Exodus 1-15

Exodus 1-15

So what is the importance for us? How do these chapters help to shape who we are and how we think about God? These chapters have, for somewhere around 3 millennia acted as the paradigmatic redefining moment where YHWH displays His power to override the kings/gods of this world through miraculous intervention. This has been celebrated by the Jewish people at Passover and Christians in the Lord’s Table (see below).

In thinking through the importance of these events take a quick look at these other places where the themes of Exodus are repeated.

Joshua 4:22-24

Isaiah 52:11-12

Now move forward to Christ. In Jesus’ life we don’t just see Him living an ordinary life, but a life which reenacts history. What is Matthew saying in 2:14-15 (Hint, what is Hosea 11:1 saying?)?

The goal with these questions is to make the story personal. We need to walk through the mud of the floor of the Red Sea and feel the spray of the ocean as the water rushes back over Pharaoh’s army, and then turn and raise our voice with the rest God’s people as they proclaim the power of God to save.

Finally, possibly the most important, and debated, Passover meal was the one our Lord celebrated with His disciples the night before the cross. This is complex. Begin to allow these themes from Exodus to come forward and fill the gospel with meaning. Maybe write a short paragraph, song, poem, picture, interpretive dance, whatever, that begins to express these ideas.