July 2024 – What Does This Mean?

Sunday School: Moses, Pharaoh and the Plagues

Encore Post: The Pharaohs of Egypt thought of themselves as gods, the sons of Osiris. They were thought to be the intermediaries between the gods and people. The people would turn to them for the rains and the floods that caused crops to grow, for fertility and other good things. They would, in turn, approach the gods for these things. To free the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, the true God would do battle with the gods of the superpower of the ancient world.

Having been raised in Pharaoh’s household, Moses was familiar with this. Moses and Aaron would function like a pharaoh of the God of Israel in the view of the Egyptians. Moses confronted Pharaoh and demand that Pharaoh release the Israelites to worship him. When Pharaoh did not comply, God used disasters or plagues, to demonstrate that He is more powerful as the gods of Egypt.

The serpent represented the god of wisdom, fertility, and healing to the Egyptians. When Moses’ snake swallowed those of the magicians, God showed himself superior to them. The Nile River fed Egypt and the ancient world. The Lord showed power over the god that controlled it when He turned it into blood. The Egyptians saw frogs as symbols of the goddess of childbirth. They also worshipped flies and beetles. The earlier plagues showed Yahweh’s power over them.

The rest of the plagues attacked the food supply the gods were supposed to supply through Pharaoh. While they convinced many of the Egyptian people that the God of the Hebrews was almighty, Pharaoh did not, since it did not touch him personally. He was trying to haggle with God to get the best deal possible for him and his people. When God took the pressure off, he backed down. Eventually, the plagues got to the place where even the advisors of Pharaoh advised he relent. Pharaoh did not let them go. This lead to God unleashing the Angel of Death, the last and greatest plague of all.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Sunday School: Moses and the Burning Bush

Encore Post: Just like David, whom God chose to be King, Moses served many years as a shepherd before God called him to lead His people to freedom. Even though Moses did not think so, he was perfectly suited for the task at hand. Raised by his mother in the household of Pharaoh, Moses was fluent in both Hebrew and Egyptian, possessing the best education available in the world of his time. He was humbled by years as a shepherd and fully familiar with living in the desert of Sinai. He was the son-in-law of a tribal chief and so had resources available to him during the forty years of desert travel to come. Not confident in himself, Moses could trust God, Who alone could free the people from slavery. In the end, it is not Moses who saves Israel, but God.

Moses had left his old life behind. One day, while he was leading his flock near Mount Sinai, he saw a strange sight — a bush was on fire but not burning up. When he went to take a closer look, He saw the Angel of the Lord, the Son of God, before he became a man in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Angel (the word means Messenger) appeared to him in the burning bush. He identified himself as the God of his fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and told him to take off his sandals and not come closer. Abraham was afraid to look at the Angel, but he need not. The Son of God is the person of the Trinity that can be seen by mortals and the mortals will no die.

God told Moses that he had heard the cries of his people and would send Moses to free them from slavery and bring them to the Holy Land, which God would give them. Moses was not at all comfortable with the task and so tried to stall and make excuses. Each time, God had mercy on him and provided for him. God revealed his personal name, Yahweh. He gave Moses two miraculous signs — turning his staff into a snake and his hand leprous and healthy — so they would believe Moses. He provided Aaron as his spokesman. Finally, God promised to go with Moses — and he did.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

To Blog Post Series

Sunday School: Baby Moses Adopted by Pharaoh’s Daughter

Encore Post: After Joseph died, the descendents of Israel remained in Egypt and prospered. They eventually grew into a small nation — large enough to seem to threaten Pharaoh. The Egyptian king enslaved them, hoping hard work would reduce their numbers. It did not. So he tried to get midwives to kill any male child born. They did not. So he commanded everyone to kill them, anyway. This was especially cruel, given the way both Jews and Egyptians felt about children.

Family and children were important to both the Egyptians and the Hebrews. Egyptians were especially fond of their children. If a couple couldn’t have a baby, they would often adopt children — frequently from among their slaves. The adopted child was treated exactly the same as if he or she had been born into the family. The upper classes of Egypt often used nurses who would move in with the adoptive family. The custom of leaving unwanted children in places where someone would find them was common everywhere but in Egypt.

Moses’ mother cleverly left Moses where the princess bathed, counting on her horror and pity to give Moses a chance. It worked. Through these events, God prepared Moses to be at home both with both Egyptians and Hebrews, making him, his brother and sister prepared to lead God’s people.

The Scriptures see in the rescue of Moses from the reeds a theme that began with the flood. God had Noah build an ark in which he saved Noah, his family, and the animal species in creation. Moses’ mother put him in an ark of reeds, which kept him safe until delivered by Pharaoh’s daughter. Later, God would use Moses to part the Red Sea through which he saved the people of Israel through the sea.

St. Paul points out that we are God’s adopted children, treated the same way as if we had been born into His family. So we own everything in the universe with Jesus. (Ephesians. 1:3-6, Romans 8:15-17) In Holy Baptism, God also carries us to safety, through death to life eternal.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emertitus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Sunday School: Joseph Forgives His Brothers

Encore Post: Joseph wasted no time as viceroy of Egypt to prepare the land for famine. He stored grain up and enacted other measures to prepare the people. When famine came, the Egyptians were able not only to feed their people, but to sell grain to neighboring peoples. Among these were Joseph’s brothers.

Joseph arranged for a series of tests to see if his brothers had learned from their sin over the years. The final test, when Joseph demanded his brother Benjamin as a slave as punishment for the crimes he trumped up against them, Judah offered himself in Benjamin’s place. Since Joseph now knew that his brothers were truly repentant for what they did to him, he revealed himself to them.

Joseph forgave his brothers. He realized that what they “intended for evil, God meant for good, to save many lives.” He provided for them from his own wealth and settle them, Israel and his whole household in Egypt, It took some convincing, but Joseph repeatedly reminded them he was not in the place of God, As God had provided for him and showed him mercy, so he would provide for them the rest of his days.

The Greek word for forgiveness literally means to let go, to release. When God forgives us, He lets go of our sins, not holding them against us. He does this because His Son, Jesus, paid the price for our sins. His sufferings and death satisfied God’s justice and canceled the charges against us in God’s court. God ordered us to be released because our sentence was completed.

Jesus wants us to release our neighbors from the evil they had done against us. This is not always easy to do, because we remember the pain and betrayal we feel when others hurt us, not only when they hurt us physically, but also when they hurt us emotionally and spiritually. The problem is that often the bitter feelings that we nurse when we hold on to them can ruin our lives more than the evil itself. When we let go of these sins against us, we can live at peace. This is why God offers us help to forgive others. The next time you pray the Lord’s Prayer, ask God to help you forgive others and receive the forgiveness He offers you

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series | Hymn on Forgiveness: “Remember Christ our Savior”

Sunday School: Joseph Serves in Egypt

Encore Post: People in ancient times believed dreams predicted the future. Kings and other important people hired magicians, astrologers and other wise men skilled in interpreting dreams. Because of this, God used dreams from time to time to send messages to kings and to his prophets. God sent dreams to Joseph’s father, Jacob. God sent dreams to Joseph to predict his future as the second in command of Egypt. It was this dream the angered Joseph’s brothers enough that they sold him into slavery in Egypt.

Joseph was sold to Potiphar, the Captain of the Palace Guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Joseph worked hard for his master, who discovered the Semitic slave had a talent for administration and so put him in charge of his household staff. The captain’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, grabbing his robe as he fled from her. In revenge, the woman accused him of raping her. So Potiphar threw Joseph in prison.

The warden of the jail discovered the same skills in Joseph, so he ended up in charge of the jail. It was there that he met Pharaoh’s butler and baker. Both servants had dreams that Joseph correctly interpreted. Eventually, he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh himself. From the king’s perspective, all of his wise men, the best in the world at the time, couldn’t explain his dreams. But Joseph could. So he concluded Joseph was the wisest of them all. Pharaoh appointed him to rule Egypt under his command. God had fulfilled the dreams he had given Joseph.

God used Joseph, then, to prepare for famine in Egypt and then feed the world. 1500 years later, another Joseph had a dream. God told that Joseph not to be afraid to marry Mary, because God was the father of the child she carried. He did and became the stepfather of Jesus, who would save the world from sin.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series