Walla Walla University Good Word Broadcasts

Key Verses: Exodus 35-40 Key Questions
 Why does the text emphasize Sabbath again—right before the Tabernacle is built? What does this teach about how we balance action and rest? Why is the spinning of yarn by women mentioned specifically? What might this tell us about valuing unseen or domestic labor as spiritual (35:25-26)? What is the significance of all the careful repetition and detail (in all of these chapters)? How do these descriptions help reframe “tedious” tasks as acts of worship? The expression “as the Lord commanded Moses” appear seven times in both chapters 39 and 40. What could this convey about the ...

Key Verses: Exodus 32 Key Questions
 What is more devastating—the loss of the land or the loss of God’s presence? How does this speak to what we truly value in our spiritual lives? Why does Moses ask to see God’s glory—and why does God only reveal God’s “back”? What does this reveal about the limits of human understanding and God’s self-disclosure? What does it say about God that God chooses to rewrite the covenant rather than cancel it? How do we experience “rewriting” moments in our relationship with God? Why is God so emphatic about avoiding assimilation into Canaanite religious life? How do we ...

Key Verses: Exodus 32 Key Questions
 Why do the people make a calf? What does this say about how fear and impatience can cause us to recreate false security from our past, even if it enslaved us? Why does Moses break the tablets? Does this act serve as protest, lament, or judgment? How do we wrestle with the Levites’ violence in the name of loyalty to God? Where is the line between righteous indignation and spiritual extremism? What does it mean that Moses offers to be erased for the people’s sake? How does this point to sacrificial love as the core of godly leadership? What ...

Key Verses: Exodus 24-31 Key Questions
 What are some of the possible connections between the Sanctuary and the creation of the world (and the Garden of Eden)? What is the author trying to convey with these parallels? How is God’s desire to to dwell with the people different from Pharaoh’s rule? What does it mean that God chooses to dwell in a movable tent instead of a fixed temple (and why are these things established in the desert)? How might this shape our understanding of church, presence, and holiness? Why was the Sanctuary to be built exclusively on the basis of voluntary offerings ...

Key Verses: Exodus 21-23 Key Questions
 Why is God so insistent on protecting the widow, orphan, and foreigner? How does your community embody—or fail to embody—this kind of Divine concern? How do these laws about Hebrew servants attempt to limit power and restore dignity? How do we engage critically with texts that still regulate servitude? What do these laws of restitution teach us about making things right? What would a system rooted in restoration, not punishment, look like today? How does Sabbath rest for land and laborers reflect God’s concern for all creation? What systems today deny that kind of rest—and how might we ...

Key Verses: Exodus 19-20 Key Questions
 Why does God call the people to the mountain but also set boundaries around it? What does this tension between intimacy and distance say about the nature of divine holiness? What does it mean for Israel to be a “kingdom of priests”? How does that reshape their role in the world? How was this calling applied to the church in the New Testament and how might this calling apply to faith communities today? Why is physical preparation (like washing clothes and abstaining from sex) required before meeting God? What does this say about how bodies, boundaries, and ...

Key Verses: Exodus 16-18 Key Questions
 What is God teaching the Israelites (and us) through the daily provision of manna and the prohibition on storing it? How does this practice challenge the empire mindset of accumulation and control? How do these wilderness experiences reshape Israel’s understanding of God—not just as deliverer, but as sustainer? How is Sabbath more than a religious observance—how is it a political and social act of resistance? What are modern forms of “Sabbath resistance” in today’s work-driven culture? How does the people’s panic and complaint reflect the difficulty of transitioning from slavery to freedom? How does God’s response show ...

Key Verses: Exodus 13-15 Key Questions
 Why does God ask for the consecration of the firstborn after the Exodus? How might this ritual be understood as a way of remembering that life belongs to God, not Pharaoh? What role does embodied ritual (like eating unleavened bread) play in helping future generations internalize liberation? How do our bodies remember what our minds sometimes forget? How does the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night signify God’s leadership? What might this say about divine guidance in uncertain, in-between spaces in our lives? How does the “Song of Moses” function as a theological and political ...

Key Verses: Exodus 11-12 Key Questions
 How does the Passover ritual help shape a collective identity for the Israelites? What role does the household play in Israel’s liberation? How does the command to share the lamb among neighbors reflect communal values, especially under threat? How does shared ritual function in your own community or faith tradition? What does the use of blood on the doorposts signify? What does this action represent, and how is it developed in the Bible? Why are the people told to eat with sandals on and staff in hand? What does this urgency say about faith in movement? What does ...

Key Verses: Exodus 7-10 Key Questions
 Chapter 7 begins with a clarification of the dynamic between God, Moses and Aaron in terms of prophetic activity followed by an announcement of judgment that God would bring to the land of Egypt. How does this text anticipate later prophetic activity within Israel? How do the miraculous signs performed by Moses and Aaron challenge Pharaoh’s authority? In what ways do the “plagues” challenge the Egyptian worldview and its pantheon of gods? What does Pharaoh’s continued resistance reveal about the nature of human obstinacy in the face of justice? What is the meaning of “hardening of the ...

Key Verses: Exodus 5-6 Key Questions
 Pharaoh responds to Moses’ call for justice by increasing oppression (questioning “rest” and adding to the labor so that the people will not regard “lying words”). What does this say about how oppressive powers react to the demands for liberation? How can the Israelite response to increased hardship inform contemporary understandings of faith under oppression?

 Egyptians perceive the Israelites as “idle.” How does derogatory language precede de-humanizing actions in the Bible and in history?
 How does God's reaffirmation of the covenant with the patriarchs strengthen the Israelites’ faith (especially in 6:3)? What is the role of memory in ...

Key Verses: Exodus 3-4 Key Questions
 Abraham J. Heschel talks about “the prophet” being one who feels deeply what God feels (pathos). Consider the possible symbolic meanings of the burning bush—what do they disclose about the nature of God, his relationship to the world, and Moses’ mission? Why is the revealing of God’s name significant in the development of the story of God and His people? 
 What does God’s statement, “I have seen… I have heard… I know… and I have come down” reveal about God’s stance toward the oppressed? How should this inform the ethical sensibilities of communities of faith today?

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Key Verses: Exodus 1-2 Key Questions
 Why is it meaningful to consider the title of the book (Exodus x Shemot) as we think about the nature of the book of Exodus itself?
 What kind of a world is the world in the first chapters of Exodus and how similar is it to our world today? 
 Where is God and where are “His people” in the introduction of the book of Exodus? How do the women depicted in the first two chapters of Exodus provide insights into possible answers to this question.
 How does the author use irony and reversal in the scene of ...

Opening QuestionWhat is the largest natural disaster you’ve experienced personally? IntroductionOur lesson this week concludes the study of prophetic foreshadowings or types from the Old Testament that predict or hint at final events. The key here is that they show how God’s actions in history give us reasons to have hope in the future. The same struggles and victories of His people in the past are ours today.  This lesson looks at Jonah’s calling, and then takes us to Babylon to watch it fall, and reveals a pagan “Messiah” who delivered God’s people from their exile. Yes, God even uses pagan ...

Opening QuestionWhat aspects of the future worry you most? IntroductionThis lesson is primarily drawn from Daniel 2 and 3 and some New Testament parallels, especially Relation 13. Generally, Daniel can be divided into two sections: chs. 1-6 are narrative while chs. 7-12 are more prophetic/visionary. Yet in both chs. 2 and 4, Nebuchadnezzar has dreams. In both, Daniel interprets them for the king, setting the stage for, and giving us clues of interpretation regarding, the later chapters of the book.  It often surprises Bible readers when they learn that the narratives of Daniel are just as significant to helping interpret Revelation ...

Opening QuestionWhat value do you find hearing ancient stories? IntroductionThis lesson focuses on two small books: Ruth (4 chapters) and Esther (10 chapters). These stories have been told in Christian and Jewish circles with much respect for these faithful women, holding them up as beautiful exemplars. The stories contain some surprises when read beyond the children’s books, but these only make the stories more complex and dramatic. I highly recommend reading through both books in their entirety, rather than reading a section here or there. We will find, as the quarterly addresses, that these stories have a future-focus as well. RuthRead ...

Opening QuestionCan God affect human events without violating our freedom of choice? IntroductionIn this study, the author examines stories from the Old Testament that in one way or another foreshadow, typify, or parallel some final events of the New Testament. The concept here is called typology. Essentially, typology is when an Old Testament historical person(s), place, event, or institution somehow prefigures Christ or last-day events. Many Old Testament stories find a parallel in Jesus Christ, such as the near-sacrifice of Isaac, and God’s substitution of a ram for the firstborn.  An important question that may not find an easy answer is ...

Opening QuestionWhat is the greatest struggle you’ve endured? IntroductionThe Psalms offer encouragement to God’s people as they journey through the struggle with sin and seek victory. One of the ways god encourages us is by painting pictures of a glorious future, providing hope of a world restored. This is a major theme of the Psalms, as well as the Hebrew Prophets and Revelation, too!  Psalm 46The lesson this week asks us to meditate on this Psalm. Read Psalm 46, and for each verse or section, consider what experiences here and now are addressed by the lines.  For the choir director. A Psalm ...

Opening QuestionDo you love poetry? Why or why not? IntroductionThe figurative language of poetry allows us to not only express specific ideas, but also feelings, images and pictures in ways that prose cannot. The use of symbols, of metaphor, simile, parallelism, and chiasm all contribute to create literary pictures and emotions that resonate in the heart, that move and draw us. Revelation borrows much of the imagery of the Psalms. The lesson this week explores some of these connections.  The Psalms as a WholeIt is helpful to consider the lyrics (sadly, most of the music is lost to us) of the ...

Opening QuestionHow do you think you would respond if you met God face to face? IntroductionThis lesson directs us to the throne, and to the living beings and their activities around it. While not a tremendous amount can be known of the angelic world—indeed some angelology goes far beyond scripture!—several books of the Bible highlight their role and proximity to God. We can learn more about the purposes of God by examining these beings. Angels in GenesisThroughout the Old Testament, when God sends a messenger to speak or meet with his people, that being is called “the angel of the Lord.” ...