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Scripture Reading: Exo. 1:8-22; 3:8; 12:1-20; 15:22
I. Coming down to deliver Israel out of Egypt — Exo. 3:8:
А. Through Moses:
1. From the Egyptian slavery and tyranny — 1:8-22.
2. Dealing with Pharaoh and smiting Egypt with ten plagues:
а. All waters becoming blood — 7:17-25.
b. Waters bringing forth frogs — 8:2-15.
c. Dust becoming lice — vv. 16-19.
d. Swarms of flies — vv. 20-24.
e. Pestilence upon all the cattle — 9:1-7.
f. Boils upon man and beast — vv. 8-12.
g. Hail, mingled with fire, upon the land — vv. 13-25.
h. Locusts devouring the land — 10:12-20.
i. Thick darkness over all the land — vv. 21-24.
j. Killing of their firstborn sons — 11:4-6; 12:29-30.
B. Through the passover — vv. 1-20:
1. Redeeming them from the death-judgment by their striking the blood of the lamb — vv. 7, 13.
2. Delivering them from the house of bondage (13:3, 14) by their eating the meat of the lamb with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs — 12:8-11.
C. Through the Angel of Jehovah (Christ) and the pillar of cloud and of fire (the glory of God) over Israel to protect them from the front to the rear of their army — 14:19-20.
D. Through God’s mighty power to divide the Red Sea for Israel to go through and to close the sea over Pharaoh and his army to destroy them — vv. 6-8, 21-31.
II. Bringing them into the wilderness — 3:18:
А. Israel fallen into Egypt — the world of easy living and pleasure — for four hundred years.
B. Predicted by God to Abraham — Gen. 15:13-14.
C. Prohibited from serving God and suffering the affliction of the Egyptian tyranny — Exo. 1:15-22; Heb. 11:23.
D. God bringing them into the wilderness — Exo. 15:22:
1. Into a place outside the world, free from worldly occupations in anxiety of life, pleasures, persecution of religion, etc.
2. Through three days’ journey — through the resurrection of Christ.
3. To serve God with sacrifices — Christ as the offerings.
In the previous chapter we saw the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Triune God’s preparation for the carrying out of His eternal economy was initiated in Adam and issued in three persons — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These three persons revealed in the book of Genesis resulted in one people, Israel. God’s history with the people of Israel is covered from Exodus to Malachi.
Through God’s preparation in the Old Testament with Israel, Christ was brought forth in the New Testament. Matthew 1 shows us the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (v. 1). This genealogy is an abstract of the entire Old Testament. Five women are recorded in Christ’s genealogy. These are Tamar (v. 3), Rahab, Ruth (v. 5), Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah (v. 6), and Mary, of whom Christ was born (v. 16). Tamar committed incest with her father-in-law, Judah (Gen. 38:6-30). Rahab was a prostitute (Josh. 2:1). Ruth belonged to the tribe of Moab (Ruth 1:4), the fruit of Lot’s incestuous union with his daughter (Gen. 19:30-38). Bathsheba committed adultery with David (2 Sam. 11:3, 26-27). Matthew 1:6 says that David begot Solomon “of her who had been the wife of Uriah.” David murdered Uriah and robbed him of his wife, Bathsheba. Only one of the five women in Christ’s genealogy was a chaste virgin — Mary, a descendant of the chosen race. Of her, Christ was directly born (v. 16). Such a record in the genealogy of Christ indicates that Christ is the kingly Savior of typical sinners.
The genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew is a brief and accurate abstract of the entire Old Testament. If we want to know the details of the genealogy of Christ, we have to read the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. I began to study this genealogy in 1925, and this study issued in my writing a book in 1936 entitled Gleanings from the Genealogy of Christ, published by Brother Watchman Nee’s bookroom.
When we look at this genealogy with the view that the entire Old Testament was the Triune God’s preparation for the carrying out of His eternal economy, we can see how consistent the Bible is. The entire Bible was written by over forty writers spanning about fifteen hundred years. Within such a long period of time, they wrote one book with one subject, with one center, and with one goal. Today by the Lord’s mercy, the entire sixty-six books of the Bible have been opened up to us.
The issue of the history in the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament was the bringing forth of Christ, the God-man. Thus, the opening word of the New Testament reveals that Christ was brought forth as the issue of forty-two generations of people in the Old Testament. Christ’s being brought forth was for the producing of the Body of Christ as the organism of the processed and consummated Triune God. This organism will eventually consummate in the New Jerusalem, which is the eternal enlargement of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the tabernacle of God (John 1:14), and this tabernacle was a model, a prototype, which will eventually consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal tabernacle of God (Rev. 21:3).
The New Jerusalem will be the eternal mingling of the Triune God and the tripartite man. This mingling is indicated by the number twelve. In the New Jerusalem are the twelve foundations, inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles (v. 14); the twelve gates, which are the twelve pearls, inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes (v. 12); and the twelve fruits of the tree of life (22:2). With regard to space, the city proper is twelve thousand stadia, one thousand times twelve, in each of its three dimensions (21:16), and its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, twelve times twelve, in height (v. 17). Twelve is three multiplied by four. Multiplication indicates mingling. The city is a square with four sides, and on each of the four sides are three gates. Three is the number of the Triune God, and four is the number of the creature, man. The Triune God, signified by the three gates, is mingled with man, signified by the number four. Therefore, the number twelve signifies that God in His eternal administration is mingled with His creature, man.
The New Jerusalem will be the mutual dwelling of God and man. The redeemed of God will be the tabernacle for the dwelling of God (21:3), and the redeeming God will be the temple for the dwelling of the redeemed (v. 22). This is for the expression of the processed and consummated Triune God in His nature and glory (vv. 18b, 21b, 10-11, 23) in the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite man for eternity (vv. 12-21a). This is the consummation of the history of God in His union with man.
In the previous chapters we saw God’s history in the book of Genesis. Now we want to go on in the book of Exodus to see God’s working on His elect through Moses. In this chapter we want to see how God delivered Israel out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.
Exodus shows us that God took a big step in His move by coming down to deliver Israel out of Egypt (3:8) and bring them into the wilderness (v. 18). Egypt typifies the world where people are occupied with making a living and where people can enjoy a life with pleasures. The world is a place of easy living and pleasure and also a place of sin and idolatry. Today the entire world is the real Egypt, full of sin.
The children of Israel coming under Egyptian slavery and tyranny was foretold to Abraham by God in Genesis 15. God came to comfort and encourage Abraham, promising Abraham that He would give him a son (vv. 1-6), and then He made a covenant to confirm this promise (v. 18). God’s speaking to us is in three stages. First, we have His word; His word becomes a promise; and then His promise becomes a covenant. The covenant confirms the promise. God spoke to Abraham in his deep sleep, and a great darkness fell upon Abraham (v. 12), indicating that the history of his seed would not always be bright in that they would be under a dark time of tyranny and affliction under the Egyptians for four hundred years (vv. 13-14). In telling Abraham the future history of his descendants, God was confirming to him that he would surely have a son, an heir.
Eventually, after Joseph died, the book of Exodus says that a new Pharaoh rose up in Egypt who did not know of Joseph (1:8). At that time the children of Israel began to come under the persecution, tyranny, and slavery of the Egyptians. Because of the increasing multiplication of the Israelites, Pharaoh charged the people to kill all the newborn males among the Israelites (vv. 15-16, 22). He also forced the Israelites to make bricks to build up his treasure cities (vv. 11-14). Exodus shows us the children of Israel suffering all kinds of afflictions under Egyptian slavery and tyranny.
Eventually, Moses was raised up by God for their deliverance. He became the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He lived in the palace of Pharaoh, was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was powerful in his words and works (Acts 7:21-22). Then he spent forty years in the wilderness to be tested, to be perfected, by God. When Moses was eighty, God called him and said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians” (Exo. 3:7-8). In order to rescue, to deliver, the Israelites out of the Egyptians’ hand, God needed to come down. God came down first to the wilderness where Moses was in order to call him.
We have to remember that we are not merely studying the history of Israel but the history of God. God is the Deliverer who came down to deliver Israel out of the slavery and the tyranny of the Egyptians through Moses. Moses was the means of their deliverance from the Egyptian slavery and tyranny (1:8-14, 15-22).
Through Moses, God dealt with Pharaoh and smote Egypt with ten plagues. Pharaoh was considered as God by his people. He was the top king, and Egypt was the biggest and most powerful nation on the earth at that time. But God sent one person without any weapon in his hand to deal with this top king on earth.
Moses told Pharaoh, “Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Let My people go that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness” (5:1). Because of Pharaoh’s continued resistance and the hardening of his heart, God smote the land of Egypt with ten plagues to force Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. First, God caused all the waters in Egypt to become blood (7:17-25). The second plague was the waters bringing forth frogs (8:2-15). The third plague was the dust becoming lice (vv. 16-19). The fourth plague was swarms of flies throughout the land of Egypt (vv. 20-24). The fifth plague was a pestilence upon all the cattle throughout Egypt (9:1-7). The sixth plague was boils breaking out upon both man and beast (vv. 8-12). The seventh plague was hail, mingled with fire, upon the land (vv. 13-25). The eighth plague was locusts devouring the land (10:12-20). The ninth plague was thick darkness over all the land (vv. 21-24). The tenth and final plague was the killing of their firstborn sons (11:4-6; 12:29-30). Pharaoh surely would not let Israel go easily. The plague of the killing of all the firstborn sons caused Pharaoh to release the children of Israel.
The passover was for redeeming and delivering the children of Israel (vv. 1-20).
God redeemed them from the death-judgment by their striking the blood of the lamb (vv. 7, 13). God told them to slay a lamb and strike the blood upon the lintel and the doorposts. He said, “I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast...And the blood shall be a sign for you upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there will be no plague upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (vv. 12-13).
God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage (13:3, 14) by their eating the meat of the lamb with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs (12:8-11). The blood of the lamb was for redeeming the children of Israel out of God’s death-judgment, and the meat of the lamb was for strengthening Israel to get out of Egypt. They also had to eat unleavened bread, indicating that from that day they should not live in sin, that is, should not live a sinful life. They also had to eat the lamb with bitter herbs, indicating that they should experience a bitter taste regarding sinful things. The bitter herbs were a reminder of the bitter taste of the sinful things of Egypt.
God came down to deliver Israel out of Egypt through Moses and through the passover. He also delivered them through the Angel of Jehovah (Christ) and the pillar of cloud and of fire (the glory of God) over Israel to protect them from the front to the rear of their army (14:19-20). The glory of God always goes together with Christ. Where Christ is, there is the glory of God, and where the glory of God is, there is Christ as the Angel of Jehovah to serve God’s people.
After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, Pharaoh and his army pursued them. The Red Sea was in front of them, and Pharaoh and his armies were behind them. They had no way out. Christ as the Angel of Jehovah was in front of the children of Israel, facing the sea. But at the rear the Egyptian army was coming, so Christ turned from the front to the rear. The glory of God followed Christ from the front of the army of Israel to the rear to protect them. That glory, which was the pillar of cloud in the day becoming the pillar of fire in the night, became a wall to separate Israel’s army from the Egyptian army. Christ with God’s glory became a great protection to the children of Israel.
God delivered Israel out of Egypt through His mighty power by dividing the Red Sea for Israel to go through and by closing the Red Sea over Pharaoh and his army to destroy them (14:6-8, 21-31). Exodus 14:22 says, “The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” When Israel got over to the other side of the sea, God’s power closed the sea over Pharaoh and his armies. Through this miracle by God’s mighty power, God delivered Israel out of Egypt.
We can see the manifestation of God’s power in His working to deliver Israel out of Egypt and bring them into the wilderness. God gave His orders to the frogs, the lice, the flies, and the locusts to plague Egypt. These all became His armies. The flies and locusts were like the air force, the frogs were like the navy, and the lice from the dust were like the army. God sent three forces of His military power, and the Egyptians had no way to do anything against them.
Furthermore, the three of the Divine Trinity were working for Israel’s deliverance. The “I Am” who sent Moses to Pharaoh was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (3:6, 14). The Angel of God was Christ, and the pillar of cloud and of fire was the Spirit. God the Spirit is God’s glory.
God brought Israel out of Egypt through their observance of the passover. The children of Israel had to kill a lamb, to strike the blood, and to eat the meat of the lamb in haste with their loins girded, with their sandals on their feet, and with their staff in their hand (12:11). Without eating, they would not have had the energy to get out of Egypt. This picture shows us that the eating of the lamb was for moving out of Egypt to carry out God’s redemption and God’s salvation. The redeeming blood was for God’s redemption, and the satisfying and strengthening meat of the lamb with the unleavened bread was for God’s salvation to deliver them by enabling them to cooperate with God. They received the strength to move out of Egypt by eating the meat of the lamb and the unleavened bread.
God was very fine in His working to deliver the children of Israel in His using of Moses, the passover, the Angel of God, the glory of God, and His mighty power to divide the Red Sea for Israel and to close it over Pharaoh and his army. This part of God’s history helps us to know what kind of God He is.
God brought the children of Israel out of Egyptian tyranny and bondage into the wilderness (3:18). In the wilderness there was nothing of the Egyptian world for them to enjoy. The only thing for Israel to do in the wilderness was to meet with God. The story of the children of Israel in Exodus is a type. The way in which God worked to redeem and save Israel is a picture of how He redeems and saves people today. God’s dynamic salvation based upon His complete redemption should be like this.
The children of Israel had been serving under Egyptian tyranny and in slavery for four hundred years. Suddenly within a brief period of time they were brought into the wilderness to meet with God. When we were saved, we also were immediately transported out of the world to be with God. Right after we applied the blood of Christ and took Christ into us as our life, the whole world immediately became the wilderness to us where there was only God. Every saved person must be saved to such an extent that he is fully transported out of the world and left with God alone.
In Exodus 3:18 God said to Moses, “You shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.” Three days’ journey by walking could have taken them one hundred miles from Egypt. In ancient times one hundred miles was a long distance. Moses led them far away from everything of the Egyptian world. Around them in every direction, there was nothing worldly to distract them or occupy them. There was no Egyptian food for them to taste. There was only God. This is the real delivery, the real salvation, the dynamic salvation.
Israel had fallen into Egypt, which typifies the world of easy living and pleasure, for four hundred years.
As we have seen, Israel’s fall into Egypt was predicted by God to Abraham (Gen. 15:13-14).
When they were in Egypt, they were prohibited from serving God and had to suffer the affliction of the Egyptian tyranny (Exo. 1:15-22; Heb. 11:23).
God then brought them into the wilderness (Exo. 15:22), into a place outside the world, free from worldly occupations in anxiety of life, pleasures, persecutions of religion, etc. God brought them into the wilderness through three days’ journey — through the resurrection of Christ. When we were baptized, we were baptized into His death and resurrected to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3-5). Then we were out of the world and in the wilderness with God. The children of Israel were brought out of Egypt into the wilderness to serve God with sacrifices, typifying Christ as the offerings.
