Bible Study - Sabbath School Podcast

Further Thought:   Read  Ellen G. White, "The Passover," pp. 273-280, in  Patriarchs and Prophets . "The Passover was to be both commemorative and typical, not only pointing back to the deliverance from Egypt, but forward to the greater deliverance which Christ was to accomplish in freeing His people from the bondage of sin. The sacrificial lamb represents ‘the Lamb of God,’ in whom...

The Divine Judgment Read  Exodus 12:29-30  on how God struck down the firstborn in Egypt. Why did God focus on the firstborn? (See also  Heb. 11:28 .) The last Egyptian plague fell on the firstborn. It was a divine judgment on all the gods of Egypt and upon all the families who worshiped these false gods, which were worthless idols that reflected the people’s own passions, desires, and fears. As t...

Passing the Torch The psalmist states how our children can know God and His loving care: "One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts" ( Ps. 145:4 , ESV). One family should speak to another family about God, about His marvelous deeds, and about His teachings, all in order to pass biblical knowledge on to another generation. Read  Exodus 12:24-28...

Pesach Read  Exodus 12:17-23 . What role does blood play in the celebration of this new festival? The blood of the sacrificed animal is a key element in this celebration. Those who participated in this feast had put the blood of the slain lamb on the doorframes of their houses. In this way, they demonstrated their faith in God, believing that He would deliver them from what those not covered by th...

The Passover Read  Exodus 12:1-20 . What specific instructions does God give to Moses and Aaron before Israel leaves Egypt? One would expect God to instruct Moses and Aaron about how to organize the departure from Egypt: that is, how to make provisions for the escape, especially for the elderly, mothers with small children, animals, and so forth. Instead, God’s instruction is surprising: He tells...

One More Plague The prophet Amos declares that "the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets" ( Amos 3:7 , ESV), and through the prophet Moses He revealed to Pharaoh what was coming next. The most solemn warning was given to Pharaoh. This will be a just judgment upon pride, exploitation, violence, and idolatry, all of which have triggered these cala...

Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study:   Exod. 11:1-10; Mic. 6:8; Exod. 12:1-30; 1 Cor. 5:7; Exod. 13:14-16; Heb. 11:28 Memory Text:  "And it shall be, when your children say to you, "What do you mean by this service?" that you shall say, "It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians...

Further Thought:  Read  Ellen G. White, "The Plagues of Egypt," pp. 265-272 in  Patriarchs and Prophets . "His [God’s] people were permitted to experience the grinding cruelty of the Egyptians, that they might not be deceived concerning the debasing influence of idolatry. In His dealing with Pharaoh, the Lord manifested His hatred of idolatry and His determination to punish cruelty and oppression....

Hail, Locusts, and Darkness Read Exodus 9:13-10:29. How successful are these plagues in getting Pharaoh to change his mind? Nut was the Egyptian goddess of the sky and heavens and was often depicted as controlling what happened under the sky and on the earth. Osiris was the god of crops and fertility. In the Bible, hail is often associated with God’s judgment (Isa. 28:2-17; Ezek. 13:11-13). During...

Flies, Livestock, and Boils Read  Exodus 8:20-9 : 12 . What does this account teach about however great may be the manifestations of God’s power and glory, humanity still has freedom to reject Him? The Egyptian god Uatchit was the fly god of swamps and marshes. The god Khepri (of the rising Sun, creation, and rebirth) was depicted with the head of a scarab beetle. These "gods" were defeated by the...

The First Three Plagues The ten plagues in Egypt were aimed not at the Egyptian people but at their gods. Each plague hit at least one of them. Read  Exodus 7:14-8 : 19 . What happened in these plagues? God instructed Moses that the dialogue with Pharaoh would be difficult and almost impossible ( Exod. 7:14 ). However, God wanted to reveal Himself to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians. Thus, He decided...

Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart? Read  Exodus 7:3-13 ,  14 ,  22 . How do we understand these texts? Nine times in Exodus the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is ascribed to God ( Exod. 4:21 ;  Exod. 7:3 ;  Exod. 9:12 ;  Exod. 10:1-20 ,  27 ;  Exod. 11:10 ;  Exod. 14:4-8 ; see also  Rom. 9:17-18 ). Another nine times Pharaoh is said to have hardened his own heart ( Exod. 7:13-14 ,  22 ;  Exod. 8:15-19 , ...

God vs. gods Read  Exodus 7:8-15 . What lessons are here in this first confrontation between the God of the Hebrews and the gods of Egypt? The upcoming battles were going to be between the living God and the Egyptian "gods." What made things worse was that Pharaoh considered himself to be one of those gods. The Lord did not fight against the Egyptians, or even Egypt  per se , but against...

Sabbath Afternoon Read for This Week’s Study:   Exod. 7:8-10:29; Num. 33:4; Rom. 1:24-32; Ps. 104:27-28; Isa. 28:2-12-17; Isa. 44:9-10; 12-17 Memory Text:  "So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the LORD had spoken by Moses" ( Exodus 9:35 , NKJV). A farmer was trying to get his donkey to move; the beast wouldn’t budge. So, the farmer took a thick bran...

Further Thought:  Read  Ellen G. White, "The Plagues of Egypt," pp. 257-265 in  Patriarchs and Prophets . Look at how badly things started off for Moses and his people after Moses first approached Pharaoh. "The king, thoroughly roused, suspected the Israelites of a design to revolt from his service. Disaffection was the result of idleness; he would see that no time was left them for...

Like God to Pharaoh Read  Exodus 6:28-7 : 7 . How does the Lord deal with Moses’ objection? God presents Himself to Moses as Yahweh, which means that He is the personal and close God, the God of His people, and the God who entered a covenantal relationship with them. This immanent God again commands Moses to go and speak with Pharaoh. With a lack of self-confidence, Moses again objects, "Why...

Uncircumcised Lips The Lord had indeed given Moses some powerful promises about what He was going to do. Though that encounter must have encouraged Moses, his encouragement was probably short-lived, given the response that he received from his people. Read  Exodus 6:9-13 . What happened next, and what lessons can we take from this story about times of disappointment and struggle in our lives? The...

The Divine "I" Poor Moses! He first gets berated by Pharaoh, and now his own people all but curse him. Thus, Moses brings his complaint to God. In his bitterness and disappointment with the worsening of Israel’s conditions, he asks: "Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought tro...

A Rough Start Though Moses must have known, even from the beginning, that what the Lord had tasked him with was not going to be easy (hence his attempts to get out of it), he probably had no idea of what was coming. Read  Exodus 5:3-23 . What were the immediate results of Moses and Aaron’s first recorded encounter with Pharaoh? Even before going to Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron gathered the elders and...

Who Is the Lord? Following God’s orders, Moses goes to Pharaoh to begin the process in which he, Moses, would "bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt" ( Exod. 3:10 , NKJV). What  was Pharaoh’s response to God’s demand, "Let my people go" (see  Exod. 5:1-2 ), and what significance can be found in this response? "Who is the LORD?" Pharaoh declares, not in...

Memory Text: “Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.” ’ And Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go’ ” ( Exodus 5:1, 2, NKJV ). Many believers think that when one decides to follow God, he or s...

Read Ellen G. White, “Moses,” pp. 251–256, in Patriarchs and Prophets. The dramatic burning bush call was probably the most transformative experience in Moses’ life. All other high points in his life depended on his positive, obedient response to God’s commissioning him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. Sure, we know now how it all turned out. But put yourself in Moses’ pl...

Read  Exodus 4:18–31 . How do we understand this strange story, and what lesson can we take from it? Bible students are shocked when they read that, after Moses obeyed the Lord and started his journey back to Egypt, the Lord “was about to kill him” ( Exod. 4:24, NIV ). From the context of the story, it is evident that the issue was circumcision. His youngest son was not circumcised, as the Abraham...

Read  Exodus 4:1–17 . What set of signs did God give to Moses to perform in order to strengthen his position as God’s messenger? Moses again tried to excuse himself from the task God asked of him (see  Exod. 3:11 ). He did not want to go to Egypt and confront Pharaoh. After all, he had already failed when he previously tried, on his own, to help the Hebrews. Also, his own people didn’t believe in...

Read  Exodus 3:13–22 . Why did Moses want to know God’s name, and what is the significance of His name? God presents Himself to Moses as “ ’ehejeh ’asher ’ehejeh,_” which literally means “I will be who I will be,” or “I am who I am.” In  Exodus 3:12 , God uses the same verb _’ehejeh  as in verse 14, when He states to Moses, “I will be” (with you). It means that God is eternal. He is the transcende...