Exodus part one

I really believe that if we could see how connected the bible is we would want to dive in more and keep trying to find more and more connections. I bring that up because the combination of how long it has taken me to get back on here and the fact that we read Job in between Genesis and Exodus, you kind of forgot what happened last in the book of Genesis. So, before we can move on to Exodus, I want to take a few moments to show how the books of Genesis and Exodus connect. First, I want to look at Genesis 15:12:15

12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. 13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. 15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.)

Now look at Genesis 50:22-24

The Death of Joseph

22 So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph lived to the age of 110. 23 He lived to see three generations of descendants of his son Ephraim, and he lived to see the birth of the children of Manasseh’s son Makir, whom he claimed as his own. 24 “Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 

I wanted to start off by looking at those two sets of scripture because I wanted to remind everyone that as the book of Genesis was ending, the people probably thought everything was wonderful. But God had given warning signs to tell everyone that in the end this was not a great situation, and they would be slaves and eventually they would need God to deliver them out of this bad situation.

Now, let's actually move on to the book of Exodus! Let's start off by looking at Exodus 1:6-11.

6 In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. 7 But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land. 

8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.” 

11 So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.

I want to point out something really quickly before we get too far. The book starts out mentioning the fact that Joseph has died. Obviously, no one can live forever, but I think sometimes we don't realize what happens when we lose a great leader. We have people in our life that are making a great impact and then when they leave, we aren't prepared for it. Sadly, when some people who are impacting us negatively leave, we mourn far more.

So now the Israelites are all slaves to the Egyptians, the Egyptians are smart enough to realize that if they don't do something, the Israelites will keep getting bigger and possibly one day take over all of Egypt. So, they come up with a great plan, kill all the male babies.

Exodus 1:15-16

15 Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah: 16 “When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.”

And again, God comes through for them:

Exodus 1:17-21

17 But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too. 

18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. “Why have you done this?” he demanded. “Why have you allowed the boys to live?” 

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

20 So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 

Knowing what we know about God, we know that he is going to use all of this for his good. He is going to use this situation to bring us the next great leader we need. Again, a lesson that we all need to remember, through tragedy, God always has a plan. Let's continue moving to chapter two of Exodus.

Chapter 2

The Birth of Moses

About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. 4 The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him. 

5 Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. 6 When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said. 

7 Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked. 

8 “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother. 

9 “Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him. 

10 Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.” 

I want to take a quick break before we continue to talk about Moses in the next post, but I just want to point out something here. The only way that an Israelite male baby would be safe during this time, would be if it had something to do with Pharoah's family. God found a way to put this baby in the only possible safe place. 

We have now been introduced to Moses, and we have seen that Genesis set us up for Exodus. I'm going to take a short break and answer a question that was made in the comments and then I will be back quickly to continue to talk about Moses.