God's people Israel , already knew deliverance from judgment as they had appropriated the blood and were now to know deliverance by power, from Egypt 's bondage. Ten times, including Ex.4:23, God had demanded “Let my people go” and Pharaoh's stubborn will was now broken. There was never any doubt as to the final result. Seven times in Ex. 6:6-8, God had said, “I will,” and His promises cannot fail. They are just as certain for His people now. The Lord gives unto His sheep eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man seize them out of His hand, John 10:28.

There is fulfillment then to God's purposes. “It came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go that......God led the people about.” He directed their path and we see that He did not lead by the shortest way. A Bible atlas shows that the way to the land of the Philistines followed the coast of the Great Sea and was much nearer then the way that they were taken, through the Red Sea and the Wilderness of Sin. God was caring for His people and they went forth like sheep, guided in the wilderness like a flock. He led them on safely, so that they feared not, Ps. 78:52-53.

The short way would have brought the people into war with the Philistines, a test for which their faith was not equal. So, “God said, lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt .” Before Israel were tested by warfare, God showed them His power over the power of Egypt 's army, Ex.14:7, and Jehovah was acknowledged as their strength and song and salvation, Ex.15:2. God's purpose at that time, to deliver from Egypt 's doom and dominion, is repeated in this period of the Spirit's presence. Gal. 1:4. To return to Egypt was not the way of salvation for Israel , nor is it for us. It was the very thing that the people purposed later. Numb.14:4, when they heard the report of ten of the spies and for their unbelief they fell in the wilderness. The way of the wilderness was a long way, because of the unbelief, but it was the right way, Ps.107:7. In that way, the people learned, through the hunger they were allowed to experience, the unfailing supply of manna. Their clothes did not wear out; their feet did not swell in forty years, Deut.*:2-4. They learned their need of God and while they proved Him, God proved them. God still allows wilderness experience with its trials of faith as Peter shows in his first epistle. At no age in life or stage in spiritual development, are we self-sufficient. The near way will not provide the opportunities for our testing, by which faith will grow, yet be assured, there are wise ends in view and God is faithful who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, 1 Cor. 10:13. We read, “but God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness,” Ex.13:18, and “the Lord went before them by day.....to lead them the way,” V21. If fellow believer, yours is wilderness experience and you are very conscious of it, remember that the one who has chosen your path is with you in it, to lead by day and by night, when the way is light and when it is dark. When the Lord Jesus said, “I will come to you,” John 14:18 , He was referring to His abiding Spirit, and He will not take away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by bight, V22.

Our passage contains a touching reference to the faith and passionate hopes of the patriarch Joseph. Moses honoured the oath taken by the children of Israel when Joseph was about to die and he took the bones of Joseph with him, V 19. See also Gen.50:24-26. The patriarch spent most of his life in Egypt . It was the scene of his earthly glory. Gen. 45:13, but his heart was set on the land that God swore to his fathers. “God will surely visit you and bring you out.”   It was by faith that Joseph gave commandment   concerning his bones, Heb.11:22. He believed that God would fulfill His promise to Abraham (although it still awaits fulfillment) and it seems he believed that God would raise him from the dead, as Abraham must also be raised, to come into the good of God's promise. Gen. 13:14-17, and 17:8. Joseph experienced the greatest possible success in Egypt for he was made ruler over all the land. Gen.41:43. How was it that his heart and affections were not taken up with Egypt ? The answer lies in what God had said to Abram as recorded in Gen. 15:13-14. His seed would be a sojourner (margin) in a land that is not theirs and after four hundred years of affliction , God would bring them out. Those events began with Jacob, Gen.46:3-4, but throughout Joseph's life, he knew that the promises of future blessing were connected with the land that God would give, as He had declared to Abram, Gen. 15:18-21, to Isaac, Gen.26:3 and to Jacob, Gen.28:13. for all his glory in Egypt , he knew that the nation would suffer the judgment of God, Gen.15:14. So Joseph carried his responsibilities in the fear of God. He attributed his wisdom to God, Gen.40:8 and 41:16. He recognized the purpose of God in his affliction. Gen.45:5-8, and he looked to the fulfillment of the promise of God, Gen. 50:25.

Let us live in the world as those who will be taken out of it. Since we are chosen out of it, John 15:19 , its pleasures and sins should not engage our hearts. Joseph said, “God will surely visit you,” and we have the Lord's last promise, “Surely I come quickly,” Rev.22:20. If our hearts are taken up with Him, we can at all times say, “Amen. Even so, come. Lord Jesus”