Saturday, December 18, 2010

EXODUS 2010


His mama placed him in a basket down the Nile.  An Egyptian princess found him.  When Moses grew up, one day he killed a guard in defense of a Hebrew slave.  He fled into the Sinai, where The Lord, in the form of a burning bush, told him to lead His People out of Egypt.   

The Nile is life to the Fertile Crescent

Cairo full of life

Floating down the Nile not in a basket

 Climax in human creativity occurred 5000+ years ago

Beautiful Arab culture

Civilization's most intriguing piece of art

Moses rounded up the Hebrews.  They took with them gold, silver, and whatever they could get.  The pharoah changed his mind and went after them, but the parted Red Sea closed in on him.  The Hebrews didn't like the desert; they complained for forty years:  No water! Water taste bad! We want better food!  We were better off in Egypt!  Who does Moses think he is!

Land of giants

Journey to solve the Riddle of the Sphinx

Ship sailing through the desert?

The sea did not part that day

The desolate Sinai is the heart of the Exodus experience
 
Pointing at the Burning Bush!

Petra

Forty years was a long time, and a lot happened.  In the end there were the second set of Ten Commandments, the Ark holding the tablets, and the traveling Tabernacle.  Though it all the Lord fed them everyday, and their clothes never wore out.   At Mount Nebo, Moses saw the Land of Milk and Honey, and then he died.  All those originally left Egypt also died without stepping into the Promise Land.  Moses's nephew, Joshua, lead the new generation of His Chosen People, broke down the walls of Jericho.

 Still fighting for The Land of Milk and Honey

Entering the Old City of Jerusalem

A perfect olive tree in Nazareth

The Exodus in the Bible documented human being's rebellious and stiff-neck nature, even at the display of blatant Miracles--which is illogical but which defines Human Nature.  In other words, it is against human nature to see and live the Miracles!  It is human nature to see a Miracle and then refute It quickly.  Ready beauty, ready peace, ready wealth are not to be trusted without first pain and suffering.  Let go and let God.  Riddle solved.     

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