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The events of the Exodus are not only historical realities; they also serve as object lessons in the plan of salvation. Paul wrote,
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did (1 Corinthians 10:1–6 NIV84, emphasis mine).
One of the lessons we can learn from the Exodus as recorded in Scripture is God’s plan to free us from sin, personally, individually, and globally—the human species at the second coming of Christ. (For a deeper dive into the object lesson applications to our deliverance from sin, see these blogs blogs How Faith Parts the Waters Part 1 and Part 2).
In this blog, we will unpack the object lesson application of events that occurred after the Passover and the tenth plague. We find these events in Exodus chapter 12:
During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians (vv. 31–36 NIV84, emphasis mine).
In this account, Pharaoh asks Moses and Aaron to bless him. It is understood that through the events of the ten plagues, these two individuals have been speaking for God. And therefore, Pharaoh is not asking two men to bless him, but asking them, as the agents/representatives of their God, to bless him. In other words, he is asking for God to bless him.
One might think that this is repentance, that Pharaoh, through the painful ordeal, finally comes to his senses, like the Prodigal Son in the pig slop, and turns to God in faith. But, in fact, this is not so. Pharaoh is not repentant, and he asks for a blessing that God cannot provide.
Why? And what are the object lessons for us to understand in this conflict between Christ and Satan?
The Lesson of Pharaoh
Pharaoh represents Satan and all the unrepentant peoples throughout history. As reality unfolds, as God’s gracious interventions are slowly removed and He gives people freedom to reap what they have chosen (Romans 1:18–32; Galatians 6:8, also see our blogs God’s Wrath Versus Satan’s Wrath—What’s the Difference? and The Plagues of Egypt and the Seven Last Plagues: They Are Not the Same), as Satan and his forces reap more fully their choices, they eventually, some now, but all at the end of the 1,000 years, acknowledge what Pharaoh acknowledges in this passage to Moses and Aaron—that their artificial, made-up fantasy way of functioning doesn’t change reality.
Pharaoh acknowledges this by his request, that his false gods cannot bless him; he knows his belief is fiction. Throughout life, many people who are not converted, who are not following God, will find themselves in distress, and in their suffering, when the results of their rebellion against reality, against love, against God’s design laws for life, come bearing upon them, like Pharaoh, ask someone to pray for God’s blessing upon them.
But for those who are like Pharaoh, who are not converted, who are merely tired of the pain their rebellious life has caused them, and who only want deliverance from the pain, suffering, and consequences of their sin, not from the sinfulness in themselves, and ask for a blessing from God will sadly find that God cannot help them. Why? Because God is the God of reality, and He cannot provide fantasy blessings—only reality blessings.
Pharaoh represents those who continue to choose rebellion but want to live in fantasy, where destructive choices are not destructive, where sinful living is not harmful, where indulging lusts does not corrupt, where selfish, abusive, exploitation, and enslavement of others is not evil. God can do nothing for them, not because He doesn’t want to, not because God in His heart is against them, but because they refuse to let Him do what He must do in order to save them (give them His true blessing)—and that is to free their individuality, personhood, self from the spirit of fear, selfishness, pride, and all manifestations of sin. And they would refuse to allow it anyway, because they don’t really want God’s blessing; they want sin without suffering; they want a fantasy world in which sin is only a bad deed that can be legally pardoned and, therefore, be practiced without consequence—as long as the legal pardon is obtained.
But God’s kingdom is the kingdom of reality, built upon the laws our Creator God has built into the operations of the universe. God’s kingdom is not fiction, fantasy, made-up rules with external, artificially imposed punishments; it is not penal/legal but the actual operations of our being. The blessing Pharaoh wanted is not an actual blessing! He wanted more wealth, more power, more adoration for self, which if given to him, would have only further solidified his character into rebellion and sin. The actual blessings of God had already been given to Pharaoh—truth, presented in a stepwise revelation, in love, with freedom to choose to repent and be blessed. But Pharaoh refused to trust God. If Pharaoh would have received the truth and chosen to trust God, like Nebuchadnezzar did years later, he would have been blessed as Nebuchadnezzar was.
If we want God’s blessing, it requires we leave the fantasy of worshiping a god whose kingdom is built upon a human-like impose-law system, with its artificial rules and external punishments, and return to worshiping God as Creator; it requires we repent and respond to the love and truth of God by opening our heart in trust and being reborn with a new heart and right spirit.
Dough Without Yeast
While Pharaoh could not be blessed because he had hardened his heart and refused the blessing of truth that would have led him to repentance, the Hebrew slaves could receive God’s blessing, but only as they chose to respond to God’s truth and love by exercising trust and following His directions. One of those directions was to pack up and leave Egypt.
When the Hebrews left, they took many things with them. We are not given an itemized list of everything they took, but God inspired Moses to specifically record the following, so what do you think of this interesting detail in the text:
… the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing (Exodus 12:34 NIV84).
Various Bible commentaries explain this as an example of their hurried departure and not properly preparing to leave as God had instructed. In other words, it was supposedly an evidence that the people still didn’t trust God, believe Moses, and believe that they were actually going to be set free.
I think such conclusions about the people’s heart attitudes are likely, especially given the subsequent events that demonstrate the people’s lack of trust in God. But, in light of Paul’s comments that these things were recorded as examples for us, I believe there is a powerful object lesson reason this detail was included.
Yeast, in the context of the Passover, represents sin. And the unleavened bread of the Passover represents Jesus. Thus, the bread was without yeast because Jesus was without sin. But there is an additional meaning. Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:1, 14). Thus, the bread of heaven also symbolizes the Word of God. And the dough without yeast represents the written Word of God, which is without sin, without lies, without corruption.
But the dough is also unbaked, not ready for ingestion—what might this represent? As they carried the dough with them on their shoulders, are we to carry the Word of God with us? As they protected the dough with clothing, are we to protect the Word of God within our hearts (symbolically under our clothing)?
And as the dough is uncooked, not ready for ingestion, and must be worked, kneaded, and baked before it is ingested, so also God’s Word contains many truths that require study, wrestling out, and development at the proper time before it is ready for ingestion (e.g., like the prophecies of Daniel).
And just as the dough will continue to produce bread for generations to come, so also God’s living Word continues to bring forth new truth for each subsequent generation, but only as those generations study the Word, prepare their hearts, and then consume the truths contained therein.
So I encourage you to go to God’s Word, filled with divine truth, and study for yourself, work the dough, with a humble heart open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and you will discover a never-ending source of unfolding truth to nurture your soul.
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