Justin Houtz

Exodus 17-20; Acts 3

DateVersionReading Plan
January 27, 2026ESV (2016)ESV Life Journal Plan – 2026

Exodus 17-20

Observation & Interpretation

Exod. 17:4 – Moses perceived that the people were almost ready to stone him because he had brought them out of the Egypt.

  • At Rephidim the Israelites complained about lack of water, but again the core issue was their mistrust of the Lord. The level of their hostility continued to increase. (CSB Notes)

Exod. 17:9 – Moses told Joshua to choose for them men that would go out to fight with Amalek. In the first appearance of Joshua in the Bible, we read that Moses granted him the responsibility to select men for battle.

  • [This is] the first reference to Joshua in the OT. He will become Moses’ commander-in-chief and lead the Israelites’ conquest of Canaan. (FSB)

Exod. 18:2-3 – Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Moses’ wife, Zipporah, after Moses had sent her home, along with her two sons.

  • Nothing is said about when or why Moses had sent his family to stay with Jethro. (CSB Notes)

Exod. 18:13-23 – Moses sat to judge the people and, when Jethro saw this, he told Moses that this was not good. Jethro told Moses to appoint able and trustworthy men who could relieve Moses of being the sole agent of adjudication among the people.

  • Some think that Jethro’s counsel was divinely given, that it urged a sensible delegation of authority to others. Others remind us, however, that God never assigns tasks without giving grace for them. Up to this time God had been speaking to Moses as a man speaks with a friend, and had not been using a go-between. Therefore Moses should have carried on until God Himself made other arrangements. (BBC)

Exod. 19:3 – The LORD called to Moses out of the mountain, an instance similar to when the LORD spoke to Moses through the burning bush in Exod. 3:2.

Exod. 20:23 – The LORD told Moses that he was to convey to the people how they were to not make gods of silver to be with the LORD, or make for themselves gods of gold.

Acts 3

Observation & Interpretation

Acts 3:6 – Peter told the man lame from birth that he had no silver or gold to give the man, but what he did have, he gave to the man. Peter proceeded to tell the man to get up and walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

  • It is good for the lame man that Peter and John did not have either silver or gold to hand out, for what they did have to offer was of far greater value—healing power through Jesus Christ. Rather than a temporary fix, the man was given a permanent remedy for his physical and spiritual problems. (CSB Notes)

Acts 3:15 – In his address of the people following the healing of the lame man, Peter told the people who Jesus is and that they had killed the Author of life. How sharp this truth would have been to hear and receive!

  • (Acts 3:13-15) Peter told his hearers in Solomon’s Colonnade…that Jesus Christ was God’s servant. And yet the people had handed him over to Pilate and denied him, even though Pilate had judged him to be innocent (Lk 23:20-25). Peter emphasized the heinous nature of this deed by calling Jesus the Holy and Righteous One and by noting that they had asked Pilate to release a murderer in place of Jesus. Thus they killed the source of life instead of one who had taken life. (CSB Notes)

Acts 3:26 – Peter told the people at Solomon’s portico that God raised up His servant (Jesus), sent Him to them first, to bless them by turning every one of them from their wickedness.

  • The Jews listening to Peter were sons of the prophets and inheritors of the covenant God made with Abraham. Thus they had a personal stake in the words of the prophets and the Pentateuch, but so do all the peoples of the earth. After all, God’s covenant with Abraham promised that all the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s seed, a reference ultimately to Jesus Christ, God’s servant. (CSB Notes)

Resources