Forward Session 1

God Who Breaks Chains

Exodus 1–12

Exodus 1 opens with the names of Jacob’s sons who entered Egypt, totaling seventy descendants, and the Israelite population flourished, multiplying and becoming increasingly powerful (Exod 1:1–12:51). A new Egyptian pharaoh, unfamiliar with Joseph’s legacy, viewed the growing Israelite population as a threat and implemented forced labor, assigning taskmasters to burden them with construction projects (Exod 1:1–12:51). Despite oppression, the Israelites continued to multiply (Exod 1:1–12:51), prompting the pharaoh to command Hebrew midwives to kill male infants, though they defied this order out of fear of God (Exod 1:1–12:51).

The narrative then shifts to the deliverance itself. God punished Egypt’s oppressive regime and freed Abraham’s descendants, revealing himself through word and action as a holy, incomparable God sovereign over history and creation1. While the exodus from Egypt occupies the first third of the book (chapters 1–15), the larger portion focuses on Israel’s journey to Sinai and subsequent events there1. Exodus fundamentally tells the story of God creating a people—“a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”—through whom his universal blessing promised to Abraham would be realized2.

The book’s structure encompasses deliverance from Egypt, the journey to Sinai, the giving of the law at Sinai, Israel’s rebellion there, and the completion of the tabernacle3. Rather than depicting mere political liberation, Exodus portrays a transition from serving Pharaoh to serving God—a shift from bad servitude to good servitude, where the Hebrew term for “serve” also means “worship”4. God’s actions extended beyond benefiting Egypt and Israel alone; they were designed to make himself known to all nations1, establishing his relationship with Israel as central to his redemptive purposes.

Exodus begins with a Levite man and woman who conceive and bear a son,(Moses) whom the mother hides for three months. Unable to conceal him longer, she places the infant in a waterproofed basket among the reeds along the riverbank (Exod 2). Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the basket while bathing and finds the crying child inside (Exod 2). The baby’s sister—present nearby—offers to locate a Hebrew nurse, and Pharaoh’s daughter accepts (Exod 2). The girl retrieves the child’s biological mother, who nurses him and receives wages for doing so (Exod 2). When the boy matures, his adoptive mother brings him to Pharaoh’s daughter, where he becomes her son, and she names him Moses, “because,” she explains, “I drew him out of the water” (Exod 2).

This narrative explains how Moses gained access to Pharaoh’s court and received the education necessary for his future role as deliverer, all through the dramatic circumstances of his rescue1. Notably, women—not the pharaoh himself—drive the action and thwart the king’s murderous decree1.

The chapter then shifts to Moses’ adult years. After witnessing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, Moses kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand (Exod 2). The next day, Moses attempts to intervene in a dispute between two Hebrews, but one challenges his authority and references the Egyptian killing, causing Moses to fear his deed is known (Exod 2). Pharaoh learns of the incident and seeks Moses’ death, so Moses flees to Midian2. At a well in Midian, Moses encounters the seven daughters of a priest and helps them water their flock after shepherds drive them away2. Moses remains with the priest, marries his daughter Zipporah, and they bear a son named Gershom2. The chapter concludes by noting the Egyptian king’s death and the Israelites’ groaning under bondage, which rises to God, who remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob2.

Exodus 3 opens with Moses tending his father-in-law’s flock near Mount Horeb, where an angel of the LORD appears to him in a burning bush that remains unconsumed by the flames. When Moses approaches to investigate this phenomenon, God calls his name and instructs him to remove his sandals because he stands on holy ground, then identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Exod 3)

The chapter’s significance emerges from its historical context: after Egypt’s king dies, the enslaved Israelites cry out in their suffering, and God remembers his covenant with the patriarchs.1 God reveals that he has witnessed Israel’s affliction and intends to deliver them from Egyptian bondage into a fertile land inhabited by various Canaanite peoples. (Exod 3) He commissions Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, though Moses protests his inadequacy for the task. (Exod 3)

The passage establishes that God is neither distant nor indifferent to injustice—he has observed Israel’s suffering, heard their cries, understands their pain, and will intervene by bringing them to freedom.1 Yet God’s intervention operates through human agency rather than divine decree alone, enlisting an unlikely shepherd who fears returning to Egypt.1 At the burning bush, God reveals his personal name, Yahweh, declaring “I am that I am.”2

Exodus fundamentally concerns knowing God through personal experience, with the narrative arc extending from Moses’s encounter at the burning bush to God’s glory filling the tabernacle.3 Throughout this development, Moses serves as mediator, first revealing the Lord to the people and then establishing the covenant relationship that allows God to dwell among them.3

Exodus 4 Moses receives miraculous powers to authenticate his divine commission1, yet his persistent reluctance provokes God’s anger1. Moses raises three objections: doubting whether the people will believe him, claiming insufficient eloquence, and asking God to send someone else2. God responds with grace rather than judgment, providing Aaron as his spokesman1.

Before departing for Egypt, Moses faces a life-threatening crisis when God threatens him until his sons are circumcised1. God reassures Moses that his life is no longer in danger—the pharaoh who once sought him as a fugitive has died3. After departing Midian, Moses and Aaron meet with the Israelite elders, who believe their testimony and the miraculous signs they perform3.

The chapter’s trajectory shifts dramatically when Pharaoh shows contempt for the God of his enslaved people1. Rather than releasing Israel, Pharaoh increases the slaves’ workload, forcing them to gather their own straw while maintaining brick quotas1. The Israelites, unable to meet these impossible demands, blame both Pharaoh and Moses for their intensified suffering2. This reversal exposes a fundamental tension: serving God does not guarantee popularity with human authorities2. The chapter demonstrates that divine calling involves both empowerment through miraculous signs and the difficult reality of human resistance—from Moses’s own hesitation to Pharaoh’s defiant opposition to the enslaved people’s despair.

Exodus 5

Moses encounters immediate failure when he approaches Pharaoh to request a three-day religious festival in the wilderness, only to have Pharaoh flatly refuse.1 Pharaoh’s response reveals his dismissive stance toward Israel’s God, declaring “Who is the LORD, that I should heed his voice and let Israel go?”1 This question expresses Pharaoh’s incredulity at the audacity of challenging his absolute authority.2

Rather than granting the request, Pharaoh responds with intensified oppression, and the Israelites—rather than blaming their ruler—direct their anger toward Moses and Aaron.1 This chapter reveals that Israel remains unprepared for liberation; when freedom doesn’t come swiftly and painlessly, they abandon their trust in both Moses and God.3 Pharaoh’s reaction exemplifies authoritarian rule—he responds to unrest with increased coercion rather than consideration, thereby hardening his heart and making eventual collision inevitable.2

The chapter serves a deeper theological purpose. The intensified hardship Israel experiences becomes necessary preparation; through ten plagues, God will compel Pharaoh’s compliance and give Israel the incentive and unity required to survive the wilderness journey.3 Moses responds to this crisis by pouring out his complaints to God, and through this conflict, God establishes the foundation for Israel’s eventual liberation.1 Moses’s innocent suffering foreshadows Christ, who endured suffering to free his people from bondage to sin and death.1

Identity Confusion

Exodus 1:8 “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.”

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

There was a clear message being sent, that Israel was to serve the Lord. Not Pharoah.

2. An unlikely leader

Moses.

(born with a death sentence)

Exodus 1:22 “Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.””

A committed parent

Exodus 2:1–5 “Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.”

A flawed human

Exodus 2:11–15 “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 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?” 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.” 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.”

A man “seeking God”

Exodus 3:1–6 “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. 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. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 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.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 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.”

A man who understood he couldn’t do this alone

Exodus 4

(God show Moses He will be with him all along the way)

3. God reveals who is in control

Exodus 7 - Exodus 12

All the plagues and then the passover.

What Egypt is God calling you out of?

Where have you normalized “bondage” that God wants to break you free from?