So Much

Exodus 10 to 17

I am always amazed at how much story happens in a few chapters.

As if whole lifetimes can be summed up in a few words.  

And they are.

Generations die and live.

Battles are lost and won.

People complain, and grumble

 and then they sing and dance in thanksgiving and praise. 

Eight chapters of epic adventure.

Plagues.

So much annihilation and death.

Of leaving, and deliverance.

And plunder to boot.  

Of ritual and ceremony.

Commemoration and consecration.

Unleavened celebration.

Of whole generations who had never heard of the God of their fathers.

Who by eating are reminded to remember and to never forget again. 

Of bread and manna

And of water both bitter and sweet. 

And of this promise.  In Chapter 15: 17

“You will plant them

On the holy mountain

Of your inheritance.

The sanctuary

O LORD,

Your Hands established. “

I wonder if this is the kind of rescue that Moses envisioned.

I wonder if he realized that God planned to take them the long desert way out all along. 

And in all this we catch our first glimpse of Joshua.

His name?  “the LORD saves”.

I love that!