Exodus 2:1-4

A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

When you hear this story, doesn’t it seem rather plain? It is a simple story about a man and a woman who had a child, they thought he was beautiful so they decided not to kill him like the government wanted them to. When I was meditating on this story, I was surprised that the Bible said that they kept the child because of his outward appearance. Then it occurred to me how simple this story is, and I realized that almost every mother and father thinks that their newborn child is the most beautiful thing in the world.

What the child’s parents were doing was extremely natural. Have you ever wondered why it’s so natural for parents to find their children attractive? We know as believers that God put that into humanity. This is one of a number of natural things that our Creator has issued us.

The Bible tells us that in the last days, the times that we now live in, people would give up their natural affections. We see this happening today. It is only natural for every mother, no matter how young, to want to keep their baby alive because it is the most beautiful thing in the world. God wants it to be that way. When we interfere with this we interfere with nature. Here’s what the Bible says about the times we live in:

Romans 1:28-29b, 31b :

Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
being filled with all unrighteousness…
…without natural affection…

Clearly, the Egyptian leadership was not willing to allow the knowledge of God to guide them. We will see that this will have consequences, not only for them, but for all of Egypt in the years to come. Fortunately, this young Hebrew couple still had natural affection and they did what they could to keep it and their son alive.

There is a vicious fight in the world today that pounds away against natural affections of all kinds. We should follow this couple’s example and allow these good kinds of affections to guide our behavior as well. We should not feel intimidated into stifling them because of the pressure we feel from those around us. In the end, we will be happier that we went the way that God programmed into nature and did not try to go man’s way and kill what is natural.

Exodus 1:18-22

The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and have saved the boys alive?”

The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. It happened, because the midwives feared God, that he gave them families. Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

So the disobedient midwives were called to account for their disobedience. They claimed that the Hebrew women were giving birth too fast for them. We don’t know for sure whether or not they were lying. I tend to believe from this context that they were. We were just told that they did disobey willingly, so the truthful answer would have been to say: “because we feared God.” It is interesting that God didn’t hold it against them. Instead, God blessed them gave them their own families for doing what they had done. So we can see here that the Bible tells us that civil disobedience is rewarded when done in obedience to the Higher Authority.

Not only that, the Bible tells us that the Hebrews grew very mighty after this. The Egyptian leadership was failing in a big way. God is the one who is really in charge no matter what a government does. In the end, whatever God wants is what will happen. He is the one we need to talk to in order to change things politically. It’s not that we shouldn’t do what we can to change things, but we need to realize that it is ultimately what God does that will bring about change.

In what appears to be desperation, the Egyptian leadership decided to openly proclaim the extermination of the Hebrews. Even though it says “every son” here, most Bible scholars agree that it is talking only about the Hebrew sons. It is interesting to me that the majority of the copies of the Bible don’t include the “Hebrew” part here, but I don’t have enough information to comment about this now. So, if attempts one and two failed, even experience would tell us that this third one will too.

Exodus 1:15-17

The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool; 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 didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.

It appears that, on top of all of the other oppression that the Hebrews were dealing with, they also had to deal with government healthcare. Evidently, the government didn’t provide the midwives, it just told them what to do. We see here that what they told them to do ended up being politically and economically driven rather than guided by the wisdom that comes from God.

It is interesting that these Egyptian leaders assumed that they would be able to control the females better than the males. It is ironic that it was through the faith and strength of two midwives that the children of Israel were saved. God can and will use anyone to do His will if they will believe in Him.

Remember that I said that God doesn’t want us to be rebellious against our government. I still mean that, however, it is very important that you understand that that civil disobedience is often required. This kind of disobedience is exactly what we read here with these two midwives. They knew about the governments new healthcare requirements, but they deliberately chose to ignore them out of the fear of God. This gives us God’s pattern concerning when it is right to disobey the government.

When the government chooses to go against God, we as followers of God must go with the higher authority. This is always the rule. The higher authority is higher because he can overrule the lower one. The government does not have the freedom to tell us to do anything they want. We see here that this is especially true in regard to the sanctity of life. If the government tells you to kill another human being, whether young, old, born or unborn, the only right thing to do is to disobey.

By the way, this same rule applies to women in marriage and everyone at work. Never is a woman to obey her husband when she has to go against God to do it and never is a man to obey his employer when he has to go against God to do it. To do anything else would be to give into idolatry because to put another person over God is to replace God with a different one.

Exodus 1:11-14

Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They were grieved because of the children of Israel. The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

When it says that the taskmasters afflicted them, it actually is saying that they were trying to crush them with the labor. The Egyptian leadership thought that by overworking the children of Israel, they would break them, but it didn’t work at all. In fact, they had even more children and continued to spread out.

Some people claim that this happened during the time of the Raamses dynasty because of the name of the storage cities that the Hebrews were building. The Bible’s chronology makes it clear that this could not have been the case. The Raamses kingdom would happen much later. Remember from Genesis that the word Raamses was used to describe a section of the land Egypt. It makes sense for them to name a city after the land. Names of people and places can exist before popular leaders. There are streets in Portland, Oregon named “Clinton,” but they were made long before President Clinton took office. I know this because I have lived during this time and have witnessed it. At the same time, there are high schools in Portland named after people like Jefferson and Franklin, and streets named after Washington. This is not an isolated case. There is also a Bush street that pre-existed
both President’s Bush!

It’s also good to know that it is not likely that the Hebrews built the pyramids. Evidence suggests that they are too old and the Bible doesn’t say that. The Bible does tell us that the children of Israel were building cities but it also mentions that they were field workers. In fact, there is historical evidence that suggests that they were involved in digging irrigation. It is clear that the work that they were doing was very difficult and they were being treated “ruthlessly.”

In all of this difficult labor, they continued to become a force to contend with. Trying to overwork them didn’t work at all.

Exodus 1:9-10

He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land.”

One of the realities about the ruling class is that they are only there because God put them there. There is usually someone stronger out there. Here we have a record in the Bible in which the leaders in Egypt recognized that they were not the most powerful ones, but they didn’t recognize that God was the one who put them into power. Perhaps, as shepherds, they gained military power and used it to overthrow the existing dynasty. Perhaps they thought that the Hebrews would do the same to them. The fact is, God did not need to use any of the Hebrews to overthrow Egypt. It is very interesting that the thing that that was bothering them was their economy.

When people get used to using the labor of others in order to gain wealth, they start to justify all kinds of oppressive control. They may claim that they are just saving the economy, but the fact is that they are being lazy and not working for themselves. The Hebrews were adding a lot to the economy of Egypt and the leadership wanted to make sure that it stayed that way.

The word translated “wisely” in these verses is translated “shrewdly” in other English translations. It is clear from their actions that “shrewdly” is an appropriate translation overall, but it is amazing how oppression can be interpreted as “wise” by oppressive leadership. The people are more powerful than the leadership even if they don’t realize it, but we must remember that, as “the people,” God is still in charge. He doesn’t want us to be rebellious or take revenge and only if He is with us will we ever succeed. He wants us to obey Him and do what He says no matter what anyone else says or does. God is in charge of the economy and Israel was actually demonstrating how it works.

The human family, when blessed by God, is the economy, and the family of Israel was getting both large and strong. So here we see two philosophies of economy. The first is the natural human family under the rule of the God of Israel, the second is oppression and slavery under the government of man.

Exodus 1:8

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph.

The reason I am singling out this verse today is because it appears to be a translation error in the English Bible. The error carries away some of the meaning behind what we will read in the rest of the book. Satan is pretty smart. He knows that to destroy a house you should aim for the foundation. Both Genesis and Exodus form a foundation for what happens in the rest of the Bible. Little changes in the foundation of a house can make big differences up higher. The same goes for little changes to the book of Exodus.

The concern I have is with the word “arose.” This is not how the word is interpreted in other places. We have the same word in Deuteronomy 19:11 which was also written by Moses with Exodus. Here’s what it says:

Deuteronomy 19:11-12 :

But if any man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities;
then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

The word for “arose” in Exodus eight is translated “rises up against” in Deuteronomy 19:11. Notice that in Deuteronomy, it is definitely an organized confrontation that actually ends in murder.

I believe that a better translation would be: “Now a new king conquered Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph.” About the time recorded in the Bible in which these events take place, the 15th century B.C., other records tell us that a different nationality of Pharaohs took control of Egypt called The Hyksos (Hick – Sauce). Older historians believe that these leaders may have originally been shepherds like the Hebrews. Some have said that they were actually what the Bible calls the Amorites; the enemies of the Hebrews.

It is important to realize that the Bible dates these events as having taken place during the time of The Hyksos and not the time of Ramses as popular movies have depicted. We will discuss why a bit more later, but it is important for us to recognize, as we go through this book that the Pharaoh ruling at this time was much different than the one who knew Joseph. In fact, these people are not even considered native Egyptians.

If you remember, Egyptians considered shepherds to be a lower class and wouldn’t even eat with them. It makes sense that The Hyksos had to actually overthrow the existing ruler in order to take over. It could also explain more about why they didn’t like the Hebrews. After all, the Hebrews were also shepherds, were Amorite enemies, and had the best land in Egypt for their flocks.

Exodus 1:6-7

Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation. The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

If you remember, back in Genesis, there was a very scary terror that came over Abraham and God told him the future. Let’s read that again:

Genesis 15:12-15 :

When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your seed will live as
foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve.
Afterward they will come out with great wealth, but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.

We’ve come to that part of history. At this point, the people had been in the land for over 300 years. They had, if you remember, been working for the Egyptian government, on land that they had been allowed to work as ranchers and shepherds.

Just as God had predicted, they grew very numerous. Most scholars believe that, at this point, there were well over two million Hebrews in Egypt.

The Hebrew growth rate is said to have been about the same growth rate that we have in our world today. It is thought that it was doubling about every 25 years or so. This can intimidate people who don’t know our God and cause them to act irrationally, especially those who believe that they will be effected economically. Unfortunately, as we shall see, this was what happened in Egypt at that time.

The Bible also tells us that they grew in strength. Evidently, it was clear to everyone that they were getting powerful as well as large. I would guess that this means that there were quite a few very strong men who could fight if they wanted to.

We read here that the entire generation that had gone through the terrible famine was dead. This left the Hebrews exposed but that was not the only problem as we find out next.