Exodus

The book of Genesis closes with the children of Israel and their households in the land of Egypt, 70 persons in all (Ex. 1:5; Deut. 10:22—Acts 7:14 quotes from the Septuagint). Though Joseph died in Egypt, this was not the land that had been promised to Jacob and his seed, and it is by faith that he leaves instruction concerning his body—“God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence” (Gen. 50:25; Heb. 11:22). Joseph looked beyond this scene to another.
Joseph’s words are fulfilled in Exodus when the children of Israel are brought up out of the land of Egypt through the Red Sea and into the wilderness. (Numbers covers the remaining thirty-eight years of their forty years’ wandering in the wilderness, bringing them to the Jordan, while Deuteronomy records the last words of Moses before they entered the land of Canaan.) Although Moses saw the promised land from the top of Mount Pisgah, he never entered it.
While this gives us a broad outline of the historic events of these books, we would lose very much if that were all we saw. The Old Testament is full of vitally important moral instruction for believers today. These Scriptures were “a shadow of good things to come” (Heb. 10:1), examples or types for us (1 Cor. 10:6), “written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 10:11).
In Exodus we have redemption and, as a result, relationship to Jehovah, the Redeemer. In Genesis we read of Elohim, the Creator, the One with whom man has to do (Gen. 1:1). God introduces himself to Abraham as El Shaddai, God Almighty (Gen. 17:1). In Exodus however, we have, “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex. 3:14). This is Jehovah, the Eternal One—a name that speaks of relationship—and it was by this name that Israel was to know God. “I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for a people, and will be your God; and ye shall know that I, Jehovah your God, am he who bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Ex. 6:6-7 JND).
Exodus may be divided as follows: 1. Israel in Egypt (ch. 1-6). 2. The ten plagues of Egypt (ch. 7-12). 3. The exodus—from the Passover to the Red Sea (ch. 12-14). 4. The song of redemption (ch. 15). 5. The Red Sea to Mt. Sinai (ch. 16-19). 6. The law and the pattern for the Tabernacle (ch. 20-40).
In the Passover we see the blood of the Lamb meeting the claims of God as a judge. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Ex. 12:13). The Lamb is a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7), and the blood the foundation of every spiritual blessing.
The Rea Sea is a picture to us of Christ’s death and resurrection. It typifies the deliverance of the believer from the power of Satan and the world. In salvation we are not merely safe from wrath to come, but have complete victory over the power of sin (Rom. 6:17-18). The Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians upon the seashore (Ex. 14:30).
Though freed from that tyrant sin, there is conflict still—“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Gal. 5:17)—and we find Joshua fighting Amalek (Ex. 17:10). However, in Moses we have pictured the One who ever lives to make intercession for us (Ex. 17:10-12; Heb. 7:25).