Week 3, January 12–18: Genesis 33–Exodus 3

• Sun      Jan 12 Gen. 33–35
• Mon     Jan 13 Gen. 36–38
• Tue      Jan 14 Gen. 39–41
• Wed     Jan 15 Gen. 42–44
• Thu      Jan 16 Gen. 45–47
• Fri        Jan 17 Gen. 48–50
• Sat       Jan 18 Exod. 1–3

This week we finish reading through Genesis. Well done making it through the first book of the Bible, or the first part of the five-part book of Moses! We are just a couple weeks into the new year and we have finished the first part of Scripture. We’ve seen the beginning of the story of God and his work in the world begin, from his creation of all things to his covenant relationship for the family through whom he will bring about his great plan of redemption.

At the end of Genesis, Abraham’s grandson, Jacob is an old man. He and his family of twelve sons are in Egypt, where God is preserving them during the famine in the Land. As he nears his departure from this world, Jacob, who God has named Israel, blesses his sons. Genesis 49 is a large poetic section that records the blessing he pronounced on each of his sons as he gathered them together to tell them what would happen “in the days to come.” (Gen. 49:1). He clearly loved Joseph the most, as we can see from the portion of the blessing directed towards his second youngest son (Gen. 49:22–26)

However, the section of this poetic blessing that is most striking is the blessing of Judah. There we see the language of royalty, a prophetic expectation of a king who will come from Judah’s line.

Judah, your brothers shall praise you;

your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

Judah is a lion’s cub;

from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He stooped down; he crouched as a lion

and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?

The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

until tribute comes to him;

and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

Binding his foal to the vine

and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

he has washed his garments in wine

and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

His eyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth whiter than milk.

As we continue reading through the OT, be looking for echoes of this blessing to Judah. Similar language comes up in several places, including another of the large poetic sections in the Pentateuch, Balaam’s oracles in Numbers 23 and 24. Even in the earliest book of the Bible there is a trajectory of messianic expectation. The hope for a coming king from Judah’s tribe ultimately culminates in Christ. He is the one who will fulfill the promise of Genesis 49, and Genesis 3:15 before that.

We will also begin Exodus at the end of this week. Exodus follows Genesis as the second part of the Pentateuch. As the narrative moves from Genesis to Exodus, the focus shifts from the story of a family to the story of a nation. God has been faithful and fulfilled his promises to bless the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has used difficult circumstances and even sinful acts to accomplish his purposes (see Gen. 50:20). And now, while they are in Egypt, outside the Promised Land, Abraham’s descendants, the family of Jacob, have been fruitful and multiplied and grown into a great nation (Exod. 1:7, 12). God appears to Moses and calls him to lead his people out of slavery. They will leave Egypt to go to the land of Canaan, the land the Lord promised to give to Abraham’s descendants. There will be some delays and years of wandering in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, but God’s mighty act of deliverance from Pharaoh and Egypt is the first step. The early chapters of Exodus set the stage for the exodus from Egypt.

Broadly speaking, Exodus has two parts. The first part, chapters 1–18, covers Israel’s time in Egypt, their exodus from slavery there, and their travels towards Mt. Sinai. They arrive at Mt. Sinai in chapter 19 and there they receive the laws from the Lord. The rest of Exodus, chapters 19–40, is taken up primarily with the giving of the law, including instructions for the tabernacle and its construction. The setting for the second half of Exodus is at Mt. Sinai, and in fact, the whole book of Leviticus and the first part of Numbers also take place while the Israelites are at Sinai.

As we read the early chapters of Exodus, it’s important to keep in mind that they are setting the stage not only for what follows in the rest of Exodus, but also for the rest of the Pentateuch, and indeed in the rest of the story of the whole Bible. God’s miraculous deliverance of his people from slavery in Egypt is a picture of his deliverance of his people from slavery in sin. And the exodus is one of the greatest displays of God’s goodness and love; it is the event that is recalled most often throughout the rest of the Bible.

As we go along, let’s remember also the purpose for doing a read thru like this. We could think of many benefits, like the value of doing this together as a church. That’s one thing I’m particularly excited about. We will hear connections from the Sunday sermons to what we’re reading in the read thru, and it will be fun to be able to talk with each other about what God is teaching us, knowing others are reading the same things we are. There are also many other valuable reasons for us to be doing a read thru like this, as individuals and for us as a church.

But, more broadly, there are two main purposes for a read thru like this. It may be helpful to summarize these two points generally, then we’ll unpack them a bit more over the next few weeks. First, we are doing this to meet with God regularly and hear what he has to say. And second, we are doing it to cultivate a lifelong habit of growing in familiarity with God’s word.

We’ll dig more into both of these points and explore together some of the many ways reading through the Bible like this can be a valuable and lifegiving part of our lives as followers of Jesus. As we do, it’s important to keep reminding ourselves that we’re not reading just to read. We are doing this to invest a little time each day to receive from God the communication he has graciously given us. And we are reading God’s word so that we can know him and walk with him.