Exodus 1: - The God who remembers

Introduction

When God ordered Abraham to leave Haran, God had promised him in Genesis 12 that He will multiply his descendants and make them a blessing. In Exodus we see part of the fulfilment of what God said. Abraham’ s great grandson Joseph had lived a distinguished life that ended in him being the second most powerful man in Egypt and leader of the government.

The descendants of Joseph’s father Israel, the Israelites, had all joined him in Egypt during a famine that made Joseph a hero. The Israelites had stayed in Egypt after the famine was long over instead of returning to Canaan.

The Israelites chose Egypt because it was a fertile well developed place where they were very powerful.

 

On the other hand, Canaan- although it was the Promised Land- was a fertile foreign land which did not compare to the wonders of Egypt. The Israelites also had a history of harsh treatment in Canaan.

Therefore it was the greed of the Israelites that caused them to disobey God. Exodus is the story of how God removed Israel from Egypt.

Exodus 1:1-8:- Men forget

God’s will for every person is for that person to love God more than anything else and love his/her fellow people as much as the person loves his/herself (Matthew 22 :37-39,Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18). Joseph is a good example of this since he obeyed God by being submissive to his Egyptian masters and stayed away from sexual immorality. He also showed love for others by interpreting Pharaoh’s dream and ensured many people survived the famine by working hard during the good years.

However, Joseph was forgotten by the Egyptians. People are not naturally grateful and even when they are it usually does not last long enough.

This is why people should live their lives for God. Since no matter how much one person does for another person, the person who benefits may forget to be grateful. However God never acts in this manner. He shows his love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commandments (Exodus 20:6). The Israelites are a good example of this.

 

Exodus 1:9-16:- Men are Wicked

Not only did the Pharaoh forget Joseph, he enslaved all the Israelites and ordered the male babies murdered. Slavery in that time meant that a person was reduced to being a domestic animal that was bought or sold, married and told how many children to have, fed and starved all by the will of his or her master. The Egyptians left all the work for the Israelites to do while the supervised through wicked task masters.

Psalm 14:2-3 declares that all people are wicked without God. This is why Pharaoh did not propose integrating the Israelites into Egypt. He did not want them to join Egypt instead he wanted to kill the men and take the women.

Therefore do not trust people or your own wisdom to take care of you. Do what God says. If the Israelites had returned to Canaan once the famine was over they may never have faced the mess this Pharaoh created.

Exodus 1:17-22:- God remembers and God is good

Despite Pharaoh’s wicked order, God still brought good to Israelites. In a crowd of people willing to do evil some people still do good things. The Hebrew mid-wives refused to kill the baby boys because of their conscience. God also increased the number of Hebrews making them even more powerful ensuring the Pharaoh’s wicked plan produced the opposite results.

Paul’s advice to Timothy was to keep his conscience clear (1 Timothy 1:19). God expects every believer to learn His Word and be guided by what the person learns. The Word (Bible) instructs a person as to what is right and what is wrong and the Holy Spirit uses the person’s conscience to remind him/her what to do.

God remembered the mid-wives for what they did although they lied. God is not happy with lies and does not accept them in any form (Exodus 20:16, Deuteronomy 5:20). However, God looked past the lies to bless the act of mercy the mid-wives had on the Israeli babies and gave them families of their own.

The blessing matched the act. They preserved other people’s families so he gave them families of their own. God also kept His promise to Abraham by increasing the numbers of his descendants.

 

Invitation

God is so good that His covenant with Abraham is for everyone. In Genesis 12:3 God said that through Abraham all people will be blessed. One element of the blessing referenced here was the new covenant/agreement that God will have with all people who choose to accept it through Jesus.

As with all covenants, each side has a part to play and a sacrifice is made to seal the agreement. People bring a heart that wants to stop being wicked, God brings the forgiveness `with the power to overcome the wickedness and Jesus, who is both fully God and fully man, made the sacrifice on behalf of both parties. Jesus died for all people’s evil thoughts and actions.

All any individual who believes what Jesus did is real and for them needs to do to begin the new covenant is to ask God for forgiveness. A simple prayer like “Lord Jesus forgive me” is sufficient (Romans 10:9-13, Joel 2: 32).