Key Learnings from Sunday School
February 2025 - Present
Youth Sunday School (The Book of Exodus)
The Book of Exodus begins where Genesis leaves off as God deals with His chosen people. It traces the events from the time Israel entered Egypt as guests of Joseph until they were eventually living under the cruel bondage of slavery.
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⁃ Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord (Exodus 14:13)
⁃ Pharaoh; Did he survive the confrontation at the Red Sea?
• No - if he was physically with his army (Prince of Egypt, Gods and Kings)
• Yes - if he wasn’t physically with them (The Ten Commandments)
• Arguments can be made to either case
⁃ Moses’ reaction (Exodus 14:5) in his capacity as Priest, interceding for the people
⁃ Parting of the sea
• East Wind - specificity suggests divine in nature (The Holy Spirit, Exodus 14:21?)
• Not instantaneous as depicted in the moves
• The Angel of God
• The pre incarnate Christ (God doing something vs Angel of the Lord: God saying something)
• That pillar of cloud; Dark toward the Egyptians, Light toward the Hebrews (pre incarnate Christ, Exodus 14:19)
• Jude 5
⁃ Baptism connections 1Corinthians 10:1-2
- Gods and Kings: Did the author, director, or producers bother to read the source material?
⁃ Consecration of the firstborn
• To remember the Passover when God spared life
• Points to Christ as the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18)
⁃ Land flowing with Milk and Honey; an idiom
• A land of plenty, life, potential, freedom
⁃ Lambs; abomination to the Egyptians
• That with is rejected God uses. (Psalms 118:22, 1Peter 2:7)
• The Egyptians may have rejected sheep as a result of their rejection of God
⁃ Pillar of Fire leading the Hebrews
• Hollywood sees God only as a protector and not as a guide.
Exodus Plagues of Egypt
Snakes - God is greater than Pharaoh
The Plagues
1. Blood - Life comes from God
2. Frogs - God crosses over between worlds
3. Gnats - God is greater than chaos
4. Flies - Sovereignty of God
5. Livestock Deaths - Only God is eternal
6. Boils - The work of man is pain and suffering
7. Hail - Order out of chaos
8. Locusts - The efforts of man are futile
9. Darkness - God alone brings light; without God there is no light
10. Death - The consequence of sin; Saved by the blood of the Lamb; God shows restraint
⁃ God Himself passed over Egypt, not an agent; God Himself rescues
⁃ Pharaoh meets with Moses and Aaron in the cover of darkness and probably privately
⁃ A devastated Egypt gives away earthly treasure for the Hebrews to leave
⁃ Numerology of little value interpreting scripture;
• Number 14 is that deliverance and salvation
• 14 generations
• 14th day vs 2 weeks (Exodus 12:6, 8)
• Doubling of 7; completeness and divine preparation
• 430 Years (Exodus 12:40); About 4 generations; People having short memories;
⁃ Passover Feast
• Transformed by Christ
• Christ the Passover Lamb (1Corinthians 5:7)
⁃ “A mixed multitude also went with them" (Exodus 12:38); Salvation for all
Exodus 12 Part 1
⁃ Passover Lamb
• The best lamb; Trust in God for the future
• Egyptians had no animals to speak of; no ability, no power
⁃ Given a choice; to mark the door posts or not
⁃ Death of the first born
• God establishing a limit, showing restraint
• The consequence of sin; Saved by the blood of the Lamb
⁃ Plague of Darkness
• Egyptian god Ra the most “powerful of the deities”
• God alone brings light; without God there is no light
⁃ The Ten Plagues - a significant amount of time passed between the plagues so that you could not say there was a cause and effect.
⁃ Was Moses “protected” before Pharaoh because of his adoptive mother?
⁃ The Final Plague; Death of the Firstborn
• Announcement given prior to removal from Pharaoh’s sight
• Rejected that this was against another Egyptian deity
• Judgement against Pharaoh; against Pharaoh worship
• A focus shift away from Pharaoh to the Egyptians
• Not a Dog will growl - There will be no warning.
⁃ The Plague of Locusts
• The efforts of man are futile (Luke 12:13-21)
• These things can be a real problem
• They eat everything. What the Hail didn’t take the Locusts did
• The Hebrews don’t appear to be protected
• Egyptian gods judged: Siris, God of crops and Serapi, protector of crops
⁃ The Plague of Darkness
• Darkness for 3 days
• Pharaoh has had enough and yet, still would not let the people go
⁃ God working through Moses as His agent
• Establishes Moses’ Authority both for the Egyptians and Hebrews
• A lesson for us that God wants work through us (2nd & 3rd Petitions of the Lord's Prayer)
⁃ Law Gospel; reprieve from the plaque = Gospel
⁃ The Plague of Hail, Fire, & Lightning
• Hail is unpredictable, yet God controls it
• The Egyptian gods judged: Nut, the sky goddess, Seth, god of storms, and Shu, god of the atmosphere
• Devastation: So much for a bountiful harvest
• Again the Hebrews are protected
⁃ The Plague Egyptian Livestock Die
• Hep - Egyptian god of rebirth and another fertility God. Eternal Energy
• Only God is eternal and certainly not the Egyptians
• Livestock = animals you eat or domesticated for work
• Must have crashed the economy of Egypt
⁃ The Plague of Boils
• Egyptian magicians are not only powerless before God they also can not stand
• Skhemet - The lioness goddess, protector and vengeful.
• Beast non livestock animals
• The beast the Egyptian’s worship are also subject to God
⁃ Soot of the Kiln
• Ash - Egyptian god of oases: “refreshed by this Ash”
• The labor/work of man is pain an suffering
⁃ The Plaque of Gnats
• God still working through Aaron
• Egyptian magicians concede the supernatural nature of the plagues
• Seth the god of Chaos and Deserts; defender
• God can create life out of nothing-out of chaos; Overcomes defenders
⁃ Pharaoh
• A public audience with Pharaoh could create need for Egypt to look strong on the world stage
• Pharaoh was condition to get his way, and for the most part, so far, he is.
⁃ The Plague of Flies
• Now God works directory through Moses
• Hatchet the Fly goddess; Now ineffectual protection, vigilance, and resilience
• A demonstration of God’s control with exception for the Hebrews; a demarkation
• Up to now it seems all (Egyptian and Hebrew) were suffering
⁃ The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart
• God giving Pharaoh over to his sinful desires (Romans 1:24)
• Only to show God’s purpose, not to damn Pharaoh (Romans 9:17)
⁃ The Plaque of Frogs
• Heqet - Egyptian goddess of fertility & birth
• God has no limits (His reach is beyond the nile and into every home).
• Frogs can cross over between worlds (and so can God)
• God controls life
⁃ Moses intercedes on behalf of Pharaoh to remove the plague
• Egyptian Magicians ability either by Illusion or demonic powers are ineffective before God
⁃ Moses, “God to Pharaoh” - God’s agent; A challenge to Egyptian deities
⁃ Staff’s into snakes; Aaron’s staff vs the Magician’s staffs; God triumphs
• Egyptian snake gods:
• Nehebkau associated with the afterlife and protection.
• Wadjet, was known as the protector of Lower Egypt
⁃ Water of the Nile into blood
• Hapi is the Egyptian god of the Nile, who brought fertility to the land symbolizing nourishment and abundance
• 1st plague has the Nile bringing death
⁃ Uncircumcised lips - I am sinful. (See Isaiah 6:7)
⁃ Moses before Pharaoh to demonstrate it is God not Pharaoh who will free the slaves
⁃ Descriptions of God
• Reminder to Moses of the Promises of God through Abraham, Isaac, to Jacob.
• A promise made by God through Moses: We will be His people and He will be our God; Ultimately fulfill in Christ Jesus
⁃ Genealogy of Aaron and Moses
• Establishes Moses as one of the Hebrews and not an outsider
• Mose’s mom was also his great-aunt
• Connects Moses to the Abrahamic covenant
⁃ Bricks; arduous work, the heavy burden placed upon the people
⁃ Sabbath Day worship promotes human dignity; affirms freedom; affirms family
⁃ Moses intercedes for the people with God
- Exodus: gods and Kings - Does Hollywood even even bother to read the source material?
⁃ 1st Sigh: Throw down staff, turning into a snake, grab tail & return to staff
• Moses runs away
• Pharaoh’s symbol of sovereignty was a snake
• God reaches out to yank Pharaoh chain and put him in his place
⁃ 2nd Sigh: hand to leprous and then cleans
• Impurity of Egypt
• God has the power to purify
⁃ 3rd Sign: Water into blood
• The Nile is the source of life
• God has the power to take away this source
⁃ Hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was not for his damnation but to reveal God’s sovereignty
⁃ Many unanswered questions with Zipporah actions
• Moses wasn’t told to take his family
• Uncircumcised a sign of rebellion; to be cut off (Genesis 17:14)
• Bridegroom of blood: the shedding of blood saved Moses
⁃ Mose, as a Hebrew was circumcise on the 8th day.
⁃ Angel of the LORD
• taken to mean the pre-incarnate Christ
• Used when God is speaking
⁃ Angel of God
• Used when God does something
⁃ Name of God “I AM WHO I AM”
• There is no comparison between God and the deities of the Egyptians
• See Jesus’ I AM statements in the Gospel of John
• Only God can make something Holy
⁃ God will redeem us and make us whole
⁃ Our understanding of Exodus is influenced by Hollywood.
- Pharaoh’s edict was to cull the Hebrews and not circumvent a prophecy
• Moses, nursed by his own mother, may have always known he was a Hebrew
• His pedigree (a non-human) may have made him an outsider in Pharaoh’s court
• The working class (Hebrews) did not accept him as they saw him as part of the ruling class
⁃ Midianites were the descendants of Abraham and his 3rd wife (counting Hagar), Keturah (Genesis 25:1-4)
• A priest of Midan; The God of Midian = the God of Abraham?
• The four part promise made to Abraham & Sarah (Name, Nation, Blessing, Home [Genesis 12:2-3,7]) was passed down through Isaac, and Jacob
• The Hebrews were God’s chosen people, not His only believers
⁃ 70 descendants of Jacob who went into Egypt
• Scripture lays no stress upon the number itself.
• 70 is likely a rounded number
• LXX - Septuagint
• Named after a rounded number of translators assigned
• Greek translation of the Hebrew Text
• Translation predates Christ by 300 years
• Christ quotes the LXX 90% of the time in the new testament
⁃ Ancient Egypt
• Exodus likely during the New Kingdom period (3rd of the 3 golden ages)
• One of the Pharaohs in the 20th Dynasty are a likely choice
⁃ The edict to kill the sons of the Hebrews is mirrored in the Book of Matthew with the slaughter of the innocence in Bethlehem