Category: Exodus

January 30: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

John 19:16b-42. I took the liberty to incorporate all the “seven words of Christ on the cross.” This requires to take passages from the Gospel of Luke, as well as from the Gospel pf Matthew or Mark. It helped me a lot to get the time-order of events as well as the completeness of Christ substitutionary sacrifice on the Cross. It is finished!

In Exodus 9 there are three more plagues, the plague of livestock, the plague of boils and the plague of hail. In the fifth and seventh plague Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, but for thesixth plague the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

January 29: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

John 19:1-16. The trial of Jesus continued under Pilate. He tried his best to get out of it by placing a crown of thorn on Jesus, let the soldiers mock him and hit him, hoping that would placate the Jews. But they cried Crucify! He tried and tried, but they cried “E\We have no King but Caesar” so Pilate finally gave in and handed Jesus over to be crucified.

In Exodus 7 God promised Moses to give him the words to all he must say, and Aaron was to tell it to Pharaoh. God also said he would harden Pharaoh’s heart and not let the people go. Aaron threw down his rod and it became a snake. The Egyptians duplicated it. The first plague out of ten occurred, turning the water of the Nile to blood.

Exodus 8 is very interesting. It tells of three more plagues of Egypt, the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats and the plague of flies. The Egyptian magicians had no trouble duplicating elements of the plague of frogs, but when it came to the plague of gnats they threw up their hands and said “This is the finger of God”. From then on they could not duplicate any of the plagues.

January 28: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

John 18:28-40 deals with the last 24 hours of Jesus life, from the trial before Annas and the Sanhedron Jesus was paraded before Pilate, seeing a way out, Pilate sent him to Herod, who sent him back to Pilate, Pilate offered to release Jesus or Barabbas and the people demanded that Barabbas be released.

In Exodus 4 God gave Moses his call. At first Moses came up with one objection after another, but God persuaded him with signs that he must go back to Egypt, face Pharaoh and lead his people.

In Exodus 5 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and asked for a 3 day reprieve for his people so they can go and worship God. Like all dictators Pharaoh reacted to this petition by making life even more miserable for the Hebrews; he wanted them to gather their own straw and still make as many bricks as before. The Hebrews blamed Moses for stirring up trouble for them.

And in Exodus 6 the LORD (Jehovah) promised deliverance from Pharaoh and He would give them the land He had promised Abraham. The narrative continues with an interlude where the names of the heads of the clans of Israel are listed. Moses protested and did not want to talk to Pharaoh any more, so Aaron would have to do the speaking.

January 27: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

John 18:1-27 deals with the last 24 hours of Jesus life, the prayer in the garden of Gethsemane and the subsequent arrest of Jesus, the trial before Annas, Peter’s first denial, Jesus trial before Caiaphas, Peter’s second and third denial and the cock crowing.

Exodus 3 tells where God revealed Himself to Moses in the form of a burning bush and declared “I am that I am”. Jesus made a similar declaration in John 8:58 “Before Abraham, I am”.

In the Septuagint Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 belong together. They speak of God’s faithfulness and the only temporary victories of the wicked one.

January 26: Read through the Holy Bible in a year.

John 17 is commonly known as Jesus’ high priestly prayer. In some conservative circles it is also called “The Lord’s prayer.” In it Jesus prayed for himself, then he prayed for his disciples followed by prayer for all future believers. In the end of the chapter he prayed that the believers will see his glory, the glory God gave him before the creation of the world.

A few hundred years has passed since the end of Genesis. Exodus 1 tells how the Hebrews multiplied and became a perceived threat to the Egyptians. The Egyptians told the Hebrew midwives that every boy they delivered must be thrown into the Nile, but every girl were to be let to live.

Which seamlessly leads into Exodus 2, how Moses when he was born placed in a papyrus basket, which was thrown into the Nile and the child was left crying in the reeds. Pharaoh’s daughter heard it, picked him up and asked her servant to find somebody to nurse him. Of course she found Moses’ own mother to nurse him. After he was weaned Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s household and got educated. He did remember he was a Hebrew, so when he saw and Egyptian mistreat a Hebrew he killed the Egyptian. This became known and Moses fled to Midian, where he spent 40 years tending flocks. Great reading.

February 9, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

The reading for today is one very interesting chapter in Matthew and the three last chapters of Exodus.

February 9: Matthew 14, Exodus 38, Exodus 39, Exodus 40 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Matthew 14 tells about John the Baptist being beheaded. It is interesting that most people know the name of the daughter of Herodias, but it is not in the Bible. There is another Salome in the Bible, but she was a follower of Jesus. After learning of the beheading of John the Baptist Jesus tried to withdraw from the people by boat to a solitary place, but there he found a large crowd, so he decided to feed the gathering of 5000 plus women and children with five loaves of bread and two small fishes. After all were satisfied the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. Jesus dismissed the crowd, made the disciples go in a boat to travel to the other side of Lake Genesareth, and then after Jesus had prayed alone he joined them by walking on the water. A very interesting read.

Exodus 38 retells of how the altar of burnt offerings and the basin for washing was made, finishing with the courtyard around the tabernacle and all the materials used.

Exodus 39 retells how the priestly garments were to be made, the ephod, the breastplate, the bells and pomegranates, the mitre and undergarments and finally the words “Holy to the LORD” to be fastened to the priest’s turban.

And in Exodus 40 the tabernacle was finished, the Priests installed and finally God blessed the tabernacle with His presence when the Glory of the LORD filled it. That ends the book of Exodus.

February 8, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

In the three chapters for today Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew described what the Kingdom of Heaven is like via parables , then in two chapters of Exodus there is a detailed description of the Tabernacle.

February 8: Matthew 13, Exodus 36, Exodus 37 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

In Matthew 13 Jesus told many parables on the Kingdom of heaven: The sower, the wheat and tares, the mustard seed and the yeast, the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price and the fishermen and the net. Then Jesus explained what the parables meant to his disciples. The parables were well received, except in his own hometown, about which Jesus said: ” Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor”.

Exodus 36 describes in detail how the tabernacle was built.

Exodus 37 continues describing how the Ark was built with its cherubim,( by necessity very sketchy since nobody would be allowed to see them once they were made,)   the table, the lampstand and the altar of incense.

February 7, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

The three chapters for today are Jesus continuing his healing ministry in Matthew, and two chapters in Exodus.

February 7: Matthew 12, Exodus 34, Exodus 35 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

In Matthew 12 Jesus proclaimed he  is the Lord of the Sabbath and healed a man with a withered hand. Since this was on a Sabbath it was considered blasphemy. Jesus continued to heal in secret, but the Pharisees said he did it by Beelzebub (lord of the flies). What did Jesus answer? “A Kingdom divided against itself will not stand.”  Jesus also said “he that is not with me is against me.” There is no middle ground, and there is a sin that cannot be forgiven: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Continuing on Jesus said that the only sign given will be the sign of Jonah. Finally Jesus in a way rejected his own mother and brothers by pointing to his disciples, saying: “Here are my mother and brothers, for whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother”.

After breaking the two stone tablets, Moses in Exodus 34 had to go back up the mountain and write the words of God on two new stone tablets. Then God repeated much of what was said in previous chapters, even reiterating the Covenant, but the chapter ends with the radiant face of Moses because Moses had spoken with God.

Exodus 35 is a more detailed repeat of Sabbath regulations, materials for the tabernacle and who were the leaders of building of the tabernacle.

February 6, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we red three chapters, one chapter from Matthew and two chapters from Exodus.

February 6:  Matthew 11, Exodus 32, Exodus 33 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

In Matthew 11 the followers of John asked if Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus answered back that John is Elijah, sent to prepare the way. Jesus despaired of the current generation, but promised: “Come to me…. my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.

In Exodus 32 Moses had come down from the mountain and what did he find? He found the Golden Calf and the people singing and dancing in orgies. Moses became so angry that he threw down the two tablets with God’s commandments, and they broke in pieces. Then he pleaded with God not to destroy His people.

In Exodus 33 God told the Israelites to leave the place they were staying, take off all the ornaments they were wearing and go to the promised land. Moses established the tent of meeting, and there he asked to see God. God promised Moses he would see His back while hiding “In the cleft of the rock”

February 5, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we read four chapters, one chapter of Matthew and three chapters of Exodus.

February 5:  Matthew 10, Exodus 29, Exodus 30, Exodus 31 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

In Matthew 10 Jesus named his 12 disciples and sent them out to preach “the Kingdom of Heaven is near” They did the same miracles as Jesus and did also meet resistance. Jesus promised there will be opposition and division because of the message. A most interesting chapter.

Exodus 29 tells of the consecration of priests.

Exodus 30 describes the  altar of incense, mentions rules for the poll tax and the basin for washing, anointing oil and rules for incense.

Exodus 31 is short; it tells of two named craftsmen to be the leaders of performing the artistic aspect of all the work to build the tabernacle. Then there are rules of how to observe the Sabbath, and with that, God finished His message to Moses by giving him the two tablets of stone containing the ten commandments written by the finger of God.