Book Of Exodus

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

The books that we today refer to as the five books of Moses (or the Pentateuch) were originally one continuous volume. The Hebrews made the division into five sections so that the extremely long book would fit conveniently on to five scrolls. Exodus, being only one part of a much longer book, is therefore best understood in connection with what precedes and what follows it. (For the authorship of Exodus see Pentateuch .) The name Exodus, meaning ‘ a going out’, was given by those who made the first Greek translation of the Old Testament. It refers to the central event of the book, Israel’s escape from Egypt.

Message of the book

God had promised that from the descendants of Abraham he would make a nation that would in a special sense be his people, and he would give them Canaan as their national homeland ( Genesis 12:1-3;  Genesis 13:14-16;  Genesis 17:6-8;  Genesis 22:17-18). The chosen descendants of Abraham settled in Egypt in the fertile region of the Nile Delta. There, over the next four centuries, they multiplied and prospered (cf.  Genesis 15:13;  Exodus 12:41), till the time approached when they would be strong enough to move north and conquer Canaan. They were sadly disappointed when the Egyptian rulers, fearing the growing Israelite power, made them slaves. Among the cities built by the Israelite slaves was Rameses ( Genesis 15:14;  Exodus 1:8-12; see Egypt ; Rameses ).

But God had not forgotten the covenant he had made with Abraham. He therefore freed Israel from Egypt’s power and set the people on their way to the promised land ( Exodus 2:24;  Exodus 6:6-8). After three months journey they settled for a time at Mt Sinai. There God formally established his covenant with Israel as his chosen people, giving them a law-code and a religious order to govern their national life. The instructions concerning these matters begin in Exodus and carry on unbroken through Leviticus and into Numbers. The book of Numbers goes on to record how the people, after almost one year at Sinai, resumed their journey to Canaan (cf.  Exodus 19:1;  Numbers 10:11).

The events of the exodus from Egypt and the establishment of the covenant at Sinai are therefore the main issues of the book of Exodus. Israel’s experiences were part of the fulfilment of God’s covenant promises. God was in control of events and was directing them towards the goals that he had set ( Exodus 14:31;  Exodus 15:1-18;  Exodus 19:4-6;  Exodus 29:45-46;  Exodus 33:14). Through all these experiences the Israelites began to understand the character of this God who had chosen them. Above all they came to know him as their Redeemer ( Exodus 3:13-17;  Exodus 6:6-8;  Exodus 20:2).

Summary of contents

God saw how the Israelites were oppressed in Egypt (1:1-22), and prepared Moses to be the deliverer to save them. Moses was brought up in the Egyptian palace, but after forty years in Egypt he renounced his Egyptian status and spent the next forty years in the barren regions of the Sinai Peninsular (2:1-25). There God revealed himself to Moses as Yahweh, the eternal and self-sufficient God who would use Moses to save his people from Egypt (3:1-4:17; see Yahweh ).

Moses then returned to Egypt. With his brother Aaron, who was his assistant, he tried to persuade Pharaoh to release the Israelites, but without success (4:18-6:27). This began a long conflict between Moses and Pharaoh, which resulted in repeated plagues upon Egypt (6:28-10:29; see Plague ). In the end God destroyed the eldest in each family in Egypt. He passed over the Israelite households, because they had already sacrificed a lamb in the place of the person under judgment. The Passover was God’s great act of judgment for Egypt and redemption for Israel (11:1-13:16; see Passover ). The Israelites at last were free. When the Egyptians persisted in pursuing them, they were overthrown in the Red Sea (13:17-15:21).

Holman Bible Dictionary

Literary Setting The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Old Testament and of the Pentateuch. See  Exodus 1:1 ). God delivered the baby Moses from danger, and he grew up in pharaoh's court as son of pharaoh's daughter. Still he cared for the Israelites. Trying to protect one of his own people, he killed an Egyptian. Thus Moses had to flee to the wilderness of Midian, where he helped seven endangered shepherd girls. He settled among them and married one of the girls. There, God called him at the burning bush of Mount Horeb/Sinai and sent him back to rescue Israel from Egypt ( Exodus 2-4 ). With his brother Aaron, he faced a stubborn pharaoh, who refused to release the Israelites. When pharaoh made life harder for Israel, the Israelites griped about Moses. God took this as opportunity to reveal Himself to Israel, to pharaoh, and to the Egyptians. God brought the plagues upon Egypt. Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let Israel go until his firstborn son and the eldest sons of all Egypt died in the final plague. This tenth plague became the setting for Israel's central religious celebration, that of Passover and Unleavened Bread in which Israel reenacted the Exodus from Egypt and rejoiced at God's supreme act of salvation for His people ( Exodus 5-13 ). As Israel fled Egypt, the pharaoh again resisted and led his army after them. The miracle of the Red Sea (or perhaps more literally, the Sea of Reeds) became the greatest moment in Israel's history, the moment God created a nation for Himself by delivering hem from the strongest military power on earth as He led them through the divided waters of the sea and then flooded the sea again as the Egyptians tried to follow ( Exodus 14:1 ).

After celebrating the deliverance in song and dance ( Exodus 15:1-21 ), Israel followed God's leadership into the wilderness, but soon the difficult wilderness life proved too hard. The Israelites cried for the good old days of Egypt, even after God supplied their food and drink needs and after He defeated the Amalekites ( Exodus 15:22-17:15 ). Moses' father-in-law Jethro brought Moses' wife and children back to him in the wilderness and praised God for all that He had done for Moses and the people. Jethro also advised Moses how to organize a more efficient judicial system, relieving Moses of stress ( Exodus 18:1 ). Then Israel came to Sinai, where God called them to become His covenant people, a holy nation to carry out Abraham's mission of blessing the nations. God gave the Ten Commandments and other laws central to the covenant ( Exodus 19-23 ), and then confirmed the covenant in a mysterious ceremony ( Exodus 24:1 ). Moses went to the top of the mountain to receive the remainder of God's instructions, especially instructions for building the sacred place of worship, the tabernacle ( Exodus 24-31 ). Impatient Israel got Aaron to build an object of worship they could see, so he made the golden calf. The people began worshiping. This angered God, who sent Moses back down to the people. Moses prayed for the people despite their sin, but then saw the people's sinful actions and threw the tablets with the law to the ground, breaking them. Moses again went up and prayed for the people. God punished them but did not destroy them as He had threatened. God showed His continued presence in the Tent of Meeting and in letting His glory pass by Moses ( Exodus 32-33 ). God then gave Moses the law on two new tablets of stone and renewed the covenant with the people, providing further basic laws for them. Such intense communication with God brought radiance to Moses' face ( Exodus 34:1 ). Moses then led Israel to celebrate the Sabbath and to build the tabernacle ( Exodus 35-39 ). Moses set up the tabernacle and established worship in it. God blessed the action with His holy glorious presence ( Exodus 40:1 ). This provided the sign for Israel's future journeys, following God's cloud and fire.

Theological Teaching In Exodus Israel learned the basic nature of God and His salvation. They also learned the nature of sin, the characteristics of God's leader, the components of worship, and the meaning of salvation. In Exodus Israel learned the identity of the people of God.

God is Ruler of the world, able to act for His people even on the home territory of the world's most powerful political and military force. God chooses to act for the people He elects. God knows the situation of His people even when another nation has forced them into slavery. God saved His people through calling out a leader to communicate God's will and to face their enemies. God empowered the leader at a time of the leader's personal weakness rather than at a time of strength. He worked in the forces of nature to show His unequaled power and to demonstrate His concern for His own people. Salvation for His people involved punishing their sinful enemies, and especially their stubborn leader.

Salvation, power, and concern was not all God revealed of Himself. He also showed a holy nature in that special preparations were made to enter His presence. He revealed His great glory, so majestic even the leader could not view it. Most of all, He revealed His will to be present among His people and lead them through their daily activities.

In so doing, He showed the way He expected His people to live, a way of holiness, a way of priesthood among the nations. This way centered on life guided by the Ten Commandments. Such a life reflected the nature of God Himself, who could be identified as “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty” ( Exodus 34:6-7 ).

God expected His people to live the way of holiness, the way of the Ten Commandments. Failure to do so is sin. Sin centers particularly in giving another god credit for what God has done and in worshiping what human hands have made rather than the true God who allows no images of Himself. To avoid sin, God's people had to follow God's chosen leader, even when the path led through the wilderness and demanded a life-style lacking in some of the food and luxuries they had learned to take for granted. The leader followed God's will and not the people's. In so doing, the leader interceded with God for a sinful people, willing to give up his own place with God in exchange for the people's salvation. Only a leader who communed face to face with God could develop such an attitude. Thus Moses became the leader without parallel for Israel.

The leader's lasting role included the establishment of a worship place and worship practices. God's people gained their identity in worship. The leader showed them when, where, and how to worship.

The people offered worship because They had experienced God's salvation. For them salvation meant physical deliverance in military action against a powerful world enemy. It involved following God's instructions and waiting for God's miraculous help. Salvation set up a relationship between God and the people, a relationship based on God's initiative in delivering the people and on God's initiative in inviting the people into covenant relationship. See Covenant . This meant the people could trust God to lead them through their personal and national history. It also meant that God expected a trusting people to obey Him as He set out the way of life they should follow. Salvation was not just receiving God's salvation. It was following in faith the life-style God described for them.

Outline

I. God Saves His People ( Exodus 1:1-4:17 ).

A. God's people face oppression in fear ( Exodus 1:1-22 ).

B. God raises up a deliverer for His oppressed people ( Exodus 2:1-4:17 ).

II. God Sends His Leader on a Difficult Mission ( Exodus 4:18-7:2 ).

A. God uses all means to accomplish His will against an ungodly ruler ( Exodus 4:18-26 ).

B. God fulfills His angry promise to provide a helper for His leader ( Exodus 4:27-31 ).

C. God's leader delivers God's message to pagan leaders ( Exodus 5:1-23 ).

D. God promises deliverance to a deaf people ( Exodus 6:1-9 ).

E. God reaffirms His insecure leaders ( Exodus 6:10-7:2 ).

III. God Reveals Himself in Punishing His Enemy ( Exodus 7:3-12:30 ).

A. God is sovereign over enemy powers ( Exodus 7:3-13 ).

B. Miracles do not bring belief ( Exodus 7:14-25 ).

C. Enemy powers seek compromise not conversion ( Exodus 8:1-15 ).

D. God's power convinces enemy religious leaders ( Exodus 8:16-19 ).

E. Political deceit cannot defeat God's purposes ( Exodus 8:20-32 ).

F. God's power is superior to pagan religious symbols ( Exodus 9:1-7 ).

G. God's power affects people as well as animals ( Exodus 9:8-12 ).

H. Terror and admission of sin are not adequate responses to the actions of the only God ( Exodus 9:13-35 ).

I. God's saving acts are to be taught to coming generations ( Exodus 10:1-20 ).

J. God's will must be followed completely ( Exodus 10:21-29 ).

K. God distinguishes between His people and His enemies when He punishes ( Exodus 11:1-10 ).

L. God judges other gods but preserves an obedient people ( Exodus 12:1-13 ).

M. God's people are to remember and celebrate His deliverance ( Exodus 12:14-28 ).

N. God punishes His proud, stubborn enemies ( Exodus 12:29-30 ).

IV. God Reveals Himself by Delivering His People from Bondage ( Exodus 12:31-15:21 ).

A. God delivers and blesses His people and those who join them ( Exodus 12:31-51 ).

B. God instructs His people to remember, celebrate, and teach His mighty salvation ( Exodus 13:1-16 ).

C. God leads and protects His obedient people ( Exodus 13:17-22 ).

D. God gains glory and evokes faith by saving His troubled people ( Exodus 14:1-31 ).

E. God's people praise Him for their deliverance ( Exodus 15:1-21 ).

V. God Provides for His Doubting, Complaining People ( Exodus 15:22-18:27 ).

A. God promises healing to an obedient people ( Exodus 15:22-27 ).

B. God reveals His glory and tests His people's faith while meeting their needs ( Exodus 16:1-36 ).

C. Doubting people test God's presence ( Exodus 17:1-7 ).

D. God delivers His people and permanently curses their enemy ( Exodus 17:8-16 ).

E. Foreign relatives testify to God's superiority over all gods ( Exodus 18:1-12 ).

F. God's people must have effective teaching and administrative leadership ( Exodus 18:13-27 ).

VI. God Covenants with His People ( Exodus 19:1-20:21 ).

A. God's covenant is based upon His act of deliverance and upon the people's obedience as a kingdom of priests ( Exodus 19:1-8 ).

B. God prepares His people for His coming down to make a covenant ( Exodus 19:9-15 ).

C. God's awesome presence confirms His covenant ( Exodus 19:16-25 ).

D. The Ten Commandments are God's covenant ground rules for life with Him ( Exodus 20:1-17 ).

E. Awestruck people need a human mediator with the holy God ( Exodus 20:18-21 ).

VII. God Gives Civil, Ceremonial, and Criminal Laws to Help His People ( Exodus 20:22-23:33 ).

A. Instructions for acceptable worship ( Exodus 20:22-26 )

B. Treatment of Hebrew slaves ( Exodus 21:1-11 )

C. Dealing with a person who injures or kills another person ( Exodus 21:12-32 )

D. Justice for damage done to another's property ( Exodus 21:33-22:15 )

E. Justice when a virgin is seduced ( Exodus 22:16-17 )

F. Punishment for sorcery, bestiality, and idolatry ( Exodus 22:18-20 )

G. Care for the stranger, widow, orphan, and poor ( Exodus 22:21-27 )

H. Respect for God and human rulers, dedication of children, and being holy ( Exodus 22:28-31 )

I. Practice honesty; do not hurt the righteous or innocent ( Exodus 23:1-9 ).

J. Keep the sabbatical year, the Sabbath day, sacred occasions ( Exodus 23:10-19 ).

K. God will provide spiritual guidance ( Exodus 23:20-33 ).

VIII. God and His People Must Ratify the Covenant ( Exodus 24:1-18 ).

A. The people commit themselves to do God's will ( Exodus 24:1-11 ).

B. God ratifies the covenant with His holy presence ( Exodus 24:12-18 ).

IX. God Plans to Be Present with His People ( Exodus 25:1-31:17 ).

A. As their hearts move them, people are to give for God's worship place ( Exodus 25:1-7 ).

B. God will dwell among His people in His place of holy worship ( Exodus 25:8-27:21 ).

C. God's minister mediates His holy presence for a holy people ( Exodus 28:1-29:37 ).

D. People respond to the holy Presence with sacrificial giving ( Exodus 29:38-30:38 ).

E. Craftsmen respond to the holy Presence by dedicating God-given skills ( Exodus 31:1-11 ).

F. People respond to the holy Presence with Sabbath worship ( Exodus 31:12-17 ).

X. God Restores a Sinful People ( Exodus 31:18-34:35 ).

A. God provides guidelines for life in His presence ( Exodus 31:18 ).

B. An impatient people break the covenant by making and worshiping other gods ( Exodus 32:1-6 ).

C. God reacts against a disobedient people in wrath ( Exodus 32:7-10 ).

D. Intercessory prayer brings divine repentance ( Exodus 32:11-14 ).

E. Judgment comes to a disobedient people through God's chosen leaders ( Exodus 32:15-29 ).

F. A mediator's majestic intercession is not sufficient ( Exodus 32:30-35 ).

G. God withdraws His immediate presence from a sinful people ( Exodus 33:1-4 ).

H. Mourning and repentance, even by a disobedient people, catch God's attention ( Exodus 33:5-6 ).

I. Worship at God's chosen place is an essential element in restoring the covenant ( Exodus 33:7-11 ).

J. The unseeable presence of God reaffirms the covenant relationship ( Exodus 33:12-23 ).

K. God renews His covenant with His people ( Exodus 34:1-35 ).

XI. God Honors the Obedience of His People with His Holy Presence ( Exodus 35:1-40:38 ).

A. God gives His people specific requirements ( Exodus 35:1-19 ).

B. Obedient people provide resources and skills needed for God's work ( Exodus 35:20-36:7 ).

C. Obedient people use their resources to build God's dwelling place ( Exodus 36:8-39:43 ).

D. The leader of God's people prepares for worship ( Exodus 40:1-33 ).

E. God's presence fills the worship place continually for His obedient people ( Exodus 40:34-38 ).

Trent C. Butler

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This book occupies the period from the death of Josephto the setting up of the Tabernacle. Under the headings of ISRAEL IN EGYPT, the Plagues OF EGYPT, and the Exodus these subjects are considered, which embrace the first fifteen chapters.

 Exodus 16 . After the song at the Red Sea the Israelites were led into the wilderness of Shur, and their faith was put to the test by the bitter waters of Marah; but they were afterwards refreshed by the living waters and shelter at Elim: both are types of wilderness experience. Marah answers in the first place to the experience of  1 Peter 4:1; then, the cross being accepted,  Romans 5:3-8 becomes the happy experience of the soul. This is followed by Elim — the ministry of grace. God gave them bread from heaven, typical of the heavenly grace in Christ, the bread of life, to sustain the believer in life to God, during the wilderness. The manna was to be gathered daily . He sent them also quails to eat.

 Exodus 17 . Moses smote the rock and there came water out of the rock — type of the Holy Spirit — and this was followed by conflict: they fought with Amalek (type of Satan seeking to act upon the weak flesh of the believer: comp.  Deuteronomy 25:18 . Power is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit): with Amalek there was to be continued conflict, because they touched the rights of God in His people.

 Exodus 18 . Jethro brought to Moses his wife and his two sons: sacrifices were offered by Jethro, a Gentile, who ate with Israel. Judges were appointed that there might be order and righteous judgement among the people: type of the millennium.

 Exodus 19 —   Exodus 24 . Here there was a change: up to this all had been grace, but now the people were put under law, and not knowing themselves they said, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." The ten commandments and various laws followed until  Exodus 24 when the covenant was ratified by blood and inaugurated. On it being read the people again said, "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." The people were sprinkled with blood, then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders ascended the mount; "they saw God, and did eat and drink." They thus entered into relationship with God. The glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire.

 Exodus 25 —   Exodus 31 . During these chapters Moses was in the mount: he remained there forty days, and received from God the pattern of the tabernacle, and all its accompaniments. See TABERNACLE.

 Exodus 32 . While Moses was in the mount the people, under the plea of not knowing what had become of Moses, requested Aaron to make them 'gods to go before' them, and the golden calf was made. God threatened to destroy the people, but Moses pleaded for them, and asked God to remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When Moses saw the calf he broke the two tables of the law: the people had already broken the law. The calf was destroyed and the idolaters slain.

 Exodus 33 . God said He would send an angel, and not go Himself with Israel, for they were a stiff-necked people. Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, and those that sought the Lord went there to it: cf.  Hebrews 13:12,13 . (This 'tent of meeting' was probably a provisional one, for the tabernacle had not been made.) Moses continued to plead for Israel, and became their mediator. All being ruined, God would now act in His sovereignty, and show mercy to whom He would — a sovereignty which extends mercy to Gentiles as well as Jews: cf.  Romans 9:14,15 . God promised to be gracious, so that now mercy was added to law .

 Exodus 34 . The two tables were renewed, but were to be placed in an ark (comp.  Deuteronomy 10:1-3 ), and God proclaimed Himself as 'Jehovah, Jehovah God' — His name with Israel, but adding the characteristics of mercy and holy government. Moses was again in the mount for forty days, and when he came down his face shone. The sabbath was again rehearsed before them, as the token of this fresh covenant of mercy and holy government; but mercy will in the end rejoice over judgement.  Psalm 135:13,14 and   Psalm 136 .

 Exodus 35 —   Exodus 40 . The freewill offerings of the people were accepted for the tabernacle, and God gave skill to some for the work. The tabernacle was made and reared: the priests were sanctified and clothed, and all was finished. "Then the cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Moses was unable to enter the tent of the congregation because of the cloud. The cloud became their signal for movement: when that moved, they journeyed; and when that rested they abode in their tents. Thus the Israelites had God with them as Jehovah. How blessed would they have been, had they been able to keep the covenant under which God had put them, and which on their part they had promised to do, not, alas, knowing what their fallen nature really was: it was a trial of man under law.

In short, the Book of Exodus shows the redemption of the Israelites from slavery; their being brought into relationship with God, with a priesthood to maintain that relationship; and God leading and dwelling among them.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The giving of the law and the establishment of the institutions by which the organization of the people was completed, the theocracy, "a kingdom of priest and an holy nation" (19:3-ch. 40).

The time comprised in this book, from the death of Joseph to the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness, is about one hundred and forty-five years, on the supposition that the four hundred and thirty years (12:40) are to be computed from the time of the promises made to Abraham ( Galatians 3:17 ).

The authorship of this book, as well as of that of the other books of the Pentateuch, is to be ascribed to Moses. The unanimous voice of tradition and all internal evidences abundantly support this opinion.

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Exodus, Book of'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/e/exodus-book-of.html. 1897.