Exodus 2

Study Guide 9: Exodus 1-4 MOSES, GOD’ S MAN Overview The lash flicked; the pain came. For a moment the Hebrew slave’ s muscles corded in rebellion. But then he bent again to the task of mixing stubble with the slimy clay. “ I didn’ t want to. . . .” It sounded almost like someone else’ s voice. “ I don’ t know why I went along with them. I guess, well, I guess I was afraid.” Slavery is not just surrender of control of one’ s body. There is a worse bondage, a worse slavery, to indwelling sin. The history of Israel’ s redemption mirrors and instructs us in the freedom from slavery to sin that we are invited to know in Christ. Outline

I. Story of DeliveranceEx. 1-19 A. Moses, Man of GodEx. 1-4 B. God’ s Mighty PowerEx. 5-12

1. The Ten PlaguesEx. 5-11
2. The PassoverExo_12:1-51 C. Journey to SinaiEx. 13-18
3. The Red SeaEx. 13-15
4. The WildernessEx. 15-18 D. Law Covenant MadeExo_19:1-25 II. Design for Holy CommunityEx. 20-40 A. The Ten CommandmentsExo_20:1-26 B. IllustrationsEx. 21-24 C. Tabernacle DesignEx. 25-27 D. PriesthoodEx. 28-31 E. The Golden CalfEx. 32-34 F. Tabernacle BuiltEx. 35-40YAHWEH. The personal name of God is revealed now to Moses. It means “ the One who is always present,” and emphasizes God’ s commitment to be with His people. It is rendered Lord in our English versions.

Commentary The Hebrew people, the family of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, had come to Egypt in the days of Joseph. They had settled on the west of the Nile’ s delta, an area called Goshen, on the southern end of which Cairo stands today. Even after Joseph’ s death, probably during the rule of Amenemhet III (about 1805 b.c.), the Israelites experienced good years. Then, about 1730 b.c., a new people began a gradual conquest of Egypt. The country was ruled by a foreign aristocracy, the Hyksos, Semites from Asia. Goshen was one of the first areas conquered, and slavery was imposed on Israel. Later, when the Hyksos were driven out, Israel’ s lot was no easier. The people had grown numerous. And they were more closely related to the Asiatic Hyksos than to the Egyptians. By the time of Thutmose I, Egypt’ s great empire builder, the presence of this foreign population was threatening. Thutmose’ s concern over a potential enemy at home while his armies were away seeking new conquests led to severe measures. He commanded Egypt’ s midwives to kill newborn Hebrew boys. When this failed, he directed all Egyptians to seize the male children that were born to the Hebrews and fling them into the Nile to drown. Israel’ s plight was desperate. And then God acted. This is why a study of Bible history can sometimes be so exciting for us. At times our plight too becomes desperate. We too feel helpless, and can only call on God to act. But what does God do? How does He work in our lives to lift us out of our bondage, and set us on the way to freedom? In the New Testament, looking back on the days that Exodus reports, God tells us that the things that happened to Israel were “ examples.” The word “ example” literally means “ type” — a model or pattern. Israel’ s experiences were written down as signposts for us . . . signposts along a common road to freedom that we too are invited to travel (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:11). Simply put, our own personal experience with God closely parallels the experience of Israel as recorded in the Old Testament story of redemption. These Old Testament books show us how Israel was led from slavery to freedom. They tell the story of redemption, and help us understand what God intends to do in our lives as well.

Why Egypt? It seems strange, but God did lead the people He loved into slavery. God had appeared to Abraham, and had given him great covenant promises. Abraham was to become a great nation. Through his offspring the entire race of man was to be blessed. And the chosen people were to enjoy God’ s favor and His protection. What’ s more, the family of Abraham was to inherit a land that, at that time, was particularly rich. Canaan was to be a Jewish homeland, a perpetual possession set aside for them. But after just three generations, God led the 70 people of that family out of Canaan into Egypt. There, as God knew, they would rest and multiply — but would also become enslaved. God’ s leading of the people of Israel into Egypt was unquestionably leading them into bondage. Yet there were reasons for the detour into Egypt. During the years that the Children of Israel lived there, the Promised Land was a battlefield. Invaders from the north, Hurrians and Hittites, had surged south. During the decades when Egypt’ s power was great, Egyptian armies had flowed north. Palestine, a bridge between the two areas, knew the continual march of foreign armies, and often the devastation that war brings. The Jewish people could hardly have multiplied or have developed national strength in such a land. But in Egypt the people grew. The Bible tells us they “ multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them” (Exodus 1:7). Exodus 12:37 reports that when the Jewish people left Egypt, there were some 600,000 men, plus women and children; a total of at least 2 million people. Strikingly, when Israel left Egypt, both northern and southern world powers were weak. A power vacuum existed, which permitted time for the Jews to become established as a nation. The geography of Palestine gives us another reason why the captivity was in God’ s plan for Israel. The land was divided by ranges of mountains and hills. In a similar land the Greeks developed a structure of independent and warring city-states. The Greeks had a common heritage. But they lived divided lives. This could not be allowed to happen to God’ s people. Tribal distinctions could be retained, but the people must see themselves as one nation, linked forever by their common heritage in Abraham’ s God. A third and striking reason for the time spent in Egypt is found in Genesis 15:16. In making the promise to Abraham, God told him that his descendants would be enslaved and oppressed in Egypt for some 400 years. Following that experience of slavery, they would return. And then this puzzling note is added: “ For the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” The Amorites were the people who lived then in the land God had promised to Abraham and to Israel. Archeological research tells us much about them — particularly about their depravity. They were a people whose moral and religious decline was marked by cult prostitution, and even involved the sacrifice of babies, who were burned alive to their nature gods. For 400 years God, in grace, held back His judgment and permitted His own people to suffer. Only when the iniquity of the Amorites was complete — when they had reached a point of no return — did God use Israel to judge and to destroy this depraved civilization. And so for centuries Israel waited in Egypt. For centuries their suffering deepened. Only now, looking back, can we sense some of the reasons. Even in their agony God was at work, to do them — and to do others — good.

The Experience of Suffering The reasons we’ ve seen for Israel’ s time of suffering in Egypt may fall short of a full explanation. Perhaps Exodus 2:23 suggests another reason. “ The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.” It took the experience of suffering to lead Israel to cry out to God for help. It’ s peculiar, but it’ s true of most of us. When things are going well, we lose awareness of our need for God. Somehow we feel capable in ourselves to meet the challenges of life and eternity. But a sense of need, of helplessness, leads us to trust ourselves afresh to God. When we lose our sense of need, we may lose touch with spiritual reality. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Psalms 73:1-28 illustrates how troubles draw our thoughts to God. Asaph had become jealous of the prosperity of the wicked (Psalms 73:1-12). He felt his own commitment to God was useless, as he was still “ plagued” all the day long (Psalms 73:13-16). He struggled to understand, and finally realized that his trials were a blessing, and the ease of the wicked was actually “ slippery ground” (Psalms 73:17-20). Seeing at last, he realized his troubles had helped to keep his eyes and his hope fixed on the Lord, and he was satisfied with God as his “ portion forever” (Psalms 73:21-28). Duplicate this psalm for your group. Have each person individually jot down the feelings and attitudes Asaph described — his own, and those of the wicked. The believer may know trials, but in being forced back to God we find all that is truly important in life. Why was Egypt in Israel’ s experience? Why so many little Egypts for you and me? Perhaps so that God’ s people might never be deceived about our constant need for the Lord. The sense of helplessness that comes from suffering can be a first step down freedom’ s road. We can never find spiritual freedom by looking within ourselves. We, like Israel, need to look away, to God.

Moses, the Man Scripture gives us an unmatched picture of the formative decades of the life of Moses, the man God selected to lead Israel from slavery to freedom. We all know the familiar details of his infancy. But we can learn much by looking ahead, at the full scope of his ministry. Formation (Exodus 25:1-40). Moses, placed in a floating basket of reeds, was found by the daughter of Thutmose I, Hatshepsut. Captivated by the infant, she adopted him as her own. Later, when a youth, Hatshepsut seized power from a nephew who had been crowned Thutmose III, and she ruled impressively for 22 years. Moses, secure in the affections of this powerful and brilliant woman ruler, was well trained: “ Educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). When about 40, Moses was forced to make a choice. The burdens on his people Israel had grown greater during his lifetime. Finally Moses actually stepped in and killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite slave. When he discovered the killing had been observed, and when Thutmose III tried to kill him, Moses fled. No doubt this Pharaoh, who resumed the throne after his aunt’ s death (and immediately ordered the defacing of all her monuments and the destruction of all records of her rule!) was glad to find an excuse to remove his aunt’ s favorite. Moses fled to Midian, a desert country far from Egypt, probably east of the present-day Gulf of Aqaba. There he lived for 40 years, his culture and his pride worn away by the harsh, simple life of a shepherd. Moses abandoned his vision of himself as Israel’ s deliverer (cf. Exodus 2:11-15). Now, meek at last, Moses was finally a usable man. What lessons can we learn from Moses as we meet him in Exodus 25:1-40? Several. *Use opportunities. God placed Moses, of slave heritage, in the palace of his people’ s oppressors. There he was “ educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action” (Acts 7:22). We too need to take opportunities to grow, and to develop within our own culture. *Dream dreams. Moses had a vision of himself as his people’ s deliverer. When he killed the Egyptian taskmaster he supposed “ that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not” (Acts 7:25). Not all of us are called to fulfill our early dreams. But the desire to do great things for God, and to dare great things to help those for whom He cares, is admirable in us as well as in Moses. *Accept discipline. The Jews didn’ t share Moses’ vision of himself as a hero. Pharaoh heard what he had done, and Moses fled. For 40 years he lived as a simple shepherd in a backward land. The image of the hero faded under the stress of repetitious toil. Finally Moses learned to accept himself as a “ nobody.” We too need this kind of discipline. God does not want to break our spirits. But He cannot use pride. When we accept ourselves as nobodies, only then can we become somebodies whom God can use. *Face limitations. At the burning bush Moses carried his “ nobodyness” too far. At 80 God spoke to him, and announced that the youthful dream would be fulfilled. Now Moses hesitated. He saw so many reasons why he could not do what he had once planned to do. “ What if they do not believe me?” “ Lord, I have never been eloquent.” “ Lord, please send someone else.” Each of these objections indicates clearly that Moses now was all too aware of his inadequacy. From “ I can” he had swung to “ I can’ t.” It’ s important that we face our own limitations, and reject trust in our natural abilities. But we can be too overwhelmed by our weaknesses. We need to remember God, and shift our gaze from ourselves to Him. *Accept God’ s commission. In the call to Moses, God had announced His purpose. “ I am sending you . . . to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10). For each objection, God had a promise: “ The elders of Israel will listen to you.” “ Go, and I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” God is well able to do in us what He intends. With the commission of God comes the presence and power of God that enables us to fulfill it. *Expect disappointments. Moses did go as God commanded. And the Hebrews did welcome him. But, as God had also warned, Pharaoh did not listen. The burdens of the slave race were now increased. The people of Israel turned on Moses, and Moses turned to God. “ Why have You brought trouble upon this people? Is this why You sent me?” Every ministry knows disappointments. No path God asks us to follow will always be smooth. Learning to accept the disappointments and yet to always turn back to God is an important aspect of preparation for ministry. Faithful service (Ex. 15-40). The events immediately following the Lord’ s exhilarating victory over Pharaoh thrust Moses into burdensome spiritual leadership. Moses’ basic problem was with the people he had been called to lead. Their character was all too quickly revealed. When Pharaoh’ s army followed Israel to the sea, the people begged in terror to return to slavery (Exodus 14:11-12). Even after the parting of the Red Sea, the people “ grumbled against Moses” within three days because of a lack of water! As the journey toward Sinai continued, the attitude of the people became more and more sour. The “ whole community murmured” (Exodus 16:2), and finally expressed their rebelliousness in an anger so fierce they were ready to stone Moses himself! (Exodus 17:4) As we look at Moses the man, we need to see him as a person under pressure. Being a leader means carrying very real and very heavy burdens. Yet this stage of Moses’ life also has helpful lessons for us. *Don’ t try to do it alone (Ex. 17-18). Exodus 17:4 shows Moses crying out in frustration. “ What am I to do with these people?” What a fascinating question. What shall I do? Moses was about to learn a vital lesson. He had begun to look at himself as the only one God uses, the one who had to provide all the solutions. He was alone, and indispensable. “ What shall I do?” All too often this is the cry of the ordained in our churches. Somehow the pastor and people alike come to feel that the ministry is one person’ s task, and his or her responsibility alone. No wonder it seems impossible. It is! God’ s instructions to Moses give us insights. “ Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 17:5). Then God told Moses to strike a rock: “ I will stand there before you,” God told him, “ and water shall come out of it.” Here are two ways that Moses was not alone. God was there before him. And some of the elders of Israel were there with him. The lesson was immediately reinforced. As Israel traveled on, they met an enemy force. Joshua led Israel against the Amalekite army, and whenever Moses held up his arms, stretching them out toward the battlefield, Israel won! But soon Moses’ arms became tired. He couldn’ t hold them up alone. And when he lowered his arms, Israel lost. There was only one solution. Moses sat on a rock, and allowed Aaron and Hur to stand beside him and hold up his arms. What a message for Moses. Moses couldn’ t do it alone. He had to have others’ help. In Exodus 18:1-27 we see the culmination. Moses, the lonely leader, was still trying to do it all himself. All day long he sat and settled disputes that arose among the people. Finally his visiting father-in-law, Jethro, broke in. “ Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” (Exodus 18:14) Moses explained: “ Because the people come to me to seek God’ s will.” Jethro’ s comment was as potent today as it was then. “ What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. . . . You cannot handle it alone.” At last Moses heard! Moses chose capable men, and delegated authority to them (Exodus 18:24-27). Hard cases were still brought to Moses. But the others were solved within the community. Ministry in the Christian church is a shared responsibility. Even when members of a congregation are not yet spiritually mature, no leader is to bear the burden alone. The people of God are dependent on God, but interdependent on each other. LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN Play games that call for boys and girls to cooperate. Have a three-legged race. Run a relay. Hold a tug-of-war. Play “ Red Rover.” Afterward talk about how in God’ s family too we need to help each other. We can help by praying. We can help a friend by explaining a school assignment he or she missed. Loving and helping each other, with each of us willing to help, is one way God’ s people live together in love. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Christians are given spiritual gifts which enable each of us to make some contribution to the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). Each of us is to be involved in ministry. Why not invite a pastor or other church staff member to share with your group about a typical day of his or her ministry. How do members of the congregation serve and help to lighten that ministry? Ask him or her to share also about needs seen within your own congregation or community. How are typical Christians working to meet those needs, either through some organized group or in personal contact with individuals? Your goal should be to help your group get a clearer vision of the kinds of needs that exist, and the ways they might respond to meet one or more of them. Moses couldn’ t do it alone. Nor can church staff today. Ministry is the privilege of the whole people of God, and we can each contribute. *Don’ t neglect prayer (Exodus 32:1-35). When Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving instruction from God, Israel was busy down in the valley. Under pressure from the people, Aaron had weakly given in, and actually made a golden calf for them to worship! God told Moses what had happened, and invited intercession with these words: “ Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them. . . . Then I will make you into a great nation” (Exodus 32:10). God expressed His commitment to judge sin, and offered Moses an even greater place in history than he now fills! What did Moses do? Moses prayed. The striking prayer is recorded in Exodus 32:11-14. Moses called on God to glorify Himself by remembering His covenant promises to Abraham. Moses was looking to God and seeking His glory. He wanted to see God glorified in His people, and to this end he prayed for them. God did respond to Moses’ prayer. The guilty individuals would die, but the nation would live. Yet when Moses returned to camp, and saw for himself what the people were doing, his “ anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces” (Exodus 32:19). When Moses saw what God had seen he reacted just as God did, with anger! An angry Moses could never have prayed with the same concern as had Moses on that Mount. This too teaches us. In our lives we will see much which might appropriately anger or disgust us. Yet on the mountain, when Moses’ eyes were fixed on God, he prayed. We too are to keep our eyes on God and to pray, and not to keep our eyes on the sins of others. The New Testament says it. “ For man’ s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:20). Keeping close to the Lord, we will be protected, as Moses was, from an anger which might keep us from helping others. By keeping close to the Lord, we will also rely on Him, and express our concern for others in intercessory prayer. A faithful life (Num. — Deut.). Moses led Israel for 40 years. And 38 of those years were spent leading a doomed generation through the wilderness — waiting. Two incidents selected from Exodus have helped us sense something of the lesson Moses learned of ministry’ s burdens. The Book of Numbers helps us realize that leaders bear limited responsibility. In many ways, Moses seems to have been a failure. He failed to bring Israel into the land. He saw the generation that left Egypt wander aimlessly in the desert and, one by one, die. In all that time Moses saw little change in their responsiveness to God or to himself. Was Moses to blame? In Numbers 13:1-33 and Numbers 14:1-45 we read of Moses and the people hearing the report of spies about the strength of the Canaanites. In terror the people refused to obey God’ s command to enter the land. The Bible tells us that “ Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there.” In horror they, with Joshua and Caleb, begged the people to listen to God. But the people would not. In Deuteronomy we read of Moses leading a new generation to a similar point of decision. Moses did not choose for this new generation. He could not. The people had to choose for themselves. And this time they chose to trust and to obey. There are limits to the responsibility of leaders. These limits are imposed by the very freedom God Himself gives all men — to turn to Him, or to turn away. Moses’ ministry could bring Israel to the point of decision. Moses performed this ministry well. But Moses could not decide for them. One generation turned from God. And one generation turned to God. It was their own choice. It was not through Moses’ failure that the first generation turned away. Nor was it by Moses’ skill and success that the second turned to the Lord. The point, of course, is simple. Moses was called to be faithful to God and to fulfill his commission. He was not called to “ succeed” or to “ fail.” And so the New Testament commendation of Moses focuses not on what Moses accomplished, but on his faithfulness. “ Moses . . . faithfully discharged his duty in the household of God” (Hebrews 3:2, PH). It was Moses’ faithfulness to his task which counted with God all along. It’ s the same for us today. Where there is faithfulness, failure does not bring blame. And it should not bring a sense of guilt! Where faithfulness is, success does not bring glory. Our responsibility is limited. We are called merely to bring others to the place where they can freely choose.

Exodus, a Great Adventure The Book of Exodus truly does launch us on a great adventure. We trace the wonders worked by God as He delivered Israel and led them, via Sinai, toward the Promised Land. And we travel with Moses, a man from whose life we can learn so much. In this book, and in the other early books of the Bible that tell the story of redemption, we meet our God. And we learn more of what it is like to travel from spiritual slavery to the freedom that is ours as sons of God.

Teaching Guide Prepare Read the prayer of Moses found in Exodus 32:9-14. Meditate on how you might pray for members of your own study group. Pray for your group daily.

Explore

1. Give a minilecture on Israel in Egypt. Cover the present situation, and highlight the reasons God permitted this suffering of His people. Scholars differ about the time Moses lived, and who was ruler in Egypt then. The dating system adopted here is one suggested by Leon Wood in A Survey of Israel’ s History (Zondervan).
2. Or begin your time with “ first impressions” of Moses. Have your group skim Exodus 34:1-35 and develop quick impressions of what Moses was like. Was he decisive? Indecisive? Confident? Weak? Strong? Let class members suggest one or two word descriptions, and write them on a chalkboard.

Expand

1. Give a minilecture on the life of Moses, stressing some of the points made in the commentary. Often the usable person may not fit our image of the strong, confident, successful individual of today.
2. Draw a graph of Moses’ early life, showing its ups and downs through Exodus 1-4. Discuss: “ What were the values of each peak and valley experience? How did they affect Moses, or shape him?” Your chart might look something like the one above.

Apply

1. Following a discussion of the role of the ups and downs in shaping Moses’ character, divide your group into teams of four or five. Have each person draw his or her own life line chart, also showing ups and downs. Then share, having each tell the others about experiences he or she has graphed, and talking about how they have influenced his or her life. During the sharing, others are to be free to ask questions and make comments. In the process your group members will come to know each other better, and individuals will gain insights into how God has been at work in each life.
2. Or focus on lessons we learn from Moses’ life in Exodus 2-5. List each italicized lesson on the chalkboard and have your group see how it is drawn from the text. Be ready to add what they do not discover. When each lesson is understood, divide into pairs. Each is to tell his or her partner which of these lessons is most important to him, and to share why. Close with prayer in the pairs, as each individual prays for his or her partner.