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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. To all my fellow pastors, I've got a question for you. Does your city know that your church exists? Listen, I get it. You're preaching, you're leading, you're discipling, you're doing ministry. We are in the same boat. And let's be honest, social media and marketing, not your strong suit. Not mine either. And that's probably the last thing on your mind. And that's why we chose to partner with Church Candy Marketing for our church Plant the garden. We out here, y'all. They help churches get more actual guests walking through the doors on Sunday without your eye having to stress over ads or algorithms or trying to crack the social media code. Right now, Church Candy is helping nearly 400 churches reach their communities with simple invite ads. And it works. It's super effective. I can tell you from firsthand experience. So if you're tired of being your city's best kept secret, how about you do this? Go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a free consultation book a discovery call. Their team will break it all down and show you how to start seeing new faces at your church this Sunday. I'm in the trenches with you trying to grow the church. And how about we just start a whole campaign? No more empty churches. So let's partner with Church Candy and get our churches full. The glory of Jesus. Let's go. I think that this content is awesome. Like, I think that these, these three chapters are really, really incredible. The theme of these three chapters is going to be testing. That is exactly what's happening. The people, rabbis would say, are on a 40 day journey in the wilderness from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai where they are going to enter into a covenant relationship with Yahweh in Exodus chapter 19. Okay, so Exodus chapter 15 is the crossing of the Red Sea. Or the song about the crossing of the Red sea. Exodus chapter 14 is the crossing of the Red Sea. Then 15, you get a song about it. It's a mythological rendering of the crossing of the Red Sea. And then chapter 16, 17 and 18 is the journey toward the Mount Sinai from the Red Sea. And then when you get to chapter 19, you're actually at Mount Sinai and you are going to get the marriage covenant between Yahweh and his people, Israel. So we've got three chapters where rabbis say, it's supposed to. It was a 40 day journey. And so we get. We actually, we're going to get four tests, okay? And we're going to look at all four tests. So context clues. First, let me give you like, big picture, big picture, context. We're gonna go to Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 2, which is Moses meditating, thinking, pondering, pontificating about the wilderness experience that he's had with the people for the past 40 years. And he says this in Deuteronomy, chapter 8, verse 2 is gonna give us context to understand these four tests. Says this. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years? To humble and test you in order to know what is in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. So some key words there. Remember, okay, how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years. So God was leading you in the wilderness these 40 years. I wasn't the one leading you. God was the one leading you. Next, what was the purpose of this? Leading you in the wilderness? What was God doing? It was to humble you, okay? It was to test you in order to know what was in your heart. Now, wait a second. God's omniscient. Why does he need to know what's in their heart? Well, that's the reason that we would ask that question is because in the Western world, knowing something happens up here in the head, okay? We have a cerebral knowledge of information. But in an Eastern world, knowing is about experience. So you could kind of sub out the word know for knowledge through intimate experience. Okay? To humble and test you in order to experience through intimacy what was in your heart. Okay? Now this is also another paradigm shift for us in, in the west, because for us, a test is pass, fail. Did I pass the test? Did I fail the test for the. For God? And for an Eastern audience, for an Eastern culture, the question is not did I pass the test or did I fail the test? The, the result of the test is, does God now know the truth? Okay, it's funny, cause I'm. I'm obviously in leadership. I'm a leader. And so I'll be in dialogue with various team members. And sometimes, you know, I, I will often say, like, everything's a test, everything's a test. And, you know, some of our team will respond and say, did I say the wrong thing? Like, did I do the wrong Thing. And I'll say, there is no wrong thing. Like, take that out of your mind, there is no wrong thing. However you responded to the test that I, as the leader administered. It just reveals the truth. Tests are not about, did I say the right thing or the wrong thing. Tests reveal the truth. They reveal what's actually there at the end of the day. If, if I say, hey, we're gonna do a physical exertion test to see how fast you are, see how long you can run, or see how much you can bench press. There's no right or wrong weight to bench press. It's just I, I gotta know what your actual capacity is. So we in the west tend to think about tests as, ah, did I say the right thing? Did I say the wrong thing? Did I do the right thing? Did I do the wrong thing? Did I pass? Did I fail? And for God. God, I think, is thinking more along the lines of, the goal is that we experience life together. That's the goal. The goal is intimate knowledge through experience. I want you to remember that the Bible says that Adam knew his wife Eve, and that she became pregnant. So knowledge in the Bible is not, you know, he did not study her for her to become pregnant. That's not what happened. They had sexual relations, they had sexual intercourse. They were sexually intimate. And through that intimacy, the Bible describes that experience as knowledge. I now know Eve, I now know Adam. So, so God is going, it's not about passing or failing. It's about me knowing you. If I'm going to be your covenant God, if I'm going to be the God that's in covenant relationship with you, then it's not about you saying the right thing or saying the wrong thing. It's actually about us experiencing the journey together. I think a lot of times we are very destination focused, which is why we want to know the right answer, the wrong answer. Because how many sermons have you heard about this? You know, the journey should have taken like, you know, a certain amount of time, but it took 40 years because they just kept failing. It's like, okay, that's one way to look at it or the other way to look at it. Is it, it was going to be what it was going to be. And God is actually wants to experience those 40 years. I don't think God sees those 40 years as a waste of time. Obviously we know that God's outside of time. He, he doesn't care if it's this generation, the next generation, the next generation. I think God is, I think we get stressed out about wanting to do things in a certain time. I don't think God is stressed out. I think God is. Is way more chill and lax. Cause at the end of the day, this. This is why God can't be manipulated. This is why God can't be someone who you negotiate with. Because for God, he's just kind of like, hey, like, this is. I don't. I'm not betting on this game. Like, that's. God's perspective. Is not like, man, I'm gonna really lose some money if they fail this test. Like, that's not God's perspective. All right, let's get into these four tests. Cause they're really, really significant. This is. These really. This will take up all of our nerdy nuggets. So our context clue. I just want to wrap our minds around the idea of testing in an ancient world, in a Jewish world, so that we can think about these four tests. First test is Exodus, chapter 15, verses 22 to 27. We have the bitter waters of Mara. Now, let me actually just give you all four tests as a list, and then I'll kind of go through them. Uh, the second test is Exodus, chapter 16, verses 1 through 36. In terms of just biblical real estate, this is the longest one. And this is manna, quail. And they can't collect on the Sabbath, so they gotta collect an omer each day. They gotta get two omers on the sixth day. Cause they can't collect on the Sabbath. And we'll talk about what's going on in that test. And then the third test is Exodus, chapter 17, verses 1 through 7. And you are going to get water from the mountain. Mount Horeb. Okay? So we got two water tests. We got a. The bitter waters of Mara kind of start this whole thing off so that the people are thirsty and the water's bitter. And then you get. The people are hungry, but there's a little bit more nuance than that. So we're going to get manna and quail. And then the third test, people thirsty again, Wander around in the desert. Okay? They need something to drink. And so Exodus, chapter 17, verse 1 to 7. And then lastly, the Amalekites are going to attack the people of Israel. This is Exodus, chapter 17, verse 8 to 16. And so four tests. And we're going to kind of dive into each test. I'll give you probably a nerdy nugget for each of the four tests. Okay. First, let's go to Exodus, chapter 15, verse 22. I'll pull it up in Logos. Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went into the desert of shore for three days. They traveled in the desert without finding water. So this is no bueno. When they came to Mara, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. Now, remember, Moses has been all through this desert, okay? He has spent 40 years in this desert. And it's Moses who leads them to this place that is supposed to have water, but the water's bitter. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, what are we to drink? Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it in the water, and the water became fit to drink. Awesome. This is great. There, the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. Wait a second. What? What is the ruling? What is the instruction? What is the test? Some people may assume that the test is what happens in the next verse, verse 26. He said, if you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you. Then they came to Elim, where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees. And they camped there near the water. Huh. This is odd. This is just odd. And sometimes I think there's a lullaby effect when you read Scripture. Like, one of the things I hear the least when people talk is telling me that things are odd. But things are odd all the time. But because you hear things so many times, you're not paying attention to it. By the way, if you've never heard me talk about the lullaby effect, it's. The words to the song are crazy. Okay? Rockaby baby in a treetops when the wind blows, the cradle will rock when the bow breaks, the cradle will fall and Dao will come Baby, cradle, and all this. These are terrible words. These lyrics are terrible. We're talking about, is the baby dead? There's so many questions that we're supposed to ask. Who? What evil sociopath? What psycho put a baby in a tree? Second of all, is the baby alive? There's so many obvious questions, but why don't we ask those questions? We don't ask those questions because the melody kind of makes you not pay attention to the lyrics, okay? So sometimes the Bible can become white noise. You've heard the Bible so many times, you're so familiar, that there's all these questions that you should ask. Who put a baby in a Tree. Is the baby dead? But you don't end up asking those questions because you're desensitized to the Bible because of the nut, the lulling effect of the melody. Okay, first of all, there, the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. What? What test? Now, here's where the rabbis are going to. This midrash is going to add a lot of help. The rabbis say that actually they get to a well here, that the water's bitter, Moses throws some wood in there, makes the water good. And the ruling is that everyone who's elderly or sick has to drink first. And that everyone who is able bodied has to wait. And that an entire nation of people has to share one well. That. That's actually the test that makes a whole lot of sense because then God talks about their disease. He says, if you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. For I, the Lord, I heal. I'm a God who heals. And how does he heal? God heals through community. And so when the community is loving and the community says, hey, anyone with sickness, anyone with ailment, we're going to put the weakest people in the front. They can drink first. What happens? There's a reward. What's the reward? Verse 27. Then they came to Elim. They go right around the corner, and what do they find? 12 springs. Why do they find 12 springs? There's 12 tribes. So in one story, they've got to share one source of water. They've got to prioritize the sick, they've got to prioritize those who are vulnerable. And because they pass the test, see, so often we only talk about the test that Israel fails. They actually pass this test because they passed the test. What's the reward? The reward is that I'll lead you to a place with 12 springs, more than enough for people who are willing to sacrifice and love their neighbor like they love themselves, then God will always give you what you need. My pastors say it like this. Whatever you make happen for others, God will make happen for you. If God can get it through you, he'll get it to you, right? It's this idea that if I have a scarcity mindset, man, water's gonna run out. I better get up there. Grandma's taking a long time. But if I have an abundance mindset, I say, hey, yeah, no, let the kids go. Let the women go. Let the sick go. Let the disabled go. Let. Let the elderly go. Let the weak go. Let the vulnerable go. Let. Let. Let the least among us actually get what they need. And then God, because they pass a test, then there's a blessing. And the blessing starts in verse 26. Hey, I'll take away your disease. I'll be the God that heals you. And then verse 27, There's a reward. And that reward is that God leads them to 12 springs with 70 palm trees. It's just like this lush oasis in the middle of the desert. Bible department family, it's Dr. Manny Arango. And first thing I want to say is that I'm proud of you for completing the New Testament. You did it. And now that we're in the Old Testament, I hope that looking at Genesis and Exodus from an ancient perspective and worldview has kind of like opened your eyes. Well, I got news for you. If you've enjoyed some of the interpretations that I've brought to the table from Genesis, then that's just the tip of the iceberg. This entire book, crushing chaos with was written from an ancient hermeneutic. I'm looking at stories like the flood, Adam and Eve from the perspective of an ancient person. And we've got an event coming up on April 26th where I'll take a lot of the content from this book and I'll turn that content into live lectures. You don't want to miss it. You can actually register for that event right now. The link is in the description and more, more than content. I think what you'll find as we gather together in Nashville are like minded believers and friends in a community of people that you don't just watch content with online that you can get to know in person. I'd love to see you in Nashville. I'd love to hug you. High five you. And I'd love to nerd out together for one day as we come together in Nashville to learn about how to crush chaos. I'll see you in Nashville. Peace. Okay, next test. They are hungry, but I want you to get some of these details. The whole Israelite community set out from Ellem and came to the desert of sin, which is between Ellem and Sinai. They're on their way to Sinai on the 15th day, second month after they had come out of Egypt desert. The whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, 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. Key word here is wanted. But you have brought us out to this desert to starve this entire assembly to death. Now, what you need to do is you gotta read chapter 17, verse 3. Israelites said to them, 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 the desert to starve this entire assembly to death. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. That 16:3. I'll take you to 17:3. Okay, you're gonna get a little clue, because what are they complaining about? They want meat. They want meat. But what does 17, verse 3 say? But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses saying, why did you bring us out of Egypt? To make us and our children and livestock die of thirst. They had meat, they got livestock. What are you talking about? So the issue here is that God has provided what they need, but not what they wanted. So now they're making demands of their desires. That's actually the test that God leads them out into the wilderness. And God has grace. When you start complaining, well, not complaining, but when you make your request known based on needs that you have. But when you can't delineate the difference between needs and wants, that's when there's a problem. Now, there's a communal aspect to this second test as well, because here's what happens. It says that there's some people that you're supposed to get an omer. Now, an omer's not a lot of manna. God miraculously provides manna. It's an omer. Not a lot. But then it says that those who grabbed more than they needed and some grabbed not enough, but everybody had enough. Which means either two things happen. It either means that God miraculously multiplied the manna once people gathered it, or it means that God miraculously provided for the people who didn't have enough through the people who had more than enough. Because remember, these tests are actually designed to test the community, not just the individual. And so you would think if people gotta go and grab mana, they are weak, they're disabled. There are all kinds of people in this community. Not everybody can get up and go out and actually provide for themselves. But. But everyone is provided for because God is not just testing individuals, he's testing a community. We'll see this later. When the people of Israel get into the land of Canaan. There's a man by the name of Achan. And the Bible says that the whole community Sins because one individual kept some. Some of the devoted things. Okay? Everyone sinned because one person sinned. Okay, third test. It's actually water from Mount Horeb. And I'll summarize, because we gotta wrap this up. God, they need water. God actually leads Moses 15 miles away with the elders to go get some water. And God says, I'm gonna stand in front of the rock and strike to kill. Okay? This is the same word that's used when Moses struck the Egyptian and killed the Egyptian. And God is saying, my people are grumbling and complaining. Guess what they deserve. They deserve to be struck with the shepherd's rod. But Moses, instead of striking them, strike me. This is the gospel right here in Exodus, chapter 17. That he who knew no sin became sin so that we may become the righteous of God. Anyone who says that the Old Testament is legalistic and the New Testament is grace, they don't know what they're talking about, and they never read the Bible. Here's grace right here in the Old Testament. And then fourth test, the Amalekites, There's a battle with the Amalekites. Now, the Amalekites are desert raiders. So their tactic is to attack from behind. And who's at the back of the caravan? The weak, disabled people who walk slow. So rabbis say this. You know the values of a ethnic, ethnic, ethnic group or tribe or people group based on where they place the marginalized. If they place the marginalized in the middle. And that means they're protecting everybody who's weak and vulnerable. But if you put the marginalized in the back, and that means you are expecting raiders like the Amalekites to attack from the back and begin to pick off those that are weak. And so what does Moses say? This is the key words here. Exodus, chapter 17. He says this to Joshua, choose some of our men to go out to fight the Amalekites. The ESV actually says it really, really well. That says, choose men who will fight for us. Not men who will fight for themselves, but men who will fight for us. Why? Because God is testing them to see whether or not they don't just love him, but do you love one another? The way that I just kind of talked through all four of those tests, a very, very Eastern way, talking through this, a very communal way of talking through this. It doesn't really scratch the individual itch of the Western reader, but the reality is that I'm reading this stuff in its proper context. Okay, what is the timeless truth? So many timeless truths, but the timeless Truth is this, that I cannot love God without loving neighbor. That I cannot say, I love a God who I can't see, and I don't love the people who God's placed in my life who I do see. Jesus says this. This is how the world will know that you're my disciples. If you love one another, will you go grab manna for the person who can't? Will you put the marginalized in the middle? Will you fight for yourself? Or will you fight for your brother to protect your. Your people? Will you wait at a well, believing that if I'm faithful to wait, God will give us all individual springs? These are communal tests, and they're testing Israel's ability to be a unit and to prioritize those among them for the least. And the lost Jesus actually echoes this. He says, whatever you do, when the disciples say, when did we clothe you? When did we visit you in jail? When did we feed you? When did we do any of that stuff? Jesus says, whatever you did for the least of these, you actually did it for me. And so Jesus gets that from where? He gets that right out of the Old Testament. He gets that out of his Bible. All right. That's our timeless truth, man. 101 days down, I guess. 264 days to go. If you're on a streak, don't break it. If you're not on a streak, let's start one. I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 102 as we continue our journey through the book of Exodus. Love you guys. So proud. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.