Exodus 39-40

Greetings!

The Priestly Garments
39     From the blue, purple and scarlet yarn they made woven garments for ministering in the sanctuary. They also made sacred garments for Aaron, as the Lord commanded Moses.
The Ephod
2 They made the ephod of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. 3 They hammered [...]

Exodus 37-38

Greetings!  These chapters describe the furniture for the tabernacle.  My Life Application Study Bible notes and my Bible software commentary had almost nothing to add to these chapters!  I couldn’t think of much either. 
The Ark
37     Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a [...]

Exodus 35-36

Greetings!
Sabbath Regulations
35     Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do: 2 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it must [...]

Exodus 33-34

Greetings!
33     Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, [...]

Exodus 31-32

Greetings!
Bezalel and Oholiab
31     Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts— 4 to make artistic designs for work [...]

Exodus 29-30

Greetings! 
Consecration of the Priests
29     “This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without defect. 2 And from fine wheat flour, without yeast, make bread, and cakes mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil. 3 Put them in a [...]

Exodus 27-28

Greetings!  I’ll concede up front that I don’t have a lot to say about these directions!

The Altar of Burnt Offering
27     “Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide. 2 Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns [...]

Exodus 25-26

Greetings!
Offerings for the Tabernacle
25     The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.

We often refer to tithes (giving 10%), but v. 2 reminds me of the New Testament guidance on giving in 2 [...]

Exodus 23-24

Greetings!  This continues God’s commands to the Israelites.  He shows his wisdom, love and mercy by setting up a system designed to be just and fair.  He wants the poor to have rights, but not to be favored.  Honesty in the judicial system is critical.  Sadly, we have lost much of that in the U.S.  [...]

Exodus 21-22

Greetings!
Slavery is often referenced in the Bible but it was radically different than U.S. style slavery.   Did people in the U.S. try to twist the Bible to justify their actions?  Yes.  But a thorough reading of the Bible, in context, crushes those arguments.  These people were obviously stolen from their homeland, and to say the slave [...]

Exodus 19-20

Greetings! 
The Israelites will spend nearly a year by Mount Sinai receiving God’s commands.  What a spectacular experience that must have been!  One would think that the Israelites would be forever convinced of the mightiness of God. 
The Ten Commandments were part of a covenant with God and his people.  So do the Commandments apply to others?  [...]

Exodus 17-18

Greetings!

Water From the Rock
17     The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do [...]

Exodus 15-16

Greetings!
The Song of Moses and Miriam
15     Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
“I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is [...]

Exodus 13-14

Greetings! 
Sometimes firstborn literally means the first one born, as below, but it sometimes meants preeminent (superior).
Consecration of the Firstborn
13     The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.”
3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate [...]

Exodus 11-12

Greetings!

The Plague on the Firstborn
11     Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their [...]

Exodus 9-10

Greetings!
The pattern continues: God tells Moses what to say, Moses says it, Pharaoh hardens his heart, the plagues continue. 
One by one, the plagues showed the power of the real God over the impotence of the Egyptian gods (Hapi - the god of the Nile river, Hathor - the cow-goddess, Amon-re - the sun-god and chief Egyptian god, etc.).
The [...]

Exodus 7-8

Greetings!
Exodus 7-8 (NIV)
7     Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will [...]

Exodus 5-6

Greetings!
Bricks Without Straw
5     Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.’”
2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I [...]

Exodus 3-4

Greetings! 
I think some people are a little quick to say, “God told me ___.”  He might have told them something, but often it is their own desires they are trying to project onto God.  It is hard to argue when someone says that, because they set it up such that if you disagree with them [...]

Exodus 1-2

Greetings!
The Israelites Oppressed

1     These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 [...]