Session 10: Exodus 19-20:21

Session 10: Exodus 19-20:21

Summarize

I. God proposes a covenant to the Israelites(19:1-6)

A. God reminds the Israelites of what He has done for them(4)

B. God promises to make the Israelites His People if they stay pure/true to Him(5)

II. The Israelites prepare to enter into covenant with God(19:7-15)

A. The Israelites agree to trust God and be faithful to Him(8)

B. God instructs the Israelites to purify themselves(10-15)

C. God sets boundaries around the mountain(12)

III. Moses intercedes for the Israelites(19:16-25)

A. Only Moses is allowed to be in God’s presence(23-24)

B. God warns the people that they will die if they try to come into His presence(24)

IV. God lays out the terms of His covenant(20:1-11)

A. God instructs the Israelites on how to respect and relate to Him(1-8)

V. God relates how the people should respect and relate to each other(20:12-17)

A. God communicates how treating others is related to how the people trust and respect Him(17)

VI. The people are fearful of God and acknowledge the need for Moses to mediate for them.(20:18-21)

Analyze

1. What does God command Moses to remind the Israelites about?

1. How is the covenant God makes with the Israelites different than the previous covenants He’s made?

Prior to this event, the only party responsible for upholding the covenant was God.  There were no stipulations to the covenant.  This covenant is the first time God makes stipulations on how the people were to keep their end of the deal. In many ways, the proposal God presents through Moses is like a marriage proposal.  It’s a promise of fidelity with the expectation of fidelity.

2. What does God command the Israelites do before establishing His covenant with them?(9-15)

1. What do the strict boundaries and attention to purity teach you about how seriously God takes sin? (12-13)

3. Who was allowed to come to the top of the mountain?  Who does God warn to not “break through to see the Lord”(20-25)

Even after all the purification the people are still unable to approach God, only Moses is able to go up and intercede for the people and bring back the Word of God. In the same way only Jesus is able to intercede for us and it is only through Jesus that we can know God. (Jn 14:6)

1. How does this image enhance your understanding of the impossibility of salvation by works and the gift of salvation by grace through Christ?
2. How does this affect your attitude about knowing that those who trust in Christ can enter into the presence of God? (Jude 1:24)

4. Where/What is the first of the 10 Commandments? How is this command related to relationship?(20:1-3)

1. How does making an idol limit your worship of God? How do we make idols that are meant to help us understand God? How can we guard ourselves from violating the second command?(20:4-5)
2. How does vs 5 communicate the concept of accountability and consequences? When a person sins, is he the only one affected by the consequences?  What is the reward for those who trust in God? What is the reward for those who hate God?
3. Is the 3rd command limited only to what we say? How does taking a person, like the president of the United States lightly, help us understand what it means to take God’s name lightly?

Remember Exodus 20 is part of this “marriage” ceremony between God and Israel. So just as a woman changes her name when she marries and becomes a representative of everyone else bearing that name so the people of Israel now bear God’s name. For the Christ follower, we bear His name and represent Him so every time we act out of character of a child of God we take God’s name in lightly.

4. What is the positive and negative aspects of the 4th command? What shall you do and what shall you not do?  What does this command suggest about how to live a fulfilling life? How does cease clarify your understanding of what it means to rest?

We are made in God’s image and we fulfill our purpose by exerting ourselves in producing and creating.  This is the kind of work we were meant to do but is also the kind of work we should cease from doing.  When God tells us to rest it doesn’t mean to do nothing, but to cease or stop from producing and creating. There’s a balance between the two that helps us live life the way God intended.

5. How does one honor their parents? How does respecting and valuing the experience of your parents help one survive longer on the earth?

1. What is the difference between murder and killing? (Matt 5:21-26)

Contextualize

1. We need an intercessor/mediator to come into the presence of Holy God
2. No amount of good works will qualify us to enter into the presence of the Holy
3. God has made a way for us to have fellowship with Him through the One He has sent.

Actualize

Meditate on 2 Corinthians 3:5 every day this week and ask God to reveal how you can trust Him more in every aspect of your life.

Session 11: Numbers 13-14

Session 11: Numbers 13-14

Summarize

I. God commands Moses to send scouts to explore the Promised Land(1-25)

A. One representative of each tribe is sent(3-16)

B. The scouts are sent during harvest and told to report on the quality of the land and disposition of the inhabitants. (17-20)

C. The scouts bring back produce from the land. (23)

II. The scouts give a report of the land (26-29)

A. The scouts give a good report on the produce of the land(27)

B. 10 of the scouts are overcome with fear and lead the people to not trust in God (28-29)

III. Caleb encourages the people to trust God(13:30-14:1)

A. Caleb encourages the people to be bold(30)

B. The other spies lead the people to distrust God(31-33)

IV.The Israelites distrust God (14:2-10)

A. The Israelites want to go back to Egypt(14:1-4)

B. Joshua and Caleb exhort the people to trust God(6-9)

C. God is offended by the Israelites(14:10-12)

V. Moses intercedes for the Israelites(11-38)

A. Moses Reminds God of His covenant and begs Him to show mercy(13-19)

B. God keeps the Israelites from entering the land for distrusting Him(28-35)

C. God rewards the faith of Caleb and Joshua by permitting them to enter the promised land(30)

D. The people disregard God and try to take the land on their own(40-45)

Analyze

Read Numbers 13:17-20

1. What does Moses command the scouts/spies to do?(17)

a. What kind of encouragement/command does he give to them?(20)

b. What is the significance of vs 20? How does God's promise in Exodus to lead them to a "land flowing with milk and honey" frame what the scouts/spies are doing?

c. How does this example of testing the reliability/faithfulness of God influence how you approach your relationship with God?(Mal 3:10, Ps. 34:8)

Read Numbers 13:26-29

2.  How does the report of the scouts confirm the promise of God?

a. What overshadowed the scouts good report about the faithfulness of God?

b. How does the scouts example inform us of what we need to beware of when seeing the faithfulness of God?(1 Tim 6:6-8, Heb 13:5)

Read Numbers 13:30-33

3. What gave Caleb the confidence to say what he says in vs 30?

a. What does Caleb's response tell us about where and who he places his confidence in?

b. When facing life circumstances both difficult and easy ones where/who do you place your confidence in? When are you most susceptible to placing your confidence in yourself rather than God?(2 Cor 3:5, 12:9-10)

Read Numbers 14: 2-10

4. What does the response of the Israelites to the report of the scouts tell us about where they placed their confidence?

a. How is their response offensive to God? How can forgetfulness offend God?

b. What habits can you build into your lifestyle to keep from following the example of the Israelites?

Read Numbers 14:11-38

5. What does God say in vs 11-39 that reveal how forgetfulness/distrust hinders our relationship with God?

a. What is Moses response to God in vs 11-12?

b. How does the dialogue between God and Moses help you understand the Sovereignty of God? How does it help you to understand the

Read Numbers 14:39-45

6. How did the Israelites respond to the consequences of their distrust?(39)

a. What does Moses response in vs 41 communicate about the futility of action without and apart from God?(Jn 15:4-8)

b. How does this narrative help you understand the importance of your decisions and your connection to the consequences of your decisions?(Gal 6:7-8)

Contextualize

1. God wants us to trust Him
2. We are responsible for the consequences of our decisions
3. We are prone to forgetting God’s faithfulness.

Actualize

Start a thank you journal that keeps track of the things you can thank God for.  Record at least 3 things you can thank God for every day this week.

Session 9: Exodus 11:4-14:31

Session 9: Exodus 11:4-14:31

Summarize

1. God institutes the memorial meal(11:1-12:20)

a. God tells Moses he will kill all the firstborn in Egypt(1-6)

b. God instructs the Israelites on how to prepare the memorial feast(12:1-28)

2. God causes Pharaoh to release the Israelites(12:29-42)

a. God kills the firstborn of the Egyptians and Pharaoh releases the Israelites

b. The Israelites plunder the Egyptians(12:33-36)

3. God reaffirms the Covenant and explains the significance of the Passover Meal(12:43-13:16)

a. God instructs the Israelites on how to eat the Passover meal and who can eat it(12:43-49)

b. God the Israelites what to teach about the Passover meal(13:1-16)

4. God leads His people through the wilderness(13:17-14:2)

a. God leads the Israelites on a path that will build their confidence in Him

b. God prepares the Israelites to watch Him deliver them

5. God delivers His people from destruction(14:3-31)

a. God causes Pharaoh to pursue the Israelites(14:4)

b. Moses encourages the people to trust in the Lord(14:13-14)

c. God uses Moses to deliver the Israelites and destroy the Egyptians(14:15-31)

Analyze

1. What does God command the Israelites to ask their neighbors for? (2)(Ex 3:22)

1. What makes the command remarkable?(11:4-6)
2. What does God tell Moses is the reason that Pharaoh will not listen to Moses?(9-10)

Read Romans 9:14-24, Isa 55:8-9, 2 Pet 3:9, Genesis 15:13-16

3. What do these passages and the previous question tell you about God’s character?  What do you learn about God’s patience, mercy, and grace?
4. How does your sense of entitlement to salvation contrast with what you’ve read in these passages? (Eph 2:1-5, Col 1:21-22, 3:5-7,Rom 5:10)  
5. How does the community aspect of the Passover feast affect how you think about the Lord’s Supper and the Church?

2. Which houses were spared from the plague of death?(12:13)

1. How does this passage illustrate substitutionary atonement?

Substitutionary Atonement: Atonement is the repayment for doing wrong or injury to someone else. Substitutionary atonement means that someone else pays for what you’ve done wrong

2. How does this picture of atonement enhance your understanding of Jesus dying for you?(Jn 1:29)

Read Gal 3:13, John 14:6, 1 Pet 2:24, Acts 4:12

3. According to 12:13 who will be spared from the plague of death? What makes salvation through Christ alone difficult for people to accept?  How do the above passages help us affirm for ourselves and explain to others the significance of Jesus death on the cross?

3. What are the regulations God gives about who can eat the meal?

1. What does circumcision have to do with being able to eat the meal?

Remember that God commanded Abraham  to be circumcised and that all his household be circumcised as a sign of God’s covenant to make Abraham a great nation(Gen 17). Here the only ones able to eat the meal are people that are children of Abraham.  In the NT we are told that all who trust Jesus are the children of Abraham. (Gal 3:6-8)

2. How does this picture of who can eat the passover meal affect your view of the Lord’s Supper/Eucharist/Communion?
3. How can the taking of the meal be a testimony that bears witness to the sacrifice of Christ?
4. how does God’s command to consecrate all the firstborn serve as a reminder to the Israelites of what they were spared from? (13:1-2)
5. Why does God command the people to eat unleavened bread?

Yeast is the component that causes bread to rise or be leavened.  Throughout scripture yeast is used as a symbol for sin.  It only takes a little yeast to make the dough rise.  So no yeast in the community of God’s people communicates the importance of being prepared to eat the feast by asking and allowing God to purge you of sin(1 Jn 1:9).  This also reinforces the concept that only those who have been cleansed and made part of the family of God may partake of the meal. (More on Matzah, Passover feast symbols)

4. What reason does God give for the way that He led them through the wilderness?(13:17)

1. How did the Israelites follow where God was leading them?(21-22)

5. Why did Pharaoh decide to chase the Israelites?(14:3-4)

1. How did God leading the Israelites to a place with no escape provide Him with an opportunity to demonstrate His power?
2. How had God demonstrated His sovereignty and power to the Israelites and Egyptians prior to this chapter?  How has God demonstrated His faithfulness and power in your life?
3. How have you acted like the Israelites in vs 10-12?
4. What does Moses tell the people in response to their fears? (13-14)
5. How does this picture help you understand the sovereignty of God?

Sometimes in Scripture water is a symbol of God’s wrath and judgement.  We saw this in the story of Noah and we will see it again in Joshua.  We’ve also discussed the concept of anti-types, precursors to THE type that was yet to come. This is a beautiful picture of Christ represented by Moses, interceding for the people, and as a result the judgement and wrath of God held back allowing the people to cross over.  It’s also a sobering picture of what happens when people try to cross without an intercessor.

6. Who was allowed to cross the sea on dry land?  What happened to the people that tried to cross without Moses intervention?
7. What was the Israelites response to God’s salvation? (Jn 17:3, 14:1-3)

Contextualize

1. God wants us to remember what He has done for us
2. God wants us to trust Him
3. Those who place their trust in God will never be let down

Actualize

Journal every day this week about how God has been faithful/good to you, thank Him and prepare to share your reflections with someone this week.