The Crow's Nest

Saturday, July 15, 2023

“Exodus”

“Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” (Exodus 1:8)

Exodus is the second book of the Bible. It is part history and a detailed journey of Israel in a relationship with God. Exodus is a story of politics, murder, and moral laws. The main characters are Moses and God.

Exodus begins 430 years after Jacob enters into Egypt. Time periods in history can be a difficult thing. However, the Bible doesn’t mess around with time periods.

“40Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

41And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:40-41)

At this point we know that Israel lived in Egypt for 430 years, but were not slaves during that entire time. Joseph was the second in command of all Egypt. However, we know that as long as Joseph was in command Israel would remain free. The question becomes how long was Joseph in command?

This number is determined by knowing how long Israel would be in bondage. That is revealed in Genesis 15:13 “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;”

God tells Abram that his seed (Abram–>Isaac–>Jacob) equals 400 years in bondage for Israel. Therefore, 430 years of living in Egypt, minus 400 years of bondage, equals 30 years that Joseph ruled in Egypt.

With the death of Joseph there would have been the death of his brothers, and the death of the Pharaoh that loved Joseph. A new Pharaoh a new set of laws.

“Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” (Exodus 1:8)

“Notes Version 1.1”

So far most of these posts have been about The Bible, Words used in the Bible, The Book of Genesis, and Connections between the Old Testament and New Testament.

I thank everyone for stopping in.

The artwork that I use in these posts are my own creation. Either a photograph of places I have been, or creating 3d and 2d art. The art itself is, in my mind, inspired by God. Because of that I do not ask for, nor will I receive payment of any kind. Feel free to use it for God.

In future posts I will explain what I used to create the artwork, and the next journey is in Exodus.

Stay tuned…

“The Seed”

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.” (Genesis 1:11)

Seed or Seeds is found throughout the Bible. It is used to denote an actual seed that will grow into food or a tree. It is used to denote the size or number of something. It also describes connections.

“And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” (Gen 13:16)

“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and said unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.” (Exodus 32:13)

“Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD.” (1 Kings 2:33)

“Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.” (Psalms 22:23)

“It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:” (Mark 4:31)

“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:20)

“Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:” (Acts 13:23)

“Jesus in Exodus”

“And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.” (Exodus 4:1)

Moses performs a miracle by throwing his staff down and it becomes a serpent.

“2And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

3And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

4And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:

5That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

6And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

7And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.” (Exodus 4:2-7)

Moses had to prove that he had met God and was given power from God. That is the connection and the difference between Moses and Jesus.

“1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

2And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

3And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.” (Matthew 8:1-4)

Jesus did not say “Go tell everyone of my miracles so they will know I am the Son of God”, on the contrary. The Leper already believed that Jesus was the Son of God. He worshiped Jesus and humbly asked for healing. Jesus gave him healing and only asked that he tell the priests. The Leper was an example of Christ’s love.

“Jesus at Moriah”

“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

Put yourself in Abraham’s shoes. Abraham and Sarah were old when God had given them Isaac. Now God would kill their only son. Abraham had great faith that God would shield Issac from harm. But Abraham was not a perfect person.

Abraham and Sarah had already deceived people out of fear that Abraham would be killed. He kept passing his Wife off as his sister to avoid being killed. (Gen 12:11-12, Gen 20:2)

God had even entered into a covenant with Abraham that he would multiply into a great nation.

Remember the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? (Gen 2:17)

Abraham realized the difference between what was Good and what was Evil. Its just a little white lie, right? If Abraham told the truth about his wife, he feared he would die. So a little white lie about her being my sister is OK.

Right?

As Abraham is heading up the mount to prepare an altar for the sacrifice, he continued in Faith that God would provide. When Abraham has the altar prepared with his Son bound to the altar. Just as Abraham holds up the knife to slay his Son, The Angel of God stops him.

“And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.” (Gen 22:12)

The pattern of Jesus is clear. God provides Abraham. Abraham provides his only Son Isaac. Isaac provides a lineage to Jesus. Jesus pays the ultimate sacrifice for the World.

“The First Commandment”

“16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:” (Genesis 2:16)

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:17)

God created Adam from the dust of the earth and gave him a Living Soul. God also created a Garden and put Adam in the Garden to dress and keep it. (Gen 2:7-15)

God had planted many trees, vines, and herbs. Pleasant to the eye and good for food. God also planted two special trees. The Tree of Life, and The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Gen 2:9)

God paraded every animal before Adam, and Adam got to name them all. Obviously Adam was not meant to be bored. He couldn’t just laze around in a meadow chomping on herbs and sucking on lemons. He needed company.

God created from Adam’s rib a woman. “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Gen 2:23)

They both walked around naked. Not just because they had no clothes on, but because they felt no guilt, no reason to hide from each other or God. For them life was perfect. No hunger, no pain, no fear. And this is our First Connection.

A Serpent appears in the Garden. Had Adam and the Woman been thinking they would have stayed far away from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But they didn’t.

The Serpent tells the First Lie, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:4-5)

Lets break this down a bit. The subject here is “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. God, as we know, said that even touching the Tree will cause you to die. The Serpent says that you will not die.

The answer to the argument is easy, God created you, he can certainly erase you. But that is not how God does things. He gave Adam and the Woman free will to choose. They could eat anything with the exception of one thing.

This is the connection with Jesus. After Adam and the Woman had eaten of the Tree, their eyes were open to the evil they had committed. They knew God had seen what they had done and this made them naked. God cursed the Serpent, brought pain to Adam, and the woman now called Eve (Gen 3:20), but God did not stop at abandoning them.

God took the skins of an innocent animal and clothed Adam and Eve. God clothed Adam and Eve with the skins to provide them with protection of the briers and thorns of the world. This is the pattern of Jesus.

Jesus died innocent of sin and provides a shield of protection to everyone.

“Connections”

The first line of the Bible is “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

There was a television show from the BBC where the presenter connected an modern technology through its many iterations from Ancient times. That is my plan. Of course, when I make a plan it normally consists of many alternative plans.

Don’t freak out, if it seems I’m lost. I might be just wrong. But the goal is to complete the journey.

The last line of the Bible is, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

“I Am”

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” (John 8:56)

“57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:57-58)

The Connections of the New and Old Testament.