Aaron Sells-Out

At our last live poker tournament, the name "Aaron" came up - and we noted that's a famous name from the Bible. We meet him first in Exodus 4, as the older brother of Moses and a spokesman for both of them.

Aaron accompanied Moses in several showdowns with Egypt's Pharaoh. They ended with Israel coming out of Egyptian slavery - and the support was more than vocal:

As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amaliekites were winning. When Moses's hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up - one on one side, one on the other.... - Exodus 17:11-12

How many "poker wives" support their spouses quietly and loyally - whether in big tournaments or small? They may not literally hold the cards up so the players can see them, but they can give moral support and encouragement in many ways. It's easy to overlook them, but we shouldn't.

God set up a line of priests through Aaron (Exodus 28:1/Leviticus 8:21-30) - but then he made a big mistake:

Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.".... He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it into a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf.... - Exodus 32:3-5

It's one thing to win a gold bracelet, at an event such as the World Series of Poker. It's another thing to idolize it - making it a god and presuming it's like the God of heaven. Even though God was displaying His power in amazing ways to Israel, Aaron defaulted to something Egypt had done. And then....

"They said to me, Make us gods who will go before us'.... Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!" - Exodus 32:23-24

Really.... really?! Aaron lied by denying he'd "fashioned" the gold, and claiming it looked like a false god by sheer coincidence. It's easy for us to say it now, but Aaron should have stood his moral ground and pointed the people to the God who was talking with Moses on Mount Sinai.

If poker consumes a lot of your time, either in person or online, you might have turned the game into your god - and you have a false god. You might need to do what Moses did for Israel....

So Moses went back to the Lord and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin...." - Exodus 32:31-32

Seek God's forgiveness, and make Him the true God of your life. After all, He was around long before poker - and He offers the gift of eternal life, to last far beyond it.

The Big Harry Deal

Poker tables sometimes remind us of the old TV comedy Barney Miller.  They can be filled with interesting characters.  We learned this weekend one of our most memorable characters from the Georgia era of this blog has died.

Harry Brooks never seemed to have the most glamorous jobs.  But when he walked into a poker tournament, he had everyone's respect.  He played the game well, talking and acting out bluffs at times to his advantage.  He made a lot more final tables than we did, during our time in Georgia.

"Big Harry" had some health problems in recent years.  We went to see him in the hospital at one point, and asked here for prayers on his behalf.

But here's the saddest part of all for us -- Harry Brooks died in June 2014.  We never knew about his passing until this weekend, more than 11 months later.  One of his relatives took over his Facebook account (something we don't think Facebook allows), and posted a picture of a gravestone which apparently was only finalized in recent days.

We're assuming that gravestone picture sent Harry to the top of our Facebook timeline.  But to be honest (and yes, we know we're getting off the poker theme here), this explains one of our biggest frustrations with Facebook. What used to be a "timeline" has become so jumbled and random that we probably miss most of the posts by our friends.

But we also must be honest with ourselves, and take some of the blame for the lack of knowledge. We get so busy that days can go by without a single Facebook check -- and we've never really made a habit of reading newspaper obituary pages, especially in places where we don't live anymore.

So we can draw several lessons from the life and death of Big Harry:

1. If you really have "friends," spend time with them.  We've heard ministers challenge church congregations about how many "Facebook friends" they really know.  Are they merely online connections - or is there personal contact?

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.... - Exodus 33:11

Of course, this was long before Facebook or telephones.  But God had conversations with Moses, when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.

Some poker players prefer to gather in their own groups for games, because that's who their closest friends are.  We can understand that, in a "home game" situation.  But we can also understand why some people don't think that's fair when it comes to tournaments, because it appears the group is stacking the odds in their favor.

NOTE: Our thoughts on the death of Big Harry will continue in our next post.

Odds Are....

We heard a thought-provoking radio commentary recently which can relate to poker, and many bigger things.  It started with a look at probability.

Flip a typical coin, call heads or tails, and you have a 50-50 chance of making the correct call.  If you flip the coin twice, the odds of it landing "heads" twice are one in four.  Flip it three times, and the odds of three "heads" are one in eight.  And on it goes.

If you play a thinking person's style of poker, you may compute your "outs" as you go.  An open-ended straight draw (let's say 3-4-5-6) gives you eight outs -- as four 2's or four 7's could come up on the turn or river, to complete the straight.  Four cards of the same suit provide nine outs for making a flush, as each suit has 13 cards (13 - 4 = 9).  That's a 9-in-46 chance for a flush on the river, or 19.6%.

So what's our point, you ask?  We'll answer with our own questions: have the odds for making a straight or flush changed over the last 20 years, since the online poker boom began?  Have they changed since the World Series of Poker began in 1970?  Have they changed at all from the days of "riverboat gambling" and the Wild West?

Unless there's cheating, the obvious answer is no.  Decks of standard playing cards still come in 52's, with four suits with an order of Ace-through-2.  The chances of completing big hands have not changed.  That's why they're called laws of probability -- they're constant, like the law of gravity.

If believers in evolution are right, shouldn't those laws have changed at some point?  The only way to improve your chances for a flush is to change the rules of the game.  But the creators of poker (we really don't think Jesus was among them) set "laws" in place, which apparently have been constant for more than 100 years.  God's Law works the same way, too:

Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I gave you. - Deuteronomy 4:2

Moses was given a set of laws by God. including the Ten Commandments mentioned in chapter 5.  He said again for emphasis in his farewell address....

See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. - Deuteronomy 12:32

The U.S. Constitution can be amended; it's happened 27 times.  A world governing board over poker could change the rules of the game as well.  But we don't know of one, and "house rules" at each individual poker room deal more with details such as how you bet or claim a pot.  Yet despite what even some ministers claim, God's Law has not changed.

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. - Matthew 5:18

Those words came from the mouth of Jesus.  He was the Son of God -- but yes, He was a real "game-changer."  We'll explain what He changed in a future post.

Poker Night 341: Early to Raise

"The tradition continues" is what we traditionally write when someone goes all-in during the first hand of an online tournament.  At least one player pushes right away, more often than not. At live tournaments, that doesn't tend to happen -- but some people aren't afraid to turn up the heat early in the evening.  Take this case from The Red Barn tonight....

BLINDS: 25/50

IN THE POCKET: 9 of hearts - 9 of diamonds

This isn't the opening hand, but it's one of the first.  An early missed flop has left us with about 6,750 chips.  We're content to limp in with a mid-range pocket pair -- but another man raises the stakes to 550.  Since we do have a pocket pair, we don't plan to back down pre-flop.  So we call, and about four players are in the hand.

ON THE FLOP: 8h-8d-10h

So there's a pair lower than ours on the board, and we also have 60 percent of a straight flush.  But we choose to lay low and check -- and sure enough, the bet from across the table is 500.  Hoping more for a 9 (to make a full house) than a medium-high heart, we call.  We don't recall anyone folding.

ON THE TURN: 6s

This blows up the dreamiest hand.  And a player across the table now raises the stakes to 1,500.  But consider our options now -- as any 7 would give us a straight, and any 8 or 9 would still provide a full house.  Even a 10 would provide us a sneakily higher two pair.  After weighing all this, we call.  Three players remain for the river.

ON THE RIVER: 2h

Yuck -- we missed it all.  Thankfully, the other players check so we don't have to fold.  But not so thankfully, one of them turns over an 8.  He had three of a kind from the flop, and takes a sizable pot.  We take a sizable loss, down to about 4,175 chips.

So dreams don't always come true in poker.  But one did for us later in the hour, as K-9 brought two pair at the river for a "Rodney" bonus hand of 5,000.

Then in the second hour, K-9 came our way again.  A flop containing K-J led to us calling a big bet of 3,000.  Then at the turn, a woman to our left bet 15,000 -- while we had only 1,000 remaining.  We called in hope again, but she had K-J.  Her two pair put us in an unwinnable position, and she knocked us out in 20th place.

MINISTRY MOMENT: Rodney the Tournament Director at The Red Barn professes faith in Christ, and he was in a mood to share that faith tonight.

"This is a man of God," he told a man at the one-hour break -- referring to us.

That's a title we seldom hear mentioned in our direction.  In fact, we almost wanted to quiet Rodney down when he said it!  It's quite humbling to us, and we don't really feel deserving of it -- especially considering the Biblical characters who received that title:

Then they took up their regular positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God.... - II Chronicles 30:16

And the leaders of the Levites were.... prescribed by David the man of God. - Nehemiah 12:24

I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God.... - Jeremiah 35:4

Wait a minute -- Ig-who?  We admittedly never thought of that person as a "man of God" until we wrote this post.  In fact, he's only mentioned in the Bible in that one verse.

Igdaliah is an embedded example of how someone can be a man (or woman) of God, without gaining a lot of prestige or publicity.  You may be living a Christian life, not thinking anyone notices or cares.  But Rodney reminded us tonight some people with careful eyes do notice.  And most importantly, God cares -- and He'll ultimately reward the faithful.

But you, man of God, flee from all this.... Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. - I Timothy 6:11-12

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 121 final tables in 341 nights (35.5%) - 19 cashes.

The Gift of Gold

A man stayed in the hand with weak cards, but caught the exact right card on the river to take a nice pot.  The Tournament Director was playing at the table, and was stunned.

In response, the Director pulled out gold chips worth 5,000 -- and proceeded to give one to everyone at the table except the big winner.  "This is for sucking out," the Director explained.  "Don't tell the other tables I'm doing this."

We were playing at this table, so we received one of the valuable gold chips.  But something didn't seem right about this.  "This doesn't seem very fair," we noted to the Director with an innocent-sounding voice.

"If you'd like me to give a gold chip to everyone at the other tables, I will," the Director offered.

Talk about a sudden ethical dilemma.  This Director was offering us (along with about four others) a competitive advantage over the rest of the tournament field -- a "leg up" we seldom have, since the other players tend to outspend us for bonus chips, in terms of food and drinks.

How would you have responded to this situation?  Before we share our answer, let's get some Biblical guidance.  Would Jesus pull this kind of stunt?  There are plenty of Scriptures to indicate He would not....

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. - Deuteronomy 10:17

We fear there are some believers who think they gain special favor or protection from God because they give more than ten percent of their income to a church, or attend services every week for years.  But the Bible record suggests otherwise:

....Your Father in heaven.... causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. - Matthew 5:45

And yet there are times in the Bible when God clearly selected a few people for doing something special.  It occurred in the Old Testament....

Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."  And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence  I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." - Exodus 33:18-19

God also chose to speak "face to face" with Moses -- a privilege not granted to his siblings, even though they complained about it (Numbers 12).  What makes the difference in these cases?  The New Testament offers a clue:

Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." - Acts 10:34-35

In this week of U.S. and Canadian patriotism, is it simply a case of "God Bless America"?  No - it's more about God blessing the worshipful and obedient, no matter where they live.  Peter grasped this concept long ago, because Jesus accepted him back after denying the Lord three times at a crucial moment (John 21:15-19).

So what did we finally decide to do, regarding that 5,000-chip bonus?  Read the answer.... in a future post.

Give and Take II

Let's head back to the "color-up" moment, where a man took one of our small poker chips to create a big 500-chip gain for himself.

We told the woman sitting next to us about a case where Jesus could have used His gift of miraculous healing en masse, but He didn't.  It happened during a trip to a pool in Bethesda....

One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" - John 5:5-6

At first, this may seem like a foolish question.  Who wouldn't want to get well, after years of infirmity?  But Jesus asked before He healed (verses 8-9) -- not wanting to presume anything about this invalid.

The man who reached for our "25 chip" was presumptuous.  (In fact, some might call it outright stealing.)  That approach can get you in trouble, as an army of Israel learned the hard way....

And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.  So I spake unto you; and you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill. - Deuteronomy 1:42-43 (KJV)

God told Moses to warn Israel not to go to battle.  Moses did.  But some soldiers went -- and wound up chased and destroyed by their foe (verse 44).

In the case of that poker night, the far better approach was to wait for someone to display a giving spirit.  It's actually the way which should leave everyone happy -- including God.

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. - II Corinthians 9:7

Admittedly, we didn't think of splitting our small stack of 50 chips with that other man.  Shame on us for that.  But reaching over and taking from our stack wasn't the right answer, either.  That put us under a gift "guilt cloud."

We've faced this with men in church congregation we've attended.  We've had to remind them the Bible says, "Ask and you shall receive" (John 16:24) - it does not say, "Take and maybe they won't notice."

Ministers who criticize poker have a point, when they say the game emphasizes taking as opposed to giving. The player who takes everyone else's chips ultimately wins.  But taking short cuts during that process is presumptuous, selfish and arguably unethical.

....Remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." - Acts 20:35b

One or All?

Whether we play poker in person or online, "English-only" rules seem to dominate.  It's the only permissible language at the table.  The wrong words in French, Japanese or Swahili could lead to your removal.

 

As it happens, last week's poker-table discussion of the things man can do led to a place where one language dominated.  A man predicted humans someday will be able to fill the hole in the ozone layer -- and based it in part on the tower of Babel.

 

"Why did God confuse their languages," a man asked, "saying nothing will be impossible for them?"

 

We didn't remember the Bible putting it exactly like that, and another man at the table agreed.  So when we walked home, we opened a Bible and checked:

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech  As men moved eastward they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.... Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens...."  The Lord said, "If as one people speaking he same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." - Genesis 11:1-7

Our man at the poker table actually had it right, based on the New International Version.  Our mind was more on the King James Version of verse 6: "....now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do."

So was God really afraid of what humans might do?  Does this passage show God is against team efforts and working together -- and really for "self-reliance" and individualism, the sort of thinking that can dominate the minds of poker players?

We know believers on both sides of this issue.  One side laughs at any mention of the "It Takes a Village" philosophy.  The other supports and encourages a sense of community and togetherness.  But we think there's a middle ground here -- with God bridging the two sides.

Why was that tower built at Shinar, anyway?  We left out one key section which answers the question....

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." - Genesis 11:4

The crowd wanted self-promotion -- and to get it, it was resisting God's instructions to "fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1).  So God really responded to selfishness and disobedience.  By comparison, one person obeying God can do amazing things.  For instance....

For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. - Deuteronomy 34:12

And Jesus wants believers today to join together in a project which proclaims "good news."

And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned," - Mark 16:15-16 (NASB)

(NOTE: We have more to say about this discussion of Babel.  Watch for it in a future post.)

Call His Bluff?

"God does not bluff, when it comes to change."  We heard a speaker say this during a worship service this weekend -- and of course, the poker side of our brain paid attention.

The speaker made that statement, while referring to a dramatic moment in the Old Testament - when a group rebelled against Moses and his leadership:

Then he said to Korah and all his followers: "In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him.  The man he chooses he will cause to come near him." - Numbers 16:5

Their version of "showdown" came the next day....

Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to me, then the Lord has not sent me.  But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these   men have treated the Lord with contempt." - Numbers 16:28-30

Verses 31-35 show events transpired exactly as Moses said.  The death toll was high for challenging God's set-up for doing things.

We can gain a couple of lessons from this.  For one thing, the Bible promises this same kind of judgment will happen again -- on a worldwide scale:

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do.... they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. - I Peter 4:3, 5

We didn't post the list of things "pagans choose to do" at the end of verse 3.  But look it over, and you might  find parallels with what people experience on poker nights in bars and nightclubs.  The Bible promises their "day of reckoning" is coming.

"But wait," you may be saying.  "This was promised a long, long time ago.  It hasn't happened yet!"  That's true.  And Peter even admits that fact.

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, "Where s this 'coming' he promised?  Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." - II Peter 3:3-4

But the apostle doesn't stop there.  He answers with a warning:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. - II Peter 3:9

You can scoff now, and think God's words of warning are all a bluff.  But God holds a "king of kings" named Jesus, who will come to judge the world and claim final victory.  Whose side will you be on then -- and should be on now?

Going By the Book

During a recent poker night we brought up the "book of life" mentioned in the Bible. And a man told us everyone's name is in that book -- with the only changes occurring if God removes your name due to some terrible sin.

To be honest, this was a point of view we hadn't considered before. So we went back to the first apparent Biblical reference to God's book of life....

So Moses went back to the Lord and said.... "Please forgive their sin -- but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written." The Lord replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book." - Exodus 32:32-33

Moses knew about this book, and God said he would blot sinners out of it. (The Hebrew word for "blot" also can meant "wipe out" or "destroy.") So indeed, it seems fair to say God puts everyone's name in that book -- perhaps at birth, perhaps even before (a topic for another time). King David also knew about the book of life....

You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you.... May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous. - Psalm 69:19, 28

So the book of life should be a roll call of righteous people. But there's a perilous problem with the Lord's answer to Moses:

There is no one righteous, not even one.... For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.... - Romans 3:10, 23

Since all (save for Jesus) have sinned, how can anyone have their name in the book of life? We think the answer lies in getting your name restored by God, through a life of repentance and obedience to Him.

He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. - Revelation 3:5

Verse 3 mentions those two keys to overcoming - "obey.... and repent." We think the best order is to repent first. Then to borrow from a gospel song, one angel may say to another: "Give me the pen" - to be in God's book for good.

Poker Night 181: Wait and See

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day.... -- Exodus 14:13 (KJV)

Moses said this when Israel was fleeing Egypt, and appeared trapped at the Red Sea. What happened to us tonight at The Red Barn wasn't exactly that dramatic, but incredibly similar. The first hour of play was simply horrid for us. For example....

BLINDS: 100/200

IN THE POCKET: 10-10

We've barely played any hands all evening, because the cards have been ugly. But here we have a good-looking pair, so we raise to 500. Three other players call.

ON THE FLOP: A-A-9

The play checks to us, and we offer a classic continuation bet: 300. Two players take our "hint" and fold. A man to our immediate left does not, and calls.

ON THE TURN: J

Hmmm -- what's our opponent up to? Could he have a third Ace? We check, hoping to get an answer. He checks, so we don't.

ON THE RIVER: A

Yeow -- three Aces showing! We have a nice full house, but also a little insecurity. He could have quads, after all. But we dare to try one more "go-away" bet of 1,200.

"I have to call," our opponent says. "I have to show you this."

We show our 10's. He's not fazed. "You see, I hit two boats....." with a Jack and a 9! "You had one of them topped," he says to offer consolation -- but his Jacks beat our 10's.

Other chases (and perhaps a little moment of "on-tilt" desperation) failed as well, and we staggered to the one-hour break with only 875 chips. But after the "color-up" to 1,000, it was as if God told us to get out of the way -- because He was taking over our game:

+ A-5 all in led to an Ace on the board. We gained to 3,500.

+ A-10 all in won as well. We jumped to 7,000.

+ A-2 all in topped an opponent with face cards. We advanced to 10,000, and had enough chips to make the final table.

+ An all-in bet before the flop with Q-Q made the final table fold. Suddenly we were in the 13,000 range!

Proper folding beyond that helped us reach the final five. But the big run ran out there, as we pushed with a King in the big blind after a King landed on the flop. An Ace on the river gave a woman across from us a better pair. Yet what a rally it was -- coming back from the brink to finish tied for fourth! (We tied, because another player was eliminated with us.)


MINISTRY MOMENT: "I think I know why you have that," a believing friend next to us said about tonight's card protector. We used a small flashlight, which we obtained as a gift from a credit union several years ago.

"Light of the world," our friend guessed. Correct! (See Matthew 5:14, among other places.)

But we admitted during the evening we didn't bring the battery for the flashlight. We tend to leave them separate, only putting the battery inside if a power outage requires us to use the light. Yet at one point, our friend noticed the flashlight appeared to be on, anyway -- reflecting ceiling lights, apparently. There are good lessons in all of this. Think about it, and we'll make that a "light" topic for another day.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 76 final tables in 181 nights (42.0%) - 15 cashes.

High-Handedness

This is a big week for Jews and practicing Christians -- the "Passover season," or the Days of Unleavened Bread. It marks the time when ancient Israel sounded like it was playing poker.

"And they departed from Rameses in the first month.... the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians." (Numbers 33:3, KJV)

We could have some fun joking about what sort of "high hand" the Israelites had:

* A full house? No, they left their homes (Ex. 12:37).

* A straight? No -- check a Bible map and you'll probably see their exodus was a rather wandering path.

* A flush? No -- because the pursuing Egyptian army was flushed away at the Red Sea (Ex. 14:27-20).

We're open to ideas on this, but we think Israel's "high hand" was simply a pair. Moses was the human leader. And the Lord brought His children out (Ex. 12:51), leading them with an interchangeable pillar of cloud and fire (Ex. 13:21).

As some ministers like to say: one person and God can make a majority. Make God your partner -- not only during the Spring Holy Day season, but all year long.

More on Moses

Q: Is there Biblical evidence that Moses might have played poker?

A: Yes. He led the Israelites out of Egypt -- "and the children of Israel went out with an high hand." (Ex. 14:8, KJV)

OK, that's admittedly a joke. But it came to us today, as we marked the end of "Passover season" -- the seven days of unleavened bread mentioned in Leviticus 23 and other places.

You can meditate on this further. Since the Israelites left their 400-year home, that "high hand" couldn't have been a full house -- since it was left empty.

(Besides, they walked THROUGH the Red Sea -- without a "boat.")

Heads-Up Week 1: When Moses Met Jesus

"He's known as Jesus. I'm Moses." So comedian Gabe Kaplan declared Sunday, on the opening week of NBC National Heads-Up Poker action.

And in what some might call an upset, Moses prevailed -- eliminating defending champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. And of all the days for NBC to show this: the middle of "Passover season" for Jews, and resurrection Sunday for many Christians.

Both names are Biblical figures, of course. But did you realize Moses isn't listed in the genealogy of Jesus?

Moses came from the tribe of Levi, according to Exodus 2. But Jesus came from a different tribe of Israel -- the tribe of Judah (Mt. 1:2-16).

Some religious groups have debated for centuries which line is better. But if Moses was alive today, we think he'd tell you Jesus is superior.

I Corinthians 10:2 says the Israelites "were all baptized into Moses" as they came out of Egypt. But they had a "spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ" (verse 4).

Moses won at the table today, but ultimately he can't save you. Jesus can. Which one is YOUR rock?