Hello! Yeah it’s been a while…. I have spent the better part of this past year writing a bible study on the book of Exodus and sharing it with a wonderful group of women. It is called A Walk Through the Wilderness. We have almost finished this bible study, but with the holidays, and everyones busy schedules, I have decided to finish this on my blog. Please feel free to join me in these bible studies. I will post them from the beginning. So strap on your desert sandals and join us on this journey. I have learned a lot of things and my hope is that you will too. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you find interesting, or share some of your own insights on these desert musings.

A Study in the book of Exodus

The Exodus is a story about a nations total dependence on God.  It required the Israelites to follow God when they had no idea where He was leading them. It required absolute faith. As we walk through the wilderness with God’s chosen, we will see God’s grace, the law, discipline, and even death.

The Bible, from the book of Genesis to the book of The Revelation, reveals Jesus Christ. We first see Him when God says, “Let there be Light” (Genesis 1:3). When you look farther into Genesis, you find that God did not create the sun, moon and the stars (which is the things that provide light for the earth) until Day 4 of creation. So to find out what this Light was we will go to the gospel of John and read in the first chapter.

The way it reveals Jesus in the Old Testament is through types and shadows. He is revealed through the actions of men, or inanimate objects, and sometimes He is even physically revealed, as in Daniel 3:25 when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace and King Nebuchadnezzar saw a fourth man like the Son of God walking in the fire with them. This is called a theophany. A theophany is when God takes human form.  Now consider that a  Christophany is an appearance of Christ before He was born of the virgin Mary.  As Christians we know that Jesus is God in the flesh, so they are basically one and the same.

Consider this verse:

1 Corinthians 10:1-6 1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

Let’s look at the 3 locations of the book of Exodus and how they apply in our lives.

1. Egypt – Egypt is most often a symbol of bondage or slavery in the bible. However, there are times when it is a place of refuge and blessing. One example of this would be when the Israelites were saved during the famine by going to Egypt. In the New Testament, Joseph and Mary were told to take the baby Jesus to Egypt because Herod was having all the baby boys killed.  Ironically Moses was placed in a basket in the Nile River as a baby because Pharaoh, too, was having all the baby boys killed. Egypt is also a representation of our state of bondage before we are saved.
2. The Wilderness – This is our time on Earth. This is where we live our lives. The wilderness is where we make all of our choices. This is where we, like the Israelites, follow God in obedience and faith, or we go our own way, and grumble the entire time.  Many people are not even aware that they were not created to wander aimlessly through the wilderness. When we accept Christ, we can rest assured that every step that we take is ordered by God. The Israelites were led by a cloud during the day, and a fire at night. They never just wandered without direction. We are never meant to wander without direction. If we will follow God and trust Him, we have this promise in John 12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.              .
   
3. The Promised Land – This is what we are promised if we faithfully follow God. It is our reward. Everyone that journeys through the wilderness will not see the Promised Land.  As a matter of fact, it is interesting to note that all of the older people died in the wilderness and only the young ones were able to go into the Promised Land. In Matthew 18:3 Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Little children have a trusting heart. They believe things that they are told. As we get older, we have a tendency to become just the opposite. And even worse than untrusting, we can become very cynical. It is sobering that unless we remain trusting in our Heavenly Father, and not faithless and cynical, we are assured we will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

So, before we begin in Exodus, lets go back into Genesis and find out exactly how the Israelites ended up in Egypt.

In Genesis 37 we find the story of Joseph.  He is the favorite son of his father Jacob and definitely spoiled. While his brothers are out taking care of sheep, Joseph is at home with daddy. While his brothers are in some stinky shepherds clothing, Jacob makes Joseph a beautiful, elaborately embroidered, coat.  And Joseph is a dreamer. One day He dreams that all his brothers bow down before him as servants, and if you are an older sibling, you can almost hear the naner naner way he retells the dream.

The story of Joseph is a beautiful type and shadow of Christ. It is one of my favorites. His father sends him to his brothers like Christ was sent by the Father to His brothers. He is hated by his brothers. When Joseph goes to his brothers, they want to kill him but instead he is sold  into slavery, just as Jesus was hated to the point of death and sold by Judas for the price of a slave. Joseph ends up the ruler over all of Egypt, with only the Pharaoh above him, just as Jesus is second in the Godhead, (The Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit).  Because of the wickedness of Joseph’s brothers, many are saved, just as the wickedness that killed our Lord on the cross resulted in salvation for all that would ask.

After Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, God continues to bless him. He ends up in charge of Potiphers house. After being falsely accused by Potiphers horny wife, he ends up in prison, but even in prison God continues to bless him. While in prison, two of Pharaohs servants that are imprisoned have a dream, and Joseph, the dreamer, is able to interpret their dreams.

Later Pharaoh has two disturbing dreams and Joseph is brought from prison to interpret his dreams. He tells Pharaoh that his dreams mean that 7 years of plenty are coming which will be followed by 7 years of severe famine. He suggests storing grain during the years of plenty so that they will have it during the years of famine.  When Pharaoh realizes that Joseph understands dreams and is full of wisdom, he puts him in charge of everything.

So during the years of plenty, all of the people of Egypt are required to bring to the storehouses 20% of everything that they grow. And during the famine, this is what saves the people from starvation.  But it is during this famine that Josephs brothers have to go to Egypt to get food or they will starve.  They come to Joseph, and not recognizing him, they ask to buy food.  After some interesting things happen, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers and moves his entire family from Canaan to Egypt.

In Egypt, Joseph’s family is given the land of Goshen to live in, which is the finest of all of Egypt.  Ironically, as the famine continues, the Egyptians run out of money to buy grain. They offer to sell their livestock to Pharaoh to buy grain. When they run out of livestock, they ask Joseph if they can sell their property and all they own to Pharaoh for food.  So, ironically, all of Egypt ends up in bondage except Joseph’s family. They continue to be prosperous in the land.

And this is where we start our story in Exodus.

The book of Exodus is the second book of the bible written by Moses. It is a part of the Torah, which is the first 5 books of the bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

I mention that it is a part of the Torah, because as Christians we have lost the Jewish roots of our religion.  Jesus was a Jew. All 12 of the apostles were Jews. Jesus and the apostles did not go to a Christian church, they went to Jewish synagogues. Their bible was the Old Testament or the Tanakh.  They did not have a New Testament because it had not been written yet. Their lives as they served the risen Jesus became the New Testament.

During this journey, we will often use Torah teachings to help us to understand much of the story. Because the King James Version Bible was written during the 16th century, some of the Hebrew words that were translated at that time do not have the same meaning in todays English. So we will look at some of the original Hebrew words to help us  understand what may have literally gotten lost in translation. Our English and the English spoken in the 16^th century can differ greatly, and those differences can completely change the original intent or thought of those writers.

A humorous example would be when my youngest son Austin was in grade school, he brought home the Chronicles of Narnia, written by C.S. Lewis.  I love the writings of C.S. Lewis, but had never read his children’s books. I was very careful about what books I let the boys read, but knew that these stories were not only wholesome, but presented a type and shadow of Christ as the Lion Aslan. When I told Austin that I wanted to read these books after he was done, I sensed that he did not want me to read them. When I asked him why, he said that the book said gay and queer a lot. Those two worlds definitely have a much different meaning today then they did when the writer used them in the 1940’s. I had to explain the difference in the meaning then and now.  I am sure the book took on quite a different meaning after letting him know this.

I would like you to think about what it is that you struggle with most as you wander through this wilderness of life.  As you study Exodus with me and on your own, please feel free to comment on some of the things that you feel like spoke to you or that you have questions about. I may not know the answer, but I will definitely look until I find it.

My next blog will get us started in our study in Exodus. I am so glad that you have decided to take this journey with me.