Scripture with the Fathers

First God calls Moses to go to Egypt to Free His people, then God was going to kill Moses on the over-night stay. How can we explain this? What was the reason for God's seemingly turn around from calling Moses to intending to kill him? Why is Zipporah doing the circumcision? Why does God call Israel His "first born son"? What is the significance of the first born son?

Jesus makes reference to King David and his men from 1 Kings 13 and also Leviticus and Deuteronomy in refuting the Pharisees' accusation that He was breaking the law of the Sabbath. Jesus first insults his accusers by asking them, "have you not read...?" Certainly they had, but Jesus is pointing out once again, that their interpretation of the law was legalistic, in the same manner in which Lucifer uses Scripture. What does the law (of Moses) say of healing on the Sabbath? Jesus demonstrates His Lordship over the Sabbath and how his accusers have things upside down. We look to the Old Testament and the Catechism of the Catholic Church to point out Jesus fulfilling that which was written in the Law and writings.

We continue in our discussion of the Essence of God as revealed to Moses, and the significance of giving someone your name. God sends Moses on a Mission and Moses objects. God answers Moses' objections and provides the necessary ezer (in Aaron) grace and tools to carry out the mission God gives to Moses. How one of these signs is repeated in the book of Kings and Jesus repeats the sign of His own word in the Gospel of Mark and thus declaring that He is the God that spoke to Moses!

Jesus prays to His Father. Does this mean that He is a being less than the Father? However, Not only the Fathers, St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom and St. Hilary, but Dr. Edward Sri agree, Jesus' prayer is conversation with His Father and they all confirm that Jesus is of the same divine substance as His Father, yet a different person. Jesus ends this prayer with the image of being yoked to Him, for the burden is light. We look back to the prophet Isaiah and the Book of Sirach to understand the meaning of Jesus' Prayer.

Moses the prince of Egypt becomes a shepherd and while tending the flock of his father-in-law, the Priest of Midian, he sees a burning bush. From this apparition of this unusual sight, Moses hears the Lord and for the first time in Scripture reveals His name. What is in a name? If it is God's name, a great deal. We learn what the Fathers drew from this and the significance of the name, I AM Who I AM.

We complete Jesus discussing John the Baptist, as Jesus brings out that John and Jesus' arrival are fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi. Jesus shifts to examining those that have seen his miraculous healings and heard His teachings and yet remain unrepentant. Jesus puts before him that in John they saw asceticism and in Jesus celebration, and yet didn't respond to either call to repentance. What is the fate of those that hear the Word of God, and more so have seen the supernatural wonders He has performed and yet remain in their hardness of heart.

We go into detail about Moses fleeing into Midian. Where is Midian, and why is that location called Midian? Why would, in God's providence have Moses wind up in Midian as opposed to somewhere else? Who is Reuel, the priest of Midian. Was he a priest of some polytheistic pagan religion or something else? God's thread of his holy ones meeting their wives at water wells continues with Moses as it had with Issac and Jacob.

How is it that John points out Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Bridegroom, and One whom he is unworthy to even untie His sandals and yet sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the One to Come, the Messiah promised to Israel? Who was John and why was he eating locust and wild honey and wearing camel hair clothing? Why was he at the Jordan River at the crossing near Jericho, north of the Dead Sea? Why did Jesus call him the greatest born of women? We turn to Biblical Scholars, Dr. Scott Hahn, Curtis Mitch, Dr. John Bergsma and of course the Fathers, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, and Gregory the Great. We see prophecies from Malachi, a prophet from 480 B.C. announcing John the Baptist's coming.

We here from St. Cyril of Alexandria who gives us a typological sense of the book of exodus and sees the actions of Moses, the taskmasters and Pharaoh as types of Christ, the demons and Satan respectively. St. Cyril goes beyond the historical setting and literal meaning of the text, but sees Exodus in the broader sense of the entirety of salvation history.

Exodus Chapter 2 introduces us to Moses. Who is Moses and where did he come from? We look deeper into the origins of Moses and his upbringing. We look to Josephus, Haydock's Biblical commentary and the Catholic Ignatius Study Bible by Dr. Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch.