Exodus chapter 1, as we begin the book
of Exodus.
The word now could very well read and,
as far as the Hebrew is concerned, for
the book of Exodus is just a continuation
of Genesis.
The last verse of Genesis, so Joseph died
being a hundred and ten years old, and
they embalmed him and put him in a
coffin in Egypt.
Now, these are the names of the children
of Israel which came into Egypt.
Every man in his household that came with
Jacob.
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Ishkar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan,
Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
And all of the souls that came out
of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls,
for Joseph was in Egypt already.
And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and
that generation.
So we can see how the first part
of chapter 1 of Exodus is really just
the continuation of the book of Genesis.
Again, written by Moses.
It is interesting that the five books of
Moses comprise almost one-seventh of the entire
Bible, and that they
comprise almost as much as two-thirds of
the New Testament.
Now, if God devotes one-seventh of the
book to one particular period of history and
study, it evidently is basic and foundational, and
God wants us to really know it and
understand it.
So, we have now the names of the
sons of Jacob who came down with Jacob.
They came down with their families into Egypt.
Seventy souls, for Joseph was already there with
his two sons.
And the children of Israel were fruitful, and
increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty,
and the land was filled with them.
Probably a misunderstanding, it's probably an understatement.
Children of Israel, fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied, waxed
exceeding mighty, the land was filled with them.
In other words, it's trying to tell you
there's a population explosion among the Jews at
that time.
And indeed, there must have been.
For the seventy souls that were there, about
three hundred years after Joseph's death, when they
made the Exodus out of Israel, at that
time there were six hundred thousand adult males
over the age of twenty-one.
So, you see when it says multiplied exceedingly
and all, that's exactly what they were doing.
They were doubling their population about every twenty
-five years.
Now, that's just about what's happening in the
world today.
The world's population has begun to double just
about every twenty-five years now.
So, they were at a stage of population
explosion about what we're experiencing now, a doubling
about every twenty-five years.
Now, there arose up a new king over
Egypt which knew not Joseph.
And he said unto his people, Behold, the
people of the children of Israel are more
and mightier than we.
Come on, let us deal wisely with them,
lest they multiply and it come to pass
that when there falls out another war, they
will join also unto our enemies and fight
against us, and then get out of the
land.
Now, the Pharaoh actually was fearful of their
leaving the land.
And he felt that if another war would
take place, that they would take advantage of
it, fight with the enemies, and then leave
the land.
And so, in order to thwart this, the
Pharaoh sent over them taskmasters to afflict them
with their burdens.
And they built for the Pharaoh the treasure
cities of Python and Ramses.
But the more they afflicted them, the more
they multiplied and grew.
And they were grieved because of the children
of Israel.
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel
to serve with rigor.
And they made their lives bitter with hard
bondage and mortar, brick, and all manner of
service in the field.
All their service wherein they made them serve
was with rigor.
So, they really began to afflict them, to
oppress them, to lay upon them heavy burdens,
to make life rather hard and miserable for
them by inflicting heavy slave labor upon them.
Everything they did, they had to do it
with rigor.
Now, it is interesting that under these conditions,
the children of Israel continued to multiply and
grow.
Probably one of the greatest weakening things that
can happen to a nation is prosperity.
Nations seem to become strong and grow under
adversity.
The same seems to be true of the
church.
In the early history of the church, when
the church was going through such severe persecution
by the Roman government, the was growing by
leaps and bounds.
Tremendous growth in the early church.
But when the church began to be prosperous,
Christianity began to be an accepted religion, almost
a state religion.
In fact, in many areas it did become
the state religion.
And in all of those areas, the church
became weak.
Prosperity has a tendency of softening people, whereas
adversity has the tendency of doing the opposite,
making a people strong.
So, the Pharaoh, in his endeavor to weaken
them by the heavy labor and the rigorous
labor, working with bricks and stones and really
pushing heavy burdens on them, did not have
the desired effect of weakening them, but actually
just made them so much stronger.
They really all got in tremendous condition.
And the king of Egypt spake with the
Hebrew midwives.
The name of one was Shepra and the
name of the other was Pua.
And he said, when you do the office
of a midwife to the Hebrew women and
you see them upon the stools, if it's
a son, kill him.
But if it's a daughter, let her live.
But the midwives feared God and did not,
as the king of Egypt commanded them, but
saved the men children alive.
And the king of Egypt called for the
midwives and said unto them, why have you
done this thing and have saved the men
children alive?
And the midwives said unto the Pharaoh, because
the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian
women, for they're lively and they're delivered before
we ever got to them.
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives and
the people multiplied and waxed very mighty.
And it came to pass because the midwives
fears God, that he made them houses.
And Pharaoh charged all his people saying, every
son that is born, ye shall cast him
into the river and every daughter ye shall
save alive.
So the Pharaoh, first of all, sought to
cut off the male children by ordering the
midwives to kill them the moment they were
born.
When that failed, then he gave a general
order to just take the boy babies and
cast them into the river.
Save the girl babies, that they of course
might be servants and slaves.
There is a problem here of the obvious
lie of the midwives.
When the Pharaoh called them on the carpet,
how come you haven't fulfilled my order?
They said, oh these women are just so
lively before we can get to them.
The babies are already born.
They're not like these Egyptian women who have
a life of ease and leisure.
Now this of course could be true.
It seems that where women are forced into
hard labor and all, their body condition becomes
such that they can have a baby and
go back to work out in New Guinea
where the ladies do so much of the
farming and so much of the work.
They'll have their baby and they'll go right,
they'll strap it on their back and go
back out and work again in the field.
And so it, I know that some of
you women think, oh no, you know.
And you remember how it was when you
had your baby, but you're just softies, that's
all.
And we like you that way.
It's nothing against you at all.
I wouldn't want you to be muscular and
all like those women in New Guinea.
And so it's a, it is very possible
that this was not a lie, but some
look upon it as a lie.
Whether or not it was, I don't know.
But if it were a lie that they
were telling to the Pharaoh, then indeed how
is it that God blessed them?
I don't have any answer.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't know
everything.
And those are, you know, that's one of
those difficult things.
I don't understand it.
I don't know.
All I know is that's what it says.
God blessed them.
So God dealt well with them.
There went a man of the house of
Levi, and he 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 for three
months.
The word goodly is beautiful.
So this woman had a beautiful little boy,
and she just couldn't bring herself to throwing
him in the river.
Now that was the order of the Pharaoh.
But he was such a beautiful little boy,
and of course what mother could really just
throw her son into the river.
And so she hid him for three months.
And when she could no longer hide him,
she took for him an ark of bulrushes,
and daubed it with slime, and with pitch,
with tar, and put the child therein.
And she laid it in the flags by
the river's bank.
So in other words, she was fulfilling.
Cast the child in the river, but she
just fixed a little basket and waterproofed it
so that she put him in the river,
but in the basket.
And his sister stood afar off to find
out 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 riverside.
And when she saw the ark among the
flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
And when she opened it and saw the
child, and behold the baby cried.
And she had compassion on him and said,
this is one of the Hebrews children.
So we see the beautiful story of God's
preservation.
The child was placed in this little waterproof
basket there in the river.
His sister stayed back in sort of the
bushes to watch the basket to see what
happened.
Here the Pharaoh's daughter came down to take
her bath, and they saw the basket, and
she sent one of her maidens out to
get the thing and find out, you know,
curiosity.
And she opened it up, and just at
that time little Moses started crying.
And her heart was touched.
Said, oh it's one of the Hebrews children.
So Moses' sister came running up, Miriam, who
we will learn about more later.
And she said to Pharaoh's daughter, you want
me to get a nurse of the Hebrew
women that she may nurse the child for
you?
Now that was a very common thing in
those days, wet nursing.
And so you get a woman to just
wet nurse your child for you.
And so that's what Miriam is offering to
do, get a woman to nurse the child.
And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go.
And so the maid went and called the
child's mother, Moses' mother.
And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, take this
child away and nurse it for me, and
I will give you wages.
And so the woman took the child and
nursed it.
And the child grew, and she brought him
unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.
And she called his name Moses, which means
to be taken out of the water, because
I drew him out of the water.
So interesting way that God has of working.
Moses was able to grow up at home
during the early years, where he received the
strong inculcating of the Hebrew traditions, imbued
with the sense of a nation of destiny,
and certainly is a tremendous example of what
the proverb declares, if you train up a
child in the way he shall go, when
he is old he will not depart from
it.
Because in those early formation years, Moses had
received such a strong foundation, that it was
strong enough that he was able to withstand
all of the pressures of the many years
of the education within the Egyptian schools.
Don't underestimate the value of those early years.
It is said that the Jewish mothers, from
the time the baby was first cradled in
their arms, would begin to whisper in their
ears, Jehovah is God.
I think for some of you mothers, one
of the greatest things you can do is
just whisper in your children's ears, Jesus loves
you.
Paul wrote to Timothy and spoke of how
from a youth, he was taught in the
Scriptures by his godly mother and grandmother.
What a heritage.
I thank God that I had a similar
kind of a heritage.
From my youth, taught in the Scriptures by
my mother.
I didn't have the normal Goldilocks and the
three pig bedtime stories.
I wasn't frightened by those horror tales.
Imagine the wolf eating up your grandmother, you
know.
And the woodsman coming and chopping the wolf.
So go to sleep now, honey.
I can't quite understand our mentality, you know,
in some of the stories that we call
bedtime stories.
Even the rock-a-bye baby on the
treetop.
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,
and when the bow breaks, the cradle will
fall.
Poor child, how are we marking our children?
My parents were wiser than to fill me
with that garbage, and so I grew up
knowing how God would always take care of
his children.
How God delivered the giant into the hands
of David.
I knew all about Moses and the bulrushes,
and God's delivering power.
I knew about God's deliverance from the lion's
den.
I knew that no matter what would happen,
God would be with me and protect me
and shelter me.
My mother used to follow me around the
yard while I was playing ball or swinging
or whatever, and just giving me Scriptures, making
me repeat them, helping me to memorize them,
filling me with the knowledge of the Word
of God.
Those early years are important years.
Even before you think your child can understand,
begin its education and training.
In the very first few months, it is
so important that their brain be stimulated, because
all of these little neuron connections are being
made back there, and they are being made
according to the stimulus that the child receives.
And so that's why they say have mobiles
in the crib, and colors that will move,
and all kinds of action to stimulate the
development of the connections there during that crucial
time, because their future mental capacities will be
directly proportionate to the number of connections that
are made in those early months.
And so Moses' mother did an excellent job,
but God even saw she got paid for
it.
I like the way the Lord operates.
And so rather than losing a son, she
gained a son, and also had wages as
she nursed him, and then she brought him
into the Pharaoh's court and presented him, and
then he was schooled in Egypt.
Now, Hebrews tells us it was by faith
that she put that little ark in the
river.
By faith, she refused to obey the Pharaoh's
order, but built a little ark and placed
the child in it.
And by faith, Moses, when he came to
age, refused to be called the son of
the Pharaoh's daughter, or to identify himself with
the Egyptians, but he identified himself with the
people of God.
He refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter in order that he might enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season, for
he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches
than the treasures of Egypt.
That shows you that there was such a
strong background in Moses.
Now, not only a strong background, but a
sense of destiny and God's purpose for these
people was instilled into Moses.
So that Moses, when he went out in
the field, which we'll be studying in just
a moment, and found an Egyptian mistreating an
Israelite, killed the Egyptian.
And the next day, when he saw two
Israelites driving together, and he went to break
them up, when they said, who made you
a judge over us?
Are you going to kill us like you
did that Egyptian yesterday?
We are told in Stephen's oration in the
Acts of the Apostles, that Moses thought that
they understood that God had destined him to
be the leader to lead them out of
their bondage.
Moses thought they'd understand that.
He had such a sense of destiny in
those early years.
Let's move on.
And it came to pass, verse 11, chapter
2, in those days when Moses was grown,
that he went out unto his brothers, and
he looked on their burdens, and he spied
an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his
brothers.
So he had this identity with with the
Hebrew people, rather than with the Egyptians.
And it had to come in those early
years.
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.
Now someone said this mistake was he looked
this way and that way, but he didn't
look up.
We make that mistake so often.
We look this way and that way, and
then we act, not realizing that God sees
us.
He tried to hide his deed by burying
the Egyptian in the sand.
Now, as I said, Moses had a sense
of destiny.
Somehow he felt, and perhaps because of the
position, somehow he felt that he was destined
to lead these people out of their bondage.
He seemed to have this awareness and consciousness.
He was surprised that they didn't recognize it.
The problem with Moses was that he just
got ahead of God.
He tried to do what God wanted done
in the ability and in the power of
his own flesh.
Knowing what God wanted, aware of the purposes
of God, his big mistake was getting ahead
of God.
Now this is a mistake that we often
make.
We know what God wants to do.
We don't wait for God or his empowering
to do it.
We get out and we try to do
in the energy of our own flesh what
we realize God desires to be done.
But I want you to notice how unsuccessful
he was in trying in the ability of
his own flesh to do what God wanted
done.
He was not even successful in burying one
Egyptian.
Now when God was going to do it,
he wanted to bury the whole army, which
he did later in the Red Sea.
We must be careful about this zeal that
we oftentimes feel for the work of God
where we start off without the anointing and
the direction of the Holy Spirit.
To in the ability and the energies of
our flesh accomplish the work and the purposes
of God, we like Moses will end up
in failure.
The work of the Spirit can never be
accomplished in the abilities of our flesh.
To do the work of the Spirit, I
must be anointed, empowered, and directed by the
Spirit of God.
And so many of my problems have arisen
from this same mistake that Moses made.
Having a consciousness of what God wants to
do, having an awareness of the purposes of
God, I try to fulfill the purposes of
God without the leading and the direction and
the help of the Holy Spirit.
I get ahead of God and every time
I do, I botch things up just as
Moses did.
He tried to hide the Egyptians.
Now when he went out the next day,
two men who were Hebrews were fighting together.
And he said unto them that did the
wrong, why did you smite this fellow?
And he said, who made you a prince
and a judge over us?
You intend to kill me like you killed
the Egyptian?
And Moses feared and said, surely this thing
is known.
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought
to kill Moses.
But Moses fled from the face of the
Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian
and he sat down by a well.
So when the Pharaoh discovered that Moses had
taken the side of a Hebrew over an
Egyptian, he had determined to kill Moses.
Moses fled and went out to the area
of Sinai, the Sinai Peninsula.
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters
and they came to draw water and they
filled the troughs to water their father's flocks.
And the mean shepherd boys came and drove
them away.
They stand back and watch the girls draw
all the water up and then they come
and chase the girls off and water their
own flock.
Moses saw what was going on and so
Moses stood up and he helped them and
he watered their flock.
And when they came to Ruel, their father,
he said, how come you're home so early?
And they said, an Egyptian delivered us out
of the hand of the shepherds and he
also drew water enough for us and he
watered the flock.
And he said to his daughters, where is
he?
Why did you leave the man?
Call him that he may eat bread.
Typical kind of Bedouin hospitality.
And Moses was content to dwell with the
man and he gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter,
and she bare him a son and called
his name Gershon, which means stranger.
For he said, I have been a stranger
in a strange land.
And it came to pass in the process
of time that the king of Egypt died
and the children of Israel sighed by reason
of their bondage and they cried and their
cry came unto God by reason of the
bondage.
And God heard their groaning and God remembered
his covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and
with Jacob.
And God looked upon the children of Israel
and God had respect unto them.
Now between verses 22 and 23, a period
of about 40 years.
And so it doesn't really show it in
the text, but it is there.
Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his
father-in-law, the priest of Midian.
And he led the flock to the backside
of the desert and came to the mountain
of God, even to Mount Horeb.
Now no doubt Moses experiences there in the
wilderness were going to be necessary experiences.
Number one, while he was there, he was
learning the lay of the land.
As he was out there as a shepherd
following the flock through the Sinai desert and
around Mount Horeb, he became very well acquainted
with the area.
He knew where all of the wells were.
He began to know a little bit about
the weather conditions and really beginning to get
a lot of good practical savvy on survival
in the wilderness.
These things were all to be helpful for
him in the big project that God had
for him in leading the children of Israel
from Egypt to the promised land.
So he was out there now learning in
this school of experience the wilderness or desert
survival, which would prove to be very handy
later.
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him in a flame of fire out of
the midst of a bush.
And he looked and behold the bush was
burning with fire, but the bush was not
consumed.
And Moses said, I'm going to take a
look at this and see why the bush
is not burnt.
And when the Lord saw that he turned
aside to see, God called unto him out
of the midst of the bush and he
said, Moses, Moses.
And he said, here am I.
And he said, don't draw near, but put
off your shoes from your feet, for the
place where you are standing is holy ground.
Moreover, he said, I am the God of
thy father, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
And Moses hid his face for he was
afraid to look upon God.
And the Lord said, I have surely seen
the affliction of my people, which are in
Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters.
For I know their sorrows, and I am
come down to deliver them out of the
hand of the Egyptians.
So God began to speak to Moses out
of the midst of the burning bush.
First of all, warning him against approaching any
closer, telling him to remove his shoes.
He was on holy ground, declaring himself who
he is.
I am the God of thy father, of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And then God declares, I have surely seen,
I have surely heard, for I surely know.
In the Hebrew it is, seeing I have
certainly seen, knowing I have certainly known, hearing
I have certainly heard.
It's an emphatic in the Hebrew.
God declares the fact that he has seen,
he has heard, he knows.
These are the characteristics of God emphasized by
Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
Your father sees, your father hears, your father
knows.
These are characteristics of God that are always
challenged by the unbeliever.
Is there any knowledge in the Most High?
How does God know?
They feel that they can hide from God.
They scoff at the idea of prayer.
And yet these characteristics of God are emphasized
over and over by Jesus Christ.
How your father loves you, and his ear
is open to your cry, and how he
sees, how he hears, how he knows.
But more than that, I have come to
deliver.
God just doesn't see and say, oh my,
isn't that terrible.
He doesn't hear the cry and say, oh
what a shame.
But he does something about it.
Sometimes our friends offer us great sympathy.
They see, they hear, they say, oh my,
what a shame.
That's so bad.
That's just terrible.
Oh my, thanks.
But the Lord said, I have come to
deliver out of the hand of the Egyptians,
and to bring them up out of that
land into a good land, unto a large,
unto a land flowing with milk and honey,
unto the place of the Canaanites, and the
Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and
the Hivites, and Jebusites, and the PLO.
These glasses I didn't see.
Now therefore behold the cry of the children
of Israel is coming to me.
I have also seen the oppression wherewith the
Egyptians oppressed them.
Some of you have been very oppressed by
people.
You've been lied against.
You've been rejected.
You've been hurt.
You think, oh nobody knows what I'm going
through.
Nobody knows what I'm feeling.
Oh yes, someone knows.
I have seen also the oppression wherewith the
Egyptians oppressed them.
Come now therefore, and I will send you
unto Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my
people, the children of out of Egypt.
And Moses said, who am I that I
should go to Pharaoh, and that I should
bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt.
Now 40 years earlier Moses was gung-ho
for the job.
He started out to do it on his
own, thinking surely they will understand.
But his experience brought him such disappointment.
And now the 40 years in the wilderness
had an extremely mellowing effect upon the guy.
Moses you remember was of the tribe of
Levi.
And we remember concerning the Levites, the prophecy
of Jacob for Levi, cruel and treacherous, cursed
to be your anger, hot-tempered tribe.
Moses had that hot Levite blood coursing through
his system, that short fiery temper.
Turned on the Egyptian and killed him.
And now after 40 years the fire is
gone.
He's not that short-tempered, ready to go
to battle anymore.
In fact he has become very meek.
When God said I want you to go
to the Pharaoh to bring my people out
of the land.
He said, hey who am I that I
should go to the Pharaoh, and that I
should bring forth the children of Israel out
of Egypt.
Who am I?
An interesting question.
I think that everyone who is called of
God probably asked that question.
Who am I Lord?
That I should be the one to do
this.
I think that it is always valuable that
we have a sense of our unworthiness as
being an instrument through which God might do
his work.
I think that God had to bring Moses
to this place, but Moses carried it a
little far.
Who am I?
God said well I'll be with you.
Certainly I will be with you.
And this will be the token unto you
that I have sent you.
When you have brought forth the people of
Egypt you will serve God amount upon this
mountain.
Now he was at Mount Horeb.
And when you bring them out of the
land you're going to worship me right here
on this mountain.
This will be the proof.
It was here at Mount Horeb that he
received the commandment.
Moses said unto God behold when I'm come
to the children of Israel and shall say
unto them the God of your fathers has
sent me unto you.
And they'll say unto me what is his
name?
What shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses I am that
I am.
And he said thus shalt thou say unto
the children of Israel I am hath sent
me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses thou shalt
say to the children of Israel the Lord
God of your fathers the God of Abraham
the God of Isaac the God of Jacob
hath sent me unto you.
This is my name forever and ever.
This is my memorial unto all generations.
Now Moses said who shall I say sent
me?
God said to Moses I am that I
am.
Now this really is to Moses.
God is declaring to Moses that relationship.
I am.
I am what?
I'm whatever you're gonna need.
The name of God.
A verb.
To be.
I am.
Because God always wants to be to you
whatever your particular need might be.
I am your peace.
I am your strength.
I am your help.
I am your guide.
I am your righteousness.
I am your salvation.
I am your hope.
Whatever you might be.
God will become to you whatever is the
need in your life.
How beautiful that is.
The Becoming One.
His name Yahweh.
The Becoming One.
As God becomes to you whatever your need
might be.
Now to the children of Israel.
Verse 25.
God said moreover unto Moses thus shalt thou
say to the children of Israel.
Now they're gonna say who sent me?
To the children of Israel you say the
Lord God of your fathers.
The God of Abraham.
The God of Isaac.
The God of Jacob hath sent me unto
you.
This is my name forever and this is
my memorial to all generations.
So this is by which God identified himself
to the nation.
The God of your fathers or the Jehovah
God of your fathers.
The God of Abraham.
The God of Isaac.
The God of Jacob.
Go and gather the elders of Israel together
and say unto them that Jehovah God of
your fathers.
The God of Abraham.
Of Isaac.
And of Jacob appeared unto me saying I
have surely visited you and seen that which
is done to you in Egypt.
And I have said I will bring you
up out of the affliction of Egypt into
the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites
and the Hivites and Jebusites into a land
that is flowing with milk and honey.
And they shall hearken to your voice and
you shall come down the elders of Israel
under the king of Egypt and you shall
say unto him Jehovah God of the Hebrews
hath met with us.
Now let us go we beseech thee three
days journey in the wilderness that we may
sacrifice to Jehovah our God.
So to the Hebrews he was Jehovah God.
The God of Abraham.
The God of Isaac.
The God of Jacob.
To Pharaoh he was to be Jehovah God
of the Hebrews.
And I am sure that the king of
Egypt will not let you go.
Not by a mighty hand.
And I will stretch out my hand and
smite Egypt with all my wonders which I
will do in the midst thereof.
And after that he will let you go.
And I will give this people favor in
the sight of the Egyptians.
And it so come to pass that when
you go you shall not go out empty.
But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor
and of her that sojourneth in her house
jewels of silver, jewels of gold, raiment.
And you shall put them upon your sons
and upon your daughters.
And you shall spoil the Egyptians.
So God's teaching them how to rip off
the Egyptians.
But in reality what they were taking was
really the wages that were due to them
through the several years of slavery and servitude
in which they were not paid.
And so it was just really collecting back
wages for all of the years that they
had been slaves to the Egyptians.
And Moses answered and said but behold they'll
not believe me.
Now he's not convinced.
They're gonna say who sent you?
Alright God said tell them you know Jehovah
God.
God of your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But Moses objects.
They'll not believe me nor hearken unto my
voice.
For they will say oh Jehovah didn't appear
to you.
The Lord said what have you got in
your hand?
And he said a rod, a walking stick.
God said throw it on the ground.
And he threw it on the ground and
it became a serpent.
And Moses fled from before it.
Lord said to Moses grab it by the
tail.
And put forth his hand and caught it.
And it became a rod again in his
hand.
God said that they may believe that the
Lord God of your fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of
Jacob hath appeared unto thee.
The Lord said furthermore unto him put now
your hand into your bosom.
So he put his hand into his bosom.
And when he took it out behold his
hand was leprous as snow.
And he said put your hand in your
bosom again.
And he put his hand into his bosom
again.
And he plucked it out of his bosom.
And behold it was white again like the
other.
It had turned again rather like the other
flesh.
And so it came to pass.
It shall come to pass Lord said if
they will not believe thee nor hearken to
the voice of the first sign.
They will believe the voice of the latter
sign.
And it shall come to pass that they
will not believe these two signs.
Neither hearken unto your voice.
That you shall take of the water of
the river and pour it on the dry
land.
And the water which you take of the
river shall become blood upon the dry land.
So you want signs?
All right.
You think they won't believe you?
You know when you get there and they
say ah the Lord has appeared.
You just throw your stick down.
When it becomes a snake and starts chasing
them they'll believe.
And if they don't believe that just put
your hand in your side and pull it
out and it'll be leprous.
And they'll all start to flee from you
and all you know.
And then just put it back in and
pull it out again and it'll be whole.
So armed with these signs Moses said unto
the Lord oh my Lord I'm not eloquent.
Neither here to foreign or since.
You have spoken unto your servant.
I'm slow of speech and of a slow
tongue.
Lord I can't speak.
I just you know.
The Lord said unto him and this to
me is very interesting.
Very interesting.
God said who made man's mouth or who
makes.
Wait a minute.
Who makes the dumb or deaf or the
seeing or the blind.
Have not I the Lord.
You mean God made blind people.
And God made deaf and dumb people.
That's what God is saying.
He's taking the responsibility for it.
Now to me that's quite a responsibility to
take.
Because immediately it puts my heart at odds
with God.
Because I don't understand why.
Why would God allow a child to be
born blind or create a blind child as
he declares there.
Why would God create a deaf and dumb
child.
You see immediately my whole concept of God
is challenged.
And yet God has declared that in certain
cases he has created certain physical infirmity.
And notice he doesn't even offer us an
explanation why.
He just declares the fact.
This becomes one of the greatest challenges of
my faith.
But if I can overcome this hurdle.
I will have a greater faith in God.
In fact an unshakable faith in God that
nothing will be able to shake.
If I only believe what I can understand.
That doesn't take faith.
That only takes intellect.
Believing what I can't understand is that step
of faith which honors God.
And without faith it's impossible to please God.
So if I can believe that God has
created a blind child.
And yet believe that God is love.
And that God is just.
Because the scripture declares to me that God
is just.
And God is love.
I am now believing something that I can't
understand.
How can a loving God create a blind
child.
I don't know.
But I know he did.
He said he did.
And I believe his word.
And I believe in him.
And though I may not understand it or
be able to put it together in my
mind.
Yet I believe that God is a God
of love.
I believe that he is a fair God.
And even though he has done things which
I cannot understand.
It doesn't shake my faith in his love.
Because I can't reason it out or understand
it.
Actually I am now coming to a deeper
relationship of faith in God.
And God has used that blind child not
to destroy my faith.
But to deepen my faith in God.
And to take my belief in God from
just sheer intellect to a heart faith.
Which is so important.
Now I do believe that if God has
created a blind child or a deaf child
or a child that has cystic fibrosis or
multiple sclerosis or any of these things.
That there is a purpose of God in
allowing that child to be that way.
Though I may not be able to understand
the purpose.
My intellect fails at this point.
And I stumble intellectually.
Then when I am stumbling intellectually is when
I've got to grab for something else.
And I grab for faith.
God I believe.
God I trust you.
Though I don't understand you.
And my faith is really deeper now than
it ever was.
I do believe that if God does create
a child that way.
That he had a definite reason and purpose
for creating the child that way.
Whether I ever know the purpose or not.
I can guess.
I can surmise.
I can offer conjecture of why it may
be.
Maybe to let us know that this isn't
a perfect world.
Maybe to to just sort of jar us
from complacency.
I can remember back in the Depression years
about the most favorite chorus they used to
sing in church went.
I'll be so glad when day is done.
I'll be so glad when Jesus comes.
There will be no sorrow in God's tomorrow.
I'll be so glad when Jesus comes.
Back in the Depression years they were really
looking for the Lord.
During the war years popular chorus.
After the war the post-war prosperity and
all.
The chorus died.
Didn't sing it anymore.
Lord just wait around.
I'm gonna get this new home and this
new car and I need a swimming pool.
Just wait Lord.
I'll be so glad if you just wait
a little while now.
And you know things are going pretty good
Lord.
You know got a secure job and all
of this.
And and you know now that again there
are very real threats on the horizon.
The energy crisis.
Life isn't gonna be so comfortable anymore.
You're not gonna be able to just jump
in your car and run whenever you want
to.
You're not gonna be able to heat your
swimming pool as high as you used to
have it.
You're not gonna be able to have the
air conditioning on as high as it once
was.
Life's not gonna be so good.
Oh I'll be so glad when day is
done.
Of course I predict a revival for it.
Oh but God aren't you a God of
love.
Yes but the church was getting soft.
The church was becoming complacent.
The church was settling in her leaves.
And God had to pour us into another
vessel.
To make us realize that this earth this
world is not our home.
That we're just passing through.
That it isn't God's intent that we get
all deeply involved in the possession of material
things.
But that our hearts be on the things
of the Spirit and his eternal kingdom.
And so he starts showing us how quickly
and how easily the material things can be
taken away.
And all of a sudden I'm looking for
deeper roots.
I'm beginning to long for his eternal kingdom.
And as I look at sickness.
As I look at physical impairments in my
heart.
I say even so come quickly Lord Jesus.
Hasten the day when the blind will see
the glory of God.
When the lame will leap for joy.
When the dumb will be singing praises unto
thee.
Oh Lord hasten by day.
God declared I have made them.
I don't understand it.
I can't explain it to you.
But it does not at all alter my
faith in God.
Nor my belief in that he is a
God of love.
And that he is fair.
Though I cannot in my mind explain to
you how.
Though I cannot give you a rationale.
Because it hasn't really been reduced to my
intellect.
And thank God it hasn't.
I must just believe his eternal word and
trust in him.
And thus my faith in God is greater.
Now therefore God said go.
And I will be with your mouth and
teach you what you shall say.
And he said oh my Lord send I
pray thee by the hand of him whom
you will send.
Literally he said oh Lord please send someone
else.
After all of this.
Lord they're gonna say who sent you.
What shall I tell them.
The Lord says I'll just say you know
Jehovah God.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
But Lord they're not gonna believe me.
Well what do you got in your hand.
A rod.
Well use that.
But Lord I can't speak.
I'm not eloquent and all.
All right I'll be with your mouth.
I'll give you the words to say.
Lord would you mind sending someone else.
Man talk about a guy that's mellowed out.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Moses.
And he said is not Aaron the Levite
your brother.
I know that he can speak well.
Also behold he's coming forth to meet you.
And when he sees you he'll be glad
in his heart.
And thou shalt speak unto him and put
the words in his mouth and I will
be with thy mouth and with his mouth
and will teach you what ye shall do.
All right.
That's the way you want it.
We'll let Aaron go with you.
Let him be your mouthpiece.
But that wasn't God's you might say direct
will.
It was permissive.
You're gonna argue and you see Aaron became
a real stumbling block along the line.
It wasn't the best.
God will lift you to the highest level
that you will allow him to lift you.
And then he'll do the best for you
on that level.
But so many times with Moses we are
limiting God to the level by which we
will allow him to lift us.
He could have been lifted to one higher
level.
God would have been with him and helped
him.
He didn't need Aaron.
He didn't need Aaron to get in the
way later on.
But you want it.
All right.
You're going to have it.
But you're a step below God's best for
your life.
And it's possible for you to live one
two three rungs down the ladder when God
would have you over the top and totally
victorious.
Your unwillingness to allow God to lift you
to the highest level limiting the work of
God restricting the work of God within your
life.
God is still so loving and gracious.
He'll lift you to the highest level you
will allow him and then you'll do the
very best for you on that level.
But unfortunately we seem to always be restricting
that work of God in us.
Settling for compromises alternate courses.
All right.
You want Aaron.
Fine.
He can speak and let him.
You put the words in his mouth but
I'll still be with your mouth and I'll
be with his mouth too.
And I will teach you what you shall
do and you shall be and he will
be your spokesman under the people and he
shall be and he shall be to the
instead of a mouth and thou shalt be
to him instead of God.
In other words you'll be the go between.
I'll speak to you and give you my
words and you give my words to Aaron.
So now you've got a you know a
step between.
Now who was it that made the golden
calf out there in the wilderness.
Aaron brought a snare upon Israel.
Moses is insisting that God come down to
his level rather than to he arise to
God's level.
So you shall take this rod in your
hand and with it you will do signs
and Moses returned to Jethro his father in
law and said unto him Let me go
I pray thee and return to my brothers
which are in Egypt and see if they're
still alive.
And Jethro said to Moses go in peace.
The Lord said unto Moses in Midian Go
return to Egypt for all the men are
dead which sought your life.
And Moses took his wife and his sons
plural.
So it doesn't tell us when the other
son was born.
We only know of Gershom and he set
them upon a donkey and he returned to
the land of Egypt.
And Moses took the rod of God in
his hand and the Lord said unto Moses
when you go to return into Egypt see
that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh
which I have put in your hand and
I will harden his heart that he shall
not let the people go.
Now that word hardened there in Hebrew is
a word that literally means strengthen I will
make strong his heart.
Now as we read of Moses dealings with
Pharaoh and we'll get into this next week
we read Pharaoh hardened his heart.
The word there in Hebrew is hardened.
And Pharaoh hardened his heart and then we
read and the Lord hardened the heart of
Pharaoh.
Different Hebrew word the Lord made firm the
heart of Pharaoh or the Lord strengthened the
heart of Pharaoh.
In other words Pharaoh set his heart and
God strengthened him in that set.
God strengthened him in his position.
He took his position God strengthened him in
that position.
You want to be stubborn?
All right I'll strengthen you in your stubbornness
I can really bop you good.
That's basically what it was.
You want to be stubborn?
All right Pharaoh set his heart against the
Lord harden it and God strengthened him in
his position.
Made strong the heart of Pharaoh and God
is declaring here I'm gonna make strong or
strengthen his heart.
He'll not let the people go.
And you shall say unto Pharaoh thus saith
Jehovah Israel is my son even my firstborn
and I say unto thee let my son
go that he may serve me.
And if you refuse to let him go
behold I will slay your son even your
firstborn.
Now God said tell Pharaoh this look Israel
is my son my firstborn now let him
go and worship me.
And if you refuse to do it God's
gonna wipe out your son your firstborn.
And it came to pass by the way
in an inn that the Lord met Moses
and sought to kill him.
Hard to understand.
The Lord says go to Egypt now Moses
is going to Egypt and God meets him
in the inn and starts to kill him.
What happened I don't know maybe he had
a seizure.
It is interesting his wife knew exactly what
was going on.
I think that Moses and his wife had
probably had a dispute over the kids.
You see God had commanded that the Hebrew
children should be circumcised on the eighth day.
And that circumcision was a mark of the
covenant relationship of these people with God.
They were to be people who were walking
after the Spirit not after the flesh thus
the cutting away of the flesh.
It was a symbolic action by which these
people were identified as God's people.
The mark of their covenant relationship with God.
Now when Moses went to Midian married the
daughter of Jethro the priest that was there
Zipporah.
When he had his son Gershom he probably
said now we need to circumcise.
Oh you're not gonna mutilate my child.
And probably resisted Moses and Moses again was
you know he was so broken by his
failure that he just let it go.
He didn't circumcise his son.
Rather than getting a hassle with the old
woman he just said all right you know
a meek guy and just let it pass.
And yet she knew when God met Moses
and started to kill him.
And just by what method I don't know
the scripture doesn't say.
But she immediately knew what was going on.
Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut
off the foreskins of her son.
And threw it at Moses feet and said
surely a bloody husband you are to me.
In other words she was still angry about
the thing.
She she went in she gave in on
it.
But showed the bitterness that she had concerning
the thing.
So the Lord let Moses go.
And again she said a bloody husband you
are because of the circumcision.
So here Moses was going to lead God's
covenant people out of the land.
And he had not even fulfilled that covenant
mark in his own children.
His own sons.
And because of Moses failure God was just
impressing on him that he meant business.
And Moses wife suddenly realized that God meant
business.
But she still sort of blamed Moses for
it.
And seemed to be angry with him.
Now the Lord said to Aaron go to
the wilderness and meet Moses.
And so he went and he met him
in the Mount of God.
And he kissed him.
And Moses told Aaron all the words of
the Lord who had sent him.
And all of the signs which he had
commanded him.
And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together
all the elders of the children of Israel.
And Aaron spake all the words which the
Lord had spoken to Moses.
And did the signs in the sight of
the people.
And the people believed.
And when they heard that the Lord had
visited the children of Israel.
And that he had looked upon their affliction.
They bowed their heads in worship.
Here's deliverance.
And they're excited.
They bowed their heads in worship.
And afterwards Moses and Aaron went in.
And told the Pharaoh thus saith Jehovah God
of Israel.
Let my people go that they may hold
a feast unto me in the wilderness.
And Pharaoh said who is Jehovah that I
should obey his voice and let Israel go.
Well you'll find out buddy.
I know not Jehovah neither will I let
Israel go.
So a definite challenge to God by the
Pharaoh.
Who is Jehovah that I should let the
people go.
I don't know him and I'm not going
to let them go.
And they said the God of the Hebrews
hath met with us.
Let us go we pray thee for three
days journey into the desert.
And sacrifice unto the Lord our God.
Lest he fall upon us with pestilence or
with a sword.
And the king of Egypt said unto them
wherefore do ye Moses and Aaron let the
people from their work.
Get back to your burdens.
And Pharaoh said behold the people of the
land are now many.
And you are making them rest from their
burdens.
Who do you think you are demanding that
I let them off work.
Get on back to work yourself.
Pharaoh commanded the same day that the taskmasters
of the people and the officers.
And he said you shall no more give
the people straw to make their brick as
you've done before.
But let them go and gather the straw
for themselves.
But the number of bricks that they make.
You will lay upon them.
You shall not diminish.
For they are idle.
For they are crying saying let us go
and sacrifice our God.
They don't have enough to do.
They want to go out and sacrifice to
their God.
So give them more work to do.
Make them produce the same number of bricks
but don't furnish the straw anymore.
Let them go and gather the straw for
themselves.
Let there be more work laid upon the
men that they may labor therein and let
them not regard vain word.
And so the taskmasters of the people went
out and the officers and they speak to
the people saying thus saith the Pharaoh I
will not give you straw.
Now you go get your own straw where
you can find it.
And yet you must come up with the
same quota of bricks.
So the people were scattered abroad throughout all
the land of Egypt to gather the stubble
instead of the straw.
And the taskmasters hasted them saying fulfill your
works your daily quotas the same as when
you had your straw.
And the officers of the children of Israel
which Pharaoh's taskmasters had said over them were
beaten and they demanded.
They said they said why haven't you fulfilled
your task in making the bricks both yesterday
and today as you've done before.
The officers of the children of Israel came
and cried into Pharaoh saying why are you
dealing with your servants like this.
There's no straw given to your servants and
yet they say unto us make bricks and
behold your servants are beaten.
But the fault is with your own people.
But he said you are idle you're idle.
Therefore you're saying let's go and sacrifice to
Jehovah.
Go therefore now and work but there shall
no straw be given you yet shall you
deliver the same quota of bricks.
So the officers of the children of Israel
did see that they were in an evil
case after it was said you shall not
diminish from the number of bricks from your
daily task.
And so they met Moses and Aaron who
stood in the way as they came forth
from Pharaoh and they said unto them the
Lord look upon you and judge because you
have made our savor to be abhorred in
the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes
of his servants to put a sword in
their hand to slay us.
And Moses returned to the Lord and said
Lord what have you done this evil to
the people.
Why is it that you have sent me.
God I told you I didn't want to
come.
Why did you send me Lord.
Why did you create this evil and all.
For since I came to Pharaoh to speak
in your name he's only done evil to
the people and neither has he delivered your
people at all.
Now it is interesting in the city of
Python which of course is one of the
cities that is mentioned here where the children
of Israel made for the Pharaoh.
That the archaeologist in uncovering the ancient city
of Python found walls where in the lower
layers the bricks have cut even straw in
the bricks.
As you get into the higher layers of
the same wall the bricks have uneven straw
scattered in them and in the upper layer
of the bricks in the same wall there
is all kinds of stubble roots and everything
else in mixed in with the bricks which
are a perfect proof of the story that
is here in Exodus there in the walls
and the ruins of Python.
You can see the various bricks as the
task was made harder as first of all
they refused to give them the straw and
let them gather straw and then later said
you just gather stubble whatever you can.
And so the weeds and the roots and
all that were in the upper level of
the bricks and so a great confirmation of
this particular chapter in Exodus is there today
for the visitor to see the proof of
God's Word that that indeed did happen.
Moses is beginning his problems with the children
of Israel.
They are complainers and grumblers from the word
go.
Here they're crying unto God Oh God deliver
us.
Now God sends the deliverer and the first
thing they do is start to give him
a bad time and they continue to give
him a bad time the rest of his
life.
I really feel for Moses and the task
that he had in leading these people out
and into the wilderness and the wandering in
the wilderness.
But we read how that Moses then went
to the Lord and began to pour out
his complaint to the Lord.
Lord why have you done this?
Why did you send me God?
Things aren't getting better they're getting worse since
you sent me.
It's not that people aren't better they're worse
off.
You know quite often Satan when you embark
on a work of God throws so many
things in the way that things look like
they've just gotten so much worse you wonder
oh man did God really tell me that
or did God really call me and he
does his best to discourage you right at
the onset of any program that you endeavor
for God.
You'd be amazed how many problems can arise
when you make a commitment to God you
desire to serve the Lord.
Not going to be peaches and cream not
going to be rosy.
Satan will do his best to discourage you
and so often things look like they have
just gone from bad to calamity because you've
launched out in faith to do a work
for God.
Satan will do his best to hinder it
and stop it at the beginning and he'll
do anything to stop it.
Discouragement, lies, anything to stop that work of
God that you endeavor for him.
So the secret is just keep on.
If God has called you to a task
do it.
Don't get discouraged at initial responses.
Years ago I thought God called me to
the ministry and so I trained went to
school prepared and spent 17 years trying to
minister until I became so discouraged I thought
well maybe God didn't call me to the
ministry.
I was ready to quit ready to give
up so many times put out applications for
different kinds of work get out of the
ministry get into something secular.
I was discouraged I was tired fighting the
hassle trying to feed a family and patch
the squabbles of little people.
The thing the interesting thing is it was
just after my period of greatest discouragement and
really just sort of resigning from the ministry
and going into home Bible studies that God
really began to bless and anoint my ministry.
Just when I had a good job started
making money.
Satan will do his best to discourage you
he'll make you question your call.
He'll challenge you on every corner.
If God has called you to do it
stick with it.
God will bring it through.
God will work.
I know exactly how Moses felt.
I've turned in my resignation to God so
many times Lord I've had it through.
Thought you called me to the ministry.
Lord there's nothing happening.
Tired.
I get out there and get back to
work.
Crying into me.
Next week we'll take the next five chapters
of Exodus as we continue on and we
find out how Moses finds out who Jehovah
is.
He'd be sorry he ever asked that question
when God gets through with him.