Exodus (Part 2)

So we left off with Moses finally getting to lead the children of Israel, or the Hebrews, out of Egypt. I learned something really cool when I read this part:

Exodus 13:19
And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he (Joseph) had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

This would be like George Washington asking that people in this day and time move his body to a new location. How neat that would have been- not only do you have roughly 2 million people leaving Egypt, you are carrying the bones of one of your most famous ancestors out with you, because he asked you to! Sometimes it's the most random verses like this one that astound me the most.

So God led the children of Israel (btw, Israel was Jacob's other name- sorry for not mentioning that before) day and night through the wilderness until they got to the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, pharoh had decided that he wanted revenge on the Hebrews, and gathered his army to go after them and kill them. They caught up with Moses and the Hebrews at the Red Sea. God caused a pillar of fire to make a barrier between the Egyptian army and the Hebrews. Then God parted the Red Sea for the Hebrews to walk across. All the Hebrews got to the other side, and then the pillar of fire went away, and the Egyptians followed them. When all the Hebrews were safe on the other side of the sea, God caused the waters to come crashing down on the Egyptian army and destroyed them. The Israelites were finally safe!

Chapter 15 of Exodus is really neat to read because it is a song of thankfulness from the Israelites to God for saving them. It reminds me of something out of Pslams.

But, soon after this, the Israelites ran out of water and they started to "murmur" against Moses about their need not being met. God ended up leading them to water, but this is just one of many, many.......MANY times the Israelites complained or disobeyed what God wanted them to do. God definitely had a lot of patience with them because they just kept messing up!

The rest of the book of Exodus is about the travel of the Israelites, how Moses set up men to help him govern the people, Moses going up into Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments, and various laws that were given to Moses by God to give to the Hebrews. There are also instructions (very specific instructions.....tedious, actually, if I can be honest) for building the Ark, the Temple, the altar, and the priest's clothing.

One cool thing I noticed out of all these tedious instructions was that after Moses was instructed to do something, the Word always says that Moses did exactly what he was supposed to do. I can't remember how many times it says this, but several for sure: "Thus did Moses: according to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he." God wanted us to know that Moses, the greatest prophet, was very obedient!

One thing I learned while reading this part of the book of Exodus was that Moses broke the first set of stone tablets when he came down from Mount Sinai, because he was angry at the people for worshipping an idol. God made him a second set of stone tablets later on.

Exodus ends with the rules about giving sacrificial offerings to the Lord.