Read for This Week’s Study
Exod. 15:22–16:36, Gen. 3:1–6, Exod. 17:1–7, 1 Cor. 10:4, Exod. 18:1–27, 1 Cor. 10:11.
Memory Text:
“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.’ So the people rested on the seventh day” (Exodus 16:28–30, NKJV).
After leaving Egypt, Israel was on an unknown journey to the Promised Land. The people faced a demanding and long trek, and they needed to learn a multitude of new lessons. The Lord would lead and care for them; and, yes, He desired to help them grow, but they must learn discipline, self-control, sacrifice, unselfishness, trust in the Lord, and especially obedience.
Moses was a visible leader, and the people had to follow him and his leadership if they were to triumph. It was crucial for them to stay together, to cooperate as a community, and to assist each other. There were many hindrances and challenges ahead. So much of their spiritual growth would depend on how they met those challenges and how they responded to Moses, especially when the challenges became great.
The familiar Chinese saying that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” was true in their situation, and they needed to trust the Lord’s directions with every footstep. Tragically, as we will see, they didn’t learn those lessons so easily.
But then again, who does?
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 16.
Supplemental EGW Notes
Many look back to the Israelites, and marvel at their unbelief and murmuring, feeling that they themselves would not have been so ungrateful; but when their faith is tested, even by little trials, they manifest no more faith or patience than did ancient Israel.
God had promised to be their God, to take them to Himself as a people, and to lead them to a large and good land; but they were ready to faint at every obstacle encountered in the way to that land. . . . They forgot their bitter service in Egypt. They forgot the goodness and power of God displayed in their behalf in their deliverance from bondage. They forgot how their children had been spared when the destroying angel slew all the first-born of Egypt. They forgot the grand exhibition of divine power at the Red Sea. They forgot that while they had crossed safely in the path that had been opened for them, the armies of their enemies, attempting to follow them, had been overwhelmed by the waters of the sea. They saw and felt only their present inconveniences and trials; and instead of saying, “God has done great things for us; whereas we were slaves, He is making of us a great nation,” they talked of the hardness of the way, and wondered when their weary pilgrimage would end.
The history of the wilderness life of Israel was chronicled for the benefit of the Israel of God to the close of time. The record of God’s dealing with the wanderers of the desert in all their marchings to and fro, in their exposure to hunger, thirst, and weariness, and in the striking manifestations of His power for their relief, is fraught with warning and instruction for His people in all ages. The varied experience of the Hebrews was a school of preparation for their promised home in Canaan. God would have His people in these days review with a humble heart and teachable spirit the trials through which ancient Israel passed, that they may be instructed in their preparation for the heavenly Canaan.—Conflict and Courage, p. 94.
The sin of the Egyptians was that they had refused the light which God had so graciously sent to them through Joseph. While many accepted that light, of many more it could be said, God is not in all their thoughts. And the message sent to testify to them of God’s displeasure was, “Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” Christ died for every soul in Egypt, and every soul was to have the light. The righteous were not to be excluded from the wicked, but kept by the power of God from receiving the mold and spot of the transgressor.—“God’s Representatives [Moses],” Youth’s Instructor, April 15, 1897, par. 7.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.