It is perhaps surprising that a band of Hebrew slaves managed to escape an empire as powerful and wealthy as ancient Egypt. What is vastly more surprising is that such an escape (achieved by such a seemingly inconsequential group) should become one of the foundational stories of Western civilization. Yet this is the case. The Exodus is the event that makes the Hebrew people a nation, and it continues to be celebrated by Jews every year at the Passover. This same story is embraced by Christians (as well as Muslims) and in fact, provides one important lens through which New Testament Christians understood the saving work of Jesus. In many places the gospels portray Jesus as a New Moses, leading God’s people out of bondage. Even Jesus’s given name (Y’shua or “Joshua”) is a reference toward Moses’s successor as leader of Israel; the one who would finally guide Israel across the Jordan and into the Promised Land. For millennia this ancient narrative has continued to provide comfort and courage to those who, like the Ancient Hebrews, “cry on account of their taskmasters.” (Exodus 3:7) It was profoundly important to enslaved Africans in America who sang: “let my people go.”  It fired the imagination of Civil Rights leaders who sang of “the Children that Moses left . . . . God’s gonna trouble the Water.”  

Grantees are invited to engage with the story recounted in the book of Exodus. Our theme for the year highlights several elements of that story in particular.  

A Festival in the Wilderness 

Moses tells Pharaoh to release the Hebrew slaves “that they may celebrate a festival to [the LORD] in the wilderness” (5:1). This is one of many fascinating and compelling elements of the Exodus story. Israel is called from slavery to freedom. But this call also means journeying from a place of security and familiarity into a wilderness. For the Hebrew people, it means venturing out to a place of wandering and uncertainty. The journey to freedom means, literally, passing through deep waters. What’s more, once they have passed through the waters, the people do not reach a place of rest (at least not immediately). Instead, they embark on the long and circuitous path of a pilgrim. Through a slow and painful tuition, they learn how to follow God through the desert, accompanied by a Divine Presence that is both comforting, and at times, frightening (a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night!).  

Learning to Follow 

And, in a sense, this Divine Presence is the destination Israel has been called to. The second half of the book of Exodus has mostly to do with the building of the Tabernacle. The book culminates with God filling the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:34-35) Why are so many pages given to discussing tabernacle? Because the tabernacle is where God will dwell in the midst of the people. This, God says, is why the people have been freed: “Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.” (Exodus 29:45-46, emphasis added.) Exodus then is not just a story of what God’s people are saved from. It is also a story of what they are saved for. They are saved from slavery, but they are saved for a life lived in God’s presence.   

The God of Surprising Deliverances 

Perhaps the most startling aspect of the Exodus story (for its first hearers, and for us now) is found in the first few chapters of the book. At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to a conflict and confrontation between Pharaoh and the Hebrew people; a conflict in other words, between the wealthiest and most powerful person of the time, and an impoverished and culturally despised group of slaves. We learn, first of all, that Pharaoh (whose name we never learn) is afraid of the slaves! By contrast, we are introduced to two Hebrew midwives – Shiphrah and Puah – who are named and who aren’t at all afraid of defying Pharaoh! But the truly shocking irony, particularly for an ancient person hearing the story of this conflict, would have been that God should take the side, not of Pharaoh, but of the slaves! Here is a God who sees the misery and hears the cries of the poor and the needy. These people who go unnoticed by many in society have the attention of God; God is “concerned about their suffering.” (Exodus 3:7) This is a God who knows the names of those who are pushed down and mistreated and is moved by their suffering. On the other hand, we meet a God who is neither afraid of nor impressed by (ultimately anonymous) authority figures and powerbrokers like Pharaoh. In all of this, we see the same character of God which is revealed in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, we also meet someone who helps “those who are weak and heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28); who announces that the first will be last, and the last will be first (Matthew 20:16). In Jesus we also meet one who dares to confront the powers and the empire of his day, and who is, by his resurrection, vindicated by God the Father.    

Here are just a few insights that emerge from these three elements outlined above:  

• In the Exodus story, we learn something of the complexity and challenge that accompanies deliverance. We learn that the wilderness can be a place of salvation (which is another word for deliverance), and conversely, we learn that salvation can lead us into the wilderness.  
• We learn that God’s deliverance isn’t necessarily arriving at a finish line, but may instead mean a kind of unsettling. In some ways, it is instead the beginning of a journey and a pilgrimage.  
• We learn that salvation is not only – or even primarily – about what we are saved from, but also about what we are saved for. And the tabernacle gives us a powerful picture of what we are saved for: God dwelling in the midst of God’s people (cf. Revelation 21:3).  
• We learn that God sees, hears, and is concerned about the suffering of the oppressed. We learn that God is on the side of the lowly and the wounded. We learn that God is more powerful than the powers of this world. And we learn that the heart of God is the same as the character we see revealed in Jesus: a friend of sinners, outcasts, and those in need.