Exodus

After the Israelites are placed into Egypt, they are enslaved and suffer a great injustice. Through the Exodus, God sets the Israelites free.

The Reason for the Exodus

  • All of Israel moved into the security of Egypt, the most powerful nation in the world (Ex. 1:1-7).
  • Generations later, a new Pharaoh is in leadership who does not know Joseph or the very numerous Israelites (Ex. 1:8).
  • Out of concern for his nation’s security, Pharaoh enslaved all the Israelites (Ex. 1:9-14) and commanded them to drown their male children in the Nile River (Ex. 1:22).

The Leader of the Exodus

  • 1st 40 Years – Egypt
    • Moses is born to Hebrew slaves. In order to keep him alive, Moses’ mother follows the command to throw all male children into the Nile River but she places him in a basket with his sister overseeing his journey (Ex. 2:1-4).
    • Pharaoh’s daughter finds him in the river and adopts him while paying Moses’ birth mother to nurse him (Ex. 2:5-10).
    • When Moses is older, he witnesses an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and decides to deliver him by killing the Egyptian (Ex. 2:11-12).
    • The next day he tries to intervene between two quarreling Israelites, and he realizes that the news of the murder is spreading so he decides to flee to the land of Midian (Ex. 2:13-15).
  • 2nd 40 Years – Midian
    • In Midian, Moses marries Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro the priest (Ex. 2:16-22) and works as a shepherd for 40 years.
    • The Israelites’ cries are heard by God, and he sets their deliverance in motion (Ex. 2:23-25).
    • God saw the people of Israel – and God knew (Ex. 2:25).
    • Moses encounters a burning bush from where God calls him to deliver the Israelites from slavery.
    • Moses’ 4 Excuses (Ex. 3:11-4:11)
      • #1. Insecurity
        • “Who am I that I should go?” (Ex. 3:11).
        • God responds, “I will be with you; when you come out of Egypt, you will serve me on this mountain” (Ex. 3:12).
      • #2. Identity
        • “What is your name, that I may tell the people who sent me?” (Ex. 3:13).
        • God responds I AM WHO I AM: Yahweh, the God of your fathers Abraham, Issac, and Jacob (Ex. 3:14-15).
      • #3. Inhibition
        • “How would the people believe that you have sent me?” (Ex. 4:1).
        • Yahweh turns Moses’ rod into a serpent then back into a rod (Ex. 4:2-4); Yahweh makes Moses’ hand leprous then heals it (Ex. 4:6-7); Yahweh instructs Moses to turn water from the Nile into blood (Ex. 4:9).
      • #4. Inadequate
        • “I am not eloquent; I am slow of speech” (Ex. 4:10).
        • I, Yahweh, am the one who made your mouth (Ex. 4:11).
    • Moses confronts Pharaoh and demands the Israelites to be released. After 10 disastrous plagues, Pharaoh finally complies (Exodus 7-12).
    • The Egyptians give away their possessions to the Israelites during the exodus (Ex. 12:33-36).
  • 3rd 40 Years – Wilderness
    • Moses shepherds the Israelites through the wilderness for 40 years.
    • Due to sin within this group, God frustrates their plans and has them wander on the way to the Promised Land.
    • At the end of his life, Moses leads the Israelites all the way to the Promised Land.

The 10 Plagues

  • Moses warns Pharaoh to let the Israelites go or else certain plagues will come upon the Egyptians.
  • Each plague has significance in that it defies a certain area that an Egyptian god was supposed to control.
    1. Water to blood (Ex. 7:14-25)
    2. Frogs (Ex. 8:1-15)
    3. Gnats (Ex. 8:16-19)
    4. Flies (Ex. 8:20-32)
    5. Egyptian livestock is killed (Ex. 9:1-7)
    6. Boils (Ex. 9:8-12)
    7. Hail (Ex 9:13-25)
    8. Locusts (Ex. 10:1-20)
    9. Darkness (Ex. 10:21-29)
    10. Passover (Ex. 11:1-12:32)

The Passover

  • The Passover was the final plague that redeemed the Israelites from slavery.
  • For a home to be passed over, it had to meet specific conditions:
    1. The lamb must be without blemish (Ex. 12:5; cf. Heb. 9:14)
    2. The blood must be applied to the frame of the door with a hyssop branch (Ex. 12:7, 22; cf. Heb. 9:12; John 19:29)
    3. The entire lamb must be consumed (Ex. 12:8-10; cf. John 6:53)
    4. The lamb’s bones must not be broken (Ex. 12:46; cf. John 19:33, 36)

The Red Sea

  • Yahweh hardens Pharaoh’s heart to go after the Israelites and chases them down to the edge of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:5-9).
  • Throughout the 10 plagues, Pharaoh changes his heart and refuses release.
  • There are times when Pharaoh actively hardens his heart (Ex. 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32).
  • There are times when Pharaoh passively hardens his heart because God is doing the work (Ex. 9:12; 10:20, 27).
  • Despite whoever is doing the hardening, God is clear in the beginning that he is going to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that “the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD” (Ex. 7:5; cf. Gen. 12:3).
  • At this moment, Moses instructs the people to trust God for their deliverance (Ex. 14:14).
  • God uses Moses to part the Red Sea. All the Israelites walk through on dry ground (Ex. 14:22).
  • The Egyptians follow behind and God drowns the army at the bottom of the Red Sea.
  • At this point, Moses and the Israelites worship God for his deliverance (Ex. 15:1-21).
  • This group begins the journey to find the Promised Land with their enemies defeated and this rumor circulating through the area that there is something different about the God of the Israelites than the gods of the other nations.