Exodus - God with us
Exodus chronicles the birth and providential adoption of Moses, a Hebrew, into the Egyptian royal household to escape execution by Pharaoh. Moses is born to Hebrew parents and raised in the Egyptian court until he kills an Egyptian in an effort to defend a Hebrew slave. However, his chivalry is lost on his brethren and he is forced to escape to Midian to protect himself. This shows us that Moses was well aware of his origin and race. Outcast by both sides, Moses flees to Midian to start his life over. Though Moses may have left the Hebrews behind and forgotten his calling, God had not forgotten and remembered His covenant with the Patriarchs at the end of second chapter of Exodus. In Midian Moses meets his future wife Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro the “priest of Midian”, when he protects her and her sisters from a group of unruly shepherds trying to deny them water for their sheep. The text mentions that in the years while Moses was in Midian, Pharaoh died and God heard the misery of His people and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As a result of this remembrance, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush on Mt. Horeb (called the Mountain of God) declaring Himself the great “I AM”, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and instructed Moses to return to Egypt to deliver a simple message to the current Pharaoh: “let my people go.” In calling Moses at the burning bush to go back to Egypt Moses famously objects asking God to “send someone else” (Exo 4:13). This sudden transformation from Shepherd to deliver is so radical that it prompts Moses’ objections. In the ensuing exchange between God and Moses several items of great theological importance are enumerated: (1) the revelation of the divine name of God “YHWH” or “I Am who I Am”; and (2) Moses is identified as a prophet. It is important to note that Moses represents the first of formulaic “Thus says the Lord” class of prophet that comes into its fullest use later, after the reign of Solomon in the period of the Monarchy.
Moses returns to Egypt at the age of 80 (Exo 7:7) with his family and is met by his brother Aaron along the way whom God sent to act as Moses’ spokesman to Pharaoh. Moses gains the trust of the Israelites by demonstrating the wondrous signs God had given him for that express purpose: turning his staff into a snake and making his hand leprous. In Exodus 5-14 we see Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh beginning with the simple request to let the people leave to have a feast to the Lord in the desert. Pharaoh’s response of “who is the Lord that I should obey His voice” is the beginning of the obstinate attitude that characterizes his behavior throughout these chapters. After being denied his request to feast in the desert Moses proceeds to demonstrate God’s power through the snake staff sign that God gave him as proof of His power. Unwilling to acquiesce God sends 10 terrible plagues which serve two distinct purposes: (1) force the Egyptians into compliance with God’s will; (2) Teach both the Egyptians ad Israelites about the sovereign character of the God of Israel. The plagues prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that Yahweh was “in control of the cosmic order” and not the “god-king” Pharaoh.
It is worthwhile to note that some scholars erroneously believe that because the literary structure of the plagues indicates a long history of textual transmission that they are not historic fact but rather symbolic accounts. Additionally, some, while critical of the extreme “symbolic” assessment of the plagues, do feel a compelling need to prove the historical likeliness of the events based on what they perceive as logical and rational similarities to natural phenomena of Egypt. They conclude that the plagues 1-9 are most likely a series of natural disasters set off by the occasional extreme flooding of the Nile region. They have no “natural” explanation for the final plague where the firstborn of every Egyptian is killed. In spite of these theories the Bible in no way indicates that the account of the plagues is in any way symbolic, figurative, or natural in origin. These plagues took place supernaturally in the way the Bible describes them.
Pharaoh’s magicians are able to mimic the snake staff, the plague of blood, and the plague of frogs but none of the other plagues. Each of the plagues affects the Egyptians but not the Hebrews, who are spared from each horrible judgment. The following is a list of the plagues God sent into Egypt: (1) God turned all the water in Egypt into blood; (2) God sent swarms of frogs to overrun the land; (3) God sent clouds of lice to cover Egypt; (4) God sent swarms of flies; (5) God sent a pestilence that afflicted and killed the livestock and animals; (6) God sent a pestilence of painful boils that affected all creatures both man and animal; (7) God sent large hail stones, which would kill anyone caught out in the open; (8) God sent a plague of locusts which ate every plant; (9) God covered the land of Egypt with a darkness that could “be felt” (Exo 10:21); (10) Finally, God took the firstborn of every Egyptian including Pharaoh’s heir. As an extra instruction to protect the Children of Israel from the final, horrible plague, God implements the Passover ritual, a ritual that points very clearly to the substitutionary work of salvation performed by Jesus on the Cross at Calvary.
God established the memorial of the Passover to commemorate where God miraculously freed them from the bondage of the Egyptians. Again, it is worthy of mention that some believe that this is an adaptation of a spring festival practiced by shepherd people during the time, which does not reduce or negate its significance in anyway. The Passover changed throughout the history of Israel several times from an in-home personal celebration to a public festival. The “Last Supper” that Jesus celebrated with His disciples was patterned after the Passover and through this event the Passover was transformed from the Jewish ritual into the Christian “Lord’s Supper” also called the “Eucharist” or “Communion”. In the Passover ritual described in Exodus 12, each Israelite household was to prepare a lamb as a sacrifice, using the blood to mark the door of their homes as marker for the Lord to “pass-over” that house, sparing the people within from the wrath of God that was unleashed on Egypt. Additionally, out of this ritual the people developed their “feast of unleavened bread” wherein they ate the sacrificed lamb with unleavened bread, fully clothed and ready for a quick departure as God knew that this last plague would be the “last straw” for Pharaoh and that they would be released from captivity shortly thereafter. In a climactic finale to the encounter with Pharaoh, the Israelites are released from captivity, carrying with them many riches that were ironically given as gifts from the Egyptians. However, Pharaoh, changing his mind and hardening his heart one final time and pursued the Israelites. To save the fleeing Israelites God miraculously parted the Red Sea allowing them to pass through. However, when Pharaoh tries to chase the people through the open path, God caused the waters to cover the Egyptians up, killing them all.
After being delivered from Pharaoh’s army miraculously at the Red Sea, or more literally the “Sea of Reeds”, Moses composed a song of victory and praise uniquely about God solidifying the fact that the Exodus story is the standard of divine redemption only to be exceeded by the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. After escaping Egypt the Israelites traveled across the “Wilderness of Shur”, the “Wilderness of Sin”, and into the “Wilderness of Sinai” over a period of three months. During this period the people surprisingly began to question God and complain about their circumstances. As one theologian puts it, “sin and rebellion often fly in the face of the facts”. During these months God showed His faithfulness and power by miraculously preserving the Israelites from thirst, hunger and defeat at the hands of the Amalakites before eventually leading them Sinai where He intended to give them the most precious gift they would receive, the Sinai Covenant.
The last section of Exodus records the arrival and time spent at Mt. Sinai where God, through Moses delivers to them the His covenant. The Sinai covenant was anchored in the 10 commandments and followed up with a casuistic law showing specific examples of how the principles of the covenant laws are applied to life. The giving of the law was concluded with Moses leading the nation in a highly symbolic ceremony where blood was used to sanctify the people for the service of God. This ceremony points forward towards Jesus and His redemptive work and nature of His blood. However, before revealing the actual details of the covenant with them, God informs them of the purpose of the covenant they are about to receive. He tells them they will be a “special treasure” to Him among all the peoples of the Earth and a holy kingdom of priests IF they indeed obey and keep His covenant (Exo 19:5-6). Unlike the Covenant with Abraham which was given without condition, the Mosaic Covenant is clearly established as a conditionally based contact that is dependent on the faithfulness of the Israelites. The nation accepts the Covenant, sanctifies themselves God speaks to them directly to which they respond by requesting to Moses that he deal with God because He is too awesome and they are afraid they will die if they hear His voice anymore. After Moses agrees to be the intermediary he delivers the commandments of the Covenant starting with the 10 commandments in chapter 20. In chapters 20-31 the covenant regulations are presented and cover social, moral, religious, military and diplomatic themes as well as outline detailed instructions on how to construct the Tabernacle, the specific place of worship for the one true God. The purpose of the Tabernacle is clear from the beginning. Instead of primarily being a place of gathering for the people, like a modern day church or arena, it was God’s way of living in the midst of His people. The word tabernacle in the Hebrew literally means “dwelling place”.
In the midst of the godly obedience shown in receiving the law and building the Tabernacle, the people disappointingly rebel, creating a golden calf idol to worship as a representation of God they have fashioned out of collected jewelry. While Yahweh was creating a nation that would reflect His moral likeness, the Israelites were trying to create God in their image. It has been said that the failure of the people could be attributed to the fact that they felt leaderless during Moses’ long absence on the mountain. Regardless of the reason for their grievous transgression, Moses responded by: (1) destroying the calf; (2) making them drink the ground-up idol; and then (3) killing all of those (around 3,000 people) who were not on the “Lord’s side” (Exo 32:26). After the debacle with the calf, God judged Israel. There is an important message about the power of Intercessory prayer held within the pleading of Moses for God to spare the people after this incident with the calf. God granted Moses’ petitions and reestablished His Covenant with the people, helping Moses to re-create the stone tablets. After all was said and done Israel brought an abundance of offerings, builds the Tabernacle and in the culmination of the book of Exodus, God fills/inhabits the newly built Tabernacle with His glory.
While there is no direct historical evidence (outside of the Biblical account) for the events of Exodus, the conviction that they became a nation at the Exodus event is deeply rooted in Israelite tradition. Furthermore it is unlikely that the Israelites would invent a story about being slaves in a foreign land as this would not be a likely beginning for a group that thought as highly of itself as Israel has throughout the ages. On the subject of the date of the Exodus many scholars are quite convinced that the real date lie in the 13th century BC instead of the 15th century, which is the other likely date. The dates cannot be exactly and precisely determined to the lack of external historical references in the text. On the subject of the route of the Exodus it is, once again, impossible to exactly determine the route. However the most plausible route, given the information, is most likely a southern route with the traditional location for Mt. Sinai being in a southerly location at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Generally speaking if a scholar has a problem with the book of Exodus it is in one of three areas: (1) the historicity of the account; (2) the date of the Exodus; (3) the route of the Exodus. On the first there is little reason to doubt the historicity of the document because the account is so central to later Israelite thought and theology and so uncomplimentary in its nature that it is inconceivable that the events have no basis in the reality of their national history. On the issue of dating the Exodus, is difficult due to the lack of extrabiblical evidence and references to other more well-know historical events. The Bible itself in 1 Kings 6:1 and Judges 11:26 indicates a date in the 15th century though some scholars date the Exodus in the 13th century one of the reasons being because the Israelites worked on the city of Ramesses , which is believed to have been built by Ramesses II who lived in the 13th century. In the end whether the event happened in the 15th or 13th centuries makes little difference with respect to the narrative and theological components of the book. The third issue has to do with the route the nation took after leaving Egypt en route to Mt. Sinai. There are three potential routes that have been proposed: a northern, central and southern. The southern route is the most traditional and answers more of the questions than the others. This southern route has the nation traveling across the “Reed Sea”, just north of the Gulf of Suez, down through the wilderness along the Gulf of Suez and eventually to Mt. Sinai, located on the southern end of the Sinai Peninsula. Again, whichever route the nation took has little to no bearing on the narrative or the theological message of the book.
Theologically, there are three main points within the book of Exodus: (1) deliverance, (2) Covenant, (3) Presence of God. The first 18 chapters of the text deal with the concept of deliverance, with the people of God suffering under the bondage of the Egyptians. The Israelites were freed through no merit of their own God as showed mercy and grace becoming their deliverer and savior.
The second section of Exodus, chapters 19-40, focuses on the covenant that God would establish with the nation. This covenant was to be built on top of the patriarchal covenant with one big difference; there would now be a condition and requirement for ethical behavior to maintain their relationship with God. Though the covenant promises are in a sense permanent due the promises God mad to Abraham, the covenant itself now required faithful obedience. This obedience was for their own good as the laws were all for their well-being and moreover obedience to them was a response to the salvation God had ALREADY provided them. This is to say that the covenant was not a means by which they would be afforded salvation in the future; their salvation was given to them first. In the Abrahamic covenant God places Himself under an oath and this He is bound irrevocably to Abraham and his posterity; whereas , in the case of the Sinai covenant Israel takes the oath and there is now an obligation to obedience to the covenant stipulations. Moreover, the structure of this covenant is very similar to the structure of the international treaty used in the ancient Near East between an overlord and his people. This is important because it shows that the Ten Commandments were never intended to institute a system of legal observances by which one could earn God’s acceptance but rather they are stipulations of a covenant relationship anchored in grace. While an overlord could crush and dominate the general populace they would graciously use these covenants to establish the terms under which they would afford protection and prosperity to the people. While deliverance and covenant are the themes of the two largest sections of Exodus, the undercurrent for the whole book is the preparation of the nation for the arrival of the presence of God in their midst. The Patriarchal covenant had Promised Land and descendents but also had the intrinsic promise of living in the presence of Yahweh through the statement “I am with you”. The Exodus and events on Mt Sinai are central to the Old Testament in the way that the Cross is central to the New Testament.