The story of the Exodus is full of strong images, and the first of these is the burning bush. Israel's God is a God who makes the earth holy. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, silent for generations, introduces himself as "I Am". This is no mere family or tribal deity, but rather a God who is going to reveal himself to Israel, the Egyptians, and the whole world, as Israel's powerful saviour.

The great Exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt is a spectacular intervention. God is God, and Pharaoh is not. It is also a defining moment in Israel's narrative, and the Bible is very clear that this is an event that must be re-narrate over and over again. Israel must know themselves as the people whom God dramatically brought out of Egypt. They must remember that death passed over them because of grace.

At Sinai, God and Israel make a covenant. "I Am" is shaping the descendants of Abraham into a people who will live according to a new pattern of life, radically different from Egypt, Canaan and the surrounding nations. They are to be holy, just as God is holy.

Notice how the Commandments begin. "I Am" will now always be known as the God who brought Israel out of slavery. He alone is God, and Israel is not to worship any other gods. The next command is that Israel is not to make idols, because God curses and blesses. Fascinatingly, the word for 'idol' is the same word that we have seen in Genesis 1 to describe humanity as made in God's 'image'. Israel's covenant agreement not to carve images of God (as the Egyptians did), is because THEY are to be God's image-bearers in the world.

The story of the Exodus is full of strong images, and the first of these is the burning bush. Israel's God is a God who makes the earth holy. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, silent for generations, introduces himself as "I Am". This is no mere family or tribal deity, but rather a God who is going to reveal himself to Israel, the Egyptians, and the whole world, as Israel's powerful saviour.

The great Exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt is a spectacular intervention. God is God, and Pharaoh is not. It is also a defining moment in Israel's narrative, and the Bible is very clear that this is an event that must be re-narrate over and over again. Israel must know themselves as the people whom God dramatically brought out of Egypt. They must remember that death passed over them because of grace.

Compressed into these few chapters we have some of the most potent symbols of the Biblical story. The sacrificial lamb echoes Abel's blood, Noah's altar, and the almost-sacrifice of Isaac, and will find its truest meaning much later in the story. The pillars of cloud and fire will be seen again and again when God's Spirit is with his people. And, just as God created in Genesis 1 and Genesis 8 by separating the chaotic waters, so Israel pass from slavery and death into new life, through the Red Sea.

Chapters 16 and 17 are a remarkable contrast. Days into their journey to the Promised Land, Israel have lost faith. Their grumbling becomes a constant theme in their time in the desert, but God is their faithful provider: manna falls from heaven and water gushes from the rock.

At Sinai, God and Israel make a covenant. "I Am" is shaping the descendants of Abraham into a people who will live according to a new pattern of life, radically different from Egypt, Canaan and the surrounding nations. They are to be holy, just as God is holy.

Notice how the Commandments begin. "I Am" will now always be known as the God who brought Israel out of slavery. He alone is God, and Israel is not to worship any other gods. The next command is that Israel is not to make idols, because God curses and blesses. Fascinatingly, the word for 'idol' is the same word that we have seen in Genesis 1 to describe humanity as made in God's 'image'. Israel's covenant agreement not to carve images of God (as the Egyptians did), is because THEY are to be God's image-bearers in the world.

Yet, despite the clear command not to dishonour God and themselves by creating lifeless representations of "I Am", Israel's imagination is still stuck in Egypt. In Egypt, gods looked like golden statues of animals and men, and so it seems perfectly appropriate to the Israelites to make a golden calf to honour the God who has rescued them from slavery.

This tension becomes a consistent theme throughout Israel's history - they continually look to the other nations for their picture of what the good life looks like, rather than allowing God to shape their life together.

The heart of the Exodus story is not just God freeing his people from slavery. It is about more than that - it is about God coming to live on Earth with his people. Since the exile from Eden left humanity wandering on the surface of the Earth, God and his people have been separated by sin and death. Now, in the Exodus, God comes to wander on the Earth with his people. He lives in a tent, and sacrificial death is a continual reminder of the barrier of sin that separates him and his people, but with fire and cloud, God dwells with Israel.

Nearing the end of their crossing of the desert, Israel show their true colours yet again. They refuse to have faith in God, and instead despair, and talk of going back to Egypt. God's judgement is that Israel will wander for a generation.

Israel's rejection of God and his covenant and Law deepens, and God radically demonstrates that he requires holiness and faithfulness from his people.

After decades in the desert, Israel have come full circle. They are back at a rock called Meribah (possibly, but not certainly, the same rock of Exodus 17). Here we are shown simply that the desert wanderings have not changed the people of God. Even Moses breaks faith, and will not enter the land. Miriam and Aaron die in the desert, and we are left wondering, why did God bother?

The story of the Exodus ends with the death of Moses, and his blessing of Israel. There is hope, and God has been faithful, but as the baton is handed to Joshua, the story of redemption remains incomplete.

Before his death, Joseph looked forward to the time when God would bring his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land.

After Israel entered the land under Joshua, they continued to oscillate between faithlessness to the Law, and crying out to God. The Exodus remained a constant point of reference to God’s faithfulness to his covenant, despite Israel’s disobedience.

In the worship of Israel, God’s character was revealed in what he had done, centred on the Exodus.

Through the Exodus, God rescued Israel from enslavement to Pharaoh, and called them to follow him as their leader and God. However, Israel rejected this leadership, asking for a human King to rule them. The story of the Kings of Israel is one of the great redemptive threads in Israel’s history, but also an unfolding tragedy of gradual return to slavery.

Ultimately, the splintered Kingdoms of Israel and Judah fell. First the northern Kingdom to Assyria, then the southern Kingdom to Babylon. The image of the Exile is a deliberate reversal of the Exodus, as the King of Judah is dragged to Babylon in chains.

During the Exile, God continued to rescue his people. The story of Esther shows remarkable echoes of the Exodus – the miraculous salvation of God’s people from an evil ruler who intends genocide.

After the Exile, the people of Israel longed for a new Exodus, a rescue from the oppression that they experienced even upon returning to the land. Prophets such as Isaiah used Exodus imagery as they looked forward to the day when God would again bring salvation.

Matthew presents a picture of Jesus as the living new Exodus. He is born under an evil King (who tries to kill all the baby boys under a certain age). His family escapes to Egypt. He returns from Egypt, and is baptized (think Red Sea), then wanders in the desert for forty days being tempted by the lack of bread. Then, he goes up a mountain, and gives his people a new way of life. The writers of the New Testament clearly and frequently portray Jesus as the longed for new Exodus, a release now from slavery to sin and death.

The book of Exodus contains the stories of the key three elements of Israel's identity: slaves rescued from Egypt, people shaped by the Law given at Sinai, and the people among whom God chooses to dwell.

Leviticus lays out the Law as it was to be upheld by the priesthood of Aaron and his sons.

Numbers continues the story of Israel's wandering in the desert. It paints a dual picture of their identity: people who are blessed because of the Law, but also grumblers and rebels.