Come & See Podcast

Three months to the day since they walked out of Egypt, Israel arrives at the foot of Mount Sinai. They will not leave for a year. Everything that remains of Exodus, the whole of Leviticus, and half of Numbers takes place at this one mountain.And before God says a single commandment, He tells them how to prepare. Consecrate yourselves. Wash your clothes. Be ready on the third day. Do not come near the mountain, or even touch its base. This chapter is not about the law — it is about what it costs to come into the presence of God.In this episode we explore the extraordinary theology of Sinai. God tells Israel He bore them on eagles' wings and brought them to Himself, and calls them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation — words St. Peter will later apply directly to the Church. We look at the thick darkness in which God descends, and why the Fathers, especially St. Gregory of Nyssa, understood that darkness not as absence but as the mark of a God who can never be fully comprehended. We explore the three days of washing as a foreshadowing of baptism, the trumpet blast that no human hand sounded, and the astonishing detail recorded in Hebrews that Moses himself trembled.And underneath all of it: a God who sets boundaries not to keep His people out, but because He is preparing to come and dwell in their midst.Key questions explored:
Why does God tell Israel to consecrate themselves and wait three days before He descends?
What does it mean that God bore them "on eagles' wings" — and how do eagles carry their young?
How can Israel be called "a kingdom of priests" while the priesthood of Aaron is still to come?
Why does God appear in thick darkness rather than in light — and what did St. Gregory of Nyssa see in this?
Why would touching the mountain bring death, and how does this change once we are adopted as sons and daughters?

Moses leads two million people. He has parted a sea, called down plagues on an empire, and struck water from a rock. And when his father-in-law arrives at the camp, Moses goes out to meet him, bows to the ground, and kisses him.Jethro is a priest of Midian — descended from Abraham through Keturah, outside the covenant line, not of Israel. And yet he knows the true God, blesses Him, and offers sacrifice. The Church Fathers saw in him a portrait of the Gentiles who come to faith on hearing what God has done. Origen calls him a model of those who recognise God's power and join His people; St. Cyril of Alexandria writes that when the Gentiles acknowledge the work of God, they are drawn into His covenant and blessing.In this episode we explore Jethro's visit in full: the reunion of Moses with Zipporah and his two sons, and the meaning hidden in their names. The burnt offering Jethro brings, and the meal shared by Aaron and all the elders of Israel before God — a gathering that looks remarkably like the liturgy. And then the moment Jethro watches Moses judging the people alone from morning until evening and tells him plainly: "The thing that you do is not good. You will surely wear yourself out."The counsel that follows becomes the blueprint for order in the Church — rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. But the more remarkable thing is that Moses listened.

Key questions explored:
Who is Jethro, and how does a priest of Midian come to know and worship the God of Israel?
What do the names Gershom and Eliezer reveal about Moses' years in exile?
How can Jethro offer sacrifice before God when the priesthood has not yet been established?
Why does Moses bow down to his father-in-law — and how is this different from worship?
What does Jethro's system of delegated leadership reveal about the structure of the Church today?

There is no water. The people are thirsty. And for the second time in a month, they turn on Moses — this time with enough fury that Moses fears for his life. "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us with thirst?"
God's instruction is simple and strange: take your staff — the same staff that parted the Red Sea — and strike the rock. Water will come out.
St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, will later say: "They drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). The rock is struck so that water flows. Christ is struck — crucified — so that living water flows for all who are thirsty.
In this episode we explore Exodus chapter 17 in its entirety. The water from the rock opens the chapter; the battle with the Amalekites closes it. These two episodes are more connected than they appear. Moses stands on the hill with his staff raised, and while his hands are up, Israel prevails. When they drop, Amalek prevails. Aaron and Hur find a stone for Moses to sit on and hold his arms up — one on either side. The image of arms stretched wide, held up by others, on a hill, was not lost on the early Church.
And at the end of the chapter, a new name appears for the first time in Scripture: Joshua — whose name in Hebrew is Yeshua. Jesus.
Key questions explored:
• What does St. Paul mean when he says "the Rock was Christ" — and how does this change how we read Exodus?
• Why does God command Moses to strike the rock, rather than speak to it (as He will command later)?
• What is the theological significance of Moses' raised arms during the battle with Amalek?
• Why is Joshua introduced here — and what does his name foreshadow?

It has been six weeks since the Red Sea. The food is running out. And Israel, with remarkable speed, has begun to remember Egypt fondly — the fish they ate freely, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks and garlic. They have forgotten the whips. They have forgotten the mud. What they remember is the food.This is not weakness unique to Israel. It is the human condition: suffering sharpens memory selectively, and comfort dulls it just as fast.God's response to their grumbling is not punishment. It is bread. Each morning, a thin, flake-like substance appears on the ground — "What is it?" the people say, which is exactly what the Hebrew word manna means. Each evening, quail cover the camp. The instructions are precise: gather only what you need for today. Do not keep it until morning. On the sixth day, gather double. On the seventh, rest.This is not merely food. It is a school. God is teaching His people to trust Him one day at a time.In this episode, we explore Exodus chapter 16 and its extraordinary theological depth — including how Jesus draws directly on this chapter in John 6 when He calls Himself the true bread from heaven, and how manna prefigures the Eucharist in ways that the Church Fathers found inexhaustible.Key questions explored:• Why does God restrict how much manna the people can gather — and what is He teaching them?• What is the significance of the double portion on the sixth day and the rest on the seventh?• How does Jesus use the language of Exodus 16 in John 6 to speak about the Eucharist?• What does manna as "bread from heaven" reveal about the nature of the Incarnation?

After the sea closes over Pharaoh's army, Israel does something that no amount of theological preparation quite prepares you for: they sing.The Song of Moses is the first great hymn of the Bible — a spontaneous eruption of praise from a people who have just witnessed the impossible. "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation." Miriam takes up a tambourine. The women dance. And the song that erupts on the shore of the Red Sea echoes all the way to the book of Revelation, where the redeemed in heaven sing this same song before the throne of God.In this episode, we explore Exodus chapter 15 in depth. We look at how the Coptic Orthodox Church has preserved this hymn as the first of the Biblical Odes, sung as part of the midnight praises — and traditionally only sung by those who have been baptised, because you cannot sing the song of crossing if you have not crossed. We then travel with Israel to Marah, where the water is bitter and the people grumble, and discover that a tree thrown into the water makes it sweet — a moment the Church has long read as pointing to the cross.And finally, Elim: twelve springs, seventy palms, and rest.Key questions explored:• Why is the Song of Moses sung again in the book of Revelation — and what does this continuity reveal?• How does the Coptic tradition of singing this hymn only after baptism illuminate its spiritual meaning?• What is the theological significance of the tree that sweetened the bitter waters at Marah?• What does it mean that God identifies Himself as "the Lord who heals you" immediately after the miracle at Marah?