About the Reading:
We read about God’s people’s journey in the desert; it was a definite strain on them, and their faith. God provides them with their needs; the people question Moses who proves to them, again and again, that God is with them.
We also learn of the first appointment of judges, as suggested by Moses’ father-in-law.
Then, probably most important, God comes down to Moses and the people on Mount Sinai.
My Thoughts and Notes:
There is one verse that stands out to me, Exodus 16:2-3
And the whole community of Israelites began complaining about Moses and Aaron in the desert and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at Yahweh’s hand in Egypt, where we used to sit round the flesh pots and could eat to our heart’s content! As it is, you have led us into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death!’
This is meaningful to me in that I read it to mean that the people feel like they had a bit of an easier time before leaving. This was NOT an easy trip; it had a lot of turn around and, intentional by God, mis-directions.
Life isn’t meant to be easy; it is meant to be challenging. Nothing great comes to us easily. Often times, I know, I have had to fight for those things that are the most meaningful.
When I am on the path that God wants me to be on, things fall into place; but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy.
They were definitely challenged; but God proved to them over and over that He would take care of them, even though they questioned Him continually.
Sorry Jen it seems I failed to notice the Exodus Line to click on. Wow it seems all of you have shared so many thoughts so please allow me to go back and catch up a bit. I am currently about a quarter of the way through the first book of Chronicles. So I have to flip back to freshen up on my thoughts. First off as far as Cain and Able they were born of Eve now we know had sin on her already. Now to me the Cain had the sins of pride, jealousy and envy in him. I am sure this is why God said” Why are you so resentful and crestfallen?” God went on to say “If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not sin is a demon lurking * at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.” Demon Lurking in Hebrew, robes literally “croucher” is used here like the similar Akkadian term rabisu to designate a certain kind of evil spirit. We think we can all safely assume God is all knowing he know what we are going to do or say long before we do. I believe God knew Cain was going to kill Abel in the end however God tried to tell Cain he can overcome these evil sins if he believes. Cain was too consumed with jealousy and anger he did not listen to God and killed his brother Abel. God had no choice to punish Cain for killing his brother. God passed out his punishment and Cain complained to God it was too harsh so God being merciful as he is lessened his punishment so what and put a mark on Cain. The word mark: probably a tattoo. The use of tattooing for tribal marks has always been common among the nomads of the Near Eastern deserts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ida the lineage stuff will lead up to Jesus who was from the linage of King David “The Giant Killer”. Now as for my thoughts about Noah descended from Adam’s side from Lamech. Now here is an interesting note on Noah 5:29. There is a similarity in the sound between the Hebrew word noah, “Noah” and the verbal phrase yenahamenu, “ he will bring us relief”; this latter refers both to the curse put on the soil because the fall of man and to Noah’s success in agriculture, especially in raising grapes for wine (Gen 9,20f). I believe God again knew Noah was a just a pious man who believed in God therefore God not only saved him and his family but also all the animals Noah and the rest of the population would need for food as they began to repopulate the world as they knew it. Here is the reason I say that 8, 21: “From the start: literally “from his youth”. It is uncertain whether this means from the beginning of the Human Race or from the early years of the individual. My other reason I believe this is First Noah built the altar to the Lord and offered holocausts to God which we will later know these as sin offerings and other types of offerings. I am going to go out on lamb and say Noah was first priest for God because later on we will see God only lets his chosen Priests offer holocausts. Now back to my food thought Genesis Chapter 9 The Covenant with Noah. “God Blessed Noah and his son’s and said to them “Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth”. Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon all the creatures that move about on the ground and all the fishes of the sea into you power they are delivered.” Every Creature That Is Alive Shall Be Yours To Eat.
ReplyDelete. I would like to touch a bit on the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I found these revelations of the different reasons why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and here is what I found 18,20 Israelite tradition was unanimous in ascribing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to the wickedness of these cities, but tradition varied in regard to the nature of this wickedness. According to the present account of the Yahwist, the sin of Sodom was homosexuality (Gn 19,4f), which is therefore also known as sodomy; but according to Isaiah (1, 9:3, 9), it was a lack of social justice; Ezekiel (16, 46-51) described it as a disregard for the poor, whereas Jeremiah (23, 14) saw it as general immorality. My thoughts on Joseph and His Brothers take me God has a plan for all of us now we might not how we get to God’s destination as I am sure Joseph was not enjoying being a slave and chained up and locked in jails and accused falsely of attempted rape. I think God might have been testing Joseph a bit to see if his belief in God was strong and true. God put another just and pious man Joseph in a position so when the time came he would be able to feed all the poor people especially the Israelites who came streaming into Egypt because of famine. I think God did this on purpose to get all the Israelites into Egypt so he could make them his chosen people. God works in mysterious ways. I also think again God tested Joseph a bit by seeing how he would treat those who wanted to kill him but sold into slavery instead, however Joseph knew his dreams meant something so he trusted in God and did whatever God told him to do!
ReplyDeleteNow as for the book of Exodus here are a few interesting things at the beginning of the book 2, 10: When The Child Grew: probably when he was weaned or a little later. Moses: in Hebrew, Mosheh; the Hebrew word for “draw out” is mashah. The explanation of the name is not intended as a scientific etymology but as a play on words. The name is probably derived from an Egyptian word for “has been born” referring the birth to a god thought to be its sponsor. Also we see 2, 11 After Moses has Grown Up: Acts 7, 23 indicates that this was after and interval of nearly 40 years. Cf Ex 7, 7. Striking: probably in the sense of “flogging”; according to some “slaying”. We see Moses killed a man thus as we learn later will be one of the 10 commandments Thou Shalt Not Kill. Yet God still chooses Moses to carry out his plan for Israel to me this is another sign of God’s forgiveness. I too am amazed by the burning bush incident I would love to have it happen to me I would feel so touched that God wanted me to do a mission for him. “Once A Marine Always A Marine”. I would like to share some notes on the burning bush incident. First Moses was at Horeb “The Mountain of God”. 3, 1: The Mountain of God: probably given this designation because of the divine apparitions which took place there, such as on this occasion and when the Israelites were there after the departure of Egypt. 3,2: An Angel of The Lord: the visual form under which God appeared and spoke to men is referred to indifferently in some Old Testament texts either as God’s angel of as God himself Cf Gn 16 7. 11-13, Ex 14, 19.24f; Nm 22, 22-35; Jgs 6, 11-18. 3, 6 The appearance of God caused fear of death, since it was believed that one no could see God and live; cf Gn 32, 20. The God of Abraham… Jacob: cited by Christ in the proof of the resurrection since the patriarchs long dead, live on in God who is the God of the Living. Cf Mt 22, 32; Mk 12, 26; Lk20, 37. Now we come to the statement “I have come down”. A figure of speech signifying an extraordinary divine intervention in human affairs. Cf Gn 11, 5.7. Then there is my all time favorite line 3, 14: “I am who am”: apparently this utterance is the source of the word Yahweh, the proper personal name of God of Israel. It is commonly explained in reference to God as the absolute and necessary Being. It may be understood of God as the Source of all created beings. Out of reverence for this name, the term Adonai, “my lord” was later used as a substitute. The word Lord in the present version represents this traditional usage. The word “Jehovah” arose from a false reading of this name as it is written in the current Hebrew text. I agree with all of you and saying Moses did not want the job. 4, 13 Send Someone Else: literally, “Send by means of him whom will you send”, that is, “Send whom you will”. I heard Moses stuttered that is why he told God he could not be his mouthpiece. So God said his brother Aaron would be the spokesman. 4, 16: Spokesman: literally, “mouth”; Aaron was to serve as the mouthpiece for Moses, as a prophet does for God; hence the relation between Moses and Aaron is compared to that between God and his prophet. Cf Ex 7, 1. Ex7, 1: Just As God Had His prophets to speak to men in his name so Moses had Aaron as his “prophet” to speak to Pharaoh
ReplyDeleteNow I believe God was angry with Egypt for many reasons first the way enslaved God’s chosen people then because the Egyptians worshipped all kinds of strange God’s and the Pharaoh’s also thought of themselves as God’s there is that Pride again. So God decided to show them who was really running the show! Then God unleashed the plagues. Here is a side note about the plagues 7, 14: Most of the ten plagues of Egypt seem to be similar to certain natural phenomena of that country; but they are represented as supernatural at least in their greater intensity and in occurring exactly according to Moses’ commands. To touch on the Red Sea: according to the traditional translation but the Hebrew is literally, “The Reed Sea”, hence the Red Sea of Exodus was probably a body of shallow water somewhat to the north of the present deep Red Sea. 12, 11: The Passover: In Hebrew, pesach, in Aramaic, pascha. In the following verses the same root is used in the verb “to pass over”. The word may be originally Egyptian, pesach, “the blow”, i.e., the final plague which destroyed the Egyptian first-born. Another note God says for 7 days you will eat unleavened bread which Jesus passed to his disciples at the last supper when Jesus said those wonderful words this is my body which is given up for you do this in memory of me . This is a precursor to the institution of the Eucharist. As Roman Catholics our Eucharist is unleavened bread which only made with wheat flour and water. Eastern Orthodox use leavened bread which is made with flour water and yeast. Now we look at the Passover lamb which God commanded them to eat 12,46: “You shall not break any of its bones” the application of these words to our Lord on the cross shows that the Paschal lamb was a prophetic type of Christ, immolated to free men from the bondage of sin. Cf also 1 Cor 5, 7; 1 Pt 1, 19
ReplyDeleteThe Destruction of the Egyptians to me was twofold. One brought his chosen people out of bondage and the second thing is God wanted to show those chosen people how powerful and real he is. 14, 20 The Cloud became dark: the light which it ordinarily cast at night would now have been a help to see the Egyptians; its present obscurity serves as a shield for the Israelites. However, the reading of the original text here is not quite certain. 15, 1-21 This canticle (used in Christian liturgy) celebrates God’s saving power, miraculously delivering his people from their enemies, and leading them to the victorious conquest of the Promised Land. Let me jump to 16, 1: On the fifteenth day of the second month: just one full month after their departure from Egypt. They encamped in the desert of Sin on a Friday; the murmuring occurred on the Sabbath, the arrival of the quail the evening before Sunday, followed by six mornings of collecting manna before the next Sabbath. In 16, 4: We again are shown the coming of the Eucharist “Bread from Heaven”: as a gift from God, the manna is said to have come down from the sky. Cf Ps 78, 25; Wis 16, 20. Perhaps it was a similar to a natural substance that is still found in small quantities on the Sinai Peninsula, but here it is at least in part clearly miraculous. Our Lord referred to the manna as a type of the Blessed Eucharist. Cf Jn6, 32. 49-52. I must say the Israelites never seemed happy with all that God did for them they fought robbed raped and killed each other along the way! They seemed to also want to test God often reminds me of a small child testing limits of his parents to see how much I can get away before I get punished. I think God had enough of the Israelites hurting each other along the way and made the 10 commandants the rules in which we Christians are called to live by even this day! I find it funny how some Christians try and find a gray area in the 10 commandments or change God’s words to suit whatever sin or agenda they wish to continue. Sorry to tell them no gray area in the 10 commandments and you can’t rewrite the law of God. I agree with you and saying Moses did not want the job. 4, 13 Send Someone Else: literally, “Send by means of him whom will you send”, that is, “Send whom you will”. I heard Moses stuttered that is why he told God he could not be his mouthpiece. So God said his brother Aaron would be the spokesman. 4, 16: Spokesman: literally, “mouth”; Aaron was to serve as the mouthpiece for Moses, as a prophet does for God; hence the relation between Moses and Aaron is compared to that between God and his prophet. Cf Ex 7, 1. Ex7, 1: Just As God Had His prophets to speak to men in his name so Moses had Aaron as his “prophet” to speak to Pharaoh.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of wonderful lesson that can be gleaned from today's reading. Mostly we see Israel whining about not having water,then God provides, then they whine again and so it goes. Much like the Christians of today.
ReplyDeleteWhat stands out to me is Chapter 17:8-16. The Amalekites have attacked Israel. Moses instructs Joshua to choose some men and go out and fight them. Moses stood on the hill, and as long as he kept his arms up, Israel won, but if his arms dropped, the Amalekites would start winning. So Aaron and Hur held his hands up when they grew tired and Moses could no long hold them up. There are many of us fighting against various enemies, and as long as we can 'keep our hands lifted to God', we can triumph over them, but many times we grow weary and can no longer keep our arm lifted. Just as Moses had Aaron and Hur to help him, we need Christian friends who can lift us up and help us defeat our enemy. There have been many times in my life that I was fighting spiritual battles and might have been defeated if it had not been for my prayer warriors who lifted me up daily.
There are lessons to be learned from God sending Manna, from Moses listening to his father-in-law about setting judges to help lessen his work load, and from God's presence on the mountain. But I will leave these for another time.
. Now I believe God was angry with Egypt for many reasons first the way enslaved God’s chosen people then because the Egyptians worshipped all kinds of strange God’s and the Pharaoh’s also thought of themselves as God’s there is that Pride again. So God decided to show them who was really running the show! Then God unleashed the plagues. Here is a side note about the plagues 7, 14: Most of the ten plagues of Egypt seem to be similar to certain natural phenomena of that country; but they are represented as supernatural at least in their greater intensity and in occurring exactly according to Moses’ commands. To touch on the Red Sea: according to the traditional translation but the Hebrew is literally, “The Reed Sea”, hence the Red Sea of Exodus was probably a body of shallow water somewhat to the north of the present deep Red Sea. 12, 11: The Passover: In Hebrew, pesach, in Aramaic, pascha. In the following verses the same root is used in the verb “to pass over”. The word may be originally Egyptian, pesach, “the blow”, i.e., the final plague which destroyed the Egyptian first-born. Another note God says for 7 days you will eat unleavened bread which Jesus passed to his disciples at the last supper when Jesus said those wonderful words this is my body which is given up for you do this in memory of me . This is a precursor to the institution of the Eucharist. As Roman Catholics our Eucharist is unleavened bread which only made with wheat flour and water. Eastern Orthodox use leavened bread which is made with flour water and yeast. Now we look at the Passover lamb which God commanded them to eat 12,46: “You shall not break any of its bones” the application of these words to our Lord on the cross shows that the Paschal lamb was a prophetic type of Christ, immolated to free men from the bondage of sin. Cf also 1 Cor 5, 7; 1 Pt 1, 19. In Chapter 15 of Exodus we find the Canticle of Moses 15, 1-21: This canticle (used in Christian liturgy) celebrates God’s saving power, miraculously delivering his people from their enemies, and leading them to the victorious conquest of the Promised Land.
ReplyDeleteChapter 16 The Desert Of Sin: 16, 1: “On The Fifteenth day” of the second month: just one full month after their departure from Egypt. They encamped in the desert of Sin on a Friday; the murmuring occurred on the Sabbath. The arrival of the quail the evening before Sunday followed six mornings of collecting manna before the next Sabbath. I see God trying to take care of his ungrateful chosen people and it only gets worse. 16, 4: Here is another precursor to our Eucharist. “Bread From Heaven” as a GIFT from God the manna is said to come down from the sky. Cf Ps 78, 25; Wis 16, 20. Perhaps it was similar to the natural substance that is still found in small quantities on the Sinai Peninsula but here it is, at least in part clearly miraculous. Our Lord referred to the manna as a type of the Blessed Eucharist. Cf Jn6, 32.49-52. Now for me the water from the rock was God again trying to satisfy those people who were not really believing in God 100% and protect Moses from being killed! I feel bad for Moses and he lets God know he can’t do it without some human help enter the judges to handle the small stuff taking some stress off Moses. Now as the Israelites made their way to Mount Sinai they were not behaving very well in fact they were fighting verbally and physically, robbing, raping and killing each other along the way! Now God saw all this sinfulness so he got them to Mount Sinai and called Moses up for a sit down and gave him the 10 commandments which we Christians are called to live by today! However some Christians like to twist God’s words or say there is a Gray area because we are so quote unquote advanced now. I see it as just a way for Christians who are sinning to justify their sins of push some wacked out agenda in the name of God. I am no theologian but I am smart enough to know God does not anyone changing his words or commandments to suit their purpose. I have a feeling those who do will find themselves in a very hot fiery place when they pass away. To me the commandments make sense you can buy books written by the pope or bishops that explain the commandments in today’s world for example drinking and driving you are breaking the Commandment of Thou Shalt Not Kill! I have one of these books and it is awesome because a Catholic I will have participate in the Sacrament of Confession so it is important to know what sins I have committed and if they are mortal deadly sins or small sins which for example might be cussing now you can’t take the Lord’s name in vain cussing because that just took you straight to Mortal Sin! Small sins can be forgiven by going to Mass and taking the Eucharist. Chapter 19 The Covenant at Mount Sinai God is trying to rally the troops so to speak. He is giving them his word of protection in battles and provides them with food and water and shelter if they follow his commandments and laws and worship only him. It was all good until Aaron makes the Golden Calf and throws a wrench in the mix and makes Moses and God very angry!
ReplyDeleteSorry if I made a double post Jen looks like I may have since your only allowed 4,000 words to post at one time I had to cut and paste my thoughts.
ReplyDelete