God’s Deliverance

Our focus on this week is going to be from chapter 3-14. It is good to know where Moses came from though.

As Exodus begins, we see that the people of Israel have grown in number in Egypt(filled the land). There was a new Pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph that came into power and he decided that the Israelites were too great so they turned them into slaves. They were trying to prevent the people of Israel from becoming too powerful. To stop this, they decided that when they had babies, that if it was a girl, that was okay. But if it was a boy, they were to kill it.

The midwives refused to do this. And eventually, this brings us to the story of one of them who was saved named Moses. He becomes a main character for the proceedings of what will become of the Israelites. He is born from the house of Levi(line of Israel). That would make him a Levite. Do you know what is special about the Levites? They are the priests. They would be later set aside for this purpose. But this is very fitting for Moses to come from the line that would be set aside as priests to be holy and dedicated because he would exemplify this as mediator between the people and God throughout this Exodus.

His family places him in a basket and floats him down the river. A girl found him and knew that he was a Hebrew boy, but it says that she took pity on him. This woman just happened to be the daughter of Pharaoh. So he was raised in the home of Pharaoh. But it was not hidden from him that he was an Israelite.

One day, he saw that an Egyptian was attacking an Israelite, so he intervened and ended up killing the Egyptian. He takes the body and hides it in hopes of no one finding out. The next day, he saw to of the Hebrew people fighting, he tries to step in again, and they basically ask him who he thinks he is.

Exodus 2:13–15 ESV

13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

So now, Moses runs away because he was afraid that Pharaoh was going to kill him. After he flees, he saves a group of women from some shepherds. Their dad finds out and he gives Moses one of them for a wife.

While all of this was going on, Pharaoh died and the people of Israel began to cry out to God to save them from slavery. This begins this turning point for the people of Israel.

Key Point: God delivers His people from slavery through His power and faithfulness.

When we look at the Exodus of the Israelites, we must start at the encounter Moses has with God.

Exodus 3:1–10 ESV

1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

God audibly speaks to Moses. He tells him that he has heard the people of Israel cry out for help and that he has chosen Moses to be that help.

Do you feel like there are things in our world today that need to be fixed? Do you feel like God is going to provide that solution? Do you feel like you are the solution that God has provided?

If you feel like you are not the right one, you are not alone. Moses felt the same way and tried to get out of it.

Moses actually gives God 5 excuses why he should not be the one.

Who am I?

Exodus 3:11 “11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”” Who am I? He questions his own qualifications.

2. Who are you?

Moses didn’t really know who he was speaking to. Exodus 3:13 “13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?””

You want me to try to explain to them who you are and I don’t even know who you are?

Exodus 3:14 “14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”” God tells him he needs to trust who he is.

3. What if they don’t listen to me?

He is worried that his declaration will fall on deaf ears. He is looking to the past. He remembers how they treated him when they found out what he did by killing the Egyptian. Now, all of those things are coming back up. Exodus 4:1 “1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ””

So God tells him that he is going to give them a reason to listen to Moses. 3 things are going to happen. 1) his staff will turn into a snake and then back 2) his hand will turn leprous and then back 3) water taken from the Nile will turn to blood

4. But I can’t speak good

Moses feels like he doesn’t have the capability to do this. Exodus 4:10 “10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”” This is an excuse that I know a lot of people have. They don’t how how to say the right things. God reassures him that this isn’t about his ability.

Exodus 4:11–12 “11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.””

God is going to be with him. God is with us.

5. I just don’t want to do it

Exodus 4:13 “13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”” He is refusing to do it. But God doesn’t accept that answer.

Exodus 4:14–16 “14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. 16 He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him.”

Oh you don’t want to go. You ain’t gonna get out of it that easily. Take your brother with you and he will be your mouthpiece. No matter what excuse he gave God, it wasn’t going to change the fact that God chose him to do this. It went from I can’t, to I don’t know you, to they won’t listen, to I am not gifted, and now it is just plain ole I don’t want to. It is like a parent talking to a child.

But even after all of this, Moses does what God has commanded him. Moses and Aaron confront the Pharaoh. They tell him that God has ordered him to release the Hebrew people. Well, as you can imagine, that did not go over so well. Pharaoh had an amazing work force in the people of Israel. He did not want to let them go.

Exodus 5:1–2 “1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.””

So what does Pharaoh do about this? He increases the workload of the Hebrew people. The people wanted out of Egypt and now they had to work harder for Pharaoh.

How do you think the people felt towards Moses and Aaron after this? They despised them for this. It gave them an opportunity to blame someone for their problems. Exodus 5:21 “21 and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.””

Was Moses their enemy? No, Pharaoh was but Moses made a good scapegoat for them.

Exodus 6:1–8 ESV

1 But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” 2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ”

Through Moses, God reminds his people of the covenant that he made with Abraham.

Sometimes, our problems would be a lot more insignificant if we focus more on the promises of God than on the problems of man.

This is what leads to what we know as the 10 plagues. I don’t want to spend much time on these. But what we should know is that the purpose of the plagues was to display the power of God. Each plague was a sort of attack on one of the Egyptian gods that they worshiped. So through the plagues, God is declaring that he is one God and the only one who is worthy of worship.

Throughout these plagues, Pharaoh did not give them any ground. In fact, it keeps saying that his heart is hardened. What do you think that means? Through several of the plagues, it says that God hardened Pharaohs heart. Remember that all things are for God’s glory. This will be too.

We get to the 10th plague and it is unique to the others. Through this plague, we have the institution of what was known as Passover. Later on, it was celebrated through a feast. But here, when it is instituted, it was for their salvation from the spirit of God. God told them that they were to take a lamb, kill it, and then take the blood from the lamb and put it on the doorposts of the house. Then, they take the lamb and roast it and eat it with unleavened bread. This is the feast.

Exodus 12:12–14 ESV

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

This lamb is a picture of salvation. Just as the blood of the innocent lambs were spread over doorpost to save the people of Israel, the blood of Jesus was spread on the cross to save all of those who will have faith in him.

It was after this night that they fled the land of Egypt. A lot of miracles throughout all of this. We have the 10 plagues. All of these are miraculous events. But they are bookended by 2 wonderful miracles. Before the plagues, we have the staff of Aaron turning into a serpent in Exodus 7. And then in Exodus 14, we have the miracle that you may be more familiar with, the crossing of the Red Sea.

Essentially, when they were fleeing Egypt, the Egyptian army was coming after them. They make it to the Red Sea. Now, there was a large number of people fleeing with Moses. Some think that it was between 2-3 million people. And now, they were blocked by the Red Sea from fleeing. God miraculously parted the sea, let the people cross on dry ground, and then once they were across, he let the waters fall back and crush the Egyptian army.

Maybe the things that God delivers us from aren’t as dangerous as this. But we should always look and see the things that God does safely take us through.

This continues the story of the people of Israel. Remember who comes from this line of people?

Group Questions

What does the Exodus teach us about God’s power?

Why did God send the plagues?

What is the significance of the Passover lamb?

How does Jesus fulfill the picture of the Exodus?