In the
…through the
ord…
eek.
Remember to pray as you open your time of study each day, asking that the Holy Spirit would illumine
your understanding of God’s word, and would help you know how best to apply the word to your life.
Monday
Today read Exodus 1:1-22. How does verse 8 describe the new king who ascends
to the throne in Egypt? What is significant about that? What role does
“knowledge of Joseph” play?
How would you describe the perception this new king has of the Hebrew
people? What kind of response does this evoke on the part of the king?
Where do you see the dynamics of the different cultures/nations in this part of
the story? How does it put the Hebrew midwives (Shiphrah and Puah) in a
difficult place with competing loyalties? How is it expressed in their explanation
for why the Hebrews have continued to give birth to sons?
In what ways were the Hebrews in general, and their midwives in particular, a
vulnerable people? What do they experience at the hands of the Egyptians?
What can we learn from their experiences?
Tuesday
Thursday
Today read Exodus 4:18-20. What request does Moses make of Jethro in verse
18? How does Moses refer to the Hebrew people? What does this tell you about
how he identified himself? (both with them and with the people among whom
he was now living)
Moses was a man with ties to three different places/peoples – Midian, Egypt and
the Hebrews. In what ways was he meaningfully connected to each of those? In
what ways did he not belong to each of those? How might this have presented
challenges or issues for him?
Now read Exodus 4:27-31. What did Moses and Aaron do when they arrived
back in Egypt?
What is the response of the Hebrew people? What did they perceive about the
Lord in the words and actions of Moses?
Friday
Read Exodus 5:6-21. These verses describe the response of Pharaoh to the
request of Moses to let him take the people into the wilderness to offer sacrifices
to the Lord. What do the Hebrew people experience? What challenges do they
face?
When the Israelite overseers meet Moses and Aaron, what is their response? Why
do they respond this way? [verses 20-21]
Read Exodus 2:1-10. Given the circumstances that we read about yesterday in
chapter 1, how is Moses’ arrival in this world a bit of a miracle? How does this
explain the actions of Moses’ mother in these verses?
Now read Exodus 5:22-6:12. What does the Lord tell Moses in response to what
the people are experiencing? What is important for the people to know? What
promises does the Lord give to Moses?
Try to put yourself in the shows of Moses’ mother. What would it have been like
to do as she does here? What emotions would you have been experiencing?
What anxieties? What things might you have been thankful for? Worried about?
When Moses tells this to the Israelites, what is their response? [verse 9]
Where do you see the multicultural dynamics in this part of the story? What does
Pharaoh’s daughter recognize about the baby? Use your imagination for a few
minutes… What might it have been like for Moses to grow up in a family of
Egyptians? What inner conflicts might he have felt?
Wednesday
How might Moses have felt throughout this situation? What tension does he feel
with his own people? With the Egyptians (especially Pharaoh)?
What can we learn from this?
Saturday
Read Acts 7:17-36, an excerpt from Stephen’s sermon. What details of Moses’
story does Stephen include in his account?
Read Exodus 2:11-25. In verses 11-15, how do the cultural/national differences
influence the experiences of Moses? How do they motivate his actions? What
conflicts do they present?
How does Stephen describe Moses in each of the settings in which he lived – in
Egypt and in Midian? What words and phrases does he use? What challenges
did Moses face in living in places where he didn’t feel like he entirely belonged?
To whom is Moses an outsider? [Take a few minutes to think about this. It may not be
Now think for a minute about Moses’ future ministry with the people after he led
them out of Egypt. What was that life like? To what degree did he ever live in a
place/country to which he belonged? How might that inform our engagement
with refugees and immigrants in our own community? How might it help us
better understand some of the challenges they face? How might that make your
witness and the ministry of our church more effective?
as simply a question it seems on the surface…]
Where does Moses end up in this story? In what ways is he still an outsider here?
How is this reflected even in the name of Moses’ son?
What can we learn from Moses in this part of the story?