Today’s passage: Exodus 20

Helpful thoughts:

• After receiving the commitment of the people in chapter 19 to follow Him and do what He says, the Lord gives His people the Ten Commandments.
• God spoke in a way that all the people could hear.  They saw the mountain, the smoke/darkness, the lightning.  They heard the thunder and the voice of God.  They felt the ground shake beneath their feet.  They were filled with awe and fear.
  • Once they experienced what it was like to be near to God or to hear from Him, they preferred to get God’s messaged delivered to them through Moses!
• Once the initial Ten Commandments were given, the Lord began to expound further with Moses.  Verse 22 is the beginning of the rest of the Law.

Questions to consider:

1. What are the Ten Commandments?  Which ones relate to a person’s (And a people’s) relationship with God?  Which ones relate to people’s relationships with each other?
2. In what way do the Ten Commandments articulate the greatest commandments, to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself?
3. What does this list of commandments confirm we all need? (Romans 3:23-26)  What has God lovingly and graciously done for us?  How should His love compel us to pursue obedience going forward?

Today’s passage: Exodus 19

Helpful thoughts:

• God brought the people of Israel “to Himself” at Mount Sanai, the location where he called Moses to bring the nation out of Egypt from the burning bush.
• The nation is given a conditional promise in verses 5-6 (“If you will” – “You shall be”).  The people’s response, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
• This commitment and the instruction that followed served as a precursor to the Lord’s manifested presence on the mountain and the giving of the Law.

Questions to consider:

1. Given that the people had not yet received the Law, how are the words of their commitment to obey and follow Him significant?  What was the nature of the relationship, commitment and covenant?
2. In what ways was the weight/glory of God’s presence shown to the people?  What did they see, hear, feel when they approached the mountain?
3. In what way did Moses display his desire to obey the Lord in everything?  Knowing Moses’ heart in that moment (Moses wasn’t always without sin…but his heart was right in this moment) how did God respond?  How can this inform our prayer and desire to search the Scriptures carefully when we have our own questions?

Today’s passage: Exodus 18

Helpful thoughts:

• All that the Lord did in Egypt did not happen in a vacuum.  The world was hearing the news, including Moses’ father-in-law.
• Often, when the Lord informed Moses what He was about to do, He would add something like, “That Egypt (or the world) shall know that I am the Lord.”  Jethro serves as a picture of what the world should do upon hearing all that God has done.  He professes faith that the Lord is the true God, he presents sacrifices and worships.
• Jethro provided Moses and Israel with wisdom for leadership.  Moses could not lead Israel all on his own.  The load needed to be shared.

Questions to consider:

1. Do the narratives we read in Scripture ever get separated from the rest of world history in your mind?  Why would it be important to remember that the events of the Bible happened in real time along with the rest of world history? (For instance, the Exodus took place at the height of the “Bronze Age.”)
2. What would Moses have had to do for these men who were called to lead?  What would they need to know and how were they to learn it to be ready to lead people well?  In what way does Ephesians 4:11-16 give us a picture of how this should look in the church?

Today’s passage: Exodus 17

Helpful thoughts:

• The people of Israel grumble and complain yet again.  Yet again God uses the occasion to teach Israel (And us) an incredibly important truth.
  • In 1 Corinthians 10:4, the Apostle Paul teaches, “the Rock was Christ.”
    • Christ was struck to pay for our sin and He gave us living water.
• Massah and Meribah mean “testing” and “quarreling” as verse 7 indicates.
• Israel fights it’s first battle against one of the many people groups surrounding them.
  • Joshua leads the battle.  The first of many he would later lead Israel through.
  • Moses is unable to fulfill his role alone.  He requires support.
    • This will come up again in the next chapter.

Questions to consider:

1. How does God continually use these testings?  What is His purpose in allowing these difficult situations?  What can we (or should we) be learning in the good things and in the harder things of life (Romans 8:28-30)?  How does this truth help us to see, even hard things can be “good?”
2. In what way does the rock illustrate Christ?  Why did the rock have no need of being struck twice (Numbers 20:2-13) later on in the wilderness journeys of Israel?  What does the fact that Christ’s death was sufficient teach us about the source of our salvation?
3. Why would Joshua need to hear the promise from the Lord in verse 14?  Who did Joshua need to know won the victory for Israel?  Who did He need to trust for ongoing protection and safety?

Today’s passage: Exodus 16

Helpful thoughts:

• The Lord provides daily bread for His people in the wilderness.
  • He provided it faithfully to Israel for forty years!
  • The only day it wasn’t provided was on Saturdays (The Sabbath).  Twice the amount of manna was given on Fridays to allow for two days of meals.
  • Every other day, if the manna was left until the next day, it rotted.  The manna only had a shelf life of two days from Friday to Saturday.
  • This was a daily miracle for forty years.
• An omer was a little over two liters.
• When the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, they were grumbling against the Lord (Verse 8).  The Lord responded mercifully.

Questions to consider:

1. What are we to learn from the grumbling of the people?  Their failure to collect an omer per person on the first day?  Their attempt to go out and collect more that first Sabbath morning?  Why should we be careful not to find the disobedience of the Israelite people so ridiculous?
2. Verse 18 is referenced by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:15.  How does he relate the collection of manna to Christian giving?
3. What was the purpose of the Sabbath?  Who all was “resting” on that day each week?  What did it require the Israelites to do (Or to rest in) concerning the day/week ahead?

Today’s passage: Exodus 15

Helpful thoughts:

• Having been saved and freed from Egyptian bondage, Moses, Miriam and all Israel sang songs of praise to the Lord.
• Moses’ song declared the champion of this great victory and the blessings of the results.  The surrounding nations would know that God was the defender of Israel.
• After three days’ journey on the other side of the Red Sea, the people grumbled again and the Lord showed them (again) they were to trust in Him.
  • There was water at their next stop (Verse 27).  God tested the people to teach them.  He was their redeemer, leader, ruler, provider…and their healer.

Questions to consider:

1. What is the answer to verse 11?  Who alone is worthy of our praise, worship, obedience, etc.?
2. After the questions and observations of verses 11-12, the people acknowledge God’s actions and look forward to what is to come.  What are the key verbs describing God’s actions for the benefit of His people in verses 13-18?  How has God redeemed and continued to lead you?
3. What is something you have learned from the Lord in times of trials or testing?  For the Christian, why can we know that these times of hardship are more than just hardships?

Today’s passage: Exodus 14

Helpful thoughts:

• The Lord’s victory over Pharaoh and Egypt on behalf of Israel was not yet complete.  The Lord would harden his heart one more time.
• What looked like a dead end to the people of Israel was what God intentionally used to bring about their escape and freedom.
  • Today we read the beginning of Israel’s complaining against the Lord.
    • “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Verse 14)
• There was no denying who won this victory.  A miracle had taken place.  The waters of the sea stood as a wall on both sides of Israel as they crossed on dry land.  Every Egyptian in their military perished.  Not a single Israelite raised a hand against the Egyptians to strike them.

Questions to consider:

1. What were to be the outcomes of this rescue and victory?  What all did God accomplish?
2. How did He do it?  What were the specific miracles He performed and how did He show His presence before Israel and Egypt?
3. How can we read Philippians 2:9-11 and therefore place a similar trust in the Lord for our rescue?  What did the acknowledgement of the Egyptians that the Lord was fighting for Israel do for the Israelites?  What can the knowledge of the whole world one day bowing their knees to Jesus do for the church?

Today’s passage: Exodus 13

Helpful thoughts:

• At the conclusion of Passover, and after the release of Israel from Egypt, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was begun.
  • The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the offerings and sacrifices of/for the firstborn were to be signs for future generations in Israel.
  • These practices and the explanation of them to the children were to teach the people to fear the Lord and His “strong hand.”
    • The nations in Canaan were not to be feared in comparison with the God who brought Israel out of Egypt with His strong hand!
• God manifested His presence with the people of Israel through the pillars of cloud and fire.
  • God was with His people.
  • God led His people.
  • God knew His people’s hearts, and therefore knew how to lead His people.
    • This required a path that would not have seemed very direct.

Questions to consider:

1. What did God want the Israelite people to know about Him and to teach to their children, generation after generation?  How would this knowledge of God have helped Israel trust and obey the Lord?  How does a right fear of the Lord help us to trust and obey Him today?
2. How do we determine in our minds what the most direct path is to the things we want to accomplish (Verse 17)?  What is God’s goal for His people (1 Thessalonians 4:3a – “For this is the will of God, your sanctification”)?  How can remembering God’s primary goal for us help us to redefine what a “direct” path would be?

Today’s passage: Exodus 12:29-51

Helpful thoughts:

• The tenth plague came and the will of Pharaoh was broken.
• The Pharaoh and the people of Egypt asked/told Israel to leave, and:
  • Pharaoh asked for a blessing from the Lord and Moses.
  • The Egyptians gave Israel gold, silver and other possessions to help them on their way.
  • A mixed multitude joined Israel as they departed!
    • God gave instruction in the end of the chapter for assimilating foreigners into the nation.  Israel was never intended to be closed off from the rest of the world, though they were to remain set apart.  The world was invited to join the people of God (Ruth 1:16-17).  But the people of God were not to be like the world (2 Corinthians 6:17).
• The length of Israel’s time in Egypt (Some of the time was spent without the burden of slavery) was in keeping with God’s promise to Abraham back in Genesis 15:13.
• Based on verse 37, there could have been over two million people in the caravan that left Egypt that day.

Questions to consider:

1. What do we learn about God in this passage?
2. What do we learn about God’s plan for His people (Both in giving instruction and in assimilating others into the fold)?  How are God’s people to live?  How are God’s people to invite and include others who submit themselves to the Lord?
3. Does the world need the church to soften our depiction of God to earn their respect?  What is God perfectly capable of on His own?  What must we communicate about Him in order to truly communicate the Gospel message?  Who will bring about the fruit?