COMPLAINING
I.
#1 – The people complained to Moses that because of Him and His talk of a promised land, Pharaoh made things worse for them – Exodus 5:1-22
Exodus 5:1 And after that, Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go so that they may keep a feast to me in the waste land.
2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, to whose voice I am to give ear and let Israel go? I have no knowledge of the Lord and I will not let Israel go.
3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God, so that he may not send death on us by disease or the sword.
4 And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people away from their work? get back to your work.
5 And Pharaoh said, Truly, the people of the land are increasing in number, and you are keeping them back from their work.
6 The same day Pharaoh gave orders to the overseers and those who were responsible for the work, saying,
7 Give these men no more dry stems for their brick-making as you have been doing; let them go and get the material for themselves.
8 But see that they make the same number of bricks as before, and no less: for they have no love for work; and so they are crying out and saying, Let us go and make an offering to our God.
9 Give the men harder work, and see that they do it; let them not give attention to false words.
10 And the overseers of the people and their responsible men went out and said to the people, Pharaoh says, I will give you no more dry stems.
11 Go yourselves and get dry stems wherever you are able; for your work is not to be any less.
12 So the people were sent in all directions through the land of Egypt to get dry grass for stems.
13 And the overseers went on driving them and saying, Do your full day's work as before when there were dry stems for you.
14 And the responsible men of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's overseers had put over them, were given blows, and they said to them, Why have you not done your regular work, in making bricks as before?
15 Then the responsible men of the children of Israel came to Pharaoh, protesting and saying, Why are you acting in this way to your servants?
16 They give us no dry stems and they say to us, Make bricks: and they give your servants blows; but it is your people who are in the wrong.
17 But he said, You have no love for work: that is why you say, Let us go and make an offering to the Lord.
18 Go now, get back to your work; no dry stems will be given to you, but you are to make the full number of bricks.
19 Then the responsible men of the children of Israel saw that they were purposing evil when they said, The number of bricks which you have to make every day will be no less than before.
20 And they came face to face with Moses and Aaron, who were in their way when they came out from Pharaoh:
21 And they said to them, May the Lord take note of you and be your judge; for you have given Pharaoh and his servants a bad opinion of us, putting a sword in their hands for our destruction.
22 And Moses went back to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you done evil to this people? why have you sent me?
23 For from the time when I came to Pharaoh to put your words before him, he has done evil to this people, and you have given them no help.
Ex 6:1 And the Lord said to Moses, Now you will see what I am about to do to Pharaoh; for by a strong hand he will be forced to let them go, driving them out of his land because of my outstretched arm.
2 And God said to Moses, I am Yahweh:
3 I let myself be seen by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God, the Ruler of all; but they had no knowledge of my name Yahweh.
4 And I made an agreement with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their wanderings.
5 And truly my ears are open to the cry of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep under their yoke; and I have kept in mind my agreement.
6 Say then to the children of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will take you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and make you safe from their power, and will make you free by the strength of my arm after great punishments.
7 And I will take you to be my people and I will be your God; and you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, who takes you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
8 And I will be your guide into the land which I made an oath to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for your heritage: I am Yahweh.
(BBE)
Matt Henry:
Exodus 5:1 Ex 5:1
INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS CHAPTER 5
Moses and Aaron are here dealing with Pharaoh, to get leave of him to go and worship in the wilderness.
I. They demand leave in the name of God (Ex 5:1), and he answers their demand with a defiance of God, Ex 5:2.
II. They beg leave in the name of Israel (Ex 5:3), and he answers their request with further orders to oppress Israel, Ex 5:4-9. These cruel orders were,
1. Executed by the task masters, Ex 5:10-14.
2. Complained of to Pharaoh, but in vain, Ex 5:15-19.
3. Complained of by the people to Moses (Ex 5:20-21), and by him to God, Ex 5:22-23.
Ver. 1.
Moses and Aaron, having delivered their message to the elders of Israel, with whom they found good acceptance, are now to deal with Pharaoh, to whom they come in peril of their lives--Moses particularly, who perhaps was out-lawed for killing the Egyptian forty years before, so that if any of the old courtiers should happen to remember that against him now it might cost him his head. Their message itself was displeasing, and touch Pharaoh both in his honour and in his profit, two tender points; yet these faithful ambassadors boldly deliver it, whether he will hear or whether he will forbear.
I. Their demand is piously bold: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, Ex 5:1. Moses, in treating with the elders of Israel, is directed to call God the God of their fathers; but, in treating with Pharaoh, they call him the God of Israel, and it is the first time we find him called so in scripture: he is called the God of Israel, the person (Ge 33:20); but here it is Israel, the people. They are just beginning to be formed into a people when God is called their God. Moses, it is likely, was directed to call him so, at least it might be inferred from Ex 9:22, Israel is my son. In this great name they deliver their message: Let my people go.
1. They were God's people, and therefore Pharaoh ought not to detain them in bondage. Note, God will own his own people, though ever so poor and despicable, and will find a time to plead their cause.
"The Israelites are slaves in Egypt, but they are my people," says God, "and I will not suffer them to be always trampled upon."
See Isa 52:4-5.
2. He expected services and sacrifices from them, and therefore they must have leave to go where they could freely exercise their religion, without giving offence to, or receiving offence from, the Egyptians. Note, God delivers his people out of the hand of their enemies, that they may serve him, and serve him cheerfully, that they may hold a feast to him, which they may do, while they have his favour and presence, even in a wilderness, a dry and barren land.
II. Pharaoh's answer is impiously bold: Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? Ex 5:2. Being summoned to surrender, he thus hangs out the flag of defiance, hectors Moses and the God that sends him, and peremptorily refuses to let Israel go; he will not treat about it, nor so much as bear the mention of it. Observe,
1. How scornfully he speaks of the God of Israel:
"Who is Jehovah? I neither know him nor care for him, neither value him nor fear him:"
it is a hard name that he never heard of before, but he resolves it shall be no bug-bear to him. Israel was now a despised oppressed people, looked on as the tail of the nation, and, by the character they bore, Pharaoh makes his estimate of their God, and concludes that he made no better a figure among the gods than his people did among the nations. Note, Hardened persecutors are more malicious against God himself than they are against his people.
See Isa 37:23.
Isa 37:22 This is the word which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of you.
23 Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? and against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even against the Holy One of Israel.
24 You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.
25 I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry.
(BBE)
Again, Ignorance and contempt of God are at the bottom of all the wickedness that is in the world. Men know not the Lord, or have very low and mean thoughts of him, and therefore they obey not his voice, nor will let any thing go for him.
2. How proudly he speaks of himself:
"That I should obey his voice; I, the king of Egypt, a great people, obey the God of Israel, a poor enslaved people? Shall I, that rule the Israel of God, obey the God of Israel? No, it is below me; I scorn to answer his summons."
Note, Those are the children of pride that are the children of disobedience, Job 41:34; Eph 5:6. Proud men think themselves too good to stoop even to God himself, and would not be under control, Jer 43:2. Here is the core of the controversy: God must rule, but man will not be ruled.
"I will have my will done," says God: "But I will do my own will,"
says the sinner.
3. How resolutely he denies the demand: Neither will I let Israel go. Note, Of all sinners none are so obstinate, nor so hardly persuaded to leave their sin, as persecutors are.
God has His men go directly to the leadership, to the one who sets the tone of the country, as the dominating head of the government, as one who claims to represent the gods, all the gods. Pharaoh represents himself as a god. Something that has gone on since Eden. Recall the suggestions of the children of Cain as gods and recall all the archaeological evidence of gods and goddesses. The myths that exist at this time in Egypt. In tribal life, there was the chief or king and the priest or medicine man, falsely linking herbal medicines to naturalism. Pharaoh had his priests at that time. And his priest were magicians so they worshiped forces that could grant them miraculous powers and also the intellectual ability to deceive with illusion.
But for this he consults no one, He has no knowledge of God. A situation Israel would eventually face with a "generation that knew not the Lord." People who don't know God will seldom if ever regard his orders or directions.
People see God in different ways. Some regard him as their father and see him as they saw their father, larger than them, hovering over them, telling them what to do, how to do it, demanding obedience. they obey out of fear or deference. They don't see love. They see "sinners in the hands of an angry God" and Cotton Mather echoes ever after for them.
But those folks also run to the goddess, they become Catholic for, as one woman told a friend when he asked about Mary in their religion: "When you have a problem, wouldn't you rather talk to your mother?" And the goddess worship rotates in. God seen for his feminine side.
One reason the kings and princes act as dominating fools is that power corrupts unless tempered by perfect love. Another is that demonic forces corrupt them to portraying a god of no conscience so the people will think of the real God that way. They are led to portray the strong man and the ideal of protecting the country
The idea of the king being god became the idea that God put the king in his place. It also came from the Bible when we see the way David treats Saul, not willing to touch him because he was appointed by Samuel. Divine Right, being born to be the King through family evolved and then there were all manner of family wars to gain a throne and regain a throne and all manner of murders to hold a throne and kings marrying as often as possible to produce male heirs,
Today any leader can claim God put him in place. It seems to be the correct call. So those who believe in God who attacked Obama incessantly were defying God and His choice of leaders. They would be the same ones who would be violently opposed to anyone saying anything bad about their president. Citing facts can be as offensive as any insult if the facts are not flattering. Trump seemed at first aiming to run for president as if it were Pharaoh, an office of ultimate power. Such foolishness was quashed but the fact he seemed to think if made it seem more and more as if he were running to be THE Antichrist. Certainly the fact of end times indicates God may be moving to place the Antichrist and those who will support him and the plan revealed in Daniel and Revelation.
In those days, the king WAS the CEO. Even more powerful. Everything and everyONE in his kingdom belonged to him. People lived and died at his whim. American's cannot imagine that lifestyle even as they seem to be plunging toward it headlong. Antichrist will demand the mark to do business and slaughter believers and the unmarked. During the Pharaoh's era even the overseers existed at his beck and call, Even the wizards and the royals and the merchants existed at his choice. His army gave him strength and the strength came because God had a plan for him. To be on the throne at that time and in that place.
And Israel was his slave. God blessed Egypt while the tribes were there and Pharaoh has forgotten they were the reason for the blessing because he was never taught that lesson, or, if he heard it, he didn't listen.
But, again, they were slaves. They learned to live under oppression and accept that oppression as a fact of life. Today, "slave mentality" has been so misused and abused I will not use that term. The idea does fit their situation to a degree though: the People were held under the condition of being ordered and to follow orders. They had become inured to evil side effects. That is, that any orders are to be followed. They expected to be obedient. They expected to be repressed and that oppression and repression were viewed as a fact of their life. They were not used to having a choice nor were they used to being given a choice.
God gives all of us that choice. We can choose to follow him or go back to the repression of sin. But we have become used to living in sin, under its power, following Satan in one way or another. We have a "sin mentality". We are led to believe that there are ways out. We can use our personal power, get educated the "correct" way and get money and power and we are able to climb out from under the thumb that oppresses us. That's the general myth of the people preaching "slave mentality." They point out, sometimes correctly, that the idea of going to the government for food and clothing and necessities has become a lifestyle. It has discouraged work. But they are not replacing that ideal with truth, but rather a notion that is equally belittling. That our current African American population can't understand these things without their brilliant explanation. The preachers are as misled as the ones on TV toting a Santa God or a rise to personal power via God. As with all myths, everything is over simplified. This line ignores Christ's statement that "the poor will always be with you." Because any capitalist economy will always by design leave some behind, will cling to the false evolutionary notion that the weak will always be culled out and discarded and only the strongest, that is "best". will survive. It's a myth of the ruling class as much as the statement's of the king's godhood.
But the People were in fact following their myths which saw God as getting them out from under without it costing them anything. God himself was a myth to them, someone far off and "safe" not the majestic power who would give them freedom at the cost of learning to obey him but as the god who would take them out from under without them learning his lessons and giving up those beloved myths.
Yes, they had a "slave mentality" but God wanted them to understand what Americans also have to understand. The king in NOT God. The rich are not superior in any moral or spiritual way. Nor are the poor as James pointed out. GOD IS GOD and he will be there forever and our slavery is under HIM, no matter the government we are under. The plagues and the battle to exemplify the false gods as ALL false, even the wealth of Egypt and the lure of the Fallen Flesh.
But the slaves blamed the messengers for their new woes. They were not mad at the king for acting as the king but at the messengers for beginning to set them free.
This is one theme of the Bible, that the messenger will bring the truth and the truth will set men free but they will find a good deal of trouble in the truth and constantly want to go back to Egypt, to the world, mad at God for not properly greasing the rails so they could slid easily into freedom.
Unable to realize their life as slaves was preparation for their life a God's slaves.
And this is but the first trial and every trial will bring complaints and each complaint will bring an answer.
I.
#1 – The people complained to Moses that because of Him and His talk of a promised land, Pharaoh made things worse for them – Exodus 5:1-22
Exodus 5:1 And after that, Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go so that they may keep a feast to me in the waste land.
2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, to whose voice I am to give ear and let Israel go? I have no knowledge of the Lord and I will not let Israel go.
3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God, so that he may not send death on us by disease or the sword.
4 And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people away from their work? get back to your work.
5 And Pharaoh said, Truly, the people of the land are increasing in number, and you are keeping them back from their work.
6 The same day Pharaoh gave orders to the overseers and those who were responsible for the work, saying,
7 Give these men no more dry stems for their brick-making as you have been doing; let them go and get the material for themselves.
8 But see that they make the same number of bricks as before, and no less: for they have no love for work; and so they are crying out and saying, Let us go and make an offering to our God.
9 Give the men harder work, and see that they do it; let them not give attention to false words.
10 And the overseers of the people and their responsible men went out and said to the people, Pharaoh says, I will give you no more dry stems.
11 Go yourselves and get dry stems wherever you are able; for your work is not to be any less.
12 So the people were sent in all directions through the land of Egypt to get dry grass for stems.
13 And the overseers went on driving them and saying, Do your full day's work as before when there were dry stems for you.
14 And the responsible men of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's overseers had put over them, were given blows, and they said to them, Why have you not done your regular work, in making bricks as before?
15 Then the responsible men of the children of Israel came to Pharaoh, protesting and saying, Why are you acting in this way to your servants?
16 They give us no dry stems and they say to us, Make bricks: and they give your servants blows; but it is your people who are in the wrong.
17 But he said, You have no love for work: that is why you say, Let us go and make an offering to the Lord.
18 Go now, get back to your work; no dry stems will be given to you, but you are to make the full number of bricks.
19 Then the responsible men of the children of Israel saw that they were purposing evil when they said, The number of bricks which you have to make every day will be no less than before.
20 And they came face to face with Moses and Aaron, who were in their way when they came out from Pharaoh:
21 And they said to them, May the Lord take note of you and be your judge; for you have given Pharaoh and his servants a bad opinion of us, putting a sword in their hands for our destruction.
22 And Moses went back to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you done evil to this people? why have you sent me?
23 For from the time when I came to Pharaoh to put your words before him, he has done evil to this people, and you have given them no help.
Ex 6:1 And the Lord said to Moses, Now you will see what I am about to do to Pharaoh; for by a strong hand he will be forced to let them go, driving them out of his land because of my outstretched arm.
2 And God said to Moses, I am Yahweh:
3 I let myself be seen by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God, the Ruler of all; but they had no knowledge of my name Yahweh.
4 And I made an agreement with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their wanderings.
5 And truly my ears are open to the cry of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep under their yoke; and I have kept in mind my agreement.
6 Say then to the children of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will take you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and make you safe from their power, and will make you free by the strength of my arm after great punishments.
7 And I will take you to be my people and I will be your God; and you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, who takes you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
8 And I will be your guide into the land which I made an oath to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for your heritage: I am Yahweh.
(BBE)
Matt Henry:
Exodus 5:1 Ex 5:1
INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS CHAPTER 5
Moses and Aaron are here dealing with Pharaoh, to get leave of him to go and worship in the wilderness.
I. They demand leave in the name of God (Ex 5:1), and he answers their demand with a defiance of God, Ex 5:2.
II. They beg leave in the name of Israel (Ex 5:3), and he answers their request with further orders to oppress Israel, Ex 5:4-9. These cruel orders were,
1. Executed by the task masters, Ex 5:10-14.
2. Complained of to Pharaoh, but in vain, Ex 5:15-19.
3. Complained of by the people to Moses (Ex 5:20-21), and by him to God, Ex 5:22-23.
Ver. 1.
Moses and Aaron, having delivered their message to the elders of Israel, with whom they found good acceptance, are now to deal with Pharaoh, to whom they come in peril of their lives--Moses particularly, who perhaps was out-lawed for killing the Egyptian forty years before, so that if any of the old courtiers should happen to remember that against him now it might cost him his head. Their message itself was displeasing, and touch Pharaoh both in his honour and in his profit, two tender points; yet these faithful ambassadors boldly deliver it, whether he will hear or whether he will forbear.
I. Their demand is piously bold: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, Ex 5:1. Moses, in treating with the elders of Israel, is directed to call God the God of their fathers; but, in treating with Pharaoh, they call him the God of Israel, and it is the first time we find him called so in scripture: he is called the God of Israel, the person (Ge 33:20); but here it is Israel, the people. They are just beginning to be formed into a people when God is called their God. Moses, it is likely, was directed to call him so, at least it might be inferred from Ex 9:22, Israel is my son. In this great name they deliver their message: Let my people go.
1. They were God's people, and therefore Pharaoh ought not to detain them in bondage. Note, God will own his own people, though ever so poor and despicable, and will find a time to plead their cause.
"The Israelites are slaves in Egypt, but they are my people," says God, "and I will not suffer them to be always trampled upon."
See Isa 52:4-5.
2. He expected services and sacrifices from them, and therefore they must have leave to go where they could freely exercise their religion, without giving offence to, or receiving offence from, the Egyptians. Note, God delivers his people out of the hand of their enemies, that they may serve him, and serve him cheerfully, that they may hold a feast to him, which they may do, while they have his favour and presence, even in a wilderness, a dry and barren land.
II. Pharaoh's answer is impiously bold: Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? Ex 5:2. Being summoned to surrender, he thus hangs out the flag of defiance, hectors Moses and the God that sends him, and peremptorily refuses to let Israel go; he will not treat about it, nor so much as bear the mention of it. Observe,
1. How scornfully he speaks of the God of Israel:
"Who is Jehovah? I neither know him nor care for him, neither value him nor fear him:"
it is a hard name that he never heard of before, but he resolves it shall be no bug-bear to him. Israel was now a despised oppressed people, looked on as the tail of the nation, and, by the character they bore, Pharaoh makes his estimate of their God, and concludes that he made no better a figure among the gods than his people did among the nations. Note, Hardened persecutors are more malicious against God himself than they are against his people.
See Isa 37:23.
Isa 37:22 This is the word which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of you.
23 Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? and against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even against the Holy One of Israel.
24 You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.
25 I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry.
(BBE)
Again, Ignorance and contempt of God are at the bottom of all the wickedness that is in the world. Men know not the Lord, or have very low and mean thoughts of him, and therefore they obey not his voice, nor will let any thing go for him.
2. How proudly he speaks of himself:
"That I should obey his voice; I, the king of Egypt, a great people, obey the God of Israel, a poor enslaved people? Shall I, that rule the Israel of God, obey the God of Israel? No, it is below me; I scorn to answer his summons."
Note, Those are the children of pride that are the children of disobedience, Job 41:34; Eph 5:6. Proud men think themselves too good to stoop even to God himself, and would not be under control, Jer 43:2. Here is the core of the controversy: God must rule, but man will not be ruled.
"I will have my will done," says God: "But I will do my own will,"
says the sinner.
3. How resolutely he denies the demand: Neither will I let Israel go. Note, Of all sinners none are so obstinate, nor so hardly persuaded to leave their sin, as persecutors are.
God has His men go directly to the leadership, to the one who sets the tone of the country, as the dominating head of the government, as one who claims to represent the gods, all the gods. Pharaoh represents himself as a god. Something that has gone on since Eden. Recall the suggestions of the children of Cain as gods and recall all the archaeological evidence of gods and goddesses. The myths that exist at this time in Egypt. In tribal life, there was the chief or king and the priest or medicine man, falsely linking herbal medicines to naturalism. Pharaoh had his priests at that time. And his priest were magicians so they worshiped forces that could grant them miraculous powers and also the intellectual ability to deceive with illusion.
But for this he consults no one, He has no knowledge of God. A situation Israel would eventually face with a "generation that knew not the Lord." People who don't know God will seldom if ever regard his orders or directions.
People see God in different ways. Some regard him as their father and see him as they saw their father, larger than them, hovering over them, telling them what to do, how to do it, demanding obedience. they obey out of fear or deference. They don't see love. They see "sinners in the hands of an angry God" and Cotton Mather echoes ever after for them.
But those folks also run to the goddess, they become Catholic for, as one woman told a friend when he asked about Mary in their religion: "When you have a problem, wouldn't you rather talk to your mother?" And the goddess worship rotates in. God seen for his feminine side.
One reason the kings and princes act as dominating fools is that power corrupts unless tempered by perfect love. Another is that demonic forces corrupt them to portraying a god of no conscience so the people will think of the real God that way. They are led to portray the strong man and the ideal of protecting the country
The idea of the king being god became the idea that God put the king in his place. It also came from the Bible when we see the way David treats Saul, not willing to touch him because he was appointed by Samuel. Divine Right, being born to be the King through family evolved and then there were all manner of family wars to gain a throne and regain a throne and all manner of murders to hold a throne and kings marrying as often as possible to produce male heirs,
Today any leader can claim God put him in place. It seems to be the correct call. So those who believe in God who attacked Obama incessantly were defying God and His choice of leaders. They would be the same ones who would be violently opposed to anyone saying anything bad about their president. Citing facts can be as offensive as any insult if the facts are not flattering. Trump seemed at first aiming to run for president as if it were Pharaoh, an office of ultimate power. Such foolishness was quashed but the fact he seemed to think if made it seem more and more as if he were running to be THE Antichrist. Certainly the fact of end times indicates God may be moving to place the Antichrist and those who will support him and the plan revealed in Daniel and Revelation.
In those days, the king WAS the CEO. Even more powerful. Everything and everyONE in his kingdom belonged to him. People lived and died at his whim. American's cannot imagine that lifestyle even as they seem to be plunging toward it headlong. Antichrist will demand the mark to do business and slaughter believers and the unmarked. During the Pharaoh's era even the overseers existed at his beck and call, Even the wizards and the royals and the merchants existed at his choice. His army gave him strength and the strength came because God had a plan for him. To be on the throne at that time and in that place.
And Israel was his slave. God blessed Egypt while the tribes were there and Pharaoh has forgotten they were the reason for the blessing because he was never taught that lesson, or, if he heard it, he didn't listen.
But, again, they were slaves. They learned to live under oppression and accept that oppression as a fact of life. Today, "slave mentality" has been so misused and abused I will not use that term. The idea does fit their situation to a degree though: the People were held under the condition of being ordered and to follow orders. They had become inured to evil side effects. That is, that any orders are to be followed. They expected to be obedient. They expected to be repressed and that oppression and repression were viewed as a fact of their life. They were not used to having a choice nor were they used to being given a choice.
God gives all of us that choice. We can choose to follow him or go back to the repression of sin. But we have become used to living in sin, under its power, following Satan in one way or another. We have a "sin mentality". We are led to believe that there are ways out. We can use our personal power, get educated the "correct" way and get money and power and we are able to climb out from under the thumb that oppresses us. That's the general myth of the people preaching "slave mentality." They point out, sometimes correctly, that the idea of going to the government for food and clothing and necessities has become a lifestyle. It has discouraged work. But they are not replacing that ideal with truth, but rather a notion that is equally belittling. That our current African American population can't understand these things without their brilliant explanation. The preachers are as misled as the ones on TV toting a Santa God or a rise to personal power via God. As with all myths, everything is over simplified. This line ignores Christ's statement that "the poor will always be with you." Because any capitalist economy will always by design leave some behind, will cling to the false evolutionary notion that the weak will always be culled out and discarded and only the strongest, that is "best". will survive. It's a myth of the ruling class as much as the statement's of the king's godhood.
But the People were in fact following their myths which saw God as getting them out from under without it costing them anything. God himself was a myth to them, someone far off and "safe" not the majestic power who would give them freedom at the cost of learning to obey him but as the god who would take them out from under without them learning his lessons and giving up those beloved myths.
Yes, they had a "slave mentality" but God wanted them to understand what Americans also have to understand. The king in NOT God. The rich are not superior in any moral or spiritual way. Nor are the poor as James pointed out. GOD IS GOD and he will be there forever and our slavery is under HIM, no matter the government we are under. The plagues and the battle to exemplify the false gods as ALL false, even the wealth of Egypt and the lure of the Fallen Flesh.
But the slaves blamed the messengers for their new woes. They were not mad at the king for acting as the king but at the messengers for beginning to set them free.
This is one theme of the Bible, that the messenger will bring the truth and the truth will set men free but they will find a good deal of trouble in the truth and constantly want to go back to Egypt, to the world, mad at God for not properly greasing the rails so they could slid easily into freedom.
Unable to realize their life as slaves was preparation for their life a God's slaves.
And this is but the first trial and every trial will bring complaints and each complaint will bring an answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment