God goes on to give further instructions regarding the care of His people such as virgins, strangers, widows and orphans. He also gives instructions for 3 annual feasts: Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover), Feast of Harvest (Pentecost), and the Feast of Ingathering (Feast of Booths or Tabernacle). The Lord then tells His people that an Angel will go before them to bring them into the place the Lord has prepared for them. He tells the people to obey the Angel and if they obey, the Lord will be an “enemy to your enemy and an adversary to your adversaries”. He says He will cut off all the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and the Jebusites but it won’t happen “in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you”. Once again, not the quick and easy way but the way that is for their good! Then, He warns the people NOT to make covenants with the people around them nor serve their gods. He knows this will lead to their destruction. Remember what happened when Seth’s descendants who were calling upon the name of the Lord began intermarrying with Cain’s descendants who weren’t? It wasn’t pretty. 🌧🌊 God’s instructions for His people are always for their good and His glory. So Moses tells all the people the Lord’s instructions and they say “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient”. Really? Will they really? 🤔 Keep reading to find out!

(Exodus 22:16-24:18)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today the children of Israel receive the 10 commandments. The purpose of the commandments is 1) for the people to realize their own sin 2) to show God’s grace and mercy and 3) to further reveal God’s holiness. NO ONE can perfectly keep the commandments except the ONE to come. Remember that our righteousness is not based on how well we follow rules. Abraham was declared righteous long before God even gave these rules. Our righteousness is based on our faith in the Lord. The beauty of how it all works though is that the closer you draw to the Lord, the more desire you have to walk in obedience…it’s the sanctification journey which anyone following Christ is on and no one is going to nail this perfectly. Also, did you see where the Lord said in Exodus 20:23-24 “…You shall not make anything to be with Me…An altar of the earth you shall make for Me…” God is not pleased with anything we can bring Him or do for Him. He is pleased by our faith and worship of Him. (Hebrews 11:6) The Lord goes on to give instructions regarding the treatment of servants, personal injury cases, and the protection of property which highlights that God is a just God and He values ALL life. We will see more and more how the Lord is in the details of everything…so keep reading!

(Exodus 20:1-22:15)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today the Israelites journey into the Wilderness of Sin and begin sinning with all their complaining. They start reminiscing about the “good ol’ days” back in Egypt…you know, where they were slaves and Pharaoh ordered their baby boys to be killed. 🤔 Once again the Lord provides for His grumbling group by sending them manna and quail. He also gives them specific instructions about gathering the food to teach them to trust in His daily provisions. This lesson is not easily learned. The next journey there is no water. The people complain AGAIN. God provides for them AGAIN. Next, the Amalekites attack Israel. (Remember them? Descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother, that we read about on Jan 13.) This is when we meet Joshua. Moses tells Joshua to take some men and fight the Amalekites. Keep your eye on Joshua bc the Lord is training him up for an important task down the road. After the Israelites defeat the Amalekites, the Lord tells Moses to write “for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”. The Amalekites will show up again later in the Story. Then, Moses receives some wise advice from his father-in-law, Jethro, to appoint men to help him manage the people. We end the reading today with the Lord at Mount Sinai. Keep reading to find out the Lord’s instructions to His people.

(Exodus 16:1-19:25)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

God led the people out of Egypt but not the easy, quick way. He took them the long way. “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt”. We have seen that God’s ways are not always easy but He is always working behind the scenes for our good. So the children of Israel come out carrying Joseph’s bones as promised and the Lord leads them by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire. But when the Egyptians pursue them, the children of Israel question Moses. “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?” See, the children of Israel are on a faith journey too. They did not know what the Lord was doing behind the scenes so they lashed out at Moses. God is going to take them into the wilderness and teach them how to walk by faith but it isn’t going to be an easy process. It never is but oh how it’s so worth it! Next, the Lord again works on behalf of the Israelites and delivers them through the Red Sea, crushing their enemies. Then Moses and the children of Israel sing a beautiful song of worship and praise to the Lord. And Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, leads the ladies in worship and dance. But…3 days later…no water. The praise stops. The complaining starts. How long will it take Israel to learn to trust the Lord? Keep reading to find out!

(Exodus 13:1-15:27)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today we read about the final 3 plagues: locust, darkness, and death of firstborn. The Lord tells Moses that there will be a final plague, the death of the firstborn of everything “But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” God then instructs the children of Israel to take a male lamb without blemish and place the blood on the doorpost and the lintel of their homes. Any house under the blood will be passed over by the plague. “It is the Lord’s Passover.” God tells the Israelites to keep this day as a memorial so they will never forget what the Lord has done for them. So all the firstborn in Egypt are struck and there is a great cry. The Egyptians urge the Israelites to leave quickly but the Israelites plunder the Egyptians first. So the Israelites leave with great possessions as the Lord told Abraham would happen back in Genesis 15:13-14. “Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed multitude went up with them also…” So we see that anyone who puts their faith in the Lord by being under the blood of the spotless male lamb is brought out of Egypt. Jesus, the spotless man, whose blood will save us from far more than circumstantial, worldly oppression is coming down the road but next up…the Israelites escape through the Red Sea. Keep reading.

(Exodus 10:1-12:51)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today we read about 7 of the 10 plagues: blood, frogs, lice or gnats, flies, livestock, boils and hail. The magicians of Egypt could do the first two plagues. It probably would have been more helpful if the magicians had turned the blood back to water and gotten rid of the frogs 🤷‍♀️ but anyway, luckily for the Egyptians, the Egyptian magicians’ magic stops after the second plague. The magicians come to the realization that “…This is the finger of God…” We also see the Lord setting His people apart during the plagues: “…I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between My people and your people.” “And the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.” “Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.” God’s people are to be set apart but that doesn’t mean that others with faith in the Lord can’t become one of His people. Did you notice in Exodus 9:20-21 that some of Pharaoh’s servants are starting to fear the Lord? We will see that not only the Israelites come up out of Egypt but it is a mixed multitude so keep reading!

(Exodus 7:14-9:35)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today God tells Moses to return to Egypt but He calms Moses’s fears by letting him know that the ones who sought his life years ago, after he murdered the Egyptian, are now dead. In addition, He sends his brother Aaron with him as his mouthpiece. So one thing about God is that He ALWAYS does what He says He is going to do. The Lord told Moses to say to Pharaoh, “…’Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn’”. This is exactly what will eventually happen but things get worse for the Israelites before they get better. Their labor is increased greatly and they endure physical beatings. See, the Lord is less concerned about our immediate comfort and more concerned about displaying His glory to the world. God then says, “Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under your burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians…’” But it is going to be God’s way and in His timing so keep reading to see Him move!

(Exodus 4:18-7:13)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Except from “The 14 Eras” booklet by Iva May

The Exodus Era

Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (Approximately 470 years—Ex. 12:40-41)

Over the next four hundred years, Abraham’s descendants multiplied in Egypt; eventually, the attitude of the Egyptians changed and they forced them into slavery, as God had foretold Abraham. Abraham’s descendants lived in Egypt for 400 years until the Egyptians treated them harshly and killed their baby boys because they were afraid of

them. Abraham’s children, the Israelites, called out to God in their misery. God heard their cry and raised up a deliverer named Moses. God sent ten plagues on the Egyptians until they released the Israelites. Each of the ten plagues showed God’s power over the gods of Egypt, proving that God is more powerful than any idol or evil spirit. In the tenth plague, God promised to send death to every firstborn child in Egypt. He promised to spare any household that took a spotless lamb (The Passover Lamb), killed it, and put its blood on the doorposts of the house. The blood on the doorposts announced that death had already come to the house (through a substitute lamb). In this way, God delivered Israel out of Egypt. He parted the Red Sea and dried out the ground so that His people could walk across; He then brought the sea back to destroy the pursuing Egyptian army.

Israel spent forty years wandering in the wilderness because they refused to trust God, even though He brought them out of Egypt just as He promised. He provided food and water through miracles, but they complained about God anyway. He went before them by day “in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light.”

In the first year of their travels, God gave Israel His laws, including the Ten Commandments, which He engraved on tablets of stone. He also gave them moral laws (especially the Ten Commandments), civil laws for societal function, and ceremonial laws (instructions about the tabernacle—Tent of

Meeting, the priests, the sacrifices, the annual feasts of celebration such as the Passover, marriage and intermarriage, and the future). God instructed the people to have no other God but Him and not to make idols in the image of any earthly thing. God commanded that His people worship Him only.

While God was giving Moses the remainder of His laws, the Israelites turned away from God and called Moses’ brother, Aaron, to make them an idol to worship. They wanted a god they could see. God told Moses that He would kill the Israelites because of their idol worship, but Moses stood between God and the people and asked Him to show them mercy. God punished them so they would stay away from idols, but God allowed them to live. After their sin, Moses guided the people to build the tabernacle, fulfill the priesthood, offer the sacrifices, and keep the celebrations.

God promised His people a Prophet like Moses who would someday lead His people. God also commanded that a golden container (box) be built to hold the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a bowl of the food that God had provided in the wilderness, and the rod of Aaron, God’s priest. This container was the Ark of the Covenant, a physical symbol of God’s presence among His people. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement (see Leviticus 16), the blood of a slain goat was to be sprinkled on the lid (the mercy seat) to remind the people of sin’s penalty (the blood of the innocent on behalf of the guilty).

God also gave Israel instructions for the future, when they would want a king. He raised up a leader to take them into the promised land—Moses’ assistant Joshua. Before the Israelites went into the Promised Land, God gave them the Blessings and the Curses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28), which they were to recite in the new land: blessings to enjoy the land and live in it forever if they followed and trusted God, and curses of drought and captivity from enemies if they turned from God to worship idols and evil spirits and commit sexual immorality.

Concerned about continuing Bible knowledge, God commanded Moses that the Book of the Law be read to the entire congregation once every seven years. He also spoke of the day when Israel would want a king like the peoples around them and instructed those future kings to write their own copy of the Book of the Law from which they were to read all the days of their life.

What does the Exodus Era reveal about God?

God Speaks

• God calls Moses to return to Egypt and lead Israel out of Egypt.

• God gives Israel’s commands, laws (ceremonial, moral, and dietary) to distinguish them for other peoples and to reveal their need of redemption. He instructs Moses to construct the Tent of Meeting so that He may dwell among them. He also designates the Levites to serve Him.

God Acts

• God afflicts Egypt with ten plagues to induce them to release the nation of Israel to worship Him in the wilderness.

• God divides the Red Sea to rescue Israel from the Egyptians and to drown the Egyptians.

• God guards and guides Israel with a cloud by day and a fire by night.

• God destroys the rebellious people in Israel’s midst.

• God establishes the Passover and the Day of Atonement as annual celebratory events to keep the promise of redemption before them.

God Reveals

• God hears the cries of His people (even when they are oblivious of His attention) and raises up men to lead them out of their oppression.

• God delights to dwell among and lead His people. He makes a way so that Holy God may dwell among unholy people (the Tent of Meeting).

• While God works redemptively on behalf of His people, He also judges those who oppress them.

• God gives Israel instructions regarding future scenarios and expects them to pass them to the following generations.

• Bible literacy prepares God’s people keep His promises of redemption before them and to embrace God’s providential work in their lives.

• Man needs laws to guide spiritual and social behavior. Laws do not change the heart but they establish righteous standards to reveal man’s sinfulness and his need for salvation.