Before Pharaoh
Notes
Transcript
Boldness
Boldness
timidity we saw at the bush was gone
Moses faith made more solid
no fear of the king
Heb. 11:27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.
Worship Me
Worship Me
Celebrate with feast, 3 day journey
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”
Such a request was not without precedent. An ancient manuscript at the Louvre, dating to the time of Rameses II, indicates that Egyptian slaves were sometimes given time off to worship their gods. There is also a limestone tablet from the same period listing the names of slaves, together with reasons for their absence from work, including the phrase, “has sacrificed to the god.”3 What this proves is that the Pharaohs sometimes honored the kind of request that Moses and Aaron were making. Asking for three days of religious freedom was a reasonable demand that God used to expose the unbelief in Pharaoh’s heart.1
1 Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 140–141.
3 days
God was giving Pharaoh a test. would he allow the people to set out for three days and return, which would mean that Pharaoh would be submitting to God’s authority.
Who is God
Who is God
But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”
Pharaoh’s question was not because he had no idea who God was, but rather an insult. He was claiming that God was not higher in authority that Pharaoh.
Knowing who God is, is essential to obeying him. Pharaoh refused to admit that God had authority
But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!”
The exodus was God’s way of giving Pharaoh an education in theology, especially in the doctrine of God. This was something that ruler badly needed, for when he first heard about God’s saving plan, he claimed that he did not even know who the Lord was. By his own admission, Pharaoh was an unbeliever. He was ignorant of God’s identity, resistant to God’s authority, and malevolent toward God’s community. Pharaoh was an extreme case in many ways; yet these are the character traits of anyone who does not believe in the God of Moses.1
1 Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 142–143.
But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!”
Therefore the exodus was basically a theological argument, a disagreement about the identity of God.1
1 Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 143.
But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!”
When it comes to Christ, there are only two choices: courageous faith or rebellious unbelief. Either we will serve God as Moses did or we will serve ourselves, as Pharaoh did. 1
1 Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 146.
Find your own straw
Find your own straw
out of frying pan into the fire
thought they would be let go but it only got harder
Exodus—Saved for God's Glory Exodus 5:10–21
A relief from the tomb of Rekhmire at Thebes depicts workers in various stages of the process. Some are drawing water to mix with soil in order to make mud. Others are forming bricks in wooden molds and setting them out to dry in the sun. Still others are stacking the bricks and carrying them to a building-site.2 Straw was essential to the whole process because it reinforced the clay and helped each brick stay intact. In one papyrus an official filed the following complaint against his superiors: “I am staying at Kenkenento, unequipped, and there are neither men to make bricks nor straw in the neighborhood.”
A relief from the tomb of Rekhmire at Thebes depicts workers in various stages of the process. Some are drawing water to mix with soil in order to make mud. Others are forming bricks in wooden molds and setting them out to dry in the sun. Still others are stacking the bricks and carrying them to a building-site. Straw was essential to the whole process because it reinforced the clay and helped each brick stay intact. In one papyrus an official filed the following complaint against his superiors: “I am staying at Kenkenento, unequipped, and there are neither men to make bricks nor straw in the neighborhood.”1
1 Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 151.
Exodus—Saved for God's Glory Exodus 5:10–21
Late nineteenth-century excavations at Tell el-Maskhutah (which some consider to be the city of Pithom mentioned in Exodus 1:11) revealed buildings made of brick without straw. One archaeologist commented, “I carefully examined round the chamber walls, and I noticed that some of the corners of the brickwork throughout were built of bricks without straw. I do not remember to have met anywhere in Egypt bricks so made.”9 These bricks may or may not have been made by the Israelites.
Late nineteenth-century excavations at Tell el-Maskhutah (which some consider to be the city of Pithom mentioned in Exodus 1:11) revealed buildings made of brick without straw. One archaeologist commented, “I carefully examined round the chamber walls, and I noticed that some of the corners of the brickwork throughout were built of bricks without straw. I do not remember to have met anywhere in Egypt bricks so made.” These bricks may or may not have been made by the Israelites.1
1 Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 152.