Sermon Tone Analysis

Exodus 1:1-21

A Reward for Obedience

 

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.

Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.

But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.

Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”

Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens.

They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad.

And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.

So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field.

In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,  “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”

But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?”

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

So God dealt well with the midwives.

And the people multiplied and grew very strong.

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.[1]

A wise husband will honour his wife each day of the year.

The Apostle Peter teaches us to “live with [our] wives in an understanding way, showing honour to [them]” [*1 Peter 3:7*].

Wise counsel, indeed!

Nevertheless, a special day is set aside each year to honour mothers, and that same wise husband will ensure that his wife is honoured in some special way on that day.

As we age, perhaps we need our memories jogged to remember to phone our mother, reminding her of the honour due her as the woman who taught us virtually all that was worth knowing.

On this particular Mother’s Day, I seek to remind us of some practical truths which are often neglected in our contemporary life.

In order to do this, I ask that you consider an incident drawn from the account of Egyptian slavery for the people of Israel.

Two women, essentially unknown to contemporary saints, feared God and committed themselves to serving Him.

The result of their courageous stand is to this day a source of inspiration and hope.

To an astonishing degree, the Faith of Christ the Lord has been reduced to a position of irrelevance.

Those who participate in the services of the churches are focused to a dismaying extent on their own desires.

Seeking to feel fulfilled and satisfied about their own condition, they have failed to seek God and to discover what pleases Him.

Without doubt, we have brought many ideas and concepts which have their roots in the world into our efforts to worship God, with the result that we are confused about what pleases God.

A Little History is Necessary to Understand the Text.

God had made provision for the sons of Jacob.

During one of the times of famine which frequent the Middle East, He provided a haven for them through unusual means.

Joseph, the favoured son of Jacob, was sold into slavery.

Through a series of strange events, he rose from the position of a slave and a prisoner to become the second most powerful man in Egypt.

Through him, God provided a refuge for all the family of Israel, as Jacob had become known.

For nearly four hundred years, the people lived in the land of Egypt.

Time brought changes in the relationship between the Israelites and the Egyptians, however.

The Egyptians began to fear the growth of the Israelites, because they were obviously blessed [*Exodus 1:6-14*].

Though growing in numbers, the Israelites were nevertheless numerically inferior to the Egyptians at the time of this account.

They were yet vulnerable and thus reduced to servitude.

This was not the sole indignity.

It was but the first of a continuing series of indignities.

The king of Egypt issued secret directives to kill any male child at birth.

When that tact failed, a general order was given that any male born to a Hebrew was to be thrown into the river, but any female could live.

The impact of this decree could only be that within one generation there would be no Hebrew race.

With no males, there could be no perpetuation of the race since the females would be forced to marry—if they married at all—men who were not Hebrew.

This was genocide with a vengeance.

It was during this time that two women, Shiphrah and Puah, became heroines of the Faith.

Though their names are not readily recognised, their actions are instructive.

We are instructed both in matters of courage and determination and in truths of basic import for each believer.

There are at least three great lessons which these two women teach us.

How important it would seem that these truths be restated on this day set aside for the honouring of our mothers.

* *

Our View of Life Reflects Our View of God.

These two courageous women are identified by names which speak of their character.

One is named /Shiphrah,/ which means *Brightness* or *Beauty*.

The other midwife is named /Puah,/ which we would translate *Splendid*.

Two women, *Beauty* and *Splendid*, instruct us in the trust of God.

The first truth which we I call believers to recognise is that *our view of life reflects our view of God*.

Please read the *seventeenth verse* with me: /The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live/.

Commanded to kill any male born to the Hebrew women, they refused.

Their motive is given in the beginning of this verse: *They feared God*/./

Perhaps the most damning accusation which can be brought against any nation—or said of any individual—is that God is not feared.

Paul's summary statement of the race is exactly such a damning indictment [*Romans** 3:10b-18*].

He concludes with the words of the Psalmist [*Psalm** 36:1b*] to state of those whom God calls “wicked,” There is no fear of God before their eyes.

We are each familiar with those ancient words of the Wise Man;

 

/The fear of the //LORD// is the beginning of knowledg/e.

[*Proverbs 1:7*]

 

/The fear of the //LORD// is the beginning of wisdom/.

[*Proverbs 9:10*].

Two classes are noted within mankind.

The first class is made up of those who through fear of the LORD have commenced a journey toward wisdom and knowledge.

The second and opposing class is composed of those who are consumed with self and who are characterised as having no fear of God.

For the one, God is central to every consideration and concern.

To the other, God does not fit into their equations since their personal happiness takes precedence over all else.

The former has a broad world-view, and a reverence for life since God is the author of life.

The latter of necessity has little reverence for life since they do not acknowledge the Author of life.

Those who fear God revere life.

Those who do not fear God exalt their own being and revere their own self-defined rights..

Though *Beauty* and *Splendid* could not know of the commandments which God would give Moses, they practised the truth which would be summarised by those Ten Commandments.

Think of those great truths enshrined in the Ten Commandments in a somewhat different light.

*The first truth is that there is but one God*.

*The second truth teaches that man must not have any idol in his heart—either an idol made with his hands or created in the secrecy of his heart (personal happiness not excluded)*.

*The third truth relates to man's perception of God*.

*The fourth truth relates of man's worship of the Living God*.

*The fifth truth concerns honour toward the author of life through honour to those who gave life*.

*The sixth truth teaches a reverence for life which flows from reverence for the Author of life*.

*The seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth truths are each concerned with practical reverence for individuals created in the image of God*.

That each of these commandments flows from truth that is yet more ancient which should be recognised innately by all mankind.

Focus on two passages of Scripture found in the first Book of the Bible.

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

            male and female he created them.