Moses answered: we will go with our young and our old, with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the Lord. Moses' answer is comprehensive and non-negotiable: everyone and everything goes. The festival of the Lord requires the whole community — not a delegation, not the men only, not a representative sample. The family is the unit of covenant, from the youngest to the oldest. Deuteronomy 12:12 commands that the entire household rejoice before the Lord: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites in your towns. The completeness of the worship community Moses insists on anticipates the New Testament vision of the church as a family of all ages gathered together (Ephesians 3:14–15). Pharaoh wants to divide the community; Moses insists on its unity.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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