Exodus 13 - 15

If I don't get cracking on this blog, it's going to take me longer than the Israelites wandered in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land and that's all I'm going to say about that!
In Chapter 13, God gives instructions to the Israelites through Moses about how they are to commemorate their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. He instructs them to dedicate their firstborn children and animals as belonging to God. Just as Jesus was the firstborn of God, God begins to weave the story of Jesus into the storyline of the Hebrew people.
The firstborn animals are sacrificed on an altar, but the firstborn children were to be redeemed, never sacrificed. This not only speaks of the sacrifice of Christ, but also the redemption He offers to us.
The month was Abib in Hebrew--roughly corresponding with late March and early April on our calendar. They were to mark the days with feasting, but could eat nothing with leavening, or yeast, in it for seven days. Leavening is compared to sin in the Bible, where later Jesus would tell them a little leaven leavens the whole lump. That is like sin. A little sin spreads in a sinister fashion until it has affected everything it touches. If you let leavening work too long in a food, it will spoil the food. God wanted His celebration to be pure and sinless, like His Son.
God didn't lead the Hebrews straight into the Promised Land because that would have sent them directly into battle with the Philistines who lived there. Although they were armed for battle, God didn't want them to become discouraged so soon and turn back to the perceived safety of Egypt. Therefore, God led them through the desert, appearing as a cloud in front of them during the days and as a pillar of fire during the nights to give them light so they could keep going.
Moses kept the promise his ancestors had made to Joseph, who had foreseen the exodus back to the Promised Land, and took his embalmed body with them when they left Egypt.
Chapter 14 gives us the exact location where the Israelites encamped by the Red Sea just prior to their crossing, as they were being pursued by Pharaoh, who had, once again, changed his mind about letting them go. Pharaoh mustered his chariots and army and came after them.
When the Hebrews saw the Egyptian Army coming after them, they were afraid and began to moan about ever leaving Egypt. Moses basically told them to buck up and shut up. God then told Moses to raise his staff over the Red Sea to divide the waters and allow the Israelis to cross on dry ground. Both the cloud pillar and the angel of God placed themselves between the Israelites and the approaching Egyptian Army. The Hebrews were never in any danger. The Lord sent a strong east wind to drive the sea back and dry the ground where it had been. The Hebrews crossed the Red Sea all that night.
God allowed Pharaoh and his army to follow the Hebrews into the dry sea bed but, when all the Hebrews were on the other side, He threw the Egyptian Army into confusion and made the wheels of their chariots come off, making it hard for the horses to keep pulling them. Just when the Egyptians realized they were fighting against God, Moses was told to stretch out his hand over the sea and bring the water back into the sea bed. The whole Egyptian Army drowned, along with their horses and chariots.
The Bible says not one of them survived, and indeed, all these many centuries later, explorers have found what they believe to be the remains of chariot wheels in the bottom of the Red Sea at the exact location where the Bible says this crossing took place.
The moaning and crying of the Hebrews soon turned to praise to God, and Moses wrote a song of praise concerning the crossing that is recorded in Exodus 15. Moses' sister, Miriam, also wrote a short song and led the women in dancing and making music with tambourines in praise to God. However, their singing and praising soon turned back into grumbling and complaining as their desert wanderings began.
At the end of Chapter 15, God gives the Hebrews a law. "Listen carefully to God and do what is right in his eyes. If you do this," He says, "I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you." I have found this law still holds true today. The Lord blesses all his children, and He also tests all of us. Moreover, there is a principle here that works the same in the human family. If we, as parents, have a pleasing child who does their best to obey us, and also a disobedient, unruly child, which one is going to be favored?
I know, for I was the unruly one in a family of twelve, whose younger sister was the obedient one--it's going to be the one who does what the parents want out of a pure heart that just wants to please them. My parents tried hard, and did, meet all of our legitimate needs, however, my "pleaser" siblings seemed to get most of their wants met, also. God works in the same fashion. God designed the human parent-child relationship to work in the same basic ways that His relationship to us works. Sometimes when I get to thinking about all the parallels there are in this area, my mind becomes bogged down because there is a myriad of things to think about.