Exodus Overview

Exodus, like Genesis, is traditionally attributed to Moses and is part of the Torah, which also includes Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. While the Mosaic authorship is a long-standing tradition, modern scholarship suggests that the book is likely a compilation of oral traditions, historical events, and laws. These were possibly edited and compiled over centuries, with some scholars suggesting that the final form may have been completed as late as the 5th Century BC.

The structure of Exodus can be broadly divided into two main sections, each with its own set of sub-sections:

Exodus 1-18: Liberation from Egypt

• Exodus 1-2: The Israelites' enslavement and the birth of Moses
• Exodus 3-6: The call of Moses and the Burning Bush
• Exodus 7-11: The plagues
• Exodus 12-14: The Passover and exodus
• Exodus 15-18: Wilderness journey to Sinai

Exodus 19-40: The Israelites at Sinai

• Exodus 19-24: The Sinai Covenant and the Ten Commandments
• Exodus 25-31: Instructions for the Tabernacle
• Exodus 32-34: The Golden Calf and renewal of the Covenant
• Exodus 35-40: Construction and dedication of the Tabernacle

Throughout Exodus, we’re going to see the family that God has chosen grow into a nation that is oppressed in Egypt. God is then going to use this as an opportunity to demonstrate his authority and power as he punishes Egypt and leads his people out of captivity.

From there we’re going to see the rules and principles that God lays out to guide them. Remember, from Genesis that God’s plan is to use this family now nation to restore all humanity back to himself. The guidelines are what going to help guide the people towards this purpose.

But as we see throughout Exodus and beyond the people fail in this. They are often forgetful of what God has done and resentful of what is being asked of them. Repeatedly like their ancestors before them they are going to to choose to take things into their own hands and do things their way rather than God’s way.

Exodus 1-3

In the beginning of Exodus, we see the story pick up from Genesis. Jacob’s family has settled down and they’ve begun to multiply and fill the land. But after many years of this, the Egyptians start to get afraid. 

There are now a lot of Israelites, and if they decided to overthrow the Egyptians, they would be a real threat. First, they begin to oppress them and treat them like slaves, then they threaten to kill all the first-born sons. Yet despite all this, God still continues to make the Israelites prosper.

It is into this setting that Moses comes on the scene. His mother gives birth to him and hides him for a bit before dropping him off at the river bank. We often think of this as a huge risk. What if the child drowns? But the river wouldn’t have had a strong current, the reeds would have kept the basket protected, and the women of the area would have come down to the river regularly to wash their clothes.

In some ways, this was a common practice. Just as people used to leave babies at the doorstep of the orphanage knowing they’ll be found, woman from this era would leave their babies at the river bed, knowing that they would be found by those coming to wash their clothes.

Yet it still required a lot of trust of Moses’ mother. She needed the right person to find her son. Someone who was able to look after him and who wouldn’t kill him as the Egyptians had asked.

So Moses grows up and developed a strong sense of justice. He sees an Egyptian oppressing one of the Israelites and kills him. Right heart, wrong action. He then sees some of fellow Israelites fighting and seeks to bring peace, but they challenge him and he realises that people are out to get them.

He flees into the wilderness, and there jumps to the aid of some shepherd girls, making sure they have access to the well and watering their flock for them. He may have made some mistakes, but from the beginning Moses is clearly a man of strong character.

Also, take a pause. Man travels to foreign land, stops off at a well, meets a woman, water is drawn, the woman goes home, tells everyone what has happened and becomes a wife. We've seen this story before. Once again we get to see the classic Ancient Israelite boy meets girl story in action.

Then we get the burning bush. There’s a lot we could talk about. Moses is told to takes his sandals off because the ground is holy. Why is the ground holy? Because God’s presence is there. God’s presence makes things holy.

God sees those who are oppressed, and his heart is to lead them out of oppression into freedom. He calls Moses to that purpose, and thousands of years later that’s his call to us, to bring freedom to that who are captive.

God then gives Moses his true name. Lots of translations translate it as ‘Lord’, which is less than ideal because in English ‘Lord’ is a title, not a name. In Hebrew, his name is YHWH (יהוה), also known as Yahweh. Going forward whenever you see ‘Lord’ in all caps you know that behind that is the proper name of God.

Psalm 17

This psalm is attributed to King David and fits into the category of lament psalm. The psalmist calls to God, raises their complaint, asks God to intervene, and the declares their trust in God.

Psalm 17:1-2 - A call for the Lord to listen

Psalm 17:3-5 - A call for God to intervene because of the psalmist’s innocence

Psalm 17:6-8 - A call for God to intervene because of his love

Psalm 17:9-12 - A call for God to intervene because of the psalmist’s enemies

Psalm 17:13-14 - A call to God to punish the psalmist’s enemies

Psalm 17:15 - A declaration of trust in God

 The psalm opens with an appeal to God. The psalmist asks God to listen to his prayers, allow them in his presence, and vindicate them. They point out that God has had everything opportunity to test them, and they have proven themselves innocent of any offense.

The psalmist isn’t claiming they’ve never sinned here. Instead, they are pointing out that they’ve not done anything specific to deserve the struggle they are going through. This issue they are facing isn’t their fault. Instead, they have lived with integrity.

But God should not only intervene because the psalmist is innocent. The Lord is a God of faithfulness and love. He does not turn away from those who are oppressed.

Then the psalmist turns his focus to his enemies. They lack pity. They speak arrogantly. They use their strength to prey on the weak. The psalmist ask God to intervene and to deal with his enemies, because right now it just looks like God is rewarding them for their wickedness.

Having brought his complaint to God, the psalmist now declares his trust. He allows the truth of God’s righteousness and goodness to lead him forward.