Monday, January 13
Exodus 2:1-10
Birth and Youth of Moses
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
This past Sunday Pastor Paul addressed the question, “Why is God so different in the Old Testament than the New Testament?” You can watch the sermon by clicking the link on the Chain of Lakes’ web site.
This series is part of an initiative called “Year of the Bible.” As part of this many people are reading through the Bible. If you haven’t joined them, consider downloading the reading guide at: https://www.fivedaybiblereading.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2025-5-Day-Bible-Reading-Large-Print.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3WU2OLdxpa_C0N86h1xOQw
You can also participate in a Facebook group. Do a search on Facebook for the site, “2025 Year of the Bible.”
The story of Moses is an excellent one to review to understand if God is different in the Old Testament compared to the New Testament. Moses experienced the full dimensions of God in his story. This week we’ll have the opportunity to read about significant events in the life of Moses.
Today we read the story of the birth of Moses. He was born into an extraordinarily dangerous situation. Just by being a Hebrew he was condemned to death. He was saved by Pharaoh’s daughter. Think of the irony! The daughter of the man who was having all the Hebrew children killed Found Moses and brought him up.
What does it mean to you that Pharaoh’s daughter raised Moses? Please share.
Tuesday, January 14
Exodus 3:1-2, 4:10-17
Moses at the Burning Bush
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.
But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.” Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, “What of your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know that he can speak well; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do. He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”
As an adult Moses had to flee from Egypt to Midian because Moses killed a man. It’s interesting to think that arguably the most important person in the Old Testament was a murderer.
While Moses was living in Midian God appeared to Moses in the story of the burning bush. God did everything that God could do to convince Moses to go back to Egypt to liberate the Israelites from Pharaoh.
Moses did not want to serve, but God was insistent. When Moses repeatedly said, “no,” we read in verse 14 that God was angry. This characteristic of God is one that some think God exhibits often in the Old Testament and not the New Testament.
This is one of the first times that God’s anger is mentioned in the Old Testament. The word describes the intense emotional response from God to humans.
It’s important to know that Jesus communicated anger in his story. Remember the story of Jesus turning over the tables in the Temple? See Matthew 21:11-12 & Mark 11:15-18.
Moses experienced this anger or wrath. But despite the emotional response from God, Moses was willing to serve.
What are your thoughts about Moses serving God even when Moses experienced God’s anger? Please share.
Wednesday, January 15
Exodus 14:13-14, 15:1-18
But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
The Song of Moses
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea; his elite officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power— your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries; you sent out your fury; it consumed them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue; I will overtake; I will divide the spoil; my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed; you guided them by your strength to your holy abode. The peoples heard; they trembled; pangs seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; trembling seized the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. Terror and dread fell upon them; by the might of your arm, they became still as a stone until your people, O Lord, passed by, until the people whom you acquired passed by. You brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your own possession, the place, O Lord, that you made your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever.”
Moses experienced the full intensity of human emotions. In this story he was leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Despite being promised by Pharaoh that the Israelites could leave, Pharaoh sent his chariots to catch the Israelites.
Moses stayed firm amidst a situation that had to cause incredible fear. These two verses that Moses shared amidst this terrifying situation are worth memorizing.
“But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” Exodus 14:13-14
Despite the ups and downs of his life in convincing Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, Moses trusted God. Even in an incredibly scary moment, Moses continued to trust God.
What are your takeaways from this story? Please share.
Thursday, January 16
Exodus 17:1-7
Water from the Rock
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do for this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Shortly after the people were liberated by God from the Pharoah, they experienced a significant crisis. The Israelites didn’t have water to drink.
Moses was very frustrated with the people. We can imagine his frustration. Even though the people had been saved by God from Pharaoh, now they were turning on God because they had no water. Their faith was incomplete.
This story became known by many Old Testament writers. It became known as the rebellion at Massah and Meribah. The people had given up on God.
Moses was also frustrated with God. Moses wanted to know why he had to deal with this group of people who were complaining so much.
What are your thoughts on this story? Please share.
Friday, January 17
Exodus 33:12-23, 34:1-10
Moses’s Intercession
Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider, too, that this nation is your people.” He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.”
The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have asked, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord,’ and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and live.” And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
Moses Makes New Tablets
The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke. Be ready in the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain, and do not let flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.” So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name, “The Lord.” The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
And Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshiped. He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, my Lord, I pray, let my Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
The Covenant Renewed
He said, “I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth or in any nation, and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
This is a longer story, but it’s worth reading. Once again the people were rebelling against God.
Moses had enough. He wanted to see God.
This is quite a request by Moses. No one had ever seen God in the past and lived.
God had such respect for Moses that he granted his request. He passed before God. Pay special attention to how God identified the divine self in 34:6-7. God was merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
This statement by God is consistent throughout the Bible. God can be angry, but God is slow to anger. God did not change in the New Testament. God’s characteristics were the same. We just don’t come across many stories in the New Testament where God’s anger was shared.
Read again in 34:6-7 how God described the divine self. Do you believe these characteristics by God are consistent throughout the entire Bible? What does this self-disclosure by God mean to you? Please share.
Saturday, January 18
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Moses Dies and Is Buried in the Land of Moab
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. The Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired, and his vigor had not abated. The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him, and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
This is the final story about Moses. God didn’t allow Moses to enter the Promised land because of what happened at Massah and Meribah. (see Thursdays devotion) But God did allow Moses to see the Promised Land.
Look at verse 10 again. “Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. (Deuteronomy 34:10)
What do these verses mean to you? What does the story of Moses mean to you? Please share.