The Devotional Journey: Bible Tour Stop 4—Yahweh Leads Israel Out

Now we will continue our journey through Yahweh's history with the second book of the Bible: Exodus. In the opening of Exodus, four hundred years have passed since the time of Joseph and Jacob. In that time, Abraham’s descendants have grown into a nation of about 2.5 million.

We will see that though Joseph and his family were well regarded by the Pharaoh of their time, four hundred years later, the current Pharaoh viewed Jacob’s descendants as a threat and he made them his slaves. He put them to harsh labour and the people were suffering.

The descendants of Jacob, now called Hebrews or the Israelites, were wondering if Yahweh had forgotten them. But He had not. Rather, He had been waiting for the right moment to move His plan forward. And now that right circumstances were in place, God made His move. He called one Hebrew into service—Moses.

Initially saved from an order to be killed, Moses ended up being brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter. Then in a dramatic series of events, Moses was directed by Yahweh to become the leader of Israel, to lead them out of Egypt and into the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses began as a reluctant leader and God had to work with him to become the leader God wanted him to be.

We will see Yahweh use a series of judgment plagues to judge Pharaoh and the Egyptians. This series of supernatural judgments not only moved His plan forward, but also taught Israel, Egypt and the surrounding nations that He was the One and only, true Creator-God of the universe.