MICROCOSM (EXODUS 15:22-27)
Notes
Transcript
GOD HAS JUST DELIVERED HIS PEOPLE THROUGH THE SEA (CHAOS/DEATH) AND JUDGED EGYPT/GODS.
NOW HE LEADS THEM FORWARD AND WE'RE GIVEN A GLIMPSE OF GOD'S ULTIMATE PURPOSE/DESIGN.
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” 27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
WATER. TREES. LIFE. 3. 12. 70
REMEMBER THE BIBLE IS WRITTEN FOR US BUT NOT TO US.
EXODUS IS A WORK OF HISTORICAL THEOLOGY OR THEOLOGICAL HISTORY.
WE MUST READ IT AS THE ANCIENTS DID.
RICH IN SYMBOLISM ONLY UNDERSTOOD IN THE CONTEXT OF THE STORY!
GOD CREATES THE HEAVENS AND EARTH TO BE TOGETHER. GOD, UNLIKE THE OTHER GODS OF THE ANE, WANTS TO DWELL WITH HIS PEOPLE. HE CREATES EDEN = A MOUNTAINOUS GARDEN TEMPLE AND PLACES MANKIND WITH HIM TO PARTNER WITH HIM...
LISTEN AGAIN TO THE DESCRIPTION OF EDEN....
8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.
EDEN = PRESENCE OF GOD = TREE/WATER/LIFE
EDEN IS GOD'S DESIGN AND DESIRE - DWELLING WITH HIS IMAGERS BOTH HUMAN AND DIVINE
TELL THE STORY – EVICTION OF EDEN – INCREASE OF EVIL – JUDGMENT/SALVATION THROUGH THE WATERS –
BABEL AND THE DISINHERITANCE OF THE NATIONS
7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. 9 But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
70 NATIONS ARE LISTED IN GENESIS. BUT GOD CREATES JACOB/ISRAEL AS HIS OWN – 12 TRIBES.
EXODUS EVENT – GOD DELIVERS AND JUDGES THROUGH THE WATERS - THEN LEADS HIS PEOPLE TO ELIM.
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
NO ANCIENT READER OF EXODUS WOULD MISS THE CONNECTIONS AND IMAGERY.
ELIM = PALMS BUT ALSO WORDPLAY WITH GOD(S)
12 SPRINGS OF WATER = ISREAL
70 PALMS = THE NATIONS
THIS IS A PICTURE OF SALVATION ACCOMPLISHED - A PREVIEW OR MICROCOSM AS PREDICTED IN MOSES SONG
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
LET'S LOOK A LITTLE DEEPER AT THE IMAGERY OF WATER AND TREES AS WELL AS 12 AND 70
WATER IS BOTH A SYMBOL OF CHAOS AND OF LIFE - GOD TRANSFORMS CHAOS INTO ORDER/LIFE
WATER FLOWED FROM EDEN BRINGING LIFE TO THE LAND...
THROUGHOUT THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES GOD HIMSELF IS IDENTIFIED WITH WATER.
LET'S START WITH GOD'S REBUKE AGAINST HIS PEOPLE IN:
13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
HERE GOD IS THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS - THE LIFEGIVER!
EVEN THOUGH THE PEOPLE HAVE TURNED GOD IS STILL FAITHFUL!
1 “But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! 2 Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
TREES ARE AGAIN A SYMBOL OF LIFE BUT MORE COMMONLY A SYMBOL OF ISRAEL
WE FIND DEEP RICHES IN THIS IMAGERY POINTING TO JESUS/MESSIAH IN ISA 11
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.