Daily Lesson for Monday 28th of July 2025

One would expect God to instruct Moses and Aaron about how to organize the departure from Egypt: that is, how to make provisions for the escape, especially for the elderly, mothers with small children, animals, and so forth. Instead, God’s instruction is surprising: He tells them how to celebrate the Passover. In other words, the focus is on worshiping the Lord, who was going to redeem them. Everything else would follow in due time.

Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com

Each family was to prepare a lamb, with nothing wasted. Everyone had to eat his or her portion, and if the family could not consume the entire lamb, they were to eat the meal together with another family.

The Exodus was to be celebrated regularly each year, not merely as a commemoration of a past event of what God had done for their forefathers but also as the actualization of God’s liberating act for the present generation. This was to be a fresh experience for each group.

Verses 12 and 13 explain the meaning of the Passover: the divine judgment of destruction will “pass over” the Israelites; thus, they were to commemorate “Passover.” This word is a combination of two words, “pass” and “over,” because the destruction “passed over” the Israelite homes on which the doorposts had been marked by the blood of the lamb, the sign of life and salvation. In Hebrew, the name of Passover is Pesach, from a verb that means “to pass over.”

The celebration of the Passover was to remind every Israelite of the mighty and gracious acts of God on behalf of His people. This celebration helped to secure their national identity and seal their religious convictions.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-05-healing-the-body/

Daily Lesson for Sunday 27th of July 2025

The prophet Amos declares that “ ‘the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets’ ” (Amos 3:7, ESV), and through the prophet Moses, He revealed to Pharaoh what was coming next. The most solemn warning was given to Pharaoh. This will be a just judgment upon pride, exploitation, violence, and idolatry, all of which have triggered these calamities upon Egypt.

Image © Educational Concepts Collection at Goodsalt.com

God gave Egypt time—three days of darkness (Exodus 10:22-23)—to think about recent events and what they meant. He also provided their last explicit warning, the last chance to do the right thing.

But Exodus 11:8 says that Moses “went out from Pharaoh in great anger” (NKJV). Why would Moses leave in anger? Most likely because he knows the tragedy, the tenth plague, is going to hit a lot of innocent people—all because of Pharaoh’s hardness of heart.

Also, the number ten is significant in biblical symbolism. Ten represents fullness or completeness. (Think of the Ten Commandments as a complete revelation of the divine moral law.) The ten Egyptian plagues point to God’s full expression of His justice and retribution.

God is the Judge, and He is against pride, injustice, discrimination, arrogance, exploitation, cruelty, and selfishness. He is on the side of the sufferers, the abused, the mistreated, and the persecuted. God will execute justice, which truly is another expression of His love. (See Psalms 2:12, Psalms 33:5, Psalms 85:11, Psalms 89:14, Psalms 101:1, Isaiah 16:5, Jeremiah 9:24.)

We too should try the best we can to be both loving and just. However, we can easily fall into extremes, one way or another. Out of “love” we turn a blind eye to wrongs, to things that need to be corrected. Or we can coldly execute justice as if it were something made of steel. Neither extreme is correct. Instead, this is the ideal: “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8, NKJV).

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-05-one-more-plague/