 
### Exploring the Word of God

### Two Books of Moses: Genesis and Exodus

By Tim Finlay and Jim Herst

Copyright 2013 Grace Communion International

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com  
The "NIV" and "New International Version" are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Cover art by Mike Wimmer;  
most other artwork by Ken Tunell; copyright Grace Communion International

**Table of Contents**

Crossing Your "Red Sea"

Exploring Genesis

Genesis: From Creation to Abraham

The Serpent and You

The Skill of the Writers

The Faith of Abraham

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: Were They Real People?

Abram, the Real Story

Where Did the Hittites Come From, and Does It Matter?

Genesis: Isaac and Jacob

Joseph: The Hand of God

Exploring Exodus

Birth of a Nation: Exodus 1:1–12:36

From Egypt to Sinai: Exodus 12:37–19:25

Law and Covenant: Exodus 20–27

Priestly Worship: Exodus 28:1–31:11

Law and Covenant: Exodus 31:12–40:38

The Name of God

Should Christians Keep the Law of Moses?

Did Moses Steal the Ten Commandments?

About the Authors

About the Publisher

Grace Communion Seminary

Ambassador College of Christian Ministry

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The Hebrew word _Torah_ means "instruction," and this is the word that Jews use for the first five books of the Bible — what some call the Pentateuch, or the books of Moses, the law of Moses, or simply, The Law. Although these books do include the laws of Moses, they have much more than law. They include history and promises of salvation; they form part of the background we need to understand Jesus and the New Testament. The apostle Paul wrote, "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us" (1 Corinthians 10:11).

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## Crossing Your "Red Sea"

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground'" (Exodus 14:15-16).

Our illustration captures the epic qualities of one of the most spectacular events in Old Testament history — the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea. The majestic figure of Moses dominates the scene. His rugged Midianite tunic, softened with decorative Egyptian cuffs, waistband and hem-tassels, is draped with a cloak of red, white and black — the same colors that would later identify the priestly Levites. His gleaming face, framed with the white linen _kaffiyeh_ that hugs his head and shoulders, reflects his inspiration and determination. Moses' staff and his outstretched arms seem to beckon the Israelites to safe passage.

From behind the rock, to Moses' right, we catch a glimpse of Aaron staring intently at the parted waters. Beside the rock, to Moses' left, stands the courageous figure of Joshua, who proudly carries the standard of the tribe of Ephraim. The insignia of Issachar can be seen at the lower right. This dramatic scene from the Exodus makes a fitting introduction to a study of the Pentateuch — the name commonly given to the five books of the law — because it vividly pictures God's great plan of redemption for all humanity that these books begin to describe.

As you start your journey through the Bible, keep in mind that the great God who called Moses and the nation of Israel also wants to lead you. The same God who spoke to Moses speaks to you today. His message, alive and vibrant, is one told through the lives of men and women like Moses, Joshua and Miriam.

The apostle Paul realized this truth when he wrote to the church at Corinth: "Our forefathers were all under the cloud and...they all passed through the sea.... These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come" (1 Corinthians 10:1, 11).

God speaks to all of us today. He speaks to you. So when you read of Moses, the tribes of Israel and Pharaoh's armies at the Red Sea, remember that this is God speaking to you. Perhaps you are standing at a "Red Sea" of your own right now, being called out of the familiar and into the unknown journey ahead with God.

If you are, you need to answer some vital questions:

##### • From what "Egypt" do you need to be freed?

##### • Do you believe that God can provide you a way of escape?

##### • Are you willing to follow his directions?

When you apply the truths of Scripture to your own life, you begin to appreciate their meaning and value more deeply. And you begin to hear God's words of encouragement to you: "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today" (Exodus 14:13).

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## Exploring Genesis

### What's in a name?

_Genesis_ is a transliteration of a Greek word meaning "origin," "beginning" or "generation." This name was given to the book from the Greek (Septuagint) translation of Genesis 2:4: _"haute he biblos geneseos ouranou kai ges,"_ which means "This is the book of the generations of heaven and earth."

The Hebrew Bible names the book after its first word, _bere'shith,_ meaning "in the beginning." It was standard practice in the ancient Near East to call a literary work by its initial word or phrase. Both the Hebrew and Greek titles are appropriate for Genesis, the record of historical origins.

Without the book of Genesis, the rest of the Bible would make little sense. Genesis lays a foundation that allows us to begin to answer the big questions in life, such as: Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are we going? God answers these questions more fully as the Bible story unfolds. Genesis describes the beginning of the world, of human beings and civilization, of families and nations, of sin and salvation.

### Outline

Genesis can be divided into a prologue (1:1 - 2:3), and 10 sections introduced in the King James Version with the words "these are the generations of" (2:4 - 4:26; 5:1 - 6:8; 6:9 - 9:29; 10:1 - 11:9; 11:10-26; 11:27 - 25:11; 25:12-18; 25:19 - 35:29; 36:1 - 37:1; 37:2 - 50:26).

Genesis traces a line of descendants from Adam to Jacob, highlighting God's selection of, and commitment to, the family of Abraham – the family through whom he would implement his plan of salvation (12:1-3).

The placing of the Genesis narrative in this genealogical framework shows that the accounts are intended to be understood as real-life histories of men and women.

### How to read this book

Although Genesis gives us fascinating glimpses of the beginning of human history, it is not primarily a historical or scientific statement. Genesis makes the theological statement that God created men and women in his image and has an eternal purpose for them. Every scientific, historical or literary analysis that misses this point misunderstands the text of Genesis.

#### It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the primary value of Genesis, as indeed of all Scripture, is theological. It is possible to devote a great deal of time and energy to all kinds of incidental details and to miss the great theological issues. For example, the story of the Flood speaks of sin, judgment, redemption, new life. To be occupied with details about the [date and extent of the Flood, or about the] size of the ark, and with problems of feeding or of the disposal of refuse, is to be concerned with side issues. While God's revelation was largely in historical events, and while history is of tremendous significance for the biblical revelation, it is the theological significance of events that is finally important. ( _New Bible Dictionary,_ p. 413)

### Learning about God

The first thing Genesis teaches us is that God exists:

#### It is no accident that _God_ is the subject of the first sentence of the Bible, for this word dominates the whole chapter...it is used some thirty-five times in as many verses of the story. The passage, indeed the Book, is about Him first of all; to read it with any other primary interest...is to misread it. (Derek Kidner, _Genesis,_ Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, p. 43)

Genesis also tells us that:

##### • The world exists only because God does, and because he chose to make it. The world does not have to exist. If nothing had ever been created, God would still exist, throughout all eternity.

##### • Everything depends on God and ultimately belongs to him (Psalm 89:11). Nothing can claim to exist by its own power or purpose. As a proverb states, "God without man is still God; but man without God is nothing."

##### • It is possible to reject God, but to do this results in evil, chaos, destruction and pain. This is why sin is a tragic fact of human existence.

##### • In spite of our rejection of God, he has not rejected us. Genesis shows that God, from the beginning, has a plan to save humanity from its chosen path of sin and death.

God acts in history. In the midst of human affairs, with all our problems, struggles and uncertainties, God's presence is certain. This was known by the patriarchs – the founding fathers of our faith – and, as Genesis teaches us, it can be known by Christians today.

Viewing Genesis from a New Testament vantage point, we see Jesus Christ in action as the eternal Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made" (John 1:1-3; see also Colossians 1:16).

Furthermore, Jesus' ministry is anticipated in Genesis 3:15. The "offspring" of the woman who would crush the serpent's (Satan's) head is Jesus Christ, the "seed" of Abraham mentioned by Paul in Galatians 3:16.

Perhaps the greatest revelation of Christ in Genesis is found in God's establishment of his covenant with Abraham (12:1-3; 15:1-21; 17:1-21). God made glorious promises to Abraham. The apostle Paul explains how, through Jesus Christ, the New Testament church became the spiritual inheritors of many of those promises (Galatians 3:1-29). As we shall see, a proper understanding of God's covenant with Abraham is indispensable to understanding the rest of the Bible story.

Genesis reveals much about the nature of God:

##### • God is the Creator and Life-giver (1:1–2:9).

##### • God is personal and desires a relationship with human beings (1:26–2:25; 15:1-2:1.).

##### • God is holy and judges sinful humans (3:8-24; 6:5-7; 11:1-9; 18:16–19:29).

##### • God is merciful, even in judgment (3:21; 4:15; 6:8; 18:32).

##### • God is sovereign over every power (18:14; 26:12-16).

### Other topics

Satan: Genesis reveals an adversary who masqueraded as a serpent and influenced the first humans to sin. The Bible later names this adversary Satan, which means "adversary." Through his influence, Satan generates discord, deception and disobedience among human beings (Genesis 3:1-7; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 12:9).

Redemption: Even as he expelled Adam and Eve from the garden because of sin, God prophesied that one of their descendants would save humanity (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 3:16; Revelation 13:8).

Election or calling: Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are all called by God and chosen for their place in the history of God's people.

Covenants: The Bible is a story of God's successive covenants (agreements) with his people, culminating with Christ ushering in the new covenant. Genesis begins this story, recording God's covenants with Noah and with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Sabbath: God rested after the six days of creation, a pattern that would later be used to regulate Israelite life under the laws given through Moses (2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11).

Marriage and the family: From the beginning, God instituted marriage to unite husband and wife for life (2:21-25). God commanded Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and increase in number" (1:28). Marriage enables love to be expressed between husband and wife, and children to be brought up within a family.

### What this book means for you

Genesis may be an ancient book, but its message is up-to-date. Its real-life stories are related in frank and honest detail. They contain vital lessons to help us improve our relationships with God, family and society.

Genesis illustrates the supreme importance of our relationship with God. God created humanity in his image (1:26). He wants us to have a relationship with him, to place him first in our life. Abel did so, and God respected him (4:4). Enoch walked with God (5:22-24), as did Noah (6:9). Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob all developed strong relationships with God – despite their mistakes. We can, too.

Genesis is also a book about family relationships. It shows how they can be destroyed by favoritism or by resentments handed down from previous generations. And it shows that even family members who hate each other can be reconciled. Read the story of Esau and Jacob (Genesis 27–33), and Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 42–46).

Finally, Genesis reminds us of our responsibilities to the world. When God commanded Adam "to work...and take care of" the garden of Eden (2:15), he was trusting him with the stewardship of the earth. This still applies to us. We should look after our environment.

Even more important is our attitude toward other people. From the beginning we are told we should not harm others, for we are all made in God's image (9:5-6). Genesis reveals that God's concern stretches out over all humanity, as it begins to reveal God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.

"As we got farther and farther away from the earth, it diminished in size. Finally, it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart. Seeing this has to change a man, has to make a man appreciate the creation of God and the love of God."

James Irwin,  
Apollo 10 astronaut

This photograph is one frame from a 13-frame sequence of an earthrise taken by Apollo 10 astronauts from the lunar module. When the photographs were taken, the spacecraft was racing around the moon at about 3,100 miles per hour. The earth rises bright and lifelike in sharp contrast to the bleak moon surface in the foreground.

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## Genesis: "In the Beginning..."  
From Creation to Abraham

### Creation: chapters 1:1 – 2:3

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). These famous opening words of the Bible express the Hebrew and later the Christian belief about the foundation of the universe. Does the universe have meaning? Genesis tells us that it does. The universe was divinely conceived. Therefore, it can only be fully understood in light of a divine plan.

Here are some of the main things we learn from the creation account:

##### • God is the Creator (verse 1).

##### • God made everything there is, and it was very good (verse 31).

##### • The climax of God's creation was the making of man and woman (verses 26-27). Human beings are different from other creatures in two essential ways. First, we are made in God's image. Second, we have dominion over the rest of the physical creation.

##### • God's six days of creative activity and the seventh day of rest set a pattern, which was later used for a weekly cycle of work and worship (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:11).

The poetic flow of the Hebrew language of Genesis is simple, yet profound. Creation is described as taking place in six days. Notice in the following box a summary of the creation week.

The purpose of the Genesis account is to establish God as Creator (Hebrews 1:10). It was never intended to be a scientific explanation of how he accomplished the creation. The Bible is not a science textbook. The scientist searches for the what and how of life's questions, but the Bible addresses the _who_ and _why_ behind those questions.

Before scientific knowledge proliferated during the last 200 years, most Christians believed that Genesis 1 was a literal description of the beginning of the universe. Many Christians still do. However, a considerable number of Bible scholars today, while believing in the inspiration and accuracy of the Genesis account, find the traditional, literal interpretation inconsistent with evidence from scientific research.

These scholars have offered various explanations to account for these apparent inconsistencies. Some, having noticed that "light and darkness" is the subject of both the first and fourth days of creation (verses 3-5 and 14-19), "waters and sky" the subject of the second and fifth days (verses 6-8 and 20-23), and "land life" the subject of the third and sixth days (verses 9-13 and 24-31), believe the account to be a poetic or schematic portrayal of creation. For more on that, see "Are the Six Days of Creation Literal or Figurative?" at <http://www.gci.org/bible/genesis/sixdays>.

Other scholars consider Genesis 1:2-31 as describing a re-creation. This view was popularized by C.I. Scofield in his reference Bible, published in the United States in 1909. Scofield believed that Genesis 1:1 describes an initial creation that took place in the dateless past," while verses 2-31 describe a re-creation of an earth being prepared for human life _(The First Scofield Reference Bible,_ commentary on Genesis 1:2).

This theory attempted to harmonize the Bible and geology. The intervening gap between the beginning (verse 1) and the seven days of re-creation, Scofield reasoned, would be great enough to explain the fossils and rock strata found in the geological record. It would also explain the apparent contradiction between Isaiah 45:18 (New King James Version), which says that God did not create the earth "in vain" (Hebrew _tohu_ ), and Genesis 1:2 (NKJV), which describes the earth as being "without form, and void" (Hebrew _tohu_ and _bohu)._

According to Scofield, the verb "was" (Hebrew _hayah_ ) should be translated "became." Genesis 1:2, in this view, reads, "And the earth became without form, and void." Although the Hebrew word allows for such a translation (it has the meaning of "became" in Genesis 19:26, Deuteronomy 27:9 and 2 Samuel 7:24), _hayah_ is most often translated "was" throughout the Old Testament. Hence, it could also be translated, "Now the earth was without form, and void" (Jewish Publication Society translation, 1917).

While Bible scholars have proposed various interpretations of the creation account, Genesis does not explain the natural laws or the mechanism by which God created the universe. Genesis is not physics, astronomy or geology. It is a story of faith, telling why we came to be and to whom we belong. Its message is that "the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (Psalm 24:1). It declares that in the beginning there was God, and that all things came to be as God called them forth.

This does not mean, however, that a Christian should leave scientific knowledge at the church door. When properly interpreted, scientific evidence may help us understand certain details. When scientific evidence seems to contradict biblical revelation, one or the other, or perhaps both, have been misunderstood. To read more about that, see "Must We Choose Between Science and the Bible?" at <http://www.gci.org/science/choose>.

### "Image" and "likeness" of God: Genesis 1:26-27

The Bible makes an important distinction between humans and other living creatures. The animals were made after their kind (verse 25), but the man and woman were made in the image, or likeness, of God. This means that humans have a special relationship with God and can communicate with him.

#### Knowing that we are made in God's image ... provides a solid basis for self-worth. Human worth is not based on possessions, achievements, physical attractiveness, or public acclaim. Instead it is based on being made in God's image. [Furthermore,] God made both man and woman in his image. Neither man nor woman is made more in the image of God than the other. ( _Life Application Bible,_ NIV, commentary on Genesis 1:26-27).

Men and women have equal access to God and can equally experience a personal relationship with him.

### Adam and Eve disobey God Genesis 2:4–3:24

This second account of creation is written from a different point of view: It focuses on the first humans. It also uses a different name for God. In the first account, God is referred to as _'elohim,_ which means "the mighty God the Creator, the Great One who inhabits eternity." _'Elohim_ is used in this important account to emphasize God's sovereign power. In the second account, the name used for God is _Yahweh 'elohim. Yahweh_ is used when God emphasizes the importance of his relationship with humanity.

God planted a garden as a residence for the man, Adam. But on his own, Adam was incomplete – as he soon recognized (Genesis 2:20). So God created woman, a separate but equal creation, sharing man's essential and unique nature. This was not an afterthought, of course – the delay in creating the woman was intentional, to increase the man's appreciation for her. Adam named the woman Eve (Genesis 3:20).

God thus established the institution of marriage as the union of one man and one woman for life. Because of this, marriage is to be held in honor. Marriage was not a product of human culture. God designed it for the happiness of the human race, to enable love to be expressed within a family structure, and as a means of reproduction. Both husband and wife have important responsibilities in the marital relationship (Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:21-33).

God gave Adam and Eve permission to eat fruit from the many different trees in the garden, including the fruit of the "tree of life" (Genesis 2:9, 16). That tree symbolized constant access to God and eternal life (Revelation 2:7; 22:14). Only one tree was off limits. God told Adam and Eve, "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Adam and Eve were faced with a test of obedience. Would they listen to their Creator's instructions, or would they choose to disobey?

The wily serpent, who symbolized Satan the devil (Revelation 12:9), now entered the scene. He approached Eve, and, imputing an evil intention to God's command, expressed his own doubts (Genesis 3:1). The serpent's objective was to pose as a benefactor, to entice Adam and Eve to sin. The serpent said to Eve: "You will not surely die.... For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (verses 4-5).

Eve was enticed by Satan's words. She had to see for herself if she would truly receive this Godlike power. Eventually, Eve "took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it" (verse 6). The first man and woman failed their basic test of faith. Thousands of years later, the apostle Paul explained that both Adam and Eve were guilty of sin in this action (Romans 5:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:3).

The serpent had cleverly undermined the relationship that should have existed between human beings and God. He tricked our first parents into defying the Creator's command by suggesting that God was greedy and selfish and was trying to keep something good away from them. Through an attitude that was an affront to God himself (Psalm 51:4), Adam and Eve ruined their chances of living a God-centered life. The serpent had lured them into alienating themselves from their Creator.

By disregarding God's command, Adam and Eve had made a fateful choice. They had attempted to run their lives according to what seemed right to them and not according to the principles clearly enunciated by God. They usurped God's authority and set themselves up as lawgiver, judge and jury of the way things ought to be. The couple asserted their independence from God, and grasped at an imagined equality with him. They thought that the forbidden fruit would be the key to vital knowledge they needed – knowledge that God was withholding from them.

Adam and Eve liked the idea of being "like God" in knowledge. But their perception was terribly distorted. God's intention was for them to grow in knowledge through seeking his divine will and unlimited wisdom. Through their disobedience, the first humans terminated their contact with the only sure source of truth. In this sense, they barred themselves from the Garden of Eden and from the tree of life (Genesis 3:24).

Yet, even as Adam and Eve cut themselves off from God's presence, he mercifully gave them a promise and a hope for the future salvation of the human race. In what is often called the Bible's first messianic prophecy, God told the serpent, "I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he [the Savior] will crush your head, and you will strike his heel" (verse 15).

To reverse the consequences of human sin, God would send his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us. Satan would strike the heel of the Savior, Jesus Christ, through the crucifixion. However, Jesus would triumph over evil and death through his resurrection from the dead. Thus, he was prophesied from the beginning to "crush" Satan's head by destroying the power of sin and the serpent's sin-filled system.

The disobedience of our parents, Adam and Eve, plunged the human race into sin (Romans 5:12). Yet, when we uncover the complete biblical picture, we see that, in spite of our flawed past and uncertain present, we humans can look forward to a positive future.

God has a plan to save humanity, and the Bible tells us about that plan. It is, above all, a story of hope! As we explore the Word of God, we will discover that we are destined to inherit eternal life in the kingdom of God. To experience this magnificent purpose, however, we must first be reconciled to God through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:9-21).

### The first murder: chapter 4

Adam and Eve had two sons: Cain and Abel. Each brought an offering to God. God rejected Cain's offering but found Abel's sacrificial offering pleasing because it was given in faith (Hebrews 11:4). It typified Christ's work on our behalf. Cain became bitter and resentful. He ignored God's advice (Genesis 4:7) and murdered his brother Abel. God then condemned Cain to a life of wandering and alienation (verse 12).

Verses 17-24 list some of Cain's descendants, and show the organized beginnings of civilized life. But the sinful nature of humans continued to haunt them. Lamech, for example, boasted of a murder he had committed.

### From Adam to Noah: chapter 5

Family trees (genealogies) similar to this one are often given in the Bible. They describe a line of descent. Some of these genealogies are selective. For example, names are sometimes left out to underscore a spiritual lesson. Therefore, it is not always possible to compute chronology and exact historical dates simply by adding up all the numbers.

It is interesting to compare Genesis 5:1 with Matthew 1:1. In Genesis, we have "the book of the generations of Adam" (KJV), a record of the descendants of the first Adam, most of whom rejected God. "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ" (KJV), on the other hand, introduces the Gospel record of the "second Adam," Jesus Christ the redeemer. "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22).

In this context, Adam and Christ are pictured as heads of two contrasting governments. To whom will you give allegiance? Will you follow Adam in death, or will you accept Jesus as Lord and live?

### The great flood: chapters 6–9

The human race became increasingly violent and corrupt over the next few centuries, which led to God's intervention with a flood. God told his servant Noah to build an ark in which Noah and his family, and animal and bird life would be protected from this great flood. The Bible describes Noah as a saint among sinners, the only light in his crooked and perverse generation. In a world of sin, he alone was faithful to God (Genesis 6:8-9).

The ancient story of Noah building his ark is much more than history. God instructed Noah to build the ark because a crisis was at hand. But the people of Noah's day saw no such crisis. For them, life would continue with business as usual.

This is the normal attitude of the majority. "In the days before the flood," said Jesus," people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage...until the flood came and took them all away" (Matthew 24:38-39).

Even when Jesus preached and healed the sick, many failed to recognize the miraculous nature of what was happening in their time. "You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky," Jesus told his generation, "but you cannot interpret the signs of the times" (Matthew 16:3).

Noah's neighbors looked at the ordinary skies, which seemed to promise ordinary weather. They did not perceive the troubled and turbulent moral climate – a sign of imminent disaster. But Noah, because he was a just man and walked with God, was enabled to see what others could not.

How about you? Do you assume that only the visible is real?

### God's covenant with Noah: chapters 6:18; 8:20–9:17

Covenants are an important and recurring theme in the Bible. God established special covenants (agreements) with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David. For example, when Noah stepped out of the ark onto an earth devoid of human life, God gave him a reassuring promise, in three parts, shown below.

The series of biblical covenants culminates in the coming of Jesus Christ and the ushering in of a new and better covenant (Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 7:22, 8:6).

Genealogies provide valuable historical links. Chapter 10 gives the genealogy of Noah's three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Shem's family appears last since the next major episode of the story develops around his descendants. But first, the story of Babel.

### The Tower of Babel: chapter 11:1–9

Based on archaeological evidence, an artist's impression shows how the Tower of Babel may have looked, with stairways leading from one level to the next.

After the flood, the human race lived in the same geographic area and spoke one language (verse 1). During their wanderings eastward, the descendants of Noah came across a plain in Mesopotamia where they decided to settle. Their ambition was to build "a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we can make a name for ourselves" (verse 4).

Displeased by their arrogance, independence and lack of trust in their Creator, God intervened, confused their language and scattered them over all the earth (verse 8). He did this for their own good; what is contrary to God's will is never in humanity's best interest. The people abandoned their ungodly project, leaving the city and tower unfinished.

The city is normally identified with Babylon. _Babel_ is a Hebrew word meaning "gate of god," which is linked with _balal,_ meaning "to confuse" (verse 9). The story illustrates the futility of humanity's attempt to challenge God's supremacy.

### From Shem to Abram: chapter 11:10–32

Once again we find a selective list of names. With Terah (verse 27), the list becomes more detailed. After the death of his father, Nahor, "Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot...and his daughter-in-law, Sarai...to go to Canaan" (verse 31). The stage is now set for the story of Abram, whom God later renamed Abraham. (Abram's new name signified God's promise to make him the "father of many nations" – see Genesis 17:5.)

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## The Serpent and You

In the paradise of Eden, Adam and Eve had all they needed. They were content at first. God had given them the run of the garden, except for the fruit of one tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were told to leave that fruit alone, and they did – until the serpent, Satan, made a few subtle suggestions.

"Why not have everything?" he asked Eve. She knew that God had said, "You must not eat fruit from the tree [the fruit of this one tree], and you must not touch it, or you will die" (Genesis 3:3).

But the serpent was quick to plant a seed of doubt: "Did God really say that? And if he did say it, why? The fruit is good. Why listen to the unreasonable commands of God that prevent you from fully experiencing life?"

Eve was persuaded after a little manipulation. When she brought the idea to Adam, he accepted it and also ate of the forbidden fruit.

This story has overtones for us today. That serpent was not confined to the Garden of Eden. The same serpent (Revelation 12:9) and the same seductions come sliding up to us every day, presenting us with the idea that we know better than God. And dissatisfaction with life is an attitude Satan still offers us.

"Are there appetites you have been commanded to control? Why not indulge them?" he asks. "Are there forbidden desires just out of reach? Why not find some way to grab hold of them?"

These are thoughts we must reject. Some desires, were they to be fulfilled, would hurt us. There are some ambitions that God, in his wisdom, does not want us to gratify – not to limit us, but to help us avoid trouble we cannot foresee. Life itself also throws up its own restrictions. To acknowledge that we cannot always have everything our way is a mark of maturity.

Jesus told us that to inherit the kingdom of God, we must humble ourselves and become like little children (Matthew 18:3-4). We must maintain an attitude of humility in our relationship to God and his way of life. The apostle Paul understood this concept from experience. "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances" (Philippians 4:11).

Satan is a fallen angel who heads the evil forces in the spirit realm. He is referred to in the Bible in various ways, including the devil, enemy, evil one, murderer, liar, thief, tempter, accuser of the believers, prince of demons and god of this age or world. He is in constant rebellion against God. Satan generates discord, deception and disobedience among human beings. In Christ, Satan is already defeated, and his dominion and influence as god of this age will cease at Christ's return (John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Peter 5:8; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8; Revelation 12:9-10; 20:1-3).

_Satan is pictured above as a serpent in a detail from James Tissot's 19th-century watercolor titled_ God's Curse _. Images of serpents were sometimes associated with gods or deities of the underworld and may have symbolized winter, sometimes called the "season of death."_

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## The Skill of the Writers

Biblical authors put much thought and effort into composing God's Word. They wanted to make sure that the reader would clearly understand and remember the important points of Scripture. Since we read the Old Testament in translation, however, it is not always possible for us to recognize the diligence of these writers. Their skill often lies hidden in the Hebrew language.

As an example, let's take a close look at the meaning of the Hebrew words in Genesis 9:6. By doing so, we will gain greater respect for the communication skills of the writers. The New International Version reads: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed." This is a good translation. However, it lacks the compactness and wordplay of the original Hebrew text.

In the Hebrew, this saying consists of the following words:

Shophekh dam ha'adam

ba'adam damo yishaphekh.

You do not have to know Hebrew to recognize that the words in the second line of the verse are similar, but in reverse order, to those in the first line. The first and last words of the saying _(shophekh_ and _yishaphekh)_ come from the same root word – the word for "shed." The second and second-to-last words _(dam_ and _damo_ ) come from the same root word, the word for "blood." The middle two words _(ha'adam_ and _ba'adam)_ come from the word for "human." The order is therefore as follows: shed, blood, human; human, blood, shed.

This type of arrangement is called a chiasm or an "envelope structure" because the same word is used at the beginning and at the end to envelop the phrase. This poetic device lends a rhythmical quality to the text, making it easier to read and remember.

A second poetic device is used inside this particular envelope. It is called "paronomasia" or "a play on words." The words that are played on in this verse are "blood" and "human."

The Hebrew word for "blood" is _dam._ The word used here for human is similar: _'adam._ The saying in Genesis 9:6, then, makes an important connection between humans and blood.

To understand this connection fully, we need to look at the previous verses: "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man" (verses 4-5).

The life of any flesh is in its blood (verse 4). When Cain took his brother's life, God told Cain, "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground" (Genesis 4:10). Part of the message of Genesis 9:4-6, therefore, is that the life of humans _('adam)_ is in their blood _(dam)._ The poetic device makes the point easier to remember.

Plays on words are common in the Hebrew Bible. For example, when Leah and Rachel name their sons, the names they choose reflect the situation. Rachel, before naming her son Naphtali, says, "With great wrestlings [ _naphtulei_ ] I have wrestled [ _niphtalti_ ] with my sister" (Genesis 30:8, NKJV). Similar wordplay accompanies the naming of the other sons (Genesis 29:31-35; 30:1-24).

Like wordplays, envelope structures also permeate the Bible on many levels. Some are less than a verse long, while others cover entire chapters. For example, several psalms begin and end with the phrase "Praise the Lord" (Psalms 146–150).

An envelope structure can extend over even larger units. The book of Job, for example, begins (chapters 1–2) and ends (chapter 42) with narrative written in prose. These sections of prose narrative form an envelope for the rest of the book (chapters 3–41), which is a debate written in poetry. Also, the book begins with a description of Job's family (Job 1:2) and wealth (verse 3), and concludes with a description of his wealth (Job 42:12) and family (verses 13-16).

On the greatest level, the first chapters of Genesis and the last chapters of Revelation form an envelope for the entire Bible. The Bible begins and ends in paradise. Genesis describes the initial paradise God created for humans: "In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden" (Genesis 2:9-10). And in Revelation we are given a vision of humanity's ultimate destiny: "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life" (Revelation 22:1-2).

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## The Faith of Abraham

_For an overview of what_ _will be covered in this article, read Genesis 12_ – _25._

Abraham is without question one of the outstanding individuals of the Old Testament. God spoke to him personally, visited him in his home and even considered him a friend. And Abraham loved God. He obeyed him, served him, and was even willing to sacrifice his son to prove his faith. Abraham is a biblical superhero, richly deserving a place in the Old Testament Hall of Fame. But are his experiences something you can personally relate to?

Abraham may seem superhuman, but if we look more closely at some of the incidents in his life we'll see someone like the rest of us, with many frailties and weaknesses. He eventually became someone who "believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).

But Abraham wasn't born that way. He had to grow and learn by experience. In Genesis 12, God told Abraham to uproot himself and his family from their familiar surroundings and move to a new land. It was a test of faith and obedience for a 75-year-old man. Abraham did as he was told. He went out, "even though he did not know where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). On this occasion Abraham trusted God. But Abraham wasn't perfect.

Read the rest of Genesis 12. Isn't this a rather strange thing for a man of faith to have done? Abraham's wife, Sarah, even at her age, was so attractive that other men were taken with her beauty. Abraham was concerned that some might even consider killing him so that Sarah would be available to marry. Fearing for his life, Abraham deceived Pharaoh into believing his beautiful wife was his sister.

Earlier, Abraham had trusted God. But in this chapter we see Abraham acting first in faith, and then in fear. Even though Abraham was a man of faith, he was an imperfect human.

Read the accounts of Abraham's relationship with his nephew, Lot. Note how Abraham preferred peace to strife in the incident recorded in Genesis 13:5-12. Lot took advantage of his uncle's desire for peace, and chose what he thought was the best territory. It was a decision that rebounded. Lot and his family settled in a disputed area and became caught up in local wars. In Genesis 14:12-16, Lot was taken prisoner, and we read how Abraham went to his rescue.

Abraham's love of peace, mixed with loyalty and courage, is an impressive quality. He was indeed a man learning to live up to God's standards. But he had not yet fully learned to trust in God.

God had made important promises to Abraham regarding his descendants. The problem was, Abraham didn't yet have any descendants. Sarah was barren, and she and Abraham were well past the age they could expect to have children. In Genesis 15:1-3, Abraham explained this situation to God. But God insisted that eventually they would have a son who would inherit the promises.

Instead of waiting in faith, Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands (Genesis 16:1-4). Their impatience produced much unhappiness for Abraham, Sarah and her maid, Hagar. Hagar's experiences are recorded in some detail in the Bible. They provide us with a touching example of God's compassion and mercy for the oppressed (verses 5-16; 21:9-21). But we learn from this that God does not always spare us from the consequences of our lack of faith.

It is a lesson that is often repeated throughout the Bible. Although sin is forgiven, the physical consequences are often still felt. It was a lesson even Abraham had to learn the hard way. Abraham and Sarah had to wait many more years for their son and heir. Finally, when Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 (Genesis 17:17), the time had come. The New Testament book of Hebrews tells us: "By faith Abraham, even though he was past age – and Sarah herself was barren – was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise" (Hebrews 11:11).

So the final verdict was that Abraham and Sarah did wait in faith. But Genesis reminds us that their faith was mixed with a strong dose of human doubt and misgivings (Genesis 17:15-19; 18:10-15). Eventually a son, Isaac, was born to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 21:1-3). Sometime later came the great test of Abraham's life. God told him to travel to a distant mountain and offer Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22:1-2).

Put yourself in Abraham's place. What conflicting emotions must have raged through his mind? Isaac was his long-promised heir. Why would God want him dead? Abraham had waited so long for a son, and now he would have to lose him.

On the other hand, Abraham reasoned that God could raise Isaac from the dead. Had God not caused Isaac to be born from parents who, in terms of childbearing potential, were as good as dead? God had said the promises were to be fulfilled through Isaac. Abraham trusted and relied on God. He believed that God knew what he was doing (Hebrews 11:17-19).

As Paul wrote in his epistle to the Romans: "Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised" (Romans 4:20-21).

God intervened at the last moment: "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son" (Genesis 22:12). And that is how we think of Abraham now – a great man of faith and courage who dedicated his life to seeking God's will and fulfilling his purpose. But from the experiences recorded in the Bible, we can see that Abraham's life was not one unbroken catalog of faith. There were ups and downs, moments of worry, doubt, indecision and frustration.

The faith chapter in Hebrews reminds us that "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).

A life spent learning to obey God is like a journey, with a starting point, a route and a destination. For Abraham that journey began when he left his home to travel wherever God would lead him. He could not always know what route the journey would take. But he learned to trust in God to direct his steps.

Your journey may not be as eventful as Abraham's, but you can be sure there will be tests and trials, ups and downs, successes and failures along the way. We can all be encouraged by these examples from the life of the father of the faithful.

One does not learn to live by faith all at once. It doesn't come naturally. We must learn, and, as we learn, we make mistakes. But those mistakes need not cut us off from God. He is a patient, compassionate and merciful teacher.

Like all good teachers, he does not expect his students to fail. He will work with us, encourage us, and, yes, sometimes allow is to be tried and tested, "that your faith...may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:7). Indeed, God says, "My righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him" (Hebrews 10:38).

But for those who do follow God in faith, there is the promise from Jesus Christ: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

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## Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: Were They Real People?

A hundred years ago, many Bible critics claimed that stories of the patriarchs were nothing more than religious fiction. The "silence of history" concerning the patriarchs, upon which these critics based their claims, was shattered with the discovery of ancient tablets at Mari (in southeast Syria) and Nuzi (in modern-day Iraq).

These tablets, although not directly mentioning the patriarchs, still constituted such valuable testimony about their life-styles that the late Professor William F. Albright (the then-acknowledged "dean" of Palestinian archaeologists) concluded that "the narratives of Genesis dealing with Abram may now be integrated into the life and history of the time [the second millennium B.C.] in such surprisingly consistent ways that there can be little doubt about their substantial historicity" ( _Biblical Archaeologist,_ July 1973, p. 10). Professor Albright's conclusion was based on the following evidence from the Mari and Nuzi tablets:

##### 1. Names like Abraham and Jacob were in common use among the Amorites in northern Mesopotamia about 2000 B.C. and later.

##### 2. Mari was the center of a vast network of trade routes ranging from Crete to Elam, from Cappadocia to Megiddo. Merchants constantly traveled these routes from one end to the other. Seen in this context, Abraham's journey from Ur to Haran, then to Canaan and Egypt, is not as improbable as the critics once thought.

##### 3. Abraham's relationship with Hagar (Genesis 16) and Jacob's with Bilhah (Genesis 30) can be better understood by a comparison with a marriage contract from Nuzi, in which the wife was required, if she proved to be barren, to provide a substitute for her husband.

##### 4. Abraham's reluctance to drive out Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 16:6) is understandable in the light of Nuzi customs governing such relationships.

##### 5. Another Nuzi tablet revealed the adoption by a childless couple of a servant born in their house. He became the heir if he cared for them in their old age (see Genesis 15:2-3).

##### 6. Jacob's relationship with Laban (Genesis 29) becomes more understandable when compared to other tablets from Nuzi.

Overall, the patriarchs' way of life conforms so closely to the cultural world described by these tablets that there is no reason to doubt that they were real people.

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## Abram, the Real Story

As a boy I heard the story of Abraham recounted at least once a week, and it usually went something like this: "God told Abraham to go, and he went. He didn't ask questions; he didn't hesitate; he just packed up and left everything he knew—country, family—and went. That's how all of us should obey God. When God says 'jump,' you don't ask 'how high?' you just jump."

Maybe you have heard a similar story. There's no disputing the point—we should obey God like that. But we don't. Not all the time—not even most of the time. It usually takes us a while to get our act together. We might want to do what God says, but put it off. We might try to do what God says, but chicken out. We might even get started doing what God says, but then not follow through.

### All of faith

The background for the story above comes not from the Genesis account of Abram's call, but from Hebrews 11, commonly called the "faith chapter." Verse 8 reads: "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going" (NKJV). Verse 11 adds, "By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised."

You might at first think that the author of Hebrews was reading the Classics Illustrated version of the Abraham story, because the Genesis version paints a somewhat different picture—a not-so-sanitized picture of the patriarch and matriarch of the chosen people.

### Message from God

The early record, found in Genesis 11:27-32, is sketchy: Abram was the son of Terah; his wife's name was Sarai and she was barren; Terah moved Abram and Sarai, along with his grandson, Lot, to Haran; Terah died. (There is no mention of the rest of the family moving to Haran.)

Somewhere along the line (we are not told when), God spoke to Abram, giving him a most remarkable promise. The Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:1-3).

### In a hurry?

God told Abram to "go forth from your country." What was Abram's country? Haran seems to have been only a temporary home for Abram, not a place that would qualify as "your country." Since Ur is called the native land of Abram's brother Haran (11:28), it would seem that Ur would have been "your country" and the location of Abram's "father's house."

If that is true, then it would seem more likely that Yahweh said these things to Abram while Abram was still in Ur—while he was still with his relatives and in his home country. If so, it becomes clear that Abram may have been rather slow about getting "out of your country, from your relatives and from your father's house."

In that case, it would make one wonder whether _Terah_ moved Abram, Sarai and Lot from Ur in response to what Yahweh had told Abram. (The passage in Genesis refers to no one else moving.) After all, Terah took Abram and headed to the land of Canaan (Genesis 11:31), but stopped short in Haran. Was he trying to light a fire under Abram by getting him started?

Whether it was immediately or later, at some point after God's call, Abram did pack up all his considerable possessions, including slaves (12:5), and traveled from Haran across the Euphrates River and down to Canaan, leaving his father's house and whatever relatives might have also made the trip from Ur to Haran.

### Faithful?

Abram had barely set up shop in the "land of promise" before there was a famine so bad that he packed up and moved to Egypt. One has to wonder: if Abram trusted God's promise about the land flowing with milk and honey, why go straight to Egypt when there was trouble? After all, in 13:10, we find that the plain of Jordan was lush and "well watered everywhere." Why didn't Abram go there, part of the promised land, instead of Egypt? We aren't told.

What we are told is that Abram's stay in Egypt was on the shady side. Fearing that the king would kill him in order to marry his beautiful wife, Abram asked Sarai to tell the king that she was his sister. As expected, the Egyptians saw how beautiful Sarai was and told the king. So he took her, believing she was Abram's sister, and treated Abram well for her sake, apparently giving him plenty of riches in the form of stock. But God plagued the king because of it. When the king found out Sarai was the cause of the plagues, he was less than happy with Abram's deception and deported him, but let him keep all those gifts.

There are several things to consider here. One is that Abram handled his affairs a lot like many of us tend to: Seek the most expedient way out of a problem, that is, shortsighted, knee-jerk, unplanned living. What about faith? Abram didn't show much in this episode. But there is another side to the story.

### Faithful

In this incident, Abram was weak in faith. But here's the kicker: Consider what God did in spite of Abram's lack of faith. He blessed Abram with more stock. He protected Sarai, in spite of Abram's willingness to let the king take her. He got Abram back into the promised land, though it took a deportation to do it. Who knows how long Abram would have stayed in Egypt otherwise?

What is the lesson? God is faithful, even when we are not. That's a pretty big lesson, and it only gets stronger as we move through the Genesis stories. We begin to get the impression that these stories are not here to give us models of excellent living, but to show us God's faithfulness to those who call on his name.

### Rest of the story

When we read Genesis, the facts are stacked against Abram. But it is often the case that the obvious, simple facts don't tell the whole story. There is often something going on under the surface, behind the scenes, that plain facts don't have the capacity to convey.

From your own experience, you know that "just the facts" doesn't always convey the real story. Sometimes the facts give a false impression, because they don't contain the deeper facts, the invisible facts—the heart, the motivation, the mitigating circumstances, the personal journey.

In Mark Twain's story of Tom Sawyer, the facts were against Muff Potter. He was holding the bloody knife, he was drunk, there was a witness against him, and worst of all, he remembered nothing, so even he believed he must be guilty—from the facts. But the simple, obvious facts conveyed an untrue story. There were deeper facts, unseen facts, which told the true story and spoke louder than the simple, obvious facts.

### Perspective

It's easy to say Abram was weak in faith. But consider this from Abram's perspective: God spoke to Abram, giving him some of the most dramatic, famous and far-reaching promises in the Bible. In spite of such unprecedented special treatment from God, Abram's life was far from a bed of roses. For example, where was God when the so-called promised land of blessing and descendants was a parched, cropless wasteland with no kids bearing Abram's name, when in desperation Abram decided he had to head down to Egypt so he could feed his wife, slaves and animals?

Where was God when Sarai's desperation over her barrenness drove her to offer her servant Hagar to Abram to give him a child, or when Abraham had to contend with Sarah's bitter jealousy toward Hagar and Ishmael? Where was God when Abraham's love for Ishmael was brushed aside as irrelevant when it was time for Isaac to come along? What were the big promises worth to Abraham when he had to struggle with water rights, when he had to go to war to rescue his kidnapped nephew, when he had to send Ishmael away with nothing but the bread and water he and his mother could carry, and most of all when he was trudging along beside a donkey toward Mount Moriah like some worshiper of Molech to make a burned sacrifice of Isaac?

Abraham had to deal with strife, pain, heartache, tragedy and grievous disappointment, just like you and me. And through it all, he kept trusting God to be faithful to his word of grace and promise.

Sometimes Abraham put things off. Sometimes he tried to solve things himself (he did the tell-them-you're-my-sister thing again the very year Isaac was born). Sometimes he acted unwisely. But it was in the middle of the pains, problems, frustrations and mess-ups of life that Abraham trusted God, not in some happily-ever-after fairy tale land where heroes are practically-perfect-in-every-way and nothing serious ever goes wrong.

And God was faithful to Abraham, just as he is faithful to us—not faithful to do the kind of things we think a proper God should do, like giving us whatever we long for or think we need—but faithful to us—to his redemptive purpose for us, to his new creation of which he has made us part in Christ.

The Hebrews version is the real story: the "rest of the story." Hebrews gives us God's redemption of Abraham's story, the true meaning that God gave Abraham's story in Christ.

In the same way, God has redeemed your story—your personal history, the record of your weaknesses, shortcomings and failures, and has transformed you and your history into something new—his new creation in Jesus Christ. In Christ, we can put our troubled past behind us, and trust his word of truth for us. As Paul put it, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthian 5:17, NIV).

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## Where Did the Hittites Come From, and Does It Matter?

"I always enjoy your articles," a friend told me. "Why don't you write anymore?"

I explained I had been working on a degree in religion for several years. The only writing I'd done was for my university coursework—about such subjects as where the Hittites came from. Papers only my professors would ever read, and only, I suspect, because they are paid to.

"Oh, I don't know," my friend said. "I think the Hittites might be interesting." Well, oka-a-ay, I thought. Let's see.

### About those Hittites

Are you ready?

Even before my studies I knew the Hittites were an ancient people mentioned several times in the Bible. After Sarah died, Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah near Hebron from the Hittites for a family burial site.

But I was surprised to learn historians and archaeologists didn't believe the Hittites ever lived in the land of Canaan, and certainly not during the time of Abraham. At one time, some scholars doubted the Hittites ever existed at all, anywhere.

But after some significant 20th century archaeological finds, scholars now concur there were indeed such a people, but they were not the small tribes mentioned in the Bible. The Hittites were a major empire with a capital, Hattusha, located at Bogazkoy, about 100 miles east of Ankara in Anatolia, now part of Turkey, not even close to Canaan.

Well, I was determined to show when the Bible says Abraham bought a cave from the Hittites, Abraham bought that cave, and it was from the Hittites. My professor was amused at my resoluteness, but encouraged me in my efforts.

### Hittites or bust

After extensive research, I had to admit archaeological finds so far have not confirmed a Hittite presence in Canaan during the period when Abraham lived (the second millennium B.C.E.). As far as archaeologists can tell, northern Hittite troops did not go farther south than Damascus. No neo-Hittite states (Hittites referred to in later books—1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles) have been found south of Hamath, so that also excludes any territory in Canaan.

But, archaeological finds of Egyptian origin in Anatolia confirm records of the relations between the Hittites and Egyptians, powerful rivals on either side of Canaan. When the Hittites began extending their empire south into Syria, their successes caught the attention of the Egyptians. The two superpowers pushed each other back and forth for control of Syria and Canaan.

Isn't this thrilling? Hang in there. I'm nearly done.

The Hittites led by Muwattalis won a major battle against the Egyptians and their king Rameses II at Kadesh on the Orontes River about 1300 B.C.E. Some years later a peace treaty was made between Rameses II and Hattusilis III.

Now here's the interesting part. Archaeologists have come to realize the Anatolian Hittites and the Syrian Hittites are of the same peoples. Canaanite mythological tales were also found incorporated into Hittite mythology. So these peoples were certainly not isolated from one another

### Another possibility?

References to the Hittites in Canaan during Abraham's time could also have been the biblical writers' use of contemporary geographical terms. In other words, the Jews who many years later recorded these events in the Bible may have used the names of the people who occupied the territories during their own time rather than during Abraham's time.

All the Hittites named in the Bible have Semitic names. So if they were Hittites of the old empire or neo-Hittites, they had been assimilated into the Semitic culture.

Numbers 13:29 is attributed to an early biblical writer, who tells us the Hittites "occupied the hill country" of Canaan. And this agrees with the story of Abraham purchasing the cave of Machpelah from the Hittites.

So although I could not definitely prove from archaeology that the Hittites were situated in Canaan at the time of Abraham, archaeological finds do reveal the close relationships between the two ancient superpowers—the Hittite Empire and Egypt.

The Hittites and the Egyptians traveled back and forth, over or around Canaan, to do battle or to try to cement peaceful relations, depending on what rulers were in power. Small families of Hittites could have ended up in Canaan.

So I found the Hittites. But maybe by now you wish I'd left my discovery with my professors.

### Does it matter?

Does it matter whether or not those people called Hittites in the Bible were really Hittites? Does it matter if Abraham bought a cave from a tribe that biblical writers many centuries later identified as Hittites, but which really were some other small tribe, with a different name?

What if archaeologists never find anything to prove conclusively Hittites were around during the time of Abraham or Joshua or the Judges? Or what if they do? Does it really matter?

### God doesn't lie

It mattered to me once. I thought every word in the Bible, whether written in a poem or a psalm or a parable, was literally true and historically precise. If it were not, then could any of the Bible be trusted? I wouldn't allow myself to entertain such thoughts.

After all, the Bible is the Word of God, and God does not lie. I still believe that, by the way.

While I realize archaeologists' finds more often than not substantiate what is recorded in the Bible, I do not stake my faith on whether or not the Hittites lived in Canaan during the time of Abraham. The Word of God is inspired, but it was not written as a history textbook or a scientific journal.

The Bible was written to lead humanity to salvation in Christ Jesus, freedom from sin and death—not to give us a Hittite history lesson. There is power in the Word of God—power to transform your life and mine.

As the author of 2 Timothy says: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16).

God's Word was written to change lives for the better, and couldn't your life use a little changing? I know mine could.

Sheila Graham

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## Isaac and Jacob  
Genesis 25:19–36:42

### Jacob and Esau: chapter 25:19–34

In the Hebrew culture, a woman's inability to have children was a reproach. It struck at the core of the Hebrew belief that every family stemming from Abraham was part of the covenant of God. Infertility, a "barren womb," was embarrassing to a wife and could end a loving relationship. The denial of motherhood was a crushing blow. And few acts of God could be a more direct blessing than the reversal of a woman's infertility.

The answer to prayer in the case of Rebekah, Isaac's wife, is only one example of God's miraculously "opening the womb." So it had been with Sarah (Genesis 15:2-6; 18:12-14; 21:1-3). So also it would be with Rachel (Genesis 29:31; 30:22-23), with the mother of Samson (Judges 13:2-24), with Hannah (1 Samuel 1:2-20), and at the beginning of the New Testament with Elizabeth, of whom John the Baptist would be born (Luke 1:5-25).

Eventually, Esau and Jacob were born to Isaac and Rebekah. As firstborn son, Esau was destined to become head of the family and inherit a double share of the estate. However, he sold his birthright and forfeited any claim to the blessing that went with it. While God does not say anything good about Jacob's strategy in tricking Esau, he openly condemns Esau's attitude. Esau was worldly minded (Hebrews 12:16-17). He was destitute of spiritual insight and of appreciation for the blessings of God's covenant with Abraham. He, like many today, lived only for the moment.

### Isaac and Abimelech: chapter 26

Since the Philistines did not migrate from the Aegean Sea to the southern coast of Canaan until the early 12th century B.C., the reference to them in verse 1 must be explained. It seems likely that a later editor updated the ethnic designation of a non-Canaanite people originally known as _Caphtorites_ (Deuteronomy 2:23) by calling them "Philistines" (Jeremiah 47:4; Amos 9:7).

In this chapter we see how Isaac became afraid that Abimelech would kill him and take his beautiful wife, Rebekah. Like his father before him, Isaac lied about his relationship to his wife. He repented, though, and, during the years that followed, God allowed him to prosper.

Out of jealousy, the men of Gerar plugged Isaac's wells and tried to get rid of him. Gerar was on the edge of a desert, so water was precious. If someone dug a well, he was staking a claim to the land. To plug up someone's well was an act of war. In the end, Isaac moved to Beersheba, where God encouraged him with a special revelation. Here, for the first time, we see the title that would later become so familiar: "The God of your father Abraham" (Genesis 26:24).

### Isaac blesses Jacob: chapters 27–28

God already told Rebekah (Genesis 25:23) that her older son (Esau) would serve her younger son (Jacob). But when she heard that Isaac was going to bless Esau, she took matters into her own hands and devised a plan to trick Isaac, who was blind, into blessing Jacob instead.

Shortly after blessing Jacob, Isaac realized the deception, but still recognized Jacob as heir to God's promise to Abraham (Genesis 27:30-33; 28:1-4).

#### In the ancient world, the time of death was a time when the powers of the dying head of the family could be rallied to enable him to pronounce his last will and testament in the form of a blessing.... The act of blessing in words of poetry set the blessing into motion and brought about what was pronounced. Once these power-laden words of blessing were spoken, they could not be recalled.... The [patriarchs] understood the blessing to be very much under the control of God. (Walter Harrelson, _Genesis,_ Genesis to Revelation Series, p. 63)

Although the blessing became Jacob's, he paid a heavy price for the deception. Esau hated Jacob and wanted to kill him. Isaac and Rebekah's relationship was damaged, and Rebekah apparently never saw her favorite son again.

Fleeing for his life (Genesis 27:41-45), Jacob eventually reached the city of Luz, where God appeared to him in a dream. In it, God repeated to Jacob the promises he had made to Abraham and Isaac, adding his personal guarantee of blessing and protection (Genesis 28:10-15). Jacob renamed the city _Bethel,_ meaning "house of God" (verse 19).

### A mother's love

Frederick W. Robertson, a 19th-century English preacher, gave a memorable sermon titled "Isaac Blessing His Sons." Robertson read Rebekah's words to her son Jacob: "Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.... Let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say" (Genesis 27:9-13).

Robertson explained that even the most passionate human devotion, if unprincipled, will not bless but destroy. Said Robertson: "Here we see the idolatry of Rebekah; sacrificing her husband, her elder son, her principle, her own soul, for an idolized person. Do not mistake. No one ever loved child, brother, sister, too much. It is not the intensity of affection, but its interference with truth and duty, that makes it idolatry.

"Rebekah loved her son more than truth, that is, more than God.... The only true affection is that which is subordinate to [God's higher authority].... Compare, for instance, Rebekah's love for Jacob with that of Abraham for his son Isaac.

"Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son to duty. Rebekah sacrificed truth and duty to her son. Which loved a son most? Which was the nobler love?" ( _Sermons on Bible Subjects,_ E.P. Dutton & Company, London, 1906, p. 78).

### Jacob meets his match: chapters 29–31

These three chapters cover the years of Jacob's exile: the years of service for his two wives and for flocks of his own. This episode shows how God often permits us to reap the shame and sorrow of our self-chosen ways (Galatians 6:7).

Jacob met his match in Haran with his uncle Laban, who proved to be just as deceitful with Jacob as Jacob had been with Esau.

#### When Jacob ran into Laban, one cheat met another. Just as Jacob had taken advantage of his brother by playing on his love for food (25:33), Laban cheated Jacob by playing on his love for Rachel. Additional ironies: Jacob learned his deceit from his mother, Laban's sister. And eventually it was Laban's daughter Rachel who enabled Jacob to escape her father's cheating grasp. _(The New Student Bible,_ NIV, commentary on Genesis 29:25)

The deceit over Leah (Genesis 29:15-30) made Jacob's home life miserable. Leah, the unloved wife, hoped with each new son to win her husband's affection. Rachel, on the other hand, was bitter because she was not able to have children. It is hardly surprising that the law later commanded, "Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife...while your wife is living" (Leviticus 18:18).

Although Laban took advantage of Jacob, God still blessed Jacob materially. Eventually, Jacob responded to God's encouraging promise: "Go back to the land of your fathers...and I will be with you" (Genesis 31:3).

### Jacob wrestles with God: chapter 32

As Jacob was returning to Canaan, he was confronted by God. The confrontation took the form of a wrestling match. In this struggle, Jacob revealed one of his most impressive traits: persistence. He persisted even after his hip was "touched" by God, holding on until God blessed him (verses 24-26). Jacob's leg was "wrenched," but he emerged from the struggle a new man. As a result, God changed Jacob's name (verses 27-28). Jacob, "the ambitious deceiver," became Israel, "the prince who prevailed with God."

### Jacob meets Esau: chapter 33

In spite of Jacob's miraculous experience at Peniel (Genesis 32:30), he still had to learn to trust God completely. He feared Esau and bowed before him, hoping his gifts would appease his brother (Genesis 32:13-21). But God had changed the heart of Esau. To Jacob's amazement, his brother welcomed him with open arms (Genesis 33:4).

The story of Esau's remarkable change of heart is one that we should not forget.

#### Life can bring us some bad situations. We can feel cheated, as Esau did, but we don't have to remain bitter. We can remove bitterness from our lives by honestly expressing our feelings to God, forgiving those who have wronged us, and being content with what we have. ( _Life Application Bible,_ NIV, commentary on Genesis 33:1-11)

### Jacob returns to Bethel: chapter 35

Humiliated by what had happened at Shechem, Jacob was forced to leave. Showing a repentant attitude, he quickly eliminated the corrupt family practices of idolatry and returned to Bethel, the place where God first revealed himself to Jacob.

Christians can learn a lot from Jacob's example. Have we forgotten our spiritual commitment? Maybe we are not as close to God as we used to be. Perhaps we have settled down in our own Shechem. We need to have the courage to emulate Jacob, who renewed his relationship with God and completely turned his life around in response to God's direction.

### Esau's family: chapter 36

Esau's family had settled in the hill country of Seir in southeast Canaan (verse 8). Eau was completely different from Jacob. Esau was worldly. Bethel and its altar were not for him. The New Testament calls him a "profane person" (Hebrews 12:16, KJV). The word profane originally referred to an enclosure outside the tabernacle that was not set apart for any sacred purpose. In Esau's life there were no sacred enclosures. He lived on an earthly plane, concerned only with the immediate. Unlike Jacob, Esau apparently never developed the spiritual dimension or meaning in his life. Jacob and Esau were brothers, but they were spiritual strangers. God wants us to be more like Jacob. Jacob was not perfect, but he did return to God and demonstrated that he would live according to the will and promises of God.

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## Joseph: The Hand of God

_For an overview of what_ _will be covered in this chapter,_ _read Genesis 37-50._

The Egyptian officer prodded his horses in excitement. Dust and rocks flew up behind the stately, ornamented chariot as the horses, already lathered and breathing hard, began galloping again. In the distance, he could see a train of donkeys driven by men and women in Hebrew garments. He could barely make out an old man with a long beard. His anticipation grew. The officer, Hebrew himself, was sure it was his father, whom he hadn't seen in more than 20 years.

The horses' hooves beat against the ground in a hypnotic rhythm as Joseph's thoughts drifted back to his separation from his family so long ago. He was only 17 then, a youth just learning what it was to be an adult. In an innocent zeal to please Jacob, his father, Joseph had alienated his older brothers. Total commitment to his father had blinded him to their growing jealousy until it was too late.

Joseph looked up at the caravan, which had come to a sudden halt. The Hebrews had seen his chariot. They stood, squinting into the distance, unsure of what they saw and what it meant.

Joseph prodded the horses again and they renewed their gallop. Memories of so many years pressed down on him, emotions he'd suppressed so long. He had suffered at the hands of his brothers. He had also suffered at the hands of his Egyptian master, whom he'd served with respect and even love.

Through it all, he'd seen the hand of Almighty God. And now he would once again see his father. His father and brothers recognized Joseph as he pulled into their circle. He reined in the horses, turning the chariot at the last moment, and jumped down before it stopped. Running toward his father, he felt irrepressible love and joy.

As the two men embraced each other, Joseph's brothers looked on, but no longer with envy. Instead, they shared the joy of the moment with the brother they had wronged so many years before.

"Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more" (Genesis 37:5). This scene is depicted in James Tissot's watercolor (above).

Joseph's life story (Genesis 37–50) is one of the most poignant and compelling in the Bible. It has all the elements of drama, ranging from the deepest sorrow to the greatest exultation. It is a story of faith and hope during years of trouble, but it is also a story of success and joy.

Although some disagree, most scholars place Joseph's life around 1700 B.C., coinciding with the rule of the early Hyksos kings in northern Egypt and a native Egyptian dynasty in southern Egypt. The Hyksos kings were foreign invaders, a mixture of Semitic and other races who came to power more through gradual infiltration than through military dominance.

The Bible does not clearly identify the dynasty ruling during Joseph's rise to power. However, it would seem reasonable that a Hebrew would be more acceptable to a Hyksos king who shared with Joseph a common Semitic background. If so, one has to see the hand of God in the history of Egypt, preparing the land for Joseph's rise to power and the consequent growth of Israel in Goshen.

Perhaps the principal theme of the story of Joseph is the power and love of Almighty God. The reader, like the participants, begins to feel an overwhelming sense of God's presence, of his hand working out the destiny of all humanity.

For example, the dreams of Joseph (Genesis 37) came true, despite the plotting of his brothers and the injustice of Potiphar's wife. The dreams of Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker (Genesis 40) also came true, just as Joseph interpreted. And, finally, the dreams of Pharaoh (Genesis 41), which foretold the future of Egypt, came true.

Joseph, inspired by God, explained the meanings of the cup-bearer's and baker's dreams, as well as Pharaoh's. More importantly, he believed them. Instead of being at odds with God, working against his will, Joseph believed God and took consolation in his plans. Unlike his brothers, who had attempted to thwart God's purpose for Joseph, he had worked to fulfill God's will.

Joseph's name, also prophetic, attests to divine intervention, even from the beginning of his life. Rachel had been barren the first 26 years of her marriage. Eventually, God had compassion on her. As the Bible records, "God remembered Rachel," and she conceived Joseph. In Hebrew, the name is _Yoseph,_ which means "adding" or "he who adds" (Genesis 30:22-24).

God blessed everything Joseph set his hand to, from his work as a slave in the house of Potiphar, to his duty in the court prison, to his work as Pharaoh's chief government minister in Egypt. God, through Joseph, brought Israel to Egypt and preserved his chosen people during the great famine. God put Israel in a position to grow and prosper, just as Joseph's name meant.

Joseph's story is encouraging for another reason, a reason on the personal level. God often uses hardships to accomplish his plans for the individual. We can easily see how the evil that Joseph's brothers did to him prepared him for rulership. It made him more compassionate and understanding.

Although Joseph was upright as a youth, the biblical account shows that he didn't exercise tact in dealing with his brothers while he still lived at home. Later in life, even after they hurt him so much, he graciously extended mercy and compassion to them. Joseph overcame the pain his brothers caused him and extended mercy to them because he saw God's hand in his life: "Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you" (Genesis 45:5).

His brothers naturally felt guilt and fear. Joseph went to great lengths to alleviate both, encouraging his brothers repeatedly: "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt" (verse 8).

Years later, after the death of their father, Jacob, the brothers again feared that Joseph would punish them. Once again, though, Joseph showed his compassion: "But Joseph said to them, 'Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives'" (Genesis 50:19-20).

Earlier, at the time of the famine, Joseph had also dealt wisely with his brothers. He knew that 20 years can change people. The years had changed him, and he wanted to know what kind of character his brothers had developed. So Joseph tested them.

After holding them in custody for three days (Genesis 42:17), Joseph set them free. Simeon, however, was to remain in Egypt until the others returned with Benjamin, the youngest brother. The plan served two purposes. First, Joseph wanted his entire family in Egypt. Second, he wanted to know whether his brothers would act honorably toward their brother Simeon, who remained behind in Egypt while they returned to their father in Canaan.

When his brothers finally did return with Benjamin, Joseph made it appear that Benjamin had stolen his silver cup (Genesis 44:1-13). This, too, was a test of their character. Joseph knew that Benjamin, as the youngest son and the only other son of Rachel, was special to Jacob. He knew his brothers could be jealous toward Benjamin, as they had been toward him. He knew they could easily leave Benjamin in Egypt. After all, they had sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt (Genesis 37:26-28).

This time, instead of 20 pieces of silver (the price the brothers received for selling Joseph), it was their lives and freedom at stake. The brothers passed the test.

Judah had already offered himself to Jacob as surety for Benjamin. He had been the brother who suggested selling Joseph into slavery more than 20 years earlier. Now he was the one who spoke for the others. After a passionate speech explaining how much Benjamin meant to Jacob, Judah offered to take upon himself Benjamin's punishment: "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers" (Genesis 44:33).

Joseph then knew the character of his brothers. He saw the positive changes the years had made. At last, he knew he could rely on them.

The story of Joseph is not just a story of his faith and success; it is a story of the faith and success of the entire family. It is a story of growth and change. More importantly, it is a story of God's love and power in the lives of those who serve and follow him.

God did not leave the destiny of Joseph or that of his family to chance. Ultimately, God dealt with the sins of Joseph's brothers just as surely as he protected and elevated Joseph. Joseph didn't need to exact retribution. He didn't need revenge. He left the matter in God's hands. Through it all, God worked out his plan to plant the seed of Israel in the fertile land of Egypt. He put the sons of Israel in a place where they could grow into a nation and begin to fulfill their destiny. As we shall see, God would continue to accomplish this plan in the book of Exodus.

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## Exploring Exodus

### What's in a name?

The English name _Exodus_ comes from the Septuagint title for the book, _Exodos,_ which means "road out" or "way out." The first part of the book culminates in Israel's going out of Egypt and crossing the Red Sea – a defining moment in Israel's history.

In a literal rendering of the Hebrew text, the book of Exodus begins with the word _and,_ thus emphasizing its continuity with Genesis. The Hebrew title for Exodus is derived from the first two words in the book, _we'elleh shemoth,_ which mean "And these are the names" (1:1).

The book continues the story of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Exodus begins with a list of the sons of Jacob, who were the focus of the last part of the book of Genesis.

### Outline

Exodus can be divided into three sections: the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (1:1 – 15:21), the journey to Mt. Sinai and the establishment of the covenant there (15:22–24:18) and the building of the tabernacle where God was to dwell (25:1–40:38).

Throughout each of these sections, we see Israel's lack of faith – first not trusting God to deliver them from the Egyptians (14:10-12), then continual complaint and unrest as they journeyed between the Red Sea and Mt. Sinai (15:22-27; 16:1-3; 17:1-7), and finally worshiping the golden calf against God's specific commands regarding idolatry (32:1-8). Yet, despite Israel's inadequacies, God continually extended mercy to his people.

### How to read this book

Although Exodus is concerned with historical events of extreme importance to Israel, it is not written in the style of a modern history book: "The chronological setting is given only in general terms, consistent with the Hebrew treatment of history as [a] series of events and not as a sequence of dates" ( _New Bible Dictionary,_ p. 360).

The central message of Exodus is God's grace toward Israel. God redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt, miraculously saved them from the Egyptian army, led them through the Red Sea and established a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai.

As with Genesis, and indeed every book of the Bible, we should be less concerned with historical details than with God's revelation of his purpose for us: "That there are problems in Exodus, not even the most conservative of scholars would wish to deny: but many of them are geographic or historical and few of them, if any, affect the theological message of the book" (R. Alan Cole, _Exodus_ [Tyndale Old Testament Commentary], 15). For example:

#### We do not know how long Israel was in Egypt.... We do not know the exact date of the exodus...nor the route that Israel took, nor even the exact site of Sinai.... Yet not one of these affects the main theological issue, and therefore we must not allow them to loom too large in our thinking. It is not essential that we know the numbers, or route, or date of the exodus. It is enough that, with later Israel, we know and believe that such an event happened, and that we too interpret it as a saving act of God. (ibid., p. 16)

### Learning about God

God revealed his name to Moses as "I AM WHO I AM" (3:14). God alone has life inherent; everything else depends on God for its existence.

Exodus also tells us that:

##### • The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was also the God of Moses (3:16), the God who led his people through the Red Sea. God fulfills his purpose through historical acts. The exodus was a critical event in his plan of redemption.

##### • God is all-powerful. Nobody can successfully oppose him. For example, one pharaoh attempted to thwart God's purpose for Israel by trying to drown all the Israelite baby boys. God used these circumstances to enable his servant, Moses, to receive otherwise unobtainable training in Pharaoh's own court (1:22–2:10). Later, another pharaoh stubbornly refused to let the Israelites go free. God simply used this stubbornness as the stage on which he revealed himself, through a series of miracles, to be Israel's all-powerful Savior (6:28–12:36).

##### • God is concerned for his people. God protected the Israelites from the Egyptians (14:13-31), he provided manna for them (16:4-5) and he gave them victory over the Amalekites (17:8-16).

Exodus also foreshadows Christ's sacrificial act of redemption for his people. God commanded the Israelites to kill the Passover lamb and put some of the blood on the top and both sides of the doorframe. God would then save them from death (12:21-23). The New Testament writers speak of "Christ, our Passover lamb," who was sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7). When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he exclaimed, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29).

### Other topics

The Ten Commandments: One of the best-known parts of the Bible is Exodus 20:1-17, where God gave the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments concern the relationship with God, and the last six our relationship with fellow human beings. Jesus later explained the spiritual intent of the law, especially in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7).

The Sabbath: In addition to being the Fourth Commandment, Sabbath keeping is mentioned both before (16:22-30) and after (31:12-17) the giving of the Ten Commandments. The Sabbath was crucial for Israelite identity.

Passover: The Passover was first kept on the night God's angel killed the firstborn of Egypt, and Israel was commanded to keep it every year thereafter as a memorial of their deliverance (12:12-14). The blood of the Passover lamb symbolized God's protection and mercy for his people, Israel, as his firstborn (4:21-23; 12:1-14, 21-28). This foreshadowed the sacrifice of "Christ, our Passover lamb" (1 Corinthians 5:7).

God also commanded the people to put out all yeast or leaven from their houses, and to remember their flight from Egypt by eating unleavened bread for seven days every year (12:15-20; 13:6-10). The unleavened bread would remind them of the haste with which they left Egypt (12:39).

The dwelling of God: Several chapters are devoted to describing God's tabernacle, its construction and the various regulations regarding worship at the tabernacle (Exodus 25–31, 33–40). The tabernacle, and in particular the Most Holy Place, was to be a physical reminder that God lived among his people. Eventually, the tabernacle was replaced by a temple built in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6).

Covenants: Having previously made covenants with Noah and with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 9:8-17; 17:1-14; 26:23-25; 28:10-22), God now made a covenant with the entire nation of Israel, the terms of which are recorded in Exodus 20–23. God thus made the people of Israel his own nation. This was a glorious covenant, but the new covenant would be far more glorious (2 Corinthians 3:7-11).

### What this book means for you

Exodus shows the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob making a covenant with their descendants, the Israelites. God expected Israel, as his covenant nation, to live according to his holy law. The first and most important law was to have no other gods – to have an undivided loyalty to the true God. This principle is still true.

Although the principle of worship is still valid, most of the details we see in the Mosaic code are not. They were appropriate for Israel at that time in history, but in the new covenant they are no longer required. Many of the civil laws are based on timeless principles, and can be instructive for Christian life today, although some adaptation is needed for modern circumstances.

In addition to its moral teaching regarding everyday living, the book of Exodus has tremendous significance as an analogy of a Christian's journey from sin to the kingdom of God. The crossing of the Red Sea foreshadows Christian baptism (1 Corinthians 10:1-2). The Israelites left Egypt, never to return. At baptism, a Christian forever renounces a former life of sin. The Israelites entered into an old covenant relationship with God, mediated by Moses; Christians enter into a new covenant relationship with God through the mediation of Jesus Christ.

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## Exodus: Birth of a Nation  
Israel in Egypt  
Exodus 1:1–12:36

### Setting the scene: chapter 1

Exodus opens with a list of "the sons of Israel" (verse 1) who were the focus of the last part of Genesis. The attention shifts quickly in verse 7 to the "Israelites" (people of Israel). From this point on, the name Israel usually refers to the nation of people, not to the patriarch.

Jacob's descendants had been "fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them" (verse 7). By this time, a new pharaoh ruled over Egypt who did not honor the friendship that once existed between the Egyptian rulers and the family of Joseph. This pharaoh feared that the Israelites might become powerful enough to challenge his authority, so he began to oppress them.

But no matter how much Pharaoh exploited the Israelites and how hard he worked them, their numbers continued to grow. As the Israelites multiplied, Pharaoh began to see them as more than just a labor pool. He became concerned that this large alien population would organize and pose a threat to Egypt. Pharaoh decided to tackle the problem in a more cruel way, only to be defeated by the faith and courage of the Hebrew midwives (verses 15-21).

### Moses: prince and alien: chapter 2

Pharaoh decreed that all Hebrew baby boys were to be drowned in the Nile River (Exodus 1:22). Moses' life was saved by his mother's resourceful action. She placed him in a watertight basket (the same Hebrew word, _tebhah,_ used for Noah's "ark") and set it adrift in the river. Moses was later rescued by Pharaoh's daughter.

As a child growing up in the palace, Moses would have received a traditional Egyptian education, learning to read and write the Egyptian hieroglyphics and cursive scripts. As he matured, he would have gained expertise in military, religious and political affairs (Acts 7:22). It was not unknown for foreigners to be trained in this manner for responsible posts in the army, priesthood or civil service.

At age 40, Moses came to the defense of a fellow Israelite, and he killed an Egyptian taskmaster. Consequently, he was forced to flee into exile (Exodus 2:11-15; Acts 7:23-29). It has been said that Moses spent 40 years in Egypt learning to be somebody, and 40 years in Midian learning to be nobody, and this prepared him for the mighty task of delivering the children of Israel.

### The burning bush: chapters 3–4

"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush" (Exodus 3:1-2). Moses was at Mt. Sinai (Horeb), the place where God later gave the Ten Commandments to Israel (Exodus 19 20). God had a great commission for Moses. He was to be God's messenger to Pharaoh, and lead the Israelites to freedom. However, Moses was extremely reluctant. He raised one objection after another, but each was countered by God.

Throughout the burning-bush incident, Moses showed a profound reverence for the presence of God. He realized how unworthy he was to stand before his Creator. As we study this account, we should reflect on our own attitude and approach to God. One thing that did not please God, however, was Moses' resistance to his special calling. Moses wanted God to find a better man, but God promised to help him fulfill his commission. Similarly, God promises to be with us today: "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).

### Pharaoh wins round one: chapters 5:1–6:13

God instructed Israel to leave Egypt in order to worship him. Pharaoh's reaction revealed his rigid hostility, already predicted by God (Exodus 3:19). "Egyptian hieroglyphics pictured the word for _foreigner_ as a bound man with blood flowing from a wound in his head; the Israelites felt the full weight of such oppression" _(The New Student Bible,_ NIV, commentary on Exodus 6:9). Moses' request to Pharaoh only made life harder for the Israelites. They blamed Moses for their trouble, and Moses pleaded with God for deliverance once again.

### The family tree of Moses and Aaron: chapter 6:14–27

As is often the case in Scripture, this family record is selective. Moses and Aaron are shown to have descended from Jacob through the line of Levi. The list covers the period of Israel's stay in Egypt. This biblical genealogy more firmly identifies Moses and Aaron. As well as outlining the history of a family, genealogies were used to establish family credentials and authority.

### The contest with Pharaoh: chapters 6:28–12:36

Pharaoh again rejected Moses' request. The Egyptian ruler had already shown what sort of person he was: "I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go" (Exodus 5:2). Pharaoh was not concerned about Moses' message, for he had not yet seen any evidence of God's power. So God initiated a series of judgments to teach Pharaoh and his people who the Lord was, and to show them the extent of his sovereign power over all creation (Exodus 7:5).

The 10 plagues convinced the Egyptians, and the surrounding nations, of the power of the God of Israel. After the death of Egypt's firstborn, Pharaoh ordered the Israelites to leave the country immediately (Exodus 11:1-6; 12:29-36). For Israel, this day when God saved his people was to be remembered throughout the ages. The Passover festival was instituted to commemorate the day. The blood of the Passover lamb symbolized God's protection and mercy for his people, Israel, as his firstborn (Exodus 4:21-23; 12:1-14, 21-28). This foreshadowed the sacrifice of "Christ, our Passover lamb" (1 Corinthians 5:7).

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## From Egypt to Sinai:  
Exodus 12:37–19:25

### Crossing the Red Sea: chapters 12:37–14:31

After centuries of living in a foreign land, the Israelites were free. This is what God had promised their father Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14). Before starting their journey to the border, God gave further instructions about how the Passover was to be observed. In this "dedication ceremony" of the Exodus, God announced how this great event was to be further commemorated. For seven days after the Passover, the Israelites were to eat unleavened bread as a reminder of their quick departure from Egypt. "You must keep this ordinance...year after year" (Exodus 13:6-10).

God then led his people "around by the desert road toward the Red Sea," going before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (verses 17-22).

Meanwhile, Pharaoh had changed his mind about letting the Israelites leave. He and his army set out to recapture them. The sight of Pharaoh's army filled the people with fear. But Israel soon learned the lesson of Moses' words: "The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:13-14). God parted the waters of the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross safely. The returning walls of rushing water crushed Pharaoh's forces.

The crossing of the Red Sea foreshadows Christian baptism: "Our forefathers...all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Corinthians 10:1-2).

The exodus from Egypt was the defining event in the history of ancient Israel. As Eugene H. Merrill points out:

#### The choice of Israel as a servant people was already implicit in the patriarchal covenant statements (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:13-21; 18:18; 22:18; 26:3-4; etc.), but not until the Exodus deliverance did the nation as such come into historical existence. The Exodus, therefore, is of utmost theological importance as an act of God marking out a decisive moment in Israel's history, an event marking her transition from a people to a nation ("A Theology of the Pentateuch," in _A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament,_ ed. Roy B. Zuck, pp. 30-31).

### The Song of Moses and Miriam: chapter 15:1–21

This is one of the oldest songs recorded in the Bible. As a hymn of victory, it celebrated God's miraculous triumph over the Egyptian army. Not only did the Israelites remember God's past deliverance, they anticipated his future blessings (verses 13-18).

### The people complain, but God provides: chapters 15:22–17:7

It was not long before the people started to complain. In Egypt, there had been an abundance of fish, fruit and vegetables, and no shortage of water. But in the Desert of Sinai, the people were soon hungry and thirsty (Exodus 15:22-27; 16:1-36).

God gave them manna, a substance that would become Israel's main food for 40 years. Manna probably means "what is it?" recalling the Israelites' first reaction to it (Exodus 16:15). God's method of provision was designed to teach them obedience and daily dependence upon him. It illustrates humanity's need for God's love and provision (John 6:25-35; Revelation 2:17).

At Rephidim (Exodus 17:1), the people complained again. This time the water was undrinkable. Moses interceded on their behalf and God worked another miracle. New Testament writers regarded the smitten rock as a symbol of Jesus Christ. He is the source of the water of life: ever fresh, pure abundant, accessible and unfailing (John 7:37-39; 1 Corinthians 10:4).

### Fighting the Amalekites: chapter 17:8–16

Joshua led the Israelite army against the Amalekites, descendants of Esau. But it was God who gave the victory, through Moses' intercession. In fighting against God's people, Amalek was really fighting against God.

### Jethro's advice: chapter 18

Jethro, who was Moses' father-in-law, dominates this chapter. He recognized God's power (verses 1, 9-10), God's supremacy (verse 11), God's presence (verse 12), God's righteousness (verse 21) and God's will (verses 19, 23).

Jethro's wise counsel is worthy of note. He saw the heavy strain on Moses, who was not delegating authority. Jethro advised him to appoint associates as judges. Moses accepted the advice of his father-in-law, and selected men of character and ability.

#### The qualifications for these men (v. 21) were that they should be (1) "capable men" (i.e., men with a native aptitude for judging), (2) "men who fear [in reverence and belief] God," (3) men of truth (i.e., "trustworthy"), and (4) men who hated all "dishonest gain."... Notice that some of the same qualities are expected of leaders in the church (Acts 6:3; 1 Tim 3:2-12; Titus 1:7-9). _(The Expositor's Bible Commentary,_ vol. 2, pp. 413-414)

### The camp at Sinai: chapter 19

Through Moses, God, as he promised earlier (Exodus 3:12), brought Israel to Mt. Sinai, where he now would establish his covenant with the nation. Thunder, lightning, trumpets and smoke heralded God's presence and demonstrated his awesome power (Exodus 20:18-20 explains why). God told Moses that the Israelites were to be his special representatives. As the high priest represented Israel to God (Hebrews 5:1), the Israelites were to be "priests" to the surrounding nations (Exodus 19:3-6). For Christians, Hebrews 12:18-25 contrasts Mt. Sinai with Mt. Zion, the physical with the spiritual.

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## Law and Covenant:  
Exodus 20–27

### The Ten Commandments: chapter 20:1–21

The law of Moses was a system of divinely inspired precepts that, in letter and in spirit, defined sin and regulated the Israelites' conduct. The first four commandments concerned their relationship with God; the remaining six, their relationship with one another. Jesus explained this two-clause summary of the law in Matthew 22:37-40.

The commandments show God's concern for the whole of life. He set out rules and standards governing family relationships, regard for human life, sex, property, speech and thought. The Ten Commandments are the Maker's instructions on how the Israelites were to live a life of service to God and their fellow citizens.

Jesus Christ fulfilled the law of Moses and revealed its spiritual intent. He said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law.... I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17, NKJV).

The law was in effect until Christ came as the fulfillment of the promises God gave Israel. "What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come" (Galatians 3:19). Christians live by faith in the Son of God and walk according to the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21). "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law" (Galatians 3:25). For further information, see the chapter below on the Ten Commandments.

### God's law code: chapters 20:22–24:18

In this section of Scripture, we are introduced to "the Book of the Covenant" (Exodus 24:7), with its record of civil, social and religious legislation. It is the oldest record we have of Hebrew law. It gives us a detailed account of Israel's duty to God and neighbor. As we deal with others, we should keep the principle of these laws in mind. This section addresses worship, civil laws, festivals and God's faithfulness.

Israel's agreement to the covenant was formally sealed by burnt offerings and fellowship offerings (Exodus 24:5). Moses then read from the Book of the Covenant. The blood sprinkled on the altar and on the people bound the Israelites to their agreement with God (verses 6-8). The symbolism of blood is prominent in this chapter. It represents the surrender of life to God. The covenant made at Sinai is now obsolete (Hebrews 8:13), replaced by the new covenant in Jesus Christ.

### Making the Tabernacle: chapters 25–27

God set out the terms of his covenant, and the Israelites had agreed to obey (Exodus 24:3). As a visible sign that he would always be with his people, God gave Moses instructions to build a special tabernacle, or tent – a portable sanctuary. God was to have a home amongst the Israelites. He would guide and accompany them wherever they went. They would know that he was no local god, whose power was limited to Sinai (adapted from _Eerdmans' Handbook to the Bible,_ p. 166).

### Ark, table and lampstand: chapter 25:10–40

Verses 10-22: The ark: This box, 3.75 feet long, 2.25 feet wide and 2.25 feet high, was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. It contained a jar of manna, Aaron's staff that budded and the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written (Hebrews 9:4).

The "mercy seat" (NKJV), the golden lid of the ark, illustrated how God's throne was not only a throne of judgment, but one of grace (Leviticus 16:2-16). Over the mercy seat two golden cherubim stood facing each other (Exodus 25:20).

Verses 23-30: The table for the "shewbread" (NKJV): Made of acacia wood, it was 3 feet long, 2¼ feet high and 1½ feet wide, and overlaid with gold. Upon it was placed the 12 loaves of bread. The bread was renewed every Sabbath and was eaten by the priests only. This bread typified Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life. It is Christ, our High Priest, who nourishes Christians (Matthew 4:4; John 6:33-58).

Verses 31-40: The golden lampstand: The seven-branched lampstand (Hebrew: _m_ e _norah_ ), a symbol of life and light, pointed to God as the source of Israel's blessings (compare Job 29:2-3 with Jeremiah 25:10).

### The general construction of the tabernacle: chapter 26

Verses 1-6: The 10 linen curtains: These were made of fine linen, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with artistic designs of cherubim embroidered into them.

Verses 7-37: The tabernacle coverings, frames, curtain ("veil," NKJV) and outer curtain: The veil of the tabernacle separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, the inner sanctuary where the ark of the covenant was located. The veil represents humanity's separation from the presence of God, which ended when Christ was crucified. At the moment of Christ's death, the veil was "torn in two from top to bottom" (Matthew 27:51). Although the Old Testament high priest could go behind the veil only once a year, Christ, as our High Priest (Hebrews 9:11-12), provides continual access to the presence of God to everyone who enters "by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain [veil], that is, his body" (Hebrews 10:20).

### The bronze altar and courtyard: chapter 27

Verses 1-8: The bronze altar: This was the great altar for animal sacrifices. It was 7.5 feet square and 4.5 feet high. It was located at the entrance of the tabernacle, thus signifying that the shedding of blood is central to humanity's approach to God. The altar typifies the cross, and the burnt offerings made on it typify Christ, who offered himself unblemished to God (Exodus 12:5; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19).

Verses 9-19: The courtyard: The curtains of fine linen surrounding the courtyard demonstrate that righteousness is required for true worship (Revelation 19:8). They prevent access to anyone who does not come in by the entrance. The entrance of the tabernacle represents Jesus Christ. As our "gate," he is our access to God by virtue of his redemptive work (John 10:7-9).

Verses 20-21: The oil for light: The fine olive oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit (1 Samuel 16:13).

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## Priestly Worship:  
Exodus 28:1–31:11

### The priesthood: chapter 28

Verses 1-5: Aaron, the high priest, typifies Christ (Hebrews 9). Aaron's holy garments for "dignity and honor" (Exodus 28:2) represent the glory and beauty of Christ as our High Priest.

Verses 6-14: The ephod was an apron-like garment worn under the high priest's breast-piece. It had shoulder straps and an embroidered waistband, and was worn over a robe. On top of each of the shoulder pieces was an onyx stone encased in gold and engraved with the names of six tribes of Israel.

Verses 15-29: The breast-piece was embellished with precious stones engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel. When Aaron wore this into the Holy Place, it foreshadowed Christ bearing the names of Christians in God's presence (Romans 8:34).

Verse 30: Mystery surrounds the purpose of Urim and Thummim, meaning "Lights and Perfections." They were used to ascertain God's will on special occasions (Ezra 2:63). They were closely associated with the breast-piece of judgment and suggest the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Verses 31-35: Robe of the ephod: The bells on the hem of the robe spoke of God's acceptance of the priestly sacrifice. As long as the people heard the tinkling of the bells, they knew that the high priest was still alive in the Most Holy Place. This meant that God was satisfied with their sacrifice.

Verses 36-38: The gold head-plate was inscribed with the words, "Holy to the Lord," analogous to the holiness and purity of Christ's priesthood (Hebrews 7:26).

Verses 39-43: Underneath the special high priestly regalia, Aaron wore the same vestments as the regular priests. This indicated that the dignity and honor that characterized Aaron (typifying Christ — Hebrews 4:14) also characterized his sons (typifying Christians in this age — 1 Peter 2:9). The linen undergarments (Exodus 28:42) typify the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believer (Revelation 19:7-8).

### Priestly rituals: chapter 29

Verses 1-4: The washing: This cleansing in water, in which Aaron participated because he was a sinner, symbolizes our "rebirth and renewal" (Titus 3:5; John 3:5). Christ, as our "holy, blameless, pure" High Priest (Hebrews 7:26-28), did not need to be cleansed. Nevertheless, he yielded to John's baptism in the Jordan to identify himself with sinners and fulfill the Old Testament prophecies (Matthew 3:13-17).

Verses 5-25: The clothing and anointing: Aaron was clothed with splendid garments. His anointing was symbolic of "the Spirit of God descending" on Christ (Matthew 3:16; Acts 10:38). Aaron alone was anointed before the blood was shed (the consecration of the priests required various offerings in which the shedding of animal blood took place). This sets Aaron apart as a striking picture of Christ, who was anointed as God in the flesh and lived a sinless life. Christ did not need to be redeemed as we do.

Verses 26-46: Special food for priests: This was fitting for those who represented the people before God in sacrifice and worship.

### Worship and the altar of incense: chapter 30

Verses 1-10: The altar of incense was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold; it was 11.5 feet square and 3 feet high. Equipped with horns and poles for transporting it, the altar was located in the Holy Place in front of the curtain. Aaron offered incense twice daily. The incense symbolizes prayer, which, like an ascending sweet aroma, rises acceptably to heaven (Revelation 5:8; 8:3). No "other incense" (Hebrew: _q_ e _toreth zarah,_ meaning "incense that is strange or foreign to the law") was to be used (Exodus 30:9).

Verses 11-16: The atonement money: True worshipers had to be redeemed. All adults in any national census were on an equal footing — all needed redemption — shown by the payment of the half shekel.

Verses 17-21: The bronze basin: This washbasin was used by the priests to cleanse their hands and feet. It is symbolic of the washing of water through the Word (Hebrews 10:22; Ephesians 5:25-27; John 13:3-10). As Christians, we, too, must be continually cleansed and purified from sin (1 John 1:9).

Verses 22-33: The anointing oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Only those who have been cleansed (forgiven) can properly worship God (John 4:23; Ephesians 2:18).

Verses 34-38: The incense: The ingredients are listed, as in the case of the anointing oil. Once again, only those redeemed (Exodus 30:11-16), cleansed (verses 17-21) and anointed (verses 22-33) can truly worship God.

### God chooses his workmen: chapter 31:1–11

This chapter shows that when God selects men and women for a particular job, he also equips them to do it. Verse 3 is one of the earliest references in the Bible to the guiding work of the Spirit of God.

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## Law and Covenant:  
Exodus 31:12–40:38

### The Sabbath: chapter 31:12–18

The Sabbath was an appointed day of rest and worship. It was a memorial of the seventh day of creation, when God rested from his work. The observance of the Sabbath was included in the Ten Commandments, and was a sign between God and his people Israel (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11; 31:17). It pictured a future reality — sharing in the rest of God through faith in Christ (Hebrews 4).

### The golden calf: chapter 32

Unfortunately, only six weeks after pledging their allegiance to God, the children of Israel demanded a replica of one of the gods of ancient Egypt. The impatience of the people was matched by the weakness of Aaron, the high priest. Not only did he preside over the making of the calf, but he also identified it with the true God of Israel!

Moses' indignation is understandable. In breaking the tablets of stone, he dramatically proclaimed Israel's breaking of the covenant. Only his intervention saved the people from annihilation. Nevertheless, God punished them for their sin (verses 25-28).

### Moses sees the glory of God: chapter 33

God's punishment brought results. The Israelites discarded their personal idols. Moses, though, was still concerned. He wanted to ensure that God had restored favor to his people, so he asked for a bigger sign than in the past. Moses was permitted to see a glimpse of God's glory (verses 18-23).

### The covenant renewed: chapter 34

God renewed his covenant by engraving the law on a new set of stone tablets. This renewal of the covenant gave additional guidelines resulting from Israel's worship of the golden calf, as well as warnings about the coming temptations of the Canaanite religion. For example, the Israelites were not to follow the Canaanite practice of cooking a young goat in its mother's milk (verse 26). God also reiterated the Sabbath and three annual festivals (verses 18-22).

### Setting up the tabernacle: chapters 35–40

These chapters explain how the instructions God gave earlier (Exodus 25–31) were to be carried out. The people contributed gifts to the tabernacle. Their response was so enthusiastic and generous that Moses asked them to stop giving.

This illustrates an important spiritual principle that you will often see as you study the Bible. Giving should always be done willingly and proportionate to one's blessings (2 Corinthians 9:7). The act of giving imitates God's grace to us. As Jesus told his disciples, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).

When the tabernacle was finished, God filled it with his glory. In the New Testament, God "tabernacled" among his people in the form of Jesus Christ and they witnessed his glory (John 1:14 uses the Greek word for "live in a tent").

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## The Name of God

When God called to Moses out of the burning bush, telling him to free the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, Moses asked, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to then, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" (Exodus 3:13). God answered Moses, "I AM WHO I AM" (verse 14). The Hebrew word for "I AM" is _'ehyeh,_ which comes from the verb "to be." It can also be translated as "I SHALL BE."

God further told Moses: "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers...has sent me to you'" (verse 15). Although the Hebrew word for "Lord" is _'adon,_ the word translated "LORD" in verse 15 is different. Spelled with the four Hebrew consonants _YHWH,_ it is known as the tetragrammaton (Greek for "four letters"). _YHWH_ is related to _'ehyeh_ and also comes from the verb "to be." Both words have the sense of "being actively present."

Although most scholars pronounce the tetragrammaton as _Yahweh,_ the correct pronunciation is not known for certain. The Hebrews avoided saying the tetragrammaton because they believed that saying the personal name of God could take God's name in vain. When reading a passage of the Hebrew Bible that contained it, they referred to God by another word — _'adonai_ or "my Lord."

The oldest known manuscript fragments of the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) leave the tetragrammaton untranslated. However, later manuscripts, probably reflecting Christian editing, render the tetragrammaton as _kyrios,_ Greek for "Lord." Later, English versions rendered the personal name _YHWH_ as the impersonal "the LORD." They used all capital letters for "LORD" to indicate they were translating _YHWH_ , not _'adon_ or _'adonai._

The text of the Hebrew Bible originally consisted of consonants only. When vowel marks were added in the 10th century A.D., the vowel marks of _'adonai_ were used for the tetragrammaton to remind the reader to say _'adonai_ instead of trying to pronounce the divine name.

When Latin translators in the 16th century came upon this combination, they transliterated, using the consonants of _YHWH_ and the vowels of _'adonai,_ creating the artificial form _Iohoua._ In 1530, Tyndale rendered the tetragrammaton as _Iehouah_ in his Old English translation of Exodus 6:3. (As with many other words in that era, I was used for J, and U for V.) Subsequently, _Jehovah_ became the standard spelling, and this appears at a few places in the King James Version (in Psalm 83:18, for example). However, in the vast majority of cases, the King James Version translates _YHWH_ as "the LORD" and _'adonai_ as "the Lord."

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## Should Christians Keep the Law of Moses?  
— What About the Ten Commandments?

When Jesus was on earth, he kept the laws of Moses — but he also criticized them. Soon after he went back to heaven, his followers met to decide whether Christians should keep the laws of Moses. The question came to the foreground when people who weren't Jewish began to follow Christ: "Some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, 'The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses'" (Acts 15:5).

What were these laws? Were they biblical laws, or the unbiblical traditions of the elders? In every other New Testament mention of the "laws of Moses," the biblical books of Moses are meant (Luke 2:22; 24:44; John 7:22-23; Acts 28:23; 1 Cor. 9:9; Heb. 10:28). Luke could have said "traditions," but he did not. Anyone who knew the teachings of Jesus would already know that unbiblical traditions were not required. They did not need to debate about Jewish traditions.

Just as circumcision was biblical, so also were the laws of Moses. The claim was that non-Jewish believers should be circumcised, and then, as part of the covenant people of God, they should then obey the laws of the covenant. The law of Moses said that men were to be circumcised.

Today, we might explain (as Paul did) that Jesus instituted a new covenant, and that the Jewish believers were God's people not because they were Jewish, but because they were believers. Membership in the new covenant is by faith, not by ancestry. But the Jerusalem council did not approach the question from this perspective. Let's see how they did it.

### The apostles speak

"The apostles and elders met to consider this question" (Acts 15:6). Perhaps dozens of elders were involved. "After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: 'Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe'" (v. 7).

Peter reminded the people that God had used him to preach the gospel to Cornelius and his family (Acts 10). Cornelius was not circumcised, but Peter did not use that as proof. Rather, he focused on the foundations of how a person is saved—by believing.

"God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith" (vs. 8-9). God gave the Holy Spirit to this uncircumcised family, purifying their hearts, calling them holy, as acceptable to him, because of their faith.

Peter then began to scold the people who wanted the gentiles to obey the laws of Moses: "Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are" (vs. 10-11).

Peter's point is that the yoke of Moses was a burden that the Jewish people were not able to keep successfully. Those rituals showed that, no matter how hard people worked, they could never be perfect. They showed, for anyone who ever wondered, that works can never lead to salvation. Salvation is attained in a different way—by grace. We can't earn it, so it has to be given to us.

Since the law of Moses cannot bring us salvation, there is no need to require the gentiles to keep it. God gave them the Holy Spirit and showed that he accepts them without all those rituals. They are saved by grace, and the Jews are, too.

If we follow Peter's logic, we will see that Jewish believers do not have to keep the laws of Moses, either. They are saved by grace through faith, just as the gentiles are. The old covenant is obsolete, so its laws are no longer required for anyone, and that is why Peter could live like a gentile (Gal. 2:14). But that is getting ahead of the story. In Acts 15, the question is only whether gentiles have to keep the laws of Moses.

### The judgment of James

After Barnabas and Paul told "about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles" (Acts 15:12), James spoke. As leader of the Jerusalem church, he had a lot of influence. Some of the Judaizers even claimed him as their authority (Gal. 2:12), but Luke tells us that James was in complete agreement with Peter and Paul.

"Brothers, listen to me. Simon [Peter] has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself" (Acts 15:13-14). The fact that God has already acted was powerful evidence. James then quoted from the Greek translation of Amos to show that Scripture agreed with what was happening (vs. 15-18). He could have used other Old Testament prophecies, too, about gentiles being included among God's people.

Experience and Scripture pointed to the same conclusion. "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God" (v. 19). There is no need to require the yoke of Moses, for that would make things unnecessarily difficult for the gentile believers.

James then suggested four rules: "Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood" (v. 20). Instead of making things difficult for the gentiles, these four rules would be enough.

Believers should not lie, steal and murder. That was as obvious to them as it is to us, so they did not need a special reminder about it. The decree makes it clear that gentiles do not have to be circumcised, nor do they have to obey the laws of Moses. They are circumcised spiritually, not physically. God never gave those commands to the gentiles.

### Moses is preached

We should not make it difficult for the gentiles, James said. Instead, it will be enough to give them four rules, which they will find easy to comply with. Why give them these rules? Notice the reason that James gives: "For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath" (v. 21).

James was not encouraging gentile Christians to attend the synagogues. He was not saying they should listen to the laws of Moses. However, because those laws were commonly preached, the apostles should tell the gentiles four rules. Then they would not think that Christianity is more difficult than it is.

To summarize: Some men said that gentiles should be circumcised and obey the laws of Moses or else they could not be saved. Not so, said the apostles. Gentiles are saved by grace and faith. God is pleased to dwell in people who aren't circumcised and who don't keep the rituals. But since Moses is widely preached, we need to give a decree that clearly distinguishes the Christian faith from the Law of Moses.

This pleased the entire church, so they wrote it in a letter and sent it to Antioch, where they "were glad for its encouraging message" (v. 31).

### But what about the Ten Commandments?

Since the Law of Moses includes all the laws that Moses gave ancient Israel, it includes the Ten Commandments. But shouldn't Christians keep the Ten Commandments? Several of the Ten are quoted in the New Testament, but the only time that the Ten are mentioned _as a group_ is in Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church. Let's see what he wrote:

"You are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, _not on tablets of stone_ but on tablets of human hearts.... He has made us competent as ministers of a new _covenant_ —not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:3-6).

Paul has mentioned "tablets of stone," and then the "new covenant." He then builds a contrast between the old covenant, the tablets of stone that contained the Ten Commandments, and the new covenant, the basis of Christianity. Let's see how he develops the contrast:

"Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?" (verses 7-8).

Paul is talking about something written on stone, at a time when Moses' face shone with glory. He is talking about the Ten Commandments. This is what was written on stone. Paul is calling the Ten Commandments a "ministry that brought death." Paul was not a minister of the letter (the Ten Commandments), but of the Spirit.

Of course, it was God who gave the Law. Nevertheless, Paul saw a fundamental contrast between the Law and the Spirit, between the old and the new. There is continuity, for both old and new are covenants of the same God. But even though God does not change, and his underlying principles do not change, his covenants do. Paul explains some differences in the next verses:

"If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!" (verse 9). The Ten Commandments were a ministry that condemned people. They had some glory, but not nearly as much as the new covenant. The Ten Commandments cannot bring righteousness, but the new covenant does.

"For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory" (verse 10). The Ten Commandments have no glory now, Paul is saying, in comparison to the new covenant, which brings life and righteousness.

"And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!" What was fading away? Moses' face was fading, but Paul is not talking about Moses' face any more—he is talking about "the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone." That is what "came with glory" (verse 7). That is what was fading away.

The Ten Commandments, Paul is saying, came with glory, but they are fading away, just as surely as the glory of Moses' face also faded. The new covenant not only has much greater glory, but it also "lasts." The Ten Commandments, Paul implies, do not last forever. They were designed as a temporary "ministry of condemnation," designed to lead people to Christ.

Notice the contrasts Paul has made:

Paul says that the Ten Commandments, although good, are temporary and fading. What has faded away concerning the Ten Commandments? Some people try to say that the Ten Commandments, instead of fading, are actually more binding on people today than ever before. They want to expand the Ten instead of letting them fade.

But Paul is saying that there is a fundamental change in the way people relate to God. The old way is a written law that condemns people to death. The new way is the Holy Spirit, which brings forgiveness and life. The Spirit leads us to obey God, but it is a fundamentally different relationship, a different basis of relating to God.

There is some basic continuity between the old covenant and the new. Most of the Ten Commandments are quoted with approval in the New Testament. Those commands reflect aspects of God's law that were in effect long before Sinai—from the beginning. One is not—the Sabbath command. It was a ceremonial law, instituted for a temporary time period.

### Paul's boldness in Christ

Once Paul understood the change, he was strengthened and encouraged: "Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away" (verses 12-13).

Paul did not hide. He was bold in preaching the new way—salvation through the crucified Christ. But despite his boldness, and the clarity of the message, many people did not accept the gospel: "But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts" (verses 14-15).

Many people today, Jewish or not, do not seem to understand. They keep reading the Bible with old covenant eyes. The only solution is Christ. Only in him can the "veil" be removed. "Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away" (verse 16).

### Jesus: the basis of our relationship with God

What does it mean to "turn to the Lord"? It means to see Jesus as the basis of our relationship with God. It means seeing our identity in him, not in the Law of Moses. Christ becomes central. We obey _his_ law, the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21). When we put him first in our identity, he will help us see the covenantal change more clearly.

"The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (verse 17). We have freedom in Christ—but what kind of freedom? Certainly, we still obey—Paul makes that clear in Romans 6. But in this context of 2 Corinthians, what kind of freedom is he talking about? It is freedom from the ministry that brought death—freedom from the old covenant. There is a lot of continuity, but there is some important change as well.

### An unfading glory

Not only do the covenants change from old and temporary to new and permanent, Christians themselves are changing: "We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (verse 18).

Moses had only a fading glory, and his covenant had only a fading glory. It could give only temporary blessings. But we, with the eternal Spirit living within us, are being changed into a permanent glory—a glory that does not need to hide, a glory that looks to the heart instead of the stone tablets.

### Christian use of the Ten Commandments

What then are Christians supposed to do with the Ten Commandments? Can we approach it as Scripture inspired by God, "useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16)? Yes – we should approach it exactly as it is written – as a report of what God gave his people in the time of Moses. We read it as a story first, before jumping to conclusions that we are supposed to obey every command within it.

When we read in Genesis 17 that the males among God's people were to be circumcised, we do not assume that we should do so today. When we read in Exodus 13 that God's people are to redeem their firstborn children and have a festival of unleavened bread, we do not assume that we should do so today. Those commands were given for a specific people. So also the commands we find in Exodus 20.

The Ten Commandments begin with this preface: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." This gives a historical context to the situation: it was a multitude of just-escaped slaves, in a desert, surrounded by polytheistic nations. God gave them laws that would compensate for their lack of civic experience, laws that would help them resist polytheism, laws that would help them become a distinct nation, laws that would help them structure society in a new land. These laws were good for their situation, but some of them are not needed today.

Much of the Old Testament is a story. Nevertheless, 2 Timothy 3 can say that this type of writing, since it is part of Scripture, is "useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." Stories can help inform our ethics. They can illustrate consequences, misunderstandings, weaknesses and flexibilities. The story of Abraham and circumcision is useful for teaching and for training in righteousness without requiring us to practice circumcision. The commands about sacrifice are to be read as part of a story, not as commands for us today. The details may be useful symbolically, but they are read first in the context of a story, not as currently valid law.

Genesis is a story, and in that story God gave certain commands and implied other commands. Some of them apply to us today and some do not. Exodus continues that story and gives more commands, commands about how people should worship, how to behave with one another and what to do when someone disobeys. Some of these commands apply to us today; others do not. So we must see them first in the context in which the Bible gives them: a covenant or arrangement God made with a specific people at a specific time in history, a covenant God has now revealed to be obsolete (Hebrews 8:13).

The commands that God gave them are _instructive_ but not necessarily _imperative_ for us. They are _informative_ but not _normative._ They are _descriptive_ for ancient Israel, but not _prescriptive_ for Christians. If we want to find out which laws still apply to Christians today, we must rely on the New Testament, and the New Testament tells us that one commandment — the Sabbath — is no longer in force. We cannot preach the Ten Commandments for Christians today, because there is an important exception right in the middle of the Ten, and it is confusing to say Ten when only Nine are meant.

Moreover, Christians have a better standard of behavior in the New Testament — a bigger body of literature with better balance. We have the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. We should point people to Christ, not to Moses, for instruction on how to live like a Christian.

Michael Morrison

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## Did Moses Steal the Ten Commandments?

Shushan, which lies 200 miles east of Babylon, was the capital of ancient Elam (Susiana), and later the winter palace of the Persian kings. It was the scene of many biblical events in the time of Daniel, Nehemiah, Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus (Xerxes).

French archaeologists began excavations at Shushan in 1852. M. Dieulafoy discovered the palace fortress that the writer of the book of Esther calls the citadel of Susa. In 1901, another expedition, led by de Morgan, uncovered three fragments of black stone. After being fitted together, they formed an impressive round-top stele or pillar, which stands about 7.5 feet high. This was a copy of the Law Code of King Hammurabi, considered one of the most significant legal documents from antiquity. (Hammurabi was the sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylon, whose dating is controversial but commonly given as 1792-1750 B.C.) The stele is now displayed at the Louvre in Paris, France.

A relief on the upper face of the stele depicts the king in worship before the sun god on a throne. The code begins with a prologue, followed by 300 laws. These can be divided into 12 sections of law: legal process, thieves, vassals, homes and land, trade, inns, deposits, family, injury to others, building, hiring, and the treatment of slaves. Sixty-seven paragraphs cover the major subjects of marriage, family and property.

This discovery was particularly important to Bible scholars. First, it supported the authenticity of the law of Moses. Some Bible critics had held that the art of writing and the science of law were unknown in that early period of history. But here was specific evidence that both were well known.

Second, there were striking parallels between some of Hammurabi's statutes and those of Moses in the Book of the Covenant. For example, in citing the law for personal injury, Hammurabi's statute 206 states: "If a man wound another accidentally in a quarrel with a stone or his fist, and oblige him to take his bed, he shall pay for the loss of his time and for the doctors." The law of Moses, for the same offense, is remarkably similar (Exodus 21:18-19).

The similarity between these and a few other statutes left the way open for some critical scholars to postulate that the Mosaic law in the Bible was derived from the Code of Hammurabi. Most scholars, however, have abandoned this theory, since further research has shown that, in ancient times, there were codes of law in various countries. Some of these were even older than Hammurabi's stele.

Furthermore, Mosaic law moved beyond the Code of Hammurabi, or any of the ancient law codes, because it is grounded in the worship of one God. The ethical principles in the law of Moses spring from love toward the one true God. Such love demands that one also love fellow human beings, whom God made in his image. Moses thus talks about human sin and our responsibility to God in resisting sin. Hammurabi and other ancient lawgivers, however, do not address this issue.

Hammurabi's law code is civil and criminal. Moses' law code, on the other hand, begins with spiritual principles — love toward God and humans — from which the civil and criminal laws are derived. From its stress on the motive of love, the law of Moses demanded more humane treatment for slaves, gave higher regard for womanhood, and placed greater value upon human life in general. The priority given to such spiritual values made the Mosaic law unique among all the ancient law codes.

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## About the Authors

Tim Finlay and Jim Herst were writers working for Grace Communion International. Most of these articles were written in the mid 1990s. We edited the articles again in 2012 for this e-book. Jim and Tim also wrote the volumes on the Historical Books and the Books of Poetry for this series Exploring the Word of God.

Tim Finlay went on to earn a doctorate in Old Testament studies at Claremont Graduate School. He now teaches at Azusa Pacific University and Grace Communion Seminary. He is the author of _The Birth Report Genre in the Hebrew Bible,_ published by J.C.B. Mohr in 2005.

The author of "Abram, the Real Story" is J. Michael Feazell, D.Min., formerly vice president of Grace Communion International.

The author of "Where Did the Hittites Come From?" is Sheila Graham, a now retired employee of Grace Communion International.

The author of "Should Christians Keep the Law of Moses?" is Michael Morrison, PhD, Dean of Faculty at Grace Communion Seminary. All three authors have written e-books that are available in the same place as you obtained this one.

## About the Publisher...

Grace Communion International is a Christian denomination with about 50,000 members, worshiping in about 900 congregations in almost 100 nations and territories. We began in 1934 and our main office is in North Carolina. In the United States, we are members of the National Association of Evangelicals and similar organizations in other nations. We welcome you to visit our website at www.gci.org.

If you want to know more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, we offer help. First, we offer weekly worship services in hundreds of congregations worldwide. Perhaps you'd like to visit us. A typical worship service includes songs of praise, a message based on the Bible, and opportunity to meet people who have found Jesus Christ to be the answer to their spiritual quest. We try to be friendly, but without putting you on the spot. We do not expect visitors to give offerings—there's no obligation. You are a guest.

To find a congregation, write to one of our offices, phone us or visit our website. If we do not have a congregation near you, we encourage you to find another Christian church that teaches the gospel of grace.

We also offer personal counsel. If you have questions about the Bible, salvation or Christian living, we are happy to talk. If you want to discuss faith, baptism or other matters, a pastor near you can discuss these on the phone or set up an appointment for a longer discussion. We are convinced that Jesus offers what people need most, and we are happy to share the good news of what he has done for all humanity. We like to help people find new life in Christ, and to grow in that life. Come and see why we believe it's the best news there could be!

Our work is funded by members of the church who donate part of their income to support the gospel. Jesus told his disciples to share the good news, and that is what we strive to do in our literature, in our worship services, and in our day-to-day lives.

If this e-book has helped you and you want to pay some expenses, all donations are gratefully welcomed, and in several nations, are tax-deductible. If you can't afford to give anything, don't worry about it. It is our gift to you. To make a donation online, go to www.gci.org/participate/donate.

Thank you for letting us share what we value most — Jesus Christ. The good news is too good to keep it to ourselves.

See our website for hundreds of articles, locations of our churches, addresses in various nations, audio and video messages, and much more.

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### You're Included...

We talk with leading Trinitarian theologians about the good news that God loves you, wants you, and includes you in Jesus Christ. Most programs are about 28 minutes long. Our guests have included:

Ray Anderson, Fuller Theological Seminary

Douglas A. Campbell, Duke Divinity School

Elmer Colyer, U. of Dubuque Theological Seminary

Gordon Fee, Regent College

Trevor Hart, University of St. Andrews

George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary

C. Baxter Kruger, Perichoresis

Jeff McSwain, Reality Ministries

Paul Louis Metzger, Multnomah University

Paul Molnar, St. John's University

Cherith Fee Nordling, Antioch Leadership Network

Andrew Root, Luther Seminary

Alan Torrance, University of St. Andrews

Robert T. Walker, Edinburgh University

N.T. Wright, University of St. Andrews

William P. Young, author of _The Shack_

Programs are available free for viewing and downloading at www.youreincluded.org.

### Speaking of Life...

Dr. Joseph Tkach, president of Grace Communion International, comments each week, giving a biblical perspective on how we live in the light of God's love. Most programs are about three minutes long – available in video, audio, and text. Go to www.speakingoflife.org.

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##

Grace Communion Seminary

Ministry based on the life and love of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Grace Communion Seminary serves the needs of people engaged in Christian service who want to grow deeper in relationship with our Triune God and to be able to more effectively serve in the church.

Why study at Grace Communion Seminary?

 Worship: to love God with all your mind.

 Service: to help others apply truth to life.

 Practical: a balanced range of useful topics for ministry.

 Trinitarian theology: a survey of theology with the merits of a Trinitarian perspective. We begin with the question, "Who is God?" Then, "Who are we in relationship to God?" In this context, "How then do we serve?"

 Part-time study: designed to help people who are already serving in local congregations. There is no need to leave your current ministry. Full-time students are also welcome.

 Flexibility: your choice of master's level continuing education courses or pursuit of a degree: Master of Pastoral Studies or Master of Theological Studies.

 Affordable, accredited study: Everything can be done online.

For more information, go to www.gcs.edu. Grace Communion Seminary is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, www.deac.org. The Accrediting Commission is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency.

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## Ambassador College of Christian Ministry

Want to better understand God's Word? Want to know the Triune God more deeply? Want to share more joyously in the life of the Father, Son and Spirit? Want to be better equipped to serve others?

Among the many resources that Grace Communion International offers are the training and learning opportunities provided by ACCM. This quality, well-structured Christian Ministry curriculum has the advantage of being very practical and flexible. Students may study at their own pace, without having to leave home to undertake full-time study.

This denominationally recognized program is available for both credit and audit study. At minimum cost, this online Diploma program will help students gain important insights and training in effective ministry service. Students will also enjoy a rich resource for personal study that will enhance their understanding and relationship with the Triune God.

Diploma of Christian Ministry classes provide an excellent introductory course for new and lay pastors. Pastor General Dr. Joseph Tkach said, "We believe we have achieved the goal of designing Christian ministry training that is practical, accessible, interesting, and doctrinally and theologically mature and sound. This program provides an ideal foundation for effective Christian ministry."

For more information, go to www.ambascol.org

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