I Will Take You As My People, And I Will Be Your God: Exodus 6:1-13

Exodus 6:1-13: "1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.' 2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: 'I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. 4 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. 5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. 6 Therefore say to the children of Israel: "I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD."' 9 So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. 10 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 11 'Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.' 12 And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, 'The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?' 13 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt."

Today, Almighty God reveals Himself in a more special way than He ever did to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To the three patriarchs, the Lord God only revealed Himself as God Almighty, but now He will reveal His true nature and power. He does this in part by identifying Himself to the Israelites, by His true Name, LORD, or Yahweh, or Jehovah. I AM THAT I AM. He does this for the sake of the Israelite nation. For Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, did not need to see the great wonders that the people of Israel are about to see. No, they believed on God without seeing. And their faith was credited to them as righteousness.

He has revealed Himself to us in an even more special way, that is, through His Son Jesus Christ. He reveals Himself as the God who takes on our flesh, and becomes incarnate for our salvation. He first reveals Himself in this way to His apostles, and those who were witness to His life and work, and miracles and the great wonders that He did, that called to the minds of the people of Israel when He was alive on this earth, the great wonders that were done in Egypt to deliver the people of Israel.

Therefore, the people of Israel in Moses time and in the time of our Lord Jesus each got to be witnesses of our Lord's power, they got to see the Lord in action. And the people of our Lord's time saw that the Lord Jesus was the true I AM THAT I AM, Yahweh, Jehovah, the LORD. However, we today are more like the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for we do not get to see these wonders with our own eyes, but only get to hear His holy Word preached into our ears through simple means. We believe without seeing, just like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

However, the Lord delivers us out of the bondage of sin, just like the people of Israel at the time of Moses, who were delivered from slavery to Egypt and Pharaoh. Our Lord is just as gracious and loving to us, as He was to them. For although we must believe without seeing, He still grants us grace and delivers us through the simple means of grace.

And just like Pharaoh stood in the way of the people of Israel's freedom, the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh stand in our way of freedom from sin and death. And our Lord sends a deliver to us in the form of a man of God, the ministers of the Word, just like He sent Moses and Aaron to speak to the people of Israel the comfort words of our Almighty God's deliverance.

The Israelites did not heed the preaching of Moses. Today, there are still those who refuse to heed to the preaching of our Lord Jesus done through His called servants. But our Lord continues to send them, even as in today's pericope He continues to bolster Moses against both the unbelief of the people of Israel and their captive Pharaoh.

May the Lord God preach the good news of His promised deliverance from sin into your ears, so that by the same faith that the patriarchs of old possessed, you too may believe without seeing, and receive the grace that our Lord God desires to give to you.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

And He Blessed Joseph: Genesis 48:1-22

Genesis 48:1-22: "1 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, 'Indeed your father is sick;' and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And Jacob was told, 'Look, your son Joseph is coming to you;' and Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed. 3 Then Jacob said to Joseph: 'God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 and said to me, "Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession." 5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 6 Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 7 But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).' 8 Then Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, 'Who are these?' 9 And Joseph said to his father, 'They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.' And he said, 'Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.' 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. 11 And Israel said to Joseph, 'I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!' 12 So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. 13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. 14 Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said: 'God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, 16 the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.' 17 Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, 'Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.' 19 But his father refused and said, 'I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.' 20 So he blessed them that day, saying, 'By you Israel will bless, saying, "May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!" And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, 'Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.'"

Today, Jacob blesses Joseph his son. He does this by blessing Joseph's two sons, Ephraim, the younger, and Manasseh, the older. However, Jacob, who is also called Israel, blesses Joseph's sons in the same way that he was blessed, for Jacob also was the younger son, whom his mother helped to deceive his father, so that he might be blessed before Esau. This displeases Joseph, for he wanted his first born son to receive the greater blessing.

But God's ways are not our ways. The lesser becomes the greater. The greater becomes the lesser. Ephraim receives the greater blessing, his older brother, the lesser. But why? We come to this section, and think, "Why is Moses relating this narrative to us?" It's not simply to explain why Ephraim and Manasseh are counted among the twelve tribes of Israel, and Joseph is not. Although, this certainly explains why that is. And as a side note, we can see how much Jacob loved Joseph, for he gets a double portion of the inheritance of Jacob through his sons. But there is another reason for this narrative, and it has to do with prophecy.

Ephraim was a mountain country just north of Judah. When the two kingdoms split into Israel and Judah, Jereboam made his own altar in Shechem which is in Ephraim. Therefore, Ephraim became synonymous with the northern kingdom. It was really a by-word, much in the same way that Jews viewed Samaritans. But, Jacob, is here predicting that Ephraim will become a great nation, that is, the Northern kingdom. Ephraim means, "doubly fruitful." And it would seem that he became doubly fruitful in the possesion of the land of Israel, for not only did he have is own land and tribe, but his name was also used to refer to the Northern kingdom.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

The Famine Was Severe Upon Them: Genesis 47:1-31

Genesis 47:1-31: "1 Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, and said, 'My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in the land of Goshen.' 2 And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, 'What is your occupation?' And they said to Pharaoh, 'Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.' 4 And they said to Pharaoh, 'We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.' 5 Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, 'Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.' 7 Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, 'How old are you?' 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, 'The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.' 10 So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. 11 And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with bread, according to the number in their families. 13 Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. 15 So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, 'Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.' 16 Then Joseph said, 'Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.' 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year. 18 When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, 'We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.' 20 Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh's. 21 And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. 22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands. 23 Then Joseph said to the people, 'Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.' 25 So they said, 'You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.' 26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh's. 27 So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob's life was one hundred and forty-seven years. 29 When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, 'Now if I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.' And he said, 'I will do as you have said.' 31 Then he said, 'Swear to me.' And he swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed."

This evening's reading relays the narrative of Jacob and his sons settling in the land of Egypt, and the increase of the famine that caused them to be there. Joseph makes Pharaoh a very wealthy man. It was because of the dream of Pharaoh that Joseph knew about the coming famine, and was able to prepare for it. However, the famine lasted such a long time that not only did the bread run out in Canaan, but it also ran out in Egypt. When in did, the people of Egypt did not have anything to eat, therefore they were forced to give all their money to buy food, so that the Pharoah had everyone's money. Having given all their money to Pharoah for bread, they had nothing with which to buy food to eat, so Joseph agrees to exchange bread for their livestock, so Pharaoh had everyone's livestock. Then, having given up all the livestock they could spare, they didn't have any thing to buy bread, so Joseph agrees to buy their land in exchange for bread, so that Pharoah, now owned all the land. So Joseph made Pharaoh a very rich man, because he had all the money, all the livestock and all the land of Egypt.

Joseph was then able to even supply workers to work the fields of Pharaoh, that is, the people who sold their land. They would be allowed to work the land, and would be allowed to keep 4/5 of was grown from the seed that Joseph gave them. They only had to give Pharaoh 1/5 of what was grown on his land by their hands.

This is more than just an informative narrative about Joseph's dealings with the Egyptians during the famine. This whole pericope, including Jacob and his whole family settling in the land of Goshen, and the indebted servitude of the people of Egypt, sets up the Exodus. For eventually it would be the Jews, who would grow into a large nation, that would end up in slavery and working in Pharaoh's fields, and building his cities. The sad thing about all of this, is that Joseph, a Jew, sets up Pharaoh to be a very wealthy man, and by all of his dealings with the people, does great things for Pharaoh. But, a Pharaoh arises who does not remember all that Joseph did for Egypt, and Joseph's kindness is repaid with harsh labor and enslavement.

Today, through this reading, we stand poised at the cusp of our Lord God's deliverance. He reveals to us how He sets things up for us, so that He may deliver us, just like He delivers the Israelites from slavery and bondage. He delivers us from the slavery and bondage of sin and death. Our Lord is not slow in fulfilling His promises, as some would count slowness, but instead is patient, waiting for all things to be fulfilled in their proper time, so that we might have a more abundant harvest.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas