Exodus 1
Suffering in Egypt
It is a common concept among Christians that the Old Testament of the Bible is nothing more than old time history. They even say that there is nothing relevant to our current high tech world. I beg to differ with you and I strongly insist that everything mentioned in the Old Testament is as applicable as the ones from the New Testament. How do I know? Because it says in the NT:
1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
The Book of Exodus begins with a ‘groan’ and ends in ‘glory’ – incomparable glory of the Lord. Because this Book shows us the freedom the Israelites get to have as they come out of the slavery of Egypt.

A. THE TITLE OF THE BOOK
In the Greek language, ‘exodus’ means “the way out.” It is named after the central event in the book, when God delivered the Children of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. Exodus is the sequel to Genesis. The first five books of the Old Testament are really just one book that has been divided up into five separate books and is called “The Pentateuch.”

If we are only allowed to use one word to describe the entire Book of Exodus, it would be ‘Redemption.’

B. THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK
There are some people who would question whether or not Moses really was the author of this book, but I’ll take the word of Jesus on this as He quoted from Exodus and called it “the Book of Moses” in Mark 12:26. I believe Jesus knows more than these so-called scholars who question the authorship of this Book.

C. THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK
Genesis is the Book of Beginnings. Exodus is the Book of Redemption. It records the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and presents the basic historical facts about the origins of the Hebrew nation and its religious ceremonies. These accounts are also pictures of Christ and the redemption He purchased for us on the cross.
There are many types and symbols of Christ and the believer in Exodus, especially in the tabernacle furnishings and ceremonies. Exodus also records the giving of the Law. It would be impossible to understand much NT doctrine apart from an understanding of the events and symbols in Exodus.

D. THE TYPOLOGY OF THE BOOK
There are several basic types in Exodus:
1) Egypt is a type of the world system, opposing God’s people and trying to keep them in bondage.
2) Pharaoh is a type of satan, “the god of this world,” who demands worship, defies God, and thinks to enslave God’s people.
3) Israel is a type of the church – delivered from the bondage of the world, led on a pilgrim journey, and protected by God. We often forget Him who saved us.
4) Moses is a type of Christ, God’s Prophet.
5) The key type in Exodus is Passover, picturing the death of Christ, the application of His blood for our safety, and the appropriation of His life for our daily strength.
6) The crossing of the Red Sea is a picture of the resurrection, which delivers the believer from this present evil world.
7) The manna pictures Christ the Bread of Life.
8) The smitten rock is a type of the smitten Christ, through whose death the Holy Spirit is given.
9) Amalek is a picture of the flesh, opposing the believer in the pilgrim journey.

Speaking of Moses being a type of Christ, you may wonder how I came up with that conclusion. Here is why:
MOSES
JESUS
Moses was a Jewish son in Egypt. Jesus was a son of a Jewish carpenter in the world.
When he was a baby, he was in danger of being killed by the Pharaoh, but was providentially cared for by God.

 Jesus’ life was threatened by Herod the Great when He was a baby.
He chose to suffer with the Jews rather than reign in Egypt.

 Jesus chose to lower Himself to identify Himself with us in this world and refused to have the power of the world from satan. Philippians 2:5-7
Moses was rejected by his own people the first time.
 The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, was rejected by His own people and crucified.
While Moses was rejected, he gained a Gentile bride.
 When Christ was rejected by His own people, He also opened the door of salvation to the church that was mostly Gentiles.
Moses delivered God’s people through the blood of the lamb during the first Passover.
 Christ became the perfect Lamb of God with His own blood on the cross during a Passover.

However, here is one contrast between Moses and Jesus:
The law was given by Moses, a man of God, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ the Son of Living God.

E. THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK
The life of Moses is divided into three periods of forty years. He spent the first forty years of his life living in the house of the Pharaoh, as the adopted son of the Pharaoh’s daughter. For the next forty years, he became a shepherd in Midian Desert, as God was preparing him to deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt. Then, for the last forty years, he was the leader of Israel, as they spent their time in the wilderness.

The first eighteen chapters of the Book tell of the deliverance of the people from Egypt and the supernatural provision of God as He preserved them in the wilderness. The rest of the Book begins to outline the various commandments of the Law that God gave the people at Mount Sinai. By giving the Law to the people and the plans for the tabernacle, God was giving them insights into who He is, as well as allowing them to discover that they could never fulfill the righteous requirements of a holy God.

F. A NEW GENERATION
Exodus 1:1-7 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.
Joseph was the remarkable great-grandson of Abraham who saved Egypt from a terrible famine because he listened to God’s voice speaking through Pharaoh’s dream. Because of his wisdom and administration, he was lifted to a high and honored office in Egypt – but eventually, Joseph died and the status his family once enjoyed died with him.

G. A NEW KING
Exodus 1:8-14 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.” 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. 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.
There is a tremendous lesson to be learned in v8. I have often wondered what kind of things we teach to our children. I am finding out more and more that the name of Jesus is nothing more than a cuss word to the teenagers of America. We have a continual responsibility of teaching the Word of God to our next generation. If we neglect to teach the Bible to them, the time will come when it will be forgotten. It is happening right now.

Parents, if your children do something bad, don’t stop them from going to church as a punishment. Find some other way to punish them – like no phones, no friends, no internet, no video games, no food for a couple months and hard labor for the next ten years, etc. If you take church services away from them, you are robbing opportunities for them to encounter God in their way.

When the Israelites were forced to do hard labor in Egypt, they didn’t build the pyramids because they had already been in existence already. They were, however, forced to build treasure cities. They built the treasure cities of Pithom and Raamses. They constructed the cities with bricks which they as slaves were forced to make.

Egypt served as a “mother’s womb” for Israel, a place where they rapidly grew from a large clan to a mighty nation. They could not grow this way in Canaan, because it was practically impossible to avoid intermarriage with the pagan and wicked inhabitants of Canaan. Ancient Egyptians were such racists and would not intermarry with Israelites that they could grow there over several centuries without being mixed with other races.

God has a spiritual principle for us in v12: The more adversities we go through, the more they purify us. While we go through adversities, we feel like God abandons us or rejects us. But He never does that. He knows how much adversity we can take. The more we are afflicted, the more we grow deeply in Him, if we let Him.

H. A NEW STRATEGY
Exodus 1:15-22 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.” 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.”
We cannot possibly expect that these two women were the only midwives for two million Israelites. I assume that they were probably the “presidents” of the “Association of Israel Midwives.”

God used the midwives to confound the Egyptian king. God uses the weak things of this world to defeat the mighty. Of course, the king’s strategy was born of satan who is the murderer from the beginning. This was just another attempt on satan’s part to destroy the Jews and keep the Messiah from being born.

Was it right for the women to defy the orders of the king? Yes, because we ought to obey God rather than men. When the laws of the land are definitely contrary to the commandments of God, then the believer has the right and duty to put God first.

Keep in mind that the Egyptian king wanted to drown God’s children, but God is the one who drowned the whole Egyptian army in the Red Sea.

While we are talking about killing babies, I must go over the subject of abortion. I am going to talk about this very carefully, not because I am afraid to talk about this issue, rather I want to be sensitive to those who have had abortions and are living with guilt in their hearts.

Abortion is wrong in the sight of God, because it is murdering an innocent child. I don’t know how anyone can justify having an abortion, even full term abortion, while all the medical staff would do everything within their power and knowledge to save a brand new infant who is dying right after he is born.

If you are thinking about abortion of the child in you right now, please listen to your God’s voice through this pastor. Please don’t. If you don’t want that baby, have that baby to be adopted by someone who wants to raise him or her with all of their love and care.

You may say, “It is my body, it is my right.” Yes, it is your body, but it is not your life. It is that child’s life and let that child make his or her own decision to live. Aren’t you glad that your mom didn’t have an abortion when you were conceived?

For those who had an abortion and are living with guilt, if you have come to God and asked Him to forgive you, it is done and forgiven. You don’t need to dwell on it. Move on and sin no more.

I. APPLICATIONS
1) Give the best legacy to the next generation – Jesus Christ – by living for Him, being in love with Him and obeying Him.

2) God uses the afflictions of our lives to shape us and mold us.
We can fight and resist His lessons for us and make our lives more difficult or we can learn from them and become mature believers in the Lord.
 
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