Week 3, January 14–20: Genesis 37-50, Exodus 1-6

• Sun Jan 14:Gen 37-39
• Mon Jan 15:Gen 40-42
• Tue Jan 16:Gen 43-45
• Wed Jan 17:Gen 46-47
• Thu Jan 18:Gen 48-50
• Fri Jan 19: Exod 1-3
• Sat Jan 20: Exod 4-6

We will begin reading Exodus next week in the read thru. Exodus follows Genesis as the second part of the five-part book of Moses, 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. He has used difficult circumstances and even sinful acts to accomplish his purposes (Gen. 50:20). And now, while they are out of the Promised Land and in Egypt, 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 takes place while the Israelites are at Sinai.

As we read the early chapters of Exodus, they are setting the stage not only for what follows in the rest of Exodus, but also for the rest of the Pentateuch and the rest of the story of all the 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, it will be good to keep in mind 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’ve already heard connections from the Sunday sermon to what we’ve been 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. And there are a lot of other ways doing this will be valuable for us 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’re reading God’s word so that we can know him and walk with him.