Bo! (Come)
Ex. 10:1 – 13:16: JER. 46:13-28: ROM. 9;14-29
The book of Exodus (Shemot) is filled with God’s dealings and redemptive acts for Israel. But, it begins at a point where their circumstances were at rock bottom. Neither does it skirt their ups and downs – chronicling their moments of obedience and fidelity and also their times of rebellion and apostasy – messy people, faithful God! Throughout Jewish history it’s been like this, yet God has always proved faithful and His timings and provision in all things, perfect.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Eternal, “plans for peace, not evil, to give you a future and hope—never forget that. 12 At that time, you will call out for Me, and I will hear. You will pray, and I will listen. 13 You will look for Me intently, and you will find Me. 14 Yes, I will be found by you,” says the Eternal, “and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations where you’ve been scattered—all the places where I have driven you. I will bring you back to the land that is your rightful home.” (Jer. 29:11-14)
Who could have imagined that even in the darkest moments of exile due to flagrant disobedience to God’s Torah could have prompted Jeremiah to generate a message of such incredible comfort and encouragement? And who would dare to believe how this Divine promise would be accomplished?
In this weeks parasha we see how there came such a moment in time, planned by God before the foundations of the earth were formed. After several hundred years of slavery and abject misery, at just the right moment, God invaded history and delivered the Israelites from slavery in a manner that only He could have done. And so began the process where God would lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the Land of promise and finally after two exiles, “…I will bring you back to the land that is your rightful home.”
And 1500 years following the Exodus God again invaded history and sent His only begotten Son to be a remission for our sins through His shed blood – the paschal lamb slain for us beautifully portrayed in Rev.5. “6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
God told Moses something that has puzzled many Jewish sages “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his officials so that I might perform these signs of mine among them.” Yosi Shulam has this insight.
“The Torah portion Bo starts with the Hebrew word Bo, “Come.” – Normally speaking, when you send someone out, you say to him “Go,” not “Come!” The Hebrew has a double meaning. Not only “Go to Pharaoh,” but “Go inside of Pharaoh!”
I believe that God was explaining to Moses how his message would be Pharaoh’s achilles heal and went to the heart of the matter – “Go inside of Pharaoh.” In other words, expose his evil motives, his pride of life and lust for power – his greed and complete self-centredness. “Go inside of Pharaoh.” God exposed ugly things about Pharaoh which no doubt he would have preferred to conceal. And God is not partisan in this matter. Indeed we read in 1Cor.2:10 that, “…the Spirit of God searches all things, (within each one of us) even the deep things of God.” And one day we will all have to give an accounting before God.
No-one can conceal from Him even our most innermost thoughts. He is the searcher of hearts NOT our imperfections. Such was the case with King David and the apostle Peter and may others like them in Scripture. Learning how to fail well is a fundamental pathway that leads to success and fulfilment. That wasn’t the case with Pharaoh who instead hardened his heart against God to a point of no return whereby God’s ‘foaming cup of judgement’ was unleashed in full measure.
This led to the final three and most devastating plagues: locust, darkness and death of the firstborn. The 9th plague (the plague of darkness) enveloped the entire Egyptian land except where the Israelites resided in Goshen. God demonstrated His power and authority over the Egyptian god, Ra, the god of light. The Pharaohs claimed to be the literal sons of Ra who was the ruler over all the gods of Egypt, so this was a direct attack upon Pharaoh’s personal identity. But far more severe was the 10th and final plague when all the Egyptian firstborn – man and beast perished in one night.
When we see things in context, the severity of God’s judgement becomes easier to understand. Simply stated, God considered Israel to be His firstborn among the nations. Therefore, His judgement against Egypt was proportionate to Pharaoh’s when he had earlier sought to murder every first born Israelite male baby – a genocidal attempt to annihilate God’s covenant people.
It would not be the first nor the last occasion when Satan has sought the annihilation of the Jewish people – always doomed to failure and accompanied with a curse — “I will bless those who bless you but curse those who curse you!” (Get.12:3) Let this be a stark warning for South Africa and all of Israel’s enemies!
At every stage throughout Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh, the gods of Egypt were crushed. Serket, the goddess of protection, was powerless. Sobek, the god of protection and fertility who epitomised the might of the pharaohs, was crushed. Renenutet, the god who appeared as a vulture, the special protector god of pharaoh, failed to protect pharaoh’s son. Osiris, the giver and ruler of life was conspicuously absent and Meshkenet, the goddess who presided at the birth of children, failed to save the firstborn.
It took ten plagues before God brought the greatest nation of the ancient world to its knees. It came to a point whereby the Egyptians now begged the Israelites to leave Egypt “…for dread and fear had fallen upon them.” The sages have likened it to a fat man riding a donkey. The donkey, is wavering under the load, and thinking to itself, “When will he get off me!” whereas the fat man is thinking, “When will I ever get off this donkey?” When the fat man eventually reaches his destination, he gets off the donkey and is relieved and happy. And the donkey is also relieved.
So too with the Israelites and the Egyptians! The Israelites representing the donkey longed for the moment when God would free them. Likewise, the Egyptians (the fat man) panicked and became desperate for the Israelites to leave.
When it finally happened, both parties were happy, but sadly the story did not end there and the events that followed illustrate the importance that whenever breakthroughs occur Satan will never give up attempting to regain lost territory. As with Pharaoh, when he finally agreed to release the Israelites he almost immediately had a change of heart. And we all know how that ended…
God’s deliverance became the most remembered miracle in Jewish history and God commanded the Israelites to forever “…tell your children the story of redemption from slavery to freedom.”
To remember and re-tell is central to all the Jewish feasts. For us as Messianic believers it reflects the story of our eternal redemption available to us through Yeshua our Redeemer. But telling the story is insufficient for unless we also live the story, the message becomes lost in obscurity and vain traditions. To remember, retell and live the story is what the essence of ‘telling the story’ means.
What is the greatest legacy we can ever leave our children? It’s not money of possessions – it’s the story. Yeshua is our identity. If we forget the story, we lose our identity.
God’s eternal purposes continue to roll forward leaving in its wake a battlefield of twists and turns and unfulfilled dreams for many, and it becomes an easy thing for us to forget the promises of God as we battle through the tyranny of the urgent with a real danger to slowly but surely allow our lives to drift away from God in the midst of adversity and the challenges faced.
The deeper layer to all this is that God may sometimes appear hidden yet can always be apprehended even in the midst of the most hideous catastrophes and losses for whoever has eyes to see and the faith to believe – to recall, treasure, and preserve His everlasting and over-riding purpose for our lives amid the imponderables, the contradictions and the insurmountable mountains we are facing – that is a hallmark of the overcomer!
God is speaking to us today: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Eternal, “plans for peace, not evil, to give you a future and hope.” And so we can reach out and gather all the negative pieces of wretchedness in one pile and smile with a peace that passes all understanding and a joy that provides strength to carry us through.
Let’s choose to among those who follow the Lord whole-heartedly, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb.12:2)
It was John Calvin who said, “Although all people, in some way, serve the Lord’s sovereign will, only those who do so because they truly love God with all their hearts, mind and strength will be rewarded.” (Paraphrased) Is this not surely something worthy for us to reflect upon?
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