The New King versus the KING

Take Off

Openning Prayer

Lord we are so thankful for your salvation and the triumph, how powerful it is, how cosmic it is, how it over comes the most fundamental issues of all time, extends to all of creation. You have delivered us from our sin through the atoning death son Jesus. You satisfied your wrath and your justice. Help us as we here in exodus learn about the great foundation of our salvation here in the beginning of Exodus. Help us to never forget the epic dramatic beautiful spectacular nature of our deliverance. May our lives be continually exalting the one who has delivered us. Be with us, strengthen us, edify us and may this time be pleasing in your sight.

Openning Illustration

What is in a name

There can only be one top dog

Foundation for theology

Option B: Origin Story

Cultural references

Origin stories in movies

Only one ultimate ruler, king and master

Story of the Origin of God’s Holy People

Option C: What is in a Name

Exodus - the Book of Names

God reveals His name to and through His people

Option D: There can only be one top dog

Background and Context

Today we will be in the beginning of the book of Exodus and in this passage we will see how a man thought that he was the ultimate ruler, king and master and how God defeated Him at every turn.

Main Point

Prior to the greek translation of the Old Testament the book of Exodus was traditionally called “shemot”, which means names. This is because the book of Exodus begins with a list of names. This is also because this is the book in which God reveals His name. God does this explicitly in and then again in . However throughout the entirety of this book God is revealing who He is to His people.

At the very beginning of this book, which is where we will be today, we find a four act story where God reveals three main aspects about Himself. Today we will see how God is a Promise Keeping God, How God is the Ultimate King over all Kings and how God is the Savior and Deliverer of His people. God is a Promise Keeper, He is the King and He is the Savior.

Plot Overview

As previously mentioned, this text is organized into 4 separate acts or scenes:

Act 1 - God Blesses -1:1-7

Act 2 - Pharoah Enslaves - 1:8-14

Act 3 - Pharoah Murders - 1:15-22

- God Delivers- 2:1-10

Main Point

God demonstrates that He alone is God by blessing His people, defeating the schemes of Pharaoh and delivering His people from bondage.

Relevance

Exodus is the book in which God reveals His name. God does this explicitly in

In this story we will see that God is the God of creation and He is here creating a new nation

God is a sovereign God who orchestrates both good and evil for the ultimate plan of saving His covenant people

God and His plans can not be thwarted by the schemes of satan

God does what he does for his glory and for the good of his people.

God does what he does for his glory and for the good of his people.

God demonstrates that He alone is God by blessing His people, defeating the schemes of Pharaoh and delivering His people from bondage.

Relevance

Relevance to Original Hearers

Relevance to Today

For Jews it is the story that defines their very existence, the rescue that made them God’s people. For Christians it is the gospel of the Old Testament, God’s first great act of redemption.

The exodus shows that there is a God who saves, who delivers his people from bondage.

The exodus shows that there is a God who saves, who delivers his people from bondage.

This brings us to a very practical question: Who is our God? The truth is that we are no better than the sons of Israel. We are envious, ill-tempered people who stubbornly refuse to follow God. We fail to live up to his perfect standard every day. What we need is the God of Exodus. If he is our God, then he has performed for us a miracle of grace, and we can trust him to save us to the very end.

This brings us to a very practical question: Who is our God? The truth is that we are no better than the sons of Israel. We are envious, ill-tempered people who stubbornly refuse to follow God. We fail to live up to his perfect standard every day. What we need is the God of Exodus. If he is our God, then he has performed for us a miracle of grace, and we can trust him to save us to the very end.

God is the covenant God of Israel and will accomplish all that He promised to Abraham

God is the God of creation and He is here creating a new nation

God is the God of creation and He is here creating a new nation

God is God alone and He is the ultimate authority over all human powers

God is God alone and He is the ultimate authority over all human powers

God is a sovereign God who orchestrates both good and evil for the ultimate plan of saving His covenant people

God is a sovereign God who orchestrates both good and evil for the ultimate plan of saving His covenant people

God and His plans can not be thwarted by the schemes of satan

God and His plans can not be thwarted by the schemes of satan

Transition

So then, what I want is for you today is to see how God is a Promise Keeper, He is the King and He is the Savior. We will see that in this 4-Act story, God Blesses, Pharaoh Enslaves, Pharoah Murders, and God Delivers. Let us begin in - God Blesses.

: God Blesses - 1:1-7

1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came each one with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

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. 6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 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.

God’s Past Blessing - vs 1-6

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

This scene opens how all epic tales begin, in the middle of the story. The very first word of this book is a conjunction. If you are reading in the ESV with me you will see that the verse starts with, “now”; in Hebrew this word is most often translated and. The next time someone tells you that that you can’t begin a sentence with “and”, tell them, “well God did.” In fact the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers all begin with the word we translate as and, then or now. The reason Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, chose the word and to begin this book is to link it to the story begun in Genesis.

Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob

The first such element is the first word of the book. Although not reflected in the niv, the Hebrew text shows that 1:1 does not begin simply with the words “These are the names.…” Rather, it begins with the harmless word “and” (the Hebrew letter waw). This is not academic hair-splitting or forcing meaning from the text. Although the presence of “and” at the beginning of the book may seem odd,1 it functions here to join Exodus to what has come before. This book continues the story begun in Genesis: God chose a people for himself and brought them down into Egypt.2 Their presence there is an outworking of his presence with the patriarchs. It is no by-product of chance.

The first such element is the first word of the book. Although not reflected in the niv, the Hebrew text shows that 1:1 does not begin simply with the words “These are the names.…” Rather, it begins with the harmless word “and” (the Hebrew letter waw). This is not academic hair-splitting or forcing meaning from the text. Although the presence of “and” at the beginning of the book may seem odd,1 it functions here to join Exodus to what has come before. This book continues the story begun in Genesis: God chose a people for himself and brought them down into Egypt.2 Their presence there is an outworking of his presence with the patriarchs. It is no by-product of chance.

From the very beginning it is apparent that these people have a history and a destiny. Exodus begins the way epics typically begin, in the middle of things, with the adventure already underway. In Hebrew the book begins with the word “and,” which establishes a connection between the exodus and everything that came before.

In order to Exit you first have to enter

God’s covenant promises to Abraham -

Land, Mighty Nation, Blessing

Patriarchal History

Abraham - journeys to the Land - has an offspring - not a mighty nation

Isaac - lives in the Land has two sons

Jacob/Israel - steals covenant birthright from brother - flees the land into the wilderness - returns to the Land and has 12 sons

12 sons of Jacob

1 favorite, Joseph- sold into slavery by brothers

becomes a prince of Egypt - second in power only to Pharoah.

God uses Joseph to save his brothers from starvation

Jacob and sons move to Egypt at the blessing of Pharoah

given the best land to live in

God’s promise to bring them out

made to Abraham

Jacob buried in the Promised Land

Joseph commands that he be buried in the Promised Land -

God is a God who transforms what was meant for evil into blessing and salvation for His people

they came each one with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt.

It was through God’s providence that the Israelites went down to Egypt, and it was by his providence that they became slaves there. Exodus makes this connection by beginning with a quotation from (“These are the names of the sons of Israel”). This is a way of hinting that the God who will get them out of Egypt (in Exodus) is the same God who first led them into Egypt (in Genesis).

6 Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.

The writer knew the Genesis traditions well and in depth, and how to use them skillfully to develop his story. He knew that Joseph’s charge to his brothers had been “You will carry up my bones from here” (). The phrase “you will carry up” (וְהַעֲלִתֶם29) introduces another key term in Exodus that describes Israel’s going out of Egypt (cf. v. 10 below).30 Indeed, the word is used more specifically in , where it is applied to Israel’s future, “and he will cause you to go up from this land” וְהֶעֱלָ֤ה (אֶתְכֶם֙).31 The exodus is an act of God from the beginning. Even the bones of Joseph would not stay in Egypt, for he would yet be buried with his ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He will represent “those generations” left behind. The text creates tension. Joseph’s bones are now in Egypt and will not be moved unless God takes them out (cf. …

God’s Present Blessing - vs 7

7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

“But”

Even the death of the patriarchs will not defeat the goals and purposes of God as he effects his marvelous plan to take a people unto himself from the seed of Abraham in order to rescue the world () and bring his goals () and purposes for his creation and covenantal people to fruition, creating a people who will image and honor him as their God in an environment of social justice and righteousness.

The occurrence of death (v. 6) did not make the promises of God to Abraham’s descendants ineffective. Rather, the promises of God triumphed over death, which would later become the enemy feared most by the Egyptians (; Oswalt, 208, develops this theme). The tombs of the Pharaohs and the intricate burial procedures followed in Egypt present a people obsessed with trying to ensure some kind of future life after death

Fruitful, increased, multiplied, mighty, filled

In God blessed his people, created in his image, and as a result they were to be fruitful (פְּרוּ), multiply (רְבוּ), and fill (מִלְאוּ) the earth. These three words are repeated in this verse and are found together only here outside Genesis.

The phrase “sons of Israel,” forms the first part of an inclusio* in these verses (vv. 1, 7). The first time it is used it designates literally the sons of Jacob. Its connotation is different in v. 7, for it indicates that the sons of Jacob have multiplied to become the Israelites who form the incipient nation of Israel. The writer describes the transformation of the sons of Jacob and their descendants into a powerful multitude that made up the nation of Israel—already in Egypt. God has thereby kept his covenant faithfulness with Abraham (12:1–3; 15:5).

Secondly, the recognition of God’s larger missionary purposes sets up the coming conflict with Pharaoh in the broadest terms possible. It is precisely Israel’s multiplication that Pharaoh seeks to restrain. Again in language reminiscent of , and in response to , Pharaoh gives the reason for his ensuing oppression of Israel: ‘Behold, the people of Israel are many and stronger than us’ (1:9, my tr.; cf. 1:7). The nature of the conflict becomes clear: Pharaoh directly (albeit unwittingly) seeks to undermine God’s purposes not only for Israel, but also for the world. Understanding in connection with God’s purposes in creation and for Israel exposes what is ultimately at stake in the coming conflict with Pharaoh, which dominates : Pharaoh’s opposition threatens God’s purposes to be known throughout the world.…

Secondly, the recognition of God’s larger missionary purposes sets up the coming conflict with Pharaoh in the broadest terms possible. It is precisely Israel’s multiplication that Pharaoh seeks to restrain. Again in language reminiscent of , and in response to , Pharaoh gives the reason for his ensuing oppression of Israel: ‘Behold, the people of Israel are many and stronger than us’ (1:9, my tr.; cf. 1:7). The nature of the conflict becomes clear: Pharaoh directly (albeit unwittingly) seeks to undermine God’s purposes not only for Israel, but also for the world. Understanding in connection with God’s purposes in creation and for Israel exposes what is ultimately at stake in the coming conflict with Pharaoh, which dominates : Pharaoh’s opposition threatens God’s purposes to be known throughout the world.…

The language of is taken up in after the great flood and used to instruct the descendants of Noah. This verse specifically uses the words “be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.” uses these terms and adds the word swarm to the post-diluvian people, a term that is used only in and in , where it refers to the Israelites. In both places it describes a new beginning for God’s people.

The promise of the seed went back even farther than Abraham, all the way to Adam and Eve, who were commanded, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth” (). Now God was keeping his promise to turn one family into a mighty nation. Exodus makes this explicit by describing the Hebrew multitudes with the very words (“fruitful,” “multiply,” etc.) used in the creation mandate in Genesis (cf. , ; ).

Transition

- Pharoah Enslaves - 1:8-14

King who did not know Joseph - vs 8-10

8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.

The author sharply contrasts the situation recorded in vv. 1–7 with the conditions in vv. 8–11. Israel falls from the favor of the preceding pharaohs into disfavor with the unnamed pharaoh

10 “Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.”

“Or else… they multiply and depart”

The picture is a reminder that by enslaving the Israelites, Pharaoh was trying to make a theological point: The Hebrews would not serve their own God—they would work for him. They would not be free to go to the land of God’s promise—they would stay right where they were. In effect, Pharaoh was claiming to be the lord of Israel, and by doing so—perhaps without even realizing it—he became the tool of Satan. In his book on spiritual warfare, Donald Grey Barnhouse called Egypt “the greatest symbol of Satan’s enmity against the children of Israel,” and he went on to say: “The devil was in Egypt. The devil was ruling Egypt. Behind Pharaoh there was Satan.”5 The exodus, therefore, was not simply an epic struggle between Moses and Pharaoh, or between Israel and Egypt. Ultimately it was another skirmish in the great, ongoing war between God and Satan.…

Pharoah rejected God’s promises

Pharoah rejected God’s promises

The “Come now, let us …” recalls that phrase throughout the City/Tower of Babel story in . The further reference to “mortar and bricks” () repeats some of the materials mentioned in . The

1st Solution: Slavery - vs 11, 13, 14

11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. 13 The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously; 14 and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.

From Prosperity to Persecution

The God Who Makes Himself Known: The Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus The Name Unknown (Exod. 1:8–2:25)

Presumably due to the desire for more interesting prose, this emphasis on Israel’s serving (Hebrew root ‘bd) Pharaoh is typically obscured in most English translations. The verses immediately above can be translated more literally as follows:

And the Egyptians forced the sons of Israel to serve with violence. And they caused their lives to be bitter with hard service, with mortar and with brick and with all kinds of service in the field. In all their service with which they served, in violence. (Tr. and emphases mine)

The repetition of the verb ‘to serve’ highlights Israel’s slavery, that Israel is not her own master, but rather the forced servant of another.

The God Who Makes Himself Known: The Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus The Name Unknown (Exod. 1:8–2:25)

Secondly, the nature of their service is deeply and violently oppressive. This oppression begins with Pharaoh’s afflicting them with heavy burdens as they are exploited for economic profit while they build Pharaoh’s cities. Beatings were apparently common.

God Still Blesses - vs 12

12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.

“The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread” (). The irony is that this was exactly the opposite of what Pharaoh intended to happen. In verse 10 Pharaoh says pen-yirbe, which means “lest they multiply”; but in verse 12 God says ken-yirbe—“the more they shall multiply.” The Bible uses this Hebrew pun to show that the joke was on Pharoah, who had always prided himself on being politically astute

Transition

- Pharoah Murders - 1:15-22

2nd Solution: Murder by Midwives - vs 15-16

15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah; 16 and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”

Pharaoh also became an anti-Christ by opposing God’s special plan for sending a savior. From the very day that Adam and Eve first sinned, God had always promised to send his people someone to save them from their sins—the offspring of a woman, a son to crush Satan’s head (). God’s people trusted that promise, waiting in hope for the coming of the Christ. Whether he knew it or not, Pharaoh was “the seed of the serpent” that God had promised would strike at the heel of the woman’s seed. By trying to prevent the Savior from ever becoming a man, Pharaoh became an antichrist

Usurp God’s authority over life and death

Usurped God’s authority over life and death

Rebellion of the Midwives - vs 17-21

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.” 20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. 21 Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.” 20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. 21 Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them.

Better might a worm withstand the tread of an elephant than the puny creature resist the Almighty. “There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord” (). What comfort and confidence should this impart to the believer! If God be for us, it matters not who are against us. A.W. Pink

18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.”

uncharacteristic to divert from the logic. IF they lied they went from fearing God to fearing pharoah and lying to protect themselves...then God blesses them?

Given a name because they feared God

Given a name because they feared God

20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. 21 Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them.

Egyptian despot are, however, thwarted by the actions and words of the Heb. midwives, who acted wisely because of their fear of God. They display a characteristic that God wants in his people (cf. ) so that they will not sin

They did not lie. God caused them the Israelite women to give birth faster than the Egyptian women. They give birth before the midwives could get there and follow Pharaoh’s command.

Israelite women are superior to the Egyptian woman. God is superior to Pharoah. Pharoah can make commands but God overrules

The mention of the midwives4 seven times emphasizes how important this weak social group was to the author and to Yahweh. They were a human element, made compassionate by the “fear of God” that kept the miraculous multiplication of the Hebrews intact and turned back the wrath of an enraged Pharaoh. The insolence, ignorance, and hubris of the Pharaoh had as yet gone unpunished, but not unanswered, in this early state of Israel’s oppression in Egypt

This, too, proves futile and even results in blessing for the midwives. Ironically, they are blessed by the very thing Pharaoh enlisted their help to prevent: population increase.16

Final Solution: Murder by Water - vs 22

22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”

Pharaoh acts from fear (v. 9) and hence acts viciously but with gross stupidity, not with wisdom (v. 10). He sets in motion a state-based sociological, political, religious, but above all theologically and ethically corrupt mechanism of terror that unexpectedly results in Yahweh’s bringing about everything Pharaoh feared

Transition

- God Delivers - 2:1-10

The Faith of Moses’ Parents - vs 1-2

Conclusion

1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

The Bible calls attention to this when it says that his mother “saw that he was a goodly child” (, kjv). This is an echo from the story of creation, when God saw that everything he had made was “very good” ()

Delivered from Water in the Ark - vs 3-6

3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him. 5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

Basket - tebah- same word as ark - has not been used since through 8 - Covered in pitch like the ark

“This is certainly not a mere coincidence. By this verbal parallelism Scripture apparently intends to draw attention to the thematic analogy. In both instances one worthy of being saved and destined to bring salvation to others is to be rescued from death by drowning. In the earlier section the salvation of humanity is involved, here it is the salvation of the chosen people.”13 Both Noah and Moses passed through the deadly waters by riding in an ark, the vessel of salvation. They were baptized, as it were, in the same water in which others perished.

Covered in pitch like the ark

Pharaoh couldn’t control the women of Israel. He couldn’t control his own daughter

Jochebed’s actions are described so as to emphasize her tenderness. To translate the Hebrew more literally, “she placed the child in [the basket] and placed it among the reeds” (). When she gently laid her baby down, she was tucking her heart inside the basket. It was the kind of thing a mother could only do by faith, but then she was a woman of faith. Having received her son as a gift from the Lord, she turned him back over to the Lord in faith. Jochebed would hardly have sent her daughter along to watch if she had expected her child to be murdered! If it seemed like she was abandoning him, it was only to God’s loving care, as every faithful parent must.

God’s Care for Moses’ Family - vs 7-9

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.

The Name - vs 10

10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

Landing

One good reason for believing in the historical Moses is his name, which sounds like the Hebrew verb “to draw out” (mashah). Pharaoh’s daughter seems to have known some Hebrew, for it was she who “named him Moses, saying, ‘I drew him out of the water’ ” (). Her Hebrew needed a little work, however, because Moses literally means “he who draws out of.” Unwittingly, Pharaoh’s daughter gave the child a name that hinted at his destiny. Just as Moses himself was drawn out of the water, so he would later draw God’s people out of Egypt through the sea.

This is why we need God to be our Savior, for in salvation God delivers us from evil. At the very darkest moment of Israel’s captivity—when evil was rampant and the tyrant seemed to triumph—at that very moment God was working in history to save his people. His plan called for a little child to be born in secret and then floated down the river right to Pharaoh’s doorstep. In his triumph over evil, God displays his divine sense of humor. Peter Enns comments, “Ironically, this child, once doomed to death by Pharaoh’s decree, will become the very instrument of Pharaoh’s destruction and the means through which all Israel escapes not only Pharaoh’s decree, but Egypt itself.”

Consider the facts: Moses “is spared by being cast onto the very Nile that was to drown him, is treated with maternal kindness by the daughter of the very king who had condemned him and to whose descendants he would become a nemesis, and is assigned as a responsibility with pay to the one woman in all the world who most wanted the best for him, his own mother.”12 Who else but God could accomplish such a great salvation? There are divine fingerprints all over the narrative. Thus the third thing we learn about salvation is that it is God’s work from beginning to end

We know that from the time of Thutmose III (middle of the fifteenth century b.c.) it was customary for foreign-born princes to be reared and educated in the Egyptian court. The “children of the nursery,” they were called; and as a child of the nursery, Moses was trained in linguistics, mathematics, astronomy, architecture, music, medicine, law, and the fine art of diplomacy.14 In other words, he was being trained for Pharaoh’s overthrow right under Pharaoh’s nose!

Ironically, this child, once doomed to death by Pharaoh’s decree, will become the very instrument of Pharaoh’s destruction and the means through which all Israel escapes not merely Pharaoh’s decree, but Egypt itself. The child once abandoned in the reeds (suph) along the shore of the Nile (v. 3) will later lead his people in triumph through the Reed Sea (yam suph, cf. 13:18). Moses’ redemption as an infant will be replayed later with respect to Israel at the very infancy of her existence as a nation.

To put it another way, Pharaoh first brings death, then life to Moses. As we see often in Scripture, the Lord shows his strength by meeting his people precisely in the depths of their despair and working those very circumstances for ultimate good. Pharaoh wishes to counter God’s plan by casting infants into the Nile. God saves Moses by casting him onto the Nile and bringing him to Pharaoh’s front door. Truly the power of God is at work in this boy’s life.

Transition - Christotellic Connection

Preaching the Word: Exodus—Saved for God's Glory The Birth of the Savior

Like Moses, this Savior was born under a death sentence. Herod the Great, a tyrant as wicked as any of the Pharaohs, was determined to put the newborn king to death. At first he tried to do it secretly, asking the wise men to tell him where Jesus was. When that deadly plan failed, Herod ordered his soldiers openly to slaughter all the baby boys in Bethlehem. But in salvation God triumphs over evil; so, like Moses, Jesus was delivered from death. While the other babies were crushed by the engines of state, the child who was born to save us all escaped to Egypt (Matt. 2:1–19). In all of these events God was working out his plan down to the last detail, for salvation is his work from beginning to end.

The birth of the Savior was only the beginning. Everything else went according to plan too. In time the child was brought out of Egypt and went to the land of Israel (Matt. 2:21; cf. Exod. 4:19). There he “grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40). He lived a perfect life until finally he died an atoning death. In that death is our salvation, for the cross of Christ is God’s ultimate triumph over evil. Do you believe this? The salvation God has accomplished in history becomes our salvation when we receive Jesus by faith. We are called to trust God the way a desperate mother once did when she put her heart in a basket and entrusted it to the God who saves.

— 13 Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” 14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” 16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.

Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) Abortion, Race, Gender, and Christ

In closing, go with me back to Egypt for a moment. In the very darkest season of the worst child-killing, Moses was born. Moses, the deliverer. Moses, the rescuer, the savior of the people. And then the prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22)—the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the final decisive Rescuer, Savior, Deliverer—was born, and barely escaped the slaughter of the babies in Bethlehem. He lived a perfect life and died for sinners and rose again.

And here’s one of the great differences between him and Moses. Moses delivered the people who were being oppressed. Jesus delivers oppressed and oppressor. Moses delivered the hated race. Jesus delivers the hated and the hater. Moses couldn’t deliver the strangled babies or babies thrown into the Nile, but Jesus delivers the babies, the mothers, the abortion providers, the irresponsible boyfriends. He loves and saves every sinner who trusts in him.

It is not difficult to peer behind the scenes and behold one who was seeking to use Pharaoh as an instrument with which to accomplish his fiendish design. Surely we can discover here an outbreaking of the Serpent’s enmity against the Seed of the woman. Suppose this effort had succeeded, what then? Why, the channel through which the promised Redeemer was to come had been destroyed. If all the male children of the Hebrews were destroyed there had been no David, and if no David, no David’s Son. Pink, A. W.

With each crack of the whip, Pharaoh was striking another blow against the God of Israel, because ultimately this was a spiritual conflict. Pharaoh was really fighting against God. He resented God’s people. The Israelites were meant for God’s glory. They were supposed to be free to serve him. But by making the Israelites his slaves, Pharoah tried to prevent them from fulfilling their calling to work and play to the glory of God.

With each crack of the whip, Pharaoh was striking another blow against the God of Israel, because ultimately this was a spiritual conflict. Pharaoh was really fighting against God. He resented God’s people. The Israelites were meant for God’s glory. They were supposed to be free to serve him. But by making the Israelites his slaves, Pharoah tried to prevent them from fulfilling their calling to work and play to the glory of God.

Pink, A. W. (1962). Gleanings in Exodus (p. 14). Chicago: Moody Press.

There is also an analogy here to the life of the soul. Pharaoh had two strategies for preventing God’s people from growing: slavery and death. These are the same weapons Satan uses when he tries to destroy a human being. First, sin leads to slavery, for as Jesus said, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (). Then once we are enslaved, sin leads to death: “For the wages of sin is death” (). What we need is exactly what the Israelites needed: a Savior to deliver us from slavery and to rescue us from death by destroying our enemy. Just as God provided a savior for Israel (Moses), so he has provided a Savior for us (Jesus). Where once there was only bondage and death, now Jesus brings liberty and life.

There is also an analogy here to the life of the soul. Pharaoh had two strategies for preventing God’s people from growing: slavery and death. These are the same weapons Satan uses when he tries to destroy a human being. First, sin leads to slavery, for as Jesus said, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (). Then once we are enslaved, sin leads to death: “For the wages of sin is death” (). What we need is exactly what the Israelites needed: a Savior to deliver us from slavery and to rescue us from death by destroying our enemy. Just as God provided a savior for Israel (Moses), so he has provided a Savior for us (Jesus). Where once there was only bondage and death, now Jesus brings liberty and life.

Landing

Christotellic Connection

Summary

So then, what I desire for you to learn from God’s word is that God…We will see that in this 4-Act story, God Blesses, Pharaoh Enslaves, Pharoah Murders, and God Delivers. Let us begin in Act1 - God Blesses.

The God Who Makes Himself Known: The Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus The Name Unknown (Exod. 1:8–2:25)

Characteristic of Exodus 1–2 is a curious and noteworthy absence of the name of the Lord, an absence particularly striking in the light of the abundant presence of the Lord’s name from Exodus 3 onwards. In fact, save for the comment that Hebrew midwives feared God, there is no indication that Israel even acknowledged the God of their fathers in Exodus 1–2. Israel cries out under their affliction, and their cries are heard by God, but the text does not indicate that Israel cried out to God. This inference that the Lord was largely unknown, admittedly argued from silence, is supported both by Moses’ asking for the Lord’s name (3:14) and by Pharaoh’s question ‘Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?’ (5:2). Whereas early in Genesis ‘people began to call upon the name of the LORD’ (Gen. 4:26), Exodus begins with an apparently universal ignorance of the Lord’s name. Thus, at the beginning of the narrative, two inferences can be made: God is clearly at work among Israel, and yet Israel, like the rest of the world, appears to be ignorant of her God. The rest of the narrative concerns both—God continues to work in and through Israel for the sake of the world, as he reveals himself to Israel as her God.

Application

The God Who Makes Himself Known: The Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus The Name Unknown (Exod. 1:8–2:25)

Here we see two conditions that, in the Scriptures, always go together, for it is in knowing and serving the Lord that the people of God find blessing, and are freed from masters that bring harm, not good. As Israel forsakes the Lord she ends up serving others, whether the Philistines, the Midianites, the Assyrians or the Babylonians, masters that oppress, not bless. But the lesson runs deeper. An important implication of Jesus’ words ‘no one can serve two masters’ is that everyone will serve one, a truth that Paul addresses foundationally in his claim that unless one is a servant of Christ, he is a servant of sin (Rom. 6:15–19). The plight of Israel in Egypt illustrates this larger truth that runs throughout the Scriptures.

The original hearers of this book would have been the sons and daughters of those who left Egypt in the Exodus. Moses is using Exodus to teach them about God’s redemptive plan. He is building on the foundational values from Genesis and showing them how God magnified these values on a global scale. This is done in order to establish the nation’s values and demonstrate the power of the God they serve.

This also illustrates a principle which has been exemplified again and again in the history of Christendom. Times of severest trial have always been seasons of blessing to the people of God. The more fiercely have burned the fires of persecution the stronger has faith waxed. So, too, it should be, and often has been, in individual lives. Opposition should cast us back more and more upon God. Persecution results in separating us from the world. Suffering ought to refine. The experience of the Psalmist was, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word” (). May it prove true of writer and reader that “the more we are afflicted” the more shall we “grow” in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord.

The faithfulness of God regarding his promises to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, assures the people of God of all ages that Yahweh continues to be faithful to his covenantal promises.

neither our present circumstances nor our perceptions of God’s absence determine reality

Doubts of his presence will come—this is our lot in life. Nevertheless, how we perceive the matter does not determine its reality. God is present, he does care

To put it another way, Yahweh is the Lord of history. This is a fact. He is not any less the Lord of history in times of trouble, nor do good times suggest a mere temporary spasm of control over events. He is steady and sure, and the Israelites are to see their prolonged enslavement in light of God’s character rather than to make conclusions about God’s presence or absence on the basis of their circumstances.

It is merely one of many Old Testament examples that force readers to view their present in terms of their past, because God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Viewing the present in terms of the past not only provides security now but gives assurance of what will be. We learn from the past, from what we have seen and heard, that the future outcome is certain.

The answer, of course—as is made plain beginning at 2:23–25—is that God iswith his people even though it does not appear to be so. An old pharaoh dies, a friend of the Israelites. Generations pass, and another pharaoh comes into power, but this one has no love for the growing Israelites. God, however, is with them, regardless of the turn of political events—whether for good or for bad. It is he who directs their paths, who brings blessing in times of peace, and who, as, and when he sees fit, brings deliverance in times of trouble.

By having faith in Christ, Christian, you are doing what God’s people in the past have always done. And if a warning is in order, Paul recounts Israel’s desert rebellion in . The events that transpired back then “were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (10:11).

God’s people are never alone. They belong to him who rules creation and history.

This part of Exodus is about Satan’s opposition to God’s plans and promises for his people. From it we learn how to remain faithful to God, even in times of tribulation

Final Words

The God Who Makes Himself Known: The Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus The Name Unknown ()

Here we see two conditions that, in the Scriptures, always go together, for it is in knowing and serving the Lord that the people of God find blessing, and are freed from masters that bring harm, not good. As Israel forsakes the Lord she ends up serving others, whether the Philistines, the Midianites, the Assyrians or the Babylonians, masters that oppress, not bless. But the lesson runs deeper. An important implication of Jesus’ words ‘no one can serve two masters’ is that everyone will serve one, a truth that Paul addresses foundationally in his claim that unless one is a servant of Christ, he is a servant of sin (). The plight of Israel in Egypt illustrates this larger truth that runs throughout the Scriptures.

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