Not a hoof shall be left behind
Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you.” But Moses said, “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind.” (Exodus 10:24-26)
In his last meeting with Pharaoh, Moses said “not a hoof shall be left behind.” Moses was describing God’s complete redemption. The children of Israel left nothing in Egypt. Their flocks identified them. They were and had always been shepherds. Jacob, their father, took 20 years to rear his flocks while also caring for and bearing the cost of shepherding the flocks of Laban, his uncle (Genesis 31). Jacob knew the value of what God had given him. We see the skill of Jacob in the wisdom of Joseph when he managed the grain stores of Egypt to save a nation. Joseph knew what was valuable and how to use it to the glory of God. Moses valued everything that belonged to his people because it was what God had given them. And they needed their flocks to serve God in sacrifice and worship (verse 26). It was from those flocks that the Passover lambs were taken. Moses ensured nothing was left behind when he led his people out of Egypt. Interestingly in Jonah 4:11 God placed great value on livestock. He saved the people of Nineveh – and what they possessed – so that they could use these resources in devotion to God.
The challenging question these verses pose to me is, “How much do I leave in this world?” Paul writes to the church at Corinth, “You were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20). To the church at Rome he writes, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable (spiritually intelligent) service” (Romans 12:1).
We have one life to live for the Saviour: body, soul and spirit. We don’t, like the Israelites of old, present a valuable but dead sacrifice, rather a living sacrifice. God has redeemed us completely and given us life abundant. Our living sacrifice is to be seen in our worship, fellowship, relationships, homes and work and through the use of our money, resources and time. It is expressed in all the joys, challenges and sorrows of life. Our living sacrifice is characterised by love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This happens through the transforming power of God and the inward change it makes in our lives.
We express this sacrificial life in a world to which we do not belong, but in which we are to be a blessing. This world will continually seek to conform us to its likeness. Moses would not leave a hoof behind. I need to value and use what God has given me in the light of my complete redemption and for His glory. The strength to do this comes from the Saviour, who said, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) and by our faith which is the victory that has overcome the world (1 John 5:4-5).
