This is our final lesson in Exodus and it’s about the building of the tabernacle. I like that it is the account of the people giving to build it. Kings built grand temples but it is people that build the tabernacle. The tabernacle is beautiful but not so much so that it cannot be moved as the people are guided by God through the remainder of their time in the wilderness. It is built with stunning craftsmanship but it is not permanent and does not require the people to travel there to worship. It moves with them. It is where God dwells but it is not fixed in place. May…

1. This morning we are looking at someone who is often overlooked because he falls in the shadow of his brother. We meet Aaron early in the book of Exodus when the Lord speaks to him and tells him to go into the desert to meet Moses. They have not seen each other in 40 years and for both of them this is an extraordinary reunion. From that moment on until he dies 40 years later this is a partnership of brothers – but one that is complicated like many relationships of brothers. Can you think of others? Some are funny – like the Smothers Brothers. Some are tragic, like…

In Exodus 20 and 24 we read about God calling Moses to the top of Mt. Sinai where he is given the tablets of stone with the law and the commandments. During the forty days and nights on the mountain is given not only the tablets but the Lord gives him a tutorial on the commands that are attached to the law. It is not enough to simply have the Ten Commandments but they are also to follow other rules about worship and the observance of the Sabbath. Then, in chapter 32 we read that the people are thinking that Moses has abandoned them completely or been lost on the…

“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. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do…

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.” 1.  We are sometimes confused about what Passover celebrates. It is not the passing over…