Bible Reading Challenge Week 3

The summer is still trying to hold on where I am, fighting against the inevitable pull toward colder temperatures and shorter days. Our family has been busy with school now in full swing, church small groups, and kids’ sports. Amidst what can sometimes feel like chaos, it’s great to dig into God’s Word and see His faithfulness.

Week three finished out Genesis, had a catch-up day, and went through the first 18 chapters of Exodus, with Psalms 31 and 90 in there as well. In weeks when Psalms or Proverbs will be added in, I may or may not add any comments on them. This is certainly not because I don’t think them important, but again because I’m trying to summarize 30-ish chapters in a short blog post.

Week 3 Readings

Genesis 48-50

Genesis ends with the death of Jacob, the last of the three founding patriarchs. Before his death, when giving his blessings out, we again get a bit of birthright/blessing switching around as Jacob crosses his hands when blessing Joseph’s sons, giving the better blessing to Ephraim (second-born) instead of Manasseh (first-born). Jacob is buried alongside Abraham and Isaac in Canaan. Presumably, eleven of the twelve sons of Jacob would also have been buried there – Joseph not being able to because of his position in Pharaoh’s court. The book ends with the promise of God to bring the line of Abraham into the promised land, including the bones of Joseph, as Exodus will point out later.

Genesis gives the people the command to be fruitful and to fill the earth. We see sin corrupt the hearts of those meant to do this task, but in the midst of the wickedness, God covenants with those he calls by faith to be his people. God protects and provides for these, giving them the promise of faithful seed that will be as numerous as the dust of the ground. We know through reading the New Testament, and most notably Galatians, that this seed promised to Abraham was Jesus Christ, the one truly faithful seed of Abraham, who with his blood purchased a people more numerous than the dust of the ground or the stars in the heavens.

Exodus 1-18

Reading through Exodus 1-18 in just 4 days is great to get the scope of the story. One of the biggest threads I see in this section is God’s plan and determination to have victory over the Egyptians so that His name will be glorified before all the other nations. From Moses’ commissioning at the burning bush (3:20), to his return to Egypt (4:21), to just before going into see Pharaoh (7:3-5), and throughout the account of the plagues, it’s clear that God hardens Pharaoh’s heart that He might show His might in triumphing over him.

One of the things you can find in many commentaries about this section is the premise that the plagues are God triumphing not just over Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but specifically over Egypt’s gods (gods of the Nile, the land, the sky, and death itself). God shows through the plagues that He rules over all and that the gods the Egyptians worshiped amounted to nothing. He does this to magnify His own name throughout the world and throughout time. After the plagues and the triumph over Pharaoh and his armies at the Red Sea, when Moses meets with his father-in-law Jethro, a priest of God at Midian, Jethro exclaims “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods.” We will also see it next week in the preamble to the 10 commandments, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” and throughout many other places in the Old Testament.

Though there were no New Testament passages in the readings for the week, I cannot help but mention how this section of Exodus reminds me of Christ. Jesus came into a world enslaved by sin and darkness, he did battle with the principalities and powers that held their chains by casting out demons, he showed mastery over creation by walking on water, calming the storm, creating food in the wilderness (paralleling manna which I didn’t even mention), and finally showing ultimate power over death by being the firstborn (think 10th plague and Passover) rising from the grave. And Philippians tells us that as a result, God bestowed on Jesus a name that is above every name so that all in heaven, earth, and the underworld must bow the knee to Him. God’s victory over Egypt and its gods was but a foretaste, a shadow, of the even greater victory of Christ. Thanks be to God!