Where God is When His People Suffer: Part 1

1Welcome to the Exodus

• The writer begins by making an intentional with the preceding book of Genesis Exodus 1:1-7
  • Notice the first six words
  • “And these are the names of” – Notice the beginning of a brand new book starts with the word: “ ”

2Parallel with Genesis 46:8

• This connection gives the reader hope that The Promise has not been forgotten
• This connection gives leverage to the idea that the author of the books are probably the same – it is a continuing saga…
• The writer lists out the of the of Jacob with their meanings – almost like a “review” before moving ahead with the story
• By now, the population of the sons of Israel had become a “ ”
• This phrase is the same as when the writer discusses a ramped multiplication of frogs or other animal life
• Notice: “fertile…swarm…so many…numbers…simply filled” all in one verse v.7
  • The writer leaves the reader in awe at how God has begun to fulfill His promise to make the descendents of Israel “like the sand of the shore”,
  • But he leaves him to wonder how The Promise would find its conclusion – for there is still land to be had!
  • The Pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph…
• A new dynasty comes to power in Egypt Exodus 1:8-9
  • The writer is trying to inform the reader that this Pharaoh and his dynasty “had no ” of Joseph
  • More than simply not knowing who he was – he certainly knew the history of the Egyptian people!
  • It is an attempt to let the reader know that there was no connection between this new dynasty and what Joseph had done for Egypt just a short while past
  • This phrase is used elsewhere to describe intimate relationships between husband and wife – IE: There was no intimate connection – no obligatory relationship – between this Pharaoh and Joseph
  • This rise of a new dynasty coupled with the overwhelming of the Israel nation combined to present an ominous cloud over the beginning of the book of Exodus (you can almost see what is coming)
• The solution to the possible threat for the new Pharaoh was that he would the sons of Israel before they get a mind to strike against Egypt Ex.1:10-14
  • Historically, much of the building that went on in Egypt spiked during the 19th Dynasty – it is believed that this is the dynasty of which Exodus 1 speaks
  • The work of the Israelites is described as “toil unremitting, “lives utterly bitter,” “backbreaking slavery,” and “forced toil without relief”
  • The sons of Israel – once a proud nation with bragging rights at saving the Egyptian nation through Joseph – were now reduced to for a ruthless taskmaster
  • This oppression deliberately reduced Israelite pride to becoming just a “cog in the machine”
  • “…The situation is bound to grow more terrible still, for God will not go back on his promise, and a new Pharaoh cannot afford to be wrong.”

3-John Durham, WBC

4The Pharaoh Commands the Unthinkable…

• coupled with drives Pharaoh to command genocide
• The language of the writing informs the reader that the Pharaoh’s plans were not successful in keeping the people and their population down Ex.1:15-19
  • The midwives may or may not have been Hebrew
  • The midwives obviously feared more than the
  • They not only refused to do what Pharaoh had asked
  • They also worked directly against the Pharaoh and his plans
  • The midwives are the heroes of Exodus 1
  • Pharaoh moves to - “C”
  • who saw a Hebrew newborn male was to drown them in the Nile River
  • Now the loyalty of the entire Egyptian population would be called into question
  • If this policy were carried out, God’s plan would be thwarted – His people would cease to be
  • This drastic measure by the Pharaoh calls for an immediate on the behalf of the Hebrews

5The Birth of Hope

• Questioning factors concerning Exodus 2:1
• The impression here is that Moses was the
• Moses had an sister (vv.4, 7)
• Moses had an brother (4:14; 7:7)
• Scripture tends to not give insight into this
• Possible explanations:
  • The infant was “good” = “ ”
  • Within 3 months, the baby had become to difficult to hide
• His mother hid him where the Egyptians would never look – in the itself Ex.2:2-4
  • There, his sister could feed him and take care of him periodically
  • The basket was protected with tar and pitch
  • This is a direct connection to Noah’s ark
  • There is salvation in these two arks
  • Salvation for the came through Noah’s ark
  • Salvation for the would come through this small ark
  • The basket was probably relocated several times by Mariam
• Pharaoh’s finds the basked with the infant inside Ex.2:5-7
  • This was most likely a mistake on the side of the infant’s family – this discovery would have meant certain death
  • Quick action on the sister’s part takes place when she is doing her job faithfully (watching over the basket) and is in the right place to see the Pharaoh’s daughter’s reaction to the baby’s tears – This says something about to the tasks we are called to do!
• God’s Promise overcomes Ex.2:8-9
  • Moses’ mother: Like Joseph the prisoner turned prince, Moses’ mother’s prison of fear is turned to the freedom of open motherhood and a paid position in Pharaoh’s household
  • Moses: Moses is taken from danger to privilege
  • Moses receives his name
  • Moses = “ ”
• “Moses” is prominent in Egyptian legacies:
  • Even though the name of God is excluded in the first few chapters of Exodus, His providential hand cannot be ignored.
  • His heart is always close to His chosen –
  • And, as always, like an artist God is creating a masterpiece that will leave all who see in awe.