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Exodus 1-Exodus 2:10
"5 Women v. The Pharoah" • 9.9.10 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Service
Intro
- Genesis is the book of promises. Exodus is a book of fulfilment. In Genesis, we see a family turn into a tribe. In Exodus, we see that tribe has become a nation, exactly as God promised.
- The road to that fulfilment though, as it is in our lives, is paved with struggle. There are struggles from without, as in what we will see initially through Egypt.
- Later, we'll learn of the struggles that originate from within. At each turn, there will be heroes that help to turn the tide.
- Tonight, as we begin our journey through this book, the heroes will not be men, but women, who illustrate for us principles of deliverance that will instruct our lives. We'll see the triumph of
I. Fear Over Fear (Exodus 1)
II. Faith Over Fear (2:1-4)
III. Faithfulness Over Fear (2:5-10)
Text
I. Fear Over Fear (Exodus 1)
• Exodus 1:1-7 : "Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." : This was not just a minor growth spurt. This was a huge increase.
- From 70 people to more than 2 million and this in the span of 430 years! That is actually a conservative estimate and a "tribute" to what would later be the killing efficiency of the Egyptians.
- I charted my own family, to see what kind of damage that I could do in 300 years. I used myself as the medium barometer and we have had 4 kids in 10 years.
- By 30 years, assuming each kid has 4 kids, that brings us to 16. You're thinking, big deal. I was too. At 290 years, taking into account an 80 year life span, I came to 1,068,148,880!
- That's just me and Lela! What if I had multiple wives? Let's not even go there!
- There are other factors to consider of course, both negative and positive. Negative being infant death, sterility, etc. The positive being Octomoms!
- Additionally, take into account that the women also had children a lot earlier than we do today and that it was a sign of divine blessing to have several children.
- The words "increased abundantly," "multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty" speak of a population explosion which filled the entire land of Goshen.
- Now, the time stamp that we have here is a bit shorter. All that generation died, this would be the first generation in Egypt. Let's think about this: Joseph was in his 50's when Jacob came.
- He lived to be 110, so around 60 years have passed. We are not told how long it took for that generation, ie, Joseph's great-grandkids, to pass away, but we'd have to figure another 60 years.
- Let's say that it was about 130 years. The trend of growth would still be staggering! But about that time, things began to change.
• Exodus 1:8-11 : "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, 'Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.' Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses." : This brings us to another part of the Bible where we are told something that lacks complete specificity. There was a new king over Egypt.
- It's likely that this new King represented an paradigmatic shift in politics from one dynasty, to another dynasty. We mentioned that the Hyksos might have been in power during Joseph's rule.
- This new king might have been a new Egyptian regime with wildly different ideas. Please note, that this is merely a hypothesis.
- I have read several studies on the Pharoahs and each one presents compelling evidence for their Pharoah, which is different from the other Pharoah. Moses does not give us this information.
- I would suggest that part of that reason is that the people knew who it was. A second reason, one that I am convinced is more important, is that this is God's story and He gets top billing!
- This Pharoah, whoever he was, did not know Joseph.
- He was not invested in the heroism of Joseph. He was non-plussed. He was a pragmatist, not wanting to honor someone who was now dead.
- This is how any society slides: They forget who they are and what they are doing there!
- The Egyptians use this information to oppress. The godly forget this information and become comfortable in the world!
- What Pharoah did know was that the children of Israel presented a national security threat.
- They operated on a hypothesis that if an enemy came against Egypt, these people might just join them.
- If the Hyksos were a problem, no doubt the shepherd people of Canaan, would join them!
- In order to squelch any thought of rebellion, the Pharoah decided to enslave the population.
- How did this happen? For the Hebrews it went from great to really bad overnite.
• Exodus 1:12-14 : "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor." : The Pharoah's plan backfired. They tried to keep the people down and they kept growing!
- So they kept making them work harder and harder.
- It's interesting that the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. I would pose to you that this becomes a principle that follows throughout scripture.
- The more God's people are afflicted, the more that they succeed! Ironically, in times of success and ease, the people of God remain stagnant.
- Egypt, a picture of the world, will always treat God's children this way to some degree or another. And the greater degree, the less they will succeed.
- That being the case, the people's lives are miserable, the bondage being thoroughly cruel.
• Exodus 1:15-19 : "Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, 'When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.' But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, 'Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?' And the midwives said to Pharaoh, 'Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.'" : The King of Egypt now takes it to the next level. He begins a genocidal campaign against the Hebrews.
- Ultimately, unbeknownst to him, he is declaring war on the God of the Hebrews. He is reaching out his hand against the Lord's children, which is always a bad idea!
- One wonders where such an idea comes from. Here he has enslaved them and they have built his supply cities. Now, he wants to kill them.
- This is nothing less than a Satanically inspired plot, not just to destroy a race of people, but to destroy the plan of God for redemption! The Redeemer was to come out of this people!
- Pharoah's evil campaign begins with the evil of employing Hebrew women to do the job!
- Many of the people that I have read this week, think that the midwives were women who were barren. What an incredibly cruel twist: To ask barren women to kill infants!
- The Pharoah was asking them to do what was entirely the opposite of what they did. Their job represented life and joy. Now, he was asking them to make that moment about murder!
- By taking out the boys, there would no longer be any production. The race would eventually die out. But the midwives, Shiprah and Puah, feared God!
- Mark that out. The first heroes in the book of Exodus are these two female midwives who stood up and chose not to do what the Pharoah commanded, but instead, chose to fear God.
- Interesting though, they did it while underperforming at their job or lying about what actually happened. It may be that what they said was entirely true.
- The Hebrew women were likely involved in very difficult work and we thus is very good shape. They gave birth and some went right back out to work!
- In contrast, the Egyptian ladies were much more pampered and took a long time to deliver.
- Regardless, Moses tells us that they saved the male children alive.
- They told the king that before they could get to their appointment, the ladies had already given birth and were not in position to kill them.
• Exodus 1:20-22 : "Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, 'Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.'" : God blessed the midwives because they fought God's war.
- He did not endorse their lie. He blessed them for saving His kids! God blessed them because they feared Him. That is a good thing to remember.
- God not only spared their lives, and thwarted the Pharoah's plans, but He gave them children, opening their wombs to receive children.
- From here, he knew that he could not depend on the midwives, so he decreed that the people kill their own sons by tossing them into the river.
- Such brutality and cruelty can only be satanically inspired! Satan was even then doing his best to destroy the seed of the woman. But God was not going to lose.
- Here, God uses two women who feared Him, to defeat this powerful, maniacal world leader!
- It was not something divine or miraculous. The fear of God, defeated the fear of Man!
II. Faith Over Fear (2:1-4)
• Exodus 2:1-4 : "And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him." : You have to like the fact that Moses writes this and calls himself a "beautiful child." Yet, the fact remains the his mother hid him for three months! You put it together!
- These people were Levites who bore children at a time when you would probably not want to be bearing children! They were slaves and male children were to be aborted!
- But they married and had children nonetheless. What a bittersweet moment to see that their union had borne them a son.
- Different translations vary about his features. The point is that he was a healthy and strong baby. The couple chose to hide him and did so for three months.
- Turn over to Hebrews 11. The author of Hebrews mentions this action in his record.
• Hebrews 11:23 : "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command."
- It's interesting because that's where the faith ends. Three months had gone by and beautiful baby began to be beautiful loud baby!
- It seems that their faith came to a crossroads. "We can't keep doing this! They are going to find Him and kill all of us!"
- I do not fault them. In fact, I completely understand. Sometimes even great faith wanes!
- When they no longer could faith it, they did what their could only be described as faith in a different action. Notice what she did: She made an ark!
- There is no coincidence here: The ark that saved Noah from the judgment waters would also save this little child from the judgment waters of the Nile!
- In effect, Moses' mom is putting her son in the hands of God, constructing her own little ark of salvation for her son. She released her son into His hands for protection.
- God could have worked with the baby in the house, but their faith would not extend that way.
III. Faithfulness Over Fear (2:5-10)
• Exodus 2:5-10 : "Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews’ children.' 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?' And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, 'Go.' So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. 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. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, 'Because I drew him out of the water.'" : I think that we can say something here that helps define this section: When our faith runs out or moves us to an action where we depend fully on God, we will see His faithfulness take over!
- The mother dropped off the baby and it floated to the Pharoah's daughters home. Miriam's heart must have dropped, wondering at the situation!
- She just so happened to be coming out at this time for the daily bath! What bad luck! I wonder if her first respons was to have the baby killed, but just then the baby let out a loud cry!
- She had heard the decree, but this little boy had an effect on her. She had compassion, pity on him, despite her father's decree.
- God had brought this little boy into the very house of Pharoah and prepared a compassionate heart to receive him! Miriam must have been shocked!
- Miriam came over and arranged for the mother of the child to come and nurse him.
- Essentially, God had worked it out, to save the baby, to keep him under in the influence of his family, and for the mother to get paid to do what she had been doing and would have done for free!
- That's the faithfulness of God: Over and above, beyond our comprehension!
- Pharoah's daughter called him Moses, meaning "drawn out." Even here, she makes a prophetic statement about Moses' life: He would draw out God's people from this land of slavery!
Conclusion
- At this point in time, God has defeated Pharoah by inspiring reverence in His people, by raising faith in His people and by His own faithfulness to His people.
- Now, as the story turns, God will raise a leader that will emancipate His people.
- As we consider Moses, we consider that God has done this in history, but will do so again, as Jesus is the deliverer of His people, who currently suffer under the world's system.
- Until He is revealed again, may we remain reverent, filled with faith and blessed by God's faithfulness
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