Another Bible Commentary: Exodus

The Book of Exodus is about how a newborn man (Moses) or nation (Israel) is saved from/through water (from a hard lesson in being a stranger like in Hebrews 11:13-16) and comes to stand before God at Sinai (Burning Bush/Ten Commandments). The Exodus, returning from the Exile, the life cycle of plants, sunrises, naps, etc., are all signposts to the Resurrection. Like Moses, the people of Israel and Christians figuratively emerged from water (Nile River/Red Sea/baptism) to royal adoption. Moses was the only Hebrew not owned by Pharaoh, and Christ is the only human that has never been a slave to sin. This book is set around 1446 BC per 1 Kings 6:1.     

1:5 Septuagint and Acts 7:14 say seventy-five (likely counting sons and grandsons).      

1:11 Rameses “Son of Ra” is a claim all pharaohs made, so it doesn’t have to mean the later Pharaoh by that name. Extorted labor was used to build storage for grain extorted from people enslaved with grain extorted from them (Genesis 41:48, Genesis 47:19). Pharaoh’s staff resembles a shepherd’s crook, doesn’t it? Christ is the Good Shepherd, and judgment will be executed upon the bad shepherds. This will be a recurring theme.  

1:16 In a patrilineal descent genealogy, this is genocide.

1:19-20 Their lie is a great use of pikuach nefesh. 

1:22 Here’s a reminder that all in Egypt were involved in the baby murder before we get to the death of the Egyptian firstborn. 

2:3 Obeying the letter of Pharaoh’s law, but not the spirit. It’s a wee Ark (Genesis 6, Exodus 32). Like Moses, Christ escaped murder as a baby (Matthew 2). 

2:5-10 This savior who raised Moses refused to be a bystander. 

2:11-13 Moses can consider both Egyptians and Hebrews family. Moses repeatedly proves he cannot keep from getting involved. These are the main reasons God picked Moses. When he has time to think about it, Moses is reluctant to fight the family that raised him like God is reluctant to smite Egypt. In this story, God is Creator to ancient Egypt, but Father to Israel (Exodus 4:22) and to you (John 1:12). Moses is often referred to as a murderer due to his questionable provocation, possible premeditation (evidenced by his looking around before striking), and his attempt to hide the evidence. However, this killing is praised in Acts 7:24-25, as if Moses had acted like one of the deliverers from the Book of Judges.

2:14 They misunderstood their deliverer. This theme will be repeated. 

2:15 Tales of fleeing and coming back (Genesis 27-33, Judges 11, 1 Samuel 20, etc.) gave hope to people during the Exile. Time away taught Moses about being a stranger (Hebrews 11:13-16), the sort of person the Law repeatedly says to help. 

2:16 Time to meet a woman at a well again.

2:17 Stepping in again, no matter the odds. Later, Moses even stands up to God. 

2:18 Reuel is a name; Jethro (Exodus 18:1) is a title: approximately, “his excellency”. A Kenite (Judges 1:16) living in Midian and worshiping the true God as a pre-Levitical priest is another reminder of the existence of the concept of righteous Gentiles (Melchizedek’s subjects at least knew of God Most High) under the Laws of Noah (relatively; only Jesus is good enough on any scale that matters). 

2:22 In Exodus 2:19, regardless of his parentage Moses appeared to be the Egyptian he was raised to be. Moses’ son is an Egyptian firstborn.      

2:23-25 This is hard labor, beatings, and genocide. This is not the servant relationship that will be part of the Law of Moses. 

3:1 Leaders are frequently compared to shepherds in the Bible.

3:2 Christ again. Neither does the Spirit consume you, Believer. Jesus’ divinity and our humanity are compatible. You are not an obstacle to God, and He’s not trying to progressively get rid of more and more of you. He already had all of Him and none of you before the creation of the world; now you’re in this together with Him as a family (John 17:23). 

3:5 As clothing demonstrates dignity and honor (Exodus 28:2), having no shoes signifies humility, like a slave. Also, don’t track “unclean” dirt onto “clean” dirt (analogous to not tracking unclean dirt on clean footprints in 1 Kings 13:9-10).

3:6 Jesus used this verse in Matthew 22:32 to teach about the afterlife. God said “I am…”, not “I was…”      

3:8 The sins of the Canaanites had reached their full measure (Genesis 15:16). God does many things that are not written down (John 21:25), and He sent Jonah to warn wicked Nineveh, so I assume He sent repeated warnings to them, too. “Milk and honey” means the land is good for agriculture and for foraging; there’s plenty to eat.      

3:9 Words drift in meaning over time. “Oppressed” here is overburdened, under tyranny, squeezed financially, overtaxed, cheated, extorted; see Deuteronomy 24:14.      

3:12 God keeps His word; God shows the Hebrews nothing but grace until they reach Sinai.      

3:13 A valid concern, as they’re basically Egyptian polytheists by now.      

3:14-15 This “I AM WHO I AM” carries the meaning of “He was/is/will be”, the Creator is eternal and outside of time itself.      

3:18 For such a small price as a three-day religious holiday, Pharaoh could have had a much easier life. If something bad happens to you, especially something you have no control over and is entirely part of this reality that will burn anyway, pray about it, and then say to yourself: “For such a small price, I buy tranquility.” The milk is spilled, but your joy and peace don’t have to be. 

3:19-20 Nineveh repented. Not every catastrophe is set in stone (Jeremiah 18:7-10,  Ezekiel 18:23, Amos 7:1-6). “Intro to Monotheism” could have been a far easier class for the Egyptians under Pharaoh. 

3:21 God can make people be good to you.

3:22 See Exodus 12:36.      

4:1-3 The snake is the symbol of Egypt on Pharaoh’s crown. It is the symbol of the god of the Nile river.

4:4-5 Moses is afraid, but he obeys God anyway. The people who saw this sign saw life come from inert matter and die. There is no one more deserving of love, honor, fear, respect, or trust than God Almighty, and He’s on your side.

4:6 More like “as flaky as snow”. Any Hebrews who knew the stories of Genesis 12:17 and Genesis 15:14 and also saw the mysterious illnesses may have suspected that they were going to be leaving rich again.

4:9 This doesn’t change back. The Creator who brings life from inert matter, Master of even the Snake of the Nile and the Fall, who can kill or heal, sees the genocide in the Nile. Dry land plus water equals death in Exodus 14:28. 

4:10 A comically eloquent disavowal of eloquence.     

4:11 See 1 Corinthians 4:7.

4:14 Keep praying; God can be talked into things.

4:15-16 Being “as if you were God” to Aaron is in the sense of being God giving instructions to a prophet, but from Pharaoh’s perspective, Moses resembled Horus, the son of Ra, the being Pharaoh was supposed to embody. There are lots of parallels in the origin stories of Moses and Horus with the Nile, a secret child, and attempted baby murder.

4:21 Heart-hardening: a) Romans 1:24 clarifies that man does this, and God permits it b) It can also be understood as lending strength or granting willpower. See 2 Kings 18:23 in which a ruler that felt sure of his impending victory mockingly offered to even the odds by equipping his enemy with warhorses if they could muster men to ride them. God gave Pharaoh the strength to decide the contest on its merits. The plagues are evidence of how the divine realm really operates, not mere bullying. For a different outcome, Pharaoh would have had to acknowledge that God is God and that Pharaoh is not.

4:22-23 Israel is God’s “firstborn son” in the sense of being a priestly kingdom adopted among humanity with the responsibility of showing the rest of the world the one true God (Exodus 19:6); this family business comes with a side order of future world domination. As we will see later, the only begotten Son of God Jesus Christ’s mission was in part to be a one-Man Israel (Isaiah’s Suffering Servant) and succeed where they historically failed.

4:24 The pronoun “him” is vague (and no one’s trying to kill Moses as of verse 19). Moses is simultaneously Hebrew and Egyptian, and his son (2:19, 2:22) is an Egyptian firstborn.      

4:25 “Feet” can be a polite euphemism for genitals in the Bible (Isaiah 7:20, Deuteronomy 28:57 in some translations, Ruth 3, 2 Samuel 11:8). Zipporah performing the rite gives us textual evidence that she had come to identify with the Hebrews like Ruth, Rahab, etc. “Bridegroom of blood” may play with the preference for endogamous marriage; the act is reminiscent of a “blood brother” ceremony. Without regard to her lineage, surviving supernatural danger at a sketchy motel creates a lifelong bond. “We’re family now, Moe.” 

4:26 Now that Moses’ son is circumcised (Moses was non-compliant as a Hebrew until that happened per Genesis 17:9-14), he and the boy are no longer Egyptian firstborns. They will be safe from what is coming. 

Before we get too deep into Exodus: Sometimes, I like to remind myself of Ezekiel 18:23, 1 Timothy 2:4, and 2 Peter 3:9. God wants to save everyone; the plagues were not fun for Him. Moses has seen a burning bush miracle and he or his son have almost gotten killed; he knows God means business. However, God has tolerated a lot of baby murder (and Canaanite shenanigans over in the Promised Land) at this point in the story, and His mercy is greater than His wrath by at least a 1,000 to 4 ratio (Exodus 20:5-6). The plagues demonstrate the superiority of God to false gods. God was mostly forgotten after the Tower of Babel, and humanity slid down the Romans 1:21-32 path. His re-introductions have a flair for the dramatic.

5:1-2 Before the people of Israel were this numerous, the man Israel/Jacob was the recipient of a big Egyptian state funeral a few pages ago in Genesis. The God of Israel that the Pharaoh hasn’t studied saved the known world from a famine through Egypt with Joseph.

5:3 The request is rephrased in terms that a polytheist would understand.

5:4-15 Pharaoh thinks he is the son of Ra the sun god and believes himself to be divine. Later in the Bible, Egypt symbolizes laboring in vain, idolatry, and false security (but people freed from it want to go back). Working under these conditions would have been good practice for trying to live under/relate to God by means of the Law of Moses, and would have been beneficial for understanding slavery to sin and death; we need the Son to show us the Father.

5:16 The fault in the Old Covenant is found with the people (Acts 15:10, Hebrews 8:8); humans cannot be perfect like God (Matthew 5:48), so God did it for us (Hebrews 10:14). The New Covenant of grace is based on the strength of God’s promises to Himself (Hebrews 6:16-20) and on Christ’s indestructible life (Hebrews 7:25).

5:22-23 Imagine if Job had tried talking to God with Moses’ candor. Jesus is the Rescue; the rest is the opening act (Hebrews 7:19).

6:3 The patriarchs knew God Almighty, but the full extent of his nature (Exodus 3:14-15 note) was a mystery to them. Jesus Christ is our experience of God (John 14:9). Earlier uses of the name “the LORD” in the text can be compared to speaking of the early life of a person the audience is familiar with under a different name e.g. the boyhood of Pope Alexander VI instead of Rodrigo Borgia.   

6:4 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will receive what was promised because there is an afterlife (Matthew 22:32, Revelation 20).    

6:6-8 The four cups of wine at Passover are to remember these promises (roughly to redeem from slavery, adopt/marry, transport, and enrich). Under the New Covenant, we are already redeemed, adopted, transported, and enriched in Christ; see Hebrews 2:11, Hebrews 10:14, John 1:12, John 3:16-17, and Ephesians 2:6-7.

6:20 The Septuagint (reliable enough to be quoted extensively in the New Testament) says Jochebed was Amram’s father’s cousin. Compare Numbers 26:59. Plus, since Abe’s nephew Lot was a “brother” to Abe in Hebrew in Genesis 13:8, Genesis 14:14, and Genesis 14:16, then “sister” here could be another colloquialism. If you think I’m resolving an issue too quickly, then Abraham’s (if truthful) incest wasn’t a problem in Genesis 26:5, and earlier people like Cain didn’t have much choice since all descend from Adam. Leviticus 18:9,11 and Deuteronomy 27:22 says that stopped at a point. Keeping the later Law of Moses in this regard (no relations of pairs closer than cousins, nieces: yes, aunts: no) would have been possible with the humans left after the Flood. Leviticus 18:12 is on a list of sins attributed to Egyptians and Canaanites (Leviticus 18:3) that resulted in their expulsion from the land. Does Deuteronomy 23:2 suggest that this was another way that not even Moses kept the Law of Moses? Was Abraham lying again (faced with death, pikuach nefesh) when he told them Sarah was his half-sister (Genesis 20)? Only Jesus is sinless (John 8:46). Lest I obsess over genealogies (1 Timothy 1:4), I will move on. Just because we don’t have a precise start time for “don’t act like a Canaanite” regarding when the Gentiles received the rules (Laws of Noah is just a traditional name, but the post-Flood lack of genetic diversity seems logical to me as starting point), doesn’t mean that the Council of Jerusalem’s and Paul’s applications of those principles long established for Gentile synagogue attendees in the New Testament are invalid (Matthew 16:19, Matthew 18:20).  

7:1 Pharaoh may have been disconcerted that Moses seemed like Horus the son of Ra to him. The pharaohs were supposed to be the current incarnations of Horus. In their mythology the god Set tried to kill his nephew Horus as a baby, but the child was hidden in the reeds in the Nile. His sister Nephthys, like Miriam, kept watch. The Bible included details about Moses’ nursing; Isis nursing Horus is an Egyptian statue. Horus holding a snake, like Moses’s staff demonstration, is another statue. Pharaoh, thought to be Horus, found himself to be recast as the villainous Set in a subversion of Egyptian mythology. Gentle prodding like this was ignored, and full-on plagues stepping on the alleged areas of authority of the Egyptian gods followed.

7:5 A plague means an angry god to a polytheist, but 10 from spheres that would never team up, including hail of fire and ice, that stop at precisely predicted times? That can only mean monotheism; God judges all the false gods of Egypt (Exodus 12:12). The plagues are evidence; God doesn’t just want to bully Pharaoh into submission because he’d change his mind again.  God gives Pharaoh strength to oppose Him (like Isaiah 36:8) because He wants Pharaoh to freely acknowledge his Creator and disavow his own godhood on the merit of what he sees, freeing Israel and following the true God instead. Saying “Jesus is Lord” is an acknowledgement that He is God and that I am not. Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9).

7:11 Notice the devil never fixes any of these problems, but only makes them worse. Not to discount the evil powers at work in this world, but “by their secret arts” is translated elsewhere as “by their flames”, which seems to me that they were using sleight of hand with a flash of fire for misdirection while they swapped the items.

7:12 The Creator is supreme over other powers. This verse reminds me of Isaiah 25:8 and 1 Corinthians 15:54. 

7:15 The snake is a staff again. The destroyer (Hebrews 2:14) needs a permit (Exodus 12:23).

7:17 Baby drowning is bad. See Revelation 16:6. “We didn’t think the Nile being Osiris’ bloodstream was literal!  Hey Khnum and Hapi, what gives?”

7:22 They made it worse. 

8:2 Egypt has frog gods such as Heqet and Kek. Frogs are amphibians, and they were considered sacred for walking in two worlds; killing them was against the Egyptians’ law. 

8:3 Plague 1 took their water; Plague 2 took their bread.     

8:7 They made it worse again.      

8:9-10 Pharaoh could have said “now” but he opted for “tomorrow”.     

8:16-17 They even had a god of dust (Geb). This plague would have made the priests and sacrifices unclean by Egypt’s reckoning, so they couldn’t even try to do something about their situation. 

8:18-19 We’ve found a miracle that Jannes and Jambres (2 Timothy 3:8) lack a magic trick to copy. Jesus later quoted the phrase “finger of God” in reference to his own astounding ministry (Luke 11:20). 

8:21 Scarabs hatching from dead things and manure were thought to be divine, coming from death to life. Egyptians worshiped Khepri, who was depicted with a beetle head. Some Jewish books take the “swarm” of this verse to mean all manner of animals like in Leviticus 26:22.      

8:22-23 In Exodus 12:38, some Egyptians leave with Israel. I like to think the nicer, less baby-drowning-prone element started hiding out with the Hebrews early in the plagues.     

8:25 If the enemy can’t stop you, compromise is the next tactic. “Here” is in Egypt, symbolic of laboring in vain, idolatry, and (seen in later desert complaints) false security. Think of the church members in Revelation 2:14 still attending pagan temple services for food and sex.     

8:28 The enemy wants you to “not go very far” (1 John 3:6).     

9:3 They were even warned to bring them in to protect them like Passover (Exodus 9:19). “Sacred cows” to the Egyptians included Hathor and the Apis bull.     

9:9 The animals not mentioned in verse 3 as well. At this point, the Egyptians were likely appealing to Nefertem, Thoth, Isis, Sekhmet, Imhotep, etc.     

9:12 Pharaoh’s run out of natural stubbornness. The first five “heart hardenings” were up to him. God lends him strength for the next five plagues. 

9:16 reminds me of Israel’s purpose (Exodus 19:6, Romans 9:18, Romans 11:25).     

9:18 God took on Horus, Nut, Shu, Osiris, Anubis, etc., with this one.

9:19 Another Passover-like warning. If anyone reading this has yet to accept Christ, please do so now. Thanks. 

9:23-24 In some translations, the hail has fire in it, proving only an omnipotent God could be behind this. Set, their god of disorder and storms (which remind me of Ephesians 2:2) cannot get the opposing teams of Egyptian gods to play this well together. 

10:2 The plagues were also meant to be an impressive re-introduction to monotheism for the Hebrews.

10:5 Neper couldn’t save their grain. 

10:10-11 Another proposed compromise: we’re always one generation away from the end of the Church on Earth. 

10:13 This east wind will make a few more appearances. 

10:15 Based on Exodus 9:25 and Exodus 9:31, some time passes between these plagues. 

10:21 Egypt’s #1 deity was Amon-Ra or Ra the sun god.  Notice there’s no chat with Pharaoh this time as this match with God was inevitable.

10:24 If the devil can’t stop you or your family from being Christian, he at least wants to keep you from financially advancing the Kingdom. 

10:28 How you treat an ambassador is symbolically how you have treated the King. Let’s see how Pharaoh’s death threat to God works out (Exodus 11:5). 

11:2-3 This back pay eventually provides ingredients for the Tabernacle. 

11:5 There has been ample warning (Exodus 4:22-23), God’s prediction of their lack of repentance owes more to His omniscience than their lack of choice, the whole nation is involved with baby drowning (Exodus 1:22), and everyone deserves death (we are saved by grace). God has not been in a hurry; they’ve even had time to get more livestock from the Israelites (Exodus 9:6). The punishment for killing the babies was ordinarily death by human hands (Genesis 9:6), but all of this was an introduction to God for Egypt (Exodus 7:5), so they were to live to tell the tale. 

12:3-11 A lamb (Genesis 22:8) that  is sacrificed to prevent the death of the firstborn son (Genesis 22:2) is another in a chain of sacrifices going back to Abel’s atoning lamb from the firstborn of his flock (Genesis 4:4) offered in remembrance of the death of an animal to cover Adam and Eve’s sin (Genesis 3:21). Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Belief in the power of the blood saves. Like Eucharist, each Passover thereafter was eaten in remembrance of the one-time salvation (with side dishes evocative of the bitterness of slavery and the haste of their exit). Verse 10 says not to try to keep any for ongoing progressive salvation (think about the mistaken little-by-little forgiveness scheme that some people associate with Communion), which would ruin the meaning. Their year began with remembering how they got free. The tenth day is memorable because the death of the firstborn is the tenth plague.

12:5 Our Lamb is perfect. One year was the prime of life and value. Christ lived with us and bonded with us before His death. Each home took the deal; a more national version by Hezekiah is seen in 2 Chronicles 30. The existence of home and Temple observances of Passover is one way people iron out the timeline of the Last Supper. 

12:7 The blood on the sides and top of the door frame looks like the Hebrew letters tav or heth, sometimes drawn in other languages as t or x. This is an early hint at the Cross, as those were shapes of crosses.

12:10 Eating the meal provided once-for-all salvation with regard to this curse; we don’t need to carry around extra Jesus to consume in case we get sinfully peckish, because it is finished.

12:12 Sekhmet, Sobek, Meskhenet, Maat, Renenutet, etc., were looked to for protection which was not coming.

12:15 Yeast: fermentation, rot, death, impurity (which is why Jesus using it as a symbol for His life in us in Luke 13 was surprising for His hearers.) Wet flour acquires yeast from the air (Ephesians 2:2). Keeping old dough jumpstarts a new batch. “Cut off” is karet or spiritual extinction from the people of Israel and Exodus 31:14 implies the death penalty.

12:23 The destroyer (Hebrews 2:14) requires a permit. The Book of Job shows an instance of how this worked once.      

12:28 God’s “firstborn” were “chosen” by “obedience” in this matter. Other plagues skipped the Israelite without blood on the door. Like accepting Christ, these people were voluntarily “under the blood”.

12:29 The Old Testament view of God’s sovereignty is as such that anything He permits, He did. Jesus makes it clear in the New Testament that Satan (Exodus 12:23, Hebrews 2:14) is our enemy. Jesus handled sin and death for us (1 Corinthians 15:55-57); therefore, the evil one cannot touch us (1 John 5:18). Those of us not raptured (if anyone is) will still “die”, but 1 Corinthians 15 discusses our promised new bodies at length.

12:30 Popularly, babies are emphasized for dramatic balance with the baby-drowning, but the firstborn of any age died. Pharaoh was not a firstborn son. Many pharaohs were not. For example, neither Amenhotep II nor his successor Thutmose IV were firstborn sons. History is full of infant mortality and usurpation.

12:36 The language is like that of a victorious army.

12:38 Kind of like Gentile Christians. It seems some Egyptians took some of the many hints and had already defected from Pharaoh, much like believers in the Gospel have left this world for our new King and new Kingdom. 

12:43-44,48 Ergo, the circumcised are no longer foreigners.  Paul’s fight to keep Gentile Christians from having to be circumcised (Galatians 3:10, Galatians 5:3) is predicated on prophecies saying that from the second Temple period on (like Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 56, Isaiah 60, etc.), Gentiles would worship God too, and they wouldn’t be Gentiles any more if they converted to Judaism (Esther 8:17). See also Psalm 86:9.

13:9 You can see the back of your hand easily, and others can see your forehead easily. It means your faith should be visible (not in an attention-seeking way, like Jesus condemned in the Pharisees, but genuine faith doesn’t hide either). As for keeping it on their lips, some Jews say that a meal without discussing the Law of Moses may as well have been sacrificed to idols. 

13:13 Donkeys were unclean (because they lacked a divided hoof per Leviticus 11:2), so they could not be offered as a sacrifice in the customary manner.

Exodus 14  – In Mesopotamian myth, Marduk slew the sea serpent of chaos Tiamat at creation (like dividing the waters in Genesis 1:6). The true God, by dividing and un-dividing the Red Sea, defeated Egypt (symbolically the Snake of the Nile). Jesus defeated Satan at the Crucifixion.  Comparisons are drawn in Psalm 74, Psalm 89, Isaiah 51:9, and Job 26:13; context will tell you which is which. Israel, marked for drowning in Exodus 1:22, crossed on dry land and Egypt drowned. 

14:7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, and then he also took all of the other chariots.  Funny. 

14:11 They complain, but He blesses them. He graciously promised to bring them to Sinai, and he won’t lose anyone on the way.

14:14 See Psalm 46:10. Faith saves.

14:17-18 Echoes the honor guard in Genesis 50.

14:21-22 Dividing the waters again (Genesis 1:6) or the “water broke” and baby Israel is coming. This is like Genesis 1 and Genesis 8 spirit/wind over water for a new beginning. The wind is described as with the plague of locusts; Israel’s enemies are as bugs to God. 

14:25 Jesus Took the Wheel. 

14:28 See Micah 7:19. Thanks to Jesus, all your sins are gone. They are drowned like Pharaoh’s army. God’s not looking for them. 

14:30-31 seems to serve the same purpose as Isaiah 66:24.   

15:1 They burst into song spontaneously like in a musical. And to think, Moses said he was inarticulate…  

15:2 “He has become my salvation” would be a great alternate title for the Bible. 

15:7 This image comes around again in Isaiah 14:12, Luke 10:18, Revelation 12:9, etc. 

15:9 The repeated use of “I will” reminds me of Isaiah 14:13-14.

15:12 While this is a metaphor for the grave, this actually happens in Numbers 16:32.

15:13 He led them to Sinai as promised, and is taking us to Heaven.      

15:14-16 The Song of Moses seems like a microcosm of some of the later prophets’ work. The brief mentions of hope for us and doom for Israel’s neighbors in this chapter become entire chapters in their books. 

15:17-18 Mount Moriah in this instance. Samaritans thought Mount Gerizim. Sounds like Isaiah 66:22-23 and Revelation 22:5.      

15:25 Since tree branches don’t work like this, we know God did it.      

15:26 Panicking and begging mercy at the first mention of behavior-based disaster prevention like in Exodus 32:11-14 would have been a good idea. “The Lord your God who heals you” is a nice name upon which to reflect.

16:2-4 They were praising Him a chapter ago. See Deuteronomy 8:3. In Matthew 4, Jesus, the one-Man Israel, passed this test. As Jesus is the Word (John 1:1) He is also the Bread (John 6:35). The disciples of His earthly ministry still under the Old Covenant were told to ask for their daily bread, and with the New Covenant we Have Him within us so we lack nothing of eternal value (John 6:35, Ephesians 1:3).

16:12 The manna came at night, and Jesus came after a period of 400 years of silence by the prophets. 

16:13 Based on Exodus 16:1, this is a different incident from Numbers 11. 

16:16 An omer is approximately a box of Frosted Flakes breakfast cereal.      

16:17-18 Our works aren’t worth much since God is our Provider.      

16:19 This whole world is as ephemeral as manna; what do we have that God did not give us? (1 Corinthians 4:7).      

16:26 God rested after the Creation to show that the world was complete, but the Sabbath started when the manna stopped at the end of the week. Exodus 31:13,16-17 specifies that the Sabbath was for the Israelites only. See Colossians 2:16-17 and Romans 14:5.  Jesus is our Sabbath (Hebrews 4).

16:29 “stay where they are” Acts 1:12 says that the Mount of Olives was an appropriate Sabbath day’s walk from the Old City of Jerusalem, and that’s a little over two miles.

17:4-5 “Afraid of a little stoning? Go right up in front of them.” See Acts 14:19-20.

17:6 The Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4, not Dwayne Johnson) was struck once that we may thirst no more (John 6:35, Hebrews 10:14). Moses ruined this symbolism in Numbers 20, so he failed to enter the Promised Land. Notice that God stood in the strike zone (Isaiah 53:5). 

17:8 Esau’s grandchildren (Genesis 36:12) were the first to fight Israel, and went out of their way to do so. See Genesis 12:3; no wonder they will be blotted out. Curiously, they die out at times in the story and respawn. I think it’s because they benefit from Abraham’s descendants being innumerable (Genesis 15:5).

17:9-11 Like any of the other staff-related miracles earlier in Exodus.      

17:12 Think of the Cross regarding Moses’ arm position. Aaron’s near dead bodies, but Leviticus 21:11 isn’t the Law yet.

17:13 Jesus (Greek for Joshua) overcomes the combined armies of Earth with His mouth sword in Revelation 19:21. 

17:14 It’s hard to blot out the name if it’s reprinted in every Bible. Jesus is the Word; this book goes away eventually (Isaiah 65:17, Ecclesiastes 1:2, and 2 Peter 3:10-14). See Deuteronomy 25:17-19 note. 

18:2 happened at some unspecified time after Exodus 4:26. 

18:5 We’re back to the site of the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-4). 

18:8 The plagues taught Pharaoh he’s not a god, and the Law of Moses does the same thing for humanity as part of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Can’t be perfect like God on your own? Then thank Him for the grace available through Jesus Christ.      

18:12 A righteous Gentile with food after a fight reminds me of Melchizedek. Just because there is a “chosen” people group does not rule out others hearing from God. He spoke to Balaam, Abimelech, Necho, Nebuchadnezzar, etc. God is God of all (Amos 9:7). 

Exodus 19 – Before we get too deep into the Law of Moses, please read Galatians 4. Abe tried to help God keep God’s promise, so just as Genesis 17 followed Genesis 15, humanity’s attempt to add morality/ethics/Law to the grace of Eden (the first sin) has brought the story here. In the Fall, we sought the knowledge of good and evil, and we were promised death; the Law of Moses grants both. The (Angel of the) LORD (Lord Jesus) who spoke to Moses face to face (Numbers 12:5-8) gave Law “through” (Galatians’ Greek prepositions can be slippery: It could be “because of”) angel mediators/Watchers (Deuteronomy 33:2), giving them license to request smiting, etc. See Acts 7:38, Galatians 3:19, the early chapters of Job, and Hebrews 2:2. The Israelites presumptuously said that they could keep the Law (Exodus 19:8), and as a result many would die. Humanity was still enslaved to sin while living as slaves to Law (Galatians 4:24), still tasting the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus is the Rescue; this is still the opening act. 

19:1 The giving of the Law is traditionally celebrated around Pentecost. Think of similarities in the stories of the Burning Bush, this trip to Sinai, the beginning of the priests’ ministry at the Tabernacle, the dedication of the Temple (when fire fell from Heaven), and Pentecost (when more fire fell from Heaven).      

19:5-6 As we will see, priests lived by a higher standard of behavior than the rest of the congregation did. Israel was given a special mission to demonstrate the reality of God to the world by a) obeying and being unusually blessed or by b) disobeying and being so cursed but still alive that God had to be behind it. Yes, that should remind you of the plagues of Egypt. See Exodus 9:16. There was always a mission to teach the Gentile world about the one true God (Isaiah 26:9, Isaiah 26:18, Isaiah 49:6). 

19:8 That is a rash vow. 2 Kings 22:11 is a more appropriate response. 

19:9 The Sermon on the Mount is another time the Glory of God (John 1:14) explained the Law of Moses to a crowd from an elevated position. 

19:10-11 This “today and tomorrow” and “the third day” naming convention for the passing of time works for a Friday-to-Sunday tomb stay by Jesus, but we’ll discuss that topic in more detail later.     

19:10-20 The Tabernacle and the Temple functioned similar to a repeatable Sinai experience. The people remained in the outer area, the inner area was guarded by priests, and the inner-inner Holy of Holies was visited only on Yom Kippur by the High Priest. Herod’s later remodeled Temple had even more outer courts for women and Gentiles. 

19:15 Leviticus 15 explains in detail what they were expected to do in this regard for even normal visits to the Tabernacle to give offerings. Resting up for ritual sex might have seemed normal in view of the neighboring cultures; the lack of its fulfillment at Sinai went against norms. Prohibiting sexual activity and related discharges prior to worship was a hedge against the ritual sex commonly used by neighboring nations; God is different and demanded to be worshiped differently. The clean/unclean distinction as to whether a person was suitable as a worshiper or whether an offering was fit to give points to the unchanging perfect God. Touching/eating animals warped by the Fall or coming into contact with death (which entered the world due to Sin) put people into temporary religious timeout. Humans that were menstruating, leprous, had crushed testicles, etc., were also considered unfit to attend worship under the Law of Moses. Jesus made us clean for all time (1 Corinthians 6:11, Hebrews 10:10), so clean/unclean is not a concern for Christians.

19:18-20. When this fire fell from Heaven, the mountain burned but was not consumed, similar to the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:1-2). Fire fell from Heaven to inaugurate the priests’ Tabernacle ministry in Leviticus 9:24 and the Temple in 2 Chronicles 7, and it did so again (without consuming us) to identify believers as the new Temple of God in Acts 2. God visited a bush, He visited Sinai, He visited the Mount of the Sermon, He put his Name in the old Temple, but He lives in you. You are as holy or holier than the special locations of the Old Testament, and recognizing that fact can’t help but affect how you act. As a walking Sinai, you are how people meet Him; you are the only Bible most people in your life will ever read.  

19:22,24 “Break out” like in 2 Samuel 6:8. Yes, priests got commissioned later in Leviticus 8, but there were already “priests” doing required sacrifices (Exodus 5:3). Levite exclusivity, etc., came later. 

20:1 The point of the Law is to silence everyone regarding works-based righteousness (Romans 3:19). It is a shadow of what we have in Christ (Colossians 2:17, Hebrews 10:1). Even the Ten Commandments (the only part of the Law engraved on stone) is called a ministry of death and condemnation inferior to the glory of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3. Law-based living increases sin (Romans 7:5). Instead of pushing for the Ten Commandments to be posted in classrooms and public buildings, depictions of the Cross and the Empty Tomb would be better since the Resurrection is the only thing that fixes anyone. 

20:2-3 and Creator, too, but they saw the Egypt stuff.      

20:4 Exodus 31, the cherubim on the Ark, the bronze serpent, and later Temple decorations prove that ornate things, even for church, are okay. The problem is worshiping them as idols. You would have to be able to make a living human to even get close to the Image of God. Jesus Christ is our physical experience of God. See Leviticus 19:3-4 note.

20:5-6 sounds harsh, but even here mercy is greater than wrath. Individualism comes later in Ezekiel 18. Even so, sin has earthly consequences that can be hard on the families of offenders; by saying three or four generations, God is promising not to leave people in dysfunction forever. 

20:7 including swearing falsely by the Name. Also, the Jewish concept chillul Hashem pertains to giving God a bad name due to the bad behavior of his worshipers. You represent Father all the time. See Ezekiel 36:20-23. 

20:8 See John 5:17, Romans 10:4, Hebrews 4, Hebrews 10:1, and Colossians

2:16-17. Jesus is our Sabbath rest.     

20:9 Doing His work was never a problem, so marching around Jericho or carrying a sleeping mat on any day at His command was all right.      

20:11 Deuteronomy 5 emphasizes deliverance here.      

20:12 Leviticus 19:3 reverses the order of names to keep things more level between father and mother in the text as a whole. Establishing/respecting a government (with the head of the family as ruler of the house) is part of the Laws of Noah. Rabbinic commentators explain “honor” as respecting, obeying, and taking care of your parents. Doing all three is best; two out of three (respectfully taking care of them) was just fine in certain scenarios: dementia, etc. Since the point of obedience in the Jewish worldview was to live (Leviticus 18:5), ben Sira (author of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus in the Apocrypha) implied that the long life promised in this commandment meant that sins could be forgiven due to honoring parents. In the New Testament, whenever someone is referred to as “a brood of vipers” they were being called a parent-killer (a high-level lawbreaker) since the ancients thought some snakes burst from their mothers at birth. For example, the Pharisees’ invented rules would have condemned patriarchs that God said were adequately righteous (I don’t say this in a “fair for their time” sense, but in a “we all need Jesus sense”). 

20:13 This is “murder” as in Exodus 21:14 and Deuteronomy 19:11-13, not defense of self or others, legally sanctioned killing in a war, etc., or divinely prescribed execution. See Genesis 9:6. 

20:14 like Leviticus 18:20, Leviticus 20:10, and Deuteronomy 22:22. Adultery involves a man having sexual intercourse with a married woman. Words have precise meanings, so what is often mistakenly called adultery nowadays is “marital infidelity” or “being a lying, cheating jackass” where the real issue is being unloving, but it’s not like King David’s earlier wives got to vote on who else got added to the stable. We’ll discuss this in great detail later, but centuries of philosophical baggage have distorted our understanding of Matthew 5:27-28, which is a reference to Exodus 20:17 about actually plotting to bed someone’s wife. Finding someone attractive, or a “yen for concubines” is not sinful, to the relief of the Old Testament authors who were ogling Rachel a few pages ago. We are great at finding ways to be unhappy, and much of our society’s moral instruction is provided through talk shows and fictional television plots written by unbelievers, so there are plenty of scenarios like “emotional infidelity” used for easy drama now that just wouldn’t connect back then with Wife #6 and Wife #7. We obey Romans 13 and therefore our local governments about polygamy, but if it’s okay from a religious standpoint to have a harem like Eleazar or David, then it’s okay to want what it’s okay to have. Someone will dismiss this line of thinking as “boys will be boys”, but yes, men and women will be as God made them with unique roles and responsibilities. Ladies, if your man looks at another woman, it probably doesn’t mean he loves you any less, it’s just how he’s wired. Love trusts (1 Corinthians 13:7). Does he treat you well? Does he exchange his limited time and effort on this planet for *NSYNC tickets or whatever makes you happy? If you get mad at him, can you go vent to someone and come back home with reasonable certainty that he’s not going to abandon you, beat you, etc.? Likewise, men, your wives are people with minds of their own, and they’re not always going to think the same way that you do or look at the world through the same lens that you do. (Jesus didn’t even constrain what wives think about in the Sermon, but we’ll get to that later. I’m sure someone’s already accusing me of licentiousness, but I am sick and tired of reading about disgraced pastors and teachers who went after people’s kids because they lacked common sense and an understanding of Colossians 2:20-22. I am sick of us all looking like hypocrites because of our collective failure to maintain an imaginary standard that I believe to be a trick of the enemy. I’m going to keep trying to reset the boundaries where the Bible placed them even though centuries of philosophy Paul warned us about in Colossians 2:8 will make my assertions seem strange.)

20:15 Stealing insults God because He blesses whom He chooses to, and it implies He cannot provide for you. Jewish law experts have even applied the prohibition of stealing to waking people up too early (stealing sleep), deceiving people (stealing the mind), speaking ill of others (lashon hara) even if it is the truth unless there is a “greater” law at risk like preserving lives (stealing reputation), etc. Notice nothing of value needs to be transferred to the thief; merely depriving the original owner of it is theft. Kidnapping (Exodus 21:16) also applies.  Modern conversations have continued further afield, like whether Company B lowering prices “steals” customers from Company A, etc. Pirates boarded ships to take things, not copy them.  The Psalmists borrow from each other, and there is nothing new under the sun. Discussions of intellectual property sales lost are muddied by how many wouldn’t have paid to consume it to begin with, how greater awareness affects concert attendance with accompanying merchandise sales, etc. Leviticus 6:2-3 and Leviticus 19:36 provide more subtleties about property and truth.  Just be kind and thoughtful toward other people in general, okay?

20:16 If saying true things with the intent to harm someone is wrong (verse 15), then who thinks perjury is a smart idea? 

20:17 Hebrew scholars tell us that coveting is wanting something that belongs to another and wanting for them not to have it. It is the envious “evil eye” that begrudges another’s success. If you would settle for a substitute and would be perfectly happy for them to have an even better one, it does not rise to the level of covetousness. When translated into Greek from Hebrew, the best word they had access to was “epithumeo” (roughly, to set the heart upon) or inordinate out-of-bounds lust, which was subsequently translated merely as “lust” in English Bibles, creating many inconsistencies. Notice throughout the Bible how often “covet” goes with “and take”; there is an intent to steal (Exodus 34:24, Deuteronomy 7:25, Joshua 7:21). Also, notice the obsessive tone of the list of items.     

20:21 God the Father has a reputation for being incomprehensible and mysterious; we need to look to the Son (John 14:8-9, Hebrews 1:3) to understand the Father.

20:24-25 Carving was prohibited because: 1) human effort is bad (John 6:63, Isaiah 64:6), and 2) it would have almost definitely led to idolatry given what goes on in the rest of this book. Man’s sin caused the ground to be cursed, so religious activities were elevated from the ground by altars, etc. Christ removed curses and the need for sacrifices. 

20:26 As we’ll discuss when we get to the descriptions of the priestly outfits, priests were part of the Tabernacle/Temple like furniture. Post-Fall Adam and Eve were out of fellowship with God until they were covered in the skin of a sacrificed animal; God only accepted sacrifices because of His grace. Covered priests reflected the fellowship with the God they represented in an official capacity rather than being flawed men trying to control a false god through a sex ritual. Casual workplace nudity by Peter the fisherman (said to be the first Pope) and bizarre nude performance art by Saul, Isaiah, and Micah (and to a lesser extent David) balance the Bible’s stance on this. Naked’s neutral, sin’s shameful, and Old Testament worship procedures are precise (Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10). 

Exodus 21 – Please compare this with the rules in Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 15. The parting gifts in Deuteronomy 15:13 mirror Exodus 11:2. Many translations say “servant” to distinguish the type of service from the more brutal conditions of the later trans-Atlantic slave trade (Exodus 21:16, 20-21, 26-27; Deuteronomy 23:15-16), but if you can buy them (verse 2), they are a slave, which is legal (Exodus 22:3, Deuteronomy 20:11). It could be a voluntary arrangement to repay a debt. 

21:3 One flesh going in, one flesh going out.      

21:4 Therefore, the use of “wife” in this verse is suspect, since this is clearly just breeding slaves and concubines for more slaves. Slaves cannot consent by definition; wives are free/responsible, and therefore can get stoned for adultery. In the ancient world, slaves (or concubines, depending on the job duties) were bred for more slaves, sold domestically, used sexually, offered for hospitality, etc. There are Bible stories that reflect these realities without stopping the narrative to explain the nuances of divine approval or disapproval, so look at the totality of Scripture. The modern “one flesh = married” equation is not compatible with this verse.

21:7-9 In the Law of Moses, a concubine is a sex slave that is provided food, clothing, and shelter for life. If things didn’t work out, her family could take her back. Fathers and sons are not supposed to have sex with the same women (Leviticus 18:15,24-28). You’ve already seen infertile women giving their slaves to their husbands for breeding (upgrading them from a servant that leaves after six years to becoming part of the bloodline) repeatedly in Genesis.

21:10-11 The same groups that insist that Caleb and Joshua merely “lodged” at Rahab’s brothel insist marital/conjugal rights are in this verse. David, who did right except for the Bathsheba incident per 1 Kings 15:5, did not have sex with his concubines again after they had been used by his son (2 Samuel 20:3). Plus, there’s no way marital/conjugal “frequency” stayed the same as the righteous polygamist patriarchs added wives. Therefore, what is owed is food, clothing, and shelter. This verse is about the treatment of a slave: Jewish lesser-to-greater argument posited that a wife is to be treated better than a slave, so even the Pharisees of Shammai’s school allowed divorce for physical abuse and neglect. Shammai and Hillel were two influential Jewish scholars and Torah interpreters a few decades before Christ. Shammai was known for his strict and rigorous approach to religious matters, while Hillel was thought to be more lenient or compassionate. Jesus’ discussion of the proper application of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 has been taken for an all-inclusive summary of the topic of divorce to the harm of many people, but I’m getting ahead of myself. 

21:11 This is a slave going free, not divorce.

21:12-14 Manslaughter is distinguished from murder, especially premeditated murder.

21:15,17 This concerns actual or potentially lethal actions and/or the use of words with the intent of causing harm. That’s more like “putting a curse on” than “cursing out”. They were already supposed to respect their parents (Exodus 20:12).

21:16 This verse plus Exodus 21:,20-21,26-27 highlight some of the ways the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was unbiblical. National Israel under the Old Covenant could enslave war captives (Deuteronomy 20:1-18), but slaves of neighboring nations could ask for sanctuary among them (Deuteronomy 23:15-16). The Israelites were commanded to remember their former servitude (Deuteronomy 5:15, Deuteronomy 24:18) and be kind because of it, but the inspired Iron Age text legitimizes forms of slavery, too. (Granted, those conditions were closer to modern salaried/long-term contracted employment than the brutality of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.)

21:18-19 If this is the standard for respecting God’s Image, then rules and consent make contact sports okay. 

21:20-21 If it’s illegal to beat a slave to death, it has been reasoned that a wife didn’t have to stick around to wait for her abuser to finally finish the job (see also verses 26-27). 

21:22 Some say that this verse is about a miscarriage not being equal with murder in order to use the Bible to promote their stance on abortion, but it’s about causing premature birth because a dead fetus is covered in the “life for life” section of verse 23. See also Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139, and Leviticus 20:2-5. A choking man is still alive, so the idea that no one’s life has worth unless they’re breathing (born) based on Adam’s creation from dirt is semantics. An ectopic pregnancy threatening a mother’s life gets a death penalty for violating Exodus 21:15 just like a cop would likely shoot an assailant waving a machete at the same mother. Another author summed up most other cases of abortion as a human sacrifice to the god of convenience featuring the most helpless and innocent victim by human standards being killed by his or her own mother and a doctor who has sworn to do no harm, and it is hard to think of something that would excite the Accuser more.

21:23-25 This is a sentencing guide not intended for personal reprisal.  It limits disproportionate vengeance and prevents prolonged blood feuds. Numbers 35:31 reflects the reality that people usually preferred the cash equivalent, but only God’s Image is worth God’s Image.

21:26-27 If maiming frees a slave, and wives are legally treated better than slaves, and fear of death allows the claim of self-defense (Exodus 22:2), then a spouse doesn’t have to stick around until their abuser actually kills them.

22:2-3 Fear of death (and/or imprecise aim in low visibility) is sufficient for lethal self-defense, but mere loss of personal property is not.      

22:16-17 The payment to the father is for the loss of the bride price he could have gotten. For example, since the High Priest had to marry a virgin, fathers of virgins had bargaining power. The first form of government was the family, and fathers had the authority to decide who married whom. Since Deuteronomy is a restatement of the Law, and this scenario matches Deuteronomy 22:28-29 except for the word “rape” (and we’ll discuss the nuances of that translation there), and the treatment of rapists is covered in Deuteronomy 22:25-27, the old line about “the Bible says you have to marry your rapist” seems like slander from the enemy. The father’s ability to refuse the marriage is another blow to the “one flesh always equals married” idea. Vows and the blessing of the paterfamilias make a marriage, there was legal “sex” (see Song of Songs/Solomon for what counts) with slaves and non-ritual whores, and Paul didn’t tell the Corinthians to feed and house their pagan temple prostitutes. 

22:23 The cry for justice, or “zeaqah”, will be a recurring theme. For those more familiar with the Coen Brothers’ movies than with kohen, Mrs. Arizona’s scream for her missing son that summons the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse in Raising Arizona is as good a mental image for this as any. 

22:25-27 As seen here and in Psalm 37:21, the Hebrew notion of “give to whoever asks of you and don’t ask for what is taken back” as seen in Matthew 5:42 and Luke 6:30 is in the sense of “loan your thirsty neighbor a shovel to dig a well” rather than “be utterly financially irresponsible in meeting the whims of everyone”. Well-meaning grace preachers ramp up the requirements to push our need for grace, but adding to the Law is a sin (Deuteronomy 4:2 and Deuteronomy 12:32) and there’s already enough in the Law to kill us all without magnifying parts of it. If God said requiring collateral for loans (within the restrictions He specified) is allowed and that selling yourself into slavery is a solution to debt, then propping up a permanently unproductive class, for example, could not have been what was intended apart from the widows, orphans, etc., enumerated in Scripture. In an agricultural society, interest percentages are onerous: “Give me two cows next year for one cow today” is 100% interest. Rabbis looking at Exodus 22:25 and Deuteronomy 15:7 devised a hierarchy prioritizing charity to family, then local poor people, then distant poor people, and finally outsiders. Galatians 6:10 and 1 Timothy 5:8 fit this philosophy.   

22:28 Politics, like basically everything else we have no real control over, is generally not worth getting worked up over.

22:29-30 New Testament giving is voluntary and Spirit-led (2 Corinthians 9:7). 

22:31 Debate over the strength of the positive command to throw it to the dogs has resulted in interpretations just slightly less demanding than that in the jokes about having to mail the meat to a Gentile as soon as the Sabbath is over.

23:2 If you’re following a crowd, see if the idea has merit on its own.

23:3 Being a defender of the downtrodden is different from being crooked on their behalf.

23:4-5 Jesus’ command to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) has been portrayed as new and radical by many pastors, but it was always a part of the spirit of the Law. In addition to caring for suffering animals (over which man still has dominion, and therefore responsibility), protecting your enemy’s financial well-being in this manner is another way of loving your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). Back then, a donkey may as well have been a sports utility vehicle. Plus, if you have to help your enemy in matters such as these, the lesser-to-greater legal argument seen repeatedly (like Jesus’ approval of healing on the Sabbath based on the permissibility of circumcising on the Sabbath) would suggest you go ahead and tell them the Gospel if evangelism is your gift, since their need for that is greater than their need for a donkey. 

23:6 Compare with verse 3.

23:9 Even the concern for Gentiles that many consider a New Testament innovation was always part of the Law.     

23:10-11 Man’s made of dirt, so dirt got a Sabbath. Humanity was given dominion over Earth, and this logically comes with a responsibility to avoid abusing it.

23:12 Note that concern for the little people and for animals is emphasized rather than piety. Adam didn’t have to work, but then Adam messed up, so Adam had to toil, but God is merciful, so He had them toil just under 86% of the time instead of all the time.

23:13 This is cultural hyperbole about taking oaths in the names of false gods, since Scripture was read publicly – the names of false gods (“A” is for Asherah, “B” is for Baal, “D” is for Dagon, etc.) are in it.     

23:14 Psalm 104:15 has been interpreted to indicate that it’s not a party without alcohol.

23:15 “Passover” and the “Festival of Unleavened Bread” that it begins are sometimes used interchangeably. Rabbis reasoned that since their Temple is gone, almsgiving could substitute for the associated sacrifices.      

23:16 Firstfruits/Pentecost = Festival of Harvest, Sukkot/Booths = Festival of Ingathering.     

23:17 Like a king summoning all males eligible for military service to deliver tribute on time to prove there is no rebellion brewing.

23:18 Fermentation, rancid smells, etc., are understood to be more in league with Death (a product of Sin) than mere animal slaughter. 

23:19 See also Exodus 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21. Maybe this rule prevents a pagan fertility ritual; it definitely teaches people not to summarize the Law of Moses (what principle could you extract from all of this that would let you keep the 613 rules without memorizing them all?).     

23:20-21 Therefore, Moses asks God Himself to lead them instead (Exodus 33:15, Exodus 34:9). Jude 5 in some translations says that Jesus did it.

23:25-26 He’s been healing people for a long time, and everything will be fixed when we get new bodies. He also promised to fulfill the number of our days, so like the apostles (Mark 16:17-18, Luke 10:19) we have “plot armor” until He says we’re done here.  

23:30 It may not seem like things are working out for you right now, but He’s always working for you and working on you “little by little”. Have faith that “even now” (John 11:22) He has you in the palm of His hand (John 10:28). 

24:1-2 Holiness was emphasized with separation under the Old Covenant. We have it so much better now (John 17:20-26).

24:3,7 “Wow, that does not seem like something I’m likely to accomplish. I’ll take the grace of Jesus Christ given freely, please and thanks.”

24:8 The ratification of the Old Covenant provides an opportunity to look at the ratification of the New. Please see Matthew 26:28, Luke 22:20, and Hebrews 9:11-28. As you can see, the New Testament/Covenant really began at Jesus’ death, which accomplished the once-for-all cleansing and redemption of believers. He preached Law to those under Law (Galatians 4:4-7, with the culmination of His ministry being the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost) to show their need for grace; Gospels can seem like a mixture of Law and Grace, but they’re meant to introduce you to Him and what the Cross and Resurrection mean for you. 

24:9-11 These names will come back again in the story. Even though seeing God is supposed to be lethal, killing them here would violate the Near Eastern hospitality principle of protecting those with whom you eat. 

25:2 sounds like New Testament giving (2 Corinthians 9) which is without pressure or percentages.

25:10-22 Idol shrines in the Nile River culture had a “barque” (a model boat) like an Ark (of the Covenant, Moses in the river, Noah’s boat, etc.). Egyptian priests fed, clothed, and placed an idol on its throne and into bed. An Ark without an idol is a picture of a God not cared for by human hands, a God that never sleeps, and a God always on the throne. The carrying rods and the mercy seat are reminiscent of (in the devil’s Egyptian copy) a palanquin throne for an idol between winged goddesses. 

25:17-18 The CSB translation identifies Christ as our mercy seat in Romans 3:25. Notice that it is beaten into shape. By His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). His qualification as our High Priest was perfected through His suffering (Hebrews 2:10). The Garden is defended by cherubim (Genesis 3:24). 

25:20 Regarding your salvation, God looks to God’s promise (Hebrews 6:18).

25:22 When God looks down, He just sees blood on the mercy seat hiding the Law we can’t keep (Acts 15:10), manna we’re ungrateful for, and the staff that is proof of rebellion (Hebrews 9:4. The other items are added later in the story). Mercy is over Law. Don’t look into the box (1 Samuel 6:19).      

25:29 Hence, the bowls of wrath in Revelation. 

25:30-31 This bread looks back to the fellowship of Exodus 24:11 and forward to Jesus feeding multitudes with a total of twelve loaves (Leviticus 24:5-7, Mark 6:30-44, and Mark 8:1-10). Christ is the Bread and the Light: the fire they followed and the provision they experienced in the wilderness. In Zechariah 4:2, 10 the lamps are the all-seeing eyes of God. In Revelation, lampstands are churches; therefore, in Numbers 17:8, Aaron’s staff buds almonds to indicate God’s choice to lead the congregation. The budding staff shows life from non-life and the lampstand resembles a tree, so Christ is also the Resurrection and the Vine. Jesus tells us about those capitalized titles for Himself in the Gospel of John. 

25:33 The budding garden imagery was significant to ancient people who believed Heaven touched Earth at fertile places like the Garden of Eden and high places like Mount Sinai. That’s also why the Holy of Holies (the innermost room of the later Temple) was elevated relative to the rest of the building based on the measurements.     

25:40 See Hebrews 8:5.     

26:1 Blue and purple dyes came from mollusks and red came from insects; all three colors were expensive.     

26:33 The Most Holy Place was intended to be a dwelling place for God (Exodus 25:8). God does not dwell in impure places. Now, under the New Covenant, God lives in you. Therefore, you are good. The promises of Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:26-27 really came true at salvation. We all stumble in many ways (James 3:2), and we’re all learning and growing (Romans 12:2), but believers in Christ are already ready for Heaven (Colossians 1:22, Hebrews 10:14).

27:8 The altar was hollow for portability.

27:20 Church candles are said to symbolize God’s presence, but He lives in you, Believer.

27:21 “Hey guys!  Y’all can do the farming; we’ve got this!”

28:2-5 These garments are more like wearable Tabernacle parts. I guess people are inspired by passages like this to wear their Sunday Best (known in some circles as their “Ric Flair drip”) to church. It doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of 1 Timothy 2:9 to me, but who am I to judge? 

28:9-12 The High Priest stood for Israel as one person; Christ fulfilled this role.     

28:15 God gave these brickmakers different skills to suit His purposes (Exodus 31:3-11).

28:29 We are close to Jesus’ heart and always remembered.

28:30 Urim and Thummim are for yes/no divination (divinely sanctioned). 1 Samuel 14:40-42 is one passage that shows how this worked in practice. See also Numbers 27:21.     

28:33-34 Cluster fruit like pomegranates are especially symbolic of multiplicative abundance and fecundity (see Exodus 25:33 note). One Law became expressed as 613 mitzvot.      

28:35 Middle Eastern monarchs were not approached unannounced (Esther 4:11).    

28:36-38 A High Priest bearing guilt on behalf of the people will be a big theme in the New Testament.

28:42-43 See Leviticus 6:10-11, they had to keep the ash from sinners’ offerings from clinging to them. The symbolism had to be clear (Exodus 20:26 note). A priest was distinct from a mere supplicant; a priest was more like Tabernacle/Temple furniture to serve a purpose. Nudity would have resembled sinful humanity (Genesis 3:7) and messed up the symbolism. Preventing nudity on the job prevented temple prostitution, too. The priests had to be clean, even free of sweating (Ezekiel 44:18) avoiding a resemblance to Genesis 3:19. Later, you will see priests being marked with blood and anointed with oil like the horns of the altar at which they served (Exodus 29:12, 20; Exodus 30:26-30).

29:1 The priests’ consecration will occur later in the story (Leviticus 8, Leviticus 9).

29:13 This prevents hepatomancy and extispicy (examining the organs of a sacrificed animal as a form of divination). To give God the liver instead of studying it was to entrust Him with the future. 

29:14,18,24,28 We will discuss the various types of offering in Leviticus. This ordination involved everything but the guilt offering. 

29:37 Usually, holy things can become unclean upon contact. This special holiness that can bestow holiness upon contact without its own state being threatened reminds me of Christ having no qualms about touching lepers, the menstruous, or the dead. 

29:39 The Crucifixion began and ended at these times. 

29:40-41 We eat bread and drink wine at Communion to remember Christ, the Lamb of God. God always ordered the combo meal.

29:45-46 They bent over backwards so God could stomach living among them in a tent. Now, take a moment to appreciate John 17:23 and 1 Corinthians 6:17. 

Exodus 30 Look for gold, frankincense, and myrrh in this chapter. Wise men recognized God in the baby in the manger; wise people today still do. 

30:7-8 to remember the cloud they followed, to cover the slaughterhouse smell for the priests, and to keep it away from God like in Exodus 30:19-21. 

30:12 This is part of the issue in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. 

30:15-16 The Tabernacle/Temple belonged to all Israel, and all are equal before God. 

30:19-21 Think about John 13, especially since Gospel harmonizers place the Lord’s Supper there. Jesus simultaneously taught Christians to take care of each other while preparing the apostles to be the new religious leaders. Also, this kept them from being funky while visiting God’s special place: I have an acquaintance that would tell people, “You smell like a dude. Apologize for your presence,” if she could do so and remain gainfully employed. 

30:22-25 Based on the ingredient list, this oil for marking new beginnings smelled like cinnamon rolls. Based on the Tabernacle “Garden of Eden” decor motif and the various plant essences, the Anointed One smells like Life. See 2 Corinthians 2:15. 

30:29 like the Exodus 29:37 note.

31:4-5 Again, pretty art is okay (even in church), but don’t worship idols. 

31:6-11 All talent comes from God. You can appreciate an artist’s skill even if they don’t know the Lord yet; some of the most notoriously sinful musicians, etc., have converted on their deathbeds.

31:13-17 “…I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” You are already sanctified thanks to Jesus Christ’s finished work (1 Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews 10:10,14). The Sabbath is Israelite-specific per Exodus 31:13,16-17. See Colossians 2:16-17, Romans 14:5, and Hebrews 10:1. John 1:12 says that you can say John 5:17. 

32:2 Earrings were common for men and women in that time and place as a reminder to listen to their gods and as a symbol of servanthood to their gods (like the awl ceremony for a lifelong slave in Exodus 21:6). 

32:4 The curious plural “these” foreshadows a similar incident in 1 Kings 12:28. In a vision in Ezekiel, angels are shown with cloven hooves (Ezekiel 1:7). Visions also suggest that cherub and ox faces are interchangeable (Ezekiel 1:10 vs Ezekiel 10:14), perhaps suggesting the choice of a calf as a representation of the divine. 

32:6 “indulge in revelry” To be clear since some translations try to be coy/delicate about it, that’s an orgy. The Golden Calf is not God’s footstool like the Ark. This is like the pagan Bull of Heaven, Baal, etc. 

32:10-13 God hints that He can be persuaded, like in Ezekiel 22:30. Moses always intervenes, no matter how powerful the opponent. God, in part, chose Moses because He knew Moses would refuse to be another Noah here. 

32:14 Jesus told a parable once (Luke 18:1-8) about how God is way better than an unjust judge who would fold in the face of persistence anyway. Even if God hadn’t promised to forget your sins (Hebrews 8:12), Jesus is even better than Moses at interceding for us (Hebrews 7:25). 

32:15 They are inscribed on both sides. The tablets are identical because with ancient treaties (which the Law resembles), both sides kept a copy. God didn’t slurp His copy up to Heaven to grade the Israelites from up there. Keeping both tablets together is symbolic of God living with His people. 

32:19 See James 2:10.

32:20 Moses made sure the idol was gone and desecrated; merely shiny sewage.

32:21 Moses asked Aaron what they did to him. They said two or three sentences, depending on your translation. 

32:24 “out came this calf!” like it leapt from the fire on its own. Men in this culture did not blame themselves. Even today, you can hear “the train left me” instead of “I missed the train”. 

32:25 “running wild” Again, modern translational niceties aside, that’s an orgy. 

32:26-28 That’s the Genesis 34:25 genes. The same number of people that died here joined the Church at Pentecost. 

32:29 Paul is right in 2 Corinthians 3 that the Law kills. Notice that Moses did not kill Aaron.     

32:30  See Hebrews 7:25.

32:32 Paul had a similar heart for these people in Romans 9:3, and Christ successfully completed substitutionary atonement (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

32:33 In this instance, he blotted people out. However, He is compassionate by nature (Exodus 33:19). The Cross tells us how much He loves us (John 3:16). God, who was/is/will be outside Time, sees your whole story and is happy to forgive and forget everything, including stuff you haven’t even thought of doing yet, but Israel tried to limit Him with an idol they could comprehend. They went from being blessed despite their behavior to being killed for imperfect performance. Jesus took all that for us; God is Father to us. 

32:35 This is not a rash reaction. They were promised this even before they got the Law (Exodus 15:26). 

33:3-14 God basically says to forget all that living-among-them-in-a-Tabernacle business and just visits Moses away from the camp. He agrees to accompany Moses, with the rest of them lucky to be along for the ride. 

33:5-6 Earrings (Exodus 32:2) would be lying at this point. 

33:11,20 “face to face” with Moses is more like “in plain conversational language” rather than priestly dice rolls and prophets’ strange dreams. Replacing misbehaving Levitical leaders with a kid named Josh (or as the Greeks would say, “Jesus”) is a great idea that happens again in the New Testament. 

33:15-16 Moses insists on “us” and on “me and your people”. 

33:17 The prayer of a righteous person works (James 5:16). If you think God likes Moses, He really likes Christ (Matthew 3:17), and you’re in Him and united with Him (1 Corinthians 1:30, John 17:23). 

33:19 The mercy and compassion are for us. For more detail about what God proclaiming His Name is like, see Exodus 34:5-7. 

33:20 Jesus Christ is our experience of God.

34:6-7 This is more like Him (Psalm 30:5), and the Cross worked. See Exodus 20:5-6 note. 

34:9 There is no repentance in the customary sense or any promise to improve, just an appeal to God’s good nature. 

34:10 This covenant makes Israel in essence God’s wife. Greater wonders are a high bar to meet after Egypt. 

34:11 Here begins a section that seems like a ritualistic version of the Ten Commandments extrapolated from the first four. 

34:13 Asherah poles were wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah, basically decorated/carved trees. 

34:14 Again, God as Husband. 

34:15-16 Unless it’s a description of straightforward sex for profit like Judah/Tamar (Genesis 38), Old Testament references to prostitution are usually in reference to Israel, God’s wife, cheating on Him in exchange for agricultural prosperity (payment) that God (Husband) provides anyway. The sin is literally idolatry and figuratively adultery in biblical prostitution metaphors. 

34:20 Donkeys were unclean (because they lacked a divided hoof per Leviticus 11:2), so they could not be offered as a sacrifice in the customary manner.

34:24 “covet” Beyond mere appreciation or desire, coveting is between desire and stealing. Coveting carries an implied plot to deprive an owner of their property, so it’s like “covet and take” and is even phrased this way elsewhere (Joshua 6:18, etc.). Famous orator Chris Rock has a good handle on this principle: “Guys actually think that there are other fish in the sea, and if a guy introduces his boy to his new girlfriend…his boy goes, ‘Oh man, she's nice, I gotta get me a girl like that.’ If a woman introduces her new man to her girlfriend, and they walk away, her girlfriend goes, ‘I gotta get him, and I will slit that b*tch's throat to do it.’” 

34:26 See also Exodus 23:19 (and its note) and Deuteronomy 14:21. 

34:28 Jesus repeated this fast in Matthew 4.

34:29 When we see Him, we will be like Him (1 John 3:2). Moses is humble and does not notice this change in himself. 

34:33-35 See 2 Corinthians 3:7-13. We have a better relationship with God. 

35:5-29 “willing” See 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9. Paying at will for the Tabernacle was like grace-based giving to the urgent needs of the Body of Christ, since we are the Temple now (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Peter 2:5). 

35:31 In the Old Testament, the anointing of the Holy Spirit was for a limited time to do a specific task, and sin drove Him away.  Since Jesus took all our sins away, He can promise John 14:16-17. 

35:34 Not everyone with seemingly “good” fruit is Spirit-filled; such things are teachable. 

36:6-7 There was a big initial outlay, but enough is enough. Similar behavior in Acts 2 starting at verse 44 and Acts 4 starting at verse 32 happened in the early church, but the more familiar “helps” ministries through deacons, voluntarily giving from abundance, and being more discerning about which widows really needed/deserved to be on the dole (1 Timothy 5) started showing up around Acts 6 and have been established since the days of the Epistles. 

36:8 through 39:31 – They were given plans, and they carried them out. 

39:32,43 This is the point of the last few chapters. God had specific requests, and they built it up to code. They started from a good place, like when God inspected Creation and called it good.

40:12 Jesus’ ministry began with such a washing. 

40:34-35 When the Tabernacle was completed, God pivoted away from the interim tent of meeting away from the people.

40:36-38 Under the New Covenant, with your new heart, new spirit, and the Holy Spirit living inside you, you are similarly led, but it feels like doing whatever you actually want to do in a given situation given your new identity in Christ as a saint.

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