Click to open audio and follow along with the text.
Good morning friends, today is Friday July 12 and we are reading together Exodus 13.
Can we agree together, based on Exodus 12:37,38 that the number of fleeing slaves and other people, rushing out of Egypt that “Passover” night, was probably about 2 million people? Put yourself and your family into the middle of that flood of people. What can you imagine it was like? Can you hear the noise, feel the adrenaline rush, imagine the chaos, smell the dust and animals?
I doubt any of us can imagine what that was like. A moving mass of humanity, each carrying as much as they could in carts & wagons, and surrounded by perhaps an equal amount of animals. Not pet dogs and cats, but the animals of labor like donkeys and mules, and animals of food like sheep, cattle, and goats. And animals of travel like camels and oxen.
There is no record of evacuation planning meetings before that “Passover” night. Moses may have been one of only a few who had ever been outside Egypt. Somehow all these people needed leadership and guidance as they fled from Egypt in the night. How did they avoid mass confusion, mob hysteria, trampling over the children and elderly, in their rush to escape Egypt, in the darkness of night? Remember, all around them they could also hear the terrifying wailing of Egypt, mourning their dead.
Have you ever heard the death wail? Dawn and I have… in Haiti, that’s how death was announced and grieved. We lived close to the mission hospital, so we heard it often, especially in the night. And because family would often be gathered, if someone was very sick… one wailing person would ignite an avalanche of wailing which would spread across the village quickly. It’s actually quite frightening to hear wailing all around you… so this picture of Passover night is not difficult for me to imagine…and feel. How did it not all turn into an out of control mob trampling each other?
I believe Exodus 13 gives us some answers. Look at vs. 21&22: “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” God, the master strategist, had a plan…and was working His plan.
Because their escape began in the middle of the night, I believe it’s fair to assume that “pillar of fire” was what God used, that first night, to lead them in beginning their journey east, out of Egypt. Probably the word spread quickly…“Follow the Cloud”.
Remember, there were no street lights…so the pillar of fire lit up the landscape before them like a huge beacon in the night sky! By description it sounds like a tall cloud illuminated with a consistent yellow fire like light, so it must have been visible for many miles…and 2 million people with all their belongings and animals would cover many miles! Can you imagine?
Exodus 13 is very clear, this huge migration of people was moving under God’s guidance. In their hysteria, they did not run out of Egypt aimlessly… they followed the miracle light in the night sky. God Himself was leading them: “When Pharaoh let the people go, GOD did not lead them on the road through Philistine country, though that was shorter…God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.” (13:17,18)
I think it’s safe to presume that as night turned to daylight, that pillar of cloud did not change it’s unique “pillar” like shape, and it continued to move, leading the people forward.
“The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth. (12:37) “After leaving Succoth, they camped at Etham on the edge of the dessert.” (13:20).
My friends, did you notice that among all the various things the Hebrew slaves piled on their escape carts, was one very special piece of memorabilia? Look at vs. 19 “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” You’ll find that in Genesis 50:22-26.
You remember Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, had been presumed killed by a wild animal, when in fact he had been sold to a wondering caravan, who took him to Egypt and sold him there as a slave. Joseph’s remarkable story is found in Genesis 37-50. He had arrived in Egypt as a young slave, and about 13 years later, was promoted by the Pharaoh to be the Prime Minister of all Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh. He lived in wealth and prestige, died in honor, and was embalmed as royalty in Egypt. Nearly 400 years later, his body was now being carried out on a slave cart, with fleeing Hebrew slaves.
Joseph had been 17 yrs old when sold into slavery by his own brothers, and taken to Egypt. He died at the age of 110. But please see this friends…three times in Genesis 39 it says “The LORD was with Joseph.” May I suggest to you my friends: as this huge moving refugee nation of 2 million people walked along under the cloud by day and night, “The LORD was with them”, the same as with Joseph. God was watching very carefully.
This mass migration of humanity had begun with one man, who had done the same thing. He had left his home in Ur, in obedience to God’s invitation, and followed God’s leading, hundreds of miles to a new land called Canaan. His name was Abraham, and now, more than 500 years later, this huge tsunami of people, most of whom were direct descendants of this Abraham, was heading back to that very same Canaan, the land God had promised to Abraham and Sarah and all their descendants.
Do you remember how God made this promise to Abraham? God met with Abraham in his old age, in a moment of childless doubt, and near despair for Abraham and Sarah. In Genesis 15:4-6 God was speaking with Abraham and said “…a son will come from your own body and will be your heir… Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
As that huge tsunami of people walked along, leaving Egypt behind that first night, I wonder if some of the older ones among them who knew the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and now the burning bush and Moses, looked up into the night sky, at the millions of stars, and smiled, maybe shook their heads, and perhaps with tears running down their cheeks, said something like “O God…Oh El Shaddai, Almighty God, the faithful, promise keeping God. Oh YHWH, the great I AM…only YOU could have accomplished this remarkable, unbelievable, miracle stretching over 500 years. How will we ever thank you? How will be make sure that generations from now, they remember this miracle rescue, this Passover night?”
Well, God had an answer for that didn’t he friends? And that’s what Exodus 13:1-16 is all about… God’s plan for them to remember, generation after generation. Every eldest son was to be set aside as special, redeemed by the sacrifice of a lamb in honor of how God struck the firstborn of Egypt to finally gain their freedom, but by their obedience with the Passover lamb, the Hebrew firstborn were not slain. They were to remember with a week of special diet each year, of bread without yeast, just as they had taken out of Egypt, as they ran in the night. They were to remember with a festival each year on Passover evening. God wanted to make sure they would never forget…not only their flight from slavery to freedom, but the miracles of God which accomplished their freedom.
Here’s one last thing I’d like us to consider as we put ourselves in the middle of this huge moving tidal wave of humans, carts, and animals. . . the Hebrew slaves had not rioted like they have been doing in Hong Kong. They did not mount a revolutionary war, fighting for their independence, like in so many nations, including America. They did not hire mercenary armies from other countries to defeat the Pharaoh. They did not negotiate at the diplomatic table. What was their role in their freedom?
First they listened to Moses and Aaron tell them about God and God’s love for them, God’s awareness and concern about their bondage, and that God was coming to their rescue by His power.
Then secondly they simply watched, as God did remarkable miracles, as plagues against Egypt, demonstrating His limitless power. Each plague greater, most destructive then the one before. And they watched as God protected them, the Hebrew slaves, from the ferocity of the plagues.
But then my friends, there came a point where the Hebrew slaves needed to move from just listening, just watching, to belief, decision and action. That was Passover night. They had to decide…would they trust God enough to kill a lamb, spread blood on the OUTSIDE of the door frame of their home, pack their bags in preparation, prepare a last meal, eat in haste, and then MOVE when the door was opened to flee Egypt, leaving slavery behind…and move forward as God’s people, in full submission to His leadership?
Can you see it my friends… it’s our story too, isn’t it?That’s how we were rescued from our sin slavery! So tonight, I invite you to step outside, look up at the stars, imagine yourself surrounded by fleeing Hebrew slaves… and thank God, that if you’ve trusted Jesus, you are part of a huge global group of Jesus people, no longer 2 million, but perhaps nearly 1 Billion people, all following the Holy Spirit of God on our journey with Jesus. That’s why I call our summer journey “Walking With Jesus.”
Oh Lord Jesus. . .
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.