Against All Odds 12/11/22
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Pyramids
Pyramids
[Egypt was a massive empire, Israel were nomadic shepherd people. Against all odds, they were able to thwart the most powerful empire of the day.]
-So I don’t know about you all, but I am excited because today we get to dive into the book of exodus in our pyramids series
-If you didn’t pick up a handout, those are on the back table
-I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that since we’re going through so much bible in so little time It’s going to be crucial for you all to be reading along week by week
-and so I have back there a list of the verses we’re going to be reading week by week
-I also have there some of the information that we talked about two weeks ago with regard to the pyramid method, just in case you didn’t get all of that written down
-and then I went ahead and made up a blank sheet to take notes on. I’m going to do my best to keep enough copies of those made so that you can grab one each week.
-and you can follow along
-and that can hopefully help you organize your thoughts as we’re studying these passages
-Also I’ve made up an event in the youversion bible app where you can follow along
-so all sorts of resources there to help you get into the word
-So if you have your bible we’re going to be starting in Exodus chapter 1, verse 1
-But before we do, I kind of want to set the stage for what we’re about to read
-so I know it’s been a few weeks since we finished up our little mini-series on Genesis
-But Just to recap, the book of Genesis ends with the story of Joseph delivering his family into egypt, and saving them from the famine
-And we turn the page and the story seemingly continues uninterupted
These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
-If you had a bible that didn’t have any titles or chapters or verses or book titles
-and you finished genesis and read straight through into Exodus
-it would almost seem like the book of genesis is just moving on into the next event.
-And in fact as we’re reading through exodus, it’s not until chapter 12 that we get this very important detail
-You get all the way into chapter 12 and then you read
Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.
-So if you’re not paying attention you might miss the fact that almost half a millenia has passed in between Genesis and Exodus.
-And just as a side note this is very important bible-reading tool to keep in your back pocket
-There are lots and lots of places in scripture where you can be reading one verse, and then 4, 5, 600 years passes between one sentence and the next
-and it can almost get disorienting
-so whenever we have these massive time-shifts in the bible
-I always like to think about how much can change in that amount of time
-so to put things into perspective
-430 years ago from today
-william shakespeare wrote his first play
-now imagine for a moment that you were reading a history book
-and in one line it was talking about shakespeare and king henry the 8th in england
-and then in the very next sentence, it starts talking about the covid 19 lockdowns
-So we almost have to stop, reset our brains and realize that we are moving into a completely new era in the bible
-So as we read on in verse 6 we see
Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.
-so why did joseph mean nothing to this new king?
-probably because the new king didn’t even know who joseph was
-But unfotunately, the Bible actually never mentions Pharoah by his name, only the title pharoah
-and that is for a very specific reason
-See in ancient egypt, they belived that when a pharoah died he became a god
-that’s why they had mummys and pyramids and all that stuff
-because they worshiped pharoahs who had died
-and if a new pharoh came along, and they didn’t like an old pharoh
-they would scratch out that pharohs name from all of the records
-in a sense they would erase him from history
-as an insult
-and it was very clever, it’s really difficult to be a “god” if nobody even knows that you existed.
-and so what we get in exodus is a very clever thumb in the nose to pharoh
-saying not only are you not a god
-but you’re so insignifigant that we’re not even going to bother to speak your name
-we’re gonna erase you from history
-and it was a very effective insult back in the ancient near east
-but unfortunately for us it make our job very difficult
-because it makes it that much more difficult to try and figure out when all this stuff happened.
-we can get close
-we can take what we know from later on in scripture
-and line that up with historical events where we’re a little more certain about the timeline
-and work our way backwards to get roughly a 300 year span in which these events could have happened
-and from there we can kind of guess which pharoh this might have been
-so this next part, what I’m about to say is my best guess at who I think the pharoah was
Thutmose II
-This is who I think the second pharoahs is
-the one who’s heart was hardened, the one who experienced the plagues
-so here in Exodus 1, we’re talking about either thutmose’s Dad, or Thutmoses Grandfather
-But in Egyptian history
-they record about a 400 year span in which some canannite people were in charge
-so these would have been neighbors to the isrealites
-and they would have friendly to the isrealites
-which lines up almost perfectly with the fact that Joseph was able to have a friendly relationship with the pharoh in Genesis
-And thutmose’s Dad and grandfather
-they were both responsible for overthrowing the cananite rulers and getting pure blooded egyptians back on the throne
-and they were not friendly to the people from canan.
-which again, lines ups almost perfectly with what we read in exodus.
-But here’s where it gets really cool
-Thutmose,
-when they dug up his mummy, they found that him, and all of the other people from his administration were all covered in cysts and pockmarks, like they had experienced some kind of plague
-and none of the other mummies before him or after him have these pockmarks
-and, we find out that thutmose was one of the only pharoahs who didn’t have firstborn son to take over on the throne for him.
-Which was not common at all
-so according the Egyptian’s own history
-something had to have happened to thutmoses first born son to prevent him from coming to the throne .
-after he died his wife became pharoh
-which again, was absoultely not common at all
-And then to put the icing on the cake
-when we look up his wife and what she said
I have restored that which had been ruined. I have raised up that which had gone to pieces formerly, since the Asiatics were in the midst of Avaris of the Northland, and vagabonds were in the midst of them, overthrowing that which had been made. They ruled without Re
-That’s one of the main egyptian gods
-and so she’s describing her late husband and what egypt was like during his reign
-and she says the place was in ruins
-there were a group of people, she calls them vagabonds,
and they came from east of egpyt, they didn’t believe in the egyptian gods, and they left the place in ruins
-So the reason I go through all of that
-other than I find it fascinating and I like sharing fascinating things with my friends
-there’s two reasons.
-1 There are a lot of people today who are trying to make the claim that the events in Exodus never happened
-Their claim is that the whole thing is just a legend
-and that the isrealites made it up
-and the reason they say that is because there’s no other written record of it happening besides what we read in the Bible
-and so I give you this information to say yeah there is evidence that these events really happened.
-when you have conversations with people it can be very hard to convince them using the Bible if they don’t believe in the bible
-and so I wanted to show that the events in Exodus actually line up really well with what we find using archeology
-And the other reason is because I really want to impress upon you what kind of people the pharoah’s of egypt were
-the reason there’s no written record
-is because egypt was a proud culture
-and by proud I don’t mean proud in the positive sense
-their culture was very overcome by the sin of pride
-everything they did revolved around maintaining their status in the world
-and they were willing to do pretty much anything to maintain that status .
-so I want you to keep that picture in your mind as we read on in Exodus.
“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
-I want you all to take a moment and let it sink in just how big of a disparity there is between the israelite people and the egyptian people at the time.
-In the time period that we’re talking about
-Egypt was the world super-power
-For all intents and purposes, egypt was the very first empire
-They had palaces, and temples and war-ships and chariots
-And pyramids
-in fact by the time moses came along, the pyramids had already been around for so long that they would have been considered ancient artifacts by the people of the day.
-let me say that one more time
-during the events of the exodus, the pyramids were already considered ancient
-That’s how long egypt had a foothold
-that’s how long Egypt had been a world super power
-Let’s compare that to the decendents of abraham
-Abrahams decendents were nomadic tribes
-they lived in tents, they took care of sheep and oxen
-they lived off the land
-they didn’t have temples or palaces or anything like that
-Think about the united states
-and compare our country to
-So pharoah wasn’t worried about the israelites per se.
-he wasn’t worried about the isrealites rising up and starting a rebellion
-Pharoah was looking around at the other rising superpowers in the ancient near east
-And he was thinking
-If i let these backwoods sheep herding nomadic nobodies get to numerous
-they might join up with the assyrians or the babylonians and become their slaves
-So he did what any other dictator would do
-and he did his best to oppress these nomadic backwoods sheepherders
So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
-So pithom and rameses, these aren’t major cities
-these two cities up on the very northern edge of egypt
-the capitol of egypt at the time is way further south, in the middle of the country
-it’s well protected, centrally located
-And pithom and rameses were store-cities
-and a store city is basically a military outpost
-this is the place where they would bring chariots and spears and food for the soldiers
-and they would have all of these military supplies for their conquests
-so that if a war broke out they’d have all the provisions they needed to fight off the enemy before they ever go even close to the capitol,
-and so again we’re starting to see just how drastic of a difference there is
-the israelites were the unpaid labor that maintained egypt’s military might
-so pharoah kind of thinks he’s getting a two for one deal here
-not only is he keeping the peasants in check so to speak
-but also he’s expanding his military at the same time
-so from pharohs point of view, he’s got the israelites under his thumb, he’s got a solid handle on his empire
But unfortunately for him, we read in verse 12
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites
-That word “dread” could also be translated as “loathed”
-there was a deep seeded hatred of the israelites going on.
-So pharoah is struggling to keep his subjects under control
-he’s worried about his kingdom, so he tries to tamp down the israelites by forcing them into more and more rigorous forms of labor
-with the idea being that if they’re too busy working, and they’re malnurished enough and tired enough,
-then their population won’t be able to grow
-because they won’t have any time to have children because they’ll be too busy building up our empire
-but then in verse 15, we get the turning point
-this is the catalyst for the entire exodus story that sets the thing in motion
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
-on the scale of evil things, there is no level more evil than this
-think of all the things that we know to be sinful
-I’ll take an easy one. Lying.
-We are all in agreement that lying is sinful.
-There’s evidence in the old testament, new testament, there’s no debate there
-But I’m sure you can all imagine in your mind a situation in which you’re given the choice between two options
-and you have to pick the lesser of two evils
-It’s not hard to imagine
-The classic example you imagine the day in which the armed gunman comes into your job and asks you
“are your coworkers hiding in that office”
-Well now you have to decide
-do I tell the truth and allow the gunman to find my co-workers?
-or do I lie, or at the very least tell a lie by ommission
-and save the lives of dozens of people
-And again, that doesn’t make lying less sinful
-it just exemplifies the fact that we live in a fallen world
-where the lesser of two evils is sometimes the only choice you’re given.
-There is no situation in the history of ever
-where ordering the death of several thousand infants is the lesser of two evils
-it’s just not possible.
-But that’s exactly what pharoah did
-he came out and said my power is more important than the lives of thousands of innocent children.
-Which by the way is exactly what King herod did during the birth of Jesus
-Don’t miss that
-In matthew we read that herod made that exact same choice
-to preserve his own power, he ordered the death of thousands of young boys
-The difference of course was that herod was a Jew
-Herod had read this story
-herod would have known exactly how things turned out for pharoh.
-Which makes the Christmas story that much more remarkable
-In matthew it’s the wisemen and the angel who save the life of Jesus
-the wisemen decided not to go back and tell herod
-and the angel warned joseph to take his family and escape into egypt
-Well here in exodus it’s not the wise-men who decive the tyrant
-it’s the midwives
The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
-See the midwives understood that Pharoh’s authority stopped right at the line where the will of God begins
-Romans chapter 13 talks about how we as Christians need to submit to our governing authorites
-But when the governing authorites pass a law that goes against God’s law
-then your choice is simple
-who would you rather be punished by?
-if you’re given a choice to follow mans law or God’s laws
-I would rather follow God’s laws and be punished by men, then the other way around
-and these midwives rightly understood that human life has a value that’s more important than political pressures
-more important than empires and nation building
-And remember how I talked about the fact that they specifically left out pharoahs name, as way of thumbing their nose at egypt?
-Look who’s name isn’t left out
-If Siphrah and Puah wouldn’t have been mentioned here in exodus
-they would have been like the millions of other people who lived during that time
-they would have lived, and died, and been forgotten forever, known only to God
-But because of their love God chose to write their names in a book that would be read for thousand of years
-What the Bible is setting up for us is the precedent that
-against all Odds God always wins
-God took the largest superpower in the world at the time
-and he outsmarted them with a couple of midwives, some nomadic sheep herders and lady with a basket.
-The most powerful king in the world, outsmarted by God working through normal every day people
-and he rewarded them greatly for their faith
So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
-This is important
-ijn ancient egypt you became a midwife because you were unable to have children of your own.
-It would have been viewed as a consolation prize
-and I don’t care if you’re living in the year 2022 AD or the year 2000 BC
-That’s a very difficult life to live
-helping women bring life into the world and not being able to do so yourself
-it took my wife and I several years of trying to have our first son
-and there was a while where we were convinced that we were never going to have chidren
-and that’s gutwrenching
-so not only
-And then here in verse 22, we get an even more shocking decree than before
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
-So now pharoah has gone above and beyond
-he’s not content with just him doing thing that are evil
-now he extends that by royal decree to his entire population
-Think about how unbelievable that is
-every single egyptian citizen was ordered to commit infanticide
-there’s not a lot of hope in that situation is there
-But God always provides hope
Exodus 2:1-10
Exodus 2:1-10
Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
-Just so you know, in the hebrew the word there for basket is the same word used for noah’s ark
-so in the middle of all of that evil and destruction
-one boy is saved
Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
-So not only does God allow Moses to escape harm
-But he does it in such a way that’s almost insulting the pharoahs intellegence
-Pharoah makes this decree, and his own daughter has enough commmon sense not to obey
-and then Moses’ ends up being able to go back to his mother anyway
-Because God’s plans can not be thwarted
-We see almost exactly the same situation when Jesus is born, don’t we
-i mean almost identical
-King herod wants to hold onto his power
-so he puts out a decree to have all the chidren under a certain age put to death
-And yet in both instances, God is not thwarted
-Remember that when you start to feel anxious about things in the culture
-I have conversations with people all the time who are anxious about the world
-they’re worried about this politician or this law being passed,
-or this presidential candidate
-And I always have to remind them
-that we’ve had bad people and bad laws and bad culture all the way back to the time of Adam
-and the time we’re living in now is no different
-If God can do this to the most powerful nation in the world at the time
-if He can work wonder through some backwoods sheep herders
—don’t you think he can work in your life
-Don’t you think he can work miracles to deliver you?
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
-And so I have to ask, what purpose have you been called to?
-What is your place in the kingdom of God? what is your role?
-Siphrah and puah’s role was to save the lives of thousands of chidren
-Pharoh’s daughter’s role was to save one.
-And I can’t tell you what your specific role is, all I know is that you were created for God’s purposes and that God will work in your life if you love him.
-So don’t be anxious about the world, or the culture, or this politician or that politician
-Just do the thing God sent you to do, and let him sort out the rest
-Let God defeat the Pharohs in your life
-Because He wins every single time
[Pray]