also known as
The Second Book of Moses

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Exodus 1

Ex 1:1-7 – The blessing of God is here seen on the line of Jacob – they were fruitful and multiplied. This was according to the creation mandate in Gen 1:28.

• “were fruitful and increased greatly” ~ “Be fruitful,” 
• “and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty,” ~ “and multiply”
• “so that the land was filled with them” ~ “and fill the earth”

To see the extent to which these numbers will grow during their time in Egypt, see the BSN note on Ex 12:37-38 below.

Ex 1:8-14 – The blessing of God that came on the descendants of Jacob reminds us that while Adam’s and Eve’s sin brought a curse on the earth, the blessing of God was still available in it midst. Blessing in the midst of a curse, or curse in the midst of blessing – depending on how you look at it. Thus we see the Egyptians (in the mold of Cain) becoming jealous of the Israelites (who were in the mold of Abel). Recall that in the same breath in which God pronounced the curse that the serpent, the woman, and the man had brought on the earth, He also said there would be “enmity” in the earth. Defined by that enmity, the Egyptians now aligned themselves with the serpent against the servants of God.

Ex 1:8 – This is one of the saddest and most ominous verses of Scripture. Remembering that Joseph is a type of Christ, we can recognize the pattern tersely described here because America’s current leaders do not know the God of the Bible whom America’s founder surely knew #FJOT…and we’ve rightly been seeing trouble on the horizon for two or three generations now. 

Ex 1:15-22 – It is interesting that the book of Exodus begins with a story about midwives – interesting because Moses fills the role of midwife as Israel is birthed as a nation through him. Israel came out of slavery to Egypt as a baby comes out of the dependency of the mother’s womb. There is even a breaking of water (parting of the Red Sea) as the baby nation is birthed. Moses couldn’t have seen himself as the father of the nation of Israel for that distinction belonged to Abraham. And he couldn’t have seen himself as the mother either. But he was certainly present at the birth…and he helped. So it is not difficult to imagine Moses as identifying with midwives as he wrote about them. ***** Given the state of science at that time (approximately 1500 BC), this was their version of abortion. Abortion is a very effective weapon against an enemy population because the victims are vulnerable, weak, and defenseless – and completely unable to organize any opposition. (In America, they are the only substantial minority without voting rights – which is the only reason the Democrats have no interest in helping them.) Murdering an infant a few days after birth is not much more difficult than murdering an infant a few days before. Murdering adults, by contrast, involves many more complications for the assailants.

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Exodus 2

Ex 2:1-4 – This infant is Moses. His mother’s name is Jochebed and his father’s name is Amram (Ex 6:20). Moses’ sister’s name is Miriam (Num 26:59) ***** We’ll later learn that the population of Israel at this time had reached more than a million people. On average, therefore, a single one of the twelve tribes – such as Levi – would number over a hundred thousand people. ***** In this paragraph, Moses being encased in the wicker basket foreshadowed Christ’s incarnation. (Types and Shadows of Christ) #FJOT

Ex 2:5-10 – Jochebed (Moses’ mother) gets paid to do what she would have gladly done for free. A mother bereft of her child deserves some comfort! ***** One of the most important events of Moses’ life would involve his being drawn out of water (the Red Sea) along with the multitude of Israelites who were with him. Likewise, Jesus would one day be drawn out of the depths of Sheol, often illustrated by the depths of the sea, along with all of us. #FJOT

Ex 2:11-15 – Moses demonstrates the difficulty of 1) establishing justice, and 2) preserving one’s own peace when taking on the role of self-appointed judge. Moses was so scarred by this experience that he then went to the other extreme making things very difficult for the Lord when, forty years hence, He wanted to appoint Moses to be His deliverer of the Hebrews. Moses kept trying to get out of the assignment (Ex 4), but God prevailed and Moses ended up doing far more for his fellow Hebrews than he had ever hoped. ***** As for the present, Moses had so botched things up for himself that all he could do was get out of Dodge.

Ex 2:16-22 – Moses builds a new life for himself in Midian.

Ex 2:16 – This scene is clearly reminiscent of when Jacob watered the flock of Laban for Rachel (Gen 29:10) when he met her. ***** Reuel is also called Jethro. See note on BSN note on Ex 3:1 below.

Ex 2:22 – This verse also calls Jacob to mind, and how Moses must surely have identified with him – having similarly been driven into exile lest his evil come fully to light. Though Jesus did no evil, He, too, became, in His incarnation, “a sojourner in a foreign land.” Thus Moses is a type of Christ (Types and Shadows; see also “Types” in Identifiers of Jesus Christ. As Jesus Himself said, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” – Lk 9:58. #FJOT ***** Moses again makes reference to being “a sojourner in a foreign land” when he names one of his sons in Ex 18:3.

Ex 2:23-25 – The title “the king of Egypt” is just another way of referring to Pharaoh. ***** The sons of Israel had insufficient standing with God to be heard entirely for their own sakes; given God’s covenant with their three special ancestors, however, God was more than ready to act for their benefit. Similarly, we ourselves come short in the stature needed to get a call through to God, but the covenant Jesus made on humanity’s behalf at the Passover meal the night before He died (Lk 22:20) is more than enough to secure God’s attention when we need deliverance. Therefore, Jesus taught us to petition in this way: “…deliver us from evil…” – Mt 6:13.

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Exodus 3

Ex 3:1 – This man – the priest of Midian, the father of Zipporah and father-in-law of Moses – was called Reuel in the previous chapter (Ex 2:16-18) and Jethro here. “Reuel” means “friend of God,” while “Jethro” means “his excellency.” Thus the former may be his personal name and the latter a title. In any case, he is just another of those men in the Bible who go by more than one name. He gives Moses some helpful advice in Ex 18:1ff below. ***** Somewhat similarly, Horeb and Sinai are traditionally considered different names for the same mountain – or, at the least, two mountains so close together that it was hardly worth distinguishing them.

Ex 3:2 – Not a lot going on in a desert, so Moses thought this unusual sight was worth a look-see. ***** God is signaling through the angel in the burning bush that He’s going to do something through Moses that will be quite significant. So far as we know, God used no eye-catching calling card like this for Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob…or even for Noah. ***** The bush that was not consumed by the flames illustrates the life of Christ that would, and could not, be extinguished by death (Act 2:24). #FJOT ***** When Stephen recounts this history in his trial before the Sanhedrin just before he was stoned to death, he mentioned twice that it was a thorn bush.

Acts 7:30 “After forty years had passed, AN ANGEL APPEARED TO HIM IN THE WILDERNESS OF MOUNT Sinai, IN THE FLAME OF A BURNING THORN BUSH.

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Acts 7:35 “This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

For this reason, we can say that when a crown of thorns was placed on Jesus’ head at His crucifixion (Matt 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2, 5), it was the second time in the Bible He had worn thorns. #FJOT.

Ex 3:3-6 – God reveals Himself to Moses by referencing His relationships with the most highly esteemed of Moses’ ancestors. He’s definitely got Moses’ attention now.

Ex 3:7-10 – We have to wonder if the Israelites had to reach this pain level in order to accept the inconvenience of leaving Egypt. Would the Israelites have been willing to leave Egypt if they hadn’t been enslaved? Some babies don’t want to leave the comfort of the womb until a certain discomfort threshold is reached. In other words, sometimes we think we’re waiting on God when it’s really the other way around.

Ex 3:11 – Moses is still smarting from the fiasco of trying to help his brethren on his own years before. (See note on Ex 2:11-15 above.) This time around, it’s God who is directing things; Moses is not taking matters into his own hands anymore.

Ex 3:12 – God promises to be with Moses in a demonstrable way. And it’s at this mountain that God will give him the Ten Commandments on stone tablets.

Ex 3:13-15 – Compare this with Ex 6:2-3 (and accompanying BSN note below), which suggests that this is the first time God has used this name (“LORD“) to refer to Himself.

The only other occasion on which we hear someone speaking this way about Himself is Jesus in the New Testament, as in…

• “before Abraham was born, I am” – Jn 8:58

And Jesus didn’t speak this way once. He did it repeatedly. And, along the way, He filled in the blank of “I am __________.”

• “I am the bread of life” – Jn 6:35
• “I am the bread that came down out of heaven” – Jn 6:41
• “I am the light of the world” – Jn 8:12
• “I am the door” – Jn 10:9
• “I am the good shepherd” – Jn 10:11
• “I am the resurrection and the life” – Jn 11:25
• “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” – Jn 14:6
• “I am the vine” – Jn 15:1

The God that Moses got to see as a burning bush, the apostles got to see as a human being. #FJOT

Ex 3:16-17 – God instructs Moses to first tell the leaders of the Israelites what is going to happen.

Ex 3:18 – Once Moses has secured the support of Israel’s leaders, he is to go to Pharaoh and inform him of God’s demand that he release the Israelites from slavery so that they can go and settle in the promised land of Canaan. This was all in fulfillment of God’s promises to the Israelites’ ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Ex 3:19-20 – Just as Jesus would overcome the strong resistance He encountered, so God and Moses would overcome the strong resistance that Pharaoh would offer. #FJOT

Ex 3:21-22 – Normally, slaves are allowed to own very little, if anything, of their own. For this reason, the Israelites might fear they would be leaving Egypt with nothing but the clothes on their back. However, God promises that they will plunder the Egyptians – not by force, but that the Egyptians themselves would give plunder to the Israelites as they left. Indeed, we will read about it…for Moses will write about it later in this book (Ex 11:2-3; 12:35-36). See also related BSN note on Ex 35:4-9 below.

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Exodus 4

Ex 4:1-5 – Moses continues to recoil from God’s call, in great distinction from the brashness with which he tried to deliver the Hebrews in his own strength forty years before. He’s overcompensating. Before, he was too eager to enter God’s service; now he’s too hesitant.

Ex 4:6-9 – This passage helps explain why Jews in the New Testament sought for signs from a man when he claimed to speak for God.

• So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” – John 4:48
• For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; – 1 Cor 1:22

Ex 4:10-17 – Even with the multiple miraculous signs God is granting to substantiate Moses’ claims to be speaking for God to the Jewish people and to Pharaoh, Moses is still showing reluctance to take on the mission God is giving him. Angered by Moses’ petulance, God says He’ll let Aaron be Moses’ press secretary. As evidenced by the next paragraph, this apparently gets Moses over the hump and he’s now willing to go…however reluctantly.

Ex 4:18-20 – To his credit, Jethro is supportive of Moses’ mission. ***** Moses gets the good news that there’s no longer and outstanding warrant for his arrest in Egypt. ***** Moses had been a prince in Egypt, but he goes back very humbly: wife, children, donkey. But then he also now has “the staff of God.” That’s a mouthful. That staff used to be Moses’…but now it’s God’s. And big things are going to happen.

Ex 4:21-23 – God now removes all suspense about the outcome of the mission by telling Moses how it’s going to turn out. Pharaoh is going to fight to the bitter end…and lose. ***** Notice also the foreshadowing of Messiah from the Old Testament to the New. #FJOT

• “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Israel is My son, My firstborn. – Exodus 4:22
• When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. – Hosea 11:1
• So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.”
  – Matthew 2:14-5
• and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead… – Rev 1:5

Egypt is a type of the world and the promised land of Canaan is a type of heaven (Types and Shadows). Jesus was the first to be brought to heaven out of the slavery of sin and death that is on earth. Jesus was literally born from death. Thus is he “the firstborn of the dead.” “God’s firstborn.” And He’s taking all of us with Him (Everyone Is Going to Heaven).

• You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives…
  – Ps 68:18
• Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES…” – Ephesians 4:8

Ex 4:24-26 – We could use a lot more explanation of this enigmatic incident than we have in this short paragraph. That said, the incident reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the king who invited everyone to a wedding feast for his son (Matt 22:1-14). After all the invited guests made excuses, the king opened the doors to everyone else. But when one fellow came without even showing enough respect to come properly attired, the king threw him out. Similarly, circumcision was a requirement of the covenant that bonded the people of Israel to God. Moses had been living in isolation in Midian, probably never expecting to return to Egypt or to the Israelites. This would explain his uncircumcised son. But how could God’s covenant deliverer come with an uncircumcised child in tow? Perhaps Zipporah, as a Midianite, had been opposed to such a rite being performed on her child. If so, this would explain her grudging acceptance of it, and involvement in it, to spare Moses’ life.

Ex 4:27-31 – This first stage of the mission goes off without a hitch. Everyone played their part: Moses, Aaron, and the elders of the people. Most importantly, everyone involved so far has “believed” and gratefully acknowledged – by “bowing low and worshiping” – that God sent someone to deliver them from evil because of their cries and because of the covenant God had made with their ancestors.

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Exodus 5

Ex 5:1-5 – Moses and Aaron have their initial meeting with Pharaoh, who immediately rejects God’s order. But then God had told Moses from the start that Pharaoh would not agree and would have to be compelled to release the sons of Israel (Ex 3:19-20), so no one should be surprised at this.

• Ex 5:1 – Note that the idea is that the Hebrews would be released from serving Pharaoh so they could serve God – not so they could serve themselves. In other words, God was seeking their release from captivity not so they could do their own thing, but so that they could do His thing.
• Ex 5:2 – When Pharaoh said, “I do not know the LORD,” he spoke rightly, for Ex 1:8 said, “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.”
• Ex 5:3 – Moses and Aaron intensify their appeal to Pharaoh. They give Pharoah more details – like the possibility that they would experience terrible punishments from God if they do not comply with His command.
• Ex 5:4-5 – Pharaoh again refuses to even consider the idea. This Pharaoh is very different from the Pharaoh who heard and elevated Joseph.

Ex 5:6-9 – As retribution, Pharaoh increases the workload of the Hebrews. Pharaoh was annoyed that he’d been asked to free the Hebrew slaves and wanted to discourage any future requests. In addition to the additional burdensome labor, Pharaoh insults the Hebrews by describing them as lazy.

Ex 5:10-13 – Pharaoh’s edict for extra work gets communicated to the Hebrew laborers.

Ex 5:14 – When the Hebrews come up short on the new quota their foremen get the beatings.

Ex 5:15-16 – After suffering the beatings, the Hebrew foremen complain to Pharaoh about his new work edict and appeals for rollback of the requirement.

Ex 5:17-18 – Pharaoh shows no compassion, denies the appeal, and reinforces his commitment to the additional workload for the laborers.

Ex 5:19 – The Hebrew foremen lose heart. Their hopes for freedom – lit by Moses return to Egypt after having been commissioned by God – had been quickly snuffed out.

Ex 5:20-21 – The Hebrew foremen complain to Moses – blaming him for their misery rather than Pharaoh. Thus Moses finds himself in almost the same place he was in forty years ago when his brethren showed no appreciation for the risks he was taking in trying to help them.

Ex 5:22-23 – Moses complains to God. Yet we have to wonder why Moses is surprised since God had warned at the burning bush (Ex 3) that Pharaoh would only release the sons of Israel “under compulsion.”

As measured from the beginning of this chapter to the end, no progress has been made, conditions have grown worse, and everyone is unhappy. It is for reasons like this that a lot of people give up on God. But let us remember: God is only doing here what He was asked to do. It’s just that we live in a free-will world and there are a lot of people who just don’t care about doing the right thing.

In a similar vein, Jesus’ parable about the sower and the seed (Mt 13, Mk 4, Lk 8) teaches that when the word is sown, Satan comes immediately to take away the seed. Thus from the very beginning of a new journey with God, things can be very difficult. That’s when Satan attacks because he has no compassion on the weak – that’s when they have the least strength to resist. It’s the same reason Pharaoh sought to kill Hebrew infants – it’s so much easier than killing a grown man. But if we believe God’s promises and are patient , we will eventually see the great harvest God always had in mind from the time that the seed of His word was planted in our hearts.

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Exodus 6

Ex 6:1 – Don’t let the chapter and verses divisions in the Bible distract you from the flow of the writing. Here’s how we should read the first verse of Ex 6. That is, verse 1 is part and parcel of the conversation being reported at the end of the previous chapter.

Ex 5:22 Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me?
Ex 5:23 “Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.”
Ex 6:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”

Note also that what the Lord is telling Moses in Ex 6:1 is something He already told him back in Ex 3.

Ex 3:19 “But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion.

(The Lord is having to repeat Himself to us far more often than we realize. We can be grateful that He is so patient.)

Ex 6:2-8 – In speaking further to Moses, God repeats the main points of the commission He gave Moses at the burning bush in Ex 3.

Ex 6:2-3 Compare with Ex 3:13-15 (at the bushing bush when God identified Himself with this name to Moses; compare also the accompanying BSN note above). Although Moses writes here that this name “I am” (LORD) has been previously unknown to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he himself uses the name in his writing starting all the way back at the beginning in Genesis (Gen 2:4). Moses seems to be confirming the point that the God of the nation of Israel that he is midwifing, is also the God of creation, as well as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. See also Is 42:8 as another reference to this name by God Himself.

Ex 6:9 – We should be careful to not let ourselves get so discouraged that we become unresponsive to the word of God. That’s our main source of strength!

Ex 6:10-13 – Moses is behaving like Jonah – hearing the call to preach, but not wanting to go. God again volunteers Aaron to help Moses. Think of how much effort we’re seeing God have to pour into the effort to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Dividing the Red Sea was the easy part; the hard part was trying to keep the Israelites and their leaders on track.

Ex 6:14-27 – This genealogy starts off as if it’s going to cover all Jacob’s sons, but stops once it gets to the third son, who was Levi. The remainder of the genealogy is focused on Levi’s descendants, most notably, Moses and Aaron. Not only does the genealogy focus on Levi’s line, it does not even try to identify all the generations between Levi and the two brothers. Instead, select individuals are named. These include names that will appear in certain incidents recorded in Moses’ later books, primarily Numbers. Thus Moses must be introducing them here so that we have a context for them when they eventually appear in his narrative.

Ex 6:28-30 – Moses again with the backpedaling! (I’m glad you and I have never backpedaled with God.)

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Exodus 7

Ex 7:1-7 – God explains to Moses and Aaron that Pharaoh’s obstinance will lead to God performing multiple signs and wonders that will compel Pharaoh to release the Israelites.

• Ex 7:1-2 – These two verses serves as a very useful explanation of the word “prophet.” People today often misunderstand prophets and prophecy by thinking they only have to do with the future or predicting something in the future. The fact is that prophets and prophecy can address the past, present, or future. The point is that a prophet prophecies on behalf of God, which is to say, speaks on behalf of God. Therefore, the subject matter can be whatever God wants it to be.
• Ex 7:3 – Whenever I think of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, I always remember the old adage, “The same sun that hardens the clay melts the wax.” In the New Testament, Jesus polarizes people, but He’s “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8). It’s the people who are different – not Him. Thus, whether it’s God in the Old Testament or Jesus in the New Testament, the hardening is a function of our heart – not of His partiality or vacillation. ***** That God using the evil of Pharaoh to multiply His signs and wonders is an example of how He cannot be thwarted (Rom 9:19; see also BSN note on Ex 9:16 below). This drives some people to adopt a fatalistic view of God and creation, as if God controls everyone’s decisions. The Presbyterian’s “predestination” is an example of such fatalism. This view is not only unwarranted and incorrect, it also falsely portrays God as weak – even though the proponents of the idea act as if it portrays Him as strong. The reality is that God is much wiser, stronger, and more loving than fatalism would allow. For the greatest God of all can allow us to make our own decisions and yet creatively react to the bad ones so that He still gets to where He wants to go. In other words, every stumbling block we put in front of God just becomes a stepping stone for Him. Of course, He rather we not put up stumbling blocks; He wants us to do what is right. He’s just not limited when we don’t. Thus did He know that the nation of Israel would never in the end be faithful to Him, so He crafted His plan of salvation so that His rejection by that nation would lead to the salvation of Jews, but of Gentiles as well. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” – Rom 11:33.
• Ex 7:4-5 – We know that God will have to inflict ten plagues on Egypt before Pharaoh will let the Israelites go, but it doesn’t appear that God lets Moses and Aaron in on this. Therefore, there’s going to be a little more suspense in this process of getting out from under Pharaoh’s thumb for them than there is for us.
• Ex 7:6 – Moses and Aaron were following in the footsteps of Noah, and the phrasing of the description reflects that.
  • Ex 7:6 So Moses and Aaron did it; as the LORD commanded them, thus they did.
  • Gen 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
  • Gen 7:5 Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him.
• Ex 7:7 – Moses and Aaron had been about 40 and 43, respectively, at the time Moses killed the Egyptian and fled to Midian (Act 7:23).

Ex 7:8-13 – The Lord gives Moses a sign to show Pharaoh. The sign doesn’t impress Pharaoh because it turns out his own men can do the same thing. Even when Moses’ serpent gobbles up the Egyptians’ serpents, Pharaoh is unmoved. This is all just as God had told Moses and Aaron it would be (“as the LORD had said”).

Ex 7:14-25 – Plague 1 of 10 – The Nile River Turned to Blood

• Ex 7:14-19 – God announces what He’s going to do. The Nile River was essential to life in ancient Egypt; its water brought life to that otherwise mostly desert land. God was demonstrating that He could make life unsustainable for the Egyptians with the wave of a wand (Moses’ staff, to be specific). “In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind” – Job 12:10.
• Ex 7:20-25 – God does what He announced He was going to do. Again, Pharaoh’s servants manage to duplicate the feat…but that did not make life better for anyone. No one was looking for a way to turn more water into blood.

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Exodus 8

Because Pharaoh has refused to let the Israelites go, even after having seen the Nile River – the lifeblood of Egypt – literally turned into blood, the plagues continue. The only way he’s ever going to let Israel go is if plagues force him to do so.

Ex 8:1-15 – Plague 2 of 10 – Frogs

• Ex 8:1 – “Let My people go, that they may serve Me” was a reminder that service to Pharaoh was to be replaced with service to God. Fortunately, this would mean a lighter yoke for Israel (2 Chr 12:8), just as the freedom from sin that leads to serving Jesus means a lighter burden for us (Mt 11:28-30).
• Ex 8:2-4 – At least when the water of the Nile turned to blood, it only went where water went. This plague would be worse in that frogs would go wherever they could go – including bedrooms and kitchens.
• Ex 8:7 – As with turning a staff into a serpent (Ex 7:10-11), and as with turning Nile water into blood (Ex 7:21-22) , the magicians of Egypt could replicate the act of multiplying frogs. In fact, they’d proven quite adept at adding to the problems. Much to their chagrin, however, they could not produce an effective solution to such problems.
• Ex 8:8-15 – Not only did Pharaoh not heed the Lord’s word, he would not even keep his own word. (Such willfulness is how human beings destroy themselves and those around them.)

Ex 8:16-19 – Plague 3 of 10 – Gnats

• Ex 8:16-17 – The first plague had turned the water of the Nile River into blood. The second brought forth frogs from the Nile River. This third plague was a sign that God’s power was not restricted to the Nile River. Rather, His power extended over the land of Egypt as well. Ancient deities were deemed to have authority over this or that realm of existence; in contrast, the Israelites claimed that their God, being the one true God, exercised authority in all realms. Thus the plagues are beginning to illustrate that God had authority not just over Pharaoh, and not just over Egypt, but also over Pharaoh’s and Egypt’s gods.
• Ex 8:18-19 – When Pharaoh’s magicians could not produce more gnats – as they had serpents (Ex 7:10-11), blood (Ex 7:21-22), and frogs (Ex 8:7) – it became obvious to these magicians that they were dealing with a God greater than any of the gods with whom they were accustomed to dealing. Thus they delivered the bad news to Pharaoh: “This is the finger of God.” These men had been converted from polytheism to monotheism by the third plague. But Pharaoh was too willful to listen to anyone.

Ex 8:20-32 – Plague 4 of 10 – Flies (The beginning of Israel’s exemption from the plagues)

• Ex 8:20 – (Hearing again “Let My people go, that they may serve Me” should be another reminder that we are not being set free from slavery to sin so that we can serve ourselves. On the contrary, slavery to sin was slavery to self. (Satan does like to reveal himself; he wants us to think his ideas are ours while he works in hiding.) Thus we are not freed from sin to do what we want; rather, we are freed from sin to love as we should. Freedom from sin is enslavement to righteous per Paul: “and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” – Rom 6:18)
• Ex 8:21 – This fourth plague is not so much on the river or the land but even more so directed at the Egyptians themselves: “on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses.” Thus the plagues are intensifying in various ways.
• Ex 8:22-23 – This is the first plague in which a distinction between Israelites and Egyptians is described. That is, Goshen, which was the land which had been given Jacob’s descendants to dwell in the time of Joseph, would not experience flies. Remember that the sons of Israel were given Goshen because of their occupation as shepherds, which was a kind of work the Egyptians thought was beneath their dignity (Gen 46:33-34). What the Egyptians were therefore hearing in this communication was that the premier real estate locations in Egypt were to be infected with flies while the low-rent side of town was going to have nothing but fresh air. In other words, this plague was not only nasty for the Egyptians to contemplate and experience, but also turned their worldview upside down and insulted them. “You mean we get flies and those wretched people don’t?!”
• Ex 8:25 – Pharaoh now turns to bargaining with God.
• Ex 8:28 – More haggling from Pharaoh. But it doesn’t really matter what he offers because he’s already demonstrated that he won’t keep his word.
• Ex 8:29 – Moses warns Pharoah to keep his word this time.
• Ex 8:32 – Pharaoh demonstrates that Moses’ warning to him had fallen on deaf ears. Alas, there’s going to have to be more plagues before Pharaoh is going to relent.

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Exodus 9

Ex 9:1-7 – Plague 5 of 10 – Diseased Livestock

• Ex 9:1 – “Let My people go” – the recurring refrain from God. This is the sixth of the nine times it is spoken in the exchanges with Pharoah that lead up to the exodus of Israel from Egypt.
• Ex 9:3 – The list of livestock affected by the pestilence is lengthy.
• Ex 9:4-7 – Given the clear difference in outcomes for the Egyptian livestock versus teh Israelite livestock, Pharaoh’s intransigence is all the more stunning.

Ex 9:8-12 – Plague 6 of 10 – Boils

• Ex 9:9-10 – Given that the boils affected both man and beast, there must have been animals not covered in the lengthy list of livestock that had been subject to the pestilence of the previous plague.
• Ex 9:11 – The Egyptian magicians being afflicted with the boils again demonstrated the superiority of Israel’s God over any god called upon by the Egyptians. Those Egyptians who continued to worship their idols were being humiliated.
• Ex 9:12 – Pharaoh’s “got a plan and he’s stickin’ with it.” Poor guy demonstrates that determination as a virtue has its limits.

Ex 9:13-35 – Plague 7 of 10 – Hail

• Ex 9:13 – This “Let My people go” is the seventh of nine refrains.
• Ex 9:15 – The Lord instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh the obvious: that He could have killed all the Egyptians by now had that been His intent.
• Ex 9:16 – Paul quotes this verse in Rom 9:17 (see accompanying BSN note there), demonstrating that God is able to use either our obedience or our disobedience to achieve His purposes. For this reason also Prov 16:4 says, “The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.” God used Pharaoh just as He used Pontius Pilate and just as He used Judas Iscariot and many others. He’d rather use our obedience, but He’s not going to take away our free will. (For a further discouragement to fatalism, see BSN note on Ex 7:3 above.)
• Ex 9:19-21 – While Pharaoh’s heart has remained hard, many Egyptians have concluded that Israel’s God is the true God. Therefore, God has created a way these individuals can act on their faith and escape the hail.
• Ex 9:26 – God’s ability to show mercy in the midst of wrath is memorable. The same flood that killed every living creature on the earth made Noah’s boat float. “In wrath remember mercy” – Habak 3:2. Therefore, when we know wrath is coming, we should pray for eyes to see paths and pockets and deliverance for ourselves and our families. God will provide them to those who look to Him.
• Ex 9:27-28 – Pharaoh is now saying all the right things, but they won’t translate into action. And it’s only in action that true faith can be expressed (Jas 2:14-26).
• Ex 9:34-35 – Pharaoh bargains, but he never follows through. All he does is increase God’s fame. Had he simply agreed in the beginning, the world would not have gotten to see how great God’s power was.

But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain,
in order to show you My power
and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.

EXodus 9:16

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Exodus 10

Ex 10:1-20 – Plague 8 of 10 – Locusts

• Ex 10:1-2 – Given that the Lord multiplied His signs to create a reputation for Himself that would be discussed by generation after generation, His purpose is being served even today as we read Moses’ words and reflect on how God humiliated those who chose to defy His will.
• Ex 10:7 – There is something gripping about these words from Pharaoh’s servants. They even have an effect on Pharaoh…for a while.
• Ex 10:8 – Pharaoh gives the word for Israel to go…but resumes the bargaining.
• Ex 10:9 – The first and last time we heard the word “feast” with respect to God’s command to let Israel go was in Ex 5:1, in which God said, “Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.” (In our release from sin, the feast we celebrate is daily worship with our lives per Rom 12:1-2.)
• Ex 10:10-11 – Pharaoh tries to have it both ways: granting Israel permission to leave but withholding permission for them to take their children.
• Ex 10:12 – God rejects Pharaoh’s counterproposal and launches the eighth plague.
• Ex 10:16-17 – Pharaoh begs Moses for mercy.
• Ex 10:18 – Moses requests mercy for Pharaoh.
• Ex 10:19 – God grants Pharaoh the mercy he requested.
• Ex 10:20 – We’re back again where we started. Only Egypt is falling apart.

Ex 10:21-29 – Plague 9 of 10 – Darkness

• Ex 10:21 – “Even a darkness which may be felt” conveys a degree of darkness seldom experienced.
• Ex 10:22 – That it lasted three days must have been psychologically devasting.
• Ex 10:23 – That the Israelites received an exemption from the plague has been a recurring theme since the fourth one.
• Ex 10:24-27 – Pharaoh’s narcissistic hubris won’t let him fully capitulate. He has to retain something of the Israelites to preserve his ego. Yet his ego is going to kill him.
• Ex 10:28-29 – Both men realize – though in different ways – that the end of all this was about to come.

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Exodus 11

Ex 11:1 – The cumulative effect of the plagues, especially given the last one that’s about to take place, are going to achieve the ultimate outcome God promised – that is, God will have compelled Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. It was the only way Pharaoh was ever going to do what he was asked.

Ex 11:2-3 – When God commissioned Moses at the burning bush, He mentioned that this “plundering” of Egypt would be a bonus of the exodus (Ex 3:21-22). See also related BSN note on Ex 35:4-9 below.

Ex 11:4-6 – Although it’s been over three thousand years since these words were uttered, it still chills the bone to read them. Witnessing any of these plagues would have been terrifying, but this one – given the magnitude of the human death toll combined with its breathtaking selectivity and consistency (the firstborn of every household) – seems that it would have been more terrifying than the other nine put together.

Ex 11:7 – That this death would not knock on a single Israelite door must have made the Egyptians’ grief all the more bitter. It was crystal clear who had done this to them, and why He had done it. The Egyptians had brought this fate on themselves by their enslavement, their willful and unrelenting enslavement of the Israelites. Things didn’t have to be this way, but it was too late to change them now. That is a terrible, terrible feeling to bear. (Lesson learned: “If the Lord gives you a chance to repent, take it!“)

Ex 11:8-10 – We’re forced to wonder why Pharaoh didn’t take this one last chance to avoid irreversible catastrophe, but somewhere during these ten plagues Pharaoh had crossed a line, a point of no return, and everything after that was practically automatic for him. Similarly, we’re prone to think there will always be time to pull out of a nosedive at the last minute, but by the time we reach that point we’ve already invested so much of ourselves in the course we’ve been on that we couldn’t pull up the plane even if we wanted to. (Lesson learned: if I find myself in a nosedive, pull up immediately – never assume I’ll have the time or opportunity to do so later.)

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Exodus 12

Ex 12:2 – Israel has been growing in the womb of Egypt since the time of Joseph. Now comes the time for birth. And as with any birth, we will count the age going forward from the date of birth, not the date of conception.

Ex 12:3 – The lamb foreshadows Messiah. #FJOT

• “Behold, the lamb of God” – Jn 1:29, 36 (John the Baptist speaking of Jesus).

Ex 12:4 – The lamb of Christ is for you and your household – that is, your family. #FJOT

Ex 12:5 – It must be a mature lamb, and one without blemish. #FJOT

• “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” – Heb 9:14
• “but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” – 1 Pet 1:19

Ex 12:7 – The “lintel” is the horizontal beam forming the upper part of a doorway, the doorposts are the two vertical parts – the door being secured by hinges on one of them.

Ex 12:8-11 – Both “Passover” and “Unleavened Bread” are designated in the New Testament as pertaining to Christ. #FJOT

• “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” – 1 Cor 5:7-8
• “I am the bread of life.” – Jn 6:46

Ex 12:12 – This is the plague on the Egyptians. It will not fall on the Israelites because they will be “passed over.”

Ex 12:13 – This blood foreshadows the blood of Christ. #FJOT

• “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood“ – Lk 22:20

Ex 12:14-20 – This feast was to be celebrated for centuries, until the One came about whom it was foreshadowing came to celebrate it on the night before He was to give His life. That would be the Last Supper. #FJOT

Ex 12:21-27 – This outlines God’s pattern. It’s the pattern of passing over the faithful when judgment comes. He is able to bring judgments for sin on the world while creating pockets of protection for those who look to Him. This pattern allowed Noah and his family to be preserved in the time of the great flood, and it can include us living today in the midst of a nation that is bringing great judgment on itself. May we be worthy!

Ex 12:28 – This was the way of salvation for Noah, for the Israelites, and for us as well – to do as the Lord has commanded. This statement will be echoed in Ex 12:50 below.

Ex 12:29-30 – The judgment comes. It will not be turned back.

Ex 12:31-32 – Pharaoh finally relents – but does not cease being a narcissist: “and bless me also.”

Ex 12:33-34 – It had to be unleavened bread because God knew there wouldn’t be time for the bread to rise. Unleavened bread was fast food.

Ex 12:35-36 – See God’s promise of this plunder in Ex 3:21-22, referenced also in Ex 11:2-3. See also related BSN note on Ex 35:4-9 below.

Ex 12:37-38 – Succoth was the place Jacob “built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth” – Gen 33:17. The Hebrew word “Succoth means “booths.” Moses would later institute a “Feast of Booths” for Israel. ***** The phrase “about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children” is a good estimate. Once Israel is in the wilderness, Moses will take a census of all the fighting men (twenty years old and upward). That count will total 603,500 near the beginning of Israel’s forty years in the wilderness (Num 1:46), and 601,730 near the end (Num 26:51). Recall that it was about 70 men, women, and children that went down to Egypt at the time of Joseph (Ex 1:5) some 430 years earlier (Ex 12:40-41). **** The meaning of “mixed” is uncertain. Could refer to Israelite men, women, boys, and girls of all ages. Could refer to some of the Israelites having intermarried with Egyptians or others. Could refer to some Egyptians deciding that leaving with the Israelites was a good time to get out of Dodge. Hard to say.

Ex 12:43-49 – Additional rules that applied to the Passover.

Ex 12:50 – This echoes Ex 12:28. Both echo Gen 7:5 (“Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.”)

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Exodus 13

Ex 13:2 – Luke alludes to this verse about the firstborn male (as well as others: Ex 13:1; Num 3:13; 8:17) in Lk 2:22-24 (see also BSN notes on that passage). See also BSN note on Ex 13:12 below. ***** As the Lord took the firstborn of all Egypt, so He’s now laying claim to the firstborn of all Israel. The difference is, of course, that He took the firstborn of Egypt out of the game, and He’s putting the firstborn of Israel into the game. We prune the dead branches of a fruit tree, so that the branches that remain can bear fruit…and more of it.

Ex 13:3-10 – Just as the founders of America gave instructions about how July 4th was to be celebrated so as to keep in the public’s mind focused on the principles that are important to the nation’s well-being, so God gave the nation of Israel various feasts to commemorate their founding and preserve the principles important to that nation’s prosperity. In addition, God was embedding in all of Israel’s feast signs and shadows of the Messiah who would one day come and save not just descendants of Abraham but every human being who would ever live. ***** Reference to the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite and the Jebusite who all inhabited the land of Canaan which Israel was to receive as an inheritance is a reminder that nations retain their land by righteousness and forfeit their land by their sins. From this recurring pattern is the following proverb drawn:

Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.

proverbs 14:34

Israel itself would eventually sin often enough and for a long-enough period of time to lose the promised land – first to Babylon in 586 BC and second to Rome in 70 AD. What was happening to the Canaanites could – and did – happen to the Israelites. It can – and does – happen to every nation.

Ex 13:11-16 – Three times in Ex 13 the phrase “with a powerful hand” occurs. God is impressing on Jewish memory that His great works of deliverance are attended by great supernatural signs. This would provide precedent for Messiah’s many miracles. God wanted the great supernatural signs that Messiah performed to be regarded as testimony from God that Messiah was indeed His man.

Ex 13:12 – Luke alludes to this verse about the firstborn male (as well as others: Ex 13:2; Num 3:13; 8:17) in Lk 2:22-24 (see also BSN notes on that passage). See also BSN note on Ex 13:2 above.

Ex 13:17-18 – Sometimes when God leads us through a “wilderness,” it’s to spare us from something worse.

Ex 13:19 – Moses is fulfilling a request from Joseph of his brothers in Gen 50:22-26. Josh 24:32 records that these bones were eventually buried in the promised land.

Ex 13:20 – Regarding Succoth, see BSN note on Ex 12:37 above. Succoth means “booths” and the Feast of Booths would foreshadow the many churches we see in the New Testament. They were intended to be temporary structures, but those who wouldn’t believe in what Jesus taught about the Second Coming would forever be trying to make believe God wanted them to be permanent.

Ex 13:21-22 – The “pillar of cloud by day” was not only something visible the Israelites could follow for direction, it was something that could shield them from the brutal desert sun. Similarly, the “pillar of fire by night” was not only something visible they could follow for direction, it was something that could provide them warmth during the cold desert nights. In addition to being exceedingly virtuous, God is eminently practical.

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Exodus 14

Ex 14:1-4 – If I were Moses, I’d be scratching my head at this point. I’d get it that Pharaoh would have a change of heart after the Israelites’ departure, and I’d get it that the mere thought of Israel and its God getting away with this “larceny” would harden his heart, but God hasn’t yet said anything about an escape plan for Israel. All He’s talked about is Pharaoh and his army chasing down the Israelites. I suspect that if Moses did feel the way I just described, he would have just trusted God.

Ex 14:5-9 – It was happening just like God told Moses it would. And it wasn’t just Pharaoh who returned to the prior insanity – it was his servants, too. They mustered 600 “select” chariots and who knows how many more in support of them. They catch up to Israel near the Red Sea.

Ex 14:10-14 – The people had no faith…but Moses did!

• Ex 14:10 – “they became very frightened” – Fear leaves little room for faith; great fear leaves no room for faith.
• Ex 14:11-12 – It’s amazing how fast the human mind can make a 180 degree turn.
• Ex 14:13 – “for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever” – Sometimes we don’t understand that God, for our sakes, chooses a method of deliverance that, while it seems to put us at great risk, is actually designed the way it is so as to give us a permanent rather than a temporary deliverance from the evil that has been stalking us.
• Ex 14:14 – “The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.” – “Will you guys just shut it so the Lord can do His thing!?”

Ex 14:15-18 – Assignment of Duties – In a plan that is of God, everyone has a part.

• Ex 14:15 – The Israelites have their part.
• Ex 14:16 – Moses has his part.
• Ex 14:17 – God has His part.
• Ex 14:19 – Even the Egyptians have a part.

Ex 14:19-20 – Oh, and the angel of God has a part, too.

Ex 14:21-25 – By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; – Heb 11:29a

Ex 14:26-29 – and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. – Heb 11:29b

Ex 14:30-31 – Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” – John 20:29 (After-the-fact faith is not nearly so commendable as before-the-fact faith.)

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Exodus 15

Ex 15:1 – This song sung by Moses and Israel can be considered an early model for the Psalms. Psalm 90, in fact, is actually ascribed to Moses. Per Ussher, the events of Exodus 15 took place about 1500 BC, and David – the man most responsible for producing the book of Psalms – lived about 1000 BC. It is not difficult to imagine David being inspired by Exodus 15 to write his own psalms – especially since he, like Moses, was a prophet of God. As the feasts of Israel were a way of memorializing Israel’s history and hopes for the future, so would the book of Psalms also be a way of preserving the memories of the people of God. Psalm 90 would have been preserved from the 16th century BC to the 11th century BC the same way that the book of Exodus and other early Bible works were preserved – which is by the priests and Levites who attended the tabernacle, who were the ones to receive and preserve Moses’ writings in the first place.

Ex 15:1-18 – The Song of Moses and Israel

Ex 15:1-13 – The first two-thirds of the song celebrate God’s overwhelming victory over Israel’s great enemy: Pharaoh and Egypt. The victory was total and final. As God had promised, the enemies Israel saw that day would never be seen again (Ex 14:13). This victory was all the more exciting because Pharaoh and Egypt had for so long held complete control over Israel’s fate. The grip of slavery was so strong, there seemed no possibility it would ever slip, much less be loosed forever. But such was the power of the one true God. He helps the helpless.

Ex 15:14-18 – The remainder of the song is about the implications of the great victory. Specifically, that the neighboring nations – especially those of Canaan – were surely taking notice and would have to realize that they would suffer similar fates should they attempt to oppose God’s chosen people.

Ex 15:19 – This is a summary of the point of the song. This is the proverbial bottom line. The purpose of the song was to help make sure Israel never forgot the joy and relief they felt this day. Alas, they would forget…even before this chapter is finished.

Ex 15:20-21 – A timbrel is a tambourine, or at least like one. ***** Miriam, being a prophetess, was speaking for the Lord as much as Moses, a prophet of God, was. Her refrain was simply the bottom line.

Ex 15:22-25 – The name “Marah” comes from a word meaning “bitter.” This generation of Israelites is proving to be very grumpy and whiny. When Moses didn’t achieve immediate freedom from Pharaoh, they complained (Ex 5:19-21). When Moses tried to encourage them, they despaired (Ex 6:9). When Pharaoh was closing in on them at the Red Sea, they wailed in fear and claimed they’d been better off as slaves. (Ex 14:10-12). And all this right after they’d sung “the song of Moses and Israel.” It will not be surprising when it turns out that God has to deny them entrance into the promised land and defer that victory until the next generation comes of age.

Ex 15:25-26 – God is in the process of building up the requirements He has for Israel. He’s already established the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. And there was, of course, circumcision. All such requirements will ultimately accumulate into what will be called “the Law of Moses,” which will be in force until Messiah comes with the kingdom of God and its requirements. But even now God is promising, contingent on the Israelites’ obedience to His requirements, to protect them from diseases the way He’d protected them from Egypt’s plagues. This promise and hope, too, would be memorialized in song, in about 500 years when David will write:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;

psalm 103:1-3

In whatever the Bible is saying at any point, it is in some way building on something it has previously said. Of course, “it” isn’t saying anything at all; it’s God who is speaking through His prophets (Old Testament) and apostles (New Testament).

Ex 15:27 – The Lord obviously had foreseen their need for water. If only they’d been more patient, the water probably would have tasted even sweeter. ***** Must’ve been some tree! Consider the one that is portrayed both in Genesis (Gen 3:22) and Revelation (Rev 22:2): the tree of life. #FJOT

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Exodus 16

Ex 16:1-3 – The Israelites set out from Elim on their way to Mount Sinai. This would be to fulfill the word God spoke to Moses at the burning bush (“…when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” – Ex 3:12).

Paul warned the Corinthians in the 1st century AD that they should not be like these Israelites of the 15th century BC.

1 Cor 10:1-2 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

1 Cor 10:10 Nor grumble, as some of them did… (emphasis added)

1 Cor 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction…

Grumbling has been habitual for the Israelites ever since God sent Moses to deliver them. And, alas, it won’t stop here.

By the way, the time from the writing of Exodus to the writing of 1 Corinthians was how long it took to write all the contents of the Bible – 16 centuries! The Old Testament texts were all written before Christ (BC), while the New Testament texts were all written during the 1st century AD. God is patient. And faithful to complete what He starts. In spite of our grumbling.

Ex 16:4-8 – The Lord announces that He’s going to give the Israelites bread out of heaven in the morning, and meat in the evening. We know now, of course, that the manna was not merely intended to feed the Israelites, but to foreshadow Messiah to them. #FJOT

John 6:49 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
John 6:50 “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Note also that it is daily bread, which the pace at which the Lord taught us we should ask for bread.

Matt 6:11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.

Keep in mind that the bread we are seeking is that bread Jesus spoke of in John 6 – the bread of the knowledge and understanding of Jesus Himself. We do not have to ask for physical break for the Lord taught us that if we seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, that kind of bread would come to us in due course.

Matt 6:31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
Matt 6:32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
Matt 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Ex 16:9-12 – The Lord rebukes the Israelites for their grumbling but remains committed to feeding them.

Ex 16:13-21 – The “meat” comes in the form of quail in the evening. ***** Paul quotes Ex 16:18 in 2 Cor 8:15 to make the point that if God gives us an abundance, it is so that we can be generous. This should be taught first and foremost in every family. This is not communism because there is no room for generosity in communism; there is only theft. If junior always has to share his toy with his sibling, maybe you’re teaching junior that the toy is not really his. The Bible may not teach capitalism per se, but it certainly teaches private property and equal protection under the law. These principles, too, should be taught first and foremost in every family. A nation cannot practice such principles if its families don’t.

Ex 16:22-26 – There were miracles within the miracle of manna. For example, Friday’s manna would not melt when the sun grew hot, or breed worms or become foul as it did on other days (verses 20-21). This was because, of course, some of Friday’s manna had to last long enough to eat on Saturday when there would be no manna from heaven.

Ex 16:27-30 – Even though God had given clear instruction about how provision was to be made for eating on the sabbath given that manna would not be coming from heaven on that day of the week, the Israelites, like inattentive children, just kept going through the same motions by rote as if God had given them no instruction at all about this wrinkle in the daily plan.

Ex 16:31-36 – Moses here gives his concluding remarks on the inauguration of manna.

Ex 16:31 – What God called “bread” from heaven is what the Israelites would call “manna.” The Hebrew word for “manna” is practically identical to the Hebrew word for “What is it?” in v. 15. Thus, in a manner of speaking, the Israelites were calling God’s bread “whatchamacallit.”

Ex 16:32-34 – That Israel keep this instruction is validated when Paul writes in the New Testament of how the jar of manna was indeed kept for generations after (Heb 9:1-5). That, too, was a miracle because the manna was only supposed to last a day, or two at the most.

Ex 16:35 – There would be no need for bread from heaven once Israel left the desert and entered the land “flowing with milk and honey.” When God does a miracle, he doesn’t suspend the ordinary forever – only until the extraordinary is no longer needed. The ordinary is miracle enough.

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Exodus 17

Ex 17:1-7 – Rather than offer my comments on this paragraph, I’m going to let the Bible itself do all the commenting. This incident of Massah and Meribah is recalled in Psalm 95 as a cautionary tale for Israel. I’m giving you the whole psalm for context, but it doesn’t start explicitly referencing this incident until midway through v. 7. Everything up to that point, though, sets the stage for what comes after it.

Ps 95:1 O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD,
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
Ps 95:2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
Ps 95:3 For the LORD is a great God
And a great King above all gods,
Ps 95:4 In whose hand are the depths of the earth,
The peaks of the mountains are His also.
Ps 95:5 The sea is His, for it was He who made it,
And His hands formed the dry land.
Ps 95:6 Come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
Ps 95:7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you would hear His voice,
Ps 95:8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
As in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
Ps 95:9 “When your fathers tested Me,
They tried Me, though they had seen My work.
 Ps 95:10 “For forty years I loathed that generation,
And said they are a people who err in their heart,
And they do not know My ways.
Ps 95:11 “Therefore I swore in My anger,

Psalm 95 is, if you will, a sermon or commentary on Ex 17:1-7.

Psalm 95 is then, in turn, quoted in the New Testament to caution Jewish believers in Jesus, though Gentiles had reason to heed the warning as well. Coincidentally, in this passage also, explicit reference to the Massah and Meribah incident doesn’t start until midway through v. 7.

Heb 3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;
Heb 3:6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house–whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
Heb 3:7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
Heb 3:8 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
Heb 3:9 WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,
AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.
Heb 3:10 “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,
AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART,
AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;
Heb 3:11 AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’”
Heb 3:12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Heb 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,
Heb 3:15 while it is said,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.”
Heb 3:16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
Heb 3:17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?
Heb 3:19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Heb 4:1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
Heb 4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
Heb 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,
“AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”;
Heb 4:5 and again in this passage, “THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.”
Heb 4:6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,
Heb 4:7 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.”
Heb 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.
Heb 4:9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
Heb 4:11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

Note that in Heb 4:7 Paul attributes Psalm 95 to David. Note also that Exodus was written about 1500 BC, Psalms about 1000 BC, and Hebrews in the mid-1st century AD. (All these dates are per Ussher’s Chronology.) We see in these three different Bible passages – Exodus 17, Psalm 95, and Hebrews 3-4 – the timelessness of God’s principles, and how we have to stay alert to practice them in our day – which is “Today” (as in Ps 95;7; and also in Heb 3:7, 13, 15; 4:7).

As the old-timers used to tell me, “The best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture.” David taught us from what Moses wrote, and then Paul taught us from what David wrote.

Ex 17:8-13 – Hmm. Prayer might make a difference in our battles.

Ex 17:14-17 – Moses memorializing the victory that the Lord had given over the Amalekites fit right in with Old Testament practice.

Gen 22:14 Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.”

Ex 17:15 Moses built an altar and named it The LORD is My Banner;

Judg 6:24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace…

1 Sam 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”

The Lord thus became known by His doings. By comparison, this demonstrates how much more massively the Lord reveals Himself in the New Testament by demonstrating innumerable doings as a human being like us.

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Exodus 18

Ex 18:1-4 – Moses’ father-in-law Jethro is also known as Reuel per BSN note on Ex 3:1 above. ***** Jethro has been housing his daughter Zipporah and his two grandsons – Gershom and Eliezer – while Moses has been serving the Lord in the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. ***** As for Moses’ reference to being “a sojourner in a foreign land,” see notes on Ex 2:22 above, which show this to be an #FJOT.

Ex 18:5-12 – Now that Israel is out of harm’s way, Jethro believes it’s safe to return Zipporah, Gershom, and Eliezer to Moses. The reunion goes well and Jethro rejoices over all that God has accomplished. Everyone involved recognizes that God is the one who deserves to be exalted; by contrast, Moses’ role was, as lawyers say, de minimis. Where Moses’ efforts deserve to be praised is when they are contrasted with those of his fellow Israelites.

Ex 18:13-23 – When Jethro observes how his son-in-law is executing his duties, he decides to give counsel – and good counsel it is. What’s remarkable about this incident, though, is not so much the advice offered but rather that, given the frequent access Moses has to God, that this advice would come through so mundane a source as an in-law. And that makes for additional evidence of how humble a man Moses really was. (See Num 12:3 and accompanying BSN note.) It even testifies to the humility of God, who is willing to be criticized for maybe leaving something out of Moses’ instructions for the job.

Ex 18:21 – The four qualities that were sought are worth remembering for when we ourselves need to choose personnel. (We could consider “men” the fifth, but I wanted to give you a list that would work first and foremost in a family environment where children sometimes have to work together on chores.) Of course, we should practice these traits ourselves and make sure they’re descriptive of us as men and fathers.

• “able”
• “fear God”
• “of truth” 
• “hate dishonest gain”

Ex 18:24-27 – Jethro’s advice is followed and all goes well. The vocabulary and cadence of v. 24 sounds familiar.

• Ex 18:24 So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
• Gen 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.
• Gen 7:5 Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him.
• Gen 21:4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

Sometimes God’s counsel comes us vertically and sometimes horizontally. In other words, sometimes it comes to us directly from God and sometimes it comes through other people. Either way, we should follow it.

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Exodus 19

Ex 19:1-6 – This is the rendezvous God promised Moses in Ex 3:12 (the meeting at the burning bush). God is faithful, meaning He keeps His promises. Having fulfilled this promise, God, as is His way, now promises more. And this new promise will one day be incorporated into the new covenant of better promises (Heb 8:6). #FJOT Peter will lay claim to this new promise and others for the New Testament church, quoting part of v. 6 in 1 Pet 2:9. That is, the New Testament church, through the new covenant, became spiritual Israel – with Christ as its Abraham and Moses. Physical Israel lasted a little over 2,000 years (Abraham to Messiah), but spiritual Israel lasted only a generation. The kingdom of God replaced it and remains to this day…and will remain forevermore. It brings the entire human race back into relationship with God.

Ex 19:7-8 – A covenant is a relationship like a marriage – vows are exchanged. The exchange of vows establishes and defines the relationship.

Ex 19:9 – If God spoke to Moses in such a way that the Israelites believed in Moses, how much more did God speak to Jesus in such a way that all people should believe in Jesus. How could anyone witness the earthly ministry of Jesus of Nazareth and not recognize that God was with the man?

Ex 19:10-11 – The “third day” is a significant time interval and is often used throughout the Old Testament, just as day, week, month, and are often used. “The third day” gives one full day in between today (the start) and the third day (the finish).

Ex 19:12-15 – Every successful relationship has boundaries – clear boundaries – for the parties.

Ex 19:16-18 – Moses got to meet God in a burning bush (Ex 3); the Israelites get to meet Him in a burning mountain. Speaking practically, it does make sense that while a bush was sufficient for a man, it wouldn’t be sufficiently visible to 600,000 of them at one time.

Ex 19:19-25 – The main idea God is trying to get across in this paragraph is that people need a mediator to deal with God. But we don’t automatically assume that. And that’s what sin does: It breaks a relationship, and that relationship can only be restored through a mediator. Someone may say, “But didn’t Moses approach the burning bush without a mediator?” In that incident, the Israelites may not have been physically present, but they were the reason for the confab between God and Moses. God was calling Moses to be the mediator for the relationship He wanted to have with the nation. And God was dispatching the mediator to go get the people with whom He wanted the relationship and bring them to this location. Thus, the mediator is indispensable to the relationship…and thus did Jesus say that He had “come to seek and to save that which was lost” – Lk 19:10. ***** Everything in the Old Testament is preparation for the Messiah. Mediation was a critical element of Messiah’s mission. God wanted a relationship with the human race from whom He’d become estranged through their sin. One of the side effects of sin is that we quickly become dulled to the need for a mediator in dealing with our Creator. Extravagant and memorable events like this are part of the teaching process of a Master Teacher. The Israelites of that day only had a relatively small number of such experiences to help sensitize them to Messiah and His mission. We, however, have the full curriculum between two covers!

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Exodus 20

The Ten Commandments

Moses also lists the Ten Commandments in Deut 5. ***** It is interesting that when asked to identify God’s greatest commandment (Mt 22:34-40; Mk 12:28-34), Jesus named not one but two. Not that Jesus was saying the two were equally great, for He clearly said one was the greatest and the other was second to it. But it was interesting that when asked for one, He gave two. It is also interesting that when he named the two, neither of them came from this list. However, there is a sense in which the two come directly from this list for His greatest commandment summarizes the first half of the list and His second greatest commandment summarizes the second half of it. This is probably apparent to you, but in case it is not, I give a detailed explanation of how these these commandments relate to each other in Jesus’ teaching in my book The Ten Commandments According to Jesus.

Ex 20:1 – Moses makes it crystal clear that these are God’s commandments – not his.

Ex 20:2 – This is a preamble and applies to all the commandments that follow. It identifies the God whom the Israelites are to follow.

Ex 20:3 – #1 of 10 – No other gods.

Ex 20:4-6 – #2 of 10 – No idols.

Ex 20:7 – #3 of 10 – No taking the Lord’s name in vain.

Ex 20:8-11 – #4 of 10 – Keep the sabbath holy.

Ex 20:12 – #5 of 10 – Honor your father and mother.

Ex 20:13 – #6 of 10 – No murder.

Ex 20:14 – #7 of 10 – No adultery.

Ex 20:15 – #8 of 10 – No stealing.

Ex 20:16 – #9 of 10 – No false witness.

Ex 20:17 – #10 of 10 – No coveting.

Ex 20:18 – The Israelites are appropriately shocked and awed by this experience of facing the burning mountain and receiving the Ten Commandments. ***** This experience was analogous to Moses facing the burning bush and receiving his commission to go to Pharaoh on God’s behalf and bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

Ex 20:19-21 – In their experience of shock and awe, the Israelites express relief and gratitude for there being a mediator between them and God. (As for the role of a mediator, see BSN notes on Ex 19:19-25 above). Alas, the reverence for their God and mediator that the Israelites had in this moment wouldn’t last much longer than a morning’s provision of manna did before it melted in the sun.

Ex 20:22-26 – God adds instructions to help the Israelites stick with their posture of humility and reverence, but, alas, it wouldn’t help much either. In Moses’ subsequent three books (Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), and even later in this one (Exodus), we’ll see the Israelites both disregard the commandments God has given here and reject the need for a mediator in dealing with their God. Such is the nature of our weak and depraved humanity; we seem ever able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

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Exodus 21

Ex 21:1 – The Ten Commandments, delivered in the previous chapter, identified God’s major requirements of the Israelites. God now gets into details.

Ex 21:1-11 – Slavery predated both Moses and Pharaoh. See Slavery in the Bible.

Ex 21:12-14 – Principle: Let the punishment fit the crime.

Ex 21:15 – An application of the fifth commandment (“Honor your father and mother”) to a specific circumstance.

Ex 21:16 – An application of the eighth commandment (“No stealing”) to a specific circumstance.

Ex 21:17 – An application of the fifth commandment (“Honor your father and mother”) to a specific circumstance.

Ex 21:18-36 – Principle: Let the punishment fit the crime.

Jesus is the one who interprets the Law of Moses to us. If we come across provisions of Moses’ law that we don’t know how to apply – and there are many for most of us – then we have no duty toward them. Once Jesus grants us understanding, then our duty begins. See The Law of Moses in the Kingdom of God.

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Exodus 22

It becomes obvious when reading the Law of Moses – especially when reading a chapter like this – that Moses’ Law would sooner or later become obsolete. In fact, there were parts of the world where the vegetation and animal life were so different that it would have never served well there from the beginning. All this is to say that it should have been obvious from the beginning that the Law of Moses was a written for a certain time and place – unlike Jesus’ law which is so simple that it works at any time in any place.

Not withstanding the Law’s limited shelf life, Israel’s ruling elite insisted on its infinite usefulness right up until the time that Jerusalem was destroyed and it worshipers were scattered so far and wide and for so long that even Jews eventually gave up hope of resuming animal sacrifice. By contrast, the law of the kingdom of God could be recognized as eternal from the start. How could love have an expiration date?

The sundry laws in this chapter are a great way for Moses to break down the Law and show how it applies in his time and place But it would of necessity lead eventually to a less literal translation and especially so in New Testament times. Thus Paul spoke of reading the Old Testament without the veil – that is to say, in the light of Jesus – and focusing, where possible, on spiritual rather than literal interpretations in 2 Corinthians 3. Some are easy to deduce, so you don’t need my help on that. Others seem to defy any sort of modern adaptation. In any case, when it comes to chapters like these, my comments will be limited unless I can see a way to add value to your reading.

Ex 22:1-4 – As a Jew, Zaccheus would have been thinking of passages like this when he made his promise to Jesus.

Luke 19:8 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”

Ex 22:28 – Jesus was accused of violating this regulation.

John 18:19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching.
18:20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.
John 18:21 “Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.”
John 18:22 When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?”
John 18:23 Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?”

So was Paul. In Act 23:5, Paul is quoting this verse – Ex 22:28.

Acts 23:1 Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”
Acts 23:2 The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.
Acts 23:3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?”
Acts 23:4 But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”
Acts 23:5 And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.’”

Ex 22:29-30 – In this we can see an exhortation against procrastinating in our serving the Lord, since that’s perennial temptation.

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Exodus 23

Ex 23:1-3 – Was this really written by Moses or did some 21st-century American smuggle these verses into this chapter? Just when we’ve encountered enough Old Testament passages to make us want to give up on thinking it has any relevance for us, we come across a passage like this that makes it seem as if God has been reading our mail.

Ex 23:4-9 – Although these instructions are from another time and place, they are all common sense instructions in righteousness that can edify our consciences today.

Ex 23:10-11 – The poor will always be with us; both Bible testaments tell us this (Deut 15:11; Matt 26:11). This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to lift people out of poverty; we should. We just need to understand that others will always be falling into it, taking their place. We should, of course, try to help them out of poverty, too. The point is we will always have this category on earth. We cannot wipe out poverty; it’s foolish to think we can.

Ex 23:12 – In the kingdom of God, the fourth commandment speaks to the radical transformation of life into a constant “day” of serving the Lord instead of self*. But that doesn’t mean that a day of rest once a week is a bad idea.

*For more explanation of the eternal sabbath, see that section of the book The Ten Commandments According to Jesus.

Ex 23:-13 – The modern world has more gods than the ancient world ever thought of having. This is because in secularism, human beings are the supreme beings.

Ex 23:14-17 – This requirement drove Jesus’ participation in the Jewish feasts, such as we see in this reference from the Gospel of John.

John 5:1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

It was this annual requirement to appear in Jerusalem that got Jesus killed. I say this because the hostility toward Him from the professional religious class in Israel had reached a fever pitch after only a couple of years of His public ministry. For Him to leave the relative safety of Galilee and enter Jerusalem was like the Christians who would later enter Rome’s Colosseum to be tortured and killed. The only difference was, they were forced to this fate, but Jesus willingly submitted Himself to it because it was His Father’s will for the salvation of the world.

Ex 23:19b – A similar warning is found in Ex 34:26b below and in Deut 14:21b. Spiritually speaking, I take this to be a warning against quoting the Bible in a harsh or angry way. Consider the NT references to the OT as “milk” – 1 Cor 3:2; Heb 5:12, 13; 1 Pet 2:1-3.

Ex 23:20-23 – This angel foreshadows the role Messiah would play. #FJOT (See ANGEL OF THE EXODUS for the connection with Mic 2:13 and John 14:2-3.)

Ex 23:25 – Health and healing are identified with God from one end of the Bible to the other.

Ps 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Ps 103:3 Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;

Rev 22:1 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
Rev 22:2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Ex 23:29-30 – God has His reasons for not giving us our victories all at once.

Ex 23:32 – As it was with the old covenant, so it is with the new.

2 Cor 6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

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Exodus 24

Moses is a type of Christ. In the book of Hebrews (NT), Paul builds on this typology, comparing and contrasting Moses as mediator of the old covenant with Jesus as mediator of the new covenant. Here are a couple of examples of how Paul does this – the first from the third chapter of that letter, and the second from the tenth chapter.

Heb 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;
Heb 3:2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.
Heb 3:3 For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.
Heb 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
Heb 3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;
Heb 3:6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house–whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

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Heb 10:28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Heb 10:29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Moses was mediator of the first covenant, but Jesus is mediator of the new and better covenant. #FJOT

Heb 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.

With that backdrop, let us consider some of the patterns we see in Exodus 24 that reflect the things Jesus has done for us as Moses did for his people.

Ex 24:1-2 – As Moses went up Mount Sinai to meet God on behalf of God’s people, with attendants nearby, so Jesus approached the mountain of heaven (Mount Zion) – perhaps most of all in Gethsemane – on our behalf, with attendants nearby. (The apostles were like the elders; Peter, James, and John were like Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu.)

Ex 24:3 – As Moses announced the words of God to the people, so Jesus taught the words of God to the people.

Ex 24:4 – Moses and Jesus both wrote the words of God, but Moses wrote them on something physical while Jesus wrote them on human hearts. Moses and Jesus both built altars, but the twelve pillars Jesus used were men.

Ex 24:6 – The blood Moses used was of animals, but Jesus used His own blood.

Heb 13:11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
Heb 13:12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

And so on.

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

Without drawings, it takes many words to describe objects like these. We are used to having such things illustrated for us, so it makes the reading tedious for modern readers. Learn to skim things until you have a productive way of perceiving them.

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Exodus 25

In this chapter, Moses begins recording the building of the tabernacle and its furnishings – which was to be the house of worship for the Israelites in the wilderness. This will go on for several chapters. Way down the road, once in the promised land, the Israelites would make one city their nation’s capital (which they will call Jerusalem) and will build a permanent house of worship for God in it (which will be called the temple). Until then, God’s house of worship will need to be a mobile home – a tent. So, that’s what Moses’ tabernacle is: a tent with furnishings.

The furnishings built here in the wilderness will change little when it comes time for the permanent temple to be built in the promised land. The big change will be going from a movable tent to an immovable stone structure. This will be a transition from the temporary to the permanent. This is a pattern of God’s: from the temporary to the permanent. From work to rest. From effort to completion. From growth to maturity. From the partial to the perfect.

Unlike the houses of worship for other gods claimed by other nations, there will no image of God in this tabernacle. Everything it in will speak of God, and this will be His dwelling place among His people, but He Himself will not be represented by any image for that would be to minimize Him and His glory. What will happen here is that God will speak (Ex 25:22). What irony! False gods are represented by images (idols) which cannot speak, while the true God is invisible and does speak.

Ps 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man’s hands.
Ps 115:5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
They have eyes, but they cannot see;

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1 Cor 12:2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led.
1 Cor 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Offerings for the Sanctuary

Ex 25:1-9 – The tabernacle and its furnishings are going to be built in the wilderness with contributions from the Israelites. These contributions must be freely given, with no coercion. God wants His dwelling place to be built from the love of His people. In the kingdom of God, His Holy Spirit will dwell in our hearts and that dwelling place, too, will have to be built from love.

Mark 12:30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’

The Ark of the Covenant

Acacia trees were abundant in this part of the world and provided a durable wood that would stand up to the desert climate and all the assembly and disassembly required by moving around and through the wilderness. A cubit is about 18 inches, or, you could say, roughly the distance from your elbow to your tip of your longest finger. The gold overlay would add strength and beauty to the wood.

Ex 25:10-16 – First things first. The central piece of furniture in the tabernacle (and later the temple) will be the ark of the covenant. This was essentially a box or a chest. Its primary contents were the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were engraved. This signified that God’s commandments to His people were the heart of the covenant between them. If they would keep the commandments, making then central to consciousness, God would be pleased and would bless them. Out of reverence, the ark was not to be touched by human hands, but rather be moved around by means of two poles which were threaded through rings on each side of the ark. This allowed the ark to be lifted by four men, each of whom could rest his end of the pole on a shoulder as they walked.

Ex 25:17-22 – The mercy seat was essentially the lid of the chest (ark). The cherubim were images of two angels. As an “s” added to the end of an English word is the way we indicate a plural, so an “im” at the end of a word is the way the Hebrew language indicates a plural. Thus “cherubim” is more than one cherub. In our day, “cherub” conjures up the image of a pudgy baby, but to ancient Israelites a cherub was a warrior angel – a powerful creature that was not be to taken lightly. Recall that God stationed cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life when He exiled Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden (Gen 3:24).

The Table of Showbread

Ex 25:23-30 – The table was to have rings and poles for carrying purposes just like the ark of the covenant. Also, like the ark, the table’s acacia wood would be overlayed with gold. The dishes, pans, jars, and bowls were to be made of pure gold. The terms “bread of the Presence” and “showbread” refer to the same thing. We’ll learn more about this bread later in the Law of Moses (Lev 24:5-9). There will be twelves loaves, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, and it will be for consumption by the priests only. It was this bread that was at issue in the following New Testament exchange.

Mark 2:23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.
Mark 2:24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
Mark 2:25 And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;
Mark 2:26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”
Mark 2:27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
Mark 2:28 “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

The Golden Lampstand

Ex 25:31-40 – Like the dishes, pans, jars, and bowls, the lampstand with its snuffers and trays were all to be made from pure gold. Remember that the tabernacle was essentially a tent. There would be no windows, so the light of this seven-branched lampstand was of practical as well as symbolic importance. The most obvious previous reference to seven of anything in the Bible was, of course, Genesis 1, the days of creation, and the seven days of every week that has ever passed since then. More broadly, the lampstand symbolized a tree – the tree of life being the most prominent tree we have in the Bible. It shows up in both Genesis and Revelation.

These New Testament verses allude to verse 40 (and other verses in the Law of Moses like it) that indicate Moses was giving the directions for all this furniture based on heavenly patterns he was being shown. (emphasis added)

Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

Heb 8:4 Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law;
Heb 8:5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “SEE,” He says, “THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN.”

Heb 10:1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.

Thus the tabernacle and its furnishings foreshadow realities in the kingdom of heaven. It is our privilege as disciples of the kingdom to learn more and more about such realities as we grow and mature in relationship with our heavenly King and Father.

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide the initial information about the tabernacle and its furnishings.

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Exodus 26

In the previous chapter, Moses described the ark, table, and lampstand. In this chapter, he describes the structure that would surround those furnishings – that is, the tabernacle (tent) itself.

Curtains of Linen

Ex 26:1-6 – These are the inner curtains of the tabernacle. The inclusion of the image of the cherubim was a reminder of how they were stationed to protect the way to the tree of life after Adam and Eve sinned (Gen 3:24). This was a very elaborate tent, which makes sense, given that it was for royalty – the King of the nations.

Curtains of Goat’s Hair

Ex 26:7-14 – These are the outer curtains of the tabernacle. Unlike the interior curtains of linen, these had to be able to strong enough to withstand the elements.

Boards and Sockets

Ex 26:15-30 – These boards and sockets provide structure of the tent for the curtains – the framing for materials that would hang.

The Veil and Screen

Ex 26:31-37 – The veil separated “the holy place” from “the most holy place” (“the holy of holies). The screen was the doorway into the tabernacle. This means the veil was deep within the tabernacle, while the screen was part of its perimeter.

The veil, like the linen curtains, would include an image of the cherubim, reminding the priests yet again of the angels who have had to guard the way to the tree of life ever since sin entered the world (Gen 3:24).

The table with the bread and the lampstand were in the holy place, then, past the veil, was the most holy place where the ark of the covenant rested. This is the veil that was torn in two when Jesus was dying on the cross.

Mark 15:37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.
Mark 15:38 And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

And here’s how the apostle Paul described in the overall arrangement of what we’ve seen described in the previous chapter and this one.

Heb 9:1 Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary.
Heb 9:2 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place.
Heb 9:3 Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,
Heb 9:4 having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant;
Heb 9:5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

We’ll get to Aaron’s rod that budded in the book of Numbers.

From the outside, the tabernacle is completely plain. There are no markings, no words, no symbols. Everything about the tabernacle is designed for view and use on the inside by the priests (that is, the sons of Aaron).

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 27

The Bronze Altar

Ex 27:1-8 – The altar was for burning the sacrifices. It was also called “the altar of burnt offering” (Ex 38:1).

Ex 27:2 – The horns were slight protrusions or knobs on the four corners.

Ex 27:3 – The utensils (pails, shovels, forks, and firepans) would be familiar to anyone who’s used a fireplace – especially if to cook meat.

Ex 27:4 – The four rings were for inserting poles to carry the altar when the tabernacle needed to be relocated. (This was the same means of carrying the ark of the covenant and the table of showbread.)

Ex 27:8 – The reference to being “shown to you in the mountain,” is an echo of Ex 25:40: “See that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.” That is, Moses was copying the design of these things from heavenly things he was being shown. As Paul would say later in Hebrews:

Heb 9:23 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Heb 9:25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
Heb 9:26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

The Court

Ex 27:9-15 – The court (or courtyard) was a large open area, taking up about half of the total interior tabernacle space. It did contain the bronze altar and a bronze laver (or basin) to be used by the priests for washing their hands and feet. We’ll hear about that in Ex 30.

Ex 27:16 – This is the screen mentioned at the end of Ex 26. This gateway into the tabernacle faced east, just as the entrance to Eden and the tree of life – the one guarded by the cherubim – faced to the east. So also the temple doorway would face to the east when it would be built in Jerusalem about five hundred years after this time.

Ex 27:19 – Gold was used for furnishings closer to where God was to reside – that is, in “the most holy place” and “the holy place.” Meanwhile bronze was used for the furnishings and utensils farther away from that spot.

The Oil

Ex 27:20-21 – The people were the ones to bring the oil, but the priests (sons of Aaron) were the ones to administer it in keeping the lampstand in the holy place lit through the night.

***

Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

***

Exodus 28

Beginning in Exodus 25, descriptions have been given of the tabernacle and its furnishings. Attention now turns for a while to the priests who will minister in this tabernacle. This is not a structure for people to assemble. For one thing, it’s not near big enough. Rather, it’s a place for a select subset of the people to minister to the Lord on the people’s behalf. That subset is Aaron and his descendants.

Moses and Aaron belong to the tribe of Levi and this tribe has been set apart from the rest of the twelve tribes as a trade for the firstborns. That is, the firstborns belonged to God because of the Passover. And God has chosen to allow the Levites to be the substitutes for the firstborns. Irrespective of whatever other reasons God had for this exchange, it was more practical to let a whole tribe serve Him than to bring a single firstborn from every family and try to turn them into a cohesive group.

Aaron and his sons are, of course, a subset of a subset – specially chosen Levites. They are being set aside to be the priests who will minister in this tabernacle. The rest of the Levites will serve the priests by helping them. This will certainly be necessary in the beginning with there being only Aaron and his sons. Over succeeding generations, many more priests will come to exist and there are only so many who can work in the temple. For this reason, we see Zacharias (a descendant of Aaron) ministering in the temple because he was chosen by lot to do so (Lk 1). At this time, however, there are only five.

The Garments of the Priests

Ex 28:1-5 – God tells Moses to bring forward his brother Aaron and his sons – Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar – because those five are going to be the priests in this tabernacle. God then enumerates the various garments to be woven for these priests. He will go on to describe the individual garments one by one as the chapter unfolds.

The Ephod

Ex 28:6-14 – An ephod is a sleeveless outer garment, somewhat like an apron. The shoulder “straps” would bear the two onyx stones with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel engraved on them (half on one, half on the other).

The Breastpiece

Ex 28:15-30 – The breastpiece would go over the front of the ephod. Its primary feature would be the twelve precious stones each of which bore one of the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. As for the Urim and the Thummim, the words mean “lights” and “perfections.” Urim and Thummim are mentioned elsewhere in the Scriptures, but not in enough quantity or detail to understand exactly how they were used. No loss; we have the Holy Spirit. (Everything about the new covenant is better.)

The Robe

Ex 28:31-35 – The reference to the “tinkling bell” attached to the hem of the robe is an indication of how deadly serious priestly service was to be taken in this tabernacle.

The Turban

Ex 28:36-38 – I take “forehead” to be reference to something that should be at the forefront of our thinking, and/or the first thing that should come to mind for anyone who sees us.

The Tunic and Sash

Ex 28:39 – Linen was a practical choice of fabric. Air can pass through linen more easily than through other common fabrics, keeping the body cool. After all, the tabernacle’s main use was to be in the desert until they reached the promised land.

Sashes and Caps

Ex 28:40-43 – We will see in Leviticus 10 that the warning in verse 40 was not heeded. Two of Aaron’s sons – Nadab and Abihu – will die because they failed to adhere strictly to the commandments of the Lord regarding their priestly service.

Before we leave the subject of priestly garments we should consider that when Jesus entered heaven after His crucifixion and resurrection to minister there on our behalf, He, too, was wearing a priestly garment. The clothing He was wearing was the resurrection body He was supplied after He was crucified and at the time He was raised from the dead. The garment He wore on earth had to be replaced by a garment suitable for heaven. In that garment He cleansed the holy place we call heaven. Satan and his host were being cleared out to make room for all of us. (Everyone Is Going to Heaven)

Heb 9:23 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Heb 9:25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
Heb 9:26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

***

Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 29

Now that the tabernacle (the tent of meeting) and its furnishings have been described, as well as the garments of the priests, we now turn to how the priests were prepared to serve. To set the stage, let’s turn again to Paul’s letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament to give us reliable context for understanding the role of a priest.

Heb 5:1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;
Heb 5:2 he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness;
Heb 5:3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.
Heb 5:4 And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.

Consecration of the Priests

Ex 29:1-9 – Aaron and his sons are to be washed, clothed, and anointed…and proper sacrifices made.

The Sacrifices

Ex 29:10-14 – A bull is to be offered. Some of its blood is to be applied to the horns of the altar.

Ex 29:15-18 – A ram is to be offered, with Aaron and his sons laying their hands on the head of the bull. Some of its blood is to be sprinkled around on the altar.

Ex 29:19-21 – Another ram is to be offered, with Aaron and his sons laying their hands on the head of the ram. Some of the blood is to be applied to the priest’s right ear lobe, right thumb, right big toe, and the rest sprinkled around on the altar. Then some of the blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil is to be sprinkled on the priests’ garments.

Ex 29:22-25 – Some of the parts of the lamb shall then be used for a wave offering and burnt offering.

Ex 29:26-28 – The animal parts for wave and heave offerings were set aside for consumption by the priest. This was part of their compensation for their work.

Ex 29:29-30 – Aaron’s priestly garments get reused by his sons.

Food of the Priests

Ex 29:31-34 – Parts of the sacrificial animals set apart for the priests cannot be eaten by laymen (any Israelite who is not a priest).

Ex 29:35-37 – The consecration of the priests was to take seven days, with a bull as a sin offering for atonement each day. Then the altar would be considered holy.

Ex 29:38-43 – Two one-year old lambs would be offered each day, one in the morning and the other at twilight.

Ex 29:44-48 – God states here that He brought the Israelites out of Egypt that He might dwell among them. This reminds us of what God said to Pharaoh. (emphasis added)

Ex 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.‘”

Thus the purpose of the tabernacle was to give structure to God’s presence in the midst of His people. The people would need mediation to meet with God – hence “the tent of meeting” (the tabernacle) and a priesthood to administer it.

If we are bewildered by all these instructions, then Aaron and his sons were only slightly less bewildered because while animal sacrifice was not foreign to ancient people, this particular structure and these various rituals likely were. Once Aaron’s sons had sons of their own to join the ranks, there could be some knowledge transfer between generations. At this point in time, however, it’s just Moses rattling off instructions he’s received from God, with Aaron and his sons trying to understand and perform the service as best they could.

***

Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 30

The Altar of Incense

Ex 30:1-10 – The altar of incense generally resembled the bronze altar. Differences were that the altar of incense was 1) considerably smaller, 2) fashioned from acacia wood overlaid with gold rather than from bronze, 3) used for burning incense rather than for burning animal parts, 4) located in the holy place rather than in the courtyard where the bronze altar was located. The specific location of the altar of incense in the holy place was closest to the veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place (the holy of holies).

Census Offering

Ex 30:11-16 – Israel would take a census periodically. Its purpose was to tabulate all the fighting men (20 years old and up) – not every human being in the population.

Bronze Laver

Ex 30:17-21 – A laver can also be called a basin or bowl. The bronze laver was used by the priests for washing themselves and/or the sacrifices. It was placed in the courtyard, not far from the bronze altar.

The Anointing Oil

Ex 30:22-33 – Both testaments liken anointing oil to the Holy Spirit.

1 Sam 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

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Acts 10:38 “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

The Incense

Ex 30:34-38 – Both testaments liken incense to prayer.

Ps 141:2 May my prayer be counted as incense before You;
The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

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Rev 5:8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

The initial listing of the tabernacle furnishings now being complete, we’ll again let Paul’s letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament give a high-level view of the scene – at least of the holy and most holy places, as nothing is mentioned about the courtyard and what was in it (the bronze altar and the laver).

Heb 9:1 Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary.
Heb 9:2 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place.
Heb 9:3 Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,
Heb 9:4 having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant;
Heb 9:5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

The way Paul describes the altar of incense makes it sound as if he thought it was locate4d in the Holy of Holies, but it is more likely that he associated it with that place because 1) it was placed next to the veil, and 2) the purpose of its placement there was to scent the Holy of Holies and not just the holy place.

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 31

The Craftsmen

Ex 31:1-5 – Bezalel is the first craftsman to be appointed to construct the tabernacle and its furnishings.

Ex 31:6-11 – Oholiab and others are appointed to help Bezalel with construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings.

These two men and their roles as craftsmen will next be mentioned in Ex 35:30-35.

The Sabbath

Ex 31:12-17 – “Who is this new nation that takes a whole day off once a week?” That’s what I imagine the nearby nations saying when they found out Israel had a “sabbath.” It was a distinguishing feature of ancient Israel and meant to be a declaration to the world that the same God who brought slaves out of Egypt and made them into a nation was the God who created the heavens and earth in the first place. In this way, Israel was being “a light to the nations” Not nearly as much of a light, of course, to the extent that their Messiah would one day be. But, indeed, Israel was reminding the nations what should have been passed down to them from their ancestors – that one God had created the heavens and earth in six days, and He rested on the seventh.

All this being true, it’s hard to understand how some people who profess faith in the God of the Bible could say that He used evolution to create the universe. Evolution is incompatible with the Bible in many ways, but the most obvious way is that evolution contradicts the history we read in the first week as described by the book of Genesis. If God used evolution to create the universe then it cannot have been created in six days. If someone objects that we’re reading Genesis too literally and God could have meant six “ages,” then when did the “age” of rest start? For if evolution is true, then it’s still going on – no evolutionist believes evolution has stopped. Yet Genesis says God’s work was “completed” after six “whatevers” and that’s when God’s rest commenced. If evolution is true, therefore, the “whatever” of rest has not even started. For this and multiple other reasons, evolution is not compatible with the Bible. Therefore, it cannot be true.

If evolution was true, God’s instructions to ancient Israel about the sabbath were not only based on a falsehood, they also set up the Israelites to look like fools by the whole world once evolution was “discovered” by Charles Darwin in the 19th century. For that is just what has happened – at least so far. But God is not in the business of making His prophets look stupid; rather, He seeks ways to vindicate them (Is 54:17).

Is 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

If evolution were true, God would have either told Moses that or else, if as some say Moses’ generation was not prepared for modern scientific ideas, God would have told Moses something compatible with it. That is, God could have been less specific and not tied Himself down to a six-day project timeline – that is, a once-and-done process. He would not have told Moses a story about creation that would eventually come to look ignorant and childish if evolution were true.

When the world tells a lie long enough, the truth starts to sound strange. Because the Bible has fallen into disuse in America, creation in six days sounds absurd to people. But someone steeped in the truth wouldn’t be surprised by God being able to create the world in so short a time. On the contrary, he’d wonder why a God who could do it instantaneously would spread the work out over six days.

The Centerpiece of the Tabernacle

Ex 31:18 – The “two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God” were the centerpiece of the entire tabernacle complex. Recall that they were kept in the ark of the covenant that was placed in the most holy place of the tabernacle. Therefore, it’s a fitting time to mention them again at the end of listing out the various elements of the tabernacle complex.

We’ll now take a pause in the story of how the Tabernacle came together as Moses tells about the golden calf debacle and aftermath over the next three chapters. It was bad for the Israelites, but they’ll be pleased if we learn from their mistake. The focus will return to the tabernacles in the last six chapters of this book (Ex 35-40).

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 32

The Stone Tablets and the Golden Calf

While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments engraved in stone along with instructions for the tabernacle that was to be built enshrining them, the Israelites were building an object of worship on their own…much to their shame.

Ex 32:1 – The Israelites wondered, “Whatever became of Moses?” Actually, they did not wonder enough, for they tired of wondering and instead created with their own hands a god they could see and touch and that would never wander off where it couldn’t be found. Of course, it couldn’t do anything else either…but the Israelites hadn’t given the matter enough thought to reach that obvious conclusion. They were tired of waiting on Moses and God; they demanded action…and achieved nothing but trouble. ***** This statement the people made to Aaron – including the phrase “we do not know what has become of him” – is repeated in verse 23. It is paralleled in the experience of Peter in Acts 12:18 (“…what could have become of Peter”). All three verses remind me of the rhetorical question, “Whatever became of Jesus Christ?” Why don’t more people ask it?

Ex 32:2 – Aaron was one of those leaders who’s really a follower. There are leaders like this today who brag that they are “leading from behind.” Aaron was not so foolish as to brag about his leadership ability.

Ex 32:3-5 – Instead of patiently waiting for God to do a new thing in their midst, the Israelites hastily decided to do the same things all the other nations were doing. The Israelites were acting on herd instinct instead of trusting their shepherd…or Shepherd, for that matter.

Ex 32:6 – Paul quotes this line in a litany of bad examples the Israelites left that Paul does not want the Corinthians to follow.

1 Cor 10:7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.”

Ex 32:7-10 – Amazingly, God was stating an intention to start over – making Moses a second Abraham! I wonder how tempting it was for Moses. Just think: he would be free from the grumbling of over half a million men and their families, left with the quietness of his wife and two sons. Some other poor schmuck down the ancestral line would have to deal with turning rabble into a functioning nation while Moses would get to die happy and rich like Abraham did.

Ex 32:11-14 – Moses demonstrates how wise God was to have chosen a man who, rather than take the easy way out for himself, pleaded for the well-being of the flock that had been entrusted to his care. May you and I keep that same posture even if the Lord ever gets put out with our children.

Ex 32:15-16 – Paul writes to the believers in Corinth about the superiority of the new covenant where the commandments in stone are concerned.

2 Cor 3:2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
2 Cor 3:3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

We are even more blessed than the Corinthians for we have the entire New Testament at our disposal, and its contents are so sure, given all the manuscript and other evidence, that they might as well be engraved in stone. Through them the Lord’s love commandment is stamped on our hearts.

Ex 32:17-18 – Corrupt populations seek “bread and circuses” rather than serious engagement on serious issues. In other words, they throw up their hands and binge on Netflix. Your family is your mission. Stay on it.

Ex 32:19-20 – It was to the Israelites credit that they swallowed their medicine.

Ex 32:21-24 – While Aaron was not foolish enough to brag about his leadership prowess in this incident, he was foolish enough to try to avoid any blame. “I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf” was as pathetic as “the dog ate my homework.”

Ex 32:23 – This statement of the people to Aaron is repeated from verse 1. See note on it there.

Ex 32:25-29 – This passage highlights the difference in leadership ability between Moses and Aaron. Moses knew that letting the people get out of control was inviting permanent trouble. Likewise, a man who lets his children get out of control invites permanent trouble. In the New Testament, Paul says that a father should “keep his children under control with all dignity” (1 Tim 3:4). It’s not enough to keep them under control; we must do so with dignity. When they’re young, you do that with your size; when they reach adolescence, though, you have to do it with your wisdom. That’s what the time between when they’re younger and when they’re teenagers is for – acquiring that wisdom. That’s why every day you’re reading your Bible, practicing it, and praying. You’re in a race to be ready.

Ex 32:30 – Like a good leader – whether of a nation or of a family – Moses does not make extravagant promises. Plus, he promises only what he can control; that is, he states what he himself going to do. How the Lord will respond is up to the Lord. In this way, the good leader manages the expectations of those for whom he is responsible. You cannot control the expectations of your children, but you can avoid tempting them to hope for too much or too little.

Ex 32:31-32 – Moses definitely has the mind of a good leader.

John 10:11 “…the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”

Ex 32:33 – There are certain decisions that are above Moses’ pay grade; God will have to handle those. Likewise for you and me as fathers.

Ex 32:34 – The people had Moses to lead them, but Moses had God’s angel to lead him. This particular angel gets periodic but important mentions in the Bible.

Ex 3:2 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.

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Ex 14:19 The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.

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Ex 23:20 “Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

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Acts 7:35 “This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

This angel is a type of Christ for you. Your family has you, and you have X. 

Ex 32:35 – The Lord pulls the trigger on the punishment He decided for the Israelites. There’ll come a time, and it’s not too long off, when your children will cease to be afraid of your punishments. God forbid that any of us should ever cease to be afraid of the Lord’s displeasure. He’s gracious, but He’s never to be taken lightly. Even the New Testament says…

Heb 10:28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Heb 10:29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

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Exodus 33

God Withdraws from the Journey

Ex 33:1-3 – God advises that it’s better for the Israelites to continue on to the promised land with the guidance of the angel but without God Himself in their midst. God is holy, so having a holy God in the midst of an unholy people was going to mean a lot of death and destruction for the people. Better for everyone to avoid that.

Ex 33:4-6 – The people grieve over the news that they’ve so offended God that He no longer hopes to dwell in their midst.

Moses’ Way of Meeting the Lord

Ex 33:7-11 – The tabernacle was designed to be situated in the midst of the Israelites. That whole project was now on hold because of the golden calf incident (Ex 32). The incident took place while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the stone tablets on which the Lord Himself wrote the Ten Commandments along with the instructions for building the tabernacle and its furnishings. For the time being, Moses is continuing to meet with the Lord, but is doing so in the temporary tent of meeting which sits well outside the camp. The people show respect for Moses’ role as mediator between them and the Lord as they continue to grieve over the prospect of journeying on to the promised land without God’s presence in their midst.

Moses Intercedes for the People

Ex 33:12-13 – Like Jacob before him, Moses is “wrestling” with God. But he is wrestling with God not on his own behalf, but on behalf of the twelve tribes of Israel. As God’s interactions with Israel are shaping the nation, they are shaping Moses more. And Moses direct interactions with God – as with a friend – are shaping him into a more effective mediator (intercessor).

Moses uses his interactions with God to bring God and His people closer together. Moses takes to heart his role as mediator and thus proves to be distinctive type of Christ – the “mediator.”

Ex 33:14 – Moses has achieved a breakthrough: God relents and agree to be present with the people. This means construction of the tabernacle can resume.

Ex 33:15-16 – Moses doesn’t want to leave the main point just yet. He reiterates what he’s expecting and reinforces it with a rationale. That rationale is essentially: How are the other nations going to know about Your glory if we Your people are not reflecting Your glory to the greatest possible degree?

Moses Gets a Bonus

Ex 33:17-23 – Moses is on a roll. He gets a positive response to his request and so asks for something else – to see God’s glory. The rest of this chapter is a sort of play. What’s being acted out is the way God will reveal Himself to the world. God was using Moses to act out a play. The play showed how God would reveal Himself to everyone. He would come to earth as Jesus, and even though some people realized Jesus was very special while He was on earth, no one would recognize that He was God until after He was gone. That’s what God meant when He told Moses, “you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.” In other words, we would see that Jesus was God only in retrospect. #FJOT

See 1 Kgs 19:9-12 and accompanying BSN notes for a similar scene and more #FJOT.

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Exodus 34

The Two Tablets Replaced

Ex 34:1-9 – The new stone tablets are to replace the ones God gave Moses in Ex 31:18 and that Moses subsequently threw and shattered when he saw the golden calf and the dancing in Ex 32:19. Moses now returns to Mount Sinai to meet again with God. Moses continues in his posture of interceding for the Israelites, petitioning God to dwell in their midst as they make their way to the promised land. This renewal of the covenant between God and Israel is all about restoring the breach caused by the golden calf that Israel had made and worshiped.

The Covenant Renewed

Ex 34:10 – In response to Moses’ petition, God promises to do miracles for Israel that are unheard of among the nations. This foreshadows the even greater array of miracles God would perform through Jesus Christ. #FJOT

Ex 34:11-17 – God insists that His covenant with Israel is exclusive. This is the essence of the reference to His jealousy, mentioned in verse 14. This is a godly jealousy, not an envious or covetous jealousy. It is the jealousy of monogamy. That is, God wants an exclusive relationship with Israel just as any right mind wants for a wife a woman who is not looking for multiple husbands. To make a golden calf and worship it was idolatry. In making this point, God describes the harm that will come to Israel if they intermarry with the Canaanites. The Canaanites are to be completely vanquished from the land.

Reminders

Ex 34:18-26 – God reminds Israel of various stipulations regarding feasts and other requirements He expects them to meet in association with the Ten Commandments. All such provisions – found here and elsewhere in Moses’ writings – will become known as “The Law of Moses.”

Ex 34:26b – A similar warning is found in Ex 23:19b above and in Deut 14:21b. Spiritually speaking, I take this to be a warning against quoting the Bible in a harsh or angry way. Consider the NT references to the OT as “milk” – 1 Cor 3:2; Heb 5:12, 13; 1 Pet 2:1-3.

The Covenant Renewal is Completed

Ex 34:27-28 – Moses has successfully brought the Lord and His people back together through the covenant. A new set of tablets (The Ten Commandments) has been secured, and Moses has completed his second forty day fast.

Moses’ Face Shines

Ex 34:29-35 – Paul draws on this passage in 2 Cor 3:1-18 to contrast the ministry of Moses (who had a law written on stone and interpreted physically) with the ministry of Jesus (who had a law written on human hearts and interpreted spiritually). In addition to seeing 2 Cor 3:1-18, see also the BSN notes associated with it. #FJOT

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 35

The Sabbath Emphasized

Ex 35:1-3 – Since work on the Tabernacle is about to commence, Moses reminds the congregation that work must cease on the seventh day. In other words, there would be no exception to the fourth commandment just because this work was for God instead of for each other. The recent debacle with the golden calf – and all the intercession it took to redeem it – probably motivated Moses to attempt an inoculation against what would be a likely temptation to the people. We, too, should attempt to foresee temptations our children will face and try to warn them. Of course, it doesn’t always work (Jesus’ warning to Peter), but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

Contributions for the Tabernacle Sought

Ex 35:4-9 – The materials for the tabernacle had to come from somewhere. The Israelites were in the desert so there was nowhere else to find materials except what was in their own possession. How convenient that they had plundered their masters on the way out of Egypt (Ex 3:21-22; Ex 11:2-3; 12:35-36). God supplies our needs abundantly so that we have enough to share.

2 Cor 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;

Workmen Sought

Ex 35:10-19 – Materials alone would not be enough to produce the tabernacle and its furnishings. There would need to be a workforce, and that, too, would have to come from contributions – that is, volunteer laborers.

Contributions Received

Ex 35:20-29 – With their hearts refreshed from having been forgiven for their adultery with the golden calf, the Israelites donated generously and happily everything that would be needed to construct every element of the tabernacle complex.

Workmen Assigned to the Craftsmen

Ex 35:30-35 – The craftsmen who would direct the construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings – Bezalel and Oholiab – were previously identified in Ex 31:1-11. These two would be able to teach the unskilled volunteers how to accomplish all the necessary work.

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 36

The Time to Build the Tabernacle Has Come

Ex 36:1 – The time has come for the Lord to commission Moses to commission Bezalel, Oholiab, and the workmen to begin the work of building the tabernacle and all its furnishings.

Contributions to the Tabernacle Are Halted

Ex 36:2-7 – Moses commissions the leaders and the workers to commence construction. Before long, they come back to Moses saying, in effect, “Hey, boss, we’re getting way more construction materials than we’re ever going to be able to use!” Moses then sends word to the people, saying in effect, “Keep your money in your pockets, folks; you’ve given more than enough to do what the Lord wants done!” When in your lifetime have you ever heard such a statement from those collecting donations in the name of the Lord? Either people were way more generous back then or else leaders were better at restricting their requests to only what the Lord wanted. Hmm.

The Work Proceeds…

…on the Inner Curtains

Ex 36:8-13 – These are the curtains to be made of linen, and described in Ex 26:1-6.

…on the Outer Curtains

Ex 36:14-19 – These are the curtains to be made of goat’s hair (for protection against the elements), and described in Ex 26:7-14.

…on the Boards

Ex 36:20-30 – These are the boards made of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, and described in Ex 26:15-25. (The gold overlay is not mentioned until the description of the bars, with which they fit.)

…on the Bars

Ex 36:31-34 – These are the bars made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold, described in Ex 26:26-30.

…on the Veil

Ex 36:35-38 – This is the veil that separated the most holy place (“the Holy of Holies”) from the holy place, and described in Ex 26:31-35.

…on the Screen

Ex 36:37-38 – This is the screen that constituted the doorway of the tabernacle complex, and described in Ex 26:36-37.

Chapter Summary

All the construction described in Ex 36 was of objects originally described in Ex 26. That said, keep in mind that Moses wasn’t the one who assigned the chapter divisions and numbers (Chapter and Verse Divisions); in this case, they’re just tracking with his arrangement of the information being conveyed.

We have to agree with Jesus that access to the Lord is much less burdensome through the new covenant than the old. Why would anyone prefer the old?

Matt 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Matt 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
Matt 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 37

The Work Continues…

…on the Ark of the Covenant

Ex 37:1-9 – The ark of the covenant, including the mercy seat and cherubim, was originally described in Ex 25:10-22.

…on the Table

Ex 37:10-16 – The table was originally described in Ex 25:23-30.

…on the Lampstand

Ex 37:17-24 – The lampstand was originally described in Ex 25:31-40.

…on the Altar of Incense

Ex 37:25-29 – The altar of incense was originally described in Ex 30:1-10.

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 38

The Work Continues…

…on the Bronze Altar

Ex 38:1-7 – The bronze altar was originally described in Ex 27:1-8.

…on the Bronze Laver

Ex 38:8 – The bronze laver was originally described in Ex 30:17-21.

…on the Hangings for the Court

Ex 38:9-17 – The hangings for the court were originally described in Ex 27:9-15.

…on the Screen

Ex 38:18 – The screen was originally described in Ex 27:16.

…on the Pillars, Sockets, Hooks, and Pegs

Ex 38:19-20 – The pillars, sockets, hooks, and pegs were originally described in Ex 27:16-19.

A Final Accounting of the Tabernacle Complex and Its Construction

Ex 38:21– To Ithamar, the youngest son of Aaron, was consigned the tabernacle and its furnishings. The Levites were assigned to help him.

Ex 38:22 – As stipulated from the beginning (Ex 31:1-5), Bezalel was assigned to Moses as chief craftsman of the tabernacle and its furnishings.

Ex 38:23 -Also as stipulated from the beginning (Ex 31:6), Oholiab was appointed second only to Bezalel.

Ex 38:24 – An accounting of the gold.

Ex 38:25-28 – An accounting of the silver.

Ex 38:29-31 – An accounting of the bronze.

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 39

The Priestly Garments Are Produced

Ex 39:1 – These garments were to be produced for Aaron and his sons, who were first mentioned with regard to these garments in Ex 28:1-5.

…the Ephod

Ex 39:2-5 – The ephod was originally described in Ex 28:6-8.

…the Onyx Stones

Ex 39:6-7 – The onyx stones were originally described in Ex 28:9-14.

…the Breastpiece

Ex 39:8-21 – The breastpiece was originally described in Ex 28:15-30.

…the Robe

Ex 39:22-26 – The robe was originally described in Ex 28:31-35.

…the Tunics, Turban, Caps, Breeches, and Sash

Ex 39:27-29 – These accessories were originally described in Ex 28:39-43.

…the Plate (for the Turban)

Ex 39:30-31 – This plate to go on the front of the turban was originally described in Ex 28:36-38.

The Work Is Pronounced Complete

Ex 39:32 – All the work on the tabernacle, its furnishing, and the garments for the priests are pronounced complete.

The Individual Work Items Are Presented to Moses

Ex 39:33-41 – All the individual elements of the tabernacle complex are here listed and summarily described as having been done “according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses.”

Moses Blesses the Work

Ex 39:43 – Moses examines the work and, declaring that it had been done “just as the Lord commanded,” gives his blessing. This statement is particularly worthy of note because the people doing this work are the same people that prodded Aaron to produce a golden calf for them to worship. That these people subsequently followed Moses’ instructions to be build this tabernacle “just as the Lord commanded” is a testimony to the effectiveness of Moses’ intercession on their behalf and to the genuineness of their repentance. This is many working with God so that God’s forgiveness has its full effect, which is to not just relieve us of guilt, but to set us on the path of obedience.

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Exodus 25–31 and 35–40 provide information about the design and construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The three intervening chapters (Ex 32-34) report on the interruption to the process caused by the golden calf debacle and the intercession required by Moses to redress it.

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Exodus 40

In this final chapter of Exodus, the Lord instructs Moses to take all the components of the tabernacle complex that the people have produced and given to him and now put them to into use.

Ex 40:1-8 – Moses is instructed to set up the tabernacle and arrange its furnishings, including:

• the ark of testimony
• the veil
• the table, the lampstand, and its lamps
• the gold altar of incense
• the altar of burnt offering
• the laver

Ex 40:9-11 – Moses is instructed to then apply the anointing oil to the tabernacle and its furnishings in order to consecrate the entire complex for use. Num 7 describes the offerings presented by the leaders of the twelve tribes that further enabled Aaron and his sons to “set up housekeeping” in the tabernacle: silver bowls, pans, and such.

Ex 40:12-15 – Moses is instructed to wash Aaron and his sons with water, then clothe them in the priestly garments made for them, then anoint and consecrate them for service.

Ex 40:16 – Moses declares that he has followed all these instructions.

Ex 40:17 – It has now been a full year since the Israelites left Egypt.

Ex 40:18-33 – Moses now describes in detail how he assembled the tabernacle and its furnishings, including details like storing the tablets with the Ten Commandments in the ark of the covenant and placing bread on the table.

Ex 40:34-38 – After the people had done their part in completing construction of all various components of the tabernacle complex in the previous chapter, and Moses did his part in directing the assembly of all the components, so God now does His part by bestowing the cloud of His glory on the completed tabernacle. From the time He’d taken them from Egypt, He had been leading Israel with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:21-22). With the erection of this tabernacle, these signs would be henceforth centered here in this structure – the sign of His presence in the midst of His people.

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