Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses - 250301

SPEAKER 1 Hello, I'm Clive Nash. Welcome to Let God Speak. Today we begin a new series on the second book in the Bible, the Book of Exodus. This book is divided into 40 chapters. We only have 13 weeks to cover the entire book, but we will try to pick out the main points. Israel's departure from Egypt, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the giving of the Ten Commandments, All these and more tell us something of a loving God who would later give his Son to die for the sin of the world. Our plan is to better understand what God is like, a God of love, justice, patience, freedom and forgiveness. This we will find in the book of Exodus. I'll be back in a moment to introduce our panel. On our panel today we have Rod Butler and Rosemary Malkiewycz. Good to have you with us today. The two hours, isn't it? Rosemary and Rod. I can remember that quite easily. Before we begin our discussion, Let us take time to pray. Our dear Father in Heaven, we thank youk for giving us yous inspired word, the Bible. We thank youk in particular for the writings of Moses. And as we begin our series on the Book of Exodus today, we pray that yout'll be here to guide us by youy Holy Spirit. Bless our readers and bless our listeners, I pray too, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, I'm going to begin by reading Exodus chapter 12, 2 and verse 23. Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry came up to the God because of the bondage. Now Rosemary, what's going on here? Who are these oppressed people that's being spoken of here? SPEAKER 2 Well first of all, they were the descendants of Jacob whom God had renamed Israel. So that's why they're called the children of Israel, the descendants of Israel. They had come down to Egypt, they multiplied greatly in population while they were there, and Pharaoh ended up seeing them as a threat to the Egyptians. So he decided to put them under bondage to keep them oppressed. But God heard their cry. Let me read on from where you read in verses 24 and 25 of Exodus 2. So God heard their groanings and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel and God acknowledged them. So He heard them when they cried out and He hears us too when we cry. SPEAKER 1 That's reassuring, isn't it? Now, Rod, any of our English Bibles. The name of this book is Exodus, which comes from the Septuagint, I believe, the Greek name for it, Ek out of and Hodos away, so the way out. But that's not the case in the Hebrew Bible, is it? It's not called that. SPEAKER 3 No, it's not. In fact, with the Greek, the emphasis is coming out. In the Hebrew Bible, the emphasis is going in. And it's actually named after the first verse. It says, Now after the names of the children of Israel, In the Hebrew, that's where Ella, which means now these are, and then Shemot. SPEAKER 1 So just two words in Hebrew. SPEAKER 3 Two words in Hebrew becomes the name of the book, meaning the emphasis being those going in, the 70 going in, which were the descendants of Jacob. And that's interesting because it puts an emphasis on the book, which is not coming out, but on heritage, on covenant, on promise of God's promises. and it's interesting too, if you go down to verse 5, it says, firstly, just reading verse 1, it says, Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, every man and his household came with Jacob. Then in verse 5 it says, and all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were 70 souls, for Joseph was in Egypt already. Now that 70 is interesting because 70 is sort of emphasizing a small number. And I've just got a quote here which I'd like to read. It's from John Dibdah from the Abundant Life Bible Amplifier. And it says, the fact is the number 70 is given to show smallness rather than largeness. Exodus 1 wants to emphasize the phenomenal growth of these descendants of Abraham and Jacob. And it's also interesting, Clive, that with 70, if you look at Genesis 10, Genesis 10 is when Shem, Ham and Japheth go into populate the world again. There were 70 nations came from their loins. So you've got a situation where God was repopulating the world and here he is, he's populating the children of Israel in Egypt. And that 70 goes on to be a large number. SPEAKER 2 And it makes them a nation. SPEAKER 3 Makes them a nation, yes. SPEAKER 1 Okay, so Rosemary, how, Incredible was this population explosion of the Israelites in Egypt. SPEAKER 2 Well, let me put it this way to start with. When God is involved, God can make populations explode incredibly quickly. In fact, miraculous population growth. And we look at the situation after the flood, as you've mentioned, there were three families, the three husbands and their wives that came out of the ark to populate the earth. And within two generations, Nimrod and others were starting to build cities for them to dwell in. So in that short time, the population miraculously exploded after the flood from three families. And it's the same thing happening here. God did a wonderful job. Let's look at verse 7 of Exodus 1. It says, But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them. So by the time they were leaving Egypt, in Exodus 12:37, it tells us that there were 600,000 men plus women and children. So you could see that God had blessed and multiplied the Hebrews there, just as He blessed and multiplied after the flood. SPEAKER 1 Yeah, and that's really emphasized by the repetition there, isn't it, in that verse. If we look at the next verse in verse 8, Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. Now, Rod, this not knowing Joseph, was that because of his wife from history or was there some other factor at play here? SPEAKER 3 Well, not knowing, this wasn't a lack of knowledge. They knew who Joseph was, but they chose to ignore him and get rid of him. This is probably the first example in history of cancel culture. They had to cancel Joseph because Joseph was aligned to the previous dynasty. which were Asiatics, the Hyksos, and the New Dynasty. And if you look at the standard accepted chronology of Egyptology, this would put the 18th Dynasty in there. And essentially, they weren't Asiatic, they were Egyptian. So you've got a racial problem here. And because Joseph was aligned with the previous administration, he was out. And often they would erase all records of the previous administration. So when it says he did not know Joseph, it was not a lack of knowledge. It was basically on purpose. They wanted to avoid and wipe that out. SPEAKER 1 Okay. Now, Rosemary, can you take us back to why Israel was in Egypt? SPEAKER 2 Okay, let's first of all look at Exodus 1. I'll go back to verse 1 and then to verse 5 through all of them. Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt. each man and his household came with Jacob, Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All these, who were descendants of Jacob, were 70 persons, for Joseph was in Egypt already. So Joseph was already there, he was taken to Egypt, and finally Jacob and his sons, his other sons, came down to join Joseph in Egypt, because there was a famine, a massive famine in Egypt that also affected Canaan, and they had no food. So they came to get the food in Egypt. And if we go to Genesis 46:2-4, it tells us this. Then God spake to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here I am. So he said, I am God, the God of your father. Do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. And Joseph will put his hand on your eyes. And so they would have thought it was temporary to be in Egypt, because they were going to go back according to God, who sent them to Egypt. So they weren't intending to be there that long. SPEAKER 1 Now, Rod, can you just fill us in a bit more about the Joseph situation there, how he got to Egypt and how he was treated there. SPEAKER 3 Well, Joseph's background is interesting, his family background. Joseph was actually favoured by his father Jacob because he was the son of Rachel, Jacob's favourite wife. And this favouritism was blatant and the other brothers resented it a lot. And the resentment got so severe that they plotted against Joseph. and in Genesis 37 it talks about how they actually sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites and sold him to the Ishmaelites who were going down to Egypt. So Joseph ends up in Egypt to be sold as a slave, and I'd just like to read a few verses from Genesis 39. Genesis 39, I'm going to read verses 1 and 2. It says, and Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him, of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down hither. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now it's interesting, Captain of the Guard, that role of Captain of the Guard of Potiphar is a bit like being the head of the Secret Service and also the Minister for Prisons. So this was a very powerful individual, and the fact that he was assigned to Potiphar was providential because if he was assigned to the mines, it could have been a short life because it's hard labor. But being assigned to a high official, that means Joseph would have been educated and he would have been educated in all the things that a high official would have with his servants. And Joseph actually was doing well. Potiphar was blessed massively by Joseph being his servant. SPEAKER 1 And the problem was with Potiphar, though, was it? SPEAKER 3 Mrs. Potiphar was the problem. Mrs. Potiphar, like this young Hebrew, man and she falsely accused him of rape and he ends up in prison. And I'd just like to read a quote from the Andrews Bible study Bible here about this issue of being falsely accused and ending up in prison. It says, even though Potiphar appears to be furious, the punishment is surprising since biblical law demanded that convicted rapists, because he was accused of raping a high official's wife, were generally executed. Potiphar, it seems, did not believe his wife, but to save face he put Joseph in prison. Now you'd imagine that having worked for Potiphar for years and rising through the ranks, Potiphar knew the integrity of your Joseph, but he didn't believe his wife put the saved face he had to do that. So how did he get it to Egypt? He was sold as a slave, but. SPEAKER 1 God blessed him abundantly. Yeah, so Rosemary, I'd say he was spiritually and morally upright, wasn't he, Joseph? But did that mean that because he ended up in prison, God had forgotten him? SPEAKER 2 No, it didn't at all. Because though he was a prisoner, he proved himself trustworthy and faithful, and he was put in charge of all the prisoners. He became their supervisor. Let's look at Genesis 39:23. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority. because the Lord was with him, with Joseph, and whatever he did, the Lord made it to prosper. So Joseph was faithful to God, and God did not leave him alone. But through circumstances in the prison, Joseph became known by the Pharaoh as an interpreter of dreams. Pharaoh called for him, and he interpreted the dream that Pharaoh had. But not only did he interpret the dream, he also gave wise counsel on what to do because of the dream, with the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine which were to come. SPEAKER 1 So, Rod, can you just remind us about Joseph's rise to authority? SPEAKER 3 Yes. If you recall, as Rosemary said, there was a dream that Pharaoh had. He was so troubled by the dream that he knew it was important, he wanted it to be interpreted. he was told that Joseph could interpret dreams. So Joseph was summoned before Pharaoh and he explained the dream and of course told Pharaoh what to do to store food and so forth to save Egypt. And if you go to Genesis 41 from verse 37, it talks about how Pharaoh was very impressed with Joseph and gave him rulership. It says here from verse 37, and the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, For as much as God has showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, 'Bow the knee and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. So he made him ruler and Joseph did very well. So that's how he became ruler. But if we go to Exodus, the book we're studying, and read from verse 9, it says, and he said unto his people, behold, this is the king that didn't know Joseph, this Joseph that saved Egypt. This is the king that didn't know him. And he said unto the 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 come to pass, that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us. and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Rameses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were grieved because of the children of Israel. So Joseph was forgotten, as we said earlier, because there was a change, but also the people grew to such a mighty nation that the Pharaoh was worried they could turn on him. SPEAKER 1 Yeah, he saw it as a threat, didn't he? SPEAKER 3 Saw it as a threat. SPEAKER 1 Yeah, so what was the Pharaoh's solution to this rosemary? SPEAKER 2 In Exodus 1:13-14, we read this. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. So that word rigor is mentioned twice. It means severe, harsh, demanding conditions. So it was not nice. But he also ordered all the male children, all the babies, to be killed from the Hebrews. And that's in verses 1516. We'll read that. Then the King of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the other was named Puah. And he said, When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, then she shall live. And it's a strange command because he's going to be doing away with his slaves. if there's no males, you've got no more slaves. In verses 17 and 18, he says, But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, 'Why have you done this thing and saved the male children alive?' Thankfully, the ladies feared God. and they went on to say that the Egyptian ladies aren't like the Hebrew ladies. The Hebrew ladies are stronger, and so that by the time the midwives arrive, the babies are already born, but they would not kill when God said not to kill. SPEAKER 1 Rod, do you find it intriguing that the midwives are actually named, but the Pharaoh is not? SPEAKER 3 That is intriguing, but it shows how God honours these midwives because they honored Him by not killing the babies. And you think about what those midwives did. They defied the Pharaoh. Usually that's sort of, you know, that's pretty serious. But they put the Hebrew children of more value and more importance to keep them alive than to obey the Pharaoh. So they, God has honored them by having them named, by contrast to the Pharaoh, which is named because the Pharaohs were essentially doing what God didn't want them to do. And if you look now in verse, if I read verses 20 and 21, it says, this is Exodus 1, therefore God dealt with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very mightily. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made houses. So he blessed them with families and houses for what they had done. But Pharaoh doubles down now because Pharaoh knows that the children aren't being killed, the babies aren't being killed. So he takes matters into his own hand. And in verse 22 it says, and Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, 'Every son that is born ye shall cast him into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.' Now they worshiped the river god, Hapi, and they're throwing the babies in. So it's almost like they're offering sacrifices. SPEAKER 1 To the river god with the Hebrew babies. Rosemary, do you think there's a lesson for us today in the faithfulness of these Hebrew midwives? SPEAKER 2 Well, let's look at Acts chapter 5, verse 29, because this gives us the answer. It says, But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. And this is what these midwives were doing. They were obeying God. But the Bible tells us to honor our governments and our officials and to do the right things with those who have authority over us. But it has to be in order of priority. God first, man second. So if we are told to do things that are against God, then we shouldn't do it. SPEAKER 1 Now in Exodus chapter 2, we come to the story of Moses. He's the one who is destined to lead Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land. What do you think his parents saw in this newborn baby boy? SPEAKER 3 Well, let's see what the Bible says they saw. Let's read Exodus 2:1-2. And it says, and there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. and the woman conceived and bare a son, and when she saw him, that he was a goodly child, and she hid him three months. Well, obviously the parents thought he was a wonderful child, a beautiful child. But the word goodly there in the Hebrew is very interesting because if we go back to Genesis chapter 1, there's the word in the Hebrew called Tov, and it's used seven times in chapter 1. And the first and and it says things like, and God saw that it was very good, when God created things on different days. And that word good in the Hebrew means good, not only aesthetically good, but also functionally perfect and excellent. So these parents thought their child was pretty good. And it's interesting too, that when Abraham's servant saw Rebekah for the first time, she was also good, very good, very fair. SPEAKER 1 Same word. SPEAKER 3 Same word. So it's a word which means beautiful. So they obviously thought Moses was very special, but the Bible also indicates he was very special. And as it links back to creation with the days being very good, it's like Moses is being linked to a new creation, a creation of the freedom of the Israelites from slavery. SPEAKER 1 There's a literary significance there, isn't it? SPEAKER 3 Yes, it's very powerful, yeah. SPEAKER 1 Yeah, I'd like to to read another couple of verses in Exodus chapter 2, verses 5 and 6, because Moses' mother realized she couldn't keep him forever. And so she devised a means of his salvation. And verse 5, it says, the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent a maid to get it. So here's little Moses in this ark in the sacred river. And verse 6 says, and when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children. So Rosemary, what was the reaction? This is Hapshepsut here, the princess. What was her reaction? SPEAKER 2 The princess had come to bathe in the sacred river. Now some people say that she would have been coming there seeking a baby because she didn't have one from the fertility god of the river. And if that was the case, when she saw this baby, she would have thought, this is the gift I've been praying for. SPEAKER 1 This is a miracle. SPEAKER 2 This is the baby I have wanted. Even though she knew it was a Hebrew, this was the gift from her God. And so this child was special and she wanted to take this child as her own. So that explains why she would have done that. And then she happily agreed to Moses' sister in getting a nursemaid for him. And so she got her own mother and her mother was able to raise her son for many years before he ended up in the palace. And if we look at Exodus 2:15, 210. It says to us here, and the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, Because I drew him out of the water. Now I've got a quote here from Ellen White in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 244, which is very good. Moses' mother Jochebed kept the boy as long as she could, but was obliged to to give him up when he was about 12 years old. From his humble cabin home, he was taken to the Royal Palace to the daughter of Pharaoh, and he became her son. The lessons learned at his mother's side were a shield from the pride, the infidelity and the vice that flourished amid the splendor of the court. So he was brought to Pharaoh's daughter, but he didn't forget the training he'd had for those 12 years. and there's a comment in verse 10 there from the Pharaoh's daughter where she said, She named him Moses because I drew him out of the water. So that shows once again the importance of this God that she had prayed to for a baby. SPEAKER 1 So let's pass over the years of Moses' adolescence and I'm going to read Exodus 2:11-12. It came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Back to you, Rosemary. Was this in God's plan that Moses should commit murder? SPEAKER 2 It's not in God's plan that anybody should commit murder. It's against the sixth commandment in Exodus 20:13, 13. It's not, willful murder is against what God says. So he wasn't supposed to do this, but God worked it out for good, as He says in Romans 8:28. SPEAKER 3 Yeah. SPEAKER 1 Well, as usual, the clock is running against us, I'm afraid. We'd like to talk about, you know, how Moses actually had to flee from Egypt as a result of the Pharaoh's anger. SPEAKER 2 He was seen. SPEAKER 1 He was quite cranky about this. but it was all part of preparing Moses to respond to the groaning of the children of Israel and preparing Moses through education at home and also in Pharaoh's court. Wonderful preparation. You know, just as God heard the cries and prayers of Israel and Egypt, He hears your prayers today. He hears my prayers. He sees all that troubles us, our tears and our struggles. He assures us we are not alone. The same God who delivered Israel out of their oppression has an answer to your needs and mine. He will intervene in His good time. Well, we're glad you joined us today on Let God Speak. And I'm glad to have my guest here today, Rosemary Malkiewycz and Rod Butler, and my name is Clive Nash. Now, if you're blessed by this program, why not tell your friends? Remember, all past programs plus teachers' notes are available on our website: 3ABNaustralia.org.au Email us if you wish on [email protected] Join us again next time. God bless. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.