E X O D U S

This page is an unfinished work. Greater detail of the text and written explanations sure would be nice additions. Feedback is welcome at cormacmjones@gmail.com.

Not to be read on a narrow screen!

GENERAL OUTLINES

Fivefold Fractal

PART Α: Generation of Moses (ch. 1–4)

Α. Israel’s growth and affliction in Egypt (ch. 1)

Β. Moses’ passover birth (2:1-10)

Χ. Moses as heroic stranger in cycle of life and death (2:11-22)

Ο. The call at Mt. Horeb: vision of the burning bush (2:23–3:9)

Ω. God commissions Moses and Aaron to save His people (3:10–ch. 4)

PART Β: Exodus (ch. 5–17:7)

Α. Moses’ attempts with Pharaoh makes affliction worse; Hebrew officers bear the brunt (ch. 5–6)

Β. The plagues on Egypt; Pharaoh’s hardened heart (ch. 7–10)

Χ. Passover (ch. 11–13)

Ο. Crossing the Red Sea; drowning of Pharaoh and his host (ch. 14–15:21)

Ω. Bread and water in the wilderness (15:22–17:7)

PART Χ: War with Amalek (17:8-16)

PART Ο: The Wedding of God and His people at Sinai (ch. 18–24)

Α. Jethro (natural law) recommends hierarchy (ch. 18)

Β. People agree to God’s covenant proposal and prepare for His descent (ch. 19)

Χ. The ten commandments and the people’s election of Moses as mediator (20:1-21)

Ο. The judgments of God given to Moses (20:22–ch. 23)

Ω. The blood and book of the covenant; hierarchy sees God (ch. 24)

PART Ω: The Tabernacle (ch. 25–40)

Α. The heavenly pattern of the Tabernacle of Testimony and its religion (ch. 25–31:17)

Β. The stone tablets, the golden calf, and Moses’ kenotic love (31:18–ch. 32)

Χ. Intercession and reconciliation at a tabernacle of testimony set up by Moses outside the camp (ch. 33)

Ο. New stone tablets; Moses needs a veil (ch. 34)

Ω. Construction of the Tabernacle of Testimony according to the heavenly pattern (ch. 35–40)

Ksiastically Contemplated

PART Α: Commission of Moses at Mt. Horeb (ch. 1–4)

PART Β: Exodus: Going Forth from Egypt (ch. 5–17:7)

PART Ξ: War with Amalek (17:8-16)

PART Ο: Commission of Israel at Mt. Sinai (ch. 18–24)

PART Ω: The Tabernacle: Vehicle for Going Forth through the Wilderness (ch. 25–40)

Long-Range Palistrophic

Α.Α. Israel’s growth and affliction in Egypt (ch. 1)

Α.Β. Moses’ passover birth (2:1-10)

Α.Χ. Moses as heroic stranger in cycle of life and death (2:11-22)

Α.Ο. The call at Mt. Horeb: vision of the burning bush (2:23–3:9)

Α.Ω. God commissions Moses and Aaron to save His people (3:10–ch. 4)

Β.Α. Moses’ attempts with Pharaoh makes affliction worse; Hebrew officers bear the brunt (ch. 5–6)

Β.Β. The plagues on Egypt; Pharaoh’s hardened heart (ch. 7–10)

Β.Χ. Passover (ch. 11–13)

Β.Ο. Crossing the Red Sea; drowning of Pharaoh and his host (ch. 14–15:21)

Β.Ω. Bread and water in the wilderness (15:22–17:7)

Χ. War with Amalek (17:8-16)

Ο.Α. Jethro (natural law) recommends hierarchy (ch. 18)

Ο.Β. People agree to God’s covenant proposal and prepare for His descent (ch. 19)

Ο.Χ. The ten commandments and the people’s election of Moses as mediator (20:1-21)

Ο.Ο. The judgments of God given to Moses (20:22–ch. 23)

Ο.Ω. The blood and book of the covenant; hierarchy sees God (ch. 24)

Ω.Α. The heavenly pattern of the Tabernacle of Testimony and its religion (ch. 25–31:17)

Ω.Β. The stone tablets, the golden calf and Moses’ kenotic love (31:18–ch. 32)

Ω.Χ. Intercession and reconciliation at a tabernacle of testimony set up by Moses outside the camp (ch. 33)

Ω.Ο. New stone tablets; Moses needs a veil (ch. 34)

Ω.Ω. Construction of the Tabernacle of Testimony according to the heavenly pattern (ch. 35–40)

DETAILED OUTLINES

Fivefold Fractal

PART Α: Generation of Moses (ch. 1–4)

Α. Israel’s growth and affliction in Egypt (ch. 1)

α. Israel fruitful and multiplying in Egypt (1:1-7)

β. New king tells his people to deal wisely with Israel lest they escape (1:8-10)

χ. Under heavy affliction, Israel builds treasure cities and continues to grow (1:11‑12)

o. Egyptians lay Israel to rigorous service in mortar, brick, and fields (1:13-14)

ω. The king to kill all Hebrew sons; midwives save them (1:15-22)

Β. Moses’ passover birth (2:1-10)

α. Two Levites conceive, bear a son (2:1-2a)

β. Mother places child in ark of bulrushes on river (2:2b-4)

χ. Pharaoh’s daughter has compassion on the Hebrew child (2:5-6)

o. Child nursed by his Hebrew mother (2:7-9)

ω. Child adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and named Moses (2:10)

Χ. Moses as heroic stranger in cycle of life and death (2:11-22)

α. Moses kills an Egyptian in defense of a Hebrew (2:11-12)

β. Moses rebuffed by striving Hebrews, flees to Midian (2:13-15)

χ. Moses defends priest’s daughters, waters their flock (2:16-17)

o. Reuel the priest invites Moses the Egyptian to eat bread (2:18‑20)

ω. Moses marries, bears child: stranger in a strange land (2:21-22)

Ο. The call at Mt. Horeb: vision of the burning bush (2:23–3:9)

α. Israel cries from their bondage and God remembers covenant (2:23-25)

β. Leading flock into desert, Moses sees angel in burning bush, goes near (3:1‑3)

χ. God calls to Moses from the bush (3:4)

o. Moses told to halt and remove shoes; he hides his face, fearing God (3:5‑6)

ω. God promises delivery of Israel from Egypt to Canaan’s land (3:7-9)

Ω. God commissions Moses and Aaron to save His people (3:10–ch. 4)

α. God commissions Moses (3:10-22)

β. Miracles for a proof to Israel (4:1-9)

χ. Question of eloquence: Aaron promised (4:10-16)

o. Given rod, Moses travels from Jethro towards Egypt (4:17-26)

ω. Moses and Aaron meet and persuade the people (4:27-31)

PART Β: Exodus (ch. 5–17:7)

Α. Moses’ attempts with Pharaoh makes affliction worse; Hebrew officers bear the brunt (ch. 5–6)

α. Pharaoh knows not their God, refuses their request (5:1-5)

β. Israelites no longer given straw, scattered abroad in search of it (5:6-12)

χ. Plight of the Israelite officers; same quota upheld (5:13-19)

o. The officers blame Moses; the Lord counsels Moses with promises; people still grieve (5:20–6:9)

ω. God sends Moses to Pharaoh again; genealogies of Reuben, Simeon, Levi (6:10‑30)

Β. The plagues on Egypt; Pharaoh’s hardened heart (ch. 7–10)

α. The Lord promises to set Israel free; the first plagues, wrought by Aaron and the rod (ch. 7–8:19)

β. Plagues wrought by God alone, which put a division between His people and Pharaoh’s (8:20–9:7)

χ. Furnace ashes sprinkled toward heaven by Moses make dust, causing boils on all (9:8‑12)

o. All the Lord’s plagues sent upon Pharaoh’s heart, wrought by Moses and the rod (9:13–10:20)

ω. Thick darkness for three days (except Israelite houses), wrought by Moses’ outstretched hand (10:21‑29)

Χ. Passover (ch. 11–13)

α. The tenth plague: Egypt’s firstborns to be killed at midnight (ch. 11)

β. Instructions for paschal lamb and the yearly memorial of unleavened bread (12:1‑28)

χ. Passover occurs and the firstborns die; Israel thrust out of Egypt (12:29-39)

o. Rules of paschal observance and sanctification of the firstborn (12:40–13:16)

ω. Israel led into wilderness instead of war; Joseph’s bones; pillar of cloud/fire (13:17-22)

Ο. Crossing the Red Sea; drowning of Pharaoh and his host (ch. 14–15:21)

α. Pharaoh’s pursuit of Israel, trapping them by the sea (14:1-9)

β. Israel in fear and regret, but Moses promises salvation from the Lord (14:10-14)

χ. The parting of the sea by the rod of Moses (14:15-23)

o. The destruction of Pharaoh and his host (14:24-31)

ω. Song of triumph over Pharaoh (15:1-21)

Ω. Bread and water in the wilderness (15:22–17:7)

α. Wilderness of Shur: bitter waters of Marah made sweet by a tree; Elim (15:22-27)

β. Wilderness of Sin: promise of bread from heaven with provision for the Sabbath (16:1‑5)

χ. Lord’s glory in the cloud and the provision of quails and something with the dew (16:7-14)

o. Daily gathering of manna with provision for the Sabbath (16:15-36)

ω. Rephidim: Water from the rock of Horeb at Massah/Meribah (17:1-7)

PART Χ: War with Amalek (17:8-16)

Χ: War with Amalek (17:8-16)

Full text

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. (17:8)

And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek tomorrow:

α. and behold, I will stand on the top of the hill, and the rod of God will be in mine hand. (17:9)

So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek:

and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill (17:10)

β. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed:

and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. (17:11)

But Moses’s hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon;

χ. .and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on

the other side;

and his hands were supported until the going down of the sun. (17:12)

o. And Joshua routed Amalek and his people with the slaughter of the sword. (17:13)

And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book,

and put it in the ears of Joshua:

ω. for I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. (17:14)

And Moses built an altar to the Lord, and called the name of it, The Lord My Refuge: (17:15)

For with a secret hand the Lord warreth with Amalek from generation to generation. (17:16)

PART Ο: The Wedding of God and His people at Sinai (ch. 18–24)

Α. Jethro (natural law) recommends hierarchy (ch. 18)

α. Appearance in the wilderness of Jethro with Moses’ wife and two sons, Gershom and Eliezer (18:1-5)

β. Moses goes out to meet Jethro; they go into tent (18:6-7)

χ. Jethro rejoices at exodus and blesses the Lord as greater than all gods (18:8-11)

o. Jethro offers sacrifice to God; Aaron and elders eat bread with him (18:12)

ω. Jethro (natural law) recommends hierarchy for Israelites (18:13-27)

Β. People agree to God’s covenant proposal and prepare for His descent (ch. 19)

intro: Introduction to Sinai (19:1-2)

α. For obedience to covenant, God promises favor shown to Israel (19:3-6)

β. Moses mediates between people promising obedience and God Who calls him into cloud (19:7-9)

χ. God orders cleansing of people in preparation for His descent on third day (19:10-15)

o. Lord descends in thunder and fire; people and Sinai quake (19:16-19)

ω. Lord calls Moses up, sends him down to keep away the people (19:20-25)

Χ. The ten commandments and the people’s election of Moses as mediator (20:1-21)

α. I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (20:1-2)

β. Thou shalt have no other gods before me (20:3)

α. χ. Thou shalt make no idol, nor likeness, be it of heaven, earth, or the waters below (20:4)

o. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them

I the Lord God am a jealous God,

ω. repaying the iniquities of them that hate me to the third and fourth generations, (20:5)

showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments (20:6)

β. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,

for God shall not acquit (purify) one who takes His name in vain (20:7)

α. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy (20:8)

β. Six days thou shalt work, (20:9)

but the seventh is the sabbath on which thou shalt not work

Thou,

nor thy son, nor thy daughter,

χ. χ. thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,

thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any cattle,

nor the stranger that sojourneth with thee (20:10)

In six days the Lord made the heaven, earth, sea, and everything therein

o. and on the seventh day rested

ω. Wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and kept it holy (20:11)

Honor thy father and mother,

o. that thou mayest live long on the good land the Lord God giveth thee (20:12)

α. Thou shalt not commit adultery (20:14 LXX)

β. Thou shalt not steal (20:15 LXX)

ω. χ. Thou shalt not murder (20:13 LXX)

o. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor (20:16)

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife;

thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, nor his field,

ω. nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,

nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any of his cattle,

nor anything of his (20:17 LXX)

ς. The people behold the thunder, lightning, trumpet, and mountain smoking — and fear (20:18)

The people ask Moses to talk to them instead of God doing so,

ζ. and Moses explains the purpose of their fear, that they sin not;

they stand afar off (20:19-21a)

η. Moses enters the darkness where God is (20:21b)

Ο. The judgments of God given to Moses (20:22–ch. 23)

α. Make an altar, do not make gods (20:22-26)

β. Freeing servants (21:1-11)

χ. Death to killing (21:12-36)

o. Restitution for stealing (22:1-17)

ω. Destruction for sorcery, bestiality, idolatry (22:18-20)

ς. Against abuse of the law and social injustice (22:21–23:9)

ζ. Agricultural rules (23:10-19)

η. Instructions for overtaking the Promised Land (23:20-33)

Ω. The blood and book of the covenant; hierarchy sees God (ch. 24)

α. α. Lord calls up Moses and elders, Moses alone to draw near (24:1-2)

β. Moses tells the Lord’s judgments to the people, also writing them; people promise obedience (24:3-4a)

β. χ. Moses builds altar and twelve pillars; from sacrifices, half the blood sprinkled on the altar (24:4b-6)

o. Moses reads book of the covenant to the people, who promise obedience (24:7)

ω. Moses sprinkles the people with blood of the covenant (24:8)

χ. Elders go up and have vision of God (24:9-10)

α. He lays not a hand on the nobles; they too see God, and eat and drink (24:11)

β. God calls Moses into the mount for bestowal of the law on tablets (24:12)

o. χ. Moses and Joshua rise; Moses into the mount (24:13)

o. Moses speaks to elders, leaving Aaron in charge (24:14)

ω. ω. On seventh day Moses called into cloud for forty days; sight of God like fire to Israelites (24:15‑18)

PART Ω: The Tabernacle (ch. 25–40)

Α. The heavenly pattern of the Tabernacle of Testimony and its religion (ch. 25–31:17)

α. People to bring materials for a sanctuary (25:1-9)

β. Heavenly Tabernacle (multiple arrangements possible) (25:10–ch. 30)

χ. Aaronic priesthood (ch. 28–29:35)

o. Ritual sacrifices (29:36–ch. 30)

ω. Bezaleel with Aholiab to devise cunning works; everything listed; law of the sabbath (31:1-17)

Β. The stone tablets, the golden calf, and Moses’ kenotic love (31:18–ch. 32)

α. God makes tablets; the golden calf requested and made; Aaron makes an altar (31:18–32:6)

β. Moses appeals to God’s testimony to the Egyptians and the patriarchal covenant; destruction averted (32:7-14)

ξ. Tablets described, but broken upon Moses and Joshua’s descent (32:15-19)

o. The calf destroyed and Israel made to drink it; Aaron’s poor excuse; Levites called upon to slaughter 3,000 (32:20-29)

ω. Moses prays for the forgiveness of the people or his own oblivion (32:30‑35)

Χ. Intercession and reconciliation at a tabernacle of testimony set up by Moses outside the camp (ch. 33)

α. God assures deliverance into promised land, only without Him in their midst (33:1-3)

β. God threatens to consume Israel, orders ornaments be put off (33:4‑6)

χ. God talks with Moses at what Moses calls the “tabernacle of testimony” outside the camp (33:7‑11)

o. Moses intercedes with God and averts abandonment, promising to be a separate people (33:12‑17)

ω. Vision of Lord’s glory: the back parts, for His face shall not be seen (33:18‑23)

Ο. New stone tablets; Moses needs a veil (ch. 34)

α. Lord calls Moses alone to bring up new tablets for a replacement (34:1-3)

β. Moses and Lord meet in the mount to arrange a covenant (34:4-10)

χ. Observe these commandments (34:11-26)

o. Fasting forty days, Moses is commanded to write the ten commandments of the covenant (34:27-28)

ω. Moses descends with the new tablets, requires a veil for the brightness of his face (34:29-35)

Ω. Construction of the Tabernacle of Testimony according to the heavenly pattern (ch. 35–40)

α. Moses gives Sabbath law to the people (35:1-3)

β. Gathering materials from the people (35:4–36:7)

χ. Construction of the Tabernacle parts (36:8–39:43)

o. Assembly and consecration (40:1-33)

ω. Cloud covers the tent; Lord’s glory fills the Tabernacle (40:34-38)

Return to Bible Fractals