Sabbath Thought – Coming Out of Egypt

In Genesis 17 God promised great blessings to Abraham’s descendants. So why did God allow Israel to be slaves for so many centuries? Part of it was to allow the Amorites time to repent (Genesis 15:16). Part of it was to show the Egyptians how morally and spiritually bankrupt their culture was (more than once in Scripture Egypt is used as a representative of the culture of sin in the world). Part of it was to show Israel (and the surrounding nations) just how powerful and true to His Word God is.

As the time drew near for God to deliver Israel out of Egypt He gave specific instruction to the nation of Israel. He started with giving them the right calendar (Exodus 12:2) then He gave them instruction about the upcoming Passover – setting aside the lamb (verse 3), gathering as families, putting blood on the doorframe of each house (verse 7) before the Death Angel was to go through the land.

The death of the firstborn was a devastating blow to Egypt – every Egyptian home experienced death (verse 30). By this time there was no more resistance to Israel’s departure. In fact, the Israelites spent the next day (daylight portion of Abib 14) “spoiling” the Egyptians – which was actually payment for the centuries of servitude. Israel then gathered as a nation in the early hours of the morning of Abib 15 (the first Day of Unleavened Bread) to finally depart from Egypt. They were beginning their “walk” out of sin. For the next five days Israel traveled to the eastern border of Egypt – the Red Sea. They were “trapped” there with the Sea in front of them, mountains on both sides and Pharaoh (who had changed his mind about letting Israel go) at their back. God delivered them very dramatically – parting the Red Sea and drowning Pharaoh’s army as they tried to pursue Israel. This major event took place on the Last Day of Unleavened Bread.

God’s ways confound the “wise” of the world (1 Corinthians 1:27), but there are great object lessons in what God has us do physically during the upcoming Days of Unleavened Bread. The primary thing He has us do is to remove leavened products from our lives. Why does God use leaven to teach us about sin in this coming week?

• Leaven permeates what it is baked in – sin can permeate our lives when we don’t pay attention. (Galatians 5:9)
• Sin “pursued” the Israelites – we are not exempt (Genesis 4:7)
• Israel went out with a high hand and were “baptized” in the Red Sea, but God was the catalyst and facilitator of their deliverance – we are no different, except that God has now also provided His Holy Spirit to help us come out of sin
• Israel’s journey to come out of sin only began with leaving Egypt – our journey to come out of sin only began with baptism. Our desire to overcome sin only ends at our death or with the return of Christ.

The object lesson of leaven is a powerful reminder of the nature of sin. May we learn the lesson more deeply in the coming Days of Unleavened Bread.

I wish you a profitable and value filled Sabbath and upcoming Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread,

Dan Dowd

28 March 2026