Title
The title “Exodus” comes from the Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. Exodus means “departure” or “going out.” It has that title because it covers Israel’s departure from Egypt to the time when the Israelites finished building the Tabernacle, the place where God would reveal Himself to His people in the Old Covenant.
Author and Date
Exodus does not directly identify its author; however, it does state that its main human character, Moses, was literate (17:14). Exodus also tells us that Moses wrote down the laws of the covenant that God had revealed to him at Mt. Sinai (24:4; 34:27).
Without a named writer for Exodus, both Jewish and Christian traditions affirm that Moses wrote Exodus, including the four other books of the Pentateuch: Genesis, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The traditional claim that Moses wrote the Book of Exodus also frames a historical claim that much of what Moses wrote about took place during his lifetime, which most researchers have placed between the 1400 and 1200 BC.
In the New Testament, Jesus referred to the “Law of Moses” as one of the three primary divisions of the Scriptures that testified of Him: “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). Jesus’ threefold division of the Old Testament, and the common expression of His day, the “Law of Moses,” implies that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch. In John 5:46, Jesus challenged His fellow Jews: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.”
Outline
There are many ways to categorize the sections of Exodus to make it easier to understand and study. However, the clearest way to understand Exodus is to see God as the primary doer. When we look at Exodus through those lenses, two great sections in Exodus appear. The first tells us of God’s redemption of Israel (chapters 1- 18). The second section brings out God’s revelation that He gave to Israel (Chapters 19:1-40).
Seeing these two great themes taking place in Exodus, we can further outline the book as follows (since so much takes place in Exodus, this is a large outline [on the website, the outline formatting does not come through properly]):
- 1. God’s redemption of Israel
- Israel suffers in Egypt (1:1-22)
- The youth and call of Moses (2:1-4:31)
i. Moses’ youth (2:1-25)
ii. God calls Moses (3:1-4:31)
- Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh (5:1-7:7)
i. Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh (5:1-21)
ii. Moses complains to the Lord (5:22-6:1)
- God renews His call to Moses (6:2-7:7)
- The Ten Plagues (7:8-11:10)
i. The sign before Pharaoh (7:8-13)
ii. First plague: water turned to blood (7:14-24)
iii. Second plague: frogs (7:25-8:15)
iv. Third plague: gnats (8:16-19)
v. Fourth plague: flies (8:20-32)
vi. Fifth plague: death of Egyptian livestock (9:1-7)
vii. Sixth plague: boils (9:8-12)
viii. Seventh plague: hail (9:13-35)
ix. Eighth plague: locusts (10:1-20)
x. Ninth plague: darkness (10:21-29)
xi. Tenth plague announced: death of Egyptian firstborn (11:1-10)
- The institution of the Passover meal (12:1-51)
i. Preparations for and celebration of Passover (12:1-28)
ii. Death of Egyptian firstborn and expulsion of Israelites (12:29-42)
iii. Passover Regulations (12:43-51)
- God delivers Israel out of Egypt (13:1-15:21)
i. Consecration of the Firstborn (13:1-16)
ii. Crossing the Red Sea (13:17-14:31)
iii. Song of the Sea (15:1–21)
- The journey to Mt. Sinai (15:22-18:27)
i. Murmuring at Marah (15:22-27)
ii. Manna and Quails (16:1-36)
iii. Water from the rock (17:1-7)
iv. Victory over the Amalekites (17:8-16)
v. Aid and Advice from Jethro (18:1-27)
- 2. God’s revelation to the people of Israel
- The Covenant at Mt. Sinai (19:1-24:18)
i. The Covenant and the Ten Commandments (19:1-20:21)
ii. The book of the Covenant (20:22–23:33)
iii. Ratification of the Covenant (24:1–18)
- Directions for the Tabernacle (25:1-31:18)
i. The offering (25:1-9)
ii. The Ark and the Mercy Seat (25:10-22)
iii. The Table (25:23-30)
iv. The Lampstand (25:31-40)
v. The Tabernacle (26:1-37)
vi. The Altar and the Court (27:1-21)
vii. Priests’ Vestments (28:1-43)
viii. Consecration of the Priests (29:1-46)
ix. Other instructions (30:1-31:18)
- Israel breaks the Covenant (32:1-33:23)
i. The Golden Calf (32:1-29)
ii. Moses’ Intercession (32:30-33:23)
- God renews the covenant (34:1-35)
- Building the Tabernacle (35:1-40:33)
i. Materials that the people contributed (35:136:7)
ii. The construction take place (36:8-38:31)
iii. The Priestly Vestments are made (39:1-31)
iv. The Tabernacle and Vestments are inspected and blessed (39:32-43)
v. The Tabernacle is finished, furnished, and consecrated (40:1-33)
- The Lord dwells in the Tabernacle (40:34-38)
God’s Redemption of Israel: Israel Suffers in Egypt (1:1-22)
Read Exodus 1:1-7
Genesis already provided a list of Jacob’s descendants. So, when Exodus does this, it highlights that Exodus is a continuation of the events in Genesis. Verses 1-5 briefly retell the story of Jacob (renamed Israel) traveling with his family to Egypt in Genesis 46. Verse 6 ties in to the end of Genesis 50, with the death of Joseph.
Exodus then mentions that Jacob, renamed Israel, had 70 descendants. But that’s only true if Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is excluded from the total! So, Moses is going out of his way to see some significance with the number 70 and what that means!
So, if Exodus is a continuation of events in Genesis, let’s go back to Genesis for clues to help us with the number 70. In Genesis 10, we find a listing of the “descendants of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (Genesis 10:1). It then lists 16 grandsons of Noah. Genesis 11 provides further details about the dispersion after the Tower of Babel, where their descendants spread out and established the various nations of the ancient world. The number of descendants of Noah (grandsons, great-grandsons, etc.) mentioned are 26 from Shem, 30 from Ham, and 14 from Japheth. That totals 70 “sons” or “nations.”
– Exodus wants you to “get” that Israel (Jacob) had 70 sons. Discuss why.
– In verse 7, we hear terms such as “fruitful and swarmed and multiplied” to describe the reproductive ability of the Israelites. These verbal allusions point to what event in Genesis (and what are we supposed to sense, at a deeper level, from the text as we understand that)?
Read Exodus 1:8-14
– What does Pharaoh fear from the Israelites?
– How does Pharaoh deal with the “Israelite problem”?
Read Exodus 1:15-22
– What does Pharaoh command of the two midwives who helped the Hebrew women during childbirth?
Just so you get a sense of how our translations “clean up” the original text, a more-literal version of verse 16 reads: “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, and you see the two stones, if a son–you will kill him! …”
– The original Hebrew is earthy. What does it mean when you see “two stones” after a baby is born?
– What do the midwives not do? What “excuse” do they make?
In verses 15-22, we see Moses use a chiasm to highlight the responses to Pharaoh’s directive to kill the Hebrew infant boys.
A: Pharaoh directs midwives to kill the male infants (vs. 15-16)
B: The midwives fear God more than Pharaoh and do not obey Pharaoh (vs. 17)
C: Pharaoh’s response to the midwives’ not obeying him and their response (vs. 18-19)
C’: God response to the midwives’ not obeying Pharaoh and the effect on the people (vs. 20)
B’: The midwives’ fear of God and their reward (vs. 21)
A’: Pharaoh directs his people to kill the male infants (vs. 22)
In a chiasm, the main point is the center section. In this case, it’s that God takes care of His people even despite the wickedness of Pharaoh.
Church Father, St. Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD), saw Pharaoh’s attempt at Israelite population control as having a deeper spiritual meaning. Behind Pharaoh, Ephrem saw Satan at work who “wanted to smother the Redeemer of the Hebrews through the slaughter of the infants.”
The Birth of Moses (2:1-10)
Read Exodus 2:1-4
Hebrews 11:23: By faith, when Moses was born, his parents hid him for three months, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
– What are we to “get” about Moses being from the family line of Levi (even though the Levitical priesthood was not instituted)?
The Hebrew term for “basket” is the same term we find Genesis 6:14 for Noah’s “ark.” Thus, Moses implies a parallel between himself and Noah (remember the first readers of Exodus are after all these events have taken place):
- both escape the waters of death,
- both float to safety in a vessel, an “ark,”
- and both survive to become a savior of others.
Through Noah, the human race was rescued from extinction. Through Moses, the Israelite nation will be rescued from enslavement through Moses. Again, like the 70 descendants mentioned earlier implied, we are to see God doing something for all mankind through the Israelites. And it is this: As Moses came and served as a savior for Israel, with Israel representing a microcosm of all humanity through whom the Messiah would come, the Messiah, Jesus, would come and serve to save all people.
Read Exodus 2:5-10
– How is Moses rescued?
– Who becomes Moses’ wet nurse?
– How is Moses raised?
