December 1, 2006

Testing…testing…testing

Exodus 15-17

Everyone who has ever been to school knows the feeling. You know, the one you get when the teacher begins to distribute that important exam or test for you to write. There is the slight tightening in the chest, the shortness of breath, the sweaty palms, the butterflies in the stomach.

School is full of tests and testing. But so is life. The Israelites found this out in a hurry. The nation of Israel is now out of Egypt. They are a free nation. Following God’s final victory over the Egyptians when he drowned them in the Sea, the Israelites were free to begin their pilgrimage toward the Promised Land.

In the first few weeks of their journey, however, they faced four distinct crises. These are narrated for us in Exodus 15-17. The first came after just three days of travel when they ran out of water. They arrived at an oasis or pool of water only to find that it was “bitter” or brackish and undrinkable. That was test number one. The second came about a month later, when the food supply they had carried with them from Egypt began to run out. Where would they find food in the wilderness for such a large multitude? This was test number two. The third test came on the next phase of the journey, when they once again ran out of water and could find nothing to drink. The fourth test came soon after when they were attacked by a warlike tribe of people called the Amalekites. All four of these tests were serious crises. They all threatened the very existence and survival of the nation.

You are probably familiar with these stories. In each case God was sufficient to meet their needs and ensure their survival under the most difficult of circumstances. At the edge of the bitter oasis, he showed Moses a particular tree or log. When Moses threw it in the water, the water became sweet and the people were able to drink all they needed.

When the people became hungry, God literally rained food down on them from heaven. First of all, in the evening, a flock of migrating quail covered the camp. I remember when I was about 11 years old, we were sitting in our house in Kenya one evening, when we heard a strange series of soft thumps hitting the roof and side of our house. When we went out to investigate, we found hundreds of small quail on the ground around our house. They were so exhausted or frightened or stunned that we could pick them up in our hands. This natural phenomenon of migrating quail was multiplied by God many times over, enough to feed the entire nation of Israel. Then in the morning when they went outside their tents, they found the ground covered with a strange white substance like flakes of frost. They gathered it and found it edible, suitable for grinding and boiling and baking. Puzzled, the people asked, “What is it?” The Hebrew for “What is it?” is “Man nu” and this became their name for this strange food supply – manna. It was to be their staple food for the next 40 years. Six days a week, every week until they entered the land of Canaan, God rained bread on them from heaven.

When they once again ran out of water, God instructed Moses to take his rod, and in the presence of the elders of the nation he commanded him to strike a rock. When he did so, water gushed from the rock; enough to satisfy the thirst of the entire nation. Then when the nation was attacked by the Amalekites, God fought for them, and they were able to defeat the fierce enemy.

Crisis after crisis, God was there to supply all their needs and to protect them from their enemies. But I want to pursue the idea of testing a little further. First of all, how do we know these were tests, and not just tough life circumstances? We know it because the text tells us so. Look at Exodus 15:25b: There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. The KJV says, “there he proved them”. The word has the idea of testing or proving the quality of someone or something, often through adversity or hardship. This same word is also used in Exodus 16:4.

So we know that God has arranged these circumstances as a test. But just what is God testing for? I always had a strategy when I was in school. My strategy was to pay close attention to what the teacher emphasized during the term. My theory was this: The teacher would emphasize what was important to him or her. And if something was important enough to emphasize in the class lectures, chances are it would be important enough to appear on the exam. This theory rarely let me down over 19 years of formal education. I think we can apply that strategy here as well. If we know what is important to God, if we know what he is looking for when he sets the exam, we are much more likely to produce a good result.

In the case of the Israelites, it is not difficult to figure out that God is looking for two things. The first is trust. Will the Israelites trust him? Each of these four crises clearly brings the issue of trust into the foreground. They are brought up against a desperate need – one that they cannot meet in their own strength. What will they do? Will they trust him?

The second thing God is looking for is obedience. This comes out especially in the matter of the manna. Let’s read Exodus 16:4: Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

This test of their obedience took two forms as we look more closely at God’s instructions. First of all, they were to gather only enough for one day. They were not to keep any over for the next day. The second issue had to do with the Sabbath. This chapter includes the first introduction of the Sabbath, the setting apart of the seventh day as a day of rest for God’s people. On the sixth day they were commanded to gather twice as much. The extra they gathered they were to prepare by boiling it or baking it and then set it aside for the seventh day. Once again, it was a very specific instruction to test their obedience.

So God was testing his people to see if they would trust him and whether they would obey him. The question now comes, did the Israelites pass or fail their tests? Do you remember your school days when the teacher would give out the completed and graded exams with the results? Admit it, after a quick look at your own paper, weren’t you dying to know how the others in the class had scored? Well in the chapters before us today, we don’t have to wonder about the how the Israelites did on their exams. They failed and they failed miserably.

How do we know this? Well, God was looking for trust. Instead of trusting God, the Israelites grumbled. KJV translates it “murmured”. It describes a low toned grumbling, complaining, arguing. Nine times this same word, either in verb or noun form, occurs in these three chapters. Not only that, but let’s look at the actual words of the Israelites. A large amount of these chapters is direct speech, or quotation. If you read the total dialogue or speech attributed to the Israelites, it’s rather sobering. Let me just read it all at one time: What are we to drink?...If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death…What is it?...Give us water to drink…Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst? With the exception of one sentence that we will look at in a few moments, that is the entire recorded speech attributed to the Israelites in these chapters. Grumbling, in this context, becomes the antithesis of trusting in God. God tested the nation. He looked for trust. Instead, he got grumbling.

What about the second attribute he was looking for; obedience? We see this so clearly in the matter of the manna. Remember, God told them to only collect enough for one day. So what do you think happened? You guessed it: However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. ((16:20)

Then when they were told to collect enough on the sixth day to set aside for the Sabbath, what did they do? God clearly told them, “On the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” So what does the next sentence say? Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?”

They failed the test of obedience just like they failed the test of trust. The Israelites’ failure is described and commented on in Psalm 81:6-16 (Read).

God tested Israel. He was looking for trust and he was looking for obedience. I believe that when God tests us he is looking for the same two traits he desired to see in the Israelites; trust and obedience.

Before we leave these chapters, there is another thread of truth.. This one is not about God testing the Israelites. This one is about the Israelites testing God and putting him to the test. The same Hebrew word is used in the text. We find this introduced in Exodus 17:1-2: The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?”

From the context and the words of Moses, we know that this act of the Israelites in testing God was an act of rebellion. It is placed in the same sentence as quarreling or striving, being contentious. To put God to the test in this way is to question God’s goodness, his wisdom his power, to question his very presence. We see this in Exodus 17:7, in the final quote taken from the mouth of the Israelites: And Moses called the place Massah (which means “quarreling”) and Meribah (which means “ testing”) because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” In spite of all they had witnessed in the plagues of Egypt and the crossing the Sea, in spite of all that God had done for them, they had the gall to pose the question: Does God really care about us? Is he among us, or not?

This kind of questioning grows out of the soil of unbelief. Another psalm picks up on this second dimension of the story. Psalm 95:7b-11 (Read) Such a challenge grows out of a heart hardened by doubt and unbelief. The contrast to such rebellion is found in the opening verses of this psalm: (Read Psalm 95:1-7a) What a startling contrast between the two halves of this psalm! Which half of this psalm best describes your heart this morning?

I want to finish this sermon by looking at another note of contrast. That contrast is provided for us in the text by Moses. Moses faced the same circumstances that the people did. If anything, for him they were magnified and intensified, because he was their leader. He bore the human responsibility for their welfare. But his response is dramatically different. When they grumbled, he prayed. When they disobeyed, he obeyed. He cast the log into the water to make the water sweet. He called on the people to trust and obey in their collecting of the manna. When they doubted, he trusted. He stood in front of the people and against all the laws of nature and logic he struck the rock with his rod, and watched the water gush out.

My lasting image of Moses from these chapters is found in the final story of the battle against the Amalekites. He stood on the hill overlooking the battle. He held the rod of God in his hand and in a gesture symbolizing reliance upon God and his power, he held the rod high, stretched out over the battlefield. And as long as he held it high, the Israelites prevailed in the fight. But as his arm drooped with fatigue, the Amalekites prevailed. So Aaron and a man named Hur rushed to his aid. They found a stone for him to sit on, and then they helped him hold the rod high. Trusting in the power of God, they overcame the enemy. After the battle was over, he built an altar and called it Yaweh-nisi, which means, “Yahweh is our banner.” It was the ultimate answer to the Israelites’ question: Is Yahweh among us or not? He is not only among us. He is our banner, our battlefield ensign around which we rally and to whom we look for victory.

Testing…testing…testing. Our lives are full of testing. I know you have gone through testing. I know you will go through it again. Some of you are in the midst of difficult tests even as I speak. We don’t choose our tests, but we do choose our responses: complaining and disobeying; angrily and rebelliously putting God on trial; or responding with trust and with obedience. Are we, like Moses, holding high the rod of our confidence in the awesome power, wisdom and love of God?. Yahweh-nisi. Let us rally to our banner.

P.S. As we prepare to observe the Lord’s Table together this morning I think it is worth turning our thoughts in a different direction and meditating briefly on some of the ways the New Testament picks up on the events we have been considering in Exodus. First of all, the manna. In John 6, after Jesus had fed the multitude of 5000 people they came back the next day and demanded to be fed again. “Moses fed us manna in the wilderness,” they said. Jesus responded, “Now the Father is giving you true bread from heaven.” They said, “Well then, give us this bread.” And Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” Manna, then, is a type, a picture of Christ who came down from heaven to satisfy the spiritual needs of his people.

Again in I Corinthians 10, Paul is referring to the Israelites’ experience in the wilderness and he says in verse 3-4: They all ate the same spiritual food (referring to the manna) and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

The rock, then, is another picture of Christ. This rock had to be struck (he was stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted; he was crushed for our iniquities…) And when he was struck, just as the rock in the wilderness gushed forth with life-giving water, so the spiritual water which gives eternal life came gushing forth from him. Bread of heaven, water of life, the rock that was struck. The symbols are many and vivid. This is my body, this is my blood. Eat and drink in remembrance…