Servant Rules

 Servant Rules

Exodus 21: “Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: ² If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. ³ If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴ If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. ⁵ But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ ⁶ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

 

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GOD continued HIS conversation with Moses by giving a mindset of how to treat people. The deeply engrained mindset of Egyptian slavery was being addressed.

 

My Observations:

• GOD is compassionate, loving and caring, so HE views servants as help versus the way humans view slavery.
• GOD has expectations that employers treat all hired help with care.
• GOD gave freedom as the goal.

 

Egyptian slavery was cruel, self-serving and quite demeaning. Pharaoh saw himself as a god, which bred the thought of ultimate power. With ultimate power, came ultimate corruption. BUT GOD hated this cruelty. HE also knew that some people would not be able to own land and manage animals.

 

These people would still need to work, but would be unde4r the care of those who would have their own places. GOD expected everyone to help in sustaining life. Some people would become servants voluntarily. They would not be servants forever, unless there was an agreement.

 

I believe GOD’s expectation was for the hirer to help those who would become servants with a plan to be able to sustain themselves. The rules would protect innocent women and children from abandonment.

 

This set of rules would only be temporary, however, the heart of caring for people would always apply. GOD would eventually say that the law would be fulfilled by loving one another.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the rules of servanthood?
• Have you ever felt that your employees or servants need to serve you forever?
• How are you setting people up for success to be free as GOD wants them to be?

Tenth Action to Dismantle a Mindset

Tenth Action to Dismantle a Mindset

Exodus 12: ²⁹ And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. ³⁰ So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

 

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After warning the children of Israel to remember the Passover, GOD did what HE said HE would do. HE struck all the firstborn of the people in the land of Egypt who did not put blood on their doorposts. No matter where a person was, the plague still happened.

 

My Observations:

• GOD gave nine opportunities for Pharaoh and his servants to change their minds.
• GOD was dismantling a mindset that a human can be a god.
• GOD used the values of the Egyptians to demonstrate HIS power over their beliefs.

 

Not only was GOD addressing a mindset within the Egyptians, HE was also addressing the same mindset within the children of Israel. It was never okay to place a human above GOD. Free will had gone too far. Humans placed their own thoughts above GOD’s ways. This made slavery a good idea.

 

A group of people could be looked at as servants while others remained superior. GOD saw this and was appalled. Harmony with humanity was disrupted by cruel behavior and abuse of power. GOD ended with a final plague that would break the Egyptians and those who did not put blood on the doorposts. GOD introduced HIS plan of salvation during the tenth plague. JESUS would become the sacrificial Lamb that would save humanity. HIS grace is available to you and me.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about HIS action of killing the firstborn in Egypt?
• Have you delayed having a relationship with GOD because of how someone present HIM or perhaps a misunderstanding of the grace HE has shown you?
• Are you ready to surrender your mindset and allow GOD to direct your path?

Oppressed Because You are Blessed

 Oppressed Because You are Blessed

Exodus 5: ⁶ So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, ⁷ “You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.”

 

¹⁰ And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹ Go, get yourselves straw where you can find it; yet none of your work will be reduced.’ ” ¹² So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. ¹³ And the taskmasters forced them to hurry, saying, “Fulfill your work, your daily quota, as when there was straw.” ¹⁴ Also the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as before?”

 

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After GOD told Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let MY people go,” Moses and Aaron went and performed the amazing signs that GOD was going to do to the Egyptians. News spread quickly that the Hebrews would be saved. But Pharaoh was not going to have any rejoicing. He came up with another wild rule to reduce the raw material supply and keep the quota of buildings that needed to be built for his comfort.

 

My Observations:

• GOD’s people were being oppressed at the expense of Pharaoh’s comfort.
• GOD’s people felt they had no way out after they saw the miracles Moses and Aaron demonstrated.
• Things got harder once GOD’s people saw what HE could do.

 

A turn for the worse was taken when Pharaoh saw the people had stopped working. His response was to make life harder for them and beat the people he placed over them. He arranged a hierarchy by choosing Hebrew leaders and making them the focal point of pain if the quotas were not met. This move is still being used to this day.

 

GOD heard the cries of the people way before Pharaoh turned up the heat of oppression. HE prophesied what HE was going to do to the entire Egyptian empire. Those who oppress people and exploit people and take away resources will one day feel GOD’s wrath fall on them. GOD promised it.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the oppressive words from Pharaoh?
• Have you ever felt that the situation has gotten worse after speaking with GOD?
• Will you keep your faith in GOD’s promise of deliverance HE promised you?

Far From the Garden

Far From the Garden

Exodus 1: ⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; ¹⁰ come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. ¹² But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ¹³ So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. ¹⁴ And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

 

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Remember the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve were placed in a perfect habitat where they could be fruitful and multiply without any hatred or bitterness. But now the Egyptians were hateful and bitter towards the children of Israel. The new Pharaoh had not heard of endearing stories of Joseph. All he cared about was pacifying his fear.

 

My Observations:

• The new Pharaoh wanted slaves and he expressed his insecurities with other Egyptians.
• The new Pharaoh came up with a plan that would put the children of Israel into bondage.
• The new Pharoah made the lives of the children of Israel bitter with hard bondage.

 

When the new leader of the nation was put in place, even the Egyptians felt the problem. When Joseph was alive, the Egyptians and the Israelites got along well. They lived in harmony and prospered. The peace experienced during the Joseph years was as close to peace felt by Adam and Eve.

 

But the new national leader came in with words of fear, hatred and bondage. Humanity was falling further and further from GOD. The longer humans spent out of the Garden of Eden, the more evil they became. GOD saw the new leader’s heart and had a plan to deliver HIS people.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD tell Moses about the supernatural child fertility even when the children of Israel were afflicted?
• Have you ever experienced a new leader who has afflicted many people?
• Do you believe that what was meant for evil by the leader who afflicted many, GOD will use for good?