Exodus 2:23-25

I.   Introduction

There are many questions that perplex us as Christians.  “Why” is certainly one of them.  Why does God act?    The answer is here.

II.  God remembers his covenant with Abraham.

1.  We have seen no explicit reference to God in the provision and preparation of a deliverer.  This text will change that.  God will now take center stage.  It is really a summary text that turns us backward to God’s promise to Abraham, and with this, forward with the basis of his promise to deliver.  The promise is the Abrahamic covenant.  The act of deliverance is but his promise to Abraham. 

2.  The first part of the text begins with actions by the sons of Abraham.  Read vs. 23.  They cry out … and their cry rose up to God.  It is a great picture of petition or prayer.  They are in distress.  They turn to Elohim.  The name is particularly tied to God as Creator (contra Yahweh).  In other words, he can create deliverance.  It is of particular significance because Moses is indisposed.  He tried and failed at deliverance.  God can and will, and he will re-create Moses to be the agent of his deliverance.  The initiative of Moses failed.  The divine will not.  This text enforces this simple truth.

3.  The text also reads the sons of Israel cried out.  Sons petition.  They ask their father.  Beyond their distress, what is the theological basis of their petition?  The next verse will tell us; God’s covenant with Abraham.  And this is why God will act.  I do not wish to minimize their prayer.  Prayer does turn God but only consistent with his nature and character.  In this case, consistent with his promise to their forefather.  In other words, God turns only because he was predisposed within himself to turn based upon the covenant he made with Abraham.  This is why we pray.  We ask him to do what he has already said he will do. 

4.  The covenant, therefore, is central to deliverance.  We find it everywhere.  In Genesis, Moses is tracing the lineage of the sons of God.  It is particularized with Abraham.  See Genesis 12:1-3 and 15:12-18.  The latter text is significant because the contract made between the two parties is executed by just one of them to insure a perpetual unbroken promise of fulfillment.  The words of vs. 18 made a covenant are literally cut a covenant.  In the ANE, animals were divided.  See vs. 10.  The parties would walk between the two halves to seal the contract.  The symbolism was that whoever broke the contract would be cut just like the animals.  Before the two parties sign, God puts Abraham to sleep (vs. 12).  And God ratifies the covenant himself and makes Abraham the heir unconditionally.  The covenant is rehearsed with Isaac (26:3-4), Jacob (28:13), and Joseph (49:22ff).  It skips to the successive generations of the sons of Abraham.  See Psalm 105:8-9, 42.  It comes to us through Jesus Christ.  See Luke 1:54-55 (Christ) 72-73, Galatians 3:7-9, 4:28, and Ephesians 2:12f.  Abraham stops at Christ.  The covenant is now between Son and Father.  Appl:  Gospel.

5.  In our text (24-25), what follows are four verbs with the same subject repeated for emphasis.  God (Elohim) heard, remembered, saw, and took notice or literally knew.  The appearance is that God is detached and aloof.  He has forgotten and needs to be updated on their condition.  Once he learns it, he will act.  But this is the human perspective from which Moses wrote.  We must impose the whole of the divine person upon it to see its beauty.  He hears their prayer not because he is ignorant of their distress and needs their information.  He remembers the covenant words he spoke to Abraham and says now is the time.  God does not forget.  He knows all things actual and possible in one eternal act.  Therefore, he remembers not because he has forgotten but only because now is the time for him to begin to fulfill his covenant through Moses.  He saw and knows not because he looks down from his throne and gains information about their plight.  He knows because he decreed deliverance to Abraham and now undertakes to act upon his decree.  It is written this way as if heaven is saying “now.”  And it all serves as a prelude to the call of Moses in chapter three.

6.  Now, I do not wish to minimize the human perspective.  God’s people are always praying for deliverance.  We ask God to remember us.  We now know that it is not because he has forgotten us.  We must engage the human.  But the divine governs reality.  And God has answered our prayers in Christ and because of our covenantal identity in him.

7.  But the greater reality is why he remembers us at all?  The answer is his covenant.  See Genesis 8:1 (covenant with Noah/symbolism of re-creation), Genesis 19:29 (saves Lot because of Abraham), Genesis 30:22 (had to be because of the promise of a son through Abraham), and Ephesians 1:4-5 (covenant of grace).  The why, therefore, is God’s word to himself.  It is the cause of all of his actions.

8.  And this morning we will remember his grace to us in the new covenant inaugurated by his Son.  Why does he save us?  Christ.  What is the basis of his salvation to us?  Christ.  He remembers us in him, and we in turn remember him in his sacrament!