*please note, this is my interpretation - not to offend - but to simply help me digest the material, and possibly help others glean. All scriptures are based out of the NLT version.
PART TWO:
When Israel crossed the Red Sea, they rejoiced and gave offerings to the Lord. THREE days later the complaining began! Isn't it amazing how quickly we forget how bad something was when we are forced to walk forward in faith? One word: ungrateful.
This part of Exodus is very detailed and lengthy - did I mention detailed? Basically, Moses and Aaron are leading over 600,000 people and their possessions to the Promised Land (on foot). Can you imagine? Talk about herding cats! No wonder it took them so long to finally get there (among other reasons)!
Instead of giving a play by play of what happened, I am just going to point out the highlights for part two. These are things I considered important.
- God gave Israel manna and quail every day to eat, except on the Sabbath. However, He gave them double on Saturday so they could rest on Sunday and not have to gather food.
- The people cried out that they were thirsty. The Lord told Moses, "Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink." (Exodus 17:6) The people drank water out of a rock!
- The people were attacked. As long as Moses kept his arms and staff raised, Israel was defeating the attackers. His arms would begin to fall, and the enemy would gain grounds on Israel. To help keep his arms and staff raised, Aaron and Hur found a place for Moses to sit down, and there the two of them held his arms up. Israel defeated their enemy. (Exodus 17:8-16)
- Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came and paid him a visit. Jethro speaks wisdom over Moses. He tells him he needs to start delegating job tasks to other trusted men in the group. This is first hierarchy of the church set up. You had people over 50, 100, 1000, 10,000 people so Moses could focus on his most important tasks and not get bogged down with frivolous stuff.
- Mount Siani is one of the most scared locations in Israel's history.
- The Lord teaches Israel how to worship Him. He gives them law to follow. We know these as the 10 Commandments. (Plus, LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of other laws to follow).
- The Lord gives Moses instructions for the Tabernacle.
- They receive the Ark of the Covenant. No one knows where this is today.
- I find it so interesting that EVERYTHING down to tables, and drapes are given with extreme detail and vivid instructions. Why is everything so specific and detailed? I believe it is because God cares about the details. He cares about you, and your likes and dislikes. After all, he made you that way! Just remember, God is a VERY specific!!
- Israel learns what Day of Atonement is and how to worship once a year to celebrate it.
- Israel messes up, and gets inpatient waiting on the Lord and Moses, so they begin to worship a gold calf. Moses comes down and sees what is going on and is pissed. He just spent 40 days getting all this description on what/when/where/how from God and His people are worshipping a cow. Ya, I think I would have flipped a lid too! He was so mad, he actually broke the first set of 10 commandments. What!
- After everyone calms down, Moses goes back and gets a second set of the 10 commandments from the Lord.
- Israel gets to work on the plans to build the Tabernacle. (This super detailed structure, is nothing more than a fancy tent!) Isn't that crazy? So much time, effort, detail, expense and GOLD went into this structure!
- Moses was not a micromanager. He let his trusted advisors oversee their responsibilities.
Bottom line from Part Two of Exodus:
Because of Jesus we no longer have to have a building to worship the Lord in, but our bodies now are the temple of the Holy Spirit! Pretty cool, huh? Also, don't forget - GOD IS SPECIFIC. He definitely cares about the small (what we might even consider insignificant) stuff in our lives!
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