Exodus 1 – God IS King! (video)
Hi Dojo readers!
Today we started back up with our Tuesday lunchtime Bible study at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse (the Fairview location near South Park Mall here in Charlotte, for those who are local!). It’s a new year and a new book–Exodus!
About 10 years ago I taught through the book of Exodus in a home small group Bible study I lead and it was one of my favorite ministry experiences. I had recently taken Intermediate Hebrew with Doug Stuart up at GCTS in South Hamilton the year before, which consisted of translating the book of Exodus and examining its syntax and grammar. It was by far one of the most demanding classes in all my years Gordon-Conwell. In fact, a classmate majoring in Biblical Languages who was also taking Hebrew at Harvard at the time said that we did more in that semester with Stuart than they did in two semesters of Hebrew at Harvard Divinity (needless to say, that made me feel not quite as dumb!). Teaching through Exodus after having studied it verse by verse under a top OT scholar was such a great experience.
That’s why I’m excited to be teaching it once again ten years later–because I’ve learned so much more about it in this past decade and seen even more how it fits into and shapes the larger Biblical canon (thanks to the works of people like Christopher Wright, Peter Enns, Terence Fretheim and my friend Tim Laniak…all of whose works I totally recommend, and which I just linked!).
I’m also looking forward to teaching Exodus in light of the recent Ridley Scott film that came out last month…and which was an absolutely dreadful and cringe-worthy adaptation of this epic story which forms the heart of the Hebrew Scriptures (if you’re curious as to why I say both of these things, you’ll have to follow along with this study to find out!).
So today was the first session and I was so happy to see a number of new faces joining us (as well as those of you who’ve been regulars over the past year and a half through our Genesis study!). I hope to see more and more new faces each week as we continue to bring greater Biblical literacy and spiritual equipping to the south Charlotte community–and to the world thanks to the magic of modern technology!
Speaking of reaching the world, Ruth’s Chris is very generous in donating the meal each week. So please consider thanking them by enjoying a nice meal sometime with someone special at their South Park or Uptown Charlotte locations! I do not get paid to do this study, but am able to provide it in part thanks to the generosity of those of you who have become monthly supporters of this ministry. If you would like to become a Dojo Donor and help ensure studies like this remain free and available online, PLEASE consider partnering on a monthly basis! It costs as little as $10 per month! To do so, or just to find out more of what’s involved, and what you can receive in return as a thank you, head over to https://jmsmith.org/about/support
Okay, enough housekeeping and preliminaries. On to the study!
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Curriculum, Hebrew Bible, Ministry, Teaching Products