Category: Exodus

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Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 11

Things have come to a head, one more plague is to come and Pharaoh will release the Israelites completely. The goal has always been the complete freedom of God’s people (remember, God has promise to keep with these folks and the land of Canaan, which we were reminded of in chapters 3 & 6) and it was always going to be done through the humiliation of Pharaoh and all the so-called gods of Egypt. The power of Yahweh, the one true God, has been clearly demonstrated over and over again. Of course, we know that it was always going to end in 10 plagues, but neither Moses nor Pharaoh knew that. These have likely been occurring over a number of months with the Hail and Locust damage happening February/March based upon the state of the flax and barley at the time.

As part of the groundwork of this exodus action, the people will need some goods. Moses is to speak to the Israelites and have them request that their neighbors hand over some gold and silver jewelry. Again, knowing what is to come, we perhaps shudder at the thought of God providing all these jewels from the hands of the Egyptians as proof of the power of Yahweh when we know those same jewels will be used later to craft a golden idol to be treacherously worshiped in Yahweh’s place by the impatient Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai.

However, it’s also interesting to consider the reactions of the Egyptians in relation to the Pharaoh. They’ve kind of abandoned him. They seem to think highly of Moses (not only Pharaoh’s servants but also the Egyptian people) who are presumably handing over stuff to the Israelites because it’s clear that Yahweh has dominance in the area. Where the Pharaoh remains stubborn, I think we’re getting the impression that the plagues are having the appropriate effect on everyone else.

So Moses takes the final warning to Pharaoh, obviously unconcerned with the previous threat of his death if he were to enter the presence of Pharaoh again. The word is from the Lord so when it says, “About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt…”, we should read that as God personally involving Himself in this action. Yes, His hand has caused all the plagues so far, but the major impacts have been third party (hail, locusts, darkness, blood, frogs, etc.) This time, God is doing the work Himself. It’s happening at midnight as a grace, everyone who is going to die will likely die in their sleep. The great cry throughout the land will not be those who are dying, but those who are finding that they have died.

And it’s everyone, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the slave girl, as well as the…cattle? Have we so quickly forgotten that us humans share a creation day with the animals and are functioning under the same directive to multiply? To include the cattle is to indicate a sense of complete domination and a demonstration of the cascading effects of the sins of Egypt and the power of God. And firstborn isn’t likely limited to sons, the word can be ambiguous, and chapter 12 describes there not being a house in Egypt that wasn’t impacted, so only girl households are apparently touched.

But for the people of Israel, there shall be no trouble, not even barked at by a dog (think of a dog as on the same level as a rat in that time, a dirty nuisance). How this will be true will be shown in the next chapter. The result of this will be the final humiliation of Pharaoh, the death of his son and all of those most loyal to him turning to Moses and begging for the Israelites to leave. Then Moses leaves in hot anger (presumably he was mad the whole time and probably tied to the death threat from earlier).

And yet Pharaoh will not listen. This final demonstration must be completed in service of God’s promises to His people and in service to the revelation of the truth to those who falsely worship the gods of Egypt.

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Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 6

As chapter 6 starts, we find a Moses who seems a bit disoriented. He knew enough from what God has previously said that there would be reluctance on the part of Pharaoh to just let the people split (God gave him signs and wonders for a reason specifically to combat doubt). However, the impact this had on the Israelites and their subsequent rejection of Moses doesn’t appear to have been anticipated. This conflict between our expectations and God’s execution isn’t specific to their time. God’s timing only sometimes coincides with our expectations and his idea of the hardships we need to go through only sometimes coincides with our idea of how much we can take.

In response to Moses’ exasperation of God not delivering His people as expected, God largely ignores the protest and reminds him of what he said back in chapter 3, that it will take a mighty hand to change Pharaoh’s heart and that many wonders must be done in the land to get that to happen. We must not forget that this isn’t a battle between Moses and Pharaoh, or even Israel and Egypt, it’s between Yahweh and the so-called gods of Egypt.

We should likely see the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, when it occurs, as part of this same battle. The Pharaoh was considered a pure person, a manifestation of the gods themselves. For Yahweh to be able to do whatever he wanted with Pharaoh’s heart shows a domination over those gods already. This is temporary, not an indication of God’s permanent or eternal judgment upon the man himself, but a demonstration of God’s power to communicate a truth and make a point. This shouldn’t be a surprise, every time we pray for something we’re generally asking for God to suspend someone’s free will or a natural process and to intervene in a supernatural way. The broad question is, do we trust God to suspend free will in the appropriate times for the right reasons? Well, if we can’t trust God to be just, we can’t trust him with anything. So, generally I’d say that it must be able to be done in a just and fair way.

The promise remains the same. Who are they dealing with? Yahweh (the same Yahweh that makes promises of land to Abraham, et al). Further, He has heard their groaning, has been with them in it, and now the time has come for that His faithfulness in this promise will be demonstrated to not only the Israelites but to those who have oppressed them as well. Even more, there is a unique connection between Yahweh and these folks that no one else has. They will be liberated for a special relationship where He will be their God and they will be His people. When would this happen? v. 7 answers. They will know for certain the truth of this when they have been delivered out of Egypt.

Moses pulls all this together…and the Israelites don’t want to hear it. From their perspective, they got burned the last time they put their hope in this deliverance. No thanks, this brick load burden leaves us no time for these promises anymore. Interestingly, Pharaoh wanted to work them harder to keep them from following lies. It’s working, but instead they’re missing the truth. Pessimism will do that, especially pessimism that is comes from being let down when your expectations, unreasonable or otherwise, weren’t met. Just something to watch, boys.

Still, God’s faithfulness doesn’t wane even when folk be stubborn about it. So, he sends Moses to talk to Pharaoh anyway. Moses tries to bail again, this time claiming that disbelief that Pharaoh will listen when his own people will not (this seems reasonable) and further by claiming that he has “uncircumcised lips”, meaning that he isn’t ready, things aren’t in order on his end to go and convince Pharaoh of this thing. Granted, we get that Moses remains a little disoriented and disenfranchised by the relative lack of success so far. Yet, when God says it’s the thing then it’s the thing. So, He insists that Moses and Aaron are the right fellas to get this promise delivered.

Now we run into a genealogy out here in the middle of everywhere like a pair of undies on the lawn. You wonder why it’s there? Why is this happening and who thought it was a good idea? Well, if we look, it’s focused on tracing the connections between the lineage of the man Israel through to Aaron’s grandson Phinehas. Notice it’s a selective genealogy. We only get the first 3 sons of Israel, for example. When we hit Levi, we then start following him because it’s his line that produces Amram, the father of Aaron and Moses. The level of detail for those that follow that line also varies. This is not unusual, Biblical writers use genealogies for specific connections or to reinforce specific narratives and will skip generations or bail on tracing certain branches because it’s not important to the point of the story.

So why is this here? Multiple reasons. It provides an affirmation that these leaders, Moses and Aaron, are legit and their line can be traced back from Levi all the way through Phinehas (who is a priest during the time of the Judges). Their future priestly duties are understandable given that lineage. Also, that the Israelites aren’t ethnically pure as the genealogy points out connections to a Canaanite woman in v. 15. This isn’t a surprise, really, the group that leaves Egypt was likely a pretty mixed bag and probably includes Egyptians who wanted to leave with them. The initial recipients of these writings from Moses could see a bit of themselves in the genealogy. We also see quite a few ladies, highlighting the importance of proper marriages for priests, something that will show up later in the laws that God gives them.

The end of chapter 6 resumes where the lawn undies interrupted but makes reference that one of the points of the genealogy was to orient how readers/hearers of this story were to understand Moses and Aaron. Now we’re back to the question again of Moses’ ability to do this thing on God’s behalf. This leads to a chapter 7 where, as expected, God will largely again ignore this protest and affirm His commitment to what is to go down.

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Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 3

Click on the link to view the image of the Sinai Peninsula. Notice the mountains in the middle of peninsula in the middle of the picture. Mount Sinai (and perhaps Mount Horeb) is located here.

Also shown is the northern portion of the Red Sea, as this satellite picture is taken looking from the Southeast. There are two “bunny ears” on this northern portion of the Red Sea that create the Sinai Peninsula. These two are the larger Gulf of Suez to the left (and you can barely see the Suez Canal which connects to the Mediterranean Sea at the very very top) and then the Gulf of Aqaba, the smaller “ear” to the right.

Back in Genesis, after Sarah died, Abraham married Keturah, and they had several children, including Midian. Midian is the patriarch of the Midianites, who began dwelling on the coasts of the Gulf of Aqaba. So, the west side of Aqaba (Sinai) and the east side (Arabia) saw the Midians hanging out. So since Jethro is a Midianite, and a priest, perhaps it’s possible that he serves God, since his great—great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents were Abraham and Keturah. Dunno.

Now, we pick up chapter 3 with Moses and his new family. Jethro has entrusted Moses to watch his flock o’ sheep, and Moses and his flock meander to Mount Horeb (some say that this is Mount Sinai). Exodus calls this the mountain of God. Moses comes across the burning bush, which is described as the angel of God who has appeared as fire inside a bush. Growing up, I recall the burning bush, but never remembered the fire actually being the angel of God. So that’s new to me.

When Moses sees that the bush isn’t consumed, God calls out to him. Moses takes off his sandals as ordered, and God reveals himself as the God of the Patriarchs, whom we know all about from Genesis.

Overwhelmed, Moses hides his face. This comes at a time when God hasn’t spoken directly to anyone since Jacob, so it’s been a long time. I would hide my face too.

The Word of the Lord:
“7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.
8 So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
9 Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.”

Having said that, God orders Moses to Egypt.
Moses: Who am I to do this task?
God: I’m with you. That’s all you need. Also, you’re going return to this mountain to worship Me.
Moses: Who do I say sent me?
God: I AM THAT I AM. I AM has sent you. Tell them that this is My Name…forever. They will listen.
Moses: (continues listening)
God: Say this: What we wish to do is go into the wild for three days, to worship our God. But I know that Pharaoh isn’t going to let you go, unless forced. So I’m going to force him using plagues and miracles. You’ll be leaving Egypt soon.”

In many ways, this is a straightforward chapter. It’s a pretty famous one too. The burning bush, mentions of the land flowing in milk and honey, and discussions of the name “I AM.”

I Am that I Am (Hebrew: Hayah) means “existed” in Hebrew; it’s usually translated in English Bibles as “I am” or “I will be” (or “I shall be”). It is literally translated as “I Am Who I Am.”

The ancient Hebrew of Exodus 3:14 lacks a future tense such as modern English has, yet a few translations render this name as “I Will Be What I Will Be,” given the context of Yahweh’s promising to be with his people through their future troubles.

This promise portends that God is going to be more active among the children of Israel. We have God specifically choosing Moses for an important task involving the liberation of the descendants of Abraham.

God declares his goodwill for these people also, a goodwill which exists because of Abraham.

God then tells Moses exactly how the children of Israel are going to be delivered from Pharaoh. He tells Moses that the time to fulfill promises has come. Moses is going to try to wriggle out of this a bit (he is human of course). However, God (of course) has an answer to his lame objections every time. You’ll see more wrigglings in coming chapters.

God also reveals himself to a Hebrew for the first time in over a century, and he does so in miraculous fashion. No one else sees this, however. Moses has no way to prove this to Jethro or his wife at this exact time. It speaks to the great faith of Moses that he’s going to leave his safe house in Midian, and head down to Egypt nonetheless, where’s probably wanted for murder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh7tgX_Uaqs

Important note for all of us. How many times does God tell us to do something, but we come up with our own lame excuses? Moses is going to go back to where he’ll likely be executed, but he goes with the protection of God, having seen a miracle that no one else has.

Finally, 20 years ago, the Prince of Egypt came out. I was always a big fan of the film. It wasn’t scripturally perfect by any means, but the story of the Exodus remains an epic one that God orchestrated. I always enjoyed the burning bush scene. Here’s that scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poZr9HjMizQ&app=desktop

End of Chapter 3

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gulf_of_Suez_from_orbit_2007.JPG

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Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Chapter 1

Exodus opens with the names of the sons of the man Israel. This is important for both historical and literary reasons. To history, we’ll come to find out that it’s been a few hundred years since this family first came to settle in Goshen, within the territory of the Egyptian pharaoh. They had now spent many years in pagan surroundings. During that time, we get a sense that many of them have given up on the thought of a God that cares for them. As that iterates through subsequent generations, it’s quite possible that they know very little of the promises God has made through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. From a literary perspective, it reminds us, just like them, that this story isn’t in isolation.

The names of Israel’s sons are listed in birth order. We’re told the whole family is 70 strong, same figure given in Genesis 46, and that Joseph was already there. These are important to set the scene as both have relevance to the problems that are to come. We will go from an invited Israelite family who aren’t very big to an exceedingly strong nation that has been fruitful and greatly increasing (if we remember from Genesis, this is blessing language). The situation has changed.

As is prone to happen, Egypt eventually has a different leader than the one who was in charge and permitted Joseph’s family to settle there. It’s not super clear who this new pharaoh is, but it’s likely a native Egyptian who deposed the last of the Hyksos pharaohs. The Hyksos were, for all practical purposes, invaders from Asia who had settled in Egypt and taken the throne by force. After a couple of hundred years they are chased out. If this happens to be the right scenario, it’s easier to understand the threat that the new pharaoh potentially sees from the Israelites in Goshen. This is compounded by the general fear/mistrust Egyptians had of foreign peoples (driven likely by a sense of superiority).

The rendering of the pharaoh’s concern in v. 10, though, doesn’t make a ton of sense. The way it reads it sounds like he is concerned that the Israelites may get in league with an invading army and escape. Given that they don’t particularly care for this group that is blessed and massive within their borders, the fact that they might leave doesn’t seem like a problem. In fact, it’s probably a good thing in their eyes. A similar phrase is used in Hosea 1:11 and the NRSV recognizes it as “…and they shall take possession of the land, for great shall…”. That same type of rendering makes the most sense here as well. So, the concern is likely that Israel will join with an invading army and take over the land, not flee from it.

To combat this, the pharaoh decides to put heavy burdens on the Israelites. This is about population reduction, so the labor must be hard enough to kill the weak, weaken the strong, and likely reduce the amount of free time they have for the types of activities that produce more Israelites. This fails, and not just out of happenstance. The blessing that God shows here in multiplying the Israelites is proportionate to how much they were oppressed. This is in a sense difficult because it’s these blessings of God that actually lead them into further trouble with the Egyptians. We shouldn’t be surprised that there will be conflict when powerful humans try to exert control to suppress those things that God has designed for blessing.

Since the initial attempt at degrading their status and reducing their population didn’t work, pharaoh takes the next step and tries to enlist the Hebrew midwives to kill the male children as they are born and let the female children live. Obviously, things have escalated, now we’re talking straight up genocide. The fact that the midwives are named in the text is a strong testament to their bravery. They not only ignore pharaoh’s instructions but straight up sass him when asked why they aren’t doing it (Hebrew ladies don’t mess, they get the job done, unlike Egyptian ladies who seem to take their sweet time.) This was talking to a man who has commanded genocide. Who knows why he let them live (perhaps it’s implied God intervenes here), but they serve God above men, even in the face of danger. God blesses them in return.

Given that he can’t trust the midwives to enact his demands at the time of birth, Pharaoh changes the decree to not killing at birth but to throwing the male babies in the Nile after they are born. This is not only kind of a clean way (and one that can’t be argued with for access, even today 90% of Egypt’s population live within 5 miles of the Nile. Also, with the belief in the Nile as one of the gods, if the child is “received” by the water, it is more seen as a judgment of the gods than a blame on the person who put the child in there.) The stage is also set for the introduction of one of those babies who will somehow yet live as God continues to intervene for His people of promise.

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Bible Study Exodus

Exodus | Introduction

Entry two of the 5-part narrative that kicks off the Old Testament, Exodus is a continuation of the story that began in Genesis. This is no surprise, as we saw predictions and promises made by God to families in Genesis that have yet to come to complete fruition (a return to the land of Canaan as promised to Abraham being chief among them.) The opening of the book certainly focuses on tying things together, with the first six Hebrew words being exactly the same as those in Genesis 46:8, a reiteration of the family last in focus for these promises, the man Israel and his sons.

Our English title of the book is actually a Latin word that comes from the Greek word Exodos, the title given to it when it was first translated from Hebrew into Greek (that translation is called the Septuagint). The word “exodos” means “exit” or “departure”. Interestingly, this isn’t the Hebrew title of the book, which is simply titled “These are the Names”.

Although exactly what to call the two sections is a matter of some debate or preference, it’s generally safe to see Exodus as having two parts that split at chapter 20. The initial setting is Egypt, where we last left Joseph and the gang after the death of his father Israel. Since that time (around 400 years), that original group of 70 “…were fruitful and increased greatly, they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.” That language sounds like blessing if you’re an Israelite, it kinda sniffs like an invasion if you’re an Egyptian.

This wasn’t an issue for the pharaoh who brought Joseph on board as his right hand man. But as new leadership takes over, they scan the land the notice a wild group of shepherds likely a million strong just lingering around Goshen. In fear, they decide to capture them as slaves. When this slavery includes restricting the ability of the nation to properly worship Yahweh their God, the trouble begins. Ultimately, God dominates, the people are set free, and they set out to Mt. Sinai, eventually en route to the land God promised (they won’t make it there in Exodus. This book remains just a part of a grander narrative that encompasses the entire first 5 books of the Bible.)

This leads us to the second half of the book, the year at Mt. Sinai. There is a transition here that this nation must go through. They are not just moving out of Egypt and away from servitude of Pharaoh, they are moving into their rightful place as covenant members of God’s kingdom, recipients of God’s provision, His law, and most significantly, His presence (albeit limited). How then shall they live? What are they to do with their freedom? What does God expect from them and how would they know it? God will give this to them.

Historically, we must note that there is very little that exists to either corroborate or deny the historicity of the Exodus narrative. Many things are not clear, including the name of the pharaoh who was reigning and interacting with Moses and the actual date of when the Israelites left Egypt. The exact route of the journey and the location of Mt. Sinai are also debatable. For our purposes, we’re working off a timeline that has the exodus happening in the 15th century BC, with part of the purpose of the narrative being Moses’ intention to provide an adequate history to those about to enter Canaan, an event that will occur after his death.

This lack of “evidence”, if you will, is not particularly concerning. The age of the narrative  makes it difficult to imagine a substantive amount of corroborating documentation (certainly not from the Egyptians, who would not be keen to record for posterity the absolute domination of their leader and their gods at the hands of Yahweh, the God of the shepherd slave people whose women give birth too fast.) Additionally, although much is made by surface-level rejectors of the Bible about there being a lack of physical evidence for the exodus, the 3,000+ year gap between the event and when they decided to Google it makes it about as likely for there to be extant physical evidence as there is to find a copy of That Time We Got Owned by Yahweh: A Biography of Egyptian “gods” lying around in the ruins of Alexandria.

That said, although there is not much ground to invalidate the historicity of the events, there is just as little to straight out confirm it. The text itself is well-preserved, likely brought back from Babylon to Jerusalem in the mid-5th century BC. The NT treats it as a real event. And, if we are honest, if someone was looking to fabricate the story of how the Israelites came into existence, they would not likely have produced the text we have today (Stuart 26). We don’t have a smoothed out, fictionalized account. This is clearly written as a history, warts and all. The foolishness of God’s people in the face of His faithfulness is almost comedic at times. Certainly a nation that has someone available to craft a gold cow in a moment’s notice could have found at least one person capable of writing a fictionalized biography that didn’t make them look so ridiculous. Or, we can take it for what it is meant to be, a valid historical account.

Although we touched on this slightly already, Moses is most likely the author. Evidence points to this, not the least of which are the statements in the text that say as much and the New Testament references that affirm it. The in-text references are actually unique, often ancient writers would not have written themselves into the narrative as the author. Given Moses’ role with the people, it is perhaps a necessary inclusion to ensure that the authority that comes with the recorded information is well-preserved.