Week 5: Genesis 49 – Exodus 9 and Psalms 29 – 35

It just so happens that as we are reading through this portion of Exodus, the children’s ministry at my church is also learning about Moses, the burning bush, the Passover and the Exodus.  Just last weekend, I was teaching the primary kids (ages 5-7) about when God called to Moses from the burning bush and instructed him to go back to Egypt and address Pharaoh.  It is so helpful for me to work through these familiar stories with the kids because I always notice things that I had never put much thought to before.  (It’s usually the kids pointing things out new things to me!  They are the best learners!)

As I read these passages again, the three signs that God gave to Moses to prove to the elders that it truly was God who had sent him were what fascinated me.  What peculiar signs!  A serpent, a leprous hand and bloody water?  With all the questioning that Moses did towards God in chapters 3 and 4, I am surprised he didn’t mention anything about the strange signs?  I would have had some serious questions!  “Why these signs?  What is their significance?  What do these three signs represent?  What is God wanting to make known about Himself through these three particular displays of power?”  (Just to name a few!)  In Moses’ defense, he had a lot going on!  Maybe the signs God gave him to perform were the least of his concerns at the moment.

A snake, someone with leprosy and blood were all things that would be declared unclean by Mosaic Law.  Also, they are all things that originated with the fall, sin and the curse from Genesis 3.  With these three signs, God displayed His power over each of these things.  He demonstrated that He would take that which is unclean and make it clean for His great glory.  This would be an everlasting sign, that He takes what is dead and gives it life.

In looking at these three signs, my mind is drawn to the interactions that Jesus would later have with the serpent, leprosy and blood.  Let’s take a look at each one separately:

The Serpent

  • Going back to Genesis, Satan is first presented as a serpent in the Garden of Eden. After he deceived Adam and Eve and sin and death were ushered in through their disobedience, God cursed the snake and told him that there would be an offspring of the woman that would bruise his head.  This was the first promise made by God of a deliverer that would come to defeat Satan, sin and death.  This promise was perfectly fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
  • On another note, the snake, who led Adam and Eve and all mankind into sin would be turned into a staff. Who uses a staff?  A good shepherd.  Jesus is our good shepherd who leads us into life.  Where we were once led astray by the deceiver, seeking to steal, kill and destroy all that God had given, we are now led by One who lays down His own life that we might have life to full.
  • In Numbers 21, the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people who had spoken against Him and Moses. The Lord instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and to lift it up on a pole.  Anyone who looked upon the lifted serpent would live.  Jesus called this incident to remembrance when He spoke to Nicodemus about how salvation would come to all mankind.  Jesus, like the serpent lifted up in the desert, became cursed by God and was raised up on the cross.  All who look upon Him in faith are given eternal life.
  • The sign of the staff turning to a serpent shows God’s power over all created things. The staff and the serpent were subject to His command.  Jesus demonstrated the same authority over creation when he commanded the wind and the waves.
  • Just as the staff was restored back to its intended use at God’s command, creation will be fully restored as Christ has demonstrated His power and authority over Satan.

The Leprous Hand

  • According to Mosaic Law, anything affected by leprosy was considered unclean. When Jesus interacted with leprous people, He demonstrated His authority to declare clean what was once unclean.  To the shock and dismay of the Pharisees, Jesus broke every ceremonial law of cleanliness to be near those who suffered from leprosy of the skin, while condemning those with leprous hearts.
  • When God caused Moses’ hand to go from healthy, to leprous, then back to healthy, He demonstrated His power over the natural laws that govern all of creation. Life, death and disease all have a natural progression that is outside of the control of creation.  God is not bound by these natural laws.  Jesus demonstrated this when He healed people instantaneously, when He multiplied the fishes and loaves to feed the hungry crowds, and most impressively when He rose from the dead!!

Water to Blood

  • The water from the Nile, which the people of Egypt saw as their source of life and economy, became unclean and deadly. This put God on display as the One and Only giver of life.  He alone is our living water, the source of life and sustenance.  He alone can be trusted to provide what we need to flourish and prosper.
  • It is in the shed blood of Christ that we find the complete provision for our salvation and eternal life with God. All that was once brought to death through the shedding of blood is now redeemed through the life given by His shed blood.

The Hebrew people did not believe that Moses was from God, so God gave him three peculiar signs.  Similarly, God’s people did not believe that Jesus was from God.  Jesus performed signs and miracles of all kinds to prove on Whose authority He had been sent.  Will our hearts be hardened by unbelief or will they melt in our chests at the sign of Jesus lifted up on a cross to die on our behalf?  He is the sign…Jesus Christ confirms to be true all that God declares about Himself.  What more do we need to believe?