Exodus is history for today! It is the story of God's ability to save us from circumstances that seem to be impossible and hopeless. It opens with a people of promise feeling as if they had been forgotten and left for dead. By the time the book ends, they are breathing fresh air, camped at the foot of "miracle mountain," and ready for their next test of faith.
Tracking that kind of storyline, author David Egner will attempt to lead you beyond the "frogs, flies, and furious storms" of the plagues, to the God who, in His own timeless way, wants to be your rescue as well.
Martin R. De Haan II
CONTENTS
The Chains That Bind Mankind
Exodus: Journey to Freedom
Book Chart of Exodus
Knowing God Through Exodus
The God Who Delivered Israel
Bondage
Rescue
Provision
Instruction
Jesus Christ in Exodus
The God of Exodus
Bondage and Freedom
THE CHAINS THAT BIND MANKIND
Julianna is a political and spiritual refugee. She had suffered oppression in her homeland because of her faith in Jesus Christ. When she began speaking about Christ to her students, government officials first cut her pay. When she persisted, she was publicly ridiculed. Finally, her job was taken away from her. She applied for permission to emigrate, but it was 5 years before she was permitted to leave her country.
Today she has a new life. No more oppression. No more ridicule. No more starvation conditions. No more being denied the opportunity to support herself. The morning after she arrived in the United States, Julianna was asked what her feelings were. Because she could speak very little English, communication was difficult. But when she understood the question, she threw her hands in the air and said, "Feel wonderful!"
This woman experienced the meaning of one kind of bondage. She had been a prisoner in her own country. The chains that had bound her were not literal, but political and religious. People in many parts of the world know this kind of suffering by hard personal experience. For some, it has meant imprisonment and torture.
Yet human misery is not limited to the fenced yards of political tyranny. People who live in free countries experience their own kind of bondage. Consider, for example, the millions of alcoholics who live in the United States. They are bound by chains of their own forging. Think of battered wives who feel trapped. Or of children who come home from school every day to beatings, drunkenness, or neglect.
Then there are the shaking bodies and vacant eyes of those who are addicted to cocaine or heroin. So harsh are their bonds that they will rob or kill for one more fix.
Others in society are enslaved by less detectable but equally binding forces: their quest for power, their love of money, sex, compulsive spending, work, their own huge egos, the need to dominate their mates or children. They are hopelessly enslaved by their inability to control their own thoughts or appetites.
Yes, we need deliverance. We need someone to set us free - not just from the physical, external things that enslave us, not just from our own inability to say no, not just from our insatiable greed or terrible temper or our need to control others. We need deliverance from the consequences of our own choices. That's what enslaves us. We need to break the bonds of our own guilt. Like the children of Israel we cry, "Who can deliver us?"
Exodus gives the answer. The same God who set Israel free from the slavedrivers of Egypt can deliver us from our sin. In that sense the rescue from Egypt can be our story. We can find ourselves in Israel's journey from bondage to freedom, from oppression to release. When personalized in this way, it's a pilgrimage that starts in the depths of our own minds and hearts, and ends in the vast and glorious spiritual freedom of Christ made possible because of the love of God, our Deliverer.
EXODUS: JOURNEY TO FREEDOM
Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament, is the written account of Israel's journey from bondage in Egypt to freedom in the Sinai Peninsula. Let's consider a brief overview of its events, when they took place, and what they tell us about God.
An Overview of Events. As Exodus opens, we find God doing something He often does. For His own wise reasons, He is letting His people experience painful circumstances that are going from bad to worse. Enslaved in Egypt, they experience increasing oppression, and their cries for rescue are growing louder. Yet, unknown to His struggling people, God has been slowly, quietly, and faithfully preparing a reluctant messenger named Moses to lead them to freedom.
When God was ready to answer His people's cries for help, Moses began dragging his feet. Forty years earlier he had tried to help a fellow Israelite, but he got burned in the process. His efforts had turned sour, as our efforts often do. For his mistake he paid dearly, spending four decades hiding on the far side of the desert. What he had learned through it all was not to trust himself.
Now, however, it was time to trust God. The test was a big one. God presented Moses first to a skeptical Israel, then to an obstinate Egyptian head of state. The king defied Moses and refused to respond to the appeal, "Let My people go." Egypt paid for that resistance. Through a series of 10 plagues, God gradually broke the Pharaoh's will and loosened his iron grip. Israel was free. Free at last!
However, God once again did what He often does with us. To expose the nature of His people's hearts, and to show them their need for trusting Him, the Lord orchestrated a series of impossible circumstances. Time after time, they failed the test. Repeatedly, the Lord showed His faithfulness and power by miraculously providing for their every need. Slowly, very slowly, Israel learned. The God who saved them could take care of them in ways they could never provide for themselves.
The Background of the Exodus. Most all conservative Bible scholars date the exodus at about 1446 BC. Four hundred thirty years earlier, Israel's ancestors had migrated from Palestine to Egypt to escape a terrible drought. There they found a home as a result of an ironic and merciful provision of the Lord. They settled in Goshen, and over a period of more than four centuries they multiplied to a nation of several million people.
During this time, however, the size of their nation became a problem. A new ruler, who was either the first king of the invading Hyksos people (1730 BC) or the first Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (1584 BC), began a planned program of tyranny designed both to exploit the Hebrews and to keep them from threatening his rule.
KNOWING GOD THROUGH EXODUS
The relationship between the first five books of the Old Testament could be outlined this way:
Genesis: Beginning of all things
Exodus: Israel's deliverance
Leviticus: Regulations for worship and life
Numbers: Record of the 40-year sojourn
Deuteronomy: Covenant renewal before Canaan
Exodus was written as a continuation of Genesis. In Genesis, God is seen as the Creator; in Exodus, we see Him as the Deliverer. As we trace the events of Exodus, we will be following a true account of the dramatic rescue of an entire nation.
The rescue God brought to His people led them out of slavery and into a new relationship with Him. He gave them laws to tell them what He expected of them and a system of worship and sacrifice to bring them forgiveness when they failed. In many ways, Exodus portrays the deliverance we receive today, over 3,000 years later, when we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior and Deliverer.
1. BONDAGE (1:1-7:7)
In the darkest night of bondage, we cry for a deliverer. Captive, we cannot escape the isolation, the pain, the overwhelming feeling that we are struggling against the whole world alone. But God hears the cry of the captive, and He responds with the gift of His grace.
As is often the case for the people of God, Israel's stay in Egypt began as a wonderful and undeserved provision of the Lord. About 400 years before the events described in Exodus, God had turned a terrible evil around to the good of Jacob's family. An envied little brother named Joseph had been sold into slavery. Many years later, he ended up being the surprise Egyptian protector and provider for his family. God had in His own unpredictable way sent Joseph on ahead. When a terrible drought swept over all of the Middle East (Gen. 41:56), the family of Jacob was reunited in Egypt and invited to settle there. In this rich land they prospered. Helped by the Lord, they multiplied rapidly and became a great people (Ex. 1:7).
As time passed, a new regime rose to power in Egypt. A man became Pharaoh who didn't know that Joseph had saved Egypt from the drought and that the Israelites were Joseph's people (1:8). All he knew was that these people, by their very numbers, posed a threat to his rule (1:9,10). Afraid they would join with an enemy in an attempt to overthrow him, Pharaoh ordered the taskmasters to oppress them. He forced the Hebrews to work extremely hard, transporting water for irrigation and making and carrying bricks for his ambitious building program. Any Israelites who stumbled from weakness or who rebelled were beaten mercilessly. In spite of the harsh treatment, however, God caused the Hebrew population to continue to grow.
Frustrated, Pharaoh gave orders to the Hebrew midwives that all male babies were to be killed as soon as they were born (1:16). But the midwives, fearing God, disobeyed Pharaoh's command, and the Israelites multiplied in number (1:17,20).
A Leader Provided. While Israel suffered under cruel bondage, God was silently and faithfully preparing to deliver them. His plan made a mockery of the Pharaoh. Even as the king had demanded the death of all Hebrew male babies, the Lord arranged to have the eventual deliverer of Israel, and number one enemy of Pharaoh, raised in Pharaoh's own house! What an example of how the Lord of heaven must laugh at the empty threats of human rulers! (Ps. 2:1-4).
Born in the midst of Pharaoh's terrible oppression was a baby boy named Moses. He was safely hidden by his mother until he was 3 months old (Ex. 2:1,2). When she could no longer conceal him, his mother made a little basket and placed him in the reeds at the edge of the river. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him into the royal family and protected him. The boy was allowed to live in childhood with his own family (2:3-10) before being taken into Pharaoh's household and reared as a child of royalty. He became "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds" (Acts 7:22).
When Moses was 40 years old, having chosen to identify with the people of God and their sufferings rather than to accept the prestige, power, and pleasures that were his as the son of Pharaoh's daughter (Acts 7:23; Heb. 11:24,25), he went to visit his people. There he saw an Israelite receiving a terrible beating by an Egyptian taskmaster, so he decided to defend and avenge him. In a moment of anger, the eventual deliverer of Israel became a murderer! Moses believed that God was going to use him to deliver the Israelites from their bondage (Acts 7:25), but he soon found out that taking things into his own hands was not what God wanted.
The next day, Moses tried to stop a fight between two Israelites. He probably thought they would respect his position and be thankful that he was interested in them. He wanted them to see him as their deliverer. But instead, the Israelite who was at fault in the dispute said to Moses, "Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?" (Acts 7:27,28; cp. Ex. 2:14). When Moses realized that his secret of the murdered Egyptian was known, he fled to Midian (see map, p.19).
A Marked Man. After an act of courage and kindness, Moses was welcomed into the household of Jethro, the priest of Midian. He married Zipporah, Jethro's daughter, and settled down to life as a shepherd (2:16-3:1).
Meanwhile, conditions were worsening in Egypt. The king of Egypt died, and the new ruler increased the oppression (2:23). The cries of the suffering Hebrews were lifted up to God, and we are told that "God acknowledged them" (2:24,25). The time had come for Jehovah to deliver His people.
While Moses was tending his flocks in the desert, he noticed a bush that was burning without being consumed. Mystified, he stopped to investigate and he heard the voice of God. "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt," the Lord said, "and have heard their cry . . . . So I have come down to deliver them" (3:7,8).
Then the Lord issued this call to Moses: "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt" (3:10).
Moses was not a ready servant. In fact, before the conversation was over, he had given the Lord five excuses for not going. But God rejected them all.
MOSES' EXCUSES
No Ability (3:11)
No Authority (3:13)
No Believability (4:1)
No Eloquence (4:10)
No Inclination (4:13)
GOD'S PROMISES
His Instruction (4:14-16)
His Presence (3:12)
His Name (3:14)
His Power (4:2-9)
His Enablement (4:11,12)
Moses' question of the Lord "When . . . they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" led to one of the most important revelations of God in the Old Testament. The Lord told Moses to tell the children of Israel that "I AM WHO I AM" was the name of his sender (3:14). By using this name, God was revealing Himself to be the eternal, self-existent God - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Significantly, the Lord Jesus applied this name to Himself and was nearly stoned as a blasphemer (John 8:58,59).
When Moses still protested, the Lord gave him three signs he could use to convince the people and Pharaoh that the one true God had sent him (4:1,21). First, the Lord turned Moses' rod into a living serpent (4:1-5), then He made his hand leprous and healed it (4:6,7). Finally, God told Moses that if the first two signs didn't convince them, He would give him the power to turn water from the Nile River into blood (4:9).
Moses' Return. At 80 years of age (he had been in exile 40 years [Acts 7:30]), Moses went back to Egypt (4:18), taking his family with him. He presented himself to the elders of Israel, who gave him their support when they saw the miraculous signs God had given him. Then Moses went before Pharaoh (5:1). The king of Egypt was furious at Moses' request for Israel to leave. So he greatly increased the workload of the Israelites, who were already at the breaking point (5:6-14). When the elders of Israel blamed Moses for the suffering, he became discouraged and cried out to the Lord. God gave him a wonderful promise, considered by many to be the key verse of Exodus:
Therefore say to the children of Israel: "I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments" (6:6).
Accompanied by his brother Aaron, Moses approached the throne of Pharaoh to do the task God had called him to do.
SEEING GOD
* Exodus shows us a God who can turn blessing into difficulty, and difficulty into great blessing.
* Exodus shows us a God who can silently prepare to rescue His people even while allowing it to appear that He no longer sees or cares.
* Exodus shows us a God who often takes many years to carry out His perfectly timed rescue.
SEEING OURSELVES
* In Israel's Egyptian nightmare, we can see our own fears and intolerable circumstances.
* In Moses, we can see our own reluctance to trust the God who is so able to be our strength.
* In Moses, we can see our own ability to do whatever God wants us to do.
* In Moses' killing of the Egyptian, we see the terrible results of our own efforts to take things into our own hands.
2. RESCUE (7:8-12:36)
The car had spun out of control near midnight in a remote area and plunged down a steep bank. It came to rest in a watery ravine. The driver was trapped in the wreckage, unable to move. Fully conscious, she waited for someone to help her. But no one appeared. Dawn came, then daylight. Now she realized that her car was hidden from view. She pushed the horn button, but no sound came. She screamed as loudly as her injuries would allow, but there was no one to hear. As the afternoon passed, she began to panic. She knew she would not last another cold night. Why doesn't someone come? Aren't they looking for me? Finally, as darkness fell, she saw a pinpoint of light. Someone was searching! But the light passed right over the bridge without discovering her. She finally broke down, weeping in despair. Deliverance was so close, but so far away. Then the light reappeared, right beside the car! Something had told the young searcher to check the ravine, and he had spotted her car. She was rescued!
Exodus 7-12 tells an even more dramatic story of rescue. Moses had come to declare himself Israel's deliverer. He had approached Pharaoh, but he had been rejected. The situation seemed hopeless to the suffering Israelites. Would they be rescued?
Yes, they would - but not without an intense struggle between Moses and Pharaoh on the human level; between Jehovah and the pagan deities of Egypt on the supernatural level. In an initial encounter (7:8-13), Aaron threw his rod to the floor and it became a serpent. The magicians of Egypt duplicated the feat. Then Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods to show the reality and superiority of the God of Israel. Pharaoh would have saved himself and his people a lot of grief if he had let the Hebrews leave at this point, but he hardened his heart (7:13).
God directed Moses to go to Pharaoh again and ask permission to leave (7:14-18), warning him that if he refused, the Nile would be turned to blood. When the king would not grant Moses' request, the sacred Nile was turned to blood as God had said (vv. 20,21). This was the first of 10 plagues that would fall on Egypt. Each exposed the weakness of one of the Egyptian gods.
Plague after plague fell on Egypt over a period of several months. The Egyptians cried out in anguish, but the hardened Pharaoh refused to budge. At the end of the ninth plague, a 3-day darkness, he cried out to Moses, "Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!" (10:28). Moses, knowing what would happen, assured Pharaoh that he would never see him again. Egypt had been defeated in the battle between their gods and Jehovah. But Pharaoh's heart did not change. The terrible tenth plague, the death of all the firstborn of Egypt, would cause him to weaken, but only briefly.
The Passover. Then came a final, chilling announcement from God: "About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn of the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the maidservant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the beasts. Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again" (11:4-6).
A "destroyer" (12:23) would pass through Egypt at midnight of the 14th of Nissan. All the firstborn in the land of Egypt would die. But God made provision for Israel to escape the tenth plague. He gave detailed instructions for each family (smaller families could go together) to slay a lamb and apply the blood to the doorposts and lintels of their houses. Then they were to roast and eat the lamb, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They were to consume all of the meat "in haste" (12:11), already dressed for travel.
Midnight came. The Israelites were ready. "The Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt" (12:29). A great cry of anguish went up in the land. Pharaoh sent word for Moses and Aaron to leave with all their people, and with all their flocks and herds.
After 430 years, the Israelites left Egypt. They scurried out of their homes, assembled under Moses' leadership, and began their journey. A sad chapter of Israel's history had drawn to a close, and a bright new one was opening before them. God had delivered His people from the destroyer and from the cruel oppression of Pharaoh.
SEEING GOD
* God's manner of breaking Pharaoh's will shows that He sometimes chooses a path of deliverance that can make things worse before they get better.
* The defeat of the Egyptian gods through the plagues shows the power of the living God over the limited strength of Satan.
* In the Passover rescue, the Lord showed His plan to rescue through the blood of a substitute - a carefully designed object lesson that foreshadowed the eventual substitutionary death of God's own Son.
SEEING OURSELVES
* Pharaoh's resistance to God reminds us of the potential stubbornness of our own hearts.
* In Moses and Aaron we can see that it's possible to confront the forces of darkness by God's strength.
* The blood of the Passover lamb was the only way for Israel to escape the destroyer; likewise, our only way of salvation is through the blood of Jesus Christ.
