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The Exodus
Typology · Doctrinal study

The Exodus: Out of the House of Bondage

How God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt became the pattern of redemption, and how it points to the greater deliverance Christ accomplished.

Theologica Editorial13 min read
The Account

I Am Come Down to Deliver Them

The Exodus did not take God by surprise. Centuries before it happened, He told Abraham exactly what was coming: his seed would be strangers in a land not their own, they would serve and be afflicted, God would judge the nation that enslaved them, and afterward shall they come out with great substance (Genesis 15:13–14).

In time a famine drove Jacob and his whole family down into Egypt, where Joseph had gone before them (Genesis 46:5–6). God had told Jacob, I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again (Genesis 46:4). For a while Israel prospered. Then there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph (Exodus 1:8). Afraid of how fast Israel was growing, Pharaoh set taskmasters over them, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage (Exodus 1:14).

Israel cried out, and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob (Exodus 2:24). Then, at the burning bush, He spoke to Moses.

“Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”EXODUS 3:6–10 · KJV

Notice who does the work. God has seen, heard, and come down to deliver. Moses will be His messenger, but the redemption is the LORD's: I will redeem you with a stretched out arm (Exodus 6:6).

Pharaoh refused, and ten plagues fell on Egypt. In the last of them the LORD executed judgment against all the gods of Egypt and struck the firstborn of every house, except the houses marked with the blood of a lamb (Exodus 12:12–13). That night Pharaoh drove Israel out, and Egypt gave them silver, gold, and raiment on the way. Israel left with the great substance God had promised Abraham (Exodus 12:31–36).

Pharaoh changed his mind and chased them to the Red Sea. With the sea in front and chariots behind, Moses told the people what to do.

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”EXODUS 14:13–14 · KJV

The LORD opened the sea, Israel walked through upon the dry ground, and the waters returned on Pharaoh's army (Exodus 14:22; Exodus 14:28). On the far shore Israel sang of the people which thou hast redeemed (Exodus 15:13). At Sinai God told them why He had done it all: I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself (Exodus 19:4).

Elsewhere in this series

This study looks at the Exodus as a whole. Moses has a study of his own, and so do the Passover, the struck rock, the manna, and Joshua, who brought Israel into the land.

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Further reading

For Deeper Study

  • Moses and the Gods of Egypt: Studies in ExodusAmazon John J. DavisA conservative evangelical study of the whole book, reading the plagues as judgments on Egypt's gods and weighing the history and archaeology. Davis taught at Grace Theological Seminary and held an early date for the Exodus.
  • Be Delivered (Exodus)Amazon Warren W. WiersbeAn accessible, chapter-by-chapter exposition from a premillennial Bible teacher, with an eye on the freedom God gives and the responsibility that comes with it.
  • Notes on the Book of ExodusAmazon C. H. MackintoshA nineteenth-century devotional classic by a Plymouth Brethren writer, rich in Christ and in the Exodus as a picture of redemption. Mackintosh sometimes finds meaning in details we would hold more lightly.
  • The Study of the TypesAmazon Ada R. HabershonA classic 1898 introduction to Old Testament types, with careful attention to the Exodus, the Passover, and the wilderness journey.
  • Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.

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Moses

Prophet, deliverer, and mediator, Moses pointed beyond himself to the Prophet like him whom God would raise up, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

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