Introduction

This book is called Exodus “because it begins with the story of the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt.” It is a book in which, as well as giving “an account of [Israel’s] growth into a great nation,” has “more types of Christ… than perhaps in any other book of the Old Testament.”

Exodus 1

v1-7: The “wonderful increase” to the people of Israel “was the fulfilment of the promise made” to Abraham and happened after the death of Joseph. We also see that “after the death of Christ, our Joseph, his Gospel Israel began to increase remarkably” too, as the ultimate fulfilment of that promise.

v8-14: Though the oppression of the Egyptians did have a negative effect on the Israelites in leading “many of them to join with the Egyptians in their idolatrous worship” as they “served other gods in Egypt,” it did not stop the growth of the people. “Hell and earth cannot reduce in numbers the ones whom heaven wants to increase.”

v15-22: “If human commands are in any way contrary to the commands of God, we must obey God and not human beings.” The Hebrew midwives “feared God, regarded his Law, and dreaded God’s wrath more than Pharaoh’s,” and so were godly in their disobedience “to this ungodly command” they were given.

Exodus 2

v1-4: “When people are plotting the church’s ruin, God is preparing for its salvation,” as a deliverer was born. “Moses was a type of Christ, who, in his infancy, was forced to escape, and to Egypt too, and was wonderfully preserved, when many innocent children were massacred.”

v5-10: God’s plans and purposes cannot be thwarted, and He is even able to raise up “friends for his people even among their enemies.” Moses who will be Israel’s deliverer is preserved by Pharaoh’s daughter while he was seeking to destroy Israel.

v11-15: What Moses would do for Israel is pictured in these two incidents from his early life. First, he is going “to be used in afflicting the Egyptians for the wrongs they had done to God’s people,” seen in his killing of the Egyptian who was beating the Hebrew. Second, he is going “to be used to govern Israel,” seen as he tries “to end a quarrel between two Hebrews.” Restraining the influence of the world and reconciling His people is a work our Saviour continues to do.

v16-22: Sometimes God’s providence takes us out of a situation in order to protect us in the present and prepare us for future service. But where we find ourselves, “we should desire and try to be useful.”

v23-25: God knows the burdens of His people and “the blessings they long for,” and will act on their behalf at the time of His choosing.