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Psalm 105:43

Psalm 105:43 Shouts of joy! Let us not forget that, despite all the moaning and grumbling, the Israelites were delighted to be free of their Egyptian slave masters. The first few months of their journey brought them to the boundaries of the Promised Land and although there had been some hiccups along the way, these are people who are anticipating a better life, a life of freedom and prosperity. Of course they rejoiced, and their celebrations are encapsulated within the Song of Moses and Miriam. A song that exalts the Lord, that praises Him for His deliverance, that revels in the destruction of Pharaoh and his army, and that celebrates the miraculous powers of their Saviour in Chief, Yahweh, who is  “majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders. ” Included in the song is a great sense of anticipation for the future, that they will be brought to the place that the Lord made for His dwelling. The words of this great hymn of praise are set out in Exodus 15 and are well worth a r
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Psalm 105:42

Psalm 105:42 An everlasting Covenant This verse is about remembering! In verse 5 of the Psalm the Israelites are ordered to  “Remember the wonders He has done.”  Then in verse 8 we read,  “He remembers His covenant forever, the promise He made, for a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the oath He swore to Isaac ….” And now God’s ability to remember is reaffirmed. Let there be no doubt then, God has remembered all that He promised to Abraham and at the heart of that promise was the land of Israel and the future expansion of Abraham’s family into a great nation. Time and again the Scriptures tell us that this covenant that God made with the first of the patriarchs is an everlasting covenant. There is only one signatory, it is God. Abraham was not given any conditions and clauses in this contract that he must keep. It was completely one-sided and everything in it was down to the Lord God who vowed that He would maintain it forever! That is why Israel’s occupation of
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Psalm 105:41

Psalm 105:41 He opened the rock In Exodus 17:1-7 we read of the first episode of “rock-striking”, it took place at Horeb when the Israelites were very early into their wilderness wanderings. The rock was struck by Moses as a direct result of the people’s complaining about their thirst and also by command of the Lord after Moses appealed to Him for help. That place was called Massah which means testing. Move the clock forward 40 years and now the children of the original liberated slaves have the same complaint! In Numbers 20:13 they have come full circle! By that I mean that 40 years earlier the Israelite camp hade been set up at Kadesh Barnea on the southern borders of the Promised Land. From there the 12 spies had gone out to survey Canaan and their reports had led to the Great Rebellion that caused the Lord God to curse that generation with 40 years of wilderness wanderings. In Numbers 20, they have arrived back at Kadesh Barnea and once again they are faced by the challenges of con
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Psalm 105:40b

Psalm 105:40b The bread of angels The supply of Manna for the Israelites is described in Psalm 78:23-25 as follows:  “Yet He gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; He rained down manna for the people to eat, He have them the grain of heaven. Human beings ate the bread of angels; He sent them all the food they could eat. ” I have no doubt that this heavenly feast, provided 6 days per week, was far more than just bread. It was God’s provision for 40 years of travelling and must therefore have contained all the nourishing ingredients required for a healthy diet. What was it like? “When the morning dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.”  Exodus 16:14. The Israelites did not have a clue what this was so Moses told them,  “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.” “The people called the bread manna. It was like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.  Exodus 16:3. “The manna was like coriander see
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Psalm 105:40a

Psalm 105:40a Quail! Just as Israel received deliverance and salvation from the slavery and deprivations of Egypt, so we are delivered from the slavery and hopelessness of sin and the world. We are taken, by baptism, through the waters and we then begin the journey of faith to the Land of God’s promises. But, just like Israel, we need to be fed!  A quail is a small, brown-feathered bird that resembles a partridge. Quail are known for their delicious meat and are often hunted as game birds for that reason. Quail are mentioned in   Exodus 16:13 ,   Numbers 11:3   and   32 . The people following Moses had complained that they were sick of eating manna every day and longed for meat, such as they had back in Egypt .  God  heard their grumbling and gave them quail to eat. Although the Lord gave the Israelites quail, He was displeased with their  grumbling  and their ungrateful words against Him. He told Moses to tell them,  “The Lord heard you when you wailed, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We
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Psalm 105:39

Psalm 105:39 He spread out a cloud “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.”  Exodus 13:21-22. I love the picture painted here of the pillars that were provided by God to give light and guidance on the journey that the Israelites took through the wilderness. However, that is not all, the verse we are looking at today, and others, suggests that the Lord provided a cloud as a covering over the people, especially during the day, to protect them from the heat of the sun. In Psalm 121:5-6 we read,  “The Lord watches over you – the Lord is Your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night .”  And clouds come into play when the Lord provided a shield of darkness at the beginning of their journey, as the Israelites w
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Psalm 105:37-38

Psalm 105:37-38 The dread of Israel By the time the angel of death had passed over the land, the Egyptians were not just sick and tired of the Hebrew slaves, they were terrified of them! Even Pharaoh urged them to leave immediately and to do so with their God’s blessing upon him! The fear of death hung over Egypt and the Israelites took full advantage. They asked for articles of silver and gold and for clothing from their captors, and the Egyptians delivered big time! So much so that the account in Exodus talks about the slaves “plundering” their hosts before they left the land for good. The Lord had promised Moses,  “And I will make the Egyptians favourably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbour and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians. ” Exodus 3:21-22. It must have been a strange
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