dwelling in the Tabernacle).

(b)  What is the meaning of the arrangement in v.3-5?

Again, as covered in the post covering the three Tabernacle furniture representing that of the Trinity, the focus on the veil is mentioned in v.3.  Immediately after the ark of the testimony is placed within the Most Holy Place, the next thing is not to bring in the table of shewbread, nor golden lampstand.  Rather, it is to bring in the veil; that is the status which we are at now, as the glory of the Living God is too great for us to bear.  The veil is to show symbolically how his holiness would destroy sinful humans; so the veil, like the flaming sword preventing the way to the tree of life, is for our own safety.  If, while being in the sinful state, we ate from the tree of life or entered the Most Holy Place, then we would be destroyed.

(c)  What is the significant ‘phrase’ of the final verses of Exodus 40 (v.17-32)?

The refrain is “as the LORD (had) commanded Moses” (v.16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31).  Moses did according to the LORD’s commandments: this is true, humble obedience essential to enforcing the typology of Moses and Aaron and his sons (v.31) acting as prototypes of Jesus, the one man whose obedience is unrivalled (as opposed to the Catholic overly-exaggerated view of Mary’s obedience).

(d)  The cloud of the LORD on the tabernacle by day, and pillar of fire by night throughout all their journeys (v.34-38 )?

The entire verse 34-38:

34Then^(BW) the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and^(BX) the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36Throughout all their journeys,^(BY) whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. 37But^(BZ) if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

I find these verses exciting, and helps to substantiate the new creation forward-looking faith.  The end of Exodus points towards the glory of the LORD, of the Shekinah resting and guiding the Israelites throughout all their journeys.  The ironic thing is the number of times the Tabernacle or the Temple is neglected throughout the rest of the Old Testament.  The final verse, v. 38, seems to be sarcastic.  Was the cloud of the LORD with them throughout all their journeys?  No – but that is because all of what has been spoken of is merely prophetic and symbolic of the greater thing to come and fulfill the meanings of these shadows.

3.  Conclusion and re-cap of the 2nd Book of Moses

So let’s quickly recap the entire book of Exodus.

Chapter 1-2: speaks of Moses’ typological birth after 400 years of silence, akin to that of Christ, during a time of persecution and death of Hebrew babies due to a sinful authority who is powerful over the land.  Moses is made an outcast, just as Jesus was an outcast (Hebrews 13:13).  During this time, Israel was groaning, as Israel was also groaning during the New Testament gospel period.

Chapters 3-11: speaks of Moses meeting with the Angel, and the Angel, Christ, promising the Israelites that the Exodus is in fulfillment of a prophecy made many hundreds of years ago, and their temporary Saviour is displayed typologically through Moses.  However, it is constantly re-stated that it is the Angel who brought the Israelites out of Egypt, not Moses (nor God the Father).  Moses returns to bring the people out of Egypt, just as Jesus was called to Egypt and desires to provide the spiritual exodus to the New Creation just as all of mankind have been waiting for (Genesis 3:15) the foundational Messianic moment in history.  The plagues speak prophetically of the plagues in Revelation, pointing again to the shadowy and prophetic nature of the events at Exodus, merely witnessing to the future global destruction by these plagues (rather than local, Egyptian destructions).

Chapters 12-15: the great exodus begins with the Passover representing the death of the firstborn son of God, Jesus Christ, through whom we live through the global fiery punishment symbolised by the crashing of the 2-walled waters (a testament of the preaching of the gospel through day 2 of creation) at the Red Sea.  Chapter 15 responds to these trials with song and praise, sung in the face of the Israelites’ enemies.

Chapter 16-18: speaks of the struggles which Israel faces regardless of the salvation, because their journey until the promised land will be filled with trials.  Yet, our trials will be fought for us by the power of the cross on the holy hill symbolised by Moses’ stretching of hands and his staff on the hill, and fought by Christ, the true Yeshua of the prophetic name of God in Joshua/Yeshua in chapter 17.  Amalek is caricatured as the enemy whom we struggle against in our daily struggles as a Christian.  The management of the Israelite church is needed given the huge and growing numbers of Christians according to Jethro’s advice, and the biggest cell-group system is established… and increasingly growing.

Chapter 19-31: prophetically symbolised the meeting of the Son and the Father on the third day after they arrive at Mt. Sinai, and the dining with the Son, the Seen God sent from the Unseen God is symbolic of the wedding day feast when the LORD will come down from heaven to eat with us (when New heavens and earth are joined, and the dividing curtain is destroyed).  Yet, the laws spoken of in these chapters are shadows and only work to reveal the sin in our hearts and the laws only work to display God’s holiness, and aiding us in turning our view from ourselves to Jesus Christ’s righteousness.  This is the reason why the law is limited to the physical Canaan.

Chapter 32-34:  the golden calf incident displays the Israelite’s ease in idol-worshipping in the time of trial for the 40 days and 40 nights while Moses is in the thickness of the clouds.  Moses returns (non-transfigured) and smashes the two tablets of the 10 words; and 3000 were taken from the church on that day by the Levites contrary to the 3000 added on the Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection (Acts 2).  Yet, God now tells the Israelites to leave Sinai, leaving the place where they heard the commandments from the Father, but the new tablets take away the focus on the physical land of Canaan.  The older tablets served as the older Old Testament system of the law which pointed towards Christ; the newer system pointed to the gospel, the spiritual life which the law pointed towards, which explains the lack of focus on physical Canaan.  On this note, the covenant between God and Israel is renewed, resulting also in the ‘transfiguration’ or the shining face of Moses.  Such is the true glory of the second, not the first, set of tablets.

Chapter 35-40:  Exodus ends on the obedience of the people, filled with the Holy Spirit, in response to the mighty instructions given from the mountain of God and in response to the second set of tablets.  The old set elicited insufficient response and only a few obeyed the truth of the older tablets as pointing to Christ; but the new tablets and the ‘transfiguration’ of Moses pointed almost the entire congregation to Jesus Christ as displayed by their sudden obedience.

Thus, chapters 19-40 work to become a blue-print of the future; the Exodus of the Christians when they come to embrace the blood of their Passover Lamb, symbolised further by the meeting of the Son and the Father on the Third Day when the work on the cross is complete.  We, as Christians, are then filled with the Spirit after acknowleding Christ’s reconciliatory propitiation of sins and are equipped to worship and evangelise through whatever means, symbolised by the finances given to the building of the tabernacle, the detailed temple and body of Christ Jesus.  So chapter 40 ends on a positive note, much like that of Genesis 50.  Both looked forward to God’s fulfillment of his promise and his covenant by his faithfulness (Romans 3:4) – yet the fulfillment is yet to come and until then, we continue to contribute more free-will offerings to the tabernacle, the church of God, by the power of the Spirit until the day when the Shekinah glory will reside with us for all of eternity.

Final words from Brown on the materials:

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy temple in the LORD; in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Exodus 31-33: The 10 words destroyed (pt. 1)

1.  The Filling of the Holy Spirit (Exodus 31:1-11)

2.  Sabbath (Exodus 31:12-18 )

3.  The Golden Calf (Exodus 32)

4.  Leaving Sinai – marks of the Holy Trinity (Exodus 33)

1.  The Filling of the Holy Spirit (Exodus 31:1-11)

Now, we see two specific mentioned; one of whom is specifically filled with the Spirit of God.  Bezalel (“in the shadow (protection) of God”) from the line of Judah was given the ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, working in gold, silver and bronze.

Oholiab (“the father’s tent”) contrarily, from the line of Dan, is appointed as Bezalel’s helper.

Then in v.6:  “…And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you…”

Why were Bezalel, from the line of Judah, and the Danite Oholiab specifically mentioned?  I’d like to hear your say on them: perhaps something to do with the scepter not departing from Judah, and justice coming from the tribe of Dan?  He who is in the protection of God, in the line of Judah vs. he who is in the father’s tent (i.e. the Father, 1st person of the Trinity) in the line of Dan?

I’d like to focus on another aspect: which is the mentioning of the Spirit filling someone specifically for the first time in Scripture (v.3).  What is the meaning of this?  Many people have decidedly interpreted John 8 that the Spirit is only given in part to the Old Testament saints, but there is no evidence of the Spirit dwelling within Bezalel, let alone (as v.6 says) all the able men who were also given the ability.  Can we be filled with the Spirit of God, without the indwelling of the Spirit?  Must we differentiate technical categories of illumination, regeneration, indwelling salvation, sanctification/filling of the Spirit?  Perhaps these distinctions are akin to the three-fold distinction of the Levitical law: completely trivial.

But this is not the first time the Spirit of God is in someone – look at Genesis 41:37-38 – The Spirit of God is in Joseph.  Numbers 27:18 – the Spirit of God is in Joshua.  Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, but this happens many times throughout the Old Testament, prior to the giving of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost.  But how do you reconcile that with John 7:37-39?  The Spirit is not yet given, as Jesus was not yet glorified!  Did Jesus contradict himself?

The problem is that people actually have a misinterpretation of John 7:33-39 – many think it refers to a different way of salvation; as if Christians are sealed with the Holy Spirit in the New Testament (post-Pentecostal age), and OT saints were saved differently.  But we have always had one mediator, Christ (1 Timothy 2:5); and only one mystery.

The Mystery of God

Some people think the “Mystery” refers to the Holy Spirit, but not really.  Dev has written a good post on the ‘mystery’, but here is my quick summary of his “quick” summary:  Ephesians 3:2-6 and Colossians 1:25-27, just two small examples, show that Paul’s explanation of the mystery as the inclusion of all nations within the blessings of Israel.  The revelation therefore isn’t the sudden arrival of the Holy Spirit (since he is so active in the OT), but the extension of His work to all nations.  The mystery is the global inter-racial church of both Jews and Gentiles.  That is the symbolism of Jonah 3-4; only after the sign of Jonah, the 3 days in death, resurrection and ascension, can Jonah then preach directly to a Gentile nation.  The response is national-scale salvation for Nineveh: but this story is prophetic of the necessity of Christ’s glorification for the Spirit to be given to the Gentiles as well.

So if we come back to John 7:33-39:  the Jews were actually concerned that Jesus is about to go and teach the Gentiles, but Jesus’ response affirms that the gospel is not just for the physical Israelite nation.  Anyone and everyone who comes to Him will receive the Holy Spirit; but AFTER he has been glorified (i.e. which is a direct reference to the cross John 12:23,34; 17:5), then the dividing curtain between the Jews and the Gentiles is destroyed.  Only then can the Spirit be given to anyone and everyone who believes on Him.  Only after the sign of Jonah, after the sign of the cross, can Nineveh be saved.  Jonah was a prophet unheard of in his time; no other prophet went out to evangelise to other nations.  Jesus was a prophet, priest and king unheard of in his time – yet he affirmed that this is the sign and meaning of Jonah’s minsitry.

The division between the indwelling and the filling of the Spirit is not yet laid at rest, because we haven’t considered comparing the difference between the ways the Spirit worked in the Old and in the New Testament; but the passages of 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 2; Jonah 3-4; John 7:33-39 point not to the Spirit given to the Jews only in the New Testament.  The Jews were already partakers of the gifts of the Old Testament, and the mystery of the New Testament fulfilled is the inclusion of the Gentiles in a different way from the OT (e.g. Rahab had to be assimilated into the Israelite community; but we don’t assimilate ourselves into the Israelite community today).  If the mystery is simply that of the inclusion of Gentiles, then that means the Gentiles are given the same gifts of salvation through the Spirit in the same way the OT saints have been enjoying all along.  This means that effectively, just as we are sealed and have the Spirit indwelling in us – so also the OT saints are possibly sealed by the Spirit, and He is indwelling in them.  We will come back to the Holy Spirit in the next post on chapters 34 onwards.

2.  Sabbath (Exodus 31:12-18 )

16Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17^(U) It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that^(V) in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and^(W) on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'”

God has repeated the significance of the Sabbath a number of 11 times between after the salvation of the Jews until now.  Clearly, this is quite important – and v. 17 etches it into their heads – it is a sign forever between me and the people of “the-God-who-fights”.  And how does God justify that model of the Sabbath?  Again, it is found in the model of creation, which is sufficient in preaching the gospel in itself.  Not observing the Sabbath will result in death; and this crime is therefore seen as heinous as that of intentional murder, and striking one’s parents.  There is a link between these heavy-sins – and it has nothing to do with the Catholic response to ‘grave’ or ‘mortal’ sins by HOW we repents.  Rather, these heavy-sins have something to do with a characteristic of God; and the Sabbath, like the respecting of one’s parents, are facets of the highest representation of God’s personality.  As I’ve stated, Sabbath represents our time in new Jerusalem where our time of rest (Genesis 2:15) in Paradise is restored and renewed.  If we forget the meaning of Sabbath, then we forget our purpose on earth; we thrive in the curse of God to toil on this earth, but God is deliberately pulling us away from that idolatrous mindset.

3.  The Golden Calf (Exodus 32)

The irony of this chapter is how quick the Israelites forgot about the LORD; especially the elders and those who ate with the LORD on the mountain of God – how is this possible?  And why does this terrible and infamous incident occur between the instructions of the tabernacle and the building of the tabernacle?

And in this period of testing, of 40 days and 40 night – the people wavered.  They had problems in waiting for Moses to come down, in the same way we have problems with waiting for Christ to return.  v.1 is very interesting: “Up, make us gods who shall go before us.” Why gods?  I think this has very much to do with the fact that they are faced with Two LORDS, the Angel and the Unseen Father; and one Spirit, thus numerically three Persons in the Triune God.

v.2-6 display a use of the gold which should have been used to build the Tabernacle with.  Instead, the gold is taken to create for themselves gods.  God makes clear that there is one golden calf (v.8 ), but the people are saying “these are your gods”. Clearly, there is a misunderstanding of some sort – but this is also a depiction of their understanding of Triune Oneness.  There may be one calf, but there are gods.  There may be one God, but THREE Persons.  However far this analogy can go, their golden calf is a perversion of the Three-in-Oneness of our God.

v.11-14 is very important: Moses asks God to remember the covenant between Him and their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, Israel, His servants.  Moses does not say: “Look at what we have done!  Look at our faithfulness!  Look at the signs which we kept!” – rather, he says “Remember what you promised us”.  Salvation is from the LORD, and only the LORD need remember what he has promised the Israelites.

Then comes v.19 – Moses threw the two tablets with the 10 words on them and broke them at the foot of the mountain.  Is he insane?  Does he not value the 10 words written by the finger of God?  Of course not – the significance of the breaking of the two tablets at the foot of the mountain is significant in the context of Moses’ righteous anger against the idolatrous Israelites.  Why did he break the tablets?  We’ll come to answer that in the next post when Moses receives two new tablets. The saddest thing of this ordeal, along with their idolatrous relationship with the idol outside of God, is that their evangelistic attempt to be a holy priesthood and a witness for all nations is crippled by this event, Exodus 32:25:

25And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose,^(AH) to the derision of their enemies)

The enemies derided them; how much better would it have been if they remained loyal and faithful?  Indeed, salvation is of the LORD, but our interference and disobedience will lessen the credibility of the gospel given their lack of faith displayed by worshiping a golden calf.

Just three other things to quickly note in this chapter before coming back to that point of receiving 4 tablets in total in the next post:

(a)  Aaron’s nature to blame inherits that of Adam:  v.22-24 – “You know the people, that they are set on evil.  23  For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us…24… So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf‘.  Firstly, the ridiculous logic of Aaron’s argument – did he not realise that Moses is spending time with the LORD?  Wasn’t Aaron meant to be Moses’ aide?  Instead, he sided with many and perverted justice (Exodus 23:2).  Secondly, how can a calf just come out of a fire refining gold, unless the calf was carefully sculpted?  Adam also said the same thing to God:  ‘it was the woman whom “YOU” gave me that led me to sin’.  How easy it is to place our blame on others.

(b)  Why did they create a golden calf of all creatures?  Ezekiel 1:10 – we see that the spiritual creatures have four faces: a lion, eagle, man and a bull.  Ezekiel 10:14 – again, the four faces appear but there is an alteration in the terminology: a lion, eagle, man and a cherub.  Ezekiel is referring to the same creature, but cherub and bull is interchangeable here.  It is likely that the face of a cherub is akin to the face of a bull, and this may help us understand why some world religions/cultures worship the calf because some divine creatures resemble bulls (i.e. Hindus who regard the cow as a sacred animal), or treat the calf as a sacred animal.  If Satan, as explained in Ezekiel 28 is a guardian cherub, then it is possible that the worship of the calf is a form of Satan-worship, explaining the LORD and Moses’ righteous anger.

(c)  v.26 speaks of the sons of Levi gathering around to kill three thousand men of the people (v.28 ).  Why this, and how is this related to their consequent ordination (v.29)?  Firstly, we should understand that this is the 50th day after Israel reached Sinai.  After reaching Sinai, they waited three days at the prompting of Christ, the Angel, to wait for the Father to descend to the top of the mountain of God.  Then Moses waited another 7 days before he spent another 40 days and 40 nights with the LORD (Exodus 19 and 24).  That totals to 50 days.

The sign of the third day and Jesus and the Father meeting on the third day is a prototypical display of Jesus’ victory over sin at the cross.  At the Pentecost, in Acts 2, 50 days after Jesus’ victory over sin at the cross, the LORD shook the earth and sent fire and the mighty Spirit to both Jews and Gentiles.  This is why in Acts 2:41, “3000 were added to their number that day”.  This is in direct contrast to the 50th day event here: the Levites ‘celebrated’ their Pentecost with the slaughter of 3000 as a sign of judgment; but the Christian disciples celebrated their Pentecost post-ascension with the addition of 3000 to the church of Christ, as a sign of salvation.  If you would (also notice, it is 50 days after which they left Egypt that Moses meets with the two Lords on Mount Sinai; and another 50 days before the 3000 were taken away by the Levites).  Any connection between the two sets of 50 days?

4.  Leaving Sinai: marks of the Holy Trinity (Exodus 33)

Remember throughout this chapter and previous chapters the fundament of Deuteronomy 4:12 – “no form” was seen, although this is the voice of the Yahweh-Person.  The GOD in the thick darkness is never seen – but then later, in v.7-11, Moses meets the LORD face to face as a man speaks to his friend in a tent pitched at the bottom of the mountain.  This is the seen Lord!  (v.9-11). Most importantly, note how Joshua/Yeshua, the son of Nun, remains in the tent when Moses turns to the Israelite church.

But Moses wants more than seeing the seen Lord face-to-face – he wants to also see the Unseen LORD, the Unseen Father!  But the Unseen LORD explains some very specific things: v.14 states that the LORD is happy for his presence (i.e. Christ, as explained in earlier posts) to go with them, but (v.19-23):

19…he said,^(CX) “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And^(CY) I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for^(CZ) man shall not see me and live.” 21And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22and while my glory passes by I will put you in a^(DA) cleft of the rock, and I will^(DB) cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall^(DC) not be seen.”

So v.20 solidifies that this is the Unseen Father speaking to Moses; and the Unseen Father wishes to reveal his backside to Moses, but only if Moses hides inside a cleft of a rock.  So also, when we hide inside the cleft of the Rock of Ages (Psalm 18:12) will we even bear the real existence of being before the Father, but that rock which Moses hid in is just a shadow of the true Rock which will completely cover us with His righteousness:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure. – hymn “Rock of Ages” by Augustus Montague Toplady on Moses hiding in the cleft of the rock

So Moses is not rejected by the end of this chapter; rather, he is already encouraged that the Father’s ‘presence’, in whom is the proclamation of the name “the LORD” (v.19), is already a sufficient goodness to reflect the Father’s glory.  But, as it still stands, v.20 shows that we cannot live if we meet with him face to face.  Which is why we must rely on the Angel whose name is “the LORD”; we must rely on God’s presence who will go with Moses; we must rely on the rock of ages cleft for us – and only through this mediator (1 Timothy 2:5) can we even come to meet the Father who resides in the Holy of Holies.

Conclusion

There are again marks of prophecy not only in these three chapters, but in the mysteriousness of why this incident of the golden calf occured in between the instructions and the making of the tablets; why the first set of tablets were destroyed and the meaning of the changes in the second tablets (as we will later see in the next post); why there are signs and allusions to the Pentecost (i.e. 50 days after leaving Egypt; 50 days after arriving at Sinai; 3 days waiting period vs. 7 days waiting period; 40 days and 40 nights of testing for those waiting at the bottom of the mountain) – and in general how this, like Abraham’s early actions by travelling in and around Canaan is a blueprint of the future.  I will try to wrap these points up in the next post.

Exodus 22-24: The law and the gospel

1.  Restitution – the Penal Substitution on the cross (Exodus 21:33-Exodus 22:16) – commandments 6 (murder) and 8 (stealing)

2.  Social Justice – God’s responsibility (Exodus 22:16-31) (a mixture of commandments 7 (adultery), commandment 2 (no other god and loving those who love him), commandment 8 (stealing), commandment 1 (I am the God who saved you out of Egypt)…

3.  No False Report (Exodus 23:1-9) – commandment 9 (do not bear false witness)

4.  Eating with God (Exodus 24)

1.  Restitution – the Penal Judgment on the cross (Exodus 21:33-Exodus 22:16) – commandments 6 (murder) and 8 (stealing)

The last bits of Exodus 21:33-36 thus goes on to explain God’s character, and his methods of shattering the idols in our minds by going into the most intricate detail of His law.

This includes the detail of opening a pit (in Hebrew “bowr” which means cistern, but commonly used term for prison/dungeon); there is restitution for that as well.  We understand that God himself had made a dungeon, his own ‘pit’ where he holds the fallen angels.  He himself is responsible for this duty; similarly, if a man opens a pit (v.33) – he needs to be responsible for what goes in or comes out.  God is, on a macro-level, in charge of the eternal pit.

v.35-36 maintains man’s rule over animals – “if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past” – and it is of course up to the man to regulate the animal’s character; and as the animal, as the beast’s master, anything done by the beast shall be repaid by the master, not the beast himself.  This is perhaps something quite different from how men restores things for themselves and for their beasts, whereas beasts clearly have no power to repay anything.

Exodus 22 begins on an interesting note: if a man steals an ox/sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox.  Amazing!  He is to give back more.  Just as Jesus taught the disciples to forgive seventy times seven more, so also the man is taught about grace through restitution.  v.3-4 continues this theme of graceful restitution – from selling oneself if the bloodguilt is on the murderer of the thief in broad daylight; to providing double for a stolen possession (v.4); to making restitution from the best in his own field and vineyard (v.5)… full restitution (v.6) if not more is required in many circumstances.

2.  Social Justice – God’s responsibility (Exodus 22:16-31) (a mixture of commandments 7 (adultery), commandment 2 (no other god and loving those who love him), commandment 8 (stealing), commandment 1 (I am the God who saved you out of Egypt)…

Now, the commandments get increasingly mixed up.  v.16 refers to a man seducing a non-betrothed virgin/a girl of marryable age, and that he is to give a bride-price for her; or pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins even if her father refuses to let her marry him.  This is the better way to do it; not through circumcision as was the tragedy of Simeon and Levi in Genesis!  The bride-price is important as it symbolises the man’s responsibility to the woman.  For seducing the virgin, it comes with a cost!  God does not allow pre-marital relations because it shouts out pre-mature intimacy; in the same way that we have the firstfruit of that intimacy with God by the seal of the Spirit (Eph 1), so also there should be a deposit money equal for the bride-price for such unwarranted intimacy with the Church if the man should treat her as if she is his church.

v.18 is strict liability as well – you shall not permit a sorceress to live.  Is this a contradiction to the law against murder (commandment 6)?  It would, if God did not define the confines of murder; but because he did, the 10 commandments are not statements to be loosely interpreted as to allow paradoxes to arise.  This is to directly contrast two points: firstly, that the LORD’s works and miracles are not that of sorcery (let alone of Moses’ sorcery!); and secondly, that the sorcerers and sorceresses of Egypt deserve death for meddling with dark arts which is an outlet for Satan to bewilder people and distract them from the gospel.  God doesn’t want miracles to be adored; he wants miracles to point to Him. Thus, the 10 commandments must be exegetically explained by God himself!  We will come back on this in just a sec.

v.19 – again, this act of ‘adultery’ shows how a man shall not lie with a non-woman; similarly, a woman shall not lie with a non-man.  There is nothing to portray Christ and the Church in either imagery, except to show that Christ is bonding with beast; and Church bonding with beast – this is a clear heresy of subverting the hierarchical chain of God to Man to Beast, to Beast to Man to God.

v.20 -26 – this is sculpted by the 1st commandment, because the people of Israel themselves have been mistreated in Egypt; but this is no excuse for them to exact similar revenge on other people – for [the Israelites] were sojourners themselves (v. 21) in Egypt!  Why should the Israelites then do the same disgusting thing to the sojourners in their land?  God detests such hypocrisy.

v.28 – this is charged with the flair of Romans 15 – respecting authority.

v.29-30 – like Abraham’s tithing of his 10% to Melchizedek, Jesus Christ, so also we are called to sacrifice not the lowest but the best 10%.  What does it mean though “the firstborn of your sons you shall give to me”?  What does it mean “seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me”?  The meaning is as I’ve mentioned concerning the cross; on the 8th day Christ rose again, after the Sabbath!  Justin Martyr on the eighth day:

The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them] always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, [namely through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the first.

This displays that the giving of the firstborn, as well as the sign of the circumcision, both serve to provide this imagery of God the Father’s firstborn son being cut and raised again on the 8th day, the first day after the Sabbath; and same for oxen and sheep, for they too are saved (Jonah 3 – the beasts repented as well!).  Such is the significance of the 8th day.

3.  No False Report (Exodus 23:1-9) – commandment 9 (do not bear false witness)

v.1-3 is almost a reflection of Psalm 24: “Give me clean hands” when this Christological Psalm speaks of Jesus asking for clean hands from His Father in heaven. v.1-9 in general has a heavier judicial undertone, explaining the absolute solemnity of speaking the truth rather than perverting the judicial system (v.6).  It is quite clear that our God is just, and he is the one who defines this justice.

4.  Sabbath laws and festivals (Exodus 23:10-19)

Again, this is a repeat of what has already been spoken of earlier – the number seven connotes Sabbath, according to the order of the creation of the heavens and the earth (v.10-12).  V.13 re-iterates commandment 2, and then he speaks of three appointed times of the year according to the Jewish ecclesiastical calender:

(i)  Feast of Unleavened Bread: also known as the ‘Passover‘ (Pesach) in the first month (15th to 21st day), the month Nisan/Abib (v.15); the Paschal Lamb killed on the 14th, and the Paschal feast from 15th to 21st

(ii)  Feast of Harvest: 6th day of Siwan/Sivan, the third month of the ecclesiastical calender (this is also known as Shavuot/the Pentecost/Firstfruits of Wheat Harvest)

(iii)  Feast of Ingathering:  known as Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles (firstfruits of wine and oil) occuring from 15th to 21st of the month Tishri, the seventh ecclesiastical month

These are the three memorable days where all the males appear before God.  Unsurprisingly, these three festivals mark important dates in Scripture: the year opens with the reminder of Jesus’ death on the cross; followed by the Pentecost in the middle of the year, reminding us of the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit given to all men (Acts 2) which also occured on the Shavuot.  This being in the sixth month, on the sixth day, is the mark of man equipped and blessed by the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel, and also to be sanctified (as day six represents that of the creation of man and woman, just as the Spirit is given to all men and women.  For six days shall man labour; and so for six days shall we labour with the Holy Spirit for God’s Holy Work of salvation.  This is closely followed by the seventh month, symbolising a time of reaping of rewards, the firstfruits of wine and oil, and unlike the Feast of Weeks, this is similar to the Passover, a seven-day celebration.

Interestingly, following the Feast of Ingathering there is approximately 5 months before the next Passover… and this contributes to the seasonal cycle of Scripture – through death, comes life, and returns to death again, comes life again.  This is no Buddhist samsaric realm (as cherishable as the Buddhist anthropological view is) – rather, this is an observation of our life on earth.  Just as we are made from dust, we are given the firstfruits of new life by the Spirit; then we return to dust.  But we will rise again, breaking away from all seasons in new creation, and will eternally live in the Feast of Tabernacles where there is eternal wine and oil of gladness, where there is the eternal Tabernacling of the Lamb with us in New Jerusalem.

Perhaps there is something more I’d like to note:  Three times the male appears.  Why?

The first festival relates to CHRIST

The second festival relates to the SPIRIT

The third festival… relates to the FATHER – whom we will no longer conceive as invisible, but visible when we are given new bodies.

5.  Conquest of Canaan by the Name in the Angel (Exodus 23:20-Exodus 24)

v.20-21 speaks of the divine archangel which Philo considered to be God the Father’s chief messenger, and no doubt, Jesus is the Father’s chief and foremost messenger.  The Angel of the LORD, who has the name of GOD himself, has the power of pardoning one’s transgressions.  The Father tells Moses to relay to the Israelites that this Angel must not be disobeyed (v.22).

v.23-24 relates to the essence of all theology – v.24: “you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces”.  Indeed, Christ, the angel, is the one who brings the victory – God the Father is the one who blots them out (v.23), but WE are the ones who decide to destroy the idols according to the victory won.  Is faith inactive?  Of course not!  Let’s not rely on inactive faith, but readily active response to the victory won!  Glen has written another great post on faith here.

And that fight of faith, by the victory of the cross and the power of the Spirit has explained by the festivals, shall result in the symbolic treasures of Canaan.  The land will be enlarged, the people will no longer be barren… but v.33 ends on a sombre note: “They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”  So that is the truth – STRAIGHT after Moses speaks to the Father, Israel is already serving their self-made calf.  Will the Israelites ever inherit such blessings?  Surely God knows they won’t if they relied on themselves: look at what happened with the quail and manna and water, and their inability to not whine.  The irony of Exodus 24v.3: “And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.'”  The immediate hypocrisy.

Clearly, the only way one can even do any of those things completely is in Jesus Christ alone.  What is the meaning of the law?  It is to explain that Christ alone can do these things.  What is the meaning of the law?  It is to explain God’s character, and the character of the Seed God-man.  What is the meaning of the law?  To display how utterly fallen we are, and our utter incapability of fulfilling it by ourselves, except in Christ alone.  Yet, if we understand the law, and keep the covenant undefiled by the power of the Spirit, then we will truly inherit the spiritual truths behind the blessings of v. 23-32.

Conclusion of the Law and the Gospel (for now)

This is of course a preliminary conclusion, given the next three books of the Bible elaborates on the Mosaic law.  Just a few things to point out:

(a)  The 10 commandments are essentially undergirded by the first two; without the first two, the other 8 do not make much sense

(b)  This is the reason why it is difficult to separate one law from another, to purely classify one as a law concerning ‘adultery’ and another concerning ‘theft’.  The analysis above shows that God intentionally mixes the commandments together to show that they are all undergirded by the first two truths, and cannot be pedantically analysed in themselves.

(c)  The detail given in these few chapters show God’s theological method – he decidedly smashes the pre-Christian thinking in our head, our pre-conceptions of ‘justice’, of ‘honouring one’s parents’, of social justice… and each of them speak the truth about God’s justice over evil by sending Christ to the cross

(d)  Noticeably, this justice system is one of mediation:  Exodus 21:22, and 22:8 are the more obvious examples.  There is no indication that one is to strive for restitution by themselves, and there is in some sense a mediator between two parties.  Restitution is still followed, and the punishment normally matches the crime, but where an intended crime is committed, the punishment is even greater (Exodus 22:1).  God therefore doesn’t look on the physical act, but on the heart of the person.  This system of mediation however teaches us that we do not strive for justice alone; but we need a third person for objectivity: which also means that as Christians, until the Judge comes to provide justice, we fully understand that restitution is owed to Christ when we offend him.  And any non-Christian offending us, who are in Christ, is effectively offending Christ himself.

(e)  Remember, this law so far is related to the land of Canaan.  This is what Dev has to say about the Old Covenant established on Mt. Sinai:

Now in Hebrew a covenant is something that must be sealed in blood, it can only be ‘cut’ or ‘cut-off’. Thus the ‘new’ (or ever-new, renewed) covenant, renewed time and time again with Abraham, Noah, Adam, etc, is always commemorated with a sacrifice, but the sealing blood of that covenant lies in the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world (Luke 22:20, Rev 13:8). The ‘old’ (or passing away) covenant, distinct from the new covenant, is then sealed on top of the Mount Sinai that is in Arabia, in the desert, outside the Promised Land (Deut 33, Gal 4), with the blood of goats and bulls (Ex 24, Heb 10). Deut 5:2-4 “The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 Not with our fathers did the LORD make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. 4 The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire”. On top of Mount Sinai, the Jews seal a wedding vow, a covenant with the law – Exodus 24:3 “Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”

We’ll leave it at that, until we come to the new covenant… which is not mentioned of course only in the New Testament.  The new covenant will come around as soon as Moses shatters the tablets of the law and the commandment, and the new tablets have slight alterations which really aren’t so slight.

4.  Eating with Jesus (Exodus 24)

v.4 – “He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel”

After which he offered burnt offerings/peace offerings – half of the blood in basins, half of blood on the altar – and everyone heard the law and said they will obey (v.7).  The blood in the basin is then thrown onto the people:

“Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Such is the blood of Christ that has been thrown on us to redeem us and to cleanse us of our sins.  The Israelites are not ignorant of this imagery, as already shown by the blood on the lentils and the doorposts in Egypt.

What happens in the next few verses is awesome: v.9 –

9Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and^(DF) seventy of the elders of Israel^(DG) went up, 10and they^(DH) saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of^(DI) sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and^(DJ) ate and drank.

What an amazing and humbling picture this is.  The seventy elders, Nadab, Abihu (the oldest and second oldest son of Aaron), Aaron and Moses went up to the mountain of God and effectively SAW God.  Remember John 1:18 – no one has revealed the Unseen God except for the seen God Christ himself.  They saw the sapphire stone, the throne in heaven!  (Ezekiel 1:26, 10:1).  They ate and drank before JESUS!  This is truly prophetic of what we will be doing with God in New Jerusalem, that we will be eating and drinking with Him at the wedding feast (Matthew 22).  And what a fitting time it is to establish this wedding feast, when the wedding vow was entered between God and the Israelites (when Moses read the Covenant out to the Israelites, whereupon they responded in Exodus 24:3) – and after the wedding vow of course comes the wedding feast on the holy hill.

Finally, the LORD tells Moses to seek him after six days of the cloud covering the mountain (v.15), and going in on the seventh day (v.16); Moses lasted there for forty days and forty nights neither eating bread nor drinking water (Genesis 7:12; Numbers 13:15; Deuteronomy 9:9; Jonah 3:4; Mark 1:13).  This pattern of forty-days and forty-nights is not only seen as a time of testing, but it is seen as also a time of anticipation – and either victory or destruction results from these forty days and forty nights.  Indeed – will Israel be judged for their obedience in Christ?  Or will Israel turn away and worship other gods?  Will Jesus ascend to the higher throne, the holy hill?  Or will he buckle to Satan’s temptation by just the bow of His knee?

Joshua

Perhaps an important though small detail to note.  Moses chose Joshua as his assistant (Exodus 24:13).  Joshua who later conquers Canaan.  Joshua who won against the Amalekites.  Joshua who later meets the Angel of the LORD.  Joshua, whose name was given by Moses (previously it was Hoshea) at the Conquest of Canaan.  Joshua, whose Hebrew name is Yeshua.

Exodus 19-21: The Sermon on the Mount

1.  The Father and the Son on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19)

2.  The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20)

3.  Mosaic law – the Sermon on the Mount (Exodus 21)

1.  The Father and the Son on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19)

The verses in Exodus 19 suggests that Moses and Israel went up to the wilderness of Sinai (‘thorny’) on the third new moon.  Don’t be thrown off by the term ‘new moon’ – the Jewish calendar system is based on the new moon which rises at the beginning of every month; hence the Hebrew term for month “chodesh” which means new moon.  This also means that Israel went up to the wilderness of Sinai on the third month. v.3-6 summarises the events of the previous chapters:

“Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4^(F) You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how^(G) I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be^(H) my treasured possession among all peoples, for^(I) all the earth is mine; 6and you shall be to me a^(J) kingdom of priests and^(K) a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

The real question is what is the meaning of the law?  v.3-6 seems to suggest that God has saved the Israelites from the Egyptians, and it is all provided by Him.  What now of this obedience to his voice and keeping his covenant?  Is this salvation by works?  But wasn’t the picture of the Israelites walking through the Red Sea a sign of salvation already?  We will turn back to this question in just a second.  Meanwhile, v.6 is very very important in understanding why Israel was chosen to be God’s nation – “you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” – indeed, not just the Levitical line, not just the saints mentioned throughout the Old Testament, but Israel is to act as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation entirely!  For whom then?  Just for God’s pleasure?  No, not only.  But also for the pleasure of the surrounding kingdoms who also need to hear the gospel (e.g. Jonah).

Exodus 19 is an amazing chapter – nothing like it has been seen throughout the history of mankind (Deuteronomy 4:32).  But surely, it is just a meeting with God, just as it has been happening all along with Jesus Christ in the form of an Angel? (Genesis 8:1, 12:7, 17:1, 26:2, 26:2, 26:24, 35:1, 35:7-9, 48:3; Exodus 3:2, 3:16, 4:5).  But this is no mere Christophanical appearance (as amazing as that already has been!).  Deuteronomy 4:15 says:

15^(A) “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since^(B) you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire…

See how Mt. Sinai is referred to as Horeb here.  It suggests that the place has two names.  An interesting observation is that Sinai has been referred also to ‘Sin’, which Sinai draws its inspiration from; and Sin is a semitic lunar-deity.  Contrarily, Horeb is also known as ‘desert’, and/or ‘glowing/heat’; hence the analogy that Horeb and Sinai are respectively displaying something of the sun and the moon.  Perhaps this is fitting for the very situation happening at the mountain which even the sun and moon pointed towards, whilst there was a glowing heat in the midst of this wilderness.  Above all, the Israelites saw no form, as opposed to seeing the form of God as Angel!  Then WHY the change of approach/appearance?  Why shouldn’t he stay as an Angel?

That question would make no sense if we don’t understand the Trinity as an active doctrine from alpha to omega.  Thus, v.10-15 explain it:

10the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and^(P) consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them^(Q) wash their garments 11and be ready for the third day. For on the third day^(R) the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it.^(S) Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. 13No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot;^[a] whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When^(T) the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” 14So Moses^(U) went down from the mountain to the people and^(V) consecrated the people;^(W) and they washed their garments. 15And he said to the people, “Be ready for the^(X) third day;^(Y) do not go near a woman.”

How odd.  Hasn’t Moses been already conversing with the Angel?  What’s this business in v. 11 about “the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai”?  Isn’t the LORD already speaking to Moses; if so, why does he refer to himself as “the LORD”… unless he is referring to someone else?  And all of this occurs on the third day, which of course is not short of its symbolism as I’ve stated in my entry on Genesis 1, day 3 of creation.  And only when the trumpet is blown can people ascend this holy hill, this holy mountain on the third day.  Notice in v. 13 – No hand shall touch him, and v. 21 – the Lord warns Moses lest the LORD (another LORD) breaks out against them.  If the Angel was already the LORD speaking (v.10), then this other LORD in v.11-13/v.21 is also someone holy – same in essence, but different only in number (a la Justin Martyr) to the LORD conversing with Moses.

Indeed, we have Jesus Christ (v.10), speaking of God the Father descending to the top of Mount Horeb/Sinai (v.11-13)!  Paul Blackham has some important things to say about this though:

“When we think about God the Father coming from heaven to earth, being located in one place rather than another, we must be careful not to overstate this.  The Living God fills the whole universe.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit live a life so infinitely beyond all created existence.  Nevertheless, within the Bible it is clear that the Father and the Son do uniquely manifest their presence in particular places.  Thus, we may speak of the Father enthroned in heaven and the Son sitting at His right hand.”

The verses given should convince you that the grammar and the language clearly point to two Lords, and that the reason Deuteronomy 4:15, 32 were written is to point out the exclusivity of this scenario!  If however you are the type who prefers extra-biblical interpretations of Scripture (as opposed to Moses himself commenting on the Exodus 19 event) then here is a bit of Philo for your pleasure, who wrote prior to Christ’s first advent on his commentary on Numbers 16:48 in his “Who is the Heir of Divine Things” (205)-(206):

“And the Father who created the universe has given to his archangelic and most ancient Word a pre-eminent gift, to stand on the confines of both, and separated that which had been created from the Creator.  And this same Word is continually a suppliant to the immoral God on behalf of the mortal race, which is exposed to affliction and misery; and is also the ambassador, sent by the Ruler of all, to the subject race. (206) And the Word rejoices in the gift, and, exulting in it, announces it and boasts of it, saying, “And I stood in the midst, between the LORD and you;” neither being uncreate as God, nor yet created as you, but being in the midst between these two extremities, like a hostage, as it were, to both parties: a hostage to the Creator, as a pledge and security that the whole race would never fly off and revolt entirely, choosing disorder rather than order; and to the creature, to lead it to entertain a confident hope that the merciful God would not overlook his own work.  For I will proclaim peaceful intelligence to the creation from him who has determined to destroy wars, namely God, who is ever the guardian of peace.”

Mountain

I have already spoken of the Mountain of God in my posts in Genesis concerning the “Garden of God”, but it does not hurt to re-cap and give more detail concerning Mount Horeb/Sinai.  In Deuteronomy 4:36 and Nehemiah 9:13 the LORD had spoken from heaven, as if Mount Sinai was enjoined to heaven and Moses peered into third heaven!  It was on this mountain that Moses saw the heavenly realities (Hebrews 8:5) which prompted him by the LORD’s guidance to create a tabernacle to match such realities.  This mountain, covered in fire, is akin to that of the firey bush in Exodus 3, and of course pointing further back to the fire on the holy hill, guarding Adam and Eve from the garden and the tree of life in the garden.  So, the Mount was a boundary between Third Heaven and earth.

But, despite the Mountain being such a boundary and that Moses himself had reaped such wonderful privileges from the LORD which was not exclusive to him, but also given to the Israelites (v.13 – they shall come up to the mountain!), the Israelites remained at the foot of the mountain (v.17).  They trembled (v.16) at the sound of the trumpet, rather than rejoiced.  Indeed, they had treated Moses as someone special, despite Moses and Aaron both insisting that they themselves are not the Mediator gods!

2.  The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20)

The sermon on the mount begins in Exodus 21, and prior to that is the 10 Commandments.  The unseen, invisible LORD (aka the Father – c.f. Colossians 1:15 for this valid name used by Paul referring to the Father) would not be seen in this form again until Luke 3:22,9:35; John 12:28-29 during Jesus’ incarnation.  Clearly, Jesus’ incarnation is at least of equal worth to the giving of the Ten Commandments (if not more, given the more frequent ‘appearance’ of the invisible LORD)!  Exodus 20:2 begins:

2^(AQ) “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Indeed, this is past tense: He brought the Israelites out of Egypt.  He saved the Israelites.  This is similar to his statement in Exodus 19:4 about His act of salvation, and NOT their act of self-salvation.  And the Israelites’ faith stems very much on this repeated refrain of Him being the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt. It is a statement meaning to connote trust, hope, and faith.  It therefore comes naturally after such a statement of God-salvation, God himself requires of them their obedience in living as God tells them to, for their lives were ransomed by God, for God.  The Ten Commandments are not about bondaged life; it is NOT above all about works-salvation.  Rather, they are VERY much about liberation AFTER salvation; it is about living a new life under God’s command, rather than return to their old life.  There is therefore nothing about further salvation; but rather, it is all about God’s completed saving act and our response as people already saved to that wondrous act.

To do justice to Christian living, rather than seeing the Commandments as merely a “guide” or even as far as a strict moral framework:

Commandment	Scripture
1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. – this is built on the fact that the Israelites had already experienced redemption	20:2
2. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. – this assumes that the LORD is their God, and that he is jealous of their love and faith	20:3-6
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. – he is not only called the LORD or Yahweh, but they are expected to treat his Name properly and seriously!	20:7
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. – thus, they set apart a day holy to the LORD, the seventh day of Rest pointing to the ultimate Rest in new creation, which Canaan merely represents.	20:8-11
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. – note that this is limited to the land, and this is about inheriting the Promised Land and eternal life. Glen has written a good piece on why this speaks only of the land at http://www.christthetruth.org.uk/tenwordslaw.htm	20:12
6. You shall not murder.	20:13
7. You shall not commit adultery.	20:14
8. You shall not steal.	20:15
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. – commandments 6-9 are explained in Matthew 5 as well, and they are not merely civic duty, but display Kingdom living as well!	20:16
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s. – Paul in the book of Romans implies this as one of the worst sins, for it is in our heart which stems the temptation to sin, whereas the previous Commandments are all outward actions, the last but not least 10th Commandment refers to the greatest sin of coveting. This displays a lack of trust and reliance on the LORD’s provision.	20:17

In the link provided for in the 5th commandment, Glen writes well concerning the oneness of the law (Deuteronomy 12:32) of Moses which I will not go into here, but which you can read from clicking on that link to his paper on the Mosaic Law and the Gospel.  Ultimately, it is unbiblical to rely on the Aquinian three-fold classification of the law (civic, moral, cultic), when Scripture speaks so clearly that God the Son is the perfect expression of the law of God, and that all laws and Scriptures point towards Jesus Christ (John 5:39).

How sad it is that the people responded so poorly to the LORD:

18Now when all the people saw^(BL) the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid^[e] and trembled, and they stood far off 19and said to Moses,^(BM) “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20^(BN) Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to^(BO) test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” 21The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the^(BP) thick darkness where God was.

The people stood far off!  They stayed at the foot of the mountain!  They were scared of the trumpet, the silver trumpet (Leviticus 25:9; Numbers 10; Revelation 8 ) which signifies the coming of the LORD on the third day when we are taken to new, dry, sea-less land!

3.  Mosaic law:  the Sermon on the Mount (Exodus 21)

Thus, the remaining laws refer to the wonders of new Kingdom living.  God is radically changing their lives.  But the problem is – can they see Christ in all of this?  Not yet!  For they only received the firstfruit of the kingdom, and this is but a mock-up of the new creation.  The Mosaic law is not something they can do now, but it is something they live out as a firstfruit of what they shall do perfectly in new Jerusalem.  We will be obeying the law of God, the law preached in this Sermon on the Mount, perfectly when we are given not only a newly uncircumcised heart but also looking forward to the new body.  This is the lesson of the holy priesthood (Exodus 19:6), the redeemed Church of Christ living out new Kingdom livestyle before the new Kingdom actually comes.

Some things to note about the following aspects of the laws taught immediately after the 10 commandments; they are basically a further explanation of the 10 commandments!

(a)  Laws about Altars (Exodus 20:22-26) – this relates to the first three commandments

The altar is kept natural and holy, and if made of stone it must not be of hewn stones for our work will only profane it.  Rather, the stone should not be hewn (rough) – and we should not go up the steps to the altar, nor expose our nakedness to it, which are both acts of profanity (most probably because they would be touched by iron tools, commonly interpreted as instruments of war; but our LORD is teaching about the resting of Israel at Canaan, and all peace comes from the LORD).  Such is true of our Christ, who is not made of hewn stones but is himself The Stone of all stones, a stone which we need not work anything more upon; an altar given to the LORD which is made from earth and not from the handiwork of man which is undoubtedly imperfect in comparison to the LORD’s instructions.

But this does not stray from building altars altogether – altars are meant for worshipping JESUS, and not for our own adoration.  The rock will stay as it is – and not sculpted according to our view of God.  There should be no graven image of Him – but it is a symbolism of the greater Rock.  Look at Gideon, Manoah and Samuel (Judges 6:24, 13:19; 1 Samuel 7:17 respectively)

(b)  Laws about slaves (Exodus 21:1-11) – this relates to the Sabbath (commandment 4)

“He shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free” (v.2) – just as we shall serve six days, and on the seventh we shall be freed from the curse of work.  But v.5-6 is extremely prophetic: if we, as slaves of Christ, plainly say that “I love my LORD, my wife, my children; I will not go out ‘free'”, then I have identified myself with my master before the LORD God in the heavens (the Father).  My master Christ will spiritually bore through my ear with an awl, and I will be the doulos, the servant, the slave of Christ forever.

v.7-11, some may see as a result of the curse of man struggling with women in Genesis 3; but God is providing for the women.  He is essentially telling the men to take care of the women.  In a similar way, we are called to provide for our wives; a lot can be said about God here – this isn’t a struggle between two sexes.  This is a complementarian view of men and women having different roles simply because they are different genders.  What is interesting is the juxtaposition of v.7-11 after v.1-6, supposedly concerning male Hebrew slaves.  There is no favouritism between the two; God is simply stating that they are treated differently, but there is no hint of superiority or inferiority between the two sexes unless you imply such meaning into the text which is meant to display a spiritual truth about Christ and the church, about man and a woman.

(c)  Laws about striking and killing by men and animals (Exodus 21:12-32) – this relates to commandment 5 and 6, concerning honouring your parents and murder

v.13: “But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.” – such is the prototype of the refuge cities, and indeed God is a merciful LORD.  What is interesting here is how a man should find refuge – v. 14 says: “you shall take him from my altar”.  It is implied here that if the ‘murderer’ is at the altar of worship, then he will not die.  But, as v.14 says, if you take him from God’s altar, then “he may die”.  This altar made of untempered rock is meant to display their reliance on the Rock of Salvation, Jesus Christ.  But the symbolism of taking him from Christ, is that he never found refuge in Christ.  He approached Christ without true repentance; v.14a explains: “if a man wilfully attacks another”, and then goes to the altar to proverbially ‘hide behind Jesus’ skirt’, then that is not true repentance, and neither true salvation.  It is like the Israelite, hiding behind their genealogy, but not depending on the true spiritual Rock as their righteousness.

v.15 is however more of a strict liability – whoever strikes his father/mother shall be put to death.  Nothing about refuge, nothing about the altar.  Indeed, this seems to be a weightier sin than murdering your brother or neighbour; for the father and mother figure is meant to portray the relationship between the Father and the Son.  This is striking, not murdering one’s father and mother!  Indeed, one should therefore take Ephesians 6 very seriously, as Jesus did when he obeyed Mary to return home after days of quarreling with the Jewish teachers.

v.16 then jumps to the commandment about stealing (commandment 8 ) – and this is also grave.  This is God’s proclamation of judgment on the 10 brothers of Joseph who sold him to the Ishmaelites/Midianites.  If you aren’t clear about God’s view about the 10 brothers, and whether the 10 brothers’ actions should be praised for fulfilling God’s plan or not, this verse should confirm God’s judgment on their sinful action, despite using it for His own glory.

v.17 goes back to commandment 5 – even a curse/dishonor/reviling against one’s father/mother should be punishable by death!  No doubt, the relationship between the Father/Mother and us as sons and daughters is VERY different to that of our neighbour or brother!  If the Father and the Son were to have a rift in their relationship, I can also imagine the destructive force behind it; the universe may actually implode because of the Son’s disobedience, perhaps implying his disobedience to even fulfill the plan of the cross!  Such a disobedience is not only punishable by death; rather, it will lead to death!

v.18-26 shows the meaning behind the commandment concerning murder; God speaks more about striking than murder!  This concords totally with the meaning behind the commandment.  God is of course about details, but he is painstakedly saying that there is full restitution for the damage caused (v.19, 21, 23-25, 27).  This shows a VERY important truth about Jesus’ death on the cross (as it effectively refers to this commandment of murder when the non-Christians effectively revile and despite Him, nailing Him to the cross).  Everyday we sin outside of Christ, we are effectively murdering Him as the Jews did.  But there will be a full restitution – Judgment Day is that full restitution.  If Christ is the source of our live (ex Christos), and by the Spirit can we be physically alive (let alone to be living in Him as a Christian), then us taking away his life literally means that he will take away ours.

Similarly, when Christ was on the cross, he bore all our sins and there was full restitution for those sins – there was the wrath, the punishment on Christ, which is only a type of punishment on all those who sin and not repent.  The punishment on Christ is only a foretaste of the True Punishment on the Judgment Day on all non-Christians; for Christ has already taken the brunt of the restitution of our sins as Christians on the cross… but the non-Christian has no Sacrificial Lamb to take the brunt of the restitution awaiting them.  God is shown to be fair in his punishments in these verses, and the weight of the sin is balanced by the weight of the punishment; just as the weight of our sins is balanced by the weight of the punishment on the cross… which shows how utterly disgusting our sin is in the eyes of our Triune God, that it takes the death of Jesus to be a sufficient ransom!

(d)  Laws about restitution (Exodus 21:33- Exodus 22:14) – this relates to commandment 8 (stealing) and commandment 10 (coveting)

The latter parts of Exodus 21 goes directly into Exodus 22.  Let us wrap up these laws in the context of the 10 commandments in the next post.

Exodus 13-15: Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

1.  Unleavened Bread and the Pillars of Cloud and Fire (Exodus 13)

2.  Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death: the Parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14)

3.  Song of Moses: the Trinity explained (Exodus 15:1-21)

4.  Bitter water made sweet: prophecy of the cross (Exodus 15:22-27)

1.  Unleavened Bread and the Pillars of Cloud and Fire (Exodus 13)

Further details are given on the festival of the unleavened bread – v.12-16

12^(A) you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the LORD’s. 13^(B) Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every^(C) firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14^(D) And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him,^(E) ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of^(F) slavery. 15For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the^(G) LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but^(H) all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16^(I) It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for^(J) by a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”

Both animals and men are treated similarly (v.15) – every firstborn of a donkey you redeem; every firstborn of man you redeem – but also comes the sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, “but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem”.  It shall be as a mark on your hand, or frontlets between your eyes.  The latter part of v. 16 displays the meaning of propitiation well – “I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb (the animals), but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem”.  By the blood of another, the firstborn sons are redeemed; by the blood of the Lamb, the firstborn of God the Father, our firstborns are spared.

So also, this seal shall be on our forehands, or on our hands, as the seal on our hands like the signet ring (Esther 8:8), or the mark on our foreheads to distinguish us from the non-Christians (Revelation 9:4).  This is the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Before ending this chapter, Moses and co. stop between Succoth (meaning “booths”) and Etham (meaning “fort”) on the edge of the wilderness.  The Angel of the LORD led them by the pillar of fire by night, and cloud by day.  Some people have wrongly personified the pillar of fire and cloud to be the Angel himself, but the Angel is leading the pillar of fire and cloud which follow the Angel (v.21; Exodus 14:19).  This route is considerably longer, but also safer.

What of this cloudy pillar by day and fire by night?  Some interpretation may be offered by Alexander the Great’s tradition of setting up a lofty pole placing a brazier fixed with combustible materials at the summit, kept burning over the general’s tent when encamped, and in the forefront of the moving host when on march, like a cloudy banner by day but firey beacon by night.

This pillar served as a cloud enshrining the shekinah, the glory of God; as well as being the very throne of God (resting on the ark of the covenant within the tabernacle).  Following William Brown’s view of the cloudy pillar, it being a guide (Exodus 13:20-22), light (Nehemiah 9:19), shade (Psalm 105:39), shield (Deuteronomy 1:30-31), oracle (Exodus 33:9), avenger (Exodus 14:24). Brown makes a distinction, however, not to confuse the sign with Christ himself.  Indeed, the sign of the pillar carries this six-fold characteristic of Christ himself, but it is the Angel who leads the cloud, NOT the cloud itself being the Angel.  Brown does not emphasise that distinction enough, and relies on a purely spiritual interpretation of the pillar which I think does not lend enough Christological weight to the Angel (he confuses the Angel and the cloud as synonymous in a few occasions in his chapter on the cloudy pillar in “The Tabernacle – Its Priests and Its Services”).

Nonetheless, the six characteristics are indeed very helpful and fitting in understanding the personality of our God; he is indeed our Shepherd-guide, Light of lights, a cleft in the Rock as a shade from destruction, a shield from the onslaught of the enemy, a prophetic oracle of the Judgment Day, and our Judge when he avenges for all the righteous by the very pillar of fire which only refines us, but destroys all else.

2.  Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death: the Parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14)

So the LORD tells Moses and the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth (“place where the reeds grow; farmstead”), between Migdol (“fortress”) and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon (“lord of the North/Baal of the North”).

So will it be a time of trial?  Covered by the fortress, the sea, the lord of the north yet also standing in front of the place where the reeds grow… indeed, this is the place where Israel is either held captive by Egypt, or grows as a nation of global repute.  Exodus 14:13-14 shows Moses’ faith in spite of the apparently dismal situation of the Israelites, and the theological depth behind it is astounding:

’13And Moses said to the people,^(O) “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For^(P) the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14^(Q) The LORD will fight for you, and you have only^(R) to be silent.”‘

Indeed, does it say that you depend on Him and do a little bit extra yourself?  No, salvation is of the LORD.  HE is the one working the salvation.  The LORD will FIGHT for you – the very meaning of Israel – the God who fights and struggles.

Then in v. 16, God tells Moses to lift up his staff again – indeed, this is a prophetic image of Jesus’ shepherding and judgmental power.  In v.21, Moses stretches his hand over the sea and a strong ‘east wind’ (again, this is the Holy Spirit) tears the Red Sea into half as it stood up in two heaps – two walls (v. 24 and v. 29; Psalm 78:13).  Indeed, not two pitiful puddles, but two heaps and walls of water which could drown all six hundred chariots (v.6).

Paul Blackham makes an interesting observation that the people didn’t just treat Moses as a mediator, but actually treated him like God (Numbers 16).  1 Timothy 2:5 explains that there was ever only one Mediator, the man and God Jesus Christ – not Moses however ‘great’ he became for even he did not enter the Promised Land.  In v. 31 we understand this as the Israelites began to truly believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person and the very Angel who led them through the Pillar of Cloud and Fire.  They didn’t just generically believe in the LORD (God in Heaven), but they believed in the LORD-Angel who was with them!  Then again, they would be confused to SEE God, yet also understand God to be unseen.  The song of Moses in chapter 15 reveals their Trinitarian understanding of God, but let’s firstly understand whether their prophetic understanding of the Messiah is that of a divine Son of man, or just a normal human seed of Adam?

Blackham in Lamentations 4:20 explains that the original Hebrew should not be “the LORD’s anointed” (although that indeed points to Christ as LORD’s anointed, it doesn’t explain his divinity), when it really should be re-translated as “the Messiah is the LORD” or “the Anointed LORD” or “the Messiah LORD”.  Given the staunch references to God’s self-provision of the Messiah, of means of salvation and redemption shown so explicitly in Genesis whether through sacraments, typologies and above all Christophanies, it is definitely not surprising to see these Israelites actively looking forward to what the splitting of the Red Sea meant.  This is merely a physical salvation; and just a type of the true salvation to come, and a type of destruction of the fire of judgment crashing down on every unbeliever just like those continuously unrepentant Egyptians who, like us, will have to walk through the valley of death; but unlike us, will not come out unscathed (Psalm 23:4).

3.  Song of Moses: the Trinity explained (Exodus 15:1-21)

Now, let’s visualise the scene where the bodies of thousands of men and animals were either trapped in the water or floating in water.  Instead, the people of Israel broke out in song!  How insensitive are they?

In fact, it is a completely appropriate praise.  God has been merciful on Egypt for many years (think 400+ years!), has blessed the Pharoah during Joseph’s time, and no doubt would bless the Pharoah of Moses’ generation.  But it is the Pharoah who refused to respond to the miracles, and kept on refusing and hardening his own heart until God kept him as the tool of expressing his judgment on all unbelievers.

v.6 of the song: “Your right hand” is a synonymous term used for Christ in various occasions, the Christ who ascended to God the Father’s right hand (Psalm 17:7, 20:6, 48:10, 60:5, 77:10, 78:54, 108:6, 110:1 and 5, Matthew 26:64, Mark 12:36, Romans 8:34), although it has been referred also to God’s “dominant” hand, or even a hand of Power.  However, to limit its semantic definition to ‘dominant hand’ or ‘hand of Power’ is to limit the titles of Christ to that of Messiah, Anointed One, Second Person, Angel, and Jesus Christ – when, within the Old Testament, there are many possible titles for Him which are equally appropriate, and one of which is God’s Right Hand, where he is seated and takes his actions from the Father’s Right Hand.  v.12 goes on – God the Father stretched out his right hand, and the earth swallowed the non-Christians.  The significance of this shows that Moses’ stretching of his hand and staff is but only a symbolism, or even a witness to God’s stretching of his right hand, Jesus Christ, in completing these punishments!  And indeed, what we had in chapter 14 is the Angel of the LORD directing all of this action, the Angel who sits at the right hand of the Father!

So this is Moses’ Trinitarian understanding of God – he does not confuse the right hand from God the Father who is the ‘generator’ of the right hand per se.  The Son is after all sent FROM the Father, and thus the Son rightfully should be at the right hand of the Father and differ in number only, but not in essence (to paraphrase Justin Martyr, i.e. both are divine).

Finally v.13-18 show that Israel’s name is now reputable simply BECAUSE of God!  The Edomites and Canaanites are trembling because of what God has done, and we will later find out that this event has struck fear in the heart of many nations which remain non-Christian.

4.  Bitter water made sweet: prophecy of the cross (Exodus 15:22-27)

Justin Martyr on the log which made the bitter water at Marah (meaning “bitter”) sweet:

And when I had quoted this, I added, “Hear, then, how this Man, of whom the Scriptures declare that He will come again in glory after His crucifixion, was symbolized both by the tree of life, which was said to have been planted in paradise, and by those events which should happen to all the just. Moses was sent with a rod to effect the redemption of the people; and with this in his hands at the head of the people, he divided the sea. By this he saw the water gushing out of the rock; and when he cast a tree into the waters of Marah, which were bitter, he made them sweet…
…even as our Christ, by being crucified on the tree, and by purifying with water, has redeemed us, though plunged in the direst offences which we have committed, and has made a house of prayer and adoration. Moreover, it was a rod that pointed out Judah to be the father of Tamar’s sons by a great mystery.”

This was taken from chapter 86 of his Dialogue with Trypho which speaks of the prophetic imagery of ‘wood’ which points to Christ’s death on a piece of wood.

Therefore, after 3 days in the wilderness of Shur (meaning “wall”), they arrive at Marah and threw a piece of log (or in the ESV footnote, a tree, the translation which Martyr favours) into the waters to make the waters sweet.  v. 26 makes the theological point about this event which happened after 3 days – if you listen to the voice of God, then He will be our healer.  Many of course make the obvious connection between Jesus the healer and this event, followed by the grand imagery of the 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees, almost symbolising the establishment of the 12 tribes of Israel and 70 elders (Exodus 24) encamping in Elim (meaning “trees”).  This is a foretelling of the new Garden of Eden, although it is only a mock-representation, with water being given sweet-life again, and so many trees to give Sabbath (rest) to the hundreds of thousands of Israelites.  Indeed, these 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees may be insufficient, but what they symbolise (the 12 tribes, and 70 elders) will be enough to father the spiritual descendants to come!

However, before leaving chapter 15, an important point to make.  v. 26 says if you listen to the voice of God, whereas in other parts of Scripture you get ‘if you listen to the LORD’.  This is quite different from saying the ‘voice’‘ of God which has occurred in Genesis 3:8 (where the unusual word used is “qowl” in Hebrew is repeated here).  This ‘voice’ of God is again, the very same ‘voice’ of God who was walking in the garden!  We can therefore add to the list of names which we can refer to Christ; not only is he the Right Hand of God the Father, but he is also the Voice of God, the visible of the invisible.

Exodus 4-6: First to the Jews, then to the Gentiles

1.  The Signs of the Covenant (Exodus 4)

2.  Increased Suffering – 1st round to the Jews  (Exodus 5)

3.  Preparing for Battle – 2nd round to the Egyptians  (Exodus 6)

1.  The Signs of the Covenant (Exodus 4)

Moses is now given powerful signs which the LORD gives to give him strength to evangelise/preach to the Pharoah.  Three of which relate to the preaching to the Pharoah:

(a)  Staff which becomes a serpent  (v.3)

(b)  Dead to living flesh (v.6)

(c)  Water of the Nile into blood  (v.9)

One of which relates to circumcision:

(d)  Zipporah taking a flint and cutting off her son’s foreskin and touches Moses’ feet with it (v.25-26)

These signs will become even more apparent as we delve further into Exodus, but let’s see why the signs must happen from (a) to (c) in that particular order, and why these three particular signs (in the same way we will explain in later entries the reason for the 10 plagues and why those ten in particular).

Firstly, the staff which becomes a serpent – just like the bronze serpent which the Israelites looked upon to cure them of their bites.  This staff later swallows up the snakes which the Pharoah’s magicians conjure, and it is deadly; but remember, even God is sovereign over this snake.  And is the bronze snake there for the Israelites to observe and to adore (Numbers 21)?  Did Moses suddenly succumb to the temptations of relying on this serpent-idol?  No of course not.  The very fact that this snake is essentially a staff, that even finds it being in this staff, shows God’s sovereignty over the snake.  The bronze snake, also, is not a reminder that we look to the Snake for comfort; rather, we look to the bronze snake and remember that it is an idol, prophesied in Genesis 3 that this snake will have its head destroyed.  No doubt, the sovereignty over the snake is the true message of Christ’s salvation over Lucifer, the fallen morning star.  This is what Martyr has to say about the brazen snake:

“For tell me, was it not God who commanded by Moses that no image or likeness of anything which was in heaven above or which was on the earth should be made, and yet who caused the brazen serpent to be made by Moses in the wilderness, and set it up for a sign by which those bitten by serpents were saved? Yet is He free from unrighteousness. For by this, as I previously remarked, He proclaimed the mystery, by which He declared that He would break the power of the serpent which occasioned the transgression of Adam, and [would bring] to them that believe on Him [who was foreshadowed] by this sign, i.e., Him who was to be crucified, salvation from the fangs of the serpent, which are wicked deeds, idolatries, and other unrighteous acts. Unless the matter be so understood, give me a reason why Moses set up the brazen serpent for a sign, and bade those that were bitten gaze at it, and the wounded were healed; and this, too, when he had himself commanded that no likeness of anything whatsoever should be made.”

“But you, expounding these things in a low [and earthly] manner, impute much weakness to God, if you thus listen to them merely, and do not investigate the force of the words spoken. Since even Moses would in this way be considered a transgressor: for he enjoined that no likeness of anything in heaven, or on earth, or in the sea, be made; and then he himself made a brazen serpent and set it on a standard, and bade those who were bitten look at it: and they were saved when they looked at it. Will the serpent, then, which (I have already said) God had in the beginning cursed and cut off by the great sword, as Isaiah says, be understood as having preserved at that time the people?

For the second sign, the sign of dead to living flesh, this is prophecying directly to the new flesh which we will inherit as an inwardly new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and an outwardly new body (Ezekiel 37:1-14).  Leprosy is an outward sign of the sickness of the heart, and this rotting of the flesh prophecies to the eternal rotting of not only our flesh but our soul in the pit; and God’s ability to renew the flesh is the re-creation we look forward to on the Resurrection Day.

Finally, the water to blood – this also undoubtedly preaches the necessity of the blood of Christ to wash our sins, the preaching of the water turned into wine; can normal water wash us?  Can normal water save us?  Or is the blood of Christ the true blood can can wash us, that Christ’s blood will fill the Nile and that the word of God will fill the brims of the earth (Psalm 72:19)!

Now, to the sign of circumcision.  Why was Zipporah so afraid of Moses’ failure to circumcise his own son?

To begin with, this is a character-building experience for Moses to not over-spiritualise the gospel and fail to complete the sacraments.  He himself was most likely circumcised before being put in the ark, being born in the tribe of Levites.  If Moses was going to be the man to tell the Israelites about the Law, then he must take the law entirely seriously.  The Angel (v.24 – “the LORD met him and sought to put him to death”) was very angry with Moses because of this failure to circumcise his son.  Did Moses forget Genesis 17?

At least Zipporah did not.  Apostle Paul understood the truth of taking the sacraments seriously (1 Corinthians 11:29-32), so why shouldn’t Moses?  Zipporah, his Gentile wife, had at least a Christian understanding of the sacraments.  She immediately circumcised his son, and touched the LORD’s feet with her son’s foreskin.  When this sign of blood is given to the Angel, Christ, He does not kill Moses.  Zipporah then worships Christ as her “Bridegroom of Blood”.  The ESV among other reliable translations seem to translate this with some misconceptions, because the Hebrew does not say “Moses’ feet” in v.25 – it simply says “his” feet.  If you follow the context, v.25-26 – “Zipporah took a flint and cut of her son’s foreskin and touched his feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone.”  The grammatical syntax doesn’t really make sense if you say that Zipporah cut the son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it, because v. 26 refers the “he” to Christ, not Moses.  The point of Zipporah touching Christ’s feet is to enable Christ to let Moses alone – that is why v.25 goes on to v.26.  Any other translation (even offered by ESV/NIV etc) will fail to make sense of these two verses.

Zipporah’s theology is rich here – she actually understands the Second person to be the bridegroom of blood, in effect putting herself before Christ as the bride of blood.  She understands the Second Person’s role in the Trinity, and understands her role in relation to the Second Person’s blood covenant.  She is no daughter of a priest of foreign religion; she is the daughter of a Christian priest, and wife to a Christian husband who is struggling with his understanding of the sacraments.

2.  Increased Suffering – 1st round to the Jews  (Exodus 5)

After understanding the signs of the covenant, what will Moses and Aaron do with them?  By the end of chapter 4, we see that Moses and Aaron had performed the signs in the sight of the people (v. 30) – and the people believed! (v. 31); and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people, they bowed their heads and worshipped.  So Moses and Aaron visited the Jews first, before visiting the Gentiles.  They had visited the elders first.

Then, they visit The Elder of the Gentiles – the Pharoah.  Of course, unlike the Pharoah in Joseph’s time, this one doesn’t know God (v.2 – “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?  I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go”).  The Pharoah not only forgot the LORD’s favour with the Pharoah (Genesis 47:20-27); Perhaps he is jealous of their possession of Goshen (Genesis 47:5-6).  And look at the response of the Israelites; look at the response of the people in Chapter 5v.21 – “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharoah and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us”.  What an utter lack of trust and faith; what a quick turn from their initial belief of the signs at the end of chapter 4, and a drastic change within a short period.

This will be a foretelling of the description of the Israelites at large – they will keep thirsting for manna, for food and water, for physical fulfillment, for kings, for sensual pleasures, for their own definition of good and evil, for their own definition of justice… but there will only be a few, a remnant, who will remember Christ and his signs of the covenant, the sacraments which point to his work on the cross.  And the picture of chapter 4 and 5 is an immediate prototype of the picture shown in Christ’s work in the gospels – he and his disciples had approached the Jews first, and many were healed, and many saw signs – but many renounced their initial belief, and Christ had died on the cross with more enemies than friends – “may the LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of the Pharoah”.  Indeed, the Jews then said the same thing, under the rule of Herod and Pilate.  Where were Christ’s supporters when they saw the signs?

3.  Preparing for Battle – 2nd round to the Egyptians  (Exodus 6)

Which is why the gospel must go out to the Gentiles so the Jews will be jealous of them (Romans 11:11) – so that the Jews can be released from the bondage of a foreign nation, when the foreign nation comes to terms with Christ! Thus chapter 6 begins:  “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharoah; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his hand” – and this preaching to the Gentile nation will be coupled with God’s faithfulness to Moses’ forefathers, which he summarised in v. 3-8.  Moses re-iterated God’s faithfulness again to the Israelites, but because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery, they did not listen.  Surely, they should not have looked to themselves for confidence in the LORD; they should look to the LORD for confidence in the LORD!

In any case, the gospel has gone to the Jews and now must go to the Gentiles which is why we naturally move to v.10-11.

At this point, there is a v. short interlude where the genealogy of Moses and Aaron are explained.  This interlude is fitting; because thus begins the next segment of the story in Exodus, where Moses and Aaron go head to head with the Pharoah; and how fitting it is that the LORD chooses the physical and spiritual Israelites to fight the pagan king of Egypt?  Just a small thing to note in v.3 – “but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them”.  This betrays the theology of the translators, very much due to the modern sway of progressive revelation.  But the Hebrew doesn’t say that – the Hebrew actually says “but by my name the Lord did I not make myself known to them?”  This explains why I have previously been saying in my commentary in Genesis that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that the LORD had already revealed his name (Jehovah) to them, even as early as the first few chapters of Genesis when they were already calling upon the name of the LORD.  The NIV footnote of Exodus 6:3 shows the more accurate Hebrew translation which is quite essential to staying true to accurate theology.

Here is my rendition of the genealogy table.  Moses and Aaron are now prepared to say the very words of God himself – which we leave for the next entry – but the partnership between the two will soon fade out, as Moses begins to understand God better and better throughout the span of Exodus.

Exodus 1-3: Moses, saved and Jesus, the Saviour

1.  “And these are the names of…”:  Introduction to Exodus (Exodus 1:1-7)

2.  Pharoah and Herod (Exodus 1:8-22)

3.  Moses’ and Jesus’ birth (Exodus 2)

4.  The God of the Burning Bush (Exodus 3)

1.  “And these are the names of…”:  Introduction to Exodus (Exodus 1:1-7)

Exodus is the Latin form of the Greek ‘ex hodos‘ meaning ‘exit’ or ‘going out’ – Blackham continues that the Hebrew title for “Exodus” (we’elleh shemoth – which literally means “And these are the names of”) – is exactly the same phrase appearing in Genesis 46:8.   This chapter begins by summarising the people who entered Egypt, and all seventy of them.  The Pharoah however despised them, despite their fruitfulness and their history in aiding Egypt – the place where the Hebrews now reside, called “Pithom” (v.11) which has been rendered as ‘the fortress of foreigners’, as well as a ‘city of justice’ and the ‘house of Tum’ (the sun-God of Heliopolis of Ancient Egypt).  Whatever the case may be, it is definitive of these people – they are segregated into their own group of righteous men and women, in a fortress defining their nationality and spirituality.

2.  Pharoah and Herod (Exodus 1:8-22)

Pharoah strikes first – v.10 – “Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land”.  Regardless of the Israelites’ behaviour, Pharoah is freaked not because of their threat as a warring nation; but simply because of their number.  But it doesn’t matter how many taskmasters the Pharoah puts over them to afflict them with heavy burdens; many are aware that a Saviour is coming after 430 years as mentioned in the prophecies in Genesis – and their forward looking faith means that the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread abroad (v. 12).  Indeed, it is just as we are – the more we are afflicted, the more it is in fulfillment of God’s prophecies, and the more we are assured of being part of the Elect One (1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:13).

Shiphrah (brightness/beautiful) and Puah (splendid), the two Hebrew midwives had been loyal to God and disobeyed the Pharoah, and their obedience is rewarded, and indeed the people had multiplied and grew very strong beyond the pace of the midwives’ working hours.  As I have already calculated in previous entries, we are speaking of tens of thousands of people each generation.  From 70 to 600,000 (of both Jews and Gentiles) in a space of 400 years… that is definitely some divine drive over a space of approximately 10 generations!

3.  Moses’ and Jesus’ birth (Exodus 2)

Reu-el (friend of God), the father-in-law of Moses, has seven daughters.  He is a Midianite priest, where Moses, the most humble man who had lived apart from Christ (Numbers 12:3), escaped to the land of Midian (strife) after defending a Hebrew slave.  Then Moses stands up for the seven daughters at the well, who the shepherds have been driving away.  This Moses was born from the Levite line, descendant of Kohath (Exodus 6:20) who had married Jochebed, a Levite woman as well.  Moses was therefore from a priestly line, and how fitting it is to be disciplined by Reuel the priest for at least 40 years of his life.  Moses is also a very special child (Acts 7:20), given his birth.

I think there is much typology behind Moses’ actions and his life.

Firstly, he is born in a time when there is much persecution, a la Herod, who had been killing Hebrew males – for what reason?  Because he is afraid that the males would side with enemies and destroy the Egyptians.  It is for the same reason that Herod destroys the Hebrew babies in the four gospels – because he fears that someone would usurp his throne.  And unsurprisingly, all of this occurs after a 400 year period of silence after the book of Malachi; and so also the same period has occurred between Genesis and Exodus  Moses had been placed into an ‘ark’ (the Hebrew word used for Noah’s ark as well e.g. Genesis 7:1 – tebah), and Moses was saved through the waters of punishment in his little ark and was drawn out of water, hence his name which means both “Drawn out of water” and “Saved“.  This is a little distinction between his name (Saved) and Christ’s name as Jesus (Saviour) – nonetheless, there is much connection between the two lives.

Secondly, Moses’ actions are that of a Levite person – his violence is akin to that of Levi and Simeon in Genesis 34 and again re-iterated in Genesis 49:5-7.  But we see that Moses’ violence is slowly subdued over time – especially his time spent with Reuel. Not only that, but his actions should be interpreted as according to how Stephen interprets it in Acts 7:23-28.  Stephen gives us the impression that Moses already knew he was the one sent to deliver the Church from the captivity of Egypt BEFORE the burning bush encounter in Exodus 3.  Moses had probably thought that his initial action would lead a revolution, but it did not – and that is why Moses’ time in Midian for 40 years was the prototype pattern of “40 years punishment for sin” constantly repeated throughout the Pentateuch.  This is because the 40 years were wasted; the Israelites could have started the Exodus when Moses was 40 years old; instead, they awaited for his return when he turned 80.

However, despite his actions – his intention is to protect the Hebrew slave, and in response he was persecuted by the Hebrews. “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?” (v.14) – he is persecuted by the very same people he tried to protect.  Then he goes, and protects the seven daughters of Reuel from v.16-18 – protecting them from shepherds!  And the irony is that the daughters were attempting to water their flock, but the shepherds had failed to complete their duty.   The typology here can be widely interpreted – our Christ had also been thrown out of societal acceptance (Hebrews 13:13), made prince and judge by the Father in heaven for our sake; yet we are the ones who crucified him by our very sin and that death had to occur to atone for our reproaches.  He protects us from the false shepherds who aim not to water the flock, but chase away those who are thirsting for true water, and so Christ provides us with the living water so that we thirst no more (Nehemiah 9:20; John 4:13-14).

And immediately after he fought for those who thirst for the true water, he is given a bride from the priest of Midian, the priest who is a friend of God.  So also our Christ worked and fought for us as an outcast on the cross, against all the false shepherds and the uncircumcised physical Israel who had ears which fail to hear and eyes which fail to see and hearts as hard as metal; and in return, the Father blesses Christ with a bride, a church, which only Christ could rescue by his self-sacrificial love.  Zipporah was Moses’ prize; yet the global church will be Christ’s.

Chapter 2 ends on a hopeful note – as sombre as it sounds to see the Israelites crying for help, it is God who remembers the covenant which he established with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It is always God who remembers; rarely the Israelites remember the promise.  They remember to complain, they remember to wail… but it is God who is the one who remembers that the covenant will be inevitably and assuredly fulfilled.

4.  The God of the Burning Bush (Exodus 3)

At 80 years old, 40 years after shepherding in Midian, Moses witnesses his first (but not our first) Christophany, but the appearance is even more amazing than anything in Genesis (save perhaps Jacob’s dream of the staircase of angels up to Jesus).  Indeed, the people in Genesis are amazed when they realise they have seen God (in hindsight), but here Moses is attracted to the Angel by the fire surrounding Him.  This is the same Angel who will speak to Joshua, defined by the very ‘holy ground’ on which both Moses and Joshua unknowingly stood upon.  No mere angel can command such allegiance, unless it is the Second Person Himself.  This is further re-iterated in v.7 when the narrative called the Angel “the LORD”; then in v.13-22 where the Angel is repeatedly called GOD.  This is also the reason why Moses wants to know the Angel’s name, for he knows that the Angel is God himself.  And during this encounter, it isn’t some ‘symbolic’ experience – Moses was afraid to see God face-to-face; this is a very real, physical encounter with Jesus Christ.

Moses however doesn’t realise that at first, as shown in Acts 7:30 – hence his rather innocent approach to Jesus without taking off his sandals.  Perhaps Moses is amazed why the bush isn’t burning out?  But the more symbolic meaning is spoken of here – on the mountain of God (Horeb), on this holy hill, is a burning fire whereupon Christ is standing in the fire.  Moses had walked up that hill and is standing before Christ.  Will he be standing on the right side of the fire, or will he be burnt?  Adam and Eve were protected from the burning flames and now the story of redemption is repeated within the 3rd chapter of Exodus, just as Adam and Eve left the holy hill of Eden leaving the flaming swords behind in the 3rd chapter of Genesis.  This fire is the barrier between true Paradise, and everything else.

Now what is interesting is that Moses witnesses Christ in glowing flame, in some portion of heavenly glory, just like the disciples had seen Christ resurrected – and are immediately commissioned to spread the gospel.  It is no different for Moses here – he is immediately commissioned by the Angel to be the apostle to the Pharoah.  And throughout this, there is every intention from God to plunder the nation of Egypt for God’s glory (v.22) and go on a three day journey in the wilderness to worship God (v.18).  Whether these three days are literal can be found wanting, especially since it took longer than three days to go out to ‘worship’ Him.  The significance relates to the meaning of three days, signifying that on the third day Christ’s resurrection, the day 3 of creation which points to dried land after the day 2 of the waters of punishment, all point to true worship through Christ.  And all of this comes from the LORD whose name is the Great I AM.  I end this entry by Matthew Henry’s view of the name “I AM”, which directly contradicts any sense of Buddhist philosophy, the Doctrine of Anatta, which fights so whole-heartedly against the meaning of “Soul” and “self”, but little do they know our God whose meaning of ‘Soul’ and ‘Self’ far surpasses any of ours:

1. A name that denotes what he is in himself (v. 14): I am that I am. This explains his name Jehovah, and signifies, (1.) That he is self-existent; he has his being of himself, and has no dependence upon any other: the greatest and best man in the world must say, By the grace of God I am what I am; but God says absolutely—and it is more than any creature, man or angel, can say—I am that I am. Being self-existent, he cannot but be self-sufficient, and therefore all-sufficient, and the inexhaustible fountain of being and bliss. (2.) That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever; he will be what he will be and what he is; see Rev. i. 8. (3.) That we cannot by searching find him out. This is such a name as checks all bold and curious enquiries concerning God, and in effect says, Ask not after my name, seeing it is secret, Judg. xiii. 18; Prov. xxx. 4. Do we ask what is God? Let it suffice us to know that he is what he is, what he ever was, and ever will be. How little a portion is heard of him! Job xxvi. 14. (4.) That he is faithful and true to all his promises, unchangeable in his word as well as in his nature, and not a man that he should lie. Let Israel know this, I AM hath sent me unto you.

2. A name that denotes what he is to his people. Lest that name I AM should amuse and puzzle them, he is further directed to make use of another name of God more familiar and intelligible: The Lord God of your fathers hath sent me unto you (v. 15): Thus God had made himself know to him (v. 6), and thus he must make him known to them, (1.) That he might revive among them the religion of their fathers, which, it is to be feared, was much decayed and almost lost. This was necessary to prepare them for deliverance, Ps. lxxx. 19. (2.) That he might raise their expectations of the speedy performance of the promises made unto their fathers. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are particularly named, because with Abraham the covenant was first made, and with Isaac and Jacob often expressly renewed; and these three were distinguished from their brethren, and chosen to be the trustees of the covenant, when their brethren were rejected. God will have this to be his name for ever, and it has been, is, and will be, his name, by which his worshippers know him, and distinguish him from all false gods; see 1 Kings xviii. 36. Note, God’s covenant-relation to his people is what he will be ever mindful of, what he glories in, and what he will have us never forget, but give him the glory of: if he will have this to be his memorial unto all generations, we have all the reason in the world to make it so with us, for it is a precious memorial.

Genesis 48-50: The spiritual Israel

We have reached the final three chapters of Genesis.

Outline of Genesis

Let’s go through a brief outline.  In the early chapters, we have heard much of Eden, the paradise on the holy mountain of God.  On this hill God and the Son had fellowship with the man made outside of the garden in the wilderness who was placed there.  Yet, man turned away from God, but God had provisions for that.  Sin had to be dealt with, and only through the blood of the eternal Lamb could the sin be washed away.  So Adam and Eve left Eden, to struggle in the wilderness.

The nature of sin and its qualities are further magnified in following generations, from the split of Adam’s family into two factions – that of Cain and that of Abel/Seth.  The elect line followed after Seth, to Noah, to Abraham.  Throughout these chapters, there are continual references to circumcision, to covenant faithfulness, to baptism, to Jesus’ work on the cross and his death, resurrection and ascension (symbolically shown by the seven days of creation).

Not only that, but we have at least had a dozen if not more Christophanies from the first few chapters to the last chapters of Genesis.  Christ has continually been interceding, appearing before many saints to give them hope.  His persistent appearances show a God who is directly involved, who reveals Himself to us and who communicates through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Moreso, the fact is that we look forward to communion with God because He reached out to us first.

Finally we see the covenant promises come to further fruition, based on the power of the cross and Jesus’ work which is consistently portrayed throughout the different dispensations and fruitions, from Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob as well as his 12 sons, especially through Joseph.  We now come to finish looking at the dispensation of Jacob and Joseph, to be followed up by Moses in the next book.  Meanwhile, chapters 48-50!

1.  Israel and the Angel; Ephraim and Manasseh  (Genesis 48 )

2.  The 12 Tribes of Israel  (Genesis 49)

3.  Death  (Genesis 50)

1.  Israel and the Angel; Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48 )

The first thing which Israel mentions to Joseph is the appearances of Christ in his life as the Angel.  v.3-4 – “God Almighty (El Shaddai) appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 and said to me, “Behold I will make you fruitful and multiply you and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession”.

What is most interesting is how straight after he mentions Christ’s blessing on himself, he immediately turns to Ephraim and Manasseh, the interracial mix of Israelite-Egyptian.  And what does Israel say to this interracial mix?  v.5 – “And now your two sons… are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh are mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.”  This is an amazing prophecy of the inclusion of the Gentiles and not a religious adherence to the physical Israel.  Then Israel mentions something a bit random – he speaks of Rachel’s death, and how she was buried on the way to Ephrath in Bethlehem. I will come back to this in such a moment.

Then Israel places his dominant right hand on Ephraim, the younger; and his left hand on Manasseh, the physical firstborn.  Why this?  Israel had crossed his hands whilst blessing Joseph and asked Christ to bless the boys to let them “be like fish for multitude” in the midst of the earth (v. 16 – ESV footnote for the alternate translation).  This is what Calvin has to say concerning the Angel:

He so joins the Angel to God as to make him his equal. Truly he offers him divine worship, and asks the same things from him as from God. If this be understood indifferently of any angel what ever, the sentence is absurd. Nay, rather, as Jacob himself sustains the name and character of God, in blessing his son, ¹ he is superior, in this respect, to the angels. Wherefore it is necessary that Christ should be here meant, who does not bear in vain the title of Angel, because he had become the perpetual Mediator. And Paul testifies that he was the Leader and Guide of the journey of his ancient people. (1 Corinthians 10:4.) He had not yet indeed been sent by the Father, to approach more nearly to us by taking our flesh, but because he was always the bond of connection between God and man, and because God formally manifested himself in no other way than through him, he is properly called the Angel. To which may be added, that the faith of the fathers was always fixed on his future mission. He was therefore the Angel, because even then he poured forth his rays, that the saints might approach God, through him, as Mediator. For there was always so wide a distance between God and men, that, without a mediator; there could be no communication. Nevertheless though Christ appeared in the form of an angel, we must remember what the Apostle says to the Hebrews, (Hebrews 2:16,) that “he took not on him the nature of angels,” so as to become one of them, in the manner in which he truly became man; for even when angels put on human bodies, they did not, on that account, become men. Now since we are taught, in these words, that the peculiar office of Christ is to defend us and to deliver us from all evil, let us take heed not to bury this grace in impious oblivion: yea, seeing that now it is more clearly exhibited to us, than formerly to the saints under the law, since Christ openly declares that the faithful are committed to his care, that not one of them might perish, (John 17:12,) so much the more ought it to flourish in our hearts, both that it may be highly celebrated by us with suitable praise, and that it may stir us up to seek this guardianship of our best Protector. And this is exceedingly necessary for us; for if we reflect how many dangers surround us, that we scarcely pass a day without being delivered from a thousand deaths; whence does this arise, except from that care which is taken of us, by the Son of God, who has received us under his protection, from the hand of his Father.

Indeed, so this Son of God is our Mediator from Alpha to Omega.  But I don’t want to short-change the significance of blessing Ephraim over Manasseh; nor do I want to short-change the reason why Ephraim and Manasseh are blessed prior to the 12 tribes of Israel in Chapter 49, when both of Joseph’s sons should have also been part of Joseph’s blessing in Genesis 49:22-26.

Let’s look at the sequence.

(a)  Israel had been holding his staff, upon which he bowed his head in faith, looking forward to the promises of the Promised Land represented by his burial in Canaan.  This staff is a prototype of the cross of Christ, the wood and tree on which Jesus was nailed.  (Genesis 47v.31).

(b)  Israel speaks of Christ and his blessing on Israel as the father of a multitude of nations, to which he immediately turns to Joseph’s two inter-racially born sons rather than the immediate 12 sons of Israel.

(c)  Not only that, but he supersedes the ‘first-born’ priority and, in the shape of a cross, places his arms on their heads and pronounces the blessing on the younger one.

It is quite clear that the significance of the mentioning of Christ, twice, in Chapter 48, followed immediately by Israel’s blessing on the two children are very significant; for, these children are children of the Gentile-Jewish mix – their very existence and the priority of blessing them over the 12 tribes immediately displays the priority of the global Gentile-Jewish church to which God promises the multitude of nations (better yet, to be like ‘fish for the multitude’).  Israel, who had looked forward to his burial in Canaan bowing on the piece of wood, now blesses the two Gentile-Jewish children in the shape of a cross (when he could have easily asked each of them to sit in different positions) – again, a prototype of the cross in which the Spirit is then given to both Gentiles and Jews.  Now this is extremely important – why was Ephraim blessed over Manasseh?

There is no short variety of verses referring to Ephraim – Psalm 60:6-8 (“Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter); Psalm 78:9-16 (“Ephraimites, armed with the bow…they did not keep God’s covenant.  They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them”); Psalm 78:67-72 (“He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah…”); Psalm 80:1-2 (“O Shepherd of Israel (Jesus)…Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us!”); Isaiah 9:18-21 (“They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours the flesh of his own arm, 21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh”); Jeremiah 31:6-10 (“For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God…’O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel’…With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I wil make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn”); Jeremiah 31:18-20 (“I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf…Is Ephraim my dear son?  Is he my darling child?  For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still”); Ezekiel 37:15-23 (which deserves a special quotation):

15The word of the LORD came to me: 16^(AB) “Son of man,^(AC) take a stick^[d] and write on it, ‘For^(AD) Judah, and^(AE) the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For^(AF) Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17And^(AG) join them one to another into one stick, that^(AH) they may become^(AI) one in your hand. 18And when^(AJ) your people say to you,^(AK) ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ 19say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take^(AL) the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the^(AM) stick of Judah,^[e] and^(AN) make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. 20When the sticks on which you write are in your hand^(AO) before their eyes, 21then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold,^(AP) I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. 22And^(AQ) I will make them one nation in the land, on^(AR) the mountains of Israel. And^(AS) one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer^(AT) two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23^(AU) They shall not^(AV) defile themselves anymore^(AW) with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But^(AX) I will save them from all the backslidings^[f] in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and^(AY) they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Indeed, Ezekiel says it best – Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) will enjoin with Judah, the true Israelite line.  The two sticks with enjoin, and “they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 37:23).  Ephraim is not exactly the most flattering tribe – you can see their warring nature and the number of times in which they forget the LORD, given their intermingling with many nations.  Yet, the LORD remembers Ephraim – and Ephraim is still considered his firstborn son, a la Isaac is Abraham’s firstborn son (when Ishmael is the physical firstborn, like Manasseh).  The significance speaks of the Gentile-Jewish spiritual church, represented by Ephraim, blessed by Christ.

2.  The 12 Tribes of Israel (Genesis 49)

Given Christ’s blessing to the Jewish-Gentile church in chapter 48, the subsequent prophecies on the 12 tribes speaks of the prophetic future of each tribe and the role they play in fulfilling God’s blessing through the Jews and the Gentiles.  Note that there isn’t much in terms of ‘blessing’ on the 12 tribes, save a few (save Joseph, Judah…)!  Thus, the obsession is not in the 12 tribes themselves; neither is it through the natural priority of the firstborn and the last-born; rather, it is in the spiritual church, to be represented by Joseph’s Jewish-Gentile children already mentioned.  Now let’s see what roles the 12 tribes play in fulfilling God’s plan.

Tribes	Meaning of the names	Scripture (Chapter 49)	Prophecy
Reuben	Who sees the son; the vision of the son; behold a son	v.3-4	His sin in Genesis 35:22 is brought to the open, and this tribe amounts to nothing. No one significant will come from this tribe.
Simeon	That hears or obeys; that is heard	v.5-7	Both Simeon and Levi’s violence in chapter 34 is brought to the open as well.
Levi	Associated with him; joined	v.5-7	Levi, however, tames the hot blood and gives themselves to the LORD’s service (Exodus 32:27-29). This shows how the Levites did not become victims of their own character.
Judah	The praise of the LORD; confession	v.8-12	Instead of receiving condemnation for the mess made in Genesis 38, the tribe of Judah will include king David, and the Promised Seed, described as the scepter, the ruler’s staff, the vine, and the blood of the Christ represented by the washing of his garments in wine, the blood of grapes
Zebulun	A habitation	v.13	This tribe would occupy the coast, displaying how Israel saw beyond the initial settlement in the Promised Land as definite of Canaan.
Issachar	Reward; recompense	v.14-15	The quality of Issachar’s land would make up for the tough burden.
Dan	A judge; judgment; he that judges	v.16-18	Justice is provided for Israel through the judges, perhaps symbolized by Samson in Judges 12-16; but Dan is not mentioned again in the book of Revelation, and Jeremiah 8:16-17, as interpreted by some theologians like Irenaeus of Lyons that the Anti-Christ would come from Dan, which explains the absence of Dan from Revelation 7.
Gad	A troop; a band	v. 19	This tribe is good at fighting for Israel (1 Chronicles 12) and the men of Gad make up David’s class of mighty men.
Asher	Happiness; blessed	v.20	The great wealth is noted – Joshua 19 (Asher has some of Israel’s great trading places)
Naphtali	Wrestling; that struggles or fights	v.21	The name means struggle – he is set free from this for peace and friendship, rather than war
Joseph	Increase; addition	v.22-26	This is a focus of the Rock’s sovereignty in Joseph’s life, rather than him engineering his own success – this is the longest blessing and displays the typology of Joseph in Christ. Israel recounts the archers who bitterly attacked him, shot at him and harassed him, to display the utter innocence of Joseph against the guilt of those who attacked this type of Christ. Joseph’s bow remained unmoved and his arms were made agile by divine power – defined further in v. 24 as Christ himself, the Stone of Israel. Indeed, Joseph is blessed increasingly – between v. 25-26 there are already four ‘blessings’ from God – “up to the bounties of the everlasting hills” (“the blessings of the eternal mountains/hills” in the ESV footnote) – these everlasting hills representing Eden, which is the type pointing towards to the Paradise, the holy hill on which only Christ can ascend. This further reinforces Joseph as like Christ, and how chapters 37 to 49 have been working towards an inherently Christological interpretation of Joseph as the incarnate, dead, resurrected and ascended Christ. Thus, as it is through Joseph, it is truly through Christ that the church of Christ will be given increase, Gentile and Jew alike.
Benjamin	Son of the right hand; fortunate	v.27	He is called a ‘ravenous wolf’ although he seems quite peaceful thus far; Judges 20 & 21 reveals the Benjamites’ personality – they go to war against all the rest of Israel. Paul the Apostle was also a Benjamite, which probably explains why he showed wicked violence as Saul.

You should notice that many of the names of the sons concur with what occurs with their future – but, like Levi, we are not victims of our ‘personalities’.

3.  Death (Genesis 50)

So chapter 49, after the sequence of blessings, ends with Israel’s death where he is gathered to the Israelite people in the cave that is in the field of Ephron (meaning like a fawn; dust – as should happen to the flesh of men, the flesh of Israel, until we receive new creation bodies) the Hittite.

One can see the direct contrast between chapter 50 of Genesis and chapter 1 of Exodus – the Pharoah here says “Go up, and bury your father, as he made your swear” (v.6), as opposed to the Pharoah’s outright refusal in Exodus.  Not only that, but there was great mourning for the death of Israel, rather than the death of Joseph whom they were directly involved with and known for many years.  What wonderful brotherly love is displayed here!  If only we can cry for our non-Christian brothers/sisters or even Christian brothers/sisters whom we don’t know – we are so guilty of desensitizing death in this generation.  Yet, what a great influence it has made on neighbouring nations (v.11).

The chapter ends with the brothers fully reconciling with Joseph but through lying to Joseph.  Joseph saw through their guilty consciences (v.16-18 ) – and Joseph straightens them out again.  “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?  20  As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good”.  Indeed, Joseph does not stop praising God, and giving thanks to God and his sovereignty – and comforted the brothers despite their sins (Acts 2:23; Romans 8:28 ).

And so we reach the end of the book of Genesis.  The trip has been long, but we have covered almost all the major themes and events of what Scripture testifies to – which is the cross of Christ, his appearances, incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension, shown through the typologies, Christophanies, Christological readings and the gospel preached by the very things within creation.  This picture is indeed sufficient, and I believe you can even preach the gospel solely from the book of Genesis – but God has provided the prototype of the gospel from the Pentateuch, which means that even more riches can be found in the subsequent books.

This is a page-turner to Exodus, which Paul Blackham quotes as the theology book of the OT.  I look forward to turning to Exodus in the next post and give it a Christological reading when many modern commentators sadly are reluctant to do so.  And in the words of Joseph – “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob”.  This refrain isn’t contained specifically concerning the prophecy of the Exodus around 430 years later; but this refrain repeats itself in the Mosaic law in Deuteronomy… indeed, and it refers to us.  We await the day of new creation and new Jerusalem, and God will visit us in our rapture, and bring us out of wherever we live today to the re-created land that he swore to our spiritual forefathers.

Genesis 33-35: Jacob – man-fearer

1.  “For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God” – Jacob flatters Esau (Gen. 33)

2.  Dinah defiled and revenge enacted (Gen. 34)

3.  Jacob renamed… again – the drink offering and the oil (Gen. 35:1-15)

4.  The Pillar of Rachel (Gen. 35:16-29)

1.  “For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God” – Jacob flatters Esau (Gen. 33)

There is something disappointing about this chapter.

After seeing Jacob clinging onto Jesus in the end of chapter 32, you would think that he need not rely on his own methods to appease Esau.  But he does – and this is the first challenge God has laid before him.  Jacob had just prevailed, and is renamed Israel which means God strives!  God fights for Jacob!  Jacob has also seen God face to face (v.30)!

But in chapter 33, the very first thing he does, after he sees Esau, is divide the children among Leah and Rachel.  The common refrain is this… “…bowed down”.  The bowing down occurs 7 times in v. 3, once more in v. 6, twice in v.7.  There is a lot of bowing – this is either an act of reverence or an act of fear.  To really get a feel of what is going on, let’s read what Jacob says.  He calls Esau “my lord” (v.8, 13, 14, 15), four times in a matter of less than 10 verses.  So we have four ‘my lords’ and ten ‘bows’ and one more flattery which says that his brother’s face is like seeing the face of God (v.10).  What blasphemy!!!  Indeed, Jacob had seen the living God face to face as to honour Him by calling the place of struggle Peniel (“the face of God”) – but to immediately call Esau his lord, and to say that he looks like God?!   We now know the bowing, the ‘my lords’, and the other flatteries were no result of genuine compassion.  Rather, they are words of flattery which do not build up the body, and work from Jacob’s scheming heart again!

That’s not the end of it.  Esau offers to go with Jacob and his party to Seir, the country of Edom (Genesis 32:3).  But Jacob lies to Esau – firstly he says that his children are frail, that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to him (v.13); then he says that there is no need for Esau’s men to stay behind (v. 15).  Now that Esau and his party has gone, Jacob is free to do as he wishes, and decided to journey to Succoth (v. 17), building himself a house and made booths for his livestock.  This clearly isn’t merely a place of rest – it is a place where he will be for at least quite a while.  Jacob is, yet again, avoiding Esau; and he, yet again, fails to trust in the LORD who proclaimed that Esau shall serve Jacob (Genesis 27:40).  What Jacob could have done, is tell Esau to join him, instead of having Esau tell Jacob to go to Edom!  But Jacob, the man-fearer, fails to remind Esau of the promised land Canaan.  He lets Esau go, and instead goes back to Canaan without having his brother serving him by his side in Canaan.

Jacob finally rests at Shechem, the same place that Abraham had passed through in Genesis 12:6.  Is the prophecy going to be fulfilled yet?  No – again, Jacob remembers what Abraham may have said to his descendants about God’s prophecy in Genesis 15:13.  The four hundred years between the book of Genesis and Exodus has yet to occur.  Although Jacob worships God by erecting an altar in Canaan and calling it El-Elohe-Israel (“God, the God of Israel”) – he had failed to convince his brother.  Rather, he folded in and failed to rule and guide his brother to Canaan.

2.  Dinah defiled and revenge enacted (Gen. 34)

This theme is carried across again in this chapter – the theme of Jacob the man-fearer.  This time though, the ‘fear’ has passed down to his son.  The chapter is horrific – it tells of the story of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, being raped by Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, who was the prince of the land.  He may have truly loved her – but his expression was also truly confused.

Jacob had heard about the rape already, possibly through Hamor, but kept his peace about the whole situation until his sons returned.  Hamor is sincere about the marriage – “the soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter.  Please give her to him to be his wife.  Make marriages with us” (Genesis 34:8-9).  Perhaps Jacob kept his peace, knowing that his children would be furious about this event.  Indeed – Israelites and Canaanites must not bond, for it will compromise the gospel message of Christ marrying the Christian Church.  But something heretical is offered here – Hamor is asking Israel to join to Canaan.  Surely there is something odd – isn’t it meant to be Canaan joining Israel, if Israel is the chosen nation to preach the good news of Jesus Christ?!

This is materialised in the abuse of the holy sacrament of circumcision (Genesis 17:12-13) which was also for foreigners.  Why?  So that the foreigners are also marked with this trust in Christ Jesus, that the blessings from the Father are given through the mediatorial offering of Christ’s blood and the water of the Spirit.  So the circumcision, the mark of pain, the mark of cutting of Christ’s flesh, would remind them of their faith.  But no – this sacrament is completely turned on its head; rather, it is now manipulated as a part of a deceitful plan, whereby the Canaanites don’t even have faith in Christ.  Rather, the circumcision is made so that Israel will dwell with the Canaanites, rather than vice versa!  The circumcision is negated of its meaning, but turned completely into a ‘business’ transaction!  How horrifying!  And such is the case of the abuse of infant baptism today; the refusal of people joining “Catholic” or “Christian” schools if the infant is not already baptised, or even special privileges following the completion of certain sacraments.  No – these sacraments have always been about God’s faithfulness to us (Romans 3), and nothing less!  We are set apart for Christ, not set apart for a holy club, or even any club!

And this is the mark of the man-fearer — even though Simeon and Levi did not ‘appear’ to fear man, they became hypocrites.  In return, they killed all the males, and stole their flocks, herds, donkeys, wealth, little ones, wives… what tragedy!  And yet, this is the chosen nation through which God will proclaim Christ.  Yes, as Karl Barth rightly put – the very evidence of God lies in the very existence of Israel to this day.  How can such a nation, with such a horrible track record, be chosen by God?  Naturally, we come to the conclusion that it isn’t down to the nation’s credentials; but it is down to their God’s credentials.

Love thy neighbour and thy enemy… but they could not even do that.  Simeon and Levi seemed not to even repent of what they did (Genesis 34:31).

3.  Jacob renamed… again – the drink offering and the oil (Gen. 35:1-15)

“Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there.  Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau”.  Again, we see the Father speaking of Jesus as “the God who appeared” to Jacob.  God protects the sons of Jacob during this period by striking terror on the cities around them (v.5) – such is the provision of God!  Jacob is probably unaware of it, though he may have wondered why his journey through Canaan was peaceful, despite the vengeful massacre Genesis 34.

Interestingly, prior to God re-iterating the blessing he made to Abraham and Isaac (v.11-12), he renamed Jacob as Israel again.  The name, from he who cheats to God strives.  From struggling against God to clinging onto God’s righteousness.  Jacob responds favourably with a drink offering on a pillar of stone and poured oil over it, in prophecy to Isaiah 53:12, our LORD Christ who poured out his life unto death, so that we can be gifted with new names which speak of Christ as well (Revelation 2:17).  And the oil is a representation of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  We have, in these short verses from 9-15 the appearance of Christ (v.9), and his work expressed (v.14) on the Pillar of Stone, in Bethel, “the House of God”.  Jacob had all this head knowledge, but he still failed to obey and trust in the LORD entirely.

4.  The Pillar of Rachel (Genesis 35:16-29)

Rachel’s death definitely worths a mention – it is quite a sad account.  She dies from giving birth to Benjamin, the final and 12th son of Israel.  And she dies on the way, from the House of God (Bethel) to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ:

2^[a](A) But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of^(B) Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be^(C) ruler in Israel,
^(D) whose coming forth is^(E) from of old,
from ancient days. (Micah 5:2)

There is again a re-establishment, after Benjamin’s birth, of the 12 tribes of Israel.  Now the 12 tribes of Israel are complete and all born – and they are now the object of the next part and section of Genesis.  The previous generation has gone, and Abraham and Isaac have yet to physically see their descendants inheriting the true Promised Land.  Jesus had re-established the blessing he had made to Abraham and Isaac, now to Jacob (renamed as Israel).  Israel, the nation and people for whom God fights and strives, now has 12 tribes.  The 12 tribes who will usher the world, as the spiritual forefathers of all those in Christ, ushering the age of the Gentiles and Jews shown by the ruler to be born in the little town of Bethlehem Ephrathah — this ruler whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.  Isaac had striven for his church, Rachel – and the 7 years had felt only like a few days to him.  Now Rachel has passed away – his church has fall asleep; but the 12 tribes live on – and it all culminates on the path to Bethlehem.  The Pillar of Rachel, the Pillar of the physically dying Church, looks forward to the path set on the O Little Town of Bethlehem – and meanwhile, the last act before her falling asleep is an act of giving new life, as the church should be continually doing.

Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. – Malachi 2:15

These 12 tribes were the original 12 apostles, and the Pillar of Rachel, the only “pillar” built for a person, as opposed to being built for God, is a testimony to the work that will be done in Bethlehem and which the 12 tribes are striving towards in long expectation – and the fulfillment of the prophecy is spoken of the death of Rachel’s children at the hands of Herod in Ramah (in Arabia according to Justin Martyr in his dialogue with Trypho chapter LXXVIII):

15Thus says the LORD:^(AL) “A voice is heard in^(AM) Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
^(AN) Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
^(AO) because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15)

Genesis 27-29: The one who cheats vs. the one who promises

1.  Isaac blesses Jacob (Genesis 27)

2.  Esau and an Ishmaelite (Genesis 28:1-9)

3.  Jacob’s dream: the stairway to heaven (Genesis 28:10-22)

4.  Jacob’s marriage with Leah and Rachel (Genesis 29)

1.  Isaac blesses Jacob (Genesis 27)

Here is a picture of an old Isaac with dim eyes.  God’s blessing on Jacob had been pronounced in Genesis 25:23; but it appears that this promise has been ignored by Isaac and Esau.  Isaac would rather rely on his own works to please Jacob.  He would cheat his way back into the birthright which he had despised by resorting to the one thing he knows – that is, to hunt game for Isaac.  Where is God in this picture?  No-where – though Jacob be a Schemer, at least he values the birthright.  Here, we see two people joining together to disobey God’s plan which had been announced two chapters ago.

Which is why Rebekah is especially quick to act when she hears Isaac and Esau speaking to one another.  What is Rebekah’s solution?  Take the place of Esau, by pretending to be Esau!

But there is something very apparent.  Jacob is a smooth man!  And Esau is hairy!  Such an important physical difference, let alone difference in personality should be enough to distant his father from his son.  Jacob is fearful of this, and wishes to stay away: “Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing”.

Indeed, such is the same fear when we present ourselves to our heavenly Father when he expects something but we present something entirely unacceptable.  Instead, Jacob is advised to wear the goat skin to be in the place of Esau.  And who is to receive the curse?  Rebekah.  Who appeased the father’s wrath?  Rebekah, essentially.  Yet, who does Isaac look favourably on?  Jacob, in the place of Esau.  Not only goat skin, but also Esau’s best garments.

Then, let’s look at the blessing:

“See,^(B) the smell of my son
is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!
28May God give you of^(C) the dew of heaven
and of the fatness of the earth
and^(D) plenty of grain and wine.
29Let peoples serve you,
and nations^(E) bow down to you.
^(F) Be lord over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
^(G) Cursed be everyone who curses you,
and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

But let’s look at the blessing in detail.  Can this be a blessing strictly for Jacob the person?  No.  “Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you.” – within his lifetime, at most, only one nation bowed down to Jacob and his immediate descendants, that being the Egyptians when Joseph had aided the Pharoah.  But that is far from saying nation”s”… Secondly, Jacob has no other brother beside Jacob.  But the refrain in v. 29 is “Be lord over your brother”s”… and may your mother’s son”s” bow down to you”.

If anything, there is something interesting at play here – it is an entirely prophetic blessing, peering into the future of the nation Israel, the name of which means “God fights”.  If anything, this blessing seems to work… only in the context of Jesus Christ.  So what does Isaac mean in v. 37, when he says he made Jacob lord over Esau, and “all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him”?

Let me work on the typologies first lest I be misunderstood:

1.  Isaac = the Father

2.  Jacob = a son (note… not the son)

3.  Rebekah = Mediator, though she proclaims that the curse be on her, she was never actually cursed.

4.  Esau = a potential son… though not from the chosen race, he was given an option to serve.

5.  Goat skin = Christ

For point 4, Isaac told Esau (v. 40) that “By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow resltess you shall break his yoke from your neck”. Thus, he is given an option to serve Jacob… but he refused.  If he had listened, then like Jacob, Esau could have become part of the covenant people; like Japheth the brother of Shem (representing the Gentiles), taking cover under Shem the covenant people.

So here, the Father loves Jacob, one of his sons clothed in animal skin and blesses him and his kingdom in Christ.  Esau came with the wrong dress (Matthew 22), and though he smelt like Esau, and provided game like Esau… Isaac still said: “Who are you?” (v. 32).  And in the same way, even though we cry Lord Lord, He will still tell us go to away… replying “I never knew you” (Matthew 7).

The animal skin points to Christ himself… and yet Rebekah plays the role of the Mediator.  The curse never actually falls on her – and I think this is significant.  This most likely points to the aspect of the mediatorial role offered by people like Job… and by people like Moses, Nehemiah and Daniel with their respective intercessory prayers (Exodus 9, Nehemiah 9, Daniel 9).  Does this make Moses, Nehemiah and Daniel a representation of Christ?  Merely a type… but the true curse doesn’t fall on them.  They merely imitate the true Mediator, the true Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  Rebekah intercedes for Jacob… but the one truly interceding is the goat skin which witnesses to Christ.

What think you?

2.  Esau and an Ishmaelite (Genesis 28:1-9)

So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him finally, accepting God’s chosen one.  He finally gives him the same advice that Abraham gave him – to note marry a Canaanite women.  Rather, he tells Jacob to go back to the house where Rebekah was found – to take a wife from one of the daughters of Laban, his uncle (Rebekah’s brother).  Thus, Jacob goes to Paddan-aram. We’ve already established the significance of physically marrying someone from the same race – that it represents spiritual wholeness, like a Christian should marry a Christian out of obedience to display the picture of Christ marrying a Christian church, rather than Christ marrying a non-Christian.

But then Esau overhears the instructions given to Isaac, and attempts to imitate Isaac.  So Esau, after his marriage to the two Hittites, decides to marry another wife!  He completely misunderstands the instruction!  He just wants to appear like Jacob now.  Such is the problem of many “Christians” today.  They sing with their hands clapping, they lift their eyes to the ceiling as they sing, they jump up and down, or they bow down low… all of these are just external actions.  But their heart is not cured.  Their actions are misrepresented, while they compromise the other aspects of their life.  Esau still missed the point… and still refuses to serve Jacob.  Rather, he still wants to replace Jacob, given his actions in attempting still to please his father.

3.  Jacob’s dream:  The stairway to heaven (Genesis 28:10-22)

Now we come to what Jesus was speaking of in John 1:51.  Here’s the verse 48-51 to refresh your memory:

48Nathanael said to him, “How^(A) do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49Nathanael answered him,^(B) “Rabbi,^(C) you are the Son of God! You are the^(D) King of Israel!” 50Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you,^[a] you will see^(E) heaven opened, and^(F) the angels of God ascending and descending on^(G) the Son of Man.” (John 1:48-51)

And here in v.12-13

12And he^(A) dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder^[a] set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold,^(B) the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13And behold,^(C) the LORD stood above it^[b] and said,^(D) “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.^(E) The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.

Who is the LORD?  Jesus Christ himself.  Jesus in the book of John testifies to the Christophany of himself in Genesis 28:13.  But he doesn’t spend a long time explaining it.  He expects Nathanael to understand it.  So here, we see Jacob putting his head on the rock of oath, of Beersheba which Isaac had established with Abimelech.  And on this rock of oath does Jacob, just like Nathaneal, see “heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” – Christ himself.

Then, we see Jacob wake up in delirium, setting up a pillar and pouring oil on top of it, calling the place Bethel (house of God), though the city was named Luz.  Luz, being a Canaanite name, renamed as Bethel.  This re-confirms that “God is with him and will keep him in this way” (v.20).  Does Jacob really think that Bethel is the house of God?  No – he just made the point that God is with him.  Yet, this is a reminder, an establishment which he raised as a place of worship, an altar placed on the rock of oath.  This rock which shall be set up as a pillar.  A place where the worship takes the form of giving a full tenth back to the Angel of the LORD, reminiscent of Genesis 14:20 when Abraham gave a full tenth back to Melchizedek, establishing the connection between the Angel and Melchizedek.

However, we must distinguish something important.  Jacob is still Jacob – and has not been renamed Israel yet.  He is still the one who cheats – and here, he is offering God a conditional obedience in v.20-22.  He is not quite ready to be rid of his ways.  He is still trying to control the situation, and still, to many an extent, trying to control/manipulate his own obedience to God.

4.  Jacob’s marriage with Leah and Rachel (Genesis 29)

Jacob kissing Rachel.  Laban kissing Jacob.  I think we can guess that this kissing is quite innocent.  Probably more along the lines of 1 Thessalonians 5:26.  Laban’s proclamation in v. 14 – “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” is a repeat of Adam’s statement to Eve – it is a statement of oneness, a statement that we are of one flesh within the same church, the body of Christ. Such is the joy when we meet Christians whom we barely know, if at all – the hospitality of knowing that someone is striving in the race of faith as you are, whose founder of faith is the Spirit himself.

Something theologically profound in Chapter 29v.20 – “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her”.  Amazing.  7 years is not exactly a short time – but, just as the Trinity is awaiting the day that we marry into Christ; just as creation is awaiting the revealing of the sons of God (Romans 8:19).  But because Christ loves us, and strives for his Bride, the 7 years, let alone 7000 years are just like a few days. 2 Peter 3:8-13:

8But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and^(N) a thousand years as one day. 9^(O) The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise^(P) as some count slowness, but^(Q) is patient toward you,^[a](R) not wishing that any should perish, but^(S) that all should reach repentance. 10But^(T) the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then^(U) the heavens will pass away with a roar, and^(V) the heavenly bodies^[b] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.^[c]

11Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,^(W) what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12^(X) waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and^(Y) the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13But according to his promise we are waiting for^(Z) new heavens and a new earth^(AA) in which righteousness dwells.

But Jacob has now met someone equally cunning – his uncle!  Firstly he gets Leah as the bride, then he has to work an extra seven years for Rachel, the true bride he had sought for.  However, even after Jacob’s struggle, the birth of children is still out of his hands.  The LORD continued with his unconditional promise by fulfilling the blessing which Isaac gave to Jacob, but through Leah, the neglected wife.  Through Leah is Jacob given 4 of the 12 tribes of the future nation of Israel – Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.  Even this is out of his manipulative hands, and provides a leaping contrast between God’s faithfulness and unmoving promise; as opposed to Jacob and Laban’s trickeries and deceptions in order to struggle for what they both desire, even if it may not be pleasing to the LORD.