Exodus 2:10 Moses 6/14/2009 ßà
#1. The Exodus (Heb 3:7-12,17-19)
#2. The First Oppression (Ex 1:8-14)
#3. A Courageous Mother (Ex 2:1-9, 7:7, 1Cor 1:27-29, Isa 41:10)
#4. God
Heard Their Groaning (Ex 2:23-25, 1John 5:14)
Please open your Bibles to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 3:7
(2X). In the coming weeks and months I intend to lead us through a mini-series
in the Prophecy of Exodus. God gave the children of
#1. The Exodus (Heb 3:7-12,17-19)
When we study the Prophecy of Exodus we can see the love of God for His
people. It is a love for unworthy people, a love for stupid people, a love for
ungrateful people, and a love for people whom we would have sent to Hell a long
time ago. But God’s love and patience is only for His people, not for the
Egyptians, and neither is it for the Canaanites. And herein can we see God’s
unconditional love for the people whom He unconditionally chose to salvation.
We want to learn to see this, for this is the love by which God loves us. We
should learn that the prophecy of Exodus paints before us that picture of God’s
love for us, for we are those unworthy people, we are those stupid people, and
we are those ungrateful people. In actuality it is not the children of
Heb 3:7-12 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Therefore, when we read the history of the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt, we should be careful not to read this simply as a history book, and we should not take the words of the Prophecy of Exodus at face value, but we must harmonize these statements with what we find in the NT, for God cannot contradict Himself. What did God mean when He said, “They shall not enter into my rest?” What is that “rest” that He was referring to? In this life it is the rest that we have in Christ; it is the rest from our labors in the false works gospels, for Christ has done all the work for our salvation, and therefore the Sabbath rest is a symbol of the rest we have in Christ. And in the life hereafter we shall rest from all our labors that we had in this life for when God calls us home we have finished all the work He gave us to do And if you doubt that this is truly the meaning of this passage, please drop down to verse 17,
Heb 3:17-19 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Where could they not enter in? They could not enter into eternal
life, in the NH&NE, because of unbelief. They were not saved because they
were unbelievers. And this counts for most of them that came out of
people are in fact not saved. That is why it is important to be on our guard for these kinds of events.
Please turn in your Bibles to the Prophecy of Exodus, Ex 1:1
(2X). As you know, Joseph became prime minister of
Ex 1:1-7 Now these are the names of the
children of
It was the providence of God that separated them out of the
#2. The First Oppression (Ex 1:8-14)
Ex 1:8-14 Now
there arose up a new king over
We see here the cause of oppression. First of all, the
people of the land were ignorant of the past. Pharaoh also was ignorant of the
past, for if Pharaoh would have been fully informed he would have been grateful
for the work Joseph had done in making Pharaoh rich and powerful. Secondly,
we see from verse 9 the fear of the inhabitants of the land for the
people of the Hebrews. Their name “Hebrews” has been bastardized by the
Egyptians as “Hyksos” (2X). This name we see appears in history books as
the name of a nomadic tribe who tried to dominate the Egyptian political scene,
but finally they were thrust out. Well, that was the fear of the Egyptians, but
it was a totally unfounded fear, for the children of
But in
Ex 1:15-21 And the king of Egypt spake to the
Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name
of the other Puah: And he said, When
ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the
stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a
daughter, then she shall live. But
the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of
Pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill all he male babies, but the midwives feared God, and refused to do it. And so, this plan of Pharaoh also did not succeed. The Hebrew population kept growing and God honored the midwives by giving them households of their own. Then Pharaoh went one step further and entered the third stage of his oppression of the Hebrews. We read in Ex 1:22,
Ex 1:22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
What do we see here? We see that Pharaoh ordered the killing of all male babies, both Hebrew and Egyptian babies. Now, this was a law that could not stand very long, for sooner or later the babies of very honorable rulers and priests would be in line of being cast into the river, and then this law would be rescinded. But in the midst of all this oppression and all this killing we should remember what God said in verse 12. We read in Ex 1:12, “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.” In other words, the people overcame oppression because God was faithful and God caused them to grow in number and in faith. Oppression has never worked to wipe out the church, for oppression has always strengthened the church. The prayers of the saints who are oppressed rise up to plead to the Lord for relief from the oppressor, like they are praying in Psalm 74:21, “O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.” And they are praising Thy name because God has delivered them from the oppression. How did God solve the problem? God sent a baby.
#3. A Courageous Mother (Ex 2:1-9, 7:7, 1Cor 1:27-29, Isa 41:10)
Ex 2:1-9 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
Here was an unnamed man, a descendant of Levi, who took to wife an unnamed woman, also a descendant of Levi, and she conceived her second son who was going to be Moses. Moses had an elder brother who was named Aaron, who was three years older than Moses. For example, we read in Ex 7:7, “And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.” And thus, the cruel law to cast the male children into the river had only recently been in effect. God used a godly mother and a godly father, who were slaves, to foster a miracle baby like Moses. God can use us no matter how lowly we seem to be in man’s wisdom. We read in 1Cor 1:27-29,
1Co 1:27-29 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. (2X)
Yes, God used two slaves to raise up a man like Moses. And when she no longer could hide him, she prayed and trusted that God would guide her. Then she used her best plan, and she witnessed the guiding hand of God in having her son delivered from a sure death by the crocodiles. Instead of having to hide her son and fear for his life every day, she now had her son back, and she was being paid for the privilege of nursing her own son. She saw her faith rewarded every day. Please turn in your Bibles to the Prophecy of Isaiah, Isa 41:10 (2X). Here is a little passage out of the second servant song out of the Prophecy of Isaiah. The second servant song in Isaiah is found in Isa 41:8-20, and it applies to the church, or it applies to any faithful servant of Jehovah. The Lord our God is comforting us here in this passage, and is telling us that He will not leave us nor forsake us. We read in Isa 41:10,
Isa 41:10 ¶ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
When the almighty maker of the universe tells us that He will uphold us with the right hand of His righteousness, we must believe that it is so, “and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Please return to the Prophecy of Exodus, Ex 2:10 (2X). The reward for this courageous mother was the son Moses.
Ex 2:10-15 And the child grew, and she brought him
unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses:
and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he
went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an
Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there
was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day,
behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the
wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And
he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me,
as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is
known. Now when Pharaoh heard this
thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and
dwelt in the
Pharaoh’s daughter called his name Moses, which means “Drawn out”, because she drew him out of the water. At Pharaoh’s palace Moses got a first class education to be a leader and to be a warrior. God also instilled into Moses a love for his fellow Hebrews, but his fellow Hebrews did not love him, for they saw him as one of the elite class who were responsible for the oppression of the Hebrews. And so, when Moses planned to be the leader of an uprising of the slaves, the Hebrews did not want him as their leader. That is why they said to him, “Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?” What then follows is not fully described in Exodus. Please turn in your Bibles to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 11:23 (2X) In Exodus chapter 2 as well as in Acts chapter 7 we read that Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh. This is not the full story, for Moses did not outrun his persecutors. Moses left long before they discovered that he had killed an Egyptian. We must remember that the latest revelation carries the greater weight. And thus what we read about Moses in the Epistle to the Hebrews carries the greater weight. There we read
Heb 11:23-27 By faith Moses, when he was born, was
hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child;
and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the
son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season; Esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had
respect unto the recompence of the reward. By
faith he forsook
Moses had a great faith and had great understanding of the meaning of salvation. Verse 24 says, when Moses was 40 years old he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. By that time he understood that he needed salvation, and salvation was not found in Pharaoh’s palace. He understood the God given principle which we learn of in Psalm 84:10. There we read,
Ps 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Moses saw the wickedness in Pharaoh’s court, and he intended to
remedy it by becoming the leader of the Hebrew slaves. But this plan was 40
years too early. The slaves were not ready for it. But Moses also understood
the reproach of Christ, which means the reproach which comes when we proclaim
that we are sinners, on the way to eternal damnation, and that there must be a
Messiah who can remove the guilt of all that sin from us, and make us
acceptable before God. Moses considered this crazy idea of greater value than
the treasures in the palace of the king, for Moses had great respect for the
promise of God to Abraham, in Gen 15:1, where God said, “I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward”. This was the salvation that Moses craved. And
so, by faith Moses forsook
Please return to the Prophecy of Exodus, Ex 2:16 (2X).
Ex 2:16-22 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
Moses was a trained warrior; he easily drove the shepherds away.
And then he did that which was beneath a prince of the house of Pharaoh. He
stooped to water the flock of sheep of the daughters of the priest of Midian.
For this generous act he was invited to stay and eat bread with Reuel and his
daughters. And then he continued to stay in that family and married Zipporah,
one of the daughters of the priest of Midian. Where is Midian? The
#4. God
Heard Their Groaning (Ex 2:23-25, 1John 5:14)
Ex 2:23-25 And
it came to pass in process of time, that the king of
God heard their groaning, for they represented His people. They represented those whom God intended to save. Does God always hear His people when they pray? Yes He does. There are many Scriptures which testify that God will listen to our prayers. But will our prayers change His mind? Can our prayers change the plans of God? And the answer is a definite NO! When God answers a prayer, He does so by acting according to His plan, and according to His will. We must always pray, “Not my will but thine be done.” We read in 1John 5:14, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.” God is our heavenly Father. God will gladly hear us. And when we suffer, our heavenly Father knows our suffering. He already knows before we ask Him.
Please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel According to John, John 9:31 (2X). Here was a man who was born blind, and the Lord caused him to see for the first time. His gratitude is overflowing. He is extremely excited about his new world which he now can see. And he can also see that there are two different groups of people in this world. There are those who love the Lord Jesus, for He made them see spiritual things, and there are those who hate Him for they claim to be able to see, but they have remained spiritually blind. We read in John 9:31,
Joh 9:31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
Yes, God does not hear sinners. If we have become saved we have turned from sinners into saints. We are then not called sinners any more, even though we still commit sins. But when we were still sinners, God does not listen to sinners’ prayers. Let us have some confirmation of that principle. Let me give you just a fraction of verses dealing with this matter.
Job 27:8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Job 27:9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
Ps 18:41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.
Ps 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
Pr 1:28-29 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
Pr 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
Pr 28:9 He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
But like the Lord heard the groaning of the children of
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
AMEN. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.