Читать книгу Secret References to Christ In the Old testament Scriptures - Kenneth B. Alexander - Страница 13

“Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea; [Heb. “Sea of Reeds”] and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you.” Then they set out from  Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness” (Ex 13:17-20).

There is some controversy over which sea Moses led his people to. The original Hebrew word for the sea is Yam Suph which means in Hebrew ‘Reed’ or ‘Marsh Sea’. The change in terminology may be traced back to the Greek Version of the Old Testament (LXX) and to the Latin Vulgate which changed the Hebrew to mean “Red Sea”. No satisfactory explanation has been offered for the change. The translation of this name as “Red Sea” comes from the sea’s Greek name in the LXX and elsewhere. The Red Sea on today’s maps is farther south, below the Sinai Peninsula. But the title Red Sea in ancient times may very well have covered both the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba (see Deut 1:1; 1 Kgs 9:26). The name “Sea of Reeds” in various English versions (usually in the form of a marginal note) and commentaries, reflect the correct meaning of the Hebrew word סוּף Yam Suph as “Reed Sea”a word for reedy water plants (Exod 2:3, 5; Isa 19:6; Jonah 2:6) This may have a connection with an Egyptian word used for papyrus and other marsh plants. On this basis some have taken the term Yam Suph as perhaps referring to Lake Menzaleh or Lake Ballah, which have abundant reeds, north of the extension of the Red Sea on the western side of Sinai. Whatever exact body of water is meant, it was not merely a marshy swamp that the people waded through, but a body of water large enough to make passage impossible without divine intervention, and deep enough to drown the Egyptian army. Lake Menzaleh has always been deep enough to preclude passage on foot (E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 66). Among the many sources dealing with the geography, see B. F. Batto, “The Reed Sea: Requiescat in Pace,” JBL 102 (1983): 27-35; M. Waxman, “I Miss the Red Sea,” Conservative Judaism 18 (1963): 35-44; G. Coats, “The Sea Tradition in the Wilderness Theme: A Review,” JSOT 12 (1979): 2-8; and K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, 261–63). Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible is the term “Red Sea” used; it is only used in the mistranslations that followed. Although it may seem that The Reed Sea lessens Moses’ miracle, the Reed Sea is still a vast body of water uncrossable without a miracle.



The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before  Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea” These locations were clearings near the sea—Red or Reed Sea. He thought the Pharaoh would think the sons of Israel were wandering aimlessly in the land and that the wilderness had shut them in. The Lord said: “Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after us and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” And they did so. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” So he made his chariot ready and took and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. Then the Egyptians chased after them and they overtook them camping by the sea. As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel  became very frightened and cried out to the Lord. “They said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? They said “Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. “As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land” The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the view of the Egyptians was blocked so they could not see the Israelites despite being only a short distance from them. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.

It has been proven scientifically that a strong wind can push waters back, leaving a bridge of land between the waters. God caused a strong east wind, according to Exodus. Called the “wind set-down effect” studies have proved that a strong wind blowing for 10-14 hours could push back the waters sufficient for a land crossing (Doren Neff, Florida State oceanographer, referenced by an article by Michael David Lukas, Google.com). This “parting of the sea” would provide a 4-hour gap when the dry land appeared. This certainly does not take away from the parting of the sea as a miracle as such occurrences are very rare but have occurred at other bodies of water in diverse places in the earth. Once the wind ceases to blow the water would have come crashing back to fill the void as described in Exodus.

The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and  the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea. At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared [revered] the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses” (Ex 13:21-14-31).

“Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang a song to the Lord” (context see Exodus 15:1-21). Miriam concluded the song with the famous lines: “Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the timbrel [tambourine] in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing. Miriam answered them, “Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea”. These acts by God through a mere man, Moses, is by far the greatest appearing by God in the earth until Jesus Christ. God called Moses the most humble man on the face of the earth. “(Now the man Moses was  very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth)” (Numbers 12:3). Like Christ, who only did what the Father told Him, Moses simply followed the Word of God to the letter. The result was the crippling of the greatest nation on the face of the earth at that time. As God had said Egypt the nation never reached her former glory and He made open show of the Egyptian gods before the world.

The Israelites marched 3 days without water. Moses led Israel from the  Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur where they found no water. When they came to  Marah, they could not drink the waters for they were bitter; [Heb Marim] therefore it was named Marah [bitterness]. So in the first of the many times they were displeased with Moses, the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. The wood that Moses tossed into the water did not have a magical effect on the water; it was simply a symbolic act in anticipation of God’s working a miracle (like Moses lifting his staff over the sea” 14:16) Today the oasis at Ain Hawarah [formerly Marah] has only bitter water. The Lord spoke to the people there about obedience. “And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer” (Ex 15:26-27). Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters (Ex 15:22-27). The Lord was their protector, as Christ is ours today. The only thing He required was obedience.

As they continued to march in the desert wilderness once again the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. As unbelievable as it sounds, after the miracles they had witnessed, the sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger”. The meat they ate in Egypt was no delicacy; the Egyptians threw the salted meat into one pot. So once again God answered their grumblings. “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction” (Ex 16:2-4). Moses said: “This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are  not against us but against the Lord” (Ex 16:8).

So came the birth of manna, the bread from Heaven, that God provided for His people. It was described “a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground” (Ex 16:14). When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” [Heb Man hu, cf v 31] for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat”. God had a detailed plan for the distribution of the manna. He said: ”Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer [6 pints] apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent. When they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat. Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it until morning.” But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one because the Sabbath occurred on the 7th day where there was no work allowed. God made sure that when they gathered twice as much it didn’t spoil” (Ex 16:15-22). The house of Israel named it manna, [man] and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey. A jar of the manna was kept throughout the generations and it was kept in the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant in the temple. Christ may have referred to this manna in His Lord’s prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt 6:11). Even more, in the Kingdom Age, it meant the living word of God that would provide sustenance. As God said: “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord” (Dt 89:3).

The Israelites journeyed to Rephidim where once again there was no water. The people rose up against Moses. Moses was so frustrated at the people that he said: “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me” (Ex 17:4). “Then the Lord said to Moses,… “ you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place  Massah [test] and Meribah [quarrel] because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?” (Ex 17:5-7).

At this point we should take a step back and understand what God was doing with the Israelite people and how it relates to us today. The Israelites were being tested on necessary ingredients for a successful walk with God—obedience, testing and suffering. The Lord had delivered them from a land of oppression into a land ruled by God. He knew they were to enter a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey, Today we are entering into the Kingdom of God. The process for entering both are essentially the same. We are continually tested by God whereby we learn obedience. In those tests we learn obedience. It was the same with Christ. It was said of Christ: “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). Christ was not born with perfect obedience—He had to learn it by sufferings (testings) just as we must learn it. Hebrews 12:6–8 says: “FOr those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons”. 1 Peter 4:12-14 says: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you”. And: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19). “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, [or temptations] knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance [steadfastness]. And let  endurance [steadfastness] have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, [mature] lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

The Israelites were in a desert wilderness, a foreign land to them. God was trying to create them into a nation. God loved them and according to the scriptures (above) God chastens (tests) every son He receives. As each test is completed obedience is created as they learn to trust the Lord more and more. God was starting with a clean slate and was, in a sense, writing His laws on their hearts. Moses was suffering and growing himself as he faced the brunt of their unbelief. When the 40 years were complete, the children of those who would take Canaan land were trained in obedience for Joshua to lead. The trials that come upon us, that we consider sufferings, are producing the same thing—mature Sons who can take the Kingdom. ”The Spirit Himself  testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the  glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:16-18). As we read and study the Old Testament Israelites we realize we are reading the story of all true believers who are being trained by the same God in the same way. “Who is this coming up from the wilderness Leaning on the arm of her beloved?” (Song of Solomon 8:5).

The Israelites were camping comfortably at Rephidim, after they had gotten sufficient water from the rock struck by Moses. There they experienced their first attack from a foreign nation. The Amalekites were nomads in the desert south of Canaan. They were descendants of Esau through Eliphaz (Gen. 36:12). They apparently were attempting to dislodge the Israelites from this pleasant oasis and to secure the territory for themselves. So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand” Their victory was secured in an unusual manner. With Moses stationed at the top of a hill it came about when Moses held his hands up that Israel prevailed, and when he let them down, Amalek prevailed. So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and its people. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek. But Moses’ hands grew heavy so then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set” Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner; and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.” The Israelites fought the Amalekites for many years. It was not until the time of David that the Amalekites were totally defeated” (Ex 17:8-16).

Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law from Midian, came with his sons, his wife and Moses wife and sons to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped. Moses told his Father-in-Law all the success Israel was having in the wilderness and Jethro rejoiced. “When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?” Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. “When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws. Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. “You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone” (Ex 18:14-18). So Jethro gave Moses some advice on delegation. “You should select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who  hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. “Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you” (Ex 18:21-22). So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

Three months after Israel had left Egypt they came into the wilderness of Sinai and camped in front of the mountain, Mt. Sinai. Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, reaffirming His promises to them saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be  My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”. This was in a few words the Old Covenant between God and Israel. Again all God wanted from His people was their love and obedience. The Lord told Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. Moses told the people to consecrate themselves in 3 days because the Lord was going to do something big. He also set bounds around the mountain saying “whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death”. So it came about on the morning of the third day there were loud sounds, thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. The people stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it  in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, so that they do not break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. Then the Lord said to him, “Go down and come up again, you and Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, or He will break forth upon them” (Ex 19:3-25).