Back before there was a family called the Children of Israel, God told Abram (later Abraham) that the great nation which would come from his family would be slaves for 400 years. In Genesis 15:13 there is a foretelling, or prophecy, that the Children of Israel would be strangers in a strange land. Israel would be afflicted as servants.

Certainly this was not a comforting promise from God to Abram. However, when the Children of Israel were living in bondage in Egypt, they probably took comfort in knowing that God would bring them out of their bondage. Besides the promise of escaping from slavery, God promised to punish the nation which held them. After this punishing, they would leave the land with “great substance.” (Genesis 15:14)

It is true that when the 12 tribes of Israel left Egypt they left with great wealth. In Exodus 12:35, 36 the people of Egypt were willingly giving their riches to their slaves so that they would leave and not need to return. The Bible says that they “spoiled the Egyptians.” Spoiling in the sense that they took all the gold, silver and clothing that the Egyptians would give them.

According to Exodus 12:40 and 41, Israel spent a total of 430 years in the land of Egypt.

There are several verses in the Bible which talk about this 400-430 year time period. Genesis 15:13, 14; Exodus 12:40, 41; Acts 7:6 and Galatians 3:16, 17.

Summary of the Book of Exodus

Exodus is the second book of the Bible and the second book of the five books of the Law, or the Pentateuch. This book covers the exodus of the nation of Israel out of Egypt through their journey to the Promised Land.

Author

Within the book of Exodus there is language that suggests the author is an eye witness to the events contained within the book. Exodus 17:14; 24:3-7 and 34:27, 28 each talk about God asking or telling Moses to write the current events in a book. This is the book we read today called Exodus.

Both the Old and New Testaments refer to Moses as the author of the Law, and therefore the book of Exodus, just as it does for Genesis. There is no reason to suspect that Moses was not the author. Read the rest of this entry

Today I sat in on a Sunday School class that was for 8 to 10 year olds. The teacher was covering the last of the 10 Commandments: Thou Shalt Not Covet. The bulk of the lesson was about being content. Not having an attitude of “I want!” Rather, having one of “I’m content.”

She used an illustration that summed up my own thoughts but in a way that I was not sure how to say.

Do you have a "Yo quiero" or "Estoy contento" attitude?

On Christmas morning, or on your birthday, have you ever gotten a gift that you weren’t thrilled about? How about those socks Grandma always gives? Probably as a kid you never thought about how your level of excitement pleased or disappointed your parents. But as adults we understand about giving gifts to people. We want them to be thankful for the gift we gave them.

“Thanks for the soccer ball, Mom. It isn’t the one I wanted, but it will do. It isn’t made out of genuine leather, but it’s okay. It isn’t an official World Cup branded ball, but it will work.” How does mom feel about that? Probably she wants to pack the ball up and take it back to the store.

What about our relationship with God? He is concerned about us. He gives us each day what we need. We certainly receive more from the Lord than we deserve. Yet, we walk out of the house and immediately complain about the weather He sent our way. We complain about the old car we have to drive. We complain that our date nights have to be done from the McDonald’s value menu instead of the steakhouse.

Do you suffer from an attitude of “Yo quiero” (I want). Or, do you have an attitude of “Estoy contento” (I am content). The “yo quiero” attitude breaks the 10th Commandment. At that point, what other commandments are you willing to break in order to get what you want?

Romans 8:26, 27

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Through Jesus Christ we have access to God. Through the Holy Spirit we have agreement with God’s will.

Of course this comes with living a life led by the Spirit of God (v. 14). When we are led by the Spirit and we allow Him to control us, we have assurance that what we do will be in agreement with His will.

Proverbs 16:6

By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

While God is a God of justice, He is also loving. His Word encourages us to treat one another with mercy in correction. We often want to focus on the “truth” part of the verse and give the statement, “truth hurts” while unkindly raking someone over the coals. However, along with truth in correction there should be mercy.

The second part of the verse will help answer a lot of questions in a Christian’s life.

Last week an unsaved neighbor wandered into the church at the end of a seminary class and wanted to know what the chapter and verse were for why we should wear ties during classes (he was eavesdropping while the pastor was reading the rules to the students). Of course there is not a chapter and verse for the tie issue, but it is a rule in the seminary and there are verses which say we should obey the authority over us (Romans 13:1; Hebrews 13:17).

If we lived in the fear of the Lord, striving to please Him with an honest respect and reverence, we would not care about a chapter and verse for every little rule. The Holy Spirit would be allowed to guide us and give us a spirit of obedience and meekness.