Day 28: Rescuing the Rescuer and the Identity Crisis of Dislocation

Today we read Exodus 1-2, Leviticus 1, and Psalms 44. We introduce two more stories that are connected to the first, in Genesis. Exodus is a two-part story. The first story is focused on an individual, Moses, and starts with a story about the women who rescued him and how Moses was commissioned by God to be a rescuer for his people. Moses' story is inverse to Joseph’s from the last part of Genesis we just finished. In this story, Moses is raised by Egyptians, but he is Hebrew and struggles with his identity. Whereas, Joseph was raised by Hebrews, but was adopted into the Egyptian family as a young adult and was also called to make a choice about where his story would end - both choose the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The second story in Exodus is focused on the collective Hebrew slaves who will be delivered by God and His chosen rescuers - Moses and his older brother, Aaron to become the nation of Israel. God delivers the Hebrews from Pharaoh and they are commissions by God, given a covenant and God’s presence. In the story of Exodus, they are freed from slavery and then in Leviticus they understand more about what they are freed for - to become a kingdom of priests (e.g., Exodus 19:6, 1 Peter 2:9, Revelations 1:6). The story of Leviticus is also a two part story where the first half is about me/us approaching God. While the Hebrews had been “saved” from the advisory - Pharaoh, atonement or the reconciliation of us to God through offering is laid out as necessary before restoration and redemption can truly begin. The second half is about me/us helping others find their way to or find their way back to God. This story tells of what it means to be a priest and a kingdom of priests - not a kingdom with priests where most people are exempt. We will learn about the 4 fold role of the priesthood in Leviticus: (1) putting God on display, bearing His name, (2) helping others navigate their way to God by being His image bearers, creation care agents, and vice-regents e.g., salt, light, fruits of the spirit through more grace, more justice, more mercy more lifting up those who are the lowest and downcast (3) interceding for others, standing in the gap instead of blocking others way, praying to God on behalf of others and (4) being generous with the distribution of our resources to those in need. The early church did this well, and there are a few exemplar individuals, like Jesus in the N.T. who model what it means to live out the 4 fold role of priesthood.  There are a lot of amazing things to discuss and hard things to understand in these stories, but trust in God, even when it’s hard. Lean in and pray that He will keep your heart soft and your eyes ready to “see” what He wants to show you. Keep in mind, God is revealing himself through a culture. He is not condoning or condemning the entire culture but incarnating in it, look at what God is doing and what it would have meant in that time to understand what it reveals about God's character. It is only then that applications to our own life can be made. Remember, the Bible was written for us, not to us.

Resources:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings (March, 2017), A Kingdom of What? (40 minutes), Retrieved from https://www.bemadiscipleship.com/25 

Give an overview of the book of Leviticus.

A Kingdom of What? Presentation (PDF)

Discussion Video for BEMA 25

Leviticus: A Call to Priesthood (Sermon Series) — Real Life on the Palouse - Paule Patterson

Dr. Tim Mackie and John Collins, https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/exodus-1-18/ 

 

Dr. Carmen Imes, Exodus Class - Exodus 1-40, (14 hours) Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/classroom/overview/exodus-overview/ 

 

Dr. Carmen Imes (2019). Bearing God’s Name, Why Sinai Still Matters? InterVarsity Press

 

Credits:

Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.