The Need and THE Answer

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do) please open them to Exodus. We’re going to look at chapters 1-2 this morning which is another way of saying: we have a lot of ground to cover. I hope you took a moment this week to read at least Exodus chapter 1 and hopefully Exodus chapters 1 and 2.

Again, I’d love for you to have a Bible open in front of you this morning. If not, the text will be on the screen and you can follow along.

Last week, we read verses 1-5—verses that introduce us to part of the cast of characters:

Exodus 1–5 NIV

These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly. The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby 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. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” 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. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” 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. Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.” 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. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. 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 wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 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. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 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. 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. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” 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?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’ “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow. “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.” Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, 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.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.” Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.” Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ” At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.) The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform. Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped. 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 wilderness.’ ” 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.” Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.” But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.” That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.” Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’ ” So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?” Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.” Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.” The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

Exodus 1:1–5 NIV

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.

Exodus 1-5

These verses connect the book of Exodus directly to Genesis, which ends with the death of Joseph (which took place around 1805 B.C.)

In fact, the first verse of Exodus repeats the words of almost exactly:

Genesis 46:8 NIV

8 These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob.

It should be clear to us, first off, that these are a people with a history.

The first word of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible is one that most of our English versions leave out. It’s the word And. Most people say that starting a sentence with the word and is probably not proper..

And yet, in this instance, it connects this story back to Genesis and the history of God with His people there. At then end of Genesis, we’re left hanging, wondering what it looks like for these people who are now living in Egypt. We just have to turn the page and pick up in Exodus where we left off in Genesis.

And these are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt...

These are a people

These are a people with a history and a people with a destiny.

God has made His covenant with Abraham, promising to make him into a great nation, that through this people all nations on earth might be blessed.

Exodus is a continuation of God’s relationship with this people and His grand purpose for them, with them, in spite of them.

If there’s any wonder what God’s up to, if you’re tempted to think that God is absent, that He’s forgotten His people, that the Lord must not care—if you’re tempted to believe that (especially as we read ), just flip back and read , , , .

Because of the Lord’s faithfulness and kindness and mercy, these are a people with a destiny, a future full of hope.

Per the promises of God, the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob, Isaac, Abraham grow—and I mean really, really grow.

Exodus 1:6–7 NIV

6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

70 souls (v. 5) had made their way to Egypt, sustained by the hand of God—the God who put Joseph in place in order to ensure the well-being of his family; 70 souls is a subtle, seemingly unimpressive number, but it’s a clear and powerful reminder of the faithfulness of God to His promises.

The God who told Abraham that his offspring would be like the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the beach, well…that God knew what He was talking about.

We will read in chapter 12 of Exodus that as the people of Israel left Egypt, journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth:

Exodus 12:37 NIV

The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.

Exodus 12:

Can you say, “Exceedingly fruitful”? They really got to work, like bunny rabbits these folk. That’s quite the increase in number: 70—>600,000 men, besides women and children.

This incredible fruitfulness proved to be a problem, and not just for the person in charge of the diaper bill.

Exodus 1:8–10 NIV

Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

The new king, the new pharaoh, plays on the fears and base instincts of his people. Always an effective strategy.

So...

Exodus 1:11–14 NIV

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

What do you do when there are too many people you don’t like living around you? One option is to enslave them, oppress them, work them ruthlessly. And so it is.

The Israelites are resident aliens living in Egypt. It’s not hard to fathom the Egyptians’ hostility toward them.

In his commentary on Exodus, Douglas Stuart writes: “For any land or major portion of land to be filled with people of external origin and [external] allegiance is bound to threaten those who regard themselves as the land’s rightful citizens. In a fallen world, hostility to foreigners is unfortunately a common human sin.”

Now, I’m not about to get political—church is not the place to do so. I will never tell you what to think politically. But I will encourage you to think Biblically.

And Biblically speaking, we are commanded to care for, to love, to welcome the foreigner.

For instance, the Lord commands His people:

Leviticus 19:33–34 NIV

“ ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:

Leviticus

What the Egyptians do in mistreating the Israelites is wrong, and not just because we might want to take sides with the Israelites. It’s wrong, no matter who is perpetrating injustice against whom.

“In a fallen world, hostility to foreigners is unfortunately a common human sin.”

What the Egyptians do is wrong, and not just because we might want to take sides with the Israelites. It’s wrong.

The pharaoh sets out to control the Israelite population. He’s after a reduction in numbers.

Notice the repetition in verses 11-14—oppress them…oppressed…worked them ruthlessly…made their lives bitter...harsh labor…harsh labor....worked them ruthlessly.

Exodus 1:11–14 NIV

What we read and the repetition of what we read tells us the situation is intolerable.

hostility to foreigners is no surprise

Israel was involuntarily having to serve, work for, live for, be under the control of Pharaoh.

reduction of numbers

Slavery and harsh labor didn’t have the desired effect; the text tells us (v. 12) the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread—certainly this is the hand of God, providing, keeping, and blessing the Israelites.

When slavery and harsh labor didn’t have the desired effect, the unnamed pharaoh/king of Egypt set out a plan of genocide: “If we can’t force them into submission, we’ll start a systematic extinction program:

The repetition tells us the situation is intolerable.

Exodus 1:15–22 NIV

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby 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. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

Now, we could spend some time talking about the ethical dilemma presented by the actions of the midwives.

This account of the midwives can be found in every Christian ethic book and class on ethics. If you’d like, we can have a discussion sometime about graded-, non-conflicting-, and ideal-absolutism.

But there is too much for the time we have. Let me try to sum-up the issue at hand:

It appears that the midwives lied or, at the very least, stretched the truth. Another option is that they didn’t lie (though a majority of theologians and ethicists believe they were lying).

So they lie, and God blesses them; He’s kind to them. The ethical issue is: is it okay to lie if it saves a life (or many lives as the case may be)? Does God overlook the “lesser offense” (re: graded absolutism)?

Again, if you want to grab a cup of coffee and have a conversation regarding ethical dilemmas, I’d love it. Hit me up. We can nerd-out together.

The point for us today—the overarching theme here—is the heroic resistance of these two women. This is an example of “We must obey God rather than man.”

Acts 5:29 NIV

Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!

These two midwives are honored for their courage and bravery. They resisted doing this evil thing, even at the command of one who could take their very lives. The text honors these woman, recording their names—Shiphrah and Puah—while the pharaoh goes unnamed.

These women, Shiphrah and Puah, did something for us: thanks to them Moses lives, the people of God are able to escape from Egypt; from the line of those who were enslaved in Egypt comes this fellow named David, and then, eventually, Jesus.

I, for one, am grateful for their heroic resistance. What about you?

Pharaoh's attempt at infanticide (killing the babies) is thwarted by two, lowly midwives. Better yet: pharaoh’s plan is thwarted by the Sovereign Lord who looks out for His own, preserving them in a strange land under a ruthless dictator, causing them/allowing them to prosper, to increase and become even more numerous.

Heroic resistance

—>Think about what’s going on here:

Enslavement. Ruthless and harsh servitude. Future at risk. Systematic plan in place to kill the next generation.

The people of Israel need redemption; they need rescuing. They need someone to save them. To put it lightly: things are not going well for them.

They need redemption—rescue, saving,

So where is He? Where is God in all of this? Why doesn’t He act, and now?!?!

Message of Chapter 1: ISRAEL IS IN DESPERATE NEED

Unless God shows up, things are not going to get better.

So where is He?

They need redemption—rescue, saving,

Where is God in all of this?

Unless God shows up, things are not going to get better.

Why doesn’t He act, and now?!?!

Where is He? Where is God in all of this? Why doesn’t He act, and now?!?!

Though we may not understand, though we can’t see or grasp His ways, This we know, this we know:

The LORD is never, ever late.

There are times I begin to wonder how long the Lord might tarry; I wonder why the Lord doesn’t put an end to all of this, why He doesn’t step in and set the world at rights, why He doesn’t just go ahead and make all things new.

I wonder. And yet I have to trust that the Lord is never, ever late. His timing is just right, though I’m woefully slow in seeing and understanding it.

Exodus 2:1–2 NIV

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

Exodus 2.

It’s the age old story:

it’s the age old story:

A Levite man and Levite woman,

Sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g,

First comes love, than comes marriage,

than comes a baby floating down the Nile in a paper basket.

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times.

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times.

Okay, now, I realize this doesn’t sound like much, and yet, there’s some significant foreshadowing going on here: she gave birth to a son.

Do you see what’s going on: a baby—a tiny little baby—is going to have something to do with the salvation of a a people, a desperately needy people.

This sounds a lot like Christmas.

In some ways, this is different. In others, it is very much the same. The Lord is raising up a deliverer, one to rescue His people from captivity, from slavery, from bondage; a deliverer who is uniquely suited to the task God is calling him to.

This child is from good, Levite stock on both his father’s side and mother’s side. This means that he was unquestionably of the tribe that would soon be specially designated by God to provide the religious and spiritual leadership for the people of Israel.

From good, Levite stock on both his father’s and mother’s side. This means that he was unquestionably of the tribe that would soon be specially designated by God to provide the religious and spiritual leadership for the people of Israel.

Exodus 2:1–10 NIV

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

Exodus 2.3-

Exodus 2:3–10 NIV

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

The people of Israel are desperately needy, in desperate need of redemption. And what is God’s answer? How does God intervene?

God sends a baby to parents who are praised for their faith:

Hebrews 11:23 NIV

By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

Exodus

God protects the baby in an ark—one a little bit smaller than Noah’s, mind you—but this is the same word (Hebrew: tebah). Moses was placed in a tebah just like Noah.

God’s hand of grace was on Noah—a deliverer, bringing salvation—so it was with this deliverer named Moses.

God sends a baby to faithful parents, protects the baby in an ark, and makes sure that pharaoh’s own daughter finds the baby.

When the daughter of Pharaoh finds him, she takes pity on him. And by more than a coincidence, Moses’ own sister suggests to Pharaoh’s daughter that one of the Hebrew women could nurse and care for the baby for her.

Of course, the baby’s sister goes and gets their mother.

So not only is the baby alive, but the baby is rescued by pharaoh’s daughter and is cared for by his own mother.

And, and, pharaoh’s daughter pays the baby’s mother to care for him! Ha!

God sends a baby to faithful parents, protects the baby in an ark, has pharaoh’s daughter rescue the baby, gives the baby back to its own mother to be cared for…talk about the goodness and graciousness and mighty hand of God—He’s raising up a deliverer right under Pharaoh’s nose!

Exodus 2:11–15 NIV

Moses has grown up. We read in the book of Acts that Moses was 40 years old at this point. Moses sees the brutal assault of one of his fellow Israelites, and ends up killing the Egyptian, burying him in the sand.

Moses chooses to associate with with the people of God rather than the Egyptians, and becomes an outlaw on the run. He flees and ends up in Midian.

Exodus 2:11-

Exodus 2:15–22 NIV

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. Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

Moses ends up spending 40 years in Midian—acting once again as a deliverer (rescuing the girls from the shepherds), and becoming a humble servant (watering the flock); all this was, in God’s economy, some level of preparation.

It’s been said that “Moses spent 40 years in Egypt learning something; 40 years in the desert learning to be nothing; and 40 years in the wilderness proving God to be everything.” - J.M. Boyce

Exodus 2:11–22 NIV

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. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” 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. Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

Bottom line: God’s doing something here with Moses. Nothing is wasted. God wastes nothing. In fact, God often prepares us for the next chapter of life with the present chapter’s experiences.

Exodus 2.

—>Verse 23 begins with an important fact. While Moses was in Midian, pharaoh dies. This means Moses could return to Egypt as a prophet and not as a fugitive.

The death of the king of Egypt did nothing to lessen the intensity of the peoples’ suffering. They remain a desperately needy people.

Exodus 2:23–25 NIV

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. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Exodus 2.23-25

They desperately need redemption, rescue; they need saving.

This we know: They have a great need for a Savior and a Great Savior for their need. That is the Good News (the Gospel According to Exodus).

The Need=Redemption

The Answer=the Lord who Redeems

Here at the end of chapter 2, the people of Israel begin, at long last, to pray. They groaned, cried out…their cry for help went up to God.

The Israelites pray earnestly to God for help. And God hears.

Later, Moses summarized:

Deuteronomy 26:7 NIV

Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.

The exodus did not come about simply because the people were in trouble. Nor did it come about simply because they prayed. The exodus is the result of the people crying out for rescue to the Only One who could actually do something about it.

God heard. God remembered His covenant—His unbreakable promise of salvation.

The best definition of covenant I’ve read is in the most incredible children’s Bible I’ve ever come across—The Jesus Story Book Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.

Covenant is defined as “a never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”

God is acting on the promise of unfailing love His made to His people—that’s huge!

For people in desperate need, longing and looking for help, the answer, the one and only answer is: the Lord—the One who hears, who remembers, who cares; the One and only One who can meet our deep, deep need.

Message of Chapter 2: The Lord is THE Answer

In chapter 2, though there’s no overt mention of the Lord’s work, we see His hand clearly.

The Lord protects His people; He raises up a deliverer. The Lord hears the cries of His people. He remembers His covenant. He looks on His people and is concerned about them.

What’s the answer to our desperate need?

The God who hears our cries, The God who remembers His covenant, The God who cares about us—He is the answer.

Don’t we tend to look everywhere for help except to the One who can actually help? We strive, we study, we stress, thinking that we will find the answer in ourselves, in some

The answer: the God who hears, who remembers, who cares

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the same God who sent Jesus to be our Savior. And God did this because He remembered His covenant, His promise to make one people from all nations.

God remembered that He had promised a Redeemer to free us from our slavery to sin, a Son to keep the whole law for His people, and a Lamb to take the punishment for our sins.

If you belong to God through Jesus Christ, you belong to His eternal covenant, “His never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”

At the right time, God remembered His covenant to make a people from all nations and sent Jesus. If you belong to God through Jesus Christ, you belong to His eternal covenant, “his never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”

—>Exodus gives us an historical look at God’s interaction with Isreal. And that’s valuable, to be sure. But it’s more than a history. It’s the Good News today:

The God who redeemed a needy people from slavery and oppression in Egypt is the very same God who sent a Redeemer to save us from our slavery to sin.

We confess that we are desperately needy. “Lord, I am desperately needy. I am, on my own, in an impossible, intolerable situation.”

We cry out to Him alone. He is the One who will redeem us, rescue us. He is mighty to save. He is the Author of salvation. He took our place, bore the wrath, died our death; He rose victorious over death, conquering the grave.

“Hear our cries, Lord! Break these chains! Redeem us, restore, rescue us! You, and you alone, are THE answer to our great need.

“Hear our cries, Lord! Break these chains! Redeem us, restore, rescue us! You are THE answer to our great need.

There is a redeemer Jesus, God's own Son Precious Lamb of God, Messiah Holy OneJesus my redeemer Name above all names Precious Lamb of God, Messiah Oh, for sinners slainThank you, oh my father For giving us Your Son And leaving Your Spirit 'Til the work on Earth is doneWhen I stand in Glory I will see His face And there I'll serve my King forever In that Holy PlaceThank you, oh my father For giving us Your Son And leaving Your Spirit 'Til the work on Earth is doneThere is a redeemer Jesus, God's own Son Precious Lamb of God, Messiah Holy OneThank you, oh my father For giving us Your Son And leaving Your Spirit 'Til the work on Earth is doneAnd leaving Your Spirit 'Til the work on Earth is done

Saviour, he can move the mountains My God is mighty to save He is mighty to save Forever Author of Salvation He rose and conquered the grave Jesus conquered the grave

Everyone needs forgiveness The kindness of a Saviour The hope of nations

[Chorus:] Saviour, he can move the mountains My God is mighty to save He is mighty to save Forever Author of Salvation He rose and conquered the grave Jesus conquered the grave

I give my life to follow Everything that I believe in Now I surrender

[Chorus]

Shine your light and let the whole world see We're singing for the glory of the risen king Jesus [2x]

[Chorus x2]

Shine your light and let the whole world see We're singing for the glory of the risen king Jesus [6x]

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