BibleProject - Israel Tests Yahweh – Exodus E5

Episode Date: April 11, 2022

The nation of Israel seems to go from one life-threatening situation to another in the Exodus scroll. From slavery in Egypt to being cornered between a hostile army and a vast body of water, Israel’s God has delivered them from everything so far. Now in the wilderness, they face a series of three tests. Will they trust Yahweh to deliver them again? In this episode, Tim and Jon explore Israel’s testing in the wilderness.View full show notes from this episode →Timestamps Part one (00:00-9:05)Part two (9:05-25:45)Part three (25:45-44:10)Part four (44:10-55:30)Part five (55:30-1:11:21)Referenced ResourcesInterested in more? Check out Tim’s library here.You can experience the literary themes and movements we’re tracing on the podcast in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.Show Music “Defender (Instrumental)” by TENTSBeneath Your Waves by Sleepy FishShow produced by Cooper Peltz. Edited by Dan Gummel and Zach McKinley. Show notes by Lindsey Ponder. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it in. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

In the School of Exodus, we find ancient Israel captive to the oppressive empire of ancient Egypt. But God delivers them. And here's the thing, God didn't ask Israel to do anything in order to qualify for being delivered. Liberation was a gift. Yet the story continues. God allows them to step foot into vulnerable situations, situations that are going to require that they trust Him. What does it mean when God tests His people in the Bible? What does it actually turn out to look like? It's an opportunity to deepen the relationship. The story of the Bible is about how humanity

gave up our role to be God's image, His partners in ruling the world. And so the Bible develops this pattern where God chooses someone to reclaim that relationship. And once they're chosen, saved. God's going to put them in a situation that requires bravery and trust. And this is exactly what happens to Israel here. They leave the abundance of Egypt, their Hungary, and their thirsty, and there's no water

to be found, but God asks them to trust him that he can provide water, even out of a rock. What we are told was that little scenario was, that was a test. And they failed it. They came to the water and they say, what, what are we supposed to drink and they grumbled? They don't trust. We're also going to look at a famous story where God provides bread from heaven.

This is the stuff called manna. In Godtails, Israel, there's going to be enough each day. So only collect what you need for that day. And on top of that, on the seventh day, God says, don't collect any bread. Just rest and trust that you have enough. We wanted them to rest. We are recreating Israel here through a test of obedience.

I'm John Collins, this is Bible Project Podcast. And today, Tim McE and I continue reading the second movement of the Exodus scroll, Israel wandering through the sea into the wilderness, facing tasks. Thanks for joining us. Here we go. So we are walking through the scroll of Exodus.

It is the second scroll in the Hebrew Bible, Genesis and the Exodus. Scrolls are made up of movements, large literary sections, typically three or four. Jesus said four, Exodus has three, large movements. Collections of stories as a whole, kind of have a coherent structure. And thing that we're going to focus on is tracing a theme through each movement. Yep, that's right. So we are journeying through the Exodus scroll and we're in the very center literary movement of the Exodus scroll, which is the journey through the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt.

The second of three movements. The first movement is Moses confronting Pharaoh and the 10 plagues. Israel enslaved in Egypt and Yahweh confronting Pharaoh to let them go. Second movement is leaving Egypt, which we just in the last episode went through that story of them leaving Egypt, getting to the waters, being trapped. Pharaoh's army's come in, 600 chariots. That's right. Death. There's a stare death in the right. Death. Death, yeah.

There's a staring death in the face. Death on one side, and then the, you know, the waters of the huge body of water on the other, death on the other side. What are my choices here? And we already learned that the reason why God sent him this way was because he didn't want them to be all like scared of the, of these people might attack them

if they go the other route. So God knows that this is kind of a fragile people. Yep. And he's going to have to fight on their behalf. But what it looks like is just death. And we talked about this in terms of a test. And this is the theme we're tracing through this movement of Exodus is the test.

That God puts in front of us an opportunity to trust him and his wisdom. And he does this specifically for the ones that he has chosen and has rescued. And it's not a test to see if you're good enough to be rescued. It's a test to see if you can what? Well, it's an opportunity to deepen the relationship. It's an opportunity to deepen one's loyalty and just to flag it because I'm not sure you meant to say because you did say God puts it in front of them. And what we saw in the last story was Pharaoh's evil is what puts the test in front of Israel. That's true.

And then because that's our question here, is what does it mean when God tests his people in the Bible? Like what does it actually turn out to look like in people's lives? And you gave the metaphor of, you have a hamster at home, and your kids create mases with their toys. And they like to make the mases complicated because they know your hamster, Opal, can handle it.

And when it enjoys a little challenge, and so those are kind of tests. But when I think of God creating mazes, I'm like, man, life is complicated enough. Yeah. Like, keep it simple for me. That's right. And what's interesting about this story of God splitting the sea

and providing a way out, isn't putting an extra bend in the maze. That's right. It's actually creating a secret passage through the maze. Yeah, where it seemed like you reached a dead end. Yeah, it got like okay this way. Yeah, yeah, okay, thanks. Good.

I'm enjoying this parable. Yeah, that's right. And so this test isn't making it more complicated. It's actually, it's a rescue. The test is a rescue. Yeah. But they had to walk into what looked like death. They had death on one side, 600 tanks of each of chariots. And then you have what seems like certain death on the other side,

which is walking into a body of water. I don't care if it's really windy, and if it's like exposed some of the coastline, but it's it's night. So remember, it's all happening at night. It's easy to picture this as this pleasant, like, journey. You're totally right. But, yeah, I've been at the coast when it's like windy. At night? And it's at night. And then the waves are huge.

It's like, I'm not gonna walk in there. If all of a sudden, like, a little bit of the ocean separated, it's like, I'll stay here. Yeah. I'm not gonna walk in there. It was literally a dead end of the maze, so to speak. Literally so to speak. So yeah, the nature of the test, and you were drawing attention to the fact that that story

of the deliverance through the waters isn't called a test in that story. It's a call to trust in the face of death, and that's totally right. However, that story was put right alongside the stories we're about to read and shares vocabulary with them. And the stories we're about to read all use the word test. And it's a good meditation literature technique of biblical authors. Well, they put a story in front of you.

And then right after they'll put a bunch of stories that are also give you retro illumination into the first story, because you see the same things happening, but with new vocabulary in this case, the vocabulary. Retro illumination. And we learned at the poem that they sing after they're rescued, that we know where we're going. We're going through the wilderness to get to a mountain

where we'll be planted with God. And this is speaking of Sinai. So here in the second movement of the Exodus scroll, we've gone through the waters and now we gotta go through the wilderness to the mountain. Well, and actually, sorry, I think ultimately the mountain is Mount Zion in the Promised Land.

Oh, because they're gonna be planted there to live forever and ever with you all over in the Promised Land. Oh. Because they're gonna be planted there to live forever and ever with you all over in the sky. And all the nations around are gonna freak out when they're right. That's what you meant when it was actually talking about all the way through the story of the Torah. Yeah, Xs 15 reaches forward to what you begin see happening in the book of Joshua, beyond the bounds of the Torah.

Yeah. okay. So, as far as you know, where you're on your way to the Promised Land, as you leave the song of the sea. So I know there's a little pit stop. Long pit stop. With 613 lost to Ponder and Joy. So yeah, that's the shape of the story.

So where we're gonna pick up is the next kind of little bundle of stories. It's a three part bundle, it's a bundle of three stories. First movement, or sorry, this first part of the second movement was a bundle of three stories. Yep, that's right. And so the second part of the second movement is also. It's a bundle of three stories.

It's three stories where Israel faces a crisis in the wilderness. First, no water. And second, a story about no food. And then third, no water again. In each story they grumble, the word grumble is used or complain. Each story uses the word test.

And in each story, God is going to provide for them, but only after letting them sit in a situation that forces them to trust. So that's the collection of stories we're going to look at right now. Go! So Exodus 15, verse 22, and Moses made the people of Israel journey from the sea of reeds that they just arrived on the other side, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days into the wilderness and they didn't find any water. Three days. That's a significant number. Yeah, it's a formula. Usually for a short passage of time, almost always used in narratives that indicate some test of trust. And some sort of like confrontation with death, right?

Often the test is a confrontation with death. Yeah, the first narrative that uses the third day formula is Abraham and Isaac, Genesis 22. formula is Abraham and Isaac, Genesis 22. Then the story. And actually, this is what Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh back when they were talking with him back in the 10 plague stories where they said, Yahweh said, let us go three days into wilderness. Oh.

And so here they are going three days into the wilderness. And so they're thirsty enough. Tell their thirsty. So let's just paint the scene like, in a scaped group of slaves, they just went through what they just went through. Yeah. And now that'll make you thirsty.

Now they're really in the middle of nowhere. Three days out, there's no water. I've never gone that long without any water. Man, neither of us. Not a day of my life. Oh, not three days of my life. Hey, I don't know if I've gone a full day. I probably haven't either. Why would I have? Yeah. I, not three days of my life. Yeah, I don't know if I've gone a full day. I probably have it either.

Why would I have? Yeah. I mean, I've been to myself. So once again, it's gonna be tempting to be critical of the people, but you really have to read sympathetically here and just put yourself in the situation. It must be miserable to be that thirsty.

I have no idea. Yeah, I don't know. I've only been like, I just took a hike and I forgot my water bottle. I got to wait for like a extra couple hours. That's miserable enough. Three days, they didn't find any water. And they're hiking. Yep.

They're moving through the wilderness. So they came to a place called Mara, which is the Hebrew word for bitter. They came to Mara and they were not able to drink the waters at Mara because they were Marim, bitter. Therefore they called the name of that place, Mara, bitter. Four times in one little bit here, we're drawing attention to the fact that we have water

here, but it's not the kind of water you can drink. So the people grumbled. They complained. That's the worst when you're like, oh, is that the water? And then you can't drink it. You know, yeah, I don't know. In like, I'm going on summer backpacking trips, I've run out of water and then you get to water, but I always have a filter along.

And so I filter it and then could drink it. So I have to imagine what if I didn't have a filter in your water? There's the water. You just drink it. I think I would. What do you want to get? Yeah, well, GRD or something.

D-R-P in your system. Yeah, yeah. I think it's more of the deer poop you're concerned about. Okay. But yeah. So the people grumble against Moses saying, what are we supposed to drink? And he, that is Moses, cried out to Yahweh.

And Yahweh instructed him about a tree. The verb here, it's the verb that's at the root of the noun Torah. Oh, he taught him, he toured him. Yeah, most of our translations, they pointed out or showed him. And actually the word for instruct is spelled with two of the three letters as the word to see. And so it actually also sounds like what the verb would be, and he showed him, he made him see.

But as we can see, there's a lot of plays on the word Torah, an instruction here in this section. So he made him see or instructed him about a tree. A tree of knowing. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah, he's giving him knowledge about a tree. And he, that is Moses, threw or tossed into the waters, and the waters became sweet.

This happens in biblical narrative. There will often be put a very short, ambiguous story, full of puzzles that is there as a riddle, that only will become clear as you continue to read the stories that come after. This is a very like, yes, dense riddled story. Yep. And it goes on. There, he gave him a statute and an ordinance. And there he tested him. In Hebrew, there's no explicit subjects or objects here. You just have to infer. I think our English translations maybe provide.

And he said, if y'all's, what's that? I'm gonna lost. Okay, all right, all right, okay. Look at that in one verse. Everything, right? Everything's just orienting. Totally, super disorienting. This is good, this is riddles.

This is what Proverbs 1 means when it says, you know, you read the Hebrew Bible and you will gain wisdom for understanding riddles and dark sayings. They're referring to stories like this. You have to sit with it for a long time. Okay. So where'd you lose track? The he's, all the he's. Okay. So let's go back to verse 25 he that is Moses cried out to Yahweh okay and he Yahweh instructed him that is Moses about a tree yeah and he tossed into the waters Moses tossed the tree into the waters yeah he think makes sense that Yahweh would toss a tree well whenever Moses does something it's kind of like his arm is Yahweh's arm. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and he instructed him. Yeah, we're not told like,

did he say, hey, Moses, throw it into the trees? And Moses did according to the word of the Lord. And by the way, you're calling it a tree. It's like in translation, it's going to be stick. Oh, yeah, interesting. Yeah. It's the word eights. It's just a, eights. Eights. Just the standard word for word. For wood. Well, okay.

In Hebrew, the word, eights can refer to a tree, a living thing coming out of the ground with a woody stock, or it can refer to a piece of wood that has been cut down and is now being used. You can call it, yeah, you can call it eights. Yeah. And in X-15, N, you can call it eights. Yeah. And in Exodus 15, NAS has a tree, ESB has log with a footnote saying tree. And the Lord showed him a log. Yeah, that's outstanding.

That's like a big stick. And NIV says the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Piece of wood. Yeah, it's the word tree. Yeah. Which can showed him a piece of wood. A piece of wood. Yeah, it's the word tree. Yeah. Which can refer to a piece of wood, but this is a good example of intentional double meaning. Yeah.

This is a test at a tree. Yes. About, we don't call it water food, but this is like a food test by a tree. It's a nourishment test. A nourishment test. Because so back to Genesis 2, it's God says, don't eat of the tree of knowing.

Well, first God plants a garden in the middle of a wilderness. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And there's a river. And there's rivers. Yeah. There's water. Yeah. And there's a tree of life.

Mm-hmm. There's a tree of God's own life. Yeah. A eternal life. Mm-hmm. And then there's a tree of knowing. Good and bad. Good and bad.

Don't eat of that tree. Mm-hmm good and bad, don't eat of that tree. The test is don't eat of that tree. And so here we have another tree. It's interesting that it's a tree of instruction. It's like a tree of knowing. Yeah. It's a tree that's related to the knowledge of God, the instruction of God. Yeah. Yep. And so it's obviously riffing off of this. I'm jumping ahead, but I'm just thinking about how, in the last story, Moses takes the staff, which was the snake.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. So it's Moses controlling the snake, which was part of the temptation of the test of eating the tree of knowing. And here Moses takes the tree of knowing. So it's like Moses is like wielding all these things that were causing all the problems. And he can use it to actually rescue.

He takes the things, yeah. And this is the role of Moses until he gets to his own failure narratives later in the book, yeah. And this is the role of Moses until he gets to his own failure narratives later in the book of Numbers. But yeah, he's this figure that by his trust can reverse the Adam and Eve like failures in the stories that he's a character in. So this is one of them.

He's taking the tree of knowing which brought the curse, I mean, the worst of the curse that we've experienced. And he turns it into a source of life. And he turns it into a source of life. And he turns it into a source of life. Yeah, the tree that brought death in Eden is given a narrative equivalent here, but Moses takes it and uses it to bring life to the people under the instruction of Yahweh.

Yeah. And in Eden, Yahweh gave a command, an instruction about the tree. Yeah. So it's the same, it's a great example of the same narrative images through parallelism and hyperlinking, but the meaning, the role they play in the story is all being flipped, inverted. Yeah, the tree brings life. Which kind of shows that Moses is this, one who will come to reverse the curse. Yeah, he's an image of the snake, the snake crusher,

with one with authority over the snake. Yeah Yahweh. Because Yahweh represents Yahweh. He's an image. Because He's arm is Yahweh's arm. Yep. So that's the idea is, he cried Moses is the intercessor, so he cries out to God. As a result of Moses' intercession, Yahweh gives him instruction and wisdom about a tree, and so Moses takes that tree and he uses it to turn death into life. The waters that were bitter and death come life.

Which is also a cool thing that happens in Genesis, where the chaos waters are turned into waters and the source of life. That's right. And this is quintessential Yahweh as creator imagery, where Yahweh takes death, turns it into life. He takes the wilderness, turns into a garden, he's able to take an infertile couple, a barren womb, and turn it into a fruitfulness in a child. Yeah. So Israel's, this is like a, their own version of being recreated here. Okay, so where I got lost was now the next part, the next instruction.

So this becomes the narrator, the narrator pushes pause. Okay. And he starts talking to Unite the Reader and he says, hey dear reader. So this was a story about Israel-faced crisis. The intercessor cried out and through the intercessor, God turned death into life. There, Yahweh gave him, that is Israel, a statute and a command, and there in that place, Yahweh tested Israel. So this whole thing now, we're realizing, turns into an experience where they have a chance to trust.

They have a chance to learn wisdom from this instruction. And what is it? Verse 26, you always said, if you all listen to my voice. Is it listen, listen? Yeah, listen, listen. Sorry. I'm reading from a Hebrew Bible and subjects always come way after the verbs. So you can, yeah, anyway, okay, so verse 26. And he said, I think presumably Moses here, because what of what said? If y'all listen, listen. He reverbs repeated twice here.

If y'all listen, listen to the voice of Yahweh, your Elohim. And if you do what is right in his eyes, that is the Eden vocabulary here, good in the eyes. Notice the Eden vocabulary here. Do it in the eyes. And if you listen to his commands, and if you keep all of his statutes, so this is a, we're setting up the setting of a covenantal relationship here.

And the covenantal relationship is, listen. Listen. Do what he says. Do what he says. If you listen to the voice of Yahweh, if you do what's right in his eyes and listen to his commands and keep them, then every sickness and illness that I put on Egypt, I won't put on you because I am Yahweh your healer. And so they went to a limb. They went from Mora to a limb.

And there at a limb, the word a limb means oak trees. And there at Alim, the word Alim means oak trees. So they go to another place with a bunch of trees. And there, they found 12 springs of water, 70 palm trees, and they camped out there. 12 and 70, those are important numbers. Yep, yeah, so the number of the tribes, 12, 70 has a whole bunch of meanings attached to it from Genesis, as you read through Genesis scroll, but an image of completeness, often an image associated with the nations, the 70 nations, but also the 70 descendants of Israel that went down into Egypt.

So 12 and 70 could mean a complete rest for all of Israel by the waters and by the trees, which is an Eden image. So so when Yalway says, if you listen to my voice, yeah, is he referring back to like if Moses listening and throwing in the wood or is this now referring to, he's saying, hey, just like Moses did that, you're going to have an opportunity to listen to my voice. Yeah, it's interesting. So the people grumble, and instead of saying, okay, people listen to me, listen to my voice and trust me.

And then if you do, I'll help you up. I'll get you some sweet water. And then they get the sweet water. But that's not how the story goes. Yeah. The story goes, they grumble, and because of the intercessor, Moses, then God works with Moses, and Moses brings about the deliverance and life. And then the covenant relationships given after that.

And then God says, okay, guys, listen. This is how the covenant's gonna go. Yep, and first of all, that thing with the waters is called a test. There, he, listen. This is how the covenant's gonna go. Yep. And first of all, that thing with the waters is called a test. There, he tested him. This was a test of trust at the end of verse 25. And then... So when it says he made them a statute and a rule,

what was the statute and a rule? Well, this is, this is great. The narrative doesn't say, but what it then gives you to say, hey, everybody, if you listen to Yahweh's statues and rules and do what's right in his eyes, then you'll have life and not death. So what are, what are they? This is actually a long standing question of a puzzle in this narrative because we're not to Mount Sinai yet. Yeah. And what it seems like it's foreshadowing Mount Sinai. For sure, foreshadowing.

So is the statue and rule the foreshadow and the test he's referring to is the test to come. Well, Buddha says is there at those waters, he tested him past tense. Well, there he tested them. Is the test, are you gonna trust me when we get there? Is that the test? Where's the test? Yeah.

The thing that happened to the waters. Yeah, well, it's as if the thing that just happened at the waters, this isn't the last time that you're gonna face danger and death. This thing that just happened was people face danger, crisis, what are you going to do? Are you going to trust me and do what's right in my eyes? Or are you going to grumble and rebel? There he tested him. This whole situation was a test. And then verse 26 says, listen, guys, if you just listen to me, just do what I tell you to do, there will be life and not death.

So in this case, Yahweh just provides life through Moses. Yeah. No, there's no explicit test there. They didn't, they didn't trust. But what we are told was that little scenario was, that was a test. That was a test. Was it, and they failed it. Because they grumbled.

They came to the water and they say, what, what, what are we supposed to drink and they grumbled. They came to the water and they say, what, what are we supposed to drink and they grumbled? So what's fascinating here is they fail the test as it were. They don't trust. And it's only because of the intercession of Moses that you get life instead of death. Here's another example of God not saying, hey, pass the test and then I'll rescue you. Yeah. It's God saying, yeah, even if you fail the test, I'm going to rescue you. Yeah. And then I'm going to rescue you. And then I'm going to give you an opportunity to be in a covenant relationship with me. Yeah, that's right. Now this is the first one. There's still two more to go and you're always going to be a little more Now you said I will bring life not death.

It actually says I will put none of the diseases that I put on Egypt on you. Sickness or healing, life and death. Yeah, what it says is I will bring none of the sicknesses that I brought on Egypt. I, yeah, I'm your healer. Why bring up that? Why bring up the diseases? Yeah, I know. I've pondered that. I've pondered that for a long time.

I mean, if you think about it, some of the plague, it's a reference back to the plagues on Egypt, of which there were boils. I mean, what fits the category? What we would think of sickness from the 10 plagues would be, of which there were boils. I mean, what fits the category? We would think of sickness from the ten plagues would be like the boils and then the death of the first born, which was like a plague, a sickness, a virus, what we would say, something, some kind. But we're adding to the vocabulary of life and death here. So we have desert versus garden, the words life or death, and here sickness or healing. My hunch is there's something about the literary design of this section, and that these words, sickness and healing actually match

some other set of terms in the matching narrative, and I need to work on the section board to figure that out. But that usually what happens is biblical authors will introduce you very unique vocabulary and you're like, what, what? And it's usually you need to wait to see the hyperlink somewhere later or earlier that you missed that explains why that unique vocabulary is used.

So here's what's gonna happen right after this. There's gonna be two more stories about a food crisis and a test, and they're all gonna be much longer. So it's like you got the short, dense one first, it's like a riddle, and then you get the two longer, more clear one second, and they all mutually match each other and all three together are kinda of like a little meditation.

So the second narrative is long, we won't read the whole thing. But this is the famous mana. This is where the mana comes in. Yeah. What is it? What is it? Oh, I don't know.

Oh, I don't know. You think? You had such an earnest face. You got me. I was outstanding. What is it? What is it? Yeah.

That's what the Hebrew word man means. Manu. What is it, they say? Yeah. So instead of a water crisis, they walk into what we call chapter 16. And we're told it's the 15th day of the second month. So we're now, we left Egypt, Passover was a month and a half ago. No, excuse me, Passover of one month ago. Passover starts on the 14th day. So this is a month later. And there's two, the people grumbled

against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness. And they said, the sons of Israel, oh, we wish we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt. There we were sitting by pots of flesh when we ate bread to satisfaction. We might have been slaves, but we had a meal. We had meals. Yeah. Yeah. You all have brought us out in this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger, with the word famine. So same thing as like you brought us out here to kill us? Yeah.

Totally. And notice it's its contrast between when he says we ate bread to the fullness, it's the Hebrew word, Sava, which means to be filled up or satisfied. But it's spelled, this is that word, with spelled with the same letters as the Hebrew word seven, which is part of how the number seven is the image of completeness

because it's a word play on the word filled up, brought full. So fullness or famine? We had fullness as slaves. Now we're free, but we have famine under Yahweh. So life and death, fullness or famine, meat and bread versus nothing. Those are the images here. So what Yahweh says is, Yahweh spoke to Moses, look, I am going to Yeah, we spoke to Moses. Look, I am going to rain. I'm going to cause it to rain bread on you from the skies. So it's only rained. This is the fourth time it rains in the Torah. It rains in the flood story. Rain's water. It rains in the Sodom of Gamora story. Rain's fire. Rain's fire. It rains in... no, it doesn't rain in the 10 plagues.

Okay, there's the third time it rains. And then right here. So it's going to be a flood of bread. Flood of bread. Yeah, totally. But bread from heaven. Heavenly bread. Sky bread.

Sky bread flood. A flood of sky bread. Skybread. Skybread flood. A flood of skybread. And the people are supposed to go out and gather it just each day by each day so that I can test them. Whether they are going to walk in my Torah or not. So the bread is going to be the test. Test of skybread. Here's what the test is going to be. It's first five. It will come about on the sixth day, on the sixth day. So you're going to get bread from the skies for six days. But on the sixth day, they are to prepare what they bring in. And that will become double what they gathered up each day previously. So here's the test.

The test is six days of work. And then don't go out. And then on the seventh. And harvest the sky red. On the seventh, you just sit in your house and you trust that what every day has only been enough for one day will just magically become two days worth of sky red. That's the test.

That's the test. I love the Hebrew Bible. Okay, so six day and on the seventh day, you're rest. Yeah. So clearly we're working the gents this one. The test is trusted, there'll be enough to rest. Correct, yeah. Trust that when you stop working,

Yahweh will do the work for you to give you what you need. But you will have already gotten enough on the sixth day to rest on the seventh day. Correct, yeah, the whole point is each day, you go out five days a week. You just collect enough for that day. And you collect enough, and each one, you just collect, Matt,

somehow that's just like enough of what you and your family needed that day. You don't get two days. You just get day by day. Ah, this is certainly what Jesus is alluding to in the Lord's Prayer. Give us each day or daily sky breath or daily bread. Okay, hold on. When they go out to collect, there's only a day's worth. They couldn't collect more than a day. Yeah, that's right. Just you collect and God reigns down enough

for the day for the day the daily bread each day He provides what you need for that one day on the sixth day Mm-hmm. He provides a double portion Mm-hmm so they can rest on the seventh day. Mm-hmm. So what is the test? They have no choice Oh, the test does not go out on the seventh day, but there's not gonna be a bread out there Or is there is there seventh day skybread? Oh, yeah, because apparently yes, because the people are gonna go out on the seventh day. They're gonna fail the test and they're gonna go out.

So God reigns down skybread, where he's like, hey, you don't need this, I already gave you enough. Yeah, that's interesting. I want you to rest. I love reading the Bible with you, John. Yeah, because the people are gonna go out on the seventh day and pick up the sky bread and

Y'all is gonna get pretty angry about that. Yeah, because he wanted them to rest. He wanted them to rest Yeah, even out in the wilderness. Yeah, totally. We are recreating Israel here through a test of obedience, a test of trust and it all it seems arbitrary in, because there's skybread out there on the seventh day, why wouldn't I go get it? Why not harvest my fields? And that's the test. That's the test. Very clearly for a covenant community, Israel, who is meant to rest on the seventh day every week, which is a weird thing in the ancient world. This story would just be like this story of just very clearly. Yeah, that's hard, but it's what God asked of us. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, what's fascinating is we haven't gotten to Mount Sinai yet. Were that. And we're talking about the Sabbath. Yeah. I mean, Moses is going to call the seventh day later on in this story. He'd call it a holy Sabbath, DIY.

Yeah, but we've had Genesis one. Totally. That's right. That's right. Now this, I probably other things that I'm not aware of. Yeah, no, I'm with you. I'm just saying. Yeah, but we've had Genesis one totally. Oh, that's right. That's right now this I probably other things that I'm not aware of yeah No, I'm with you. I'm just saying yeah, yeah, it's anticipating this is how the Bible is meditative That's right. That's right. Yeah, so you remember how we said let's let these stories define for us What it means for Yahweh to test as people? Yeah, this one does feel like Yahweh is like my boy is creating a little bit of an extra complication in the maze. Yeah, cuz he knows what your inclination is gonna be to go. Yeah, he could have kept the seventh day bread

Mm-hmm off the ground. Yep. Yeah, and then there's no choice. And then there wouldn't be any test Yeah, I guess the test would be like it. There's no test at that point. It's just well I guess I hope this is enough for two days because it's all I got. Yeah. But here, it's, no, you could go get more. Mm, so you're gonna go get more. It's another food test. It's an abundance test.

Yeah, but what I'm saying is in this section, we get three stories that each and their own way, echo. I'm about to hear some of the tests. Echo the Eden test of Genesis one and then the Eden story. Well, yeah, do you trust me that I'll give you what you need when you need it? That's right. Or you're going to take it.

You remember, and the previous, the first testing story says, if you listen to my voice and do what is good in my eyes, so this is about versus what Adam and Eve see the fruit of the sheep knowing good and bad is good in their eyes. Yep. She saw that it was good and desirable for eating and desirable to make one wise. And she took and she ate. So here, this is now a test where there's food.

It's right out there. Right out there. I can see. It's gonna rot. It doesn't last more than a day, right? It doesn't last more than a day. So I better go get it. Oh yeah, Yahweh gave us a Torah instruction. To rest.

To rest. To rest. Don't go work and get the skybread. It doesn't make any sense because it's right there. And this is not gonna last more than a day. It doesn't any other day of the week, only last one day. That's the test. Yeah.

It's in temps. And you're out in the middle of nowhere. And this is your only source of food. Yeah. There you go. Don't go chasing and sky bread. What you get is the story of Israel collecting the food on the six days. They did it just like they're supposed to for 17.

And so the sons of Israel did the one who collected a whole bunch or the one who collected a little bit. They measured it in their measuring, which is called a Oma, Omer. And the one who gathered a whole bit, they measured it in their measuring, which is called an Oma Romer, and the one who gathered a whole bunch, hoarders, they ended up not having more left over. And the ones who gathered not quite enough, well, they ended up never running out. Each one had exactly what they needed to gather.

So it's like the breads changing. You put it in the jar and like you gathered, because you're like, I don't know if there's gonna be any tomorrow, so I'll get some more. And then you open up the jar later and it's like, what? There's only what we need for today. You put bread in the jar?

Well, what you're told above is that it was this gummy flake-like substance that would be there with a morning dew to do it evaporate and it was this weird brown shining flicks. Oh, and this is what they bake with. Well, they just gather in jars and then they eat it. That's it. Okay. There's the eat it. Yeah. And so there were people who would get more. There were people who would get less, but somehow the jars were always everybody's jar was the same level. These jar was the same level. But there were some that didn't listen to Moses.

And so they left it over until the morning. They didn't eat it all up. Yeah. Because they wanted to save it. And it was full of worms and rotten. And Moses got so mad. So there's the images. The people are like trying to create by their own wisdom, what they think is enough.

Yeah. And y'all, it won't be enough for tomorrow, so I'll leave some of mine. Even more today. Skybread goof. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So there's 22.

It came about on the sixth day that the people gathered twice, what they needed, two amounts, and they told Moses, and Moses said, yeah, everybody stopped, because tomorrow's going to be a Sabbath for everybody. Moses, verse 25, said, eat what you need today, because today is a Sabbath to Yahweh. Don't go out looking in the fields today. Today's a Sabbath. Six days you gather on the seventh day you rest. Well, there's twat, twat seven. It came about on the seventh day.

Some of the people went out together and they didn't find any. They didn't find any. And Yahweh said, how long will these people refuse to keep my commandments in my Torah? Look, Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gave you bread on the sixth day that would last two days. So just sit each one of you in your place. Don't go out on the seventh day, and so the people rested on the seventh day. And then the way the story ends is God tells Moses to pick up some mana, put in a really special jar and go take it into the tabernacle and put it in the ark.

As a reminder of Yahweh's provision and of Israel's failure, inside the ark. Yeah. You have this reminder of their failure of the test inside the ark. Yeah. Interesting. It is interesting. Well, it's also a reminder of God's provision. That God's provision. The Eden bread goes into the Eden spot in the ark. But it also is a reminder of how they need to learn to trust. So I think these two test stories are just set next to each other and you got it sit there and ponder them Yeah, the first one the people cried out they grumble, hmm, but then Moses cries out Because of Moses' intercession God gives him water of life. Yeah, and that one the test Yeah, that's hard for me. Yeah, it just says that somehow this God calls it a test

He calls it a test there. He tested him. This whole thing was a moment where Israel's trust was tested. And they didn't succeed because they grumbled. It was only because of the intercessor. They got a water fly. Here, it's a little different, different setup in chapter 16. Yeah. Here, God, again, what's similar is that God provides, they grumble. They're actually kind of angry, like you brought out here to die. Yeah.

And what God does is give them food. Yeah. So they're similar. Right. So in a way they failed the same kind of test already, just by grumbling, in the way they grumbled with the water. Yeah. But now they're given another layer to the test, which is now I'm going to provide you food.

Yeah. But you need to follow my instruction about what to do with the food. And this feels a lot like the Garden of Eden. Because it's not clear why it's not clear to Eve why she shouldn't eat from that tree. It looks good for eating. Right. All the other trees you can eat food from. Yeah.

And it's a fruit that helps you know good from bad. I want to be God's image. I need to know good from bad. Yeah. It seems like's image. I need to know good from bad. Yeah, it seems like a good thing. So I better take that for myself and do what's good in my eyes. And this is... And it seems prudent to save a little skybread goo for the next day. Totally. Just keep a little extra in the jar.

Yeah, that's right. Cause what if in the next morning God forgot to rain down the skybread goo. Yeah. So, yeah, so actually they kind of fail in two ways because there's some people who gather too much on any given day and God just levels out. Yeah, that's it. But then on the seventh day, there are people who go out because they're like, you know, I don't know if what we say from yesterday is enough for today. And that makes Yahweh really frustrated. Do you think this is a more meta meditation on just work?

Like that, like, you know, don't overwork. You're not gonna get more abundance? Well, okay. Yeah, I mean, here we're deep into the covenant narrative, which is about Yahweh choosing a people to give the Eden blessing to the nations through. They keep failing, they keep failing. Good thing we have an intercessor who's got some power over the snake, just without that guy these people would be.

So we've got Moses. I think that's the main thrust of the story. However, yeah, I do think this is a narrative that gives us wisdom about the importance of Sabbath rest and the importance of not attributing to my own ingenuity and intellect, not confusing that with the way I actually survive, which is in reality, it's totally by the generosity of God, not by my own power or intellect, that kind of thing. For sure, that's a takeaway here, I think so. Yeah, I think a narrative like this would be what inspired the teacher and ecclesiasties to be like,

you think you're like sustaining your life, but then you get sick and you die, and you pass off everything you worked for to somebody who could care less, and it's chasing after wind. You discover. It would be a narrative like this. Yeah.

It's kind of making a similar point. Right. You leave some leftover, but worms destroy it. Yeah, totally. Yeah. You know, worms are associated with death. Yeah. You like corpses, rotting corpses.

The worm will never die. The worm will never die. Okay. I always think we're going to go faster through these stories. Corps is running corpses. The worm will never die. The worm will never die. Okay, I always think we're gonna go faster through these stories. There we are. I'm having a good time. Here's the third testing story. All the sons of Israel went out from the mid, from the wilderness of Seen on their journeys and they camped at Refidim and guess what?

No water. It's a nice little chiasm. No water, no bread, no water. And so the people quarreled with Moses and... Also by the way, the mana of the bread. That's the dead center, literally mana of the bread, yeah, that's the dead center, literally speaking of the sexist. Oh, yes, it's the center of the center of the center. It's the center of the center of the center. Yeah, it's in its long narrative, all focusing

on the seventh day. Yeah, the seventh day rest. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and you have slavery on one side of the Exodus, the liberation into the wilderness. You have the through the wilderness, and the middle of the wilderness is a narrative about rest on the seven days. And then the third movement will be about God giving the gift of the Tabernacle to an idolatrous people and around the two instructions are all about a focus on the rest of the seventh day. So slavery and work rest with God on the the tabernacle and seventh day in the middle. Yeah, did Exodus growl. So here at Refidim, the people say to Moses,

give us water to drink and Moses. We know your trick. Yeah, totally. And Moses said to them, what, why are you quarreling with me? Why are y'all testing Yahweh? Y'all are putting Yahweh to the test. How? Hard to test. Hey, you gotta think about it. So Yahweh just tested you twice. Yahweh tested Israel two times about whether or not they're going to trust him to provide. Now they're putting Yahweh to the test.

What has Yahweh been? I mean, well, yeah, go ahead, what are we gonna say? Well, it seems like this is what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to come to Moses and say, hey, we know you, Via Yahweh can get us water. Ah, right, but what they do is they quarrel with him. They come to pick a fight. I see. So they're not trusting.

They're not coming in being like, Hey, here's an opportunity for us to trust God. Yeah. Can you do the thing? This is them like, what the heck? Yeah, yeah. They come to pick a fight. And the vocabulary of Terri Voon, and it's the word rive, and it's why this place is going to be called Maryva,

which is the word fightive and it's why this place is going to be called meriva which is the word fight or contention or dispute. So these are going to be called the waters of meriva, the waters of fighting. So coming in besieging God by faith is passing the test. Yeah, that would be crying out to the Lord. Yeah. Oh Lord help us. Yeah. Provide water for us, O Lord. Have mercy upon us. Yeah, provide water for us. Oh Lord have mercy upon us. But the same request through fighting is now putting Yahweh to a test. Yeah, what they say is give us water so the we can drink. Yeah, it's a mandate a little bit. Yeah, totally. But it's but it's the same request. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, just stated differently. You know, this happens with my um, sons in the morning with breakfast. I think it's just because they're waking differently. You know, this happens with my sons in the morning with breakfast. I think it's just because they're waking up, you know?

It's not creepy. And so, the grumpy guys. Yeah, they're just gonna be making breakfast, but yeah, they're just grumpy. Yeah. And this is, yeah, they'll just be like, I want the pancakes, you know?

It's all to take a moment and just say here, just think, how can you turn that into a request, buddy? It's just that. May I please have some pancakes, Dad? Thanks for making those. Why is it referred to as testing your way? Yeah, so, yeah, it's great. Let's meditate on that because it's flipping it. The previous two stories, it was Yahweh testing Israel. About what? About, I trust. Trust, yeah. Trust.

Um, here, and in both those stories, Israel had a need. They responded inappropriately, and Yahweh led with generosity, give them the water, and give them the bread. Even though they're going to like be rude and unkind, not trust me about it, I'm going to give it to them at once. He begins with generosity. Yeah. So, here, y'all are testing y'all way.

I think you're supposed to infer from that, testing his patience, testing his kindness. You're just assuming, give us water. You're just assuming that y'all way is at your best to give you water whenever you want it. I think it's actually very similar to that situation in the morning with my boys. I already made the pancakes.

Are they testing you? They're testing your patients. Yeah, by being rude to me about it. Give me the pancakes. I see. Guys, come on. I always give you pancakes. Just be kind about it.

Moses saying, you're giving God an opportunity to be generous to you. A patient with you is not the thing you're supposed to be doing. The thing you're supposed to be doing is taking this as an opportunity to trust in his generosity for patients. Yeah, putting Yahweh's generosity to the test.

Yeah, it's as if you're trying to make Yahweh show he's generous, as opposed to just trusting that he will be generous. It's such a subtle generous. Yeah. As opposed to just trusting that he will be generous. It's such a subtle shift. Yeah. It's all about your posture. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. It's the same request. I need water. But it's a posture of am I gonna demand it because I'm testing your character. How I know you to be, so I'm now kind of... Yeah, you know, yeah, that's a phrase, testing my patients, you're testing my patients.

That is a phrase. The assumption is, I'm patient. Yeah. And I like to be patient, I wanna be patient, but the way you're behaving is... It's making me. Testing me, because I might fail this test. If you keep being so rude.

Oh, then, okay, thank you. I appreciate us probing here. I think that's what he means. Yeah, we, he rescued you. He's given you all water already. He's given you food. Yeah. Why are you testing him with this quarreling

and this picking a fight with me and being so rude? Hmm. Yeah, I think that's what he means. Yeah. After that, he says, well, are you testing Yahweh? Then the narrative comes back, the people were thirsty. And then they grumbled against Moses. And they said, why have you brought us out of Egypt?

To kill us and our children with this thirst. Yeah, we're here again. Yeah, we're here again. So once again, Moses cries out, just like he did. Yeah. At the waters of Mara. The intercessor. And he says, to Yahweh, what am I supposed to do for these people? They're going to kill me. He said they're about to stone me with stones. Dude, they're so fascinating.

They are thirsty. Yahweh said in most sense, go in front of all the people and take the elders of Israel and take that staff. that's snake staff. Yeah. Yeah. The snake staff that you use to strike the Nile River, take that one and go, stand and go and look for six. I am going to stand in front of you there, upon the rock. In front of you.

At Horeb. Okay. Mount Horeb. So y'all are coming close to Horeb. You're in the you at Horeb. Okay. Mount Horeb. So y'all are coming close to Horeb. You're in the wilderness of Horeb and I'm going to stand there in front of you on the rock by Horeb. This is what it says. Yeah. And you strike the rock. Mm-hmm. The rock that I am standing on. Mm-hmm. So you always just said I'm gonna go stand on that rock over there. Okay.

And then you go hit the rock. Okay. And water will come out. Yep. And you water the people. So first of all, what is that being? They are always gonna stand on the rock. Just strange image.

Yeah. I'm gonna go stand on the rock. And you hit the rock that I'm standing on. Okay. Such a evocative image. We see always gonna go stand on the rock and you hit the rock that I'm standing on. Okay. Such a evocative image. We see always gonna go stand over there. What's that? Was that gonna look like? Right.

The only clue we have is the pillar of cloud and fire, which doesn't really have feet. You ride, don't you? So strike it and then water will come out. Okay. So take the snake staff, hit the rock. That I'm standing on. And I'm standing on and life will come out. Okay. So take the snake staff, hit the rock. That I'm standing on. And I'm standing on and life will come out. Do you remember in the matching water test,

you always showed him a tree, and he tossed the tree in the water. And the water became drinkable. Here, he takes the staff, made of wood, he strikes a rock, and the rock provides a water. Oh, this isn't the striking the rock that gets him in trouble. No, that's the matching story on the later, later in numbers, yeah. No, it's simple, he and he does it.

He does it? Yeah, Moses did this in the eyes of Israel and the eyes of the elders. And so they called the name of that place testing and also fight, a quarrel, because the sons of Israel fought with him there and because they tested Yahweh. And they said, listen, is Yahweh in the middle of us, or is he not? That's kind of a cool turn of phrase.

Yeah, is Yahweh in the middle? Just like the tree in the middle, or the arch of the covenant, and that's going to be in the middle of or the Ark of the Covenant, and that's going to be in the middle of the people. So this whole, all three of these stories are about trust, tests of trust. And then when, you know, always people don't trust, and then they get demanding, arrogant. I guess they take their salvation or their deliverance so for granted that they, yeah, they take their status as God's chosen one, so for granted that they use it as a platform to like accuse God of not delivering.

Yeah. That interesting. What an interesting point. It is interesting, but it also like just feels so true to the human condition. Yeah, I don't want it. Right. It's just something we would do.

Yeah. Yeah. Like you'd be shown grace, given all these chances, and then you would just acclimate to it to the point where just like, I deserve this. Yeah, totally. That's just, that is totally our style. You know, yeah. You know, this happens in my house when the hot water runs out.

We still have like an older water heater, you know, that has a permanent little fire, perpetual fire, that's warming the water. But if we take more than two good hot showers in a row, you gotta wait about 10, 15 minutes. And what do you do? If the hot water runs out while you're in there, you know, and it's a hard moment to reflect when you're like shivering.

And you say, you know what? It's a miracle that I even had hot water for five minutes. Yeah. What a luxury. What's a little cold water going to do? Instead, you know, I get all like, ah, wow, who did it? Yeah, who took too long to shower?

It's like that. At least, at least in my house. And that's true. It's like you take the gifts that someone's given you and you so take them for granted. You begin to behave in ways like you deserve it and you are owed it. I think that's the portrait right here. Yep. So there's three kind of testing narratives. Okay, so that was the end of the second part of the second movement. Yep. So there's three kind of testing narratives.

We've kind of ran out of time, but we want to finish off the second movement. So we're going to blitz through the third part of the second movement, which also has three parts. Yep, it's three little stories. And so we'll just go boom, boom, boom, and we'll look at how it's a test. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. So the last three stories here, I'll just kind of name them real quick.

Right after the third water test at Mary Vaugh and Masa, there's a story about how the people of Amalek, which are descended from Jacob's brother Issa, who also married together wish with the Ishmaelites and the Midianites, and these are all like other nonchosen brothers from the generation of Abraham and Jacob and so on. And they gather together and they attack, they make war on Israel in the wilderness. And it's a story, this is where Moses has the lift arms.

Yep, totally. And Israel will win as long as his arms are raised. Yeah, totally. So to story of war, Israel at war with the nations, the nations are attacking Israel in the wilderness. This is just like what Pharaoh went to do at the shoreline, as it were. And God is the warrior. Yep. So there was Egypt attacking.

Here it's Israel's estranged relatives attacking them in the wilderness. So what? The emulakites. The emulakites. The emulakites. So what God says is, go stand on a hill with the rod in your hand. The same rod that he split the waters with. Yeah, this is an important. Yep. Yeah, hill with the rod in your hand. The same rod that he split the waters with. Yeah, this is an important.

Yep. Yeah, yep, the rod. And so Joshua, you go make war tomorrow and I'm gonna go stand up all in this rock with two guys, Aaron, my brother, and Huhr, who's from the line of Judah. So he goes up with a priest. I'm a Levi.

Levi? From the priestly line, he goes up with Huhr from the royal line of Judah. So he goes up with a priest, a Levite. Levite? From the priestly line, he goes up with whore from the royal line of Judah. Yeah. Goes up with a priest and the king. Yep. Oh yeah. And holding the arms of Moses. So Moses begins to raise up his arms. Yeah. And whenever his arms are raised, it's a long battle and he's

good-tired. Yep. Israel is mighty. It's the same word as the mighty warriors. Genesis 6. Genesis 6. It's also the same word to describe the flood waters. The mighty flood? The flood waters that were mighty overall of the land and they were mighty and covered the mountains and they were mighty and so on. So like the waters are like warriors in the flood. And so here you have two warriors, Israel and Amaleq. And so there's 12, but the hands of Moses, man, they were heavy. Yeah, really heavy.

And so they took a stone and they set the stone under him and he sat on it and they held his hands one on one side, the other set the stone under him, and he sat on it, and they held his hands one on one side, the other on the other side. The priest and the king holding up Moses' hands. Yeah, totally. And so here's Moses' hands outstretched, and you've got Israel, the mighty warrior on this side. I'll elect the mighty warrior on that side, and they're fighting.

But Moses' hands stayed faithful, trustworthy, until sunset. And Israelites were victorious over Amalek. And what, yeah, I said after that, is, hey, that was a punk move that the Amalekites just pulled. That's my, that's my periphery. What he says is, I'm going to wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the skies, which is the precise vocabulary from the flood narrative. I'm going to wipe off. It's the word like wipe off. And so Moses builds an altar, and he called the name of Yahweh, or he called the name of

the place Yahweh, my banner. And the word banner is spelled with the same letters as the word test. Really? Yes. Nisi. Yahweh Nisi. Yahweh my tester. Yah, my banner. Yah. And he, as Moses said, a hand upon the throne of Yahweh, there will be war between Yahweh and Amalek forever. So Amalek just pulled like a cane, like a cane move. He was trying to murder his brother in the wilderness, but the brother was Yahweh's chosen one that he just saved out.

And so Yahweh says, Amalek's done for. So you have these two stories. Amalek becomes like another Egypt that is set on destroying the chosen ones and Yahweh defends his chosen ones, but it's through Moses. And the specific detail here is they're delivered through the hands of Moses again, but Moses is kind of weak. He's fading. He's getting old. His hands are heavy. He's gonna need the priesthood and the king ship.

Yeah, it's gonna be back up. Yeah, it's this image of Moses. It's the first sign of Moses being weak. Because up till now, he's been like super hero. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the story. So it's an interesting contrast

with the deliverance of the waters of the sea with Pharaoh. Yeah, because that's where he lifts out his staff, delivers them through the waters. Yep. Here where he lifts out his staff, delivers them through the waters. Yep. Here he's lifting out his staff to deliver them through the flood waters of the war. But he's weakening. He can't do this alone. And that Moses not being able to do it alone is precisely the theme of the next story. And this is Jethro. It's Father-in-Law. Yeah, totally. Yep. So, yeah, to summarize here, Moses' father-in-law comes in visits. Moses tells him the whole story, everything that happened in Egypt,

what just happened with Amalek, and what Jethro does is he rejoices over all the good that Yahweh did, how he delivered his real- Yahweh, what delivered His real, from the hand of Egypt. And He said, May Yahweh be blessed. He delivered you from the hand of Egypt. Now I know that Yahweh is great, more great than any other Elohim, because of this matter, where your enemies were arrogant against you. So you have the beginning of the turning of the nations. God's deliverance was displayed in the eyes of the nations and you have this image of

the nations hearing and turning to Yahweh. Because his father-in-law is not in his relate. His father-in-law is the Midianite. He's actually from the network of desert tribes that the Amalakites belong to. So you have these contrasting portraits of how Israel's relatives respond. And the reason why he's married to one of those people is because Moses had his own exile back in movement one where he went to where they're heading towards the Sinai mountain in Mac. So these are two contrasting stories about

for those among the nations who want to join the covenant and get in on the party of the Eden blessing. When they see the Exodus, they see salvation and blessing, and I'm going to get in on that party. It's rejoicing. They eat a meal together in a tent in front of Yahweh by Mount Sinai. And you're like, yeah, that's awesome. Nations are peace. Totally. That's one way the nations respond. But you've got this other portrait of the nations can also do the Pharaoh or Amalek thing. And they will meet their doom. Pharaoh with the waters, Amalek here in the desert.

And so that's that story. I will bless those who bless you. Yes, and I will curse those who curse you. That's right. It's promised Abraham. But it's not just about the blessing going through Israel to the nations. You know the nations can become a blessing to Israel. And that's what this next story is about.

It's the story about Moses not being able to lead the people well. He's staying, he's working, he's overworking. Working two long hours, two long days. There's lines of people lined up for him to get involved in their disputes and for him to be like the adjudicator to judge the cases. And there's too much, too many disputes. Too many disputes.

And so what his father-in-law sees is he sees, oh, you're sitting there alone, trying to lead the people and what Jethra says is, this is not good. It is not good that you are alone. Is that what he says? It's exactly what he says. It is not good for you to be alone.

Which is what God says about him. Exactly. It is not good for the human to be alone. You need to multiply yourself. So he says, you are not able to do this alone. Listen to my voice. Let me give you wisdom and counsel. And may God be with you.

How about this? You become the representative who stands in front of God for the people. You bring all of their words to God, but then on the flip side, you warn the people about the commandments and the Torah of God and show them the way that they should walk. And then this is great later on. He says, if you do what I'm telling you, and God is commanding you to do what I'm telling you, then go a point, leaders of 50s and hundreds,

and let them deal with the people. You just stand in the gap between God and the people. And so Moses does it. So he learns wisdom from the nations. Yeah, the nations. So you have these three stories. It's good meditation literature. Moses is weak.

He needs help. And with the help of a king Lee and priestly lines, God will deliver his people from the nations. And then you have this contrasting portraits of the nations where they can respond in either acceptance or hostility, that will determine their outcome. And then you go back to Moses being weak and frail,

and how he needs the help of others to lead the people, and how he learns that is actually from the nations, from his father-in-law. And these three stories come together, they actually match the deliverance through the waters on the other side, because God delivers them from hostile nations, from Pharaoh, and from the Amalakites. Oh, I see. So those two parts of the movement match. Yep. As a frame around the food and water stories. But then in the middle, where the stories about whether Israel would listen to the commands and the instructions of God.

And now here's a story of whether Moses will listen to the commands and the instructions of God. And now here's a story of whether Moses will listen to the commands and instructions of God being given through Jezro. And so he does and things go well. So the 613 commands of Sinai are about to come. And you realize they're going to be the ultimate test of whether Israel will listen to the voice of Yahweh, to be the ultimate act of trust, to live in this strange way that will set them apart from the nations, but precisely so that they can become a priestly representative to mediate the Eden blessing to the nations. And that's already what these three stories right here are meditating on in their own way.

And yeah, in the same way that Jethro and the Midianites come and they are peace with Israel and there's a feast. That's the blessing God wants give to all the nations through Israel. Israel needs to listen to God's commands in obey. And coming up is the big set of commands. That's right. The big 10, but then 613 more. Well, they're not all here, right? No, but it's gonna begin the year at Mount Sinai

and the getting of the 613 commands. But what's fascinating is right in front of the commands, start flowing, the story is gonna almost grind to a halt and just laws upon laws. Right in front of that is the story is going to almost grind to a halt and just laws upon laws. Right in front of that is the story of Israel receiving God's commands through the wisdom of a pagan priest that's married into the chosen line. Yeah, because the rest of the commands are not are going to be from Yahweh. Yeah, but these commands come from his father-in-law,

who's from a non-chosen line, but marries into the covenant family. So as you meditate on that, what do you think that's all about? I think we're foreshadowing a theme that will be explored in the prophets, especially Isaiah, that Israel was chosen to become the conduit of God's blessing to the nations. But the reason they were set apart the nations was always to rejoin them in the universal multi-ethnic family of God, so that the nations actually become, in turn, a blessing back to Israel. And so all these images at the end of Isaiah about the nations coming back

and helping rebuild and participate in the New Jerusalem of bringing their gifts to the temple to make the city beautiful again. It's like once the blessing goes through Israel to the nations, then the nations become a blessing to God's covenant family. I think that's how it works. Then this is like a little foreshadowing of that theme right here

before Mount Sinai even begins. The stories are so rich, man. All right, so that was the second part of this second movement in Exodus, and we're now going to come to the third part, the second movement, which is Israel arriving at Mount Sinai, and they're going to receive the laws of the covenant, and this will put a choice. Before Israel, this becomes their greatest test of trust. And that's what we're going to talk about next. Yeah.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Bible Project Podcast. Next week, we continue in the second movement of Exodus. Israel arrives at Mount Sinai. They receive the Ten Commandments. And this narrative is called a test. I think the meaning of this story, which is called a test, is Israel's test at Mount Sinai. The meaning of it is actually bound up with seeing its literary design, at least that has been my experience of trying to figure out the story. Bible project is a nonprofit organization. We exist

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