Gary Gleans

God has a very distinct purpose for His work in the land of Egypt.  He wants to show that He does not tolerate sin and rebellion but that He will judge it in the severest fashion imaginable.  God also wants to demonstrate that He is kind and gracious and that He provides a means of escape from His judgment through the shedding of blood.  These events are about far more than simply liberating Israel from Egypt.  They are prefigures of the sacrifice of Christ and our liberation from sin as a result of His death for us. THE PASSOVER REQUIRED PREPARATION: The Lord made it very clear that the children of Israel needed to make preparations for the Passover.  They had to choose a perfect lamb and then make a sacrifice of the lamb, apply the blood of the lamb to the doorframes of their homes and then eat the lamb completely burning anything that was left over.  Escape from the judgment of God required this process.  God cannot simply ignore the sins of men.  Provision had to be made and then m

The consequences of sin are always much greater than we would like for them to be and beyond what we imagine would be possible.  When we sin we are enamored with the pleasures that sin promise, but we rarely consider the consequences of these actions.  Pharaoh has counted the cost of allowing Israel to go free and has decided that the cost is too high.  His pride leaves him in a position where he is blinded to the drastic consequences of his sinful choice.  God has been turning up the flame of suffering in Egypt that they might recognize their need to repent and obey God.  So far no one is listening, but that is about to change. GOD PROVIDES FOR THE CHILDRED OF ISRAEL: Moses has won the respect and fear of the Egyptian people.  They feared him and his God and must have wondered how in the world Pharaoh could be so blind.  Moses instructs Israel to ask for articles of silver and gold from the people of Egypt and the people obeyed and made great provision for the people.  God is certainl

We have a tendency to try to bargain with God in hopes of being able to get what we want without having to do more than we have to of what He wants.  The idea of complete surrender to God is hard for man to grasp and harder still to practice.  We are very good at rationalizing our sin and convincing ourselves that it is okay to continue on in our lives with a half-hearted repentance.  Then we wonder why we do not experience the blessings of God in our lives.  We long for peace, hope, joy and love to permeate our lives yet we pay lip service to the only source of these blessings.  Pharaoh longs for relief from judgment but he is very far from submitting to God in his life.  We must be very careful not to fool ourselves into thinking that we can “make deals” with God. THE PLAGUE OF LOCUST: The hail had already destroyed a large number of crops, but now the Locust come into the land and eat everything that is green.  They invade the home the fields the forests and every plant that was sti

God knows how to judge sin and is capable of bringing great heartache to those who refuse to repent.  We often doubt this truth because it seems like so many times wicked men prosper while those who fear God suffer in this world.  However, the plagues in Egypt demonstrate that God is a very severe judge and that He is very capable of protecting His children while He judges His enemies.  One thing that is important to remember is that the slavery in Egypt has lasted 400 years and only now is judgment falling upon Egypt.  I am sure that the mothers who saw their babies being killed wondered if God would ever judge these people.  There may be situations in our day when we will wonder the same thing.  We can rest assured that He will. THE PLAGUE ON THE ANIMALS: The animals of Egypt were taken from them in this plague.  Some sort of a disease comes through Egypt on the day Moses promised and killed only the cattle of the Egyptians.  Israel’s animals were safe.  However even in light of this

There is a battle going on in this world.  A battle rages between God and Satan; between those who fear God and those who do not.  Essentially, this battle is one of priorities between what God and man consider to be the purpose for which man has been created and given life.  God created man in order that man would worship Him and bring glory to His name.  Man in his sin has become distracted from this purpose and has determined to live for the purpose of building his own empire in order to worship himself and have others worship him too.  God makes it very clear that He wants the children of Israel to be free and to worship Him.  Pharaoh has made it very clear that he wants the children of Israel to continue to serve as slaves who are building an empire for Pharaoh’s glory.  These two conflicting priorities continue to rage all over the earth and in the hearts of men today.  It is a battle over worship.  God demands to be worshiped while man desires to worship himself and his own achi

There are usually two ways of doing or learning most things; the easy way and the hard way.  Most of the time God is not all that concerned with which way we end up learning and growing. His goal is to build character in our lives.  The point is that God’s will is not negotiable.  When He chooses to accomplish something, it will be done.  However, how it will be done is often left up to the choices of men.  Pharaoh could have chosen the easy path of listening to and obeying God.  Instead He chose the hard path of stubbornness and pride.  Both paths lead to the same place: the glory of God and the freedom of Israel.  The only difference is the consequences along the way.  We too, usually can choose between these same paths.  We can reflect the glory of God through the blessings of obedience or we can demonstrate the glory of God through the judgment of disobedience.  God is glorified either way, but the consequences in our lives are far different. GOD STATES HIS WILL: God makes it clear

We often assume that the walk of obeying God and following His will is an easy way to live.   The children of Israel were excited about being set free from bondage, but they were not at all excited about the suffering that the path to freedom required.   They decided that the price was too high and preferred to stay in bondage over living a life of freedom.   We too say that we want to live godly lives free from the bondage of sin.   However, when the path to freedom ends up involving suffering we often become weary of the sacrifice and prefer to continue living lives of spiritual mediocrity. GOD DECLARES HIS FAITHFULNESS: God is not fazed by the reaction of Pharaoh or even the complaining of Israel.   He has made a promise to Abraham that He intends to keep.   He is responding to the prayers of His people and is determined to do what is best for them whether they can see it or not.   I am so glad that the Lord chooses answer my prayers according to His will and not my own.   Given the

Sometimes things must get worse before they can get better.  Even though this seems to go against our logic and especially against our desires; it is often the path that God chooses to bring about His will.  There are often things about our lives that must be changed before we are ready to be and do all that God desires.  Suffering is usually a part of how God brings about these necessary changes in our lives.  We might not like or enjoy the path through which the Lord seeks to perfect us; but we are called to trust Him and recognize His sovereignty in all of our circumstances. THE REQUEST OF MOSES IS MET WITH RETALIATION OF PHARAOH: Moses asks Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go and worship God for three days.  He is not even asking for their release from slavery.  However, Pharaoh will not hear of this request but instead he retaliates and accuses them of being lazy and decides to withhold straw from the workers who are in charge of making bricks.  This in no way comes as a surp

Excuses, excuses, excuses; it seems that we all make up excuses throughout the course of our lives.  The reality is that excuses are simply another form of disobedience.  When God’s will is very clear to us but we do not like what we hear; we justify our refusal to obey with excuses.  When God was ready to use Moses, he was not ready to trust and follow God.  Moses had become comfortable in his new life and become complacent towards the call of God in his life.   Being comfortable and complacent is very dangerous. MOSES ARGUES WITH GOD: Moses begins his excuse making process with a legitimate question.  He recognizes that the task he has been given is above his own abilities and that the people might not believe him and that Pharaoh would certainly not agree to what he was supposed to do.  God assures Moses that He will empower him with signs that will demonstrate to all that he has been sent by God.  The rod becoming a snake, the hand turning white and the water becoming blood; all wo

The plans of God rarely make sense to the mind of man.  When Moses was living in Egypt, he would have, more than likely, responded to an invitation from God to free the nation of Israel with great confidence.  However, over the last forty years he has been living in fear over the murder he committed and has become satisfied with his life as a shepherd for his father-in-law.  His self-assurance is gone and all he can see are the road blocks that will thwart God’s plan.  God needed to teach Moses humility before He could use him.  God is not looking for people who will trust in their own abilities but He is looking for people who recognize their own brokenness before God and will be willing to trust Him to do what He is calling them to do. GOD APPEARS TO MOSES: Moses had accepted the fact that he would live his life as a shepherd.  His dreams of grandeur from his years in the palace have faded away and he has settled into the routine of life.  He probably shakes his head at his foolishn

The hand of God is evident in the course of history as we look at the events unfold according to His plan.  However, we have the benefit of looking back and seeing only the highlights as they are recorded for us in Scripture.  If we consider the centuries that passed between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses; the hand of God must have seemed all but invisible to the people of that day.  God may move at a different pace than we think He should.  In fact, it may appear to us that God is not moving at all!  During these times of doubt it is vital for us to turn back to the Scripture and remember how God has worked in the past and then trust that He is working in the same way in the present.  In this truth we can rest assured. MOSES IS PROTECTED BY PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER: God spared the life of Moses by the daughter of Pharaoh.  His mother places him in a basket boat and God causes that boat to cross the path of the princess.  In the end she adopts Moses and takes him to the palace; b

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  As we open this new book of the Old Testament, we find the children of Israel facing very desperate times.  Generations have passed and the provision of deliverance through Joseph has long been forgotten.  Pharaoh begins to respond to Israel in fear and tries desperately to destroy the nation.  But no matter how hard he tries to attack the new nation; God shows up to provide deliverance.  We can always rest in the ability of God to accomplish His will no matter how desperate our times may become. THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ARE PROSPEROUS IN ADVERSITY: Pharaoh fears the size and power of the family of Israel.  They started out as seventy immigrants from the land of Canaan, but through the generations God multiplied their numbers exceedingly to the point that they outnumbered the Egyptians.  The solution to this problem was to make them into slaves in order to keep them from considering rebellion and to make use of the labor to build the Egyptian

The main thing that God asks of believers is that we trust Him and rest in the promises has given us.  He is the all powerful God of the universe and He is good.  We can trust Him to do what is best for His glory and our eternal good.  There may be times when His way seems like it makes no sense to us but that, by definition, is the requirement of faith.  Even when we cannot see how His power is being used to fulfill His promises; we must trust Him and remain faithful. JOSEPH BURRYS HIS FATHER: Jacob’s death was mourned by Joseph, the other brothers, the entire household and all of Egypt.  The size of Israel had already grown substantially by the time Jacob died and the influence of this people was evident in the land of Egypt.  As much as they were comfortable and well respected in Egypt; God had still promised another land to this nation and Jacob wanted to be buried in the land that had been promised to him and where his family had been buried.  Egypt was a temporary place for Israe

As Jacob knows that the end of his life is near, he calls all of his children to come to him so that he might tell them about the future.  It is hard for me to call all of these blessings, but that is what they are called in the Bible.  Some of them are positive blessings while others of them are negative blessings.  Each son receives a blessing that is according to his own character.  These are a few thoughts that came to my mind as I read through these blessings. FATHERS MUST KNOW AND HONESTLY SPEAK TO THEIR CHILDREN: Too often we fathers are slow to speak and when we do speak we are hesitant to be honest.  Jacob knew his children well and while he definitely had short comings as a father; it is important to note that he did care for his children and was courageous enough to speak the truth to them.  Some fathers tend to shrink from confrontation and just focus on the positive things.  Other fathers seem blind to any qualities of their children and seem to always pick out the things

It is interesting to see the importance that is placed on blessings that are given from father to sons in the Old Testament.  It demonstrates the respect that the children had for their parents as well as the love that fathers were to have for their children.  We must never forget the importance of affirming words from father to son. JACOB RECOGNIZES HIS BLESSING FROM GOD: As Jacob nears his death, Joseph comes to visit him with his two sons.  It is an emotional time for Jacob to realize that God had blessed him with the privilege of not only seeing his son again but his grandsons as well.  He had grieved for so long the death of Joseph and now he was able to not only see his son’s face and talk to him but also to have Joseph’s sons on his lap.  His heart is full of gratitude for this blessing that came from God.  Jacob’s life has not been an easy one.  He was a deceiver who was deceived.  He suffered the death of the wife he loved and thought for many years that her first son had als

God is a protector and a provider.   When the famine of the land threatened to take the lives of so many in both Canaan and Egypt; God had a plan.   He had sent Joseph ahead in order to use him to protect and provide for the people.   God opened the doors, God gave the wisdom and God, once again, demonstrated to all of us that He is worthy of all of our faith and trust. JOSEPH PROVIDED FOR HIS FAMILY: The land of Egypt was under Joseph’s control and he was very well aware of both his family’s needs as well as the Egyptian culture.   The land of Goshen would give them room for their livestock on fertile soil as well as provide a physical separation between them and the Egyptians who would have been offended by their farming practices.   God really does know all that we need and what would be best for us.   He is also completely able to meet those needs according to all of His riches.   There is really no need for us to worry or fret over these things.   We have and all powerful God who

Change is always a difficult thing.   As much as Jacob wanted to see Joseph and the famine seemed to indicate that Israel needed to move to Egypt; I am sure that this was not an easy decision or an easy move.   The light at the end of the tunnel was the assurance that Jacob would see his beloved son for the first time in about two decades.   Still, there must have been doubt in Jacob’s mind as He left the Promised Land. GOD REASSURES JACOB CONCERNING THE MOVE: Prior to Jacob’s move to Egypt he stops to make a sacrifice to God.   I believe that he was seeking for God’s approval about the move.   Leaving the land was not something to be taken lightly and had gotten his father and grandfather in trouble in the past.   However, this move was ordained by God and had been prophesied by God when He first appeared to Abraham.   God appears to Jacob and reassures him that the move is all a part of His master plan and that and that He will make Jacob a great nation while in Egypt.   God also

Grace is one of the greatest blessings that we can experience in life.   There are so many times in life when we deserve to be treated in a manner much different than what we ultimately experience.   That is certainly most true when we talk about the way that God treats us.   We deserve condemnation, but by His grace we can be forgiven of our sin and experience eternal life through the cross of Christ.   Joseph certainly demonstrated grace to his brothers in this passage. JOSEPH REVEALS GRACE TO HIS BROTHERS: After Joseph saw that Judah was willing to take Benjamin’s place he knew that things had changed and he could hide his identity no longer.   Despite their harsh treatment of him, Joseph still had a profound love for them and embraced them with tears of joy.   He longed to see his father again and was so happy to be reunited with his brothers.   The men deserved to be severely punished for all that they had done.   Joseph had it within his power to imprison them forever or even