Darkest Before Dawn

Darkest Before Dawn Exodus 2:11-25 Context • Israel in Egypt: slavery, threats, and growth. • Pharoah’s daughter defies her father’s murderous plot and adopts a Hebrew baby that she found in the Nile; she names him Moses. • Moses receives the greatest privileges of his day, but never forgets his heritage. Moses understands something of his ultimate purpose but has a lot to learn. The Rejected Revolutionary (2:1115a) 1. “When Moses had grown up …” • Acts 7:23 says he was 40 • Moses’s actions and God’s: “looked,” “saw,” and “struck” are all words God uses for Himself • Some have defended Moses, but Moses never defends himself and even displays a guilty conscience. 2. “The next day… ” • Moses’s naiveté is alarming: an Egyptian manager is dead and Israelites resent him. • The Israelites aren’t asking for deliverance (Acts 7:2729) The Resident Alien (2:15b-22) 1. “When Pharaoh heard…” – Moses was a particularly dangerous person. 2. Moses in Midian – Moses Disappeared • • • • • Exact location unknown, but probably the eastern shore of the eastern fork of the Straits of Tiran; nomadic people A sojourner at a well – meant to evoke Genesis connections Moses displays the raw material of a deliverer Reuel: aka; Jethro, priest of Midian, likely knew of Yahweh, but worshipped other gods, too (see Exodus 18:11); descendant of Abraham through Keturah (see Genesis 25:4) Zipporah – song-bird; Gershom – Resident Alien The Remembering God (2:23-25) 1. God’s people finally pray • • • A new Pharaoh rises who likely went even farther in the oppression of the Hebrew people. 3x emphasis on prayer: groaned, cried out, cried for help (cry of distress) To this point, God’s role has been mostly unstated 2. 4 Acts of God • • • • God heard – hearing that compels action God remembered His covenant – rehearsed His promises God saw – same word for what Moses saw God knew – an intimate kind of knowing Applications • God loves to use people with a past. • The first step of deliverance is the discovery that I need it. • “When God’s mercies are coming, their footfalls are our desires to pray.” (C.H. Spurgeon)