Saturday, January 26, 2013

The Bible Challenge: Day 26

The scriptures read are Exodus 16-18, Psalm 22, and Matthew 23. 

Exodus 16. Already with the complaining? The Israelites miss the food back in Egypt. So God arranges for quail to fly in at night and a flaky substance to be deposited with the dew in the morning. The flaky stuff is manna, from the Hebrew for "What is it?" On Friday mornings there's twice as much so the people don't need to gather it on the Sabbath. The former slaves get a day off each week in perpetuity.

Exodus 17. Now they want water. So God tells Moses to strike a rock with his staff and water gushes out. Also Amalek fights Israel. When Moses holds his hands up Israel is winning. He gets tired, his hands lower and the tide turns again Israel. So Aaron and Hur hold up Moses' arms until they win. And leading the troops? Joshua.

Exodus 18. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, visits and sees Moses settling petty disputes all day long. He advises his son-in-law to appoint some trustworthy men to take over the routine cases. Let Moses decide the tough ones but let the average ones be handled by the lower courts. Moses takes his advice. He delegates.

Psalm 22. This psalm always evokes Holy Week to me. The psalmist is at his lowest point. Yet it ends in confidence and praise for God for rescuing him. Still the parallel with Jesus' sufferings is chilling.

Matthew 23. A scathing critique of the Pharisees and the experts in the law. They are all surface and no substance. They are corrupt and turn out copies of themselves just as bad. Jesus is livid at the obstacles they place in the way of people seeking God. So much for Jesus meek and mild!

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