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Genesis: establishing the covenant of blessing

Abraham was called by God to leave his home and go to Canaan. God promised to bless him, make a great nation from his descendants, and bless the world through him. Abraham’s son Isaac and grandson, Jacob carried this blessing forward and last week we heard the story of how God is providing for Jacob’s family through his son Joseph. 

We have observed that God is working with loyal sinners. None of the women and men in these stories are perfect. But, they are committed to God’s promises. Today, we will meet Moses, another imperfect person who has decided to place his trust in a God who has revealed himself in a very personal way.

A common theme throughout all of these stories and the entire Bible is that of blessing. God is interested in blessing anyone who wants it. He is an abundantly generous God who has unending blessings for all people. And what does it mean to be blessed? It means to receive and share the benefits of God’s favour.

Now we enter the book of Exodus, which tells of how God is making a people to represent him to the world.

Exodus: freed to be God’s family

From the introduction to Mark Glanville’s book – The book of Exodus is all about community. It is the real story of a society that was being reshaped as “family,” under the lordship of Yahweh. At the opening of the book of Exodus, the Israelites were enslaved brick-workers in Egypt—before Yahweh intervened. In Egypt, human relationships were deeply fractured. The beating of a Hebrew slave and the destruction of male babies had become permanent symbols of the atrocity of slavery (Exod 1:15–22; 2:11–15). Yahweh emancipated Israel from slavery in Egypt and brought the nation to Mount Sinai so that they might be established in covenant relationship with God. God’s laws shaped Israel to operate the way that God had always intended for communities to operate: in love, as kindred. The book of Exodus is all about the formation of this renewed community that lives together before the face of God. It shows us the joy, the freshness, the hope, and the imagination that a community can experience when it is transformed by the love of God.^⁠1

The key words in this title are freed and family. Where do we see these words in Exodus? 

Freed is easy. The people of Israel, which by now is in the hundreds of thousands or more, are enslaved by Pharaoh and forced to do hard labour. They are not free people. We will see next week how God freed them from this slavery.

What about family? Is this a family or a nation? Remember where the name Israel comes from. Genesis 32:28 – Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

Exodus is about how the descendants of Jacob becomes a community. We will see throughout the book how this comes together in the shaping of their life together through the laws and in their worship. God’s intention is that they operate together in covenant with God who will be with each and every one of them. 

Let’s take a look at a few passages that bring the stories of Genesis and Exodus together.

Genesis 47:27 says, “Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.”

Genesis 48:21 “Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers.”

Chapter 49 contains a list of blessings that Jacob gave to his sons, followed by these words before he died: All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

Genesis ends with the family of Israel living in Egypt. Things were going well at first. They were rescued through Joseph from a severe famine that could have wiped them out. But, as time went on, the relationship between Israel and Egypt soured. 

The timespan between Genesis and Exodus is a long time and raises an important feature of the Bible. Sometimes it moves really quickly and sometimes it slows right down. Always keep this in mind when reading the Bible, especially when you are waiting on God. Imagine the Israelites, who were promised as we just read, that God will take them back to the land of their fathers. Generation came and went. They waited. 

Let’s now transition from Genesis to Exodus by reading the first 14 verses of the book.

These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.  — this sentence spans hundreds of years.

Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

Israel grew, fulfilling Genesis 1:28 and 9:7 – be fruitful and increase in number. Why is this so important to God? It has to do with God’s idea of prosperity, which in its simplest definition, means to reproduce. God wants his creation to prosper. You’ve probably heard of the prosperity gospel before, right? People ask, is the prosperity gospel biblical? Yes, it is. But, you have to have the right definition of prosperity. I’ll tell you what it isn’t. It isn’t financial or career success. It may include that, but just because someone is financially successful it doesn’t mean God has made them prosperous. Or, just because someone is blessed by God, it doesn’t mean they will experience financial or career success. 

Prosperity in the Bible is about the Genesis 1 command to be fruitful and increase in number. Think about seedless versus seeded fruit. Can seedless fruit prosper? It cannot because once it is eaten, that’s the end of it. But, seeded fruit can prosper because it not only feeds people, but it can also reproduce itself. So, the true definition of the prosperity gospel is when we reproduce ourselves in the form of disciples. We will prosper when we are fruitful and increase in number. 

In Exodus chapter 1, Israel is prospering because they are increasing in number. Yet, they are enslaved. This is a problem because God’s intention for his people is that they take possession of the land promised to Abraham, and to become a nation through which the entire world is blessed. How can they do this when they are slaves? God needs to rescue them. 

Think about your own life. God has plans for you to prosper, to be fruitful and increase in number, to receive and to pass along the benefits of God’s favour. Some of you have experienced this and are enjoying the satisfaction of God’s blessings. Others of you may wonder why this isn’t happening in your life. Like the Israelites, perhaps you are enslaved. I’m not saying you are, but it is a question worth asking. Is your potential for being fruitful and increasing in number being hindered by something? Let’s look at what Israel was enslaved to and how God rescued them. Today we are looking at their enslavement to Pharaoh. But, as we will discover throughout the rest of Exodus, their liberation from Pharaoh was not the end of their enslavement. 

Egypt was threatened by Israel. More specifically, Pharaoh was threatened by them. Why? The Israelites are different than the Egyptians. They are foreigners. And, they are becoming more powerful than the Egyptians. This is human nature. We still do this. All countries have laws about immigration. We are naturally afraid of outsiders coming in and taking over. They will change our ways of doing things.

But there is something else going on. Another reason the Israelites are being enslaved by Pharaoh. Let’s go back to Genesis for moment. If you read the story carefully, you will see that Joseph depends not on God to provide, but on the wealth and power of Egypt. Joseph rescued his father’s family because of the wealth of Egypt. And, how was that wealth built? On the backs of other people. In Genesis 47, all the people in the area said, “Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we and our will in bondage to Pharaoh.” (v. 19) Joseph participates with Pharaoh in stripping the people of their power and reducing them to slaves.

We often do not consider this part of the story because we pain Joseph as a hero. He may be a hero according to the ways of worldly power, but he is not a hero according to God’s ways. But, you may say, this is how God was saving Israel, establishing them as his people. This is a case of the ends justifying the means. Remember the story of how Jacob got his blessing? It was through deceit. Yes, the blessing was promised to him, but instead of receiving it in God’s way, he took it in his own way. Joseph saved his family, but within the power structure of Pharaoh. God’s promises are not only for future ends, but also for a present day filled with the freeing, empowering, and flourishing of the oppressed. God’s promises will all be fulfilled, but his intention is for blessings to abound in the meantime.

Now, because Israelite people are there on Pharaoh’s terms, they are slaves to him. Once they are rescued from their slavery, God will show them a better way. He will instruct them on how to receive God’s blessings rightly. 

Finally, our introduction of Exodus comes to Moses, who should have been thrown into the Nile river and killed by orders of Pharaoh, but he was saved, brought into the household of Pharaoh by his daughter, and raised as an adopted Egyptian. Years later, Moses killed an Egyptian in defence of an Israelite slave, so he fled the wrath of Pharaoh and ended up in Midian where he married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro who was the priest of Midian.

The story of Moses highlights an important feature about how God works, which is that God uses human agency to carry out his will. God will not go to Pharaoh, Moses will go as his representative. Let’s look at how this plays out and what we can learn about God in this conversation.

Meeting Yahweh

One day, Moses was out in the wilderness looking after his father-in-law’s flock when he stumbled upon a strange sight. A bush was burning, but it was not being destroyed by the fire. Suddenly, a voice comes from the flaming bush, calling his name. Moses Moses! What do we learn about God from this?

God appeared to Moses in a flaming bush. Not a large sacred tree that other deities would have been associated with in those days. It was a humble, ordinary bush. The fact that the fire did not consume the bush is important. To display his power in the form of fire shows that God has power. But, God’s power is controlled. Unlike human power, God can hold back the destruction of his power. God is going to reveal himself again in the form of fire when he leads the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses meeting God for the first time in the form of a bush that was not harmed by the fire would have given him assurance that God’s power will not destroy him. 

God’s name

Next we learn about how God wants to be known.

Exodus 3:13-15 

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

All throughout the Bible in most English translations you will see the LORD capitalized as it is here in verse 15. This is the way that translators have decided to portray the Hebrew word Hayah that simply means to be. 

“I am who I am” reflects a Hebrew expression in which something is defined in terms of itself. In those days, and even today but not as intensely, names represented a person. To talk about someone’s name was to talk about who they are. God’s name could not be limited to a meaning, so his name is himself. He is who he is. He defines himself and cannot be contained or limited by our understanding of what God is like. We may describe God in some way based on how we have experienced him. But, he is not limited to that description. No name is enough for God. All names fall short of who he is. So his name is I AM.

In Exodus 33:19, when Moses is meeting with God on Mount Sinai, he says to Moses, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD [Yahweh], in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Next, we learn about how God will fulfill his promise to bring the Israelites to the land promised them.

Even after all this, Moses doesn’t want to go. He complains about his lack of skill as a speaker, and has doubts that anyone will listen to him. God promised to be with him and teach him what to say, and he would include his brother Aaron in the plan to help with the speaking. Moses would play the role of God and Aaron as his prophet. So, Moses agrees to go along with the plan.

What is the plan exactly? Let’s read Exodus 4:21-23 – The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

We see that God’s plan is to put on a display of his power in the form of miracles. But, Pharaoh will be stubborn and it will end with the death of Pharaoh’s firstborn son. Moses does exactly what God tells him to do, and we come to chapter 6 and see a confirmation of God’s promises which are shared with the Israelites. Let’s read 6:6-8

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’ ”

This is where we will end the story for today. Let’s look quickly at some New Testament connections.

New Testament Connections

Hebrews 11:23-27 – By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

I was excited to include this passage here because it is so fascinating. The writer of Hebrews is suggesting that Moses did what he did for the sake of Christ. How is this possible? Does this author really believe that Moses acted for the sake of Jesus? No, he isn’t suggesting that. Christ is not Jesus’ proper name. It is a title. It means the anointed. The author is connecting Jesus to the experience of oppression faced by the Israelites through forced slavery, and also to the experience that Moses faced willingly by defending the Israelite. In the same way that Moses identified with the lowly, with the oppressed, so does Jesus. This is the way of God. So, to say that Moses chose to identify with the enslaved Israelites for the sake of the Anointed is to point to Jesus and say that if you want the blessings of God, it’s going to come through this sort of sacrifice. 

In this next passage, Jesus is in a heated discussion with Jewish people about his identity. In the midst of this conversation, Jesus claims to have power over death. 

John 8:53-59 – Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

This statement, “before Abraham was born, I am!” is what got Jesus almost killed right then and there. This is because he used the same term about himself that God did about himself in the burning bush with Moses. He does not say, before Abraham was born, I was. He invokes the same identifying title as Yahweh, making the claim that he is in fact God incarnate. 

Earlier, in chapter 7, we learn that this incident occurred at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, during which the priests would have read the following verses from Isaiah 43:10-13 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”

This sounds really similar to what Jesus was claiming about himself. He is the one referred to in this passage. He is the saviour, the only deliverer, the LORD himself. 

Lastly, let’s go a few pages over to John 12. In this passage, John is addressing the fact that miracles are not enough to produce faith in God. 

John 12:37-50 – Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God. Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

Like Moses, Jesus was sent by God to deliver a message of salvation. Like Pharaoh, there were people who rejected the message even though they saw Jesus perform miracles. 

I hope you are seeing in these connections to the New Testament the attempts made by the authors to show how Jesus is the fulfilment of all these stories. He is the completion of God’s salvation. God told Abraham that the world would be blessed by his family. Jesus is the fulfilment. God told Moses that he would rescue his people from slavery. Jesus is the fulfilment of that promise. 

Next week, we will hit the climax of the entire Old Testament, which is the deliverance of God’s people through the establishment of the Passover, the passing through the Red Sea, and God’s provision for Israel as he establishes them as his own people, freed to be his family.

¹ Mark R. Glanville, Freed to Be God’s Family: The Book of Exodus, ed. Craig G. Bartholomew and David J. H. Beldman, Transformative Word (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2021), 1.

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Pentateuch Series Bibliography

Alexander, T. Desmond. From Paradise to the Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Fourth Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022.

Alter, Robert. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.

Averbeck, Richard E. The Old Testament Law for the Life of the Church: Reading the Torah in the Light of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022.

Brueggemann, Walter. Preaching from the Old Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2019.

Glanville, Mark. Freed to Be God’s Family: The Book of Exodus. Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2021.

Longman III, Tremper. Genesis. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016.

Lynch, Matthew J. Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023.

Provan, Iain, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman III. A Biblical History of Israel. Second Edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015.

Smith, James E. The Torah. 2nd ed. Old Testament Survey Series. Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1993.

Walton, John H and J. Harvey Walton. The Lost World of the Torah: Law as Covenant and Wisdom in Ancient Context. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019.