The story is truly fantastic and factual, an ark of salvation for 8 human beings, surviving the Great Flood of 5000 BC. From one of Noah's sons, after the Flood: Abraham, the first Jew; from Abraham: Isaac; then Jacob; then from Jacob: the great patriarchs, the great family of the Old Testament. Because of Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachael, the Jewish nation flourished in Egypt, but became slaves of the Egyptians.
In one of the first tests of eugenics the rapidly multiplying slaves, like the ark of salvation for Noah and his family, a small ark was constructed by Jochebed and Amram, parents of Moses (somewhere between the 12th and 13th centuries BC). Mostly because of Moses's older sister Miriam, Moses spent the first 40 years of his life in the palace of Pharaoh learning everything about the knowledge of the known civilizations of his day.
It is obvious that Moses knew his ancestry, his older sister and his brothers, but Moses made the mistake that many of us make: thinking that our families and people we know will understand our actions. After Moses killed an Egyptian who was torturing two fellow Jews and buried him, he learned, just as many of us have, that people really do not understand our actions, even if done for their benefit. (Exodus 2:14)
God gave Moses 40 years in the desert to whet his future. No other man has had such basic training. When God approached Moses in the back of the desert, He knew who he was and where he was. If you are God's, He knows where you are and what you are doing. (Ezekiel 8:12). There is no record that God ever talked to Moses before the burning bush.
While Moses was being prepared in the desert, his fellow Jews were being prepared in Egypt. 40 years previously, they had not suffered enough, were not ready to follow. God had to hear their cries. (Exodus 2:23-24) Even so, like many of us, abused and misused, bearing our marks of enslavement, as did the children of Israel after being delivered through the Red Sea. They were so quickly ready to return to Egypt because of memories there (melons, cucumbers, etc.). Like new Christians, delivered, redeemed. They were not ready for the hardships involved in salvation: being different, eating and drinking different, longsuffering.
Moses wanted the millions he was leading from Egyptian bondage to have the same experience with God that he had. He headed for the backside of the desert where he had encountered the burning bush, near Mt. Sinai. Moses, like most leaders, encountered early in his leadership, the difficulties involved in trying to please people. (Galatians 1:10) This civilization was particularly stiff-necked, unyielding people. God would break them through trials and tribulations, and the older ones he had delivered would never enter the promised land because of their unbelief. After they had witnessed the miracles, both in Egypt and in the desert, knowing God's hand of protection and correction above them, when Moses went to top of the mountain for his face to face encounter with God and obtaining the commandments (commandments written by God alone), the first actions of the ex-slaves and even his own family, taking some of the gold wealth of Egypt and building an idol to worship. When Moses came down from the mountain, sin always leads to nakedness, they were dancing naked around the golden calf.
Today's Christians must realize the Word of God is a sharp knife (Hebrews 4:10), cutting away the mystery and giving us the absolutes. From the encounters of early Judaism, and the way it affect Gentiles, the church, we learn many valuable lessons. God is in charge, nothing shocks Him. We may need not spend 40 years preparing but He will shape us. Don't expect anyone to understand, it may be necessary to give up many things including family and friends...the potter controls the clay.
I never fully understood the struggle, the forgiving, the forgetting. Like many, anxious to achieve my own objectives, I did not take the time that I should have taken with so many people. Their blood is on my hands, and many had not sunk deep enough to want a helping hand. Lost, but hanging on.
There is a blessing in adversity, you appreciate health after disease. I must believe that God equips us to do what He wants us to do, and sometimes it takes a long time. We just do not have the sense to read the guidepost along the way. Alfred Lord Tennyson said, “more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” Only by learning to pray submissively, “thy will be done”, will we learn to profit from the adversity as well as the successes of life. Living is a learning experience. The older I get, the more I realize just how little I knew when I was young. Money is neutral, checkbooks and bank accounts show our values.
Even Christians may learn the pruning knife of God (Psalm 119:17). The greatest blessing of my life is the blessing of blindness because it has brought me closer to God than I ever would have been otherwise. I know what it is to walk by faith, not by sight.
The prodigal son (the greatest story in all the world) was never the same after he left home. He found he did not have a taste for hog slop, remembered the nice food on his father's table. You can believe that after his conversion, he knew obedience to his holy father. I don't know about the older brother or the father, both needed a retread to continue their journey. But we do know the blessings of redemption for a prodigal son. Thanks be to God for giving us guideposts leading across our eternal life.
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