Sept. 29th. Day 29 of our year long journey through the Bible Ge 47:27; Ex 1:1-14; Nu 26:59; Ex 6:20; Ex 1:15-22; He 11:23-26; Acts 7:17-29; Ex 2:1-10; Ex 6:23; Nu 26:60; Ex 2:11-25; Ex 6:25 Jacob’s clan (the Israelites) were all settled in Egypt now… In Exodus we first are reminded of the brothers of Joseph who were now in Egypt with their families. Their number started with 70. The oppression of the Israelites began more than 200 years after the death of Joseph, and at this time a new king came into power. The Israelites had multiplied greatly and were prosperous. Exodus 1:7 reminds us of Genesis 1:28 in the beginning of God’s story, and of Ge 9:1 after the flood, and of Ge 17:2,6 in God’s covenant with Abram, and in Ge 26: with Isaac during the famine, and in Ge 28:14 in Jacob’s dream at Bethel. All received the same words from God that they would multiply and become prosperous. God’s word was now being realized in a special way in Israel’s history. The new king, was (probably) Ahmose who reigned from 1550-1525 BC. The legend of the great blessing that Joseph had been to the Egyptian people had been lost and Ahmose knew nothing of Joseph and the Israelites other than their number had increased to a point that made him nervous. He began to oppress them with forced labor however, the more they were oppressed the more they multiplied and spread in the land. Their lives were being made bitter in their oppression and labor - this fact is commemorated in the Passover meal with the bitter herbs. We now take a quick jump to Numbers 26:59 to learn that a descendant of Jacob’s 3rd son with Leah, Levi, had a descendant named Jochebed who mothered Aaron, Moses and Miriam. All names you will be hearing again. Of this I am certain. Back to the story of the oppression of the Israelites. Ahmose told the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah (who doubtless had other midwives) to kill all Hebrew boys during birth. They feared God and couldn’t do that and they told Ahmose that the Hebrew women had a habit of delivering before the midwife could get there. So Ahmose came up with another plan. He ordered his own people to throw all new born Hebrew males into the Nile. Enter Moses’s parents, Jochebed and Amran. They saw that Moses was a special child so by faith they hid him. After 3 months they placed Moses in a basket (the original wording for this basket was “ark”) and placed him in the Nile with the hopes that Pharaoh’s daughter would find him while she bathed. Miriam was standing by, when she saw that Pharaoh’s daughter wanted to keep him she offered to find a Hebrew woman to nurse him until he was weaned. Guess who Miriam found? Moses’ mother Jochebed was now able to nurse her son and wean him. She then gave the boy up to have a better life in the house of Egypt. When Moses was 40, he went out to pay a visit to the Israelites, knowing that he was one of them. He saw one being abused and he killed the Egyptian abuser. The next day he came across a couple of Israelites fighting and he tried to stop them. They were angry with him and Moses feared that they would let on to Pharaoh that he was the one to kill the Egyptian. So he ran off to Median where he ended up settling down, got married and had two sons of his own, Gershom and Eliezer. I think he will be back… During all of this, the Israelites cried to cry out to God about their plight. God heard their cries!...
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 09:00:00 +0000
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