According to a 2022 article in Time magazine, we have really wasted a lot of time over the past several weeks talking about an omnipotent and sovereign God who brought 10 plagues on Egypt to force Pharaoh’s hand and deliver God’s people from 430 years of slavery. Nope. Didn’t happen, and Olvia Waxman, the author of the article clears it all up very simply with three alternate theories. I will just...  Read More

God ordained the Passover as an annual celebration for Israel after the first one in Egypt right before the people of God were delivered from bondage. This meal would become part of a Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Here are a few observations on this story in Exodus 12. First, notice that God says this is a memorial day. God commanded it in order to remind them forever of God’s great deliverance from...  Read More

When Ernest Shackleton and his crew on the ship Endurance set out on December 5, 1914, they were bound for Antarctica. On January 15 their ship got hopelessly stuck in an ice pack east of Antarctica in the Weddell Sea. From then on, their goal was simply to survive. The freezing temperatures and the near starvation were horrible, but when winter approached in late April, the crew of the ship grew ...  Read More

I love the question God asked Pharaoh in Exodus that starts with “How long?” That phrase is also repeated by Pharaoh’s servants. “How long?” God asks Pharaoh, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.” There are many times the Psalm writers asked the Lord, “How long?” When will you deliver us, O Lord? But this time it is directed at a man. “H...  Read More

Remember Lenny LeBlanc’s song, “There is none like you”? Sing it with me: “There is none like you…no one else can touch my heart like you do. I could search for all eternity long and find, there is none like you.” We want to sing that song as people who know God, not as people like Pharaoh, who see it but do not believe it. The sixth plague followed the pattern of every third plague, with no warni...  Read More

It is time for the fourth plague on Egypt, and we can only assume that the third plague of mosquitoes was removed. We are not certain! The way Moses records the plagues, the third, sixth and ninth are neither warned about nor removed. It is interesting to imagine that if these three plagues were not removed as were the others, then the people of Egypt were covered with mosquitoes and boils, and li...  Read More

When Aaron struck the dust with his staff, the people of Egypt were covered with gnats. There are a couple of firsts in this, the third plague. This is the first one for which there is no warning. That happens for each set of three. There’s no warning given for the 3rd, 6th, or 9th plagues. This serves perhaps to draw attention to the last and deadliest plague. This is also the first plague that h...  Read More

The last time we saw Moses by the Nile was when he was drawn out of the water and handed to the Pharaoh’s daughter. Her actions changed his life as she saved the deliverer whom God had raised up. Now Moses is back at the Nile and what he will do, by God’s power, will change the Pharaoh’s life and family. God is about to show His sovereign control over every one of the Egyptian gods and over everyt...  Read More

Moses interrupts his narrative in Exodus 6 for a genealogy. And if you read through it, you might think, this is not very interesting reading. Or you may think, who in his right mind would name his son “Mushi?” But remember Paul’s instruction, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may b...  Read More

When the Israeli foreman heard that their people had to now find their own straw to make bricks because of Moses and Aaron, they were fit to be tied. In a confrontation with their spiritual leaders they said they hoped the Lord would judge Moses and Aaron for making their lives miserable. What is Moses to do, now?  We find out quickly as the deliverer of Israel, confused if not downright angry, co...  Read More

When Moses and Aaron first walked into the palace to confront Pharaoh, they knew they were meeting with a man who thought he was a god. Truth be told, he did have unimpeachable authority to have them drawn and quartered on the spot, without question. But these men confronted him anyway. They were ordinary men upon whom the grace of God was abundantly poured out for such a time as this. Notice how ...  Read More

“It is time to go.” How many times do we use that phrase in our daily lives? “It is time to go on vacation” makes us happy. “It is time to go home from vacation” is a mixed bag. Some are deeply saddened by that, but some are overjoyed that they can go home and rest. How about, “It is time to go to work?” Or, as I heard last week from a young couple, “It is time to go to the altar and get married.”...  Read More