Exodus 1-12

Everyone faces moments in their life when they need help. Sometimes we humbly accept a hand from someone else. At other times, we stubbornly insist on doing things ourselves. Like the man or woman driving late at night who is hopelessly lost, we refuse to stop and ask for directions. We would rather stay lost than admit we need help. We have the strangest ability to live in the worst of situations and pretend everything is under control. Life goes so much better when we can admit we need help. All of us face moments when we need a deliverer.

The people of Israel came to this place often. Sometimes they stubbornly refused God’s help and lived with the consequences. At other times they would cry out and accept God’s delivering hand. All of us can grow to see God as our deliverer. Not only does he have the power to save, but also he longs to deliver his children. He is waiting to act. Today we are going to learn how to walk in the delivering power of God.

God made a great promise to his people. He promised that they would be a great people and that they would have a place. This promise that God gave to Abraham and his descendants appears to be in jeopardy. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are now dead and their descendants are slave in Egypt. We wonder what will happen to God’s promise.

“6In time, Joseph and each of his brothers died, ending that generation. 7But their descendants had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so quickly that they soon filled the land.” Exodus 1:6-7

6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Exodus 1:6—7

God had promised Abraham that he would be fruitful and he had repeated that same promise to other generations. Now this promise was coming true. Who’s at work here? God is at work. It is no accident that they are having children and growing as a people.

God promised in His covenant a growing people but also a place where the community could be located. A land flowing with milk and honey. We need to grasp the significance of land that God promised them so it is time for some geography. It is map time! Your not going to like this so you can go ahead and groan now if you would like.

Take some paper and a pen or pencil and we are going to draw a map of this region. On the left side of your paper, draw three sides of a rectangle (open at the left) –this is the Mediterranean Sea. Then down below the rectangle draw a Y that extends on down; this is the Nile River. Then draw what looks kind of like an arm with a hand that making a peace sign. This is the Red Sea. Then toward the right side here draw a little circle and a line coming down and a little oval. That the Sea of Galilee, the Jordon River, and the Dead Sea. Finally, all the way to the right draw a kind of amoeba (Persian Gulf) that forks off into two branches. Those are the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea is the Promised Land – that’s Canaan. Now I want to talk to you about the significance of this land. Thanks to our video production people I can now point out some things on this high tech green screen. It ‘s just like the weather people. Here’s the Mediterranean Sea, couple of the rivers, and down there is Egypt. The forecast is “hail mixed with frogs.” If you don’t get that you will later.

In this part of the world there was something called the Fertile Crescent. This was an area that got enough rain and has enough water to sustain life. At that time in history, in that part of the world, it was all about water. Water is what made life possible, and it was crucial to travel and survival. The Fertile Crescent was one of the few places where water was available.

The Fertile Crescent started down at the Persian Gulf, crossed through the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, and then ran down the Mediterranean to the Nile. This is where land was habitable, crops could be grown, and people could survive. It is also know as the cradle of civilization. All the powers of the ancient world lived in the Fertile Crescent. The problem was that they tended to live in the North and the South and the Promised Land was right in the middle. This middle part became a highway for armies and trade. It was virtually impossible to go down to Egypt or up to Assyria without going through Canaan. Egypt was down here on the map and here was Canaan and then there was a great power to the North. This is where the Hittites were. The reason this land was important was because if they were going to fight for world dominance they would do it in the middle of the Fertile Crescent. They would always fight on the middle ground. In this day world trade was developing and this area financially was a hotbed of activity.

As the various superpowers wrestled with each other for dominance of the world, the little strip of land called Canaan (later called Palestine) became crucial for military superiority.

It is no accident that God chose this land for His people. This is a most strategic land. The people who lived here would spread the stories of their God like no other. They would be under the watchful eye of the known world because of their location.

Once Israel was in the Promised Land, they would have many opportunities to grow in their trust of God. Because they were surrounded by superpowers fighting with each other they would have to live in constant dependence on God because they were a small people with a modest army. Before they can becomes the example of God’s community and covenant they have to get out of Egypt where they have become slaves.

Then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. Exodus 1:8

Things take a drastic turn here and the promise that God gave His people begins to look more and more hopeless. The tension is going to get worse and worse. The reason these stories are included in the Bible are so that you and I can come to understand the faithfulness of God. When we realize that God has the power to deliver his people from the hand of the Pharaohs, we have hope that he can deliver us as well, and we know that we do not have to despair. We can stay faithful and we can hang on for God to deliver.

1. Clinging to God When Things Seem Hopeless

This new Pharaoh had no connection or allegiance to Joseph. The more he oppresses them the more they multiply. He decides to go on a campaign of genocide. In Exodus 1:15-17 We read, “The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah. ‘When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.’ The midwives however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.”

These are remarkable women, and it is important that we remember their names. These two women defy a pharaoh and risk their lives in an act of heroism. These names are so important I want us to say them out loud. “Shiphrah and Puah. Pharaoh calls them in to ask them why they are not doing what he wants. Listen to their response.

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive."

(Does this mean it is okay to lie? NO! If you are ever coerced into committing mass murder by a genocidal maniac and you can escape doing it with a lie, I think God will understand. Maybe! If however you use this passage to justify the kind of self serving deceit that people often engage in, which breaks community and destroys trust, that a big mistake.)

20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born [b] you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."

We never learn the name of this Pharaoh. The text never says which Pharaoh Moses faces. In the Egyptian hierarchy midwives would be on the lowest of the low totem pole. They don’t count, but in God’s organizational chart, the midwives are heroes. They risk their lives to accomplish God’s purposes.

Listen, sometimes you may feel as though what you are doing doesn’t matter and nobody notices you. When this happens, God wants us to remember these two courageous women. Faithfulness really does matter to God. God is far more concerned about the condition of our hearts than the balance in our savings account or our appearance in the eyes of others.

Pharaoh is so frustrated that in verse 22 he demands that all boys that are born be thrown into the Nile River. Think about what a precious gift a baby is to a mother and father. Try to picture the Egyptians throwing boy baby after boy baby into the river.

Out of this unthinkable genocide one baby boy is saved. His mother places him in a little waterproof basket, and sets him floating in the reeds of the Nile River. His sister watches from a distance to see what will happen to her baby brother.

In an ironic twist, Pharaoh’s daughter finds the baby and keeps him as her own. She needs someone to nurse him, and Moses’ sister Miriam offers to get a Hebrew woman. Guess what? She get her mother and baby Moses is placed back in his own home and in the arms of his own mother.

As Moses grows he fins himself living in two worlds. He’s concerned for his people, the Hebrew’s, but he is educated as an Egyptian. He is not yet following God.

2. God Provides Strength in Weakness

11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Notice verse 12. Which way did he not look? He did not look up. He is not yet following God. Pharaoh hears about it and puts a price on his head. He runs away.

15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

Moses takes off and goes to live in Midian. He is sitting by a well and notices some young women with flocks who are being chased from the well by a group of surly shepherds. Apparently Moses has a passion for justice and cannot stand to see people oppressed, because he single handedly comes to the rescue of these women. He ends up marrying one of them named Zipporah and it looks like he will spend the rest of his life as a shepherd.

There is a little backstage action going on. The writer wants us to know about it even though you can’t see it.

23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

In the bible when it says, God remembered it doesn’t mean he had forgotten it means that God is about to act. Watch out!

Exodus 3: 1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.

God shows up in the most unexpected place in the most unexpected way. Moses makes a decision that will change his life. The NRSV translation of verse 3: “Moses says, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush does not burn up.” There is a sense in which everything hinges on Moses’ decision to turn aside. He doesn’t have to do that. He could have been too busy. He just would have missed his calling. He would have missed the Exodus. He would have missed the reason he was born.

I want to ask you for a moment, how are you doing at turning aside? Are you slowing down and noticing God more? Are there burning bushes you need to turn aside and look at? Are there places where God is present, where you have stopped and met him? Moses does it and he hears God:

3:5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 7 The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. (Cellulites)

Everything is good news so far until verse 10:

10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." It is almost as though it were an afterthought. “I’ve noticed, I’ve come down. So now go to Pharaoh, the tyrannical dictator of the most powerful nation on earth, who may still have a bounty on your head, and tell him to let his prime labor force go for no reason at all. Remember to check with me when you are finished. Then I may have a job for you this afternoon.”

Moses starts a series of objections to the call of God: (Like most of us we are really good at telling God why we shouldn’t do what God expects us to do.)

Objection 1: Who am I?

11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12 And God said, "I will be with you.” God says it doesn’t matter I will be with you.

Objection 2: Who are You?

13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

14 God said to Moses, "I am who I am . [b] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' " God reveals His name. This name was so revered by the Jews they wouldn’t even pronounce it. The significance of God making His name known is that He is a god who can be know, who reveals Himself.

18 "The elders of Israel will listen to you. Exodus 4

Objection 3: What if they don’t believe me?

1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?" 2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?"

If you have been here through the series you know that when God starts asking questions things are going to get interesting. God is very good with questions.

"A staff," he replied. 3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail."

Let me ask you how you would pick a snake up? I don’t think it would be by the tail. God is saying to Moses, you are going to have to trust me and get used to dealing with all sorts of dangers.

So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

Objection 4: Speaking has never been one of my core competencies.

10 Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

11 The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." In other words, God tells him, “I am in charge of spiritual gifts I can take care of it.” In desperation Moses makes his final objection.

Objection 5: Please send someone else.

13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." “Here am I send Aaron” Look at something very strange that happened in verse 24: 24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met {Moses} [b] and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched {Moses'} feet with it. [c] "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)

Does this kind of look weird to anybody? Me too, let’s keep going. Actually most scholars agree on this one. Moses was apparently holding himself outside the covenant requirement of circumcision and there is no way he can do what God is calling him to do without following God’s way and covenant. Zipporah spares his life by covering him with a symbolic act until Moses can be circumcised at the right time. (when Novocain gets invented.)

A woman and her husband interrupted their vacation to go to a dentist. "I want a tooth pulled, and I don't want Novocain because I'm in a big hurry," the woman said. "Just extract the tooth as quickly as possible, and we'll be on our way." The dentist was quite impressed. "You're certainly a courageous woman," he said. "Which tooth is it?" The woman turned to her husband and said, "Show him your tooth, dear."

This was the opposite. Moses is defiantly disobeying God and his wife saves him.

Short lesson on hero’s in Exodus so far: the two midwives, Moses mom, Moses sister Pharaoh’s daughter and Moses wife. Notice the trait they all share? Their women! It is a striking reality that in a highly patriarchal world, God keeps using women to accomplish his purposes.

Moses went and talked with the people about God’s plan.

29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, 31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

It is incredible but everything is working to plan. Now he just have to get Pharaoh to sign off on it and he will be done with what God has ask him to do. Let’s look at chapter five.

1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.' "

This is a bold way to approach the most powerful man in the world. No small talk or flattery. They are so full of confidence at this point that they just assume God’s plan will demand obedience. Pharaoh is not impressed.

2 Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go."

4 But the king of Egypt said, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!" 5 Then Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working." 8 They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' 9 Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies."

They try to negotiate a deal with the foreman because now their jobs have just taken a turn for the worse. Pharaoh is mad and now the people are mad at Moses. Look at verse 21.

20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, 21 and they said, "May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us." 22 Moses returned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all."

God responds to Moses in chapter six:

6 "Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.' "

There is a very poignant response in verse nine:

9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. Discouragement can just crush the human spirit. The people of God are deaf to the good news from God because they are discouraged. There are times when each one of us needs to be reminded that a discouraged spirit can keep us from hearing and following God’s voice. Some of you feel beaten down. You need to hear this from God. Don’t let discouragement have the last word. I am still at work. My timing might not fit your schedule but trust me. Keep looking for me. Keep trusting me. Keep waiting and obeying.

3. Ultimately He is the God who delivers.

Now the battle begins. God initiates a series of plagues or might acts on Pharaoh and Egypt. In the first one the Nile River is turned to blood. (significant to the Israelites) In the second one God uses a different tone. God sends frogs. The writer deliberately paints a picture to ridicule the pretensions of Pharaoh. Look at 8:1-4:

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. 3 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. 4 The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials.' "

We are to get and kind of enjoy this picture. Moses is saying you are going to have frogs everywhere. In verse 7 Pharaoh’s magicians make more frogs and finally in verses 8—10 we read how they got rid of the frogs.

There is a pattern developing with Pharaoh. It starts with a hard hitting plague, followed by what looks like repentance, then next comes the plea for deliverance and finally his heart becomes hard again. Plague after plague continues: gnats, flies, dying livestock, boils, hail, locusts and darkness all come to Egypt. He repents each time but then forgets.

Look at chapter nine: “27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned," he said to them. "The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don't have to stay any longer."

29 Moses replied, "When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the LORD's. 30 But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God."

34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. 35 So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses. When the pain goes away his repentance goes away. This happens to people right in this room today. When we are in intense pain our sensitivity to God goes way up but when the pain goes away so does our openness to God. Pharaoh is never really repentant he is just trying to do pain control or pain management. We need to ask ourselves this question sometimes: “are we really repentant or are we just doing pain management?”

Pharaoh get all hardened up again and the ultimate plague comes on them. God sends the angel of death and takes the firstborn in the Egyptian households. The people who committed genocide against the Israelites now lose their firstborn. Imagine for a moment being in one of the Israelite’s houses on that night. God has told you (Exodus 11:4-5) to get ready to leave. God has told you to sacrifice a lamb and put the blood on the door frames around your home and he will pass over you and spare your children. You wonder if this is real. You are afraid to breathe all night long. But God is true to his word and the next morning Pharaoh is ready and the Israelites get on the move. They are given anything they ask for. You would think that they would be so full of faith at this point that they would believe anything about God at anytime. Look lastly at chapter 14. (talk about current teaching by so called scholars)

The deliverance of Israel was the supernatural work of God.

Conclusion: Is there anywhere in your life you need God to deliver? I would like you to close your eyes and talk with God about this. Is there any temptation or sin that feels like it has gotten a hold on you? Has hardness of heart taken hold of you as it took hold of Pharaoh? Maybe it is a pattern of sin. I might be a habit that has been there for a long time. I invite you right now to start your exodus to freedom. Start believing and trusting God and let Him show you the way out.

Maybe you’ve had a really difficult situation or a troubling relationship. Maybe you’ve made a commitment to God in some area of your life and it is getting hard. Maybe you feel trapped in a financial commitment and now things are difficult.

God provides us deliverance but we have to get off on the right road and follow it no matter how hard or difficult is seems.

This sermon and series is based on material provided by J. Ortberg and the OTC series.