The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 2:23-25,
"The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them."
Here is a summary comment that reminds us of God's intention for his people Israel. In the passage we are told that God "remembered" his covenant with the patriarchs. The third definition of "remember" in Merriam-Webster is "to keep in mind for attention or consideration". It is in this sense that God "remembered" his covenant.
"The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them."
Here is a summary comment that reminds us of God's intention for his people Israel. In the passage we are told that God "remembered" his covenant with the patriarchs. The third definition of "remember" in Merriam-Webster is "to keep in mind for attention or consideration". It is in this sense that God "remembered" his covenant.
It was God himself who effected Israel's sojourn in Egypt (through a famine) and it was God who turned the Egyptians against Israel that resulted in their slave labor. See Psalm 105:16-25. Now, at this point in the account, we are made aware of God's intent of "throwing the switch" in effecting their exodus from Egypt to fulfill his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. His "concern" for the Israelites due to their groaning in slavery isn't a worry, but was the fulfillment he sought in turning the Egyptians against the Israelites that led to their difficult slave labor.
Now that Israel was sufficiently motivated to leave the womb of Egypt, God will now "concern" himself with bringing about their departure from Egypt. This departure will involve a man, Moses, and introduces us to the concepts of delivery, of passover, of redemption.
This fulfillment of God's covenant with the patriarchs in giving them the promised land was done in a way that provides us pictures of Jesus Christ, of his sacrificial death allowing us to escape eternal death (through the passover), of him as our deliverer, of his redemption of us - all provided us through this account of the exodus of Israel.
It is just astonishing to me how God does what it is he does and how he accomplishes so many things when he does it!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
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