Hey guys,
For this week, please read Exo 3 and Exo 4. Reflect on Exo 3:3-5 and how Moses accepts the burning bush as marvelous”…..notice how the “Spirit of God” introduces, Moses accepts, then God speaks…..Moses doesn’t understand how the bush is burning but not consumed, and the Spirit appears in a blazing fire…….are you seeing how God uses every moment to demonstrate His honor and glory? [a]
You probably noticed how we continue to review the promises of God that are in Genesis. Why should we do that? [b] What is the importance of seeing the evolution of a great nation, the 400 years of oppression and certainly “Blessed to be a blessing”? [c] We are now about 80 years into Moses’ life, what has his life been like, what is God asking of Moses close to the age of 80?[d] In Exo 3:6, “I AM” the God of your father Abraham……now read Exo 3:14, how does this resonate in the New Testament??[e] How is it accepted by the Jews of Jesus’ time?[f] Why and how should it resonate with us today?[g]
What are some of the statements God makes to Moses in the balance of Exo 3, [h] then reflect on Moses response in Exo 4 [i] …..How does God respond to Moses lack of faith? [j] We’ll try to get through Exo 4:17……again, read Exo 3 & 4 for Tuesday night, make notes and write down your questions and we’ll discuss on Tuesday
As you read, think about the things that take priority in your life, why are they a priority?
Blessed to be a blessing!! See you guys on Tuesday night…
Nathan
[a]are you seeing how God uses every moment to demonstrate His honor and glory?
I have a youtube video that clearly shows the Mountain of God in it here:
15 (KJV) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. ---King James Version [1]
[c]...the 400 years of oppression and certainly “Blessed to be a blessing”?
Genesis 22: 15-18
adam_clarkes_commentary
And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, — the object of the first call having been to arrest the consummation of the fatal deed which threatened Isaac's life, and to declare the Divine satisfaction with the patriarch's complete spiritual surrender of his son, the purpose of the second was to renew the promise in reward for his fidelity and obedience — and said, By myself have I sworn, — by my word (Onkelos); by my name (Arabic); equivalent to by himself, by his soul (Jeremiah 51:14), or by his holiness (Amos 4:2) — an anthropomorphism by which God in the most solemn manner pledges the perfection of his Divine personality for the fulfillment of his promise; an act which he never again repeats in his intercourse with the patriarchs. The oath here given to Abraham (frequently referred to in later Scripture: Genesis 24:7; 26:3; 50:24; Exodus 13:5, 11; 32:13; 33:1; Isaiah 45:23; Hebrews 6:13) is confirmed by the addition of — saith the Lord, — literally, the utterance of Jehovah; like the Latin air, inquit Dominus, the usual prophetic phrase accompanying Divine oracles (cf. Isaiah 3:15; Ezekiel 5:11; Amos 6:8), though occurring in the Pentateuch only here and in Numbers 14:28 — for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son (vide supra, Ver. 12; from which the LXX., Syriac, and Samaritan insert hero the words “from me”): that in blessing I will bless thee, and, multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; — literally, upon the lip of the sea; a repetition and accumulation of the promises previously made to the patriarch concerning his seed (cf. Genesis 12:2, 3; 13:14-16; 15:5; 17:1-8), with the special amplification following — and thy seed shall possess (i.e. occupy by force) the gate of his enemies; shall conquer their armies and capture their cities (Keil, Murphy); though that the spiritual sense of entering in through the doorway of their susceptibilities in conversion (Lange) is not to be overlooked may be inferred from the appended prediction — and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (vide Genesis 12:3, where “families of the ground” occur as the equivalent of “nations of the earth”); because thou hast obeyed my voice. Originally unconditional in its grant, the promise is here distinctly declared to be renewed to him as one who, besides being justified and taken into covenant with Jehovah, had through trial and obedience attained to the spiritual patriarchate of a numerous posterity. --H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Excell, ed [2]
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[d] what has his life been like, what is God asking of Moses close to the age of 80? A.M. 2513 B.C. 1491 An.Dil. 857 While Moses keeps the flock of Jethro at Mount Horeb, the Angel of God appears to him in a burning bush, promises to deliver the Hebrews from their oppression in Egypt, and sends him to Pharaoh to command him to let Israel go; Exodus 3 --Adam Clarke[3]
[e] how does this resonate in the New Testament??
Exodus 3:14
I Am That I Am—אהיה אשר אהיה Eheyeh asher Eheyeh. These words have been variously understood. The Vulgate translates Ego Sum Qui Sum, I am who am. The Septuagint, Εγω ειμι ὁ Ων, I am he who exists. The Syriac, the Persic, and the Chaldee preserve the original words without any gloss. The Arabic paraphrases them, The Eternal, who passes not away; which is the same interpretation given by Abul Farajius, who also preserves the original words, and gives the above as their interpretation. The Targum of Jonathan, and the Jerusalem Targum paraphrase the words thus: "He who spake, and the world was; who spake, and all things existed." As the original words literally signify, I will be what I will be, some have supposed that God simply designed to inform Moses, that what he had been to his fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he would be to him and the Israelites; and that he would perform the promises he had made to his fathers, by giving their descendants the promised land. It is difficult to put a meaning on the words; they seem intended to point out the eternity and self-existence of God. Plato, in his Parmenides, where he treats sublimely of the nature of God, says, Ουδ’ αρα ονομα εστιν αυτῳ, nothing can express his nature; therefore no name can be attributed to him. See the conclusion of this chapter, Exodus 3:22 (note) and on the word Jehovah, Exodus 34:6 (note), Exodus 34:7 (note).--Adam Clarke [4]
John 4:25–27
The woman says to Him, I know positively that Messiah comes, the One who is commonly called Christ. Whenever that One comes, He will make known to us all things. Jesus says to her, I am He, the one speaking to you. And at this juncture His disciples came and kept on wondering because with a woman He was speaking. However, no one said, What are you seeking? or, Why are you talking with her?--Wuest, K. S[5]
The next block quote is called a reverse interlinear
| John 4: 26 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jesus | said | to | her | I | , | the | one | speaking | to | you | , | am he | |||||||||||
| ὁ3 Ἰησοῦς4 | λέγει1 | → | αὐτῇ2 | Ἐγώ5 | ὁ7 | λαλῶν8 | → | σοι9 | εἰμι6 •* | ||||||||||||||
| ho Iēsous | legei | autē | Egō | ho | lalōn | soi | eimi | ||||||||||||||||
| ὁ Ἰησοῦς | λέγω | αὐτός | ἐγώ | ὁ | λαλέω | σύ | εἰμί | ||||||||||||||||
| ho Iēsous | legō | autos | egō | ho | laleō | sy | eimi | ||||||||||||||||
| 3588 2424 | 3004 | 846 | 1473 | 3588 | 2980 | 4671 | 1510 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Here the predicate nominative is supplied from context in the English translation [6] Next is the greek text in the original order of the words but no interlinear | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[f] How is it accepted by the Jews of Jesus’ time?
I am saying to you in truth, Many widows there were in the days of Elijah in Israel, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land, and to not even one of them was Elijah sent except to Sarepta, a city of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers there were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and not even one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. And all in the synagogue were filled with a rage which boiled over in a sudden and angry outburst upon hearing these things, and having arisen, they threw Him outside of the city and led Him to an out-jutting cliff of the mountain upon which their city stood built, so that they might hurl Him headlong down the precipice. But He himself, having passed through their midst, proceeded on His way.--Wuest, K.S.[8]
[g]Why and how should it resonate with us today?
The following block quote was a search for "Jesus Claimed to be God Almighty" (that is the Greek word Pantokrator which is translated God Almighty) Before you read the block quote, I just want to point out something about the Greek root "Krator" He did not say He was Kosmokrator which is Ruler of the World (or the Cosmos in English, Kosmo in Greek) so the resource I chose to quote about this is "Answers to Tough Questions" in Logos Bible Software. Enjoy reading the search result for the words "Jesus Claimed to be God Almighty!"
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Did Jesus Claim To Be God? Even If He Did Make The Claim,why Should I Believe It?Among the religious leaders who have attained a large following throughout history, Jesus Christ is unique in the fact that He alone claimed to be God in human flesh. A common misconception is that some or many of the leaders of the world’s religions made similar claims, but this is simply not the case.
Buddha did not claim to be God; Moses never said that he was Yahweh; Mohammed did not identify himself as Allah; and nowhere will you find Zoroaster claiming to be Ahura Mazda. Yet Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, said that he who has seen Him (Jesus) has seen the Father (John 14:9).
The claims of Christ are many and varied. He said that He existed before Abraham (John 8:58), and that He was equal with the Father (John 5:17, 18). Jesus claimed the ability to forgive sins (Mark 2:5–7), which the Bible teaches was something that God alone could do (Isaiah 43:25).
The New Testament equated Jesus as the creator of the universe (John 1:3), and that He is the one who holds everything together (Colossians 1:17). The apostle Paul says that God was manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16, KJV), and John the evangelist says that “the Word was God” (John 1:1). The united testimony of Jesus and the writers of the New Testament is that He was more than mere man; He was God.
Not only did His friends notice that He claimed to be God, but so did His enemies as well. There may be some doubt today among the skeptics who refuse to examine the evidence, but there was no doubt on the part of the Jewish authorities.
When Jesus asked them why they wanted to stone Him, they replied, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God” (John 10:33, NASB).
This fact separates Jesus from the other religious figures. In the major religions of the world, the teachings—not the teacher—are all-important.
Confucianism is a set of teachings; Confucius is not important. Islam is the revelation of Allah, with Mohammed being the prophet, and Buddhism emphasizes the principles of the Buddha and not Buddha himself. This is especially true of Hinduism, where there is no historic founder.
However, at the center of Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not just claim to be teaching mankind the truth; He claimed that He was the truth (John 14:6).
What Jesus taught is not the important aspect of Christianity, but what is important is who Jesus was. Was He the Son of God? Is He the only way a person can reach God? This was the claim He made for Himself.
Suppose this very night the President of the United States appeared on all the major networks and proclaimed that “I am God Almighty. I have the power to forgive sin. I have the authority to raise my life back from the dead.”
He would be quickly and quietly shut off the air, led away, and replaced by the Vice-President. Anybody who would dare make such claims would have to be either out of his mind or a liar, unless he was God.
This is exactly the case with Jesus. He clearly claimed all these things and more. If He is God, as He claimed, we must believe in Him, and if He is not, then we should have nothing to do with Him. Jesus is either Lord of all or not Lord at all.
Yes, Jesus claimed to be God. Why should anyone believe it? After all, merely claiming to be something does not make it true. Where’s the evidence that Jesus is God?
The Bible gives various reasons, including miracles and fulfilled prophecy, that are intended to convince us that Jesus is the one whom He said He was (John 20:30, 31). The main reason, or the sign which Jesus Himself said would demonstrate that He was the Son of God, was His resurrection from the dead.
When asked for a sign from the religious leaders, Jesus replied, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40, RSV).
In another place He said, when asked for a sign, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up… but he spake of the temple of his body” (John 2:19, 21, KJV). The ability to raise His life back from the dead was the sign that separates Him not only from all other religious leaders, but also from anyone else who has ever lived.
Anyone wishing to refute the case for Christianity must explain away the story of the resurrection. Therefore, according to the Bible, Jesus proves to be the Son of God by coming back from the dead (Romans 1:4). The evidence is overwhelming that Jesus did rise from the grave, and it is this fact that proves Jesus to be God.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCE SOURCES
Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, rev. ed., Here’s Life Publishers, 1979
Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter, Tyndale House, 1977
Arlie J. Hoover, Dear Agnos, Baker Book House, 1976
Michael Green (ed.), The Truth of God Incarnate, Eerdmans, 1977
Sir Norman Anderson, Mystery of the Incarnation, Inter-Varsity Press, 1978 [9]
[h] What are some of the statements God makes to Moses in the balance of Exo 3
[i] then reflect on Moses response in Exo 4 …..
[j] How does God respond to Moses lack of faith?
This mysterious passage in the life of Moses suggests various reflections. The facts are few. Moses, probably in deference to Zipporah's abhorrence of the rite, had neglected the circumcision of his child. This, in so eminent a servant of God, was a sin which could not be winked at. Least of all could it be overlooked at a time when the covenants were undergoing a species of resurrection, and when Moses was on his way to Egypt for the very purpose of giving effect to them. Hence this incident at the inn. Moses, apparently, was seized by an illness which threatened to be mortal, and a fatal result was only averted by Zipporah, who, at once divining the cause of the affliction, used a sharp stone, and performed the neglected rite. Thus was Moses taught that he who represents God before men must himself be blameless — guiltless of gross neglect of Divine commandments; taught also that service of God must be whole-hearted — that in the way of duty there is to be no conferring with flesh and blood — no pleasing of men at the cost of unfaithfulness to God. “He that loveth father or mother,” etc. (Matthew 10:37). Besides these general lessons we draw from the incident such instruction as the following: —
I. GOD OFTEN TEACHES US THAT HE IS ANGRY WITH US BY VISITING US WITH AFFLICTIVE DESPENSATIONS, LEAVING US TO FIND OUT THE CAUSE. Even Moses, with whom God had so often spoken, received on this occasion no other warning of his displeasure than this severe illness which so unexpectedly overtook him. Huxley remarks on Nature's system of education “Nature's discipline is not even a word and a blow, and the blow first; but the blow without the word. It is left to you to find out why your ears are boxed.” The words apply as fitly to the relation of outward providences to moral and spiritual conditions — a class of relations which this writer would reject, but which nevertheless exist.
II. CONSCIENCE, REMINDING US OF NEGLECTED DUTIES, OR OTHER SINS COMMITTED BY US, IS A READY INTERPRETER OF MANY OF GOD'S AFFLICTIVE PROVIDENCES. Zipporah guessed at once the cause of this trouble, and the result showed her guess to be correct. So Joseph's brethren (Genesis 42:21).
III. THE HOLIEST OF GOD'S SERVANTS ARE NOT EXEMPTED FROM SEVERE CHASTISEMENTS. We may wonder that God should have chosen this particular time to put a valuable life in peril. It was, however, the summons to depart which brought matters to a crisis. Moses was not ignorant of this neglected duty, and to set out on so grave a mission, and leave it still neglected, was a sin calling for sharp rebuke. This is another illustration of the truth that God. punishes sins in his own children with even greater severity than he does the like sins in others. Do we ask, What if Moses had died? The question is needless. The Divine arrangements had all the facts in contemplation from the first. Had it been foreseen that the anticipated effect would not have followed from the stroke — that the trouble would have had a different ending — everything else would have been different to suit. Yet we may not doubt that Moses’ life was for the time really in peril, and that, had repentance not supervened, God would not have receded, even at the cost of a Moses, from inflicting upon him the extreme penalty of his unfaithfulness.
IV. TRUE REPENTANCE INCLUDES REPARATION FOR WRONG, AND WHERE THAT IS POSSIBLE, PERFORMANCE OF NEGLECTED DUTIES. Exemplified in Zipporah.
V. GOD IS ZEALOUS FOR THE OBSERVANCE OF HIS OWN ORDINANCES. It might be pleaded, this is only a ceremony, an outward rite; what great importance is to be attached to it? But God had commanded it, and had even made it the badge of his covenant; therefore neglect of it was an act of disobedience, and implied a low esteem of covenant-privilege. The sacraments may be unduly and foolishly exalted; but there is an opposite sin of disesteeming and neglecting them. — J.O. H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Excell, ed [11]
Appendix / Bibliography
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[3] adam_clarkes_commentary Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke's Commentary, (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1826), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Exodus".
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| Database © 2014 Wordsearch. |
[4] adam_clarkes_commentary Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke's Commentary, (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1826), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Exodus".
[5] Wuest, K. S. (1961). The New Testament: an expanded translation (Jn 4:25–27). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman
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[8] Wuest, K. S. (1961). The New Testament: an expanded translation (Lk 4:20–30).
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans
https://bible.org/article/trademark-and-copyright-information
https://netbible.org/bible/Exodus+3
also https://netbible.org/bible/Exodus+4
[11] H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Excell, ed., The Pulpit Commentary – Volume 1: Genesis and Exodus, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Homilies by J. Orr".
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