Covenant at Sinai

Key Verses: Exodus 32 Key Questions
 Why do the people make a calf? What does this say about how fear and impatience can cause us to recreate false security from our past, even if it enslaved us? Why does Moses break the tablets? Does this act serve as protest, lament, or judgment? How do we wrestle with the Levites’ violence in the name of loyalty to God? Where is the line between righteous indignation and spiritual extremism? What does it mean that Moses offers to be erased for the people’s sake? How does this point to sacrificial love as the core of godly leadership? What ...

Key Verses: Exodus 24-31 Key Questions
 What are some of the possible connections between the Sanctuary and the creation of the world (and the Garden of Eden)? What is the author trying to convey with these parallels? How is God’s desire to to dwell with the people different from Pharaoh’s rule? What does it mean that God chooses to dwell in a movable tent instead of a fixed temple (and why are these things established in the desert)? How might this shape our understanding of church, presence, and holiness? Why was the Sanctuary to be built exclusively on the basis of voluntary offerings ...

Key Verses: Exodus 21-23 Key Questions
 Why is God so insistent on protecting the widow, orphan, and foreigner? How does your community embody—or fail to embody—this kind of Divine concern? How do these laws about Hebrew servants attempt to limit power and restore dignity? How do we engage critically with texts that still regulate servitude? What do these laws of restitution teach us about making things right? What would a system rooted in restoration, not punishment, look like today? How does Sabbath rest for land and laborers reflect God’s concern for all creation? What systems today deny that kind of rest—and how might we ...

Key Verses: Exodus 19-20 Key Questions
 Why does God call the people to the mountain but also set boundaries around it? What does this tension between intimacy and distance say about the nature of divine holiness? What does it mean for Israel to be a “kingdom of priests”? How does that reshape their role in the world? How was this calling applied to the church in the New Testament and how might this calling apply to faith communities today? Why is physical preparation (like washing clothes and abstaining from sex) required before meeting God? What does this say about how bodies, boundaries, and ...

Key Verses: Exodus 16-18 Key Questions
 What is God teaching the Israelites (and us) through the daily provision of manna and the prohibition on storing it? How does this practice challenge the empire mindset of accumulation and control? How do these wilderness experiences reshape Israel’s understanding of God—not just as deliverer, but as sustainer? How is Sabbath more than a religious observance—how is it a political and social act of resistance? What are modern forms of “Sabbath resistance” in today’s work-driven culture? How does the people’s panic and complaint reflect the difficulty of transitioning from slavery to freedom? How does God’s response show ...

Key Verses: Exodus 13-15 Key Questions
 Why does God ask for the consecration of the firstborn after the Exodus? How might this ritual be understood as a way of remembering that life belongs to God, not Pharaoh? What role does embodied ritual (like eating unleavened bread) play in helping future generations internalize liberation? How do our bodies remember what our minds sometimes forget? How does the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night signify God’s leadership? What might this say about divine guidance in uncertain, in-between spaces in our lives? How does the “Song of Moses” function as a theological and political ...

Key Verses: Exodus 11-12 Key Questions
 How does the Passover ritual help shape a collective identity for the Israelites? What role does the household play in Israel’s liberation? How does the command to share the lamb among neighbors reflect communal values, especially under threat? How does shared ritual function in your own community or faith tradition? What does the use of blood on the doorposts signify? What does this action represent, and how is it developed in the Bible? Why are the people told to eat with sandals on and staff in hand? What does this urgency say about faith in movement? What does ...

Key Verses: Exodus 7-10 Key Questions
 Chapter 7 begins with a clarification of the dynamic between God, Moses and Aaron in terms of prophetic activity followed by an announcement of judgment that God would bring to the land of Egypt. How does this text anticipate later prophetic activity within Israel? How do the miraculous signs performed by Moses and Aaron challenge Pharaoh’s authority? In what ways do the “plagues” challenge the Egyptian worldview and its pantheon of gods? What does Pharaoh’s continued resistance reveal about the nature of human obstinacy in the face of justice? What is the meaning of “hardening of the ...

Key Verses: Exodus 5-6 Key Questions
 Pharaoh responds to Moses’ call for justice by increasing oppression (questioning “rest” and adding to the labor so that the people will not regard “lying words”). What does this say about how oppressive powers react to the demands for liberation? How can the Israelite response to increased hardship inform contemporary understandings of faith under oppression?

 Egyptians perceive the Israelites as “idle.” How does derogatory language precede de-humanizing actions in the Bible and in history?
 How does God's reaffirmation of the covenant with the patriarchs strengthen the Israelites’ faith (especially in 6:3)? What is the role of memory in ...

Key Verses: Exodus 3-4 Key Questions
 Abraham J. Heschel talks about “the prophet” being one who feels deeply what God feels (pathos). Consider the possible symbolic meanings of the burning bush—what do they disclose about the nature of God, his relationship to the world, and Moses’ mission? Why is the revealing of God’s name significant in the development of the story of God and His people? 
 What does God’s statement, “I have seen… I have heard… I know… and I have come down” reveal about God’s stance toward the oppressed? How should this inform the ethical sensibilities of communities of faith today?

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