Survey of Exodus

To answer that question one must return to Genesis chapter 46 when Israel and his family, at the behest of Joseph, came down into Egypt.

This book begins with gloom and ends in glory.
	a)	At the beginning God comes down in grace to deliver (Ex. 3:8). At the end He comes down in Glory to dwell. (Ex. 40:34)
	b)	The book begins with a journey (Ex. 1:1) and ends with a journey. (Ex. 40:36-38)
	c)	It begins with construction (Ex. 1:11) and ends with construction. (Ex. 35:21-39:31)

The Author

The book of Exodus was written by Moses and is documented in the scriptures by the following:
	a)	“Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in Mount Ebal, As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace-offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.” (Josh 8:30-32)
	b)	“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (Jn. 1:17)
	c)	“Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? (Jn. 7:19)

Key Words

	a)	Redeem (8)
	b)	Dwell (7)
	c)	Made (125)

The Meaning Of The Name And It’s Relationship To The Book

The word “Exodus” is not the original name which was: “These are the names”. It was the Greek translators of the Septuagint which, having considered the main theme of the book, called it “Exodus”, a word which means “Departure”, signifying “a way out”. If we read Exodus carefully we discover a double exodus.
	a)	The first was the physical, national, external deliverance from a physical enforcer who was the Prince of a satanic government.
	b)	The second was spiritual, emphasizing their ideal departure from idolatry (Ezek. 20:6-10). I say “ideal” for they did not stop their idolatry nor enter into that aspect of their freedom (Ezek. 20:16, 24, 31). This idolatry is not mentioned in Exodus for the emphasis is on that which they were ideally.

These two aspects of deliverance or liberation foreshadow the glorious gospel which is spiritual but effects one physically, intellectually, emotionally, and physiologically. The gospel is not just a message relating to the “spirt” of the individual but effects the entire being, body, soul, and spirit, so the gospel must do the same. Only the gospel can deliver from the power of that nature which I am born with, and sin within, and true spiritual liberation from the traditions, doctrines and interpretations of men, no matter how old.

The Developing Thoughts From Genesis to Deuteronomy

It is always important to remember that what God hath joined together, let not man pull asunder, and that includes the scriptures. Exodus is connected to Genesis more than just by the historical fact that the five books of Moses are interconnected, a unity which is seen further by the following evidence:
	a)	The Divine endorsement. (Lk. 24:44)
	b)	The grammatical connection. The Spirit of God causes each book after Genesis to begin with the word “And”, so we read:
			i)	In the beginning (Gen. 1:1). Obviously there cannot be an “and” here.
			ii)	Lit. And these are the names (Ex. 1:1)
			iii)	“And the Lord called” (Lev. 1:1)
			iv)	“And the Lord spoke” (Num. 1:1)
			v)	“And it came to pass” (Deut. 1:3) The first two verses are a summary and the book then begins its forward record in v. 3, therefore the narrative is continued.

Genesis and Exodus

	a)	A cursory survey of the five books of Moses will show distinct differences for instance, in Genesis everything is downward. Sin comes in and we have the fall, the book begins with God and ends with a man in a coffin, Abraham goes down in Egypt, and Jacob the same. In exodus God comes down ( Ex. 3: 8) to bring His people “up out” (Ex. 3:8,17). In Leviticus they are invited into communion with Him, (Lev. 1:1), Numbers views them going through the wilderness and in Deuteronomy they are about to go over into their inheritance.

Genesis	Exodus
Life according to the will of God can only be brought about by the ability and ways of God. (Gen. 2:7)	Liberty, according to the will of God, can only be brought about by the ability and ways of God. (Ex. 8:21; 9:1; Lev. 23:43)
Abraham tries to develop God’s purposes by having a child with Hagar, but God will not have it. We see that God is the source of all life according to his purpose. (Gen. 16:3-4)	Moses tried to deliver the people through his own ability, and it spelt failure. (Ex. 2:12) God is the Source of all true liberty.
God takes out (separated) certain individuals: 1. Abraham, from Ur (Gen. 15:7) 2. Isaac from Ishmael (Gen. 17:19, 21:10) 3. Jacob from Esau (Mal. 1:2)	God takes out a people (Ex. 12:31-33)

This leads to the question: “How is the life and liberty going to be maintained?” Our liberty is based upon the death and resurrection of Christ, being dead to the powers which once held us. The children of Israel saw their enemies dead (Ex. 14:30), they had lost their power. Sin did not die to me in its attractiveness, but I died to sin’s dominating power. Now I stand with the Israelites on the other side of the Red Sea, in New Testament terms, on resurrection ground (Rom. 5:10), and Christ liveth in me (Gal. 2:20; Rom. chs. 7-8.)

Exodus and Leviticus

Both these books deal with the non frustrating purposes of God, despite governmental or moral opposition.
	a)	In Exodus God brings people to Himself positionally, but in Leviticus God brings them unto Himself morally. How beautiful are the words of the hymn: “And is it so we shall be like thy Son?” Paul wrote: “Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29).

Exodus and Israel's History

Like the Acts of the Apostles, which is a transition book, the leadership changed from the apostles to elders, from a gathering of the Jews to the gospel going to Gentiles, so with Exodus. In this book they change from a family to a nation. It will be observed that there were three descriptive terms used for this people, Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews. God wants us to recognize there is a difference between these expressions, which is evident from Paul’s writing: “Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I” (2 Cor. 11:22). The distinct emphasis is as follows:
	a)	Hebrews is a name apparently derived from “Eber” (Gen. 10:21) or from the meaning of “going over”, indicating their crossing from Ur into Canaan over the Euphrates.
	b)	Israelites comes from the name God gave to Jacob after He fought with him at the ford Jabbok, and God changed his name to Israel, meaning “a prince with God” (Gen. 32:28).
	c)	Jews is a name which never occurs until 2 Kgs. 16:6, and the first person specifically called a Jew was Mordecai (Est. 2:5). This is a name that only occurs in their later history. Their history is outlined in the chart on the next page by Dr. W. Scroggie.

The Manifestation Of God

When meditating on the God of Exodus, His glory is manifested by:
	a)	His supremacy:
			i)	Over the gods of Egypt (Ex. 12:12)
			ii)	Of the political powers of this world. Egypt was not a little insignificant colony of people. It was the mightiest nation on earth at that time. No man, irrespective of how powerful a monarch he may be on earth, can thwart the purposes of the Monarch of Heaven.

	b)	His descriptive names:
			i)	“Eheyeh asher Eheyeh” - “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex. 3:14)
			ii)	“Yahweh” - LORD (Ex. 6:2)
			iii)	“Ha-adon-Jehovah” - the LORD GOD (Ex. 23:17)
			iv)	“Jehovah-Ropheka” - LORD that healeth thee (Ex. 15:26)
			v)	“Jehovah- Nissi” - Jehovah my banner (Ex. 17:15)
			vi)	“Jehovah- Mekaddishkem” - LORD that doth sanctify you (Ex. 31:13)
			vii)	“The God of Abraham the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:15
			viii)	“Adon Jehovah Elohim” - Lord GOD, the God of Israel (Ex. 34:23)
			ix)	“The Jealous El” - Jealous God (Ex. 20:5)
			x)	“Jehovah Eloheka” - The Lord thy God (Ex. 20:2)
			xi)	“Jehovah our Elohim” - The Lord our God (Ex. 3:18)
			xii)	“Jehovah Oze” - The Lord My Strength (Ex. 15:2)

	c)	His condescension:
			i)	Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu with seventy elders: “they saw God, and did eat and drink” (Ex. 24:11)

	d)	His intensity of holiness:
			i)	“And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled . . . the Lord descended upon it in fire . . . and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Ex. 19:16-18)

	e)	His all sufficiency:
			i)	In Genesis man is in a state of ruin but God is the God of Reconciliation. (Gen. 3:9; 15, 21)
			ii)	In Exodus man is in bondage but God is the God of Liberation. (Ex. 20:2; 29:46)
			iii)	In Leviticus man is in a state of spiritual ignorance but God is the God of Instruction. (Lev. 1:1- 27:34)
			iv)	In Numbers man is disobedient but God is the God of Restoration. The children of Israel rejected the exhortation to go and possess the land because of the report of ten of the spies. It is by a careful reading that we learn it was ten of the spies who gave the evil report. One man from each tribe was sent my Moses (ch.13:2, 4-15). When they returned it would seem that Caleb was the only man who stood against the others (ch. 13:30-31), but it only seems that way. He was the more vocal of the two who encouraged obedience to God, for later Joshua and Caleb “rent their clothes” and sought to encourage Israel to go up (ch. 14:6-7). Within a short time God told Moses that only Caleb and Joshua would enter the land of that generation (ch. 14:30, 38), and that whole generation died in the wilderness (Num. 14:33-34; 32:13; Deut. 1:35). But God was merciful, and under Joshua the new generation entered the promised land. (Josh. 1:1-4)
			v)	In Deuteronomy man is forgetful but God is the God of Encouragement. Fourteen times over God calls them to “remember” (Deut. 5:15; 7:18), and by the remembrance they were to learn from past mistakes (Deut. 9:7). One of the great sins brought against them is that they “remembered not”. (Josh. 8:34; Psa. 78:39; 106:7; Ezek. 16:22)

	f)	His gracious sympathy:
			i)	“I am come down to deliver them.” (Ex. 3:8)
			ii)	“God heard their groaning.” (Ex. 2:24)
			iii)	“Heard their cry.” (Ex. 3:7; Acts 7:34)

The Types of Christ

When a Biblical book is considered as focusing on Christ, it is to see how the Lord is manifested in that book. In Exodus He is manifested in multiple ways:
	a)	By men:
			i)	Moses typifies the Lord as the Shepherd (Isa. 63:11), and Intercessor (Ex. 15:25).
			ii)	Aaron, the High Priest. (Ex. 28:41)

	b)	By ritual:
			i)	The Passover with the Lamb, the blood sprinkled door. (Ex. 12:1-7)

	c)	By articles:
			i)	The Manna (Ex. 16:15)
			ii)	The Smitten Rock (Ex. 17:6)
			iii)	The materials and furniture of the Tabernacle (Ex. chs. 25-40)
			iv)	The Priest’s and High Priest’s garments (Ex. 28:2-31:10)

The Plagues

A careful reading will result in the observation that the plagues were in distinct correspondence to each other, and they had a number of distinct purposes. Furthermore, the magicians who opposed the truth of God were characteristic of men who today oppose the truth.
	a)	They had a direct correspondence to each other:
			i)	The first and tenth are related in that, in the first, water was turned to blood and there was death in the river (Ex. 7:18, 21). In the tenth there was the death of the firstborn (ch. 12:30).
			ii)	The second and ninth are related, for in the second there were frogs, creatures which are connected with darkness and demonic activity (ch. 8:1; Rev. 16:13-14). In the ninth there was thick physical darkness over the land (ch. 10:21-23).
			iii)	The third and eighth are related because of the responses. In the third the magicians acknowledge God (ch. 8:19), and in the eighth Pharaoh acknowledges he has “sinned against the Lord your God” (ch. 10:16).
			iv)	The fourth and seventh are related for in both, Goshen is exempted (ch. 8:22) and the seventh (ch. 9:26).
			v)	The fifth and sixth were related in that both were connected to beasts and with the advancement of the sixth, also causing pain to man (ch. 9:3; 9:10).

	b)	They had distinct purposes:
			i)	They were a manifestation of the reality and power of God. (ch. 8:19; 10:16)
			ii)	They were God’s discipline on Egypt for their treatment of Israel. (ch. 10:16)
			iii)	They were judgments for God against the gods of Egypt. (ch. 12:12; Num. 33:4)
			iv)	They were a demonstration that Jehovah was superior to all other gods. (ch. 18:11)
			v)	They were a lesson to all nations that no earthly power could prevent His purposes. (ch. 14:18)
			vi)	They manifested the stubborn resistance of the heart of man to the voice of God. (ch. 7:22, 8:15, 19; 9:7, 34)
			vii)	They manifest the governmental judgment of God in hardening the heart of the unsaved for two purposes:
					1.	To display His ability for His own purposes. This was after the first signs and before the plagues. (Ex. 7:4,12-13)
					2.	To display His governmental judgment in making it impossible for Pharaoh to repent. (ch. 9:12, 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10)
			viii)	They manifested the grace of God in making man aware that the judgments were the works of God (ch. 8:19; 10:16). Men will also in a future day be forced to acknowledge that the judgments are the work of God. (Rev. 11:13; 16:9, 11, 21)

	c)	The officials who opposed the truth were characteristic of men who today oppose the truth.
			i)	When Paul wrote to Timothy, he wrote of the character of men in the last days, of whom he writes: “Men shall be lovers of their own selves . . . ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth” (2 Tim. 3:2-8). These men were the prototypes of those today who stand against the truth. One could perhaps expand it to the aspect of truth these men opposed, i.e. the liberation of the people of God to hold them in the power of Egypt. The particular benefit to Egypt in keeping the children of Israel slaves was that they were enriched by them. I see in these men prototypes of those today who oppose the truth of God by such teachings as: “there are nine gods”; “You are god”; Christ went into hell after he died and was abused by the demons”; “The work of salvation was not finished on the cross”; and having such teaching they paraphrase “Send us your money for an anointed handkerchief, water, etc.” They can perform miracles, but because they are not saved they are doing them by the power of Satan, for the Lord does not know them (Matt. 7:22-23).
			ii)	They are also prototypes of the Beast (2 Thess. 2:9), false prophet who does miracles (Rev. 13:14-15), and the false christs (Matt. 24:24).

Ways Of Studying The Book

Exodus, as with every Biblical book, has multiple avenues for ones consideration. Other ways it can be studied are:
	a)	Relative to the Holy Spirit
	b)	Relative to Satan
	c)	Relative to Prophecy
	d)	Relative to human responsibility and divine sovereignty
	e)	Evangelically. However, in the redemption of Exodus, because the particular aspect of salvation being emphasized is redemption and deliverance; there is no mention of justification, forgiveness, and cleansing for these do not deal with what man is because of birth. The gospel of Exodus is not that of salvation from the penalty of sin, but from the domination of sin, and from the government of Satan. This is a very needful aspect of salvation for unsaved humanity needs deliverance from the domination of sin due to our parentage (Rom. 5-7), and deliverance from the power of sin itself as a law operating within us (Rom.7-8). In the language of the New Testament, the exodus was:
			i)	Translation from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son of His love. (Col. 1:13)
			ii)	Turning to God from idols. (1 Thess. 1:9)
			iii)	Turning from darkness to light. (Acts 26:18)
			iv)	Turning from the power of Satan unto God. (Acts 26:18)

	f)	As saints, we need deliverance from the doctrine and deeds of the Nicolaitanes which curtail the freedom of the saints of God (Rev. 2:6, 15). This is not clerics in christendom but, as the context shows, men in New Testament assemblies, who rule by man made rules irrespective of what the Bible teaches. No one has the right to lord it over the saints (1 Pet. 5:3). The wickedness in 3rd John was that Diotrephes lorded it over the saints (3 Jn. 1:9-10).

Why Did God Take Them Out Of Egypt?

Several questions which must be considered is:
	a)	What did liberation mean to Israel?
	b)	What was the difference between their construction work in Egypt and in the wilderness?
	c)	How did God view Egypt?
	d)	Why did God bring them out of Egypt?

I shall not answer all these but simply summarize the answer to two of them.

1)	How did God view Egypt and this present world system?
		a)	A desert: “He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” (Deut. 32:10)
		b)	An iron furnace: “But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt.” (Deut. 4:20; 1 Kgs. 8:51; Jer. 11:4)
		c)	A house of bondage: “And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this [place]: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.” (Ex. 13:3, 14)

2)	Why did God bring them out of Egypt? While there would possibly be a variety of answers, the foremost one would possibly be: “Let my people go, that they may serve me” (Ex. 7:16: 8:20). However, there are other Biblical answers, such as:
		a)	To bring them to the inheritance He had promised to Abraham and his seed. (Gen. 15:7, 13-21)
		b)	To hold a feast unto the Lord. (Ex. 5:1)
		c)	To bring them unto Himself. (Ex. 19:4)
		d)	To dwell among them. (Ex. 25:8)
		e)	To be their God in contrast and supremacy to the gods they were worshipping (Ex. 12:12; Ezek. 20:5-10; Num. 15:41). This is again illustrated when the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. (1 Sam. 5:2, 7)
		f)	To be His “possession” and “inheritance” (Deut. 4:20; 1 Kgs. 8:51). The Hebrew word translated “Possession” and “inheritance” is the same word, “nachalah” and indicates not possession as ownership, neither a heritage or inheritance as something inherited, but rather the idea of ones dwelling place. Thus, in the wilderness there are two dwelling places of God, the Tabernacle and His People.
		g)	As such to be a hallmark for future generations of God’s delivering power. (Jud. 10:11)
		h)	To show the foolishness of man who stands against God. (Ex. 14:17-31)
		i)	To show how people in fellowship with God can work with God to build His dwelling place. (Ex. 25:1-40:38)
		j)	To show how the people who are redeemed and delivered have been brought into a governmental relationship with God. (Ex. 20:1-17)
		k)	To give a beautiful foreshadow of Christ as the Passover Lamb. (Ex. 12:3-4)
		l)	The gloriousness of the providential movements of God for the fulfilling of His purposes. (Ex. 6:1, 6; 7:17-10:27)

May God grant us good understanding as He, by His Holy Spirit, deigns to guide us into all truth.
John 16:13