Scripture StudiesScripture StudiesChapter 7Chapter 7

The ExodusThe Exodus

The Exodus

The story of Moses and the Pharaoh is probably one of the best known in all Scripture

It has been portrayed in a number of movies Most notably “The Ten Commandments”

(1956) starring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Pharaoh

Moses is an archetype for heroism He bore a heavy burden for his leadership of

the Israelites

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Moses may be considered also as a model for our service to Jesus

Moral heroism is acquired in direct proportion to determination to make correct moral choices

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We will discuss:The story of Moses’ birth and rescueHow Moses encountered God in the

burning bushThe meaning of God’s revealed nameThe mission of Israel as a priest to the

other nations

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The literary structure of the Ten PlaguesHow the Passover lamb typifies ChristHow the manna in the wilderness typifies

the EucharistThe Ten CommandmentsHow the Tabernacle reflects the heavenly

temple

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Read:Exodus

– 1:8 – 2:15– 3:1 – 22– 5:1 – 6:1– 11:1 – 12:50– 13:17 – 14:31– 20:1 - 20

The Exodus

Complete Study Questions for Chapter 7

The Exodus

The book of Exodus begins where Genesis left off

The events described in Exodus probably occurred sometime between 1700 and 1550 BC

Some authorities say laterSome say the Pharaoh was Ramesses II,

who lived about 1303-1213 BCBut no one really knows for certain

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Joseph and his family have relocated to Egypt

His family of seventy people (a symbolically perfect number) has increased and grown strong and wealthy

They controlled a large part of northern Egypt

Yet they were guests in Egypt and had no homeland of their own

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But as the people of Israel moved toward the land God had promised them, God would establish a new covenant

The new covenant would not be with one man, or one family, or one tribe

It would be with a whole nation

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In Egypt, Joseph was on good terms with Pharaoh and enjoyed a position of considerable civil power and trust

But there was a “regime change” in EgyptA new Pharaoh had ascended the throneThe new Pharaoh “did not know Joseph”

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This means that he refused to have the kind of friendly relationship with Joseph and his family that he predecessors had

The new Pharaoh was suspicious of the Israelites and their power, which he thought was a threat to his own

He feared them, and resolved to neutralize the threat

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He decided to engage in brutal oppression of the Israelites

He tried to depict them to the Egyptians as dangerous subversives

This is a frequently-used tactic of tyrantsThe Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites, and

put them to work as forced labor on his construction projects

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Pharaoh had established a program of killing all the male children of the Israelites

In this way, the female Israelites would have to intermarry with the Egyptians

The property of the Israelites would this pass into Egyptian hands

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And eventually the ethnic identification of the Israelites would disappear

But the Hebrew midwives refused to cooperate

Although many male Hebrew children were slaughtered, some escaped

One of those who escaped was Moses

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Moses was the son of “a certain man of the house of Levi” and “a Levite woman”

The names of his biological parents are unknown

The Levites would eventually become the priests of Israel

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One of the Hebrew midwives refused to kill a newborn baby

Instead she hid himShe placed him in a small boat and

set him adrift in the Nile RiverHe was found by the daughter of the

Pharaoh, who named him “Moses”

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Moses means “brought up out of the water”

Pharaoh’s daughter realized Moses was a Hebrew child

She engaged the services of a Hebrew woman to nurse him

Unbeknownst to Pharaoh’s daughter, the woman was Moses’ biological mother

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Moses was raised as if he was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter

He lived a life of privilege in the palace

But his mother secretly taught him the faith of his ancestors

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One day Moses was walking along and saw an Egyptian taskmaster administering a savage beating to a Hebrew slave

Moses killed the EgyptianHe thus aligned himself with the

Hebrew people, and threw away his allegiance to Pharaoh

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But he had doubts about standing up for what he had done, and hid the body

He soon discovered that his secret was not safe

Other Hebrews knew what he had done, and threatened to reveal it

He ran away and took refuge with Jethro, a Midianite

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The Midianites were also descendants of Abraham

Moses married Zipporah, Jethro’s daughter

He settled down and grew old in MidianApparently, he tried to forget all that had

happened in EgyptBut God had not forgotten

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When Moses was eighty years old, he had an encounter with God

He was leading his livestock in the wilderness of Sinai, near Mount Horeb

Mount Horeb was “the mountain of God”

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He saw a bush that was on fireBut the bush was not being

consumed by the fireMoses decided to take a closer lookWhen he approached. God spoke to

him from the burning bush

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“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Exodus

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Not just the God of AbrahamIf He had been just the God of

Abraham, the Ishmaelites and the Midianites could have claimed Him

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Not just the God of Abraham and Isaac

If He had been just the God of Isaac, the Edomites (descendants of Esau) could have claimed Him

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This was the God of the people of Israel, now held as slaves in Egypt

God told Moses that He had seen their suffering, and renewed His promise to give them a homeland

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God appoints Moses to the task of returning to Egypt and leading the people out of slavery

He was understandably reluctant to go

After all, he may have still been a wanted criminal there because of his killing of the Egyptian

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Moses needed some convincing that he was the man for the job

First, Moses asked God His nameGod responded, “I am who am”“I am”In other words, He who IS

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Like many others in Scripture who are called by God, Moses was reluctant to answer the call

He didn’t think himself worthyHe was too oldHe was not a good public speakerHe didn’t want to do it“Can’t you get somebody else?”

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But God insisted.He appointed Moses’ brother Aaron to

assist himAaron was a better public speakerAnd it would not really be Moses who

was leading the people anyway It would be God, working through Moses

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God’s message to Pharaoh: “Israel is my first-born son” Pharaoh was asked to let the people of Israel

go three days into the desert to offer sacrifice It was not a request for “freedom” It was not a request for less difficult

circumstances It was a request for “time off” for a religious

observance

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And there was a threat with it If Pharaoh refused to let them go, God

would slay his first-born sonEgypt could be a part of the first-born son

relationship with God by cooperatingThey could watch Israel and learn to do

what Israel did

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But God already knew that Pharaoh would not listen

God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart”But it all would end with freedom for

IsraelBut first, God had to demonstrate his

power

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So Moses (80) and Aaron (83) went to Pharaoh

They were to confront the most powerful king in the world at the time

Exodus 5:1-4As far as Pharaoh was concerned,

Yahweh was just some tribal god

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Pharaoh decided to give them something to do to take their attention away from the religious festival they had planned

Exodus 5:6-10Pharaoh refused to budgeSo the cycle of plagues began

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Plague of blood (Ex 7:14-24)Plague of frogs (Ex 8:1-15)Plague of “gnats” or “lice” (Ex 8:16-

29)

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Plague of flies (Ex 8:20-32)Plague on the Egyptian cattle (Ex

8:9:1-7)Plague of boils (Ex 9:8-12)

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Plague of hail (Ex 9:13-35)Plague of locusts (Ex 10:1-20)Plague of darkness (Ex 10:21-28)

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The sacred writer of Exodus has arranged the first nine plagues in three cycles

In each cycle, the first two plagues come after a warning

The third plague in each cycle comes with no warning at all

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1. Plague of blood (Ex 7:14-24)

4. Plague of flies (Ex 8:20-32)

7. Plague of hail (Ex 9:13-35)

God tells Moses, “Go to Pharaoh in the morning . . . ”

2. Plague of frogs (Ex 8:1-15)

5. Plague on Egyptian cattle (Ex 9:1-7)

8. Plague of locusts (Ex 10:1-20)

God tells Moses, “Go into Pharaoh . . . ”

3. Plague of gnats (Ex 8:16-19)

6. Plague of boils (Ex 9:6-12)

9. Plague of darkness (Ex 10:21-26)

Moses gives Pharaoh no warning

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Pharaoh shrugged off the first two plagues

His court magicians were able to do something that at least looked similar

But when the plague of gnats came, the magicians were unable to perform and said, “This is the finger of God”

But Pharaoh wouldn’t listen

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After the fourth plague (flies) Pharaoh was willing to negotiate

He had seen that the Hebrews were not affected by the flies

Now Pharaoh was willing to allow the Israelites to hold their religious sacrifice, as long as they did not leave Egypt

But Moses would not agree to that

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The reason was that the animals the Israelites would be sacrificing were worshipped as gods by the Egyptians

It would be “abominable” to the Egyptians It was to be a reminder to the Israelites

not to fall into the idolatry of the Egyptians

It was to be a reminder to the Israelites to worship only the one true God

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The plagues were also symbolic reminders

The Egyptians worshipped a bullOne of the plagues killed their cattleThe Egyptians worshipped a frogOne of the plagues left mounds of

dead, stinking, decomposing frogs

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After each plague, the Pharaoh seemed ready to listen to reason

But as soon as the plague was gone, he backed out of the deal he had made

He refused to allow the Hebrews to leave

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The 10th and last plague will kill all the first-born of the Egyptians

The Pharaoh had been warned about this from the beginning

The slaying of the first-born was to include the animals of the Egyptians

Symbolically, it would be killing their gods as well

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God gave the people of Israel a special way to protect their own first-born

They were to choose a lamb without blemish and ritually slaughter it

They were to spread its blood on their doorposts, and eat it as part of a sacred meal

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The angel of death would pass through Egypt

It would kill the first-born of the EgyptiansBut it would spare those whose

doorposts had been marked with the blood of the lamb

It would “pass over” those houses (hence “Passover”)

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The instructions for the ritual meal were very specific

The Hebrews were to eat unleavened bread

There would be no time for bread to rise when the Pharaoh let them leave Egypt

The lamb had to be roasted, not boiled

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They were to prepare to leave quicklyThey were to eat with their traveling

clothes on, ready to goAnd they were to observe this event by

re-enacting the meal every year until the end of time

This was to remind them for all time what God had done for them

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The Passover lamb is a type of ChristThe blood of the lamb is a type for the

blood of ChristThe Passover observance was to

prepare them to understand the death of the Lamb of God

The events occurred just as Pharaoh had been warned

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Death took the first-born of the EgyptiansBut it “passed over” the HebrewsExodus 12:30-33Now the Egyptians were not only willing

to let the Hebrews goThey were eager for them to leave as

soon as possible

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The Egyptians demanded that they leaveThey left in haste, in the middle of the

nightThey took with them only what they could

carryGod himself led them into the wilderness

with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day

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But as soon as the Hebrews were packed and gone, Pharaoh had yet another change of heart

But this one would be his lastHe and his nobles realized that they had

lost their plentiful supply of cheap (slave) labor

“What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

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So the Pharaoh assembled an army to chase after the Hebrews and force them to come back

The Hebrews had reached the shore of the “Sea of Reeds” (usually mistranslated as the “Red Sea”)

They saw the Egyptian army approaching from behind them

Water in front, hostile army behind

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Exodus 14:10-12God told Moses to stretch out his rod

toward the seaA storm arose with a hard driving wind

from the eastThe pillar of fire and cloud moved

between the Hebrews and the EgyptiansNeither side could see the other

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The wind blew throughout the night, and a dry path appeared through the water

The Israelites marched through the dry land path to the other side

The Egyptians attempted to follow the same path

But their chariots got stuck in the mud halfway across

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God then told Moses to stretch out his rod again

The waters came crashing back and drowned Pharaoh and his army

Israel defeated Egypt without a sword being drawn

God had won the victory for the Israelites

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The event was a type for baptism“ . . . Our fathers were all under the

cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea” (1 Cor 10:12)

The Exodus (“going out” from Egypt) was Israel’s declaration of independence

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But they still had no land and no government (other than God)

They were not yet a nation

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When they no longer had the Egyptians to worry about, the Israelites turned their thoughts to their own welfare

They were hungryThey were thirstyThey were tiredThey were grumpy

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Again, they began to think of their lives as slaves in Israel as “the good old days”

At least there they had food and drink and roofs over their heads

Here they had nothingBut once again, God would save them

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He caused bread to fall from the skyEvery morning, there was a coating of

white flakes on the ground called “manna” (meaning “what-is-it?”)

It was good to eat, something like breadGod also provided them with water to

drink from a dry rock in the desert

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The manna is a type for the Eucharist

We see it fulfilled in John 6:30-35The water from the rock is

referenced in 1 Cor 10:1-4

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After three months of wandering in the desert, the Israelites reached the mountain of God, Mount Sinai

This was the same location where God had revealed His sacred name to Moses in the burning bush

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Moses again went up the mountainAnd God had a message for the

whole nation of IsraelExodus 39:3-8If the people would listen to God,

they would be a nation of priests

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That means that Israel was unique Israel had been chosen to bring the

message of God to the entire worldGod would talk to them directly and

would be their leader and guide In turn, Israel – as God’s first-born –

would carry His message to the rest of the family of nations

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The people purified themselves for three days

A thick cloud descended on the mountain

Moses entered the cloudThe entire people heard the voice of

God from the cloud

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They all heard the “rules”We know these rules as the Ten

CommandmentsThey are not just instructions for

religious ritualsThey are abstract standards of moral

behavior

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I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage

Exodus 20:2-17

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1. You shall have no other Gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or anything that is in the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or the earth beneath, or that is under the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to those who love me and keep my commandments

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2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain

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3. maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it

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4. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you

5. You shall not kill

6. You shall not commit adultery.

7. You shall not steal.

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8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9-10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s

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The traditional catechetical formula has the “coveting” in to commandments:

9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods

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But the voice of God was so terrifying to the people that they asked Moses to ask God not to speak directly to them again, but to speak only through Moses

God did as they askedGod gave Moses a more detailed version

of the laws under which they were to live

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Then Moses built an altarHe sealed the covenant with a sacrificeHe sprinkled half the blood on the altarHe read the book of the covenant to the

people, and they agreed to itThen he sprinkled the other half of the

blood on the people

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The people were united with God in the covenant

Hebrews 6:13Exodus 15:1Exodus 3:14Exodus 19:5-6

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The Ten Commandments (AKA the Decalogue, “ten words”) sum up and proclaim God’s law

They outline the requirements for our relationship with God and with others

The Ten Commandments unify man’s social life with his religious life

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The Ten Commandments also express the “Natural Law”

That is, universal principles for every society

The Tem Commandments were made known to us by both divine revelation and human reason

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Moses then went up the mountain again, leaving Aaron in charge of the people

He was in God’s presence on the mountain for forty days and nights

God showed Moses the pattern for the Tabernacle the tent that would serve as a temple for the wandering people of Israel

It was to be a mirror of the heavenly temple

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The centerpiece of the temple would be the Ark of the Covenant, God’s throne on earth

The God of all creation would dwell in the midst of His chosen people in a way that made them different from all other people

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Moses expected that the people would be overjoyed when he returned

But he was gone for forty days, and the people gave up waiting for him

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Read the Commentary on Exodus on page 145

Read the chronography of Julius Africanus on page 145

Be prepared to answer these questions:

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Why did Pharaoh want to kill all the male children of Israel, but not the females?

Because all the land of Israel would be left with only women, who would marry Egyptian men and bring the land back into Egyptian hands

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What incident caused Moses to rebel against the Egyptians?

He saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew and killed the Egyptian

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Who was Zipporah?The daughter of the priest Jethro,

who later became the wife of Moses in Midian

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How did God identify himself when Moses approached the burning bush?

“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”

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What did that answer indicate?That only those families made up

God’s chosen people

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What was Moses’ first excuse when God told him to go back to Egypt?

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”

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How was Moses told to identify the God of Israel to the Jewish people?

He was told to say, “I AM has sent me to you”

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What is the usual response to God’s call to prophets in Scripture?

They do not wish to respond to God’s request

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What was the first demand Moses was told to make to Pharaoh?

To let Israel go three days’ journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifice to God

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How did Pharaoh react to Moses nd Aaron’s plea to go and offer sacrifice to God?

Pharaoh decided that the people of Israel had too much time on their hands and ordered that they be given more work

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Why would the Isrelites not be able to sacrifice to God among the Egyptians?

Because God required that they sacrifice the very animals that the Egyptians falsely worshipped: cattle, sheep and goats

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How did God punish the Egyptians for Pharaoh’s refusal?

God sent ten plagues upon the Egyptians and the last killed all their firstborn sons

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Why did the Israelites sprinkle lamb’s blood on their doors on the night of the Passover?

This was the sign to God’s angel of death to pass over the house, instead of going through it and killing the first born son

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What were the instructions for the ceremonial feast?

Eat unleavened bread, eat roasted lamb, and eat dressed for travel

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What else was required?The Jewish people were to celebrate

a weeklong Passover yearly to remind them of what God had done

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What was the symbolism of the blood?

It was a type for the blood of Christ

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How did God keep the Egyptians from catching the Israelites?

He kept a pillar of fire between the two groups

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How did God succeed in defeating the Egyptians who came after Moses?

God parted the Red Sea (the “Sea of Reeds”) for the Israelites and drowned Pharaoh’s army

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Of what sacrament is the Manna a type?

The Eucharist

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What is the significance of God choosing the Israelites as a nation of priests?

Israel is to bring His word to other nations

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How did Moses seal the covenant between God and Israel after God had given the Ten Commandments?

Moses built an altar and made a sacrifice, sprinkling some of the blood on the altar and some of the blood on the people, and then he read a covenant to the people

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How long was Moses alone on the mountain with God?

Forty days and nights

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What did God show Moses?He showed Moses the pattern of the

Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, and visions of heaven as it would be shown in the Tabernacle

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The story of Moses offers us another opportunity to analyze how God calls each of us to fulfill a certain part in His plan. God chose Moses to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, and Moses was at first unwilling. Read Exodus 4:1-17 and list all the ways Moses tries to convince God that he would not be able to free the people of Israel. How does God respond? What does this tell us about what God may be calling us to do?

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The Church states that the Ten Commandments “form n organic unity. To transgress one commandment is to infringe on all the others. One cannot honor another without blessing God His creator. One cannot adore God without loving all men, his creatures. The Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) brings man’s religious and social life into unity.” (CCC 2069) What does this teaching mean? Try to come up with other examples of how disobeying one commandment infringes on another.

The Exodus