Did you ever stop to wonder what life would be like with no national holidays, no religious holidays, no vacation time and no weekends off? That’s what the Israelites were facing by the end of this section. This chapter covers a long period of time. We don’t know whether it was days or months or maybe even a year or two, but we do know that it was enough time for pharaoh to ramp up his cruelty and for Moses to question God as to why he’d had to go to Egypt and speak with pharaoh in the first place. Things were getting dire, folks. I was likening the Israelites’ hardships a bit with the working hours and conditions of Thai construction workers. They seem to work non-stop, day in and day out, just like the Israelites, except Thai workers do take off for national holidays, and they don’t have to furnish their own materials. Just think if those guys building the sidewalks first had to go out and rummage up the rocks to make the concrete! It would be overwhelmingly hopeless. I imagine that’s what pharaoh was counting on. Unfortunately for him, God was just winding up and letting pharoah make a complete fool of himself before dropping the hammer and showing him who the real boss is.
We leave off with Moses questioning God and having some real doubts as to why God asked him to have that initial meeting with pharaoh. I feel for Moses. That’s a tough spot! I know we all know that Moses goes on to become one of the greatest Bible figures of all time, but while we’re reading the story, let’s try to empathize with Moses, his circumstances and his real feelings, with which we can all relate.
Writing prompt: tough spot
Ok, I know you probably didn’t save an entire nation of people from doom (or maybe you did!), but we’ve all been in a prickly predicament at one time or another. Write about your tough spot and try to compare how you felt with how Moses might have been feeling at the end of this chapter.
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