et-ha'adam

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Bondage, Passover, and Exodus

I taught Sunday School last Sunday and I thought I'd share what I taught and get you comments.

The lesson was over Exodus 1 - 15 - the birth of Moses, the plagues, passover and the beginning of the Exodus. This is more or less what I taught:

My study of the Old Testament this year has been enhanced by 2 scriptures:

1) Isaiah 46:10
10. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My ccounsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

This says that God will show us the events of the end of the world by showing us what happened before. This is a great key to Old Testament events and a great key to understanding Isaiah.

2) 3 Nephi 15: 9 - 10
9. Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.
10. Behold, I have given unto you the commandments; therefore keep my commandments. And this is the law and the prophets, for they truly testified of me.

"the law and the prophets" is specifically the Old Testament (TaNaKh - Torah - the Law; Nevi'im - the Prophets; Ketuvim - the Writings); this is telling us the the Old Testament testifies of Christ .

So I look for how the lesson I am studying declares the end, and how it testifies of Christ.

Also, one of the main things I got from studying the book of Revelation is that God is in charge - things are going to get really, really bad, but God is in charge and will save His people.

With those things in mind I started talking about this lesson.

There are so many different levels that could be discussed about this set of events, like there is with most scripture. There are so many things that could be brought out of it:

  • We could compare Moses to Christ - Moses is one of, if not the, best types of Christ found in the Old Testament
  • We could talk about the reasons Israel was in bondage to begin with - what was God's reason to allow them to be there and His plan in terms of all of these events
  • We could discuss how freeing Israel from Egypt and destroying Pharaoh's armies in the Red Sea typify Christ's saving us from spiritual and physical death
  • There are so many more!

But the thing that I got the most as I read it - and this is most likely due to my personal study of Isaiah right now - is how much this typifies the last days - the days we are rapidly approaching (or actually in the middle of) - as shown to us in the prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, John, and Jesus (in Matt 24)..

Israel is in bondage to Egypt. In the last days there will be a ruler, whom Isaiah compares to the kings of Babylon and Assyria, who will conquer the whole earth and subjugate all inhabitants to his ideology. Just as the Israelites were promised the God would raise up a deliverer - Moses - we are promised that God will raise up a deliverer. Isaiah uses Moses, David, and Hezekiah to typify this deliverer. Speaking as the Savior, he calls this leader "my righteousness" and "my right arm." However, the king of Babylon/Assyria will remain in control long enough that people will begin to lose faith (like the Israelites being in bondage for 430 years). God will try the faith of His people and will allow the tyrant to stay in power long enough that many will lose faith. But God keeps His promises. He sent Moses for the Israelites, and he will send a leader for us.

At that time, there will be events such that nobody can have any doubt that God is God. I think that was the whole purpose of the plagues sent upon Egypt. We are told in prophecies that this will be the case for us. Everyone has their agency and in order to exercise agency you have to know what your choices are. God will give everyone a chance to choose to follow Him - just like he gave the Egyptians that choice. In order to fully exercise that choice you have to know that God is God - just like the Egyptians. And we are told that many of the Egyptians believed Moses. When the hail and fires came, many of the Egyptians brought their animals in so they wouldn't be destroyed. But Pharaoh hardened his heart and tried to explain it all away. The same will happen with us. There will be huge numbers of people that will try to explain all the "signs" away. Just like we could say that the plagues on Egypt are fairly easy to explain scientifically - red mud from the mountains turned the river red and killed all the fish. The frogs left the water to escape being killed and then died on the dry ground. This brought the lice and flies. Etc., etc., etc. It is all easy to explain away. But God put it all into motion and His prophets told Pharaoh exactly when each event would take place. God was in control. And He still is and will be in the last days.

Finally, once all the plagues/signs had been given, God killed the first born of the Egyptians in order to "save" the Israelites and free them from bondage, in similitude of His having to sacrifice His First Born - Christ - in order to spiritually save the people of God and free them from sin. Pharaoh let the people go.

God goes before the people in a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. he leads them. But where does he lead them - to the shores of the Red Sea. In the mean time Pharaoh has a change of heart (actually goes back to his normal hard heart) and comes after them. When the people see the armies coming after them, the cry to Moses and begin to murmur. The Lord tells them to go towards the Red Sea - trying their faith once again. We will be in a similar situation in the last days - in deed I think we are dangerously close now. Our response is to rely on our military. We are so reliant on them. We are fascinated by their prowess and our great technology. We rely far too much on the arm of flesh when we should be exercising our faith in God.

Moses' response to the murmuring is "Be still and see the salvation of the Lord." At that point the pillar of fire goes from in front of them, to behind them - between Pharaoh and the Israelites - and stays there all night long. The Red Sea parts and the people are able to cross over during the night. When they are all safe, the pillar of fire goes back before them and Pharaoh's armies cross the Red Sea in pursuit. The waters close in on them and they are destroyed. God will fight our battle in the last day. He will destroy the tyrant and rescue His people, just as he did ancient Israel. When it looks like all is lost, He will deliver us. God keeps His promises! We can always have faith in that. That is the main point I get from reading these chapters.