In Exodus, the second book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, the people of Israel are enslaved in Egypt instead of thriving in the land (Canaan) that God had promised to their ancestors hundreds of years before. In this context of oppression, God’s power is revealed primarily through his mighty works such as the plagues he brings upon Egypt, his deliverance of the Israelites from slavery, and his feeding the Israelites in their desert wanderings. Many of God’s works, like the plagues and God’s control over Pharaoh’s heart (which he regularly “hardens”), target those who refuse to believe in him. But these works are also meant to teach the Israelites to believe that God “is the LORD” and to trust in him as they journey out of Egypt. In this way, Exodus highlights God’s sovereignty not just in order to portray him as a conqueror of enemies, but in order to show that he is worthy of Israel’s trust and obedience as they follow him to the promised land.
God’s actions serve two purposes: they punish Pharaoh (for oppressing the Israelites) and build the Israelites’ trust in him. To accomplish this, he first causes everyone—Egyptian and Israelite alike—to believe in his power. The plagues are a clear example, as they’re meant to punish the Egyptians and convince Pharaoh to release the Israelites while providing a public demonstration of God’s power. Then, after each of his plagues, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, causing him to refuse to release the Israelites. While this seems counterproductive, it’s actually strategic: God causes Pharaoh to stubbornly resist so that he can unleash an escalating series of plagues, showing that he, not Pharaoh, is all-powerful. (Even Pharaoh’s magicians can only replicate a few of the plagues themselves, and the Egyptians increasingly suffer while the Israelites are spared.) By revealing himself to be all-powerful over their oppressor, God also strengthens the Israelites’ trust in him as their true leader.
Finally, when God draws the Egyptians into pursuing the fleeing Israelites into the Red Sea, he is simultaneously punishing Pharaoh for his obstinacy and proving his power to the surviving Israelites. This plan works; after watching the Egyptians drown, “the [Israelite] people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.” In other words, by punishing the Egyptians in such a public and dramatic fashion, God earned the trust and fear of his own people who now knew his terrible power—as well as his caring protection of them, since they cross the Sea safely.
In showing the Israelites his power, God intends to make them obedient and dependent subjects. While journeying through the wilderness, the Israelites must depend on God as their provider. When God rains quail and manna (miraculous bread) on the people to feed them, he explains, “In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord.” In other words, by putting the Israelites in a situation where they would clearly starve if not for God, he’s trying to show them that they depend on him for survival.
After teaching the Israelites that he is a trustworthy provider, God commands their obedience. When God introduces the Ten Commandments, he prefaces them by saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” In other words, since God liberated them from Egyptian slavery, his people owe him obedience; they must now live a certain kind of life—namely, one that acknowledges God’s sovereignty.
Sabbath observance exemplifies both dependence on God and worship of him as a sovereign power. God commands Israel, “You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.” The people must rest on the seventh day of the week both to worship God and to show that they trust God—not their labor alone—to provide for them and make them holy.
While the dramatic plagues and escape are some of Exodus’s most memorable stories, the process of conquering Pharaoh is only part of God’s plan. As God reveals himself to be not only powerful but trustworthy, the Israelites are transformed from an oppressed, enslaved people to being free, willing subjects of God.
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God’s Identity and Power Quotes in Exodus
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:
This is my name forever,
and this my title for all generations.”
God also spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name ‘The Lord’ I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the Israelites […] ‘I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God.’” […] Moses told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.
Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood, and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt. But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts; so Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. […] And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “[…] Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.” […] The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my might,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.
The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.” […] So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord.”
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
I will send my terror in front of you, and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send the pestilence in front of you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. […] I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates; for I will hand over to you the inhabitants of the land, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not live in your land, or they will make you sin against me; for if you worship their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.
“You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall be put to death. […] It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. […] Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.
