Bible in a Year: Exodus

Monday - Exodus Chapters. 1-5

This week we start our journey in the Book of Exodus. Exodus literally means “way out” or “Departure.” It is probably the most significant historical and theological event in all of the Old Testament. Exodus is a rare book in the Bible which is actually a sequel. If you just read the book of Exodus without first reading Genesis, you would be confused right off the bat. The book starts with a lineage which is carried over from Genesis and the writer of Exodus assumes that you have read the book of Genesis already. We start where Genesis left off with the death of Joseph. Joseph had left quite a legacy in Egypt, both for the country and for his people. The Israelites had flourished under Joseph’s legacy, but a change in political power stopped all of that and they went from free, successful people to slaves under an oppressive king.

An easy division of the book would be chapters 1-15 and then 16-40. The first division is all about the rescue of the Israelites from Egypt. The second division is about the response the Israelites have toward God and their wanderings in the desert.

In Chapter 1 we see two unsung heroes in the lives of the Hebrews. Shiphrah and Puah were the chief midwives. In order to decimate the Hebrews, the Pharaoh ordered all male babies to be killed while in childbirth. But the faith of the two midwives was stronger than any politician. When Pharoah saw that his plot wasn’t working, he ordered all male babies to be thrown into the Nile River. Egyptians worshipped the Nile River as a God back then so Pharaoh was probably trying to practice human sacrifice by doing this. But again, people disobeyed Pharaoh, even his own daughter. In Chapter 3 we get to the excitement of the life of Moses, when God spoke to him through the burning bush. This is one of the most poignant passages because God tells Moses who God truly is. 3: 11 Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 “I’ll be with you,” God said. “And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain.” 13 Then Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’”

God is not the god of the what was.

God is not the god of could be.

God is not the god of should have been.

God is the God of the great I am.

Whatever you may be going through in life today, that is a message we all need to hear. When we don’t think we can carry on, God says, I am the way. When others are hurting us, God says, I am the truth. When the world is against us, God says, I am the life.

Tuesday - Exodus Chapters 6-15

We start chapter six with another genealogy. We seem to have a lot of those. The reason is genealogies were offered as proof of qualifications of office for the people in the Bible. For example, how can Aaron be a priest? He acted like anything but a priest. Well, according to his genealogy, he is descended from the line of Levi and therefore can be a priest. From chapters 7-15 we see the rest of the miracles Moses performed in Egypt and the establishment of the Great Passover which eventually became our Lord’s Supper. There are ten plagues. The plagues are: water turning to blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the killing of firstborn children. In Chapter 12 see the establishment of the Great Passover. This is a meal, sometimes referred to as a Seder meal, that celebrates God saving the Israelites from the death of the firstborns. Jesus was eating the Seder meal during the Last Supper when He instituted the sacrament of Communion.

Wednesday - Exodus Chapters 16-24

The Israelites didn’t get very far in their journey from Egypt before they started to complain. In Chapter 16 we see where God is still working miracles in their lives by turning bitter waters into fresh water. Throughout these chapters we see the theme where the people complain and God delivers them with a new miracle. Fresh water, manna, quail and a nightlight in the form of a pillar of fire are just a few of the miracles God worked to help guide them on their journey. In Chapter 20, we now reach the climax of the entire book, the central and most exalted theme, all that came before was a preparation for it, and all that follows, a result of it. This is of course the Ten Commandments. It is by these laws that the Hebrews were supposed to pattern their lives and these became a new kind of covenant. Remember the Abrahamic Covenant we had back in Genesis. Now the covenant is that God will be with the Hebrews as long as they keep God’s laws.

Thursday - Exodus Chapters 25-31

We now see the beginnings of the first Church being organized. Before, worship was done as individuals with no set rhythm. People only worshipped when they felt overwhelmed by God’s goodness. Now the Hebrews see the value of worship and start to build the first church. It’s important to note that only voluntary gifts were acceptable as materials for the Lord’s house. Love rather than compulsion is the basis of all truly biblical giving (2 Cor. 9:7). At the center of the worship were the promises given to them, the Ten Commandments.

Friday - Exodus Chapters 32-40

God has done so much for the Hebrews in so many miraculous ways, but just like people in today’s world, the Hebrews turned away from God because they couldn’t get past their addiction to sin. God has worked all of these miracles and just as soon as they thought God wasn’t watching, they make some golden idols. This marks a major turning point with the relationship between God and man. In Genesis 3, we see where the Fall marked a turning point and now we see when people are firmly confronted with the goodness of God, they still seek sin. The rest of the Old Testament will be shadowed by the sin the Hebrews did when they built the golden bull. The rest of Exodus is about the construction of the Tabernacle, the priestly robes and the consecration of the Tabernacle. Many people assume that in the Book of Exodus we find out that the people wandered for 40 years in the desert. But in truth, Exodus only covers about a one-year time frame. It’s not until we get to the Book of Numbers that we get the rest of the story.