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Review: Last week we looked at the promise that God sees the plight of His people. God is faithful to His covenant promises, so we don’t have to doubt His faithfulness when we’re in tough circumstances. Although Moses was reluctant to lead God’s people out of Egypt, God had prepared him. When Moses struggled with his own insecurities and inadequacies, God reassured him—not by pointing him to some internal strength—but by reminding Moses that He is eternal God and He was with Moses.
Title: Freedom Promised
Text: Exodus 5:1-4; 6:2-9
Memory verse: Exodus 6:7a, “7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”
Theme: God promises freedom to His people.
Introduction: In this week’s lesson we see that we have hopes and expectations for the future, and it’s important to stay open-handed and yielded to God’s plan and purpose over our idea of how the future should look. Practicing gratitude for what He’s done and hope for what He’ll do helps. The lesson reminds us of a scene in the popular “I Love Lucy” series where Lucy and Ethel are working in a candy factory wrapping candies and everything goes haywire when they speed up the conveyor belt. Sometimes when we try to move too fast in life be it the workplace, family, extended family we run the risk of not walking in step with God.
Opening Discussion Question #1: How do unrealistic work expectations kill someone’s spirit?
Optional Answer: Maybe you don’t struggle with work expectations…Maybe it’s an expectation on family to have everyone living close and spending a lot of time together, and that hasn’t happened the way you’d hoped…They might expect a pay raise too quickly or a promotion too quickly or wish opportunities into existence that really aren’t reality.
Opening Discussion Question #2: How have you handled unrealistic job expectations?
Optional Answer: Learning from the past is so important.
Opening Discussion Question #3: What emotions have you felt in those situations?
Optional Answer: One would be disappointment. Maybe we were kicking ourselves, because we placed hope in unrealistic scenarios.
Context:
Moses with the assistance of Aaron faced the challenges, ridicule, and accusations in setting Israel free in chapters 1-7. They confronted Pharoah, and he only made life harder for Israel, requiring them to make bricks without straw. Moses was discouraged and doubted at this setback, but God reassured him. God repeats “I am the Lord” 7 times in this situation (6:2, 6-8, 29; 7:5, 17). When we battle doubting God’s will or skeptics, this same assurance that God spoke to Abraham (Gen. 15:7) and to Moses is ours. This “I am the Lord” [Yahweh] assurance is heavily repeated in Leviticus, Isaiah, and Ezekiel emphasizing His intimacy with His followers. Intimacy with God fuels service to God. Growing closer to Him and more like Him turning from our former, old life and immaturity to walk closely with Him in a way that honors Him is the key. Paul says in Philippian 3:10, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”
Main Points:
- Confronted (Exodus 5:1-4)
Explanation: “Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.”
- “Thus says the Lord” sets the stage for this confrontation with Pharaoh, this internal battle against repentance and hard-heartedness.
Application: We face similar moments of decision in our walks with God. Will we surrender that area of our lives to Him and repent or hold onto it in hard-heartedness?
- He commands that Pharoah let His people go.
- “a feats to [Me] in the wilderness” means a complete release, not a one-time event. In these ancient times when a request was made it was vailed with limited terminology, but meant something much larger.
- Pharoah’s reply, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice and let Israel go?” Was an expression of defiance.
- He concludes his tirade with the statement, Get back to your burdens.” Disrespecting God’s representatives.
Application: A hard heart is a dangerous place to be. They ask, “What are some things that cause people to reject God’s message or messengers?” (p. 31)
II. Reminded (Exodus 6:2-5)
Explanation: “2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty,[a] but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.”
- In chapter 6 verse 2 he reminds Moses again “I am the Lord” when he reinforces the calling on Moses’ life to lead Israel.
- Moses must have been deterred and discouraged after this initial setback, but God assured Moses that He was in control.
- Out of 17 times in the book of Exodus that this phrase I am the LORD” is repeated, it’s concentrated here in verses 2-8.
Application: When you read the Bible each day, look for repetition, repeated words.
- In verse 3 He uses the name El Shaddai, which is used as “God Almighty” and it’s more of a veiled name for God. But He uses this transcendent name to remind Moses of His covenant faithfulness, listing off the patriarchs.
Application: even when we don’t fully understand God or His ways, we can look back—as well-at the history of His covenant faithfulness.
- I verse 5 God hears the groanings of His people and is moved with compassion. This word is used only 4 times in the Bible.
Application: Just like Israel could trust what God spoke to them here, we can trust His word.
Discussion: How can reflecting on God’s work in the past affect our faith in the present and future?” (p. 33).
III. Promised (Exodus 6:6-9)
Explanation: “6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.”
- When God says, “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians…” He assures them again that they would be set free because God is committed to keeping His promises to us.
- When He says He would “redeem” them in verse 7 it’s the word “ga’al,” same word used when He restored His people from Babylonian exile, set them free, and bring them back.
- When he says “with an outstretched arm” that is referring to God’s all-powerfulness that would be displayed toward Egypt in the judgment plagues.
- In verse 7 He says, “will take you to be my people, and I will be your God…” referring to the covenantal relationships between God and His people; variations of this statement are used 8 times and the reverse order 4 times. This relationship would be formalized later on Mt. Sinai.
- They would possess the land, and God would heal their “broken spirit.”
The work of Christ in the gospel: This lesson points us to Christ and the gospel when we think of how Jesus rescued, set free, and redeemed us from our brokenness due to sin that marred and separated us from God’s perfect design. Yet Jesus came and became a man of sorrows to bear our sin to the cross that we might repent and belief on Him to recover and pursue His original design for our lives, because of His new life and His forgiveness.
Doctrine: Our key doctrine for this week is the doctrine of God.
Lifeway says, “There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe.”
Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Psalm 103:19, “The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.”
Closing Discussion: “How has God proven Himself to be strong and mighty in your life or in the lives of those you know and love? How did that experience help bolster your faith?” (p. 35).
Devotional: “How to Handle Life’s Setbacks” https://drcalebwalker.com/2024/12/02/how-to-handle-setbacks/
General Outline: https://drcalebwalker.com/2024/12/02/general-overview-outline-exodus-5-6/
Caleb Walker 
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