Exodus: Why Should I Obey Yahweh?

While most book overviews are written with a view toward observation (summarizing or outlining what is said), I would like to present a series of overviews with a view toward interpretation (summarizing or outlining why it is said). I will walk through not simply the contents but the argument of each book. I will not cover every book, but only those I have spent enough time in to believe I have something to say.

I come now to the book of Exodus.

Introduction

I spent over a year on this blog studying my way through the complete book of Exodus. You can find the contents of that series on this page. In that series, you’ll find the material in this post expanded on and demonstrated from each portion of text.

Literary Markers

The chief markers of literary division in Exodus are the shifts in genre and style. These markers are rather obvious, to the point that people sometimes examine only one of the book’s divisions. The trick is to figure out how things flow from one division to the next.

Chapters 1-18 consist of epic narratives, interrupted only by a brief genealogy in chapter 6 and a lengthy poem in chapter 15. Yet the setting and focus of the narratives after the poem are starkly different from the narratives before the poem. We ought to see the poem of chapter 15 as the resolution to the conflict of the book’s first division. This leaves the narratives of chapters 16-18 as either a new division, or a transition to the following division.

Though chapter 19 is also narrative, the setting—with the people finally at Mt. Sinai—clearly fits together with the law codes and covenant ceremony of chapters 20-24. Chapters 25-40 consist of tabernacle details (first instruction, then construction), divided by the narratives of covenant rending and repair in chapters 32-34.

Therefore, the book has three main divisions: Narratives of rescue (Ex 1-15), narratives of preparation (Ex 16-18), and discourses on law, covenant, and tabernacle (Ex 19-40).

Part 1 Walkthrough

The book’s introduction (Ex 1) sets the stage for the blessed children of Israel enjoying the blessings of covenant with their God expressed through their fruitful multiplying. Enter a new king who forgets Joseph and feels threatened by Israel’s multiplication. He attempts to quash the power of God in three phases: burdening Israel’s labor (Ex 1:11-14), murdering their sons (Ex 1:15-21), and drowning their sons (Ex 1:22).

Yahweh, of course, remembers his covenant (even if the king forgets Joseph), and he must do something about the situation. His solution has two aspects: raising up a mediator (Ex 2:1-7:7), and executing judgment (Ex 7:8-15:21).

Exodus 2:1-7:7 show us the appointment and training of the mediator. This mediator launches a campaign of deliverance, but the people reject him; so he turns from them (Ex 2). Yahweh calls him back (Ex 3:1-4:17) and makes him like his brothers in every way (Ex 4:18-31). Things must then get even worse (Ex 5:1-21) so the people can see that what they need is not only a political mediator but a faithful and merciful high priest (Ex 5:22-7:7).

With all these things in place, rescue can proceed and be shown to be all of God. His glory must fill the earth. And Yahweh’s rescue results when he returns the king of Egypt’s tactics from chapter 1 back on his own head. Yahweh burden’s Egypt’s labor (Ex 7:8-10:29). He kills their sons (Ex 11:1-13:16). He drowns their sons (Ex 13:17-14:31).

The demolishing of the house of slavery warrants reflection in song (Ex 15:1-21). There is no other god who can so cast down his enemies and lift up his covenant people. This God is a God who judges and rescues.

Part 2 Walkthrough

Everything shifts beginning with Ex 15:22, as Egypt is no longer in the picture. It is not enough for Yahweh to demolish the house of slavery. He must also prepare to rebuild his people.

Therefore, the Lord uses a sequence of events to expose how much his people need his instruction. They cannot simply be freedmen; they must submit to a benevolent Master.

The Lord gives instructions, in the face of the people’s physical needs, to expose how distrustful and disobedient they are—and therefore undeserving of his fatherly care (Ex 15:22-17:7). He wants their highest and most public loyalty to be to him alone (Ex 17:8-16). And he sends messengers to help them constantly remember their deliverance and to look to his instruction alone for new life (Ex 18:1-27). This God is a God worth trusting and obeying.

Part 3 Walkthrough

The final, and longest, part of the book alternates two themes in four sections: covenant, tabernacle, covenant, tabernacle. Through such alternation, we see Yahweh finally building his true house—the community of his covenant people.

First, the covenant is made (Ex 19-24). God wants to make something special out of an undeserving people (Ex 19). So he establishes a treaty, inspiring them to fear, so they might draw near to him (Ex 20). He then architects a social paradise that will stand out among the world’s nations (Ex 21-23), and he draws these people close through the blood of a substitute (Ex 24).

Second, the tabernacle instruction (Ex 25-31). Yahweh re-creates heaven on earth, packing up the holy mountain for transport through pictures embedded in furniture (Ex 25:1-27:19), priesthood (Ex 27:20-30:38), and sabbath rest (Ex 31). Seven speeches, climaxing in spirit-filled humans and sabbath rest. New Creation.

Third, the covenant is rent and repaired (Ex 32-34). The main thing at stake here is whether it will ever work out for heaven to come to earth, for God to dwell with men and remain with them (Ex 32). Sinners will always need not only forgiveness of their sins but also reconciliation to their God (Ex 33). And the glory of Yahweh’s covenant cohabitation is even more glorious after the fall than it was before (Ex 34:1-28). But how long will it really last (Ex 34:29-35)?

Fourth, back to tabernacle construction (Ex 35-40). The new covenant people, redeemed and reconciled after terrible ruin, are staggeringly empowered for outrageous obedience to their God (Ex 35-39). And when Yahweh finally moves in with them, we know it’s the real deal (Ex 40). But it’s not yet the end. Something is still lacking…

This God is a God who builds his own house in and with his people.

Conclusion

Pharaoh’s question to Moses is a perfect statement of the purpose of Exodus: “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey his voice?” (Ex 5:2). The very design of the book is to answer that question by showing us exactly who Yahweh is and why we ought to obey him. He is the one who demolishes the house of slavery, who prepares his people to rebuild, and who builds his own house in the midst of his people. The glory of redemption is greater than that of pre-Fall creation. This is why the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead (Luke 24:26-27).

Instead of having three or four disparate divisions—independent of one another and to be studied apart from one another—the book of Exodus has a coherent message from beginning to end.

Interpretive Outline

Nobody can prevent Yahweh from keeping his promises, but we’re not sure how he’ll do it (Ex 1).
Yahweh demolishes the house of slavery (Ex 1:1-15:21).
1. Part 1: Yahweh appoints a mediator and ensures he is fully qualified and trained for the task of deliverance (Ex 2:1-7:7).
2. Part 2: Yahweh delivers a deserved destruction to his enemies and a frightful joy to his people (Ex 7:8-15:21).
Yahweh prepares to rebuild by exposing how deeply his people need his law to know him (Ex 15:22-18:27).
Yahweh builds his house in the midst of his people (Ex 19-40).
- Part 1: Yahweh architects a perfect paradise for the community of his people, so he can bring them near through the blood of a substitute (Ex 19-24).
  - Part 2: Yahweh explains how his people can re-create this paradise on earth (Ex 25-31).
- Part 3: Yahweh hands them something more glorious than paradise; he hands them more of himself (Ex 32-34).
  - Part 4: The obedient new creators build the house, and Yahweh moves in. But not even Moses can enter the glory. This tent cannot be it; there must be something more to come (Ex 35-40).

For more interpretive walkthroughs of books of the Bible, click here.