The Journey and God's Leading Presence

This episode is brought to you by Bible League International. Bible League's mission is to equip the underresourced church to make disciples, transforming lives through God's Word. Right now you can download a free resource. To grow deeper in scriptur. Just text study. to nine four eight seven eight to get yours today. Mm. Life Audio The Bible Study Podcast, Episode 973. Today the Bible Study Podcast continues the study of the book of Exodus with chapter thirteen. Welcome to the Bible study podcast. We've got the people of Israel out of Egypt. There's still gonna be some conflict involved, but first we're gonna have the consecration of the firstborn. But first a word from this sponsor. Many believers go through seasons when God feels distant or silent. If you've ever wondered why your prayers feel unanswered. You are not alone. And you're not without hope. Bible League International has created a free devotional called А севдай дерніо Фейс. And healing. 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Exodus thirteen, Consecration of the Firstborn. The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal. Then Moses said to the people, Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt. Out of the land of slavery because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast today in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites. The land he swore to your ancestors to give you. A land flowing with milk and honey, you are to observe this ceremony in this month. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. Eat unleavened bread during those seven days, nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you. Nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. On that day tell your son, I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is Is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. You must keep this ordinance at the appointed. Year after year. Kind of. is a duplicate of what we just had in the last chapter here, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time. But basically they're supposed to remember Passover and celebrate it annually. as the Jew do to this day, although did not historically In the time of the kings, for instance, in the old testament. Do it faithfully. After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised an oath. On oath to you and your ancestors, you were to give over to the Lord the firstborn of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey. But if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Remember. Redeem every firstborn among your sons. In days to come when your son asks you What does this mean? Say to him, with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt. out of the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go. The Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrificed to the Lord the first Male offspring of every womb. And redeem each of my firstborn sons. And it will be like a sign on your hand. and assemble on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt. with his mighty hand. At the Passover They sacrificed the lambs and the and the goats. so that the firstborn would not die. The redemption of the firstborn is is basically carrying that into the future. Every firstborn would have the same thing. The same sacrifice given for them. so that we would remember this day. Crossing the sea. When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country. Though that was shorter, for God said if they face war they might change their minds and return So God led the people around the desert road. toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said God will surely come to your aid. And then you must carry my bones up with you from this place. So they're heading out towards the promised land. They're not going the most direct route, which would be along the Mediterranean Sea, but they're heading toward the Red Sea. Which would seem to be a problem because there's a lot of water there and it's going to be traditionally hard to cross with Six hundred thousand men plus women and children. So we don't know what they had in mind. So we don't know what they said. Now, some versions of Exodus thirteen, eighteen say the sea of reeds instead of the Red Sea. is a different way to translate that. And some people wonder if this is a shallower part of the Red Sea. I will not debate that. I do not know. And then it continues after leaving Sukoth, they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud. And by night in a pillar of fire. Neither the pillar of cloud nor the pillar of fire by night. left its place in front of the people. So this is something we will see on the road on the rest of this journey is this pillar of cloud and this pillar of fire. But imagine if you were the Israelites and you're coming out of Egypt. And you were slaves in Egypt and you didn't really have Your own religion. Per se at that point. Right, the people believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but there wasn't a lot of formal ceremonies and there wasn't A lot of things like that at the time. come out and one of the first things that happened is You see that this sign that the God who performed all these wonders in Egypt. is coming with you. You see this pillar of cloud that moves in front of you. You see this pillar of fire. That is there at night. I would think that would be both very frightening and very comforting in maybe equasures. You know that the God who is bringing you out of Egypt Is leading you To somewhere new. Now later on we'll read in this story here that wouldn't rise from the tabernacle which will be built in a bit. And so that would mean they stay. And so they're literally being told today we go, today we tomorrow we don't. Buy this. Physical presence of God here. In the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. And then Joseph. Remember Joseph was someone who