(10/28/15) We are starting a new study on Wednesday evenings the book of Exodus.

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1 The Book of Exodus (10/28/15) We are starting a new study on Wednesday evenings the book of Exodus. The book of Genesis ended with the death of Joseph in Egypt but not before he made the children of Israel promise that when God delivered them out of Egypt they would take his bones with them into the Promised Land. The book of Exodus is the continuation of the book of Genesis which is why the Hebrew text begins with the word and. Originally the entire Pentateuch was a single volume containing one continuous story of the origin of the nation of Israel beginning with Abraham in the book of Genesis and ending with the death of Moses to close the book of Deuteronomy. The word exodus means exit, departure or going out, and the theme of the book is deliverance or redemption. However you can t have deliverance without a deliverer and therefore the principle figure around which the book is built is God s deliverer Moses. Moses is considered by many to be the greatest figure in the Old Testament. He is not only the great liberator he is also the great legislator and mediator. 1

2 In fact in many ways Moses is a type of Christ fulfilling the roles of prophet, priest and king to the nation of Israel. God will use Moses to lead His people out of the bondage of Egypt just as He would someday use Jesus to lead His people out of the bondage of sin and death. Now it is fairly well accepted by Jewish and conservative Christian scholars alike that Moses was the writer of the first five books of the Bible called the Pentateuch or the Torah. As I ve already said the book of Exodus picks up where Genesis leaves off although there is a lapse of roughly 4 centuries. We read in Exodus 12:40 that the time the children of Israel spent in Egypt was 430 years Exodus 12:40-41 (NKJV) 40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years--on that very same day--it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. Scholars disagree on the date of the exodus but many put it sometime between 1500 and 1450 B.C. Now where the book of Genesis dealt with the beginnings of a family the book of Exodus deals with the birth of a nation and its coming out of slavery to begin a new life. The book of Exodus divides itself into 3 main sections: 2

3 1. The Exodus ch The Law ch The Tabernacle ch The five books of Moses make up nearly 1/7 of the entire Bible. Paul the apostle told us in Romans 15:4 that the things in the O.T. were written for our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. The book of Exodus has much to teach us about redemption the hope of every child of God. And so, without further delay let s begin our journey through this remarkable book. Chapter 1 Exodus 1:1-7 (NKJV) 1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). 6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. 3

4 Seventy people went down to Egypt and 430 years later between 2 and 3 million made their exodus out of Egypt It begs the question what was the purpose of the children of Israel going down to Egypt and staying there for all those years? There were two main reasons for this First, God planted the children of Israel in Egypt to prepare them for the Promised Land. In many ways Egypt was sort of an incubator that allowed the children of Israel to flourish and grow (much of it through adversity), which allowed the 70 that entered Egypt to become the 2 ½ million that exited. In fact, the way Moses himself described the purpose for their time in Egypt in Deut. 4:20 was that the Lord used Egypt like an iron furnace to temper and strengthen them through their years of adversity. Of course that slavery served another purpose as someone has pointed out, Many times suffering and adversity in the world makes a person long to be delivered (saved)! If it wasn t for the pain and suffering these people would never have wanted to come out of Egypt. But secondly, and maybe more importantly, God planted His people in Egypt to prepare them for the Promised Land, that s true but also to prepare the Promise Land for them. In Genesis 15, God told Abraham that, although his offspring would eventually number as many as the stars in the heavens they would initially spend four hundred years in Egypt until the sins of the Canaanites had reached a point where God finally had no other recourse but to judge them. 4

5 The sins of the Canaanites were incredibly wicked and barbaric. They worshipped demons, practiced human torture and sacrificed their children to pagan gods. God in His mercy gave them 400 years to repent but they refused. And so, as one author put it, Like a rabid dog, they had to be exterminated not only in order that others wouldn t be infected by their debauchery, but also that they might be put out of their own misery. That judgment finally came under Joshua as God used Joshua and the armies of Israel to drive out the Canaanites from the land as He then gave it to His people to possess as He had promised to Abraham in Genesis 15. Exodus 1:8-10 (NKJV) 8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land." This new Pharaoh knew nothing of Joseph except through the official history books of Egypt. In his mind he owed no gratitude to Joseph for saving Egypt from famine and death that was ancient history. All that mattered to the new Pharaoh was how the Hebrew population had grown and grown so remarkably over the years that he was now paranoid of them. 5

6 He feared they if an enemy rose up against Egypt the Hebrews would join with them (at the time the Egyptians feared an invasion of the Hittites from the north) his solution Exodus 1:11-12 (NKJV) 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. It seems that this was when the slavery of the Jewish people shifted in high gear but not when it first started. It probably started as a paid job (Genesis 47:6) and then moved into a form of indentured servitude after Joseph died before becoming full blown slavery. But no matter how much Pharaoh (a type of Satan) persecuted the children of Israel (a type of the church of Jesus Christ) they grew stronger and multiplied more and more. This growth in the face of affliction has consistently been the story of God s people, throughout all ages the more they are afflicted, the more they grow. As the ancient Christian writer Tertullian said, The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. The Egyptians forced the Jewish people to build many of the great cities and monuments in Egypt though not the pyramids, which were built much earlier. Since historians aren t sure exactly when this forced labor began they don t know how long it lasted estimates run from 130 years to

7 Exodus 1:12-14 (NKJV) 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage--in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor [i.e. ruthlessness, cruelty ]. This was a very difficult period in the history of the Jewish people. No people in recorded history have suffered like the Jewish people have suffered but every nation that has oppressed them has been punished by God Even as He promised Abraham in Genesis 12:3: I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. The Egyptians were about to become the first in a long list of those that would experience firsthand what God promised Abraham would happen to those people or nations that came against the Jewish people. Exodus 1:15-19 (NKJV) 15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; 16 and he said, "When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live." 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?" 19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them." Because the Jewish population was so large these two midwives were likely the chief administrators of an organization of midwives. 7

8 Pharaoh wanted them to pass the word to all the midwives assigned to the Jewish women that if they gave birth to a male child the baby was to be killed but if it was a girl child they were to let the baby live. One author said, If this plan had succeeded, Pharaoh would have wiped out the Hebrew people. The future generation of men would be dead and the girls would eventually be married to Egyptian slaves and absorbed into the Egyptian race. However as it says the midwives feared God and refused to do this evil thing. Living among the Jewish people as they did for all those years they had been witnessed to time and again until these midwives had either gotten saved or at very least had come to revere and fear the God of the children of Israel. Did the midwives lie to Pharaoh? probably. So then why did God bless them isn t lying a sin? What I m about to tell you is controversial and I m still not sure how I feel about it. I first heard this from Josh McDowell in a debate with an unbeliever. The unbeliever (a representative from Playboy Magazine) brought up that if God is a righteous God and He has said lying is a sin why did He bless these Egyptian midwives for lying and also Rahab the Harlot (Joshua 2:4-7)? That s a valid question and one that is not easily answered. 8

9 Of course many Christians believe that God forbid all lying in the 9 th commandment of the Decalogue Exodus 20:16 (NKJV) 16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. And here it is true that God is condemning a form of lying (lying in court) but not necessarily all lying (stay with me). It is true that in Proverbs 12:22 it says, Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight. And yet here (Exodus 1) He blesses the midwives for lying to Pharaoh and Rahab (Joshua 2) for lying to the king of Jericho in fact Rahab is even mentioned in Heb. 11:31 as being one of the great examples of faith in the Bible for what she did. How do we reconcile this apparent contradiction is lying good or bad? The best answer I can give you is it depends. When it comes to the subject of laws there are times when laws can be suspended for the greater good. Mark 2:23-26 (NKJV) 23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" 25 But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?" 9

10 The Lord Jesus is teaching that in the face of human need (in this case hunger) a law of God can be temporarily suspended (like the law concerning the showbread) for the greater good. In the law God said that stealing was a crime (sin) and yet He allowed a person that was hungry to enter into another person s field and to take some grain or fruit to satisfy his hunger without it being seen as a crime. Deuteronomy 23:24-25 (NKJV) 24 "When you come into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. 25 When you come into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor's standing grain. The Sabbath law was one where God prohibited them from doing any work and yet Jesus constantly did good works for people on the Sabbath Matthew 12:9-13 (NKJV) 9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"--that they might accuse Him. 11 Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13 Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. It is always lawful to help people even when laws are broken in the process. This is especially true when it comes to saving or protecting life. If a city or a municipality owns a piece of land and has put a fence around it with signs that reads Do Not Trespass Against the Law Violators Will Be Prosecuted to enter onto that land is a violation of the law and will result in the prosecution of that person. 10

11 And yet what if the land contained a pond and as you were passing by you saw that some boys had jumped the fence and gone swimming in that pond but instead of swimming were now drowning. If you ignore that sign, jump the fence and save those boys there is no way you will be prosecuted because life trumps law. Whenever I think of this subject I always think of the family of Corrie Ten Boom that hid Jews during WWII to protect them from being killed by the Nazi s and then lied to the Nazis that they weren t hiding Jews. Do you think God charged the Ten Boom family with the sin of lying? I don t think so but I could be wrong. Lying for selfish reasons or with the intent to harm another is wrong and a sin. But God s law against lying is superseded by the greater good of wanting to save life this is what both the Egyptian midwives and Rahab did they lied to save life. And the reason I have spent so much time developing this tonight is because the day might come when protecting people from religious persecution and having to lie to the authorities becomes a reality If that day should come I want you to remember what we talked about tonight. I realize that this teaching may not line up with your conscience, I understand that, and I would never want you to violate your conscience when it comes to what affects your life personally. 11

12 However I want you to consider this what you do because of your convictions and conscience that affects you is your business. But does that give you the right to impose your convictions on others especially if it means they will be killed because you refuse to lie to protect them? Warren Wiersbe has something important to say on this subject Let s confess that most of us would hesitate to tell the truth if it really were a matter of life or death. It s one thing for me to tell the truth about myself and suffer for it; but do I have the right to cause the death of others, especially those who have come under my roof for protection? Many people have been honored for deceiving the enemy during wartime and saving innocent lives And one other point and we ll close This is the first instance in Scripture of what today we call civil disobedience refusing to obey an unjust or an evil law because of a higher good. Scriptures like Matthew 20:21 25; Romans 13; and 1 Peter 2:11 admonish Christians to obey human authorities But Romans 13:5 reminds us that our obedience must not violate our conscience which is built on God s laws and our commitment to Him as our King and the ultimate Authority over our lives. When the laws of man violate the laws of God then as Peter said in Acts 5:29 we must obey God rather than men. You see this exemplified not only in the midwives but also in Daniel and his friends (Dan. 1; 3; 6) and the apostles (Acts 4 5). 12

13 Exodus 1:20-22 (NKJV) 20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. 21 And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. 22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive." When Pharaoh saw that his initial plan to kill the male Hebrew babies at the hands of the midwives didn t work he changed his strategy. He ordered that every Jewish family be held legally responsible to drown their own infant new born sons in the Nile River. That then set the stage for some civil disobedience on the part of one Jewish family that refused to drown their new born son. And that of course would be the family of Moses which we ll look at next time. 13