Day 030 (Exodus 1-3) - Year 7
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Today will be a little longer than usual because we're in a new book, which means we have some introductory ground to cover. We just finished Genesis, a word that means beginning, and today we begin the book of Exodus, which means exit or departure. Even though most English translations don't include it, this book actually starts out with the Hebrew word that carries the meaning and, which is one way we see its connection to the book of Genesis. This is a continuation of the story we've been in.

The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, were originally one book, which the Jews called the Torah. It's also referred to as the Pentateuch, which is a collection of five books. Most historians believe that all five books of the Torah were primarily written by Moses, a man we'll meet in our reading today. He was born roughly 300 years after Joseph died.

So when the book opens, we're three centuries past the end of Genesis. If you had a keen eye back in Genesis 15, you may remember God's words to Abraham. "'Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in the land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.'"

So God has already given Abraham a heads up about what's going to happen. Like, hey, it's going to get rough, but it ends well. Which, by the way, I feel like could be the motto of every believer's life. It's basically the same thing Jesus said in John 16, 33. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. In God's words to Abraham, he even gave a rough timeline, 400 years. So here we are at the 300-ish year mark.

Those 70 people who went into Egypt during year two of the famine stuck around, had a bunch of kids, and grew strong. Joseph is long dead and gone, and so is the nice pharaoh who treated him and his family well. There's a new king in town, and that old Egyptian racism toward the Hebrews has really kicked into gear. Do you know what drives a lot of racism? Fear and self-preservation.

When we aim to protect ourselves instead of trusting God for protection, we take matters into our own hands to try to secure our future. It leaves us unable to love others well. Did you see that in Pharaoh's actions today? He dreams up a hypothetical future war against an unnamed army and worries that the descendants of Israel might join this unnamed army in a future fight against him.

Pharaoh's response to feeling threatened was to enslave the ever-increasing number of Israelites and make things hard on them. He figures if they had to work long days of construction projects in the hot Egyptian sun, they won't have any energy left to join the hypothetical war against him. But even in the midst of his oppression, they thrive. Remember, God has promised to bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them, so we can already see which direction things are swinging for Pharaoh.

I want to make one important note here. Today, when we hear the term slaves, most of us probably think of forced labor. But back then, slaves and forced laborers were different categories. Slaves were often considered part of the family, and usually, though not always, they were enslaved for a prearranged period of time in order to pay off debt. It was far more civil than, say, the American enslavement of other people groups, since that's a scenario most of us are familiar with.

What's happening here with the Hebrews is forced labor, and this is more like what we think of as slaves. Pharaoh's oppression doesn't make a dent in their population growth. So he puts a plan in place and ropes some Hebrew midwives into it to kill the male Hebrews as soon as they're born. Fortunately, the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, disobey Pharaoh's orders. In the end, they're praised and rewarded by God for fearing him, and they have their names recorded forever in scripture because they wanted to honor God more than they wanted to honor Pharaoh.

If you're type A, it might bother you that these women are honored here because, after all, they disobeyed the king, and it even kind of seemed like they may have lied. But think of it this way. These women were put in a position to be either a liar or a murderer, and they were discerning enough to choose wisely. It reminds me of Christ's words to his disciples in Matthew 10, 16, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.

I feel like Jesus' words from 1500 years later fit this scenario perfectly. So the Hebrews are continuing to increase in number and Pharaoh is not having it. So he makes the killing of Hebrew male babies a nationwide order, not just one for those two midwives. Chapter 2 opens with a Hebrew woman giving birth. She's one of the descendants of Levi. You may remember Levi as one of the two brothers, along with Simeon, who killed the men of Shechem in response to their sister Dinah's rape.

This new Hebrew mother hides her baby boy for three months, but then puts him in a basket in the Nile instead of throwing him in it to drown. But then Pharaoh's daughter finds him and realizes he's a Hebrew baby. This could go terribly wrong, but it actually goes kind of better than they could have ever imagined. The baby sister sidles up to Pharaoh's daughter and is like, oh, hey, a baby. I know a woman who could nurse this baby for you if you want.

So not only does the baby get to live, but the baby's mom gets paid to nurse him. Some of you think that sounds like a really good deal, but here's the part you would not want in on. At some point, probably after he's weaned, Pharaoh's daughter takes the baby back and essentially becomes his mother. She names him Moses. He grows up in Pharaoh's household in Egypt, in the land that enslaved his people.

And even though we don't know how, Moses somehow knows that he himself is a Hebrew, possibly because he was likely circumcised after he was born. One day, after he's grown, he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave.

So it enrages him to see a fellow Hebrew getting beaten. Moses murders the Egyptian and hides him in the sand and thinks no one has seen. But the next day, he gets called out by another Hebrew for it, and he's terrified. Word gets back to Pharaoh that Moses has killed an Egyptian, and Pharaoh wants to inflict the death penalty. So Moses flees Egypt and goes to live in a place called Midian, which is about 300 miles away. Acts 7 tells us Moses is 40 years old when this happens.

What was his first stop in Midian? A well. It's where the water is, and it's where the women are. While he's hanging out at the water cooler, he meets the seven shepherdess daughters of the priest of Midian. Some other shepherds try to drive these women off, but Moses stands up for them and protects them, and he even waters their flock. Nice guy. Murderer, but a nice guy nonetheless. Their dad invites him to their house for dinner, and as wells would have it, Moses has found himself a wife at the age of 40.

Then he and his wife Zipporah, the daughter of the priest of Midian, have a son.

Meanwhile, the new Pharaoh becomes the old Pharaoh because he dies. And the Israelites who lived in Egypt as his slaves cried out to God for rescue. God heard them, and the text says he remembered them. But here's something important you need to remember. When Scripture uses the word remember, and especially as it regards God himself, it's not indicating that something slipped his mind for a while, but now he's on top of things again. It's indicating a move to action.

We'll see several times where God remembers things, and also times where He calls His people to remember things, and it indicates a responsive action, not just a thought. So basically, this text is telling us that God is about to step in and do something. After all, it's now been 340-ish years of oppression for the Hebrews, so the clock is ticking on that 400-year timeline that was a part of His promise.

God's actions begin to unfold here in some ways that may seem a bit familiar to you by now. While Moses is out watching the family's flock near a place they call the Mountain of God, guess who appears to him? The angel of the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. This is a theophany, a divine visitation. Another ancient translation refers to this being who has appeared as the Word, which is one of the names used to describe Jesus in the New Testament.

So we have a lot of reason to believe this was God the Son. Not only that, but the angel appeared to him in a fire, which is another common way we've talked about God appearing. And the fire is on a bush. So imagine an angel, which looks like a human male, on fire in a bush talking. Meanwhile, nothing is actually being burned, even though it's all on fire. God speaks to him out of the bush, calls him by name, and tells him to stand back. God may be protected from the effects of the flame, but Moses would not be.

God identifies himself to Moses as the God of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were all Moses' ancestors because, remember, Moses is from the tribe of Jacob's son, Levi. Then God tells Moses that the plan is to rescue his people and that Moses is the man for the job. He's sending him to talk to Pharaoh.

Moses offers a list of excuses why he's not a good candidate. We saw two of his excuses today, and we'll see three more tomorrow. It's hard to tell if these rebuttals are born out of insecurity or disobedience, but regardless, neither of them gets any traction with God. In fact, in response to Moses' second cop-out, God responds by saying, "'Tell them I am sent you.'"

This is an ancient name for God that means a lot of things, but it mostly boils down to, I have always been what I will always be. Or more succinctly, the self-existent one. That means no one created God. He's always existed and always will. All of creation depends on him and he depends on nothing. God tells Moses the ups and downs of what's going to happen. He gives Moses far more information than he ever gave Abraham with things.

And he tells Moses that despite all the things that may appear to be setbacks along the way, his plan will succeed. We've covered a lot of ground today, so I'm excited to hear what you saw about God today. From Pharaoh's fears to Moses' birth and protection to the time he killed someone and fled to the desert where God called him, what was your God shot? Here's mine. I saw that God uses broken people.

Moses was taken from his home at a young age—talk about traumatizing—and he was raised in the home of a wicked, paranoid, harsh man who was racist against his particular tribe and eventually sought to kill him. Moses murdered someone and went on the lam. He was either insecure or disobedient or both, yet he is the man God appointed for this role. If you have a crazy history, or if you're a parent who is worried that your mistakes have ruined everything for your child, take heart.

God has nothing but sinners to work with, and He seems to specialize in using the unlikely. He calls those who are furthest from them, and He draws them near to Himself. And that's the best news for all of us, because He's where the joy is.

Speaking of he's where the joy is, someone should really put that on a hoodie or a bracelet or a hat. Oh wait, we did. If you want some wearable reminders of all your learning during our trip through the Bible, check out our merch at the TBR store. And in addition to apparel and accessories, we also have great resources like study guides, discussion guides, and all the different styles of the TBR book. Check out the TBR store at thebiblerecap.com forward slash store or click the link in the show notes.