EXODUS 1-15
Key Verses
1:8-22 Eventually a king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph and the history of his people. He stirred up animosity toward the Israelites among his subjects, saying, “The Israelites have multiplied like rabbits and are now overwhelming our country. It’s time we did something about it.”… So Pharaoh had his officials enslave the Israelites and force them to perform hard, menial labor. But the Israelites continued to increase in number until the Egyptians became seriously threatened by the situation, fearing the Israelites would join an uprising or attack against the country. …That is when Pharaoh issued a faithful decree to his people: “Every newborn Israelite must be drowned in the River Nile. Only their girls will be allowed to live.”
2:1-10 Now there was a descendent of Levi who married a woman from his own clan. … She gave birth to a son whom she hid from those in charge of drowning baby boys. Yet she feared eventual discovery and fashioned a papyrus reed basket, coating it with waterproof tar and pitch. Then she put her son in the basket and let it float hidden among the reeds along a quiet stretch of the Nile. …It so happened that Pharaoh's daughter habitually bathed herself in that section of the Nile…One day as she approached the river, she noticed the hand-made basket floating among the reeds and ordered her handmaid to collect it. Lifting the lid, she awoke the little baby inside and he began to cry. Her maternal instinct took over and she felt deep concern for the helpless child, saying, “This poor baby has to be a Hebrew whose mother is trying to preserve his life.” … So Pharaoh’s daughter adopted the baby as her own son…and he was given the name of Moses (“one pulled out to safety”).
2:11-21 Moses grew up in the household of Pharaoh’s daughter and became a strong and healthy adult. One day he was out among his fellow Israelites when an Egyptian slave driver brutally whipped one of his kinsmen. Moses became furious with the Egyptian and struck him so violently that the man died. Attempting to hide his deed, Moses then buried the slave driver in the sand. …But word spread concerning the slaying and Moses began to get worried. …Eventually Pharaoh himself heard about the incident and determined that Moses must die for his crime. Moses, however, fled to the land of Midian before Pharaoh’s men could catch him. … And there Moses found work as a shepherd, eventually marrying the daughter of the man who hired him. And Moses settled down in Midian and began a family.
2:23-3:10 A long time passed and finally the Pharaoh who knew Moses died. But nothing changed for the Israelites, who groaned in anguish from their harsh circumstances. They called out in desperation to God, who determined that the time was finally right to fulfill his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. …Moses was far from the hardship of his countrymen, still tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. While grazing the sheep on the flanks of Mt. Horeb, God’s angel appeared to Moses in the fiery flames of a burning bush that was not consumed. Moses could not take his eyes off the sight. It was then God spoke to him from within the flames, saying, “Take off your sandals, Moses, and come no closer; for the place you are now standing is sanctified by my presence. …I am the God of your forefathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. …The voices of your people Israel are constantly before me and I will now act to free them from the tyrannical hold of the Egyptians. I will lead them to the beautiful and bountiful land of Canaan—a land so rich it seems to flow with milk and honey. I am sending you to confront Pharaoh of Egypt and lead my people out of their bondage.”
3:11-4:17 Moses was terrified at the prospect and said to God, “But I am a nobody. How on earth could I go to Pharaoh and demand the Israelites be allowed to leave Egypt? God’s answer to Moses was simple: “I will be present with you.” Still, Moses hesitated, saying, “But what if I go to the Israelites and say, ‘The God of our forefathers sent me to rescue you,’ and they ask me, ‘Who is the God you are talking about?’ What answer can I give them?” God said, “All you need to say is I Am Who I Am. Tell them I-Am sent me. It is the name by which I shall be known among the generations to come.” …But Moses was still fearful and said, “O my Lord, you know I cannot speak well. I speak haltingly and have trouble finding the right words. …Please find another person better able to do this task.” So God compassionately revealed his concession, saying “What about your brother Aaron? He is quite eloquent. He is also a Levite, and even now on his way here. He will be happy to speak to Pharaoh the words I will give you. …Pick up your staff and carry it with you, for with it you will perform miracles.”
6:9-7:5 As Moses arrived with God’s message for the Israelites, they were so crushed in body and spirit that they showed no interest at all. But God gave Moses other instructions, saying “Go to Pharaoh who is king of Egypt and give him this demand: Let my people leave your country immediately!” But Moses was intimidated by Pharaoh and asked God, “Why would someone as mighty as Pharaoh listen to my stammering demands when even my own people pay no attention?” …Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will arrange things such that Pharaoh thinks you are a diety and your brother Aaron is your prophet. All you need do is tell Pharaoh through Aaron all that I will instruct you to say. …Pharaoh’s heart will be hardened, but in the end my will shall be accomplished and the people of Israel shall certainly come out of Egypt attended by my miraculous and mighty acts.”
[After numerous scourges involving miracles had been performed through Moses and Aaron to convince Pharaoh that it was God’s will to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh continued to stubbornly resist.]
11:1-10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one final scourge upon Egypt and it will convince Pharaoh to let you take the people and go.” …So Moses warned Pharaoh that God had made this ominous declaration: “Around midnight tonight my angel will go throughout Egypt killing every firstborn son among your people, including your own. …There shall be heartrending wails from every corner of the country. …But not a single sigh will be heard from among the Israelites, who will be completely safe. Then you will know without a doubt,” Moses angrily warned, “that the Lord means to liberate his people from your oppression.” …Afterward God spoke to Moses again, saying, “Once again Pharaoh will not listen to your words, but because of his stubbornness my miracles will be known throughout Egypt.”
12:3-14 God told Moses and Aaron to give these instructions to the Israelites, “Each family should obtain a lamb—one single lamb per household. …It needs to be a healthy, year-old lamb. …When dusk falls…it should be ritually butchered…and a portion of its blood carefully spread on the doorframes of the house where it is eaten. …And the lamb needs to be eaten in this manner: with your clothes on and shirt tucked in, your feet clad with sandals and your staff in hand. You must eat hurriedly as it is God’s Passover. …During the night I will pass through the whole country of Egypt and take the life of every firstborn among man and beast. It will be my judgment on those who worship the idols of Egypt. There is only one God, and I am he. The lamb’s blood on each Israelite house will be the means to preserve the lives of those who live there. I will pass over the houses where blood is found and the scourge of death will not come near them. …From now on this Passover day will become a holy day to be commemorated every year among your descendents.”
12:29-42 When midnight struck, so did God. And the life of every firstborn throughout Egypt was extinguished. …Pharaoh was awakened by the tumult, as were all who lived in Egypt, whether high or low. Raucous wailing and groaning encompassed the land, as every Egyptian household tasted death. In a state of shock, that night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, angrily shouting, “Leave us now! And never come back! Take your sorry Israelites and go worship your God however you want. Take everything that belongs to you—all your livestock too—just as you wanted.” Then he hesitated before saying, “Leave nothing here with me but your blessing.”…By the time they departed, the Israelites had dwelled in Egypt a total of 430 years. …Their days of oppression ended with God leading his people out of Egypt en mass, keeping vigil over them all throughout the night of their departure.
13:1-16 The next day God gave these instructions to Moses: “The firstborn male among each family and among all your livestock is to be consecrated to me.” …And Moses relayed the message to the people, saying “Once the Lord brings you into the land of promise in Canaan and it becomes yours, each firstborn male, whether a son or an animal, will belong to God and must be consecrated to him. …You will, however, be able to redeem back every firstborn son through a gift to the Lord. …The purpose of sacrificing the firstborn is to commemorate the Lord’s delivering you out of Egypt at the expense of every firstborn Egyptian. Your sacrifice will be a reminder of the lengths to which God went to liberate you.”
13:17-14-2 The Lord did not lead the Israelites on the shortest route to Canaan after Pharaoh had released them. That would have led them straight through Philistine territory and involved disheartening armed conflict. …Instead, God led them cross-country through the desert and toward the Red Sea. …And with the people were the remains of Joseph, just as he had requested. …As they progressed toward the Red Sea, God led them in a pillar of cloud that turned to fire at night. …Upon reaching the shores of the Red Sea, God told Moses, “Have the people remain here in camp by the sea.”
14:5-14 After the Israelites had left, Pharaoh and his officials had a change of mind. “What came over us,” they said to one another, “that we let our slave labor go?” So Pharaoh called for his personal chariot and six hundred of the country’s finest chariots, along with the Egyptian army. …His military force moved quickly and soon caught up with the Israelites who were camped by the sea. There the entire army of Pharaoh amassed in clear sight of the defenseless Israelites. …Terror gripped the people of Israel and they cried out in panic to God. …But Moses intervened, telling them all, “You need not fear. Stand your ground and you will see the Lord perform his saving work before your very eyes. …The battle is the Lord’s and he will do your fighting. Simply wait for him to act.”
14:15-21 God then spoke to Moses with these words: “Tell the Israelites it will soon be time to escape. Be ready. For when I tell you to stretch out your hand over the sea with your staff raised, the sea shall divide and the people will be able to pass through walls of water on dry ground.” …Then the pillar of cloud moved from the front to the back of the throng of Israelites. It hovered there like a protective wall, dividing the people of Israel from the Egyptian army. Night fell and darkness from the cloud enshrouded the Egyptian encampment. But on the Israelite side, the cloud shone brightly with the fire of God. All during the night, neither camp moved from their positions. Meanwhile, Moses stood on the shoreline and stretched forth his staff over the mighty sea. And all the rest of that night God summoned a mighty wind that piled high the waters, drying the sea floor. Toward dawn a rift emerged in the sea, revealing a safe passage to the other side.
14:22-28 Pharaoh’s army of chariots and mounted soldiers staged a pre-dawn attack, but the Israelites were already marching out of camp onto the dry ground that separated the towering walls of sea water. Pharaoh’s army followed behind in close pursuit. But once they were all on the dry sea bed, God acted to thwart the advancing troops. The wheels on their chariots bogged down causing confusion; panic gripped all the soldiers. They cried out, “God is on their side. Let’s escape while we can.” But by then Moses and the people had reached the other shore and God gave his order to Moses, “Stretch out your staff once again over the sea and the waters shall cover your pursuers.” And Moses did just as God instructed. …The first light of dawn revealed the devastation of the Egyptian army, whose chariots and mounted soldiers had all drowned trying to escape the returning waters of the mighty Red Sea. No one survived its swirling currents.
14:30-15:21 That day the evidence of God’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt’s tyranny could be seen along the shoreline, lined with scores of bodies from the dead soldiers. Seeing the carnage, the Israelites realized the extent of God’s awesome power. They felt deep reverence toward the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses, his servant. Then celebrations broke out among the people and Moses led them in a song of victory. They danced and sang these words ... “The Lord is our strength and he is our song. The Lord is our salvation. …May he rule over us forever…We will sing out loud to our God. ...O Sing to the Lord and lift him high with praise!”
Basic Message
Over time a Pharaoh came to power that had no personal connection with Joseph or his people. Because the Israelite population in Egypt was growing rapidly, Pharaoh and the rest of the Egyptians began to see them as a threat and determined to enslave and oppress them. A decree to kill all new-born male Israelites was meant to quell the threat and eventually wipe out the nation of Israel altogether.
One Israelite mother refused the order by hiding her son in the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. Pharaoh’s daughter discovered the baby while bathing and lovingly adopted him, naming the child Moses. She raised Moses to manhood, whereupon one day he lost his temper and killed an Egyptian abusing a fellow Israelite slave. Word got out about the incident and Pharaoh determined to kill Moses; but he quickly fled to the land of the Midians in the east, where he married and lived as a shepherd.
Appearing in a burning bush in the wilderness, God called Moses to go back to Egypt and enlist the Israelite leaders to help deliver their people from the oppression of the Egyptians. Greatly intimidated by his visionary call, Moses appealed to God for help to accomplish his mission, given his timid nature and halting manner of speech. God assured Moses he would be with him in miraculous ways and appointed Aaron, Moses’ brother, to be his spokesman.
The scriptures say that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, yet also say that Pharaoh was a stubborn man. Either way, he refused Moses’ demand to let the Israelites go to worship God in the wilderness. Moses and Aaron performed signs and wonders to authenticate God’s backing but Pharaoh saw similar miracles from his own magicians and would not give in. Finally, the firstborn child of every Egyptian family was struck down on the same night, while the Israelite children were protected by the sign of lambs’ blood smeared on their doorframes. When Pharaoh’s own first-born child died, he immediately demanded the Israelites leave Egypt, which they did, led by God’s presence in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
Upon reaching the Dead Sea they camped. But Pharaoh had changed his mind and with his army was giving chase after their departed slave labor. The horse-drawn chariots and mounted soldiers led by Pharaoh caught up at their encampment, where the Israelites were trapped against the seashore. Terrified, they cried out to God and Moses, who told them to simply trust in God for deliverance. The pillar of cloud moved toward the Egyptians and protected the Israelites from them all night. During the night, at God’s direction Moses raised his staff and commanded the Red Sea to part in two. It did so by way of a strong east wind, revealing dry ground for the Israelites to walk upon. After the whole company of Israelites reached the other shore, God told Moses to command the waters to close. They did at once and all the pursuing Egyptian soldiers were drowned. Awe-struck, the Israelites sang a song of deliverance and praise to God, safely out of Egypt on the eastern shores of the Red Sea.
Comments
* The lack of a personal relationship with the Israelites led the new Pharaoh to view them in a deprecating manner—as inferior people who deserved vilification. But Pharaoh’s worst intentions, the genocide of an entire people under his care, was thwarted by God and woven into his plans for deliverance of the nation of Israel, through whom he had promised to bless the entire world.
* Moses went from a prince in the royal family to a fugitive shepherd in the wilderness, then back to Egypt as a divine emissary to Pharaoh and the whole Egyptian nation. A number of others in scripture went from high positions to low and back again, including Jesus and Paul. The ability to make such transitions requires humility and the knowledge that God is equally with his called-ones in all circumstances. One’s identity is to be in God and not in one’s station in life, which can and does change repeatedly. God’s choice of Moses was not based on abilities alone, since a charismatic orator would have been a much better choice. But Moses’ heart was in the right place (as his willingness to be a humble shepherd showed), and that was what mattered most to God.
* God reveals himself in a new way to Moses, as I-AM (“the Present One”). He tells Moses that this name is one not known to any of Moses’ forefathers, who identified God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The significance is profound. God would be present with Israel at all times and in all places, thus he would be known by the more personal name, I-AM. It is a relationship-oriented name that later in scripture will be mirrored in the name given to Jesus – Emmanuel (“God with us”). The expanded name, I-AM-WHO-I-AM, gives us (and Moses) the distinct understanding that there is no higher authority to which the God of Israel need appeal than himself. His authority is complete, unchallenged, and eternal. Men and women have a need to swear by something higher than themselves—usually God. But God swears by himself, for there is no one and nothing higher.
* The plagues visited upon Egypt and the utter destruction of the Egyptian army may seem cruel and unnecessary. But here, as elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, the death and destruction that befall the many peoples who oppose or stand in the way of God’s purposes for the Israelites—and through them the whole world—is meted out as judgment upon them for their own sins. All who have ever opposed God and his purposes, especially through willful acts, apparently deserve such judgments. All humankind in fact falls into that category. But in Christ Jesus an era of grace has come, and now the blood of lambs spread on the doorframes for that first Passover in Egypt has been replaced by the blood of another Lamb whose Passover sacrifice spares us the judgment of humanity’s errant ways
Biblical Themes
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
