Jan 30: Exodus 1-3

 Jan 30, Exodus 1-3

The book of Exodus is the 2nd book of the Old Testament. The name Exodus in the Greek means ‘going out’ or ‘departure’. But in Hebrew the book is called 'Names,'  as that is the first hebrew word of this book. Exodus is ultimately about the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - to make them into a great nation. God goes to great lengths to keep His promises amongst opposition from the enemy and disbelief from His people. 

Exodus 1. When we left off last time, Joseph had just died. We are introduced to the lineage again of Jacob’s kids… Then we are told of a new king in Egypt who didn't know the family of Jacob or Joseph and the insecurities of that King were starting to show, as the Hebrew nation became great in number. The Egyptians were afraid that the Hebrews (Jacob’s family) would get too strong and would eventually overpower Egypt. The plan was to deal shrewdly with them as they were multiplying and becoming more powerful. The Egyptians made the people of Jacob (or Israel) work as slaves. They weren't literal slaves, but they were oppressed and that idea that they were 'slaves' shows that they had a new master - the King of Egypt. The King of Egypt, also didn't want them getting too many strong men to fight back, so he told all the midwives to kill the Hebrew baby boys that were born. The midwives feared God more, so they did not do what they were told. Instead they wanted to protect the Hebrew babies, for they were the future of God's chosen people. They lied to Pharaoh and basically told him that the Hebrew women birth really fast, before they can even get there, to protect the newborn babies because they fear God. God blessed these ladies and gave them their own families! Here we see that these ladies lied, and not only did God approve, but God blessed them for it. Sometimes, God's sense, doesn't make sense. And because it didn't work having the midwives kill the babies, Pharaoh commands his people to do the dirty work. But to let the little girls live, and the boys thrown into the Nile, which was the river that ran through Egypt. The Nile isn't this little stream, it is more like a mix between the Amazon River and Niagara Falls.  

Exodus 2. Moses, a famous Old Testament name, and you are about to be introduced to him. Remember, at the time that Moses was born, the Pharaoh wanted all the baby boys to be killed… so Moses was born and his mom saw that he was special. She nursed him for a while and hid him for three months. She put him into a basket and sent him down the river to protect him. That might sound easy enough, but Scholars say that it probably took her 3 months to make the basket, made from a mix of bitumen and pitch, is not only a tar that would seal up the basket that she made, but also was a crocodile deterrent. And can you imagine putting your child in a crocodile, hippopotamus (and hippos are territorial and very aggressive) infested water? Talk about faith. Here she trusted that God would protect this baby. Anyhow, the baby makes it through the water, and ends up near royalty. The daughter of Pharaoh, the daughter of the king, saw him floating down a river. She pulled him out. And saw that he was a Hebrew child. How did she know this? Well. Hebrews circumcised their children. Adult Egyptians who worked for the temple, also circumcised themselves, but that was reserved for the religious elites; as well as for Pharaoh's household and no one else. It was an obvious that something was special about this baby, and Scholars believe that the Princess named him 'Hopimoses' which means, 'Hopi (the god of the Nile) drawn out.' Meaning the god of the Nile, gave this baby to her. Since Moses himself, wrote the book that you are reading, it is evident that he didn't want to be associated with another god, other than the One True God. Ok back to the story, Moses’s little sister was watching and made yourself known. It was then that Pharaohs daughter instructed her to go get a nursing woman. As God would have it, the little girl went and grabbed her mother, who was Moses's real mother, to nurse him. Remember how I always say that God works everything out? Well - this is another exceptional example.
This is where the story turns. Moses grows up in the Egyptian style, in Egyptian school, in Egyptian religion, and probably in the Egyptian palace. But Moses, seems to know that his heritage is Hebrew, as they call them "his people." When he gets older, he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew – one of Moses's people. He did not like what he saw, so he killed the Egyptian and hid his body. Basically Moses was hoping nobody had seen him. Moving on, the next day Moses saw two of his own Hebrew people arguing, And he went to mediate between them. They looked at him and asked him who made him the judge and if he was going to kill one of them like he did to the guy yesterday… This scared him, and he thought that the thing he did, must be on the gossip train and it was. Pharaoh had heard of it, which was Moses’s fear… out of fear he ran. There away from Egypt, he rests by a well, in Midian. It is kinda funny that a watering well, is where Isaac (through his servant) and Jacob, both met their wives. Anyhow, Moses helps some girls with their sheep. It is interesting to note that in verse 19 it states that 'an Egyptian...' Moses was clearly looking like one. Moses meets the daughters father, and he is a priest of Midian. Who is Midian? And whose line is this? Interesting enough, Midian was one of the sons of Abrahams. Remember the wife that Abrahman took named Keturah. Well Midian was one of her sons, and Abraham sent the other sons away so that they wouldn't have a share in Isaac's inheritance. Back in Genesis 25:1-6, he sent the sons away from Issac, eastward to the east country. Right where Moses ended up going to Midian. So what god is this priest to? The God of Abraham. So he intermarries with the priests daughter, where he lived and married and started to have kids. He knew that he was just a foreign traveler there and it showed in naming his son. Some time later, the king of Egypt, the pharaoh, had died. The Hebrew people were full on oppressed people. Think of a Dictatorship and living underneath it, as non-citizens. So they were treated horrible and their cries made it up to God. God has not forgotten the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…

Exodus 3. Here we have the famous story of the burning bush. Moses was taking care of some sheep, as we see Moses taking on the Father-in-laws family business, and caught a glimpse of bush that was burning on a mountain, but yet did not burn up. Obviously his curiosity was peaked. Moses went to it. When he was there, God called out to him from the bush and Moses said, “Here I am.” Remember now, they were on a mountain. Gods presence was on the Mountain, which made it holy. This is also what God told Moses to take off his sandals – he was on holy ground. God tells Moses basically that he sees the suffering of his people in Egypt and is sending Moses to be a spokes person for the Hebrews through God and for God. The name that God refers to himself as is I AM. God here reveals Himself to Moses, His name, as Yahweh! Before this time, the patriarchs (which means family lineage) didn't know God by His personal name. How crazy is that?!? Anyhow. We have been talking about the name, the personal name of God since we started this study. God made promises to free his people from affliction. God made promises to be with them. He also knows, that the Pharaoh will not release them unless compelled by a mighty hand through Gods own hand, and only God would let him let His people go, once He had shown His wonders to the Pharaoh and the people of Israel. It is not like the movies, where Pharaoh and Moses are best friends playing and all is well except the fact that a woman gets in the way, then they have to figure out who is king and who gets the girl. That is Hollywood's version of Charlton Heston or a high-end cartoon depicting biblical versions of non-truth. Reality is, Moses was a chosen person by God. And God was going to have Moses go back to Egypt and get God's people out of there. Even more, God was going to make it a show that nobody would forget. Not in a thousand years. 

To sum it all up:

• God will do whatever it takes to fulfill his word.
• As God's people - the Israelites are protected. And so are you, if you are one of God's people. 
• God's guiding hand, was in the story of Moses all along. Can you see God's hand in your story? It might take a while to actually see God, especially when we are down, running away from something, or living in a place that isn't our home. But the God of the Hebrews is still alive and well. Watching us. Guiding us. And as we will see in a little bit. Delivering us from evil...