Session 1
EXPLORE THE TEXT
God works through His people to accomplish His plans.
7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt,
and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors.
I know about their sufferings,
8 and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians
and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land,
a land flowing with milk and honey -
the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
9 So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me,
and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them,10 therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh
so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
Moses the Rescuer
We cannot overlook Moses’s flaws.
He was a murderer, which created serious problems for him.
But he also had positive qualities God could shape.
He demonstrated bravery and compassion in rescuing a Hebrew laborer (Ex. 2:11-12)
and later tried to bring peace between two Hebrews (2:13-14).
After fleeing to Midian, he defended the daughters of Jethro/Reuel, priest of Midian.
They reported to their father how Moses had rescued them (2:19 uses the same Hebrew word that is applied to God in 3:8).
So when the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob called to Moses from the burning bush,
He was speaking to a man divinely wired and prepared to carry out His plan.
read the content for verses 7-8 (PSG, p. 14)
identify some key words in the verses.
This is a declaration that God sees what is going on with His people (2:24; 3:4,9,16).
The verb is emphatic, It could be rendered, “Seeing, I have seen the misery of my people.”
As His people, we can be sure that He searches us and knows us. Nothing surprises Him (see also Ps. 139:1-4).
The Hebrew word (oniy) refers to oppression or affliction.
It also can refer to poverty.
Scripture makes it clear that suffering is inherent in the condition of rebellion against God (Gen. 3:16-19).
This pain can be physical or emotional, but God’s people do not endure it alone.
the verb rendered know is used in many ways.
While it can refer to intellectual knowledge, it also can describe a close connection and intimacy.
While God knew about the Israelites’ misery intellectually,
He also felt it and was moved to action by it.
Throughout the Old Testament, this phrase was associated with the promised land (Ex. 13:5; 33:3; Lev. 20:24; Num. 14:8; Deut. 6:3; 11:9; Jer. 32:22; Ezek. 20:6,15).
The term emphasized God’s covenant with Abraham and His commitment to giving His people a land that was both spacious and abundant.
In Moses’s day, this land was filled with powerful and hostile enemies (v. 8).
But God would drive them out so Israel could inherit the land.
Highlight the ideas of God seeing His people and His promise to respond to their suffering.
recall a time when they were “voluntold” to do something,
especially something you weren’t excited about.
Review verses 9-10 and talk about how that compares to what Moses experienced when he heard God’s plan for him.
When he turned to see the burning bush, Moses was not looking for a divine assignment.
Yet, the Lord had plans for Moses that were established before he was born.
God had prepared him for the task of confronting Pharaoh and guiding Israel out of Egypt.
We may get away with declining an opportunity from another person, but saying “No” to God is a different story.