Exodus 12:31-42
Joys for Our Journeys 4
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ July 28, 2019
The Journey Out of Egypt The Faithful God Keeps His Promises In the name of the faithful God who always keeps his promises, dear friends, Last week we heard about the 70-or-so people of God—the extensive family of Jacob—journeying down into Egypt because of the famine in Canaan and at the urging of Joseph, Jacob’s son, who was a powerful man in the Egyptian government. That was the journey of God’s people into Egypt. Today we fast-forward 430 years to hear about the journey God’s people made out of Egypt. But before we jump into that and thinking about what importance that has for you and me today, we should at least quickly mention what went on during those 430 years. That will help because otherwise our lesson for today begins a little abruptly! When Jacob’s caravan of God’s people reached Egypt, they enjoyed the favor of Jacob’s high-ranking son and the Egyptian government. Eventually, however, Joseph died and we hear this in Exodus chapter 1: Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly (6-13).
For those among God’s people who were paying attention, the ugliness and burden of slavery was offset some as they watched God constantly fulfilling his promise to make them into a great nation of people. By the end of those 430 years, they were no longer a group of 70 but probably approached 2 million strong, considering the 600,000 men mentioned in our lesson! Perhaps you recall how the LORD called Moses to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt and how Moses stood before Pharaoh and demanded that he release the Israelites from servitude. The plagues on Egypt followed: blood, frogs, gnats, flies, the death of livestock, festering boils on the skin of people and animals, hail, locusts, three days of complete darkness. And still the hard heart of Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go. Finally, the plague of death to the firstborn son in every Egyptian home—including Pharaoh’s—got the attention of Egypt’s leader. That’s what directly preceded our lesson today and prompted Pharaoh to summon Moses and Aaron and command them to gather their people and leave his country.
The mention in our lesson regarding the dough may seem odd, but remember, that night the LORD’s people ate the first Passover meal, which included quickly-puttogether unleavened bread, along with a lamb. And now as death visited the Egyptian homes during the night, they were commanded to pick up and get out. There was no food prep going on! They collected their things and items from the Egyptians, organized to leave, and then set out on the road toward Sukkoth. That’s the other odd-sounding thing isn’t it—that the Egyptians just gave the Israelites silver and gold items and clothing as well? It wasn’t simply that they wanted them to leave so badly after all these plagues had damaged their land and their lives. It says that the LORD caused them to give those things to the Israelites. Trusting children of God would have seen in this also, God keeping his promise to be with his people and provide for them as he also was keeping that other promise extended to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries earlier—to lead his people to the land that he had promised them. Try to imagine the excitement and the comfort and joy and thankfulness in the hearts and minds of God’s people as they realized that they were being released from slavery and given riches to provide for their needs as the LORD was fulfilling promises to them right then and there! They would be free to live as God’s people with no one stopping them or making their lives miserable. It was easy to see that night and the following days how God kept immediate promises (like painting the blood of the Passover Lamb on the doorposts of their homes would keep their firstborn sons from dying that night) and long-term promises (like being with his people and leading them to their own land). But I bet it was really hard to always trust the LORD to keep his promises as century after century rolled on and they labored under the oppressive hand of the Egyptians. We can probably understand how it may have been difficult for God’s people to believe along the way. Let me ask you—how ancient, how long ago, does the founding of the United States seem to you? Can you relate to the people of 1776 and the times they lived in… George Washington and the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the funkylooking clothes they wore? That seems like a long time ago…and that was “only” 243 years ago! Imagine you and your people listening to stories about when Joseph—a Hebrew like them—used to be in charge of so much in Egypt…and how their people weren’t slaves building impressive Egyptian buildings and structures back then. Can you see how they might have questioned whether God ever really said that he would give them a country of their own…or whether he had changed his mind about it…or if God actually existed? Because 430 years is a really long time!
People today are the same as people back then. Sinful people today are the same as sinful people back then. Don’t we often show a lack of confidence in God’s promises? Aren’t some of us guilty of routinely living day-by-day without thinking much about those promises God has made to us? We sometimes forget that God has promised that he knows the number of hairs on our head and that we’re worth much more than the flowers and birds he cares for every minute of every day. Not only do we sometimes forget those things, we even doubt them sometimes—or behave as if we do! Though God has cared for us all along, just like he promised, we fret about whether he will today or tomorrow as our sin-obscured vision doesn’t allow us to see how God could possibly do it! We wallow in loneliness, forgetting or not trusting his promise to always be with us. Do we always prize the promises of God and look forward to him fulfilling them? Or do we not even think about them and so we fail to turn around to say thank you to God when he fulfills so many promises to us each day? We are guilty in so many ways when it comes to trusting and valuing the promises of God! The Christian’s heart is filled with sadness over those kinds of sins. There’s no way to go back and fix those things. Trying harder to trust what God says isn’t going to wipe away your past failures either. The only solution is to look to certain specific promises from God and grab a hold of them and take them with you like the Israelites took the most valuable things with them from Egypt. These promises are the most valuable things you can cling to. I’ll remind you of just a couple among many of these promises: The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7b, 9). If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Our hearts and minds are filled with comfort and joy and thankfulness as we realize that just as God raised up Moses to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt, he raised up his Son Jesus to lead us out of slavery to sin. We have been forgiven and purified from the guilt and shame of sin by Jesus—who trusted every promise of his Father, including everything written about his death for sinners and his resurrection from death. Just as God extravagantly provided for his people as they journeyed out of Egypt as freed people, he has richly provided all that we need—spiritually and physically. And the Lord has freed us to now live as his people. God has made another great promise that I urge you to consider each day, thanking God for it and watching for him to fulfill it. That is the promise of your journey out of this world and into the promised land of heaven. Whether by death or the return of our Savior on the Last Day, God promises to take you to the Promised Land of heaven with him—not because you were perfect at trusting his promises, but because Jesus was faithful in fulfilling all the promises about him and because God is faithful in keeping his promises to you, his child. Amen. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Exodus 12:31-42 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” 33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. 37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. 40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt[b] was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come. 31