Exodus 39 - 40

Then the vestments of the High Priest are made.

When all that God ordained had been constructed and placed in accordance with the Lord’s instructions, everything was dedicated to God (as also instructed).

With the dedication of the tabernacle, and Aaron and his sons, exactly one year after leaving Egypt, the presence of the Lord descended upon the tabernacle, and the cloud of His glory could be seen among them for the next 39+ years.

Exodus 37 - 38

Bezalel undertakes the construction and building of all that God had shown Moses on the mountain - the ark of the covenant and all of the gold furnishings and implements within the tabernacle.

He then makes all of the bronze implements that stand outside the tabernacle, and then the outer walls of the court, and the walls of the tabernacle itself.

Exodus 35 - 36

Moses recounted to the people all that God had instructed on the mountain, and then many brought gifts for the building of the Tabernacle and its furnishings.

Skilled workers were chosen to build the Tabernacle according to the plan God gave Moses, and all the furnishings and utensils for it.

Exodus 32 - 34

After Moses was 40 days and nights on the mountain of God the people grew restless, and Aaron cast a golden calf for them to worship. God is very angry with the people, and Moses intercedes with Him, so that He might not destroy them all.

God is angry with the people, but pleased with Moses, and Moses asks God to show him His glory (He wanted to see God). God hides Moses in a cave, or notch in the rock, and lets a remnant of His glory pass before him. He then declares His own Name (Yahweh), and provides definition for the meaning of His Name.

Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.
Exodus 34:6-7

This describes the very nature of God!

After another 40 days and nights Moses goes down from the mountain, and he is glowing so brightly that he has to cover his face in front of the people.

Exodus 30 - 31

The Lord then provides Moses with instructions for the consecration and use of the implements of worship in the Tabernacle, the alter of incense, the laver for washing, the daily duties of the priests, etc….

God also names a few men for Moses to assign responsibilities for building all these things.

At the end of 40 days God’s instructions to Moses are done, and the Lord gives him 2 tablets of stone with His commandments inscribed on them by His own finger.

Exodus 28 - 29

God then gives Moses instructions that will apply to his brother Aaron, who had been chosen by God as the first High Priest in Israel, and his sons thereafter. The High Priests in Israel would always be a direct descendant of Aaron, as well as the priests who served God in the Tabernacle (and later in Solomon’s Temple).

All of the details described in these chapters point to Jesus, our great High Priest.

Exodus 25 - 27

In these chapters God gives Moses detailed instructions for the building of the Tabernacle and each of its furnishings.

There have been many very good studies into the details of this portable temple, the Tabernacle of Moses, demonstrating how each article, measurement, and furnishing points to Jesus.

A cubit was a length of measure approximately 16”-18” long, which was taken from the distance between a man’s longest finger and his elbow.

Exodus 22 - 24

In chapters 22-23 God continues in giving Moses the commandments of His law.

In chapter 24 Moses writes down, and recounts to the people all of God’s laws, and they swear to obey them all. God appears in glory to Moses and the 70 elders, which would have been a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus (see also Isaiah 6), and then Moses is called up to the top of the mountain to meet with God for 40 days.

Exodus 19 - 21

All of Israel is called before God at Sinai, and there is great fire and earthquakes on the mountain when the presence of God descends.

Beginning in chapter 20 God gives His laws to Moses, starting with the Ten Commandments, and then continuing with many rules governing equity and justice between people.

Exodus 16 - 18

God gives the people manna from heaven that would continue for 40 years.

In John 6:41 Jesus said that He was that bread that came down from heaven, and in Matthew 6:11 Jesus tells us to pray each day for the bread that God will give us that day, which is both physical and spiritual.

God also brings forth water from the Rock at Horeb (Sinai), which would run like a river for 40 years in the desert, providing water for 1-2 million Israelites.

Jesus was that Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4), and He is the source of eternal water, so that everyone who drinks of Him will never thirst again (John 4:14).

Exodus 14 - 15

God takes Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground, and destroys the power of Egypt by killing Pharaoh and his army in the sea. This whole story is a picture of our salvation, where God sovereignly and miraculously rescues us from slavery to sin and the world, and then forever destroys the power of the enemy against ever re-enslaving us again.

Israel going through the sea on dry ground is also a picture of water baptism, with only a new beginning in front of them, and an unsurpassable barrier against going back behind them.

In spite of all the miracles that God had done, and His visible presence among Israel, after only three days in the desert the people began to grumble and complain against God. This is a warning for us to not forget all that He has done for us, and become ungrateful when we don’t continue to see wondrous things He is doing for us.

Exodus 12 - 13

God flips the Hebrew calendar, making the 7 th month (Nisan - also called Abib) now the 1 st month, and provides instructions to them in advance of the first Passover. A spotless lamb is to be taken for each household on the 10th of the month, inspected for several days (for purity), and then slain on the 14th , with the blood to be painted on the doorposts and lintel of each house. Unleavened bread is to be eaten for 7 days, from the 14th through the 21st .

The Lord slew all first-born males in Egypt that night, but all were spared who had the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their house. Pharaoh’s own son was killed, and he finally instructs Moses and Aaron to leave, after all of Egypt was (essentially) destroyed. The Lord instituted the feast of Passover to be celebrated every year thereafter on the 14th day of the first month.

Jesus was crucified on the 14th day of the first month, and became the fulfillment of the type, represented in the first lamb that was slain to save people from the judgement of God.

As Israel goes out from Egypt, God declares that the first-born males in Israel are His, and institutes the feast of Unleavened Bread, which Israel will eat for the next 7 days, due to traveling. God establishes His visible presence in the form of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night, which will lead Israel for the next 40 years.

He also leads them to the Red Sea, rather than taking them Northeast along the sea coast, so that Israelites cannot later turn around and go back.

Exodus 9 - 11

God then strikes the livestock in Egypt, afflicts the Egyptians with boils, and devastates the land of Egypt with destroying hail - yet Pharaoh persists in hardening his heart against the Will of God.

These plagues are followed by locusts that ate up the rest of living plants, and then three days of oppressive darkness in Egypt, but to no avail.

Moses goes out from the presence of Pharaoh, and God then promises to bring one more judgement upon Egypt.

Exodus 5 - 8

God sends Moses to Pharaoh, saying “let My people go”, but Pharaoh refuses.

God turns the Nile to blood, He brings up a plague of frogs upon the land, He turns the dust of the ground into a plague of gnats, and then brings vast swarms of flies against Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

But in the face of these plagues, Pharaoh’s heart remains hard, and he refuses to let them go.

Exodus 1 - 4

Between the last verse in Genesis and the first verse in Exodus some 400 years have gone by, and everything has changed in Egypt. Israel’s descendants out number the Egyptians, and they are now being persecuted as slaves. God raises up Moses as His appointed man to lead Israel out of bondage in Egypt.

As a child Moses is raised as an adopted grandchild of Pharaoh, but later flees Egypt and lives in the Midian desert (now Jordan) for most of his life.

When Moses is 80 years old God appears to him in the desert, and calls him to be His ambassador to Pharaoh, and to lead Israel out of slavery. God declares Himself to Moses as “I AM”, which is the Hebrew verb form of His own Name (Jahweh).

So Moses goes back to Egypt, meets with his brother Aaron, and then the leaders of the tribes of Israel, proving that God sent him to lead them out of that land.

Job 38 - 42

What a glorious crescendo we have when the Lord speaks, and all the noise of empty words are silenced!

God calls Job to account for the things he had said about Him, but not in anger or judgement. God then takes most of these five chapters in providing example after example of His works that men do not understand.

In the end, God blesses Job with a double portion of what he previously had, as well as long life to enjoy those blessings. He rebukes Job’s three friends, and says he will forgive them when Job prays for them, but God completely ignores Elihu.

Job 35 - 37

Elihu continues his tirade against Job, and in chapters 36-37 he claims to be perfect in knowledge (36:4), and proceeds to declare the ways of God. It’s interesting that Elihu makes many true statements about God, but he does so in a manner that distorts God’s character and judgement.

Elihu is a perfect accuser of the righteous.

Job 32 - 34

Now, the young man Elihu bursts forth in anger against Job, as well as his three friends. He exhibits false humility, and then claims to have perfect knowledge about God and all He does, demonstrating his immense pride.

Job 29 - 31

In 29 Job laments the days of old when he was universally honored.

In 30 Job points out that even the lowliest now abuse and spit on him.

In 31 Job lists many ways he could have sinned against man and God, but in each one he remains guiltless

Job 23 - 28

In this 3rd and final cycle of antagonism from Job’s three friends, Eliphaz has already spoken, Bildad makes a very brief attempt to justify God in chapter 25, and Zophar has given up speaking altogether.

Job spends the majority of these chapters in declaring the greatness of God and His ways, and persisting in saying that He was guilty of no traitorous thoughts or actions against Him. We would do well to adopt his outlook on this trial, which he states as follows…

But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
Job 23:10