Exodus Introduction
Introduction
The books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers continue the story of how God formed the nation of Israel to play a special role in his plans for the whole world. When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God came to them and worked powerfully through Moses to deliver them. At Mount Sinai, God revealed his laws to Moses, including the Ten Commandments, and confirmed his covenant with the young nation. Israel built a ‘tabernacle’, or ‘tent of meeting,’ so that God could live among them. The people then travelled through the wilderness to the land of Canaan.
The boundaries between the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers are not sharply drawn. The key structure throughout the books relates to the various places the Israelites stopped on their journey. Each location is noted, and the events at each one are described. The key location is Mount Sinai; the second half of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and the beginning of Numbers describe what took place there. Leviticus specifically contains the laws and regulations the Lord gave to Israel. Numbers reports how the people were organized into a fighting force and moved towards the promised land.
Numbers reaches back across Leviticus and Exodus and repeats the phrase that structures Genesis: This is the account of the family of Aaron and Moses (Num. 3:1). Appropriately, we hear this phrase for the twelfth time as the twelve tribes are being organized into a nation. Near the end of Numbers the prophet Balaam says to Israel, May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed. This recalls God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis, I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse. These references show that together these books tell a single story of the beginning of God’s redemptive work in the world.
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Exodus Introduction: NIVUK
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The Holy Bible, New International Version® (Anglicised), NIV®
Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
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Exodus Introduction
Introduction
The title Exodus is carried over from the title in the Greek Septuagint Bible, without translation. Exodus in Greek means “departure” or “a way out.” It is a word still seen on signs in Greece to this day for “exit.” The exit or departure referred to by this title is the miraculous escape of the Israelite tribes from what had become for them, long after the time of their favored ancestor Joseph, a situation of forced slave labor. A key verse in the first chapter (1.8) reports the shift in power to a Pharaoh who “knew not Joseph,” and who set the Israelites under cruel taskmasters to enforce their labors. It is possible that this power shift occurred when the Egyptians of the Eighteenth Dynasty regained control of the Nile Delta region from the interloping Hyksos rulers, a Semitic people who had invaded and gained control of the Delta between 1700 to about 1580 b.c.
The narrative of Exodus reports that God had heard the despairing outcry of the oppressed people, and began to work on their behalf through the leadership of Moses, an Israelite who had been raised in the royal court. Moses was forced to flee for his life after he killed one of the violent taskmasters. While hiding out in the Sinai region he encountered God in the numinous burning bush (3.2). With a promise of divine help, God instructed him to return to Egypt and demand of Pharaoh that he “let my people go” (5.1). After many false starts Moses finally won the freedom of his people and permission to leave Egypt and return to that land long ago promised to the Israelites' ancestor Abraham, a land none in this distant generation had ever seen. The Pharaoh grudgingly gave his approval for the Israelites' departure only after enduring a long series of devastating plagues. When he finally yielded, it happened suddenly just as the Israelites were celebrating Passover, which at that time was an agricultural festival at which sacrifices were made for the health of the flocks. But from that point on the meaning of Passover took on a radically new meaning for the Hebrew people—a festival of liberation and freedom, of an exodus from enslavement.
On the way to the Promised Land, God appeared to Moses at Mount Sinai, giving him the Ten Commandments and inaugurating with Moses and the people a covenant relationship with promises of mutual faithfulness between God and the people. Exodus concludes with lengthy instructions for constructing the ark of the testimony (covenant) and the moveable tabernacle (tent) for worship of God.
Outline
The Hebrew People Suffer in the Land of Egypt (1.1-22)
Moses' Birth, Early Life, and Call to Serve God (2.1—4.31)
Moses and Aaron Confront Pharaoh and God Sends Ten Plagues (5.1—11.10)
The Passover and the Hurried Departure from Egypt (12.1—15.21)
Moses Leads the People through the Sea to Mount Sinai (15.22—18.27)
God Makes a Covenant with the People and Gives the Ten Commandments (19.1—24.18)
Instructions for the Religious Life of the People: The Tabernacle, Its Furnishings, and the Ark of the Covenant (25.1—40.38)
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.