Redemptive Purpose
and you shall say to him, “YHWH the God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Send away My people, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness.” Exodus 7:16
Serve – What if this verse said, “so that they may work for Me”? Would that shift your understanding of God’s purpose? Once again we encounter the Hebrew verb ‘avad. It’s exactly the same verb used in the Genesis account of Man’s need to cultivate the ground. But here the meaning is certainly not God’s wish to establish a collective farm, is it? God rescues the children of Jacob in order that they may worship Him. That’s what it means to “serve” God. Worship and service are the same thing. Israel was called out to serve Him.
This brings up a small difficulty. If worship is simply the right heart-attitude toward God, then why was it necessary for God to remove the Hebrews from Egypt? After all, they could have “worshipped” God right there. In fact, we know many Hebrews did worship YHWH in the midst of Egyptian territory. Why didn’t God say to Pharaoh, “Let My people establish their own churches in your cities and villages so they might have praise and worship music, hear sermons and give their tithes to the local religious establishment”? If worship is merely attitude and ritual, why bother with the exodus?
If the question seems too historically contextual, ask the same thing about our contemporary ideas of worship. Why was it necessary for God to remove the people from Egypt in order to worship Him, but it is apparently no longer necessary for God to remove us from our pagan environments? Why is it acceptable for us to plant a church on Main Street when the children of Israel had to march across the Jordan?
The answer to these questions is about kingdom and community. We would like to think the answer is about “freedom.” We would like to think that God rescued Israel from Egypt because He wanted them to be free. But that’s not true. God did not offer the Hebrews freedom. He offered them a new Kingdom. They were still slaves after His rescue. But now they were His slaves. They belonged to Him. He established the code of conduct in the new Kingdom. The reason they had to leave Egypt was not to be free, but rather to be free of Pharaoh’s government. “Let them go to worship Me” is equivalent to “I am taking charge and they will now live according to My design.” No man enters the Kingdom without leaving Egypt and no community of the children of YHWH lives according to the legislation of Pharaoh. Unless we come out, we cannot enter in. God knew worship, work and service were all functions of redeemed purpose. And redemption requires removal.
Once the children left, God provided them with a new way of living. That new way is called the Torah. It’s God’s government in practical application. It’s the government of those who have left Egypt and joined the new Kingdom. Now, if this had to happen in order for the Hebrews to “serve” YHWH, what makes us think we don’t need to leave Egypt in order to worship and we don’t need to live according to the new Kingdom practices in order to serve? When did we rescue ourselves and set up our own government?
Topical Index: exodus, ‘avad, worship, serve, work, Exodus 7:16
This is great, Skip.
“And redemption requires removal.”
Just last night, I heard Boaz Michael say that redemption can be described as a change of ownership. First time I had heard it put that way, but looking at the usage in the OT, it is a very appropriate description.
My mistake. This was Aaron Eby, in Boundary Stones.
Shalom one and all … especially my sister Robin! 🙂
Skip you asked: “When did we rescue ourselves and set up our own government?”
When the early Church forgot that being called out was a matter of “kadosh” …. was a matter of sanctification and being set apart. When we decided that we would make our own rule set and determine for ourselves what was holy and acceptable! When we decided we had replaced Israel!
The Israelites were commanded not to mingle but to be distinct. The Israelites were commanded to live by haTorah! When the faith was absorbed by Imperial Rome the other government was established. (The early church floundered just as the Israelites did)
Frankly there is not much peculiarity/distinction in today’s mainline churches relative to the old order of creation. Certainly not when the standards of HaTorah and Biblical Community are used as the baseline!
But …. the partial blindness is being healed:
Jews are accepting Yeshua as Mashiach and becoming circumcised of the heart and Gentiles are accepting Torah (The Word) and living according to the constitution of the kingdom …. one happy community …. at last! And all the while everyone else is saying these people are weird …. these people are peculiar …. HMMMMM!
“everyone else is saying these people are weird”
Hi Drew,
On the one hand, one definition of weird is “concerned with destiny,” which is not a bad thing, and on the other, your comment makes me think of my all-time favorite movie, Hombre.
When, at the end of the movie, Hombre (Paul Newman as a “half breed” Indian) gives the money to his Mexican friend and tells him to take it back to the reservation from which it was stolen, one of the good Americans says:
“We all thought you were taking the money for yourself.”
In response, as Hombre prepares for battle and almost certain death in an attempt to save the group (of friends and enemies), he states flatly”
“You can think anything you want” 🙂
How ironic brother Michael … the term “half breed” … often times this is the state of reality for believing Gentiles (from the outside world looking in). On one hand a native Jew (not believing in Yeshua)would scoff at any contention that I as a Goy am grafted into Israel. On the other hand my Gentile contingent views me as a Jew based on religious practices.
LOL … it is like being tossed out of the rejected parts box! LOL
On a more serious note however you are right at the end of the day … people can think what they want! There used to be a time when this bothered my flesh … now it bothers my spirit and my concern is for them … not me! 🙂
Hi Drew,
I understand and would imagine that the director of Hombre, Martin Ritt, felt the same way growing up in America with a father who was a Russian Jewish immigrant.
Like Hombre, Martin probably also felt like a “half breed” American whose roots were back with the tribe on the “reservation” (Israel).
In 1951, Ritt was “blacklisted” when targeted as a Communist sympathizer by Senator Joseph McCarthy and fired from a directing job at CBS.
So when Hombre says “you can think what you want” he is probably expressing Ritt’s own view on the subject.
The importance of allowing other people the freedom to think for themselves, even if they are wrong.
But in the context of the movie, I think Hombre is simply focused on “doing the right thing;” and he does not care if other people think he is doing the right thing.
He is Hombre 🙂
Hi Skip.. excellent article today (as per usual!) – another feast “at G-d’s Table!” I would like for you at some point to develop the concept of “avad” as this is such a critical “word” for all who belong to Him. You have written a soon-to-be-released (I hope) book on the “ezer”.. but maybe there could be a sequel for the male counterpart to this; something concerning the role of male as ‘eved’. We are called to worship, to work, to serve, and to love and all of these spring from this one word- “avad”. As children of the King, He has called us to advance His kingdom and for this purpose we are to follow in the footsteps of our Master/Teacher in loving one another with a pure heart, fervently. And Gayle.. the answer is an absolute yes to the “change of ownership” question. The LORD is my (new) Shepherd/King. I am under His ownership. I have been “bought with a price”. He (altogether) owns me. I am His son, His steward and His servant. “Saved to serve”, amen. We serve a risen Savior who bore our sins in His own body on the tree. We love Him because He first loved us. We serve Him by serving those He loves! If we are to have the “mind of Christ” we need to “put on the towel” and learn to “serve one another in love”. And what joy is found in serving! You who have done this know this is true. There is great joy in serving the LORD Jesus and in serving His bride. Serve the LORD with gladness!
These words causes a paradigm shift in me……The reason they had to leave Egypt was not to be free, but rather to be free of Pharaoh’s government. “Let them go to worship Me” is equivalent to “I am taking charge and they will now live according to My design.”
Another…..And redemption requires removal.
I am feasting on these tonight.
Kelly