An Ark for the Covenant & A Tabernacle for Meeting with God
The Ark of the Covenant containing the Tablets of the Law Photo: Adobe Stock
A Sanctuary for Meeting with God
God told Moses to make a sanctuary where he would be present with his people and where sacrifices could be made by the priests. The Israelites were to bring gifts of materials and their skills to make the Tabernacle and its furnishings, following the precise instructions God had given Moses on Mount Sinai. (Exodus 25:8-9)
The Tabernacle in the desert Images may be copyright
The Ark was kept in the most holy part of the Tabernacle - The Holy of Holies - and only the priest was allowed into it once a year at The Feast of Atonement (modern Yom Kippur) to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the cover of the Mercy Seat, which was guarded by two gold cherubim.
Moses Meets God on Mount Sinai
Moses receiving the Ten Commandments Image may be copyright
God Makes A New Covenant with His People
After leaving Rephidim, the Israelites came to Mount Sinai. And God called to Moses from the mountain top.
“ This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
When the people said they would obey everything God had commanded, God told Moses to tell the people not to try going up to him at the top of the mountain or they would die. Instead, he told them to consecrate themselves, because he would descend from the mountain in a cloud. When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
God gave Moses two stone tablets on which he had written The Ten Commandments.
God's Covenant Boundaries for Blessings
The Ten Commandments are God's boundaries for being blessed by him. They represent our responsibilties for receiving his rights. A modern restatement of them helps to show they are God's way of ensuring his blessings and our well-being.
A. Our Relationship With God
1 I love you so much that I will give you Myself. I am true reality, the only God you will ever need. In Me alone you will find wholeness.
2 I desire a wonderful thing - a personal relationship between Myself and each of you. You don’t need inferior representations of Me, such as dead wooden idols. You can have Me. Value that.
3 I love you so much I have given you My name. You will be known as "God’s people on the earth". Don’t misuse it by profaning your new name or by not living up to it.
4 I have given you a beautiful world to work in, play in, and enjoy. In your busyness set aside a day to remember where the world came from. Your bodies need rest; your spirits need the reminder.
B. Our Relationships With Other People
5 Honour your father and mother because of who they are - your earthly parents I have given you to love and care for you while you are unable to look after yourself. They are meant to reflect My love for you.
6 Human life is sacred. I gave it, and it has enormous worth. Cling to it. Respect it; it is the image of God. He who ignores this and commits the sacrilege of murder must be punished.
7 The deepest human relationship possible is marriage. I created it to solve the essential loneliness in the heart of every person. To spread what is meant for marriage alone among a variety of people will devalue and destroy that relationship. Save sex and intimacy for its rightful place within marriage.
8 I am entrusting you with property. You can own things, and you should use them. Ownership is a great privilege. For it to work, you must respect everyone else’s right to ownership; stealing violates that right.
9 I am a God of truth. Relationships only succeed when they are governed by truth. A lie destroys contracts, promises, trust. You are worthy of trust. Express it by not lying.
10 I have given you good things to enjoy: oxen, food, furniture, and musical instruments. But people are more important than things. Love people; use things. Do not use people for your love of things.
~ from P Brand & P Yancey FEARFULLY & WONDERFULLY MADE Zondervan
Moses vs The Amalekites
Aaron and Hur supporting Moses' arms in prayer Image may be subject to copyright
Natural & Supernatural Warfare
The Israelites journeyed across the desert to Rephidim (meaning Resting place) and suddenly came under attack from the local tribe the Amalekites.
Moses gave Joshua, his second-in-command, the order to attack them, while he, Aaron and Hur would stand on the top of the hill overlooking the plain.
"I myself will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."
As long as Moses held his hand up, Joshua and his men prevailed, but when he lowered his hands the Amalekites prevailed. Unsurprisingly, Moses' hands grew heavy and so Aaron and Hur fetched a stone and sat Moses down on it, while they supported his hands, one on each side, until sunset.
Joshua and his men overwhelmed the Amalekites with the sword. To commemorate the occasion, God said to Moses:
" Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”
And Moses built an altar and named it YHWH (Yahweh) Nissi - The LORD My Banner - for he said: The LORD has sworn; the LORD will have war against Amalek from generation to generation."
God Makes A Way Through
Moses parting the Red Sea with his staff Image may be copyright
Where There Seems To Be No Way
Pharaoh was pursuing Moses and the Israelites with six hundred of his finest chariots and hundreds of other chariots and soldiers. Confronting Moses was the sea at Pi Hahiroth overlooking the Gulf of Aqaba and Baal Zephon island with its temple to the sea god. They were between a rock and a hard place - either be mown down by the Egyptians or face drowning in the attempt to cross.
Exodus 14:1-4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this................
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (vv 10-13)
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (v14)
It was a test of their faith in the God who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt.
The Crossing Place
In recent years there has been much interest in the geological and archaeological aspects of the Bible account of the crossing of the Red Sea. Of particlar interest are the geology and meteorological aspects of the crossing place, which is situated at a spot where there is a raised shelf jutting out across the Gulf where the Bible says they crossed (see below)
Image may be copyright
The angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (vv 19-22)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
When the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. (vv 26-31) (emphasis added)
A Dead Snake On A Pole Brings Life
Moses & The Bronze Serpent on a Pole Painting by Peter Paul Rubens The Courtauld, London Image may be copyright
Rebellion Against God In The Desert
The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land was fraught with difficulties that God used to test the Israelites to see if they would trust him. It was one thing to get the Israelites out of Egypt, but another to get Egypt out of the Israelites. Every time they were faced with an obstacle, like lack of water or food, they complained to Moses and said they wished they had never left Egypt.
Numbers 21:4-7 They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.”
A Bronze Snake Brings Healing & Life
The Saharan Sand Viper is able to hide itself and lie in wait for unsuspecting prey
Numbers 21:8-9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
In John 3:14 Jesus tells Nicodemus a riddle when he says:" Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” He meant that just as it took faith on the part of the Israelites for them to look to the bronze snake on a pole and believe God would heal them of the venom and save their lives, so it takes faith on the part of sinners like us to admit that Jesus' death on the cross was to save us from dying and going to a Christless eternity in hell.
NOTE: When Jesus died on the Cross, Satan thought he had just killed God. But the Resurrection three days later showed that Jesus is very much alive and it was the Snake that sealed its death warrant that Friday. It really was Good Friday!
Jesus is still healing and saving from death all who look to him and believe in him.
When A Blessing Becomes An Idol
Replica of Nehushtan, the bronze snake that became an idol on Mount Nebo Photo: Wikipedia
In 2 Kings 18:3-6 we read that when Hezekiah became king, he instigated radical religious reforms, tearing down the altars to Baal and the sacred Asherah poles the Israelites had been worshipping. He also smashed the bronze serpent which Moses had made when the Israelites were crossing the desert, because it had become an idol the people had worshipped called Nehushtan (meaning either serpent or brazen).
It was a warning that something God had given them as a blessing for faith had become an idol, which the children of Israel worshipped in place of the God who had delivered them from death and slavery.