13 SH'MOT (Names); Ex 1:1-6:1, Mark 1&2

[Bruce Bertram]

A second time in a few chapters we are told that Israel (Jacob) consisted of 70 people to start with in Egypt. This number is probably important; remember it for future reading. Israel grows, a new king arises in Egypt who didn't know Joseph (and didn't care about or know all that God did for Egypt through him) and trouble starts. Out of fear of Israel's numbers, the new Pharaoh decides to enslave them, making them work building cities for him. Then he decides to winnow the population by killing male babies (not for the first time were babies killed to attempt a control of God's plan). The midwives refuse to cooperate, so God establishes large clans through them as a blessing. Then Pharaoh orders that all male children be cast into the Nile.

Moses is born, and placed in the Nile, but in a basket. His sister (probably Miriam) watches to make sure he is safe. It is a good bet that it was deliberately done this way to place Moses in the hands of someone who would care for him, and that someone happened to be the Pharaoh's daughter. Probably one of his daughters, but the text speaks of her as singular. In any event, Moses is raised as Pharaoh's daughter's own, with his own mother as a nanny. On top of this she is paid to do it! Moses grows up knowing who he is, but for some strange reason Pharoah doesn't. When he reaches adulthood, Moses decides to defend his brethren by killing an overseer who was mistreating some of them, but gets rejected by Israel and flees to the desert (Midian) for what ends up being 40 years.

The help Moses ('drawn') provides the seven daughters of the priest of Midian (named Reuel - meaning friend of God, but later we find out he's also called Jethro 'his abundance') is received better, and Moses settles down with the priest and marries one of the daughters by the name of Zipporah (bird). Time seems to zip by, and Moses has his encounter with God in the burning bush. Pharaoh dies, so Moses' sin is probably no longer held against him (2:23). God tells Moses His name, and sends Moses on a mission to rescue His people Israel. Moses is reluctant, but God gives Moses some tools in the form of a staff (turns into a snake) and some miracles to perform (leprous hand and water turning to blood), as well as giving the Name of God as a reference. Moses is to use the reason for leaving as needing to worship God in the desert. God says Pharaoh won't allow it, until God "stretches out His hand" and performs miracles to compel Pharaoh. Moses still hesitates by claiming a speech problem, so God designates Aaron his brother as the speaking half of the team. God also tells Moses that the crowning moment of the release of Israel will be when all the firstborn of Egypt are killed. So Moses knows the outline, and knows God's whole plan of action.

On the way back to Egypt, Zipporah must perform a circumcision on Moses' son because God is trying (trying?) to kill Moses (4:24), perhaps because of lack of obedience to the covenant of Abraham, of which circumcision is the sign. Aaron is told to go meet Moses, and Moses tells him the plan for Pharaoh. They meet with the elders of Israel, show them the signs, and go to meet Pharaoh. The first go around turns out with Pharaoh increasing the workload of Israel, and telling them to find their own straw to make bricks. The Israelite overseers are beaten, then complain to Pharaoh, but can't make a dent in his attitude. They are not too happy at this point with Moses and Aaron, because it's not working out like they had hoped. But God reminds Moses that there is a plan, and Pharaoh will let Israel go 'under compulsion.'

Mark starts is account of the ministry of Jesus with John the Baptist crying out in the desert to make straight paths for God, another way of saying 'repent.' Jesus comes to be baptized, and sees heaven opened while the Spirit in the form of a dove comes down upon Him. Jesus goes into the desert for 40 days for His ordeal with Satan, and ends up victorious. After John is arrested by Herod (son of Herod the Great, killer of Bethlehem's babies) Jesus returns to Galilee (north of Jerusalem) starts picking his disciples, and also begins His preaching with "repent and believe in the gospel." What good news is this? The same as that preached to Israel in the wilderness! (Hebrews 3:15-4:2ff)

Traveling to Capernaum (a little north of Nazareth in Galilee and east of the sea of Galilee) Jesus enters a synagogue to teach (a common practice of Jesus) and has an encounter with an unclean spirit of a man in the synagogue. Mark represents that Jesus had authority of a kind that hadn't been seen for a long while in Israel. Jesus heals the mother of Peter's wife, and proceeded to heal many that were ill and possessed of demons in the area. Jesus and the disciples go around the Galilee area healing and teaching. Coming back to Capernaum the incident occurs where a sick person is let down through the roof of a building where Jesus is teaching. Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven," and some scribes sitting there rebuke Him in their hearts. Again Mark stresses Jesus' authority. Jesus calls Levi the tax collector to be His disciple, and eats with him.

The scribes and Pharisees take exception to Jesus eating with 'sinners,' and Jesus has to point out that it's the sick that need a physician, not the healthy. Next, the scribes and Pharisees (and John's disciples) want to know why Jesus and the disciples don't fast. Jesus tells them that people at a wedding don't fast when the bridegroom is with them, and relates the allegory of wine and wineskins. See the article 'In Vino Veritas' for some in depth information on this subject if you want. Mark wraps up chapter 2 with the religious leaders again getting peeved at Jesus for not following what they term 'lawful,' meaning what they say is lawful.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

When I was preparing this message for our congregational service, I was reminded of an old rock and roll song from the Five Man Electrical Band called ‘Signs.’ The chorus goes like this:

Sign Sign everywhere a sign, blocking out the scenery breaking my mind,
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

If you remember this song, you will probably see the connection also by the end of this essay.

Exodus one through five gives us the account of the birth of Moses and events leading to his assuming a messiah role for the by now huge nation of Israel. About 1,500 years later the first two chapters of Mark also serve to introduce another messiah for Israel. Mark chooses to limit his account to the start of the public ministry of Jesus, but we have other details filled in for us by other authors also. Moses started his ministry rather badly, killing an Egyptian overseer and hiding the body. When a little afterwards Moses admonishes two of his brothers for fighting he is startled to realize people saw him kill the Egyptian and flees to the desert. It is only after a long while in the desert that Moses hears from the Lord by way of the burning bush.

Jesus, on the other hand, heard that He was “my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased,” yet also went into the desert for a while and returned for the start of His ministry. This Messiah was the “prophet like Moses” (Deuteronomy 18:15-22) that God was going to raise up to lead His people once again. This second prophet was going to be like Moses because He would talk to God face to face.

10Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, 12and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. (Deuteronomy 34:10-12 NASB95)

When Moses first approached the elders of Israel after speaking with God at the bush conference, he had ‘signs’ to show them that what he was saying was true, to inspire confidence in Moses by the elders. This explains why Jesus was asked for ‘signs’ also. (Matthew 12:38,39, 16:1-4; Mark 8:11,12; Luke 11:16, 29, 30, 23:8, John 2:18, 6:30) It was assumed that the second messiah would possess signs similar to those of Moses, in order to be accepted by the religious leaders.

48So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” (John 4:48 NASB95)

However, in the preceding list of verses where Jesus was asked for signs it is clear that not only did Jesus say an evil and adulterous generation ask for signs, but that no sign would be given save that of Jonah, who was three days and nights in the belly of the whale.

The report and signs from Moses were accepted by the elders of Israel, apparently (Exodus 4:29-31) yet they became angry with Moses (Exodus 5:21) when Pharaoh increased the burden of brick making by withholding straw. The elders knew of the overall plan for Pharaoh, and knew that Pharaoh wouldn’t let them go easily (3:19, 4:23) but even knowing the plan became angry at the first sign of difficulty. So the signs from Moses were certainly not much help in convincing people to have faith. It is typical that people ask for signs from God to validate everything He does, but there are at least three problems with signs.

1. Signs do not necessarily change hearts.
2. If the signs are not to the liking of the people asking for them, they don’t listen.
3. People blame God when signs are given and events don’t go the way the sign-askers want.

We see these three aspects concerning signs in the events surrounding Jesus' ministry. First, there were signs all around but these signs were not changing the hearts of the religious leaders. Since those signs were not to the liking of the religious leaders at the time, they refused to listen to Jesus. Later, when the overthrow of the Romans didn’t happen in way that the religious leaders expected, they refused to accept Jesus.

47Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. 48“If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” (John 11:47-48 NASB95)

Interestingly, Jesus did not ‘report in’ to the elders in the same way Moses did, although He was very available for all true seekers then and now. It was very obvious to many people that Jesus was in fact the Messiah, yet at the sham trial put on by the religious establishment Jesus was asked to make a plain statement of His Messiah-ship. When He did it was with the additional statement that He was God, which was violently rejected. The average person knew who Jesus was (John 6:14), but the leaders claimed ignorance, even though they were supposedly educated in the Word, and killed the Lord of Glory.

People still ask God for signs. We hear from many people that, “If God does such and such, then I will believe.” They want to see tokens of God’s power, but are signs really enough to change their hearts? Signs are present; they are all around. But because the signs are not quite what people want to see they refuse to listen. This doesn’t mean that God needs to change the signs so people will believe, because it isn’t the sign that is the problem. It is the heart. In order to understand a sign, doesn’t a person need to be able to read it? And if the heart is hard, this affects the vision, and the sign can be right under the nose and still is not seen.

37But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. (John 12:37 NASB95)

Jesus tells us that at His second coming there will be plenty of signs (Matthew 24:3,24,30; Mark 13:4, 22; Luke 21:7,11,25; see also the book of Revelation) but it is apparent that the signs don’t do a lot at that time either to change people over to following God. The first messiah gave signs and Israel mostly followed, and God mightily established the nation of Israel in a way no other gods could’ve duplicated. The second messiah was rejected and died alone, but God worked mighty wonders anyway, even without the stamp of approval from the religious leaders. When the signs appear for the second coming of Jesus, will there be people cooperating with the mighty things God will do?

20Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; 21nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:20-21 NASB95)

Shalom
Bruce

[Bruce Bertram]

Exodus 1:1 – 6:1; Isaiah 27:6 – 28:13, 29:22, 23; Mark 1 & 2; Jeremiah 1:1-2:3; Mat. 22:23-33; 41-46; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-44; Acts 3:12-15, 5:27-32, 7:17-29, 22:12-16, 24:14-16; Hebrews 11:23-26

9 “To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? 10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” 11 For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people, 12 to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear. 13 And the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. (Isaiah 28:9-13 ESV)

We’re going to start this week with the Isaiah 27 passage, quoted above. There are some who use these verses positively, going with the thought that teaching line by line is a good and necessary thing. After all, teaching little ones how to read or multiply takes a lot of line upon line teaching. Some people think that God is mocking Isaiah’s listeners with the sound of baby talk. The Hebrew does sound something like baby talk and goes: Sav lasav, sav lasav, Kav lakav, kav lakav, Ze’ er sham, ze’ er sham. Maybe it’s mocking, but I think there is more to it. I think it’s a possibility that God is making a plain statement that He will continue teaching His commands with blows and slow repetition through the tongues of a foreign nation if He has to.

What God is saying here is not good. It means that God’s Words have been ignored to the point that He will teach them through a foreign people with what sounds like a stammering tongue, one syllable at a time. Probably with blows too, as in the Assyrian army assaulting Israel. It is because hearts are hard and they refuse to obey the Word as adults, and so will be treated like reluctant children who need a hard hand and slow repetition with many beatings to get it right. I’m put in mind of a dad who is spanking his child while saying, “How (swat) many times (swat) have I (swat) told (swat) you (swat) not to run out into the street?” (Or whatever the command broken.)

Sometimes I think maybe I should stop writing commentary, or stop teaching, because it seems so repetitious. Maybe it’s me, and I just can’t come up with anything original. But I don’t think it’s just me, though. It is the Word of God. There is a lot of repetition in the Word. It is there because the people in the Bible needed constant repetition and reinforcement. He also caused it all to be written down, because everyone needs constant repetition to stay on track.

Moses has a little bit of trouble with a stammering tongue apparently (Exodus 4:10), but this is not the same thing. With Moses it’s just a speech impediment, but with Israel it is a discipline for hard hearts. Pharaoh will shortly go through a repetition of God’s Word in the form of plagues, and he won’t get it either, no matter how much it’s repeated. He probably doesn’t even get it when he ends up floating in the Red Sea wondering which end is up (before he stops wondering at all).

Isaiah says something related to the ‘line upon line’ section a little earlier, only he refers to “eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear”.

9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10 ESV; See also Jeremiah 5:21 and Ezekiel 12:2)

To ears that refuse to hear, God’s commands will be as “line upon line, precept upon precept.”

The first word from the mouths of John the Baptist and Jesus in their public ministries seems to be “Repent.” Turn back to what God has said. Neither one stammers, but what they say is received as stammering by the hard hearted of the time. Jesus in particular also picks up on the idea of hearing problems making the Word seem like stammering in Matthew 13:13-17 and Mark 8:18, quoting Isaiah (and other prophets).

Paul continues the thought in the last chapter of Acts, but adds that the gospel will be handed off to the Gentiles.

26 “ ‘Go to this people, and say, You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. 27 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ 28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” (Acts 28:26-28 ESV)

We can do it easy with God, or we can do it hard. He prefers easy, but one way or the other we will do it. Even the people who don’t repent and accept God’s payment for sin will still bow the knee one day in a place where the worm doesn’t die and the fire is not quenched.

It’s not as though His Words were hard and difficult to learn. It is the heart that is hard, and will not respond to what the ears hear or the eyes see. To this kind of a person, unwilling and obstinate, His Words sound and feel like ‘line upon line’ and probably with a few swats thrown in too. Does His Law sound like a series of ‘lines’ and ‘precepts’ to you? Or does His Word flow into you and through you like milk and honey and other sweet, enjoyable things?

Modern day believers need to pay attention to this, even though the message to Israel has been coming through our lips, and sounds like stammering or Salvation 101. We may sound like a stammering messenger or stumble with our tongues, but we don’t want to end up getting the same treatment ourselves. Because if Israel, whom God chose and planted and has husbanded like a prime vineyard, is disciplined hard, how much more ‘line upon line’ discipline will those of us who have been grafted in be given if we in turn harden our hearts?

7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” 9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.” (Romans 11:7-10 ESV)

Shalom
Bruce