A Process Begins!
Notes
Transcript
Reading:
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.
16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
Introduction:
Those who were born from 1900 - 1930ish are considered part of what is called the “greatest generation”.
Why are they called the greatest generation?
“The Greatest Generation” got its name from a book by the same name. The book The Greatest Generation was written by Tom Brokaw, a journalist for NBC. In his book, Brokaw explores the stories and characteristics of this generation. The book expresses the belief that this generation is the greatest ever produced by society. In particular, Brokaw admired their desire to do the right thing. This generation’s childhood was marked by economic success and technological advancements such as the radio and telephone. This success was in stark contrast with their later years, which were marked by economic turmoil when the Great Depression hit as a result of the 1929 stock market crash. The depression lasted roughly a decade and resulted in a 25 percent unemployment
rate. In the wake of Pearl Harbor, millions of men enlisted to defend and fight for their country. In their absence, women rose to the occasion to support their country and their families by working in factories and elsewhere. Everyone involved is still remembered for their bravery and sacrifice. After facing the struggles brought on by war and a struggling economy, the veterans who returned home and their families rebuilt their communities and the economy.” - Familysearch.org
Their ability to fill in the gaps to do what was needed to be done wasn’t what I believe made them a great generation.
I believe it was the overall norms they kept as individuals among society.
Personal Responsibility
Humility
Work Ethic
Frugality
Commitment
Integrity
Self-Sacrifice
As a vast generalization: There was a reverence for God in their lives and their conduct showed it.
Almost all of that generation has passed on into eternity; they leave behind lessons and a legacy to their children: The Baby Boomers.
Transition:
The Patriarchs can be considered in the bible, the first generation which the promise was given to.
They had to teach their children that promise and to fear the Lord, obey His will.
To believe and hope in the promises passed along to them.
Genesis ended with the passing of that generation.
22 So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s house. Joseph lived 110 years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph’s own.
24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Joseph made his children promise that when the Lord brought them out of Egypt they would take his bones with them and bury him in the promised land.
Exodus begins by connecting Genesis with Exodus, since God is about to do some amazing things through the lineage of Abraham.
He begins with:
A New Generation (1-7)
A New Generation (1-7)
These first few verses outline exactly what lineage God is working through.
Which reiterates the promise He made to Abraham.
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5 All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.
This promise to Abraham is now a ball moving downhill and gaining speed.
We find in these verses 12 descendants who came from Jacob.
Each one of these descendants became what we know as the 12 tribes of Israel.
Each tribe named from their father.
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
These are the sons who came to Egypt because of God’s providence; but also as a result of the love and forgiveness of their brother.
If you remember Joseph, as it is stated in verse 5.
5 All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.
Joseph was already there.
In this part of history what we can see is what comes from God’s grace by faith.
Joseph’s brothers hated him.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.
4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
IT wasn’t just because he was loved more by Jacob, it was also because the baby was as tattletale.
2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
The way that Joseph was perceived by his older brothers was also built up by Jacob showing favor to Joseph over his brothers.
It doesn’t excuse what choices they made about Joseph; but we can see some tips about parenting.
Treat them all equally and if it isn’t bleeding or life endangering don’t tattle.
Joseph’s brothers decided to act upon their fleshly desires for wanting to harm Joseph.
18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him.
19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer.
20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”
They planned to harm him.
God doesn’t approve of anyone waiting to harm an innocent person.
10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
11 If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason;
12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13 we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”—
15 my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths,
16 for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.
Joseph’s 11 brothers were going to kill him, until Reuben stood up.
22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.
It was good to hear that Reuben spoke up, they didn’t have murder in their rap sheet.
Instead there was a more profitable opportunity walking by.
26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.
28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.
5 All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.
The 11 brothers were condemned by what they did to Joseph.
They deserved to have justice served to them by Joseph.
God worked through Joseph and they were extended mercy and grace.
Joseph expressed his love and an absence of hate and bitterness towards them.
Look at the 2 perspectives:
How unlikely were such ungodly men, who began their stories with planning to kill their youngest brother; but instead sold him, to be chosen as the 12 representative heads of a nation chosen by God?
It could’ve only been by God’s grace that they could be changed.
Connection:
Only by God’s grace can you and I change in the same manner Joseph’s brothers did.
Conviction comes, respond in humility, ask forgiveness and begin with a clean slate.
How can we maintain that change?
I don’t believe that Joseph’s brothers ever forgave themselves, it was constantly something they thought which helped them to stay away from those desires.
But now here in Exodus 1:6 we have an end to their generation.
6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.
This means that everyone past this verse are descendants of the 12 tribal heads.
Fulfilling of the covenant to multiply Abrahams seed.
7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.
They multiplied greatly and became a strong family.
It is estimated that Israel was nearly 2 million people.
Transition:
This was a huge population.
Any leader would begin to recognize the danger a group of foreigners are when they outnumber the natives.
In our text the old generation is gone, the new is there and Egypt has:
A New King (8-14)
A New King (8-14)
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
This new king had no relationship with Joseph’s lineage.
No foundation for respect or agreements.
He took a position that most leaders of a country would’ve.
Recognize the threat that being outnumbered poses, then plan accordingly.
9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.
10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
Could the Pharaoh have approached this differently?
A conversation and finding out why these people were there in the first place.
He could’ve been civil about it, instead he chose to puff his feathers.
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.
The new king is, unbeknownst to him, helping to fulfill prophecy and God’s will.
12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
This is the beginning of a 400 year enslavement, with hope at the end for the 12 tribes.
Which God compared Israel in Egypt to a smoking furnace.
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.
This furnace, now known to us through the writing of Exodus, acted as the correct pressure to galvanize and form Israel into a nation and strip them of any reliance upon their selves.
They learned that Faith and reliance on God is all they can do.
Illustration:
The natural way a diamond forms, is a result of intense heat and pressure which causes the carbon atoms to crystallize forming diamonds.
This is a similar process for what was taking place with the 12 tribes of Israel in Egypt.
12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.
13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves
14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
The new generation was being pressed and formed into the nation that would represent God because of the new leader making decisions from a standpoint of fear.
Applying the correct heat and pressure.
Connection:
Many times we are put under pressure and heat.
Trust and know that in His sovereign will He is forming you into a trophy that reflects His glory.
Transition:
After Pharaoh began afflicting the adults, with no avail to remove the possible threat to Egypt, he decided to try another tactic.
Call it a:
A New Strategy (15-22)
A New Strategy (15-22)
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,
16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”
Pharaoh decided to remove the future threat by having the male babies murdered.
Isn’t it odd to think that for the estimated population of Jews there were only 2 midwives for those who were pregnant?
It is more likely that they were the 2 head midwives to many other midwives.
Their names were Shiphrah and Puah.
Their names mean: Beautiful, and Fragrant flower or blossom.
The 2 women had orders to eliminate a threat before it became a threat.
It is possible that the little girls were spared since:
1 man can reproduce with many women, bringing many children into the world. Especially considering it wasn’t uncommon to have more than one wife back than. (Not recommended).
Also men were those who fought so Pharaoh wanted to eliminate the possibility of a military power greater than his.
The Pharaoh didn’t account for the faith of the midwives.
17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
Ooh man, I bet he was mad to see little newborn boys being held by moms.
In this moment I believe his heart was beginning to turn against the God the Hebrews obeyed, defying his authority.
He had bought into the thought that he was god on earth and all should bow to his authority.
Shiphrah and Puah need to answer for themselves.
18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?”
19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
The Midwives feared God more than Pharaoh; even though they still feared Pharaoh.
By not doing as he commanded they were taking the risk of loosing their own lives.
How did they escape Pharaoh’s justice?
We are unable to tell if they were lying the only information is this:
19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
The Lord recognized their faith in Him and obedience to honor Him by keeping safe children from being murdered.
I believe that in this moment we can only have 1 decisive answer to a question:
What would we do in this scenario, what can we learn from them?
29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
They obeyed God, not man and were rewarded for it!
In moments when we honor God more than men, it is right!
How many times can we honor God more than any thing in this world, including ourselves? That is what we must do and it takes faith!
20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.
21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
This account right here would allow us to know how a deliver to the Hebrews could be born at this time and stay safe!
The deliverer is Moses.
We find His story beginning with these events.
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
This time he has all his own people do the wrong thing.
Notice something very specific here:
Pharaoh knew exactly where to go, who would obey him since there was no reverence and fear of God like the Hebrews.
People know who don’t have a life of faith in God, be careful not to look so much like the world that they mistake you for an non-believer.
Pharaoh instituted an social justice system:
If you see it, take care of it!
How were they to kill the babies?
Throw them into the Nile, with rushing water and crocodiles.
We aren’t sure whether or not any Hebrews obeyed this command by Pharaoh; but i’m sure there were some.
Each daughter would’ve been slave wives and would be absorbed into Egyptian families in a generation.
We can find another place in God’s word where man attempts to thwart God’s plan for the whole world in a similar way.
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
He was trying to eliminate the child born fulfilling the prophecy, Jesus!
Conclusion:
We find that God revealed that His 12 tribes were alive, growing in number and being prepared for all God had for them.
The heads passed away and all of the Hebrews became slaves in Egypt.
Fulfilling the prophecy for them to be slaves in another country for 400 yrs.
The new generation’s population struck fear in this new Pharaoh who didn’t have a relationship with the Hebrews.
They were a threat who were enslaved and became property.
Pharaoh’s plan was against God’s plan.
It was doomed to fail since no one can fight against God’s will.
God in every situation of your life, no matter how much pressure and heat is applied, is forming a beautiful trophy that will reflect the Creator.
In fear of even death, have faith in what is right and God honoring.
Trust Him He is working it all out.
- Pray!
