Opening Prayer: God Calling Moses (Exodus 3:4-12)

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here am I." Then he said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the LORD said, "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey… And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" He said, "But I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain."

THE FOUNDING OF ISRAEL

Part I: Exodus (Gk. “going out”)

The Birth & Rescue of Moses Many years after Joseph

brought his family to Egypt, a new Pharaoh in Egypt enslaved the people of Israel

The Egyptians are ordered to kill every male child at birth

As an infant, Moses’ mother helps her son escape, & Moses is brought up in Pharaoh’s court

Moses Rebels

Moses is raised in Pharaoh’s court with his own Hebrew mother as nurse

As a young man, Moses kills an Egyptian for abusing a Hebrew slave

Fearing for his life, Moses flees Egypt & settles in Midian

The Burning Bush: God Reveals His Name to Moses

Moses unexpectedly encounters the God of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob at Sinai

God orders Moses to go back to Egypt & lead Israel to freedom

God reveals his sacred Name to Moses: “I am who I am”

Moses’ brother, Aaron, was also appointed to be his spokesman

The Message to Pharaoh

Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go on a 3 days journey into the desert to offer sacrifice to the Lord

Pharaoh refused to listen and made the Israelites work even harder

Because Pharaoh refused to listen, God sent 10 plagues to Egypt Plague: a disaster that affects a large

number of people. The 10 plagues were signs of God’s wrath against the Egyptians

The Plagues

1. Plague of Blood (Ex 7:14-24)

4. Plague of flies (Ex 8:20-

32)

7. Plague of hail (Ex 9:13-

35)

God tells Moses, “Go to Pharaoh in

the morning…”

2. Plague of frogs (Ex 8:1-

15)

5. Plague on Egyptian

cattle (Ex 9:1-7)

8. Plague of locusts (Ex 10:1-20)

God tells Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh…”

3. Plague of “gnats” or “lice” (Ex 8:16-19)

6. Plague of boils (Ex 9:8-

12)

9. Plague of darkness (Ex

10:21-28)

Moses gives Pharaoh no

warning.

The Passover

The last plague kills every first-born son in Egypt

The plague skips the houses of the Israelites, marked with the blood of the Passover lamb

The Passover lamb is a type of Christ, the Lamb of God, whose blood saves us from eternal death

The Egyptians hurry the Israelites out of Egypt

Escape from Egypt

Pharaoh changes his mind again and chases after the Israelites

Clearing a path through the Sea of Reeds (usually translated in English as “Red Sea”), God miraculously saves the Israelites from the Egyptian army

Spiritual Food in the Wilderness

Hungry and thirsty, the Israelites complain to Moses

God sends them miraculous food and water Bread (called “manna”)

& water from a dry rock The “bread which the

Lord has given” (i.e., the “manna”) is a type of the Eucharist

The Covenant at Sinai

After traveling for 3 months, Israel reached Mount Sinai

Moses went up the mountain and received a message for the whole nation of Israel

If they would obey God, then they would be a nation of priests—they would be the ones to bring God’s Word to all the nations of the world

The people then heard God speak the conditions of the covenant with them, which were…

The Decalogue (i.e., the Ten Commandments)

The Temple in Heaven & On Earth Moses went up the mountain once more, leaving

his brother Aaron in charge For 40 days & 40 nights, he was alone with God

This time, God showed Moses the pattern of the Tabernacle that would house the Ark of the Covenant Tabernacle: the tent that served as a meeting place

and temple for the Israelites while they wandered in the desert; it was designed as a reflection of the temple in heaven

Ark of the Covenant: an ornate box that held the tablets of the commandments; it represented God’s throne on earth

THE FOUNDING OF ISRAEL

Part 2: The Law

The Golden Calf Changes Israel’s Relationship with God

While Moses was at the top of Mt. Sinai, the people of Israel have Aaron make an idol for them to worship

The “golden calf” was a false pagan god like the ones the Egyptians worshipped

Worshipping the golden calf involves not only idolatry but also immoral behavior Idolatry: the worship of

man-made images as though they were gods

Moses Pleads with God

The Israelites’ rejection of God caused God to reject them, but Moses pleaded with God for Israel & convinced God to not reject them

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he was so mad with Israel’s idolatry that he smashed the two stone tablets—symbolizing that Israel broke God’s covenant

The Institution of the Levitical Priesthood

One of the 12 tribes, the tribe of Levi, saw how upset Moses was & attacked the idolaters in Israel While it was harsh, the Levites were able to

prevent the utter destruction of Israel, & the nation would survive

As a result of their actions, the Levites were ordain as the priests for the rest of Israel Israel was meant to be a nation of priests, but

because of the idolatry of the Golden Calf the tribe of Levi was chosen for the priesthood

After the Fall

By falling into idolatry, Israel loses some of its unique relationship with God

The Levites assume the priesthood that would have belonged to all the people

The laws given after the golden calf were meant to teach Israel humility & holiness

Moses went up the mountain once again, & God wrote 2 new stone tablets to replace the ones Moses had smashed—symbolizing that God renewed his covenant with his people

Heaven On Earth

Moses receives instructions for building the Tabernacle

The design of the Tabernacle is an earthly representation of the heavenly temple

The Law

The Book of Leviticus teaches Israel how to be a holy people

Aaron’s sons tried to ignore these laws from Leviticus that God had given, but were punished by God with death

The deaths of Aaron’s sons showed how important it was to follow the rules precisely

In the Wilderness

When Moses sent spies to the Promised Land, they come back from Canaan with a pessimistic report that they couldn’t conquer the land Two of the spies, Joshua & Caleb, believed Israel could

conquer the land, but the people despaired and rebelled anyways

As punishment for their lack of faith, the rebellious generation would not enter the Promised Land Moses & Aaron lost their patience & became very angry

with both the people & God Because of this, God made Moses & Aaron share the

people’s punishment & they would not enter into the Promised Land

The Constitution of Israel

Israel falls into idolatry again at Beth-peor

In Deuteronomy (Gk. “second law”), Moses gives the people a new constitution for the state of Israel Many laws in

Deuteronomy makes concessions to Israel’s hard hearts (i.e., laws concerning divorce)

Like the U.S. Constitution, Deuteronomy is amended as times change

THE FOUNDING OF ISRAEL

Part 3: The Rise of the Kingdom

The Conquest Begins

After Moses passed away, Joshua took over as the leader of Israel

The first target in conquering Canaan was the city of Jericho

Joshua sent two spies to stay with a woman named Rahab to prepare for the attack

When the Levite priests carried the Ark of the Covenant to the Jordan River, the river dried up so the people of Israel could advance towards Jericho

The Fall of Jericho

The Israelites marched silently around the city walls once a day for six days while priests blew trumpets

On the 7th day, the people marched around the city 7 times, gave a mighty shout, & the walls came tumbling down

The army of Israel marched over the rubble and conquered the city, saving Rahab & her family

The Judges

Israel, however, kept falling away from God into idolatry—and then into anarchy & even civil war

But God raised up “judges”—soldiers-prophets who rescued the people of Israel from their enemies

Why did Israel fall away so easily? Israel failed to drive out

the Canaanites

Samuel, the King-Maker

Samuel, a Levite priest & the last of the Judges, had been the leader of Israel for a long time, but his sons were corrupt

The Israelites confronted Samuel and told him to appoint a king so they could be like the other nations

The people were not rejecting Samuel; they were rejecting having God as their true King

Samuel agreed to appoint a king, but he warned them against what they would get it they wanted a king Taxes Military Service Oppression

Saul, the Anointed One

God led Samuel to a man named Saul from the tribe of Benjamin & he anointed Saul with oil, proclaiming him King

The people might have rejected God from being king over them, but God was showing them that he would still rule them through their king

At first, things went very well under the new king

Saul’s Big Mistakes

Mistake #1 Saul offered a

sacrifice to God without listening to Samuel’s instructions As a result, Samuel

prophesied that Saul’s son would not succeed him as king after him

Mistake #2 Saul didn’t destroy all

the Amalekites when God, through Samuel, instructed him to do so As a result, Samuel

pronounced that he was no longer king; someone else would have to be anointed as king

But power went quickly to Saul’s head & he made 2 big mistakes that cost him dearly

The Man After God’s Own Heart: David

God told Samuel to go to the house of Jesse & anoint one of Jesse’s sons

David, the youngest son, was anointed as king

Although Saul still possessed the kingdom, his special status as the Lord’s Anointed was gone

Words 4 Bingo!

Moses Aaron Plagues Passover Sea of Reeds (Red Sea) Manna Mount Sinai Priests Ten Commandments Tabernacle Ark of the Covenant Golden Calf

Idolatry Levites Leviticus Joshua Caleb Deuteronomy Jericho Jordan Judges Samuel Saul David