Israel at Mount Sinai

                                                                  Exodus 19:1-15

 

September 15, 2024

 

Israel at Mount Sinai

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.  They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There, Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:  ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

So, Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.  All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.  And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”

When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.  And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.  No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”  So, Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments.  And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

 

 Has God brought you to Himself?  John 3:16 is often quoted; most children who have gone to a Vacation Bible School have learned it and can quote it.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  And it would not be wrong to replace the world and put your name in its place. I was not taught John 3:17, that only in Jesus will I find life in the full. Shall we look at the 17^th verse?  ^:” For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  Jesus took your place, your sins, and mine. He took the full wrath of God His Father to buy you out of eternal punishment, by shedding His blood for you and me.  It is often referred to as His finished Work on the Cross.  They also did not teach me verse 18,  ^“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”  Many will try to earn what is a gift, but God the Father has stated, Your good act is like filthy rags to me.  That is the bad news, one way, one door, to receive eternal life.

 

But to those who receive Jesus by faith and the grace given by God, they do not become sinless, I can testify to that fact in my own life. I am still a mess, but my heart desires to allow Jesus to be my Master.  The apostle Paul, who God used to write a lot of the New Testament, had this to say in Romans 7:15-20. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”  Paul is referring to a defeated follower of Christ, a person who is allowing their feeling and not the Spirit to control their thoughts and actions.  Many a person who goes by the title of Christian has an identity problem; they have no understanding of who they are in Christ, so they go about doing religious stuff, but do not seek the Holy Spirit to guide them into fellowship with Jesus.  So let me share your truth Identity.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority,  or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.  For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 1 Peter 2:11-15)

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

Counsel from a father-in-law

 

Exodus 18:13-27

 

September 14, 2024

 

Counsel from a father-in-law

The next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.  When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?”  And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.”  Moses' father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.  You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.  Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.  Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.  And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So, it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.  If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

So, Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.  Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.  And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.  Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.

We all need a Jethro in our lives, someone who observes what we are doing and gives us counsel on how to do it better.  As followers of Jesus, we must have people who are wise in the ways of God to give us counsel.  I have shared that one of the greatest blessings one can have is a mentor; I have been blessed to have many.  And we have this counsel in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”

You and I need that person who tells you, “What you are doing is not good.”  My pastor is that kind of man, and he has addressed that with me when I allow my personal feelings about COVID-19 to be part of a document, From the Back Porch.  Larry York was my pastor and friend, and I look to his wise counsel.  I also look to my prayer partner of many years, John Davis, and Forrest Lowry.  

Yes, I am a mess, and I need men who love me and will shoot straight with me.  Guess what, you need them also, both men and women, who will give you wise counsel.  Note: Men need men as mentors, and Ladies need ladies.  

Soon, we do not know how long, Jethro went back home, but what he did for Moses has changed the way our system of governing people all over the world.  Can you imagine doing what Moses was doing before his father-in-law came to him?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice 

 

 

Jethro's Advice

 

Exodus 18:1-12

 

September 13, 2024

 

Jethro's Advice

Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.  Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”),  and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”).  Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God.  And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,”  Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.  Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.  And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.  Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.” And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.

Have you wondered why Jethro said her two sons with her and not your two sons?  Me too, and the Scripture does not shed light on this subject.  Moses's first encounter with his father-in-law since leaving for Egypt was very warm, and yet Scripture tells us not one thing about how he reacted toward his wife and sons.  One must understand that Moses was following the customs of the time he lived.  It had nothing to do with the joy of having his wife and sons back.  He showed great respect for his father-in-law, and he listened to his counsel.

 

But let us look for applications for our walk with the Lord.  Scripture tells us to honor our elders; in Leviticus 19:32, "You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”  We have this command in 1 Peter 5:5, “ Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."  If you do not do this, you will find it very hard, maybe impossible to show honor to God.  1 Chronicles 29:11, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”

 

Moses gave an account of what God had done for him and the people of Israel, making Jethro understand that the God of Israel was the only God worthy of worship.  Once more, an area where many of us do not proclaim what God has done for us.  But that also is a commandment from our Lord, as you go tell what God has done for you.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Israel Defeats Amalek

 

 

 

Exodus 17:8-16

September 10, 2024

Israel Defeats Amalek

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.  So, Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”  So, Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So, his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”  And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, ^“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

 

AI Overview

The Bible verse "a cord of three strands is not quickly broken" appears in Ecclesiastes 4:12. The verse can be interpreted in a few ways: 

 

·      Strength in numbers: Three people are stronger together than an individuals. 

 

·      Defense: Two people can stand back-to-back to defend each other. 

 

·      Unity: God's people are stronger together than they are as individuals. 

 

·      Need for each other: People need each other.

As I read this account of Moses, the verses from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 came into my mind, God could have given Moses Victory by holding his hands up, but instead, God wants to show us how much better we are when we work together.  “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

But as I began to look there was a lot of Bible instruction on coming alongside another person to help or encourage.  “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(Hebrews 10:24-25)

I was sure glad that God did this, I do not want to think about my life without Jan; Genesis 2:18, “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”  So many verses, what if the follower of Christ obeys this verse in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

         From the Back Porch,

         Bob Rice

From the Rock Water

 

 

Exodus 17:1-7

September 9, 2024

 

From the Rock Water

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.  Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to 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 the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”  So, Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”  And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.  And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?

Several Scriptures tell us 600,000 plus Israelite men crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt, and this is what “Got Questions” had to say on the subject.  “This phrasing is traditionally interpreted to mean just over 600,000 adult men, implying a total population about four times that size, or 2.4 million.”  And you have a small group of 1200 that shows up on Sunday, and they grumble, and by doing so, you wonder why God has put this burden on you?  I bet they have not planned a stoning party for you.

Clearly, they had a trust problem, and its focus was Moses, but it was God they refused to trust.  Moses is just like a pastor who knows he is not a hired hand and his only Master is God, not a bunch of adults acting more like two-year-olds who have ears that cannot hear and eyes that cannot see what the Spirit is doing.  That was the problem for Moses and Aaron, and not one thing has changed.  The culture of today is very different than then, but the hearts of people have not changed. As I stated in an earlier paper, I fight my desire to grumble; it is clear that we do not want God or man to mess with our plans.  

Now here is the problem, God loves you too much, not to mess with your plans, His plan for your life is not about you but Him.  He, the Truth, He is Love, and He is the one who saw you before you were and numbered your day.  Why then would you want to follow the folly of a culture that is built on lies and deception?  Jesus had this to say to us in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Any other claim is a lie, for Truth has spoken.  

Note: From Bob, Following Jesus is not easy, you will find that often those you love, reject you, and often they call you names like a religious person, and that is one of the nice ones.  I have found that the enemy of my soul brings up even from childhood my many sins.  He loves me to confess things about my person that are not true, like I am dumb, and when that does not work, he tells me I’m too smart to buy into the Truth in the Scriptures.  His favorite is you deserve, and when that does not work, he talks about your little worth, but he is a liar and the Father of lies.  So, I’ve learned when I heard those messages, to run to Jesus, for it is not from Him, and I am redeemed and God has stated that He does not remember the sins of His saints that or confessed.  So that only leaves one source, the devil, and his demons.

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Jesus Calms a Storm

  

Matthew 8:23-27

 

September 16, 2025

 

Jesus Calms a Storm

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.  And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”  And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

 

Storms, are you experiencing one at this time in your life?  We live in a time that seems to produce storms. Have you paid attention to culture in our world, anger, hate, fear, and the desire for more?  A culture for calling good evil and evil good.  And what has it produced? Broken families, unfaithful marriages, children left to raise themselves, and let the internet and social media set the values for your child.  Yes, storms, with destruction and death to your hope and dream.

 

I do not believe that, as a society, we have a good understanding of how to fix the problem. Why have we allowed children to raise themselves?  Our desire for more is that we now believe a mother investing in her child is of less value than being in the workplace, making a name for herself.  What about dad, who begins to look at some of the young gals, and enjoys the mind game of what if I had that and not the older model, with those kids that do not value all that I’ve done for them. That a storm on the horizon. 

 

One verse in the Bible gives us a clear understanding of who is behind all the storms in our culture.  Give thought to this verse; it gives both the problem and the solution.  John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”   The thief is that old serpent, the devil.  Jesus is the only one who can calm the storm in your life.  Look at the verses above and below verse 10.  John 10:9, 11, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”  And 11,  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

 

Jesus is the only way out of the storm, and let me warn you, just because a man has a title of pastor or priest, it does not mean He is a follower of Christ.  The only way to know is to see​k, Jesus, study His word, but the first and only important thing is to begin with inviting Jesus into your life, He knows all about you and He loves you anyhow.

 

From our Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

God will always Provide

 

 

Exodus 16:13-36

September 8, 2024

 

In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning, dew lay around the camp.  And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.  When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.  This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’”  And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less.  But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.  And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.”  But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.  Morning by morning, they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,  he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”  So, they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.  Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.  Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.  And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?  See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore, on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”  So, the people rested on the seventh day.

Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.  Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.”  As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.  The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.  (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

I had no understanding of Omer, but the Lord commanded them to gather as much as each person needed to eat.  I read two sources that say it would be about two quarts per individual.  When I was young, we had, I believe, what was called the blue law, that stores were not open, and those that were could not open till 1:00 pm.  No adult beverages were sold on Sunday, and many other things.  

It was designed to get people to attend Church, to have a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.  One big problem, it is not their present God, it is their heart.  Today, Sunday, is not even a day of rest; it is just one more day of the week.  For many years, Sunday was the day we attended our local church, but after Church services, I came home and did whatever was needed, mowed the lawn, washed the car, and I was acting like my neighbors who never attended Church but for weddings and funerals.   The bad thing about sharing a conviction is that God convicted me that I was not having a day of solemn rest, and that it was a bad testimony to my neighbors.  If He has not told you to do so, then go about your Sunday as you have been doing.  

Many of the things God gave Israel as commands were to help them. God, being all-knowing, knew we needed a day to rest; many of the problems in our health are that people are not getting the rest they need.  When it comes to your Spirit, it needs to be able to sit in a quiet room and seek the Lord for counsel on many things that have us all worried and unsettled.

For forty years, the people of Israel wandered around in the wilderness, because of unbelieve.  Your life may seem as if you can’t get to a place of contentment and peace. Could it be that you are not ready to trust God with your life? You do not have to stay there; just ask Jesus to take over. He is waiting for you to seek Him, listen, and do as He guides you out of the wilderness.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice