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Exodus Overview: Who is the LORD, That I Should Obey His Voice?

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We’ve considered the principles of Bible study in great detail. Now it’s time to put them into practice through a series of sample Bible studies in the book of Exodus. We begin with a book oveview.

While you could find many of the following points by reading a decent commentary or study Bible, you’ll have more fun—and the key points will have greater staying power in your life—if you glean them by simply reading and re-reading the book many times. To prepare this overview, I’ve consulted a few helpful sources. But I’ve spent most of my time reading Exodus 8 times in the last 3 months. I hope to read it 12 more times before the end of the year. Perhaps the repetition will lead me to change my mind at a few points.

Author

The New Testament regularly quotes or references the book of Exodus and attributes it to Moses (Mark 7:10, 12:26; Luke 20:37; John 6:32, 7:19; Rom 9:15; 2 Cor 3:13-15; Heb 7:14, 8:5, 9:19). We shall do the same.

Audience

After reading Exodus a few times, it becomes clear that the book focuses on the rescue and establishment of the people of Israel as a new nation before God. The book ends with the people at Mount Sinai, ready to move on to the land of promise. In addition, Exodus fits squarely within the flow of Exodus-through-Numbers. The book was clearly written to the Hebrews on their way to Canaan. It’s not clear, however, whether the book was “finished” for the first generation who came out of Egypt, or for the following generation. Numbers was clearly not finished until the second generation, since it reports the rebellion and death of the first generation. So Moses may have written Exodus a few decades earlier (possibly with Leviticus), for the first generation, or along with Numbers, for the second generation.

Occasion

Either way, the book of Exodus serves as a charter for this new nation. What does it mean to be not only a new sovereign state but the specially chosen people of God? When God remembers his covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, what will that mean for these frightened and fearful former slaves? And how do they know God won’t eventually abandon them?

Genre

Most of the book presents itself as historical narrative. The events that take place here will shape the nation for generations to come (such as, Ex 12:1-6). Yet this narrative has frequent sub-genres: speech, dialogue, miracle story, and law code.

About a third of the way through, we get a long poem (Ex 15:1-21). Perhaps this attention-grabbing shift signals a climax of some sort…?

Themes

Steve Day (2008), Creative Commons

Steve Day (2008), Creative Commons

Reading Exodus, you can’t miss the theme of rescue from slavery. The first part of the book (chapters 1-15) tells the story of the greatest rescue in Old Testament history. And that rescue casts a long shadow even on the laws that follow (for example, Ex 22:21).

And while we might think of Exodus as being primarily about the exodus from Egypt, that event covers less than half the book. We also see a significant chunk of laws (chapters 20-23) and tabernacle instructions/construction (chapters 25-31 and 35-40). So our summary of themes must do justice to all these major sections:

  • rescue from slavery
  • guidelines for living as God’s people
  • patterns for constructing God’s dwelling place

Interestingly, each of these three themes goes nowhere without the intercession of a mediator. God delivers the people through the hand of Moses. God issues his laws through Moses’ representation. And God passes his building instructions through the same human lips. If you happen to miss this idea early, you can no longer ignore it when the tabernacle instructions are repeated twice, in their entirety: Once in dialogue to Moses, and again as Moses’ underlings carry those instructions out.

Purpose Statements

Another thing to look for in a book overview is explicit statements of purpose from the author. In Exodus, such purpose statements abound, often placed on the lips of God.

To the Hebrews: “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” (Ex 6:7).

Concerning the Egyptians: “The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them” (Ex 7:5).

To Pharaoh: “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (Ex 9:16).

From Jethro, priest of Midian: “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people” (Ex 18:11).

Regarding the tabernacle: “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God” (Ex 29:45-46).

Beginning to end, Exodus portrays a God who wants all people and communities to know who he is and what he has done. This God wants an awareness that goes even beyond humans. He wants to take down rival deities as well. “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD” (Ex 12:12).

Structure

The shifts in theme and genre are the literary clues we need to find the book’s structure.

  1. Narratives of deliverance – Ex 1-15
  2. Narratives of provision and preparation – Ex 16-18
  3. Legal instructions – Ex 19-24
  4. Construction instructions – Ex 25-40

Of course, that last section is shockingly interrupted with the Hebrew’s grievous sin with the golden calf (chapters 32-34). This incident suggests a larger shape for the second half of the book, as follows:

1. Covenant made – Ex 19-24

2. Tabernacle instructions – Ex 25-31

1′ Covenant broken and repaired – Ex 32-34

2′ Tabernacle constructed – Ex 35-40

Bringing these pieces together, we get the following big picture:

  1. Delivering from the house of slavery – Ex 1-15
  2. Preparing the house of Israel – Ex 16-18
  3. Constructing the house of God – Ex 19-40

Main Point

Connecting all the threads of occasion, genre, themes, purpose statements, and structure, we can state the main point of the book of Exodus in a single question:

“Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?” –Pharaoh, king of Egypt (Ex 5:2).

Exodus unequivocally answers Pharaoh’s question in three parts: Who is Yahweh [in English Bibles, “LORD” in all caps], and why should you obey? He is the God who 1) demolishes the house of slavery, 2) prepares to rebuild, and 3) builds his house in the midst of his people.

Now we’re ready to dive into the details. This main point will guide us as we work our way through the book.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

Sample Launching Questions for Bible Studies

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Stephen Crawford (2011), Creative Commons

Stephen Crawford (2011), Creative Commons

Bible studies often begin well with a good launching question. When I prepare to lead, I usually prepare the beginning at the end. I like to know where I’m going before I decide which way to kick the thing off.

For those who like examples, I now spread a feast. Here’s a list of sample launching questions I’ve used in the last 6 months with (hopefully) enough context for you to make sense of them. The “Central Truth” was the passage’s main point that I wanted the group to see by the end of the study. The Launching Question was my very first question to begin the study.

Exodus Launching Questions

Context: church small group with a variety of ages and life situations among the members.

Exodus 3:7-4:17

Central Truth: God’s agents must share God’s heart for God’s people, but often they don’t.
Launching Question: How do you normally respond to the weakness or suffering of other people?

Exodus 4:18-31

(I can’t take credit for this one. My co-leader Warren Wright led this study.)

Central Truth: God prepares and provides for His servants so that they may be ready for service.
Launching Question: How does God prepare you for service? Or: How do you prepare for important events/actions?

Exodus 5:1-21

Central Truth: When God’s plan doesn’t match our plan, we usually look for someone to blame.
Launching Question: What would you like to see God do in our Growth Group? (Dream big!) What will you do if the group doesn’t meet your expectations?

Exodus 5:22-7:7

Central Truth: To know Yahweh as your God, you must experience deliverance and the fulfillment of his promises by the hand of his mediator.
Launching Question: What do you think it means to know God? How does one go about knowing God?

Exodus 11:1-12:28

Central Truth: All must know that Yahweh owns everything and remakes his creation at will.
Launching Question: What does it mean to “redeem” something? In ordinary usage? In the Bible? [I wanted to get at the idea of ownership.]

Exodus 12:29-13:16

Central Truth: Future generations must know that Yahweh owns the firstborn (=everything) and remakes his creation at will.
Launching Question: What is the most important thing you would like to be remembered for in the future?

John Launching Questions

Context: ministry small group with summer interns (all undergraduate college students). I felt like I could push the boundaries of social awkwardness just a little to make John’s points clear.

John 1:1-18

Central Truth: The eternal God entered human history to reveal himself so we might become his children, but our natural response is to reject him.
Launching Question: Let’s test the quality of your sex education: How is a baby born?

John 3

Central Truth: We must know two things to see and enter the Kingdom of God: 1) The Bad News: our need for rebirth, 2) The Good News: the arrival of a savior.
Launching Question: What happens when a willing couple can’t get pregnant? [Insert discussion of modern fertility treatment procedures and the understandable desire to make new births happen.] Why do you think people won’t accept Jesus’ message today? [Connect to our inability to force a new birth.]

John 19

Central Truth: The King’s work is complete.
Launching Question: Would you like to have a romantic relationship? Why? How else do you respond to your innate sense of incompletion or loneliness?

I invite your opinion. How could these launching questions be improved?

Sample Bible Study Leader’s Notes

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Last Friday, I listed 5 practices for preparing effective Bible studies.

  1. Depend on the Lord
  2. Figure out what God has said
  3. Allow the message to change you
  4. Decide how to lead your group toward what God has said
  5. Consider the beginning
My notes for leading a discussion on Exodus 12:29-13:16

My notes for leading a discussion on Exodus 12:29-13:16

This week, I offer a sample fruit of this model. Here are the notes I created to help me lead a recent Bible study[1]. You may want to open these notes in another window to follow along as I walk through them.

Background

I led this study for my church small group that met in my home. Our group met weekly, though we held a Bible study at only 2 or 3 of those meetings each month. We began studying the book of Exodus in August, and this study on Exodus 12:29-13:16 was our next-to-last study before breaking for the summer. (We live in a university town, so our lives are ones of utter enslavement to the academic calendar.) We ended with a climactic study on the Red Sea crossing (Exodus 13:17-14:31).

Our group consisted of a few undergraduate students, a few young singles, a few young families, and a few divorcées. We have a good mix of genders, generations, and life situations represented.

My expectations for the study were that participants would read the passage before the meeting and spend some time thinking about the following questions:

  1. What happened that Passover night?
  2. How are the Israelites to remember that night?
  3. Why are they to remember that night?

They were also supposed to sign up to bring something for dinner, but you probably don’t need to know that.

The Bible study part of the meeting lasted 1 hour. We didn’t read the text, but dove right into the discussion.

Launching Question

The first 2 minutes of the study are the most important (see Practice #5 in last week’s post), so I set the tone with this question:

What is the most important thing you would like to be remembered for in the future?

Though this was my first question, it was the very last thing I prepared. Everything else on this page of notes came first, as I studied the passage and grappled with the structure, main point, and list of questions to stimulate discussion.

Once I knew where I wanted to go, I was ready to construct the beginning. I wanted a strong question that would get us thinking about applying the main point of the passage, but without giving the whole thing away too soon.

After 2 or 3 minutes of sharing about what we want to be remembered for, we were ready to hit the text.

Main Point

I keep this item at the top of my notes, because it’s the most important thing for us to get to. The discussion was pretty fluid as people would observe many details in the text and ask interpretive questions. But, though the discussion was fluid, I made sure to steer it in the right direction.

By putting the main point at the top, I’m more likely to make sure we get to it. Ideally, most of what comes up in the discussion will move us toward this point. And the study climaxes when we arrive here.

But sometimes, the group discovers a slightly different main point on its own. In those cases, I won’t require them to conclude what I wrote in my notes. I’ll be open and responsive to the text. I must hold my conclusions loosely if the evidence suggests a better alternative.

Supporting Truths

This section of the notes lays out the building blocks for the main point.

First, I list key themes in the passage (“This very day is special…”). Second, I outline the passage by discovering the main point of each paragraph. Third, I make sure to consider how the passage connects to the mission of Jesus Christ.

In the meeting, I don’t walk through these items. They’re in my notes to serve as reminders. When the discussion gets close to something in this section, I want to take advantage of the opportunity to lead the people there.

Observation/Interpretation Questions to help lead to main point

In this section of the notes I list the questions that I will use to stimulate discussion. In this case, I had emailed these questions to the group before the meeting, so I was able to work through them in order. Each question led to a treasure trove of observation and interpretation of the text. I won’t let people get away with an answer without mentioning a verse number or a specific observation that supports what they say.

Applications

This section of the notes lists a range of possible application questions I could ask the group. I rarely have time to ask all of them, but I want to be prepared to lead the group in many different directions.

We want to make both inward and outward application. We should consider head, heart, and hands. And we can consider both individual and corporate application. I try to hit every one of these areas over time, since we’re rarely able to hit every area in every study.

Conclusion

So you can see I don’t use these notes as a script, but as a prompter. I plan the launching question and the first observation question, and then I hope for the best and do what I can to keep us moving toward the main point and application. And I pray, of course. Always pray!

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[1]This model for preparing and leading a Bible study is heavily influenced by Colin Marshall’s terrific book, Growth Groups.

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The Gospel Inspires Us to Reach Others

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Knowable Word LogoFaith ON Campus just published a guest post I wrote entitled “9 Bible Studies to Motivate Your Outreach Team Now and All Year Long.” Faith ON Campus targets folks involved in campus ministry, and this post is part of their 4th annual Back-to-School Blogathon. I’m honored to be a part of it.

Even if you aren’t involved in collegiate ministry, you may find the post helpful as you consider how the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection compels you to reach the unbelievers around you.

Here’s a sneak peek:

1. Ephesians 2:1-10 – Exhibitions of God’s Grace

Observe Paul’s flow of thought: You were dead, but God made us alive and raised us up with Christ. You deserved his wrath, but now you’ve been saved by grace. Amazing. And why did God do it? Verse 7: “So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” That’s right, you’re a trophy on display for your campus.

2. Exodus 3:1-4:17 – Dealing with Fear

God has seen his people’s suffering, and he will rescue them. He allows us to take part in the rescue mission, but we fear so many things. We fear we’re not qualified (3:11-12). We fear we might not be able to answer their questions (3:13-22). We fear they won’t agree with us (4:1-9). We fear we’re not skilled enough (4:10-12). We don’t want to do it (4:13-17). But God pictures his promises in a bush that burns without being consumed. He is a consuming fire, but he preserves those for whom Christ died.

Please head on over to Faith ON Campus to check it out!

Why keep the Sabbath?

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Most Christians have heard of the Ten Commandments. Many can even tell you what they are. But how many can answer this question: Why does God ask His people to keep the Sabbath?

The Ten Commandments

Photo adapted from OZinOH on Flickr

Let’s take a look at these two familiar passages and take note of the similarities and differences:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11 ESV)

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15 ESV)

If you just skimmed those passages, you’ll probably miss the point of this blog entry 😉 Go back and read them again.

Here are some things that are the same:

  • Six days are allocated for work, but the Sabbath is to be kept holy.
  • The Sabbath is not just for us, but “to the LORD your God”.
  • On the Sabbath, no one works: not you, your family, your servants, your animals or your visitors.

But did you notice the key difference between the two passages?

  • In the Exodus passage, the motivation for keeping the Sabbath comes from the character of God in Genesis. God made everything in six days and then rested. Thus we should do the same.
  • In the Deuteronomy passage, the motivation for keeping the Sabbath comes from the rescue of God in Exodus. God (not Egypt) is now their master and has a different set of [very gracious] rules to live by.

So why am I noting this on a blog about Bible Study? It’s because we’re often tempted to assume we know what a passage means just because we’ve read it somewhere else before.

The Bible was inspired by God for all time for His supreme purpose: to reveal the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. Simultaneously, the Bible was penned by different men at different times for different purposes. With these two truths in glorious tension, we study the Bible to understand as much as we can about every word, every passage, every book – even if we’ve seen a similar story previously.

In each case, be sure to observe the context of the “duplicated” passages. It may be that the main point and application may change in each case! For example:

  • Why might God speak of the blessing of the Sabbath to a newly-freed nation at the foot of a terrifying mountain while recalling it later with an emphasis on commands and obedience?
  • Why do the details of the same battle vary between Judges 4 and Judges 5?
  • Why is Jesus recorded as saying different things in each of the four gospels just before He dies?

Feel free to leave your thoughts on those questions in the comments!