The Bible Recap: Month Two
Week 5: Exodus 1-18
This week we begin the book of Exodus, and it begins with the story of Moses and the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt - a familiar story for most people. It’s worth noting here that the traditional Jewish and Christian belief was that the writings of the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) are attributed to Moses. However, modern biblical scholars suggest that it may have been compiled over time by multiple authors/editors.
The story begins by detailing how a new Pharaoh (not the one who had taken favor with Joseph in Genesis) was reigning, and he had enslaved and oppressed the Israelites (descendants of the Jacob/Israel). The Pharaoh tries to control the Israelite population by ordering the killing of the male babies, but many of the midwives refuse. Moses is born from the family lineage of Levi (one of the 12 tribes of Israel), and his mother hides him for three months to avoid him being killed. She then sends him down the Nile in a basket, where he is found by the Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopts him (she knows he is a Hebrew baby). Moses grows older and ends up killing an Egyptian man who was beating a Hebrew, and this forces him to flee to Midian, where he meets his wife, Zipporah.
While tending a flock in Midian, Moses encounters the burning bush; Exodus 3:2 says “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” and 3:6 “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God says he has seen the affliction of his people and heard their cry, and that he has come down to deliver them from the Egyptians. He tells Moses that he must go to the Pharaoh to demand the children of Israel are let go, out of Egypt. Moses comes up with many excuses as to why he’s not the right fit, but God insists and also tells him to use his brother Aaron to help him speak (I found it interesting I had never heard much about Aaron before reading this story).
Moses goes to the Pharaoh and asks that the Israelites are let go, but the Pharaoh refuses. Moses tries to show the power of God through various means that God instructs him to show — his staff turns into a snake, the water of the Nile turns into blood. However, the Pharaoh does not believe in these signs because his magicians are able to replicate them. Instead, the Pharaoh decides to oppress the Israelites even more. God continues to promise deliverance, but the Pharaoh repeatedly “hardens his heart” and refuses to let them go. We continue to see Moses confront the Pharaoh, and after each try, we see one of the 10 plagues: the Nile turned to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock dying, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and finally, the death of every firstborn. This is where we see the tradition of Passover come in. Before the final plague, Moses tells the Hebrews to make a sacrifice of a lamb throughout the night and to use the blood to paint on the sides and tops of their doors, so their house will not be affected by this last plague of the firstborn dying. He tells them to only eat unleavened bread, which becomes part of the Passover tradition.
After this last plague, the Pharaoh finally decides to let the people go, and Moses begins to lead them out of Egypt toward Canaan (the land God has promised the Israelites). We see God leading the people by a cloud during the day and by fire at night, and he tells Moses to set up camp near the sea. Then the Pharaoh changes his heart again about letting the people go, and he sends men and chariots out to attack the Israelites. Once they catch up with Moses and the people, we see the parting of the Red Sea as the Israelites try to flee. God tells Moses to lift his staff, and the Lord parts the sea, making way for the Israelites to cross; He then crashes the sea down on Pharaoh and his men.
Lastly, while the people travel in the wilderness, they begin to complain about lack of food and water, but God continues to provide. Moses strikes a rock with his staff and God provides water. He tells the people to go and collect food every day and gather double on the sixth day so they can rest on the seventh day (formalizing the pattern of the Sabbath). Exodus 16:4 says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.” This provision is called manna.
Week 6: Exodus 19-40
The remaining chapters of Exodus have to do with Moses receiving a lot of instructions from God. Moses makes several trips up Mount Sinai, and we see a lot of beautiful and powerful imagery here of God’s presence: a cloud of smoke surrounding the mountain with thunder and lightning and loud trumpets blaring. Only Moses is allowed all the way up the mountain to speak to God. On these trips, Moses receives the 10 Commandments on stone tablets, as well as receives many other laws the people are to abide by.
One of these times, Moses is gone for 40 days and 40 nights, and the people grow impatient, wondering when / if Moses will return. So, they decide to ask Aaron (Moses’ brother) to build them a golden calf to worship. Understandably, when Moses returns from the mountain, he is upset and God is upset, and Moses throws the tablets to the ground where they break (Moses later returns to the mountain to get another set of commandments, written on stone tablets). God threatens to destroy the nation, but Moses pleads on the people’s behalf to save them. Most are spared, but about 3,000 of those who were unrepentant about worshipping the idol were killed, and a plague follows.
The rest of the story has a lot of details on how God instructs the Tabernacle (a place of worship and a dwelling place for the Lord to be among the people) to be made — creating specific objects, each with its own purpose for worship, with specific materials, colors and measurements. God is instructing them to build a beautiful place, where He can dwell among them. God also instructs Aaron and his sons to be the priests and details the rituals for worship and sacrifice.
Week 7 / 8: Leviticus 1-27
I am combining the summary for these two weeks, because I won’t go into too many details of Leviticus. This book spends a lot of time detailing more laws and rituals for the people.
It details many things that are “unclean” and how to purify them, and the rituals for each of the different types of sacrifices / offerings (burnt, grain, peace, sin, and guilt) are explained. Many more rules are outlined: how to deal with people who have leprosy or other skin conditions, treating sojourners with kindness, not oppressing your neighbor, not having idols, observing holy days and the sabbath, etc. The infamous line of “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination” is stated in Leviticus 20:13.
Punishments are also detailed, and a man is stoned to death for cursing the Lord’s name; there is also the famous eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth punishment, which is meant to instruct proportional justice for harm caused. This book also details how to handle slaves, so it’s very important to remember this was a specific writing for a very specific time in history. It’s easy for me to see that some people in modern-day society cherry-pick rules out of this book to follow (i.e. homosexuality as a sin) and ignore others (i.e. garments made of two different materials should not be worn, animal sacrifices should be made, etc.).
