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Study Section 4:  Exodus and Leviticus


               4.1 Connect

                          Have you ever gone on a long trip somewhere?  Once you plan such a trip, there may be
                          weeks of preparation and packing and planning.  The closer the time comes to your trip, the
                          greater your anticipation rises.  Then comes the day of your trip.  You depart from you home
                          and take some form of transportation to get to your new location.  You see and experience
                          new things.  Perhaps the food is different than you are used to.  You have to stay in a
                          different place than you are used to.  But all in all, a trip is normally a very exciting time in
               our lives.


               Imagine the children of Israel, after having lived in Egypt for over 400 years, suddenly told that they
               were leaving their homes and their jobs to go to a place they did not know.  They had very little time to
               plan the trip.  But I am sure it was exciting for them to leave their bondage and begin their trek to a
               Promised Land.  They started out strong, but as we will see, it did not take them long before they began
               to complain out the journey.  Let’s see what happened….


               4.2 Objectives


                    1.  The student should be able to describe how the plagues of Egypt were really God challenging the
                    gods of the Egyptians, demonstrating his power over them.


                    2.   The student should be able to site the many miraculous events that occurred as a part of the
               Exodus.


               3.  The student should be able to describe how God revealed Himself to His chosen people through the
               book of Exodus.


                4.3 Exodus

                          The author of Exodus is undoubtedly Moses.  Exodus is the second book of the five books of
                          the Law or Pentateuch. Regarding the purpose of Exodus Andrew E. Hill and John H Walton
                          said, “The purpose of Exodus is to explain how the Israelites became slaves in Egypt and their
                          deliverance from the Egyptian oppression. The book also reveals the God whose name is
                          Yahweh and relates how his divine presence came to dwell among his people, Israel.” Also
                          regarding the name Exodus Hill and Walton said, “The English name for this second of the
               Pentateuch, or Law of Moses, comes from the Greek Old Testament titles Exodus, meaning a ‘going out’
               or ‘departure.’ The title is a logical one in that Israel’s Exodus from Egypt is the dominant theme of the
               book.” The book of Exodus is dividing in three major divisions and has 40 chapters. Chapters 1-11 focus
               on the bondage of Israelites in Egypt, the slavery, Moses’ calling and the 10
               Plagues. Chapters 12-18 focus on God’s miraculous redemption of the
               Israelites from Egypt into the wilderness. Chapters 19-40 focus on God’s
               revelation of his self to his promised people through the Covenant and the
               Law.



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