The Exodus

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0:00 I will sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously triumphant. Horse and chariot He has cast into the sea. My strength and my courage is the Lord, and He has been my Savior. He is my God, I praise Him. The God of my Father, I extol Him. The Lord is a warrior. Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and army He hurled into the sea. The elite of His officers were submerged in the Red Sea. The floodwaters covered them. They sank into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, magnificent in power. Your right hand, O Lord, has shattered the enemy. In your great majesty, you overthrew your adversaries. You loose their wrath to consume them like stubble.

1:01 At a breath of your anger, the waters piled up. The waters, the flowing waters, stood like a mound. The floodwaters congealed in the midst of the sea. The enemy boasted, I will pursue and overtake them. I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them. I will draw my sword. My hand shall despoil them. When your wind blew, when your wind blew, the sea covered them like lead. They sank in the mighty waters. Who is like to you among the gods, O Lord? Who is like to you, magnificent in holiness? O terrible and renowned, worker of wonders? When you stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them. In your mercy, you led the people you redeemed. In your strength, you guided them to your holy dwelling. Lord Jesus Christ, be present now and let your Holy Spirit bow all hearts in love and truth today to hear your word and keep your way.

2:08 Give us the grace to grasp your word that we may do what we have heard. Instruct us through the scriptures, Lord, as we draw near, O God adored. To God the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit, three in one, to you, O blessed Trinity, be praised throughout eternity. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So we're on chapter 7, which is titled, The Exodus of Understanding the Scriptures. And I began praying by turning to Exodus 15. And this is a canticle that's used in the Christian liturgy. And it celebrates God's saving power, miraculously delivering his people from their enemies and leading them to the victorious conquest of the promised land.

3:02 And so this canticle, this psalm, is an Old Testament psalm. And we use it, we pray it sometimes as the responsible psalm in the liturgy or at other places. And it was a psalm in the liturgy of the Old Testament. And so we incorporated as Christians, because these events that it's celebrating have great significance for us as Christians. And we're going to talk about that this evening. So we're covering the second book of the Bible, but not so much the book, but the events that are contained within that book. And this event, the great event of the second book of the canon of Scripture, is called the Exodus, which is a Greek word. It's not Hebrew, it's not Latin, and it's not English. And Exodus means departure.

3:53 So I guess when you went to the airport, you know, back in ancient Greece, you know, there'd be the arrivals and the Exodus, right? It's the departure. And Jews today, and historically Israelites, have not referred to this book by its Greek name, Exodus, as we know of it. But they've referred to it by the very first word in the Hebrew manuscript for this book. This is how the Hebrews would name the books of the Old Testament. Our names are often very different than their names. And they would name it by the very first word. And we do this still today when the magisterium writes an encyclical or an apostolic letter or a document. And the document will be known by the first words in the document.

4:47 So, for instance, Dei Verbum means word of God. And if you look at the document, Dei Verbum, it literally begins, you know, the word of God. And it's the same with, for instance, Pope Benedict XVI came out with an encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, God is love. And if you turn to that encyclical, it begins with Deus Caritas Est in the Latin. It begins with, God is love. And generally, so the first words of apostolic documents from the magisterium will give the theme of the entire document. Now, that wasn't necessarily the case in the Old Testament. When we open up the book of Exodus, let's turn open to Exodus 1.1. And we'll look at what a Hebrew calls the book of Exodus.

5:40 Exodus 1.1. My English translation says, these are the names of the sons of Israel. Well, the very first word in Hebrew is Shemot. Shemot. And Shemot is Hebrew for names. It's the plural of the singular word Shem. And we've already talked about the word Shem. You know, they made a Shem for themselves. And so that Shem means name and Shemot is the plural for Shem. So, whenever you're talking with your Jewish friend, don't say, yeah, we were studying the book of Exodus. You say, we were studying Shemot. There you go.

6:28 Let's turn open our Bibles to Genesis 46, right at the end of Genesis. So, this is going to lead up into the book of Exodus. And this is an important part of the Genesis narrative because it builds a bridge to the book of Shemot. So, when Pharaoh summons you and asks what your occupation is, So, it's kind of like if you were in India, you'd say, yeah, my whole family, we're butchers.

7:57 And we love to butcher cattle. And so, you know, tell the Indians when you come here that you love to butcher cattle. That way you don't have to stay in the inner city where it's kind of nasty. But they'll give you the beautiful countryside away from the people. And that's, you know, that's because in India, the Hindus worship cattle as gods. And that's what the Egyptians did. Since they worshiped livestock, what the Israelites would consider livestock, this was a way for Joseph to kind of manipulate the situation to get his people, his heritage, the best of the land, which was Goshen, which was outside of where the majority of the Egyptians lived. And so, this is a little key verse in verse 34 when it says, all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians. It's very important to note.

8:48 So, then, chapter 47 describes how, that narrative, basically, of how Pharaoh lets them settle in Goshen, which was the prime real estate. It's kind of like out on, what is it, 389 out there, you know, some of that beautiful ranch land with bodies of water. And so, this is how the posterity of Abraham, specifically that of Israel, Israel's 12 sons, ended up in Egypt. And so, Joseph was in good with Pharaoh. We've seen how he served as Pharaoh's major domo. He was over Pharaoh's household.

9:42 And Pharaoh, let's remember, is not a name. So, it's not a proper name. Rather, it's a title. And so, there's more pharaohs after this pharaoh. And pharaoh is an Egyptian term that means the great house. The great house. So, kind of like in Rome, you had the Caesars, that would, you know, you had one Caesar after another. So, in Egypt, you had one pharaoh after another. And a pharaoh came into power who did not know Joseph. And what that meant, basically, in a Hebrew way of speaking, is that no longer did Joseph Curry favor with the pharaoh, but now the Israelites would be subjected to slavery because the new pharaoh, who came about, began to see a threat with the Israelites because the Israelites started to come into great numbers.

10:49 They were so fertile. And remember, in an Israelite frame of mind, in a Hebrew frame of mind, to be fertile is a great blessing. And to have many children is a great blessing from God. It's very different from our 21st century enlightened secular point of view where we think children are a burden and a curse. And, you know, let's try and sterilize ourselves and maybe only have one or two children, you know. Rather, the biblical worldview is that children are a great blessing. The more children you have, the more blessed you are by God. And if you couldn't have children, you were considered accursed by God. This is kind of the frame of mind. So, when we see that Israel is growing in numbers and they're filling the earth, we see the command to Adam being fulfilled, be fertile, multiply, and fill and subdue the earth. And we also see Israel being blessed because Israel is living according to God's commands.

11:46 And in the old covenant, remember, when you would follow God's covenant, when you'd follow covenant with God, you got the blessings. So, we see Israel being blessed here. Now, let's turn to Exodus, the book of Exodus. And we'll look at Exodus 1, verse 8. This is this verse I was just referring to. Let's go, actually, Exodus 1, verse 7. But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific. They became so numerous and strong that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, a new pharaoh, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt. Look how numerous and powerful the Israelite people are growing, more so than we ourselves. We shall deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase.

12:39 And so, they set taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them. And let's look at Exodus 2, and let's look at the narrative. Exodus begins by immediately going into the life of Moses. So, let's look at Exodus 2, verse 1. Now, a certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman who conceived and bore a son. Seeing that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the river bank. His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

13:36 Now, why was this happening? Why did this Levite woman who conceived, why was she hiding her child? Well, in the end of chapter 1, we find that Pharaoh had commanded for all of the boys, every boy that is born to the Hebrews, that you must throw them into the river, into the Nile River. This is in Exodus 1, 22. And this was a way to begin to try and decrease the size of the Israelites, so they won't become such a numerous force. And so let's look at verse 3. Barbara, would you read verse 3 for me, please? When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with... Oh, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

14:28 Say that one more time, go ahead. Papyrus? I'm sorry, what are we doing? Just read the verse again. It's probably not your fault. When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with... No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. There's something wrong here, technical difficulty or something. The text does not say a papyrus basket. It doesn't say a basket. Does anybody have the King James Version of the Bible here? And not a corrupted New American Bible like I'm using? Does anybody have the KJV, the good, the book, the authorized version? If you have the KJV, it says that she put him into a papyrus ark. Actually, I don't even know if he uses the word papyrus, but into an ark.

15:19 Because the word used here in Exodus 2, verse 3, is teba. And the transliteration would be T-E-B-A, T-E-B-A, teba. And teba literally means ark. If we go back to Genesis 6, Genesis 6, 14. Can somebody turn to Genesis 6, 14, please? The Hebrew word for basket, which my New American Bible translated as, is sol. Sol.

16:06 But sol is not used. It's not a basket. It's a teba, an ark, which means, you know, a very square type box. And so would somebody please read Genesis 6, 14? How about you, Diana? You got it? Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Put various compartments in it and cover it inside and out with pitch. Okay. And who is being spoken to? Who is this command given to in Genesis 6, 14? Noah. Noah is being commanded to build an ark. And what does Noah do with the ark? He gets in it. And he goes on the water. On the water, which ends up killing sinful humanity. And here's Moses. And he's being put in an ark.

16:55 And he's going on the Nile River. And we're going to see in a little bit that the Nile River is going to symbolize death. And then we're going to see that Moses, his life, his future, God's vocation for him, is being prophesied, is being kind of pre-capitulated in this event. Because Moses is going to do something with water. And somehow, as Noah became the father of God's covenant family and was the instrument for saving that family upon the ark, so Moses is going to be an instrument for saving God's covenant family. In the book of Exodus. Moses is a new Noah. We have typology being used here. This is very intentional.

17:47 And I have a question for you guys. Who became... Okay, so Moses, he was supposed to be cast into the Nile River by the midwife. But he wasn't. His life was spared. And his mother tried to hide him. And she put him in an ark and put him down the Nile. And Pharaoh's daughter ends up discovering him and ends up raising him. So Pharaoh's daughter, in a sense, becomes the foster mother of Moses. Who is the nanny of Moses? Who's his nurse? His mother. Yeah, it's a strange turn of events. You know, she shows up and she says, you know, let me raise him. And so, you know, Pharaoh's daughter, you know, she has to deal with all these royal, you know, things with the court and living her life of prestige. And so she has somebody else raise her child. And this ends up being Moses' own mother.

18:37 And this is how Moses gets the Hebrew traditions. He gets the word of God. How he's able to, you know, live as an Israelite, know the Israelite traditions. It's because of his mother raising him. Otherwise, he'd just be like all the other Egyptians. He'd just be a Hebrew by DNA, by ethnicity, but he wouldn't know anything about it if it weren't for his mom being his nanny. And God, in his providence, allowed for this to happen so that he could use Moses as an instrument. So, Moses, I want to let you know that in the book of Exodus, we find out something very interesting. And that is that Moses spends his first 40 years of his life in Egypt as a member of the royal court in Egypt. Even though he had a Hebrew descent, he had privileges.

19:44 Let's turn to chapter... Now, basically, the narrative in chapter 2 goes immediately, just skips these 40 years, practically speaking. And it goes to... Let's look at... Before we look at the end of these 40 years, and the switch is made between verses 10 and 11 in chapter 2, Let's look at chapter... I'm sorry, in verses 10 and 11 of chapter 2. That's that 40 years. You could just draw 40 years right in that little gap between verses 10 and 11. But let's look at verse 10. Where does he get his name from? It says, When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her son, and called him Moses. And by the way, in the Hebrew, it's Moshe.

20:34 So that's how a Jew would call Moses, is Moshe. God bless you. For she said, quote, And Moses' name in Hebrew, its Hebrew background, means to be drawn out. To be drawn out. And so his name bespeaks what's going to happen in the book of Exodus. Israel is going to be drawn out of Egypt. So Moses' name drawn out, as he was drawn out of the water, so Israel is going to be drawn out of Egypt through water. Moses' name also, in Egyptian, the root word for Moses in Egyptian, doesn't mean drawn out of, but it means son of, or formed by.

21:31 And there's a, there's a Pharaoh by the name of Ramses. Ramses. And if you split up this Pharaoh's name, you have Ra and Moses. That's what his name is composed of. Ra, Moses. And Ra is the sun god. The Egyptians worshipped the sun as a god, and that was the god Ra. Or sometimes you'll also see it in the form Re, the god Re, or the god Ra. And so, Ramses was the son of Ra, the son of the sun god. And so the Egyptians saw the Pharaoh as god, as a god, one of the gods. And not just any god, but the son of the sun god.

22:26 And so we can see Moses' name within this. So Moses, his name kind of has two meanings. It has an Egyptian root and a Hebrew root. And both have great significance. So let's go ahead and look at verse 11. On one occasion after Moses had grown up. And if you look, my footnote says, Acts 7.23 indicates that this was after an interval of nearly 40 years. So, if we turn to Acts 7.23, it'll say that. On one occasion after Moses had grown up, when he visited his kinsmen and witnessed their forced labor, he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own kinsmen.

23:18 Looking about and seeing no one, he slew the Egyptian and hit him in the sand. The next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting. So he asked the culprit, why are you striking your fellow Hebrew? But he replied, who has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptians? Then Moses became afraid and thought the affair must certainly be known. Pharaoh too heard of the affair and sought to put him to death. But Moses fled from him and stayed in the land of Midian. So, the book of Exodus just immediately goes, Moses is born, 40 years pass, Moses has to get the heck out of Dodge. That's basically what it's about. Now he's in Midian. In Midian, it's way off to the east, past the Red Sea or the Sea of Reeds.

24:11 And it's between the eastern side of the, the eastern, east of the Dead Sea down to the tip of Arabia, the Arabian Peninsula. That's the land of Midian. And look at verse 14. Here the Hebrew author, again, is, is using a form of poetry when he's writing. He's, he's kind of showing hints, kind of like a riddle. He's, he's showing little foretastes of what's to come. And in verse 14, the Hebrew asks, who has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Well, we're going to find out in a little bit that Moses indeed is appointed ruler and judge over Israel. That's exactly what he, he's going to become.

24:59 That's his vocation, is to be ruler and judge. And ultimately a prophet, the, the greatest prophet of the Old Testament in the eyes of, of the Israelites. And so this foreshadows Moses' role as liberator and judge of Israel. So he flees to Midian and he marries a woman. What's her name? Luis, you just knew that straight off of the, the top of your head. Look at that. Zipporah. Okay, good. Zipporah is his, his, his wife. And she is the daughter of Ruel. R-E-U-E-L. And Ruel is most probably his proper name. And that name means friend of God.

25:51 Rua means friend. El is the first part of Elohim. So Ruel means friend of God. He has a second name that he goes by. And in English, we, you know, it's, I, I, what is it, the, the, the hill, the hillbillies, the Beverly hillbillies, remember? Jethro, was that his name on that show? His name is Jethro also. That's his second name. But in Hebrew, you would say Yitro. Yitro. Y-I-T, Y-I-T-R-O. Yitro. But we're going to use the more English-ized version, Jethro. So that's his other name. And Jethro is probably not so much his proper name as his title. Because Jethro means, I, or Yitro means, Your Excellency, or Your Excellence.

26:45 So that would kind of be his title. So he's a friend of God, and he's excellent. And so, let's turn to Exodus chapter 2, verse, actually, we don't have to turn anywhere. We're right there. Exodus 2, 23. And by the way, Moses' firstborn, in verse 22, we find out, is Gershon. That's going to be important. Verse 23. A long time passed, during which the king of Egypt died. Still the Israelites groaned and cried out because of their slavery. As their cry for release went up to God, he heard their groaning and was mindful, and was mindful of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw the Israelites and remembered.

27:40 Now, when it says that God was, I don't like this translation, was mindful of his covenant, the Hebrew word is zakar, Z-A-K-A-R, zakar. And zakar is a very special way, it's a very special word in the Hebrew mind. And it denotes a form of remembrance where you take action. So it's not like God's just sitting, you know, he's dealing with Saturn and Jupiter, or maybe he's somewhere else in the galaxy. And then he's like, oh, I have a covenant with Israel, I need to go, I need to go, you know, patch things up, they're in trouble. I just happen to remember it, you know, I was just, I'm a thoughtless God, what are you guys to do? No, it's not like that at all.

28:28 Rather, to remember your covenant means that you're going to act on it. God had made a covenant with Israel, and now he's going to, now because of the covenant, because he has his covenant with Israel, he has binding obligations to Israel, as Israel has binding obligations to God. And so God has to act upon it. So he remembers his covenant, he's going to act upon it, zakar. So let's, let's go ahead and keep turning here, and let's look at verse, chapter 3, verse 1. Okay, so while God remembers his covenant, this is what he does, this is how he takes action. Meanwhile, Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian.

29:20 Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Mount Horeb, also Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire, flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned. When the Lord saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, Moshe, Moshe, he answered, here I am. God said, come no nearer, remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father, he continued. The God of Abraham.

30:08 The God of Isaac. Not Ishmael. The God of Jacob. Not Esau. So he excludes the Ishmaelites. He excludes the Edomites. He's saying, this is the covenant. Meaning, I need to deal with these people, the sons of Jacob. And Jacob's name was changed to what? Israel. So he's narrowing it down. Meaning that I have a covenant with Israel in Egypt, and I've got to act upon my covenant. Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. But the Lord said, I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt, and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers. For I know well what they are suffering.

31:00 Therefore, I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians, and lead them out of that land, into a good and spacious land. A land flowing with milk and honey. The country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. And this harkens back to the covenant made with Abraham. Remember those covenants? Those three-fold covenants made with Abraham? Well, God had promised through covenant to Abraham that he would give this land to them. So now God's like, I'm going to do it now. So indeed, the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them. Verse 10. Come now, I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt? He answered, I will be with you, and this shall be your proof.

31:53 By the way, do you guys remember in the New Testament where Jesus says, I send you, and I'm going to be with you? Yeah. As the Father has sent me, so I send you on the first day of the resurrection. And then he says, at the ascension, in the end of Matthew 28, Jesus says, and I will be with you even until the end of the age. Where do you think he got this terminology from? Just as God is sending Moses, so Jesus is sending the 12 apostles. Well, let's get back to the narrative. Verse 12. He answered, I will be with you, and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you. When you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain, Mount Sinai, or also known as Mount Horeb. But, said Moses to God, when I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, if they ask, what is his name, what am I to tell them?

32:47 God replied, I am who am. Okay, we're Israelites. God said, I am who am. This should be in size 36.5. This should be in red face. This is huge. This is the revelation of the divine name of God. This is a key, huge, huge revelation to the Israelites. Yahweh, which is Hebrew for I am who am. Then he added, this is what you shall tell the Israelites. I am sent me to you. I am sent me to you. And this is what is called the tetra, which means for, tetragrammaton.

33:47 Tetragrammaton. The three consonants. And in English, we transliterate it as Y-H-W-H. Remember, in Hebrew, you didn't have vowels. You just had consonants. Consonants. And so, this is the tetragrammaton. Do you ever hear people say that? You're like, the tetragrammaton. What? The tetragrammaton. And so, this is the divine name of God. This is his covenant name. When you're in covenant with God, as an Israelite, you refer to God as Yahweh. When you're not in covenant with him, his generic name is Elohim. Elohim. That's just God. So, for us as Christians, when we want to say, oh yeah, that's God, we would use the name Elohim. But if we want to say, he's Abba, Father.

34:37 Well, to an Israelite, that's like saying, he's Yahweh. I have a relationship with him because of this covenant. And so, he's going to save me from my predicament. Now, in verse 2, I'm sorry, in verse 18. In verse 18, you'll see that the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, God is basically telling Moses what to tell them. And he says, the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent us word. Permit us then to go a three days journey into the desert. Basically, tell Pharaoh this. Ask Pharaoh for a three days journey into the desert so that they can offer sacrifice right here on Mount Sinai. That's the initial command is not get out of Egypt and don't ever go back. No, the initial command is just come out for three days.

35:28 But then God says, but you know, Pharaoh, he's going to refuse. And I'm going to plague Egypt with plagues so that Pharaoh will let you go. Let's look at chapter 4, verse 10. Moses, however, said to the Lord, if you please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant. But I am slow of speech and tongue. The Lord said to him, who gives one man speech and makes another deaf and dumb? Or who gives sight to one and makes another blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Go then. It is I who will assist you in speaking and will teach you what you are to say. I mean, come on, I'm not going to give you a vocation without the gifts. Yet he insisted, if you please, Lord, send someone else. Then the Lord became angry with Moses and said, have you not your brother Aaron the Levite?

36:22 I know that he is an eloquent speaker. Besides, he is now on his way to meet you. Okay, so who becomes the spokesman for Moses? Aaron. And Aaron is going to become eventually the high priest of Israel. And his descendants are going to become the high priest of Israel. So Aaron is going to be a figure that's going to represent the high priesthood, which is going to prefigure Jesus Christ, our high priest. And Moses, who also is a Levite, remember he was born to Levitical parents. He is the prophet, the great prophet. And he prefigures Jesus, who is the new Moses. Jesus is the great prophet who is to come into the world. This is what the Samaritan woman at the well, in the Gospel of John, says, Sir, I can see that you are a great prophet.

37:12 Because they were expecting for the Tahib, the great prophet, to come into the world. So Aaron prefigures Jesus. Moses prefigures Jesus. And then we'll see later on with King David, that King David will prefigure Jesus as king. So Jesus will be priest, prophet, and king. Aaron, Moses, and David. All will prefigure and prepare us for Jesus Christ. Chapter 4, verse 22. The conversation is still going on between Moses and God. It's almost like the guy who wrote the book of Shemot just wanted to get to this conversation. He makes the narrative go so fast, and then he takes a long time on this conversation with God. Exodus 4, verse 22.

38:00 So you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn. Hence I tell you, let my son go, that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, I warn you, I will kill your son, your firstborn. So Israel is the firstborn of God. And the firstborn was the son that opened the womb. The first son. And if parents had ten girls, and then had a son, the son would still be the firstborn. Even if there were no more children after him, he'd still be considered... If parents only had one kid, and it was just one boy, he'd still be the firstborn, even though there aren't any others.

38:48 The firstborn was the first one who opened the womb. It was a very special and privileged position. But it was one of servant leadership. The firstborn son, in Hebrew tradition, when the father of the family died, the firstborn son took over command. He got the blessing. But even though he took over command, and he had the authority in the family, it was one of service. Because what happens when you become a parent? Oh yeah, you get all this authority, but now what do you got to do? You got to provide, right? And so this was the position of firstborn. And remember, what did Moses' name mean in Egyptian? The Egyptian form? The root word? Does anybody remember? See, I erased it, so you'll have to start remembering things. The Hebrew is to draw out, and the Egyptian is?

39:43 Yeah, to be born of. The son of. And so if Moses' name in the Egyptian means son of, you can see how he prefigures and kind of capitulates as a figure of, an icon of, Israel. As Israel is God's son, so Moses is son of. You see, Moses' name even kind of shows us the vocation of Israel. Exodus, and the narrative continues, and this is, this is really interesting. Verse 24, we're just going to continue the narrative here. On the journey at a place where they spent the night, the Lord came upon Moses and almost killed him. Whoa! Well, Lord, you're just wanting to use Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt and you're going to kill him?

40:33 What's going on? But Zipporah took a piece of flint and cut off her son's foreskin. Remember, they have one child right now, Gershom. She cut off her son's foreskin, touching his person, touching his feet, Moses' feet. She said, You are a spouse of blood to me. Then God let Moses go. At that time, she said, A spouse of blood in regard to the circumcision. This is odd. What's going on here? Well, God is very serious about his covenant. The covenant has certain obligations. If you don't fulfill those obligations, you're in big time trouble. And we see this, we'll see this with every single covenant throughout scripture.

41:21 And God is trying to teach Moses, you need to take my covenant seriously. Remember that covenant of circumcision in Genesis 17? Remember, there are three covenants made with Abraham. There's the one made with Abram in Genesis 15, the one with Abraham made in Genesis 17, and the one made with Abraham in Genesis 22. And the covenant of circumcision was made in Genesis 17. Moses had not circumcised their firstborn. It had been quite a while. Why? He was busy. No. That's one of our excuses. I didn't go to church as I was busy. I'm sorry? Think about it? It had to do with his being raised Egyptian. Absolutely. The Midianites, circumcised at age 13.

42:10 And so, Moses was thinking, well, in Midian, do as the Midianites. You know, just, you know, I guess we can kind of, you know, one of our obligations of the covenant, we can just kind of, you know, let that slide. So we're going to wait to circumcise Gershom. But God says, no, You are representing my covenant people that come from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And you are going to have to abide by my terms of the covenant. And so, Zipporah, obviously she had to know that her son needed to be circumcised, that the Israelites were supposed to do this. And so, if she knew that, Moses probably told her. And if Moses probably told her, then Moses knows what he's doing is wrong. You know, he has full knowledge. And so, scholars don't know exactly what it means to touch Moses' feet with the foreskin and say, you are a spouse of blood.

43:06 To me, that's just kind of, that's kind of an odd ritual. But the significance is that she does the circumcision for Moses and somehow that, she's kind of a mediator in a certain sense for Moses and kind of saves, spares his life. But she's accepted his belief. Yeah, she's accepted his belief. And so, and so maybe this also shows, you know, look, Moses, you know, if you're going to marry, you need to make sure that your family is also going to be in line with the covenant. So covenant requirements are serious business. That's, that's the, the gist of Exodus 4, 24 through 26. Now, later on, when Moses goes and he encounters Pharaoh in chapter 8, verse 21, I'm skipping a lot of great stuff here.

44:01 Moses told Pharaoh what he wanted. Well, actually, this is, I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. If we look back at, if we look back at chapter, chapter 7. Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and we're getting short on time here. So I'm going to go ahead and just skip forward a little bit. Moses, you know, went to Pharaoh and said, you know, basically told Pharaoh, God says that Israel is my firstborn son. Let him go. And if you don't, I'm going to kill your firstborn son. Pharaoh says, whatever. And so God starts striking Egypt with plagues. And there are ten plagues that he strikes the Egyptians with. The first plague is he turns the Nile River into blood.

44:51 And this doesn't really have much significance for us, but it did for an Egyptian because Egyptians worshipped the Nile as the God happy. I guess he was really content. You know, the God happy. And so, the H-A-P-I is the transliteration. The God happy was the Nile. They worshipped the Nile. The Nile gave them life. It was fresh water. This is what, you know, gave them crops. And so, when God, through Moses, turned the Nile River into blood, it's indicative of slaying that God, of killing that God. God has more power than the Nile River. God has authority over the Nile River. God can kill your God. My God's better than your God is. The second plague is a swarm of frogs. Oh, just frogs just start going everywhere.

45:38 Just tons of frogs. Millions of frogs. And this, the Egyptians worshipped a frog God by the name of Heket. H-E-K-E-T. This was a frog God that the Egyptians worshipped. Third plague, an infestation of gnats. Fourth plague, a swarm of flies. Fifth plague, a pestilence that killed the livestock of Egyptians. This fifth plague was a pestilence that killed, and we're told specifically it killed sheep, rams, cattle, and bulls. Well, the Egyptians worshipped the bull under the God Apis, They worshipped rams under the God Num, K-N-U-M.

46:30 They worshipped cattle under the God Hathor, And they worshipped sheep under the God Ares. And we still have that today, you know, in horoscopes. The God Ares. A-R-I-E-S. And so this fifth pestilence kind of wiped out some of their major gods. It killed the livestock. The sixth plague, there were boils on men and beasts. And the author makes sure to say that there were boils on men and beasts because not only are the Egyptians getting the boils, but also their gods, the beasts. Locusts devoured the vegetation, the eighth plague. And when you have no vegetation, guess what can't feed? Your livestock. Their gods are going to die.

47:17 And then the ninth plague is darkness. Darkness covered the earth. Ramses. Who is he the son of? Ra. The sun god. And so when the sun is blocked out, what is God saying? I'm defeating your god. I'm defeating the god Ra. The tenth plague, the death of the firstborn. This is where Pharaoh's son dies. That commandment is fulfilled where God said, well, you haven't let my firstborn son go, so I'm going to kill your firstborn. God said, I'm going to strike all the firstborn in the land. Every single firstborn son is going to die unless if you celebrate the Passover. And of course, the Egyptians didn't celebrate the Passover because they're not Israelites. And so Pharaoh's son passes away and Pharaoh says, get out of my sight.

48:06 Get out of here. Get out of my land. And that's what causes, basically, that's the straw that broke the camel's back. When the tenth plague killed Pharaoh's son, Pharaoh says, get out of here. Get out of my land. And he did finally let Moses' and God's people go. Now, those people who celebrated the Passover properly, their firstborn son was redeemed. Redeemed by the Passover lamb. And this is where we get the term redemption from. The whole idea of Christian redemption in this term comes from the Passover. Because the Old Testament talks about this event in terms of redemption, which means to buy back.

48:53 So let's learn, let's turn to, let's learn too, but let's turn to Exodus chapter 12. And let's look at the Passover lamb, the Passover ritual prescribed. Exodus 12 verse 1. And this is the Lord basically saying, okay, this is how you're going to get out of the firstborn. This is how your firstborn are not going to be killed. Exodus chapter 12 verse 1. Barbara, are you up for reading? You want to just start reading there? The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall stand at the head of your calendar. You shall reckon on it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel, on the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.

49:43 If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one, and shall share in the lamb, in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male, and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts, and the lentil of every house in which they partake of the lamb. that same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole, with its head and shanks and inner organs.

50:37 None of it must be kept beyond the next morning. Whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up. This is how you are to eat it, with your loins girt, sandals on your feet, and your staff in hand. You shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the Lord. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I, the Lord. But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood I will pass over you. Thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.

51:28 This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord as a perpetual institution. Okay, that's great. Thank you so much. Okay, let's look at a couple of details in this narrative of the Passover. Now, why is it called the Passover? Because the angel of death will pass over those houses that do this ritual. The Israelites were saved through a rite, a ritual. And what was it? Well, you were to take a year-old male without blemish. It could not be with any blemish. And you are to eat it whole and entire. And none of it must be kept until the next morning.

52:17 If you have anything left over, you have to burn it up. And how do you eat it? Put your shoes on. Get your North Face backpack. Get your staff. Get the car ready. And have the car running outside. Have the door propped open and eat it like you gotta go. Eat it like that. Now, why are you supposed to eat it like that? Well, it says in verse 11, you are to eat it like those who are in flight, as if you're about to leave. And every single year you're going to celebrate Passover. When are you going to do it? You shall do it at the first month. And it's generally near the vernal equinox, March to April.

53:10 And later it became known by the Babylonian name of Nisan, the month of Nisan. I don't know if Nisan got their name. Maybe Nisan is a Jewish company. Who knows? Maybe they're a Babylonian company. The name comes from Babylon. So you are to celebrate this every single year. And you're supposed to celebrate it as if you're in flight. Let's look at verse 14 of Exodus 12. This day shall be a memorial feast. Remember how I said that God remembered his covenant. God zakar his covenant. Well here when it says this day shall be a memorial feast, the Hebrew is zikaron. Z-I-K-K-A-R-O-N is the transliteration of the Hebrew. Z-I-K-K-A-R-O-N. Zikaron. And there is scholars tell us and there's a great book written by Dr.

54:01 Scott Hahn called Letter and Spirit. And in this book Dr. Hahn goes over the scholarship of translating the Hebrew and he gives some great sources and he shows that we do not have a single English word that translates zikaron or zakar properly. There is no word in the English language. And this happens often with languages because they fall short of what they're trying to convey. Now we use the word memorial or remembrance in our translation but it's not a very good translation. A better translation would be something like you're remembering but you're participating as you remember.

54:49 So by remembering in a certain sense you're there. You're participating in the event. And so it's kind of like time doesn't exist. And everybody who celebrates the Passover no matter when it's 1000 B.C. or 500 B.C. or 580 whenever you're celebrating the Passover everybody's celebrating it together. It's like time collapses and it's one of participation. And Jesus picks up this theme at the Last Supper. Now Jesus isn't speaking Hebrew. He's speaking Aramaic. In the Gospels they say that Jesus said he uses the Greek translation which the Jews used to translate the word zakar zikaron he uses the Greek form to remember and this is why Jesus says in Luke do this in remembrance of me.

55:42 It's this remember he was celebrating the Passover meal at the Last Supper so when we're looking at the Last Supper Jesus is celebrating it with this Hebrew form of remembrance in mind which is much deeper and more rich and more mystical more of a I like to use the word mystical is a very good way of speaking about it it's more of a metaphysical way of speaking which is more realistic than just a mere birthday party I remember when I was born it's not like that it's much more rich much more sacred and let's look at verse 13 he says he will go through Egypt striking down every firstborn of the land and this is key both man and beast ding executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt how does he execute judgment well Pharaoh's son is considered a god Pharaoh is considered a god all of the beasts are considered gods they're worshipped by the Egyptians therefore shepherds are abominable to them

56:51 they're an abomination so God is judging the gods of Egypt through this let's look down at verse 22 past where Barbara read it says that you are to take a bunch of hyssop to dip it in the blood that is in the basin and to sprinkle the lintel and the two none of you are to go outdoors until morning and in John chapter 19 verse 29 John 19 29 it says that when they gave Jesus some sour wine when he was upon the cross they did it with a hyssop branch to show that Jesus is the Passover lamb so this is the Passover sacrifice and we're also told in verse 46 that it must be eaten in one in the same house you may not take of any of its flesh outside of the house you shall not break one of its bones so it has to be without blemish and you cannot break one of its bones what does John tell us what happened upon the cross Jesus was already dead so the Romans did not break Jesus bones in his legs so that

58:14 he would suffocate immediately because he couldn't push himself up with his legs to continue breathing therefore they killed the two thieves by breaking the bones of their legs so they would die of asphyxiation they would die more immediately but they saw that Jesus had died so he didn't break any of the bones of his legs so that this prophecy would be fulfilled the prophecy of the fact that he is the Passover lamb so let's turn to the gospel of John chapter 1 verse 29 John 1 verse 29 John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him and he said behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world so Jesus is called the lamb of God and he takes away the sin of the world and just as the firstborn Israelites were redeemed by the blood of the lamb so humanity is redeemed by the blood of the new Passover lamb the new lamb Jesus Christ so we cannot understand what Jesus is doing we can't understand

59:41 the last supper and we can't understand the institution narrative from Luke's gospel where Luke and Paul say do this in remembrance of me we can't understand any of this without being Jews in our minds without being Semitic we need to be able to think as Hebrews to look at the narrative as Hebrews let's look at 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 18 you were ransomed from your futile conduct handed on by your ancestors not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb so you've been bought back you've been redeemed you've been ransomed not with silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished land how is Christ spotless did he have no freckles I'm sorry what verse says he didn't have freckles no sin that's right the unblemished lamb points forward to the fact

1:01:08 that Jesus has no sin let's turn to first corinthians chapter five first corinthians is right after romans you have the four gospels acts romans first corinthians first corinthians chapter five and let's look at verse seven now passover was celebrated as part of the feast of unleavened bread now the passover was part of it is that you're supposed to eat unleavened bread because the symbolism is that the Israelites didn't have enough time to wait for their bread to rise they had to get the heck out of Egypt right and so they didn't have time to let their bread rise so when they celebrate the Passover they do with unleavened bread and that's why today in the Latin rite of the church we celebrate the Eucharist with unleavened bread always unleavened bread in the Latin rite of the church and that's and because we're celebrating the Passover the Passover the new Passover continues now in the eastern

1:02:15 rites of the church such as the Ruthenian Byzantine rite for instance there's one in Houston called St. John Chrysostom I just went there this past Sunday for the divine liturgy and they use leavened bread because it symbolizes the resurrection of Christ as bread rises so Christ rose from the dead and so what they do is they'll take the leavened bread and wine and the priest will consecrate them behind the icon screen and then he'll put the consecrated host with the consecrated what used to be wine and it kind of soaks up the precious blood and then you're fed Jesus on a little spoon and you're supposed to open up your mouth without sticking your tongue out and that's how you're given the Eucharist and this is how the Eastern Orthodox do it it's only here in the West where we do it a different way with leavened bread and so you have those two different traditions but let's so what Easter

1:03:25 egg hunt everybody is supposed to go around and look for the yeast so you go and you sweep underneath the couch and underneath your plants and everything you got to get all the yeast out clear your house of yeast and so Paul is referring to this in first Corinthians chapter five verse seven when he says and he's using typology here he says clear out the old yeast so that you may become a fresh batch of dough in as much as you are unleavened okay so he's basically he's equating yeast with sin so you want to get out the yeast you want to get out sin so you a fresh batch of dough okay so Paul are you nuts you're calling them dough okay in as much as you are unleavened and here's the important part that I want to point out to you for our Paschal lamb Christ has been sacrificed therefore let us celebrate the feast what feast the Eucharist our Passover lamb has been sacrificed let's celebrate the

1:04:42 feast and throughout the rest of Corinthians Paul's going to talk about that feast he's going to give us the institution narrative he's going to talk about the reality of the participation in the bread which he says is a participation in the body of Christ he says it's a koinonia of the body of Christ he says when you partake of the cup it's a koinonia participation and so here you have Paul specifically referring to Jesus as the Paschal lamb and that term Passover the Peshach in or the Pascha in back in its original meaning in the Hebrew just like Moses' name had two meanings it had a Hebrew meaning and Egyptian meaning from the root of the word so the word for Passover had two meanings in the Hebrew it meant to Passover Pesach it meant you know to Passover so the angel of death is going to pass over the houses that celebrate the Passover lamb that partake of the flesh of the lamb that are

1:05:45 that whose doorposts and lentils have the blood spread upon it in Egyptian it meant a destructive blow it meant a destructive blow so while for those in covenant with God who are partaking of the covenant meal it's mercy it's a passing over for those who are not in covenant with God and are not partaking of the covenant meal it becomes a destructive blow it becomes a curse so let's turn back to Exodus again let's go back to Exodus 12 Exodus 12 verse 13 I want to look back at this verse again and so there's a play on words here it says in Exodus 12 verse 13 but the blood will mark the houses where you are seeing the blood I will pass over you I will pass over you thus when I strike the land of Egypt when I strike the land of Egypt no destructive blow will come upon you see the play on words here because the people back then way back in this day when this very first came about these words had

1:07:05 these people who have been living in Egypt for so long know both languages it's kind of like living along the border in Texas you know a little bit of Spanish and you know some English well so the Hebrews knew Egyptians so there was a play on words here there was a play on words let's turn now what I want to do is read from an early church father from Saint Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nyssa was one of the Cappadocian fathers in Cappadocia and just amazing writings these guys wow one of my professors in graduate school professor Stephen Hildebrand wrote his dissertation on the Cappadocian fathers and he also just published a book I think it's his first published book on the Cappadocian fathers and Gregory of Nyssa wrote around the year 383 this was before the council of Nicaea 383 and this is what he writes we escaped the Egyptian army only

1:08:27 to grow terrified by new assaults of temptation beyond the borders every time however our guide arrives with unexpected help from above and whenever the enemy with his army pursues us as we flee the sea is forced to let us pass at this passage the guide was the cloud and our ancestors have used this name to refer to the grace of the spirit for he guides the righteous towards salvation whoever follows him the holy spirit will pass through the water he will clear away for him and bring sure redemption drowning in the sea anyone who would pursue us to enslave us now i'm going to stop right here in this reading and let's get back to the narrative in exodus what happens well pharaoh says get the heck get the heck out of here go so the israelites are leaving they pack up and they're leaving and then pharaoh goes what did i just do i just let all of our free labor go you know our economy is going

1:09:27 to implode so pharaoh mounts his chariot with his charioteers and his warriors and they go after israel and so they go and israel gets backed up against the red sea also known as the sea of reeds and so israel is kind of trapped they're trapped up against the red sea pharaoh is coming Moses raises his staff the red sea splits and we're told in the narrative that the water became like a wall to the left and a wall on the right god is leading the israelites in a visible manifestation of a cloud the glory cloud of god the shekinah and we will see this cloud a lot we'll see this cloud for instance when jesus is brought up to heaven he's taken up in a cloud this is the glory cloud of israelites are to follow god in the form of the cloud by day and at night this cloud transforms into a big pillar of fire so at night there's this huge pillar of swirling fire this happens for 40 years in the desert

1:10:38 israel experiences this phenomenon and so the pillar of cloud goes through the red sea and israelites were like are we supposed to go and moses says yeah go ahead so the israelites go and start walking on dry ground across the red sea and the egyptian army starts following israel well when israel had gotten to the other side moses turns around lets down his staff the water destroys pharaoh and all of his charioteers and basically allows for israel to be set free so that israel can now go to mount sinai and receive the law of god and continue as god's covenant people which will be the subject of next week's chapter eight the law but this event had great significance for the christians so let's turn to first corinthians chapter nine first corinthians chapter nine and saint paul still we're still in first corinthians chapter nine saint paul is going to talk about this event and he's going to

1:11:43 relate it to the experiences of the christians this is very important otherwise paul wouldn't have written it and god would not have inspired it but first corinthians chapter nine verse twenty seven paul says i drive my body and train it for fear that after having preached to others i myself should be disqualified the word disqualified in greek is adokimos it literally means reprobate cast away rejected damned saint paul says i drive my body and train it for fear that after having preached to others i myself should be damned i myself should not be saved paul did not believe in once saved always saved this is not paul's thought some people will twist his words to have him say that but you have to ignore such as this one it can paul continues verse chapter 10 verse 1 i do not want you to be unaware brothers that our ancestors were all under the cloud what cloud the glory that they were following

1:12:56 and they were in the sea all i'm sorry they were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all of them were baptized into moses in the cloud and in the sea that's a baptize it never said in exodus that they were baptized verse three all ate the same spiritual food because we'll see that after they pass through the red sea god is going to feed them for 40 years with bread come down from heaven manna which prefigured the eucharist holy communion and so Paul is referring to baptism and holy communion here as they were baptized into Moses and they all ate the same spiritual food and verse four they all drank the same spiritual drink huh now these Christians who are new they are neophytes they're new Christians they've just been baptized and they've just ate in the body of Christ and drank the blood of Christ they've ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink verse

1:14:02 five yet God was not pleased with most of them for they were struck down in the desert these things happen as examples for us so that we might not desire evil things as they did and do not become idolaters as some of them did as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to revel and rose up to revel means to partake in orgies in the original narrative that's quoting Exodus 32 verse six let us not indulge in immorality as some of them did and twenty three thousand fell within a single day that's referencing numbers twenty five let us not test Christ as some of them did and suffered death by serpents do not grumble as some of them did and suffered death by the destroyer these things happened to them as an example and they have been written down as a warning to us upon whom the end of the ages has come the fullness of time therefore whoever thinks he is standing secure should

1:15:19 take care not to fall now notice I'm not really I'm not interpreting this I'm not up here giving you a long exhortation I'm just reading it with emphasis this is what I mean Paul it's very clear he says I drive my body and I train it for fear that after having preached to others I should become reprobate disqualified a dokimos down in verse 12 chapter 10 he says therefore who thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall because what happened all those who had seen the great signs of God that seen the red sea be parted that were fed miraculous bread from heaven the rock water came from the rock there was water that was bitter and Moses threw wood into it and it became fresh they saw the theophany of God at Mount Sinai and yet they still disobeyed and so we have seen much greater things the resurrection of the Christ and all that he has given to us let us not fall let us take care

1:16:22 so that I'm going to let's continue reading Saint Gregory pay attention and you will understand the mystery of the water into which we descend with the entire enemy army and emerge alone our enemies drown in the sea everyone knows that the Egyptian army represents the enslaving passions of the human soul they are the horses chariots and charioteers the soldiers armed with bows slings and heavier artillery and all the rest of the enemy forces how is it that army different from our tendencies to anger our sensuality despair and greed they rush into the water after the Israelites their prey but under the guidance of the enlightening cloud the water gives life to those who take refuge in it but deals death to those who pursue holy scripture teaches that those who pass through the water must emerge with nothing from the enemy's army for if they emerge with the enemy they will remain in slavery

1:17:24 even after the waters for they will have dragged out the tyrant who should have drowned in the sea the meaning is this all those who pass through the mystical waters of baptism must drown the whole array of sins that attack them whether in thought or in deed greed lust vanity pride anger rage jealousy envy and such for these are the passions that come naturally to our human nature in this story we are commanded to drown every form of sin in the saving waters of baptism and then come up from the waters alone after crossing the Israelites encamped in a place where the water was bitter and undrinkable but into that water Moses threw wood which made it a sweet drink to quench their thirst this text matches our experience when we give up the Egyptian pleasures that had enslaved us before the passage through the water life at first seems bitter and difficult we miss our former pleasures but once

1:18:34 the wood hits the water that is once we unite ourselves to the mystery of the resurrection which began with the wood of the cross then the virtuous life grows sweeter and more refreshing than any sensual pleasure because this new life is sweetened by our hope in the things to come the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen to