Exodus

In September I started reading Exodus.  I've taken some notes for my own reference as I've read through this book of the Bible. 
In Exodus I learned about:

• Jacob went to Egypt with his sons and their families; their descendants stayed there, grew in number and strength
• Egyptians enslaved the Israelites and made the work very hard, but they continued to grow in number and in strength
•  Nurses were to assist the Hebrew women with child birth and kill the baby boys, but the did not and God blessed them
• The king then commanded all Hebrew baby boys be thrown in the Nile
• Moses was born, his mother hid him for 3 months, then placed him in the Nile in a basket
• The king's daughter found Moses, his mother became his nurse, and the king's daughter adopted Moses
• One day as an adult, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, so he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand
• Another day, Moses saw two Hebrew men fighting, they asked if he was going to kill them too
• Everyone knew what Moses had done, he ran away from the king, who wanted to kill him
• Moses helped a priest with 7 daughters who watered the flock, they were chased away from the water by the shepherd's, but Moses stood up for them
• Moses was invited to their home for dinner and one of the daughters became his wife
• God is concerned for his people
• Moses was taking care of the flock when he saw a burning bush that wasn't burning up, he came close and God spoke to him
• God told Moses to lead his people out of Egypt and his people will take the riches of Egypt with them
• Moses wondered how the people would believe him and follow him, God turned his walking stick into a snake when Moses threw it on the ground
• Moses' wife, Zipporah saved Moses by circumcising her son when they stopped to rest on their return to Egypt journey
• Aaron met Moses at Sinai and Moses told him everything
• Moses and Aaron went to the king and asked for their people
• The king denied and took away their straw material for making bricks; they now had to find their own straw and were still required to make as many bricks as when they straw was provided for them
• The Lord told Moses and Aaron to go to the king and when he didn't believe them, Aaron was to throw his walking stick on the ground
• His stick became a snake; the king called in the magicians and wise men with their tricks
• They were also able to make their walking sticks turn into snakes, but Aaron's snake ate all the other snakes
• Still the king didn't believe
• The Lord told Moses to meet the king at the Nile with his walking stick, when the King continues to disbelieve, Moses will use his stick and the water will turn to blood
• The Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to follow his directions with their walking sticks to turn all the water in Egypt into blood, in buckets, rivers, canals, pools and jars
• Blood was everywhere, they could not drink the water, the fish died
• The wise men and magicians were able to do the same thing, so the king still didn't listen
• Seven days passed after the Lord changed the Nile
• Moses and Aaron went to the king again, this time when he didn't listen the Lord sent frogs everywhere in Egypt and the magicians did the same
• The king told Moses to pray to his Lord for the removal of the frogs and then he'd listen
• So Moses did and the frogs died, but then the king refused to listen again
• This time, the dust turned to gnats
• The magicians could not make this happen, and the magicians believed in the power of God
• The Lord told Moses to meet the king at the river again
• As they met Moses told the king that if he did not let them go to worship and make sacrifices to the Lord there would be swarms of flies in his hand
• The flies came, the king said they could go and he asked Moses to pray for him
• The flies left and then the king wouldn't let the people go again
• Again the Lord sent a disease to all the farm animals of the Egyptians, but the Israelite's livestock was spared
• The king still refused to let them go worship
• The Lord sent boils to all the people in the land, but still the king refused
• The Lord sent hail on the land of Egypt and spared the Israelites, again the king said he would release them when the hail stopped, but the hail stopped and the king stubbornly refused their release
• The Lord let the king and Egyptians live to show His power, so He may be talked about on the earth
• The king agreed to let the men only go to worship God, not everyone, so the locusts came and removed the last remaining grain and greenery from the land that was left from the hail
• Again the king agreed, the locusts stopped and again the Lord made the king stubborn and refused to let them leave to worship
• The Lord brought complete darkness for 3 days
• Now the king agreed to let them leave as long as they left their livestock, Moses refused to leave them behind as they needed them to worship the Lord and sacrifice
• The king threatened Moses and made him leave
• The Lord then told Moses to gather his people and ask the Egyptian neighbors for silver and gold items, they Egyptians and king's officers had grown to respect Moses and his people
• The first passover, they were to eat a lamb (1 year old flawless male) while fully dressed and ready for a trip; they were to spread the blood of the lamb on their door frames to protect their firstborns
• That night the firstborn sons of all people in Egypt and the livestock died
• Early that day, before their bread had yeast in it, they Israelites left Egypt; they were no longer slaves
• The laws of Passover
• The Israellites now had to give their firstborn sons to the Lord and buy them back
• The Lord led them out of Egypt with a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night
• The king sent his army after the Israelites, and they were unhappy with Moses for leading them out to be challenged again
• But the Lord parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to pass, but returned the water when the Egyptians tried to pass the Sea
• Moses and Israelites sang to the Lord his praises
• The Israelites were looking for water, but what they found was bitter; the Lord directed Moses to a tree
• Once the tree was thrown in the water, it was good
• The Lord is testing their loyalty
• The Israelites began grumbling for food, they had in Egypt, were rescued and now hungry
• The Lord heard them and provided meat at night, quail, and manna in the mornings; they were to gather daily and on Saturdays double for the Sabbath
• They ate this way for 40 years
• The Israellites tested the Lord when they were thirsty, He sent Moses to use his stick on a rock for water to pour out of it
• The Israelites went to battle with the Amalekites led by Joseph, as long as Moses kept his hands raised, they would win
• With help from rocks, Aaron and Hur, Moses kept his hands up and they won
•  Jethro, Moses' father-in-law comes to visit with Moses' wife and sons
• Jethro advises Moses to find people to assist him solve disagreements so he is not overworked, they monitor groups of people and escalate larger disagreements to Moses
• Once the Israelites had prepared themselves, the Lord came down on to holy ground at Sinai
• Moses and Aaron went on the mountain to be with the Lord, but no one else was to for fear of punishment
• God spoke The Ten Commandments
• Laws of slaves
• Laws in events of injury (lots of put to deaths)
• Property laws (must repay much more than the loss)
• Relationship laws
• Fairness laws
• Sabbath laws, rest every 7th day, and don't plant or harvest every 7th year
• 3 annual feats
• God makes his promise to help Israel
• Moses meets God way up int he mountain
• Gather specific gifts for the Lord and build an Ark of the Agreement
• Make a table, a lampstand, a Holy tent, an alter and courtyard for the Lord by His specifications
• Olive oil from pressed olives is to be used to keep the lamps burning
•  God directed the making of clothes for priests, so people knew they belonged to the Lord
• The Lord appoints Aaron and his descendants as the priests
• An alter is built
• There is a tax for their lives
• There is a bowl for washing, oil for appointing and incense
• The Lord sends helpers to make all these things
• There is a reminder of the Sabbath
• I've noticed in my Bible reading keeping the Sabbath is referred to several times, and I'm only in the second book.  We as a group of people are absolutely terrible about this today, and it has been on my mind a lot lately.  It's something I'm thinking about and trying to implement in our lives, although I'm not perfect at it, not even close.
•  When Moses was on the mountain, the people were concerned he'd been gone for so long, so Aaron led them to build a gold calf as their god they worshiped and offered sacrifices too
• This angered the Lord and Moses, Moses dropped and broke the stone tables with the writing/laws of God on them
• God gets angry with people, then threatens them, I often think, he has a temper.  But I can remember that while he still may feel angry, we are all saved with Jesus.  
• No one can see God's face and live
• Moses goes to meet the Lord on the mountain again for 40 days and 40 nights, he returns with new stone tables and a shinning face to the people
• God is a jealous God
• They followed all the directions for building an erecting the Holy tent as earlier directed
• A cloud came over the tent, and when the cloud was over the tent, they did not travel