All in

By way of explanation (although not an excuse), the last three weeks have been pretty crazy.  In a nutshell:  wait for government training contract to come through; when contract finally comes through, spend 24 hours madly preparing training materials; spend three days teaching said training materials; spend one day recovering and another couple of days preparing materials for the next three days; teach for three days; come home to prepare for celebration of father-in-law's life; enjoy the company of my sons, nieces, and nephews; deliver niece back to her mom's home; clean up three weeks' worth of accumulation of laundry, dishes, etc.  I don't doubt there are some women out there who could have handled this easily, and still kept up with Bible reading and blogging, but I am not one of them.  God was gracious and gave me some Bible reading time each day, but I am still not quite caught up with the one-year pace.  Nevertheless, I didn't want to blow through Exodus without even one single blog post. 

Since I'm teaching a ladies' Bible study on the book of Revelation, I am seeing the plagues in a new light.  They are so similar to the trumpet judgments in Revelation 8-9 (no wonder many people think that one of the witnesses in Revelation 11 must be Moses.)  And their purpose is also similar:  to confront unbelievers with the power of Almighty God.  Just as in Egypt, some relent and believe, but many more harden their hearts and reject God. 

At the catch-up pace I'm imposing on myself, it's hard to read much in-depth.  Mostly I'm just reading quickly, with a nod of acknowledgement to familiar passages.  Even so, there are things that jump out at me.  Just a couple of quick notes:

• A couple of years ago I watched a History Channel program that offered natural explanations for all of the plagues, from the Nile turning to blood, to frogs and flies, to the death of the firstborn.  One hypothesis was that poisonous gases coming up from the polluted Nile killed all of the firstborn, who occupied the place of honor on the ground floor of the house, while sparing everyone else who slept upstairs.  I don't doubt that there are natural phenomena that are similar to what happened in Egypt, but bear in mind that in each case the plagues were summoned and dismissed ON CUE.  Moses says, in each case, that at a certain time this particular plague will come, and at a certain time it will go.  How would Moses have known exactly when each of the plagues would naturally occur?  In once instance, Moses even permits Pharaoh himself to define the timing of the plague (Ex.8:9).  It takes a lot more faith to believe that the plagues just came and went coincidentally with Moses' pronouncements than to believe that the events were a demonstration of the power of the Almighty God. 
• Pharaoh lies to Moses (and to God) over and over, saying that as soon as the current plague is lifted he will let the people go.  And then, when relief comes, he goes back on his word.  It is interesting that after the plague of hail he says, "I have sinned," and after the plague of locust he says, "I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you."  Sadly, just recognizing one's sin isn't enough.  It is necessary to respond.  In Pharaoh's case, the result of his failure to yield to God was a plague of darkness -- "darkness that can be felt."  Do you have any friends or loved ones who are fumbling about in "darkness that can be felt" because they recognize their sin but haven't yet received God's Remedy for sin?
• Lastly, the Passover.  We know that Jesus is our Passover Lamb (see 1Cor.5:7).  Maybe we can get into more detail on that when we get to the Gospels.  The Israelites were instructed to put the lamb's blood over the door of each house, and then stay in the house until the angel of death had passed over.  God foresaw that some of the Egyptians would be interested in escaping this plague. After all, they had seen how God had spared His people from every plague after the swams of gnats.  Likely there were some who considered camping inside one of the Hebrew houses while the plague passed by, and then going back to their Egyptian gods when the coast was clear.  God was very specific that this would not be permitted.  Guests or sojourners would be permitted to eat the Passover meal, but only if they became "like a native of the land" -- meaning they must be circumcised.  I think you could ask any male of the species and he would say that circumcision represents a pretty lasting commitment.  That is what God wants from us.  Christianity is not just salvation (or "fire insurance") but a lasting relationship with Jesus that results in a changed heart and life.  Jesus wants us to be "all in".  Are we?

I hope all is well with you.  I should be caught up with the reading in Leviticus by tomorrow, and hopefully will be back on track with posting at least a couple of times a week.  Talk to you soon!