January 21: Exodus 12:1 – 14:20
There
is a lot of information today on the celebration of Passover and the subsequent
week. I wonder if there were any Israelite families who ignored the advice and
didn’t paint lamb blood on their thresholds? And did some of the Israelites
share the advice with their Egyptian friends who might have feared God and
painted theirs?
Verse
12:37 tells us they travelled from Rameses to Succoth, approximately 110 miles!
600,000 men plus women, children and others, along with livestock and all their
earthly belongings could probably only travel about 10 miles per day. Can you
imagine the noise and the mess? The Bible says the people went boldly – not in
fear or despair. Oh, what a celebration it must have been! Yet I can’t help but
wonder how many people fretted about their destination – what would the land be
like? How would they find places to live? What would they do to keep the
children happy on the journey? Did they bring enough food? And what ‘treasures’
were left behind that people now regretted not packing? How many were asking
‘are we there yet?’
But
God kept vigil over them (v12:42), and traveled before them in a pillar of fire
at night and cloud by day which never left its place in front of the people
until the Egyptians came. I bet it must have been easy to follow the path of
all those people! Yet when they came upon the Israelite camp God moved behind
his chosen people and blocked them from view and protecting them all night long
as they continued their journey.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment