What would it be like to directly encounter God in person? This question bears much more reflection than we are typically inclined to give it. We live in a day and an age characterized by glibness and superficiality, and we are inclined to approach God with the same kind of casualness that we would approach … Continue reading God’s Call Upon Moses (Exodus chs. 3-4)
From a Son of God to a Shepherd in the Wilderness (Exodus 2)
In this chapter we have three vignettes of Moses’s life: how he was saved from the genocide being perpetrated against his people; his failed attempt at delivering his people, and his flight to Midian (today in northwestern Saudi Arabia). Interestingly, when Stephen the Deacon recounts Moses’s role in redemptive history in Acts 7:17-43, he spends … Continue reading From a Son of God to a Shepherd in the Wilderness (Exodus 2)
Strangers in a Strange Land (Exodus 1)
The Book of Exodus begins with a listing of the members of Jacob’s family who came to Egypt when Joseph was vizier over the land and connects Exodus seamlessly to the final chapters of Genesis. The transition is so seamless, in fact, that one does not notice the fact that more than four hundred years … Continue reading Strangers in a Strange Land (Exodus 1)
Joseph, the Bridge Between the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants (Gen. 37-50)
The Joseph narrative is the longest in Genesis, occupying nearly a quarter of the book by itself. The length may be due to the fact that this narrative would have been the most relevant to God’s people as they came out of Egypt, connecting the covenant promises God gave to the patriarchs with the fulfillment … Continue reading Joseph, the Bridge Between the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants (Gen. 37-50)
The Covenant with Jacob (Gen. 28:10-36:43)
The Jacob narrative is bookended by his time in Bethel. It is in Bethel, when he is fleeing from his brother Esau that he receives a vision of a ladder between Heaven and Earth on which angels of God were ascending and descending (Gen. 28:12). Most commentators understand this not as a ladder as we … Continue reading The Covenant with Jacob (Gen. 28:10-36:43)
