Exodus: Encountering the Way-Making God

As we made our way through the gospel of Matthew, we noted at every turn the gospel’s concern to picture Jesus as a new Moses. We also noted the rhetorical intention of structuring the gospel into five teaching sections that mirror the Torah of which the book of Exodus is a part. Because the story of Moses, the Exodus from Egypt, and the reception of Torah weigh heavily into Israel’s identity, the story of Jesus, and Christian theology, it is essential to go back and remember God’s powerful actions among God’s creatures that communicate God’s redemptive way of being. Grounding ourselves once again in these formative narratives will help us to see – as all of the writers of the New Testament saw clearly – that the God revealed in the Exodus is the same Redeeming Lord who engages with God’s people throughout the centuries in the same way – leading God’s people from exile, bondage, and slavery, to liberation in the scope of God’s great love and call to service.

While there are many commentaries and studies of Exodus available, we will use Terence E. Fretheim’s commentary on Exodus in the Interpretation series (1991) as our guide. As with every volume in the Interpretation series, Fretheim balances top-flight scholarship of Exodus with accessibility for a non-academic audience.

Our study will proceed according to the following schedule and each class section pursuing Exodus will do its best to stick to this timeline. As is always the case, the schedule may change to accommodate events that come up in the life of our community. Please contact Carl Flynn, adult education ministry coordinator, if you have any questions about this study!