We are in chapter eighteen of Exodus with our word for today is actually a phrase. עַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֔עְתִּי now I know. It is used 9 times in the Old Testament. We find our phrase used in the sense of assuming that something is true based on one’s own thinking. Judges 17:5-6, 12-13 Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit…Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. And Micah said, עַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֔עְתִּי “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.” The bible calls this being a fool because Micah is rejecting God’s revealed wisdom and relying on his own understanding. Failing to learn God’s wisdom can lead to death. Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. We also see our phrase used in the sense of having new information for one to consider before acting. 1 Samuel 25:14-17 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. וְעַתָּ֗ה דְּעִ֤י Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”
We also find our phrase used by God describing his reasoning for his actions with his people. God deals with the sin of his people. Isaiah 5:4-5 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? וְעַתָּה֙ אוֹדִֽיעָה Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed. So based on the information of the sin of his people God acts in judgment. God responds to Abraham’s faith and love in action toward Him using our phrase. Genesis 22:12 Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. עַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֗עְתִּי Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. What I find interesting is that this was for Abraham because God already knows everything that is going to happen. He knew Abraham would pass this test so the test was for Abraham to know that he trusted God and loves God more than anyone or anything. This leads us to the way our phrase is used in our chapter today that is with this idea of conversion away from the things against God and toward him in real faith. Exodus 18:11 עַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֔עְתִּי Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people. Did you catch that? Jethro who as we saw the last two days is described as a priest of Midian is converting toward the true God. Because he now knows based on what Moses shared with him all that God had done. This conversion also leads him to joy. Exodus 18:9-10 Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians.
I will close with how David uses our phrase to make this great declaration of faith in the true God Psalm 20:6-7 עַתָּ֤ה יָדַ֗עְתִּי Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
