Exodus: A Story For Sufferers and Sinners
Strong women, forgetful people, and mysterious clues pointing to the promised Hero. That is basically all you need to know about Exodus. You can skip the episode now… No wait, come back! Just kidding! There is way, way more than that, so take a listen on why Exodus needs to be the next book you read.
We love watching The Prince of Egypt with our kids! But don’t forget, the book is always better than the movie - especially when it’s the Bible!
Who wrote Exodus? Moses
What genre? History/Law
Who was it written to? The wandering, recently freed Israelites
Where is Exodus located in the Bible? The second book in the first section called the Torah
Why read Exodus?
An exodus is about to happen. Spoiler alert. The title gave that one away. But! What you don’t expect is that this great deliverance begins with a group of 5 women who choose to save the life of baby Moses! (Yes! Let’s go!!) We wouldn’t have the rest of this story if these pro-life women didn’t care about the lives of babies. ❤️
Another reason to read Exodus is to see and learn how God cares about this suffering nation. They were oppressed and worked as slaves for the Egyptians. God saw them, heard their cries for help, and raised up a leader to free them! We can trust that when we’re going through suffering, God sees us, hears our cries, and is working even when we can’t see Him working.
Suffering & salvation is complex. God didn’t choose a deserving nation to bestow His blessing on. Even after being freed from their suffering, the Israelites were complainers and idolaters. They were both in the wrong and the victims. Salvation is also complex. They were crying out for help. God began working to free them by saving Moses’ life. But their conditions got worse before they got better! The journey through suffering and hard things is very complex and often continues to be after the suffering circumstances have ended.
We can learn to trust God through the messiness of our lives as we watch Him deliver the Israelites from their messiness.
What can we learn from Exodus? What was the purpose? God wanted all of Egypt to know who the true God was!
Exodus 7:5 says, “The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”
God wanted to tell the whole world that He is who He is. This story will stay with the Israelites through the rest of history.
What are the challenges to reading the book of Exodus?
Chapter 25 dives into the thrilling architectural details of building the Tabernacle. 🫠
I know what you’re thinking… Why? Whyyyyyy?
We feel you on that. But STICK WITH EXODUS! There’s purpose in this part of the book.
So, why did God go into so much detail about the Ark of the Covenant? Everything in the Bible is intentionally there. God wants us to know this information. This is the first building of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant! Before the fall in the Garden of Eden, God dwelt with man. God desired to dwell with man even after Adam rebelled. But God and sin cannot coexist. As Israel begins their journey as a newly freed nation, God prioritizes this by instructing them to build the Tabernacle so that He can dwell among His people! He didn’t wait for them to get settled in the promised land. He instructed them to build a movable place of worship. The fact that God dwelt with them became a great part of their identity! God was so intentional!
The second half of Exodus contains little hints at what’s to come. All of these little details will show up in the rest of the Bible! Pay attention because God’s telling you something!
If Exodus wasn’t in the Bible, what would we be missing?
The Exodus from Egypt is the PINNACLE event of the whole Old Testament! This event is a type of what is to come through Jesus Christ. God saw His people trapped under the thumb of a taskmaster, sent a rescuer to bring them out of their circumstances, and gave them the ability to have a relationship with Him again. God does this again, friends. In the New Testament, God saw us trapped in our sinfulness and sent us His very own Son Jesus. Jesus is our functional Moses, leading us out of slavery and into the promised land of God’s presence forever! Jesus helped us see these connections when He was teaching the disciples about the purpose of the Passover and the breaking of bread. His blood will be poured out and His body will be broken for us.
If you lose the book of Exodus, you’re losing Act 1 of the Gospel. You’re missing the first look at the story of the Gospel. We miss out on seeing these visuals for ourselves when we skip over Exodus.
Application questions:
When was the last time you read Exodus?
What stood out to you in this podcast episode? What questions are you wondering about the book of Exodus? (Great! Now go read it!)
Dedicate some time to memorizing Exodus 7:5.
Love these application questions? You gotta check out the Clearly One-Pager!
Our Recommendations:
👀 Watching: The Tabernacle and What It Reveals to Us (youtube.com)
📖 Reading:
Forgotten Heroines: Women's Compassion and the Key to Redemption by Kelly Needham
So you want to do something great for God… by Kelly Needham
👨👩👧👦 Teaching for children: The Prince of Egypt on DVD
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