The psalmists beheld the first exodus, and now believers can follow their gaze from the first exodus to the new exodus it foreshadowed.

“Look how united America was!” “Good people around the world stood against tyranny.” “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” “That’s why they call it the greatest generation!” “Scientific innovation reached new and deadly heights.” “The military industrial complex was born.”

World War II was such a vast and multifaceted historical phenomenon that modern people refer to it regularly. Some references are positive. Some are negative.

The same is true of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. Yair Zakovitch isn’t exaggerating when he says, “No other event in the history of Israel is given so much attention by biblical writers as is the exodus—as many as one hundred and twenty references in a variety of literary genres.” The Psalter probably tops the leaderboard with dozens of allusions to Exodus across 23 psalms.

These allusions occur for various reasons. Some positive. Some negative. Here are five reasons that Israel’s psalmists recollect or allude to the book of Exodus.

Praising God’s Work

Six psalms allude to events or words from Exodus in order to praise the Lord (Pss. 66; 103; 105; 135; 136; 145). For example, Psalm 105:24–43 retells Exodus 1–15 and ends like this: “He brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing” (105:43). Why retell the Exodus story? So that worshipers will follow suit: “Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” (v. 2).

Other praise psalms reuse the Lord’s self-description from Exodus 34:6–7 to extol his character. For example, David proclaims in Psalm 103:8, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (see also 145:8).

Challenging God’s People

Five psalms use Exodus to challenge worshipers to faithfulness (Pss. 15; 32; 81; 95; 114). Sometimes this involves legal material, like when Psalm 15:5 uses keywords from Exodus 22:25 and 23:7–8 to describe an ideal worshiper “who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent.”

Sometimes this involves recounting events in Exodus like Psalm 95’s reference to the “test” at Meribah (vv. 8–9; Ex.17:7). Psalmists recognized that Exodus conveys not only a record of the Lord’s deliverance (Ex. 1–15) but also the covenantal way of life into which he delivers the redeemed (Ex. 16–40).

Seeking God’s Intervention

Five psalms of lament employ Exodus material as they wrestle with God in their suffering (Pss. 10; 17; 77; 80; 86). Lament psalms usually contain five components visualized in the acronym GRIEF:

• God’s name is called on
• Reasons for suffering are listed
• Innocence or confession of sin is asserted
• Escape from suffering is sought
• Faith is expressed (usually at the end)

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