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In the Torah reading בְּשַׁלַּח Beshalach (“when he sent,” Ex. 13:17–17:16), descendants of Israel have escaped Egypt, and they were on their way to a new land — as a new nation. God was calling on them to leave everything about Egypt in Egypt and become His “peculiar” people. They were to look to the example of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Yosef as examples of how to follow God’s instructions wholeheartedly.
The question we have to ask ourselves is, have we learned from our ancestors successes and mistakes regarding the walk with HaShem?When you are adopted or grafted into God’s people, their ancestors become your ancestors, just as when people leave their home countries and take the oath to become American citizens, our Founding Fathers, such as Washington, Jefferson, Madison, etc., become their Founding Fathers, too.
The question that immigrants have to ask themselves is whether are they really grafting themselves in to their adopted nation or not. When we read about the children of Israel who left in the Exodus, it seems their hearts never left Egypt, which caused them a lot of difficulty because God refused to allow the generation whose bodies left Egypt but their hearts still remained there.
We should desire to be free of our former life, not take it with us. When Paul tells us that our “old self” is dead after we become part of God’s people (Rom. 6:4–7; Eph. 4:20–24; Col. 3:6–11), we should believe that and walk in it. We should not allow the old way of life to have a foothold in us or allow it to pursue us. The “old man” died in the sea of baptism.
The LORD delivers us and then we meet God at the mountain, learn who God really is and then travel with Him towards the Promised Land. But we have to trust the One who took us out, feed us our daily bread, gave us water and washed us clean, brought us to the mountain and walks with us.
“You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O LORD, which You have made for Your dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.”
Exodus 15:17 NASB
A similar phrase is also quoted in ancient Canaanite literature, and it could explain more about why the inhabitants of Jericho were afraid of Israel four decades after the sea crossing (Josh. 2:8–11). See more on this in this study.
‘These things happened as examples for us’ (1Corinthians 10:1–13)
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
1Corinthians 10:12–13 NASB
This chapter is part of a discussion in chapters 8–10 on divisions in the congregation of Corinth:
- In 1Corinthians 8, Paul introduces the issue of food sacrificed to idols and that those who know the truth about idols have to work patiently with those who don’t yet.
- In 1Corinthians 9, Paul goes as far as to say he wouldn’t take any compensation to help persuade people to fully accept Yeshua as the Mashiakh (Jesus as the Christ).
- In 1Corinthians 10, Paul draws from Israel’s history, knowledge of which would be necessary for relevance, to warn against divisions arising from taking one’s eyes off the true Salvation.
When Israel left Egypt, what we see in their story of the Exodus, was a sort of detox process from the culture of Egypt. That was a very tough process. They felt the pull and tug of their old lives upon them, and we feel the same tug of our old lives upon us from time to time.
Being content with whatever God has blessed us with can keep us from greed (1Tim. 6:8; Prov. 30:8). When we are content with what we have, we don’t covet what others have and we are able to be generous with others, passing on the blessings God has given us to others.
Yeshua was generous to all His disciples, even to Yehudah ish-Kariot (Judas Iscariot), who betrayed Him. He loved even those in the nation of Israel who refused to believe in Him and had him killed.
1Corinthians 10 was the apostle Paul’s midrash on Israel’s history, detailing how division arose among the children of Israel during their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. We see in Exodus 17 that it didn’t take them very long to forget all of the miracles that God had rendered on their behalf for their freedom and struck out in anger against Moses and Aaron.
‘Is the LORD with us or not?’ (Exodus 17:1–7)
Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
Exodus 17:1–3 NASB
There’s a Jewish legend that says that the rock that God told Moses to strike to provide water for them was a like a rolling rock, like a ball that rolled with them and followed them all the way through their desert wanderings until the death of Miriam, the prophetess.
Israel also had seen God’s 10 plagues against Egypt (Exodus 7–11). They witnessed how the Savior-God delivered Israel from the Egyptian army by taking the people through the Red Sea (Exodus 14–15). The crossing happened right after the arrival of manna (Exodus 16), re-emphasizing that God the Creator and Liberator also was the Provider.
After the Exodus, the crossing of the sea and the gift of daily bread, the people asked when faced with another struggle, “Is the LORD with us or not?”
with = קֶרֶב qerev (H7130), from the verb קָרַב qarav, which means to come near, approach, enter into
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
Thus the verse could be translated, “Is the LORD close to us or not?” And used in the thirst and hunger situations of the Exodus, this question could be whether He will with Israel in everyday life as well as when He was with Israel in war against Egypt at the Red Sea and against Amalek.
מְרִיבָה Meribah (H4809) means place of strife. It is derived from רִיב rib or rub (H7378), a root verb for to strive, contend.
מַסָּה Massah (H4532) means place of testing. It comes from נָסָה nasah (H5254), a root verb for to test, try.
New American Standard Bible Hebrew lexicon
Will we trust the One Who brought us out of our Egypt, Who feeds us with daily bread, gives us living water to drink out of the Rock and leads us to a land of “rest”? Or will we be like the eight evil spies who refused to believe in the power of God to take Israel further, into the Promised Land (Numbers 13–14)?
We do not serve an “absentee landlord.” He knows the problems in our lives and knows how to fix them (Heb. 4:15). He knows how to take problems and make them into blessings.
He promises to acknowledge our repentance, to forgive our iniquities and remember them no more (Jer. 31:31–34). He will not hold our past against us. That’s the promise of the New Covenant.
This only comes about because of the work of our great High Priest, Who does the work (Hebrews 4–10). All we can do is stand back in humility and accept His work and His covering of our sins, transgressions and iniquities — the New Covenant promise fulfilled (Leviticus 16).
Summary: Tammy