Called Out by Name
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STUDENT: Wait. Exodus 13 says “celebrate this event.” But you told me to check the Hebrew, and the word underneath is avodah. Strong’s H5656. Service. Work.
PROFESSOR: Good. Now turn back to the first chapter. What were the Hebrews doing in Egypt?
STUDENT: Making bricks. Working the fields. Bitter labor.
PROFESSOR: And the word for that labor?
STUDENT: (pause) It’s the same one. Avodah. The slavery and the celebration are the same word.
PROFESSOR: Why do you suppose God didn’t simply give them a new word?
STUDENT: Because He wasn’t taking the serving away. He was changing who they served.
PROFESSOR: Pharaoh owned their hands. Now look at verse 5 again. When does God tell them to keep this feast?
STUDENT: After He brings them into the land. The Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, Jebusites. But they haven’t even crossed the sea yet.
PROFESSOR: So He’s giving them instructions for a home they’ve never seen.
STUDENT: That’s either very foolish or very certain.
PROFESSOR: (smiling) Which do you think God is?
STUDENT: Certain. He swore it to their fathers. Abraham was promised this land four hundred years before.
PROFESSOR: Then let’s walk forward fourteen centuries. Matthew 2:1. Read it.
STUDENT: “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem.” I don’t see the connection.
PROFESSOR: Jerusalem. Who held that city when Moses was standing at the edge of Egypt?
STUDENT: (flipping back) The Jebusites. They’re in the list. David didn’t take the city until much later.
PROFESSOR: So in Exodus, foreign nations stand between Israel and the promise. In Matthew?
STUDENT: Foreign men are traveling toward it. Looking for the King. Wanting to worship Him.
PROFESSOR: The nations that once blocked the way are now being drawn in. Keep going. Bethlehem. Do you know what it means?
STUDENT: No.
PROFESSOR: Beit, house. Lechem, H3899.
STUDENT: Bread. House of Bread. (long pause) And Exodus 13 is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
PROFESSOR: A meal they were told to keep in the land. And who is born in the House of Bread, in that very land?
STUDENT: The One who said, “I am the bread of life.”
PROFESSOR: And during which feast did He go to the cross?
STUDENT: Passover. The same week as Unleavened Bread. The memorial pointed at Him the whole time.
PROFESSOR: One more name in Matthew 2:1.
STUDENT: Herod.
PROFESSOR: What does Herod do in the rest of the chapter?
STUDENT: He orders the baby boys killed. (stops) That’s Pharaoh. That’s Exodus 1.
PROFESSOR: And where does Joseph take the child?
STUDENT: Egypt. And then Matthew says, “I called my Son out of Egypt.” Jesus walks the Exodus Himself.
PROFESSOR: So tell me what you see now.
STUDENT: God brought Israel out of slavery so their service could become worship. He promised them a land before they had it. And in that land, in the House of Bread, He sent the One who would bring out everyone still in bondage. Even the outsiders. Even the ones from the east.
PROFESSOR: And where does that leave you?
STUDENT: I always thought freedom meant I wouldn’t have to serve anymore.
PROFESSOR: And now?
STUDENT: Now I think I was never meant to stop serving. I was meant to stop serving the wrong master.
PROFESSOR: You are not a slave who escaped. You are a child who was called out by name. The labor that once broke you has been turned into worship. And the land He promised? He spoke of it as finished before you ever set foot there.
STUDENT: Then I’m not waiting to belong.
PROFESSOR: No. You already do.
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