Week 1

12/1/2024

Winter 2025

In these chapters, we should note several things that connect these passages to the story of the Bible. First, note Exodus 1:12: “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad.” A careful reader may note that this sounds like the repeated Genesis mandate to fill the earth and multiply, given first to Adam (all mankind) and second to Noah (all post-flood mankind). Israel, as God’s chosen representatives, will multiply and spread under His divine protection and blessing. God’s covenantal stipulations and blessings tend to narrow their focus as the story of salvation progresses. Covenants begin with all mankind (Adam & Noah), progressing to one nation/people (Moses’ covenant), one royal family (David), and one king (Jesus’ New Covenant). God patiently progressed His story and revelation over the course of several centuries.

 

On that note, consider Israel’s religious context. At the time, they did not have a working theology of a monotheistic creator-God; this is why Moses wrote Genesis 1-2 (and also the rest of Genesis) under inspiration from God. Rather, thoroughly paganized in their theology, ancient Near Easterners (including Israel) believed that gods were localized to a land/tribe. Furthermore, they also believed the gods were specific in their dominion and power (e. g. a god of fertility or warfare). Thus, as Israel multiplied in Egypt, in their mind and practice, they were estranged from the God of their fathers who localized Himself to the promised land, though God would demonstrate repeatedly in Scripture that His presence is only localized as per His gracious condescension, not out of necessity or limited power (cf. Ezek 1; all of God’s accompaniment/presence with Israel throughout their wilderness wanderings outside the Promised Land).

 

Thus, God needed a mediator between Himself and His people. The practice of mediation/brokerage has been practiced for almost every exchange in both modern and ancient collectivist cultures (such as Israel and the ancient Near East). Instead of going directly to someone unknown to purchase goods or establish connections, a collectivist uses a mediator. Effective mediators know both parties well and strengthen the relationship between the connecting parties, which widens the collective circle. For this reason, collectivist sellers charge outsiders more than people they know. What seems like unjust business practices to us is actually the collectivist value at work that says, “we take care of our own.” Mediators were always the go-between to establish the connection that would bring someone into the “us” of a collective.

 

So, when God commissioned Moses, He commissioned Moses as a mediator between Himself and His estranged people (Exodus 3:10). When God revealed His name to Moses for the first time in redemptive history (Exodus 3:14) and gave him signs to show (Exodus 4), He equipped Moses to be an effective mediator as one who knows both God and His estranged Israelites. Moses would be the mediatory mouthpiece to teach the Israelites, who would eventually depart from Egypt, that Yahweh is not a new god, limited in power and presence. He is the God of creation who heard their cries and will miraculously display His deliverance before them soon.

 

However, we know the ending of the story—God sent a better mediator, Jesus, who is eternally co-existent with the Father to reconcile exiled sinners to Himself for an even greater spiritual exodus from the domain of sin and death to His kingdom of righteousness.