Covenant 4a: Moses

• We begin the Historical context for the next Covenant.

• Moses came from the Tribe of Levi (brother to Joseph) (the great-grandson son of Abraham whom the tribal patriarchs are), he was the great-grandson to Levi, Grandson to Kohath, and Son to Amram. 

• Christ (by way of Joseph) and David are from the Tribe of Judah

Periods Between Abraham and Moses

1. Period I — The Covenant Promised (Abraham | c. 2000 BC)

   1. God promises land, descendants, and universal blessing.

   2. God foretells four stages in advance:

      1. Descent into a foreign land

      2. Enslavement and affliction

      3. Divine judgment on oppressors

      4. Liberation and return

2. Period II — The Covenant Preserved (Isaac | c. 1900 BC)

   1. Genesis 26:2–5

   2. Isaac is born by promise, not human strategy.

   3. God explicitly reaffirms the covenant with Isaac alone.

3. Period III — The Covenant Enlarged (Jacob / Israel | c. 1800 BC)

   1. Gen 28:10–15; 32:28; 46:2–4 

   2. Jacob is renamed Israel.

   3. His sons form the twelve tribes.

   4. God explicitly tells Jacob:

      1. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt… I will bring you up again.”

4. Period IV — Providential Refuge (Joseph | c. 1700 BC)

   1. Narrative Includes Gen 37–50:

   2. Joseph rises to power during famine. (covered last session)

   3. Israel settles peacefully in Egypt (Goshen). (referenced above)

      1. Seventy persons become a protected family-nation.

      2. Joseph dies confessing future deliverance; his bones await Exodus (Genesis 50:24–26). 

5. Period V — From Favor to Slavery (Israel Enslaved | c. 1600–1200 BC)

   1. A new Pharaoh turns fear into oppression. Exodus 1:9

Exodus 3:1-12, 18

God does not necessarily will to hide from us, but rather, we are often deaf and blind to Him. In pivotal moments, He breaks into our lives to get our attention, as He did with Moses. He shows us the path we choose, sometimes subtly, through the pangs of authentic guilt—distinct from shame—helping us recognize the consequences of our actions and those of others. This moves our hearts to love what we’ve been given, to receive it well, and to follow the highest good, wherever it leads us.

Exodus 5:1-4

Is there anything you are reminded of when you consider God's people being enslaved?

1. Slavery is just one analogy for sin

The enemy hates any effort that could liberate the slaves, and we decidedly work against it. However, God remains the Creator and has infinite strength against finite creatures. Further, all suffering is finite, even if intense.

Why might God be trying to show His people how to worship Him?

•  to prepare them for their time in the desert

Plagues (if desired otherwise settle for mentioning and describe their point in the next passage)

1. 1. Blood - Exodus 7:20–21

   2. Frogs - Exodus 8:2–4

   3. Gnats/Lice - Exodus 8:16–17

   4. Flies - Exodus 8:21, 24*

   5. Livestock Pestilence - Exodus 9:3-6

   6. Boils - Exodus 9:8–9

   7. Hail - Exodus 9:22–25

   8. Locusts - Exodus 10:4–6, 13–15

   9. Darkness - Exodus 10:21–23

   10. Firstborn - Exodus 11:4–6

*Exodus 8:25-29 (May be 21-25 in NAB)

The hell that God bestows on the enemy can be used to help us gain freedom and it is not so much God's punishment for them as it is their choice to be opposed since He is willing to relent, but justice is yet rent.

Exodus 12:3-13

Where else have we seen unleavened bread?

• Melchizedek

The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread—often understood as todah meaning thanksgiving—stand at the center of Israel’s liturgical life: a thanksgiving sacrifice for deliverance, shared as a sacred meal with bread and wine and extended into a week of unleavened living. Alongside it stand other appointed Jewish feasts which prefigure the Eucharistic Sacrifice—the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Booths, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur—which each illuminate distinct dimensions of Israel’s covenant life: first fruits and thanksgiving, joyful remembrance of God’s provision in pilgrimage, kingship and remembrance unto judgment, and once‑for‑all atonement through priestly mediation. Together they prepare and prefigure the fullness of the Eucharist, which unites todah thanksgiving, sacrificial offering, communal participation, remembrance, atonement, and eschatological hope in Christ our Passover.

Exodus 14:1-5, 10-12, 21-25

What might pass through the sea symbolize?

• A final deliverance from the slavery of sin

  • John 3:5

    • Conception of Jesus 

    • Matthew 3:13-17 - dove 

    • Genesis 8:1

      • Olive Branch definition comes from this

      • Demonstrates reconciliation of

  • Genesis 1:2

  • Psalm 29:3

  • 1 Peter 3:18-20

  • "Might wind blew the Sea" from the reading

Does the Lord fight for us? How might He do that?

NOTE: our Baptism Bible Study approaches this imagery well.

Consider Reading (part or all of) Acts of the Apostles 13:16-41

So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak:

“You Israelites and others who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance for about four hundred fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. Then they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’

Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.’

“My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. Because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize him or understand the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath, they fulfilled those words by condemning him. Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to have him killed. When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead; and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to the people.

And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm,

‘You are my Son;

today I have begotten you.’

As to his raising him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

‘I will give you the holy promises made to David.’

Therefore he has also said in another psalm,

‘You will not let your Holy One experience corruption.’

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died, was laid beside his ancestors, and experienced corruption; but he whom God raised up experienced no corruption.

Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, that what the prophets said does not happen to you:

‘Look, you scoffers!

Be amazed and perish,

for in your days I am doing a work,

a work that you will never believe, even if someone tells you.’”