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In every situation, in every temptation, every trial and every adversity, there is hope. That hope may not be in the way we think it should be, but, nonetheless, there is hope just the same. As the sons of Israel’s expectations were raised from the humiliating treatment of their taskmasters to deliverance as an outcome of the visit of Moshe and Aaron with Pharaoh, they become illuminated with a long awaited glimmer of hope. Yet, at the threshold of what they hopefully expected they had to cross over humanities largest feat as they waited upon YHVH’s action opposed to man’s idealistic plans.
Do not take this wrong, YHVH wants us to hope, it is just that He wants our hopes, our dreams, our aspirations to be of Him, to Him and about Him in all aspects of our achievements. As the Hebrew race began to rebound from despondency, they placed their hopes in an outcome that was not given to them. As a matter of fact, Torah states that “Aaron spoke all the words which YHVH had spoken to Moshe.”1 If they had listened carefully, they would have known that Pharaoh would only act upon compulsion and that he would not believe Moshe’s words, signs or in their Elohim.
The sons of Israel were looking for immediate gratification for their suffering. This is not a character flaw on their behalf. Anyone that was being used as slave laborers enduring mistreatment would want an end to come swiftly. The sons of Israel were longing to have freedom from tyranny. Imagine how they yearned to taste the pleasures of their own labors for themselves and to have the promises fulfilled in their midst that would supersed the pressing moment of directives, orders and timetables.
Meanwhile, Moshe has spent forty years in the wilderness as a shepherd of flocks. When he left Egypt, escaping for his life, he did not have expectations of returning or of being used by YHVH as the children of Israel’s long awaited deliverer. YHVH appeared to Moshe in the burning bush, just to get his attention. With his curiosity peaked, YHVH was able to discuss with Moshe what His plans were for delivering His people and how Moshe would be His instrument. YHVH told Moshe, not only how to approach Pharaoh. He, also, was told that he would bring the people out of Egypt, and that Moshe would go back to that same mountain and worship Elohim there.
With each word that YHVH gives, there is hope. It is imperative to wait upon YHVH to allow that hope to be revealed. In this case, the hope of surviving an encounter with Pharaoh and bringing the people out of Egypt was surmised with the returning to the mountain to YHVH to worship Him. Even if no one went that far with Moshe, his directive was to return and worship. A peripheral aspiration on Moshe’s behalf could have been that the people would worship with him—nothing more, nothing less.
As we know, it was not quite that simple for the people to make this transition; however, for Moshe, it was precisely that simple. Once committed, Moshe interceded for the people and, even, for Pharaoh. All of Moshe’s participation was fostered by YHVH as he sought clear understanding of what next to do, what to expect and what to say. While Aaron was needed as a security blanket at first, Moshe began to lean upon the staff that YHVH had used to show His power.
That staff of His power is the representation of Truth. It is the veracity of YHVH’s Word that is complete and accomplishes all that He sends it forth to accomplish.2 The hope we carry with us begins with the promises, the covenants, the statutes and commands that YHVH gives to man. They are the yes and amen of YHVH so that man may grow in faith, knowing that YHVH does not lie. As Moshe leaned upon the very staff that YHVH used as His instrument, he began to realize that YHVH was true and never failing. He gained confidence that he could do the tasks he was commissioned to accomplish. Along with the signs that accompanied the presence of the staff, the staff itself was the only tangible evidence that YHVH used to speak to Moshe and the he would deliver the sons of Israel out of Egypt and captivity.
Moshe’s staff was used to accomplish what YHVH commanded in many ways, Not only did it become a snake in Pharaoh’s courts; it consumed the magician’s snakes. It represented the infallible truth that could not be replaced by imitations or consumed by worldly logic or conjuring.
These, along with the same miracle in Horeb are both wonderful insights to the power of YHVH’s word. Not for the miracle in and of itself, but the representation that the serpent of old does not have power over YHVH or His word. In the Garden, the serpent circumvented YHVH’s desires and word through man. Man has paid for this tragedy ever since. Yet, YHVH’s plan anticipated man’s character and the serpents charming skills. In as much YHVH used Moshe’s staff to exemplify the power of His Word over the enemy. Instructing Moshe to grab the serpent by the tail which became his staff once again is indicative of the serpent being used by YHVH to do His will, to test man and to sift him for the service that lay before him in YHVH’s courts. Also, the ability to not be bitten by the serpent but to be in command, the head and not the tail, was pinpointing our place and power as YHVH’s people. It is not our power or will that places the serpent in his rightful place. It is the Word of YHVH alone that accomplishes this task. His Spirit breathes into us the Life and the Word that is written on the inside of our hearts. It is His voice that instructs us how to use that Word and when to use it, as well.
The serpent knew, and knows, the Word, better than we do. The magicians of Egypt are evidence of this by turning their staffs into serpents. With our eyes, we would see defeat in three against one. However, YHVH’s approach was to eat up the serpents and all that they represented, this done in the sight of Pharaoh, as a witness to those who believed, Moshe and Aaron, along with the elders of Israel.
Upon departing from the presence of Pharaoh after his edict to no longer ration straw and to continue the brick quotas, Moshe finds himself in his upcoming role of an intercessor for the people. He intercedes on their behalf. His hope is not diminished, just jolted, and gathers resolve to seek the way in which YHVH will deliver His people.
Our hope is not that isolated from Moshe’s staff. Our hope lays in Yeshua, the Word made flesh that dwelt among us. He is the living Staff that walked and spoke out the things that Moshe received from YHVH at Mount Sinai. While Adam was a broken staff that could not accomplish His Word in the totality that was necessary for us to be completely yielded to YHVH, Yeshua is the whole staff that was broken for our benefit so that we would be joined back to Him as we are abiding in Him and living for Him. We must use Messiah as our walking stick, our staff, to seek hope, walk in obedience and to be comforted while we sojourn in this world.
It is through Messiah, as the staff, or rod, that the world will recognize His authority and position. “The government will on His shoulders”.3 He uses us as His staff to reach other sheep that belong to Him, to protect ourselves and those sheep from the wilderness beasts that seek to devour our lives. His staff reaches out to rescue sheep that are in distress. His sheep know the look and feel of their Master’s staff. We, as wayward sheep, look to it for guidance and security to know that we are following the rightful Shepherd. When His sheep hear the sound of the staff being used for their defense or their discipline, they know that it is His wisdom and truth that are coming to their help. Without that rod, YHVH’s sheep would not know which way to go and how to get there.
Many are able to counterfeit the voice of the Master, but only those shepherds with the staff of YHVH in their hands will the genuine believer follow. They follow because they know that it represents the hope of eternal life in their Messiah. It is the truth that has guided them thus far out of bondage of sin and death, the curse of the law, and into the wilderness where instruction is given and practiced so that they will, one day, cross over into the Promised Land for the inheritance promises.
While we as sheep, sometimes, do not like the experience of the rod of discipline, we tend to want to see how flexible the staff is. In doing so, we compromise the staff and try to make it say what we think it should say. We demand our own way. We want the outcome to be immediate and the vindication to be swift. We just want it our way. YHVH’s staff does not work according to the dictates of man. It shows us the way to Him and we must follow, as one following the banner into the hills and valleys, we must follow our Savior with His staff in hand.
Even as the Psalmist points out, “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me,” each step of the journey finds new comfort and rest knowing that His staff is with us. Each step can be a renewal of the covenant within our hearts to find realization that YHVH is real, He sanctifies with Truth, His Word is Truth4 and He will lead us through the paths of righteousness and the still waters for His name’s sake.
While our motives and our concerns do not always fit with what happens, the outcome is always the same. It is YHVH’s doing. We may not understand it. Those inspired decisions may make us angry, but it is the way used by YHVH to bring about each and every outcome in our lives. He is as interested in the process as we are in the outcome. YHVH’s desire for us is to see the staff in His hand and wait for it to show us what’s next. If we are careless, then we backslide into complacency, if we rush onward, then we get in the way and ahead of what He is doing. We find ourselves overwhelmed and in need of His rescue once again.
The staff of Moshe that YHVH used was seen daily by the people in the wilderness. It went with the cloud and it stopped within the cloud. For those of you that are called and chosen, you will find that staff within the cloud yourselves. You will be guided there by the Staff, Messiah, and, hopefully, will remain there with Him forever. It is not easy to wait, nor is it easy to be content with each and every event, but it is easy to find the loving arms of the Shepherd when we allow ourselves to be guided by His rod and staff.
Remember the scriptures which concern the sons of Israel and us, as their future descendants, “Moshe therefore spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods.” “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;”5 And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS (GENTILES); AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father”.6
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