Basic HTML Version
them. The entire group was even–
tually relegated to the status of
slaves. In those surroundings, the
Israelites lost much of the knowl–
edge of God that their forefathers
had brought to Egypt.
In time God chose a man named
Moses to emancípate those slaves,
to teach them the forgotten ways of
their God, and to eventually lead
them back to the land ofCanaan.
When the lsraelites were led out
of the Nile delta area en masse, they
were not a straggling group num–
bering only a few thousand, as epic
movies have implied. By that time,
they numbered sorne two million,
alJ of whom had just witnessed an
incredible sequence of plagues
which God had infiicted upon the
Jand of Egypt. At the time they Jeft,
God had promised them that - if
they obeyed him - they wouldn't
have to fight any of the tribes they
might meet along the way to the
land of Canaan. He to1d them, "Be–
hold,
1
send an Angel before thee, to
keep thee in the way, and to bring
thee into the place which I bave
prepared ....
if
thou shalt indeed
obey his voice, and do all that 1
speak; then 1 will be an enemy unto
thine enemies, and an adversary
unto thine adversaries .... and 1
will
cut them off' (Exodus 23:20-23).
God, of course, is the giver of
human life - and he alone has the
ultimate right to take it. Only God
has the wisdom and judgment nec–
essary to decide when to take life, as
weU as when to give it back. God
has never labored under the human
delusion that physical death is nec–
essarily the utter end of existence.
He has planned, though most do not
know it, that everyone who has ever
died will be resurrected and even–
tually rewarded according to that
person's knowledge of and obedi–
ence to the Iaws of God.
God Keeps a Promise
The Israelites had an opportunity
to test God's promise to them quite
soon after they escaped from the
30
hands of the Egyptians. The Pha–
raoh of Egypt had consented to the
freedom of the Israelites only after
the deatb of all the first-born of bis
nation. Once the House of Israel
was gone, however, he again had
second thoughts about their free–
doro. He organized a huge task
force which included 600 armed
charioteers and ordered them
to
bring back the Israelites.
The Bible says the Israelites had
left Egypt with "an high hand."
They were probably more than a
little cocky about their liberation.
But not for long. When they saw tbe
Egyptian charioteers in hot pursuit,
they were, in King James language,
"sore afraid." They made that fear
known to Moses in no uncertain
terms: "Because there were no
graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us
away to die in the wilderness?
wherefore hast thou dealt thus with
us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
"Is this not the word that we did
tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us
alone, that we may serve the Egyp–
tíans? For it had been better for us
to serve the Egyptians, than that we
should die in the wilderness" (Ex–
odus 14:11-12).
Moses was admirably patient
with them. He said, "Fear ye not,
stand still, and see the salvation of
the Lord, which he will shew to you
to day: for the Egyptians whom ye
have seen to day, ye shall see them
no more for ever.
"The Lord shall jight for you
... "
(verses 13- 14).
On this occasion, the lsraelites
trusted God; God got them across
the Red Sea and rid them of Pha–
raoh's army in the process. This in–
cident is only one of severa!
examples ofGod's willingness to de–
fend those who put thei r trust and
faith in him.
Needless Doubt
The House of Israel did not usu–
ally have the confidence to obey
God. In this, they were like all mod–
ero nations. One incident grapb-
ically illustrates tbeir lack of faith
and the needless consequences they
all suffered for not putting their
trust in God.
For sorne time, ancient Israel had
been exhibiting sorne of its less de–
sirable traits of character. Tbe
people balked at nearly every cor–
ner; they complained about nearly
everything. Tbey rebelled against
Moses and God. They did not really
want to follow God even after he
had saved tbem from a lifetime of
bard labor as slaves.
AU these bad attitudes carne to a
head at the time when tbe Israelites
ought to have been emerging from
the Sinai wilderness to enter Ca–
naan, the promised land. A scouting
party had been sent ahead
to
view
tbe countryside. Tbe roen in that
party had gone through the Valley
of Eshcol and found a pleasant and
fertile land, with one major prob–
lem, or so they thought. The people
of the land looked so frightening to
the Israelites that they returned to
the camp witb higbly exaggerated
reports, except for Caleb and
Joshua. As a result, the people com–
pletely refused to enter the land.
Moses later recalled, " ... [you] re–
beBed against the commandment of
tbe Lord your God: and ye mur–
mured in your tents, and said, Be–
cause the Lord hated us, he hath
brought us forth out of the land of
Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of
tbe Amorites, to destroy us. Whither
shall we go up? our bretbren have
discouraged our heart, saying, The
people is greater and taller than we;
the cities are great and walled up to
heaven....
"Then I said unto you, Dread not,
neither be afraid of tbem. The Lord
your God which goeth before you,
he sha/1 fight for you,
according to
alJ tbat he did for you
in
Egypt
before your eyes" (Deuteronomy
1:26-30).
Yet , in spi te of tbat encour–
agement, they still refused to trust
God, and consequently paid a stiff
penalty for tbat lack of faith. All
PLAIN TRUTH September 1973