Slaves in Egypt (Exodus): This is the beginning of our series on the book of Exodus, called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the Christian life. Is God faithful to save? Recorded on Sep 22, 2024, on Exodus 1:1-22 by Pastor David Parks.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 27:54 — 63.9MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS
This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.
Sermon Transcript
Well, today, we get to start a brand new sermon series on the book of Exodus in the OT called Journey to Freedom, which will run through March. But I’ve been working for months to prepare for this series, and I can’t wait to share this story with you. Exodus is an ancient story, something like 3,400 years old, and, as we’ll see, it’s a wild story. But really, Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah (i.e., the Promised Land). Along the way are heroes and villains, cosmic battles between good and evil, folly and sin, and incredible grace, mercy, and love. It’s a story expertly told. But one of the things I want you to see throughout this whole series is that Exodus is a wonderful picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and are led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. This is our Exodus; this is our journey to freedom. Do you think there might be some valuable lessons we might learn about our journey from this first Exodus? Absolutely. But today, as we start this series, we’ll see what life had become for the Israelite people suffering in Egypt. And we’ll see a clear need for God to act/intervene/send a savior. The question is: Would the Lord be faithful to keep the promises he made? Is God faithful to save? If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 1:1.
Exodus 1:1-7 (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. 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.” Exodus is the second book in the Bible and is the second of a five-part series known by two terms: the Pentateuch, which means five books in Greek, and the Torah, which means the Law in Hebrew. These five books, including Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, were written by Moses, the mighty prophet and leader of the Israelites during the time of the Exodus. Now, to say that these writings have been influential is a ridiculous understatement. No one, after Jesus Christ himself, has had a more significant impact on human history than Moses and his five books. Over half the world’s population considers his writing to be Holy Scripture. Exodus begins by picking up where the book of Genesis left off. Genesis begins with a collection of stories of creation. The creation of the heavens and the earth, of human beings, of work and marriage and life with God, of the catastrophic problems of sin and death, of the start of a rescue plan of God through the family of Abraham and Sarah, of the growth of their family into the twelve tribes of Israel, and then of how they wound up in Egypt because of a famine and the elevation of Joseph to be second in command over all of Egypt. Genesis records that Abraham had a son named Isaac, and Isaac had a son named Jacob, who was renamed Israel by God. Israel had the twelve sons and adopted sons listed here. Between the twelve sons and their families, they had 70 people total when they went down to Egypt. That’s a big extended family, but nowhere close to a nation. But in Genesis 12, God made several promises to Abraham and Sarah about their family. Genesis 12:1–3 (NIV), “1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” God promised them people and a place. He promised to make them into a great nation, and he promised a land he would show them — the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. Here, Moses writes that in the generations after Joseph and the seventy, “…the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.” The Israelites went from only seventy to millions of people through exponential growth over hundreds of years. God’s original blessing of creation, to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, was being fulfilled, but his specific promise to make the family of Abraham into a great nation was being fulfilled. Now, it might seem strange to us to start a book with a genealogy, but beyond connecting us to the story started in Genesis, this was normal for them. In traditional cultures, the family or tribe is in many ways more important than you as an individual. It defines you and is the main marker of your identity. This isn’t our culture. We’re much more individualistic (for better and for worse). But not only would it have really mattered to Moses what the family history was for the Israelite people, but we must remember that he was writing after the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for at least 300 years. They needed to know their true origin and identity. They needed to know about the promises of God for their people. But this is all happening in the wrong place, right? God had promised Canaan to Israel, not Egypt. How would they get out of Egypt?
Exodus 1:8-14 (NIV), “8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 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.” 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 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.” When Israel went to Egypt, they had incredible favor there because of Joseph and the work he did during the famine. The Israelites were shepherds, which the Egyptians looked down on, but in the providence of God, Joseph became second only to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, so his family enjoyed protection and lived in the land Joseph secured for them. But Joseph passed away, and so did the Pharaoh, who knew what Joseph had done for the Egyptians. As the royal dynasty changed, so did the political winds, which turned against the Israelites. Pharaoh made his case against the Israelites, saying they had become so numerous that if they didn’t deal with them more shrewdly, Israel might become an ally of one of their enemies and be a physical, political, and (likely) economic threat to them if war broke out. Few things are more effective in politics than making another group the source of all your problems and playing the us vs. them narrative until everyone in your tribe is angry and afraid whether the threat is credible or not. This other group might be a different ethnicity, religion, or economic class. This was certainly true for the Israelites. No longer appreciated and protected, they were seen as a threat precisely because they’d been so fruitful in Egypt. Unfortunately, God’s promises and blessings didn’t prevent them from experiencing injustice and oppression in this broken world. In some ways, they seemed to make things more difficult for Israel in Egypt. The truth is no one is immune from suffering here. But Israel was suffering bitterly. Moses writes that they were given slave masters. They lost their freedom. They became slaves and were forced to do hard labor in building cities, working construction, and in the fields. They were worked ruthlessly. But despite how harshly they were being used and abused, the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. This wasn’t going to put anyone’s fears to rest. How would Pharaoh respond?
Exodus 1:15–22 (NIV), “15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “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. 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 22 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.” This is God’s word. So, things have gone from bad to worse. But it’s not that surprising. Once you get people whipped up with anger and fear of a certain group (ethnic, religious, etc.), it doesn’t take long to get to the point where violence or even genocide, as we see here, seems justified. So, when enslavement and harsh labor didn’t slow down the growth of the Israelites, Pharaoh commanded the midwives to kill all the newborn Hebrew boys. Can you imagine? Imagine hearing about this command when you or your wife were pregnant. Imagine the terror and anguish this would’ve caused. What were the midwives supposed to do? This was no small command. At this time in history, [Egypt map slide] Egypt was the greatest and most powerful kingdom on the planet. No one else was even close. They were in what historians call the New Kingdom period of Egyptian history (about 3,500 years ago). By this point, they were in something like their 18th or 19th royal dynasty and were more prosperous than at any time before or since. The Great Pyramid of Giza had been standing for over a thousand years. Their Pharaohs were worshipped, and their gods and goddesses were famous. And who were the Israelites? Some shepherds without a kingdom or a home of their own? Who was their God? Where was his temple? Where was his power to save and deliver his people? But God bless these women, Shiphrah and Puah, and their example. These brave ladies stood up to the most powerful man on earth because, Moses says, they feared God more than they feared this earthly king. Kill us if you want, oh king. But there is a King and Judge above even you. He is the Maker of the heavens and the earth. He is the One who is sovereign over life and death, not you. So, because of their faith and the strength of their character, Shiphrah and Puah defied the wicked command of Pharaoh. But then, when Pharaoh questioned them, it seems they might’ve bent the truth a bit about the vigorousness of the Hebrew women in childbirth. Although, who knows! Maybe it was true what they said about the Hebrew women. This could be a good case study for an ethics class. Is it ok to bend or even break the truth to prevent the senseless destruction of perhaps tens of thousands of helpless children? Well, God knew what they did, and he knew their circumstances, but he didn’t punish them for defying the king’s command. So, Chapter 1 ends with Pharaoh going around the midwives and ordering all his people to throw baby Hebrew boys into the Nile River. Imagine the relief young families would’ve felt hearing the midwives had successfully defied the king only to realize, in horror, that any one of their Egyptian neighbors might now try and kill their babies out of obedience to their king. This would’ve been moral insanity — utter Satanic chaos and brutality. But this is where our passage ends. There’s no relief here in Chapter 1. There’s no savior and no rescue plan yet. There’s no real sign of hope other than the fact that the Israelites continue to be blessed with children. So, for now, the Israelites are slaves. All this pain and suffering, discrimination, and brutal oppression form the context for the Exodus. This is the darkness that needed the light of God’s saving grace. This is the evil that needed the justice of God’s against sin. These are the chains that needed to be broken. The question is: Would God do something? Would God keep his word to the family of Abraham and Sarah? In Genesis 15, he promised that after 400 years of being strangers (and even slaves!) in a country not their own, the Lord would punish the slave masters and would bring them out with great possessions into the land that he had promised them. Would the Lord be faithful to keep the promises he made? In many ways, the whole book of Exodus is an answer to these big questions. Is God faithful to save? But just wait. Wait and see what God would do. Next week, with the story of the birth of Moses, we’ll start to see God’s rescue plan unfold. But for now, as is true for much of the OT history of ancient Israel, we feel the weight of the burden of sin in the world. And we cry out to God to do something about it. Is God faithful to save? Can we trust him in this? Is he able to accomplish his will in this broken world and bring redemption and freedom, or will the same old gods of worldly kingdoms, the false gods of money, sex, and power, win once again? We’ll see. But for now, as we close this morning, I’d like to point out this chapter of Israel’s history reminds us of our need for freedom today. Slavery still exists in the world, but there’s a bigger problem. Everyone everywhere, man/woman, rich/poor, young/old, slave/free is in bondage to the chains of sin and death. Try as we might, we fail to perfectly love God and perfectly love our neighbor. The truth is we just are not good enough to save ourselves. Therefore, we need God to act/intervene/send a savior. But the good news of the gospel is that God has already done everything we need to be saved. He sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. He came and lived the perfect life, then died on the cross in our place for our sins. But on the third day, God raised him from the dead. So today, Jesus is the King of the kingdom of God. He reigns and he rules but first, he saves. Have you trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of sins? Have you received life everlasting in his kingdom? If so, then you, too, are part of the Exodus. You, too, are on a journey to freedom. And together, as a church and with the whole company of the saints, we are making our way to the promised land of the world to come. It’s a wild story. But it is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Let us pray.
