Today’s passage: Exodus 5

Helpful thoughts:

• As the task of calling on Pharaoh to “let the people go” begins, the testing of the faith of Israel (Moses included) also begins.
• Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and declared, “Thus says the Lord” (Verse 1).  The Egyptians responded with, “Thus says Pharaoh” (Verse 10).  Pharaoh was a god to the Egyptians.  Israel would not be permitted to go serve their God.  They would remain and continue to serve Pharaoh instead.
• The burdens and complaints of the people took Moses’ eyes away from what God had already promised was going to happen.

Questions to consider:

1. What is the answer to Pharaoh’s first question in verse 2?  Did Pharaoh have an obligation to obey the Lord of the Israelites?  Why so?  Is there anyone who isn’t accountable to Him (Even if that person is a “god” to many others)?
2. Though we certainly could sympathize with the Israelite people, what does it appear they wanted most in this moment?  They had God, but they were frustrated with God and God’s chosen leader for His people if they didn’t get what?
3. What are some hardships in this life that can take our eyes away from God, even if He has told us in His Word what He is doing?  How important is it to give our regular attention to God’s Word, so that we can remember who He is and what He has promised?

Today’s passage: Exodus 4:18-31

Helpful thoughts:

• The firstborn son (Verse 22) is a title for the one who is preeminent and will be the heir.  Israel was to be the inheritor of God’s promises.  The Pharaoh (Being royalty) would have understood this statement very clearly (Probably better than we do).  This designation also makes the final plague Egypt would endure all the more poignant (The death of the firstborn).
  • God told Moses ahead of time that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart.  He told Pharaoh from the very beginning, if Pharaoh didn’t let God’s “firstborn” go, He would take Pharaoh’s firstborn.  God knew from the beginning exactly what was going to happen and what He was going to do.  God is eternally omniscient, sovereign, providential.
• God is also holy and just.  Part of the covenant Moses was part of required circumcision.  The leader of Israel would be held accountable.  Through the quick intervention of his wife, Moses’ life is once again preserved by the actions of another.
• The mission got off to a great start!  Moses and Aaron were reunited.  The people heard the plan of God, saw the signs, believed and worshiped God for having heard their cries.  It wouldn’t be this easy from here on out.

Questions to consider:

1. Why might we think God’s actions toward Moses in judgment would have appeared unjust?  How does Zipporah’s quick action tell us that she and Moses both know what they were supposed to have done?
2. Why would God have hardened Pharaoh’s heart?  What purpose was it going to serve?  Was Pharaoh particularly interested in following God before this series of events?  What particularly was God going to harden Pharoah’s heart to do?
3. How can the knowledge of God, along with his righteousness and justice, compel us to live in a healthy fear, reverence and obedience to Him?  How does this give us a greater understanding of all that Christ endured on the cross as He paid the penalty for all our sin?

Today’s passage: Exodus 4:1-17

Helpful thoughts:

• Moses has just been commissioned by God to go lead Israel out of Egypt.  In today’s passage, Moses tries to get himself out of the job.
• Moses shared two main concerns:
  • The people wouldn’t believe Moses had been sent by God.
  • He wouldn’t be able to properly articulate or verbalize all that needed to be said.
• God shared two answers:
  • God gave Moses three signs to show his authenticity.
  • “Who made your mouth?”  God could use a donkey to speak to Israel if He wanted (Numbers 22:28).  He certainly had the ability to use Moses.
    • God mercifully also gave Moses his brother, Aaron.  To be a support and an additional speaker in the cause.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way does verse 13 show the desire of Moses’ heart in this moment?  What did he want?  What didn’t he want?  Why did he voice the concerns that he did before God?
2. What can we learn about God in verse 14?  Why was His anger kindled?  What should Moses have been able to believe without self-preservation blinding him?  What did God provide to Moses in his weakness?  How does this show God’s long-suffering, patience, mercy, etc.?
3. What has God given us to do?  If we are ever blinded by a desire for self-preservation, what questions do we bring up?  What is the irony of self-preservation causing us to disobey the God of the universe?

Today’s passage: Exodus 3

Helpful thoughts:

• Some different names for the same people or places:
  • Reuel of Exodus 2:18 and Jethro of Exodus 3:1 are the same person, Moses’ father-in-law and the “priest of Midian.”
  • Mount Horeb, the “mountain of God” and Mount Sinai are the same mountain.
  • The Angel of the Lord is clearly understood in this passage to be God Himself.  He also reveals Himself in this passage as “I AM WHO I AM,” “I AM,” and “The LORD” or “Yahweh.”
• When Moses sees the bush burning yet not being burned up, he looks closer.  This is how the Lord manifests his presence in this instance.
  • When the Lord addresses Moses, he is instructed to take off his sandals, because the Lord’s presence made that ground holy.
  • When Moses realizes who it is he’s speaking with, he covers his eyes for fear of his life.
• God tells Moses exactly what’s going to happen.
  • Moses will talk to Pharaoh and make the request, and Pharaoh won’t listen until a number of wonders are wrought by God’s mighty hand.
  • The people will follow Moses out of Egypt.
  • When Israel leaves Egypt, they will not leave empty-handed.  They will plunder the Egyptians.

Questions to consider:

1. How do you envision the burning bush?  What do you think it looked like?  How do you think the voice of God sounded?  What would have compelled Moses to be obedient to take off his sandals and cover his face?
2. What do the names of God, or these phrases referring to Him, reveal about Him?  What would the children of Israel have learned about God through these names/descriptions?
3. With what God told Moses was going to happen, should Moses have expected smooth sailing in the task ahead?  How might this have caused Moses to think twice about what God was asking him to do?  How could God’s detailed instructions and promises have calmed Moses and given him confidence even when things looked bad in the days ahead?  How can the promises of God give you confidence in your life?

Today’s passage: Exodus 2

Helpful thoughts:

• There are three major events covered in this chapter:
  • The adoption of Moses by Pharaoh’s daughter (or the story of his survival).
    • Moses’ sister was the one who asked the Egyptian princess if she wanted to find a Hebrew nurse.
    • Moses’ true mother got to nurse her child!
  • Moses’ crisis of identity at the age of 40.
    • After living as Egyptian royalty for forty years, Moses came to understand who his people really were.
    • For a second time in his life, Moses narrowly escaped the Pharaoh’s desire to have him killed.
    • After fleeing, Moses became a shepherd and lived among the Midianites.
  • God hearing, seeing, knowing the cry of His people, and remembering His covenant.
• In all of this, we see the providence of God at work.  The pieces of the narrative which God has orchestrated are being constructed before the reader’s eyes.
• This chapter could account for as many as 80 years (Acts 7:23, 30, 36).

Questions to consider:

1. Moses lived forty years like an Egyptian and forty years like a Midianite, yet what was his true identity?  What must Moses have known and continued to consider to not lose sight of who he was?  How can we keep our identity in Christ fixed in our minds as we journey through this life?
2. What was the meaning of Gershom’s name (Verse 22)?  What is ironic about this meaning?  When had this not been true of Moses and all of the children of Israel?
3. What do we learn about God in verses 23-24?  Why can we trust in Him?  Why should we turn to Him?  How comforting is it to know that God hears, sees, knows and remembers?

Today’s passage: Exodus 1

Helpful thoughts:

• The beginnings of a nation (70) came to Egypt and there they flourished.  Our knowledge of the growth of the people and the land of Egypt being “filled with them” sets up the reader to understand what comes next.
  • Egypt’s response to Israel’s flourishing fulfilled God’s word to Abraham in Genesis 15:13.
• No matter what the Egyptians did to stifle the Israelites, they only grew.  Fear was the motivator to enslave the Israelites.
• The efforts of the Pharaoh to have the males killed and the midwives fear of the Lord over their earthly king provides our understanding of the environment within which Moses was born.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way does the theme of fear run through this chapter?  Who was feared?  For what reasons?  What did these different kinds of fear produce in people’s actions?
2. How does the honest report of the midwives potential dishonesty show the historical authenticity of this narrative?  What did the midwives potentially do that could have been wrong?  What did they do that was right?  For what were they rewarded?
3. How does the fear of God affect how you see your relationships, your work, your time, etc.?