Exodus Chapter 1 Introduction
A. Israel’s affliction in Egypt.
1. (1-6) The twelve sons of Jacob who came into Egypt.
Exodus
Introduction
What is the greatest thing that God has done? Some may say “creation,” yet, how many books are devoted to the topic of creation? Primarily, Genesis, some Psalms, a couple of chapters in Job, Isaiah, etc.
There is another act of God that is more profound than creation: redemption! How many books are devoted to the subject of redemption? In a specific sense: Revelation, Joshua, Ruth, etc., and also, in an anticipatory sense, Exodus.
One would be surprised to find an Old Testament book that has more prophecies than the Book of Exodus. For example, Moses finds the burning acacia bush, which has thorns but which was not consumed by the fire. Later, Jesus bears a crown of thorns. Thorns being a symbol of the curse—sin. The flame being the Hands of the Living God. The bush was not consumed by the fire, this is a model of grace.
We will look at the plagues of Egypt, the role of the firstborn, the Feast of Passover introduced, and the Tabernacle, all which speak of one thing: Jesus Christ!
Psalm 119:162. “Findeth great spoil.” Romans 15:4, “Whatsoever things ...were written for our learning.” Every detail is engineered by the Holy Spirit and has a significance beyond the event.
Genesis, as the book of “beginnings,” doctrinally focuses on “election”: We find Shem as elected out of the sons of Noah, Abraham, Isaac (over Ishmael), Jacob (over Esau), Joseph (among 12 tribes), Ephraim (over Manasseh). Gen 48:13-20, 2 Thess 2:13.
As we continue through the Torah, Exodus deals with redemption, Leviticus deals with worship, Numbers deals with the walk, and Deuteronomy deals with warfare during the wilderness.
A Brief Outline
Chapters 1-6: Our need for redemption, our enslavement, Israel enslaved to Egypt, as we are enslaved to sin.
Chapters 7-11: God’s might and His ability to perform the redemption (through the plagues). We will see Him specifically engineer things to show His might.
Chapters 12-18: The character of redemption, the blood purchase, is actually ordained in Eden, not Exodus; however, here it is established in the regulatory sense.
Many of the practices were actually ordained in Eden and re-established here in Exodus.
Chapters 19-24: The duty which redemption implies, that is obedience.
Chapters 25-40: His provisions for our failures: the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was established for Israel as a recognition that they would stumble. It was the place for the cleansing and the reestablishment for fellowship, just as Jesus is our Tabernacle.
The Number Two
Many scholars like to make a big deal out of the appearance of the number two in Exodus. The number two means several things, usually implying a difference or a division; e.g., in Genesis, on the second day God divided the waters. The number two can also represent witness, when two men agree; and we will see all kinds of witnesses in the Book of Exodus (Moses and Aaron, Passover night, wilderness, and the Tabernacle).
The number two also implies two things in opposition to one another; that is in the sense of contrast to one another. For example: Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon. Two can also be opposition, the enemy. For example: Pharaoh and the taskmasters, Pharaoh’s two magicians (named in 2 Tim 3:8) and the Amalekites in the wilderness (Ex 17:8).
We will see the concept of dividing with Pharaoh, in the “dividing of the babes,” he literally orders a “division.” We will find that the Lord with the plagues is “severing,” severing Israel from Egypt. (Plagues in 8:22,23; cattle in 9:4; Red Sea in 14:21; the
Veil designed to divide in 26:33.)
Types: Redemption by Christ
We will discover that Exodus becomes a prophetic model in a much broader sense.(Don’t misunderstand, there really was a Pharaoh, they were really in bondage...) In a mystical sense, and in arhetorical sense, the Holy Spirit will use this situation to speak to us about a number of different things.
We will generally identify ourselves related to Israel, God’s chosen people. They find themselves in bondage to sin, they are located in Egypt (Egypt becomes a type or a model of the world, where we were before grace).
We will find Pharaoh cast in the role or the model of the enemy, the Adversary, Satan. We will see Moses as God’s appointed deliverer who brings them out of there.
In another sense prophetically, I am going to suggest to you that the book of Exodus is a model of another “exodus.” I am going to suggest that the bondage and the affliction in Exodus is not the worst that they will ever see (Mt 24:21-22).
Contrast Genesis and Exodus
Genesis Exodus
Family Nation Born
Abraham (few) Millions Welcomed & Feared & hated honored in Egypt in Egypt
Pharaoh knows God (41:39) Knew not the Lord (5:2)
Lamb promised (22:8) Lamb slain (12)
Entry to Egypt Exodus from Egypt
Land of milk & honey Wilderness
Joseph in a coffin Glory of the Lord=
Tabernacle
Types
A type, or model, is a representation for a particular purpose. In the Scriptures there are models, or types—ideas introduced for the specific purpose of teaching us something broader.
Israel = ourselves (our predicament and response)
Egypt = the world (where we are before grace)
Pharaoh = Adversary (ruler of this world) Bondage = sin
Deliverer, Moses = type of Christ
(foreknown, slaughter of babes, called to deliver his people,
Midian priest with 7 daughters,...)
Passover = Role as the Believer (Lamb of God)
Deliverance from the yoke of bondage
Types of Christ
Moses
Burning Bush
Passover Lamb
Crossing of the Red Sea (life to some ...)
Manna (Bread of Life)
Smitten Rock
Tabernacle
Prophetic Implications
In a prophetic sense we can look at the Israelites in the Tribulation, Pharaoh being the Antichrist. The groanings and cryings more intense, the plagues more fearful (on the world). The two witnesses with signs and wonders being rejected. Satan’s emissaries using magic. The remnant in the wilderness and the deliverance. There is a greater Exodus to come!
Documentary Hypothesis
Exodis is one of the five books of Moses, part of the Torah or Pentateuch. The “Documentary hypothesis” attempts to ascribe the five books of Moses as written by other people. They noted certain distinguishing marks in the text, and they sorted out different styles. Jesus Christ knew better! Jesus Christ quoted from each of the five books of Moses and attributed it to Moses. So if you are a Christian, you can save yourself a lot of trouble. The Documentary Hypothesis is not only unscholarly, but more importantly it is an anathema to a fundamental Believer because it creates doubt where you don’t need doubt. The best commentary on the Scripture is the Scripture itself!
Why Did God Allow...
Why did God allow them to be so cruelly treated? One answer would be to prepare them for their inheritance, they went in as a family and came out as a nation.
Another thing to remember is that this program was laid out long before there even was a Joseph to take them there in the first place! In Genesis 15:16, God told Abraham. (Amorites iniquity not full, see Mt 23:32; 1 Thess 2:16.)
What Man Sows, So Shall He Reap
Joseph’s brothers were to be punished for their treatment of Joseph, to the third and fourth generation, Gen 15:7-17. Christ was delivered to the Gentiles, Israel has also been delivered to the Gentiles by the Diaspora. Christ was “cut off,” Israel was also cut off in 70 A.D.
Egypt
Egypt is the world. Remember the promise that Satan as the serpent gave Eve, “If you eat of this fruit, you shall be as gods.” You are going to worship yourselves. One of the follies of civilization is that man will extol his own achievements. It is interesting that these man-made achievements were very visible in Egypt. The primary Egyptian contribution to literature is “The Book of The Dead.” The whole concept of life was a past tense type of thing, their science and art focused on death, not life. Their religion embalmed relics, they spoke of a life that “had been.” All of this is in contrast to, God who said, “I Am the I Am, that was, that is, that will ever be.” Egypt deified its lusts and passions, which is the same for all of heathen worship.
1-6 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation.
Jacob” (his old name) is used, which implies the worldly or flesh context. When he is spoken of in a positive spiritual sense, his new name of “Israel” is used. Remember that “Jacob” means “supplanter.”
We entered bondage with our father, Adam (all children born outside Eden), they came into place of bondage with him.
They reside in Goshen (Gen 47:6), the best part of the land. Gen
46:3, “I will there make of thee a great nation.”
a. Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt: The first verses of Exodus reach back some 430 years. The story of the Exodus begins where the story Genesis ends: a large family with a crucial place in God’s plan of the ages and their migration to Egypt.
i. The Hebrew title for the Book of Exodus is taken from its first words: And These are the Names Of. In the original language, the first word of Exodus is and, marking its continuity from the Genesis account.
b. And Joseph died: Joseph was the remarkable great-grandson of Abraham who saved Egypt – and the world – from terrible famine because he listened to God’s voice speaking through Pharaoh’s dream. Because of his wisdom and administration, he was lifted to high and honored office in Egypt. Yet eventually, Joseph died and the status his family enjoyed died with him.
2. (7) The rapid multiplication of the children of Israel in Egypt.
But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
Estimated that 30 years had taken place. See Stephen’s comments on the Old Testament in Acts 7:6 and also Ex 12:40.
a. The land was filled with them: Genesis 47:27 says, So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly. They did indeed multiply exceedingly over the generations – so that the land was filled with them.
i. At Exodus 1:7: “The Hebrew deliberately repeats three verbs used in Genesis 1:21,22 which may be translated ‘were fruitful… swarmed… became numerous’.” (Cole)
b. The children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly: This family started with five people back in Haran: Jacob, Rachel, Leah, Zilphah, and Bilhah. Blessed by God, the family of Israel grew rapidly in their years in Egypt.
3. (8-11) Afraid of their growing presence, the Egyptians oppress the Israelites.
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 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.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses.
Acts 7:18, “Til another king arose, who knew not Joseph.” The Greek word for “another” has two different words “another of the same kind” (allos) or “another of a different kind” (heteros).
Here Steven uses heteros in describing the new Pharaoh.
Isaiah 52:4, “an Assyrian oppressed them.” (Not Egypt, which is “Mizraim”). So this King over Egypt is there by conquest (or something) and not by blood; a foreigner on the throne. Now reread verses 9 - 10. The Scripture is self-interpreting.
“Our Enemies”: Jn 15:18, 19; 1 Thess 2; Rev 12. Note verses 9, 22 of Exodus 1.
“Deal wisely” - before the chapter is over, we are going to discover that he will provide board, lodging and education to the very person whom he is afraid of! (Cf. 1 Cor 3:19; 1:19).
a. Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them: The ancient Egyptians were famous – or infamous – for their proud sense of racial superiority towards all other people. It isn’t surprising to see them afraid and discriminating against this strong minority group in their midst, which looked as if it would not be a minority very long.
b. In the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us: At the time, the Egyptians feared invasion from the Hittites of the north. If the Hebrews among them joined with the Hittites, it posed a significant threat to their security.
c. They set taskmasters over them… they built for Pharaoh supply cities: When the children of Israel were set to slave labor they built many of the great cities and monuments in Egypt – though not the pyramids, which were built much earlier. Since we don’t know exactly when this forced labor began, we don’t know how long it lasted. Some estimate the slavery lasted 284 years, others 134 years.
i. There is a famous wall painting on an ancient tomb from Thebes, Egypt (modern Luxor) – the tomb of the overseer of brick-making slaves during the reign of Thutmose III. “The painting shows such overseers armed with heavy whips. Their rank is denoted by the long staff held in their hands and the Egyptian hieroglyphic determinative of the head and neck of a giraffe.” (Kaiser)
4. (12-14) Israel prospers and grows despite the hard bondage of the Egyptians.
But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. 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.
Rome also discovered that the more they tried to crush this new religion (of the 1st century), the more it grew and spread. In fact, the church is generally healthier when it was being persecuted than it was when the Romans had the so-called ‘conversion’ in 312 AD.
a. The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew: This was God’s purpose for Israel’s time in Egypt. Egypt served as a mother’s womb for Israel, a place where they rapidly grew from a large clan to a mighty nation.
i. The nation could not grow this way in Canaan, because it was practically impossible to avoid intermarriage with the pagan and wicked inhabitants of Canaan. Egypt was so racially biased and had such an entrenched system of racial separation that Israel could grow there over several centuries without being assimilated.
ii. 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.”
iii. Suffering and persecution are like a great wave that comes upon a ship and looks as if it will destroy it; but the ship catches the wave and just uses it to speed along.
b. They made their lives bitter with hard bondage: Because God’s purpose was to bless Israel and fulfill His role for them in His eternal plan, no amount of affliction could defeat His purpose. The Egyptians tried their best through cruel slavery; but it did not work. The principle of Isaiah 54:17 proved true: No weapon formed against you shall prosper. The wickedness of the Egyptians could hurt the children of Israel but could never defeat God’s plan for them.
i. Pharaoh thought it best to not kill them; but he did want them to be slaves.
ii. In the midst of their cruel and harsh service, life must have seemed hopeless to the children of Israel, and the idea that God was working out His plan must have seemed very far away – yet it was true nonetheless.
B. The Hebrew midwives obey God.
1. (15-16) The king of Egypt tries to destroy Israel by ordering the death of all male babies.
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; 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.”
Obviously more than two midwives, but here only two are singled out.
“Shiphrah” means “glisten.”
“Puah” means “brilliance, glitter.”
a. Of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah: We shouldn’t expect that these two women were the only midwives for all the children of Israel. They were probably the leaders of some association of midwives.
i. “Shiphrah and Puah are two good Semitic names, of an archaic type… meaning something like ‘beauty’ and ‘splendour’ respectively.” (Cole)
b. If it is a son, then you shall kill him: The king of Egypt commanded them to kill all the male babies, to utterly weaken and practically destroy the people of Israel within a generation.
i. We may see the command of Pharaoh as consistent with Satan’s plan of Jew-hatred through the centuries, as an attack against God’s Messiah and ultimate plan for Israel in His plan of redemption. Satan knew that the Messiah – the Seed of the Woman, the One who would crush his head (Genesis 3:15) – would come from the children of Israel. Therefore, he tried to destroy the whole nation in one generation by ordering all the male children killed.
2. (17) The midwives bravely obey God rather than men.
But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.
a. But the midwives feared God: They probably feared Pharaoh and his power; but they feared God more. For them, the choice was clear. The civil government commanded something that was clearly against God’s command. The midwives did the only right thing: they obeyed God rather than men.
b. Saved the male children alive: They acted on the same principle as did the persecuted apostles in Acts 4:19, when Peter asked the civil authorities: Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
i. Though generally we are called to obey the government and honor civic rulers (Romans 13:1-5), we are never called to put government in the place of God. Therefore, if the government tells us to do something against God’s will, we are to obey God first.
3. (18-22) God blesses the efforts of the midwives.
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?” 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.” Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. 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.”
“Houses” = families. (1 Sam 2:30; 2 Sam 7:11; 1 Kgs 2:24.)
a. Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: Many people assume that the Hebrew midwives lied to Pharaoh when they said this. However, this may not be the case. The midwives may have told the truth, – perhaps indeed the Hebrew women were heartier than the Egyptian women, yet the midwives did not explain all the reasons why the babies were spared.
i. “This might be no lie, as many suppose, but a truth concerning many of them, and they do not affirm it to be so with all… So here was nothing but truth, though they did not speak the whole truth, which they were not obliged to do.” (Poole)
ii. “We are not told whether the midwives were lying, or whether the quick delivery of ‘Hebrew’ babies was a biological fact… Even if they lied, it is not for their deceit that they are commended, but for their refusal to take infant lives.” (Cole)
b. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: Even if the midwives deceived Pharaoh, that was not what God blessed; He blessed their godly bravery in obeying God before man.
c. The people multiplied and grew very mightily: The worse the persecution against God’s plan to multiply the children of Israel in Egypt, the more God made sure the plan succeeded. This is a wonderful example of the goodness and the power of God. Pharaoh said, “less” and God said, “more.” Pharaoh said, “stop” and God said, “go.”
i. If the battle were just between Pharaoh and the people of Israel, Pharaoh would have clearly won. But the real battle included God in the equation, and that changed everything.
ii. God obviously won this battle; but He won His victory through some courageous individuals who were willing to stand up to the power of Pharaoh and do what was right.
d. He provided households for them: This was God’s blessing on the midwives – He enabled them to have children of their own. Usually, midwives held their occupation because they had no children of their own.
e. Every son who is born you shall cast into the river: Seeing that his plan did not work, Pharaoh made a far more radical command, that all male children should be killed – apparently even Egyptian boys (Pharaoh commanded all his people).
i. The method Pharaoh commanded for the death of the male children of Israel became the divine provision for training the deliverer of Israel.
