EXODUS 1
The Israelites Oppressed
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.
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.
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.”
EXODUS 2
The Birth of Moses
1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 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. 3 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. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 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. 6 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.
7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 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. 10 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.”
Moses Flees to Midian
11 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. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 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?”
14 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.”
15 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. 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
23 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. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
EXODUS 3
Moses and the Burning Bush
1 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. 2 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. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 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.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 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.
7 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. 8 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. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 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.”
13 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?”
14 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.’”
15 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.
16 “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. 17 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.’
18 “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.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 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.
21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 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.”
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Chapter 1
Exodus is one of the most exciting books in the bible. If ever man wanted a ready-made script for a Hollywood blockbuster, Exodus has all the ingredients. As Christians who believe the written word of God, we receive more than entertainment from this book. In fact we discover truth about the lengths God will go to demonstrate his limitless power, and we are left with an assurance that it is better to be on Lord’s side during our allotted time on earth.
Exodus starts by reminding us how Israel came to Egypt, every man and his household came with Jacob. The twelve tribes came from Jacobs’s loins and then Joseph died and all his brothers and all that generation. The generation of Israel that followed were fruitful, had increased abundantly, multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty (hale, and strong, of good constitutions). To the Egyptians, the children of Israel looked like they were on steroids and there were no chemist that stocked the anointing of covenant to sell to them. The Egyptians in their own land had become the poor relation.
The new king in Egypt did not know Joseph but was astute enough to note that Israel had more in number and physical attributes. The plot was hatched to keep Israel in bondage. Pharaoh wanted to suck the strength and self-belief out of Israel to make them forget the source of their previous successes.
In 2011 this would be for us to forget who we are in Christ, “that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) And with God all things are possible Matthew 19 vs. 26. The more the Egyptians afflicted Israel the more they multiplied and grew. This unleashed Pharaoh’s most dastardly act to date, to kill all the firstborn males. He enlisted unsuccessfully the help of the midwives who did not carry out his instructions because they feared God. Remember at this time God did not harden this Pharaoh’s heart, so the sins of the forefather visited the next generation.
Chapter 2
Moses mother a Levite, saw he was a goodly child and kept him hidden. When she could no longer hide him she placed him in an ark of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and pitch and laid it by the rivers brink. Ironically the very place Pharaoh had commanded that the male children were to be destroyed was where his mother chose to hide him.
When Pharaoh’s daughter saw the child she disregarded her fathers command. We are reminded of the effect Jesus has on some households where brother turns against brother Matthew 10 vs. 33-36. Unknowing to her, she was instrumental in the future Pharaoh’s downfall.
Moses’ sister was watching the events unfold. She approached Pharaoh’s daughter “saying shall I call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee.” In retail sales this is called the assumptive close, where the seller has already decided that the deal is done “shall we wrap this up for you sir”, a phrase we hear often. One of the most enjoyable verses in the Old Testament is Exodus 2 vs. 9 when Pharaoh’s daughter pays Moses’ mother wages to nurse the child of her womb….bliss indeed. How wonderful it is to have God’s attention equalling favour.
Now Moses grew not forgetting his roots and while amongst his brethren, he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, making sure the coast was clear he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. With his new found confidence as self appointed defender of Israel, he decides to break up a quarrel between two Israelites asking them why they were fighting. They rebuked his interfering and at that point, Moses realised that without the anointing or God’s authority / word, efforts are futile.
Moses went on the run hiding in Midian where he met the 7 daughters of the priest of Midian who watered their fathers flock. Shepherds came and drove them away and Moses became their knight in shining armour standing up for them and then he took over watering the flock.
We note that when they came home Reul questioned their early return, and they explained that Moses had drawn water for them and defended them against the shepherds. Reul was no fool he gave Moses one of his daughters who bore him a son who he named Gershom, (meaning I have been a stranger in a strange land). Moses knew that where he dwelt was not home. This account shows that the drawing of water was no longer a problem whilst Moses dwelt with them. When God dwells with us, our natural abilities become supernatural and burdens become light.
Chapter 2 ends with God remembering his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) and God heard Israel’s cries. Through God remembering us, he sent his son to die for us and the finished work of his son on the cross enables us to have our petitions heard. God is a God who does not forget his covenant.
Chapter 3
Moses’ was a shepherd in Midian, one day he led the flock to the mountain of God in Horeb. On this day, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame out of the midst of a bush. Moses’ attention was drawn to the bush that was not consumed by the fire. When God saw that he had Moses’ attention, God called his name twice and he answered "here am I." God said “come no closer, put off the shoes from thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground”.
In the days of Moses, ordinary people could not approach the presence of God anyhow but because Jesus died for us, we are now able to approach God at anytime and the holy of holies is open to us all.
God introduces himself and Moses becomes afraid to look upon God. The knowledge of whose presence he was in educated him quickly. Then God said a wonderful thing that he had seen the affliction of His people and he knew their sorrows. Hebrews 2vs 14 -18 reminds us that Jesus, God in the flesh suffered being tempted so he can identify with our sorrows. Like Jesus, who came down to deliver us out of the hand of sin, God states that he has come down, to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. God went on to say that he was going to bring them (Israelites) out of that land (Egypt), in to a good land, flowing with milk and Honey. Sounds like heaven to me. John 14:2 - 3 tells us that Jesus has prepared a place for us.
Now imagine this: Moses achieves for some what is a life long dream, a burning bush encounter and the first thing God tells him after introducing himself is that he has to go back to Egypt and face his fear. (Pharaoh). Moses remembering there was a warrant for his arrest and what happened the last time he addressed his brethren says “who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt.”
God reassures Moses saying “certainly I will be with thee and this will be a sign for you when you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will serve me upon this mountain. Can you imagine if God told us exactly where we should set up church just to worship him. Well, he has told us. In our hearts is where God chooses to reside and where he made it clear that he demands worship. When we leave bondage there is a purpose, to worship him in spirit and truth. John 4 vs. 20-23
Moses decides that he wants to know what to say when asked who sent him and he is told by God to say that, “I AM THAT I AM hath sent me to you.” God told him to say, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you.
Typical of God, He then tells Moses the end from the beginning (verse 17 – 22) that a mighty hand is needed, he will smite Egypt with wonders, then they will be freed from bondage, they will receive favour, shall not leave empty handed and they will spoil the Egyptians.
This is one of the interesting things about the Bible ... We are presented with history and prophecy written in advance!
"For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure." Psalm 135 vs. 4