by There are several parallel experiences between Moses in Exodus 1-6 and Israel in Exodus 12-34. Some of them are easy to identify while others are a little more obscure. Smith explains, “Moreover, in the two halves of the book the life of Moses and the life of the Israelites are parallel in somewhat general terms: both Moses and the Israelites flee Egypt, and both Moses and the Israelites come to the divine mountain and receive the divine word.”[1]
The environment of mass killing, birth of Moses, Moses being an Israelite, and the saving of life should not go unnoticed in Exodus. “Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born, you are to throw into the Nile, but every daughter, you are to keep alive.” (Exod. 1:22, NASB 2020) shows a time where Israelites were not wanted and being oppressed through mass killing. “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord.” (Exod. 12:12) is a comparable environment where God oppressed the Egyptians through mass killing.
The birth and life of Moses was spared because of Pharaoh’s daughter. “And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses,” (Exod. 2:10) which is related to when God spared the Israelite’s life. “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Exod. 12:13)
Both Moses and the Israelites fled Egypt. “When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.” (Exod. 2:15) illustrates how Moses was chased out of Egypt. Then, the Israelites were chased out of Egypt. “The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in a hurry,” (Exod. 12:33)
There is something about Mountains that God likes to use when talking to his people. This could be because of the height of the Mountains and how they go up into the sky towards God since there are many references in the Bible to God “coming down” to speak to mankind. It is no different with Exodus where God speaks to Moses and the Israelites from a Mountain. One example is when Moses encountered God at Horeb, the mountain of God from the burning bush. (Exod. 3:1-6). Another example is in chapter 19 at Sinai where Moses goes up to God to speak to him. (Exod. 19:1-3)
Another similarity Hamilton observes, “God calls Moses into his service in chs. 3–4 and renews that call in ch. 6 after the unsavory experiences of ch. 5; God offers a covenant relationship to his people in chs. 19–24 and renews that covenant in ch. 34 after the horrific experiences of ch. 32.”[2] When doing an analysis, there are embedded parallels that are more obscure but are worth mentioning. They consist of two calls to service from God to Moses, two confrontations to the Pharaoh, and two sets of tablets.
The scriptures to exhibit these are, “And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exod. 3:10) “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.” (Exod. 6:11) “When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.” (Exod. 31:18) “And it came about, when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain),” (Exod. 34:29)
There is a strong relationship with Christian life today and the parallel experiences of Mose’s and Israel’s experiences from Exodus chapters 1-6 and chapters 12-34. With Christian life today, we have Jesus as the “New Moses” who was born in an environment that is unwelcome where Moses was supposed to be killed and Mary’s baby, Jesus should have been born without a human father. Like Pharaoh’s daughter raising Moses, Joseph helped raise Jesus Christ. The book of Matthew states, “And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he named Him Jesus.” (Matt. 1:24-25). Hawkins compares Moses and Jesus as follows, “Ancient Israel’s identity as God’s ‘firstborn son’ (Exod. 4.22) provided the background for their understanding of Jesus as God’s Son.”[3]
Hawkins mentions another item, “In his account of the Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-8), Matthew sought to parallel what occurred when Moses descended Sinai with the tablets of the law (Exod. 34:29-35). Having established these parallels, Matthew presents the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) as the new covenant Torah delivered by the new Moses.”[4] Today, most Christians do communion at least monthly. Hawkins states, “At the Last Supper, he has Jesus explain that the new covenant would be ratified by his own blood (Matt. 26:28), just as the Sinai covenant had been ratified by sacrifice (Exod. 24:8).”[5], which most Christians can relate to in today’s world.
In Exodus, there were challenges to being an Israelite, but there was God who provided them with guidance and hope that a better future awaited. This is no different today where Christians are challenged with temptation of sin, but there is Jesus who provided us with guidance and hope for a better future.
More lessons for the Christians include:
- God leads us (Jh. 10:3)
- God speaks to us, makes His will known to us (Eph. 1:9)
- God equips us to do His will (Heb. 13:21)
- God makes a covenant with us (Heb. 8:6)
- God tests us (for strengthening) (James 1:2-4)
[1] Mark S. Smith, “The Literary Arrangement of the Priestly Redaction of Exodus: A Preliminary Investigation.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 58, no. 1 (January 1996): 38.
[2] Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Pentateuch, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), 136.
[3] Ralph K. Hawkins. Discovering Exodus : Content, Interpretation, Reception, (Chicago, IL: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2021), 199.
[4] Ibid., 187.
[5] Ibid.