Exodus
“Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.” Genesis 15:13
Growing up, I was not too fond of the book Exodus. Firstly, it was too long, and secondly, I always thought God came across as cruel, so I always skipped it. Note that I was young and naive, and the saying that with age comes wisdom is definitely true. Now, the book of Exodus has to be one of my favourite books of the Bible. It is a redemptive story of the Israelites and does not paint God as cruel. Instead, it shows that God is the great I Am, and no other man or king will ever be above Him.
The Israelites found themselves in Egypt after Joseph, originally from Canaan, became second in command. The Pharaoh during this time regarded Joseph highly; after all, he rescued Egypt from a famine. But when Joseph died, his legacy died as well. Exodus starts (roughly) 400 years after Genesis ends. The Israelites are still in Egypt; they have multiplied, which rubs the new Pharaoh the wrong way. It’s important to note that the Egyptians were known for being xenophobic; they viewed themselves as the best because they thought they were the genuine offspring of the gods and the rest of the world, like the Israelites, were outsiders or chaos, a threat to their sovereignty. So Pharaoh saw that the Israelites kept multiplying, and he knew he had to stop them to keep his nation the best. He decides to enslave them, forcing them to work under terrible circumstances.
Exodus 1:9
9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them”
Yet, the Israelites kept growing. So he opts to kill all the firstborn sons; he tells the midwives to kill the males and let the girls live.
Exodus 1:17
17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.
I like the idea of having an angel and a devil on our shoulders. Every day, we have a decision to make 1. be more like Jesus (listening to the “angel”) and 2. be the complete opposite. Pharaoh unfortunately chose the latter and decided to listen to the devil on his shoulder. The devil thought he was brilliant. He knew the seed that would kill him or “trample on his head” would come from the Israelites. Therefore, he had to eliminate them, so killing the firstborn males would do the trick. Fortunately for the Israelites and us, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). The midwives feared God and knew they had to obey Him instead of man.
However, Pharaoh does not stop. He then orders his people to kill the Hebrew boys by casting them in the Nile.
It’s easy to think that this death could have been avoided if the Israelites had stayed in Canaan. Well, God had a plan for them. In Genesis 15:13, the Lord tells Abraham, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.” Canaan was suffering from a drought and was filled with pagans. Those who worship other gods and live openly in sin. We are all impressionable people, the Israelites as well; if you don’t have a strong foundation, you will be easily influenced by those around you. God knows the human heart; He knew if the Israelites were to stay in Canaan, they would turn from Him. So they migrated to Egypt, where they would be safe, at least for a while.
The story is not all doom and gloom. One mother, like the midwives, feared God more than Pharaoh and instead of letting her son, Moses, die, she placed him in a basket in the Nile. The irony is that Moses is rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in his court. The Hebrew boy becomes a prince of Egypt. Eventually, he will become God’s instrument to help the Israelites.
One day Moses looked at the Israelites, his people, with compassion and saw their burden. Moses knew who he was; he was a Hebrew and chose to identify with that. He wanted to help deliver Israel from its sufferings.
Hebrews 11:24-25
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
After seeing an Egyptian beating an Israelite, he killed the Egyptian. At the time, he probably thought the Israelites would be grateful. However, the Israelites were not. In their eyes, Moses was an Egyptian, part of the men to whom they were enslaved.
Exodus 2:13-14
13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?”
Moses realised that what he had done had become public. Pharaoh heard the news and wanted to kill him. He fled Egypt to live in Midian where he married and had a son. He names him Gershom, meaning “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.” This shows how Moses was feeling at the time: lonely. He’s not in Egypt anymore and not with his Hebrew brethren. He feels aimless; he can’t help the Israelites like he wanted to.
It would have been easier to deliver Israel from Egypt while Moses was still part of the royal court, but there was a reason God wanted Moses to leave Egypt first. He stripped him of his titles because a proud man can’t learn. Moses had to realise that he must depend on God and not his titles. It’s the same for us today. We are constantly filling our days with noise, but once you start stripping back, you notice the little things: leaves changing colours, the air growing colder, and the rustle of leaves as the wind blows. Stripping back brings us closer to God. And that is what God wanted for Moses before he could help deliver Israel.
Hebrews 11:27
27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
