Chaplain - The Enemy makes himself known

Who is Yahweh?

When we examine our life in light of God’s promises, it produces lament

When we examine our life in light of what we deserve, it produces praise.

When we examine our life in light of God’s action or percieved inaction, it reveals our idols.

Introduction

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. - Sun Tzu

Behold your enemy:

Defiant

Destructive

Divisive

Defiant 1-2

Exodus 5:1-2-Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.” 2 But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

The word festival = Hadji = pilgrimage

Egyptian records show such events for worship in the wilderness. So it’s likely Pharoah would have expected or been familiar with such an occurrence.

Who is the Yahweh? Pharaoh makes a question that essentially will take the rest of exodus and the Bible to answer.

Strange way to ask for freedom? I thought they were supposed to be set free.

In ancient times this was a polite way to negotiate. They would start with a small request and work their way up to the real request. An example of this is Abraham negotiating with Ephron in Genesis 23. Abraham wanted the cave and the field but first he asked for the cave.

What is interesting here is that Pharoah is asking this question most likely because who Yahweh is was not clear when looking at the lives of the Isralites. The Isralites had forgot who God is and had started to worship the gods of the Egyptians.

Is this how you imagined this interaction between Pharoah and Moses to go? I don’t know about you but I imagined a scene from a mobster movie. Moses walks in, Pharoah would kiss his ring, terms of the isralites release would be dictated to Pharoah, and Banda boom bada bing, deals done.

Thats what it would look like if you or I were God. But we get something completely different when God is God. We don’t get a UFC fight that is over in the first two seconds of the opening round because God lays pharoah out with a haymaker putting his jaw and scull in two separate time zones. We get a question, who is Yahweh?

The question I would like for you to think about while we read is, why? Why is it happening like this?

This is nothing but defiance. The reason this isn’t gong the way we imagine, is because much more is going on here than first meets the eye. This isn’t a conflict between Moses and Pharoah, or Egypt vs. Israel. This is a war between God and the gods of Egypt. More accurately, this is a war between God and Satan. While we often fall into the trap of thinking there are two categories of other god. You know, like there’s Yahweh, then other gods. And under this catagory there are the names of gods that don’t exist, like Osiris (god of the underworld), Seth (the god of chaos), Re (god of the sun), and in the second category under other than god, is satan. But in reality, there are no sub catagories. There is only God and satan.

Now it is also easy to think that its a bit extreme. Someone might say just because I don’t worship God, doesn’t mean I’m worshiping satan. Maybe not intentionally worshiping, but still worshiping none the less. Satan is subtle.

In C.S. Lewis’s book Screwtape letters, there is a letter from a more senior demon, Screwtape, writes to his nephew, Wormwood who he is training, about keeping humans in the dark. It a bit long to quote but Screwtape tells Wormwood that he has high hopes for the time when we deny their existence. Not directly, but when we look to \

What would it look like for satan to be in charge of williamsport? The streets would be clean, there would be no crime, and every seat in every church would be filled but no gospel is proclaimed.

The point is that, we don’t have to worship satan directly to be worshiping satan. Anything less then the one true God, is satan. All

Defiance is what happened in the Garden of Eden. When satan asked Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden?” What’s underneath this question is, “Who is this God?” Whoever he is, you realize that he wants to keep good things from you.

In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. - Sun Tzu

Distructive 3-19

Exodus 5:3 - They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.”

Moses and Aaron, pleade with Pharoah. The ease up on the demand, or at least they clarify. We didn’t mean leave forever, just three days, your royal ness. Please, if you don’t, Yahweh will strike us.

If you don’t let us go, God will strike us. What they are saying is almost verbatim of what God told them to say in 3:18 with the added “or else.” They wanted Pharoah to know that they were serious about following Yahweh.

Also, as far as negotiations are concerned, if Pharoah believed at all that Yahweh was capable of killing the Isralites, it would be a significant loss, more than the three days they initially requested.

With Pharoah’s continued defiance, it shows how little he thought of Yahweh.

Exodus 5:4-5: The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your labor!” 5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are so numerous, and you would stop them from their labor.”

This is an interesting interaction. Pharoah states that the people were neglecting their work.

What this suggests is that, in the the time period from Moses and Aaron talking to the Isralites in chapter 4:31 and the interaction with Pharoah, the people of Israel had either stopped or had slowed down their proctivity in anticipation of God acting on their prayers.

So while they were waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled, they got lazy. Which is understandable right. How many people are going to detail a car they are going to give away? Why would you do that! Why waist the energy? If Jesus is coming tomorrow, why concern ourselves with things of today.

God of the Hebrews vs people of the land.

One of the worst things that can happen to someone is when they lose hope. Pharoah is trying to destroy the hope that the Israelites have and he is doing it through making them question who they are. If they believe they are Yahweh’s people, they have hope. If they believe they are people of the land, they will identify with their slavery and a slave belongs enslaved.

Satan wants to destroy your identity.

Last week Larry preached on how we are adopted by God.

Exodus 5:6–9 (CSB): That day Pharaoh commanded the overseers of the people as well as their foremen, 7 “Don’t continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers—that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Impose heavier work on the men. Then they will be occupied with it and not pay attention to deceptive words.”

God has shown up, given His people a promise of deliverance, and the enemy doubles down. Making the Isralites life harder. He does this by not giving them straw.

Straw is needed to make good bricks without a kiln. Before, the Egyptians gave straw for the bricks as idicated by “as before.”

Exodus 5:10–12 (CSB): So the overseers and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not giving you straw. 11 Go get straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’ ” 12 So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

Before straw was delivered to the Hebrew brick makers, in bundles. There were Egyptian fields dedicated to grow straw for this purpose. Now, no straw will be given, more than that, the straw from fields that were used before won’t be used for that purpose. They are forced to gather the stubble.

Stubble is what is left after the crop is gathered. There is a portion that sticks up a few inches before the most useful part of the plant begins. The length would have varied for a few reasons, simply plants themselves can vary, also the height would vary depending on the sickle operator.

Since only the stubble is to be harvested for the bricks, this drastically cut the supply down. Because before you would have a whole stock to chop up for the bricks, now they are forced to harvest the stubble. The supply is so limited that “the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.”

Now all of the people are now forced into labor. What we don’t know for sure if this includes women and children, but what we can be certain about is before there were people who weren’t working before or weren’t forced to be involved in the brick making process, are forced to work now to help gather straw to make bricks.

He is dirtier than vines or pigs from treading under his mud. His clothes are stiff with clay; his leather belt is going to ruin. Entering into the wind, he is miserable. . . . His sides ache, since he must be outside in a treacherous wind. . . . His arms are destroyed with technical work. . . . What he eats is the bread of his fingers, and he washes himself only once a season. He is simply wretched through and through.

Here we see another tactic of Satan’s destructive nature. Satan is trying destroy the family. Before some members of the Hebrew family would be able to not participate in the brick making slave labor, not any more. So, imagine a little boy hebrew boy Eliazar, at home helping his mom around the house, playing with his siblings, is now forced to gather, by hand, the stubble from the fields. My kids grumble when they have to pick up toys off the carpet, I can only imagine how much grumbling in the family this labor produced. So, now you have a father who’s brick making labor made much more difficult, then he comes home to a home life that is not much more difficult.

The enemy is destructive

If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. -Sun Tzu

Exodus 5:13-16-The overseers insisted, “Finish your assigned work each day, just as you did when straw was provided.” 14 Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

15 So the Israelite foremen went in and cried for help to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way? 16 No straw has been given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but it is your own people who are at fault.”

More destruction by separating the people from their own people. The overseers were Egyptian and the foremen were Hebrew. So it was the job of the foremen to ensure the slaves got their work done. If they did not, the foremen would receive the punishment. Then the foremen would in turn put presher on the laborers.

I looked and I could find any proof of this so this is my own speculation (I couldn’t find anything to refute it either) but I suspect that the foremen then would punish the laborers. Even though they are the same people, I think it’s reasonable to think that the harsh treatment was passed on. So when the foremen went to Pharoah saying, “look, your servants are being beaten.” They wanted Pharoah to know that they were doing everything the could to increase productivity.

It also plays into exactly a tactic that satan would use. You would have internal family trouble. Internal people trouble. Destroying the community of God’s people.

Exodus 5:17–19 (CSB): But he said, “You are slackers. Slackers! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must produce the same quantity of bricks.” 19 The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You cannot reduce your daily quota of bricks.”

Pharoah’s response isn’t surprising. He discounts their cry as simply laziness and he reiterates the demand of the same quota of bricks.

After bowing down and worshiping God at the news that God had heard their prayers, their labor is increase, their family is suffering more, their is strife within their own people, and Pharoah shows no sign of letting up.

Here we see the enemy’s destructive nature on full display. He has destroyed them physically with increased labor. He has destroyed their family cohesion with increased participation in the labor.

Next he goes after their leaders

Divisive 20-22

When the foremen left Pharoah, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.”

It seems that Moses and Aaron were waiting for the foremen to come back with a report on the meeting with Pharoah. For support or out of eagerness to know the result of the meeting, the foremen were not pleased with Moses and Aaron at all.

Verse 21 mirrors verse in that instead of God striking the Hebrews, the foremen believe it is actually Moses and Aaron who have provoked Pharoah to strike them.

He has destroyed their community by turning them against each other.

And then Moses went back to Yahweh. This doesn’t mean that Moses left and went to his prayer closet. Verse 22 is also translated Moses turned back to Yahweh. His whole prayer shows frustration with God. “Why have you caused trouble for this people?” Not your people, but this people. Perhaps even questioning God’s loyalty. “Why did you ever send me?” Questioning God’s wisdom in choosing Moses. Like, Lord, I told you back in chapter 4 I shouldn’t represent these poeple and here we are. But I did it and you havn’t done a thing!

Even though God told Moses that he would harden pharoah’s heart, it’s clear that it’s still not going as Moses had imagined it should go.

What rings in my ears when I read chapter 5 is the word should.

The people thought that their deliverance should look this way, Moses thought it should look that way. Pharoah questioned who is Yahweh that he should obey him.

Isn’t that our life though? At the being of the service I asked that you would take some time and reflect on your life. Looking for the shoulds. My parents should have been more this, my marriage should have been more like that, or I should have done this or that.

The shoulds in our life reveal much about who we are. It reveals our expectations, how we feel others measured up, or how we let ourselves down.

When we examine our life in light of the “shoulds” of God’s promises, it produces lament

When we examine our life in light the “shoulds” of what we deserve, it produces praise in the grace that we have received and are receiving.

When we examine our life in light the “shoulds” of God’s action or percieved inaction, “God should have done this” or God “Shouldn’t have done that” it reveals our idols.

That is what this passage is about. God isn’t interest in simply freeing the Israelites. He wants true freedom for them. opening up the gate of the fence that has the Hebrews trapped. Could he have? Of course. But there is more going on here. Could he have softened Pharoah’s heart and made him let the Isralites go? Of course! Wouldn’t you have been statisfied with that? I would have been. But, that’s because we are far to easily satisfied. God doesn’t want what is good for us, he wants what is best for us. To get there, it will take a road that we would likely avoid, but for His name sake (Psalm 23:3) according to His great wisdom, He wont let idols live in our heart. What would have happened if the Hebrew’s “should” wishes came true? If it happened the way they thought it should go. Well Pharoah (remember who is actually an archetype of Satan) might not look so bad. Or maybe Moses and Aaron would have been exalted for delivering them out of Egypt.

Defeated— Exodus 6:1 (CSB): But the Lord replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.”

We’ve seen the nature of the enemy. Satan is defiant, he is destructive, and he his divisive.

Chapter 5 looks very bleak. And how we like to stay focused on that. How many after they were baptized, experienced that hardest or one of the hardest parts of their life? How many after committing to something you felt God called you to do, it got harder.

We get stuck in the should chapter. I’m one of God’s children! I shouldn’t be experiencing this right now! We say.

Christians are not exempt from suffering, but they are exempt from hopelessness.

But the truth is, Christians get cancer. Children of belivers die. Children of God are not except from cancer or COVID, what the children of God are exempt from is hopelessness.

Regardless of what you are going through, there is a chapter 6:1. If you have been given the worst diagnosis you could imagine, take heart there is a chapter 6:1. Regardless of what this world brings you, even if its the worst possible death you can imagine, for the Christian, there is always chapter 6:1. No matter what satan throws at you, he cannot touch your soul! This life is so short, in comparison to the eternal life we have with God.

I’m not trying to make light of your suffering, I’m trying to shine a light on your suffering. As hopeless as your situation may be, you belong to a God and Father who is outside your situation.

It’s tempting to not fight for truth and stay in chapter 5. Or even go back to chapter five. But as Christians, we know there is a chapter 6 verse one.

Exodus 6:1

When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.