EXODUS

[sana8410]

Author:  Moses

Date: 1420 or 1220 BC

Content:  The book of Exodus deals with the significant facts surrounding Israel's emergence as a nation.  Moses' great leadership is described as he accepted God's call to return to Egypt in order to lead God's people to freedom.  God sent the ten devastation plagues upon Egypt because the Pharoah refused to obey his command.  The ceremony of Passover was established during the last plague and became a memorial of God's deliverance for all time to Israel.  The Israelites crosed the sea and arrived at Mt. Sinai where God gave the Ten Commandments and the plan for the Taberancle, and the covenant was renewed with the nation.


Theme:  The power of God over evil is clearly shown when God defeats the enemies of his people by delivering them from bondage, but God expects that we trust and obey him in return.  Worship in the Tabernacle and adherence to the law were two aspects o Israel's obedience.

The Passover lamb is seen by the NT as a figure of Christ the Lamb of God (1 Cor. 5:7)


Outline:

1.  Israel's bondage in Egypt, 1:1 - 22

2.  The early life of Moses, 2:1 - 7:7

3.  The plagues, the Passover, and the exodus, 7:8 - 15:21

4.  The trip to Sinai and the giving of the law, 15: 22 - 24:18

5.  Instructions for the Tabernacle, 25:1 - 31:18

6.  Israel's sin and renewal, 32:1 - 35:3

7.  The building of the Tabernacle, 35:4 - 40:38

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[sana8410]

The ruling Arab minority in Egypt today  oppresses the Egyptian majority in order to stay in power.  True for Sudan as well.   It's not just about the Israelis.

The laws revealed in Exodus have what literature refers to as "having passed the test of time" for great literature.  Relevance and usefulness.  They are recognizable in our federal, state, and local codes.  They form a fundamental survival code for any civilization.  Not sure they are handed down from God so much as someone recognized that dealing with this many different people would require such laws to be generally known to reduce the inevitable conflicts getting out of hand.

How do you like God in this chapter?  All that death, all those sacrifices.  And yet, it's interesting isn't it that the best parts of the sacrificed animals are to be consumed, the rest burned to please God.  Hmn.

[Mr.Bitty]

God shows great mercy to people who insist on sinning even if humans don't believe it or  Him.

[sana8410]

God shows great mercy to people who insist on sinning even if humans don't believe it or  Him.

I don't know about that, after all He made them wander around for 40 years until the last of them died before letting their descendants enter the land he had promised.  And, don't forget the two sons of Aaron he killed instantly for a breach of ceremony.   Not too merciful with Moses either when after all Moses had done or tried to do, He only let him see but not set foot in the holy land.  I'm still not certain why Moses was even being punished, unless it was for being inept at handling all those people.   Maybe the whole story is a lesson in fear.  Fear doesn't work, except in the short term, and that's why God keeps losing them to their old  traditions and faith.

[sana8410]

Because it seems pretty obvious that the results of not keeping a significant force in Iraq would eventually lead to collapse one way or the other. The only thing that is surprising is the speed, not the result. To tell Maliki that he would keep a couple thousand troops made it impossible to get the agreement required. It would have been suicide for him, so he made his bed with Iran.

[Rigon]

Yeah...that ole fire and brimstone god of the old testament was a merciful fellow wasnt he Sana8410?  Puberty must be a bitch for gods.

[sana8410]

It took 40 years to have all the disobedient ones die; only their descendants could see the promised land.  That was the punishment for slipping back to their old ways, collecting their gold to form the calf.  No mercy for being new to the faith, back in the day.

[Mr.Bitty]

It took 40 years to have all the disobedient ones die; only their descendants could see the promised land.  That was the punishment for slipping back to their old ways, collecting their gold to form the calf.  No mercy for being new to the faith, back in the day.

In the face of some obvious miracles time and time again, starting in Egypt - yeah, again they acted in disbelief.  Plenty of mercy had been shown prior to this, given their numerous failures already.  It was not just this failure out of the blue.

And, the discipline worked for a time - the people who were finally led into the promise land by Joshua and Caleb were extremely faithful.  For a time anyway; come the book of Judges, they again fall even into deeper sin.

[Mr.Bitty]

It is a testimony to how sinful we can be, and how we prefer even to cling to our sin.

Note also that these people, though unable to enter the promised land, were still provided for by God - that was mercy also.

[sana8410]

It took 40 years to have all the disobedient ones die; only their descendants could see the promised land.  That was the punishment for slipping back to their old ways, collecting their gold to form the calf.  No mercy for being new to the faith, back in the day.

In the face of some obvious miracles time and time again, starting in Egypt - yeah, again they acted in disbelief.  Plenty of mercy had been shown prior to this, given their numerous failures already.  It was not just this failure out of the blue.

And, the discipline worked for a time - the people who were finally led into the promise land by Joshua and Caleb were extremely faithful.  For a time anyway; come the book of Judges, they again fall even into deeper sin.

The logistics of moving that many people must have been a nightmare.  They suffered and reverted and God didn't let them into the Promised Land.

[Mr.Bitty]

I think we can all think of examples, particular those of us with significant others, who find out that they are quite angry with us when we do something wrong.  And I mean justifiably so.

And, what we do is focus on that very last thing we did, and forget the things that may have led up to it over the weeks, and/or have ignored the warning signs, etc.  And we start thinking - all this over that one thing?


Or someone is let go from their job, over one incident, but, in reality, it was an accumulation of incidents that we refused to learn from.

[sana8410]

It is a testimony to how sinful we can be, and how we prefer even to cling to our sin.

Note also that these people, though unable to enter the promised land, were still provided for by God - that was mercy also.

Pitcairn Island.  The most Godly people on the planet, actually sought after by ship's captains and captains of industry everywhere.  One of the deserters of Mutiny of the Bounty fame is credited with giving rise to such a people.  He read the bible and taught from it, so it's a good survival manual.

[RodeoX]

I have read that the exodus story has a puzzle in it. There is no evidence of any kind of migration at the time outlined in the bible. It is normally interpreted as a reference to an earlier migration or a later one that was added to the bible. It also could be borrowed from another culture like so many bible stories. Or possibly related to a very small migration that left no other records. My guess is that the story is related to some kind of exodus from Egyptian slavery. But it could have been centuries earlier than bible writers thought.

Unfortunately, when the Romans wrote the bible they threw out the majority of bible stories. Anything that contradicted Roman law and sensibilities was edited out. With only a few official Roman scraps to go on we may never know the whole story.

[sana8410]

I think we can all think of examples, particular those of us with significant others, who find out that they are quite angry with us when we do something wrong.  And I mean justifiably so.

And, what we do is focus on that very last thing we did, and forget the things that may have led up to it over the weeks, and/or have ignored the warning signs, etc.  And we start thinking - all this over that one thing?


Or someone is let go from their job, over one incident, but, in reality, it was an accumulation of incidents that we refused to learn from.

God chose the people; they didn't choose Him.  They followed out of fear, for He after all those plagues, was to be feared. Captivity was no fun but it looked better at times than the constant wandering, and even though they had with the offered wealth of Egypt.   40 years wandering, following fire and cloud.  Must have seemed endless, and was for those who began the journey.    

Just not catching the merciful God image, at this point in my reading.

[Mr.Bitty]

It is a testimony to how sinful we can be, and how we prefer even to cling to our sin.

Note also that these people, though unable to enter the promised land, were still provided for by God - that was mercy also.

Pitcairn Island.  The most Godly people on the planet, actually sought after by ship's captains and captains of industry everywhere.  One of the deserters of Mutiny of the Bounty fame is credited with giving rise to such a people.  He read the bible and taught from it, so it's a good survival manual.

They cried out for deliverance (the Egyptian were oppressing them).  They were being exterminated in fact.

God sent Moses, and through Moses delivered them time and again, with awesome miracles.  But, the hardness of the human heart finds itself going back to unbelief and sin.  Mercy kept God from giving what the people deserve each time they went into AWFUL sin.

[noviapriani]

It is a testimony to how sinful we can be, and how we prefer even to cling to our sin.

Note also that these people, though unable to enter the promised land, were still provided for by God - that was mercy also.

Pitcairn Island.  The most Godly people on the planet, actually sought after by ship's captains and captains of industry everywhere.  One of the deserters of Mutiny of the Bounty fame is credited with giving rise to such a people.  He read the bible and taught from it, so it's a good survival manual.

They cried out for deliverance (the Egyptian were oppressing them).  They were being exterminated in fact.

God sent Moses, and through Moses delivered them time and again, with awesome miracles.  But, the hardness of the human heart finds itself going back to unbelief and sin.  Mercy kept God from giving what the people deserve each time they went into AWFUL sin.

Fairy tales.
There is not one ounce of truth in EXODUS, or any other book of The Bible. No need for further discussion with an idiot who places his "faith" in fairy tales. 

[Mr.Bitty]

I think we can all think of examples, particular those of us with significant others, who find out that they are quite angry with us when we do something wrong.  And I mean justifiably so.

And, what we do is focus on that very last thing we did, and forget the things that may have led up to it over the weeks, and/or have ignored the warning signs, etc.  And we start thinking - all this over that one thing?


Or someone is let go from their job, over one incident, but, in reality, it was an accumulation of incidents that we refused to learn from.

God chose the people; they didn't choose Him.  They followed out of fear, for He after all those plagues, was to be feared. Captivity was no fun but it looked better at times than the constant wandering, and even though they had with the offered wealth of Egypt.   40 years wandering, following fire and cloud.  Must have seemed endless, and was for those who began the journey.    

Just not catching the merciful God image, at this point in my reading.

Then, they failed, yielding to fear instead of trusting the God who showed miracle after miracle, and really, God could have destroyed them and be just.  It was mercy allowing them to wander instead.
And, their children benefited from it, as one can see when Joshua finally brought them in.

[Decksperiment]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Israel is NOT in egypt? Neither does a sea part them.

[Decksperiment]

And wether we beleive in god or not, it is the devil who instil's fear.