Pharaoh Oppresses Israel

INTRO

Lesson 27 is the first lesson of Exodus! We get to reveal to you our new painting! In Genesis, the one word for Christ, was Seed. For the book of Exodus, our word is Deliverer.

Eugene Merrell wrote that the purpose of Exodus is “to celebrate God’s gracious deliverance of His chosen people Israel from Egyptian slavery to freedom of covenant relationship with Him”.¹ The word “exodus” means “exit, a way out, departure.”

TEACHING

Exodus 1:1–4: This gives us a cool picture of the families of Israel. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah were Leah’s sons. Issachar and Zebulun were also sons of Leah. Benjamin was a son of Rachel. Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher were sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (Genesis 46:8-27).

Exodus 1:5: Joseph was missing from the family picture in the previous verse. Why? He was already in Egypt. Remember, God had sent Joseph ahead to prepare the way. This number 70 is significant:

• Genesis 10:1-32: 70 nations
• Exodus 24:9: 70 elders of Israel
• Numbers 11:16: 70 other elders
• Judges 1:7: 70 submissive kings
• 1 Samuel 6:19: 70 men who were struck down
• Judges 8:30: Gideon had 70 sons (Gideon is the most famous son from Manasseh.)
• 2 Kings 10:1: Ahab had 70 sons
• Jesus, in different versions, sent out 70 or 72 witnesses.

God started with 12 tribes and with the 12 disciples. He brought 70 into the land of Egypt!

Exodus 1: 6–7: Joseph and his generation died out, but the Israelites continued to multiply. The 70 people from verse 5 became so numerous they filled the land. The prophetic word we read about in Genesis was beginning to take place here in Exodus 1:7. Did they even know they were walking out prophecy (Genesis 12:1–3)? At the time of the Exodus, scholars predict the numbers to be 600,000 men 20 years old and up, and more than 2 million when women and children are counted. Abraham’s descendants were beginning to fulfill the prophecy of being as numerous as the grains of sand.

Our word for Exodus is Deliverer. If there was going to be an exit from Egypt, someone was going to have to lead them. The question was, who? Joseph and all of his brothers were gone.

Exodus 1:8–10: A new Pharaoh ruled the land and did not care for the Israelites. He became concerned about the great number and strength of Israel. The seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman were at war again.

Exodus 1:11: Pharaoh oppressed them with forced labor. This was the fulfillment of Genesis 15 and was the start of 400 years of oppression. When I read this verse, I think of Genesis 15:13, “Your offspring will be foreigners in a land that does not belong to them.” That land was Egypt!

Remember when Joseph was about to enter Egypt and God told him not to be afraid? The Israelites were now building supply cities for Pharaoh. When I see this, I get excited about how true God is to His word.

Exodus 1:12–13: The more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. Oppressed means to be crushed. The Egyptians were forcing them into submission. The Israelites were worked ruthlessly. Ezekiel 34:4 says, “you have ruled the Israelites with violence and cruelty.”

Exodus 1:14: The Israelites were given difficult work, such as making bricks and mortar. They also had to do all kinds of field work. This was super difficult labor! Slavery is not from the Lord! Remember labor was instituted back in Genesis 3:17-19 after the fall. Now we’re seeing an extreme perversion of this labor as slavery.

Exodus 1:15–16: The Israelites were fighting back by multiplying. Then Pharaoh decided he needed to control the population growth. He asked the midwives to kill the Israelite sons. But if God said Abraham’s descendants were going to continue to grow, they were going to continue to grow.

Exodus 1:17: These were not Egyptian midwives; they were Hebrew. Their allegiance was to God, not Pharaoh. Shiphrah and Puah (the Hebrew midwives), were heroes because they submitted to God and not to man. In Romans 13, we see we are to submit to the government, except when asked to do something that goes against God.

This was the first time you see civil disobedience in Scripture. The Israelites were refusing to obey the law because there was a higher good involved.

Having the “Fearing God” mentality:

Genesis 20:11: Abraham lied about Sarah being his sister because he thought the Egyptians did not fear God.

Genesis 22:12: Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he feared God.

Genesis 42:18: Joseph feared God and sent his brothers to get Benjamin.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Colossians 2:2-3 says Jesus is actually the wisdom of God. So, if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, when you fear God, you’re beginning to understand and embrace the Messiah as well. And these two women were doing this. If a Hebrew midwife could reject the King of Egypt, why can’t I walk this out in faith without fear?

Exodus 1:18–21: Pharaoh asked them, “Why have you done this”? Did they lie? Rahab did. Rachel did. But it was for the Lord’s purpose.

What was modeled from these two Hebrew women began to spread throughout all of the Israelite people (Exodus 18:21; Exodus 20:20). The Lord was good to the midwives because the midwives feared God. He gave them their own families (vv. 20-21). He blessed their work, and then He blessed them. Psalm 127:3: “Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, children, a reward.” They are not to be killed. Abortion is not of the Lord! Children are a reward from the Lord.

Pharaoh, not liking how the Hebrew women responded, commanded all his people across the country of Egypt to start killing the Hebrew sons.

CLOSING

How does this fit into being a Deliverer? You have to have the bad news in order to understand the good news. You have to understand sin and death to experience new life.

In Exodus 1, you see bondage, slavery, and oppression. At some point, they had to be delivered. Over the course of 40 chapters, we will walk through that process. How were the Israelites going to be delivered?