Condemned to Death BUT Chosen by God

Note: These are my notes prior to the Sunday morning service. The actual content of the sermon may vary when delivered.

Passage(s)

Exodus 1:8–2:10 NIV2011

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 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.” 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly. 15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “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.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 22 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.” 1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 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. 3 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. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5 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. 6 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. 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 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. 10 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.”

Introduction

End of Genesis - Israel in a good place.

Start of Exodus - Joseph forgotten but Israel prosperous.

Content

Slavery

If at first you don’t succeed, try killing male babies. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, since they are your workforce. Assumes females can easily be absorbed into Egypt.

Midwives named, Pharaoh isn’t.

Women are vigorous / like beasts.

God blesses the midwives. They give us a good example to follow.

Chapter 2: switch scenes to “normality”: marriage, family, birth of a son (not first born).

The son is condemned - like Herod with Jesus.

The son is saved - like the dream with Joseph.

Through the actions of Women, Moses is saved, named and then raised by his own mother.

Conclusion

Israel were enslaved to Egypt, badly persecuted but God had a plan. He sent a baby.

We were enslaved to Sin, but God had a plan. What we heard today was part of that plan. Over a thousand years later, God would come himself as a baby - and be taken into Egypt for protection.

Jesus Christ was that baby who lived the life we fail to live, died on the Cross for all our sins, and is our risen, Lord and Saviour.

it is going to take another 80 years for the baby we read about this morning to be the one through whom God would deliver his people. But for us, our Saviour has already come. There is no waiting needed. If you are not in a relationship with Jesus, or you have drifted away from him - turned away from your baptism - then he is waiting for you to turn to him. Come to the foot of his Cross, hand over everything including your sin to him and receive his forgiveness, receive his righteousness.

References