This week we continue our new sermon series on how we read our Bibles. If you missed it last week, we published a list of resources to plan a regular time of reading the Bible. Find it here.
This week we move beyond the creation stories and into the story of Moses as the leader of the Exodus and the bringer of the Law. These narratives are told in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes known as the Pentateuch. This sacred text is understood as the identifying story of the Jewish people. In parallel, the Exodus story is particularly important to our African-American siblings of faith in recognition of the desire to be free of historic slavery.
These five books tell stories of oppression and freedom, promise and fulfillment, call and response. The story begins with a prophetic act of resistance that is the single reason that Moses survives.
Exodus 2:1-10
Now a man from Levi’s household married a Levite woman. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that the baby was healthy and beautiful, so she hid him for three months. 3 When she couldn’t hide him any longer, she took a reed basket and sealed it up with black tar. She put the child in the basket and set the basket among the reeds at the riverbank. 4 The baby’s older sister stood watch nearby to see what would happen to him.
5 Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, while her women servants walked along beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds, and she sent one of her servants to bring it to her. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child. The boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. She said, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children.”
7 Then the baby’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Would you like me to go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”
8 Pharaoh’s daughter agreed, “Yes, do that.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I’ll pay you for your work.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10 After the child had grown up, she brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I pulled him out of the water.”
Consider these questions:
- What have you been taught about the Hebrew Bible (or “old testament”) and it’s place in the Christian tradition?
- What are your favorite stories from these writings? What characters stand out to you? Where do you see God most active? Why?
- With a theme of promise and fulfillment in these ancient stories, how do you understand God’s promise to the early Hebrew people? How do you understand God’s promise to people of faith today?
- How do you apply these ancient stories to your life today? How do you experience God through them?