It took some doing but once the LORD, in his great patience, responded to all of Moses’ reservations and concerns about leading the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses at last determined to do as God had told him. As indicated in verse 18 of Exodus 4, “Then Moses went back …
Once God appeared to Moses-the-Rescuer and told him that he was the one he had chosen to rescue his people, the Israelites, from the oppression of the Egyptians, Moses-the-Rescuer became Moses-the-Questioner. For, as we’ve seen, when the LORD said to Moses, “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh …
When the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob said to Moses, “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt,”[1] Moses-the-Rescuer jumped for joy at the realization that his rescuing skills were going to be …
From the little bit that we’ve learned about Moses thus far, he certainly seems hard-wired to want to rescue those in need. First, he rescued a fellow Hebrew from an Egyptian who was beating him.[1] Then he rescued a fellow Hebrew who was being hit by another Hebrew.[2] This morning …
As we saw last week, when Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives, refused to kill baby boys that were born as the Pharaoh “to whom Joseph meant nothing” told them to, he sent out an edict to all of his people stating, “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must …
This morning completes our time with Joseph. Approximately five months ago, we began by considering his life from the time he was but a boy of seventeen years;[1] this morning takes us to the time of his death ninety-three years later at the age of 110. As one commentator observes, …
Once Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers conferred with one another over a nagging concern they shared. For despite the peaceful relations they had had with Joseph over the almost twenty years since they had learned that he was not only alive but serving as governor over Egypt, they nonetheless wondered what …
This morning Ron reminded me of the providential coincidence that on this Father’s Day, the portion of Scripture we’re covering speaks in part of the love that exists between Jacob and his son Joseph, even if in a bittersweet manner. Well, as we’ve noted before, as Joseph spent the first …
As stated in verse 1 of Genesis 49, the blessings that Jacob—or Israel—pronounced upon his sons were a snapshot of “what [would] happen to [them] in days to come.” Specifically they’re snapshots of what will happen to the descendants of each of his son’s tribes who, collectively, will become the …
As we saw two weeks ago, having adopted Joseph’s two sons Ephraim and Manasseh as his own, one final task now lay before Jacob before he died: that of blessing all twelve of his sons. This morning we’ll consider the blessings Jacob pronounced upon his first four children: Reuben, Simeon, …
