ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY EDUCATION NETWORK EXODUS DR. DAVID ADAMS #28 Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc. 10 E. 22nd Street Suite 304 Lombard, IL 60148 800-825-5234 *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. *** >> I have a question I want to ask to see if I'm on the right track. In what sense does this text look back toward the book of Genesis? It does, doesn't it? >> Yes, it does, Eric. And it's actually very important that this text does look back to the book of Genesis. Remember, we saw that this text was in a sense the kickoff to the narrative ark of the first part of the book. It introduces both the narrative line and also the central theological theme of the first part of the book. The fact that it does this by making a direct and intentional connection back to the book of Genesis is very important here. Let's take a look at how it does this. In Verse 6 of Chapter 3, God introduces himself to Moses. There we read, "And he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." So as he introduces himself, God does so by connecting back to Moses' ancestors and the promises that God made to them in the book of Genesis. Now, there's one very interesting sidelight here. The text says, "I am the God of your father" singular. Most of the time when this formula is used in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis and the book of Exodus in particular, we find the plural, "I'm the God of your fathers" plural. And there's quite a bit of discussion in the commentaries about the significance of the fact that this word is singular instead of plural here. Basically there are two lines of interpretation. There is one line that says, well, this must just be a mistake or typo in the text. And they intended to say fathers because. That's the usual formula. The other line of interpretation is the one that I prefer. And that's to say no, the singular here is intentional and it's on purpose. And it actually serves an important function. Namely, remember Moses was born to a Hebrew family in Egypt. But he was very early in his life adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh and raised in an Egyptian household. So by reminding him that God is the God of his father, that is to say his early physical direct immediate father, God is not only saying "I'm the God of your ancestors from the ancient past" but "I am the God of your father." So God is reconnecting Moses to his own family and to his own heritage. He's not merely saying -- he's connecting him to his ancient past. But he's reminding Moses that Moses is not really an Egyptian. Moses is not really a Midianite. He is a Hebrew. He is kith and kin to those who are enslaved in Egypt because he is the God of Moses' father. Now, it goes on a little later in the same chapter and God makes the same point again. God says to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. And thus, I am to be remembered throughout all generations." So in this way, too, God connects once again this text back to the patriarchs in the book of Genesis. He also recalls the promises that he made to Abraham when he says, "Then the Lord said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their task masters. I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land. A land flowing with milk and honey.'" In this way God not only reminds Moses that he is the God of Moses' ancestors, but he also reminds Moses of the promises that he has made to those ancestors. For example, in Genesis 13, there the Lord said to Abraham, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there. And they will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgement upon that nation that they serve. And afterward they will come out of it with great possessions.'" So in this way we recall the promises of the land that God gave to Abraham and his descendants. And God reminds Moses not only of his family heritage and that God is the same God who appeared to his ancestors, but also that has come to fulfill the promises that he gave to Moses' ancestors, to deliver them out of their slavery in Egypt and to bring them to the land that God had promised to Abraham. *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ***