Listeners to the podcast are no strangers to the book of Exodus. Our series on that book of the Torah took almost a year. In this episode of the podcast we welcome Old Testament scholar Dr. L. Michael Morales to the podcast to revisit the exodus event in biblical-theological history. Rather than looking at the exodus in granular detail, this time we’re taking a wide-angle perspective, toward how the content of that Old Testament book informs the way the work of Jesus is described in the new testament as a new exodus—a new deliverance from spiritual bondage—complete with a new and better Moses.
We’ve noted many times how the New Testament draws on the Old Testament for its content. Some books stand out in that regard. The Gospel of Matthew is one of them. Long regarded as the most Jewish gospel due to its numerous hooks into the Old Testament, Matthew was especially fond of the book of Exodus. In this episode, we’ll take a trip through Matthew to see how frequently Matthew utilizes Exodus and Moses imagery and episodes in his presentation of Jesus.
Few passages in the Bible are as familiar to Bible readers as John 3, the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. John 3 of course gives us memorable lines, such as “you must be born from above” (more popularly, “you must be born again”) and of course John 3:16. The chapter has also produced famous interpretive headaches, like “unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). This episode of the podcast seeks to explicate this verse by exploring the strength of the idea that the exodus and its Old Testament imagery provides the context for interpreting John 3.
