JOSHUA: Chapter 10

Chapter 10
Summary:	King Adonizedec of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had conquered and destroyed the city of Ai, the same fate that had befell the city of Jericho and its king. He had also heard that the people of Gibeon had made a peace treaty with Israel and had become their slaves. This alarmed both him and his people because the city of Gibeon was one of the royal cities, and was much larger than the city of Ai had been and had a mighty army. King Adonizedec sought to form an alliance with King Hoham of Hebron, King Piram of Jarmuth, King Japhia of Lachish, and King Debir of Eglon to attack the city of Gibeon for "making peace" with the Israelites. The five kings of the Amorites - Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon - formed an alliance, moved their troops into position, and attacked the city of Gibeon. The Gibeonites met with Joshua at the Israelites camp at Gilgal begging him not to abandon "his new servants" by failing to protect them against the kings of the Amorites. As Joshua marched his army toward the city, God spoke to Joshua telling him, "Do not fear them for I have brought them into your hands. None of them will be able to stand before you." Joshua met the Amorites by surprise after an all night march from Gilgal, and the Israelites slew a great many of them at the city of Gibeon, chasing them toward Bethhoron, and smiting them at Azekah and at Makkedah. As they fled through Bethhoron toward Azekh, God cast down large hailstones from the sky, killing more of the Amorites than the Israelites had managed to kill in battle. Joshua, in the presence of the Israelites, then said to God, "Sun, you stand still upon the city of Gibeon; and you, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon." The sun and the moon stood still in the sky until the Israelites slew their enemies, as recorded in the book of Jasher. The sun stood in the midst of the sky, not going down for the entirety of the day. There was no day like this either before or after it, which God had listened to the voice of a man, for God fought for the Israelites. Joshua then returned with the Israelites to the camp at Gilgal. The five kings of the Amorites managed to survive the Israelite's slaughter and fled to a cave at Makkedah. When Joshua was told about their hiding spot, he instructed his men to roll large stones in front of the cave and have some of the men keep watch. He then added that they are not to stop pursuing the survivors of the Amorite kingdoms, and that they are to kill them off before they return to their cities, reminding them that God had "delivered them into their hands". After Joshua and the Israelites greatly slaughtered the Amorites, a few survivors managed to escape and return to their fortified cities. The Israelites then returned to their camp at Makkedah, and none spoke a word against the Israelites. Joshua then commanded, "Open up the cave, retrieve the five kings, and bring them forth to me." The Israelites retrieved the five kings - the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon - and brought them before Joshua. Joshua summoned all the men of Israel, and said to the captains of his army, "Come here and place your feet upon the necks of these kings." After they stepped on the necks of the kings, Joshua continued, "Fear not, nor be dismayed, be brave and strong, for this is what the Lord shall do to all your enemies that you battle." After which Joshua slew the kings and hung each of them on five trees, leaving them hanging until night fall. After the sun set, Joshua commanded his men to take down the corpses and cast them into the cave where they had attempted to hide, closing of the entrance to the cave with large stones, which remain there to this day. That day Joshua conquered the city of Makkedah, destroying its king and every living being therein, leaving no survivors. He did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. Joshua then left Makkedah and headed to Libnah. Joshua conquered and destroyed Libnah, its king, and every living being therein, leaving no survivors. He did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. Joshua then left Libnah and headed to Lachish. Joshua conquered and destroyed Lachish and every living being therein, leaving no survivors, just as he had done in Libnah. King Horam, king of Gezer came to help Lachish in battle, but Joshua smote him and his men, until there were none of them left remaining. Joshua then left Lachish and headed to Eglon. Joshua conquered and destroyed Eglon and every living being therein, leaving no survivors, just as he had done in Lachish. Joshua then left Eglon and headed to Hebron. Joshua conquered and destroyed Hebron and every living being therein, leaving no survivors, just as he had done in Eglon. Joshua then left Hebron and headed to Debir. Joshua conquered and destroyed Debir and every living being therein, leaving no survivors, just as he had done in Hebron. Joshua smote Debir's king just as he had done to the king of Libnah. In the end Joshua massacred the entire region, from the hill country to south of the valley, along with all of their kings. He left no survivors, killing all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. Joshua smote them from Kadeshbarnea to Gaza, and all of the region of Goshen to Gibeon. Joshua slaughtered all of these kings and took their land all in one strike because God fought for Israel. Joshua and the rest of the Israelites returned to their camp site in Gilgal.
Notes:	1.) The Book of Jasher (properly translated as the "Book of the Upright" or "Book of the Just") refers to a supposed "Lost book of the Old Testament". It is believed that it was a book of poetry from the context of it's mention later on in the book of Samuel.
Thoughts:	After reading this chapter it's difficult for me to decide which is more problematic about it: whether it's the utter lack of even a basic rudimentary understanding of how our solar system actually works, or the sheer amount of brutal and merciless genocide and glorified violence clearly being attributed as being commanded by God. The chapter begins with the king of Jerusalem, Adonizedec, forming a military alliance with four other kingdoms (Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon) to attack the city of Gibeon for having allowed themselves to become enslaved to the Israelites as a measure of sparing themselves from falling victim to the Israelites' genocidal conquest. Despite the chapter's implications that the city of Gibeon was a large city with a mighty army, the Gibeonites run to their new slave masters begging them to save their new "servants" from the attacking Amorite coalition. It seems more likely to be a literary ploy to brag about how "mighty" the Gibeonite army was in oder to bolster how much more mighty and fearsome the Israelites were supposed to be needing to have to beg the Israelites to hurry up and come out to "save" them. As Joshua marched his army towards the city of Gibeon, the land of his newly enslaved people he was bound to protect, God reassures Joshua that he has nothing to fear as his enemies won't stand a chance against him in battle. Joshua manages to catch the Amorite army by surprise (although it's unclear as to how exactly, considering that a retaliatory response must have been expected) and slaughteres a great many of them driving them off toward Bethhoron. Not one to be outdone apparently, God assaults the Amorites with large hailstones and the chapter states that he was able to kill more Amorites with his "killer hailstones" than the Israelites killed with their swords. Interesting to note however is that although it seems rather clear that God had no intent or desire for there to be survivors, his "killer hailstones" didn't manage to completely vanquish the Amorites, making his alleged perfection and omnipotence certainly questionable. What happens next in our story is one of those moments where it becomes painfully obvious that what we're reading is a work of fiction that is conjured from the mind of a person wholly ignorant of how our solar system works. If you've managed to make it this far into the bible and have rationalized away such claims as God creating light prior to creating the sun; talking snakes (and donkeys); people living well over 800 years in age; a single man thousands of years ago being able to procure a pair of every known "kind" of animal all over the globe, and managing to keep them healthy and alive on a boat for nine months; and over a million people leaving a country at once without a single shred of the sort of economic evidence one would expect to find in the wake of such a sudden shift of losing over a million slaves simultaneously, by insisting that God is omnipotent and can defy not just physics, but logic, it becomes far more improbable to defend the ridiculous aspects of story we're about to be presented with than to dismiss it as fictitious and ignorant. Joshua speaks to God in the presence of the people of Israel - meaning that we are lead to presume that due to the presence of witnesses, that there should be less of a likelihood that this story could be misrepresented or misremembered - and he commands the sun to stand still in the sky over the city of Gibeon, and commands the moon to stand still in the sky over the valley of Ajalon. The chapter claims that the sun and the moon hung there in the sky for and entire day until the Israelites completed killing their enemies. This story reflects a primitive geocentric view of the universe (the theory that the Earth is the center of the solar system - or the universe - and that all other objects revolve around the Earth) rather than the current heliocentic understanding of our solar system (that the Earth revolves around a stationary sun) popularized by Copernicus much later in the 16th century. If we're to believe that God "stopped" the sun and the moon, this obviously presents numerous problems: In order for both the sun and the moon to appear to "stay put" over the city of Gibeon and the valley of Ajalon respectively, this would require both the Earth and the moon to cease their orbits around the sun and the Earth respectively. Additionally the Earth would also have to halt on it's axis. Such interruptions of orbit and axial rotation would also have disasterous effects on gravity not just on Earth, but throughout the entire solar system. Even for "just a day" the lack of sunshine and heat on the side of the earth facing away from the sun would have disasterous and lethal ecological effects, while the side of the Earth facing the sun would likely also suffer from over exposure to UV rays and accumulation of heat. Due to the adverse effects that would be witnessed and experienced throughout the globe by such an event, the least of which being prolonged daylight or night time depending on location, the lack of any corrobrative mention within the contemporary histories of other civilizations further contributes to the unlikelihood of the claim. Even if one explained away all of these problems by stating that God is omnipotent and therefore he could simultaneously stop the Earth on its axis and orbit, stop the moon in its oribt, provide a gravitational substitute on the earth, provide some sort of UV and heat management for the portion of the Earth stuck in daylight mode, provide some sort of heat and UV substitute for the portion of the Earth stuck in darkness, and somehow make this appear unremarkable to other civilizations and managing all of these tasks with ease, when we examine exactly why Joshua commanded the sun and the moon to stay put in the sky, the justifications become akin to a Rube Goldberg contraption. Simply put, Joshua wanted more time and daylight to battle the Amorites, and due to his primitive understanding of astronomy, commanded the sun (which we now understand doesn't revolve around the Earth) and the moon to stay put until he was finished in battle, which the bible claims lasted for "the entirety of the day". It's absurd to think than an omnipotent being would devise such an elaborate Rube Goldberg-esque ruse just to appease Joshua's exact command to the letter, rather than simply grant him what he really desired - more light and time to battle - in a far less ridiculous manner. Perhaps the return of "God's Flashlight" could have accomplished this simpler, or better yet, perhaps God could have simply come to Joshua's aid in battle again with his "killer hailstones". Additionally another problem arises in the claim that the sun stood in the sky for the entirety of the day. While the claim is vague in describing how much time elapsed, considering that the primitive means of measuring time in the time period would most likely have been limited to sun dials (which would be rendered redundant if the position of the sun in the sky were to remain unchanged) there would be no accurate means of determining how much time elapsed. Factoring in that the Israelites also were engaged in strenuous activity by fighting in battle, it's fair to say that they would also be in an extremely bad position to accurately estimate how much time had elapsed without the aid of the sun. A common apologetic response to the more ridiculous stories contained within the bible is to claim that the passages weren't intended to be meant as literal fact. However the story of Joshua having God cause the sun and the moon to stand still appears to be presented as if it were a literal event by the additional mention that the event was also recorded in the Book of Jasher - an alleged "Lost book of the Old Testament". Simply put, the justifications needed - even allowing for the supernatural elements - to meet a basic need for light to continue to battle in could be much more simply met and it's ridiculous to assume that it's more plausible that God was willing to humor Joshua and fulfill his request to the letter, than it is that this story is merely the invention of primitive people with an ignorant geocentrist perspective trying to brag about the powers of their god being oblivious to how unlikely their story would appear to heliocentric reality, in additon to problems related to the laws of gravity. Likewise, outside of claiming that God himself confirmed the length of time elapsed to the Israelites, it would also be impossible for the Israelites to accurately determine how long the sun and moon had stayed put in their positions in the sky, especially with the added distraction of being engaged in battle. Following this ridiculous story, the five kings of the Amorites somehow manage to survive Joshua's onslaught and escape into hiding in a cave located in Makkedah. When Joshua was told about their hiding spot (it isn't clear by whom, whether it was told to him by God, or that the Amorite kings migh have perhaps been careless enough to have been observed retreating to their cave) he had his men roll large stones blocking the entrance of the cave and left a few of them behind to keep watch. After Joshua and his men drove the survivors of the Amorite kingdoms back to their fortified cities, Joshua then returned to the cave and has his men drag out the five kings. He then commanded the captains of his army to stand upon the necks of the kings while Joshua exclaimed that what he was about to do would be what God would do to all of the enemies that Israelites battle. He then proceeded to slay the kings and hung them on trees until night fall, after which he tossed their corpses into the same cave they had dragged them out of, and closed off the entrance with large stones. Joshua then proceeded to go on a genocidal rampage against the kingdoms of: Makkedah; Libnah; Lachish (in addition to annihilating the soldiers that King Horam of Gezer sent to help defend Lachish); Eglon; Hebron; and Debir. The chapter claims that Joshua massacred the entire region from the hill country to the south of the valley, along with the kings who ruled the region, leaving no survivors and killing all that breathed - which would include women (presumably without a provision made for virgin girls this time), infants, children, and animals - and reinforces that this act was precisely and exactly as the God of Israel had commanded. Again, it's difficult to decide which presents more of a problem - what sort of mental gymnastics one would need to go through to try and explain away the "miracle" claim of the sun and moon standing still in the sky for an entire day, or the moral and ethical dilemma presented by the mass genocide committed by Joshua claimed to be the precise command from God.

NUMBERS: Chapter 17

Chapter 17
Summary:	God tells Moses to speak to the people of Israel, and tells Moses to have each of the twelve tribes present a wooden rod with the names of their tribe and the names of their tribe's leader written upon the rod - and with the tribe of Levi, Aaron's name is to be written upon the rod. The rods are then to be placed in the tabernacle before the ark of the covenant, and God explains that whomever God has chosen, his rod will blossom, which God reasons will stop the people of Israel from complaining. Moses relayed this to the people of Israel and collected the twelve rods - each inscribed with the names of each of the twelve tribes of Israel and their appointed leaders. He put the twelve rods in the tabernacle in the room containing the ark of the covenant, and in the morning Aaron's rod was budding, blooming, and bearing almonds. Moses brought out all of the rods for the people of Israel to see and returned them to their prospective leaders, with the exception of Aaron's rod, which God tells Moses to place beside the ark of the covenant as a reminder against the rebellion. God states that this "reminder" will convince the people not to question God's choice, lest they be killed for doing so. Moses did as God had commanded him. The people of Israel however said to Moses, "Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish". complaining that whoever comes anywhere near the tabernacle is to be killed, and ask if they should be consumed with death.
Thoughts:	In this short and brief chapter, God comes up with a laughable way to provide "evidence" to the people of Israel that would cause amateur magicians, used car salesmen, and con-men alike to roll their eyes at. God's hilarious idea is to have each leader from each of the twelve tribes inscribe both their names and their clan names upon a wooden rod (with Aaron's name going on the rod for the tribe of Levi). The rods are then to be gathered up by Moses, and then he is to place them inside the tabernacle (that only himself, Aaron, and Aaron's sons are allowed to enter - anyone else is to be killed for entering the tabernacle), and in the morning one of the rods will be bloom and be covered with buds and almonds. Of course, Aaron's rod magically has sprouted almonds the following morning to which God has Moses permanently place inside the tabernacle next to the ark of the covenant as a trophy which he thinks will stop the people from rebelling once and for all, lest he's forced to kill them for not believing this flimsy magic trick. Take a moment to reflect upon this method of providing "evidence". If you were trying to prove to someone that you had magical powers and that your friend was a beneficiary of these powers, who do you think you're going to convince if your evidence consists of a stick with your friends name on it, being locked in a room that only you and your friends have access to, and that the proof is that somehow in this locked room (to which you and your friends can enter and exit freely at any time) the stick has managed to produce flowers upon it? A sensible person would question that Moses, Aaron, or his sons could have: Entered the tabernacle in the middle of the night and switched Aaron's rod for a duplicate that had almonds budding on it. That the "almond rod" might have been crafted ahead of time to look like the "normal rod", and constructed inside the tabernacle out of view from the common folk. That there is no way of determining of when this rod scheme was thought up versus when it was told to the people. Thereby, perhaps Moses and Aaron may have picked out two similar rods ahead of time, crafted them to look as identical as possible over the next few days before announcing this "test" to the people. Which ever it may be, the most damning hole in the plot is that the "winner" of the rod contest had full unrestricted access to the rods at all time and they were stored in a tent which only him and his family were allowed to enter. Somehow this seems about as legitimate as Saddam Hussein's 2002 election victory winning 100% of the vote. Even if we for the sake of argument accept that God is real, that he has in fact chosen Moses and Aaron to lead the people of Israel to the "promised land", and that he is both omnipotent and omniscient, this can't explain why such a powerful supernatural being would chose such a weak and severely flawed method of providing "evidence". Even if we keep with this same "contest" for divine proof, why couldn't God have had Moses put the twelve rods on the ground in front of all of the people and had Aaron's rod sprout before everyone's eyes? God certainly had no problem having Moses and Aaron turn rods into a snakes in front of witnesses before. The fact is that the conditions and circumstances around this sort of "evidence" simply isn't reliable, one would think that God would be smart enough to see how a skeptic could refute this, and come up with something a bit more convincing. If I were to pull out a magic wand and make flowers sprout from the tip, you would understandably be skeptical if I told you that this wasn't a magic trick but instead a "miracle". Understandably, the people of Israel didn't really buy into this silly trick either pointing out that anybody who comes near the tabernacle is killed, and point out that they shouldn't be subjected to these sort of death threats.

EXODUS: Chapters 17 & 18

Chapter 17
Summary:	At God's command, the people of Israel left the Sihn desert, going by easy stages to Rephidim. When they got there, however, there was no water. Once more the people complained to Moses, begging him to give them water. Moses told them to be quiet and warned them not to test God's patience, but the people continued to complain until Moses once again pleaded to God on their behalf. Moses appears before God to plead with him on the people's behalf, noting that they're almost ready to take him out and stone him due to the lack of water. God tells Moses to take the elders of Israel with him and to lead the people to Mount Horeb, where God will meet him there at the rock. He tells Moses to strike the rock with his magic rod and water will come forth from it - enough for all 600,000+ Israelis. Moses does he was told and water came gushing out of the rock. He names this place Massah (meaning "tempting God to kill us all"), although the place was also referred to as Meribah (meaning "argument" and "strife"). Suddenly, warriors from Amalek came to battle the Israelis at Rephidim. Moses instructed Joshua to issue a call to arms to fight the Amalek army. Moses tells Joshua that tomorrow he will stand upon the hill with the "Rod of God" in his hands. As Joshua and his men went out to battle the army of Amalek, Moses along with Aaron and Hur (a man of the tribe of Judah, family of Hezron, house of Caleb) ascended the top of the hill. As long as Moses held the rod high above his head, the Israelis were winning the battle. However, as Moses' arms grew tired and he lowered the staff, the Amalek soldiers gained the upper hand. When Moses could no longer hold the rod up any longer, Aaron and Hur rolled up a stone for him to sit on while they stood on either side of Moses helping him hold up his hands until sunset. As a result, Joshua's men crushed the army of Amalek, putting them to the sword. God then instructed Moses to write this into permanent record to be remembered forever. He further tells Moses to tell Joshua that he will utterly blot out every trace of the Amalek. Moses built an altar there and called it "Yahweh-nissi" (meaning "Yahweh is my flag"). For Moses had said that God will be at war with the Amalek generation after generation.
Thoughts:	Moses finds himself once again facing mutiny as the Israelis can't find any water. Moses tries to hush them up thinking that God probably is getting tired of their whining and might just kill them all out of sheer annoyance, but is pressured to go speak to the Big Man when the people start murmuring about having him stoned. God tells Moses to go out to Mount Horeb and smack his magic wand against the rock he'd find out there. Sure enough the rock starts producing water - enough for all of the 600,000+ Israelis - and Moses names the place "thanks a lot for not killing us all God!" Before anybody can thank Moses and his pal in the sky however, some Amalek warriors arrive ready for battle. Moses tells Joshua to get his armies ready for battle, and that he'll be watching everything from the top of the hill. Moses brings along his magic staff and raises it in the air, which somehow gives the Israelis the upper hand in battle. However, when Moses tries to take a break and rest his arms, thereby lowering his magic staff, the Israelis start losing the fight. Moses' brother Aaron, along with their pal Hur, get on either side of Moses and hold his arms up until the sun sets and the battle is won. The silliness of this story is trying to state that the outcome of a military battle is dependent upon Moses' ability to keep his arms, and thereby his magic wand, in the air for several hours. If we are to consider that it is God's will to make the Israelis prevail in battle, and that God has the power to ensure this on his own, what purpose does having Moses stand around with his arms in the air serve other than to possibly imply that Moses really doesn't need much of God's help as long as he's got his magic staff handy? This whole story seems to be more inspired by other mythological lore than to coincide with God's typical attributes, and furthermore places a separation of God's intervention by means of simply using the independent magic contained in the magic staff.
Chapter 18
Summary:	Word soon reached Jethro, Moses' father-in-law and the priest of Midian, about all the things God had done for his people, and about God bringing them all out of Egypt. He brings Moses' wife Zipporah to him* along with Moses' two sons Gershom and Eliezer (meaning "God is my help"). Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and greeted him warmly and went into Moses' tent to talk further. Moses told Jethro about all of the adventures him and God had been through, which Jethro was happy to hear about. Jethro offered an animal sacrifice to God and afterward was met by Aaron and the leaders of Israel, who all shared in the sacrificial meal. The next day Moses sat as usual hearing the people's complaints against each other, from morning to evening. When Jethro saw how long this was taking he asked Moses why he was doing this all alone by himself. Moses explains to Jethro that the people come to him to ask for God's decisions and that he applies the laws of God to their disputes. Jethro tells Moses that he's going to wear himself out doing this all by himself and suggests to Moses some advice. He tells Moses to find some capable, godly, honest men and to appoint them as judges for each 1,000 people; and he in turn will have ten judges under him, each in charge of a hundred people; and under them will be two judges each responsible for fifty people; each of them having five judges beneath them to counsel ten people. He tells Moses that anything of dire importance can be brought to him, but that the smaller matters they can take care of themselves. Moses took his father-in-law's advice and chose able men from all over Israel, making them judges over the people - thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They were constantly available to administer justice, and brought the more complex cases to Moses while solving the simplest themselves. Soon after, Moses let his father-in-law return to his own land.
Notes:	1.) It's not stated or clear as to when, how, or why Zipphorah and her sons ended up back at her father's home in Midian, as she had traveled along with Moses to Egypt in Chapter 4, and hasn't been mentioned since.
Thoughts:	The first thing of note in this chapter is how and why Zipporah - Moses' wife - wound back at her father's household back in Midian, along with Moses' children. It seems to serve as a convenient reasoning to bring Jethro (or Reuel as he was referred to in Chapter 2) back in to the midst of the story. After Jethro greets Moses and partakes in a bit of animal sacrifice, he sees that Moses spends the greater amount of his days simply listening to the people of Israel's problems. He basically tells Moses to get some helping hands and divides the division of responsibility amongst many people to be appointed judges to take care of the minor squabbles, while leaving Moses to tackle the bigger matter at hand. After putting this to practice, Jethro's job is done and he returns to his homeland of Midian.

EXODUS: Chapters 15 & 16

Chapter 15
Summary:	Moses and the people of Israel were ready for song and dance and apparently sang this "song" to God: 15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. 15:3 The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name. 15:4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. 15:5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. 15:8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 15:10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 15:12 Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. 15:13 Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. 15:14 The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 15:15 Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. 15:16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. 15:17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O LORD, which thy hands have established. 15:18 The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. 15:19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. Then Miriam the prophetess, sister of Aaron, took a timbrel and led the women in dances. Miriam sang this (thankfully) much shorter "song": Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Moses then led the people of Israel from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the wilderness of Shur. They were there for three days, without water. Arriving at Marah, the water was too bitter to drink (the name "Marah" meaning bitter). The people then turned against Moses demanding that him and God do something before they all died of thirst. Moses pleaded with God, and God in turn shows Moses a tree, explaining that if Moses throws this tree into the water, it will sweeten it and make the water drinkable. It was there at Marah that God laid down a threat stating, that if they will obey and listen to God, then he won't make them suffer the diseases he's sent on the Egyptians. They finally came to Elim where they camped. There were twelve springs and seventy palm trees there that they camped next to.
Thoughts:	After a rousing rendition of "Ding! Dong! The Pharaoh's Dead!", and Aaron's sister Miriam leading the gals in a chorus line, the folks find themselves in the land of Marah, where the water is too bitter to drink. After three days without water the people start revolting again, and Moses begs for God's help. God shows Moses a tree and tells him to throw that into the water. When Moses does this, somehow the tree sweetens the water enough to make it drinkable. God then threatens the Israelis with suffering the same diseases he had inflicted on the Egyptian people if they don't do what they're told and obey him. When they arrive at Elim to camp for the night, we're treated to another example of numerology in the bible - where there are twelve springs, and seventy (7 again, and also 70 being the same number of Jacob's/Israel's descendants who arrived in Egypt 430 years ago) palm trees. The number twelve has mystical connotations similar to that of the number 7, the most common theory being that it is derived from the method in which people counted on their fingers - they counted all ten fingers, and then once for each foot, thus the number 13 became unlucky. The number twelve appears many times throughout the bible, most notably as the number of Apostles of Jesus, and is clearly a significant number tied in with superstition of the day. It is highly unlikely that these numbers are here by coincidence, but more likely were purposely chosen for their superstitious numerological significance.
Chapter 16
Summary:	The people left Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sihn, between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt, and there too the people began to speak harshly against Moses and Aaron. They began wondering if they'd have been better off if God had killed them in Egypt, where they at least had food to eat, complaining that now they were starving in the wilderness. God then tells Moses that he's going to rain down food from heaven, but as a test towards the people sets a bunch of restrictions upon how they are to gather and eat the food. He instructs Moses to tell the people to gather as much food as they want, but that on the sixth day of the week, they are gather twice as much food. Moses and Aaron called a meeting of all the people of Israel (all 600,000+ of them?) and told them that this evening they will realize that it was God who had brought them out of Egypt. Moses and Aaron continue to tell them that in the morning, they will see his glory, and that God will provide them with meat in the evening and bread in the morning. As Aaron gathered them together, out from the wilderness within the guiding cloud, there appeared the awesome glory of God. In the evening vast numbers of quail arrived and covered the camp, while in the morning the desert around the camp became covered with dew. When the dew disappeared (evaporated) later in the morning, it left tiny flakes of a peculiar substance behind. Moses explained to the puzzled people that this was the "bread" that God had given them to eat. He tells the people to gather an omer (a container used as a unit of measurement, believed to be approximately 3 quarts) of the food for each person. As the people gathered the strange food and measured their take, they found that everyone had an exact omer of food - no more, no less - regardless of how much they had gathered. Moses told them not to leave any of this food overnight, and whatever they didn't finish they were to dispose of. However, when some of them tried to store the food overnight they found it sour and full of maggots in the morning, and this greatly angered Moses. So they gathered the food each morning before the sun became hot upon the ground and melted the food away. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much - two omers - to which the leaders of the people questioned Moses as to why they had to do as such. Moses explained that the following day was to be a holy sabbath - explaining that no work from their daily tasks was to be done on this day. He told them to store the remaining food this night as God would not leave any food on the ground on the day of the sabbath. The following day, the sabbath, the people found that the food was fresh and wholesome and not spoiled and filled with maggots as it was when stored during the week. When some of the people went out to gather food - against Moses' instructions to refrain from doing so - they couldn't find any. God questioned Moses rhetorically about how long it would take the people to obey his word when this happened. The food became known as "manna" (meaning "What is it?"), and was white, like coriander seed, flat, and tasted like honey bread. Moses, on instruction from God, had Aaron gather an extra omer of the food to be kept as a museum piece, so that later generations could see the food that God had provided them with in the wilderness. Aaron did as he was instructed, putting the food in a container that he kept in a sacred place - which would eventually be kept in the Ark of the Covenant. The people of Israel ate this food for forty years until they arrived in the land of Canaan.
Thoughts:	The grumpy and hungry Israelis complain about their food situation and God decides to both present them with a magical food source while testing their obedience. He creates a magical bit of food that is left behind from when the morning dew evaporates. It has the magical properties of spoiling and becoming infested with maggots if it is kept overnight - except on the sabbath day, when it remains fresh overnight for one night each week. Of course, not all the people obey the instructions of not storing the food, and hence they found it rotten the next day; as well as some of the people trying to go out and gather food on the sabbath - when they were commanded not to - and of course, they found no food. Apparently the specimen of magic food that they keep for a museum piece is also apparently not affected by spoilage and maggots for some reason. The point of this chapter obviously, is more about testing the people of Israel's obedience, but its just very difficult to take seriously when we have a magical food source that doesn't grow or spoil on a specific day of the week only.

EXODUS: Chapters 13 & 14

Chapter 13
Summary:	God instructs Moses to dedicate to him all of the first born sons of Israel, as well as every first born male animal claiming to him that "they are mine". Moses then addresses the people of Israel (all 600,000+ of them?) telling them that this is a day for them to remember forever. He then reminds them, by recounting, the rules laid down for the annual celebration of the holiday. He tells them that during the celebration days each year that they must explain to their children why they celebrate. He tells them that this memorial week brands them as unique people, as if God had branded his ownership upon them like cattle. He explains to the people that all the first born sons and first born male animals now belong to God, and that when they reach the "promised land" that they must be given (meaning by ritual sacrifice) to God. He further explains that they can "buy back" (or substitute), for example, a donkey with a lamb, but that something has to be killed. Moses adds that for human sons, they must "buy back" (or exchange them) with another animal to be sacrificed. God did not lead the people of Israel through the land of the Philistines, although that was the most direct route from Egypt to the "promised land". God's reasoning being that he felt the people could become discouraged if they had to fight their way through, and perhaps some might return to Egypt out of frustration. Instead God leads them along a route through the Red Sea wilderness. Moses had taken the bones of Joseph with him, as Joseph had made the sons of Israel promise that they would take his bones with them as they were led by God out of Egypt. Leaving Succoth, they camped at Etham at the edge of the wilderness. God guided them by a pillar of cloud during the daytime, and by a pillar of fire at night. Neither pillar was ever out of sight from them.
Thoughts:	Perhaps it's just me, but I've never been able to understand animal (or human) sacrifices, especially in the name of all-powerful "gods". God has the power to kill, and to kill the first born as he had apparently done in Egypt - yet now, he wants the people of Israel to gruesomely slaughter a bunch of animals for him - once every year. I fail to see how the ghastly and gruesome slaughtering of animals is supposed to please God, and how or why he enjoys the suffering and terror that human beings are putting upon innocent living beings. While a controversial subject to some, like myself, who have adopted a life of vegetarianism (I'm a pescitarian, more precisely - meaning I still consume fish and seafood) we can at least justify the needs for killing animals for food, pelts, skins, or for other uses when we show respect and compassion for the life we have to take. Modern hunters are (usually) a fine example of how mankind strives to minimize the amount of pain and suffering involved towards their prey. They attempt to make death as quick and painless as possible, and with a wounded animal they finish the job off as quickly as possible. In ritualistic sacrifice, minimizing pain and suffering is not a concern, and it seems bizarre and contradictory to me that a God who is described as "merciful", "loving", and "compassionate" not only condones, allows, commands, and encourages this kind of suffering and trauma - he likes it as well, the bible describes it "pleasing" to him. Anyways, God allows the people to make substitutions - so if you really don't want to kill your first born male donkey, you might be able to slip God a lamb in its place. Human first born males however, require a substitute proxy animal, establishing that God doesn't care for human sacrifices unless he himself is doing the killing. However, whatever the case may be, God wants you to kill something for him. I'm also having trouble imagining Moses without the aid of a public address system being able to address over half a million people with his decrees unless he's either got some sort of newsletter to pass around, or if he's just holding a bunch of seminars for a couple hundred people at a time. Perhaps he's given these messages to some of the elders and had them address groups of people, but the way in which the bible is written makes it appear that Moses somehow manages to make himself heard to all 600,000+ people at once - which would be a pretty amazing feat, even with a modern public address system. Meanwhile, we are told that God had decided to lead his people to their "promised land" by taking the long route, as he didn't want to discourage the Israelis by making them fight their way through a more direct route through Philistine country. He notes that possibly some of the Israelis might have given up and simply headed back to Egypt, so he opts for the longer journey for them. Moses upholds the Israeli promise to Joseph - of not being left behind or buried in Egypt - and carries along Joseph's bones on the journey to the promised land, 400 years or so after his death. God now leads the people by taking the forms of giant clouds during the day, and blazing fireballs at night, allowing the people to travel both night and day.
Chapter 14
Summary:	God now instructs Moses to tell the people to turn towards Piha-hiroth and to camp there along the shore, explaining that the Pharaoh (who is apparently about to pursue them) will think that he has trapped the Israelis between the desert and the sea. He tells Moses that he will harden the Pharaoh again, and in turn that he will chase after the people of Israel. When word reached the Pharaoh that the Israelis were not planning on returning to Egypt after their supposed three day excursion, the Pharaoh became angered at the fact that he was losing his slaves. The Pharaoh led a chase in his chariot, along with his army totaling 600 chariots in all. The Pharaoh's entire cavalry of horses, chariots, and charioteers overtook the people of Israel at the shore of Piha-hiroth. As the Egyptian army approached the people of Israel became frightened and begged for God's help. They complained to Moses for getting them into this whole mess, feeling that they would have been better off not having listened to him in the first place. They told him that they wished that they had remained slaves in Egypt as opposed to dying out here in the desert. Moses, however, tells the people to not be afraid, and to prepare to marvel in the miraculous way that God will rescue them. God then tells Moses to cut out the chit-chat and to get the people moving. He tells Moses to hold his rod out over the water and that the sea will open up a path for the people of Israel to cross on dry land. God then moved a cloud around behind them to stand between the Israelis and the Egyptians, and at night became a pillar of fire, giving darkness to the Egyptians but light to the Israelis. The Egyptians were now having a tough time finding the Israelis. Meanwhile Moses stretched his rod over the sea, and God opened up a path with walls of water on each side. He caused a strong east wind to blow that night, drying the bottom of the sea. The people of Israel then crossed the sea on dry ground. As the Egyptians went in after them, God started making their chariot wheels come off. The soldiers then shouted to each other to retreat, as God was clearly fighting for the Israelis and against themselves. When all the people of Israel made it across the sea, God tells Moses to again stretch his hand across the sea to close the waters. Moses did as he was commanded, and the sea returned to normal under the morning light. The Egyptians tried to flee, but it was too late and God drowned them all at sea. Not a single member of the Egyptian army that had pursued them across the sea survived. The people of Israel saw the dead Egyptians washed up on the shore, and realized that had witnessed a mighty miracle. They became afraid of God, yet now believed in him and his servant Moses.
Thoughts:	The Pharaoh somehow gets wind that the people of Israel have no intentions of returning back to Egypt after the "three day pilgrimage" they'd been requesting for all along. Incensed by the thought of losing all those Hebrew slaves for good, he decides to gather his army of 600 chariots in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, God has his own plan to once again strike another blow to the Egyptians. He has Moses lead the people towards the Red Sea, explaining to him that the Egyptians will think they have cornered them. However, God tells Moses that when he lifts his magic staff over the water, that will cause the Red Sea to part, granting them a pathway to cross the river on dry land. When the Egyptians approach, the people of Israel start getting all huffy with Moses again angry that he had seemed to have led them into another bad situation - this time being a death trap. Moses however, tells them not to fear, but stand back and watch as God rescues them with his spectacular magical powers. God first creates a cloud cover over the Egyptians, leaving them in darkness, while he lights the way for the Israelis with his magical fireball. As Moses waves his magic staff over the water, the Red Sea parts just as God said it would, and God gets to work blowing an eastern wind across the pathway to dry up the floor of the sea. The Israelis manage to cross over the sea, but when the Egyptians finally make it in after them in the morning, God tells Moses to once again raise his hands over the sea to close it back up. The Egyptians trying to flee for their lives all die by drowning in the sea without a single survivor. When dead bodies of the Egyptian soldiers wash up on the shores, the people begin to fear God and profess their belief in him as well as his messenger Moses. Of particular note is the explicit mention of "fear" and how it relates to theistic belief. This has always bothered me that belief is coerced by the notion of fear, and that intimidation lies at the core of belief. Again, another contradiction of God's "love" and "compassion" is when he is a force to be feared - by his followers!

EXODUS: Chapters 11 & 12

Chapter 11
Summary:	God now tells Moses that he has one final disaster in store for the land of Egypt, stating that the Pharaoh will not only let the people go after this was done, but will practically throw them out of Egypt. He continues, telling Moses to have the women of Israel prepare to ask their Egyptian neighbors for costly gold and silver jewelry. (God had apparently made the Egyptian people become favorable towards the people of Israel. Moses was revered by the Pharaoh's officials and Egyptian people alike.) Moses now announced to the Pharaoh* that God will pass through the land at midnight, killing the first born sons of everyone - from the oldest child of the Pharaoh, to the oldest child of the lowliest of slaves; even including the first born animals. He adds that God will not kill any of the Israelis nor their animals, adding that God is again making a distinction between the Egyptians and Israelis. Moses, red-faced with anger, stomps out of the palace upon finishing his proclamation.
Notes:	1.) Despite Moses' assertion that the Pharaoh would "never see him again" at the end of Chapter 10, he apparently breaks his promise. The Pharaoh also fails to execute him as he had sworn to do also.
Thoughts:	God has apparently saved his best "miracle" for last. He has Moses explain to the Pharaoh - despite the fact that Moses and the Pharaoh both said they were done talking with each other in the last chapter - that God will pass through the land at midnight killing off every first born male, from royalty to the lowliest of slaves, to even the first born male animals. Moses delivers his angry speech and storms off. Despite all this massive death and destruction to the Egyptian people, God has forced and coerced the Egyptian people to favor the Israelis and prepares the Israeli women to demand all sorts of wealth, in the form of gold and silver jewelry, from the Egyptian people. To me this seems almost is if God is condoning and conspiring theft against the citizens of Egypt. God once again wants to show distinction of his superior race of people over the "evil" Egyptians by sparing the Israelis from his "miracle" first born death curse.
Chapter 12
Summary:	God tells Moses and Aaron that from here on out, this month will be the first and most important month to the people of Israel. God tells them that annually on the tenth day of this month that each family will get a lamb (and that if a family is too small, to share a lamb with their neighbors) - which has to be one year old, male, and free of defects. On the fifteenth day of the month, God explains to them that the lambs shall be slaughtered and that their blood shall be splattered on the door frames of each and every home. Each family shall then eat roast lamb that night, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. God continues to command that the meat must be roasted, and not eaten raw or boiled, adding also that they may only eat it this night, and that anything left over shall be burned the next day. God further instructs that this meal is to be eaten while wearing traveling clothes, walking shoes, with walking sticks in hand, and that the meal should be eaten hurriedly. This observance, he explains will be called the Lord's Passover, symbolizing that God will "pass over" the houses of the Israelis as he slaughters the first born in Egypt. God explains that the blood smeared on the doorways will be proof to God that his people obey him, and that when he sees the blood, he will "pass over" that house and not kill their first born. God commands that this event shall be celebrated annually and is a permanent law to remind the people of Israel of this fatal night. He further explains that the celebration will last seven days, and for that period the people are to only eat bread made without yeast; and that anyone who disobeys this rule will be excommunicated from Israel. God further explains that there will be no work to be done on either the first or last day of the celebration, with the exception of food preparation. God also points out that no trace of yeast should be found in any homes during that time, and that these rules also apply to any foreigners who are living amongst them. Moses then gathers the elders and instructs them to fetch lambs for this gruesome task, and commands that no-one shall be allowed outside this night for any reason. That night at midnight, God killed all the first born sons in the land of Egypt. There was bitter crying throughout the land as there was not a house where there was not one dead. The Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and begged them to leave the land, and to take their flocks and herds with them. He then asked them for a blessing, as he states that the people of Egypt are as good as dead now. The Israelis took their belongings, and the women as instructed, asked the Egyptian people for their gold, silver, jewelry and clothing. The Egyptian people, of whom God made favor the Israelis, were virtually stripped of everything they had owned. That night the people of Israel left Ramses and started for Succoth; they numbered six hundred thousand men, not including their wives and children. People of all sorts went with them along with vast herds of cattle and enormous flocks. When they had stopped to eat, they baked bread from a yeastless dough. The sons of Jacob and their descendants had lived in Egypt for 430 years, and it was on the last day of that 430th year that the people had left the land. This night was selected by God to lead his people out of the land of Egypt, so the people celebrated this date annually as the day of God's deliverance. God then explained to Moses and Aaron more rules concerning the observance of Passover: No foreigners may eat the lamb but if they are living with them and want to observe the ritual, the men must be circumcised. Any slave that has been purchased may eat the lamb if they have been circumcised. A hired servant, or foreigner, may not eat the lamb. Everyone who eats the lamb, must eat it together in their respective homes, and must not carry it outside, nor shall they break any of the lamb's bones. The entire congregation of Israel shall observe this celebration at the same time. On that day, God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, wave after wave of them crossing the Egyptian border.
Thoughts:	God spends this chapter explaining to Moses, Aaron, and the people of Israel about their first mandatory annual holiday, Passover. God - who was able to discern the Israelis from Egyptians before in his previous plagues in which he spared the people of Israel - now requires a sign from the people so that he knows which houses to skip as he travels around at night murdering the first born of each household. He tells the people that they're all to find a bunch of lambs to slaughter and to smear the blood of them all over their doors so that God knows which people to skip on his killing spree across Egypt. He establishes a bunch of customs and traditions for what the people are to do with the lambs afterward: how to cook them, not to eat any bread made with yeast, and to wear their traveling clothes while eating. Anyone who doesn't follow these bizarre customs will be excommunicated from God's chosen people, even going so far as to specify that yeast should not even be present in their homes during this now annual holiday. God then comes during the night slaying all the first born people and animals of Egypt, and spares those houses with bloody door frames. The Egyptians wake up in the night and cries of despair are heard throughout the land, as apparently not one single home in Egypt was spared of death. The Pharaoh now basically insists to Moses and Aaron to get his people out of Egypt, but asks for a blessing as they leave considering that Egypt was now pretty much as good as dead. God, who pulls his voodoo doll magic upon the Egyptian people, makes them receptive to giving the Israeli women all the gold, silver, jewelry, and clothes that they ask for which basically strips them of all of their belongings. God somehow managed to time this whole excursion to fall on exactly the last day of the 430th year since Jacob's descendants moved to Egypt 430 years prior. This establishes another holiday as the date of God's deliverance. Remarkably, God manages to get all 600,000(!) men plus their wives and children out of the land of Egypt in one night, on foot. Over a half a million people, and probably closer to over a million once we add in the wives and children, out of Egypt on foot in one night. The possibility of 600,000+ people marching out of Egypt in an orderly fashion, on foot, with flocks and herds of animals, carrying all of their possessions (along with the gold and silver they "liberated" from the Egyptians), is ludicrous to consider, much less imagine. The chapter jumps back to God further explaining the rules of how he wants his new holiday of Passover to be celebrated. Basically stating that anybody who isn't circumcised, doesn't get to eat any lamb, that the people of Israel have to celebrate and eat at the same time, and that nobody's allowed to bring any lamb chops outside. Whatever doesn't get finished that night goes uneaten and is burned the following day. It's hard to see any significance in any of these strange and bizarre customs, and to me makes about as little sense as requiring that people have to wear silly hats and stand on one foot for an hour on their birthdays.

EXODUS: Chapters 9 & 10

Chapter 9
Summary:	God commands Moses to once again demand to the Pharaoh to release the Israelis, this time under the threat of a plague that will destroy the cattle, horses, donkeys, camels, flocks, and herds of Egypt - while sparing the Israeli herds and flocks. The next day God sends the plague and the Egyptian cattle began to die, while none of the Israeli cattle became even sick. The Pharaoh still refused to let the Israelis go. God then commands Moses and Aaron to take ashes and throw them up in the sky, which in turn caused boils and sores to break out on man and animal alike. God hardens the Pharaoh in his stubbornness so that he still refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. God now has Moses and Aaron tell the Pharaoh that if the people will not be allowed to go, God will send another plague - and that this will certainly prove that there is no other God in all the earth. They relay God's message explaining that he could have easily killed the Pharaoh and his people by now, but has spared them so that he could demonstrate his power for the whole word to see. God now threatens Egypt with a severe hailstorm if the Pharaoh doesn't let the Israelis go. Some of the Egyptian people took the threat seriously and brought their cattle and slaves indoors. God tells Moses to point his hand to the sky, and the hailstorm began, killing all forms of life that was left in the fields - crops were ruined, men and animal alike were killed, and the trees were shattered. The only spot without hail that day was the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel lived. The Pharaoh then sent for Moses and Aaron and tells them God was right. He admits that he's sinned against God and that his people are wicked, so if Moses can get God to stop the hailstorm, that he will let the people go at once. Moses tells the Pharaoh that as soon as he leaves the city, he'll have God stop the storm and that this will prove that the earth is controlled by God. He adds however, that he doesn't believe that the Pharaoh's going to keep his word, due to the fact that although some of the crops that were in bloom were killed by the storm that there were still crops growing that hadn't yet emerged from the ground and were untouched by the storm. Sure enough, after Moses leaves the city and raises his hands to heaven, stopping the storm, the Pharaoh once again refuses to let the people of Israel go.
Thoughts:	The interesting thing I find with this chapter is God's blatant admission that he needs to flex his muscles and show off his bravado, as often this is clear contrast to what a lot of the faithful use to explain away horrific catastrophes of the modern world. When tragedies such as the Holocaust; the massacres of the Stalin regime; to more modern horrors of the tragedies in Jonestown, Waco, and even Colombine, people often question to why God chooses not to intervene, and quite often the response goes along that God has nothing to prove by averting these tragedies. Yet here, he not only feels the need to flex his Godly muscles, he eggs the situation on by ensuring that the Pharaoh will make things worse for the people of Egypt by constantly allowing, and then later denying, the people of Israel to make their pilgrimage. It's hard to believe that after the frogs, lice, flies, cattle plague, and the devastating hailstorm that the Pharaoh would be that stupid to tempt fate - regardless of his belief in Yahweh, unless God is simply using him like some sort of divine voodoo doll to keep reneging on his promises to let the Israelis go. Even that aside, it's downright deplorable the way God is manipulating the situation and is not an example of the "merciful" and "loving" God that believers tend to describe today. For extra emphasis at the end of the chapter, not only does the author(s) have the Pharaoh admit to being wrong, but to explicitly admit to "sinning" against God and to implicate the entire nation of Egypt to be wicked people, perhaps in hopes that the reader will not afford the Egyptians any sympathy and to imply that the entire nation Egypt is at fault for their destruction. It's always easier to justify the deaths of innocent civilians when you dehumanize your enemies as an entire nation of evil.
Chapter 10
Summary:	God tells Moses to yet again makes his demands to the Pharaoh, stating that he has yet again hardened the Pharaoh, so that God has an excuse to do more miracles to demonstrate his power. He continues on suggesting to Moses that this will be a great story to tell the children and grandchildren. Moses and Aaron now tell the Pharaoh that the next trick up God's sleeve will be sending a swarm of locusts to finish destroying whatever survived the hailstorm. The court officials now plead with the Pharaoh to not risk destroying the land of Egypt completely and to let the men of Israel go. The Pharaoh now asks Moses and Aaron who exactly is it that they want to go on this pilgrimage, to which Moses tells him that the pilgrimage will include the sons and daughters of Israel. The Pharaoh tells Moses that the men of Israel may go, but that he will not allow them to take the children with them. God tells Moses to hold out his hand over the land of Egypt to bring forth the locusts. God causes an eastern wind to blow across the land, and by morning the wind had brought the locusts, covering the land of Egypt. The locusts covered the face of the earth(!) blotting out the sun and darkening the land, devouring all the crops and trees that the hailstorm had left behind. The Pharaoh then urgently sent for Moses and Aaron, confessing to them his sins against God and against the people of Israel. He begs to them to make God take away the locusts, promising them the he will let the people of Israel go, and further promises that he will not change his mind again. God sends a strong westward wind to clear out the locusts, blowing them into the Red Sea. However, God also hardens the Pharaoh's heart again, so that the Pharaoh would again not allow the people of Israel to go. God now tells Moses to lift his hands toward heaven, and upon doing so, darkness engulfed the land of Egypt for three full days - except for the land of Goshen, which had light as per usual. The Pharaoh once again calls for Moses and tells him that the people of Israel may go - including the children - but that they have to leave their flocks and herds behind. Moses tells him that they cannot leave the animals behind, as they need them to perform animal sacrifices and burnt offerings to God. He furthers that they will have to take the entire collection of animals, as they cannot be sure as to which animals God wants slaughtered until they get to their destination. God again hardens the Pharaoh's heart so that he wouldn't allow them to go. The Pharaoh shouts at Moses to leave his presence and to never return, or he shall be executed. Moses replies to him, "Very well. I will never see you again."
Thoughts:	We begin this chapter to find God once again commanding Moses to ask the Pharaoh of Egypt to let the people of Israel go on their pilgrimage to the wilderness. God tells Moses however, that he's going to make the Pharaoh say no again, as an excuse for God to perform some more dazzling miracles. God then begins to boast and brag that all of his mighty miracles - consisting of death and destruction - will make great stories for the grandchildren. I find this pretty disturbing in contrasting this to more contemporary events. Let's compare the destructive miracles from God that devastate and destroy the land of "badguys" in Egypt to protect the "goodguys" of Israel to World War II, when the "goodguys" in the U.S.A. dropped an atomic bomb onto the "badguys" in Japan. The atomic bomb caused massive amounts of death and destruction on a scale that we could compare to God's locusts and hailstorms, yet nobody proudly tells this story to their grandchildren, as we realize the seriousness of the situation. We didn't just take out the "badguys" in either scenario, we also took out scores of families, women, children, and devastated entire cities, cultures, and communities. We don't celebrate the dropping of the atomic bomb, as we realize that although we may have felt it necessary to end World War II, we - and more over the citizens and civilians of Japan - paid a heavy burden by our actions. Even in times where we may feel our only choice is mass destruction, we as compassionate people don't look back fondly by what we have done. Here however, we have a God, who at his disposal and his many alleged powers has the ability to take his people out of Egypt without causing senseless death and destruction. We can't even look back and say that the Egyptians had it coming because of the Pharaoh's constant reneging of his word to allow the people of Israel to go on their pilgrimage because God manipulated the Pharaoh into refusing, time and time again. Here we simply have God controlling the Pharaoh like a voodoo doll, while he destroys the land of Egypt, and the lives of the ordinary people living there, with magic show after magic show and having the arrogance to say that people should be impressed and wowed by his destruction so much so, that they'll gleefully tell these stories to their grandchildren. Anyways, after the locusts destroy the remaining crops in Egypt, he enshrouds the land in darkness for three straight days, while sparing the land of Goshen from the dark. In my mind, I find it humorous to imagine the C-shaped cloud cover that would have to have hovered over Egypt for three whole days. The Pharaoh tries bargaining with Moses, by trying to get him to leave the children behind, and then later trying to get him to leave the flocks and herds of livestock behind, but Moses insists that no bargaining can be done. The children have to go with them, and the animals - well, what else are they going to slaughter in animal sacrifice rituals? The Pharaoh throws Moses out of his court threatening that if he ever sees him again, he will have Moses executed.

EXODUS: Chapters 7 & 8

Chapter 7
Summary:	God tells Moses to tell Aaron everything that he (God) had said, and to have Aaron demand to the Pharaoh that the people of Israel be let go. However, God tells him that he will make the Pharaoh refuse, and will retaliate with many miracles throughout Egypt. Further, God explains that even then the Pharaoh won't listen, so he will crush Egypt with a final catastrophe and lead his people out, proving to the Egyptian people that he is indeed God with his mighty power. God finally tells Moses that the Pharaoh will ask to see a miracle to prove they have been sent by God, and tells Moses to have Aaron throw down his rod, which will become a snake. The chapter then notes that Moses is eighty years old and Aaron eighty three years old at the time they confront the Pharaoh. When Moses and Aaron see the Pharaoh they do as God had told them and Aaron throws down his staff which, becomes a snake. The Pharaoh however, calls out his sorcerers and they manage to replicate the same thing with their magic arts. The sorcerers' rods became snakes as well, but Aaron's snake devours their snakes. The Pharaoh remained unconvinced and refused to let the people go. God now instructed Moses to meet with the Pharaoh in the morning as he heads down the river. He instructs Moses to again demand that the Pharaoh let the people of Israel go, and that when he doesn't listen, Aaron is to hit the river with his rod, turning it to blood. Moses and Aaron do what they were told to do, and as the Pharaoh and his officials watched, Aaron turned the Nile to blood when he touched his rod to the surface. The fish all died and the water became undrinkable. However, again, the Egyptian sorcerers were able to replicate this miracle with their magic proving that they could turn water into blood too, therefore the Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. The Egyptian people were left to dig wells for their drinking water as they couldn't drink from the river.
Thoughts:	The first disturbing thing we find in this chapter is that God isn't happy with simply getting his way - taking his people out of Egypt - but he's also going to make the entire nation of Egypt pay for the Pharaoh's rule of placing the Israelis into slavery. Not only that, but he's going to use his powers to ensure that the Pharaoh plays along and keeps saying "no" to Moses' pleas so that God can justify the cruel acts of his vengeance. For a deity who is often described as merciful and compassionate by his followers, it's difficult to see any level of mercy or compassion by God as described here. He allegedly (and supposedly) has the power to take his people out of Egypt without bloodshed, destruction, and the likely deaths of many innocent civilians, yet chooses to make things as difficult as he can - by using his powers to coerce the Pharaoh not to allow the Israelis to leave so that he can exact brutal vengeance against the entire nation of Egypt. Instead of compassion we have ruthlessness and vengeance, and instead of mercy we have anger and cruelty. It begins to make one start to reference Abram's "Marx Bros." routine from Genesis: Chapter 18 as to whether there could possibly be 50, 40, 30, or even just one single righteous person in the whole land of Egypt that God is about to destroy. Honestly, God's approach just seems senseless and unnecessarily destructive. God now tells Moses and Aaron that they're going to have to produce some miracles to get the Pharaoh to take them seriously, and he proposes first the old-standby of throwing the staff to the floor and turning it into a snake trick. However, when Aaron pulls this trusty trick out in front of the Pharaoh, the Pharaoh summons his sorcerers and they were apparently able to replicate this trick with their magic. Alright, now for the sake of argument let's grant that: We have some sort of deity here who is supernatural and possesses the power to do supernatural events (which for the sake of our argument, we'll call miracles) and can allow mortal men to also perform these said miracles. We now have human beings, who are not supernatural, performing these same tasks without the aide of a supernatural deity - as only one God supposedly exists - by the aid of "magic", which we will have to either define as the ability to defy natural physics, or take its modern meaning of being an illusion. Both Aaron (by God's miracle) and the "sorcerers" (by "magic") accomplish the same task - they throw down an ordinary staff to the ground, and upon hitting the ground it becomes a snake. We can only come to a few conclusions as to how the sorcerers pulled this off, either: A supernatural magical power does exist that humans can master - extremely unlikely and has yet to be proven. The ancient Egyptians somehow were good enough illusionists like our contemporary illusionists, such as David Copperfield and Chris Angel - extremely unlikely, as I'm sure we would be seeing this trick performed throughout time over and over again. God himself caused the sorcerers to perform these miracles - within the context of our story, possibly. Satan (which we have yet to cover) apparently helped the sorcerers perform some sort of anti-miracle. It would seem likely that if either God or Satan were involved here, the bible would opt to mention it, so we're left with trying to debate whether to believe in the merit of "magic". Within our modern world, we know that there is no such thing as real magic. There isn't a single person who can demonstrate "magical power" under the scrutiny of a laboratory environment, there never has been, and most likely never will be. Which leaves us left with having to believe that the ancient Egyptians rivaled our modern and contemporary illusionists. I have an extremely tough time buying into this line of thought. Back to our story, for good measure - and making a great allegorical point - Aaron's snake swallows up the snakes of the sorcerers, implying that Aaron's magical miracle is superior to the sorcerers' magical snakes. We're also going to have to infer that Aaron's snake must have magically/miraculously swallowed the sorcerers snakes in a hurry unlike the slow process how real snakes eat. Even though we are not told how many sorcerers and snakes are in our story, a real snake swallowing even two other snakes, that we'll assume are probably around 6 feet in length, as such would be the average staff, rod, or walking stick - would take a considerable amount of time, which I wouldn't see the remaining snake sticking around for, or the sorcerers allowing to happen. The next day God has Aaron try out his next fancy magic trick of turning the Nile River from water to blood, with the added effect of poisoning the Egyptian water supply, and killing off all life in the river. Apparently the sorcerers are hip to this trick too and the Pharaoh is not impressed with Aaron's magic show. The chapter closes out with the Egyptian people having to dig wells to get fresh water.
Chapter 8
Summary:	The following week God tells Moses to again demand that the Pharaoh to let the people go, and to tell him that if he refused, he would send vast hordes of frogs across the land. So upon meeting with the Pharaoh once again, God had Aaron point his magic rod towards the rivers, streams, and pools and frogs began to cover the nation, and again the sorcerers were able to conjure up frogs themselves too. However the Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron begging them to remove frogs and making a promise that he would allow the people to have their pilgrimage. Moses then prayed to God to remove the frogs, and the next day dead frogs covered the countryside. The Pharaoh however reneged on his promise and refuses to let the people of Israel go. God now tells Moses to have Aaron strike the dust on the ground with his magic staff, and as he did the dust became lice and created a massive infestation. The magicians tried to do the same thing with their magic, but this time they failed. The sorcerers claimed that this had to be the work of God, but the Pharaoh refused to listen to them. At God's instruction, Moses and Aaron met up with the Pharaoh while he bathed in the river, telling him again that God was demanding that his people be allowed to go and worship him. They explain that if he does not let the people go, God will infest the land of Egypt with flies - with the exception of the land of Goshen, as God wished to make a distinction between his people and the people of Egypt. After God unleashed the flies upon all of Egypt, the Pharaoh hastily summoned Aaron and Moses. He tells them that they can have their sacrifice to God, but to do it there in Egypt, not in the wilderness. Moses tells the Pharaoh this will not do, furthering that the Egyptian's hate the Hebrew sacrifices and if they were done before their eyes, that the Egyptians would kill them for it. The Pharaoh reluctantly gives permission, but warns Moses to not go too far away. Moses then tells the Pharaoh that God will make the flies disappear, but sternly warns the Pharaoh to not change his mind again about allowing the Israelis to go. However, once the flies were gone, the Pharaoh refused to let the people of Israel go.
Thoughts:	When the Pharaoh still refuses to let the people of Israel go on their little journey to the wilderness, God has Aaron wave his magic wand at the rivers and streams which creates an armada of frogs across the Egyptian countryside. Even though the Egyptian sorcerers can somehow perform this same magic trick, the Pharaoh wants these frogs removed immediately and promises Moses and Aaron that he'll let the Israelis go on their little picnic in the wilderness if they just get rid of all the frogs. So Moses asks God to kill the frogs, and the next day Egypt is filled with dead frog carcasses - creating an awful stench amongst the land. The Pharaoh (whether because of the awful smell, or because he's just a mean bastard) changes his mind, however, once the frogs are all dead. So God's next plan is to infest Egypt with a lice infestation, again having Aaron wave his mighty magic rod at some dust on the ground to magically change it into lice. This time the sorcerers can't seem to manage to replicate Aaron's trick, and tell the Pharaoh that this has to be the work of God. This strikes me as odd, as if we are to believe that "magic" is a real phenomenon in Egypt like the bible implies, why are the sorcerers so sure that this trick is a Godly miracle, instead of perhaps conceding that maybe Aaron is just a better magician/sorcerer/wizard than the Egyptians? Also to revisit my thoughts and possible explanations for the sorcerers' "magic powers" that I brought up in Chapter 7, I would think this would rule out Satan and/or demonic forces as the source of their "magical powers", as I can't see how Satan/demons would have no problem forming snakes out of staffs, blood out of water, and conjuring frogs while somehow having a problem conjuring lice out of a pile of dust. Even if we take the notion of God and his supernatural powers out of the equation, there are just too many holes in the the credibility that the Egyptians mastered any kind of "magical powers". I just don't see any reasonable explanation or evidence for the sorcerers' "magical powers", and to me just furthers the explanation that the bible was written by men of the bronze-age who believed that people could and did wield "magical powers" and not by a deity who claims to be the one and only deity, and would and should know the limitations of man's ability within the laws of physics. Back to our story, neither the sorcerers' claim that this must have been an act of God nor the lice infestation convinces the Pharaoh to let the Israelis go, so this time God conjures up a swarm of flies to infest Egypt. Only this time he spares the land of Goshen to make it evident that his people are better than those people - meaning the Pharaoh's people, the lowly people of Egypt. This time the Pharaoh seems to want to allow the Israelis to have their little picnic, but insists that they do it here in Egypt and not out in the wilderness, to which Moses replies to him saying that it isn't part of God's deal. He adds that the Egyptian people hate their sacrifices (which should be understandable, if it's anything like the animal sacrifices that we will be hearing about in the later chapters) and if they did in fact see them perform their sacrifice, that the Egyptians would slay them for doing so. So, the Pharaoh relents but tells them not to go to far - that is until God makes the flies go away and the Pharaoh changes his mind about letting them go.

EXODUS: Chapters 3 & 4

Chapter 3
Summary:	As Moses was tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro*(Reuel), the priest of Midian, suddenly the angel of God appeared to him as a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw that the bush was on fire and wasn't burning up, he drew closer to investigate it. God then called out his name, and Moses asked who it was calling him. God tells him not to come any closer and to remove his shoes, for he is standing on holy ground. He tells Moses that he is the God of his forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as Moses covered his face with his hands, fearful to look at God. He continues on telling Moses that he has the seen the hardship of his people in Egypt, and has heard their pleas for freedom. He tells Moses that he has come to deliver them from Egypt into a land "flowing with milk and honey" - where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. He then tells Moses that he has chosen him lead the people out of Egypt. Moses tells God that he is not the right man for the job, to which God ignores and tells Moses that he will be with him along the way, and that he is to lead the people to worship on this mountain. Moses then asks what he should tell the people if they ask which god has sent him. God tells Moses, "I am that I am" and that was what was to be told - furthering that Moses is to tell them that the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has sent him - and that is his eternal name to be used throughout generations. God instructs Moses to call together the elders of Israel and to tell them of God's appearance to him and that he has visited the people of Israel and seen their plight. He again promises to take them away from their slavery and into the "land of milk and honey" occupied by the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. He tells Moses that the elders will accept his message, and will accompany him to appear before the Pharaoh, in order to request permission for the Hebrew people to journey into the desert for three days, to offer a sacrifice to God. God adds that he knows the Pharaoh will not allow them to go except under heavy pressure, but that God will give the Pharaoh the pressure he needs. He continues to add that he will destroy Egypt with his miracles until the Pharaoh allows the people to go. Continuing further, God tells him that the Egyptian people will bestow them with gifts as they depart - instructing that the women demand jewels, silver, gold, and the finest clothes from their Egyptian masters - telling Moses that he will clothe the people with the best of Egypt.
Notes:	1.) Reuel inexplicably is also called Jethro starting from this chapter.
Thoughts:	The first thing we learn in this chapter is that apparently Moses' father-in-law Reuel also goes by the name Jethro. It's not explained how or why, and for someone to pick up the bible and read it without clarification, this is confusing as to who is being referred to. What my best guess is, as to why we have this dual naming, that we probably have multiple authors who may have had different translations for the name of Reuel/Jethro. Moses, out tending to his father-in-law's flock sees a burning bush, that God has curiously chosen to take the form of. God calls out Moses' name, tells him not to get any closer, and instructs him to kick off his shoes as he's stepping on holy ground. Moses decides to also cover his face as he for some reason is afraid to look at God's manifestation as a burning bush. God now tells Moses that he's got a mission for him, but Moses doesn't think he's right for the job. He tells Moses that it's going to be his job to lead the Israelis out of Egypt, and plead for their release (under the guise of a three day pilgrimage to the desert) from the Pharaoh of Egypt. He tells Moses to approach the Israeli elders to accompany him to the Pharaoh. Moses asks the burning bush what should he tell the Israeli elders if they ask him which god has sent him on this mission, to which God gives him an enigmatic answer of "I am that I am". He tells Moses that the Pharaoh isn't going to let them go without a lot of heavy persuasion, but that God is more than willing to help twist his arm with his mighty miracles, and even goes on further stating that he's going to destroy Egypt with his power and magic miracles. He caps it off saying that once the Israelis do finally get to go, that as an extra kick to the groin, the Israeli women will take the jewelry, gold, silver, and fancy clothing from the Egyptians as they leave.
Chapter 4
Summary:	Moses tells God that no-one's going to believe his story, do anything that he tells them to do, or believe that God even appeared to him. God then tells Moses to throw his shepherd's rod down onto the ground. When Moses did this, it turned into a snake, which God told him to grab by the tail. When he grabbed the snake by the tail, it became a rod again. God then tells Moses to reach his hand into his robe and pull it out again, when he does so, his hand appeared ravaged with leprosy. God tells him to do the same again and Moses' hand returned to normal. God tells Moses that if they don't believe the first miracle, then they will surely believe the second, but if that too fails, he tells Moses to take some water from the Nile River and pour it upon dry land, and it will turn to blood. Moses then protests to God saying that he isn't a very good speaker, and that he should pick someone else to deliver his message. After arguing back and forth, God angrily concedes that Moses' brother is a good speaker and that he is currently on his way to look for Moses. He tells Moses that his brother can be his spokesman to the people. Moses returns home and told his father-in-law Jethro that he was to return to Egypt to visit his relatives. Before he leaves Midian, God speaks to Moses again, telling him not to fear returning to Egypt, for those who had wanted to execute him are now all dead. So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to Egypt, holding tightly the "Rod of God". God speaks to Moses again, telling him that when he appears to the Pharaoh to plead for the release of his people, he is to tell the Pharaoh that when he refuses, God will slay his oldest son. As Moses and his family were traveling along, they stopped for the night, and God appeared to Moses threatening to kill him. Inexplicably, his wife Zipporah takes a flint knife, cuts off the foreskin of her sons penis and throws it against Moses' feet remarking, "Surely a bloody husband art thou to me." God left him alone. God then appears to Aaron, Moses' brother, and tells him to go into the wilderness to meet Moses. Aaron travels to Mount Horeb and met Moses there and they greeted each other warmly. Moses explained God's plan to Aaron, what they were to do and say, and about the miracles they had to do before the Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and summoned the elders of Israel to a meeting. Aaron told them what God had said and Moses performed the miracles for them. The elders then believed that God had sent them and they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Thoughts:	Moses tells God that nobody's going to believe all this talking to a burning bush malarkey, so God teaches Moses a couple of magic tricks including: turning a staff into a snake, the magic hand of leprosy, and if all else fails, take some water out of the Nile, pour it on dry land, and watch it turn to blood. Not quite as impressive as a Chris Angel or David Copperfield show, but apparently it'll do to convince both the ancient Egyptians and the bronze age Israelis. Moses then tries to get out of this gig by telling God that he's not even a good speaker, and that he should just find somebody else for the job. God, now getting pretty angry, decides to let Moses' brother Aaron do all the talking, so that Moses can just concentrate on his magic show. He goes home and tells "Jethro" that he's leaving town and taking his wife and kids and packs them all onto a donkey. God then reassures him that things are a-okay in Egypt as he took care of all those pesky soldiers that wanted to execute him. He also adds in a new little proviso to tell the Pharaoh, that if the Israelis aren't let free, then God will kill the Pharaoh's oldest son. Moses gets going along his trip back to Egypt and later stops to rest for the night. Here things get weird, really weird. For no discernible reason, God threatens to kill Moses dead on the spot. Now Moses' wife grabs a knife and circumcises her son with it and throws the foreskin at Moses and tells him what a bloody mess he is. Apparently this must have freaked God out or something, as he decides it's just best to leave the situation alone. Seriously, this does not make any sense whatsoever. This whole scene seems more at place in a David Lynch movie than what is purportedly to be "the word of God". I honestly had no clue as to what this passage means and had to look up an explanation on a theistic website. According to www.gotquestions.org: " God was going to kill Moses because of sin. The sin of Moses in Exodus 4:24-26 is not stated explicitly, but the surrounding events give substantial clues as to the nature of Moses’ transgression. God had instructed his messenger to warn Pharaoh to free Israel, or risk losing his firstborn son. Moses had been specially groomed by God for eighty years for this mission, and now the time for action had come. Moses was to lead his people out of Egypt and to be an example to Pharaoh’s house, to the nation of Egypt, and to all the nations that heard of those happenings. Accordingly, Moses’ personal life had to be in order before he could direct the spiritual lives of the Hebrew people. It seems that Moses had neglected to administer the sacred rite of circumcision, the act that symbolized the Almighty’s covenant with His chosen people. Perhaps this was the result of pressure from his surrogate Midianite tribe. It is also possible that he was persuaded by Zipporah not to circumcise his son, since she apparently found the practice revolting. This would explain her violent outburst; she felt that she had saved her husband from death by shedding the blood of her son. Whatever the cause, Moses’ outstanding sin made him unfit to serve as a spiritual leader, and the situation had to be rectified before he could carry out his mission effectively. Indeed, as soon as Zipporah performed the act, the Lord “let him go.” In summary, God was going to kill Moses because Moses was supposed to teach the Israelites God's Law, yet Moses was not obeying God's Law himself." Okay, now here's my problem with this answer: a lot of it is being inferred and implied. While this website's answer seems to fit neatly, the bible tells us none of this, this is all just guesswork and taking a stab at what's going on. Why doesn't God just ask Moses to get his son circumcised if that's where the whole problem lays? Now God being omniscient - as purported - wouldn't he have known that Moses had not had his son circumcised, and if this was such a big deal, couldn't he have either asked/told/commanded him to do so, or just picked somebody else? Also, why is outright killing Moses justifiable? If this book is allegedly written by an all perfect deity, wouldn't you think his message would be clear and concise and not require human intervention to "fill in the gaps" and guess that circumcision almost made Moses a ghost here? Anyways, Moses and Aaron eventually meet up at Mount Horeb, and he fills Aaron in on God's plan, the magic tricks, and the whole nine yards. They travel on back to Egypt and make a convincing show to the Israeli elders, who drop to the ground in worship.