THE IMPROVED ADULT TEACHER QUARTERLY
LESSON 9 JANUARY 29, 2012
OUT OF EGYPT
LESSON SCRIPTURE: EXODUS 1:8-14, 15:1-27
PRINT: EXODUS 15:1-3,19, 22-26
Key Verse: But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Exodus 15:19. (NRSV)
Exodus 15:1-3,19,22-26 (NRSV) Exodus 15:1-3
1 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.
2 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.
3 The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name."
19
19 When the horses of Pharaoh with his chari¬ots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.
22-26
22 Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
23 When they came to Mar'ah, they could not drink the water of Mar'ah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Mar'ah.
24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
25 He cried out to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he put them to the test.
26 He said, "If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that 1 brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you."
Exodus 15:1-3,19,22-26 (KJV) Exodus 15:1-3
1 THEN sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed glori¬ously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation: my father's God, and 1 will exalt him.
3 The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
19
19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
22-26
22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
23 And when they came to Ma'rah, they could not drink of the waters of Ma'rah, for they were bit¬ter: therefore the name of it was called Ma'rah.
24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
HOME DAILY BIBLE READINGS
January 23 - January 29
Monday - Psalm 77:11-20 (A Mighty Redemption)
Tuesday — Exodus 1:1-7 (A Strong People)
Wednesday — Exodus 1:8-14 (A New King)
Thursday — Exodus 1:15-22 (A Treacherous Plan)
Friday — Exodus 15:4-10 (A Divine Intervention)
Saturday — Exodus 15:11-18 (An Unsurpassable God)
Sunday — Exodus 15:1-3, 19, 22-26 (A New Ordinance)
INTRODUCTION
People will often follow a trusted leader even into dangerous places. God chooses His leaders (men and women) for a particular task in a particular situa¬tion. Leaders anointed and initiated into service by God are prepared and sup¬ported as they carry out their mission.
God choose Moses to deliver Israel from bondage. As He did so, the Israelites were redeemed and reclaimed as His people. He would also give them the land in Canaan. This was a reaffirmation of previous promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Moses spoke to the Israelites of God's plan for their deliverance and believed them. However, there were troubles along the way and they had to learn to strengthen their faith in his leadership. Moses continued to assure them that God keeps His promises.
God commissioned Moses to deliver His people out of slavery. This deliverance depended upon Israel's willingness to follow Him and to obey. Because Moses had faith in God himself, he was able to lead the Israelites into the Red Sea, where God saved them from drowning and from the Egyptians. The Israelites followed their great leader.
BIBLE STORY
Many events took place in the lives of the Israelites. There were ten plagues visited upon them. The last being the firstborn of every family and cattle in Egypt were slaughtered by death angels. These judgments had been placed upon them because of Pharaoh's defiant and stubborn attitude. An entire nation was made to suffer as a result of Pharaoh's resistance to God's demand, given to Pharaoh by Moses to let His people go.
God promised to deliver His people and His promise would never fail. Pharaoh's army was destroyed in the Red Sea due to the tragic consequences of persistent endeavor to resist God's purpose. In order to deliver the people effectively, it was necessary for God to eradicate the Pharaoh's stubborn resistance to liberat¬ing the Israelites, which had already sur¬vived ten plagues and was now trying to abort their escape from bondage.
God delivered Israel out of the hand of Pharaoh and led them across the Red Sea. As He led them He was their guide and signal, with Moses as leader. The Israelites were actively involved in their own deliverance as they followed and supported Moses and kept their faith. They feared the Lord, believed the Lord, and supported their leader, God's ser¬vant Moses.
Moses, after arriving on the other side of the sea, assembled the people together. Miriam, Moses' sister, led the assembly in singing praise songs to their God and Deliverer. This song of praise probably was the inspiration behind the passage from Psalm 90, which is attributed to Moses. This song of praise (Psalm 90) contains praise verses like "Lord Thou has been our dwelling place in all gener¬ations," and "a thousand years in Your sight are as yesterday when it is past," and "teach us to number our days". This proved Moses, an intellect, a songster, a psalmist, and a prophet sent by God.
The event at the Red Sea was triumph for God. He vindicated His name at the crossing of the sea and His people praised and exalted Him. What took place at the Red Sea was evidence of the promises given to Abraham referring to "a land I will show". Egypt, however, was not that land but a stopping point to that land. The people had to first be lib¬erated in order to be free to journey toward that land. The Israelites jour¬neyed into the wilderness where God provided for their needs, tested their faithfulness, and gave them laws to make the Israelites a nation under God's authority. He tested them with the state¬ment of condition "if you will do this...I will do this..."
To this point Moses and the Israelites acknowledged that God had guided them physically and miraculously in their flight from Egypt and continued to pro¬vide for them in the wilderness. The Israelites could have lost hope and refused to follow Moses out of their bondage in Egypt, but they held on. Had they given up, they would have lost the opportunity to be led by God to their land of promise.
LIFE APPLICATION
Israel's deliverance was dependent upon a good leader and a nation's will-ingness to obey. Obedience is funda-mental both in the life of a nation and in the life of Christian. The oppression in which the Israelites had lived so many years placed them in a spiritual and social dilemma. There was no way their deliverance could take place except by divine intervention. God tested them on more than one occasion as He expected their complete obedience and trust.
As people of faith, we sometimes expe¬rience a mixture of faith and doubt. As a nation or as an individual, we cannot be delivered from the influences of sin and its political and social consequences except that we have a realization of that fact, and are willing to obey God. We must not allow our concern for our immediate situations to dominate our thoughts, in ways that tend to minimize the importance of faith. Fears and doubt can only be banished by faith. The full application of truth we learned in earlier lessons that above all things God fulfills His promises and is One who will never leave us in the midst of our problems. Instead, He intervenes and rescues us. God works in the lives of His people in many ways and one special way we can thank Him is through songs of praise.
SUMMARY
God always delivers through the instru¬mentality of a good leader. In the case of Israel, God commissioned Moses, one of the Hebrews, to work with Him in the liberation process for the Israelites. Not only did God assign Moses this task, He also instructed him what to tell his people so that they would know that God had sent him to serve in His stead. They needed to be aware that God had cho¬sen them to be His people as He would be their God. They were to know that not only would they be delivered from Egypt, but they would have a land of their own, the land he had promised to give to their father, Abraham.
Today God still speaks to us. He speaks to the oppressed telling of His concern for them and how He will deliver them. He speaks to the weak in ways that will strengthen them. He speaks to the hun¬gry words to satisfy their souls spiritually and provisions to fill their stomachs. He will promise those who are sick to be a healer for them, and the list goes on.
The lesson learned from this lesson is this. As we grow in faith, we can better understand that God will deliver and pro¬tect those who are faithful and obedient to His word and will. Each of us must choose how to respond to God's offer of deliverance from sin.
QUESTIONS
1. How were the Israelites involved in their own deliverance?
2. Did they help or hinder Moses' lead-ership?
3. What should a leader expect of peo¬ple he has been commissioned by God to lead?
4. What should people expect of leaders to whom they give support or whom they rely on for leadership?
5. How can we support our faith in God's fulfillment of His promises to His people in our day and time?
CLOSING PRAYER
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You today and every day for Your unfailing love and for the matchless gift of Your Son by whom we are redeemed. As we are delivered from darkness to the marvelous light through Him, help us to reflect that light to tnose who maV be drowning in the sea of darkness, that they may find the way of life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
D E C A L 0 G U E
Superintendent-And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law
Superintendent-Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law
Superintendent-Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Superintendent-Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord hath made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day: Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
My soul be on thy guard,
Ten Thousand foes arise;
And hosts of sins are pressing hard
To draw thee from the skies
Superintendent-Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Superintendent-Thou shalt not kill.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Superintendent-Thou shalt not commit adultery.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Superintendent-Thou shalt not steal.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Superintendent-Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Superintendent-Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.
School-Lord, have mercy upon us, and write these laws upon our hearts.
Nearer my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me;
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer my God, to Thee!
Nearer to Thee!
Superintendent-Hear what Christ, our Savior saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great Commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two Commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
All-Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
