BIG STORY S1E3: Moses to Israel in the Wilderness | TJ Syroteuk [February 15, 2026]

God continues the redemptive plot that began in Genesis and moves it through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Pharaoh enslaves a multiplying people, orders the slaughter of newborn boys, and confronts the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when Moses returns from exile. A Hebrew child placed in the Nile becomes Egypt’s adopted son, kills an oppressor, flees, and spends forty years as a shepherd before God calls him from a burning bush and reveals the name “I AM.” God equips Moses with miraculous signs, sends ten plagues to dismantle Egyptian gods and infrastructure, and institutes Passover: the blood of a spotless lamb marks life for households while a death angel strikes Egyptian firstborns. At midnight the empire collapses, the people leave with plunder, and God parts the sea so an entire nation crosses on dry ground while Pharaoh’s army drowns.

God brings the people to Mount Sinai, gives the Ten Commandments as a roadmap for freedom, and establishes covenantal presence contingent on obedience. The people repeatedly promise obedience and then relapse: Aaron fashions a golden calf, idolatry erupts, and Moses shatters the stone tablets. God disciplines, repents are offered, and the community receives detailed sacrificial laws and priestly instructions that aim to restore holiness. The wilderness becomes a testing and shaping ground—manna and quail sustain the people, Korah’s rebellion exposes unrest, and spies return with fearful reports. Ten spies counsel retreat; two (Joshua and Caleb) urge trust. The community chooses fear; God decrees a forty-year wilderness so that an unbelieving generation dies before entering the promised land.

Moses models faithful leadership until a failure at Meribah, where disobedience to God’s command costs him entry into Canaan. Leadership passes to Joshua, who prepares to lead the people into Jericho. Passover remains foundational: the lamb’s blood marks deliverance and points forward to a greater sacrificial work that later fulfills covenantal promise. The narrative insists that God writes the story, rescues the covenant people, judges powers that oppose mercy, and shapes a people by law, provision, discipline, and promise.

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Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [43:48] - Series recap and context
• [46:25] - From Genesis to Exodus
• [50:12] - Egyptian oppression and infanticide
• [52:13] - Moses rescued and raised in palace
• [55:19] - Burning bush and “I AM”
• [61:06] - Ten plagues and Passover
• [67:46] - Crossing the Red Sea
• [72:07] - Sinai covenant and commandments
• [75:28] - Golden Calf and rebellion
• [78:11] - Wilderness, spies, and judgment
• [81:47] - Moses’ final days and Joshua
• [83:01] - Passover’s meaning and communion
• [98:55] - Announcements, prayer, and next steps

Bible reading
Exodus 3:1–15 (ESV)
*1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” 13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”*

Observation questions

1. What did God say to Moses when he first called out to him from the burning bush?
2. How did God describe the land He was bringing His people to?
3. What was Moses’ initial response when God told him to go to Pharaoh?
4. What name did God give for Himself when Moses asked who he should say sent him?

Interpretation questions

1. Why do you think God waited 350 years to act on the cries of His people in Egypt? [58:01]
2. What does God’s name “I AM” reveal about His nature and His relationship with His people?
3. How did the ten plagues serve as both a judgment on Egypt’s gods and a demonstration of Yahweh’s power? [01:03:18]
4. Why did the Israelites repeatedly choose fear over faith, even after witnessing God’s miracles? [01:18:11]

Application questions

1. God remained present during a long season of silence. Are you in a season where God feels silent? How can you hold onto the truth that He is still writing your story even when you don’t see or hear Him? [58:01]
2. The blood of the lamb secured life for the Israelites. How does the Passover point forward to Jesus, and what does it mean for you personally to live under the protection of His sacrifice? [01:05:26]
3. The Ten Commandments were given as a roadmap for freedom, not bondage. In what areas of your life do you still treat God’s commands as restrictions rather than guidance toward true freedom? [01:12:49]
4. The Israelites’ fear caused them to forfeit the promised land. Where in your life are you choosing fear over faith right now? What would it look like to trust God’s promises instead? [01:18:11]
5. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness before God called him. Has there been a wilderness season in your life that, in hindsight, was actually a time of preparation? [01:42:49]
6. The people kept wanting to go back to Egypt because they remembered the food but forgot the slavery. What “onions and leeks” are tempting you to return to old patterns of bondage instead of moving forward in God’s promise? [01:18:47]
7. Communion is a reminder of our deliverance under the blood of the Lamb. How can regularly remembering Jesus’ sacrifice strengthen your faith and obedience in daily life? [01:23:01]