Lesson #05

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

EXODUS 5
Lesson #05
THE TESTING OF BELIEF

• Memory verse: 1Peter 1:7

• Before God could use Moses, God tested him. This was TEST #1, the test of circumcision. We studied this test in Exo 4.
• Now that the people accepted Moses as their leader, God would test both Moses and the people.

• Read Exo 5:1-23

• “…the LORD God of Israel…”

(1)

• This is the first time this name is used for God in the Old Testament.
• It gives a promise to the captive people that God will take them back to the promised land.
• The first request to Pharaoh:
• Moses and Aaron “told” Pharaoh. God was speaking as the authority through Moses and Aaron.
• In this way, God ordered Pharaoh seven times to let His people go. (5:1; 7:16; 8:1; 8:20; 9:1; 9:13; and 10:3)
• “…Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.”

(1)

• Why was the request worded to mean only a 3 day holiday in the wilderness when total freedom from Egypt was what God really had in mind?
• Evidently the request for freedom was going to be a gradual one that would eventually work up to total freedom.
• In this way, it was a test for Pharaoh.
• If Pharaoh’s heart was so hardened that he would not even allow a short vacation for the Israelites, he would never permit total freedom.
• Total freedom would disrupt the total Egyptian economy.
• Total freedom would disrupt the social culture of the land, for there would be no one to perform menial tasks.
• Notice Pharaoh’s response to knowledge about God:

• “…Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.”

(2)

• This is the standard response of unbelief.
• The unbeliever does not know who the Lord is.
• The unbeliever does not recognize God’s authority over his life.
• The unbeliever has no personal relationship with the Lord.
• The unbeliever feels no guilt in disobeying the Lord’s commands.
• God would answer Pharaoh’s first question, “Who is the Lord?” through the signs and plagues that followed.
• Pharaoh’s decision:
• The Israelites must find their own straw to make bricks. (10)
• The use of straw in brick making was common. The straw decayed in the brick and released an acid. This acid gave the brick greater plasticity which prevented it from breaking easily.
• What was the reaction of the Israelites?
• This was a test for the people of Israel. Would they continue to trust God even if their situation became worse?
• When people take their spiritual eyes off of God, discontent and criticism is the result.
• In the natural human mind, people do not see how God’s plan will ever occur, because human sight is short-sighted.
• Pressure from the Egyptian authority caused the situation to become worse.
• The people had to work harder.
• The longer hours destroyed family unity.
• Discontentment arose among the people.
• They expressed their discontent with criticism of Moses, their leader.
• They blamed Moses because now their work was even more difficult and the expectations of the Egyptians were even greater than before Moses spoke to Pharaoh.
• TEST #2 The test of criticism
• The people did not blame Pharaoh for their increased labor, they blamed Moses. Why?
• It is natural to blame the person who is nearest in authority. Usually a person does not blame the higher authority because he knows it won’t do any good.
• Why did our omniscient God, who knows everything, permit the Egyptians to make life even more difficult for the Israelites after Moses’ request?
• There is an important principle here of which we need to pay attention.
• Principle #1

: Greater pressure from unbelieving authority simply means that God is beginning to work.

• This is only true if the believer is truly living a Christian life and performing his own role according to the Word of God.
• Because Moses already questioned his own appropriateness of God’s calling, he takes the people’s criticism to God. (22)
• Using your imagination, you can hear him say to God, “See, I’m not the leader the people want. I am not effective as a leader. Pharaoh does not listen to me, and the people’s work is made even harder.”
• Criticism is very difficult for a leader to handle. However, unless a leader learns how to handle it early, he will fail to fulfill God’s calling on his life.
• How should a leader handle criticism?
• Remember the vision given by God.
• God’s vision for His people was redemption and freedom from Egypt.
• Remember that only God can fulfill the vision.
• There was no way Moses, in his own strength, could accomplish freedom for the Israelites.
• Remember to take the criticism to God in prayer.
• This is the one thing Moses remembered to do. In great wisdom, he did not argue with his accusers.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any legitimate truth in the criticism.
• Be willing to change if the Holy Spirit reveals your failure to be like Christ.
• And finally, remember the principle of the death of a vision.
• Principle #2

: The apparent death of a vision.

• What is the death of a vision?
• It is extremely important to understand how God fulfills a vision in your life. If you don’t grasp these principles, you will give up the race before you reach the prize and fail to see God’s fulfillment of the vision.
• God gives a vision of the future. This vision is something God wants to do in and through your life. It is a plan that He wants to complete in your life.
• God already told Moses of His plan for freedom for the Israelites. This was the vision. Moses was to be the leader through whom God would bring about His plan.
• God may or may not inform you of the plan in some supernatural way like in a dream or supernatural vision.
• In whatever way God shows it to you, this plan or vision is something you know without a doubt comes from God to you personally.
• God calls you to faith to believe that He will fulfill the vision.
• Remember that everything in the Christian life is obtained by faith.
• You struggle with doubts and impatience along the way: doubts as to whether this vision is really from God or just your own personal desires.
• We have already seen the doubts in Moses’ mind.
• Eventually, when things look as though the vision will be fulfilled, it all falls apart. This is the first death of the vision.
• This first death of a vision is the first supreme test of faith.
• God is asking whether you really believe that He is in control and has the power to fulfill the vision despite the circumstances.
• As you continue to trust God despite the circumstances, the situation begins to improve.
• Finally, when things again look as though the vision will be fulfilled, it again falls apart. This is the second death of the vision.
• This is the second supreme test of faith.
• Why does God test your faith in the vision twice?
• Nothing of real value in the kingdom of God is ever achieved easily.
• God values perseverance and strong faith.
• If you continue to trust God despite the circumstances, God will fulfill the vision in His time and in His way.
• The compound problem: a lack of unity among the Israelites

• “Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?”

(15)

• Notice the lack of unity among the Israelites. Moses is their highest authority under God as established by God. However, it is not Moses who comes to Pharaoh, it is a group of other leaders among the people.
• The taskmasters (10) are the Egyptian leaders of the work force, but “officers of the children of Israel” are Israelite leaders in the work gangs. They have been beaten by the taskmasters for the lack of production of bricks.
• These officers of Israel have stepped out from under Moses’ authority and appealed to Pharaoh without Moses.
• “And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case.”

(19)

• Because their complaint to Pharaoh did not help their case, they realized they had made a mistake.
• However, they did not acknowledge that the mistake was theirs. They blamed Moses in order to relieve their own guilt. (21)
• What was Moses’ reaction to the new situation?
• He took the problem to God.
• He still questioned God’s choosing of him as leader of the Israelites.
• Moses did not understand the principle of the death of a vision.

HOMEWORK
EXODUS 6
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Exo 5
• Which of the tests and principles have you seen in operation in your own life?
• Which things did you handle well, and which things did you not handle well?
• What main lessons in life did you learn from your experiences?

• Preparation for Exo 6
• Read Exo 6:1-13
• In what way did God encourage Moses in his leadership of God’s people?
• Of what significance are the names of God in this chapter?
• Read Exo 6:14-25
• Of what significance is this long genealogy?
• Read Exo 6:26-30
• What does Moses’ mean by “uncircumcised lips”? (12, 30)

• Memory verse: Exo 6:29