Unpopular Obedience

Exodus 1:8–22 NLT

8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.” 11 So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. 13 So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. 14 They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands. 15 Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah: 16 “When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. “Why have you done this?” he demanded. “Why have you allowed the boys to live?” 19 “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,” the midwives replied. “They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time.” 20 So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live.”

Abraham - Joseph

Introduction

I think that before we can move too far into our passage this morning we need to set the stage just a little. We read verse 8 and some of you may be wondering what this new king is, or perhaps your wondering was Joseph the last king?

Exodus is written as the story of God’s promise to His chosen people the Israelites that he would bring them out of Egypt, that he would deliver them out of the slavery they would find themselves in and develop them into a nation, the nation of Israel. Earlier in Genesis God tells Abram to count the stars in the sky if he can, that his off spring will be as numerous as the stars. Then he tells him that

Genesis 15:13–14 NLT

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.

The later half of Genesis is all about the off spring of Abraham to Joseph. Joseph had been living in Egypt and working for the king of Egypt for most of his life. God was with Joseph throughout his life and guided him in everything including how to navigate a severe famine in the land. Joseph basically took care of Pharoah and Pharoah in return gave a lot of freedom to Joseph and eventually his family. All part of the redemption plan that God has initiated. A plan that includes you and me, a plan to restore heaven on earth the way it was designed.

But now Joseph and his entire family have died as well as the Pharoah that Joseph served. An entire generation has died, a considerable amount of time has passed and so we find ourselves this morning at the beginning of Exodus.

A new king and with that new king change is in the air.

A New King

A new king came to Egypt, but I wonder what new king is in our lives today? What God’s do we worship in our lives today? We are about to have a new king in this country. Some of us here might be excited and some of us might not be excited. But who are we serving as our king?

Almost 280 years have passed from the time Joseph died to when Moses was born so our passage this morning is perhaps in the 250-275 years after Josephs death before the birth of Moses.

A new king has come to Egypt. A king with his own agenda and he does not know anything about Joseph and what Joseph did for the people of Egypt.

In order to grasp the time difference we could look at George Washington. He was elected president in April of 1789 so thats about 236 years ago. How much do we know and remember about George Washington? I would say a fair amount right but we have the books to read and things written about him to study.

Pharoah would have had way less or perhaps hardly anything written as he comes to Egypt and assumes the power that he has. And so you can see how he might not be too thrilled with whats happening.

Pharoah has one thing that he is concerned with and that is his kingdom, the well being of his family and closest allies. If anything is going to threaten that well being and prosperity then Pharoah is going to take control and make sure that doesn’t happen.

So we see that this morning where Pharoah is getting concerned right. He says in

Exodus 1:9–10 NLT

9 He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.”

I do ask myself what causes this concern? Maybe there is something to his feeling that he is becoming out numbered:

Exodus 1:5 NLT

5 In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there.

Then in

Exodus 12:37 NLT

37 That night the people of Israel left Rameses and started for Succoth. There were about 600,000 men, plus all the women and children.

Lets just say that is a growth of 600,000 Israelites and so for sure maybe he is fearing of being outnumbered but still what has led him to think that the people of Israel have this desire to take out Egypt. I mean for what they know, if Pharoah doesn’t remember Joseph then most likely the Israelites dont remember much about him either, for what they know Egypt was their home at least for the time being.

The land of Egypt has become to Israel a house of bondage. The place where they have been most happy is soon becoming a place of affliction.

Matthew Henry in his commentary on Exodus says this:

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible Chapter 1

All that knew Joseph, loved him, and were kind to his brethren for his sake; but the best and most useful services a man does to others, are soon forgotten after his death. Our great care should be, to serve God, and to please him who is not unrighteous, whatever men are, to forget our work and labour of love. The offence of Israel is, that he prospers. There is no sight more hateful to a wicked man than the prosperity of the righteous. The Egyptians feared lest the children of Israel should join their enemies, and get them up out of the land. Wickedness is ever cowardly and unjust; it makes a man fear, where no fear is, and flee, when no one pursues him. And human wisdom often is foolishness, and very sinful.

For the Israelites life has been pretty good, life has been peachy for them and they probably would have preferred to stay in Egypt. They probably would have preferred to become Egyptians and that would mean they lost their identity as God’s chosen people. I mean later on in Exodus they often grumble against Moses and wish they were still in Egypt. So I think at this point the notion that Pharoah is concerned that the Israelites are going to take over is unfounded.

But Pharoah is concerned AND it was not the plan of redemption God had in store for the Israelites so Pharoah is allowed to work them hard into slavery. See this isn’t Pharaoh’s plan but its God’s plan being orchestrated to perfection. It’s not that God wants them to become slaves but that he wants them to want to leave Egypt. God isn’t going to drag them out of Egypt, or handcuff them and bring them out. He wants them to be willing and eager to leave. He wants them to be so sick of life in Egypt that they are willing to get up and leave.

The plan is working to God’s perfection because the more the Egyptians work the Israelites the more they multiply and spread out.

Exodus 1:12–14 NLT

12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. 13 So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. 14 They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.

See this is not a battle of Pharaoh and the Egyptians against the Israelites, this is a battle between Pharaoh and Jehovah the God of Israel. Pharaoh has no chance and is no match for the God of Israel but Pharaoh is going to keep trying to squash this super natural growth and spreading of God’s chosen people anyway.

So, if forced labor slavery doesn’t work then its time for plan B. So he figures that he will quitely behind the scenes devise a scheme in which he can reduce the growth by killing all the male Hebrew boys being born. A plan that is so quite and behind the scenes that nobody would ever catch on or find out.

In walks to ordinary midwives.

Ordinary People

Two midwives that will be obedient to the unpopular route. Two ordinary midwives used for extraordinary tasks.

Exodus 1:16 NIV

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.”

Pharaoh is giving and order or a directive to the Hebrew midwife that when you go and help a Hebrew women give birth. It was common to have a midwife assist in the birth, it was common for more than one midwife to help.

Pharaoh is trying to use the Hebrew people against themselves. He thinks that he can kill the baby boys quietly, before they make a sound and nobody is going to know anything about it. Remember I said at the beginning that Exodus is the story of God’s deliverance of His chosen people out of Egypt and to develop them into a nation. Satan is here at work again. He is attempting to kill this nation of Israel during its infancy stages.

If we cant beat them in slavery and work them to death, then why dont we try and kill them before they ever get a chance to grow in number? Again this isn’t a battle between Pharaoh and the Hebrew people this is a battle between the evil in the world and Jehovah the God of Israel.

So, the order is given but the midwives fear God and so they disobey the orders from Pharaoh. That act alone is certainly grounds for these two women to be put to death. Questioned by Pharaoh as to why they have done this there response is in reality a little bit of a lie perhaps.

Exodus 1:19 NLT

19 “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,” the midwives replied. “They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time.”

First of all by their answer it appears that the Hebrew midwives also are helping deliver the Egyptian womens babies too. They are comparing the Egyptian women to the Hebrew women. Now obviously I have not given birth so have no clue what its like. However I believe that in general there is not a difference in birth from one race to another. Sure there may be medical differences in deliveries based more on an economic standing but I believe the physical process doesnt change from one group of people to another. Sure some women have an easier time than other but again not based on a race or ethnicity.

“They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we can not get there in time.” I think based on the little I know that most women would prefer to have their babies delivered fast, get the pain over with, right.

So what is the difference here in our passage this morning? It is the presence of God, that can be the only answer. God is orchestrating this entire story. God has closed the mind of Pharaoh a little bit and given the midwives the courage to stand up to what is wrong. God is giving the midwives the ability to explain their actions in a way that seems to go against the nature of giving birth but Pharaoh seems to be not upset with the midwives.

So, you can now see that what the midwives did or didnt do and what they reported to Pharoah was not really 100% true right? So, I am not saying that God blessed the midwives due to their lie. The bible has examples of people who lied and were put to death for it. In the story in Acts about Ananias and Sapphira they both were put to death on the spot in response to the questioning by Peter.

Leviticus 19:11 NLT

11 “Do not steal. “Do not deceive or cheat one another.

So, what is the difference here this morning? The key difference is their motives. The midwives were motivated to do the right thing and so they lied to an evil king to cover up an ungodly order to kill innocent order. Ananias and Sapphira lied due to their own greed and selfishness in their heart.

The midwives certainly could have been punished by the king for their actions but instead God has blessed them for what they have done.

Faithful & Blessed

Not only was God good to the midwives but the Israelites continued to grow and multiply.

Exodus 1:20 NLT

20 So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful.

They continued to grow more and more powerful. Not only are the Hebrew baby boys still alive but they are growing and multiplying and growing in power.

Exodus 1:21 NLT

21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

Often in those days the midwives were women that had not had children of their own, but for these two midwives God has blessed them too with families. They too are contributing to the growth of the Israelites.

Is there a time in your life that God has blessed you because of your faithfulness? Two weeks ago I mentioned the events in my life during the last half of 2012. During that time I certainly could have gone the way of the world and stepped away from my faith but it was during that time that God blessed us with everything that we would need. For me it was less about a paycheck, for some reason I felt like if I had to I could climb back into a truck and go back to driving truck. For me the main concern was the health insurance for my family. Brooke was full into competitive cheer and Trevor was full into playing baseball. Both I felt could easily have accidents that would be costly. So, at the time Julie was working about 24 hours a week and they were kind to allow her to increase to 32 hours and then also give her health insurance for the entire family, plus the insurance was effective immediately and there was no waiting period.

An answer to pray that we are now covered and then also an answer to prayer that we never actually needed it. But it was during a time where we stayed faithful and obedient that God blessed us with just what we needed at the time in our life that we needed it.

God not only blessed the midwives but he continued to prosper the Israelites and they continued to grow more and more powerful.

So, this morning the choice is ours, who are we going to serve?

The Choice is Yours Who Will You Serve

Closing

Every day we are faced with this choice. Who will you serve? Will you serve the world around you or will you serve the same God that Abraham, Issac, Joseph and the midwives serve?

As I listened this week to some of the eulogies that were given at President Carters funeral I was reminded of this passage and the work of the midwives. You see not many of us are going to be a president of the United States, not many of us are going to be a public figure at all. Our chances are much higher at being an average citizen just like the midwives. Most likely a high percentage of us are going to be faced with the decision to follow the pressures of the world or be obedient to out faith in Jesus.

I watched as all the political figures came to the funeral and nobody was wearing a label that said democrat or republican, nobody wore a label that indicated if they agreed with President Carter or not. When the speakers were given their speeches they talked about all the good that President Carter did in the 100 years God gave him here on earth and from the speeches it sounded like he was a good man.

But see none of those really matter at your death. It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you reside. What matters is whether or not you were obedient to the world or you were obedient to Jesus Christ. You can have the longest list of good things said about you at your funeral but you and me alike are going to stand before God and answer the same questions. We will be stripped to our core and asked if we have been obedient.

Did we follow the example set by Jesus, were we faithful to that following? If so then Jesus will say

New Living Translation Chapter 25

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.

And if we were not obedient to Jesus and not faithful in our following then Jesus will have a harsh response for us

New Living Translation Chapter 25

41 “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.

The last verse in our passage this morning is

Exodus 1:22 NLT

22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live.”

This verse sets us up for the birth of Moses. So Pharaoh is not defeated yet but his time is coming. The story continues with people serving and being obedient to the unpopular choice but in doing so they are blessed.

At the end of Joshua’s life, after bring the Israelites through to the promised land and all the grumbling and complaining that they did he says this to them:

Joshua 24:15 NLT

15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

The choice is yours, who will you serve? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.

Amen