1

Exodus

Introduction

Exodus is a book of theological history: it is written to teach us what God is like (‘revelation’)
and how we are to relate to Him (‘relationship’). We should never read it merely to learn the
events of history – even though they are recorded accurately and excellently on its pages;
rather we should read it so that we may know Lord our God a little better, and because we
want to know what it means to live as His redeemed people in His world.

Exodus stands as the second book of a collection that has become known as the
Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy together form the early
history of God’s dealings with His people). As such, it is to be read not in isolation but as part
of a larger whole. In Genesis God promised that He would make the descendants of Abram
into a great nation, that He would give to them a great land, that He would bless them and
that through them we would bless all of the peoples of the world (Genesis 12.1–3). Those 4
promises are foundational for the whole Bible, and especially for the books of the
Pentateuch.

In Genesis 12–50, God is at work in the world, sometimes in the most miraculous of ways, to
begin to fulfil His promises. Here is a ‘status update’ of where God has got to at the start of
Exodus, 400 years after the original promises were given to Abraham:

 The promise of a people: Exodus begins by reminding us that the descendants of

Jacob were just 70 in number when they arrived in Egypt – certainly not as numerous
as the stars in the sky (Gen 15.5; 22.17; 26.4). Ever since, they have been
multiplying greatly (1.7).

 The promise of a land: The people are far from the promised land (Gen 12.7; 15.18-
21), and are living in deteriorating conditions in Egypt (1.1; 1.10-11).

 The promise of blessing: The Hebrews are living under the rule of a pagan king
rather than of God (1.8-11) and don’t seem to know much of the blessing of living in
a relationship with Him (Genesis 12.2-3).

 The promise of blessing to the nations: Despite the global success of Joseph’s
policies during the famine years (Genesis 37-50), the descendants of Abraham are
not much of a blessing to the other nations of the world as Exodus opens – they have
enough worries of their own!

Despite the current state of affairs, the reader is not to think that God’s plans are being
thwarted; rather He predicted back in Genesis 15.13 that Abraham’s descendants ‘will be
sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for
four hundred years.’ Thus the careful Bible reader turns to the text of Exodus keen to read
on in the story (the first word in the Hebrew text of Exodus is ‘and’ because this book carries
on where Genesis left off) and wondering how God will now work to fulfil the promises made
years earlier to Abram. The answer is more spectacular and dramatic than any first time
reader might have imagined.

By the end of the book, things have progressed as follows:

 The promise of a people: the Israelites grow rapidly in number in the first two
chapters, but their population remains relatively static thereafter because,
surprisingly perhaps, events from chapters 3-40 fill the space of only a few months).
 2

 The promise of a land: Israel has been rescued from Egypt but has yet to reach the
promised land – they are living in the wilderness.

 The promise of blessing: Israel is a nation with an identity & purpose as God’s people
– they are living in relationship with Him & He dwells among them in the tabernacle.

 The promise of blessing to the nations: three developments are of note:

 some of the servants of Pharoah fear the word of the Lord and act in the light
of it (9.20);

 a crowd of mixed races left Egypt along with the people of Israel (12.38);

 Jethro, a Midianite priest, seems to have been converted (18.10-11).

Nevertheless, we are still a long way short of all the peoples of the world being blessed
through Abraham’s descendants.

The greatest development in the book therefore is in the Israelites’ relationship with God –
clearly therefore, we should look out for that as we work our way through the book.

As we probe a little deeper, we discover that Exodus 6.6-8 can be considered ‘the principal
statement’ (Douglas Stuart, Exodus, p34) of the theology of the whole book. In the verses,
God reminds His people of His promises to their forefathers, and reveals to them both what
He is doing for them and how they are to think of themselves in response to Him:

6:6 ‘Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem
you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my
people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has
brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that
I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am
the LORD.'"

The verses suggest that we will need to look out for several key themes as we read the
book:

 Redemption – from slavery to the service of God

 Revelation – God wants the Israelites to know that He is the LORD their God
 Relationship – what are the out-workings of the Israelites’ status as God’s own
people?
 Residing – God will dwell in the midst of His people & they will be given a great land

Structure of the book

Over the years, the book of Exodus has been divided and sub-divided in many ways – and
as usual each ‘structure’ has its own strengths and weaknesses. For our purposes it will help
to divide the book into 3 main sections:

 Chapters 1-18 The LORD who delivers

 Chapters 19-24 The LORD who demands
 Chapters 25-40 The LORD who dwells
 3

Some commentators prefer to think of Exodus as a diptych, or two panels or basic parts
hinged together. Chapters 1-18 deal with Israel in Egypt and then the escape to Mount Sinai
in the wilderness; chapters 19-40 describe the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. While the
two sections are hinged historically and chronologically, they are distinct in many ways.
Chapters 1-18 are for the most part historical narrative, while chapters 19-40 are principally
legislative.

Also, a great theological shift takes place after chapter 18. As Douglas Stuart says, “In
Egypt, Israel was the servant of Pharaoh; at Sinai they became God’s servants.” Thus the
structure of the book is simple: the first 18 chapters explain how Israel got to Sinai, and the
rest tells what happened at Sinai.

The opening section has its own structure and this structure demonstrates that this section is
a coherent, unified, literary piece. The structure casts the early life of Moses as a prototype
and microcosm for the exodus event. In other words, the episodes in the life of Moses in
Egypt, Midian and Sinai model and prefigure the salient events in the life of the emerging
nation of Israel. Consider the parallels in the table below:

Moses Israel

1. Exodus 2:1-2: Moses is born a slave in 1. Exodus 1:8-22: The Israelites are born
Egypt. He is born under oppression and slaves in Egypt. They live under cruel
persecution. Pharaoh attempts to murder bondage. Pharaoh attempts to murder the
him (Ex.1:15-22) male infants.

2. Exodus 2:3-10: Moses undergoes a 2. Exodus 14:1-15:21: Israel undergoes a

water ordeal and is delivered. water ordeal at the Red Sea and is
delivered.

3. Exodus 2:11-22: Moses escapes to 3. Exodus 16:1-18:27: Israel escapes to

Midian/Sinai Midian/Sinai

4. Exodus 3:1-22: God appears to Moses 4. Exodus 19:1-40:38: God appears in the
in a theophany on Mount Sinai theophany on Mount Sinai

5. Exodus 4:1-17: Moses hesitates and 5. Remainder of the Torah: Israel

doubts, but God is faithful responds by being unfaithful, but God is
faithful

Not only do the two accounts correspond in major ways, but they also flow in the same
pattern. Even the words and phrasing of the two narratives resemble one another to a great
degree. For example, in parallel 3 of the Moses column (Ex.2:11-22) the daughters of Jethro
are being oppressed by shepherds who drive them away from watering their father’s flock. In
response, Moses intercedes as deliverer and rescues them from cruel treatment. The
Hebrew word for “rescue” in verse 17 is one of the primary terms used for the deliverance of
Israel out of Egypt (e.g. 14:30). In Exodus 2:19 the women declare that “an Egyptian
delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds.” That clause repeats almost word for word
what Jethro later says, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the
Egyptians” (18:10). Such linguistic affinities demonstrate that the episode of Moses rescuing
Jethro’s daughters is a paradigm for the Lord (through Moses) delivering Israel out of Egypt.
 4

The Exodus as Leitmotif (leading theme or motif)

The exodus represents a defining moment for Israel, not only in their history, but also in their
future. Some of the later prophets of the Old Testament picture the exodus event as
paradigmatic of a second redemptive act, the return of Israel from exile in Babylon. For
example, Isaiah foretells that Israel and Judah will be destroyed but one day “the Lord will
extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from
Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and
from the coastlands of the sea” (Isa. 11:11). Israel will escape from bondage and return to
the Land of Promise, just like they did in the first exodus: “And there will be a highway from
Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came
up from the land of Egypt” (Isa. 11:16).

The book of Ezra likewise parallels the return of God’s people from Babylon with the exodus
out of Egypt. In other words the two returns narrated in Ezra are modelled on the Egyptian
exodus; they are echoes of the original escape and return. The return from Babylon is
understood as a second exodus and Ezra as a second Moses. It is a second exodus but not
a greater exodus. It is without heightening or intensification. It lacks the redemptive punch of
the first exodus. Later in Scripture, however, the exodus does serve the purpose of pointing
to a greater deliverance. In the New Testament, Matthew structures his Gospel on the
paradigm of the exodus event. Consider the following parallels:

Exodus Matthew

1. Begins with genealogy (1:1-5) 1. Begins with genealogy (1:1-17)

2. Birth of deliverer (2:1-10) 2. Birth of deliverer (1:18-25)

3. Pharaoh persecutes Israel (1:8-14; 2:11) 3. Herod oppresses the Jews (2:1-12)

4. Moses flees from Egypt (2:15) 4. Jesus flees to Egypt (2:13-15)

5. Pharaoh kills male children (1:15-22) 5. Herod kills male children (2:16-18)

6. Israel goes through the Red Sea (14:1- 6. Jesus is baptised (3:13-17)
31)

7. Israel is tempted in the wilderness for 7. Jesus is tempted in the wilderness for
forty years (Numbers) forty days (4:1-11)

8. Giving of law at Mount Sinai (Ex. 20:1ff) 8. Sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:29)
 5

The climax of the escape from Egypt is the institution of the Passover, in which God judges
Egypt and delivers Israel (Ex. 11:1-12:51). This climactic act points to the culminating event
in the life of Christ in the New Testament: like the Passover lamb, Jesus shed his blood to
cover the sins of his people and to stay God’s hand of wrath from coming upon them (John
1:29; I Peter 1:19). “Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed” (I Cor 5:7). As Israel is
covered by the blood of the Passover lamb, so the new Israel is covered by the blood of the
Messiah.

Approaching the New Testament

The exodus is the greatest salvific event in the Old Testament. It is a monumental act in
itself, but it is even greater as it foreshadows the heightened redeeming work of Jesus
Christ. Christ is the ultimate Passover lamb who shed his blood to deliver his people from
death and darkness.

But Exodus points us to Christ in other ways. For example, the tabernacle which is
constructed in Exodus 25-40 is a foreshadowing of Christ. “The Word became flesh and
tabernacle among us” John 1:14. The act of the high priest sprinkling blood on the mercy
seat within the tabernacle on the Day of Atonement typified Christ’s atoning blood on behalf
of his people. In Romans 3:24-25 the word translated as “propitiation” in fact means “mercy
seat”. Christ therefore is the ultimate fulfilment not only of the tabernacle itself but of the very
event of the Day of Atonement.

“The most sustained connection between Jesus and the Exodus story comes in John’s
gospel. From beginning to end, John sets about using the Exodus story to explain how
Jesus Christ, as the Passover lamb, bring life to those under the threat of death. John’s
focus on Passover is reflected in the fact that he, unlike the Synoptic Gospel writers, records
how Jesus was present at three Passovers in Jerusalem. He also places the sacrificial death
of Jesus after a series of signs that recall the signs and wonders in Egypt. Whereas the
Exodus signs are destructive, anticipating the death of the firstborn males, John’s signs are
constructive, anticipating resurrection life.”1

Moses is also a type of Christ, and the manna is a foreshadowing of Christ, the Bread of life.
The message is clear that Exodus contains many shadows of the coming Messiah that
become full reality in the appearance, person and work of Jesus Christ.

Main themes

In Exodus 15, immediately after the great deliverance of Israel by God through the Red Sea,
Moses leads the people in singing a hymn of praise to the Lord. It is a doxology. The
opening verse highlights one of the primary themes of the book of Exodus: “I will sing to the
Lord for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea”
(15:1). After the song is finished, Miriam leads the women of Israel in response by singing
the same words antiphonally (15:20-21). These words serve as the refrain for the larger
hymn and the purpose of a refrain is to underscore the hymn’s most important teaching: the
Lord is triumphant and sovereign. He alone is King of kings and Lord of lords.

The second verse of the song in chapter 15 underscores a second great theme of the book
of Exodus. The people sing: “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my
salvation.” The Lord is the Deliverer and Saviour of his people. He had promised Abraham
that he would deliver them from bondage after four hundred years (Gen. 15:13-14). He did
this in the book of Exodus. He is a God who keeps his word by delivering his people from
oppression.

1 T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus (London: Apollos, 2017) p7

 6

Finally, the Lord does not merely deliver his people from slavery, but he also solidifies an on-
going relationship with them. The hymn of Moses in Exodus 15 accentuates that reality:
“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided
them by your strength to your holy abode” (15:13). The truth is displayed in what has come
to be known as the Immanuel principle: “I will take you to be my people and I will be your
God” (Ex.6:7) This relationship between God and Israel is formalised on Mount Zion where
God established his covenant with his people.