Exodus by Dennis McCallum (2023)

In the first four chapters of Exodus, God reveals who He is. He is distinct form humans. He is the eternal and unchanging I AM. He is who He is, not who we want Him to be. He is personal, and even has empathy. He pursues a plan of rescue for His fallen creation, humans. He calls us to join Him. He makes the large out of the little.

After God meets Moses at the burning bush, He commissions Moses to go to Pharaoh to seek the release of His people. Moses tries to get out of the assignment but God has chosen Moses, but not for all his natural talents and abilities. God had been preparing Moses for this for his whole life even though Moses could not see the big picture. In the end, Moses trusts God enough to go back to Egypt and confront Pharaoh.

The series of plagues that God inflicted upon Pharaoh and his people were designed to demonstrate how impotent the Egyptian gods were and how powerful the true God is. Each of the plagues was designed to expose the worthlessness of a particular Egyptian god, culminating in Pharaoh, a self-proclaimed god, unable to save his first-born son from death. This demonstration of God's power was part of a bigger plan of rescue.

The story of the Exodus where God rescues His people from the slavery of Egypt is a typology of God's bigger plan to rescue all of mankind from the slavery to sin. The details of the Passover Meal that commemorate the Exodus all point forward to the work Jesus would do to save us from judgment.

After God unleashed the plagues on Egypt and Pharaoh let God's people leave, there were still more challenges to the people's faith in God. They still had to cross the Red Sea. As the people panicked, Moses gave three directives to the people:Do not be afraid, Stand firm (the Lord will fight for you), and Be still (stop complaining).

God provides for His people, then and now. He provides daily what we need for physical sustenance in the way of food and water. But He also gives us what we need for spiritual life. He gives us a beginning point for spiritual life by offering us forgiveness through Jesus and also for ongoing growth. Just like our physical needs, our spiritual needs must be replenished daily.

At this point in their wilderness journey, Moses is instructed to prepare the people to hear Him speak. This story must be interpreted in light of the New Testament. God is still transcendent and powerful. He is also close and gracious. The difference is our relationship is now based on grace and not law.

Good and evil are objectively real. They are not a social construct. We cannot control or dictate what is moral or not. We were created by an infinite, personal God who knows better than we do what is good for us.

The first four sayings of the the Ten Commandments concerns our relationship with God. The remaining four govern our relationships with others, whether within the family or with friends and neighbors. The Ten Commandments demonstrate the high view God has of good, healthy relationships and how His commands are for our good.

The ceremonial laws of the old Testament were a form of instruction for the Israelites who were at that time mostly illiterate. They were a prediction of the future work of Jesus. They were only symbolic and now are obsolete.

While the people waited for Moses to come down from the mountain where he was talking with God, the people faltered in their faith and cast a golden calf to worship instead of God. The gold that God compelled the Egyptians to give to the Israelites that was to be used in the fashioning the ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle, the people used to form an idol because they were tired of waiting on God.