Intro to Exodus

The Setting:

- Sets the stage for the rest of the Bible. It promises that one was coming who would crush the head of satan. Satan is not all knowing, so he immediately began to go to work on Eve’s kids, Cain and Able.

Genesis 3:15 ESV

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 patriarchs were promised that God would make them a great nation. tells us that when Jacob’s family first went to Egypt they were a good size family, but probably not what we would call a great nation. tells us that they had indeed become a great nation.

Genesis 46:27 ESV

And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.

Exodus 12:37–38 ESV

And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.

It was likely their numbers that made the Egyptians fearful of them and caused them to enslave them

Title: The name Exodus means “A going out” or “a departure”

It’s Place in Scripture: The book of Exodus is the second of the first five books of the OT known as the Pentateuch which stands for “Five volumed”. Simply meaning there are five of these books. Collectively they make up the Torah. “Law or instruction”. When we read about “the Law” we are reading about the first 5 books of the Bible.

Pentateuch

Author: Like a lot of OT books the book of Exodus does not explicitly name it’s author, however, it’s genre and content have led to the conclusion that the book was written by Moses himself. , give examples of Moses taking the words of God and writing them down.

3 stages of Moses’ Life:

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 3

Three Stages of Moses’ Life

Location

Age

Reference

Egypt

0–40

Ex. 2:11; Acts 7:23

Midian

41–80

Ex. 2:15; 7:7; Acts 7:29–30

The wilderness

81–120

Deut. 31:2; 34:7; cf. Num. 14:33–34; Deut. 29:5

Egypt- Age 0-40 ;

Midian- Age 41-80 ;;

The Wilderness - Age 81- 120 - ;; ;

Theme: The overarching theme of Exodus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to the patriarchs that he would make their descendants a great nation.

We saw earlier that they were large in number, but it is hard to claim you are a great nation when you are enslaved.

Major Divisions of the book:

Exodus of Israel from Egypt

The setting of this book is a dark one.

There is a new King of Egypt and he begins to enslave the Israelites

He then proceeds to have male children murdered

Covenant at Sinai

Now that the Israelites we out of Egyptian bondage and were on their own, they received laws from God.

this is where the 10 commandments come from.

Other notes: This book contains a wide variety of other topical studies

Do we have free will? (Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart? )

The providence of God.

What is a covenant?

Doing the right thing even in the face of severe consequences (Moses’ mother)

There is a tremendous amount of foreshadowing of things to come in the NT. One example, passover.

Why did God send plagues on Egypt? It was to prove that He was God. each plague attacked a different false god of the Egyptians.

Exodus 12:12 ESV

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.

Next Week: We will cover the first 2 chapters of the book. Read them multiple times before coming to class.