Exodus 1

The exodus of the people of God from their bondage in Egypt is one of the most glorious and important pictures of our salvation contained in the Hebrew Scriptures. The slavery of Israel in a foreign land was not a surprise to God. Generations before the Lord had revealed to Abraham, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.”

This is exactly what took place. The time of Israel in Egypt began with the amazing story of Joseph, who served as a trusted adviser of Pharaoh. Eventually that Pharaoh would breathe his last and another man would take his place. As the centuries moved forward, Israel grew from the original sons of Jacob and their immediate descendants, seventy persons, to a vast and exceedingly strong multitude. The land was filled with them. But they were no longer treated with respect. Joseph was long gone, and the new regime did not respect Israel.

The new Pharaoh planted within the minds of his advisers a security concern regarding this minority people. There were too many of them, and they were too strong. If they sided with an enemy of the Egyptians, they would be a formidable force against the rulers of the land.

His solution was to persecute them. He put people over them in order to enforce the royal decrees. They afflicted them with heavy burdens.

This plan did not work. As has often happened with Israel and with the church over the centuries before and after the coming of the Messiah, the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread abroad. When an enemy tries to destroy the Lord's people only to have them prosper, that enemy can quickly be filled with fear. When God causes His people to survive and even thrive in the midst of fierce opposition the people who stand against them can become enraged, and their venom against God and His beloved people may grow.

The Egyptians made the lives of the people of Israel bitter with oppressive work. They ruthlessly abused them as slaves. If that was not enough, Pharaoh began a program of genocide directed at the Israelite males. He gave the order to the midwives among them to kill the baby boys, but to let the girls live. This was a wicked attempt to take away all protection from those who were weak. It was a male, a seed of the first woman, who would one day crush the head of the serpent. The spirit of Anti-Messiah was at work in the governing authorities in Egypt.

This plan was also a failure. The midwives feared God. They would not obey the king of Egypt. They lied to him rather than obey his vicious law. What was God's reaction? He blessed them for the lie that saved the lives of the babies of His people. Once again, the people multiplied and grew very strong.

Pharaoh did not give up his rage easily. He would use the power that he had against the Lord's suffering people. He would not give his command only to the midwives. Everyone was to be a soldier of death for his evil purposes. If it was his will to see baby boys die, they would die. He gave a command to all his people. They were all deputized on the side of the Anti-Messiah king of Egypt. “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

What an order! All the people of Egypt must be murderers of the Hebrews without any just cause, or they will face the wrath of the supreme authority in the land.

Throughout the history of our redemption, there have been many powerful men and angels who imagined that they could thwart the plan of God's special love for His chosen people in Israel and the church. Some have put their hand to the plow in their desire to kill. They have used murder as their weapon when lesser forms of persecution have failed.

Wherever such vehement hate seems to win the day, it may look like the purposes of God will fail. But this is never the truth. God wins.

The Lord was the One who brought Joseph to Egypt in the first place. The Lord was the One who announced it all beforehand to Joseph's great-grandfather, Abraham. It would be the Lord who would lead His people out of Egypt. In the process of redeeming them by the blood of the Lamb, He would teach His people about the coming Messiah, the true Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

He too would face the wrath of a murderous king, but everything that would happen to Him would be in accord with the plan of the Almighty. Though at our lowest moments it may appear that evil will prevail, God will always win in the end. His Name will be blessed forever and ever. He has rescued us from bondage.