[Triund]

Exodus 13:17 says, "Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”

Today I was reading this chapter and came to this line which made me think why did God think this way, why was HE not sure of HIS creation. I know it is not possible to get into anyone's head forget about God, but just curious to know if there is any even wild speculation on the line "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt".

The reason I am asking this question because when we say that HE has made plan for our lives, that tells me that HE know what I am going to do at every breath I take in. If that is true, how could HE be not sure of HIS people?

[joypulv]

Not everyone believes that God has planned our lives, and knows what we are going to do.
If our lives are planned, what's the point of trying, or of being good?

Not everyone takes the Bible literally either, given that the words were not only written by men, but the stories had passed down for many generations before being written, and have been translated from the Aramaic and Hebrew and Greek as well.

I think it is wonderful that you question and think and ask opinions.

[Fr_Chuck]

God gives man free will to make their own choices

But he has a plan, his desire for our live, no he does not have every min planned

[dwashbur]

God gives man free will to make their own choices

But he has a plan, his desire for our live, no he does not have every min planned

Agreed. An excellent book that talks about this whole question is Garry Friesen, Decision Making and the Will of God published by Multnomah Press. I think it's still in print, but if not, there are plenty of used copies to be had.

[jakester]

Triund - your question is a very challenging one and is certainly worth asking.

Let me just say that anyone who is genuinely interested in understanding God will think long and hard about such seeming contradictions. If God is sovereign, why would he ever change his course? Why is the mind of God revealed in such a way through this passage? What does it say about his sovereignty?

I went back and read through the passage and a couple of thoughts come to mind... I haven't spent considerable time in Exodus so I'm not completely certain of the flow of the book and its main points, etc. First off, I believe God is completely sovereign over every part of our lives... our thoughts, our actions, every breath, all that we experience... all of these things are part of God's created story. Paul says that in him "we both live, and breathe, and have our being." In the ancient world it was more readily accepted that God was completely sovereign over everything in our lives... our very existence continues only because God allows it to. But in this age, we don't have a very high view of God. We believe he's powerful and all that but he just kind of wound up the world like a big top and let it spin and whatever happens, happens. But I don't think that is Paul's perspective. But that is a really long discussion and would take a while to sort through it.

God operates in two ways in this world, as far as I am concerned: through the ordinary (mundane) and through the supernatural. For the most part, God operates through the ordinary and mundane. He works with his creation according to the laws of the universe that he created: natural laws of science and rational, common sense. Sometimes God breaks through the norm and displays his power through extraordinary means. When you come to the Exodus passage in 13, your passage in question comes on the heels of Pharaoh letting Israel go. He decided to break into the sphere of normal life and do something miraculous things in the lives of the Jews who were slaves in Egypt. God humbled the mightiest king in the world at that time and plucked an entire race of people out of his hand, which he had held against their will... pretty miraculous. But no sooner than God did that did he opt to not to lead Israel through the land of the Philistines. What's going on here?

Well, you have to remember that Israel was enslaved in Egypt. They were physically weak from working hard and long days... presumably many of them were sick and fatigued. Certainly their new-found freedom from slavery energized their hearts to some degree but physically, it would take them time to recuperate. God understood that and the probability of them passing through Philistine and having to fight the Philistines was high: the Philistines were a warring people that would later become a major adversary of Israel. So God, operating according to ordinary and rational ways of the world, decided not to have them endure that fate at this time in their lives. Certainly, he could have guided them through the land and routed the Philistines for them, but that for some reason did not suit his purposes. And the way we understand that is to see the insight Moses gives us into what God was thinking: “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”

For God, he was not willing to lead Israel into a situation where they would see war. It was too early in their journey with God for that. God was actually being merciful to them by preventing that from happening. Israel was going with God on very little faith and hope at this point and experiencing a war would have presumably caused them to lose heart and return to the only place they knew at that point and that was Egypt.

So I don't think we see in this passage an uncertainty on God's part as to how Israel would respond to the prospect of war. On the contrary, God knows the heart of the people and in an act of mercy opts to guide them in a different way to where he wants to bring them. To me, this is God working in a rational and wise manner. We may be inclined to think that God would take Israel out of Egypt and just smash everyone who gets in his way but God is not capricious and out of control. Whenever he chooses to act in a supernatural way, he only does so when it suits his purposes. So we clearly see a balance between God's use of power and his willingness to subject his power to the ordinary and mundane which govern everyday life.

[dwashbur]

WG wrote:

"Tsk, tsk. Don't forget -- the local public library has a copy (FREE!) or can get one from another library. "

Yes, I know. But this is one that most people will want to own after they read it. So there!