Genesis Chapter 50-Exodus chapter 2

The Cross-over. I won’t be able to do this very often. Most books of the bible are different enough that crossing the end of one book and starting another would lead to confusion of subjects. the Torah(the first 5 books of the bible)is an exception. Written together to go together they cross over easily. In fact, in the fine old Hollywood tradition, Exodus is a sequel. In point of fact it is the continuation of a story that wasn’t finished in Genesis. Genesis takes us from the beginning of the world to the beginning of a nation. Exodus will tell us about the birth of that nation and remind us of the rough time it had as a toddler.

God’s message to me: God rewards those who do right in the face of oppression. The midwives were given a direct order from the king. In that time such orders were law. The ignored and unjust and evil law and were rewarded by God. God tells us to submit to government but he has never told us to ignore His law in favor of political power. When the government gives unjust or evil laws we are bound to ignore them for the sake of obeying God. Slavery and segregation were such laws. Any law which violates God’s law or prevents worship qualifies.

Many of God’s servants violated local laws and international treaty to bring the word of God to the Soviet Union. In the last Olympic games we heard a lot of rumors about Christians violating the law to bring the word to China. Others have been at risk in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many are in danger in countries we aren’t politically involved with for the same reason. When we here of missionaries in danger for teaching the word we must pray for them and stand up for them. Regardless of government policy or popular sentiment they must be held as heroes. Our government cannot be allowed to harass them or abandon them and Governments who oppress them must be opposed and fought.

Americans have the freedom to practice religion and the responsibility to spread that freedom. Those who fail to do so deserve to lose that freedom and be forced in to secret worship like those who they do not defend. Notice that the bible never speaks a word against those who lie to protect actions that are right. The midwives lied to protect lives and avoid being replaced by those who would follow Pharaohs law. God rewarded them for protecting his children.

Promises: God remembers his promises even in the darkest hour. Under 2 Pharaohs, the children of Israel were oppressed and then God began to make their way out, as he had promised and prophesied.

Commands: Do what God would want you to do no matter what. No law should prevent you from doing God’s will. No oppressor should push you into doing the wrong thing. No amount of fear or public pressure should make you ignore God’s way.

Timeless principles: God raises up leaders to bring us out of harms way. No leader is perfect and most have a skeleton or two in the closet. To ignore a good leader because of a checkered past is to give up on leadership altogether. Abraham slept with his wife’s maid. Jacob was a polygamist, Joseph was accused of rape, Moses was a murderer, king David was a murder and a polygamist and stole a man’s wife. Solomon worshiped false Gods and had over 900 wives. The list goes on to the modern day. I have my problems with Pres Bush and I know he was a drunkard in his youth. He freely admits it. I also know he takes time to pray with the families of anyone who comes to him with problems and he never makes decisions without first bringing them to God in prayer. The same can be said of a lot of presidents from both sides of the isle.

God can use the selfish sinner even in the depths of his depravity but, when such a man gives himself to God and drops his selfishness in favor of God’s plan, he can turn that person into the greatest among us. Whenever you hear rumors of the past indiscretions of potential leaders you need to look at what they are doing. Some exchange one set of evils for another. Many have their pasts dragged out to discredit the good they are doing. How many true heroes have we ignored because someone found a mistake in their past that we didn’t like. You many people with an indiscretion in their past were kept from doing great good in the present because we were turned against them. When was the last time you dropped your support for a good person because you found out he or she did something in the past that you did and were ashamed of.

more to learn for in-depth study: God blessed Joseph mightily. The Egyptians, respecting his upbringing, honored Josephs father as they would the father of a king. When Israel(Jacob) died all the land of Egypt mourned his death for 70 days and the royal honor guard sent with his sons to Israel's funeral and burial in Canaan mourned him greatly another 7 days in Canaan so that the people of that land changed the name of the place in honor of the great mourning that went on there. Joseph was promised by God that his body, too, would be buried in Canaan, like his father was.

Archaeological note: The bible has just given an evidence of the past. The tomb of the patriarchs, the land purchased by Abraham for their burial, and the proof of the story telling how Israel became the heirs to the land they live on can be shown by finding the 2 Egyptian mummies. Both Jacob and Joseph were mummified in the traditional manner of Egypt and, having been a prince of Egypt until his death, the coffin in which Joseph was placed is likely to be the type of sarcophagus we are used to seeing in association with Pharaohs and other key figures from Egypt.

Prophecy tells us many things will occur in that land in the end times. The sacrifices will begin at the temple again. This cannot happen until the ark of the covenant is recovered and the temple rebuilt. It is unlikely the temple will be rebuilt without the Muslims giving up Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock being removed. The discovery of these mummy’s along with the recovery of the Ark would be major steps in that direction.

Archaeologists are busy on many fronts in Israel. Israeli and Christian archaeologists seek proof of Israel's past, like the mummies and ark, to prove the national claim. Muslim Archaeologists are actively trying to hide these proofs. When the secret vault under the temple mount was believed to be found the Muslims buried it behind over 20feet of reinforced concrete. They turned Solomon's stables into an underground mosque to prevent study that might find evidence of his kingdom. Bombings of digs, theft of artifacts and building mosques and the like on major finds to prevent study are a regular activity of the Muslim “historians”. Finally there are secular archaeologist who are just there because so much of civilization originated in the region and they want to learn. These are often our greatest allies because, without agenda, they prove our points. It was non-aligned Archaeologists who found the evidence proving the Philistines were seafaring warriors like the Vikings who controlled outposts near the cost but rarely, if ever, traveled more than a couple of miles inland and never controlled the Land of Israel as a whole.