Devotional 6:Facing the Giants

Numbers 13:26-33

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Back in high school, I played for my school’s varsity soccer team. I loved every part of the game. From the very second the starting whistle was blown, down to the very last second, I was absolutely ecstatic just being able to run up and down the field, kicking the ball now and then. Not every game was a success, but all in all we were a pretty decent team. Now let me tell you, I was the shortest member of my team. In fact, I was probably the shortest player in the entire league. The next shortest person was my best friend Daniel, who was about the same height me. Daniel loved the game as much as I did, and be both clung to our coach’s words of encouragement and inspiration. I remember this one game where we went up against a team of very huge guys! We’re talking American football huge (well, they were just high schoolers, but they were still pretty big)! We lost that game, because a lot of others in our team gave in to the intimidation factor. However, I will never forget how our coach pointed me and Daniel out for being the smallest and most aggressive players on our side of the field that day.

            That particular event reminds me of the time when the Israelites finally reached Canaan. Twelve spies were sent to survey the land, and just as God promised, it was flowing with milk and honey! However, of the twelve spies, ten of them looked at the negative side of things, and focused only on the gigantic people living on the land. These ten spread the negativity throughout the rest of the camp. However, there two spies, Joshua and Caleb, who refused to give in to the fear. They knew God was on their side, and that God was going to give them the victory. Later on, these two were blessed for their faith, while the rest of the nation suffered for giving in to their fears. The question is, when it comes to facing the real giants in your life, are you going to be like one of the 10 who gave in to their fear? Or will you be like Joshua and Caleb who trusted God even against the most lopsided odds?

 

DQ6

Where exactly is the Red Sea that the Israelites crossed on their flight from Egypt?

            Many modern scholars are skeptical as to the reliability of the Red Sea crossing account found in the Bible. This miracle supposedly occurred during the Exodus, as the Israelites, having just recently been liberated from the Egyptians, were fleeing as they were being hotly pursued by the Egyptian army.

            In the Bible, we can read the mention of three geographical locations. In Hebrew, they are Migdol, Baal-zephon, and Pi-hahiroth. In Exodus 14:2 the Israelites were told to camp between Migdol and the sea. Migdol is Hebrew for “watchtower”, which can then be associated to being a hill, because of the old traditional military tactic of placing watchtowers on hills. The second place mentioned is Baal-zephon, which means “Lord of the North.” According to modern researchers, Baal-zephon is a coastal mountain. Once again, in Exodus 14:2 we can find that apart from being instructed to camp between Migdol and the sea, the Israelites were given the second instruction of camping on the opposite of Baal-zephon. The third place mentioned is Pi-hahiroth, which in Hebrew means “a mouth made of water.” In Exodus 14:9, the Israelites were given the third part of their instruction, which was to place their camp BY Pi-hahiroth. Another interesting piece of this puzzle is found in Numbers 33:7 which mentions that “…Pi-hahiroth, which is upon the face of Baal-zephon…”. We can then deduce that the Israelites camped between Migdol, and a body of water, but was opposite of Baal-zephon (which was on the other side of the waters). Geographically, these three locations are located right next to each other in the Strait of Tiran, which is found in the southern section of the Gulf of Aqaba. Therefore, from this evidence, we can conclude that the Red Sea that the Israelites crossed was indeed the Gulf of Aqaba located by what is now known as Saudi Arabia.

 Sources:

http://www.geocities.com/athens/parthenon/3021/redsea.html

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33168

Devotional 5: Give Thanks

Exodus 16:1-36

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Let’s play a game of pretend for a moment. Imagine that you and your friends have just been liberated from the harshest, most tyrannical form of enslavement that you can ever imagine. Then imagine that as you escape from that place, an entire army comes chasing you. However, by some miracle, a river suddenly floods the area, wiping out the army, but sparing you and your friends. Now, let’s pretend that throughout that whole ordeal, God was directly guiding you, and He even caused the flood to wipe out your pursuers. Wouldn’t you feel pretty thankful for what He just did?

            The thing is, God pretty much did the same thing with the Israelites when He liberated them from Egypt. He sent ten unnatural plagues to convince the Pharaoh to release the Egyptians. A river turning into blood, boils, frogs, locusts, darkness, death, God pretty much threw everything at the Egyptians except the kitchen sink! And even as the armies of Pharaoh pursued them, God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites can cross, and the Egyptian armies drowned. However, despite all this, the Israelites still kept complaining. And what were they complaining about? Food and water! You’d think that after the mighty display that God had shown, the Israelites would have at least a bit of faith that God wouldn’t let them die in such a mundane way.

            Many of us might find ourselves criticizing the Israelites for their ungratefulness towards God. However, how many of us do the same thing every single day? Despite all the blessings that God has given we still tend to complain about little petty things. Instead of this, it would be better for us to constantly remember God’s command that we should seek His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to us.

 

DQ5

Who is the new king of Exodus 1:8 who came to power in Egypt and who doesn’t know Joseph?

In Exodus 1:8, a Pharaoh is mentioned who apparently didn’t know who Joseph was. This Pharaoh, as the Bible further mentions, realized that the Hebrews had multiplied to an exceedingly high number. As a result, this Pharaoh decided to enslave the entire nation of Israel in order to keep them under control. Although many scholars debate over who it was, most evidences point out that the Pharaoh was Thutmose III.

To come to this conclusion, we must first establish who the Pharaoh during the Exodus was. According to Gleason, scholars have used the building of Solomon’s temple as the event landmark to trace back the date of the Exodus. According to scholars, the temple was built in 966 BC. Using this as a guide, scholars then deduced that the Exodus must have happened in 1445 BC, which is during the reign of Amenhotep II.

Also, historically, Egypt ceased carrying out any military campaigns shortly after 1445 BC. This should not be surprising, since, if Amenhotep was indeed the Pharaoh of the Exodus, he would have lost the majority of his military forces in the Red Sea during the miraculous crossing.

By establishing that Amenhotep II was the king during the Exodus, we must then trace back even further to his predecessors to find who the unknown king of Exodus 1:8 was. The ruler before Amenhotep II was Thutmose III. Before the Exodus, Moses fled to Midian and stayed there for 40 years before returning to Egypt. According to history, only one Pharaoh reigned long enough for Moses to have been gone for that amount of time, before coming back a few years after the death of that Pharaoh. That Pharaoh was Thutmose III, who reigned for 54 years. Therefore, considering that the Exodus happened in the third year of Amenhotep II’s reign, Moses must have fled during Thutmose III’s reign. By this, we can conclude that Thutmose III must have been the Pharaoh of the “oppression”, and is the unknown king in Exodus 1:8.

 

Sources:

 

http://allanturner.com/pharaoh.html

 

Devotional 4:Who gave man his mouth?

Exodus 4:1-17

 

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It’s not often that we see miracles that defy the laws of science. In fact, in our more contemporary times, we tend to treat mystical things will an unhealthy dose of skepticism. With the rise of rationalism, we tend to find a scientific or rational explanation for everything. The end result? We end up with a naturalistic perspective on life itself, shunning or disbelieving everything that doesn’t ‘naturally’ happen.

            However, that time of perspective isn’t something new to humanity. When God called Moses to go and free the Israelites, he immediately looked at the situation through his human eyes. As with anyone who comes into the presence of God, he was at first filled with awe. However, as God began to lay out His plans to Moses, the attitude Egyptian Prince suddenly deteriorated into doubt, skepticism, and lack of confidence. Many of us might be thinking, “Wow, Moses was standing before a burning tree that remained undamaged, and all he could do was doubt God?” Well, imagine yourself in his shoes. You’ve just run away from a country for murder, and now God is asking you to return to that country all by yourself to liberate your own enslaved people. On human terms, the success rate of a mission like that is about 0%. However, God had different plans. And He proved that even the doubt and incapability of mankind cannot stop Him once He is on the move. Through Moses, God showed more than a dozen signs and wonders in the liberation of the Hebrew people. My point here is, when God calls you to do something, you just go and do it. Let him take care of the logistics and the minor details. Who knows, you might even get to witness a miracle of epic proportions, like the burning bush.

DQ 4: Nahilu/Nalitu sa Apiru/Habiru :P

Who are the ‘Apiru/Habiru and why are they significant?

            Modern archeologists have found mention of a certain mysterious people group within ancient writings. Ancient Sumerian writings mention a certain group known to them as the “Habiru.”  Likewise, archeologists have found ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics depicting a similar people, although written in the ancient Egyptian language as “Apiru.”

            According to the ancient texts, the habiru were described as “nomadic or semi-nomadic, rebellious, outlaws, raiders, mercenaries, agricultural workers, horse mounted messengers and bowmen, servants, slaves, migrant laborers” ¹. The actual identity of these people were not discovered until archeologists found an ancient Egyptian inscription of a scene showing manual labour by the Apiru, as was described in Exodus². Scholars soon realized the similarity between the word Apiru and the word Hebrew.

            Later on, scholars found a similar use of the term in ancient texts describing raiding activities done by the Apiru within the territories of Caanan. Accordingly, this may have been the Caananite campaign led by Joshua after the Exodus. Also, king David has been associated with the Habiru during his banishment by king Saul, making scholars believe that “Habiru” was a general term used to label any wandering group that either raided or marauded the established towns.

            The significance of discovering who the Apiru or Habiru are contains the key to unlocking the ancestors of the Israelites. So far, archeologists have found much evidence pointing to the conclusion that the ancient Hebrews were indeed descended from the Habiru described in the ancient scripts.

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habiru

2.http://www.imninalu.net/Habiru.htm

Devotional 3:Give me your very best!

Genesis 40:23- 41:42

 

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            In life, normally we expect others to remember us when we do a them a favor. On the other hand, we end up feeling frustrated, disappointed, or even betrayed when those we’ve helped seem to forget about us. It becomes even more frustrating when the person we’ve helped becomes successful thanks to our aid, but then they leave us behind in our times of trouble. Well, the same thing happened to Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. As a slave, he worked hard and became the most trusted amongst the slaves in the house. He was wrongfully accused of attempting to rape his master’s wife and was then thrown in jail. In jail, Joseph met the Pharaoh’s cupbearer. He helped him out by interpreting the cupbearer’s dream, but was forgotten in return. For many of us, we would probably just give up at this point. But Joseph kept on going, and trusted God every step of the way. He worked as hard as ever and eventually became the an aide to the prison guards. He showed his faith in God by giving his best at all times. God, in return, finally showed favor towards Joseph. After 2 years in prison, Pharaoh had a dream, and Joseph was summoned to interpret it. With God’s help, Joseph was able to interpret the dream. The dream involved a coming famine, and that preparations needed to be made to avert the damage it will cause. After seeing this, Pharaoh placed Joseph second in command, and ordered him to make the necessary preparations needed to store up for the coming famine. All of a sudden, Joseph found himself placed in a very high position of power. However, it wasn’t anything new to him. The whole time, he had been giving his best, and had been earning his way to the top. No matter what the circumstance, he was always giving his best, and when God finally saw fit to place him in a high position of power, Joseph was ready.

DQ 3

What is the significance of the destruction layer in an excavation mound?

In archeology, there are two main methods by which archeological scientists study a certain site: by surveying or by excavation. The main difference between these two field methods of archeology is that surveying only looks at the external features of the site, and does minimal or no damage at all, whole excavation results in the destruction of the site. It is during the process of excavation that we find what is called a destruction layer. When archeologists begin excavating, they first use heavy machinery to remove the overburden, or the topsoil, being careful not to destroy anything beneath. The area where the topsoil meets the actual feature being searched for is known as the cut. The actual feature and all the contents within it are known as the fill. It is within the fill that we find the destruction layers. As archeologists excavate through an area, they find stratified layers, or destruction layers. Significantly, each of these layers shows a specific time period in history, and therefore represent the progression between civilizations that dwelt in the area. It is within these destruction layers that archeologists find what they call ‘samples’, which are the actual objects being studied. The location where every object is found in the destruction layer is mapped and labeled, before it is removed for further study. This mapping process is important, since once the excavation process is finished, the site will have been nearly destroyed.