Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 11:1 (New Living Translation)

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will strike Pharaoh and the land of Egypt with one more blow. After that, Pharaoh will let you leave this country. In fact, he will be so eager to get rid of you that he will force you all to leave.

God’s people were “slaves” in Egypt. We tend to toss about that word: slave. From reading the scriptures, what it meant in Egypt with God’s people is that they were in a defenseless position. Their Egyptian masters had the physical power to force them to do whatever. Work on this, work on that, and work harder. The Egyptians largely controlled the food that was allocated to these descendants of Jacob who had moved to Egypt to avoid a famine some 400 years earlier.

Life in Egypt was not good. Life in Egypt, however, was not terrible. Egypt was a world power with an advanced civilization, government, education, and the like. Today, the poor in America are rich compared to the rest of the world. God’s people in Egypt had a similar situation. Life wasn’t great, but it was life.

In the verse above, Jehovah God tells Moses that God will strike such a horrible blow to Pharaoh and the land of Egypt that the Egyptians will force the people to leave. “Get out of here! Now!”

It would be great to be “free” from the oppression in Egypt. It would not be great to hit the road. The best case would be freedom and full rights of residents in Egypt. That, however, was not an option. So, hit the road, good riddance, and good luck for a million of you wandering in the wilderness in tents. Where will you plant crops? Where will you make food? See ya.

God provided. Even before the disobedience and wandering for 40 years, God provided and God’s provisions were a miracle. There is no reason to believe that a million people could live in tents and survive. God provided.

Praise be to the miraculous power of God. I believe that if I keep my eyes open I can see the miraculous power of God before me everyday.