Leaving Egypt in haste (Exod 12:29-42)
Exod 12:29-41 As C.S. Lewis famously said, pain is God’s megaphone and, on the night when the firstborns died, God shouted His wake-up call into Pharaoh’s ears. How sad that it took him the deaths of thousands, including his own…
Blood on the doorposts (Exod 12:21-28)
Exod 12:21-28 When I came to faith as a teenager, I struggled to understand the logic of the cross intellectually and, as a result, wondered if I were truly a Christian. It took me years to realise that no one…
Unleavened bread (Exod 12:14-20)
Exod 12:14-20 When I spent a gap year in Israel, I remember whole sections of the supermarket shrink-wrapped before Passover so that customers could not access yeast-containing products. This is a regulation prescribed in our reading concerning the Feast of…
Passover lamb (Exodus 12:1-13)
Exod 12:1-13 As Christians, we often try to squeeze every last drop of meaning from the details of rituals important for us (like Passover or sacrifices). The truth is that while some aspects are significant, others are simply accidents of…
Mercy and judgment (Exodus 11)
Exodus 11:1-10 The last plague may raise for us a number of questions. First, we may feel a little cynical as we read God’s overwhelming response to Israel and think that it is all very well for God to have…
Walking backwards into the future (Exod 10:1-29)
Exod 10:1-29 As we engage with plagues 8-9 (locusts and darkness), God explains to Moses that these events are happening so that Israel might tell it to their children and grandchildren (Exod 10:1-2). The Māori proverb Ka mua ka muri…
Heeding God’s word (Exod 9:1-35)
Exod 9:1-35 When NZ first moved into lockdown, there were a lot of questions over what this meant in individual cases, what was allowed and what wasn’t. It took days of repeated communication, patient repetition of the principles before clarity…
Worship in Egypt (Exod 8:20-32)
Exod 8:20-32 An older friend of mine whose family immigrated to West Germany in the 1960s told me about the debates her parents had as they were trying to decide what to do. Communism was in full swing in Hungary…
What triggers change? (Exod 8:1-19)
Exod 8:1-19 I once read the testimony of a couple who, by their own admission, were extremely obese. The weight gain crept up on them over time and they lived with it for years. Then one day they were flying…
Eyes of faith (Exod 7:8-25)
Exod 7:8-25 Have you ever wondered why God sent the plagues on Egypt when He could have freed Israel in a much more efficient way? He could have struck Pharaoh down at the outset, appeared in all His glory and…