Israel has just received her official release from the land of Egypt. They are about to begin their journey from Egypt to Canaan. The journey begins in the little northern African town of Raamses. There are 600,000 men of twenty years of age and over. If you take this to be 25% of the total then the total number of Israelites was well over two million. There is a mixed company as people from other nations and even some Egyptians join with Israel as they leave. They have been so impressed with the power of God that they have left behind the polytheism of Egypt and accepted the religion of the Israelites. They have an abundance of gold, silver, jewels and clothes which have been given to the Israelites in order to bribe them to leave the land. There is also much livestock.

The first leg of this journey brings them to the little town of Succoth and there they pitch camp. It is here three institutions occur:-

1 – The sanctification of the firstborn

The firstborn male; whether an animal or a son; was handled and given as a living sacrifice to God. See Numbers 3:15; 8:17. God’s claim upon the firstborn was not based upon the fact that he had redeemed them from under the sentence of death but that he had previously sacrificed them for Himself.

If the firstborn was a clean animal and unblemished it was to be sacrificed to God on the eighth day. If the firstborn was a son he was not to be offered as a bloody sacrifice, as the heathens practice, but a living sacrifice.

God had a claim upon those He had redeemed and that claim continues today for us. See 1 Peter 1:2. God sanctified us before time began. He says “YOU belong to ME”. We are told to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. One of the most Satanic perversions today is to say “it is my life isn’t it?” This is one of Satan’s greatest lies to the believer. Jesus has freed us from slavery and we should throw ourselves at His feet and serve Him!

2 – The feast of the unleavened bread

They are to observe this feast in the land of Canaan. The first and second days were days of worship to Yahweh and no work was to be done.

There was to be no leaven in their homes and they were to eat bread without leaven. The first day was the day after the Passover. They had to check their homes and purge any evidence of leaven for seven days. This was a sign to remind Israel of their redemption from Egypt and their responsibility to God. God requires us to remove all of the leaven from our lives and to live for God. Leaven is a picture of evil in the Bible. See Matthew 16:11 – Evil doctrine. See 1 Corinthians 5 – Moral evil. Evil slowly corrupts even as leaven works into the bread. We are to purge out any doctrinal or moral evil in our lives. It is to be found and put away from our life. Do some house cleaning!

3 – The pillar and the cloud

During the night it appeared as a cloud and during the day as a pillar of fire. It was later known as the Shekinah glory cloud. The children of Israel followed the cloud as it went and pitched camp when it stopped. The cloud did not lead them north into Canaan, the easy route, but through the Red Sea to the east. The cloud was with them until they entered Canaan.

We have God’s Holy Spirit with us to guide us to the Promised Land. God does not give the Holy Spirit until redemption has taken place by the application of the blood. Just as the giving of the cloud was a free gift, even so the Holy Spirit is freely given to every believer. God wants to cultivate your faith.

Categories: Exodus