Leaving Goshen… when?

The Passover meal was eaten, the Death Angel had passed, and the people were burning the remains of the carcasses, as instructed by God. How did they know when to leave?

There is much controversy over this. Why? Because many centuries ago the Jews ‘tinkered’ with the memorializing of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, shortening it and combining it.

Passover in itself is not a Holy Day…

but, for modern, Christian Passover keepers,  it is a night of solemn remembrance. It looks back to the deliverance of the first Passover, and to the sacrifice of Christ. On the night he was betrayed, when He kept His last Passover he changed the symbols. Christ kept the Passover with His disciples on the night of the 14th Nisan. But the chief priests and Pharisees kept it the following day, on the 15th Nisan. That’s why they had to rush through His illegal trial. But that is another subject altogether.  🙂

Back to the first Passover….

The people were to choose the lamb on the tenth day, and keep it till the fourteenth day…

… Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. Exodus 12: 11b

This made the killing of the lambs…

1              A family affair

2              At twilight, the start of the fourteenth day of Nisan.

About point 1 – After killing the lambs, some of the blood was to be caught and the doorposts and lintels of the Israelite homes were to be ‘painted’ with it. The people were still in their homes.

About point 2 – Exodus 12:28 Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

They did ALL that Moses and Aaron relayed to them… therefore they were still in their homes. They were afraid to step out of line. They were in fear of God and terrified that this plague would happen to them. The other plagues had shown them that what God had announced, He had carried out. They were afraid to leave their houses. They were ready and waiting… but repeating the question at the start, how did they know when to leave?

If it had been as the film The Ten Commandments by Cecil B DeMille portrayed and Moses and Aaron had been sent for, gone to see Pharaoh – in defiance of God’s instructions – and been told to take their people, their flocks and their goods and leave… how did the people, in their homes, scattered all over Goshen, know it was time to leave, that the Exodus was to begin?

There were no telephones; it was well after midnight…

So is it not feasible that the signal to leave for Rameses was daylight?

Then the people could safely leave their homes and make the journey to Rameses.

So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. Exodus 12: 35

Rameses was in the south central part of Goshen and Rameses was the assembly area for the people. And what a gathering!

Then the children of Israel  journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds – a great deal of livestock. Exodus 12:37, 38

With that logistical nightmare, I will leave this till next week, but with the reminder that the true Passover Lamb was Jesus Christ, Son of God.

Remember, tread softly, you may be treading on someone’s dreams.

Susan

God’s Time-keeping

Thank you Bill Struse for the inspiration for extra post…

How does God regard the time he created?

First, God castigates His people in many scriptures. In Hosea, as Bill Struse quoted in his comment.  (So I won’t repeat it here.)

Also in the book of Malachi

For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. [Now, notice this.] 7 Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. But you said, “In what way shall we return?” Malachi 3:6-7

So, the Lord does not change.

A New Testament scripture says similar about Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ (is) the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13: 8

So, what does that have to do with ‘time’, hopefully this will answer it.

The way time was measured in the Bible was from evening till morning.

This goes back as far as Genesis 1: 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

This continues in Genesis 1: 8,13,19,23,31 – the evening and the morning were the *number* day.

But it continues… Let’s look at the instruction for keeping the Day of Atonement…

It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.” Leviticus 23:32

Did you notice that? “From evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath.”

Then there is this from the Sacred Scriptures, Bethel Edition, Bible

“… Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn (draw) toward the first of the week …” Matt 28:1

This suggests to me that the Sabbath was drawing to a close, at sunset.

It is a different way of thinking about days and times but scripture plainly states how God created time, and that is how it continued.

To us… well, at least to me, a Western person, I found it very strange at first to ‘get my head’ around calculating time this way. I am used to our clocks, where the ‘day’ ticks over about one second after midnight and then it is officially another ‘day’.

But the way God created time – the new day started at twilight, just after sunset.

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Remember – “For I am the Lord, I do not change…”

This explains how it is true that Jesus rose on the first day of the week.

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. John 20:1

“… They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb….” John 20: 2

Quoting…

The Bible tells us the tomb was empty before sunrise! The resurrection had already occurred, perhaps hours before. Yet thousands of people gather each year, facing East, to the rising of the Sun, as an integral part of their resurrection service, as a pagan sun-worshipper would. Now clearly these people are not consciously worshipping the Sun, yet their actions would be indistinguishable from a pagan, were one present at the same time. They both would be rejoicing at the moment of the rising of the Sun.

The Vernal Equinox

The pagan at this time of year would be celebrating the increasing of the Sun following the spring (vernal) equinox. That is the day on which the amount of darkness and daylight are the same in duration. Following that day the amount of daylight would steadily increase, a little each day. This increase of daylight in the spring brings about summer and makes crops thrive, thus the association with fertility (eggs, rabbits, chickens). Hence the association always to Sunday, to celebrate the increasing of the God of the Sun on the Sun Day.

Read the full article here… http://biblelight.net/easter.htm

Food for thought…

Shalom

Susan

Truth about Easter

Passover has been celebrated, Easter is coming. What do bunny rabbits and Easter eggs have to do with the First Passover in the Bible? It seems a long way from what Moses was commanded to tell the people.

In this extract from ‘The Pagan Origin of Easter’ you will see that it has nothing to do with the Bible.

The full article can be viewed here…http://worldtruth.tv/pagan-origin-of-easter/

A sample here…

Where did very popular holiday called; “Easter” originally come from and did the New Testament believers set a series of days in order to celebrate the Passover? Prior to 325 AD there is no record of what the modern era is now celebrating.  In 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea,  Emperor Constantine claimed being converted to Christianity but was still very much involved with paganism. His objective as the very first Pope was to unite both pagans, and Christians under his leadership. It’s the same concept we see today concerning unity under the current Pope of Rome. In order to try an accomplish this objective, Constantine sought out to add festivals which appealed to pagans and adopt it into to church worship which would appeal to the church community who were making professions of faith in the Lord. So Constantine by making a degree at the Council of Nicaea, Easter became a holiday celebrated which was to be on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.

According to the New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, “the word Easter is of Saxon origin, Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honor sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year. By the eighth century Anglo-Saxons had adopted the name to designate the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.”

According to Darryl Conder in Mystery Babylon the Great, “the history of Easter begins not with Christ’s resurrection, but in Babylon, 2000 years before His birth… The first thing to be emphasized is that the Easter tradition is a composite history of two men and one woman. As the stories of their lives unfolded in ancient times, the religion they founded was conformed to explain the different occurrences. It is a somewhat complicated story that, as it becomes clear, will present a chilling account of modern day religious practices found, literally, around the world! To understand the Easter custom of the western world, it is important that we basically dissect this festival piece by piece. First of all, where did we get the name Easter, and what does it have to do with Jesus Christ? Most any encyclopedia will mention that the name Easter is derived from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, Eostre (pg. 55).

“What is the meaning of the name “Easter”? You have been led to suppose the word means “resurrection of Christ.” For 1600 years the Western world has been taught that Christ rose from the dead on Sunday morning. But that is merely one of the fables the Apostle Paul warned readers of the New Testament to expect. The resurrection did not occur on Sunday! The name “Easter,” which is marry the slightly changed English spelling of the name of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian goddess Ishtar, comes to us from old Teutonic mythology where it is known as Ostern. The Phoenician name of this goddess was Astarte, consort of Baal, the sun god, whose worship is denounced by the Almighty in the Bible as the most abominable of all pagan idolatry. Look up the word “Easter” in Webster’s dictionary. You will find it clearly reveals the pagan origin of the name. In the large five-volume Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, only six brief lines are given to the name “Easter,” because it occurs only once in the Bible — and that only in the Authorized King James translation. Says Hastings: “Easter, used in Authorized Version as the translation of ‘Pascha’ in Acts 12:4, ‘Intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.’ Revised Standard Version has substituted correctly ‘the Passover.'”

Why the tenth plague?

“Israel is My son, My firstborn son”

Exodus 4:22

My purpose in quoting this is to show what God thinks of Israel.

Pharaoh knew how God regarded Israel.

“Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn” Exodus 4: 22

When the tenth plague occurred it could be said that God was punishing Egypt for the way Egypt had treated His firstborn son over the centuries of their captivity.

• How many slaves were beaten to death?
• How many slaves were worked to death?
• How much had the people suffered over the time of their captivity?

Remember Moses himself was a survivor of a former Pharaoh’s purge of Hebrew male babies in an attempt to thwart the purpose of God… to provide a deliverer at the appointed time.

That time was here.

And it came to pass, that at midnight, the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. Exodus 12: 29

From the highest in the land to the prisoner in the jail, if the person was firstborn, he died. So too did the firstborn of the animals.

In the depiction in the film, ‘The Ten Commandments’, the death that came on them was shown as a green mist. The Bible says the Angel of the Lord and the Destroyer. Much as I like Cecil B deMille’s movie there are some inaccuracies. I believe this was one of them.

Another, and more important one is that Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron that same night.

My problems with that –

• After Moses had announced the tenth plague, when speaking to Pharaoh, he added “And all these your servants shall come down to me [in Goshen] and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!‘ After that I will go out.”
• Pharaoh himself had said he would not see Moses’ face again. Exodus 11: 28
• And Moses said, “You have spoken well, I will never see your face again. “Exodus 11:29
• God Himself had said “ And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. Exodus 22:b

The Israelites were in fear of God… in fear that it would happen to them and afraid to leave their houses. They were afraid of the Death Angel.

Many times I have heard the saying…. ‘Scripture cannot be broken’ and yet is seems a contradiction when Exodus 12: 31 is read.

Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. Exodus 12: 31

In the Ten Commandments movie, there is such a scene. (Another inaccuracy.)

Why the apparent contradiction? Again I turned to Adam Clarke’s commentary on this verse…

“Called for Moses and Aaron –

That is, he sent the message here mentioned to them; for it does not appear that he had any farther (sic) interview with Moses and Aaron, after what is mentioned Exodus 10:28, Exodus 10:29, and Exodus 11:8.

The time for the deliverance from captivity had arrived – but, in order to keep the command of God, none of them left their homes, sheltering under the protection of the blood of the lamb, until the daylight hours.”

The Israelites had been waiting for this for generations, some perhaps believing it was a myth. Then came Moses with his message from God.

Everything God said came true.

There is no mention of the first three plagues missing Goshen, but from the fourth plague onward they fell on the Egyptians but, not on the slaves in Goshen. Their faith and trust was being built. They had been given ample time and clear instruction as to their part on this night. They also knew they would leave when morning arrived.

They were ready!

Till next time – tread softly, you may be treading on someone’s dreams.

Susan

Moses and the First Passover

Because the Israelites had been so long in Egypt they had forgotten God’s Sabbath and Holy Days. As slaves they would not have had the luxury of keeping them, even if they had known.

But God was preparing them to once again live as His chosen people. (Remember the promise to Abraham?) Genesis 15: 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.”

So although the people might have had difficulty knowing they were God’s chosen people, God had not. Indeed He had told Abram/Abraham in advance, including the fact that He would judge the nation they served and they would come out with many possessions.

But the first Passover and subsequent release from four hundred years of captivity was very much an exercise in faith, obedience and trust.

God did not leave them to muddle through

He started teaching them – giving them specific instructions.

Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying. “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the beginning of the year to you.” Exodus 12: 1,2

Now as many people are aware, the Jewish new year starts on what we call the Feast of Trumpets. (Tishri). This is their civil new year. The one God told them about here is the start of their sacred year.

Adam Clarke’s commentary might show some clarity on the subject…

“…Jews have formed a twofold commencement of the year, which has given rise to a twofold denomination of the year itself, to which they afterwards attended in all their reckonings: that which began with Tisri or September was called their civil year; that which began with Abib or March was called the sacred or ecclesiastical year.”

God gave specific and detailed instructions to His people to protect them from the final plague on Egypt.

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. . . .Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. Exodus 12: 21- 24, 28

God gave the people time to prepare.

Not only were they to select the lambs, they had to work out if there was too much for their families, and if so, to share it with another family – of suitable size so that there would be no unnecessary waste.

They also had to collect the articles of gold and silver (Exodus 11: 2).

Their flocks had to be prepared for travelling because the day after Passover, they would start to move from their homes. Therefore in order that they were ready to go, their own goods had to be packed too.

On the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight – that part between day and night – the people killed their own lambs., and using the sprigs of hyssop they had gathered, painted the lintel and their door posts.

“For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians and when He sees the blood on the lintel and doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.” Exodus 12: 23

And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Exodus 12: 29,30

God fulfils His word.

So the stage is set for the Exodus… but as we approach the approaching Holy time of year it is interesting to reflect what it must have felt like for those to whom it was happening. There was only one tenth plague, and one Passover. The subsequent celebrations are memorials.

More on this next week,

Till then, tread softly – you may be treading on someone’s dreams

Susan

Moses and the tenth plague

A proud and stubborn man, Pharaoh fought God all the way through the plagues. To this point in the post they were…

1. The  Nile River turns to blood
2. Frogs
3. Lice
4. Beasts
5. Livestock  disease
6. Boils
7. Hail
8. Locusts

After this Josephus records in Chapter 14 bk 2 of his Antiquities of the Jews…

“One would think the beforementioned calamities might have been sufficient for one that was only foolish, without wickedness… But Pharaoh, led not so much by his folly as by his wickedness, even when he saw the cause of his miseries, he still contest with God…”

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And in his contesting with God,  brought on himself, his land and his people, the ninth plague.

Darkness

By this time Pharaoh’s advisors were almost pleading with him to let the Hebrew slaves go or they would all die.

They had lost crops, cattle, suffered from the boils, hail had ruined or killed what was left of their livestock, then locusts came and devoured their crops. Well they said “You cannot resist the power of his (Moses’) God.”

There was a part in the Ten Commandments movie that sticks in my mind, so my husband and I played the second disk again. (I have a great husband!)

In that scene, Moses warned Pharaoh “If there is one more plague on Egypt it is by your word that God will bring it. There will be such a great cry throughout the land.”

 

In the movie, after Moses left Pharaoh announced to his advisors, “There shall be one more plague, and it will come upon the slaves in Goshen. The firstborn of each house shall die – beginning with the son of Moses.

Later, when Moses hears what Pharaoh had pronounced, he says “Out of his own mouth…”

I hunted through the Bible and Josephus but this section seems to have been an invention for the movie.

The fact there was a 10th plague was no invention though…

Death of the First Born

“And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.” Exodus 11: 1

So the tenth plague was pronounced, and pronounced by God not Pharaoh.

Remember, before they were Hebrew slaves they were the twelve tribes of Israel (Jacob).

To God, Israel was His firstborn.

He told Abram

“… Know certainly that your descendents will be strangers on a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” Genesis 15: 13,14

The four hundred years were almost up. God’s judgement had been upon them, and was drawing to its final conclusion.

Whatever God says will be fulfilled… and He had said plainly “… And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions”

God did not forget. He told Moses

“Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbour, articles of silver and articles of gold. And the Lord gave the people favour in the sigh of the Egyptians’.” Exodus 11:2,3a

This was spoken almost exactly four hundred years before that promise had been made. But think about it… slaves asking their masters for silver and gold!”

Could this be the reason…

“Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.” Exodus 11: 3b

Moses was very great in their sight? All who remembered his former position had died. He came back as a shepherd. He was not dressed as someone to respect. But he had come in the power of the Almighty God.

And that is the reason… God was with him.

There is much to learn from that statement… God was with him. Something to ponder on.

Next time… the first Passover.

Till then

Tread softly, you may be treading on someone’s dreams.

Susan

Moses being prepared?

In considering this week’s blog on Moses I found myself thinking ‘below’ what happened with the plagues. Looking under the obvious. After all, you can read the full story in Exodus chapters 8, 9, and 10.

When I attended a Pentecostal Bible College, we were taught that each of the plagues represented God’s supremacy over the gods of the Egyptians.  As I mentioned two weeks ago, the Egyptians had 8,700 gods to choose from, so the chances were that this was true.

Josephus has an interesting ‘take’ on the early plagues…

“for he [Pharaoh] was forced in part to recover himself from his wicked temper to a sounder mind…”

(This was after the plague of lice… which his magicians could not recreate.)

From then on, only the Egyptians were affected by each plague that Moses announced.

I found myself wondering… was part of the reason Moses had to appear before Pharaoh to announce the plagues, to build faith in Moses?

I remember at that Bible College, hearing a lecturer say, ‘don’t believe God will heal your cancer if you have never believed He will heal your headache’.

So, starting at that point, is it possible that God was teaching Moses (and Aaron) that He could be trusted? That He meant what He said.

Moses had lost confidence in himself, and had been contentedly minding sheep for his father in law Jethro. We are never told in God’s word, or in Josephus’ writings if Moses looked back and said, “if I had only done it this way…” No. All that is recorded is that Moses married a daughter of Jethro, raised his sons, and tended Jethro’s sheep.

In a relatively short time…

Moses went from shepherd (for forty years) to spokesman for God before Pharaoh. It is quite possible the plagues progressively built Moses’ faith in the God who had called him to be deliverer… but whom he didn’t know.

Do you remember Moses reply, when first commissioned by God at the burning bush. He said he was ”not eloquent’. God told him Aaron would speak for him. It seems to me that Moses found ‘his tongue’ somewhere as his faith was being built. He would need that faith when he was leading the former slaves through the wilderness. But whoa… I am running ahead of myself.

As the plagues progressed…

The Egyptian people were increasingly desolated by the ‘fight between Pharaoh’s pride and the will of the great God of the universe’.

Perhaps the Egyptians cringed inwardly when they saw Moses and Aaron coming again to Pharaoh.

For Pharaoh it seems to have been a battle of wills between himself and God. His people suffered a time of great distress. But what about the Hebrews? Their land of Goshen was free of the plagues suffered by the Egyptians… but they still had to work, and work harder because they had to gather their own straw to make the bricks.

Something else that Moses was learning. How to cope with the grumbling of the people he was to lead out of Egypt.

• When he was a prince of Egypt, whatever he said would be done.
• When he commanded the Egyptian army, what he commanded would be done.

With the sheep… well, as any shepherd could tell you, there are ways of handling recalcitrant sheep. So learning that the people God sent him to deliver would grumble, complain and be ‘stiff-necked’, was something Moses needed to experience.

God never ‘dumps’ things on us suddenly. There has always been some preparation, although we might not realise it till later.

With that in mind… tread softly, you may be treading on someone’s dreams,

Till next time

Susan