It is vital that we spend time in God’s Word.

But it’s not always easy.

We read a chapter and we don’t know what to get out of it or even how to start to understand it.

I thought I could try to help you get a little something out of what you are reading by providing you with some questions to ask as you look at the text. Good questions are a good start to understanding. Sometimes there will be more questions, sometimes less.

You can do this!

So, get a notebook, a pen, your Bible, take some time to answer the questions, and you may be surprised by all God teaches you.

Exodus 16

1.) How long has it been since the people of Israel were dramatically rescued from Egypt?
2.) How many years did Israel live in Egypt before all this happened?
3.) What are some things they left behind, good and bad? What is the longest you have had to be away from your home?
4.) Israel is in an in between time. They have left one home and are journeying to another. Have you ever experienced an in between time in your life? What are some challenges you face?
5.) While this would not have been an easy time for Israel, God is taking care of them. Besides being rescued from Egypt, what other miracle have they seen in this time?
6.) What was Israel doing in chapter 15?
7.) Where had God brought them to by the end of that chapter? What was there?
8.) So, God has miraculously provided for them. He has led them to a place where they had what they needed. But now they are start moving again, and what are they doing at the beginning of this chapter?
9.) What does it mean to grumble?
10.) What do they say they wish had happened in verse 3?
11.) What are they saying their condition was like while they were in Egypt?
12.) Is that true? What does that tell you about complaining? What temptation might this illustrate that people face as they think about the past when they begin to become afraid or uncertain?
13.) What does God say he is going to do in verse 4? Think about that phrase! What picture comes into your mind when you hear that? How does that encourage you about God?
14.) God gives them specific instructions about how they are to retrieve this bread. What are those instructions and why does he give them that command? What does he want to know about them?
15.) In a sense, God is training Israel to walk in his law. Why is that so kind of him, giving what he says in Exodus 15:26 and 27?
16.) What does Moses say the people are going to see in verse 7?
17.) What does Moses tell you about the way he sees himself at the end of verse 7?
18.) In verse 2 it says that the people were grumbling against Moses and Aaron. But who ultimately were the people grumbling against in verse 7 and 8? What does this teach you about complaining and why it is serious?
19.) What is repeated in verses 9-12?
20.) What does God say he wants them to know at the end of verse 12?
21.) The people were hungry, they were in the wilderness, they needed food, and what happened in verse 13-15?
22.) They went out and gathered, but what amazing thing happened according to verse 18, no matter how much they gathered or how little? How is this different than how humans would normally work in this situation?
23.) What do you think is the point?
24.) Moses tells them not to leave any until the morning. But how do they respond in verse 20 and what is the result?
25.) God wanted them to gather twice as much on the sixth day, and not to gather on the Sabbath. What were they to do on the Sabbath? Why did they rest on the Sabbath? Why was this so important? Think about what Israel was supposed to demonstrate the world. They were pointing people back to the Garden of Eden. What had happened on the seventh day in the Garden of Eden. But in spite of this instruction, what did people do on the seventh day in verse 27?
26.) What does God say in verse 28? What does this teach you about God? What warning do we get from this about us as people?
27.) They are in the wilderness, and God is training them. First in chapter 15, he taught them they were supposed to diligently obey God’s commands and he would bless them. In chapter 16, he’s giving them a test to see if they will do that. To do that, they would need faith. But unfortunately, God’s saying, they just won’t obey.
28.) What did God have Moses do with some of the manna at the end of this chapter and why?
29.) How long did they eat this bread miraculously? When did it stop? Is there any insight you might gain here about miracles and the way God normally provides for His people?
30.) How would you summarize what God is trying to teach Israel about living as His people in this chapter?

Exodus 17

1.) Where is Israel at the beginning of this chapter?
2.) What images come to your mind when you think about being in the wilderness with 600 hundred thousand other people who have just escaped slavery in Egypt and had to leave on the run?
3.) Still God is caring for them. What has God done in the previous chapter?
4.) But what problem do they face at the beginning of this chapter?
5.) What is the longest you have been without water or something to drink? Can you imagine being in a situation where you were concerned that you wouldn’t have access to water?
6.) How do the people respond? How many times have they done this since they left Egypt?
7.) In light of the previous chapter, what should they have done instead?
8.) What does Moses say they are actually doing to God? What is the connection between grumbling and testing God do you think? What does it mean to test God? 9.) Why is that so wrong?
10.) What does Psalm 95:7,8 say the people are doing? Who had done that before? So they are being like who in the wilderness?
11.) What do they say was Moses’ motivation? Why is that crazy? What does that tell you about leadership?
12.) What does Moses say they want to do to him?
13.) What does God say to Moses to do with his staff? What do you think is the significance of Moses taking his staff? How had God used this staff in the past?
14.) Who does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 10 was the rock? So it is as if Moses is striking Jesus to provide water for the people. This is an illustration. What spiritual truth might it illustrate?
15.) What does Moses call the place and why? How does that explain what they are really doing? What are they really questioning? Why is that a crazy question in light of Exodus 3:12 and what had happened? Have you ever been tempted to ask a question like this however? What does that tell you about some of the excuses we have for our lack of faith?
16.) Who comes out to fight Israel here? This is important. Remember these people because we will meet them again later in the Old Testament.
17.) What does Deuteronomy 25:17-18 say about what is happening here?
18.) These are enemies of God attacking God’s people, and so what is the question here?
19.) What happens? What do you think is going on? How are the Amalekites defeated?
20.) How did Israel win this battle? What do you think Israel was supposed to learn from this?
21.) What does God promise He is going to do in verse 14?
22.) So they have different memorials. Passover was one. The jar of manna was a reminder. What are they supposed to remember here? What do you think about that? 23.) What do we learn about God here?
24.) Why was what Amalek doing so serious?
25.) What does God say He is going to do the Amalekites?
26.) What role do the Amalekites play in the rest of the Old Testament?
27.) What do you learn about God and people from this chapter?

Exodus 18

1.) The Gentiles were attacking Israel in the previous chapter. Here we are introduced to another Gentile. What do we learn about him?
2.) What was Jethro? What other names did he have? (Exodus 2:!6-22; Numbers 10:29)
3.) Where have we seen him before?
4.) How long had Moses lived near Jethro before this chapter?
5.) What had God accomplished through the Exodus in Jethro’s life?
6.) What had happened to Zipporah while Moses was being used by God to save the Israelites? What do you think might be some reasons why?
7.) What were the names of Moses’ sons? What do you think is the significance of their names?
8.) What does Jethro do after talking with Moses about the Exodus? And what specifically does he say he has learned about God? And after making this statement, what does Jethro do? So, what does this help you learn about God’s goal in the Exodus and even with the nation of Israel?
9.) What are some ways we have been reminded of God’s faithfulness in verses 1-4? 10.) If that’s how the chapter begins, what do you think might happen in this chapter?
11.) Where are they in verse 5? This is exactly where God had promised to bring them.
12.) One thing to notice when you are reading the Pentateuch is that there is lots of repetition. What previous story in the book of Genesis does Jethro coming to meet Moses after him defeating the Amalekites sound like? What are some similarities between those stories? What happens after that story in Genesis to Abraham? What is going to happen after this story in Exodus for Moses and Israel?
13.) What might be part of the point of meeting these Gentiles before these covenants with Israel?
14.) What happens when Moses and his father in law go into the tent?
15.) What was Jethro again, and yet who is instructing who here? How is that possible?
16.) What had God said was one of the big purposes of the Exodus? What specifically does Moses tell Jethro about? What is a little bit surprising about that? How does Jethro respond? And then what happens? Why do you think the elders and Moses and Jethro eat together? What does this show us?
17.) This is a preview of how it is supposed to work. God said he was rescuing Israel because he remembered his covenant with Abraham and a big part of that covenant was Israel being a blessing to the nations, and God has used the salvation of Israel to do just that here. This is a Gentile coming to acknowledge God and that gives us hope.
The next day Jethro sees Moses doing something. What exactly is Moses doing? 18.) What does this tell you about Moses’ role and what God’s people need?
19.) What counsel does Jethro give Moses? What do you think is surprising about Jethro giving Moses counsel? Who has been counseling him before this? What is Jethro again?What might this be telling us about Moses?
20.) What was his counsel? What does this tell us about Moses’ primary job? Then what does Moses do?
21.) If you look at verse 21 and 22 and describe this in political terms, what is being established for Israel here? Why do they need it? Where do they get their judicial system from?
22.) How does the rest of the story go?
23.) Jethro leaves for a little while. But he is actually going to come back. I don’t think he lived very far from here, so it makes sense that he could come and go. But we’ve worked our way through Israel’s time in the wilderness, and we’ve finally made it to Mount Sinai. We’ve come a long way. God’s brought Israel from being 70 descendants, through slavery and opposition, right where he promised them, he’s tested them, shown them what he wants, that they would rely on him and obey, promised them blessing and now giving a preview of the fulfillment of His promise, with this Gentile being saved, and then also, making them into more of a functioning kind of nation. What are some questions that we might have about Israel now?