Book Overview: Exodus

The book of Exodus is the first book to give us the laws by which we are to live: The Ten Commandments. The book of Exodus is the first to feature Moses, it begins the Four-Book Story of the Life of Moses, as it was written by him. It also provides us with an important message: Turn to God, and he will take you out of captivity of the enemy. The enemy is Satan, and he will free us from our chains if we turn to him and serve him with all of our heart, mind, body, and soul.

This is the second Book Overview in a series of 66 Books. These overviews, as previously stated, do not interfere with the regular lessons, but these are written so that it may provide readers with details about the book, things that they may have missed, and will hopefully peak your interest so that you will read the book, the entire Bible, in fact, as God wants us to do. So, onto the Book of Exodus. (Picture credit to The Glue Society, "God's Eye View.)

Title: Exodus (English), Shemoth (Hebrew) The word "Exodus" is derived from the Greek word Exodos, which means, departure/exit.

Authorship: Like Genesis before it, Exodus is thought to be written by Moses. (See here.)

Written: Between 1400s-1200s BC, likely edited during the Babylonian exile.

Summary: "Exodus documents how God rescued Israel from Egypt and it records his instructions on how to act as a nation." (NIV)

Overview: Chapters 1-11 covers Israel in Egypt, and the early life of Moses up to when he becomes the man who stood before the Pharaoh and told him to let God's people go. 

Chapters 12-18 talks about the Exodus, which led to the Passover of God's Spirit, (the reason the holiday Passover was created)

Chapter 13, Verses 17-22 detail how God parted the Red Sea - it is an interesting account.

Chapters 19-40 details part of Israel's journey, it tells of the introduction of the 10 Commandments in written form, it gives the Law and Covenant, and it tells of how God's tent was to be set up and how worship would be conducted.

*Points - It is ironic that when the Exodus occurred and God led his people out of slavery into freedom, and this became the Holiday of Passover, that on Passover about 1,400 Years later, during Passover, Jesus died to pay for our past, present, and future sins, to allow us not to be slaves - bound to Satan - but to be free, to accept his gift of salvation.

Genesis 15:13-16 says, [speaking to Abraham] "Then the LORD said to him, 'Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." - This came true in the books of Exodus-Deuteronomy.

The plagues that affect Egypt are similar in the plagues mentioned in the Apocalypse of John (c.AD 95).

Aside from the 10 Commandments, the ceremonial law is no longer in effect. We are told in the New Testament to follow the 10 Commandments and the Commandments of Jesus and are commanded several other thing as Christians, for the most part in the book of Hebrews and in the letters to individuals and churches.

Genesis 31:12-18 was the Sabbath Day. It was a day of rest for Israel. It is kept as an index of the nation's spiritual help. Obedience in this is a test of their obedience to God.

The Ark of the Covenant makes its first appearance in Exodus 24:10. The importance? "There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet you and give you all of my commands for the Israelites." (Verse 22) When God was able to meet them in the temple, the Stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron's staff, and a jar of manna - originally. However, in 1st Kings 8:9, which says, "There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after the came out of Egypt." So, the original contents, aside from the Stone Tablets, had apparently been removed 300 years after the Ark was made.

For 300 Years, until it was replaced by Solomon's Temple, God's tent would be the focal center of the nation's worship. Now, we are able to worship God everywhere we go, and are encouraged to as we proclaim the truth of God's Word and lead souls to Christ.

Next Overview: Book of Leviticus

Previous Overview: Book of Genesis