41. Lessons from the Desert: Trusting a Faithful God (Exodus 15-18)

Both we and our ancestors have sinned. We have done wrong and have acted wickedly.Our ancestors in Egypt did not grasp the significance of your wondrous works or remember your many acts of faithful love. Instead, dead they rebelled by the sea. The Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name's sake.To make his power known, he rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up. He led them through the depths as though through a desert. He saved them from the power of the adversary. He redeemed them from the power of the enemy.Water covered their foes. Not one of them remained. Then they believed his promises and sang his praise. They soon forgot his works and would not wait for his counsel.G', day and welcome to Stories of a Faithful God. I'm Dave Whittingham, and that was Psalm 106. 6, 13. Today we begin a new series, or at least continue an old series from last year.Last year, we covered chapters one to 15 of the book of Exodus. If you haven't listened to them, I recommend you go back and have a listen. It's episodes 11 to 18.There are so many wonderful things about God to see there. This psalm, though, helps us to get back into that story.It reminds us of the goodness and power of God in rescuing his people, in saving them out of Egypt, destroying the Egyptian army that had thundered towards them, wanting to take them back. By the end of that moment, God had done so much not only to save them, but to show them who he is.His power, his greatness, his justice, his mercy, his faithfulness. Everything that's glorious about Him. You may remember the name he revealed to Moses, Yahweh. Which means, I am who I am or I will be what I will be.In other words, look at what I am about to say and do, and then you will know who I am. In our translations, Yahweh is translated as Lord in capital letters. So sometimes I am going to say Lord, and sometimes I will read it as Yahweh.Despite how God's revealed Himself, though, as we are going to see, the people still don't trust Him. They don't know him in such a way that they rely on Him.Remarkably, astoundingly, in the face of this lack of faith from his people, God doesn't give up precisely because he's faithful. He doesn't stop being faithful. And in him there isn't just hope for the ancient Israelites, but hope for the whole world as well.And so, without further ado, I present you our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God. What an astounding sight. Where there'd been dry land, now just see where there'd been an army, now just dead bodies washing up on the shore.Where there'd been danger and slavery and death, now salvation. Freedom, hope. It's hard to believe that just a short time ago the people had been slaves in Egypt, the superpower of the time.Their oppression had grown stronger and stronger. But then God had come. Yahweh, the God of their ancestors in Egypt. The Egyptians knew lots of gods, but they didn't know this God.They'd trusted in the God of the Nile river, but Yahweh had turned the river to blood. They'd trusted in the God of the sun, but Yahweh had blackened the sky.They'd trusted in the power of their army and mighty war chariots, but God had made the sea swallow them up. Now everyone in Egypt and the Israelites knows this God.Soon the gentle lap of the water at the sea's edge is replaced by another sound, the sound of singing. The Israelites lift their voices in joy and thankfulness to Yahweh, the God who saved them from their enemies.In Exodus 15:11, they ask, Lord, who is like you among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?Because they now understand the power and faithfulness of their God, they don't just reflect on the past. They look forward to the future with hope and excitement.They think about the evil nations that threaten them as they head to the land God's promised to give them. In verse 14, they sing. When the peoples hear, they will shudder. Anguish will seize the inhabitants of Philistia.Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified, trembling, will seize the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan will panic. Terror and dread will fall on them. They will be as still as a stone because of your powerful arm.Until your people pass by, Lord, until the people whom you purchase pass by, you will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your possession. Lord, you have prepared the place for your dwelling. Lord, your hands have established the sanctuary. The Lord will reign forever and ever.Those are words of faith in the powerful, faithful God. After you've seen what these people have seen, who could fear anything or anyone else? No one can defeat Yahweh. No one can destroy him.No one can conquer him. And so his people are safe in his arms. Before they head to Canaan, the land God promised to give them, they have an important stop along the way.Back in Exodus chapter three, when God met with Moses at Mount Sinai and laid out the plan. Moses had asked whether he could really go and confront Pharaoh.God had replied in verse 12, I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you. When you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain. God had gone with Moses.And so now it's time to bring that promise to completion. It's time to travel to Mount Sinai. They set out into the wilderness, leaving Egypt behind them. They travel for three days.And as they travel, there seems to be a problem brewing that becomes more and more desperate. They don't find any water. There are more than a million people, and they're getting really thirsty.Finally, they find some water at a place called Mara. Unfortunately, the place is called Mara for a reason. Mara means bitter or bitterness, and the water here is bitter. It's undrinkable.You can kind of understand why that might be a little distressing. They've just escaped from one deadly danger straight into another. Except how did they escape that last danger?The God of the universe came to the world's greatest superpower, Egypt, and crushed them without breaking a sweat. He showed complete control over the water and the weather and people's health and the sun and moon and stars, and over all their gods.Just three days before, the Israelites had been singing his praises, proclaiming how strong he is, dancing around, chanting about how nothing could stop Yahweh from taking them to the promised land. Now, though, with this problem, they don't come to God in confidence, asking him to solve it as easily as he's saved them before. No. They grumble.They complain to Moses. What are we going to drink? They GRUMBLE in verse 24, grumbling comes from a lack of faith, a lack of trust that God can solve the situation.Just as a side note, sometimes people think that the way to get people to trust Jesus is, is to show them miracles. They gather as many stories of miracles that they can to say here, now you'll believe. The Israelites show us that that just isn't true.You can see all the miracles in the world and still not trust God. Well, Moses does the right thing. He cries out to God, and God gives him a kind of strange solution.He shows Moses a tree and tells him to throw it into the water, and suddenly the water becomes drinkable. In case you're wondering, this isn't some ancient herbal remedy.It isn't something we can repeat if we just find the same type of tree that Moses used no. Back in Egypt, God had Aaron strike the Nile river with his staff.He struck the river that was the lifeblood of Egypt with a piece of dead wood, and the river died. It turned to blood. Now God has Moses throw a living piece of wood, a tree, into some dead water, and suddenly the water becomes a source of life.God has all the power over life and death, over prosperity and destruction. It's such an important lesson for the Israelites to learn and absorb and understand, because God doesn't want to give them death.He wants to give them life. But he's only going to do that if they stick with him.In verse 25, we're told the Lord Yahweh made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there. He said, if you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes.I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians, for I am Yahweh who heals you. God wants to heal them and care for them and love them.He saved them from death, and he's taking them to Mount Sinai, where he's going to give them his commands and statutes, his good, perfect law, a law of love and justice and goodness and kindness. They need to choose healing and life, and who wouldn't want that? Just to reiterate the point that God gives them good things.He leads them on to another place called Elim, and it's a place flowing with life. We're told in verse 27, there were 12 springs and 70 date palms, and they camped there by the water.It's a beautiful place of rest and beauty and life. It's a taste of the promised land God's taking them to. It's a tiny reminder of the beautiful Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve had the same choice.Stick with God, the giver of life. Enjoy the abundance of life he's created. But instead they chose death. What will Israel choose?After a while, the Israelites leave Elim, this mini Garden of Eden, and they head out into the wilderness of sin, which is on the way to Sinai. Sin could be a shortened version of Sinai or Sinai.It's now the 15th day of the second month after they've left Egypt, and again the Israelites grumble. This time their complaint is shocking in its audacity.Far from absorbing the lesson that God gives life, they think that he's actually there to kill them. They have the nerve to suggest that gods always plan to kill Them.And instead of killing them here in the wilderness, it would have been much better for him to kill them back in Egypt. The problem this time isn't water. It's food, or lack of food, hunger. It's possibly the first recorded case in history of people being hungry.And they make it sound like Egypt was this wonderful place of happiness. Their bellies were full. The food was great. If God's going to kill them, he should have done it back there in that. That wonderful place.In verse 2 of chapter 16, they say to Moses and Aaron, if only we'd died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt where we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger.They've forgotten the past, how they cried out, pleading to be saved from Egypt. They've forgotten the present, How God's already been miraculously providing for them along the way. And they've forgotten the future.How God's going to take them to the beautiful land flowing with milk and honey. They can't think beyond their hungry bellies. If I were God, I'd be sorely tempted to rain fire down on them right about now.Thankfully, for so many reasons, I'm not God. And the good, loving God, Yahweh, the Lord doesn't rain fire on them. He says he's going to rain bread, food from heaven.He's going to bless them in the blessing, though there's a test. Back at Marah, God had said, if you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands and.And keep all his statutes. I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you now.He is going to give them commands about how to collect this bread from heaven. In verse four, he says to Moses, I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are going to go out each day and gather enough for that day.This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days. Do you see the test?The people are hungry. They think they are going to starve to death. Their temptation is going to be to collect as much as they can store or carry. But no.God says only collect as much as they need for that day. They need to have an obedience that comes from faith. They need to trust God that he'll provide tomorrow's food. They don't need to collect more.And so they can obey him. Trusting that obedience will lead to life, Moses and Aaron redirect the people back to God. They remind them that they have a God.Yahweh, they say to the Israelites in verse 6. This evening you will know that it was Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt.And in the morning you will see Yahweh's glory, because he has heard your complaints about him. For who are we that ye complain about us?Yahweh will give you meat to eat this evening and all the bread you want in the morning, for he has heard the complaints that you're raising against him. Who are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against Yahweh. So now we know that there's even more to God's blessing.He isn't just going to give them bread, he's going to give them meat as well. But there's something even more remarkable than that.They're actually going to get to see the Lord's glory, or at least something of the Lord's glory. Moses gets Aaron to summon the people to appear before Yahweh like a people might come before their king.Verse 10 says, as Aaron was speaking to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and there in a cloud, the Lord's glory appeared. So the glory is covered by this cloud. And yet the Israelites see something of God's power and majesty.In a similar sort of way, they get to hear the word of God, but only through the voice of Moses. The significance of these things will become more apparent when the Israelites get to Mount Sinai.For now, God says to Moses, I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them at twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, your God.That's a phrase we've heard throughout Exodus. And then you will know that I am Yahweh, your God. God's giving evidence or signs of who he is. He's laying out the proof.He wants his people to know him. That evening, God keeps his promise. Quail cover the camp and presumably very quickly become the evening meal.The next morning, things are a little stranger. When the Israelites wake up, there's a layer of dew on the ground.Nothing strange about that when the dew evaporates, though we're told in verse 14, there were fine flakes on the desert. Surface as fine as frost on the ground. No one has any idea what these flakes are. They ask each other, what is it?Moses tells them it is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. He reminds them of God's commandment to only take as much as each person will eat in that day. No one misses out.If some people have a lot of people living in their tent, they gather a lot and there's enough for everyone. The people who have less in their tent, they don't gather as much, but they all have enough.They don't have to panic or scramble like desperate people at a United nations food convoy. God's given everyone exactly what they need. Moses reminds them not to keep any until morning. Unfortunately, some of them don't listen.They're not thinking about the kindness and power of God. They don't trust God, so they don't obey God. They're just living in fear that perhaps there won't be any more food tomorrow.So they keep some of the bread until morning. When they wake up, they go to eat their bread, but discover that it now stinks and it's full of worms. Moses is really angry at them.Why can't they follow this one simple instruction from their all powerful God? Thankfully, God doesn't stop providing when they go out of their tents the next day. There it is again, this strange bread from heaven.It's there the next day and the next day and each day the people collect just enough for that day. They have to collect it in the early morning because as the day heats up, the flakes melt into the ground.God's teaching them to trust him, to know him as their provider, to obey him, knowing that he will look after them. On the sixth day, there's a different command. God said to gather enough food for two days. Moses speaks to all the community leaders in verse 23.He says, this is what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.Bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and set aside everything left over to be kept until morning. So they do. And when they wake up, there's no stink, there are no maggots.God's provided for them so that they don't have to work at all on this seventh day. In fact, there's no bread flakes on the ground to gather. It's a rest day in honour of Yahweh.And Moses tells them that this is how it's going to be from now on. Work by gathering the flakes for six days, rest on the seventh.Even now though, even though they've had this daily reminder of God's miraculous provision for them, there are still people who don't trust and don't obey. They're thinking, oh, we know what happens if you keep the bread overnight. Maggots and stink.So they get up on the seventh day, they head out to gather up the flakes, only to find none. Can you imagine God's frustration? What more does he have to do to show them that he is faithful, that he can be trusted and obeyed?You can hear the frustration as he says to Moses in verse 28, how long will you refuse to keep my commands and instructions? Understand that the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days worth of bread.Each of you stay where you are. No one is to leave his place on the seventh day. And so the people rest.Even for those who don't fully believe it yet, they are safe in the arms of the God who provides for his people. The people give this strange gift from heaven, a name. They call it manna, which literally means what or what is it?It isn't like the quail, a well known bird, but it's such an unusual but wonderful gift. We're told in verse 31 it resembled coriander seed. It was white and it tasted like wafers made with honey. So delicious.Remember, they're going to the land flowing with milk and honey. But even before they get there, God's given them this sweet honey flavoured bread from heaven. Yahweh commands that they preserve some of it.They get one serving and place it in a jar. In the next few months, they're going to build the Ark of the Covenant, the same ark we Talked about in 1 Samuel.This jar of manna is going to be placed inside the ark as a reminder of God's loving provision, of how he fed and cared for his people in the wilderness. Not for one week or two weeks, not for a month or a year, but for 40 long years.Every morning for six days, they'd wake up and find manna on the ground. On the seventh day, they'd rest. God doesn't stop it for 40 years.It's a daily miracle, teaching his people to trust him, teaching his people to obey him. The day it stops is the day they step foot into the Promised Land.When they finally get to eat the food from that land, God will faithfully take them there. Once again, the people move on, moving wherever the Lord commands them to go. Once Again they make camp.And once again there's no water for the people to drink. Now surely, surely this time they won't panic. Surely this time they'll trust their God. He's provided for them every step of the way. But no.Once again they complained to Moses. Give us water to drink, they say, just like before, Moses tries to point them back to God. He can't give them water. They need to rely on God.He warns them not to test God, as though somehow he needs to keep proving himself. But they refuse to shift their gaze. They keep complaining to Moses and. And now they blame him for bringing them out into the desert.They accuse him of wanting to kill them. In chapter 17, verse 3, they say, why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?Moses is feeling some of that same frustration that God feels, and he's afraid for his life. He says to Yahweh, what should I do with these people? In a little while, they will stone me. There's a cruel irony here.The people have accused God of wanting to kill them. They've accused Moses of wanting to kill them. But really they're the ones with the murderous thoughts. Once again, God provides a solution.It's hard to overemphasise the wonder of God's grace in all these situations. Time and time and time again, the people show their lack of faith in God.And time and time and time again, he graciously shows his faithfulness to them. He says to Moses, go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you.Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I'm going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. When you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.It's important to see why the water will come out. It isn't because of the power that Moses is going to hit it with. It's because God's going to stand there. God's going to make it happen.And he does make it happen. Moses hits the rock in front of all the elders and water comes gushing out.The last time the Israelites had water issues, the place they were at had a fairly simple name. It was named Marah, which means bitter. The water was bitter, so the place was named Bitter.For the Israelites remembering it, though, the name would remind them that the water became not bitter. God unbitted it and made it fresh. It's a reminder of the goodness and kindness and faithfulness of God.The place where they are now, though, will be different. Moses gives it two new names, Massah and Meribah. Massah means testing and Meribah means quarrelling.Verse 7 says he named the place Marca and Meribah because the Israelites complained and because they tested the Lord, saying, is the Lord among us or not?When the Israelites remember this place in the future, they will be reminded of their unbelief, their lack of faith, their failure to trust that God was caring for them. Especially when they remember that God continued to provide miraculously at this very place where they failed.In a little while, we're going to look at some other reactions to God. But before we go there, it's worth pausing and reflecting on the three events we've seen so far. It's a fairly simple pattern. There's a problem.No food or no water. The people grumble. They think God or Moses is trying to kill them. And then God provides miraculously and blesses them.Why do they keep reacting like that? Why don't they learn the lesson? Why can they not simply rest knowing that God will look after them?It's because the sinful heart loves thinking about itself and loves to reject God in our sin. We're hardwired to put ourselves at the center of the universe.My wants, my desires, and there isn't enough room in our hearts for two centers of the universe. So when the Israelites encounter a problem, no food, no water, they're shocked and angry. How come the universe is not treating me like I deserve?How come Moses doesn't know that my needs aren't being met? How come God hasn't given me exactly what I want when I want it? They don't have enough energy or thought space left over for God.They don't think, hang on a second. God just did all those amazing things to save us from Egypt. Of course he didn't bring us into the desert to kill us. And I've seen his power.Power to divide the waters, power to darken the sun, power to turn bitter water clean. Of course he can get us food out here in the wilderness. They haven't accepted that God's at the center of the universe, not them.He's the one in charge. He's faithful and good. And it's not our job to grumble to him when we don't have what we want.You see exactly the same attitude in a passage we looked at in our series on John's Gospel, a passage that reflects God's sending of the Manna. In John, chapter six, Jesus miraculously feeds 5,000 men, plus women and children. He does it to show that he's the God of Exodus. He is Yahweh.The next day, the people chase after him. Not because they want to listen to him and learn from him. They do it because they want him to do their agenda.They want more food better than paying for it. And they want to make him the king of a new earthly kingdom.When Jesus tells them about how they can have eternal life in his eternal kingdom, how he's the bread of life, that'll mean they can live forever, they're not interested. They don't care because they want Jesus to fit their agenda. They don't want to fit his agenda, even though his agenda is so, so good.They don't want to step down from their own throne at the center of the universe. A few do, though. The disciples stick with Jesus because he has the words of eternal life.They know that even if they don't get all the things they want, what they'll get from Jesus is the best. They didn't have to worry or panic or complain because Jesus would do what's best. He's running the universe. His agenda is best.And he knows how to look after his people perfectly so they could rest in him. And so can we. The Israelites are suddenly faced with a much more malevolent danger than hunger or thirst.In an incident we referred to just a couple of episodes ago, the Amalekites decide to attack Israel. In chapter 17, verse 9, we get our first ever mention of someone who'll become very significant. Joshua. He seems to be a kind of assistant to Moses.He'll even accompany him some way onto Mount Sinai, and eventually he'll be his successor. Moses says to Joshua, select some men for us and go and fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God's staff in my hand.That seems like a strange command until you remember at least, that the staff that Moses holds has been a symbol of God's power. It has no power in itself, but God's repeatedly done powerful things after he's had Moses use the staff in some way, like striking the Nile River.Moses is telling Joshua that God's going to be involved in this battle. This is actually the first battle the Israelites have fought as a nation. When they were cornered by Egyptian chariots at the sea, they didn't fight.They panicked. In the end, God fought for them so they were completely safe. But it wasn't the greatest start to their Military endeavours.Now, for the first time in this episode, things seem more positive. The people actually do go into battle and central to the battle plan is that God will be involved.In fact, as the battle is reported to us, we don't hear anything about what strategies or tactics Joshua uses. Instead we hear this rather strange account. Starting in verse 10, Joshua did as Moses had told him and fought against Amalek.While Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. But whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed.When Moses hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other side, so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword. This is a weird passage and people have made some weird suggestions about what's going on.The weirdest one I've heard is that Moses is cheering on the Israelites. When he stops, they become discouraged, but they perk back up when he lifts his arms in support of them.You can just imagine Joshua's post battle interview on like at the end of a football game. Yeah. Look, we really want to thank the fan for coming out today and supporting us. We couldn't have done it without you.You really lifted our spirits and in the end you're the reason we strap on our armour. So thanks again. I hope you can hear that I'm a little skeptical about that explanation. So what is going on?This is what I think is happening and make of it what you will. I think it has something to do with how God is including the Israelites in the battle.As I said before, up until now Israel hasn't done any of the fighting. They've been passive the whole way. God sent the plagues, God fought the army, God drowned them in the sea.Now God's including them in the work and certainly in the future that's going to be more the norm. As we saw in 1 Samuel, it's the same for Moses in the past.He's struck something with his staff or held it up, but he hasn't had to keep holding it up. It was just a one off event. Now he actually has to be physically involved the whole time. So does that mean that God's just stepped away? Not at all.You can tell because our focus in the battle isn't down at the fighting, it's up on the hill with Moses raising his hand with the staff of God. And victory or defeat doesn't depend on Joshua's strategic brilliance or the unity of the Israelite army.It's entirely dependent on what happens with Moses and the staff. In other words, that's a symbol to show it's entirely dependent on whether Moses is seeking God's help or not.Even though the Israelites are involved in the fighting, it's God who gives the victory. That's what Jonathan understood when he attacked the Philistine army almost single handedly. It's what David understood when he fought Goliath.And the lesson that both David and Jonathan understood in one Samuel is first taught here. As the Israelites fight the Amalekites. The consequences for the Amalekites are devastating.They have chosen to fight against God's people, which means they have chosen to fight against God. What a foolish thing to do. If Egypt could be snuffed out so easily, what chance has Amalek got?In verse 14, Yahweh says to Moses, write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua. I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven. It's another statement that God is doing the fighting. God will be the judge of Amalek.God will make sure they receive what they deserve. Moses understands that. He builds an altar or a memorial and calls it Yahweh is my banner.In verse 16 he says, Indeed my hand is lifted up towards the Lord's throne. The Lord will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation. You can see that in the book of Judges.We also saw it in 1 Samuel How Saul was meant to destroy the Amalekites. He deals them a heavy blow, but he doesn't complete the job as God told him to do. And his failure has really significant consequences later on.David has to fight the Amalekites and it seems like he's more firmly put them in their place. They don't fight against Israel after that, except for one last gasp.It's in what I personally find the strangest book in the whole Bible, the book of Esther.Its events occur about a thousand years after this battle with the Amalekites, and it takes place amidst the political machinations of the Persian court. There, a man named Haman plots the destruction of all the Jewish people. He has it legally signed off by the king.It's locked into the law of the Persians, which was not allowed to be changed. There's a danger that all the promises of God, the story of Israel, the hope for the nations, the.It's all about to end because of the evil plans of Haman. So who is Haman? We're told a number of times, starting in chapter three, verse one, that Haman is an Agagite.He's a descendant of Agag, and Agag was the Amalekite king who Saul fought against. So this war between the Amalekites and Yahweh covers almost the entire history of the Old Testament.Just as God says he's at war with Amalek from generation to generation. Each time though each and every time God is victorious, the Amalekites stand as a thousand year example of the foolishness of fighting against God.In chapter 18 we have the re entry of a man who we've met before, Jethro, Moses, father in law. He isn't an Israelite. He's a Midianite. And in the future the Midianites are going to be bitter enemies of Israel.In fact, in Judges 6, the Amalekites and Midianites work together to raid Israel. They're who Gideon fights against. So is Jethro going to be as hateful towards Israel as the AMALEKITES?In chapter 18, verse 1 we're told Moses, father in law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for God's people, Israel when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt. Notice that Jethro isn't just your average Midianite. He's the priest of Midian.That means that almost certainly he leads Midianites in the worship of other gods. He's invested in false religion. So how's he going to respond to this news about what Yahweh, the God of Israel's done?We shouldn't assume that the response will be positive. The Egyptians saw everything Yahweh did and they hated him. And the Israelites. Even the Israelites, they saw what God had done for them.And they constantly grumbled and complained against God. They even suspected he'd just brought them into the wilderness to kill them. So how's this pagan priest going to respond?Jethro's coming to return Moses wife Zipporah and his sons to him. We don't know when Moses sent them away to stay with Grandpa. That at least started the journey to Egypt back in chapter four.But maybe Moses had had second thoughts about bringing them along. We're reminded of the names of Moses sons. They serve as reminders both of Moses struggle, but also of God's salvation. His first son is named Gershom.A name which sounds like the Hebrew for a stranger. There. Verse 2 says Moses named him Gershom because he said, I have been a resident alien in a foreign land.His other son is Eleazar, a name which means my God is help. Moses had said, the God of my father was my helper and rescued me from Pharaoh's sword.So in the two sons, we see suffering and rescue, exile and salvation, pain and the joy of God's help. Jethro and the family arrive when Moses and the Israelites are camped at the mountain of God, Mount Sinai.We're not actually told that they arrived at Mount Sinai until the next chapter.I think the author has put all the events we're talking about in this episode to not necessarily in chronological order, but rather he's grouped them thematically, getting us to look at various responses to God before we hear about the major events at Sinai. Jethro sends word to Moses saying he's coming, and Moses goes out to meet him.He bows down before Jethro, kisses him, and then they ask each other how they've been, and they go and sit in a tent for a longer catch up. Moses tells him everything that's happened and he emphasizes the work of Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel.Verse 8 says Moses recounted to his father in law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the Lord rescued them. And then we're told his response. The response of this pagan priest is faith, trust, acknowledgment of who Yahweh truly is.It's a faith based on knowledge. Pharaoh's problem was that even though he knew lots of gods, he didn't know this God, he didn't know Yahweh.It's a knowledge that God wanted his people to have. In chapter six, verse seven, he'd said to them, I, I will take you as my people, and I will be your God.You will know that I am Yahweh, your God who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. Last one I will give you.In chapter 10, verse 2, when the Israelites are told to remember the Passover, it's so that you may tell your son and grandson how severely I dealt with the Egyptians and perform miraculous signs among them, and you will know that I am Yahweh. There are plenty of other times that God says that, but it's not just knowledge about God, it's knowledge that leads to treating Yahweh as God.Faith, knowledge. Just like how John talks about belief in Jesus.Not simply a belief that he exists, but a true understanding and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord, the true King, to whom we owe all allegiance. When Jethro hears the good news of what Yahweh has done, this is how he reacts. Chapter 18, verse 9.Jethro rejoiced over all the good things Yahweh had done for Israel when he rescued them from the power of the Egyptians. Blessed be Yahweh, Jethro exclaimed, who rescued you from the power of Egypt and from the power of Pharaoh?He has rescued the people from under the power of Egypt. Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods because he did wonders when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.He offers a burnt offering and sacrifices to God and Aaron and all the elders of Israel eat a meal with him in God's presence. This is a wonderful moment of God's gracious salvation, of Jethro, of granting him saving knowledge and real faith in the true and living God.It shows that God's salvation isn't just for Israel. It was available to the Egyptians and the Amalekites. It's available to anyone who turns to him in faith. And now that's exactly what Jethro's done.The next day, Jethro gets to see Moses in action. From morning until evening, Moses sits down to judge the people. They bring their cases and he passes judgment.Jethro can't believe the burden Moses is under. He asks in verse 14, what is this you're doing for the people?Why are you alone sitting as judge while all the people stand around you from morning until evening? Moses replies, because the people come to me to inquire of God whenever they have a dispute.It comes to me and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God's statutes and laws. That sounds great and important. It's such an important task. But Jethro has some wise words for his son in law.He says in verse 17, what you're doing is not good. Good. You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you. Because the task is too heavy for you. You can't do it alone.Now listen to me. I'll give you some advice and God be with you.You will be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to him, instruct them about the statutes and laws and teach them the way to live and what they must do. But you should select from all the people, able men, God fearing, trustworthy and hating, dishonest prophet. Place them over the people.As commanders of thousands, hundreds, 50s and tens, they should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every major case, but judge every minor case themselves.In this way you will lighten your load and they will bear it with you. And then he says something you might not expect from a non Israelite.He says, if you do this and God so directs you, you will be able to endure and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied. The strangeness isn't that it's a good idea, but that Jethro, the Midian priest, is telling Moses what God is directing him to do.The Midianite, who's been brought to a saving knowledge of God, now acts as a mouthpiece for God. And Moses listens to God's word spoken through Jethro. He's obedient and all the people are blessed. The task is easier, the burden is lighter.Because whenever God's people obey his word, it's a blessing. I wonder if part of why we're being told this is to keep our hearts and minds fixed on God, not Moses. Moses doesn't sin in this story.He's certainly obedient to God. But in the previous chapter, you might have been tempted to think of Moses as the powerful victory giver. He's the one who's held up his hands.Lots of miracles have happened through him. But this is a gentle reminder that as great as Moses is, he is still just a man, a creature, not the creator.God speaks through him, but he speaks through other people too. God's given him wisdom, but he's also given that to other people as well. In some senses, Moses is a Jesus like figure, but he isn't Jesus.The Israelites and we need a greater leader than Moses.Thankfully, God sent that greater leader, the Lord Jesus Christ, a king who saves not just from physical chains, but from but from the chains of sin and death. A Christ who truly reveals God perfectly because he is God the Son. If we know Jesus, we know Yahweh. We know the one true God.Jesus is the Savior who came to save not just some of the Israelites, but people from the whole world. The knowledge of God that was revealed to Jethro is now revealed in a fuller way in every corner of the globe.Jew and Gentile, black and white and any other color. No matter what language you speak or country you live in, God has revealed himself through Jesus.And the invitation is there to know him, to be saved by him and to have the joy and blessing of obeying Him. Back at the foot of Mount Sinai, the saved people of God are about to discover what it will mean to obey him.What will it look like to live as the saved people of God? And as they prepare to hear those words, they are about to meet their God. But that's a story for next time. I hope you enjoyed the episode today.As I said, if you want to listen to the first part of the series, go back episodes 11 to 18 and you can hear of all those wonderful things that God did in rescuing his people from Egypt. Thank you to the people who gave after the I guess mini episode with my friends Andy and Priscilla.I'm still a long way from what I need for the donations, so if you are able to give then please consider that.But also it'd be wonderful if you could leave a review or a rating in the app that you're listening on that really helps people to find the show and helps them to trust the show.So if you enjoy it, if you trust it, go give it a five star rating, leave a review, say what you like about it, if your app allows that, and otherwise keep trusting Jesus and we'll talk again soon.