We are in chapter ten of Exodus with our word for today. נָשָׂא lift up, carry, lift, take away, take, forgive, bring, exalt, raise high. It is used 653 times in the Old Testament, two times in our chapter. The basic idea of our word is to lift up. Genesis 7:17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they וַיִּשְׂאוּ֙ lifted the ark high above the earth. Exodus 25:14 Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to לָשֵׂ֥את carry it. We also see our word used in the sense of lifting up sin taking it away forgiveness. Genesis 50:15-17 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to שָׂ֣א forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please שָׂ֣א forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. We see our word used in both of these ways in our chapter the basic lifting up way and forgiveness. Exodus 10:17-19 Now שָׂ֣א forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.” Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which וַיִּשָּׂא֙ lifted up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt.
You have to love the play on words. We have Pharaoh asking for God to lift up or forgive his sins from him in verse 17 and God then lifts up or carries away the locust in verse 19. We have both ideas of removing the penalty of sin not holding the offense against the other but letting it go. And removing the consequence of the sin in that God carried or lifted away the locust from Pharaoh. This doesn’t mean that damage had not already been done because of Pharaoh’s sin. This is true of sin it destroys this is why God hates it because it hurts people he loves. But we can recognize throughout the Bible and in our own lives how God does remove some of the consequences from our sin. He does this because he is merciful. This quality of God’s character is seen throughout the Bible. Numbers 14:18 The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and נֹשֵׂ֥א forgiving sin and rebellion. Psalm 85:2 You נָ֭שָׂאתָ forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. Psalm 99:8 Lord our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a נֹ֭שֵׂא forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds. Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and נֹשֵׂ֤א forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. God’s mercy and forgiveness draw us towards him. I like how John reminds us that God made the first move. He didn’t wait for us to love him first. 1 John 4:10, 19 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…We love because he first loved us. I’ll close with this great verse about responding to God’s lifting up our sins away from us. Job 22:26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will וְתִשָּׂ֖א lift up your face to God.
