Exodus 1:1-22

I.   Introduction

Two of the great themes in the Bible are oppression of God’s people and their deliverance.  It is a theme that dominates the first part Exodus and our advent season. 

II.  The Egyptians persecute Israel, but God blesses them.

1.  Our text this morning is an introduction.  The first half of our book has us in Egypt where God will birth and liberate his people.  The geography is important because John in Revelation 11:8 tells us that we live in spiritual Egypt.  It is a dangerous place for Christians for two reasons.  First, it is a place of allurement.  Second, it is a place of persecution.  Appl:  Barna and the abandonment of the traditional/neo-Christianity. 

2.  Thus, it is good to look at the past as a key to divine deliverance today.

3.  We learn that Israel is now outside the land of promise in Egypt.  A key to the passage is the Abrahamic covenant where we learn that the patriarch was to be the father of a great nation.  It will occur in Egypt; divine blessing during oppression.  The twelve sons of Jacob will become twelve tribes.  Initially, Egypt will bless Israel.  Here, they begin to curse her.  And God, true to his word to Abraham, will curse Egypt.  Appl:  God’s faithfulness/our comfort and protection as we are the sons of Abraham.  See Galatians 3:29 & Ephesians 2:12-13.

4.  The formation of the nation is highlighted in verse 7.  There are four verbs that suggest immense growth:  fruitful, swarm, become many, and are vast.  The first and third verbs (prh, rbh) mark this verse as an allusion to Genesis 1:28 where the same verbs are used.  This is Adam’s commission to expand the boundaries of Eden as a type of temple of the divine presence.  Adam failed.  The commission is re-issued in 9:1 and 17:6.  God is acting again to raise up a corporate Adam.  See Exodus 4:22.  Israel will fail too.  God will raise up the second Adam Christ who will succeed.  The twelve tribes become the twelve apostles.  The Great Commission is a re-issuance of the commission to Adam.  The new Israel will succeed.  See Acts 6:7, 12:24, 19:20 (context is oppression), and Colossians 1:6.  Appl:  continuity in redemptive history makes Exodus meaningful to us.

5.  The change to oppression comes in vs. 8.  Pharaoh will attempt to counter the blessing of God.  The previous kings saw Joseph as a blessing to Egypt in fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.  The Church in “Egypt” is a blessing to the secular culture (education, hospitals, orphanages, rights for women, etc.).  But as secular culture rejects this, it also turns to persecution to destroy the people of God. 

6.  The covenant blessing is engaged in 8-14 when oppression takes the form of enslavement.  See 10-11.  He uses slave labor to build his kingdom at the expense of the kingdom of God.  Perhaps he reasoned that they would be too exhausted to procreate or that many would be killed in the construction projects.  But God counters him.  It is an implicit story line.  Read vs. 12.  In other words, God blesses his people in the oppression.  Ironically, here is the most powerful man in the kingdom of Egypt.  But his word is thwarted.  It is the curse of the Abrahamic covenant.  God’s word is supreme.  Men can resist and reject it, but they cannot stop it.  It will eventually stop them as we will see in the ironic destruction of Pharaoh.  See Isaiah 40:23-24, 46:8-11.  Appl:  Gospel (blessing/curse). 

7.  The covenant blessing is engaged in 15-22 when oppression will take the form of genocide. Read 15-16.  By application, this is a perversion of the role of civil government.  Slavery and state sponsored genocide are outside the proper role of government.  As such, it is proper for the Church to cry out against moral evil using non-violent civil disobedience.  This is a proper and necessary role of the Church.  In our text, God counters him.  The midwives fear Elohim.  We must fear God above the fear of man.  This is a great illustration of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man; specifically, God uses means to accomplish his purposes; in our case, the faithful midwives.  But behind them is God who has set fear in their hearts.  Read vs. 17-19.  There is further irony here.  The Hebrew women thwart the word of Pharaoh by not acting upon it because they know the word of God is greater.  Appl:  for us (word over our peers, colleagues, etc.).  And God blesses them (vs. 20).  And two of our verbs from vs. 7 reappear meaning blessing is occurring during oppression.

8.  In desperation, Pharaoh commands his people to throw the newborn babes into the Nile.  The Nile was a source of life; he will make it a source of death.  It manifests the depravity of Pharaoh.  God is greater than the Nile River god and will destroy Pharaoh for trying to curse his people.  See Psalm 69:2, Isaiah 43:16 & Revelation 12:15-16.  The great irony here is that this event becomes predictive of Pharaoh’s death.  He uses water to harm God’s people; God will use water on him. 

9.  Thus, God counteracts Pharaoh at every turn.  Pharaoh incites oppression.  God turns it into blessing.  Appl:  sovereignty in hardship/oppression.

10.  The greatest story of covenant blessing from oppression is Christ.  See Matthew 2:13.  Jesus, the true Israel, is spared by providence and becomes the source of blessing and ultimate deliverance.  Appl:  gospel/hope in hardship.