Video Transcript: Exodus from Egypt

We continue our overview of the redemptive historical story of the Old  Testament with a three part look at Israel's journey from slavery to freedom,  beginning with their exodus from Egypt. This Exodus is recounted appropriately  enough in the book of the same name, which picks up the story of Jacob's  descendants living in Egypt. About three centuries after the death of Joseph.  The Israelites had continued to multiply rapidly. This was evidence of the  fulfilment of God's first promise to Abraham. But it was also a concern, a cause  for concern to Egypt's rulers who had forgotten Joseph and how much he had  done for Egypt. As a result, the Israelites were progressively enslaved. Pharaoh  didn't trust them. And yet he wanted them around to build Egypt cities store  houses, highways, water and sewage systems and so on. The work was heavy,  the food substandard, the heat oppressive, the housing uncomfortable and  disease was everywhere. In short, Hebrew lives were bitter under the cruelty  and oppression of Egyptian overseers. But Exodus 1:12, says the more they  were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. So the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and work them ruthlessly. Pharoah grew increasingly  concerned so much so that he ordered the newborn male children of the  Hebrews to be killed at birth. Now during this time of increasing oppression,  Abraham's descendants wondered, where's God? It may have been that they  remembered what God had promised Abraham. Remember that fourfold  promise I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse. And  finally all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. But they didn't see any  evidence that God remembered those promises, or that he was even concerned for them. They groaned in their misery. In Exodus 2:23 says their cry for help  went up to God and was heard by him. And then scripture goes on to say that  God remembered his covenant with Abraham. It wasn't that he had forgotten it.  This simply signals that God was now ready to proceed to the next chapter in  the fulfillment of His promises to Abraham. However, the evidences of God's  help would not be seen except in limited ways for another 80 years. God began  by arranging for the birth and saving from death of Moses, he used an arrogant  tyrant Pharaoh himself to protect and educate the one who would one day be  God's point person in the defeat of Egypt. So although the Israelites did not  know it, help was on the way, a Savior was being prepared for his role. It was  important in thinking of that preparation, it was important, for example, that, that  Moses understand the culture of his day, so that he could appreciate in his life's  calling the radical nature of God's counterculture. It was also important that he  understand the language and religion of Egypt, so that he could later strike at  the heart of their opposition to God in ways the Egyptians could understand.  Whether or not Moses had any idea of the role God was preparing him for, he  seems to have had the heart for it. He suffered with his people in his spirit, even  while he enjoyed benefits they could only dream about. And he longed for the 

day when he could do something about the injustices they suffered. One day his chance came, Moses took revenge on an Egyptian who is abusing a Hebrew.  But if he didn't know it right away, he soon found out that not even his own  people thought he was a hero for it, nor were they willing to accept his  leadership. They asked him who made you ruler and judge over us. Both his  impulse was right, but the timing and methods were wrong and he had to flee for his life. At the age of 40. He became a fugitive. He had to escape the long reach of Pharaoh and didn't stop until he reached Midian. There God would work with  him for another four years, teaching him the ways of the desert and teaching  him patience. All this time Moses felt out of place. He had been out of place in  Egypt. He was out of place in Midian. And like his enslaved relatives back in  Egypt, he wondered where God was, and what he was like. Finally, one day in  his 80th year of life, Moses began to get more of an answer than He probably  wanted. He was tending his flocks in the shadow of Mount Horeb, when he saw  what looked like a bush on fire, but not being burned up, checking it out, he was  surprised and terrified by a message from someone who identified himself as  the God of the patriarchs. I'm sure Moses was happy to learn that God was  concerned about the suffering of his covenant people in Egypt. But he was less  thrilled when he heard that God had chosen him to take the lead in setting them  free. Moses offered objections. First, he protested that he was not fit for the task. And when God told him to tell his people that the God of their fathers had sent  them. Well, he wanted to know more about what this God was like. In response,  God identified Himself by His covenant name, Yahweh. Sometimes, in previous  translations of Scripture, Jehovah, he said that Moses and the Israelites would  come to know more about what this name meant, that is to know more about  what Yahweh was like, by witnessing his coming actions on their behalf. The  meaning of what God told Moses is something like this. I am who I will show  myself to be in rescuing my people from their oppressors and delivering them  into the land of the Canaanites. Just who would God show himself to be in the  coming events, he would show himself to be a personal, one who not only heard and saw the misery of his people, but one who was also merciful and  compassionate toward them. Moses began to learn too that God is faithful, that  he doesn't forget promises. Before and after Yahweh revealed his name to  Moses, he identified himself as the God of their fathers of Abraham, Isaac and  Jacob. This was not a different God, he was the one whom the patriarchs had  worshipped, but he was more personal, merciful and faithful than they had  imagined. Moses also began to learn something of the holiness of God that was  driven home to him in the fiery sign of God's presence and in God's requirement for Moses, to remove his shoes. It's no wonder Moses was frightened. And the  more he and Israel came to know about God's holiness in the years ahead, the  more they would be astonished that Yahweh as holy as He was, made it  possible for people to live in his presence, without themselves being consumed. 

All this is captured in the Name Yahweh, God's covenant name, God thus  guaranteed is continuing interest in his people. Not that this was perfectly clear  to Moses at first, but God would prove the truth of His name by his actions, so  with a few more ineffectual protests and some signs from God and the promise  of the support of Moses brother Aaron, Moses left Midian to journey back to  Egypt. There, as God commanded he and Aaron met with Pharaoh and  conveyed to him, Yahweh's demand that they be given leave to travel into the  desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Pharaoh could hardly believe what he was  hearing and rejected the demand outright. And after that, the conflict between  Pharaoh and God escalated in an ever more tragic sequence of demands and  refusals, in which plagues from God were unleashed upon Egypt. It took 10  plagues, each one worse than the preceding to complete the breakdown of  pharaohs resistance. Their creator who had so long before brought order out of  chaos. Now reverse that gracious act by replacing order in Egypt with chaos.  This showed Egypt and Israel who was really in charge of this was important for  the fate of God's universe hung in the balance and God did not quit, until  everyone came to see who the rightful authority was. Finally, after God's terrible  judgment on the firstborn of Egypt, Pharaoh gave up and released Yahweh's  people. At the beginning of the whole sequence of events, the Israelites had  shut their ears and hearts to Moses announcements of God's purpose, but by  the end, they like Moses and Aaron, were ready to do just what the Lord  commanded. The faith of Moses people grew there. Depression was lifted their  hope was aroused as they saw the power that Yahweh had demonstrated over  Egypt. And through all this too the attitudes of the Egyptians were changing.  They began quite satisfied with the way Israel was forced to serve them. But  they soon began to see that they were no match for Israel's God. In the end,  they got sick and tired of fighting God, some of the Egyptians even joined  Israelites when they departed Egypt, that joining being a symbol not only of  change political allegiance, but also of a change in who they worshipped. But  the conflict that had raged in Egypt was not yet entirely over, Pharaoh changed  his mind. And again, chased, he changed his mind again, and chased Israel to  the sea. And with that, the Israelites lost their faith, doubting that God would be  able to finish what he had started. Moses was caught between he was a  mediator and all this, to answer the terror of Israel, he gave the answer that men and women of faith must always given the face of despair. He said, Do not be  afraid, stand firm, and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.  He told them, the Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still. And when  Moses spoke those words of encouragement to the people, he spoke by faith,  not by sight, he didn't take a vote to determine majority opinion, rather, praying  all the while, he exercised the faith that God had given him to call the people to  faith. You'd almost think that Moses knew ahead of time what God was going to  do, but he didn't. He was not only ignorant about how God would deliver Israel, 

he didn't even know that God would do it. Sure, he had God's promise, and he  had faith. But that's all the guarantee he had. So even though he may have said  it confidently, Moses was all the while praying his heart out, Lord, don't make me out to be a liar. Do what I said you would do. And God did. The move between  Israel and Egypt to keep them separate, while Israel passed through the sea, to  safety. what God was doing on Israel's behalf became more and more evident  that as the day progressed, as they follow the lead of Yahweh, the foes that  pursued them got no closer the attention of God, which meant favor for his  people threw the enemy, into confusion, the wheels of Egypt's state of the art  chariots came off, and the soldiers recognized the hand of Yahweh, and they  recognized that it was the Lord who had thrown them into confusion because he was fighting for Israel. It was the same pillar of fire and cloud that stood between Egypt and Israel. It was the same God who looked down on both. But what  meant life for the one meant disaster for the other. This is a picture of Judgment  Day when We will all stand before the same God. Some when they see Christ  coming on the clouds of heaven, will see. Will say Come, Lord Jesus, come  quickly. Others will call out to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us.  But then it will be too late to change sides. When Egypt's army realized what  was happening, they tried to flee but it was too late. This mighty military power  that had dared stand against Yahweh and challenge his right to the service of  his people was overthrown, and its army drowned in the sea, the victory was  complete. Yahweh's power and faithfulness and his character is a kind, merciful  and powerful God in question until now, was finally proved beyond doubt. And  with that, Israel's questions about God were answered again. God did know  what he was doing. after all. He was faithful to his work. He did have the power  and integrity to follow through on his promises. He was indeed, Yahweh, the  faithful covenanting God Israel saw this for the first time. And for the first time we read in Exodus 14:31. The people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him. And in Moses, his servant, ownership of the people was finally and firmly  established. From that point on Israel was to meet up with other tyrants who, like Pharaoh wished to separate Abraham's descendants from their God and return  them to false service. But Israel, at least at this point, had it right. Freedom is not simply the escape from an oppressive ruler, it involves wholehearted allegiance,  allegiance to the rightful ruler. In other words, freedom is not so much a  successful Declaration of Independence, as it as it is a proper declaration of  dependence upon the Creator and Redeemer of the world. After the Red Sea  crossing, God led his people back to the place where he had revealed Himself  to Moses in the burning bush, Mount Horeb, or known by another name, Sinai.  There he gave them the constitution of the kingdom he was establishing, he  gave them the 10 commandments and many other laws to guide his covenant  people in the conduct of their lives. And some of the most detailed of God's  guidelines, as we see in the last third of the book of Exodus, involve the 

construction and dedication of the tabernacle. Now, you might wonder about the  reasons for the tabernacle, why was God so very particular about the conditions  under which he would be willing to live with Israel. As simply put, it's the same  reason he had to exclude Adam and Eve from Paradise after their bid for  independence. There is no room in God's holy presence for sin. God had  graciously not separated himself completely from sinful humanity, he was still  present, and still graciously providing what his world and its inhabitants needed  for day to day life. But things were messed up. The Earth did not easily yield its  produce, and people were constantly in conflict with each other and constantly  losing sight of the purpose for which they had been spared. People then had  what all people have today, what has been described as a God shaped vacuum  in themselves that long to be filled. But they needed help to know the true God.  And as we have already talked about God provided that help by concentrating  on one man Abraham, with whom he would live and whom he would make into a great nation and through whom he would bless the whole world. But it was not  easy. For if the Exodus story show us anything. They show that Abraham's  descendants were far from sinless. Rather, they were inclined to disobedience.  God had to insulate himself from such sin, not so much for his own benefit, he  would not have been harmed by contact, but the people would not have been  able to live in the presence of His Holiness. True, God had made special  arrangements for Moses to see His glory without dying. But it was common  knowledge that you cannot see God and live and so the tabernacle was God's  way of reestablishing a holy place, in the middle of an unholy people. That's the  point of all this attention to the design and construction of the Tent of Meeting. To allow His holy presence among the people without condemning them to death.  God prescribed this tent of meeting this tabernacle and holy furnishings, and a  tribe of priests, and a set of careful rituals. And when the people had obeyed all  Yahweh's instructions, and the work was finished, then it happened. Exodus  40:34, tells us then, the cloud, which symbolizes as you know, the presence of  Yahweh, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting. And the glory of Yahweh filled  the tabernacle. And the people knew that God was with them. God stayed there  with Israel and all their travels, and nobody said, what a lot of bother. This was a greatest thing that people could imagine. Yahweh living in their midst, protecting  them and leading them wherever they would go. Indeed, this was nothing less  than God reestablishing in a formal way, his presence on Earth. Once again, as  it had been with Adam and Eve in paradise, God communed with the people  who were the crown of his creation, at least with a representative portion of  them wasn't quite the same. The Garden of Eden had been a perfect place with  sinless people, and this was the wilderness and a bunch of people who would  prove far from sinless. But it was a significant advance in God's plan to reclaim  his whole creation. How different was this situation from the godlessness that  prevailed on the earth not that long after God had had cleansed it and purified it 

with the flood, and how different it was from the life enjoyed. By the patriarchs,  even though they did experience many blessings from God, and how different  this was, from the predicament in which Israel found itself at the beginning of the book of Exodus, they're enslaved and bitter, not seeing or even sensing God's  presence, but here free at peace, and attended by the constant presence of  Yahweh. The Israelites had started out not knowing much at all about God, but  they came to know him as Yahweh their deliverer. Yahweh their King and  Governor. Yahweh the gracious and forgiving God. And now Yahweh the God  who was present who had come to live right where they lived. sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, it was in a way and that's why we have the  wilderness years which are the subject of the next lecture. So problems during  that time weren't because of anything God did wrong. They were simply  evidence of the persistent sinfulness of the human heart, the problem that would not be adequately addressed until a better mediator and Savior than Moses  came along.