There are many events in scripture that on first glance, just do not make any sense. We can read an account that mystifies us and so tend to gloss over it and not pay much attention to what God is really saying.
I once skimmed over them as fast as  I could so that I could get to the “interesting parts” or in other words to the parts I wanted to concentrate on. We all do it. We can mark our bibles and color them according to our preferences—our doctrinal beliefs and assumptions. I marked my bible in different ways to highlight the paassages I liked and followed excellent bible reading programs that many sources provide. They give you a list of passages to read each day and it is a good idea.
I learned speed reading so that I could read the entire bible in six months!
One day, the Lord gently rebuked me about that telling me that all I was doing was scanning the print—but not seeing truth.

We can read words, but it does not necessarily mean that the Holy Spirit illuminates them. What if He wishes to say something to you from the page?
My problem was that I was not letting the Holy Spirit breathe life into the words as He wants to. We can read one word many times and “get something different” somehow each time when He does that. It’s the same word of course, especially when we ask Him to open it up to us.

He is able to convert that word from mere black ink on a page, to something that seems to have life in it. There have been many times when He tells us to read a certain portion, or whilst we are reading something, it is as if He points his finger at  a certain  part and it leaps out of the page at us. We can have read it many times before, but it is as if we never saw it there before. He is trying to talk to us.

Our core text is one of those “mysterious” parts to many as it was to me, until I started to look more closely into the original texts, and, yes, I am “at it again” about reading Gods word correctly. I have learned that my studies up to doctorate level, despite their relative merit have not fully equipped me for the ministry. Conversely, the “school of the Holy Spirit”, the anointing, the call of God on anyone and the commissioning by the Lord advocate general of The Church, the Lord Jesus Christ is what makes the difference.

This is evident in Luke’s gospel when Jesus took the initiative and caught up with two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus who were having a heated debate about spiritual matters. Does that sound familiar? They had spent three years with Him but did not recognize Him until He ate a meal with them and said:
“Foolish people! So unwilling to put your trust in everything the prophets spoke! Didn’t the Messiah have to die like this before entering his glory?” Then, starting with Moshe and all the prophets, he explained to them the things that can be found throughout the Tanakh concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27

Exodus chapter twenty-four opens with an invitation (or was it a command?) to Moses to come up the mountain with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu with seventy of the elders of Israel to worship—but from a distance.
The glory of the Lord came down for six days and God then called Moses up higher. Moses entered the cloud and remained there for 40 days. God wants us to come up higher!

God then commanded Moses to build the Tabernacle so that He could dwell with His people. Everything about that Tabernacle spoke of Jesus and God’s plan of salvation.
It takes revelation—the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to see that and hopefully understand it.

Exodus 24:10-11 reveals something very interesting.

I was told that no one can see God, but here these men saw someone.

And Mosheh went up, also Aharon, Naḏaḇ, and Aḇihu, and seventy of the elders of Yisra’ěl, and they saw the Elohim of Yisra’ěl, and under His feet like a paved work of sapphire stone, and like the heavens for brightness.
Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the chiefs of the children of Yisra’ěl!
And they saw Elohim, and they ate and drank.

God ate a covenant meal with them! If you look at covenants in scripture, you will find that the making of covenants often involves the eating of meals togather. We have one.

Come now to Exodus chapter four when God commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh.

He told him that they would not listen to what he had to say, so he would perform certain signs and that He would harden Pharoah’s heart.

That does not make much sense to us. We may wonder why God sends us on assignments, knowing that we would not always be accepted. Jesus told us that if we are not received, we are in good company. He once told me when I started to complain about receiving such abuse (from “Christians”), They did it to the prophets; they did it to Me and they will do it to you.

The response is to merely brush the dust off our feet and keep going.

And it came to be on the way, in the lodging place, that ” met him and sought to kill him. Exodus 4:24

This is one of those wierd scriptures I spoke about. God had just assigned him to one of the most important tasks in human history. The future of this covenant nation was in the hands of one man—and what happened relates to us today.
It is a matter of obedience. What you or I do does affect others especially if we are supposed to assist them but refuse.
Doing that is effectively running away from God. Moses had Joshua and Aaron by his side. When a minister of the Gospel relies on “a Joshua” who fails him, that ministry can be rendered ineffective. His armor bearer is not there to support, protect and assure him.
Not doing that is a betrayal not only to the man of God, but the call of God on that man’s life and thus an affont to God.
When Peter had quit as seen in John 21, he said  “I go a fishing” and the Greek word used is hypagō that means just that and worse. Peter’s attitude influenced others. Our belief and behavior patterns can be contageous. What we do can change somoene’s destiny.

Let us now look at the circumstances concerning Moses’ birth. In Exodus chapter one, Pharaoh issued commandments to kill all the first-born Hebrew boys. Moses was a Hebrew and to preserve his life, his mother made a wicker basket (an ark) for him, put him inside it and pushed it out amongst the reeds on the banks of the Nile. The river that eventually became blood was the river that preserved his life. Right there, blood took on significance.

A Jewish mother placed her son into the hands of a god she “may have hardly known”. She did not have a bible or the Holy Spirit as we do today. Perhaps God was only a dim memory of times past, to the days of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and it is possible she did not even know His name. Her son had to ask Him His name on his first encounter. What is seen next is curious.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it. When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on it and said, “This must be a Hebrew child.” Exodus 2:5-6

How did she know it was a boy? I do not wish to sound crude, but she had to have looked. She did not say that it was a Hebrew boy. She said it must be a Hebrew boy. Why?  I believe it was because no Egyptian child would have been put there like that.
She must have known of her father’s command and deduced the reason. She would have then seen if he had been circumcised or not and in what manner. Egptians practiced partial circumcision.

We may assume that she took the boy and raised him in her own Egyptian home as an Egyptian, in the courts of the palace and exposed to the worship of the false gods of Egypt, but that may not be so.

Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child for you?”
And Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it.
When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who made him her son. She named him Moses,explaining, “I drew him out of the water.” Exodus 2:7-10

What was the name his mother gave him? The account does not specifically say that he grew up in Pharoah’s court. He grew up in his own mother’s home in Goshen. The question remains therefore as to how he was raised as a child.

Moses had not yet seen the burning bush. They did not have Torah yet. They had to rely on the traditions passed down through the generations and did remarkably well, but it was approximately 400 years since God had renewed the covenant with Abraham.

Perhaps the only memory they really had related to the command God gave Abraham to ratify the covenant by circumcision and this is a key factor. It was passed down verbally from generation to generation. Often times when stories are passed down to others, they can become changed over the years—but Jews were and are very specific. The fathers made certain that their sons “got it right” as they memorized and recited the words passed to them. To a certain extent, those Hebrew words remain the same today which is why I keep suggesting others to check their bible versions against the original language. The Greek lanugage is very complex, but Hebrew is surprizingly easy if we look deeper into it. Those funny dots and shapes have meaning. Omitting one can change the meaning.

Moses was raised as a Hebrew boy until at a certain age, he went to live in Pharoah’s court and Hebrew boys should have been circumcised. Today, Jewish boys around the age of twelve do their Bar  Mitzveh (girls do a Bat Mitzveh at 13) and they read scripture portions and “preach”. It is a serious matter. They take the word of God more seriously than many “Christians”.

Jews are not the only people who have adopted the practice of circumcision. Moses’ wife was a Midianite and they also practiced it. Apparently, the Egyptians also circumcised their males, but it was only a “partial circumcision”. I do not fully understand this practice, but it seems that they “split” the foreskin rather than completely removing it. The spiritual implications have significance.
It speaks of cutting off the old flesh nature we all have, of severing the past and the old life. If this is so, then “partial circumcision” could mean that we have one foot in each camp and that we are not totally committed.  It means that we are clinging onto much of the world.

Jesus spoke of being lukewarm in Revelation and how He would spue such people out of His mouth, so this could relate somehow to why God “wanted to kill Moses”. The meaning of the word in Hebrew means just that—kill. It was serious, but why?

God had commanded all males to be circumcised and this may not have happened to Moses. Another possibiilty is that he may have only been partially circumcised according to the Egyptian culture. The spiritual ramifications should be evident.
Christians are on the world but are not or should not be a part of the world system. We are commanded to come out from amongst certain people “to avoid contamination”, but reach the conclusion that this refers to the “unsaved” population. That is only partially true. We are also to come out from professing believers who are “contaminated” and that is another controversial topic.

It is not about legalism, but speaks about the state of our total commitment and dedication to the Lord.

The bible speaks of the circumcision of the heart.

It does not matter who that person may be. It could be the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the President of a denominiaton, or the pastor of a mega church. Unless that person is born again, called, anointed—and commissionsed  by the Lord, they should not be there. There are far too many like that. Please take note of the bolded part of the above scripture relating to the signs and wonders.

They are an integral part of the Great Commission, but most of the church is ignoring them today. Despite the foolishness and excesses that entered in, the very things people need today as tools—that get their attention and draw them to God are being cast aside. We have to return from “Sesame street and the funny characters to Asuza street”. I’m serious. People can go to hell without the touch of God. The day of miracles is not over.

In Matthew 9, Jesus proved that the miracle of salvation—the forgiveness of sin and a miracle of healing are intertwined.

Moses had been called by God, but something was amiss with his relationship with God at that point in time.

An everlasting covenent relationship made by the shedding of blood between God and Abraham existed—but it had been broken.

The man of God broke it! This is why people in miinistry offices who should not be there is a serious matter.

His wife intervend to save him. God’s wrath was turned away by a cutting off and the shedding of blood—by the blood of the son.

This also indicates that marrying the “right person”—God’s choice is of vital importance. Being unequally yoked is not just a religious phrase. I suggest you read Hebrews chapters seven to nine slowly and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you about Jesus.

Her reference to the bridegroom was a sign to a bride. The sign of circumcision indicated that the man she married was a worshiper of the most high God. She could tell that his worship was not mere words alone, but dedication and commitment and by the severance of the old Adamic nature.

Perhaps it is like that old saying that words are cheap.

The proof of relationship is what we do, how we conduct ourselves or how we are “marked” for the Lord. Jesus spoke of taking up our own cross to follow Him and it seems to me that it is not necessarily a life of hardship, privation, poverty and suffering, although some people say that, but a life at whatever level the individual may be, when his or her old Adamic nature has been cut away and put to death.

That is an ongoing process.  We are saved. We are being saved and we shall be saved. I no longer believe that”Once saved, always saved” doctrine. We can say the words when repeating “the sinner’s prayer” but not mean them.

A man who was properly or fully circumcised was a “bridegroom of blood”.

The obscure meaning of what she did may now make a little sense if we consider if from the Middle Eastern viewoint.

I must speak plainly on this. The reference to casting the severed foreskin at his feet often means that she placed it against the male organ. It symbolically satisfied God’s demands for such a sign to be made to ratify the covenant.

Moses had been called by God for a special assignment and was committed to it—but he was not yet “qualified” to fulfil that assignment.

If the meaning is literal, that she did cast it at his feet, there is also a symbolic meaning. It describes our relationship with God, or our  “walk” with Him. Genesis 5 states that Enoch walked with God. Many years ago my wife and I spent some time on the Gold Coast in Australia. On many mornings we woke at 4AM and strolled on the beach and on one such morning, I sensed the presence of the Lord. It was particularly powerful. I thought of Enoch and invited Him to walk with me. We can practice the presence of the Lord and I am convinced that He responds. As I was walking alone with Him, I heard the sound of someone‘s feet touching the sand. That produces a unique sound. There are times when we can sense someone’s approach from behind. You’ve had that I suppose. The hair on the back of your neck “stands up” and that happened. I started to turn and noticed a set of footprints in the sand next to mine—but saw no one. After a while the experience started to dissipate. I do not know the reason, but it has impacted my life. Do not think this is strange, because  Hebrews 13, says that we can entertain angels unaware.

This brings my presentation to a close and I have no more to share. What I am trying to say to everyone is that after 56 years with the Lord, I am discovering how little I really know.

Most people think of living for three score and ten years and some live longer. What we forget or find hard to comprehend is that what we call time was created by God to help us understand things, because time for Him does not exist. One year to God is like1000 of our years, so our “70 years” could equate to much more. Our life here is a mere few seconds by comparison if we shall eventually live forever, this is mind boggling.

Until that day arrives when we shall meet the Lord, there is soooo much more to learn. I encourage you to do that. I am also mindful that we need to be ready for that day. I believe it won’t be long now.

Robert