Written by: Andrew Wooding - Church Army
Exodus 1 v 1-7
When Jacob went to Egypt, he took his sons, and each son took his own
family with him. These are the names of the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi,
Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. There was a
total of 70 people who were descendants of Jacob. Jacob’s son Joseph was already
in Egypt.
Some time later, Joseph and his brothers died, along with all the people who
had lived at that same time. But the people of Israel had many children, and
their number grew greatly. They became very strong, and the country of Egypt
was filled with them.
Notes
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Doctor Who, the long-running BBC science
fiction series. As I write, the latest 13-episode season is halfway through
filming in Cardiff, south Wales. I can’t wait to watch it when it finally
airs in spring 2005.
“Yes, that’s all very well and good,” you might be saying, “but why is he mentioning this?” Simple. One of the traditions of Doctor Who is to start with a short recap of the previous episode. You see, there’s always a tense climax or cliffhanger at the end of each episode, but after a week’s wait, the viewer needs to be reminded of what happened last week. Hence, a short two minute (or so) sequence reminding us of the latest scrape or deadly peril the Doctor has got himself into, before showing us how he gets out of it (which he always does!).
This method of storytelling is obviously nothing new, as we can see today. The New Testament books of Luke and Acts were both written by Luke, and Acts started with a short recap of the final events from Luke. Similarly, Exodus (the second book of the Old Testament) starts with today’s seven-verse recap of the end of the book of Genesis.
Reminders and recaps can be helpful, especially in our often hectic lives where we live for the “urgent” and don’t get time to reflect. Every now and then we need to take a break, stop, sit down and bring to mind what has happened to us in recent times. It may be that you haven’t felt God working in your life very much, but when you look back you might surprise yourself and see that God was there all along – like he always is!
Prayer exercise
Prayer isn’t just speaking out loud. Prayer can also be sitting quietly in
the presence of God. Take time to do this today. Spend a few minutes looking
back over the last few weeks, months and years, and try to see the hand of
God working in your life over this time.
Exodus 1 v 8-14
Then a new king began to rule Egypt, who did not know who Joseph was. This
king said to his people, “Look! The people of Israel are too many and too
strong for us to handle! If we don’t make plans against them, the number
of their people will grow even more. Then if there is a war, they might join
our enemies and fight us and escape from the country!”
So the Egyptians made life hard for the Israelites. They put slave masters
over them, who forced the Israelites to build the cities Pithom and Rameses
as supply centers for the king. But the harder the Egyptians forced the Israelites
to work, the more the Israelites grew in number and spread out. So the Egyptians
became very afraid of them and demanded even more of them. They made their
lives bitter. They forced the Israelites to work hard to make bricks and mortar
and to do all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians were not merciful
to them in all their painful work.
Notes
Towards the end of Genesis, the story of Jacob and Joseph and all their various
offspring seemed to be going so well. Yes, it got a bit shaky for them at
times – especially with Joseph being thrown in prison, and the famine and
everything - but it turned out all right in the end. Joseph gained favour
in Egypt, Jacob and his family were welcomed into the country with open arms,
the Israelites had lots of children and spread throughout the land. And at
the end of Genesis, it looked like “happy ever after”.
But does “happy ever after” really exist? Yes, Joseph had done a massive service for Egypt and saved it from a great emergency. But now, at the start of Exodus a king came along who hadn’t a clue about what Joseph had done for Egypt, and he resented the fact that all these foreigners were spreading throughout his land.
There’s a lesson here, but a difficult one – and the lesson is not to be complacent, not to think that we’re in “happy ever after” and not to put our trust in earthly things. Too many times in the past we have seen that circumstances can change in an instant. We might be in a great job that we think is for life, but then cutbacks occur and we’re made redundant. We might be in a great house that we want to live in for years, but then the council has other plans and wants to rebuild.
The only person we can really put our trust in during these uncertain times is God. Even with this new trouble facing them in Egypt, God already had a rescue plan for them – a way out. To find out what that was, you’ll have to read the rest of Exodus!
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for all the good things in my life. However, help me not
to put my trust in these things - which can disappear at any time - but ultimately
to put my trust in you who never disappears. Amen
Exodus 1 v 15-17
Two Hebrew nurses, named Shiphrah and Puah, helped the Israelite women
give birth to their babies. The king of Egypt said to the nurses, “When you
are helping the Hebrew women give birth to their babies, watch! If the baby
is a girl, let her live, but if it is a boy, kill him!” But the nurses feared
God, so they did not do as the king told them; they let all the boy babies
live.
Notes
Now, here’s an ethical issue. What would you do? Throughout the Bible, God
encourages us to respect our leaders. Jesus even encouraged people to pay
their taxes to the Roman Empire, despite there being a corrupt tax system
at the time and tax collectors being seen as the lowest of the low. I think
most of us would agree that it is not a good thing for Christians to break
the law of the land. But at what point would you decide that you cannot keep
a law; that you have to disobey your boss or a political leader? How extreme
would the law have to be, and what values would you base your decision on?
To me, the decision that Shiprah and Puah made was a no-brainer. They were nurses, and those in the medical profession exist to make people whole, to heal illnesses and to save lives. The killing of life – any life - would have gone against everything they stood for, and of course you don’t have to be a member of the medical profession to know that the killing of new babies is wrong. Well, duh! Also, these nurses respected God. So they had a choice - obey God, or obey the king.
I wouldn’t have thought about it, not even for a second. Save those babies – disobey the king, lie, practice deception, anything, just save those babies!
What would you do in a country where it is illegal to meet in church and worship God? Would you still meet with other Christians, even though you would be breaking the law of the land? This is a situation that millions of Christians, even now, still find themselves in. Pray for those Christians round the world who face these difficult dilemmas each day.
Prayer
Dear God, please help my Christian brothers and sisters in countries where
– because they respect you – are placed in positions of having to be law-breakers.
Please protect them, strengthen them, give them encouragement, and please
help the laws of the land change so that they no longer have to live in fear
of being punished, just for worshipping you. Amen
Exodus 1 v 18-22
Then the king of Egypt sent for the nurses and said, “Why did you do this?
Why did you let the boys live?”
The nurses said to him, “The Hebrew women are much stronger than the Egyptian
women. They give birth to their babies before we can get there.” God was good
to the nurses. And the Hebrew people continued to grow in number, so they became
even stronger. Because the nurses feared God, he gave them families of their
own.
So the king commanded all his people, “Every time a boy is born to the Hebrews,
you must throw him into the Nile River, but let all the girl babies live.”
Notes
What do you think of when you hear the word “fear”? I don’t know about you,
but I think of late-night scary movies on the telly. Or that time I tried
abseiling but just froze when I peered down the side of the cliff. Or … well,
I can think of a hundred things to do with fear, and just about all of them
are not very pleasant to experience.
So why, in the Bible passage today, does the phrase “the nurses feared God” seem to be such a positive thing? Maybe fear, in this context, means something different to how we traditionally understand it.
Here’s a clue, from later on in Exodus: “Then Moses said to the people, ‘Don’t be afraid, because God has come to test you. He wants you to respect him so you will not sin’” (Exodus 20 v 20). This is from the New Century Version of the Bible, but in some other Bible translations the word “respect” has instead been translated as “fear”. At first glance, this doesn’t seem to make sense. On the one hand, Moses is saying “Don’t be afraid”, and on the other he says “fear God”. The answer is simple: there are different meanings of the word “fear”. It can mean being afraid; it can also mean having a healthy respect for something or someone – in this case, God.
It is good at to see Jesus as our best friend – this informal, down-to-earth view of God can be quite liberating for some people. But at the same time, we need to come to him in awe and reverence – in other words, we need to fear God. The Egyptian nurses feared God, and because of that God honoured them. Do you have a healthy fear of God?
Prayer
Dear God, thank you that you are my friend, and that I can talk to you just
like I talk to my best mates on the phone. But help me also have a healthy
fear of you, because as Moses said, fearing you means I will not sin. Amen
Exodus 2 v 1-4
Now a man from the family of Levi married a woman who was also from the family
of Levi. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw how wonderful
the baby was, she hid him for three months. But after three months she was
not able to hide the baby any longer, so she got a basket and covered it
with tar so that it would float. She put the baby in the basket. Then she
put the basket among the tall stalks of grass at the edge of the Nile River.
The baby’s sister stood a short distance away to see what would happen to
him.
Notes
Today we see a mother’s love in action. I don’t know if you’ve seen the animated
movie “Ice Age”. As well as being hysterically funny, there were also some
bits that were desperately sad. The film starts with a mother doing everything
she possibly can to save her baby from drowning. The baby is delivered safely
to the riverbank, but the mother gets swept away by the current and drowns.
She didn’t think once of her own life – the life of her baby was everything.
The Exodus equivalent of this “Ice Age” story is the Jewish mother doing everything she could to save her “wonderful” baby from death at the hands of the Egyptians. I’m amazed that she managed to hide the baby for three months – I know what babies sound like when they’re crying out for milk, and they can be loud – very loud - especially at two in the morning! After three months, she had no choice but to hide her baby amongst the tall grass of the Nile. She placed him in a basket that she’d covered with tar so that it wouldn’t sink.
The Bible talks of God as Father, but there are also a number of references to him loving us like a mother. For example, Jesus says of Jerusalem: “Many times I wanted to gather your people as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me” (Luke 13 v 34). (See also Isaiah 66 v 13.)
Think of this tender image of the love of a mother – that’s how Father God loves you right now. He longs to comfort you like a hen with her chicks, and he also wants to buoy you up with his heavenly “tar” so that you will not drown in life’s circumstances.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you that you love me like a father and a mother. Help me to
understand your love for me more and more each day. Amen
Exodus 2 v 5-10
Then the daughter of the king of Egypt came to the river to take a bath,
and her servant girls were walking beside the river. When she saw the basket
in the tall grass, she sent her slave girl to get it. The king’s daughter opened
the basket and saw the baby boy. He was crying, so she felt sorry for him and
said, “This is one of the Hebrew babies.”
Then the baby’s sister asked the king’s daughter, “Would you like me to go
and find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?”
The king’s daughter said, “Go!” So the girl went and got the baby’s own mother.
The king’s daughter said to the woman, “Take this baby and nurse him for me,
and I will pay you.” So the woman took her baby and nursed him. When the child
grew older, the woman took him to the king’s daughter, and she adopted the
baby as her own son. The king’s daughter named him Moses, because she had pulled
him out of the water.
Notes
Names are important in the Bible, and Moses is one of the most memorable people
in the Bible. So, what does “Moses” mean? Today we read, “The king’s daughter
named him Moses, because she had pulled him out of the water.”
Bible scholars seem to have different opinions on the name of Moses. Some say that it comes from the Hebrew name “Mosheh”, which means “son” and could also mean “deliver”. Others say that it could be from the Hebrew word “masha”, which means “drew out”. Whatever the case, both of these interpretations sound appropriate. Moses was delivered from, or drawn out of the water by the king of Egypt’s daughter. And, of course, Moses grew up to be the person who led the Israelites out of Egypt and on to the Promised Land. In other words, Moses – guided by God – drew his people out of Egypt, and delivered them from slavery, living up to his own name.
What do the words “drew out” and “deliver” mean for you? The Israelites were suffering greatly in Egypt. Have there been any instances of suffering in your life, places, groups of people, unhealthy habits, illnesses or conditions such as depression, that were so bad that you were praying for God to take you out or deliver you? Maybe you are in one of those situations right now.
The Israelites were delivered. It took 40 years, lots of walking around, conflict, hunger and hard work. But they were delivered – in the end – and it was worth it. I can’t promise anything, but have a think about this: God delivered an entire nation. Surely he can deliver one person – you!
Prayer point
Whatever your situation, pray to God today using the themes from Moses’ name:
“drew out” and “deliverance”. Maybe you could thank God for what he has delivered
you from in the past. You could pray for something you need deliverance from
now. Or you could pray that, like Moses, you could be used by God to help
other people you know who might be suffering.
Exodus 2 v 11-15
Moses grew and became a man. One day he visited his people and saw that they
were forced to work very hard. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man, one
of Moses’ own people. Moses looked all around and saw that no one was watching,
so he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.
The next day Moses returned and saw two Hebrew men fighting each other. He
said to the one that was in the wrong, “Why are you hitting one of your own
people?”
The man answered, “Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill
me as you killed the Egyptian?”
Moses was afraid and thought, “Now everyone knows what I did.”
When the king heard what Moses had done, he tried to kill him. But Moses ran
away from the king and went to live in the land of Midian. There he sat down
near a well.
Notes
Have you ever had to interview a number of people for a particular job? I was
once part of an interview panel, and there were three people up for the vacancy.
We had to pick the best and most suitable person, and, to be honest, it was
really hard to decide.
Imagine God picking someone for a job. Back in Exodus times, there was a very important vacancy to fill – he needed someone to lead his beloved people, the Israelites, out of persecution in Egypt to the Promised Land. He needed someone who could get literally thousands of men, women and children away from the fast-advancing forces of Egypt’s army, then co-ordinate these people for years on end as they wandered through the wilderness, helping to take care of their food, shelter and other needs. This person also needed to be obedient and close to God, particularly when it came to delivering the Ten Commandments.
Who would you have chosen for the job? Would you have picked someone who had a criminal record? Would you be happy having a vicar or minister in your church who had once murdered someone in cold blood with his hands, then buried him under the ground and fled to another country? Would you? God did – God chose Moses.
Have you ever felt you’ve blown it with God? Have you done something that made you think, “God can never use me now. I’ll just have to settle for God’s second-best in my life.” Take heart. There is no such thing as second-best when it comes to God. No matter how much you’ve “blown it”, he still wants to know you, he still wants to use you and he still loves you. God chose Moses – and he wants to choose you, no matter what you’ve done.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you that sometimes you choose the most unlikely people to do
your work. Will you help me do your work as well? Amen
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes