Moses Returns to Egypt

Moses prepares to head to Egypt, but he and his family are not spiritually prepared. They have not performed the act of circumcision on their sons. Moses learns that he cannot serve the LORD without devotion to the LORD. Here God spares Moses, which will become a contrast for His coming judgement against the firstborn of Egypt. We learn that God is faithful – to both His promises and his warnings.

 

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REFLECTION

 

God’s Story

By Katie Borden

If you’re like me, you definitely have some questions about what we read today in Moses’ story. And if you are as confused as I’ve been, allow me to share with you a crucial adjustment I had to make in my mind’s framing of this whole passage concerning Moses’ story.

I had to stop making it all about Moses’ story.

Sure, Moses is one of the main characters we are zoomed in on during this particular episode of God’s redemption narrative. But that’s just it—it is GOD’S story. This passage is one small slice of the overarching narrative of God’s salvation and redemption of humanity and all of creation. And that makes this passage come alive in a whole different way!

God is the one acting here, and he acts in ways that connect the thread of this story to both prior and future events in a way that testify to God’s saving power. The conversation concerning warnings to Pharaoh? We can’t gloss over the difficulty of the passage and the consequences that God reveals are coming upon Pharaoh and his household. But neither can we miss the fact that we are witness to the love of God for his people. Notice in verse 22 that he calls Israel his firstborn son. Israel’s identity is made fully known in this passage—they are a people belonging to God, as he declared to Abraham back in Genesis.

And the part where God tries to kill Moses? Yep, it’s weird to me, too. It seems strange that what saved Moses was the circumcision of his son. But circumcision was the sign of God’s everlasting covenant with his people through Abraham (see Gen. 17). It was the way he identified these people as his.

But what really boggles my mind about this encounter between God and Moses on the way to Egypt is the fact that Moses didn’t do anything to save himself (Zipporah performed the circumcision on their son). He was saved by another’s blood, much like the Israelites would be during the Passover (spoiler alert: God saves his people and releases them from bondage). This encounter also points my eyes forward to the cross—I am again reminded of my own inability to save myself, and am brought to a renewed sense of gratitude for the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood on my behalf. His blood saves me and releases me from the bondage of sin.

All thanks and praise to God for the ways he worked through his people all those years ago, and thanks be to God for the ways he continues to work in our lives today. He truly is the Way Maker!

UALC’S CAMPAIGN OF PRAYER

WEDNESDAY: JUSTICE: Stir up the power of your Holy Spirit to create reconciliation and justice where we cannot. We are enmeshed in the sin and hurt and futility of a fallen world. But you, O God, have raised Jesus from the dead and poured out the Spirit of your new creation. Reconcile us to one another across the divides we alone cannot cross, in the justice and wholeness only you can create.