Podcast Host (2:18)

Yeah, it is a difficult place, but we're going to see God do some amazing things in that very difficult place. So maybe take us into chapters one through three. These chapters specifically, what is it that we can draw from our reading and our study today?

Paul Zetterberg (2:33)

Yeah, so, you know, these chapters, when you read them, they're almost kind of like out of a movie. Right. They're really some really cool stories in here. And, you know, we see, you know, the Israelites are just persevering in spite of this intense oppression. They're. They're pushing on through. And the Pharaoh is really afraid of them, like I said a second ago. And, you know, we see the Hebrew midwives. They, you know, find a way around what Pharaoh has commanded them to do. And so they're just, again, persevering. You know, you have Moses, who's a Hebrew child, who's raised in Pharaoh's household, which is just such a ironic situation. Like I said, kind of almost out of a movie. And, you know, Moses flees Egypt because he murders this Egyptian. And 40 years later, though, God calls him back. And so it's this story of fleeing and then return. And lots of really, really cool stories to glean here.

Podcast Host (3:29)

Yeah, I love that you mentioned it was 40 years later, because I think even understanding the timeline of this story can be really helpful to us as we consider who God is in the story and how he's working. I know there's some kind of tricky parts that we read, and one of those occurs in chapter two, where it says that God remembered his covenant. And as a reader, I read that, and I'm thinking, if God remembers something, does that also mean that God can forget? And how does that work with the fact that we know that God is omniscient? He knows all things. So can you maybe walk us through that tricky section?

Paul Zetterberg (4:06)

Yeah, yeah. So it doesn't really mean that God forgot. Like you said, he knows all things. He doesn't forget things. But kind of how, you know, when we learn things, you know, in school or in church or something like that, we might kind of. They come to the back of our mind. Right. But then there might be some circumstance that causes that thing to come to the front of your mind and causes you to really actively think about it. And so that's kind of what this word remembered means. It means that God is actively calling that covenant to mind. He's remembering the promise he made to Abraham. He sees the oppression that the Egyptians are putting on the Israelites, and he remembers, hey, I'VE made this promise. And so it's a. It's a sign that he's going to do something about it. Right. He's not going to sit idle while his people cry out.

Podcast Host (4:49)

Yeah, I love that. You know, there's a lot of things that I wish I could draw to mind. One of my children is currently learning how to divide fractions in school. And I know I learned that at one point, but I'm having a really hard time calling to the front of my mind how to do that. But no, that's a great way to explain that. I know. We also have a really significant moment in chapter three where God is kind of proclaiming who he is both to Moses, but also to us as the reader today. Can you walk us through that moment?

Paul Zetterberg (5:17)

Yeah, sure. So we have God appearing in this burning bush, which is such a vivid image, you know, it's hard to get it out of your mind. But he says he declares his name to Moses. And something interesting about names is that for us, names kind of don't carry a whole lot of meaning. You know, they might sound cool, or, you know, parents pick them because they like a name. But in the Bible, names actually communicate a lot about a person. They communicate something about their character. And we saw this in Genesis with Jacob with his name. But here, God is saying, hey, I revealed myself under this name to Abraham and his descendants, but now I'm going to reveal myself under a new name. And he says to Moses, I am who I am can also be translated, I will be who I will be. Right. And this has really close connections to the name Yahweh. And Yahweh's name is very specific because the name, you know, the word God, right? Like in English, can kind of refer to any number of gods, right. In Hebrew. But this name, Yahweh specifically is only used for the God of the Israelites. And so God is basically saying, hey, I'm going to reveal something new about my character here, something that's specific to you Israelites. And so it's kind of a really significant moment where God is saying to Moses, I am doing something new and I am going to deliver my people.

Podcast Host (6:44)

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out, because I think we could gloss right over that if we don't have that deeper context there. So, man, I'm really excited for the book of Exodus. As we've talked today, and you're talking about God proclaiming himself, I am who I am, and I will be who I will be. I think something that sticks out to me is as we see God's power and might and his compassion for his people in Exodus. He has all of those things toward his people today. He is the same God today. And so when we see him acting in those ways in this book, we can remember that he is also those things in his personal relationship with us.

Paul Zetterberg (7:21)

That's right, yeah.

Podcast Host (7:22)

Thanks, Paul. This has been a fantastic intro to the Book of Exodus. We'll be back tomorrow with chapters four through six.

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