Sunday, November 23, 2014

11-20-14 (UPDATED with Steve Leatherwood's Notes)(UPDATE2, added Roxie's notes, & link to Slides)

11-20-14

http://www.riverpointe.org/biblecollege 

EXODUS


The contemporary definition of "Exodus" is "Departure" but the Hebrew word translates as "Road Out".

The structure of Exodus is straight forward.  It moves from Israel's bondage to Pharaoh to their bonding with Yahweh, from serving Pharaoh to their first baby steps & stubborn efforts in serving Yahweh.

There are several major theological themes in Exodus, which will be explored in depth later. They are major because in this book, God does a lot of talking, and does a lot of action.

KEY THEMES:

~Theology of Creation
~Knowledge of God
~Portrayal of God
~Oppression and Liberation
~Covenant and Law

Most scholars date the events described in Exodus as taking place during the reign of Ramses II, circa 1279-1213 BC

Others, basing their arguments on 1 Kings:6, hold that they occurred during the reign of Thutmose III, circa 1479-1425 BC.


There are at least 2 other proposals. One puts the date at around 1100 BC, and another between this one and the first one above.

There is also a school of thought that the events did not occur at all.  This is not a theory put forth by non-believers, but some biblical scholars.

But in spite of may lifetimes of legitimate scholarship and research trying to pin doen both dates and places, these efforts have resulted in meager and ambiguous results.

What all scholars do agree on is that the "Red Sea" described in the Bible is not the "red Sea" that we know of today. The problem is twofold in that the events of the wandering in the wilderness take place on the Sinai Peninsula and there is no direct route from Egypt to Sinai that crosses water, and that the Hebrew word used to describe this water crossing, "Yum Sup" is translated as "reed."  Know one knows why both the Septuagent and the Vulgates translated this word into "Red Sea." 

"Yum Sup" is used on other places in the Bible to describe bodies of water.  In Kings 9:26 it is used to describe the Gulf of Aquaba---which could not have been the crossing place.

In Numbers 33:10 & 11 it describes a body of water that they crossed once they left Elam, but Exodus describes this incident as having taken place after the "Red Sea" crossing.

PHAROAH'S PLAN FOR DEALING WITH THE ISRAELITES

At the end of Genesis we learn that Jacobs family, numbering some 70 people, settle in the Land of Goshen in Egypt. By the time the events in Exodus begin, they have "been fruitful and multiplied" to the extent that Pharaoh sees them as a threat to internal security, fearing that they may side with Egypt's enemies in the vent of war. He developes a plan to deal with them

~First, he enslaves them.  He takes away all of their rights. They continue to multiply

~So he orders the Hebrew midwives to kill all male babies. But the midwives feared God and deceived Pharaoh by telling him that Hebrew women were different from Egyptian women, they are stronger and will give birth before the midwife arrives in most cases.

~He then decrees that any Egyptian can toss any Baby and toss it into the Nile.

Two of the Hebrew midwives are specifically mentioned;  Puah and Shiphrah


In Chapter 2 we are told that a Levite man married a Levite woman ( Amram & Jochebed ) who gave birth to a son.  She hides him until he is 3 months old, but at that age, as with all babies, he begins to cry loud enough to be noticed.

Jochebed decides to try and save the baby and puts him in a basket and flats it in some reeds on the bank of the Nile. His older sister Miriam watches to see what happens.  She sees Pharaoh's daughter discover the baby.  Miriam runs over to her and asks if she'd like for her to find a wet nurse for the baby.  The Princess says yes, and Miriam rushes to get her mother who is hired by the Princess.  The Princess names the baby Moses.

We are told that when Moses becomes an adult and

11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

Pharaoh discovers the murder and wants to kill Moses.  Moses flees to Midian where he meets a woman beside a well (just as Abram and Jacob had). She is Zipporah, daughter of Jethro ( also known as Reuel ) who is a priest of the Midianites (they are idol worshipers).  They marry and she bears two sons:  Gershom and Eleazer.


In chapter 3, Moses is in the desert near Mt. Sinai (Horeb) "the mountain of God" tending the sheep of Jethro. He sees a bush that is burning, but not consumed by the fire. God speaks to him from within the bush.

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
God tells Moses that he has "heard the cries of his people" and instructs Moses to go to Egypt and tell Pharoah to "let his people go."

Moses asks that when the Israelites ask who sent him, who should he say it was.

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.[c] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I amhas sent me to you.’”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,[d] the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation.
 16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.
"I am who I am" speaks to the Sovereignty and Eternal nature of God. 

In Chapter 4, Moses makes all sorts of excuses and protestations as to why it should be someone other than he who should go. God equips him with supernatural abilities through the use of his staff, but Moses is still unsure, quoting his inability to speak well.  In yet another example of God's Permissive Will versus his Perfect Will, God relents and allows Moses' older brother Aaron to help him.

14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

In Chapter 5, Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh with the command from the Lord.  Pharaoh remains unimpressed.  

2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

This is where things start going wrong for Pharaoh

(Romans 9:14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[f]
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Throughout the next few chapters, we will hear of how God "hardened Pharaoh's heart, but the Hebrew word used in this instance is "yaddah" and it means much more than that. In this context,. it means that God strengthens Pharaoh's resolve. He doesn't get Pharaoh to do or believe anything he doesn't already want to do or believe he just removes any hesitation or doubt Pharaoh may have had.

Pharaoh doesn't know it, but his is just a tool for God to use as He sees fit, so that His Power and Glory can be displayed for all to see.

To punish them and the Israelites, he orders that they continue making bricks, but they will need to provide their own straw.

The Israelite overseers confront Aaron and Moses and condemn them before God.  Moses asks the Lord:

22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

  
At the beginning of Chapter 6, the Lord reassures Moses

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
2 God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,[a] but by my name the Lord[b] I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

Chapter 6 sets the stage for the momentous events about to unfold and provides Moses' family history.


In Chapter 7 w\e see the first of 10 plagues visited upon Egypt by God to show Pharaoh, and the world, who He is. 

For class purposes, we should know the first and last plagues:

The Plague of Blood

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.16 Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord:With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”
19 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels[a] of wood and stone.”
20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

Pharaoh's magicians are able to marginally replicate the first two plagues, but by the 3rd, the plague of gnats, they find they are unable to and acknowledge that this might be the hand of
God

18 But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts,they could not.
Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, 19 the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.
On the 4th plague, the plague of flies, god makes the Israelites immune

22 “‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23 I will make a distinction[b] between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”

The final plague is one designed to lay Pharaoh low

The plaque of the Firstborn. 

Exodus 11 New International Version (NIV)

The Plague on the Firstborn

11 Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” 3 (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)
4 So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. 7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinctionbetween Egypt and Israel. 8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.
9 The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wondersmay be multiplied in Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.
The Hebrews would be susceptible to this plague.  In Chapter 12, He gives instructions on how they are to mark their homes in order to avoid it. From these we get Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread.


THE THREE STAGES OF MOSES LIFE
~Flees Egypt at age 40
~Saw the burning bush at age 80
~Died at age 120



STEVE LEATHERWOOD'S NOTES:


RPC Bible College notes

Exodus
Definition: Means Departure / Road out (Hebrew)
Structure of Exodus is:
-    Bondage > Pharaoh
-    Bonding > Yahweh 
-    Serving > Pharaoh
-    Serving > Yahweh
Major theological themes
-Theology of creation
-Knowledge of God
-Portrayal of God
-Oppression and Liberation
-Covenant and Law
Most scholars date it to Rameses II c. 1279-1213 BC
Ramesses II (Middle Egyptian: ree-a-ma-say-sa, transliterated as "Rameses" (/ˈræməsiːz/) or "Ramses" (/ˈræmsiːz/ or /ˈræmziːz/); born c. 1303 BC; died July or August 1213 BC; reigned 1279–1213 BC), also known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. He is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire. His successors and later Egyptians called him the "Great Ancestor". Ramesses II led several military expeditions into the Levant, reasserting Egyptian control over Canaan. He also led expeditions to the south, into Nubia, commemorated in inscriptions at Beit el-Wali and Gerf Hussein.
At age fourteen, Ramesses was appointed Prince Regent by his father Seti I. He is believed to have taken the throne in his late teens and is known to have ruled Egypt from 1279 BC to 1213 BC. Estimates of his age at death vary; 90 or 91 is considered most likely. Ramesses II celebrated an unprecedented 14 sed festivals (the first held after thirty years of a pharaoh's reign, and then every three years) during his reign—more than any other pharaoh. On his death, he was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings; his body was later moved to a royal cache where it was discovered in 1881, and is now on display in the Cairo Museum.
The early part of his reign was focused on building cities, temples and monuments. He established the city of Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta as his new capital and main base for his campaigns in Syria. He is also known as Ozymandias in the Greek sources, from a transliteration into Greek of a part of Ramesses' throne name, Usermaatre Setepenre, "The justice of Rê is powerful – chosen of Rê".
Others see date it as Thutmose III c. 1479-1425 BC
Thutmose III (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis III, Thothmes in older history works, and meaning "Thoth is born") was the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. During the first twenty-two years of Thutmose's reign he was co-regent with his stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut, who was named the pharaoh. While he was shown first on surviving monuments, both were assigned the usual royal names and insignia and neither is given any obvious seniority over the other. He served as the head of her armies.
After her death and his later rise to pharaoh of the kingdom, he created the largest empire Egypt had ever seen; no fewer than seventeen campaigns were conducted, and he conquered from Niya in North Syria to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in Nubia.
Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost fifty-four years, and his reign is usually dated from April 24, 1479 BC to March 11, 1425 BC; however, this includes the twenty-two years he was co-regent to Hatshepsut. During the final two years of his reign, he appointed his son and successor, Amenhotep II, as his junior co-regent. When Thutmose III died, he was buried in the Valley of the Kings as were the rest of the kings from this period in Egypt.
There is a school of thought says the Exodus never happened
The consensus among biblical scholars today is that there was never any exodus of the proportions described in the Bible. According to Exodus 12:37–38, the Israelites numbered "about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children," plus many non-Israelites and livestock. Numbers 1:46 gives a more precise total of 603,550 men aged 20 and up. The 600,000, plus wives, children, the elderly, and the "mixed multitude" of non-Israelites would have numbered some 2 million people, compared with an entire Egyptian population in 1250 BCE of around 3 to 3.5 million. Marching ten abreast, and without accounting for livestock, they would have formed a line 150 miles long. No evidence has been found that indicates Egypt ever suffered such a demographic and economic catastrophe or that the Sinai desert ever hosted (or could have hosted) these millions of people and their herds.
Some scholars have rationalised these numbers into smaller figures, for example reading the Hebrew as "600 families" rather than 600,000 men, but all such solutions have their own set of problems. The view of mainstream modern biblical scholarship is that the improbability of the Exodus story originates because it was written not as history, but to demonstrate God's purpose and deeds with his Chosen People, Israel. Some have suggested that the 603,550 people delivered from Egypt (according to Numbers 1:46) is not a number, but a gematria (a code in which numbers represent letters or words) for bnei yisra'el kol rosh, "the children of Israel, every individual;" while the number 600,000 symbolises the total destruction of the generation of Israel which left Egypt, none of whom lived to see the Promised Land.
Yum sup - Hebrew word for "reed"
1 Kings 9:26 the gulf of Aqabah
King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. (1 Kings 9:26 HCSB)
The crossing of the Red Sea has been variously placed at the Pelusic branch of the Nile, anywhere along the network of Bitter Lakes and smaller canals that formed a barrier toward eastward escape, the Gulf of Suez (SSE of Succoth) and the Gulf of Aqaba (S of Ezion-Geber), or even on a lagoon on the Mediterranean coast.
Numbers 33:10-11 it refers to a body of water that was crossed once they left Elam
They departed from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. They departed from the Red Sea and camped in the Wilderness of Sin. (Numbers 33:10-11 HCSB)
Pharaohs plan to dealing with the Israelites:
>Enslave them
A new king, who had not known Joseph, came to power in Egypt. He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. Let us deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and if war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.” So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh. (Exodus 1:8-11 HCSB)
They worked the Israelites ruthlessly and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them. (Exodus 1:13-14 HCSB)
>Instructed midwives to kill all Male babies at birth
Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live. (Exodus 1:15-16 HCSB)
>Anyone free to throw any Hebrew male child into the Nile river to drown
Pharaoh then commanded all his people: “You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live.” (Exodus 1:22 HCSB)
Puah & Shiprah
One of the two midwives who feared God, and helped prevent the murder of Hebrew male children by the Egyptians, and thus the genocide of the Hebrew people, according to Exodus 1:15-21. Her colleague was Shiphrah. According to the Exodus narrative, they were instructed by the King of Egypt, or Pharoah, to kill all male babies, but they refused to do so. When challenged by the Pharoah, they explained that Hebrew women's labour was short-lived because they were 'lively' or 'vigourous', and therefore the babies had been born (and protected) before the midwives arrived.
>Moses put into a basket & placed at the edge of Nile river
Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. (Exodus 2:1-3 HCSB)
>Princess sees basket in river
Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. Seeing the basket among the reeds, she sent her slave girl to get it. When she opened it, she saw the child — a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a woman from the Hebrews to nurse the boy for you? ” “Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother. (Exodus 2:5-8 HCSB)
>Hired Jochebed to care for him
Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him. (Exodus 2:9 HCSB)
>Named the baby Moses
When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water. (Exodus 2:10 HCSB)
Moses flees to Midian
Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. Looking all around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your neighbor? ” “Who made you a leader and judge over us? ” the man replied. “Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? ” Then Moses became afraid and thought: What I did is certainly known. When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well. (Exodus 2:11-15 HCSB)
Married Jethro’s daughter
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. Then some shepherds arrived and drove them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their flock. When they returned to their father Reuel he asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today? ” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” “So where is he? ” he asked his daughters. “Why then did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat dinner.”Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. (Exodus 2:16-21 HCSB)

Jethro/Reuel was Moses’ father-in-law, a Kenite shepherd and priest of Midian. In Exodus, Moses’ father-in-law is initially referred to as Reuel (Exodus 2:18) but then as Jethro (Exodus 3:1). He was the father of Hobab in the Book of Numbers 10:29. He is also revered as a prophet in his own right in the Druze religion, and considered an ancestor of the Druze.
Burning Bush experience at Mount Horeb (Mt. Sinai)
Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. So Moses thought: I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up? When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses! ” “Here I am,” he answered. “Do not come closer,” He said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then He continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:1-6 HCSB)
Christian hermits originally gathered at Mount Serbal, believing it to be the biblical Mount Sinai. However, in the 4th century, under the Byzantine Empire, the monastery built there was abandoned in favor of the newer belief that Mount Saint Catherine was the Biblical Mount Sinai; a new monastery – Saint Catherine’s Monastery] was built at its foot, and the alleged site of the biblical burning bush was identified. The bush growing at the spot (a bramble, scientific name Rubus sanctus), was later transplanted several yards away to a courtyard of the monastery, and its original spot was covered by a chapel dedicated to the Annunciation, with a silver star marking where the roots of the bush had come out of the ground. The Monks at Saint Catherine’s Monastery, following church tradition, believe that this bush is, in fact, the original bush seen by Moses, rather than a later replacement, and anyone entering the chapel is required to remove their shoes, just as Moses was in the biblical account.
However, in modern times, it is not Mount Saint Catherine, but the adjacent Jebel Musa (Mount Moses), which is currently identified as Mount Sinai by popular tradition and guide books; this identification arose from Bedouin tradition.
Mount Serbal, Mount Sinai, and Mount Saint Catherine, all lie at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, but the peninsula’s name is a comparatively modern invention, and it was not known by that name at the time of Josephus or earlier. Most modern scholars, as well as many modern theologians, dismiss the idea that the biblical Sinai was at the south of the peninsula, instead favoring locations in the Hijaz (at the north west of Saudi Arabia), northern Arabah (in the vicinity of Petra, or the surrounding area), or occasionally in the central or northern Sinai Peninsula. Hence, the majority of academics and theologians agree that if the burning bush ever existed, then it is highly unlikely to be the bush preserved at St Catherine’s Monastery.
3 stages of Moses life
-fled Egypt at 40
-God appeared to him in burning bush at 80
-Died at 120
Moses is honored among Jews today as the “lawgiver of Israel”, and he delivers several sets of laws in the course of the four books. The first is the Covenant code, Exodus 19-24, the terms of the covenant which God offers to Israel at the foot of Sinai. Embedded in the covenant are the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1-17) and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22-23:19). The entire book of Leviticus constitutes a second body of law, the book of Numbers begins with yet another set, and Deuteronomy another.
Moses has traditionally been regarded as the author of the four books plus Genesis, which together make up the Torah, the first and most revered section of the Jewish bible.
The family of Moses
>Father was Amram
Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. (Exodus 6:20 HCSB)
Amram was also held to have been entirely sinless throughout his life, and was rewarded for this by his corpse remaining without any signs of decay. Prior to his death, according to the Book of Jubilees, Amram was among those who went to Egypt and recovered the bones of the sons of his grandfather and great uncles (excluding those of Joseph which had already been brought to Canaan), so that they could be reburied in the cave of Machpelah. The text states that this recovery was opportunistically performed when a war broke out between Egypt and Canaan.
>Brother was Aaron
Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. (Exodus 6:20 HCSB)
In the Hebrew Bible, Aaron (/ˈɛərən/) was the older brother of Moses, (Exodus 6:16-20, 7:7) a prophet of God. Unlike Moses who grew up in the Egyptian royal court, Aaron and his sister Miriam remained with their kinsmen in the eastern border-land of Egypt (Goshen). When Moses first confronted the Egyptian king about the Israelites, Aaron served as his brother's spokesman ("prophet") to Pharaoh. (Exodus 7:1) Part of the Law (Torah) that Moses received from God at Sinai granted Aaron the priesthood for himself and his male descendants, and he became the first High Priest of the Israelites. Various dates for his life have been proposed, ranging from approximately 1600 to 1200 BC. Aaron died before the Israelites crossed the Jordan river and he was buried on Mount Hor (Numbers 33:39;mDeuteronomy 10:6 says he died and was buried at Moserah. Aaron is also mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible.
>Wife was Zipporah
Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. (Exodus 2:21 HCSB)
Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, (Exodus 18:2 HCSB)
Zipporah was one of the seven daughters of Jethro, a Kenite shepherd who was a priest of Midian. In Exodus 2:18 Jethro is also referred to as Reuel and referred to as Hobab in the Book of Judges. (Judges 4:11). (Hobab was also the name of Jethro's son as recorded in Numbers 10:29.) While the Israelites/Hebrews were captives in Egypt, Moses killed an Egyptian who was striking a Hebrew, for which offense Pharaoh sought to kill Moses. Moses therefore fled from Egypt and arrived in Midian. One day while he sat by a well, Reuel's daughters came to water their father's flocks. Other shepherds arrived and drove the girls away so they could water their own flocks first. Moses helped the girls and watered their flock.
>Mother was Jochebed
Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. (Exodus 6:20 HCSB)
According to the Book of Numbers Jochebed was born to Levi when he lived in Egypt. Amram was the son of Kohath, who was a son of Levi. This would make Jochebed the aunt of Amram, her husband. This kind of marriage between relatives was later forbidden by the law of Moses. Jochebed is also called Amram's father's sister in the Masoretic text of Exodus 6:20, but ancient translations differ in this. Some Greek and Latin manuscripts of the Septuagint state that Jochebed was Amram's father's cousin, and others state that she was Amram's cousin. In the Apocryphal Testament of Levi, it is stated that Jochebed was born, as a daughter of Levi, when Levi was 64 years old.
>Sister was Miriam
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with their tambourines and danced. Miriam sang to them: Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea. (Exodus 15:20-21 HCSB)
At her mother Yocheved's request, Miriam hid her baby brother Moses by the side of a river to evade the Pharaoh's order that newborn Hebrew boys be killed. She watched as the Pharaoh's daughter discovered the infant and decided to adopt him. Miriam then suggested that the princess take on a nurse for the child, and suggested Yocheved; as a result, Moses was raised to be familiar with his background as a Hebrew. (Exodus 2:1-10)
>Sons were Gershom & Eliezer
She gave birth to a son whom he named Gershom, for he said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.” (Exodus 2:22 HCSB)
Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (because Moses had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land”) and the other Eliezer (because he had said, “The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword”). (Exodus 18:2-4 HCSB)
Moses offers excuses
But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt? ”
Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, ‘What is His name? ’ what should I tell them? ” (Exodus 3:11, 13 HCSB)
Then Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’? ” (Exodus 4:1 HCSB)
But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent — either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant — because I am slow and hesitant in speech.”
Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.” Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and He said, “Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you. (Exodus 4:10, 13-14 HCSB)
10 plagues of Egypt
-indication that 10 plagues were supernatural occurrences
-timing
-intensity
-Moses foreknowledge, initiation, cessation of each plague

>Plague 1: Water Turned to Blood
So the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt — over their rivers, canals, ponds, and all their water reservoirs — and they will become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.” Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt. But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and didn’t even take this to heart. All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink the water from the river. Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile. (Exodus 7:19-25 HCSB)

>Plague 2: Frogs

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him: This is what Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. But if you refuse to let them go, then I will plague all your territory with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs; they will come up and go into your palace, into your bedroom and on your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. The frogs will come up on you, your people, and all your officials.” (Exodus 8:1-4 HCSB)

>Plague 3: Gnats

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, and it will become gnats throughout the land of Egypt.” And they did this. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and when he struck the dust of the earth, gnats were on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats throughout the land of Egypt. The magicians tried to produce gnats using their occult practices, but they could not. The gnats remained on man and beast. “This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. (Exodus 8:16-19 HCSB)

>Plague 4: Swarms of Flies

The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. But if you will not let My people go, then I will send swarms of flies against you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The Egyptians’ houses will swarm with flies, and so will the land where they live.

And the Lord did this. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh’s palace and his officials’ houses. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies. (Exodus 8:20-21, 24 HCSB)

>Plague 5: Death of livestock

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. But if you refuse to let them go and keep holding them, then the Lord’s hand will bring a severe plague against your livestock in the field — the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that the Israelites own will die.” And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” The Lord did this the next day. All the Egyptian livestock died, but none among the Israelite livestock died. Pharaoh sent messengers who saw that not a single one of the Israelite livestock was dead. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the people go. (Exodus 9:1-7 HCSB)

>Plague 6: Boils

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of furnace soot, and Moses is to throw it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. It will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt. It will become festering boils on man and beast throughout the land of Egypt.” So they took furnace soot and stood before Pharaoh. Moses threw it toward heaven, and it became festering boils on man and beast. The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had told Moses. (Exodus 9:8-12 HCSB)

>Plague 7: Hail

Tomorrow at this time I will rain down the worst hail that has ever occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Therefore give orders to bring your livestock and all that you have in the field into shelters. Every person and animal that is in the field and not brought inside will die when the hail falls on them.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven and let there be hail throughout the land of Egypt — on man and beast and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.” So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail. Lightning struck the earth, and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. The hail, with lightning flashing through it, was so severe that nothing like it had occurred in the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast. The hail beat down every plant of the field and shattered every tree in the field. The only place it didn’t hail was in the land of Goshen where the Israelites were. (Exodus 9:18-19, 22-26 HCSB)

>Plague 8: Locusts

But if you refuse to let My people go, then tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. They will cover the surface of the land so that no one will be able to see the land. They will eat the remainder left to you that escaped the hail; they will eat every tree you have growing in the fields. They will fill your houses, all your officials’ houses, and the houses of all the Egyptians —something your fathers and ancestors never saw since the time they occupied the land until today.” Then he turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.

The Lord then said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt and the locusts will come up over it and eat every plant in the land, everything that the hail left.” So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind over the land all that day and through the night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts. The locusts went up over the entire land of Egypt and settled on the whole territory of Egypt. Never before had there been such a large number of locusts, and there never will be again. They covered the surface of the whole land so that the land was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or the plants in the field throughout the land of Egypt. (Exodus 10:4-6, 12-15 HCSB)

>Plague 9: Darkness

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived. (Exodus 10:21-23 HCSB)

>Plague 10: Death of the Firstborn

The Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you out of here. Now announce to the people that both men and women should ask their neighbors for silver and gold jewelry.”

So Moses said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, and every firstborn male in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is behind the millstones, as well as every firstborn of the livestock. Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt such as never was before, or ever will be again. But against all the Israelites, whether man or beast, not even a dog will snarl, so that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. (Exodus 11:1-2, 4-7 HCSB)
Two feasts God instituted along with 10th plague
>Feast of Passover

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ households, one animal per household. If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each person will eat. You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them. They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over fire — its head as well as its legs and inner organs. Do not let any of it remain until morning; you must burn up any part of it that does remain before morning. Here is how you must eat it: you must be dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover. “I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute. (Exodus 12:3-14 HCSB)
The Passover Seder (English pronunciation: ˈseɪ dəɹ; in Hebrew: סֵדֶר [ˈsedeʁ], meaning "order, arrangement"; and in Yiddish: "seyder") is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evening of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar throughout the world. This corresponds to late March or April in the Gregorian calendar. Passover lasts for 7 days in Israel and 8 days outside of Israel (other than for adherents of Reform Judaism for whom Passover is 7 days regardless of location), with Jews outside of Israel other than Reform Jews holding two Seders (on the evening of the 15th and 16th of Nisan) and Jews in Israel and Reform Jews worldwide holding one Seder (on the 15th of Nisan).

The Seder is a ritual performed by a community or by multiple generations of a family, involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. This story is in the Book of Exodus (Shemot) in the Hebrew Bible. The Seder itself is based on the Biblical verse commanding Jews to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt: "You shall tell your child on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'" (Exodus 13:8) Traditionally, families and friends gather in the evening to read the text of the Haggadah, an ancient work derived from the Mishnah (Pesahim 10). The Haggadah contains the narrative of the Israelite exodus from Egypt, special blessings and rituals, commentaries from the Talmud, and special Passover songs.

Seder customs include telling the story, discussing the story, drinking four cups of wine, eating matza, partaking of symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder Plate, and reclining in celebration of freedom. The Seder is performed in much the same way by Jews all over the world.
The Passover Seder plate (ke'ara) is a special plate containing six symbolic foods used during the Passover Seder. Each of the six items arranged on the plate have special significance to the retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The seventh symbolic item used during the meal—a stack of three matzot—is placed on its own plate on the Seder table.

The six items on the Seder plate are:
Maror and Chazeret: Two types of bitter herbs, symbolizing the bitterness and harshness of the slavery which the Jews endured in Ancient Egypt. For maror, many people use freshly grated horseradish or whole horseradish root. Chazeret is typically romaine lettuce, whose roots are bitter-tasting. Either the horseradish or romaine lettuce may be eaten in fulfillment of the mitzvah of eating bitter herbs during the Seder.
Charoset: A sweet, brown, pebbly paste of fruits and nuts, representing the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt.
Karpas: A vegetable other than bitter herbs, usually parsley but sometimes something such as celery or cooked potato, which is dipped into salt water (Ashkenazi custom), vinegar (Sephardi custom), or charoset (older custom, still common amongst Yemenite Jews) at the beginning of the Seder.
Zeroa: A roasted lamb or goat bone, symbolizing the korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and was then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.
Beitzah: A hard-boiled egg, symbolizing the korban chagigah (festival sacrifice) that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and was then eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.

>Feast of unleavened bread
You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel. You are to hold a sacred assembly on the first day and another sacred assembly on the seventh day. No work may be done on those days except for preparing what people need to eat — you may do only that. “You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute. You are to eat unleavened bread in the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day. Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreign resident or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel. Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.” (Exodus 12:15-20 HCSB)
The Festival of Unleavened Bread to the Lord is on the fifteenth day of the same month. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any daily work. You are to present a fire offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day there will be a sacred assembly; you must not do any daily work.” (Leviticus 23:6-8 HCSB)
When the Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise (leaven). In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten, for which reason Passover was called the feast of unleavened bread in the Torah or Old Testament. Thus Matzo (flat unleavened bread) is eaten during Passover and it is a tradition of the holiday.
Historically, together with Shavuot ("Pentecost") and Sukkot ("Tabernacles"), Passover is one of the three pilgrimage festivals (Shalosh Regalim) during which the entire population of the kingdom of Judah made a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Samaritans still make this pilgrimage to Mount Gerizim, but only men participate in public worship.
When the Temple in Jerusalem was standing, the focus of the Passover festival was the Passover sacrifice (Hebrew korban Pesach) also known as the "Paschal Lamb". Every family large enough to completely consume a young lamb or wild goat was required to offer one for sacrifice at the Jewish Temple on the afternoon of the 14th day of Nisan,(Numbers 9:11) and eat it that night, which was the 15th of Nisan (Exodus 12:6). If the family was too small to finish eating the entire offering in one sitting, an offering was made for a group of families. The sacrifice could not be offered with anything leavened, (Exodus 23:18) and had to be roasted, without its head, feet, or inner organs being removed (Exodus 12:9) and eaten together with unleavened bread (matzo) and bitter herbs (maror). One had to be careful not to break any bones from the offering, (Exodus 12:46) and none of the meat could be left over by morning (Exodus 12:10; 23:18).

Because of the Passover sacrifice's status as a sacred offering, the only people allowed to eat it were those who had the obligation to bring the offering. Among those who could not offer or eat the Passover lamb were an apostate (Exodus 12:43), a servant (Exodus 12:45), an uncircumcised man (Exodus 12:48), a person in a state of ritual impurity, except when a majority of Jews are in such a state (Pesahim 66b), and a non-Jew. The offering had to be made before a quorum of 30 (Pesahim 64b). In the Temple, the Levites sang Hallel while the priests performed the sacrificial service. Men and women were equally obligated regarding the offering (Pesahim 91b).
Women were obligated, as men, to perform the Korban Pesach and to participate in a Seder.

Today, in the absence of the Temple, the mitzvah of the Korban Pesach is memorialized in the Seder Korban Pesach, recited in the afternoon of Nisan 14, and in the form of symbolic food placed on the Passover Seder Plate, which is usually a roasted shankbone. The eating of the afikoman substitutes for the eating of the Korban Pesach at the end of the Seder meal (Mishnah Pesachim). Many Sephardi Jews have the custom of eating lamb or goat meat during the Seder in memory of the Korban Pesach.

ROXIE'S NOTES:

Week 9
Exodus

 Departure / Road Out

 -Exodus means “Departure” but more specifically in Hebrew it meant “Road Out”

 -The book moves from Israel’s bondage to Pharaoh and from their bonding to Yahweh:

 Bondage Pharaoh

 Bonding Yahweh

 Serving Pharaoh

 Serving Yahweh
-There are major theological themes in Exodus because God does a lot of acting and talking.
Key Theological Themes in Exodus are:

 1. Theology of Creation
2. Knowledge of God
3. Portrayal of God
4. Oppression and Liberation
5. Covenant and Law

 Most scholars date the Exodus to the period: Rameses II c. 1279-1213 BC

 Others date it to the period: Thutmose III c. 1479-1425

 *These are the two leading periods however there are two more and some people don’t think that Exodus even occurred!
-The Red Sea mentioned in the bible is not the same Red Sea we have today. It was completely in another area. The Hebrew word “Yum Sup” does not translate to Red Sea it translates to the word “Reed”. The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate are the ones that translated it to the “Red Sea”.

 1 Kings 9:26 refers to what is presently the Gulf of Aqabah. This could’ve been the actual place where the crossing took place.

 Numbers 33: 10-11 refers to a body of water that they crossed/arrived at once they left the town of Ilam but this is stating that the crossing already took place so it can’t be this body of water. All the crossings mentioned in the bible are called Yum Sup.

 *Scholar consensus is that nobody really knows.


Pharaoh’s plan for dealing with the Israelites:

 -Israel (Jacob) moves the whole clan to the Goshen region of Egypt

 -Time passes and new kings don’t know who Jacob even was

 -The Israelites are now referred to as Hebrews. They multiplied and were strong people.

 1. Enslave the Israelites! 

 2. Instructed midwives to kill ALL MALE BABIES at birth. 

 -However, the midwives feared God so they didn’t kill the babies. They lied, instead, and said that the Israelite mothers gave birth so fast that by the time they arrived, the babies were already born.

 -The two Hebrew midwives were Puah and Shiphrah

 -When plan #2 didn’t work, Pharaoh came up with plan #3.

 3. Anyone was FREE TO THROW ANY HEBREW MALE CHILD into the Nile River 
to drown.

Moses put in basket and placed at the edge of the Nile River

 -Moses was kept in secret until he was 3 years old. His mother, fearing his death, put him in a basket and placed it at the edge of the Nile River in some reeds. His big sister, Miriam, decides to stay there to see what happens to him. 
A Princess sees the basket in the river

 Miriam asks if she’d like her to find someone to take care of him for her. (She has her mom, Jochebed, in mind this whole time.)

 -Princess hires Jochebed to care for him

 -Named baby, “Moses”

 -He is later given back to the Princess and is raised in Pharaoh’s court.


Moses flees to Midian

 -Moses kills an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew man. The next day he saw two Hebrew men fighting and asks them why they are fighting. The guilty man asks, “Who made you judge? Are you going to kill me, too?” The King also finds out that Moses killed an Egyptian so Moses flees to Midian. 

 -Moses goes to the well and runs into Jethro’s daughter, Zipporah. She is having trouble watering her dad’s flock so Moses helps. She tells her father and Moses is invited to her father, Jethro’s, house. 

Moses marries Jethro’s daughter

 - Jethro is the priest in Midian and he worshiped idols.

 Burning bush experience at Mount Horeb (Mt. Sinai)

 -Moses is in the desert near Mt. Sinai. No one really knows where this is.

 -God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. He appeared in the flames. The bush is on fire but it is not being consumed. 

 -Moses gets closer and God tells him to stop and take off his shoes for the he is standing on Holy ground. 

 -God says, “I have heard the cries of my people in Egypt. Go back and tell Pharaoh to let My People go.”

Three Stages of Moses’ Life

 1. Fled Egypt at 40

 2. God appeared to him in burning bush at 80

 3. Died at 120

The Family of Moses

 Father: Amram

Mother: Jochebed

Brother: Aaron

 Sister: Miriam

 Wife: Zipporah

 Sons: Gershom & Eliezer
Moses offers excuses

 -Moses gives God all kinds of excuses in Exodus chapter 4. For example, I don’t speak well, the king/people won’t listen to me! God says, “I Am who I Am.” That speaks to God’s eternal nature and sovereignty. God allows Aaron to work with Moses. (Read more of the story in the bible).

 -God didn’t just harden Pharaoh’s heart, He just strengthened Pharaoh’s “resolve”, i.e. Pharaoh’s own will…what was already there. 

 -Pharaoh wasn’t impressed with the supernatural things Moses and Aaron were doing. He actually ended up increasing the Hebrew’s workload. They now had to   make brick without the Egyptians supplying them with straw. 

 -The Hebrews come to Moses upset.
10 Plagues on Egypt 

 -Pharaoh thinks he’s God but God is going to strengthen Pharaoh’s resolve.

 -In chapter 5, Moses says let us go and worship our God in the desert. Pharaoh says with all cockiness: 

 - “Who is the Lord? Why should I obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know…”

 -This is when Pharaoh vs. God starts while plagues happen in between.

 -“This is how you will know that I am the Lord”

 -“By this you will know that there is no one like our God”

 -“But I have let you live for this reason: to show you My Power so that My name…”

 -“Then you will know that the earth belongs to the Lord”

 -God’s name will be known throughout the earth. Pharaoh didn’t realize that he was being used by God his whole life for this moment in time so God’s Power and Glory could be seen!
(Note: The Israelites are immune to all the plagues.)

 1. Water turning to blood
2. Frogs. Pharaoh starts changing his mind about letting them go. His magicians are able to duplicate this.
3. Nats (Aaron performs this plague)
4. Flies. The magicians can’t replicate what Aaron has done so they acknowledge the Power of God. Pharaoh still isn’t impressed.
5. Farm animals died in Egypt
6. Boils. Pharaoh says please stop. I’ll let you go but he ends up changing his mind.
7. Hail. The hail destroys all the crops in Egypt and the animals that are left. 
Pharaoh says you all are destroying Egypt. I’ll let only the men go but Moses said no.
8. Locusts. The locusts ate everything else. Pharaoh says maybe the men and women can go but not the livestock. Moses said no.
9. Darkness (3 days). Pharaoh has had enough. God tells Moses to tell him this is it.  The quote mentioned above that leads to plague number 10 is “Then you will know that the earth belongs to the Lord.”
10. The firstborn animal and person of Egypt will die
Indication that 10 Plagues were Supernatural Occurrences

 -Timing

 -Intensity

 -Moses’ foreknowledge, initiation and cessation of each plague

 -Immunity of Israelites to each plague


Two feasts God instituted along with the 10th plague

 1. Feast of Passover

 2. Feast of Unleavened bread
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