Stephen
Terry, Director
Rough
Start
Commentary
for the July 19, 2025, Sabbath School Lesson
"Pharaoh said,
'Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the
Lord and I will not let Israel go.'"
Exodus 3:2, NIV
Torah
tells us Abraham foresaw in a dream that Israelites would be prisoners and
eventually slaves in Egypt for four centuries. (Genesis
15:12-14) Jacob and his sons with their families traveled to Egypt to
escape widespread famine in Canaan. Joseph one of Jacob's sons had been sold
into slavery in Egypt by his brothers but rose to power under the pharaoh thus
paving the way to save his family during a later period of famine. This was a
miraculous intervention that saved his people from the famine and was a gift
from God in that the Israelites found favor with Pharaoh through Joseph. However,
400 years is a very long time
and memories can be short. Eventually a pharaoh arose who did not know of
Joseph and felt threatened by the number of immigrants in his country whom he
felt could be a force that might one day challenge his throne. To prevent that
outcome the Israelites were enslaved and their lot, which appeared like
paradise and salvation at first, over the centuries became grievous. It is
amazing they somehow managed to keep vestiges of their faith alive under such
oppression over such an extended period. Enough of it survived that Moses was
able to understand the distinction of being an Israelite, and he knew enough that
God could speak to him through the burning bush without him fleeing in fright.
If we
consider the history of these peoples in the Bible, we will understand that Pharaoh
and the Egyptians are descendants of Ham through Canaan, while the Israelites
are descendants of Shem, two of the sons of Noah. In an interesting turn of
events Noah had placed a curse on Canaan saying that they would be slaves to
the descendants of Shem, the Israelites. (Genesis
9:26) But as Exodus tells us, the opposite happened with the Israelites as
slaves to the descendants of Ham in Egypt. To be true to both Noah and Abraham,
God needed to set things right. Moses, metaphorically baptized in the Nile at
birth, covenanted through the blood of circumcision, and anointed to leadership
at the burning bush was God's chosen vessel to deliver the enslaved. Moses may
have had a sense of this calling early on when he sought to begin liberating
his people by slaying an Egyptian taskmaster. But having a sense of destiny without
the intimate connection with God cannot help but breed arrogance and narcissism
if not checked early on. While Moses must have felt a failure in what he
thought was his calling when he was forced to flee Pharaoh's
wrath to the land of Midian. God's plan was to weed out the arrogance and
impetuousness of his servant that he might find the humility to give the glory
to God and not to his own will and character. The man who stood before the
burning bush forty years later had become that man.
But
being God's chosen servant is not all parting of the waters. God's servant, and
even his son, Jesus, faced rejection, betrayal, and calumny at the very hands
of those being rescued. We see Moses as type, and
Christ as antitype with the exception that Jesus completed the mission while
Moses fell short. Instead of having the honor of bringing the people home to
Canaan, another took his place. Moses was the type for Christ before the tomb.
Joshua became the type for Christ taking his people home. They even shared the
same name. Both Joshua and Jesus mean "God is salvation." Moses' ministry was
filled with challenges and troubles as he led a recalcitrant band through
hostile desert in search of their promised "Eden." Overcome by the constant complaining,
the man who refused to let God destroy the Israelites and start over with him,
finally snapped and took personal affront, thus losing the opportunity to enter
the Promised Land himself. Jesus was also challenged and betrayed as he sought
to call the people to return to the promises of God. But though the burden was
great even to the point of sweating blood, he did not waiver in his purpose and
always sought to glorify the Father. He therefore rightfully entered heaven to
prepare a place for us.
Despite
his failing, Moses endured great challenges. He and Aaron stood before one of
the most powerful rulers of his time who adamantly refused to humble himself
before God, even when it meant the destruction of his land and his people. He
challenged the very existence of God. Even the people of Nineveh, renowned for
their wickedness, when faced with a judgment pronounced by Jonah, repented and
renounced their wickedness, and even the king humbled himself with sackcloth
and ashes. Their repentance found salvation for their city, and the people of
Nineveh will rise to condemn Pharaoh for his arrogance and wickedness at the
judgment. God's compassion warned Nineveh and saved them. His desire for Egypt was
much the same for his character is consistent. Pharaoh's narcissism and
arrogance, elevating himself as though he was God brought nothing but death
upon his land, even costing him the heir to the Egyptian throne.
What
lessons can we take from this in our various countries around the world today? We
have little control over who is to rule over us. We do not even understand God's
purposes when he sets up rulers. To our way of thinking, God should only set up
righteous rulers. But what if God sets up rulers to save them, even if they are
arrogant and beastly and undeserving of such an honor? A case in point would be
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. His story is in the book of Daniel. When his advisors
could not reveal a dream to him, he ordered to have them all killed. God revealed
himself through Daniel, sparing the lives of the condemned and reaching out to
the dissolute king.
With
time Nebuchadnezzar's arrogance brought him to challenge God's revelation of
the future by creating an idol that represented the Babylonian kingdom lasting
forever. God's patience with our failings and his love for his creation spoke
into the situation once again. Three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
refused to bow down and acknowledge the king's twisted vision of the future.
Incensed, his narcissism was unable to contain itself, he ordered their death,
incineration in an over-heated brick kiln. This time, God did not send a man to
speak to the king. That impression had not lasted long enough. Instead, a
divine presence entered the furnace and walked with the condemned, shielding
them from harm. Astonished, the king ordered their release. Not yet ready to
honor God as his God, he nonetheless ordered that no one should say anything
against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
God
did not give up on Nebuchadnezzar. Instead, he sent him another dream and again
Daniel presented the interpretation to the king. If the king persisted in his narcissism,
he would lose his mind until he acknowledged God as the ruler over all
humanity. God was not just Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's God. He
was Nebuchadnezzar's God. Despite this warning, the king one day stood up to
glorify himself and all he had built. At that moment, he went insane and did
not recover sanity until he recognized God's sovereignty over all, even rulers.
Pharaoh
did not learn that lesson and instead opposed Moses' request in every way
possible. He was intransigent, deceptive, and cruel in response to Moses'
pleas. Even when his people were pointing out how his arrogance and desire for
revenge against the Israelites was destroying the nation, he persisted. So many
rulers throughout the ages have done the same. They are like the cruise ship
passenger who if he cannot be the captain would sink the ship out of spite.
Such a person has no understanding of empathy, mercy, or compassion. They have
no concept of the meaning of love. Those who sacrifice their lives out of love
for others seem like suckers to them. The most frightening thing for them is
that one day, whether soon or farther down the road, their cold-as-death
fingers will be pried loose from all they have built. Empires always crumble to
dust, whether Babylon, the temples of Egypt, Constantinople crumbling under
Ottoman cannons, or any more modern empires. They collapse because faithless
rulers sought to put themselves in the place of God, and no amount of faith on
the part of their followers can sustain that much arrogance forever.
We
should learn the lessons Pharaoh could not. While individuals may be able to cruelly
assert their will over others for a time. It never lasts, because as
Nebuchadnezzar found out it is God who rules over humanity. So many of us are
like children stopping their ears that they might not hear God speaking to
their hearts. But all the same, he continues to speak. Those who are his will
hear his voice and will be drawn by his love for us, even some of those who
have been stopping their ears. And for those who are willing to listen, their love
will echo his. Their voices will join the chorus of peace and love in even the
direst times. This is foolishness to the narcissist, but it is life itself to
those who are called to be the sons and daughters of God.