The Old Testament

A Historical, Theological, and Critical Introduction

Chapter

2. Exodus

Bible Reading Guide

  1. What answer did the two midwives give to Pharaoh’s question?
  2. Why did Moses leave Egypt?
  3. What was Moses instructed to do after bringing the people out of Egypt?
  4. What were the circumstances behind Aaron’s appointment as Moses’s assistant?
  5. How did Pharaoh respond to Moses’s first request to release Israel?
  6. How did God reveal himself to Israel in an unprecedented manner?
  7. What was Moses’s first miracle before Pharaoh?
  8. After which plague did Pharaoh first promise to let Israel go?
  9. After which plague did Pharaoh first confess his sin?
  10. After which plague did Moses and pharaoh speak to one another for the last time?
  11. Why did God say that Pharaoh would refuse to listen to Moses?
  12. How did Israel “plunder” the Egyptians?
  13. What do the keeping of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the consecration of the firstborn have in common?
  14. What happened the night before the Red Sea was crossed?
  15. What was the reason for the songs of Moses and Miriam?
  16. For how long did Israel eat manna?
  17. What was Israel’s and God’s relation to the Amalekites?
  18. What did Moses’ father-in-law teach Moses?
  19. How did God first describe Israel to Moses at Sinai?
  20. Why were the people afraid at Mount Sinai?
  21. What laws are included in Exodus 21?
  22. In most cases of theft in the Book of the Covenant, what is the restitution for theft?
  23. What are the three annual feasts that Israel is to celebrate?
  24. How did the people respond when Moses made covenant with them at Mount Sinai?
  25. Describe the lampstand.
  26. Where was the plan for the tabernacle shown to Moses?
  27. How is the courtyard to be marked off?
  28. On what is to be placed the twelve precious stones with the names of the twelve tribes?
  29. With what are Aaron and his sons anointed as priests?
  30. How much is each Israelite to pay as a ransom for his life?
  31. Who is the first person in the Bible filled with God’s Spirit?
  32. What did Moses do with the gold calf?
  33. What did God first say to Moses about the next journey after the gold calf?
  34. When God reveals himself to Moses in the cleft of the rock, what happens to the guilty?
  35. What is the first command that God gives Israel through Moses after the gold calf?
  36. How did Israel’s freewill offerings compare to the need for the tabernacle?
  37. Out of what material was the altar of incense made?
  38. What was used to build the bronze basin?
  39. What was engraved on the diadem of the turban?
  40. What happened after Moses set up the tabernacle and courtyard?

Study Questions

  1. What does the Hebrew name for Exodus mean?
  2. If Pharaoh tries to kill all Israelite male babies, what might he expect?
  3. After Israel feasts with God, what two subjects do the following laws address?
  4. In Christianity, what did the Passover lead to?
  5. How does tradition history understand the origins of Exodus 4:24–26?
  6. Which Egyptian god does the last plague challenge?
  7. How does Alexander respond to the view that the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread were originally separate?
  8. The altar and slave laws that begin the Book of the Covenant imply what?
  9. Instead of liberation from slavery to freedom, Israel experiences what?
  10. How do the Hammurabi laws and biblical social laws differ when they begin?
  11. What is the likely name of Tell ed-Dab‘a in the Bible?
  12. What does the picture of the war tent of Ramesses II resemble?
  13. In 1 Corinthians 10, to what is the deliverance from Egypt compared?
  14. Why is the Red Sea crossing described alongside commands to celebrate it?
  15. What does the enveloping of civil law within religious law demonstrate?