Exodus - The Park Forum

February 25, 2025February 23, 2025

Pharaoh’s Epistemology

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 8 Listen: (5:07) Read: Matthew 19 Listen: (4:04)

Scripture Focus: Exodus 7.22b-23

22 …Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.

Exodus 5.2

2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

Reflection: Pharaoh’s Epistemology

By John Tillman

The first person God called “prophet” was Abraham. Moses and Aaron were next. It is interesting to compare the results.

God warned Abimelek in a supernatural dream to let Sarah go. God’s prophet, Abraham, would pray for the king and bless him if he did. If Abimelek did not, all his people would die. Abimelek could have hardened his heart and doubted his dream but he didn’t.

God warned Pharaoh through Moses, Aaron, and supernatural signs, to let his people go. If Pharaoh did not let the people go, he and his kingdom would suffer. Pharaoh could have believed the signs but hardened his heart and the hard-hearted find excuses not to listen.

Pharaoh questioned the prophets’ motives, their political alignment, and their honesty, calling them lazy, troublemakers, deceptive, and divisive. Pharaoh had an identity-based epistemology. “Who is the Lord that I should obey him…?” (Exodus 5.4)

Pharaoh doubled down and reaped disaster. Abimelek relented and reaped blessings. How kings and citizens respond to prophetic warnings matters.

Before being too hard on Pharaoh, consider whether we share his identity-based epistemology. Today, we don’t distrust supernatural prophets. We distrust everything.

If our news source says it, it’s true. If your news source says it, it’s biased. If the facts make our side look bad, they are fake. If scientific results challenge us, it’s a conspiracy. If the courts rule against our side, they are corrupt.

This skepticism extends to biblical teaching. We too often judge the trustworthiness and orthodoxy of pastors by their politics rather than their theological claims. We are in an epistemological crisis. Hard hearts find excuses not to listen. We only trust ear-tickling prophets.

How do we escape this crisis of truth? How can Christians reclaim the mantle of being people devoted to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God?

If I had 10,000 words instead of 400, I still couldn’t answer that. However, I know one step is not asking like Pharaoh, “Who said this that I should believe it?”

We need an Exodus from Pharaoh’s epistemology even if it means wandering in the desert. How we respond to prophets of any kind, matters. Let’s recover a commitment to the truth, no matter who says it or benefits from it.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Show your goodness, O Lord, to those who are good and to those who are true of heart. — Psalm 125.4

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Live Prophetically

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 7 Listen: (3:29) Read: Matthew 18 Listen: (4:25)

Scripture Focus: Exodus 7.1-6

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” 6 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.

Reflection: Live Prophetically

By John Tillman

God makes Moses and Aaron a metaphoric picture of being a prophet.

Prophets speak in a deity’s name as a messenger speaks in a ruler’s name. This was common in preliterate history.

Messengers represented a sender’s words. They delivered a sender’s speech from memory with exact wording and took back exactly worded replies. (2 Samuel 11.19-22; 2 Samuel 14.2-3, 19-20)

Special messengers represented a sender’s will. These messengers went beyond rote memorization. They knew their masters’ minds and spoke freely on their behalf. Examples include Abraham’s servant (Genesis 24.50-58) and Sennacherib’s commander (Isaiah 36.1-5).

Messengers represented a sender’s person. They would be treated with respect due to the sender. Mistreating or disrespecting a messenger was tantamount to treating the sender in the same way. (2 Samuel 10.3-6)

Normal messengers represented the words, will, and presence of their senders. God’s prophets represent the words, will, and presence of God.

There is an important lesson in not responding to prophets as Pharaoh does, but today focus on your prophetic call. You have one.

Whether you can “speak well,” like Aaron, or whether, like Moses, you are “slow of speech” you do not lack any spiritual gift in Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1.7)

Prophecy is not necessarily foretelling the future, but speaking the truth. When we speak the gospel, we tell the truth about the past, present, and future. “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again,” is a prophetic statement.

Be aware and worthy of your prophetic calling.

Faithfully know and represent his words. Read the Bible to know the words of Jesus and how Jesus treated scripture. Follow his interpretive example. Do not distort, leave out, or reinterpret scripture to justify your sin or anyone else’s sin.

Faithfully discern his will and follow his ways. Know the mind of Christ and follow his way. You cannot do his will outside of his ways. (ref) Get wisdom, though it costs you everything. (ref)

Faithfully represent his presence. Be Jesus’ feet and hands, serving the outcast and hurting. Have no “fear of man” or favoritism for the powerful or the weak, but speak the truth lovingly and firmly. Suffer, die, and rise with him, both metaphorically each day and literally one day in the future.

Do not shirk your prophetic calling. There are kings to be confronted and people to be set free. There are wonders to be shown and rescues to be enacted. Live prophetically.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Small Verse

Open, Lord, my eyes that I may see.
Open, Lord, my ears that I may hear.
Open, Lord, my heart and my mind that I may understand.
So shall I turn to you and be healed.

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Testing Before Judgment

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 3 Listen: (3:59), Read: Matthew 14 Listen: (4:14)

Scripture Focus: Exodus 3.18-20

18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

From John: We look back on this post from 2023 to remind ourselves that God tests individuals, his Church, and nations before judgment. Judgment begins with God’s household (1 Peter 4:17). May we not be found with Pharaoh-like hard hearts. May it not take plagues for those God cares for to be set free.

Reflection: Testing Before Judgment

By John Tillman

God told Moses to ask the current Pharaoh for a three-day journey into the wilderness to worship God, presumably at Sinai. Yet, even at the beginning of this story, we know that’s not God’s full intention. God also told Moses that he intended to take all Israel out of Egyptian slavery and return them to Canaan. Is God’s request through Moses a deception? Will not the God of all the earth tell the truth? (Genesis 18.25)

God is not being deceptive. The request is not a lie. It is a test. God is testing Pharaoh’s heart. This story ends with acts of divine violence. It’s important to remember that it starts with a test. Pharaoh fails the test.

Another passage on divine violence is similar. God heard an outcry against Sodom. He sent representatives to test if the city was as bad as the report. (Genesis 18.20-21) Only after testing does God initiate judgment.

Moses, Aaron, and the slowly escalating nature of the plagues provide Pharaoh with off-ramps to escape further judgment. The plagues interrogate Pharaoh’s heart, “Are you as proud and stubborn as I have heard? Will you repent and turn from evil?” What he finds in Pharaoh’s heart seals his fate.

Typically we apply this story by seeing ourselves as Moses, Aaron, or perhaps the suffering Israelites. But it is often helpful to learn from villains as well as heroes. What does the way God tested Pharaoh tell us about God and about testing?

God’s tests prove him righteous. Pharaoh repeatedly “hardened his heart” proving God right about him. Eventually, his chances run out. God is merciful and compassionate, but he does not leave the guilty unpunished. God’s final plague on Pharaoh is to harden Pharaoh’s heart further, making him incapable of letting the people go.

Are there wicked ways within us? Are Pharaoh-like thoughts creeping in?

It is a good spiritual practice to regularly ask God to interrogate our hearts, to test us. Testing from God is a mercy that allows us a chance to humble ourselves and repent.

What happened to Pharaoh doesn’t have to happen to us. God’s tests for his children are not intended to lead to judgment and pain. They are intended to lead to our repentance and sanctification. Soften your heart today to hear him and obey, to repent and rejoice.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

You are my hiding place… you surround me with shouts of deliverance. — Psalm 32.8

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Subverting a King’s Order

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 2 Listen: (3:18), Read: Matthew 13 Listen: (7:23)

Scripture Focus: Exodus 2:6, 10

6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. …

10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

Reflection: Subverting a King’s Order

By Erin Newton

The final words of Exodus 1 are a genocidal edict from Pharaoh. An entire generation of foreign workers were targeted simply because there were a lot of them. The king thinks the Hebrew community will “join my enemies,” thus prejudging them as a sort of problem.

But we see the subversive plan of God at work in chapter 1 when many babies were saved, because Shiphrah and Puah saw each person as valuable and defied the pharaoh’s orders. And just a few verses later, a baby survives by the hands of an Egyptian woman!

Here she is—a member of the powerful, royal family and the majority ethnic group—looking at a Hebrew baby with compassion. In the narrative she stands as a parallel to the same bravery displayed by Shiphrah and Puah.

Pharaoh’s daughter defies her father’s order, not out of some hormonal weakness, but because she sees value in humanity. Despite her family—her community of influence—she made a choice based on principles.

Shiphrah and Puah are among the targeted community. Their actions are strategic, successful, and brave. Pharaoh’s daughter is among the abuser’s community. Her actions are thoughtful, merciful, defiant, and morally right. Shiphrah, Puah, and Pharaoh’s daughter looked at the law of the land, saw it for the evil it was, and did the opposite.

As in ancient history, leaders today are promoting decisions that cast people out, labeling them as the enemy, and pursuing any avenue to eliminate them. When leaders (even leaders we like) choose power over people, over peace, or over principles, we don’t have to follow them or obey them.

For many of us, we are not in the demographic targeted by these decisions. Pharoah’s daughter couldn’t overturn the mandate, or save everyone, but she did what she could for who she could.

When laws or policies are cruel or unjust, what can you do where you are for those affected? Can we be like the brave women of this story? Are we speaking Pharaoh’s words, “throw them into the Nile” or his daughter’s, “I drew him out of the water.”

We are standing by the Nile. The cries of the children and their parents call out. We can stand against evil edicts and save lives or stand by and watch the once-cleansing waters soon turn to blood.

Choose principles over power. Be ready to recognize when your own people are wrong.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Jesus said: “In all truth I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave. Now a slave has no permanent standing in the household, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.” — John 8.34-36

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Poisoning the Heart of the Gospel

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 1 Listen: (2:32), Read: Matthew 12 Listen: (6:41)

Scripture Focus: Exodus 1.8-10, 18-22

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

Reflection: Poisoning the Heart of the Gospel

By John Tillman

“There’s too many detestable foreigners endangering our country.”

Sound familiar? It should. It’s the ideology of the wicked Pharaoh at the beginning of Exodus. Similar ideologies have gripped many governments throughout history.

The spirit of Pharaoh echoes in Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler. He described the threat of non-Germans “poisoning the blood” of the country. He claimed their bad genes weakened the human race and accused them of plotting to control the government and oppress true Germans. Those deemed to be “poisoning the blood” of Nazi Germany were first vilified, then isolated in ghettos, then forcibly relocated to prison labor camps, then executed.

Pharaoh had followed a similar path. The Israelites were isolated, crushed with oppressive, brutal forced labor policies and violence. Then, Pharaoh instituted policies to murder their children.

The spirit of Pharaoh also shows up in China’s persecution of the Uyghur people and Russia’s treatment of Muslim Tatars and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv in Crimea.

“Poisoning the blood” has also been heard with increasing frequency in the last five years of American politics. It is unusual how broadly this phrase has been accepted and normalized. In a poll last year, one-third of Americans (including 60 percent of White Evangelical Protestants) agree with the sentiment that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the United States. (Axios article)

The approval of the phrase “poisoning the blood of our country” among Christians is theologically wrong, morally reprehensible, and politically dangerous. This phrase poisons the heart of the gospel. To believe this phrase, we must call Paul (Acts 17.26; Galatians 3.28), Peter (Acts 2.14-17, 10.34-36; 1 Peter 2.9-10), and Jesus (John 17.21; Matthew 28.19-20) liars.

At The Park Forum, we do not and will not endorse or condemn any political candidate or party, but we pray that faithful Christians in any political party will openly condemn this phrase, its implications, and any policies based in its racist logic. We pray that faithful Christians who have endorsed this phrase will repent after understanding its source, its theological errors, and the logical outcomes of believing it.

We pray that, like Shiphrah and Puah, faithful Christians will resist unjust rulers and policies in any way that God enables. We pray that the hearts of many that have gone cold, will be renewed. We pray that the nations that come to our country, especially those who are fleeing persecution from Pharaoh-like governments in their countries, would hear and experience freedom through the gospel of Christ and the salvation of their souls.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Small Verse

The Lord is my shepherd and nothing is wanting to me. In green pastures he has settled me. — The Short Breviary

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

From John: Because this post condemns a phrase used in politics, I want to clarify how and when The Park Forum has and will speak about political issues. At The Park Forum, we do not and will not have a partisan affiliation. We do not and will not endorse or condemn any candidate or party. We do not and will not write according to the headlines of the day, but according to the text of the day. However, when the text brings up truths that are relevant to political issues of the day, we will speak to those issues according to the text and the whole counsel of scripture without regard or deference to any party or politician’s opinion. We do not seek to be “swayed by others, but…teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” (Mark 12.14) We have readers from both major political parties in the United States and we need faithful Christians to be in both parties. If a Christian is in the Republican or Democratic party, they are not there to toe the line as a good Republican or a good Democrat any more than Moses was to be a good Egyptian, Esther a good Persian, Daniel a good Babylonian, or Shiphrah and Puah obedient subjects of Pharaoh. Whatever your partisan affiliation, rather than toe a party line, we pray you will stand on scripture and be a check on your own party in the name of Jesus Christ. The Park Forum does not exist to change politics but to inform, educate, and inspire a vibrant faith that disciples the reader, strengthens their community of faith, and blesses the world with the gospel of Christ.

Tag: Exodus

Pharaoh’s Epistemology

Links for today’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Exodus 7.22b-23

Exodus 5.2

Reflection: Pharaoh’s Epistemology

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Read more: Tortured Prophets Department

Read more: Conspiracy Theology

Live Prophetically

Links for today’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Exodus 7.1-6

Reflection: Live Prophetically

Divine Hours Prayer: The Small Verse

Read more: Invisible Status

Read more: Choices and Hard Hearts

Testing Before Judgment

Links for today’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Exodus 3.18-20

Reflection: Testing Before Judgment

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

Read more: Proverbs’ House of Mirrors

Read more: Poisoning the Heart of the Gospel

Subverting a King’s Order

Links for today’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Exodus 2:6, 10

Reflection: Subverting a King’s Order

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Read more: Exceptional Emperors

Read more: Resisting in Faith

Poisoning the Heart of the Gospel

Links for today’s readings:

Scripture Focus: Exodus 1.8-10, 18-22

Reflection: Poisoning the Heart of the Gospel

Divine Hours Prayer: The Small Verse

Read more: Divide et Impera

Read more: Gospel Heist