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What was the significance of the Exodus story in the ongoing history of the people of Israel?
Author: Lavelle Layfield
Type: E-Mail Question
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What was the significance of the Exodus story in the ongoing history of the
people of Israel? How might this story have meaning today?
The Exodus became for the Hebrews the supreme occasion when God acted to
deliver His people from harsh captivity, binding them to Himself by a solemn
covenant. Even today, when the Jews celebrate the Passover, they are reminded
of God's mighty deliverance in that long-ago time.
The World Book Encyclopedia has some excellent articles on the Exodus and how
it relates to the Hebrew people.
You might read the full text of the book of Exodus. The story is told there.
The lessons we learn from the exodus are that God will deliver his people,
but will also require a covenant relationship with his people.
A second lesson we learn is the fact that God is in control of the ultimate
events of history. He may not be involved in each single activity, but
overall He is in control.
There are scriptures in the New Testament which speak to the fact that those
events of the exodus should be powerful lessons for people today. When
people today put their trust in God and do his will, they will be blessed.
When people today failed to obey God, they will suffer the consequences.
The following text is a direct reference to the experiences that the children
of Israel faced and what those lessons are for Christians in the present
generation.
1 Corinthians 10:1-5
10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our
forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the
sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They
all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for
they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was
Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies
were scattered over the desert.
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on
evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it
is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in
pagan revelry." 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them
did-and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test
the Lord, as some of them did-and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not
grumble, as some of them did-and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as
warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you
think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!
NIV
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