Chapter 4: Deliverance (Exodus Typology in the Bible)

Main Idea of The Story: God is redeeming a people for himself from every nation, tribe, people, and language, for his own glory through Jesus Christ.

Text for the Chapter: Exodus 1-17 (pp. 43-57 of The Story)

Main Idea—The Exodus was such a powerful example of God's salvation of his people in the face of evil opposition and incredible odds that it becomes a pattern for understanding God's salvation of his people throughout Scripture. The Exodus is a type, a pattern, of how God saves his people which helps us to understand the work of Christ. Like all OT stories, the Exodus points to person and work of Christ.

Expecting the Messiah in the Old Testament

Luke 24:13–24 ESV

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

Why were the disciples discouraged after Jesus’ crucifixion? What hopes or expectations did they have that were dashed by these events? The disciples were discouraged because they though that Jesus was the Messiah, but Jesus had been crucified. They did not expect that the Messiah would be rejected by his people and crucified. They expected the Messiah to be exalted by his people and conquer Rome and reestablish the Davidic dynasty.

Luke 24:25–27 ESV

25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

What events did Jesus say were foreshadowed in the Scriptures? Where in the Scriptures should we expect to find these prophecies? Jesus says that all of his sufferings (presumably including his rejection and crucifixion) as well as his subsequent exaltation (including his resurrection and ascension) were foretold in the Scriptures. He specifically says they should have expected these events from reading “all the Scriptures,” particularly those written by “Moses and all the Prophets.” That would include the entire OT.

There is not a book in the OT that does not point to or foreshadow at least some aspect of the Messiah’s sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension. It ALL points to Jesus.

Now, Jesus isn’t saying that the disciples should have been able to read their OT’s and predict the details of how it would all unfold. He’s not saying the OT predicts every little detail of his life and ministry.

What he is saying is that if they were familiar with their OTs, they should have been able to recognize what was unfolding.

What we’re talking about here is called “Typology.” You know what typology is, even if you can’t give me a definition for it. Let me give you an example...

Imagine you turn on the TV, and there’s a movie starting.

A pretty young woman in New York City working for a huge corporation. She’s always on the go, always stressed out, high drive, high energy, high expectations.

Then, for some reason, she ends up getting sent to a quaint little town in Vermont on business, two days before Christmas. Then she meets a handsome local man who runs his family's Christmas-tree farm. She wants nothing to do with him because he’s too slow and down-to-earth for her tastes. She’s rude to him at first because he doesn’t get her what she needs and she’s on a schedule.

But then her car gets stuck in the snow and she’s got no cell service. Along comes Mr. Christmas-tree-farm, and since she has no alternative, she has to accept his help. He gets her car unstuck...

Now, first off, who probably made this movie? Hallmark, of course.

And where is this movie heading? They’re going to fall in love, she’s going to realize that she doesn’t really want to work in NYC and live for money, and she’s going to give up her job and come marry him and live in Vermont working on the Christmas tree farm.

Now, how do you know all of that?

Because of typology. Typology is just recognizable patterns in a story, and every story has them. Hallmark movies follow predictable patterns.

Big-city executive who is successful but spiritually/emotionally unfulfilled —> forced into the small-town world —> encounters the "true" way of life —> initially resists it —> comes to recognize its value —> abandons her old priorities —> finds love/home/belonging.

We might call this character “The worldly outsider.” That's the character archetype.

Archetype: A recurring character type, symbol, plot, or setting that appears across different cultures and eras; a universal pattern. Familiar examples include “the hero,” “the mentor,” “the damsel in distress,” or “the star-crossed lovers.”

Type: The particular character, symbol, plot, or setting that occurs in a particular story and emulates the archetype.

Antitype: The ultimate escalation or fulfillment of the archetype; the supreme type that exemplifies the archetype or to which all the other types pointed.

If I say, “the damsel in distress,” you could probably give me several examples of stories that have that character in them. And, you know that the “damsel in distress” is going to be rescued by the “knight in shining armor.”

Insert Pic of Fiona in Tower

So, if you begin watching a movie and you’re introduced to a beautiful woman who’s locked away in a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon, you already know what’s going to happen...she’s going to be rescued by the “knight in shining armor.”

Insert Pic of Shrek

Now, what is important to realize is that good stories—unlike Hallmark—don’t follow the archetype rigidly. Good stories intentionally introduce variation from the archetype to either create suspense or introduce irony/comedy. Like, for example, in this movie, where the “knight in shining armor” ends up being an ugly ogre, who’s rude, crude, and instead of riding a white stallion is accompanied by an obnoxious talking donkey. It’s the departures from the archetype of the “knight in shining armor” that make the story funny and entertaining. But, interestingly, even though Shrek doesn’t perfectly match up with the “knight in shining armor” archetype, he ends up being exactly that. So the story still works.

So, what does all this have to do with the Exodus? Everything.

The Bible uses typology all over the place.

Romans 5:14 ESV

14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Romans 5:18–19 ESV

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Romans 5 depicts Adam as a “type.” We might call the archetype the “Representative figurehead” who represents humanity and whose actions affect all those he represents. Whereas Adam’s representation casts us into sin and death, Christ’s representation brings righteousness and eternal life.

So, what happens in the Bible is that we get introduced to lots of “types”—Adam, Cain, Noah, Joseph—and those types get intensified later in Christ.

Archetypes we’ve already seen in The Story:

The Representative Figurehead: A person who represents humanity by virtue of genealogy or position and whose actions affect all those he represents. Types: Adam, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Jacob

The Jealous Brother—brother(s) who plot violence against brother(s) out of jealousy. Types: Cain, Ishmael, Esau, Joseph’s brothers

The Unexpected Heir—someone who is unexpected by worldly/cultural standards ends up receiving favor and the inheritance. Types: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim

The Deceiver—someone who tricks others for personal gain. Types: Satan, Jacob, Laban

The Savior—a righteous person who brings salvation for his people. Types: Noah, Joseph

How Typology works in the Bible: As we see example after example of a particular type, we learn to recognize the patterns of that type of person or story. God does this so that when the antitype arrives, we are able to recognize it and understand what God is doing.

Typology in Exodus

There are multiple typological patterns that show up in Exodus that end up being repeated throughout the Bible. Here are some examples:

Exodus 1:8–14 ESV

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

Archetype: The Oppressive Kingdom—A foreign ruler, fearful of God’s people, enslaves them, subjects them to harsh rule, and attempts to exterminate those he views as a threat.

Types of the Oppressive Kingdom: Egypt (Exodus), the Philistines (Judges), Babylon (Prophets), Persia (Prophets), Rome (NT), Jewish Leaders (NT)

Exodus: The story of Exodus opens with God’s people in oppression under foreign rule.

The Gospels: also open with God’s people under oppressive Roman rule, and also under oppression from their religious leaders.

Murder of the Innocents

The King of Egypt in Exodus attempts to eliminate all the Hebrew males because he views them as a threat to his rule:

Exodus 1:22 ESV

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.”

Multiple OT examples of invading armies killing children and/or pregnant women: Syria (2 Kgs. 8:12; Hos. 13:16), Babylon (Ps. 137:8-9) King Menahem of Israel (2 Kgs. 15:16), Ammon (Amos 1:13)

During the Babylonian invasion of Judah and Jerusalem at the end of the OT, the Babylonians laid seige to Jerusalem for about 18 months. During the seige, many, many Jews starved to death, including babies and children. Some people even resorted to cannibalism. Then, when the Babylonians finally broke through the walls, they sacked the city and slaughtered many more. Jeremiah wrote about the horrors of that time in the book Lamentations, and also in his book “Jeremiah.”

Lamentations 2:11–12 ESV

11 My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city. 12 They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom.

Jeremiah 31:15 ESV

15 Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

Ramah was a city just a few miles north of Jerusalem, on the route that the Jews took from Jerusalem to Babylon when they went into exile.

Applying the type (pattern):

Matthew 2:16–18 ESV

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

With the “types” (pattern) from the Exodus and OT in mind, what do you make of this passage in Matthew? How do the authors (Matthew and the Holy Spirit) want us to understand Herod’s murder of the babies in Bethlehem? They want us to see Herod as representing an evil, oppressive Kingdom that wants to exterminate God’s people out of fear. Herod views Jesus as a threat to his Kingdom and tries to exterminate him, just as Egypt and Babylon had before him.

In Biblical typology, the types usually point towards a greater fulfillment—the “antitype.” What is the ultimate, supreme example of “The Oppressive Kingdom” in Scripture?

Antitype: Kingdom of Satan/the world

John 8:44 ESV

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Satan is a murderer and deceiver

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The serpent is going to be constantly at war with the offspring of the woman

He tries to have Jesus murdered as a child, but fails. He tries again during Jesus’ ministry and succeeds, but only partially. And he continues waging this war of oppression against God’s people today.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

What are some “types” from modern times that follow/followed the pattern of The Oppressive Kingdom, and how does that help us understand them? Nazi Germany, abortion and euthanasia advocates, Islam, persecution of Christians (China, India, etc.). Knowing the Biblical pattern helps us to recognize such expressions of Satan’s Kingdom, know how to fight them, and have confidence in the victory through Christ.

The Savior

Exodus 2:10 ESV

10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Moses’ name means “to draw out,” which obviously was originally referring to the fact that Pharaoh’s daughter “drew him out” of the water. But, when she did so, she saved Moses’ life. Moses was in a dangerous spot, and her act of “drawing him out” was an act of salvation.

Moses’ name means “to draw out,” which is a picture of being saved from the waters of judgment.

In the same way, Moses is then used by God to “draw out” God’s people from slavery in Egypt.

Exodus 3:10 ESV

10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

And how does he bring this salvation about? By drawing them out of the waters of the Red Sea.

Exodus 14:21–31 ESV

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen... 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

A child is born under the threat of death and is given a name that alludes to salvation. As an adult, he’s called to save his people from oppression, confronts the oppressors, and leads his people to salvation through the waters.

The Antitype: Jesus

Child born under the threat of death and is given a name that alludes to salvation:

Matthew 1:20–23 ESV

20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

He’s brought up out of the waters, then he’s called to save his people from oppression, confront the oppressors:

Matthew 3:15–17 ESV

15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

leads his people to salvation through the waters:

Romans 6:3–4 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

The NT also compares baptism to Noah’s Ark: God’s people are saved by being brought through the waters of God’s judgment.

1 Peter 3:20–21 ESV

20 ...when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ...

The NT also compares baptism to the Exodus: God’s people are saved by being “baptized” in the Red Sea—brought through the waters of God’s judgment.

1 Corinthians 10:1–6 ESV

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3...6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

Passover Lamb

A sacrificial lamb dies a substitutionary death to cover God’s people, atone for sins, and bring about their salvation.

Exodus 12:5–13 ESV

5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 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.

What were the essential elements of the sacrifice of Passover? Had to be a male lamb, one year old (young), had to live with the family it benefitted, had to be sacrificed at twilight. Blood had to be applied to the home, had to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. None could remain until the morning. The blood of the Lamb spared God’s people from certain death.

1 Corinthians 5:7 ESV

7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

John 1:29 ESV

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 19:36 ESV

36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”

How is the Passover Lamb sacrifice fulfilled in Christ as the antitype?