Sticmann Ink

Category: Exodus

  • The end will come

    Matthew 24 begins with a proclamation by Jesus against the temple in Jerusalem, that not one stone would be left upon another. The rest of the chapter expounds on this judgment. Jesus says that these wars and famines and earthquakes are the beginning of birth pains, but then goes on to say that tribulation and apostasy and […]

  • Justice for all

    Peter Leithart pointed out in his talk at the BH conference that the emphasis on the treatment of widows and orphans that comes up so often in scripture is not a showing of favoritism – in fact, that is expressly forbidden in the law (Ex 23:3, Lev 19:15). Rather, it is the litmus test of […]

  • Servant-kings

    Moses didn’t just stand up on the mountain to give the law. He sat with the people and took on the burden of hearing and judging their individual cases. When God was angry with the sin of the people, Moses  prayed that God would blot him out of His book rather than destroy the people. The blessing […]

  • Slaves to sin, slaves to God

    We are all slaves. The Hebrews had made themselves slaves to the worthless gods of the Egyptians, so God made them slaves to Pharaoh. God did not bring the people out of Egypt so they could be an autonomous, self-mastered people. He spoke to Pharaoh through Moses, “Let my people go, that they may serve […]

  • A new people, a new temple

    Everett Fox, in his translation of the five books of Moses, points out that covenants were widely used to establish political relationships between kings and vassals, granting privileges and obligations for the parties involved. But no other ancient society “conceived of the possibility that a god could ‘cut a covenant’ with a people.” Calvin writes, “and […]

  • More significant than yourselves

    There isn’t a lot of good said about Israel during the Exodus account. It is a long series of complaints against God and against His chosen prophet. Fewer than five months since God had brought them up out of Egypt with great signs, had rescued them from armies, and had fed them with bread and […]