Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Exodus.
[00:00:00] The Book of Exodus begins very straightforwardly in verse 1 of chapter 1. It says,
[00:00:05] these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household,
[00:00:12] Ruben, Simion, Levi and Judah, Islecar, Zebulin and Benjamin, Dan and Naftali,
[00:00:18] Gad and Asher. All the descendants of Jacob were 70 persons. Joseph was already in Egypt.
[00:00:28] Now, these first words that we just read here in the book of Exodus connect us back in a sense to
[00:00:36] the book of Genesis. In fact, in the Hebrew it isn't these are the names but and these are the names.
[00:00:45] So, we've just completed our study through the book of Genesis, those 50 chapters,
[00:00:51] and the book concluded with Jacob's family moving from the land of promise in Canaan down to Egypt
[00:01:00] to be with Joseph, whom God had planted in that place. And they're in Egypt, they would now
[00:01:07] thrive and flourish as a family and people together. And when Jacob moved his family there,
[00:01:14] the family was about 70 in numbers, so a small group of people. But in starting the book of
[00:01:21] Exodus this way we are connected back now to the story of Genesis. In fact, this passage that
[00:01:30] we just read recalls Genesis 46 in a very clear way and takes an understanding of Genesis to be
[00:01:40] understood in the first place. Genesis 46 verse 8 is actually verbatim a copy of the first portion
[00:01:48] of this section in Exodus. Now, there is an organization of the family here mentioned in these first
[00:02:00] five verses and it's very similar to the organization that's found in Genesis 35. The sons of Jacob
[00:02:08] are not listed according to age, but they're listed according to their mother. It starts out with the
[00:02:15] sons of Leah, then you have the sons of Rachel, then you have the sons of Bilha who was Rachel's
[00:02:23] handmaid and then you go back to Leah by going to Leah's handmaid, Zilpa, and you have the sons
[00:02:29] of Zilpa. So Leah, Rachel, Bilha, then Zilpa their sons mentioned here in this opening paragraph.
[00:02:38] But as much as these first words of Exodus take us back to the book of Genesis they also prepare us
[00:02:46] for the future for the people of Israel. God had said in Genesis chapter 12 verse 2 to Abraham that he
[00:02:56] would make of Abraham a great nation that he would bless him and make him great so that he would be
[00:03:04] a blessing. And for now 400 years as we pick up the story here in Exodus chapter 1,
[00:03:11] the descendants of Abraham have been growing and flourishing as we'll see in a moment. In other
[00:03:18] words no matter how Israel might view her status in Egypt, Moses who wrote the book of Exodus
[00:03:26] wants to assure us that God has more for his people. They needed not only numbers but land and a
[00:03:35] constitution or the law which they would receive at Sinai. So these words connect us to the past but
[00:03:43] they also create within us a hope and anticipation for the future. Certainly Jacob's family must go
[00:03:52] beyond just 70 in number. God had protected them and made them a special people but they were not
[00:04:01] yet a nation. So when you see 70 people you say they're not yet a nation, God still has to do
[00:04:08] more to fulfill his promise. Now before moving further into the book of Exodus I should
[00:04:15] mention to you a basic outline for the book as we enter into it. There are two basic sections to
[00:04:24] the book of Exodus. The first section is basically their departure from Egypt, their departure
[00:04:33] from Egypt and the second section is their meeting God out in the wilderness at Sinai where Moses
[00:04:42] received the commandments and received the law. The book of Exodus in a sense is all about the
[00:04:48] liberation of Israel from Egypt in those two parts that I just mentioned. Getting Israel out of Egypt
[00:04:57] that's the Exodus but also getting Egypt out of Israel. It's one thing to come out of the
[00:05:06] world to be saved by Jesus but it's another thing for Jesus to get the world out of you
[00:05:13] to sanctify you and to grow you and that's really what we're going to discover here in the book
[00:05:18] of Exodus. God delivering this people from their slavery in Egypt but then going through the process
[00:05:25] of drawing Egypt out of their hearts. Their bodies were out of Egypt but they'd also have to
[00:05:32] have their hearts purified before God. Now the book of Exodus is a beautiful book. It has been famous
[00:05:41] for centuries, for many reasons. One reason is that this book reveals God in some special ways. He
[00:05:48] reveals himself to the nation in some powerful ways in this book. His character, his nature,
[00:05:56] his love, his care who he is, his name. These things are given to us in the book of Exodus.
[00:06:04] Also in Exodus we get a better vision of the battle that is declared against God's people. There
[00:06:11] is a system called the world, the world system that is always combating against the people of God.
[00:06:18] Not only that but the principalities and powers of darkness are seen in demonstration in this book
[00:06:24] coming against the people of God. This book also has within it the theme of salvation and deliverance.
[00:06:34] God's people being delivered from their captivity and it will show us much about sanctified living
[00:06:43] before God. How does God want us to live? What do a redeemed people look like? There is so much in
[00:06:49] Exodus that teaches us how to live life after Jesus Christ comes into our lives and saves us
[00:06:57] and there is so much in this book that teaches us about worship, about centering our lives around God.
[00:07:05] You know the Bible teaches that as Christians we are a kingdom of priests. We think of this doctrine
[00:07:11] as the priesthood of the believers that as there was an Old Testament priesthood selected by God
[00:07:19] now in the New Testament era every believer covered by the blood of Jesus is a priest before God.
[00:07:25] And as we look at the book of Exodus we will learn so much about that life of worship and devotion
[00:07:31] and priesthood before the Lord. Not only that but the book of Exodus will show us beautiful things
[00:07:39] directly about Jesus. There's a lot of great Christology in other words in the book
[00:07:45] of Exodus. It points to Christ in some powerful ways. It points to Christ when it speaks of Moses
[00:07:52] who came as a deliverer for the people of Israel. God would tell Moses later on in his life that he
[00:07:58] would raise up one like him for his people in Jesus is that figure. The greater than Moses who
[00:08:06] truly sets his people free. When the Passover occurs in the book of Exodus it is a shadow of
[00:08:14] the future fulfillment that will only be found in Jesus. It's his blood that truly sets us free
[00:08:21] from our captivity. The feasts that God will prescribe for the people of Israel all point to the
[00:08:28] humanity, the nature, the deity, the resurrection, the life that Jesus Christ provides.
[00:08:36] The Exodus itself of course speaks to us of our regeneration, of our salvation just as they came
[00:08:42] out of the red sea so we also are born again so to speak delivered from our sin. The mana
[00:08:52] and the water there are miraculously provided to the people of Israel in Exodus are excellent images
[00:08:59] of Jesus himself. He called himself the bread of life and that bread is typified here in the mana.
[00:09:07] He called himself the he said that from us would flow rivers of living water if we drank of him
[00:09:14] if we believed in him and that we would never thirst if we drank him. He's the water of life
[00:09:20] and so when we see the water in Exodus being provided it speaks of Jesus. The tabernacle itself
[00:09:27] that Moses was given the designs for the latter half of Exodus speak of Jesus and the high-prestly
[00:09:34] ministry speaks of what Jesus does for us today. There is beautiful Christology in the book of Exodus.
[00:09:44] All right so that's a little preamble to the book after looking at the first five verses but let's
[00:09:49] get into the actual story starting in verse six. Then Joseph died and all his brothers and all that
[00:09:59] generation but the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly. They multiplied and
[00:10:06] grew exceedingly strong so that the land was filled with them. Now here we see that Joseph has
[00:10:15] died. He's off of the scene many years have ticked by and the people of Israel in these opening
[00:10:23] verses are presented as flourishing as expanding and as incredibly fruitful. In fact that phrase
[00:10:34] there in verse seven fruitful and increased greatly it harkens to the book of Genesis. Remember in
[00:10:42] the early chapters of Genesis when God said that man and woman should go into all the world they
[00:10:48] should be fruitful and they should multiply. They should fill the earth and they should subdue it.
[00:10:55] Here Israel is portrayed as having fulfilled that to some degree. They've been fruitful they've
[00:11:02] increased greatly this is Genesis language and in a sense to us as readers of the book of Exodus
[00:11:11] having just come especially from Genesis we should be astounded by the fact that they have
[00:11:18] multiplied to this kind of degree. The reason we should be astounded is because if you'll remember in
[00:11:25] the book of Genesis birth was always a struggle. Birth was always a struggle. Abraham and Sarah could not
[00:11:34] have a child for many years. Isaac and Rebecca did not have many children in the children they had
[00:11:41] were a great struggle. Isaac had to pray for his wife's womb that she would have a child. There
[00:11:47] was barrenness in Jacob's family for many years before God opened the womb of Leah and opened it
[00:11:54] again and then the womb of Rachel. So in Genesis the portrayal is that of difficulty in birth. In other
[00:12:03] words it's hard to have babies in the book of Genesis but in Exodus birth happens in spite of the
[00:12:12] struggle. There they are in Egypt but they're just flourishing. Babies are all over the place in
[00:12:19] the land of Israel so they are just multiplying in incredible ways. Now to try to put a number on how
[00:12:28] large they grew by the time of the Exodus. One of the things that we can do is look at the report
[00:12:34] in Exodus 12 verse 37. There it tells us that the men in Israel were 600,000 in number so conservatively
[00:12:47] you could then extrapolate and say that including women and children they were likely around two to
[00:12:54] three million in size if not more at the time of the Exodus. So they had multiplied in an amazing
[00:13:03] way during those 400 years of captivity. This is designed for us to see God as the one who is carrying
[00:13:13] out his promise. Who has done this thing? Who has caused the people of Israel to flourish numerically?
[00:13:20] God has done this. He made promises to Adam then Noah then Abraham then Isaac then Jacob that they
[00:13:30] would be expansive and fruitful, that their family line would flourish and grow and God is now doing
[00:13:37] that in this place. In fact God had said in Genesis 46 verse 3 to Jacob he said I'm the God of your
[00:13:45] Father do not be afraid to go down to Egypt for there I will make you into a great nation. And here
[00:13:54] we see that God has done just that he's fulfilled his his word even though he isn't named in chapter
[00:14:02] 1 he's clearly at work here in chapter 1 prospering the people of Israel but the story pivots in verse 8.
[00:14:12] It says now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. Now when it says that
[00:14:20] there was a new king it's possible that this means a new dynasty not just another king in the same
[00:14:29] dynasty but a new dynasty that moved in took over in Egypt which happened in their history
[00:14:37] and that this new dynasty did not have the same connection to Joseph they could have known of him
[00:14:43] historically but you just a historical figure to them they did not know him or feel indebted to him
[00:14:50] in any way no sense of duty to Joseph or his family. And this Pharaoh this king verse 9 said to his
[00:14:59] people behold the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us come let us deal
[00:15:05] shrewdly with them lest they multiply and if war breaks out they join our enemies and fight
[00:15:12] against us and escape from the land. Okay here the people of Israel are mentions the first time
[00:15:20] actually they're spoken of as the people of Israel and in its Pharaoh that is speaking of them
[00:15:27] in that way and he begins to deal shrewdly with them because of their numbers. He sees them as
[00:15:35] a threat their numbers are a threat. Part of the reason that he would have seen them as a threat
[00:15:42] was not only because of their numbers but because they had not assimilated into Egyptian culture
[00:15:48] they'd not intermarried they'd not been absorbed into Egyptian culture so they stood out as a
[00:15:55] number of people who were not Egyptian and his fear was that if war broke out when the
[00:16:02] invaders came the Israelites might rise up and fight with the invaders rather than against
[00:16:09] the invaders because they again not been assimilated into the Egyptian culture. He might even be
[00:16:18] worried about the ancient promise that God had made to Adam or commission that God had given
[00:16:24] Adam to fill the earth and subdue it. The Israelites had filled the earth at this point in Egypt but
[00:16:32] now he's worried that they might subdue the earth perhaps even subduing Egypt itself and so he sees
[00:16:40] them as a threat. Interestingly enough God had said to Abraham back in Genesis 12 verse 3 that
[00:16:49] him who blesses you I will bless those who bless you and dishonor those who curse you so had
[00:16:56] Pharaoh just made the decision to bless the people of Israel because obviously they were being
[00:17:02] blessed by God he would have been blessed but he took a different path or a different course
[00:17:08] in the interest of the self and tried to push down the people of God. Therefore verse 11 they set
[00:17:16] taskmaskers over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh's store cities
[00:17:23] Pitham and Ramses but the more they were oppressed the more they multiplied and the more they spread
[00:17:31] abroad so here Pharaoh attempts his first tactic at suppressing the people of Israel. He engages them
[00:17:41] in this massive building project very similar to the building of the Tower of Babel back in Genesis 10
[00:17:48] and 11. Here they're building store cities for Pharaoh a major construction project. They had
[00:17:58] taskmasters with whips who were over the people and the people of Israel were beginning now to be
[00:18:07] a persecuted group forced into this labor the word that's used there in verse 12 is the word
[00:18:16] oppressed they were an oppressed people interestingly enough God had predicted this many years
[00:18:24] before to Abraham himself back in Genesis 15 verse 13 God said that his offspring would be so
[00:18:33] journeyers in a land that is not theirs will be servants there and they will be afflicted for 400
[00:18:41] years that's that word afflicted in the Hebrew is the same word that shows up here in verse 12
[00:18:49] the word oppressed they were an afflicted oppressed people Deuteronomy 4 verse 20 speaks of Egypt
[00:18:57] like an iron furnace that was baking the people of Israel preparing cooking the people of Israel
[00:19:06] now the interesting thing about this turn of events of course is that geographically
[00:19:14] Egypt was a place of great ease and prosperity just the setup of Egypt was a little bit out of the way
[00:19:24] people had to intentionally go travel to Egypt and because of its position and because the Nile river
[00:19:32] was so faithful in its ebbs and flows so faithful to irrigate the plains of Egypt so faithful to bring
[00:19:45] abundance of fish into the delta in that region the soil was incredibly fertile and very easy
[00:19:54] for produce to grow in fact if you look at images of plows or instruments for farming in Egyptian
[00:20:06] art from this era you can see these images it's just a small little plow teeny little instruments because
[00:20:16] they didn't really have to work the land very hard at all to try to produce crops and you can imagine
[00:20:23] in that kind of environment that kind of ease where you can bank on produce coming in year after
[00:20:31] year after year the kind of laziness so to speak or or you know a lack of toughness in the people
[00:20:42] of Israel this place of ease would have led them to self indulgence and stagnation this is so often
[00:20:50] what the world does to us it can lull us to sleep as believers it pulls on us today trying to draw
[00:20:59] us into the life of ease and so God didn't want his people to be in that place of ease and so he
[00:21:06] allows this man Pharaoh turns his heart like rivers of water and begins to turn the heat up on the
[00:21:15] people of Israel they would never have wanted to leave unless these things had begun to unfold in
[00:21:21] their lives and so he begins to persecute them through these building projects but even though he
[00:21:28] does that notice they multiplied all the more and they spread abroad God's favor was on them God's
[00:21:35] people often will do this multiply under pressure it goes on and says and the Egyptians were in
[00:21:43] dread of the people of Israel so they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their
[00:21:50] lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in all kinds of work in the field and all their
[00:21:56] work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves again just the bitter service that the people of Israel
[00:22:04] had to engage in then the king of eija verse 15 said to the Hebrew midwives one of whom was named
[00:22:12] Shifra and the other Pua when you serve a midwife serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them
[00:22:18] on the birthstool if it's a son you shall kill him but if it's a daughter she shall live now Pharaoh's
[00:22:29] first move trying to oppress the people of Israel through these building projects did not work they
[00:22:36] multiplied anyways so he goes to phase two and here he tries to stop the birth of baby boys by having
[00:22:48] the little boys killed if it's a son he says to these Hebrew midwives you shall kill him and if
[00:22:54] he's a daughter then he shall live the assumption being that the daughter would then go and marry an
[00:23:00] Egyptian man be owned by the Egyptians and this would his plan of assimilating the people of
[00:23:06] Israel into Egyptian culture and here now we have the beautiful story of the Hebrew midwives
[00:23:15] likely what this means is not that these were the only two women that were serving as midwives for
[00:23:21] the people of Israel two to three million people there's no way these two ladies could keep up with
[00:23:26] all of the births that were happening but they were likely the two chief administrators working
[00:23:32] for Pharaoh maybe even of Hebrew descent who were organizing all of the midwives who worked there
[00:23:39] to help these births take place and Pharaoh's commission to them was that when the Hebrew women
[00:23:47] were at the birth stool which is a difficult word to translate it might mean the instrument that
[00:23:57] the Hebrew women would crouch on well they had a baby or it might actually speak of the genitals
[00:24:05] of the child as a way to discover whether it's male or female it's hard to say but the idea
[00:24:12] is that he wanted these babies these infants to be killed but these Hebrew midwives were given
[00:24:18] their names Shifra and Pua they stood up we'll see to this man Pharaoh now this is interesting because
[00:24:29] first of all their names are actually recorded for us in the biblical story Pharaoh's name is not
[00:24:38] recorded and if you want to if you need reading material to put you to sleep at night you could read
[00:24:45] many of the debates that have been waged in scholarly forums trying to figure out which dynasty
[00:24:54] Moses was born in which dynasty did these events occur in it's hard to say with any specificity
[00:25:01] but Pharaoh's name is not mentioned Pharaoh's daughter in chapter two she's mentioned but her name
[00:25:08] is not mentioned Moses's mother's name is not mentioned until later in the book of Exodus and even
[00:25:15] Moses's older sister who will go to the riverbank and really rescue Moses she is not mentioned by name
[00:25:23] until later on in the book in these first two chapters no one is really named except for these
[00:25:30] two women they're honored in other words for the rescue of God's people they would not submit to the
[00:25:38] dictates of Pharaoh that's why it says in verse 17 but the midwives feared God and did not do
[00:25:44] is the king of Egypt commanded them but let the male children live they feared the Lord now it's been
[00:25:52] said that this is the first mention in scripture of civil disobedience they heard the word of the
[00:26:00] governing authorities and they behaved in a way that was disobedient to those dictates and the
[00:26:09] reason they were able to do this is because they had a fear of God at a fear of God in their hearts
[00:26:14] you know we need people like this in our world today Peter said in Acts 5 verse 29 that we must
[00:26:21] obey God rather than men we must obey God rather than men and I believe in the years to come
[00:26:29] and even today in the west believers are going to need great discernment to know how to fear the
[00:26:37] Lord and obey God rather than men I think of teachers for instance who will be asked to refer to a
[00:26:46] child who is male in gender and in every way but is claiming that he is female and being asked or
[00:26:56] told that they must refer to this male child as female it's going to take great discernment and
[00:27:02] wisdom for teachers to know how to respond to that kind of conundrum we certainly don't want to
[00:27:09] as believers speak something that is untrue and so it's very difficult to imagine affirming
[00:27:18] that kind of lie in a child's life but then on the other hand there's a great battle and war
[00:27:25] legally that a believer might engage in if they make a big public stand and there is a need for
[00:27:32] people like that and there are resources available for those who are willing to fight that kind of
[00:27:38] fight but for many of us there will just be a decision that needs to be made to know how to
[00:27:43] navigate and disobey the governing authorities when they ask us to do something that contradicts
[00:27:52] the faith that we engage in contradicts the word of God we cannot do it we have to obey God rather
[00:28:02] than man now of course Jesus gave commentary to things like this by saying give to Caesar what
[00:28:08] belongs to Caesar it doesn't mean that we cannot submit to the governing authorities that's what the
[00:28:13] New Testament teaches us to do time and time again but when the governing authorities are telling
[00:28:19] us to do something that contradicts the very word of God itself we need to stand up against the
[00:28:27] governing authorities so verse 18 the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them
[00:28:34] why have you done this and let the male children live the midwives said to Pharaoh because the
[00:28:39] Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives
[00:28:46] come to them now this is just a made up story this is praying on the attitudes that we often have about
[00:28:54] other nationalities they can be a mystery to us and for Pharaoh the Israelites were a mystery to him
[00:29:01] and so these Hebrew midwives could say oh they're different than Egyptian women they give birth real
[00:29:06] quickly and Pharaoh believed it at least for a time so verse 20 God dealt well with the midwives
[00:29:15] and the people multiplied and grew we grew very strong and because the midwives feared God
[00:29:21] he gave them families he blessed them many of these women likely became midwives in the first
[00:29:27] place because they hadn't had children of their own that would have been a cultural thing for them to
[00:29:32] do in that place and time and so God blesses them with families in their own right then Pharaoh
[00:29:40] verse 22 commanded all his people every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the
[00:29:47] Nile but you shall let every daughter live this is a gruesome word this is plan C so to speak plan A
[00:29:56] engage them in a building project that puts such pressure on them that they cannot multiply they
[00:30:03] multiplied anyways plan B tell the midwives to kill the boys and assimilate the girls into Egyptian
[00:30:10] society that failed they multiplied anyways so now plan C by direct dictate to all of the people
[00:30:18] he says when you see a Hebrew baby boy you throw him into the Nile river
[00:30:26] the crime would be to throw the baby into the Nile and the cover up of the crime would be the Nile
[00:30:32] river itself obviously this is gruesome stuff that is happening here in Exodus chapter 1
[00:30:39] this command is terrible as he cuts out the middle man it just tells all of Egypt to kill the Hebrew
[00:30:46] male babies Israel in a sense here was struggling to be born on just a powerful reality here in Exodus
[00:30:58] chapter 1 now an interesting thing to note in all of this is that in the beginning here Exodus
[00:31:05] 1 and 2 is Israel as being born there's a focus on women you have these Hebrew midwives you have all
[00:31:11] these mothers in chapter 2 you'll have Moses' mother and Moses' sister then you'll have Moses' wife
[00:31:20] there's a focus on women and what they are doing to help rescue the people of God it's very similar
[00:31:26] to the New Testament when you read the book of Luke for instance and discover all of the women that
[00:31:32] are engaged in bringing forth the Messiah Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist and Mary the
[00:31:39] mother of Jesus and Anna who prophesied over Jesus in the temple all of these women engaged in
[00:31:46] the life and ministry helping to produce the Messiah it's a great question to ask why is this the case
[00:31:54] here at the beginning of Exodus that all of these women are involved in producing the deliverer for
[00:32:01] God's people but in the midst of all of this chaos in chapter 1 we of course know that God his love
[00:32:07] is behind all of his this chaos there's more for the people of Israel than life in Egypt and he's
[00:32:15] designing events to help draw them out of Egypt there is more to life than just what the world has
[00:32:24] to offer he wants to draw us out now let's move on to chapter 2 now a man from the house of Levi
[00:32:31] went and took as his wife a Levi woman the woman conceived and bore a son and when she saw that
[00:32:38] he was a fine child she hid him three months now remember I already told you that Moses' mother
[00:32:46] and here we also see father are not yet mentioned by name in the book of Exodus in chapter 6 we learned
[00:32:53] that his father was named Amrim and his mother was named Jilkebed we also learned that they
[00:32:59] already had two children an older sister and older brother for Moses the brother named Aaron the
[00:33:05] sister named Miriam these parents decided that they would have a child in the midst of this chaotic
[00:33:14] time and they had a baby boy who of course was under a death sentence from Pharaoh but because he
[00:33:21] as it says there in the Bible a fine child they hid him they protected him for three months Steven
[00:33:30] gave a message in the book of Acts looking back on the life of Moses and one of the things he said
[00:33:36] about Moses in Acts 7 verse 20 is that Moses was no ordinary child there was just a beauty about him
[00:33:44] he looked different it says in Hebrews 11 verse 23 about Moses he was hidden for three months by
[00:33:52] his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful there's just something striking about
[00:34:00] Moses' appearance beyond just the beauty that any parents sees in a newborn there was something
[00:34:06] astounding about how he looked even as a little baby and this is actually a theme somewhat in the
[00:34:14] Old Testament a people like Sarah or Joseph or Rachel or David or Esther all people that were used
[00:34:24] mightily by God and had striking features they were attractive in appearance but God pushed past what
[00:34:33] they were externally and used them because of who they were inwardly and that would have to develop
[00:34:40] in Moses' life as well he would not get by just on his exterior and his beauty or majesty
[00:34:48] in the outward appearance he'd have to go out into the wilderness and get chased and by God and
[00:34:53] grow inwardly as well for three months Moses's parents hid their little baby boy but after three
[00:35:02] months they felt that they could hide him no longer and so it says in verse 3 when she could hide
[00:35:09] him no longer she took for him a basket made of bullrishes and domped it with bitumen and pitch
[00:35:16] she put the child in it and placed it among the reads by the riverbank and his sister stood at a
[00:35:22] distance to know what would be done for him so Moses' mother comes up with this plan she
[00:35:29] creates this basket that word for basket is actually the same word for arc that is used to describe
[00:35:37] Noah's arc and you remember in Noah's arc it was sealed with pitch here this little arc for baby
[00:35:45] Moses is also sealed with pitch a Pharaoh is trying to drown the baby boys in the Nile river
[00:35:53] and Moses' arc is going to save him from drowning just as Noah's arc saved him and his household
[00:36:01] and the animals from drowning and so in a sense jokobed Moses' mother she really is obeying Pharaoh
[00:36:11] he said throw the baby boys into the Nile river while she puts them in an arc before she throws him
[00:36:17] into the Nile river she seems to have a plan to preserve her son's life so let's read on
[00:36:25] now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river well her young women walked beside the
[00:36:32] river she saw the basket among the reads and sent her servant woman a servant woman and she took it
[00:36:39] when she opened it she saw the child and behold the baby was crying she took pity on him and said
[00:36:46] this is one of the Hebrews children now again though there's much conjecture about this princesses
[00:36:55] identity it's really not mentioned in the book of Exodus and it's hard to ascertain with certainty
[00:37:01] who she is she's not identified at this portion of the story she hears the crying she sees the basket
[00:37:09] she sends a servant girl to go collect it for her and when she opened it when she saw the baby
[00:37:16] crying which by the way is not mentioned often in the bible a child crying a baby crying it's a
[00:37:22] note worthy moment and i'll talk about why in a moment but she sees Moses crying and she
[00:37:30] immediately begins to have sympathy or pity upon Moses now the interesting thing about Moses
[00:37:40] crying here as i said it's not often that babies or children are portrayed as crying throughout
[00:37:46] scripture Moses in a sense is Israel in a microcosm they in a moment will be portrayed as crying
[00:37:55] out to God and God will see them and have pity on them here Moses in the basket cries out
[00:38:03] and Pharaoh's daughter sees him hears him and she has pity herself upon his life she felt sorry
[00:38:13] for him because of what she saw him enduring this by the way is one of the great strategies of those
[00:38:21] who are fighting the pro-life cause in countries that allow for abortion to take place just showing
[00:38:30] the images of children in the womb showing the images of what they experience and how they can
[00:38:37] actually feel pain showing and demonstrating through that imagery that we're dealing with human
[00:38:43] beings that image does so much to help stir sympathy and compassion for the child himself or
[00:38:53] herself and when Pharaoh's daughter saw Moses in that basket her heart was moved then verse 7 his sister
[00:39:04] said to Pharaoh's daughter shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child
[00:39:09] for you and Pharaoh's daughter said to her go so the girl went and called the child's mother
[00:39:15] and Pharaoh's daughter said to her take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you
[00:39:20] your wages so the woman took the child and nursed him now this is a wild part of the story you know we
[00:39:30] love in our New Testament economy Romans 8 verse 28 that for those who love God and are called
[00:39:37] according to his purpose all things work together for good and this is certainly one of those examples
[00:39:45] joke of that Moses's mother releases Moses Pharaoh's daughter pulls him out of the river
[00:39:51] Moses's older sister Mariam comes out and says hey do you want me to go find a Hebrew woman to
[00:39:59] nurse this child while he's young and Pharaoh's daughter says yes please do and Mariam takes her
[00:40:07] little baby brother back to her mom and says hey Pharaoh's daughter wants to pay you to do what you
[00:40:15] were wanting to do anyways be the mother to this child I don't know if this was a preconceived plan
[00:40:24] I don't know if Mariam already knew the daughter of Pharaoh it sure seems that this was preconceived
[00:40:33] and that Pharaoh's daughter was willing to listen to this random Hebrew girl but God is in control
[00:40:41] and joke of ed is reunited with and to her son she's paid to take care of her baby boy listen brothers
[00:40:50] and sisters sometimes we have to let go to get back from God we have to let go to get back from God
[00:40:59] sometimes there will be things in our lives that we think we cannot do without that we must have
[00:41:05] maybe a relationship or a position or a possession and God might lay it upon our hearts to let go
[00:41:12] and as we let go we have to trust that as we so in tears we will reap in joy that God is going to
[00:41:19] allow us to get back this is one of the messages of Jesus over and over again for those who I
[00:41:26] have idolatry over there or idolize their families Jesus says you've got to leave your father and
[00:41:34] your mother and your brother and sister and place me first come after me for those who idolize the
[00:41:41] self he says you need to deny yourself and to take up your cross and follow after me this by the
[00:41:46] way is a great description of two of the major world views that exist on the planet at this time
[00:41:54] many people make sense of the world by looking within and saying who am I and I must live out my dreams
[00:42:06] I must be true to myself that would be more of a western concept but in many parts of the world
[00:42:14] that kind of concept is totally rejected and the bigger influence upon life is what does my family
[00:42:21] think of me what does my culture say about me what are the expectations that have been placed upon me
[00:42:29] from birth and it's interesting because Jesus deals with both of those and says you've got to let go
[00:42:35] of that let go of the self let go of the family but the beautiful thing is that Jesus says as you do
[00:42:42] as you let go you get back you let go of self you find yourself you let go of family you get a
[00:42:49] greater family so we need to be a people who like jokobet believe in God let go so that we can get
[00:42:57] back from him receive what he has for us now again I remind you of all the women that are involved
[00:43:06] in this story you've got midwives and his mother the princess the servant woman who goes out to
[00:43:13] get him from the river Miriam his older sister just beautiful to see this part of the story
[00:43:21] and when the child grew older verse 10 she brought him Moses's mother to Pharaoh's daughter
[00:43:30] and he became her son she named him Moses because she said I drew him out of the water
[00:43:40] so Moses is officially adopted now into Pharaoh's household Steven said of Moses in Acts 7 verse 22 that
[00:43:49] Moses was instructed and all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in word indeed you know he
[00:43:56] had been schooled in other words by the Egyptians and Pharaoh's daughter named him gave him his name
[00:44:03] she called him Moses it means born out of the water drawn out of the water I keep this in mind this is
[00:44:12] the daughter of Pharaoh she has the honor of naming the future savior of the people of Israel now the
[00:44:22] incredible thing about naming him Moses or drawn up out of the water or born out of the water
[00:44:29] is not just that it spoke of his past experience but that it was prophetic about his future role in
[00:44:37] Israel listen to this from Isaiah 63 verse 11 it says he remembered the days of old of Moses and of
[00:44:47] his people where is he who brought them up out of the sea that's Moses with the shepherds of his flock
[00:44:56] Moses had brought later in the book of Exodus through the Red Sea the people of God up from the sea up
[00:45:04] from the water he helped them become born out of the water just as he was born out of the water just
[00:45:13] as he was taken from the water so they were taken from the waters of the Red Sea and really that
[00:45:21] Red Sea crossing is paralleled right here in Moses' infant life it started with a threat from
[00:45:30] Pharaoh to kill the Israelites just as Moses a baby boy was under the threat of Pharaoh
[00:45:38] it began there in the sea the Red Sea which is sometimes called the Reed Sea and Moses' little basket
[00:45:46] was placed in the Reeds on the Nile River a Mariam helped Moses sing an incredible song of
[00:45:54] rejoicing after they passed through the Red Sea and Mariam is right here at this story as well
[00:46:01] after Moses has drawn out of the water and in both moments a deliverance leads to a future life
[00:46:10] Moses became a child of Pharaoh in a sense and the people of Israel became children of God
[00:46:18] in a sense when they came out of that water at the Red Sea now one day verse 11 when Moses had
[00:46:26] grown up he went out to his people and looked on their burdens and he saw an Egyptian beating a
[00:46:33] Hebrew one of his people he looked this way and that and seeing no one he struck down the Egyptian
[00:46:40] and hid him in the sand now this is a fast forward in the life of Moses we're not learning much about
[00:46:47] his childhood here Stephen tells us that this was 40 years later in act 7 verse 23 so Moses is
[00:46:56] about 40 years of age at this point in his life one day he goes out and he sees an Egyptian that
[00:47:04] is beating a Hebrew and he feels he is conscious of his connection with the Hebrew people he feels
[00:47:11] that they are beating one of his people so he looks around this way and that that speaks to his
[00:47:18] conscience telling him that he should not strike this man but seeing no one he struck the Egyptian
[00:47:25] and hid him in the sand meaning that he had killed this Egyptian man as he'd struck him
[00:47:32] Moses's compassion had moved him to kill someone else now Jesus of course is the better Moses his
[00:47:40] compassion moved him to allow himself to die but Moses here kills this Egyptian man now here's
[00:47:49] the thing we must know that's happening inside of Moses' heart at this point it says an act 7 25
[00:47:56] again from Stephen a speech that we keep alluding to in act chapter 7 he said of Moses that Moses
[00:48:05] supposed at this point that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand
[00:48:13] but they did not understand in other words at 40 years of age Moses thought the people they know
[00:48:20] that I'm their deliverer I'm their hope to get out of this oppression that has been brought upon
[00:48:27] them but as we're going to see they were not ready to receive Moses in that role they still needed
[00:48:33] more time and so did he so he looked this way and that and he killed this Egyptian man when he went
[00:48:41] out the next day verse 13 behold two Hebrews were struggling together and he said to the man in
[00:48:47] the wrong why do you strike your companion he answered who made you a prince and a judge over us
[00:48:55] do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian then Moses was afraid and thought surely the thing
[00:49:03] is known when Pharaoh heard of it he sought to kill Moses but Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed
[00:49:09] in the land of Midian and he sat down by a well here Moses realizes that his sin has been found out
[00:49:19] the fact that he's killed the Egyptian is now public knowledge amongst the Hebrew people
[00:49:25] and he knows that it's only a matter of time before Pharaoh hears about what he's done
[00:49:32] he will be presented to Pharaoh as a man who is in league with Pharaoh's enemy the people
[00:49:40] of Israel the Israelites and so he flees to the land of Midian which was a place that he could go
[00:49:46] to escape Egyptian observation and he goes to live amongst these nomads in the region of Midian
[00:49:56] now Midian had been founded by a son of Cotura the wife of Abraham if you might remember after
[00:50:04] Sarah died Abraham took Cotura to be his bride and they had some sons of their own one of them
[00:50:11] was Midian and he had gone and established these Midianite people and so Moses ran to this land
[00:50:16] that was very different from Egypt not a fertile place but a dry and deserted place
[00:50:23] and then he goes and it says verse 15 and he sat down by a well now if you've been with me
[00:50:30] through the book of Egypt this ought to peak your interest because incredible encounters have
[00:50:37] occurred so far in the Bible at Wells Rachel and Rebecca were both met at a well and so Moses now
[00:50:47] journeying comes to a well who is he going to meet let's read on verse 16 now the priest of
[00:50:54] Midian had seven daughters and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their
[00:51:01] father's flock the shepherds came and drove them away but Moses stood up and saved them and
[00:51:07] watered their flock all right so there's a priest there in Midian we'll learn in a moment that his
[00:51:15] name is Ruel or also Jethros will discover later in Exodus and this priest had seven daughters
[00:51:24] and they would come out to water their flocks and be bullied by the men in that region
[00:51:30] Moses saw this injustice taking place and so he stood up it says and saved them
[00:51:37] and they watered their flock when they came home to their father Ruel he said how is it that you
[00:51:43] have come home so soon today they said an Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds
[00:51:49] and even drew water for us and watered the flock he said to his daughters then where is he why
[00:51:55] have you left the man call him that he may eat bread or the implication being to eat bread break
[00:52:02] bread and to have fellowship with us now this is interesting for a few different reasons first of all
[00:52:12] this is the third episode where Moses sees an injustice and seeks to stand up against it when
[00:52:18] the Hebrew and Egyptian the Egyptian was beating the Hebrew Moses saw that injustice and rose
[00:52:25] up against it when the two Hebrews were fighting or arguing with each other Moses stood up against that
[00:52:32] and here he sees these men bullying these seven daughters of Jethro or Ruel and he stands up
[00:52:42] against that oppression this is who Moses is in his heart he's this kind of man he doesn't want
[00:52:50] to see injustice take place now he doesn't quite yet know fully how to respond to that injustice
[00:52:58] but you can see that God has shaped him in this way for a reason at 80 years old he'll be the man
[00:53:04] who comes in to Pharaoh the greatest of all oppressors and say God says let my people go this is
[00:53:14] something that God had made Moses for that he had created this man to be now when the daughters
[00:53:22] go back to their father they say an Egyptian man saved us obviously Moses is not truly an
[00:53:28] Egyptian man he's a Hebrew man but likely he's dressed like an Egyptian and so that's what their
[00:53:35] report says he's an Egyptian man and he saved us and Moses' story here in a sense is kind of like
[00:53:43] the story of Jacob remember Jacob on the run fleeing from Esau as a young man he came to a well
[00:53:51] he saw Rachel fell in love with her and was brought into Laban's family here Moses meets the daughters
[00:54:02] of Ruel and is going to be brought into that family and actually marry one of Ruel's daughters
[00:54:08] a woman named Zipura but his story is not only like the story of Jacob it is also like the story
[00:54:17] of the people of Israel in the book of Exodus they also will have to one day leave Egypt
[00:54:25] they also will have Pharaoh trying to kill them as they depart they also will come to the waters
[00:54:34] like he came to a well and be delivered by God they also will experience God watering them their
[00:54:44] flocks in the wilderness and they also will encounter Jethro there will be a moment that this
[00:54:51] same man gives counsel to Moses for the people of Israel and they also will engage in marriage
[00:54:58] Moses marrying Zipura the people of Israel becoming God's bride out there in the wilderness so the
[00:55:05] events of Moses' life are anticipatory of what's going to happen in the life of Israel but let's
[00:55:11] finish this chapter together verse 21 and Moses was contented to dwell with the man and he gave
[00:55:18] Moses his daughter Zipura she gave birth to a son and he called his name Gersham for he said I've
[00:55:25] been a sojourner in a foreign land so Moses marries this woman Zipura we'll see her again later
[00:55:33] in the story they have a son together Moses names their son Gersham which means sojourner or
[00:55:42] resident alien it speaks not so much of what Gersham was but how Moses was feeling he felt very
[00:55:49] alone there in this distant land as a sojourner and up for 40 years he would live there in the region
[00:55:58] of Midian he was taking care of Jethro's sheep wandering on the backside of the wilderness this
[00:56:05] was God training Moses for leadership showing him through the sheep with the people of Israel the flock
[00:56:11] of God would be like during those many days verse 23 the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel
[00:56:19] groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help their cry for rescue from slavery came up to
[00:56:26] God and God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham with Isaac and with Jacob
[00:56:33] God saw the people of Israel and God knew just as Pharaoh's daughter had heard and seen the cry of
[00:56:42] Moses God is presented here as seeing and hearing the cry of the people of Israel and while God was
[00:56:50] preparing Moses to lead them out of slavery he was preparing Israel as well to want to come out
[00:56:59] of Egypt they had to become displeased with Egypt to want to depart from Egypt this land that had been
[00:57:06] so good to them for so many years and God is presented as very active there for words describing
[00:57:13] his activity he heard he remembered he saw he knew and what he remembered most of all was the covenant
[00:57:21] that he'd made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob God remembered his own word his own promise when
[00:57:30] he heard the cry of Israel he knew that he would act because of the covenant that he had made with his
[00:57:36] people