GREAT POPULATION GROWTH IN EGYPT
Remember God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12v2,3) that “I will make you into a great nation,” yet Exodus starts by reminding us (1v5) that there were only 70 from Jacobs’ family when they had entered Egypt.  Things had changed for verses 6 and 7 tell us that the Israelites were, now, exceedingly numerous and the land was filled with them. So, despite oppression for at least some of their time in Egypt,  their stay had been a period of tremendous numerical growth. They had farmed good Goshen land (Gen 47v11) in, probably, the most advanced empire of the day and God had overseen 70 people grow into a nation of 600,000 men (12v37). Scholars calculate the total population to be well over 2 million people when you take into account women and children. They were so successful, in fact, that Pharaoh was feeling threatened by their sheer size (1v9). Firstly, he enslaved them, later he tried to get the midwives to kill the boys and finally he decided to drown them in the river. Moses was carefully hidden away among the reeds of the river Nile and we know the story of how the princess found him and brought him up in the royal family.

MOSES SIDES WITH GOD’S PEOPLE
At the age of 40 (2v11), we learn that Moses sided with his own people, the Israelites, which ended up with him killing an Egyptian and fleeing the country. Hebrews 11 actually commends Moses for this period because (v25) he chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God, rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt. So that is the measure of the man that God saw in Moses;  a man who was willing to give up all the luxuries and opportunities of Egypt, to be with God’s people. God is looking today for people who are willing to sacrifice all to follow him and become part of his church – his precious people.

MOSES WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE
After 40 years of growing up in Egypt, Moses then spent 40 years in the desert wilderness of Midian with Jethro, Zipporah and his family. Were those years wasted? I don’t think so. Moses was being refined and God was working on him to make him the person he required. Maybe he needed to learn humility after his upbringing in the Pharaoh’s palace. Even after 40 years, Moses did not even have his own flock (3v1) and, whilst tending his father in law’s flock, God appeared to Moses in the burning bush (v2). We call it the burning bush, which is actually wrong because it was only flame – it was a non-burning bush! Why did God want to take action for Israel (3v7)? He had heard his people crying and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Remember that principle with God – he hears our cries when we cry out. God then revealed himself (3v14,15) as the Lord and declared his special name (v15) “I am who I am”.

GOD HEARS THE CRIES OF HIS PEOPLE
In chapter 6 v7,8 we begin to see what God was working towards, “I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God”; out from the yoke of the Egyptians and into the promised land. Similarly God, today, wants to rescue us, set us free from the burdens of our old Egypt (sinful life) and to take us to be His very own people. Only then can He give us the promised land of his new life. God’s miraculous intervention can make this possible, just as only God’s miraculous intervention would take the nation out of the grasp of Pharaoh. It needed nine plagues that must have devastated Egypt and, finally, the dreadful killing of all first-born, before Pharaoh let God’s people go.

GODS PLANNED DELIVERANCE
The Israelites were to put lambs blood on the top and sides of their doorposts and God said (12v13) “when I see the blood I will pass over”. Thereafter, the annual feast of Passover would be celebrated, as would the feast of unleavened bread to celebrate the nation’s deliverance from Egypt. What fascinates me (12v41) is that the people left exactly 430 years, to the very day, after they entered Egypt. All the hassle and delay tactics from Pharaoh and yet God had plans to take them out on the very anniversary of them entering into Egypt; God was the one in control.
In chapter 13, there is an important passage about how the first-born should be consecrated to God, whether they be sons or animals. This, I believe, was to give thanks that they were only alive because God had rescued them from Egypt and they, really, belonged to Him. God had redeemed them and and taken them as His own people (6v7 and 15v16). I wondered why God always desired special treatment for the first-born? Then I read Exodus 4v22 where the Lord says, “Israel is my first-born son”. The first born sons remind us that God’s people are special to Him. So the Israelites left, plundering the treasures of Egypt with them, along with the bones of Joseph (13v19) – remember Genesis 50v25.

THE LONG WAY TO CANAAN
In 13v17 we find out why they were not to take the shortest road to Canaan. God knew that they would have had to fight battles which would leave them discouraged and cause them to turn back. After crossing the Red Sea they saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore, the first and last they saw of them. It was this miracle that persuaded the people to trust both God and Moses (14v31).

GOD’S MIRACULOUS PROVISION
The land they passed through was poor desert (Desert of Shur 15v22, Desert of Sin 16v1 and the Desert of Sinai 19v1). We learn, not only about their wonderful and miraculous rescue, but also how God provided for their daily needs. The bitter water turned sweet at Marah (15v23), manna was provided in the morning (16v4) and quail at twilight (16v13). Chapter 17 recounts the miracle of water from the rock and the defeat of their enemy, the Amalekites. Deuteronomy 29v5 tells us that the Israelites’ clothes and shoes did not wear out during the entire 40 years.

SINAI
At Sinai, God promised that the Israelites would, if obedient, be his “treasured possession” (19v5). He descended onto Sinai in fire (19v18) and gave to Moses the 10 commandments (ch 20) which were written on stone by his finger (Exodus 31v18). There are a numerous other laws found in chapters 21 to 23 for God was showing the Israelites how to live alongside each other with respect, justice and social responsibility. Israel was no longer a small band of nomads, it was a nation. Remember, in Genesis, that Abraham’s entourage had grown too big to live with Lot’s but now there were 2 million people. Likewise today, God does not want us to live independently for he believes in the church , the community of God’s people, who are now his treasured possession.

PLACE OF GOD’S PRESENCE
Next, the Lord gave instructions for the tabernacle, the tent temple and this makes quite fascinating reading. The ark, the table, the lamp stand, the tent, the curtain, the altar of burnt offerings, the courtyard, the priest’s clothes and their consecration, the altar of incense, the basin, the anointing oil and who should make it. There was gold, silver, bronze, acacia wood and beautiful linen. Why was God interested in all this detail? In chapter 25v22, the Lord said “I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites”. Note that the table was always covered with the bread of the Presence (25v30). Now look at 29v42-46 and everything is absolutely clear, “there I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God”. It was God’s plan to bring them out of Egypt and put his presence right in the middle of them. It was called the “tent of meeting” for He would meet Moses and his people there. Because of sin, there had to be certain formalities; the symbolism, the blood, anointing, washing, sacrifices and so on. This is still true today for our Lord wants to take us out of our sinful, worldly life and indwell us with his very own presence, the Holy Spirit. In His instructions for the building of the tabernacle, the people who headed up the team are also included; especially Bezalel who was “filled…with the spirit of God” (31v2). Before we can be useful in God’s kingdom, we need to be filled with the Spirit of God.

GOLDEN CALF
Moses spent 40 days and nights on the mountain of Sinai receiving from the Lord, (24v18). It was, then, that the people gathered around Aaron to make gods to go before them (32v1). What were they playing about at? when God had led them every day with his cloud and pillar of fire! They took their gold earrings (32v3) and made a golden calf saying “these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt” (v8). The Lord was despondent and could not contain his emotion; he was going to destroy them all and build a new great nation starting with Moses (32v9,10) but Moses interceded for the nation and God mitigated his judgement. Having smashed the first stones, Moses (ch34) returned to the mountain again, at the Lord’s command, to receive new tablets. Moses (34v5) then had the privilege of seeing God’s glory pass in front of him.

GOD’S ABOUNDING LOVE
How does God want to be known? holy and fearful? Absolutely not  and this is what he says about himself (34v6,7): “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” When Moses returned to the people his face was radiant, so much so, that people were afraid to come near him (34v29,30). Every time Moses entered God’s presence he came out shining (v35). Have you ever spoken with the Lord like Moses? and did you sense his presence in such a powerful way?

GOD’S GLORY FILLS THE TABERNACLE
Finally, the tabernacle was built exactly according to plan, (ch36-40), and “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (40v34). God had achieved His desire and His cloud of glory came down; so much so that, at first, Moses could not even enter it. When it was time for the people to move, the cloud would then lift from the tabernacle and show the way. God was right in the middle of his people and he was leading them, by his presence, on to the Promised Land. One last thought before we finish, from Exodus 33, God said (V14) “my presence will go with you…” To which Moses replied (v15) “if Your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here”. All of us have lives to live; where do we go from here? Can we echo those words of Moses that we are not going anywhere without Him? Our Lord loves a desire like that because there is no place He would rather be than dwelling right in the centre of our being, our heart.