Exodus: A Three-Session Study of Deliverance and Covenant

How to use these three sessions

The first session reads Exodus 3. The second covers Exodus 12, 13, and 14; the third covers Exodus 19 and 20. These are substantial selections, so a session can take more than one sitting. Read the biblical chapters before the commentary, and keep them open while considering the questions. A careful reading is more useful than finishing on an artificial schedule.

The plan follows three movements: the Lord calls Moses in response to Israel's affliction; the Lord brings the people out and commands them to remember; the Lord brings them to himself and gives covenant instruction. These movements belong to a people's history. Personal applications should grow from that history without reducing Egypt, Passover, or Sinai to labels for whatever difficulty we happen to face.

The selected readings do not cover every intervening event. The full book is the best next step after this plan. Brief background here will help you locate the sessions, while the chapter links let you check the details directly. Where the text states divine action, keep its wording; where it leaves a question unanswered, resist supplying a confident story of your own.

Keep a three-column notebook headed Deliverance, Remembrance, and Responsibility. Add concrete details as you read: a cry heard, a household's obedience, a child asking a question, a command protecting a neighbor. By the final session, use those notes to describe the connection between rescue and the shared life that follows.

Session 1: The people whose cries are heard

Exodus opens with Israel's growing population and a new king who does not know Joseph. The king treats that growth as a threat and imposes hard service. The narrative also records commands against Hebrew boys, the midwives' refusal to kill them, and Pharaoh's order that sons be cast into the river. These are concrete acts of oppression. The burning-bush encounter responds to suffering with a history and identifiable perpetrators.

Exodus 2 tells of Moses' preservation as a baby, his upbringing as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and his later killing of an Egyptian who was striking a Hebrew. When Pharaoh seeks to kill him, Moses flees to Midian. There he helps women at a well, is received into a household, marries Zipporah, and has a son. These events explain why the man later sent to Pharaoh is found tending a flock far from Egypt.

The chapter ends with Israel's groaning. God hears, remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and looks upon the people. The account prepares us for the language of seeing, hearing, and knowing in Exodus 3. Remembering the covenant is presented as part of God's attention and coming action, rather than as a claim that their suffering had escaped his awareness.

This background also keeps the story from becoming only an account of Moses finding his purpose. His questions matter, but the task concerns Israel's release. An application about personal calling should retain that outward focus: the call is connected to people whose affliction God names and whose freedom he intends.

The bush, the voice, and holy ground — Exodus 3:1–6

Moses is keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, when he comes to Horeb. The angel of the Lord appears in a flame from the midst of a bush. Moses sees that the bush burns without being consumed and turns aside to examine it. The narrative then says that God calls to him from the bush, naming him twice, and Moses answers, “Here am I.”

The command to remove his shoes identifies the ground as holy. The scene does not treat bodily action as irrelevant to reverence. Moses is given a concrete way to respond to the presence addressing him. The holiness of the encounter is not something he defines for himself or turns into an object of casual inspection.

God identifies himself as the God of Moses' father and of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses hides his face because he is afraid to look upon God. The introduction connects this encounter with the covenant history already recalled at the end of chapter 2. The speaker's identity is larger than the unusual sight that first drew Moses' attention.

Stay with those details before constructing symbolism around the bush. The chapter does not require us to assign a secret meaning to every branch or flame. Its central action is clear: God addresses Moses, establishes the sacred character of the encounter, and identifies himself before giving the task. Moses listens as a person summoned into a relationship and responsibility he did not initiate.

Seen affliction becomes a commission — Exodus 3:7–12

The Lord says he has seen the affliction of his people, heard their cry because of their taskmasters, and knows their sorrows. He declares that he has come down to deliver them and bring them to a good and spacious land. The promised destination is described as inhabited by named peoples; the chapter does not describe an empty landscape waiting without history.

Then comes the commission: Moses is to go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. Divine attention and human responsibility meet in this command. God does not merely tell Moses to feel compassion for the oppressed. He sends him into a demanding role within the deliverance he has announced.

Moses asks, “Who am I” to go to Pharaoh and bring Israel out? The answer is “Certainly I will be with thee.” The reply directs attention to God's presence rather than giving Moses an inventory of personal qualifications. The promised sign also looks beyond the immediate confrontation: after the people come out, they will serve God on this mountain.

That future worship helps explain the direction of the rescue. Leaving Pharaoh's service leads toward serving God. The chapter does not present freedom as having no claims upon one's life. Nor does this particular commission mean that every difficult task a reader imagines is automatically a divine assignment. Moses receives a specific call; our first task is to understand it before drawing a responsible application.

God’s name and the resistance ahead — Exodus 3:13–22

Moses next asks what he should say if the Israelites ask the name of the God who sent him. The answer includes “I AM THAT I AM” and “I AM hath sent me unto you.” The following verse again names the Lord as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and speaks of his name and memorial through generations. Read the answer with that repeated covenant identification.

The chapter gives Moses words to speak, people to approach, and a task to carry out. It does not require us to turn the divine name into a complete philosophical explanation of God's being. The emphasis in the scene is the identity and authority of the one sending Moses and the reliability of his declared purpose.

Moses is to gather the elders and tell them that the Lord has seen what is being done in Egypt. He and the elders are to request a journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord. God also tells Moses that the king will resist, and declares that he will stretch out his hand and smite Egypt with his wonders before the king lets them go. The commission includes warning about resistance, not a promise of an effortless conversation.

The chapter closes with the promise that the people will not depart empty. Later Exodus 12 reports the giving of silver, gold, and clothing. For this session, notice the combination: suffering recognized, presence promised, resistance named, and provision anticipated. Do not turn that sequence into a prediction about the timing or material outcome of every personal struggle.

Session 2: Passover begins with God’s instructions — Exodus 12:1–14

Exodus 12 addresses Moses and Aaron in Egypt and marks a new beginning in the calendar. Households are to select an animal, and a household too small for it is to share with its nearest neighbor according to the number who will eat. The instructions attend to the life of the community at the level of households and meals.

The animal is to be without blemish, a male of the first year, from the sheep or goats. It is kept until the appointed day, killed, and eaten roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Blood is placed on the two side posts and upper doorpost of the houses where they eat. The people are to eat ready for departure, with clothing gathered, shoes on, and staff in hand.

The Lord announces judgment on Egypt's firstborn and its gods and promises that when he sees the blood he will pass over the marked houses. These are sacred instructions joined to his promise of preservation. The narrative does not dismiss the bodily act, the household meal, or the appointed sign as an empty exterior to a more important private feeling.

The day is also to be a memorial and a feast to the Lord through the generations. The command reaches beyond surviving the night. God directs the people to carry the event into their shared calendar and worship. Deliverance is to become a remembered reality that shapes how later generations understand their life before him.

“What mean ye by this service?” — Exodus 12:15–28

The instructions for unleavened bread include the removal of leaven, seven days of observance, and holy convocations. Moses then gives the elders directions for the Passover blood, using hyssop at the lintel and side posts, and tells the people to remain inside until morning. The instructions are detailed because the service is a commanded act of the community's worship and obedience.

The passage anticipates children asking what the service means. The answer is to identify it as the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover and recount how he passed over Israel's houses when he smote the Egyptians and delivered their households. The child is given an account of divine action connected to the practice they can see.

This relation between action and explanation matters. The service carries a story, and the story explains why the service is kept. The passage does not ask parents to silence the question or assume that the meaning is obvious. Children belong within the community's remembrance through being taught what the Lord has done.

The people bow their heads, worship, and do as the Lord has commanded Moses and Aaron. Their obedience belongs within the account of deliverance; it is not presented as a competing explanation that removes God's action. Notice how hearing, worship, and carrying out the instruction appear together.

The night of judgment and the departure — Exodus 12:29–51

The narrative states that at midnight the Lord smites Egypt's firstborn, from Pharaoh's household to the captive in the dungeon, and the firstborn of cattle. It records a great cry. These are severe words, and a faithful reading should not replace them with a claim that the text describes only an impersonal accident. It should also avoid inventing motives or presenting the grief as entertainment.

Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron and tells them to leave with the people and their flocks and herds. The Egyptians press for their departure. Israel carries dough before it is leavened, and the people receive silver, gold, and clothing as the Lord gives them favor. The account moves from command and judgment to an urgent departure.

The departing company includes a mixed multitude as well as livestock. Later in the chapter, the Passover instructions state conditions for participation, including the circumcision requirement for a stranger who wishes to keep it. The same law is to apply to the homeborn and the sojourner. The passage combines a defined sacred observance with provision for the stranger to participate under the stated terms.

Some readers will find this chapter difficult, especially its description of death. Let the difficulty prompt careful reading rather than a quick slogan. The broader story has already named oppression and Pharaoh's orders against children; that context matters, but it does not authorize us to explain the personal guilt or experience of every person who suffers. State the narrative's claims without pretending to possess explanations it does not give.

Remembering deliverance while traveling — Exodus 13

Exodus 13 again commands remembrance of the day the Lord brought the people out of bondage by strength of hand. Unleavened bread and the annual service are joined to telling a son what the Lord did. The chapter also sets apart the firstborn and gives instructions for redemption. It explicitly requires the redemption of the firstborn among the people's children.

The answer to the child's question again returns to the exodus. Remembering involves the mouth, visible practices, the household, and time set aside. These are concrete forms of transmitting the story. The chapter gives no basis for treating physical observance as inherently inferior to an inward response; the acts and their explanation belong together.

God leads the people away from the nearer route through the land of the Philistines because of the danger that seeing war would lead them to return to Egypt. This stated reason belongs to this route in the story. It can encourage humility about what we understand, but it does not establish that every delay in our lives has the same explanation.

Moses takes Joseph's bones, honoring the oath associated with Joseph's confidence that God would visit the people. The Lord goes before them in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. The chapter therefore places remembrance of earlier hope beside present guidance. Israel carries its history into a journey whose dangers have not yet ended.

Fear, the pursuing army, and the opened way — Exodus 14

Exodus 14 begins with instructions about Israel's camp and with the Lord's declaration concerning Pharaoh's pursuit. It expressly speaks of God hardening Pharaoh's heart. It also records Pharaoh and his servants regretting that they let Israel go from serving them. Keep both the stated divine action and the rulers' desire to recover their labor in view; do not erase either element to make the passage simpler.

As the army approaches, Israel is afraid, cries to the Lord, and accuses Moses of bringing them to die in the wilderness. Moses tells them to stand still and see the Lord's salvation, declaring that the Lord will fight for them. The next instruction tells the people to go forward and directs Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea. These words belong to successive moments in one rescue, rather than opposing rules for every situation.

The angel of God and the pillar move between the camps. Moses stretches out his hand, and the Lord drives the sea back with a strong east wind through the night. Israel goes through on dry ground, with waters on the right and left. The Egyptian forces pursue. The narrative then describes the Lord troubling them, their chariot wheels coming off, and their recognition that the Lord fights for Israel.

At the Lord's command Moses stretches out his hand again. The waters return, covering the pursuing force, while Israel has crossed on dry ground. The chapter attributes the rescue and overthrow to the Lord and closes with Israel fearing and believing him and his servant Moses. This is a particular act of deliverance; it does not give a reader authority to designate personal opponents as Pharaoh's army or promise their destruction.

Christ our Passover and a life of sincerity

First Corinthians 5:7 calls Christ our Passover and says he is sacrificed for us. Paul draws directly on the sacred pattern of Passover while addressing serious wrongdoing in the community. The following verse uses unleavened bread to speak of sincerity and truth, contrasting them with malice and wickedness. The connection honors the significance of the God-given observance and directs attention to Christ's sacrifice and the life it calls forth. Read Exodus 12 on its own terms, then notice how Paul joins this Christ-centered proclamation with responsibility for the community's conduct.

Session 3: “Brought you unto myself” — Exodus 19:1–8

At Sinai, the Lord tells Moses to remind Israel what they have seen: what he did to the Egyptians, how he bore them on eagles' wings, and how he brought them to himself. The rescue is described relationally. The destination is more than a change of location or the end of a former labor arrangement.

The next words call the people to obey his voice and keep his covenant. The promise names them as a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. “Peculiar” here concerns being specially his; it does not commend eccentric behavior. The address is to the gathered people and their covenant calling, not a flat declaration that every individual reader now holds a particular office.

The statement “all the earth is mine” prevents the special calling from becoming a claim that God's concern or authority is confined to one territory. The passage gives Israel a distinct responsibility within the world that belongs to him. Its chosen status is accompanied by a command to hear and obey.

Moses sets the words before the elders, and the people answer together that they will do what the Lord has spoken. The sequence matters: remembered deliverance, covenant summons, and the people's response. Rescue does not make responsibility disappear. It provides the setting in which the people are called to live before the one who has brought them out.

Preparation, boundaries, and the encounter — Exodus 19:9–25

The people are to prepare for the Lord's descent by sanctifying themselves and washing their clothes. Boundaries are placed around the mountain, and the warning about crossing them is severe. These directions make the encounter one of holiness and accountable approach. The people do not choose the terms on which they will come near.

Thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, and the trumpet mark the third morning. The people tremble. Moses brings them out to meet God, and the mountain smokes because the Lord descends in fire. The scene gives the spoken covenant an overwhelming setting; the words are not presented as Moses' private invention.

The passage repeatedly distinguishes who is called up and who must remain within the prescribed bounds. Even after Moses says the boundaries have been established, God sends him to warn the people again. That repetition emphasizes the importance of heeding the instruction rather than treating curiosity as sufficient authority to approach.

The temporary preparations for this encounter should not be expanded into a general claim that marriage, bodies, or ordinary physical life are unholy. The text gives specific directions for a particular event. Its call to reverence can shape our attention without supplying a reason to diminish the embodied life through which the people obey.

The commandments begin with deliverance — Exodus 20:1–17

Before the commands, God identifies himself as the Lord who brought Israel out of Egypt, the house of bondage. The speaker is the deliverer already encountered in the story. Reading that opening aloud helps keep the commandments within their covenant setting rather than treating them as disconnected rules.

The commands begin with fidelity to the Lord: no other gods before him, no making and serving the prohibited images, and no taking his name in vain. The passage speaks both of judgment and of mercy toward those who love him and keep his commandments. These are serious claims upon worship, allegiance, and the use of his name.

The Sabbath command makes rest a household and community responsibility. It names sons and daughters, servants, livestock, and the stranger within the gates. The command reaches beyond the person with power to arrange a private day off. Its stated reason in this chapter is the Lord's creation and rest, and the blessing and holiness of the seventh day.

The remaining commands address honoring parents, killing, adultery, stealing, false witness, and coveting what belongs to a neighbor. Read them as instructions shaping real relationships and desires. A delivered people still needs truthfulness, restraint, respect for life, faithfulness, and care about what it seeks to possess. Freedom from Pharaoh's service does not make a neighbor's life available for exploitation.

Reverence, mediation, and the altar — Exodus 20:18–26

The people stand at a distance and ask Moses to speak with them, fearing that they will die if God speaks with them. Moses answers with both “Fear not” and the explanation that God has come to prove them so that his fear may be before them and they may not sin. The verse distinguishes the fear that drives their alarm from a reverent awareness intended to shape conduct.

Moses draws near to the thick darkness where God is, while the people remain afar off. The narrative continues to present a mediated encounter, with Moses carrying words between God and the people. It does not make his role an excuse for the community to stop hearing or responding to the commands.

The chapter closes with instructions concerning gods of silver or gold and the construction of an altar. An altar of earth is specified; if stone is used, it is not to be hewn. There is also a prohibition on steps that would expose nakedness. These concrete directions belong to the chapter's concern with worship ordered by God's word.

The Lord promises to come and bless in the places where he records his name. The material altar is treated as part of sacred worship, with offerings and instructions that deserve attention. Do not hurry past these verses as though the chapter's only important content were an abstract moral list. Worship and daily responsibility are joined in the life God sets before Israel.

Review the whole journey: deliverance and responsibility

Return to the three columns in your notebook. In Deliverance, record the Lord seeing and hearing Israel, the Passover preservation, and the passage through the sea. In Remembrance, record the calendar, the service, the firstborn instructions, and the children's questions. In Responsibility, record Moses' commission, the people's response at Sinai, and the commandments shaping worship and neighborly life.

Keep the distinctions between chapters. The burning bush concerns a specific call to Moses. Passover concerns an appointed household observance and deliverance in Egypt. The sea crossing concerns rescue from pursuit. Sinai concerns the covenant summons and commands. Their relationship is powerful enough without treating every detail as a symbol for the same private experience.

Also notice what the plan leaves open. It has not established a modern location for every event, resolved every historical question, or explained every person's experience of judgment. Those limits should encourage deeper study of the whole book. They do not prevent us from observing the narrative's clear connection between divine rescue and a people called to respond.

For your closing practice, choose one command or responsibility you can describe precisely. Ask how gratitude for God's care should affect the way you speak, rest, worship, honor a relationship, or treat a neighbor's possessions. Name one action you can take and one person whose needs you should consider. Make the application concrete without claiming a special exemption from ordinary responsibility.

A prayer after the three sessions

An example prayer: Lord, You heard the cries of Your people and called Moses to serve in their deliverance. Teach me to attend honestly to suffering and to act responsibly where I can help. Keep me from reducing another person's hardship to a lesson about myself.

Help us remember Your works with reverence. Let our questions lead us to careful understanding, and let what we teach the next generation be truthful. Thank You for Christ our Passover. Form sincerity and truth in our life together.

Guide us in the responsibilities that accompany Your care. Teach us to honor Your name, worship faithfully, respect our neighbors, and make room for the rest and dignity of those affected by our choices. Give us humility before what we do not understand and willingness to obey what You have made clear. Amen.

Sources and editorial note

• Exodus 1–2

  Background to the first session: oppression, the midwives, Moses’ early life, and Israel’s groaning. Continue with the separately linked chapter 2.

• Exodus 2

  Moses’ preservation, flight to Midian, family, and the Lord’s attention to the people’s groaning.

• Exodus 3

  Session 1: the burning bush, holy ground, the Lord’s name, Moses’ questions, and the commission.

• Exodus 12

  Session 2: Passover commands, judgment, deliverance, departure, and participation in the observance.

• Exodus 13

  Session 2: remembrance, firstborn and redemption, children’s questions, Joseph’s bones, and guidance.

• Exodus 14

  Session 2: Pharaoh’s pursuit, Israel’s fear, the sea crossing, and the Lord’s rescue.

• Exodus 19

  Session 3: brought to God, covenant summons, the people’s response, preparation, and the encounter at Sinai.

• Exodus 20

  Session 3: the deliverer’s identification, commandments, the people’s fear, and altar instructions.

• 1 Corinthians 5

  Direct New Testament connection: Christ our Passover and the call to sincerity and truth within a chapter addressing serious wrongdoing.

Prepared with AI assistance for Learn of Christ and checked against the passages and sources listed here. This revision has not received independent human scholarly review. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version unless another translation is named. Prayers and exercises are original examples.

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