Exodus 14, Luke 17, Job 32, 2 Corinthians 2

Date	Version	Reading Plan
@March 3, 2024	ESV (2016)	M’Cheyne Plan 2024

Exodus 14

Exodus 14:13–14 (ESV) 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Moses’ response to the fearful Israelites at the approach of the Egyptians following their exodus is incredibly powerful. It is a sharp rebuke to their grumbling and command to stand firm and proceed in faith because the LORD fights with them. Their deliverance would come by the LORD alone, they need only be silent. When we find ourselves in seasons of great difficulty, responding with anxiety as with the Israelites, this exhortation by Moses provides rest for our souls in that the battle belongs to the LORD.

Luke 17

Luke 17:15–19 (ESV) 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Jesus cleansed ten lepers on His way to Jerusalem and passing along Samaria and Galilee. However, only the Samaritan praised God with a loud voice and fell at the feet of Jesus and gave Him thanks. Samaritans were outsiders and despised neighbors of the Jewish people, so to highlight this particular man’s faith is striking. This example speaks to both the universality of the gospel and the lost that Jesus came to save.

Job 32

Job 32:6–8 (ESV) 6 And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. 7 I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’ 8 But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.

Being younger in age, Elihu explains why he had waited to speak. He had become enraged at the three friends and for Job justifying himself rather than God. There a differing opinions of Elihu as the Believer’s Bible Commentary states:

Many Bible students see him as a picture of Christ, our Mediator. He seems the perfect bridge between Job’s friends’ analysis of his situation and the solution of Jehovah. In short, he is a middleman between men and God, a mediator to prepare for the Lord’s coming on the scene. Other commentators have less favorable views of him, viewing him as a conceited young upstart!

2 Corinthians 2

2 Corinthians 2:15 (ESV) 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,

To be the aroma of Christ to God as His followers is compelling. In this context, the triumphal procession was accompanied with the burning of incense, which meant triumph of the conquerors. Thus, the sense of smell was intentionally recruited in the celebration of victory. Applying this to our context, F. B. Meyer states:

When, therefore, we are told that we may be to God a sweet savour of Christ, it must be meant that we may so live as to recall to the mind of God what Jesus was in His mortal career. It is as though, as God watches us from day to day, He should see Jesus in us, and be reminded (speaking after the manner of men) of that blessed life which was offered as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.

Carson on Exodus 14

whatever means (such as the wind) were ancillary to the parting of the Red Sea, the event, like the plagues, is presented as miraculous—not the normal providential ordering of everything (which regularity makes science possible), but the intervention of God over against the way he normally does things (which makes miracles unique, and therefore not susceptible to scientific analysis). For people to walk on dry land between walls of water (14:21–22) is something the sovereign God of creation may arrange, but no other.

Carson provides a helpful reminder that the working of miracles is entirely the domain of God. As sovereign Lord, only He has the power to intervene within His creation and bring about such events.

Justin Houtz