Session 2
Exodus 5:1-4; 6:2-9
Memory Verse: Exodus 6:7a
We all have longings and expectations. Without them, our lives would be empty and pointless. The Bible affirms looking to the future, and God may use our longings to prepare us for the future He has planned for us. They help us recognize God’s work in us. But we must fight against creating a future in our minds and becoming bitter if things don’t fit our plans.
The Bible identifies two key engines that keep us moving on the path of enjoying the life God has for us. The first is constant gratitude for how God has blessed us in the past. The other is watching for how God will fulfill His promises in the future. Our paths can be straight and true only if both these engines are propelling us.
As you study this session, reflect on your expectations. Talk with God about the “engines” that drive your life and ask Him to help you maintain both a spirit of gratitude for all He has done and a spirit of expectation for all He will do.
Monday, October 15, 1951, I Love Lucy first aired. The show had twenty-nine million viewers by the end of its first season; today it has over forty million American viewers per year. One of the most popular scenes showed Lucy and Ethel wrapping candies as they came across a conveyor belt. All went well until the supervisor hollered, “Speed it up!” Bedlam followed as the two could not keep up with the onslaught of candy.
(PSG, p. 19)
God had patiently prepared Moses for his mission, blessed him with resources (including Aaron), answered his questions, told him what to expect, and then pushed him out the door (Ex. 1-4). In Exodus 5-7, Moses and Aaron began the work and tackled obstacles, accusations, and failure. The challenges were real, but those same challenges also helped them grow.
Their first confrontation with Pharaoh made the Israelites’ situation worse. Egypt’s leader accused the brothers of being “slackers” and deceivers. He treated them like slaves trying to avoid work (Ex. 5:4).
Pharaoh also made life harder on all the Israelites by taking away the straw they needed to make bricks (5:6-9). In response, the Israelites complained to Pharaoh. When that got them nowhere, they challenged Moses and Aaron and blamed them for all their troubles (5:19-21).
In that moment, even Moses and Aaron wondered why God was causing Israel trouble instead of rescuing them (5:22-23). But God repeated His promises of success. He also assured them that this was just one stage in the formation of a permanent relationship between God and His people (6:1-9). It was an extension of the promises founded in the covenant the Lord had made with their forefathers centuries earlier.
To understand these chapters, it’s also essential to understand God’s repeated assurance that “I am the Lord,” a phrase that’s found seven times in this background passage (6:2,6-8,29; 7:5,17) and ten more times in the rest of Exodus. The statement echoes its initial occurrence in God’s covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15:7) and His continuing response to Moses’s question about His identity in Exodus 3:13. It provides a definitive answer to Pharaoh’s skepticism: “Who is the Lord that I should obey him?” (Ex. 5:2). In fact, the entire contest between the God of Israel and the gods of Egypt in Exodus 5-15 serves to remove any doubt about who God is and what He was planning to do.
God’s emphasis on His identity also introduces a theme that runs throughout Scripture. God’s declaration that He is the Lord is even more prevalent in Leviticus, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. The primary objective of the followers of Yahweh-and followers of Jesus-is to know Him more intimately. It must be out of that knowledge that we serve Him, as seen in Jesus’s key question to His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15).
Our lives as believers should be focused on growing closer to the One who loves us. He is the God who has redeemed us, and He promises Himself to us (Phil. 3:10).
As you read through Exodus 5:1-4; 6:2-9, look for declarations God made about what He was going to do. How do you think these declarations still apply to how He deals with us? (PSG, p. 20)
EXPLORE THE TEXT
1 Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.” 2 But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”
3 They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.” 4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your labor!”
(v. 1) What the Lord . . . says: This well-known phrase introduces the divine message. Moses’s mission began with a confrontation-but not between Moses and Pharaoh, as might be expected. Instead, this introduction indicates a battle between the blind and stubborn heart of Pharaoh and God’s powerful word. It also sets the stage for a contest between God and the false deities of Egypt. Every human comes to such moments of decision. Faced with God’s loving command to believe the good news, our rebellious hearts are prone to say “no” to Him. Rejecting what the Lord says to us is sinful humanity’s default position.
(v. 1) Let my people go: The basic form of the Hebrew verb for “let go” means to “send.” In other contexts, it can mean to “banish, expel,” or even to “divorce” (Deut. 22:19). Here, it means to set something/someone free or allow an escape. After the Lord demonstrated His power to Pharaoh, the Egyptians had no choice but to allow God’s people to leave (Ex. 12:31,33).
(v. 1) Festival for me: In the ancient world, requests were often couched with moderation and modesty. On the surface, they appeared limited, but a deeper meaning was understood. In this case, a festival of worship implied a complete release. God was not settling for a compromise. He was demanding a departure. When God culminated the plagues against Egypt, He instructed Israel to celebrate a Passover festival (same word used here) throughout their generations (12:14).
(v. 2) Who is the Lord?: Pharaoh’s question was not a request for an introduction or for instruction. It was a declaration of superiority and self-sufficiency. Pharaoh thought he had all the gods that he needed-and he included himself among them. So, he demonstrated no respect for the God of Moses. Even if he had believed that the Lord was real, he would not be inclined to obey Him.
(v. 2) I will not let Israel go: The result of this initial divine salvo is exactly what God said it would be (4:21). The arrogant, idol-worshiping monarch acted according to his character and refused to allow the Israelites even a temporary release to worship God (v. 3). He did not know the Lord, so he certainly would not let Israel go. Even warnings of God’s judgment (v. 3) did not move Pharaoh’s heart.
Hardened heart
The idiom to “harden one’s heart” means to influence someone so that they choose to disobey God. Throughout Exodus 4-14, readers learn that the Lord would be the One who hardened Pharaoh (4:21; 7:3; 10:1; 14:4). Five times Moses attributed Pharaoh’s hardness to God’s hand (9:12; 10:20,27; 11:10; 14:8).
No guesswork is required to discover why God dealt with the Egyptians like this. The Lord explained that it was to multiply His wonders in Egypt (10:1) and to teach the Egyptians that He alone is God (14:4,17). God’s purpose was also that Israel would acknowledge God as Lord of their lives (Deut. 4:35).
(v. 4) Get to your labor!: In addition to showing disrespect for God, Pharaoh showed disrespect to God’s agents. To him, Moses and Aaron were simply rogue slaves causing trouble. He also understood the potential economic impact of a Hebrew work stoppage, so he wanted to nip any hope of release before it had a chance to bloom.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the Lord.’ 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens. 5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.”
(v. 2) I am the Lord: After calling Moses initially in Exodus 3, God called him a second time after his first encounter with Pharaoh. God’s response to Israel’s anger and Moses’s frustration was to announce that Moses, Israel, and the Egyptians would see His hand at work (Ex. 6:1). We might paraphrase God’s words as, “Now watch this!”
In delivering Israel, God’s primary objective was to reveal His nature and character. God’s reminder that I am the Lord occurs seventeen times in Exodus, including four times in 6:2-8. He emphasized this with Moses (v. 2) and with the nation as a whole (v. 6). God was shifting Israel’s attention from their predicament to their Provider. He was in control of the situation.
(v. 3) Not known to them: God had identified himself to the patriarchs as El Shaddai (Gen. 17:1; 35:11), which is commonly rendered God Almighty. It’s meaning is uncertain, but it is not His personal name. References to calling “on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 26:25) suggest that the patriarchs knew Yahweh, but they did comprehend the significance of His personal name.
In the same way, Moses was introduced to its meaning in Exodus 3:14-15, but he did not yet know by experience the nature and character of the God it represented. He is the faithful and eternal God of covenant relationship, who hears His people’s cries, fulfills His promises, fights zealously for them, blesses them, and sustains them forever by His loving mercy.
(vv. 4-5) My covenant: The covenant that God had made with the patriarchs had many aspects, and several of these had been fulfilled by Moses’s day. For example, He had given Abraham a son, and his descendants had become a great nation. But the critical promise in view here is the land of Canaan. For decades, they had lived as aliens in the land of promise before being subjected to Egyptian slavery. But God had established His covenant, and He was about to keep His promise. He remembered His word, and the time for Him to act had arrived.
(v. 5) Heard the groaning: Covenants involve obligations, but God is never pleased by obedience that comes from an ungrateful heart (Hos. 6:6). Nor does He come to the aid of His children solely out of an obligation to fulfill His promises or to show off His power. As He proved with Israel, He is moved by the compassion He feels when He hears our groaning. The word for “groaning” here only occurs four times in Scripture and usually refers to the afflictions of God’s people at the hands of their enemies.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.” 9 Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.
I will
While Exodus 6:2-5 focuses on God’s promises in the past, verses 6-8 focus on what God will do to fulfill promises in the future. Listing seven actions, He said He would bring you out . . . rescue . . . redeem . . . take . . . be . . . bring you to . . . give. Because He remembered His covenant (v. 5) and because He had sworn an oath to His people, God would act and would fulfill all the promises He had made. Israel could count on it.
(v. 6) Forced labor: The Hebrew word here is found only in Exodus and describes work that is a laborious burden. Yet, God promised to free Israel from their slavery and oppression (see also v. 7). The term for redeem here is ga’al, used of God’s act of restoring Israel to its former state of freedom (see 15:13; Pss. 78:35; 106:10). It is later used of God restoring Israel from exile in Babylon (Isa. 43:1).
A similar word rendered slavery (vv. 6-8, also 1:14; 2:23; 5:9,11) comes from a Hebrew root (‘abad), which appears about one hundred times in Exodus. The verb usually refers to acting like a servant or slave, but it can also refer to worship. A related noun can refer to “service, work, labor.” The Greek word doulos in the New Testament has a similar breadth of meaning (Matt. 10:24; Luke 1:38; John 8:34-35; Rom. 1:1).
(v. 6) Outstretched arm: The extension of God’s arm is a word picture for His power and authority. He would demonstrate His strength so that the Israelites would know for certain that He was the one, true God.
Specifically, God would stretch His arm out against the Egyptians through the plagues He was about to send. This correlates to the great acts of judgment. Egypt had oppressed God’s people and treated them unjustly. God would punish them for their cruelty, as well as their idolatry.
(v. 7) My people . . . your God: Variations of this declaration are found eight times in Scripture (Jer. 11:4; 30:22; 32:38; Ezek. 11:20; 14:11; 36:28; Zech. 8:8). The reverse, referring to God first and people second, is found four other times (Lev. 26:12; Jer. 7:23; 31:33; Ezek. 37:27). Whichever order is used, it is a covenant formula that describes the nature of the relationship between God and His people.
Our relationship with God is foundational to everything else He does for us. Although Israel’s relationship with God was later formalized at Mount Sinai, it already existed in the mind of God. In fact, He had already referred to Israel as “my people” in Exodus 3:7.
(v. 8) Possession: God would demonstrate His loyalty by bringing Israel to the promised land. This would be their inheritance. Through this, God would keep His promises to the patriarchs. But He also would extend the parameters of His covenant by providing the Mosaic law so the Israelites would know how to live as His people.
(v. 9) Broken spirit: The Hebrew wording implies shortness. The cruelty of the Egyptians and the burdens of hard labor had broken Israel’s spirit. They struggled to muster the faith required to believe Moses. God would continue working until His people could stand on His words. Stumbling in the face of faltering faith is not always condemned. In His patience and wisdom, God will guide us through our times of “shortness.”
Review these points from Apply the Text on page 27 of the Personal Study Guide:
Identify one of the statements above with which you struggle. Phrase that struggle as a prayer request.
Encourage members to share their responses to the first set of questions on page 27 of the PSG. Talk about why it can be hard to trust God and how to encourage others when their faith wavers.
Refer back to Pack Item 11 (Handout: The Plagues of Egypt). Encourage adults to read and reflect on the different plagues during the week and to prepare to discuss the final plague in the next session.
Close this session in prayer, asking God to help adults trust Him to provide freedom, even when things are difficult to understand and believe.
Spend some focused time praying for the adults in your Bible study group this week. Reflect on what they shared about their struggles and use that to prompt your prayers. Reach out to each individual through an email, a phone call, or a text this week. Let them know what you are praying for them and share ways they could pray for you as well. Encourage them to share any answers to prayer they have received from God this week.
God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. (See Genesis 1:1; Psalm 103:19.)
Notice repeated words or phrases in a Bible passage.
Identify the phrase repeated four times in Exodus 6:2-9. (Hint: See vv. 2,6,7,8.) Think about what this phrase’s repetition helps communicate in the overall passage. Look for similar or related words and phrases in the passage. (Hint: See vv. 3,7.) What meaning does the repeated phrase have for Bible readers today?