PEN-11 An Overview of Exodus

Every organization goes through changes, but these changes can be quite disruptive when the leadership passes from one generation to the next. When the last founding member of a church dies, or the entrepreneur of a business retires, those left in charge face new challenges. So, one question that nearly always comes up is this: How much should the new generation follow the priorities and practices of the previous generation?

In many ways, the people of Israel faced this question as they camped on the border of the Promised Land. Moses was quickly approaching the end of his life, and the Israelites were facing many new challenges. So, they needed to know how much they should continue to follow the priorities and practices that Moses had established for them. Would they need to follow a different path? Or should they continue in Moses’ ways? The second book of the Bible, the book we now call Exodus, was designed to answer these and similar questions.

This lesson looks at a portion of the Pentateuch that covers the second book of the Bible. We’ve entitled it “An Overview of Exodus.” In this lesson we’ll explore a number of basic issues that will prepare us to look more deeply into what Exodus meant when it was first written and how we should apply it to our lives today.

Our lesson will divide into three main parts. First, we’ll look at some initial considerations we should keep before us as we study Exodus. Second, we’ll investigate the structure and content of the book. And third, we’ll look into some of the major themes of Exodus. Let’s look first at a number of initial considerations.

As followers of Christ, we rightly believe that the book of Exodus was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it’s God’s Word. This belief reminds us that we aren’t dealing with an ordinary book. Exodus is sacred Scripture that God gave to his people. So, in one way or another, as followers of Christ, this book has authority over you and me today. But at the same time, we should never forget that God first gave this book to people who lived thousands of years ago. So, it’s important to ensure that our modern applications are true to the purpose of the book when it was first written.