INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF EXODUS
The book of Exodus will help us to transition into the Book of Hebrews, thank you all again for following JPCE Spiritual Talk Bible Studies and Daily Messages …
AUTHOR: According to Hebrew and Christian tradition, Moses is the author of Exodus … This is the teaching of Christ – (Mark 1:44), of His disciples – (John 1:45), and of the book itself – (Exodus 17:14) …
DATE: Exodus, which means “DEPARTURE”, was written during the forty-years of Israel’s wandering around in the wilderness, after crossing the Red Sea to the entrance into the land of Canaan …
MAJOR THEMES: God’s Covenant with Israel and the Judgement of her oppressors … God also reveals Himself and His Name “YAHWEH”, meaning “I AM” the EXISTING ONE” …
BACKGROUND: Exodus immediately follows in the timeline after ‘Genesis” … God brought about series of miracles to release His people from slavery in Egypt … The nation pf Egypt was judged by God for its treatment of the Hebrews and its rejection of Him as the One true God … The Forty-years of the wandering in the wilderness is the consequences of the sins of Israel’s sins, and a necessary time of preparation to inherit the promised land as a people set apart from God …
EXODUS 1 STUDY GUIDE & BREAKDOWN
ISRAEL SUFFERS IN EYGPT – (Exodus 1:1-22)
1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All those [a]who were descendants of Jacob were seventy[b] persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). 6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and [c]grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with [d]rigor. 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.
15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; 16 and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”
19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they [e]are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and [f]grew very mighty. 21 And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He [g]provided households for them.
22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is [h]born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”
NOTES
1:6: DEATH CONTINUED TO REIGN … Joseph and all his generations died … nevertheless, the appearances of the Son of God to the prophets and the Holy Spirit speaking through them – especially in relation to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – all laid the beginnings of His future for the overthrow of death … These beginnings will continue as the Son reveals Himself to Moses and the Holy Spirit speaks through him …
1:10: THE DECEITFULNESS OF PHARAOH ties this story to two others … First to the account of the serpent, who was “more cunning than all the wild animals the Lord God made on earth “– (Genesis 3:1); and the second to a later pharaoh’s attempt to outwit Moses … This early verse of Exodus introduces a major outlook of the matching of wits- the wisdom of the serpent again encounters the wisdom of God … So, when the Son of God became Incarnate, He easily outwitted the devil and destroyed him and death through His Cross – (Colossians 2:15; and Hebrews 2:14-15) …
Colossians 2:15: Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Hebrews 2:14-15: Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
SUMMARY OF Hebrews 2:14-15
- In the Incarnation, God did not come in appearance only; He truly assumed FLESH AND BLOOD from the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and became THE SAME as we are so that He could truly enter DEATH and truly bring us Salvation … Christ defeated Satan’s power by using the devil’s strongest weapon against him- death itself … There is also a relationship between sin and death; meaning each lead to the other … Sin causes death, and THE FEAR OF DEATH leads one to sin and to bondage – (ROMANS 5:12) – Christ sets us free from this bondage of sin and death …
EXODUS 1 NOTES CONTINUED …
1:12: THE EGYPTIANS severely humbled the children of Israel, but the more they persecuted them, the more their numbers multiplied … For the Lord preserved Israel so that He might become more Incarnate through them for all of man’s salvation … When He Became Man, He suffered the extreme humiliation of the Cross; nevertheless, through the Cross His Church grew and multiplied in great numbers …
1:15: SHIPHRAH AND PUAH outmaneuvered Pharaoh, for they feared God, who gave them wisdom … And whereas the enemy outsmarted Eve at the beginning of Genesis, these women at the beginning of Exodus outwit the enemy … God’s plan for the Incarnation cannot be stopped …
PSALM 60 (61) STUDY GUIDE & BREAKDOWN
MY ORTHODOX STUDY BIBLE HAS 9 VERSES …
NOTES … PSALM 60 (61)
PSALM 60 (61): Reveals Christ – (THE END, v. 1) as the King – (v. 7) and Great High Priest leading the Church in hymns of praise to the Father, and therefore, to the Trinity – (see also Hebrews 2:12-13) …
Hebrews 2:12-13: saying:
“I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”
13 And again:
“I will put My trust in Him.”
And again:
“Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”
PROVERBS 8:33 OR PROVERBS 8:32 DEPENDING ON YOUR VERSION – THE CLOSING WILL COME FROM THIS PASSAGE …
Now therefore, my son, hear me: blessed is the man who shall hearken to me and the man who shall guard my ways …
Heed the Wisdom of the Father … All those who do this are blessed … such a person will always keep their eyes on Him …