Israelites

God’s Hatred of Yeast

Ever since the Passover we have been reading about unleavened bread. Yeast is not allowed! If you’re like me, you have likely been wondering why God has such an irrational abhorrence toward leaven.

Well, if you Google that you are likely to end up with several folks telling you that it is because of Paul’s teaching in Galations 5:9 that, “a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.” But in the words of Kevin McAllister… I don’t think so. I find it extremely unlikely that God was pointing to leaven as a metaphor for sin without ever explaining that metaphor for hundreds of years… long after these people who started the practice were dead.

Another — better — explanation you will get is that the Egyptians chased them out so quickly that the Israelites didn’t have time to leaven their bread and so the practice points back to the Passover in that way. (cf. Exodus 12:31) And this sounds reasonable, until you realize that just a few verses earlier God told the Israelites that they would need to observe the coming passover with unleavened bread before the Egyptians ever chased them off. So this always seemed unlikely to me.

I was stumped

But as I was talking with my wife about this, she casually suggested that God probably just wanted the bread to be a special symbol. Talk about a lightbulb moment! The bread was set apart!

Think about it. You know that Passover is coming, so you are going to make a special, unleavened loaf. A loaf that was, from its inception, always meant for a sacred purpose. You were not going to grab a loaf off the shelf that was already made for something else and repurpose it! This bread would be set aside for God.

God doesn’t deserve our “sloppy seconds”. He deserves forethought and intentionality. Ponder that thought as you consider what you offer to God in terms of your time, talent, and resources.

Levitius 9-11 | 050/365

They Had No Idea

After being rescued from the oppression of the Egyptians, the Israelites lack water, so they whine about it to Moses. Moses goes to God and He provides water. Some time later , the Israelites lack food, so they whine to Moses. Moses goes to God and He provides food. A flock of Quail descend of the encampment and died there. Meat! But God also sends what will become known as Manna. A food that more-or-less is dried dew. It was white and tasted like honey.

Actually, I think it may still be in the Ark of the Covenant (wherever that might be) and I very much would like to taste it. If anyone reading this ends up in possession of the Ark, reach out to me!

But what I find particularly interesting about this is the fact that the Israelites see this Manna in the morning, and have no clue what it is. They asked each other, “Hey, Al, any idea what this flakey white stuff is.” And Al replied, “I have no idea, Jim. I know that Moses told us the Lord would provide food for us, but that could not possibly be what this is. I was expecting bakery fresh bread!” Jim concurred, “Yes! And I was hoping for a delightful lentil soup!”

Okay, maybe it wasn’t exactly like that, but the fact remains that the people had the blessing of God there before them, ripe for the picking, and couldn’t see it for what it was.

It’s not enough that we believe God will provide for us, we need to stop expecting God to do what WE want and starting asking Him to open our eyes to see what HE wants. God loves you, but the world doesn’t revolve around you. God has a greater, longer, more wholistic view and the way he meets our needs and answers our prayers gives us NOT the thing that we WANT, but rather the thing that we NEED. Pray that the Lord would open your eyes to see the blessings before you for what they are.

Exodus 16-19 | 037/365

What Was God Waiting For?

Exodus opens with the Israelites growing into a mighty sub-nation within Egypt. And so the Egyptians seek to subjugate them with slavery. They do so successfully. But God does nothing. Pharaoh orders all the newborn male children drown, and God does nothing.

Eventually one little boy is hidden in the reeds down the river by his mother. Her hopes and motivations are not stated in the text, but by having her daughter — Miriam — keep watch, it’s clear that she hopes someone will come rescue the child and his sister can report back what has happened.

Moses is taken in by the daughter of Pharaoh. He is raised by Egyptian royalty in the lap of luxury while his people are beaten and enslaved. One day Moses sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man and killed him. The next day Moses saw two Hebrews fighting each other and asked why they would be attacking their friend!

Shortly after this, Moses fled for his life after Pharaoh put out a decree to have him killed for the murder of the Egyptian man. While in Exile Moses got married and had a son. All the while the Israelites are still enslaved and God still hasn’t done anything. But now, now God begins to move.

What took God so long? Why didn’t he step in right away? Because He was waiting for Moses. Moses demonstrated a zealous (maybe a little OVERzealous) love for his fellow Israelites. And this was the man God wanted to task with bringing the law to His people. This man would be the one who would FIRST write down the words and instructions and history of God and His people.

We need to remember when things are going sideways that God has a plan, a purpose, and a person in mind to do address what’s happened. We have a hard time seeing beyond where we are at in any particular moment, but while we only see what’s on the road in front of us, God can see every road. And he knows when our course will change even if we can’t see it yet.

We need to trust enough to wait on God. He is coming. When the time is right.

Exodus 1:1-4:17, 1 Chronicles 6:1-3a | 032/365