What are your preconceived feelings and thoughts when you hear or think about the slavery laws or instruction about Israel conquering the land?
Read Exodus 23:20-33. What reasons are given for the conquest? What specifically are the Israelites asked to do? Does what the text actually say differ much from what your preconceived ideas were? In what ways?
If someone said to you, “Whatever God’s law is, I am going to follow it perfectly!” what would you say to them?
Do you think the people's response in verse 7 was foolish? Why or why not?
After the Lesson Questions
Share about a time that you acted in obedience to God without understanding why? What did you learn from the experience?
After this intense ritual meal with God, Aaron and his sons descend the mountain back to the people. In Moses absence Aaron commits a heinous sin (Ex 32) and later his son’s are killed for improper worship. (Lev 10) What thoughts do you have about this?
Have you had times of deep intimacy and then failure? How do you process this? In what ways have grown through these cycles?
What attribute of God did you see in this week’s passage that particularly struck you? How should it change the way you pray, think, speak or act this week?