Crying for a Saviour
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Introduction
This evening we start a new series on the life of Moses. I’m quite excited about this series as there’s so much we can learn about his life and about the story of the Exodus and God’s deliverance and his protection and the fact that God remembers his people and the promise he has made with them.
But let’s not get too far ahead. But let’s jump right in and look at the introduction to the book…let’s set the scene, so to speak.
Because, while the story of Moses starts in Exodus, it’s a continuation of a bigger story…and we must not forget that when we read the story of Moses, or any other book of the bible for that matter - these are all small stories within a much larger story.
Think of it like one of those blankets that people make. Where they take small patches and sew them together to make a larger blanket.
The story of Moses is just one of those small patches in the blanket of God’s larger story for us. Same as the story of Joseph, which we looked at a year or two ago. Same with the story of David…they are all patches in the big blanket of God’s larger story.
And it’s a story that starts at the beginning of the bible - right in Genesis, where, after Adam and Eve sin, God promises to send someone to bruise the serpent’s head - a redeemer - someone to fix what went wrong in the world.
Now, we KNOW who that someone is - of course it’s all pointing to Jesus…but at the time, as the events unfold, the people are wondering at each juncture - at each small story - whether or not THIS person is the one that God promised…
Noah, for example delivered his family from the judgement, but it wasn’t him. It wasn’t Abraham either, but the story unfolds slightly more when it comes to Abraham, because God makes a promise to Abraham - a covenant that God will be HIS God to him and his offspring, and that from his offspring there will be someone who will redeem the world and fix what once went wrong.
And Abraham is given two other promises - that his offspring will be as numerous as the sands of the seashore or the stars in the sky - and that they will have a land for themselves.
And then we hit the story of Joseph, where Joseph is sold as a slave to Egypt and, because of the famine in the land and the fact that God has blessed Joseph to give him the honour of prime minister - Joseph brings his family from their homeland of Canaan into Egypt, where they stay and are blessed because Pharaoh likes Joseph.
So at the end of Genesis, Jacob (or, as he is otherwise known, Israel) and his family leave their land of Canaan and settle in Egypt.
And that’s where Exodus picks up. Funny, I never made the connection when I was younger, but it’s almost like Genesis and Exodus were one book because the join is so seamless.
Pause
But that’s where we are when we start Exodus, and we’ve got to keep that context in mind. And the author of Exodus wants to remind us of that fact by listing the sons of Israel who have settled.
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.
So God had remembered his covenant with Israel, although it’s not in explicit words, but he remembered that covenant because the children of Israel multiplied and multiplied. In fact, the word used for increased greatly is a word that is only used for swarms…These guys didn’t just multiply…this was exponential.
Pause
But their peace was short-lived, because when Pharaoh - the one who knew and loved Joseph - died, another king came on the throne - in fact, it would have been another dynasty, and this king was afraid of the number of the Hebrew people, because they were getting out of hand.
So he has a plan to get rid of them and stop their multiplying…in fact he has 3 plans, all of which don’t work.
First of all, he forces them to work as slaves and tortures them through gruelling work...
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.
But that didn’t stop them...
12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites
So then came plan B -
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.”
In other words, as you’re delivering the babies, kill the boys and spare the girls. And from the text it appears they were to make it look like the baby was stillborn as it was delivered.
But again, this plan didn’t work.
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
Now there’s some speculation as to whether or not they made this story up or whether it was true, but these midwives come back and tell the king, ‘listen, by the time we get to the mother, the baby is already out and we can’t say they’re stillborn.’
So then comes plan C...
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.”
And this is a command to all the people…throw any Hebrew boy into the Nile.
But this plan wasn’t going to work either, because God saw to it that the other plans didn’t work either…because God had remembered his covenant with Abraham to bless his people and make them as numerous as the sand on the shore.
And that’s exactly what was happening, although the text doesn’t explicitly say it.
Pause
So at the end of chapter 1, as you read it for the first time, God is blessing his people numerically and he’s protecting them, so this part of the promise to Abraham is being fulfilled, which means that the OTHER part of the promise - having a land of their own…the promised land won’t be far behind. The reader is thinking, the land is on its way.
But they have to get out of Egypt first....
Pause
Enter Moses in chapter 2…who arrives like any other Hebrew boy arrives…and because he’s Hebrew and a child of the promise, he would have received the sign of the promise, which was circumcision. And he was hidden away for three months.
And when he could no longer be hidden, his mother decides to put him in a basket, make it waterproof and send him down the Nile.
Now there are different opinions here - some think this was an elaborate plan - that Moses’ mother knew that Pharaoh’s daughter would be bathing at that time, and it was a setup.
Other think that the way it happened means it wasn’t a plan, but a desperate attempt at saving her child…somehow.
Regardless, God’s hand was in it all, because as we know Pharaoh’s daughter WAS bathing and saw the child, and Miriam, Moses’ sister was watching the whole thing.
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.
Now, not to get into too much detail…there’s really only one way a girl could tell if a baby in a basket is a Hebrew baby…Remember the sign of the covenant??? Well, that’s how she knew he was a Hebrew.
But it would have been easier not to circumcise Moses and then nobody would have known, but Moses’ parents stayed firm to the promise that God made and the conditions of that promise - that their children are to be circumcised…and when that should have meant death for Moses, it actually meant the opposite.
Because Miriam suggests she gets someone to nurse Moses for Pharaoh’s daughter, and she gets his own mother, who ends up getting PAID for looking after her own son.
God’s hand was at work in it all and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, although it’s not explicitly mentioned in the text.
Pause
But during that time, Moses must have been taught who he was and who God was, because then we come to a conflict of interest…
Moses is given over to the king’s daughter, which must have broken his mother’s heart - not only was he being taken away by a stranger, but it was to someone who worshipped foreign gods and had different beliefs…But the foundation that Jochabed had given to Moses must have been strong for him to do what he did next.
And incidentally, it’s a wake up call to parents and grandparents to ensure that we teach our children the ways of the Lord while they are young.
Pause
Because Moses obviously KNOWS he’s a Hebrew because he murders an Egyptian was who beating one of HIS PEOPLE...
11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
And straight after that, the next day he realises he’s been found out and he flees because Pharaoh wants to Kill him.
So off he goes and sits by a well where he drives off some shepherds who were bugging the daughters of the priest of Midian. This works out for him because he finds a wife and they have a son who is named Gershom, because he was a foreigner in a foreign land.
And the interesting part of this is that Moses recognises that Egypt is NOT the land that was promised his people - it wasn’t the promised land. And now he is out of there and out of their idolatrous practices, he realises that he is at home with people who believe and worship the same God he worships.
And now the reader sees that the ‘land’ part of the promise is starting to be dealt with.
Because God remembers the covenant he made with Abraham, although the text doesn’t explicitly say it…NO, wait a second…it does.
Pause
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
The Israelites had been crying out to God to save them, and God hadn’t forgotten them - he was continuing to keep his covenant - they were multiplying as was promised and now, they are going to enter into the process of getting their land back.
However, the writer of Exodus puts in a wee side-note, just to make sure we don’t miss the point…God DOES hear their cry. He HASN’T forgotten about them and he IS working a plan for their good.
Pause
In fact, the way the book of Exodus is written, there’s a sweep throughout the book of how near God is to his people.
At the start of the book, it appears that God is distant - that he is far off and doesn’t hear their cries or doesn’t see their distress. However, he is working his purposes throughout that.
Then God does deliver the children of Israel from Egypt, and it’s obvious that he is hearing their cries and he sends Moses to lead them out of Egypt, guiding them with the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.
But at the end of the book, after the tabernacle is finished, what happens? God himself comes down in a cloud and enters the tabernacle, as if to say, ‘I can’t get much closer to you now. NOW do you believe me when I tell you that I love you and I am not distant and that I AM working all things for your own good, that I HAVE remembered my covenant with you?’
Pause
Because, God IS near us. He is NOT distant. He is NOT far off…and as it says in Romans 8...
28 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 let’s not forget that this is one small story in part of God’s bigger story of redeeming the world.
Because his people were crying out to be saved, from slavery in Egypt, and his people were also crying out to be saved from slavery to sin. And God sent Moses to free his people from the Egyptian slavery, and he sent Jesus to free his people from the slavery to sin.
Jesus - who paid the ultimate sacrifice to free us from sin…Jesus, who was the passover lamb which was slain for US.
And so, this book, while all about Moses, is actually all about Jesus…it’s one small story of God’s bigger story about Jesus.
Which means that In Jesus Christ we are free - free from the bondage to sin…and we are no longer slaves in a foreign land.
Because God DOES hear our cries - he heard them for the Israelites and he sent a deliverer to them…and he heard them with respect to our sin and he sent a deliver for us too…his one and only son, Jesus Christ.
So if he has heard our cries throughout history, don’t you think he hears your cries today?
You can bet your life on it.
Because God is our deliverer. He sent Moses to free the Israelites, and he sent Jesus to free us from sin…so why sometimes do we still live like slaves?
Let’s pray.