Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today will be a little longer than usual because we're in a new book, which means we have some introductory ground to cover.

We just finished Genesis, a word that means beginning,

and today we begin the book of Exodus, which means exit or departure. Even though most

English translations don't include it, this book actually starts out with the Hebrew word that

carries the meaning and, which is one way we see its connection to the book of Genesis. This

is a continuation of the story we've

been reading. The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

were originally one book, which the Jews call the Torah. It's also referred to as the Pentateuch,

which is a collection of five books. Most historians believe that all five books of the Torah

were primarily written by Moses, a man will meet in our reading today. He was born roughly 300

years after Joseph died. So when the book opens, we're three centuries past the end of Genesis.

And if you had a keen eye back in Genesis 15, you may remember God's words to Abraham. Know for certain that your

offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be

afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they

shall come out with great possessions. So God has already given Abraham a heads up about what's going to happen,

like, hey, it's going to get rough, but it ends well,

which, by the way, I feel like could be the motto of every believer's life.

It's basically the same thing Jesus says in John 1633,

In the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

In God's words to Abraham, he even gives a rough timeline, 400 years. So here we are at the 300-ish

year mark. Those 70 people who went into Egypt during year two of the famine stuck around,

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