The book of Exodus is about a journey home. Having spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt, Israel is in need of much instruction about home life. Questions abound: How do we get home? What will our new home be like? How do we act and relate to each other in our home? What does it mean to be home? God has much to teach his emerging nation and growing family. He will take them home, but the journey will be long. Israel eventually made it to Canaan, but even then the faithful recognized that another home was just beyond the horizon – a heavenly home. In the meantime they would learn that “being home”, means being with God. And so the question wasn’t only how to live with each other, but how to live at home with the holy God? For ancient Israel and the church of our day, our home both is, and is to come. We, like they, must learn how to live, love and wait well, while on a long journey through the wilderness. As we go, Exodus reminds us over and over of the great sustaining promise from Yahweh – My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.
