- Jacob entered Egypt with 70 souls. Their generations grew large, threatening the Egyptians. Having forgotten Joseph, the new Pharaoh made the lives of the children of Israel bitter with hard bondage. The king of Egypt commands the midwives to kill Hebrew boys. #Ex1
- A newborn son from the house of Levi is cast into the Nile in an ark of bulrushes. Discovered by the daughter of the Pharaoh, the boy Moses is given to a Hebrew nurse to raise. Moses kills an Egyptian & flees to Midian, where he helps a priest, Jethro, & weds his daughter. #Ex2
- An angel of the Lord appears to Moses in a burning bush. God tells Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt and lead them to Canaan. Moses asks why the Israelites or Egyptians should believe him, but God reassures him by threatening to stretch out his hand & smite Egypt. #Ex3
- The Lord tells Moses how to use his rod and his hand to convince the Israelites. Moses says that he does not speak well. Aaron the Levite, Moses’s brother, is made spokesman. Moses leaves Midian with his family & convinces the Israelites that God will end their afflictions. #Ex4
- Moses & Aaron tells Pharaoh to let our people go to hold a feast. Pharaoh instead commands the taskmasters to increase the Israelites’ burden by forcing them to find straw to make bricks, while not changing their quota. This angers the Israelites against Moses & Aaron. #Ex5
- The Lord Jehovah renews his covenant with Moses & promises Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. The generations of the Levites from Levi to the sons of Aaron are recounted. The Lord tells Moses to speak to Pharaoh, which Moses objects to because of his speech defect. #Ex6
- The Lord commands Moses & Aaron to tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of the land, but also says he will harden Pharaoh’s heart. Moses turns his rod into a snake and turns the Nile to blood. Pharaoh’s magicians do similar enchantments in each case. #Ex7
- The Lord says to Moses to tell Pharaoh to let my people go. He sends plagues of frogs, lice, & flies. The Pharaoh’s magicians couldn’t imitate the plague of lice. After each plague, Pharaoh tells the Israelites to leave. Then the Lord hardens his heart and won’t let them go. #Ex8
- The Lord sends a plague on the Egyptians’ livestock, and ignites a plague of boils when Moses throws ashes. The Lord then causes a hailstorm to destroy livestock and crops. Each time Pharaoh agrees to let the Israelites go, but then the Lord hardens his heart. #Ex9
- A plague of locusts is unleashed upon the Egyptians when Pharaoh agrees to let only the Israelite men leave to make sacrifices. A 3-day plague of darkness is likewise unleashed. In each case, the Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart and stops them from leaving. #Ex10
- Moses tells Pharaoh that that all the firstborn in Egypt—even those of the servants and livestock, but not of the children of Israel—shall die. Though the Egyptians greatly esteemed Moses and the Israelites, the Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart. #Ex11
- The Lord gives meticulous directions to Moses and Aaron for observing Passover, with blood painted on door frames so that the angels of the Lord pass over those houses while killing the firstborn elsewhere. The Egyptians wail, and Pharaoh tells the Israelites to leave. #Ex12
- The Lord directs the Israelites to observe Passover yearly by eating unleavened bread for 7 days. He instructs them to flee Israel thru the Red Sea lest war with the Philistines makes them return to Egypt. He leads them in a pillar of a cloud by day and of fire by night. #Ex13
Screenshot from Exodus: Gods and Kings, directed by Ridley Scott (2014) - Pharaoh, with more than 600 Egyptian chariots, pursue the Israelites thru the desert. Moses raises his arm to part the Red sea (more likely, the Sea of Reeds), allowing the Israelites to cross, while the waters sweep the Egyptians away, killing them all. #Ex14
- Moses & the children of Israel sing a song to commemorate the Lord defeating the Egyptians: The Lord is a man of war. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Aaron’s sister, Prophet Miriam, & the women dance & shake timbrels. The Lord provides water for them. #Ex15
- In the Wilderness of Sin, Israel grumbles about the lack of food. Moses tells them that the Lord will rain bread from quail, & are told to daily gather about 1 omer (~1.5 kg) of manna & 2 omers before the Sabbath, according to their need. It was like wafers made with honey. #Ex16
- In the desert of Sin, the Israelites complain because they are dying of thirst. The Lord instructs Moses to take his rod and smite a rock in Horeb, releasing water. The Israelites, led by Joshua, fight the Amalekites. Israel prevails when Moses’s hands are raised. #Ex17
- Moses sends his wife Zipporah and sons Gershom and Eliezer to his father-in-law Jethro in Midian. Jethro comes to the wilderness with them and offers Moses advice, which he takes, about settling disputes by delegating the simpler cases to appointed judges. #Ex18
- On the 1st day of the 3rd month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites camp at Mt. Sinai. Moses goes up to meet God, who reaffirms his covenant. The people are told to purify themselves. The Lord appears to them in a cloud to the sound of thunder and a trumpet. #Ex19
- God spake the 10 commandments to Moses: No other gods before me; no graven images; do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; keep the Sabbath holy; honor thy father & mother; do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not covet. #Ex20
- The Lord commands Moses to give the Israelites laws & ordinances regarding servants & slaves, killings & murders, stealing slaves, cursing parents, animals killed, & oxen goring. The death penalty is often warranted. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, ox for ox,… #Ex21
- Laws and ordinances are given regarding theft, repayment for losses from animal trespass and borrowing, fires, maid seduction, and witches. Whoever lies with a beast shall be put to death. Neither vex nor oppress a stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. #Ex22
- The Lord further instructs Moses regarding justice & fairness: Do not make false rumors or accusations. Also, observe 3 festivals: Passover, harvest, & gathering. Let fields lie fallow the 7th year. Do no work on the 7th day. Worship no other gods. Land & help are promised. #Ex23
- The Lord commands Moses to come up to Mt. Sinai. Seventy of the elders of Israel are also to approach. An altar is consecrated with ox blood. The Lord, from the cloud & fire-covered mountain, promises Moses tablets of stone to record the law. #Ex24
- The Lord gives Moses detailed instructions about making offerings to God in a tabernacle, a covenant ark (box) to store the tablets on which the commandments are written, a table for bread to offer to God, and a lampstand. #Ex25
- The Lord gives extraordinarily precise instructions for the design of the tabernacle housing the ark of the testimony (covenant), including ten curtains, frames, crossbars, lampstands, & orientation. #Ex26
- More instructions are given for making an altar of burnt offerings out of acacia wood, a courtyard of the tabernacle, curtains, and oil of pressed olives for the lamps. #Ex27
Acacia Tree - Aaron and his sons are designated priests. Directions are given for their garments, including an ephod, a breastplate, a robe, a turban, and undergarments. The breastplate and ephod are adorned with gold and inlaid with jewels, symbolizing the children of Israel. #Ex28
- Instructions are given for the consecration of priests, starting with Aaron & his sons. These include the wearing of garments, 7-day ordination of priests with burnt offerings of a bull and 2 rams in the tabernacle, unleavened bread, and the anointing of priests with blood. #Ex29
- The Lord instructs Moses regarding an altar of incense made of acacia wood, the making and burning of incense, atonement money from each of the Israelites, a basin for the priests to wash with, and the anointing oil. #Ex30
- The Lord appoints skilled craftsmen Bezalel of the tribe of Judah and Oholiab of Dan to construct the tabernacle. As part of the covenant, the Lord tells Moses that the Israelites must observe the Sabbath under pain of death and gives Moses the tablets of the covenant law. #Ex31
- While Moses is at Mt. Sinai, the people have Aaron fashion an idol—a golden calf—out of their gold. The Lord is angry, but Moses talks him out of destroying Israel. On Moses’s return, his anger waxes hot, he breaks the tablets, destroys the calf, and has 3000 men executed. #Ex32
- The Lord tells Moses to take his stiff-necked people to the land of milk and honey promised by their covenant. The Tabernacle becomes the tent of meeting where Moses talks with the Lord in the form of a cloudy pillar, as no man can see the face of the Lord and live. #Ex33
- The Lord tells Moses to hew 2 new tablets, restates the terms of the covenant, and says not to consort with other peoples. The Lord will visit the iniquity of the fathers unto the 3rd & 4th generations, for he is a jealous God. Moses’s face shone on return from Mt. Sinai. #Ex34
- Moses tells the assembled Israelites that the Lord has commanded them that they must observe the Sabbath. They are to bring materials for the construction of the tabernacle, the priestly garments, and the anointing oils and incense. They are to help make these things. #Ex35
- Bezalel, Oholiab, and skilled workers among the Israelites construct the sanctuary, including the curtains, tent coverings, boards, and pillars for the tabernacle according to the directions given to Moses by the Lord. #Ex36
- Fine details of the ark, the lampstand, and the altar of incense made by Bezalel and his workers are described. The dimensions of the ark are 2.5 cubits long by 1.5 cubits wide by 1.5 cubits tall (1 cubit ~1.5 feet). #Ex37
- The designs of the altar of burnt offerings, the basin for washing, and the courtyard with its curtains and posts, are given. The amount of material required—gold, silver, and bronze—is specified in talents (100 talents ~ 3.4 metric tons) and shekels (1 shekel ~ 11.4 gm). #Ex38
- The Israelites make the ephod, breastplate, other priestly garments, including robes and tunics and a gold crown emblazoned HOLINESS TO THE LORD. Moses inspects the tabernacle and accessories, which were completed as the Lord had commanded. #Ex39
- Final preparations of the tabernacle are made. The tablets of the covenant law are placed in the ark, the altar of burnt offerings is consecrated, and the priests, clothed in their sacred garments, are anointed. Moses enters when the glory of the Lord (a cloud) is absent. #Ex40