Sunday, March 6, 2016

Exodus Chapter 3

ex31

Moses and the Burning Bush

1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up." 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." 5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." 11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
1. Has God ever asked you to do something you really didn’t think you were qualified to do?
Ronald Reagan stood in the relative safety of West Berlin as the Soviet Union was crumbling, and said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”
ex34
What Moses is being asked to do would be comparable to marching into Red Square in 1960 and saying, hey “Mr. Nikita Khrushchev “ God wants you let all those political prisoners you’ve got locked up in Siberia leave Russia with me. He would have probably been shot or at the least locked up in one of the Gulags as a crazy person.
When Moses left Egypt, there were “wanted dead of alive” posters all over Egypt. Sure, it’s 40 years later, there was a new Pharaoh, but when you go to the post office, there’s Moses picture on the wall, one of the “ten most wanted” by the Egyptian FBI.
12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." 13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
2. What does this name “I Am Who I Am” mean?
ex33 Gen 1:1  In the beginning H7225 God H430 created H1254 (H853) the heaven H8064 and the earth. H776
Elohim…   the supreme or almighty god.
Mr. President or commander in chief  vs  Barry
Yahweh is God’s personal name, it is used over 6800 times in the bible 3 times as many times as Elohim.
Here God introduces us to the covenant name of God. "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." This is how God identified Himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When He speaks to them the bible says “Yahweh said to Abraham” etc. Now He introduces Himself to his people.  Here he is saying, I’m the God who had a covenant with your ancestors, I’ve got a “deal” with your forefathers.
ex35Leviticus 26 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
Deuteronomy 7 6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
“special treasure”
I Am refers to “the one who exists” as apposed to the non existent gods of Egypt. He is the God who is real.
ex36“Thus says the Lord (YHVH), the aKing of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the cfirst and I am the last, And there is no God dbesides Me. Isaiah 44:6
I am the LORD (Yahweh), that is my name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images. Is. 42:8
Romans 1:20-23  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man --- and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
I Am refers to “the one who exists and is exists independently”. He is the Creator, he needs nothing, he depends on nothing, he does everything because he wants to. I am not self existent, I have lots of need in order to exist. Food, water, air, companionship, shelter etc. God needs nothing. He is, and it doesn’t depend on what your definition of the word is, is. He is no matter how you define it.
“But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. Job 23:13
ex37I Am refers to “the one who exists and exists independently and is unchangeable”, from eternity.
Vanishing point to vanishing point.
Malachi 3:6  For I am the LORD, I do not change;
In physics, the second law of thermodynamics says that all things experiencing entropy, meaning changing and all things are deteriorating. He is the only one in the universe who is not dependent on anything else or is He subject to entropy.
3. Why don’t we see Yahweh in our bibles?
ex38This is four Hebrew letters (Yod, He, Waw and He) called the "Tetragrammaton". The four characters are the four Hebrew letters that correspond to YHWH and are transliterated IAUE or Yahweh. Yahweh is the name of the Almighty Father in Heaven that people commonly call "The LORD" or "God". The reason we see "LORD" and "God" in our bibles is because of a Jewish tradition that the name Yahweh was not to be spoken for fear that the name be blasphemed.
The first 5 book the Pentateuch were originally written on animal skins. These books were very expensive and difficult to produce. This scroll if rolled out would be 150 feet long. That’s a lot of sheep skins. So they used a type of abbreviated writing to cut down on the amount of skins. They only wrote down the consonants. They left out the vowels   So if you see the letters Blvd. we know this means boulevard. It was a sort of short hand. Every scroll had to be perfect, if the slightest mistake was made the entire scroll had to be destroyed.
So we have the 4 Hebrew letters, but no vowels. Most scholars would pronounce Gods covenant name as Yahweh, which when translated into Greek has been mispronounced as Jehovah which is incorrect because there is J in Hebrew. Just like Jesus is really Yeshua (The one who saves) . "Yeshua Ha Mashiach" Yeshua the anointed one.
This name was considered so holy that it was never spoken  in public except by the High Priest once a year on the Day of Atonement when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies.
The scribes before they would write God’s name, they had an elaborate bathing ceremony, then after writing the name, they would destroy the pen.
Heb. 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever
                       "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Rev. 1:8
4. Where in the bible does Jesus use the term “ego eimi”, I AM
ex39And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.
"I am the light of the world.
"Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
I am the good shepherd;
"I am the resurrection and the life.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.2
16 "Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-- appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--a land flowing with milk and honey.' 18 "The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.' 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.
5. If God knew that the Pharaoh is going to refuse to let Moses and the Hebrews go into the wilderness to Sacrifice to God, why even bother? Isn’t it a waste of time?
ex310
God is going to make a demonstration. It’s like Billy Maze with Oxyclean. You want to display Oxycleans power by using it to remove the most stubborn stains and messes. The more impossible the job the better the cleaning product looks. God is interested in getting the Hebrews out of Egypt and into the promised land, but he is also interested in cleaning up the worship of false Gods and idols in Egypt.
21 "And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians."
6. How is it that Moses is going to bring plague after plague of bad stuff on the Egyptians and God is able to “give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians”?
But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians [Exod. 3:21–22].
The word borrow in this passage does not means to collect back wages. The Israelites had been slaves without pay. God tells them to collect their back wages for several hundred years’ work. They would leave Egypt recompensed for years of toil. God was caring for His people.
God sometimes makes the enemies of his people, not only to be at peace with them, but to be kind to them.  God has many ways of balancing accounts between the injured and the injurious, of righting the oppressed, and compelling those that have done wrong to make restitution; for he sits in the throne judging right.
By the time God was finished with them, the Egyptians would be glad to give the Jewish women anything they asked! The wealth thus accumulated would only be just compensation for all the slave labor of the Jews under the taskmasters of Egypt. The Israelites did not “borrow” jewels and clothing (as in the KJV); they “asked” for them (NKJV). No deceit was involved—only the just payment of wages.
ex311Later in this book God institutes several laws with regard to restitution.
I feel sorry for people who take advantage of believers. If I bring my money to church, believing that it will be used properly and somebody misuses it I feel sorry for the one who misuses it. God will make that person pay many times over. God has your back if you obey him. He allowed this bondage to happen to his people, and now he makes sure they are compensated.
"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:.........................  "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.  Deut. 28: 1-2, 6

ESVN………….ESV Study Bible Notes
MSBN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes
NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes.
JVM ….J Vernon McGee,
ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary
BN …..Barnes Notes
WBC…… Wycliffe Bible Commentary
CN …… Constables Notes
IC……….Ironside Commentary
NET………Net Bible Study Notes.
JFB…………..Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies
CMM………….Commentary on Matthew and Mark
BDB………….. Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)
Darby………..John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT
Johnson………Johnson's Notes on the New Testament.
NTCMM…………..The NT Commentary: Matthew and Mark.

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