You will be my own treasured possession.

Exodus, comes from the Greek translation, and means "going out" or "exit." It tells of Israel going out of Egypt. The title in Hebrew is Shemoth and comes from the first words in the Hebrew text meaning "These are the names."

AUTHOR: Moses is the stated author of Exodus (Exodus 17:14; 20:25; 24:4-8; 34:27; Josh. 8:31-35) as well as the first five books of the Law. The rest of the Old Testament and the New agree with this claim. Jesus verified the Mosaic authorship (Mk. 12:26). Moses was vitally connected with all of the events reported in the last four books of the Torah. Jewish and Christian tradition hold that Moses was the writer of these books, with the exception of the death of Moses in Deuteronomy. Moses was the first man in history upon whom the power to work miracles was bestowed.

KEY WORDS: "Passover," "Redemption"

THEME: Deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt is the theme. It is an illustration of how God saves His people. The Exodus was to be a type of our redemption from sin. The people believed that God had heard their cry and they worshipped Him.

TIME COVERED: is about 360 to 430 years.

DATE OF THE EXODUS: 1446 B.C.

TIME BETWEEN GENESIS AND EXODUS: nearly 300 years.

PURPOSE: is to show how God’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 15:12-16) was fulfilled when the Lord rescued Abraham’s descendants from Egyptian bondage. It is the story of a single family that becomes the chosen nation (Ex. 2:24; 6:5; 12:37). The number of Hebrews who went out of Egypt must have numbered from two to three million.

MIRACLES IN EXODUS: True miracles offer no obstacle to faith. They are the acts of God. To believe in a living God and to believe in miracles are the same thing. They do not contradict the laws of cause and effect. They are the effect of the introduction of a new cause.

PLAGUES: Every plague brought upon Egypt by Moses was a direct attack upon some deity or religious practice of the Egyptians. God said to Moses, "Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment" (Ex. 12:12). Most of the plagues were not unusual occurrences in Egypt, but were proved to be supernatural by their intensity, succession and subjugation to Moses’ command, and by the exemption of Israel from seven of them. After the second plague the magicians of Egypt failed to imitate Moses’ miracles.

1. The water of the Nile was turned into blood (7:7). Osiris was the god of the Nile which gave life to Egypt. Now it brought death to the people.

2. Frogs swarmed on the land (8:2). Heki, according to Egyptian superstition, was the god who controlled the frogs.

3. Dust was turned into lice (8:16). The priests of Egypt were careful to be free from defilement of insects while worshipping. The Egyptian priests and the earth god, Seb, were discredited.

4. Swarms of flies or beetles, the emblem of Ra, the sun-god was helpless before Moses and JHVH (8:21). The great fly god became a plague to them.

5. The cattle became diseased with murrain (9:3). The sacred Apis Bull, worshipped all over Egypt as a symbol of strength, fertility, and prosperity was destroyed.

6. Boils broke out on man and beast (9:8). The sprinkling of ashes by the Egyptian priests was supposed to propitiate Set-Typhon. The opposite took place as Moses sprinkled the ashes.

7. Hail mingled with fire (9:18) demonstrated that the gods of the air were helpless.

8. Locusts (10:4) swarmed over the land as Serapis the god who was supposed to protect the land from locus plagues was proved to be a myth.

9. A thick darkness covered the land (10:21) as the chief god of Egypt, Ra, representing the sun, and the moon goddess, Isis, were proven helpless.

10. Death of the first-born (11:5) defeated the divine Pharaoh who had ordered the death of all male Hebrew babies. God destroyed the heir of the throne. Pharaoh, the divine ruler, who thought he held life and death in his own hands was defeated.

THE DRAMA OF REDEMPTION

Redemption in Exodus can be defined as the deliverance from the power of an alien dominion, and enjoyment of the resulting freedom. It is the book of redemption in the OT.

1. The Lord is the author of redemption (Ex. 6:1-8). The pronoun "I" appears 18 times in these verses. In Exodus JHVH is the personal name of the God of the covenant who personally cares for his people’s welfare. He is eternally self-existent, yet present with them wherever they would go, acting on their behalf (3:12-14; 33:14-16).

2. The reason for redemption was God’s promise to the forefathers of the Israelites (2:24; 6:5; Gen. 15:12-16).

3. The motive of redemption was God’s grace and love (15:13; 20:6; 34:6, 7). The purpose of redemption was that Israel and the Egyptians might know God (6:7; 7:5; 8:10; 14:18).

4. Redemption in Exodus is achieved by miracles (4:21), which are a natural processes controlled supernaturally by God. They are described as "signs and wonders" (7:3), "great acts of judgment" (6:6; 7:4), and the "finger of God" (8:19). Each of the plagues was a direct challenge to one of the gods of Egypt.

5. The pharaoh was the villain in redemption, a picture of rebellious humanity confronted by God’s command (4:21-23). Ten times the Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and 10 times it was God who hardened it, in effecting the king’s decision to defy Him.

6. The Passover marked the purchase of redemption (12:23-27; 15:16). It was a clear example of salvation by substitution. The word for "redemption" (6:6; 15:13) means to "act as a kinsman redeemer" (Lev. 25:25-37; Ruth 3:12, 13).

7. The recipients of God’s redemption in Exodus were the Israelites. God took them as His own special people (6:7), and they were no longer free to do as they pleased (4:22, 23).

8. The demand of redemption was obedience (20:1-17; 19:8; 24:3; 32:8).

9. The faithful responded in gratitude with Moses’ "song of redemption" (15; Rev. 15:3, 4).

Series of studies on Christ in the Old Testament

Title: Introduction to Exodus

Series: A Look at the Book