Exodus 2:15-22 – The need to connect with God

Moses had the heart for the unusual mission but the timing and method he went about it the first time was wrong. In a rage, he killed the Egyptian taskmaster and hid him in the sand. He did not know but what he did was noticed by one of the Hebrews. As he was trying to help settle a dispute between his Hebrew brethren, one of them accused him of seeking to do the same to him as he did to that taskmaster. Knowing that what he did would soon reach the ear of Pharaoh, he did not wait for the outcome.

The murder was obviously wrong. No matter how justifiable the reason for doing it, it was a sin. For his mistaken zeal, Moses anticipated that Pharaoh would want him more dead than alive. So, in verse 15, we are told that he fled and settled in Median and was now sitting by a well. He must have had the time to muse over all that had happened and wished he had a chance to redo what he did wrong. The best anyone who has made a mistake can do is to learn from the mistake that he had made.

Here, by the well of Midian, Moses was given a test to see if he had learned from his mistake. He had the opportunity to help the daughters of a Midian priest from some bullies by the well. The seven daughters of Reuel, a Midian priest, brought their father’s flock to the well to water them. Then came some rough shepherds who intimidate them and made it hard for them to fulfil their duties. Right there Moses was confronted with another situation of gross injustice. It was not slaves being oppressed, but girls being bullied. Instinctively, he helped them out and even went to the extent of helping them to water their father’s flock. Ordinarily, Reuel’s daughters would have to bear with the injustice and could only do the watering of the flock after the bullies had done theirs. But with the help of Moses, they were able to finish their task early. This was noticed by Reuel and inquired how they could do their task so fast that day. They narrated about how they were helped by Moses, who was eventually given the hand of Zipporah, one of his daughters, in marriage.   

  

In just one act, Moses forfeited all the luxuries of the palace accumulated over 40 years. And by the time he paid for his mistaken zeal, he had to spend another 40 years in Midian. This period in Midian was his re-training ground for the mission. In all these, we see the hand of God. From this, we see that even in failures and misjudgment, God has enough grace to transform a sinner. He can turn anyone into an effective servant. For forty years Moses thought he was something. For the next forty in the desert of Midian, he realized that he was nothing. Then for another forty, he was with God in the wilderness and realized that having God was everything. Just in case we are wondering how come God is taking so long to shape us for effective work? Remember that Moses had to spend two periods of forty years, one in the palace of Pharaoh another 40 in the desert of Midian before the 40 years of work in the wilderness.

One lesson Moses’ time in the desert of Midian teaches us is that we need time to be alone with God. In the quiet desert and a place where needless activities were drastically reduced, it would be a more conducive environment for Moses to encounter God. If we want to experience more connecting time with God, like Moses, we need to reduce the needless activities of life and create time for God. It is often in the stillness of created silence that we hear Him more clearly. What are we doing to reduce the noises in our life so that we can hear from God? Every one of us needs to make time for solitude and silence to hear the still small voice of God. Do take time to do it. It’s needful to hear His voice. 

Exodus 2:11-14 – Mission, method and moment

Time had passed and Moses was now a 40-year-old man. He must have known his ancestry and understood where his root was. That’s why in verse 11, it was mentioned twice that he went out to his brethren. God had preserved his life and placed him in an extraordinarily privileged position for 40 years to prepare him for the work he was expected to do. That’s why although he was raised as a prince in Egypt, he understood that his place was among his own people. He knew he had to deliver them from the plight and oppression dealt by the ruthless Pharaoh. Exodus 2:11-15 is a description of his first attempt at helping his people.

To be an effective and successful people helper, three elements must be in place. Firstly, one needs to have the heart for the mission. Secondly, he also needs to deploy the right method and thirdly, he will need to discern the right moment to do the work. Only when these three elements are there, would there be success and effectiveness in what one seeks to do. Sadly, while Moses had the heart for the mission, he used the wrong method and executed it at the wrong moment. What was meant to alleviate the plight of his brethren, spelled trouble for him.

In one of Moses’ visits to his Hebrew brethren, he saw one of them being cruelly beaten by a taskmaster. Seeing the injustice, he angrily killed that taskmaster. He then cautiously buried the dead body, thinking that no one had seen what he had done. Moses assumed that his Hebrew brethren would appreciate his willingness to help them. So, the next day when he went out among his brethren again, he saw two of them disputing and contending with each other. While he was seeking to help to mediate their quarrel, one of them accused him of trying to kill him, like what he did to the taskmaster. Realizing that what he did to the taskmaster would soon reach the ears of Pharaoh, Moses ran for his life and became a fugitive. He had failed in his mission because he deployed the wrong method and the wrong moment to help.

What lessons can we take away? Like Moses, it is important for us as people helpers, to have a heart for mission. Such a heart for the mission will be seen in one’s ability to identify with the people, to have deep compassion concerning their plight and to come to the task with passion. Identification, compassion, and passion are three clear pieces of evidence of a person who has a heart for mission. Then we need to deploy the right method to do the task. Moses in anger hastily did the wrong thing and killed that taskmaster. "Anger cannot do the righteous work of God" so said James in his epistle. And murder would certainly not be a good method to use to help alleviate another person's plight. Moses obviously used the wrong method. In that one murder, he threw away 40 years of preparation In the palace of Pharaoh. How wasteful! What also failed him was that he did it at the wrong moment. Timing is everything. Right methods carried out at the wrong moment can spell disaster. A right moment without a right method will also not yield the expected result.

Let’s put all these together. To be an effective people helper, we need to have a heart for the mission. We will also need to deploy the right method. And then we will need to do it at the right moment. A heart for one's mission is important but just as critical would be to know the right method to do it, and then the right moment to act. We must do the mission God has entrusted us, but we must do so by cultivating and developing the right method. Then let's execute it at the right moment. Let’s depend on the Lord to lead in all three!

Exodus 2:1-10 – Being God’s drawn-out people

Pharaoh was desperate, whatever he tried had failed to suppress the growth of the Hebrew population. He tried oppression, it didn’t work, so he tried infanticide. Even that didn’t work. The two midwives refused to collaborate with him, so his plan failed. Finally, in Exodus 1:22, he resorted to genocide. He left a decree to his people saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”

In the first two verses of Exodus 2, we are introduced to the parents of Moses, though their names were not revealed until later. Moses’ parents hailed from the tribe of Levi. Not dissuaded by the tough time they were encountering, they went ahead, got married and soon his mother was pregnant and gave birth to him. Verse 2 tells us that the baby Moses was a fine child. But he was born with a death sentence on his head. And like most protective mothers would, his mother chose to take the risk and nursed him under extremely harsh, risky and perilous circumstances. If she was discovered, both she and the baby would surely be executed. This shows us that genuine faith in God demands boldness. So, Moses’ parents’ faith in God made them fear Him more than they feared men. Here we learn a lesson about faith in God. Faith makes one willing to risk everything for God. And Moses’ parents show us that genuine faith in God will exact a bold commitment. It makes one willing to stand out for the Lord, even if it means risking one’s life.

For three months, baby Moses survived, undetected. But as he grew in size, it became more difficult to nurse him in those strenuous circumstances. So, his mother had a papyrus basket made, coated it with tar and pitch, placed the child Moses in it and left him floating among the reeds by the bank of River Nile. And as an extra measure to keep the baby safe, Moses’ mother had his sister watching him in the basket from a distance. As divine providence would have it, Pharaoh’s daughter came to take her bath in the Nile. She spotted the baby while walking along the bank. So, she had one of her maids brought the basket to her. As she opened the cover of the basket, her eyes caught the lovely crying baby. She knew that he was one of the Hebrew boys and took pity on him. Immediately, Moses’ sister, who stood a distance watching, sprang into action. Wisely, she came forward and offered to find a nurse to help Pharaoh’s daughter to look after the baby whom she had found. She immediately agreed. So, Moses’ mother was brought to the princess who entrusted her with the task of looking after her own baby. The arrangement had to be God. It is difficult to think that Pharaoh’s daughter didn’t know her father’s order to kill every male child. Why did she defy her own father’s order? These are hard questions, but with God nothing is impossible. He was engineering the arrival of a savior.

Moses’ name was given by the princess. It means “one drawn out of the water.” It was truly a befitting name for him. For we will see that many times in the book he would be drawn out. Here he was drawn out of the water of death. Then he would be drawn out into the desert to save himself from the wrath of Pharaoh for killing the Egyptian taskmasters. Then He would be drawn out and called into divine service through a burning bush. Then again, he would be drawn out to go up into the mountain to encounter God. And finally, he would be sent to draw others to worship and serve the one true God.   

The birth of Moses and his preservation is the continuation of God’s redemptive act to save the world. It started with a promise in Genesis 3:15 to mankind. It continued with the call of Abraham and the growth of his family through Isaac and Jacob and the formation of the Hebrew nation. Moses was a savior but he was not THE Savior. He was just the prototype of Jesus, the Savior who eventually came. Moses’ mission was to lead the people of God out from their bondage of Egypt. Jesus, the Savior, came to draw us out of our the bondage of guilt and condemnation of sin. Moses was drawn out to demonstrate the power of the one true God to save. Like him, we are also drawn out of the world of darkness to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has drawn us into the Kingdom of His marvelous light. What a privilege!  

Exodus 1:15-22 – Serving God calls for courage and boldness

The descendants of Israel went through a time of great oppression and slavery. This was no surprise as God already foretold this in Genesis 15:13. God told Abraham while the patriarch was fast asleep, saying, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.” However, God’s end game for them was not slavery forever. So, despite the great oppression and slavery enforced by Pharaoh, the descendants of Israel multiplied greatly. In Genesis 15:14, God’s promise to them was “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.” The children of Israel were promised a possession, but it would not take place until they had gone through much suffering. And they did.

Soon it dawned on the king of Egypt that slavery did not bring about the result he desired. The population of Israel kept increasing notwithstanding his harsh treatment. To lessen the rapidly increasing population of the Israelites, Pharaoh schemed to commit infanticide. He summoned Shiphrah and Puah, the two Hebrew midwives and said to them, “When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” This was Satan’s scheme to counter God’s promise in Genesis 3:15, concerning the coming of a savior. But the midwives under the guidance of God did not follow the plan of the Pharaoh. The truth is this: God is sovereign and His plan will always supersede the evil design of Satan. He will never allow evil to thwart the progress of His plan. There will always be people whom He will raise up to do His bidding. They will be the instruments, whom He can count on to execute His plan and carry it forward. Shiphrah and Puah were the people He used to preserve the lives of the new born of the children of Israel. In our days of uncertainty, can He count on us? Are we the kind of people whom God is raising to advance His Kingdom? Will He see the faithfulness and diligence in us that can be used to influence people for the Kingdom?

To preserve the population of the male in Israel the two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, did not obey the instructions of Pharaoh. They defied his order to annihilate all the new-born male of the Israelites. And God was said to have rewarded them. This creates a little difficulty for the purists who saw lying as a contradiction to God’s nature. Didn’t God say he detests lies? Why then did He reward Shiphrah and Puah who lied to the Pharaoh? One principle we must accept is this: The instructions of God must always take precedence. It is more important to obey God’s Word and fulfill His plan than the word and plan of man. When God’s plan for our life and man’s instruction contradict, God’s plan must be given the preference. This was the basis the early apostles followed. In Acts 5:29, when ordered by the authority not to spread the good news of Christ, the answer of Peter and his gang was: “We must obey God rather than men!” They risked their lives just like the two midwives. To ensure the progress of God’s plan, will we be willing to risk our lives?

Interestingly, the name Shiphrah means “beautiful one” and Puah means “splendid one.” These two midwives lived up to their names. What they did was not only beautiful but also splendid. They helped to advance the cause of God and retard the wicked plan of Pharaoh. Like the midwives, when we walk in line with the Word of God, we become beautiful and splendid people. We too can be used to advance God’s work and retard Satan’s plan. Therefore, let us be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our toil in Him will not be in vain.   

Exodus 1:8-14 – Discomfort, a signal of God’s new direction

Exodus 1:8 sets the stage for the coming oppression that the descendants of Israel would have to suffer. A new king who did not know about Joseph came into power. The future of their stay in Egypt had become bleak. In God’s design, Egypt was not their home. In Genesis 50:24, Joseph in his deathbed reminded the people of Israel. He told them, “God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Like Egypt to the people of Israel, so is this world to us. Every time we feel comfortable with the world and then the good times seem to be coming to an end, remember this world is not our home. We are just passing through. Like what He had for Israel, God also has a grander goal for us. And He intends to take us there. The discomfort we may feel about what’s happening around us could be a signal of hard times ahead but also the start of a new journey into the grander plan God has for us.

In politics, it’s all about who we know. Unfortunate for the children of Israel, the new Pharaoh did not know Joseph. And it meant that the future of Israel would be gloomy. The new monarch didn’t feel obligated to be cordial to the descendants of Israel. In the process of time, the Egyptians began to fear the increasing number of Israelites. And soon their fear caused them to see the Israelites as a threat. Eventually, the threat turned into hate. And with intense hatred, they then sought to suppress them. What the new king did to the descendants of Israel, is what Satan through his legions of dark forces would do to us. Their attack could be relentless when we are right smack in the centre of God’s plan for our future. This makes it necessary for us to stay faithfully connected to God. Yes, even in times of unrelenting hardship.  

The craziness of the whole scene is that the new Pharaoh, despite his superior military advantage, could be so fearful and paranoid of a people who had none. So, he created an excuse to impose hardships for the people of Israel. An excuse we know is just pretense and lies disguised as truth. He vainly imagined that the people of Israel would join with an enemy force to attack them. So, he organized them into bondage and make them do their bidding. Verse 11 tells us that the Egyptians “…appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.” But the cruelty did not help their cause. “The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.” They were oblivious that those were God’s people and He was their backing. We too can take heart in times of our hardship. In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul asserted that “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And also “If God did not spare His only Son but gave Him for us, will He not together with Him gives us all things?” This question presupposes “Yes” for an answer. Yes, God will grant us the victory.

Pharaoh’s strategy was demonically inspired. His plan was to supress the people of Israel and to disable them from focusing on God. This is a lesson for us. Trials and temptations can cause us to turn our focus away from God, and to the difficult circumstances that we may be facing. Satan uses hardship to distract us. Through them he makes us discouraged and drives us into despair. We refuse to let him do that to us. We take the example of Jesus, who though He was God’s Son, learned obedience through the things He suffered. According to Hebrews 12:2, Jesus, “…who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He left us an example to the path of victory. 

Exodus 1:1-7 – God has a plan for us

The book of Exodus is without a doubt a sequel to the book of Genesis.  The opening verses quickly link us to the first book. Exodus 1:2-5 list for us Israel’s twelve sons. They were Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali, Gad, Asher and Joseph, who was already in Egypt. We are all too familiar with the story of Joseph narrated in the book of Genesis. He was betrayed by his jealous brothers, who sold him as a slave to Egypt. And from that lowly position, he dramatically rose to be the second most powerful man in Egypt.

In total, the number of Jacob’s descendants who came to Egypt was seventy people. Verse 6 tells us that eventually all the twelve brothers, including Joseph, died. But their descendants were fruitful. They multiplied greatly and the land of Egypt was filled with them. The one special thing that made the children of Israel great was their relationship with God. He was their backing. Verse 7 is an indication that God had fulfilled the promise He made to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised them that they would become a great nation. What we see in verse 7 is a fulfillment of the promise God had made to them. He promised and they, “…the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty so that the land was filled with them.”

However, the story about the departure of the sons of Israel from Egypt is not so much about Joseph, the twelve brothers, and their families. It is all about God. The record of the past deeds of the brothers tells us that they wouldn’t have amounted to much if not for God’s gracious hand upon their lives. The one thing that got Israel becoming so great a nation was nothing else but God. They were God’s covenanted people and God was on their side.  So, the story of Exodus is about the Almighty God, who set up the whole destiny of Israel, the miracle nation.

The question that comes to mind is, “What have all these got to do with us?” One thing we do know is that these verses set the platform and create the anticipation for us to expect what’s to come. God’s fulfillment of His promise to His people tells us that we can trust and place our confidence in Him and His plan for our life too. These seven verses point us to God who keeps His covenant and promise. When He called Abraham out of his pagan ancestry, he left everything to follow that call. Though he did not see the extent of the promise, his descendants had become a great people and a great nation. God had fulfilled it. He has set in motion the plan He has for humanity and for us. Aren’t we glad that He includes us in His plan?  So, let us brace up for the journey into our destiny.

A brief introduction to the book of Exodus

Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible collectively called the Pentateuch. The book of Exodus is the second of the five books. A strong argument for Moses’ authorship of Exodus was made by the Lord Jesus Himself. In Mark 12:26-27 he alluded to the passage concerning the burning bush from Exodus. He referred to the excerpt as taken from the book of Moses. In that discussion with some Sadducees, he asked them “…have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?” The Lord indirectly attributed the authorship of the book of Exodus to Moses.

The title of this book Exodus was taken from the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The word Exodus (Exodos) is a Greek word. The prefix “Ex (Ex)” means “out” and the word “odos (odos)” means “the way or the route.” Placed together the word Exodus means “the way out.” From this title, we can tell that it’s about the story of how God led His people out of the life of bondage. In essence, it captures the idea of the people of Israel coming out of Egypt, the land of bondage described in the first thirteen chapters of this book. In Exodus, we see a continuation of the story of redemption that began in Genesis. It continues the story of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his twelve sons. The book describes how they were organized into bondage in Egypt by Pharaoh. But it also tells us how God initiated their deliverance by calling and sending Moses to lead them out of their bondage. Today, God is still leading people out of the crutches of the bondage and sin. His intention is still the same as shown in the book of Exodus. He still wants a people for His own possession, a people who will genuinely worship Him.

In this book, we will see the giving of the Ten Commandments. These are a summary of how God’s drawn people ought to live as a called-out community. They essentially encapsulate two critical instructions. We are to love God with all that we are – spirit, soul, mind, and body. And we are also to love others. In this book, we will also see the instruction on the construction of the Tabernacle, the earthly portable dwelling place of God and all the furnishings for this tent of meeting that points us to God’s redemption plan. The book of Exodus continues into the next three books of Moses, namely Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  

From Exodus, we can see how much God wants us to have a people that would worship Him alone. But sadly, in the book of Exodus, the sinful nature that man inherited from Adam’s fall surfaced again and again. Instead of offering wholehearted worship to the one and only true God, mankind continually gravitates towards their lower nature. Exodus clearly shows us that God wants to deliver us from our sin and bondage. It shows us how much we need to stay on our journey with Him. It reveals how much God yearns for us to be a people of His own possession. Let’s journey together and discover the heart of God and be challenged to love Him as we ought.