出埃及记

Meditative Reflection
No Better than the “Other people”

“Many other people went up with them as well as large droves of livestock….” (Exod. 12:38)

Many commentators blamed these other people (whoever they were) for many of the troubles of the Israelites in the wilderness, as one of them says, “These ‘other people’ similar to unconverted church members in the present age, were a source of weakness and division then as now (cp. Num. 11:4-6). There had been a manifestation of divine power, and men were drawn to without a change of heart…”

However, the Israelites could not always put their blame on these “other people”. They were really no better. Just as they had witnessed all ten plagues on the Egyptians, blessed by all the gifts given to them by their Egyptians neighbors as they left, and were immediately guided by pillars of fire and cloud—an unmistakable presence and guidance of the Lord, yet upon being the chased by the army of Egyptians, they turned against Moses right away.

We often admire how God miraculously guided the Israelites through the wilderness, and might even quietly think that if we were so guided, we would definitely follow the Lord without question. The truth of the matter was, upon the sight of the pillars of fire and cloud for the first time, the Israelites must have been dazzled and excited. But as days turned into months, and months turned into years, even the pillars lost their charm. They took it for granted. Even before the excitement and novelty had worn out, just because the pillars guided them to go in circles leading to the attack by the Egyptians and later to bitter water of Marah (Exod. 15:23), the people immediately grumbled.

The lesson is: how God reveals His guidance to us is not important, ultimately what matters is an obedient spirit, without which we are just like the “other people”.

Meditative Reflection
The Canadian-Loon Syndrome

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me?’” (Exod. 14:15)

I once noticed a cartoon which depicted a Canadian Loon (an aquatic bird) with its beautiful shining feather swimming leisurely, confidently above the water, but beneath the water, the bird was paddling vigorously as if it was running for its life.

As I first read Moses’ immediate response to the Israelites who turned against him ever so quickly at the sight of Pharaoh’s pursuing army, I admired greatly his confident response to the people as a true leader, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.” (14:13)

What impressed me even more was his ending words, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (14:14)

Indeed, it echoes the advice of Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

However, no sooner had he said these words to the Israelites, behind the scene and alone with God, he was paddling for his life. He was anything but still. “Why are you crying out to me?” was the rebuke of the Lord.

But such is the life of a true leader. As much as you are afraid, you need to remain calm before the people, or they will be even more alarmed. But the secret of a true leader is not to allow your fear to paralyze you, nor simply put up a front before the people, because it will not last long. You need to quickly bring your fear before the Lord. Even though you may be rebuked for your fear, but I am sure God was delighted that Moses went back to Him for strength and for reassurance. After all he was human. After all, true leaders are human too.

Meditative Reflection
The Songof Moses

“Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord.” (Exod. 15:1)

It was the first song recorded of Moses and it was penned at the time God’s mighty power was revealed through the deliverance of His people from the pursuing army of Pharaoh that was totally swallowed up by the sea—“Not one of them survived.”

It was not too long ago that Moses’ world was turned upside down with his encounter with the Lord in the burning bush. His repeated excuses were ignored by the Lord who revealed not only His plan of deliverance, but Himself to him as Yahweh—I AM WHO I AM—a name that even Abraham had yet to know (Exod. 6:3)

This most reluctant leader yielded to the unyielding call of the Lord and had gradually come to understand not only the power of God, but to know Him personally.

The beginning part of this song describes the Lord like this:

“The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is His name.” (Exod. 15:2-3)

The experience culminating to the crossing of the Red Sea has enabled Moses to know God more than being his father’s God, but his God, meaning he now has established a personal relationship with God. God was no more just a hearsay, or a God from culture or heritage, not even a God he accepted intellectually, but his God—he now knew God personally.

Perhaps, this song might be more appropriately titled “the song of Moses’ conversion”, or at least, “the song of his testimony of conversion”.

Meditative Reflection
So Fickle and Mutable is Man

“When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter…So they people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?’” (Exod. 15:23-24)

Allow me to share with you Spurgeon’s thought on this incident below:

what a sudden change from the sound of the timbrel to the voice of murmuring! You saw the maidens dancing three days ago, and you little dreamed that they would make part of yonder clamorous throng who surround the servant of God, and cry, “What shall we drink?” Such are the changes of our outward conditions and of our inward feelings; so fickle and so mutable is man. What is there that can be rest­ed upon in this mortal life? We say today, “My moun­tain standeth firm, I shall never be moved;” tomorrow terra firma there is none, and we are tossed upon a stormy sea. Our life is like an April day, the sunshine alternates with the shower; or like each day of all the year, the morning and the evening are needful to complete it. Quick on the heels of light treads the darkness, followed with equal haste by light again. The sun’s rule, at this golden hour, is but temporary; he must abdicate in favor of the usurping stars, but they, in their turn, must give way before his lordly presence yet again. This world, which is our inn, owns to the sign of the “Checkers”—the blacks and whites are everywhere. We can be sure of nothing between here and heaven of the things which are seen; but of this we may be certain, that underneath all the outward change there is the immutable love of God towards his people, and that, after all, the change lies only in the seeming things, not in the things which truly are; for the things which are not seen are eternal; and changes come not there ; it is but in the things which are seen that the change occurs. Let us set the less store by earth, because its fashion abides not. Let us prize heaven more, because it cannot fade. (Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol.9, 382-3)

Meditative Reflection
Self-Centered Faith

“If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Exod. 16:3)

It was amazing that only after one and a half months, the Israelites were regretting their choice to follow Moses (in fact, there were following God) to leave their land of slavery. The way they complained painted a very different picture of their lives in Egypt. They were being harshly treated as slaves; their baby boys were killed; and their conditions were so bad that they “groaned in their slavery and cried out…for help.” (Exod. 2:23).

Now, in the arid desert, not that they did not have food to eat or water to drink, but the thirst was getting to them, the unending sea of sand made them wearied and the food they carried out of Egypt was getting dried and hard to eat. As a result they loathed the long journey, the living condition and the lack of fresh and tasty food. What a group of faithless and rebellious people that

- Had no gratitude

- Had no endurance

- Had no faith, and

- Had no sense of mission!

But this is what many Christians are like too in the church:

- They did not have a deep sense of conviction of their sins and the amazing grace of forgiveness by God. As a result, they lack a deep sense of gratitude for their salvation.

- Perhaps, they have been talked into making a decision for accepting Christ based on the joy and peace that had been promised. Not that these promises were not true, they are always a result of a life of obedience. So as soon hardship comes and God does not immediately wave a magic wand (like the staff of Moses) to alleviate their hardship, they want no part of this new life in Christ.

- As much as they have experienced miracles in their lives (like the healing of themselves or their loved ones), they base their so-called faith on sight and not on the invisible presence of the Lord, and

- Because they made their decision to accept Christ based on self-interests (including spiritual interests), they have no sense of mission. They are basically living for themselves, and neither for God nor His Kingdom.

But what I find the most amazing is not their instant complaint and rebellion, but the long-suffering of God. Instead of raining down fire brimstones, he rained down bread from heaven. Amazing grace, indeed!

Meditative Reflection
Contentment

“The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little…” (Exod. 16:17-18)

As we read the story of the gathering of manna by the Israelites, we might tend to laugh at them or even judge their greed, and find it rather humorous that those who gathered lots and lots ended by having the same amount—just enough for the consumption of the family for the day. Obviously, God was teaching them a lesson of contentment and of trust.

I have seen brothers who own many watches; some are rather expensive ones too. But I have not seen anyone who wears more than one watch at a time. It would be crazy for anyone to wear a watch on both of their hands. The same with sisters. Most, if not all, have a wardrobe full of shoes, and just the same, they can only wear one pair at a time. Why then do we want to have so many extra pairs? This is certainly not a sign of contentment, but a sign of craving, not unlike the Israelites, when you think of it.

But I have to confess that as I was meditating on this passage, the Holy Spirit was convicting me of my worry about tomorrow too. Yes, my worry is far more basic than watches and shoes, and when you are nearing retirement, thoughts of having enough to retire seem to be natural, but to fret over it? Jesus puts it bluntly—this is what the pagans do. But for the children of God, “your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:32-34)

Meditative Reflection
The Holy Sabbath

“This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’” (Exod. 16:23)

I would have expected the Lord to express His anger at the grumble of the Israelites, given the words they used to attack Moses (Exod. 16:3). But God might have been angry at the time; He withheld His anger and did not express it. Instead, He “rained down” bread from heaven to satisfy their craving.

However, it was at their disobedience of the Holy Sabbath that the Lord expressed His displeasure. This reflects how seriously God takes His commandment for His people to keep Sabbath.

It is true that God is angry because if they would not even keep one simple commandment, how could they keep the Ten Commandments and other decrees that He would proclaim through Moses later on?

But this commandment to keep Sabbath had its special significance in that

(1) This was the reason given to Pharaoh as the purpose of having the Israelites to leave (Exod. 12:31), not an excuse only, but as the real desire of the Lord. Now, they were to keep the Sabbath to realize this purpose of Exodus—the worship of the Lord as their God. Non-compliance of this command would defeat the purpose of Exodus. This was an important sign that they belong to the Lord and the Lord is their God. They are now a unique people set apart for the Lord;

(2) As much as the gathering of manna was quite unlike the curse of painful toil to get food (Gen. 3:17-19), the eagerness with which the people gathered them still revealed the anxiety and the worry that came with work. But God knows our needs — our needs to rest physically and mentally as well; and

(3) It was a wonderful opportunity to train our trust in the Lord that as much as we rest for a day, God will provide all our needs.

Over the years, I have had the privilege to participate in evangelistic ministry among small towns in North America, South America and Europe, reaching the local Chinese with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of these Chinese immigrants operate restaurants or grocery shops. In quite a few cases, I have witnessed the genuine conversion of these Chinese immigrants from Buddhism or traditional folk religions, and upon their conversion, without being asked, they decided to close on Sundays, so that they could go to church. As new as they were as believers, they demonstrated their true understanding of Sabbath as a desire to draw close to and worship God, a need to rest physically and emotionally, and as an act of trust that they will not suffer financially because it is the Lord who provides for all their needs.