Our Deliverer is Coming (Exodus 1-9)

"Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful."  James 5:11 (ESV)

As we ended our study of Job on Sunday morning with our group discussion, I just wanted to share once again this verse Michael used to introduce the story of Job to us two weeks ago.  In some translations it says "the patience of Job," in others "the perseverance of Job," and in this one "the steadfastness of Job."  I especially took note in the ESV of the additional phrase "you have seen the purpose of the Lord."  We certainly saw the purpose of the Lord in Job's life.  We learned the importance of the fear of the Lord, recognizing His sovereign power that does not need our approval; and we saw a foreshadowing of the undeserved sufferings of Christ on our behalf, showing indeed that our Lord is compassionate and merciful.  Christ bore the sufferings He did not deserve so that we might enjoy the redeemed life we could never deserve!  What a Savior!

(For those of you that were there for our discussion of Leviathan, I thought this might be of interest to you.  I just did a quick search of the original Hebrew word for "Leviathan" and found that it comes from the same root word as the word "Levi"--lavah--"to join, be joined, attend; to join oneself to, be joined unto; to borrow; to cause to borrow, lend to." [Strong's Exhaustive Concordance]  Add that to our ponderings about the personage of Leviathan...coupled with the knowledge that Satan always seeks to counterfeit what God does (the tribe of Levi were the priests of God's people), and it seems like another piece to the puzzle...maybe.)  For those of you who weren't there, you might want to  re-read Job 41:34b and ask yourself, "who are the 'sons of pride' and who would be king over them?"  Then check out Isaiah 26:20-27:1, Isaiah 2:11-12 (thank you Harold), and Rev. 12:17-13:1.  Just some food for thought as we wonder about this strange creature and why God spends a whole chapter talking about him--somewhat like a bookend to how Job began--reminding us that God is sovereign over ALL, including a powerful creature like Leviathan.  Hmmm...

Now onto Moses.

Before we dive into the Bible readings for this week, I just have to share this fun kid's song I can't get out of my head right now.  All of you mamas and grammas can have fun teaching it to your kiddos!  (Be sure to include the classic Egyptian arm motions for them!)

"Pharaoh, Pharaoh!"

Now that I can rest-assured I'm not the only one with that silly song stuck in my head, I will proceed.  :)

I am incredibly excited to begin studying the life of Moses because so many of the beautiful aspects of our faith were foreshadowed by the events that took place during his leading of the Hebrew people.  Several years ago, when we still lived in Colorado, I wrote a Bible study on the book of Hebrews.  I was floored when I discovered how many of the connections in that book took us back to Exodus and the three books which follow it.  Some of those I will share with you as we read through Exodus, but some are just too incredible and will have to wait until we get to Hebrews.  I hope you are as overwhelmed with the beauty of the Book God has given to us and the story He has written before the creation of the world as I am every time I read it!

Exodus 1 begins by recounting the names of the sons of Israel (aka Jacob).

1. How many sons did Jacob have, and what were their names?
2. According to verse 6, what has happened by this point in history of which we are about to read?
3. Compare verse 7 with the command God gave to Adam and Eve in Gen. 1:28 and to Noah and his family in Gen. 9:1.  How were God's people fulfilling this command, according to Ex. 1:7?
4. Now compare it to the covenant God made with Abraham in Gen. 12:1, 13:16, 15:5, 17:5.  Did God keep His promise to Abraham?
5. He kept another promise as well.  Read Gen. 15:13-16.  What did God tell Abraham would happen to his descendants, and how long would it last?

Fast forward 400 years, and here we are in Exodus, reading about the birth of Moses--the deliverer.  "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  And he said to his people, 'Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.'"  (Ex. 1:8-9)

In the ESV, Pharaoh says in verse 10, "Come, let us deal shrewdly with them...." For those of you who were there for our discussion of the Tower of Babel, this might make you chuckle to yourself.  Here man goes again....  I can hardly wait for God's "COME, LET US" on this one!

1. What was the first way Pharaoh tried to stunt their growth?  (v. 11)
2. What was the result?  (v. 12)
3. What did Pharaoh try next?  (vv. 13-14)
4. Then what evil plan did the king attempt in vv. 15-16?
5. According to v. 17, did this work?  Why or why not?
6. What was the result for these midwives who feared God and obeyed Him rather than man?  (vv. 20-21)
7. What final evil way does Pharaoh use to stop the growth of the Hebrew nation in v. 22?

Can you even imagine the horror of those days?  As a woman and a mother, I cannot even conceive how I would handle such an evil thing if one of my baby boys had been taken from me and thrown into the river.  How the Israelites must have cried out to God to save them, wondering if their prayers were falling on deaf ears.  They were not, as we will soon read.

This horrific tragedy of the baby boys being killed as the deliverer of God's people (Moses) is born is a foreshadow of the same tragedy that took place at the hand of King Herod when the Deliverer (Jesus Christ) was born.  You have probably read about that when reading the Christmas story in Matthew 2:12-18.  How passionately God's people longed for their Deliverer!

Let's continue with Moses' story.

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. ²The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. ³When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. ⁴And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.  (that would be Miriam, of whom we'll read more about when Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and they wander in the wilderness)

⁵Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. ⁶When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews’ children."⁷Then his sister [Miriam] said to Pharaoh’s daughter, "Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" ⁸And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, "Go." So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him. 

Do you love that as much as I do?  In the goodness of God's mercy, Moses' own mother was the one to nurse him (which in those days was usually until the age of 3 or 4).  She was even paid to do it!  For a slave woman, that was a pretty wonderful thing!  How good God was to the mother of the deliverer.  Not to mention his sister Miriam and brother Aaron got to watch him grow as a toddler and build relationships with him that will come back to be quite a blessing later in his life. 

¹⁰When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, "Because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."  (Exodus 2:1-10)

1. What did Moses do in Ex. 2:12?
2. What was the result in v. 15?
3. What happens in vv. 17 and 21?

²³During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.  Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. ²⁴And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.  (Ex. 2:23-25; emphasis mine)

Dear sister, when you cry out to God, He hears, He remembers, He sees and He knows.  Their cries for deliverance had not fallen on deaf ears.  God was awaiting His timing on the Kingdom calendar.  Now Moses was in the land of Midian, no longer a prince of Egypt but rather a humble shepherd for his father-in-law Jethro.  Now the time had come for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham.  And Moses was His man.

God appears to Moses in the burning bush which is not consumed, introduces Himself as the God of his father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.  In verses 7-8, we see God use parallel wording to Ex. 2:23-25.  

⁷Then the LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, ⁸and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians...."  (Ex. 3:7-8; emphasis mine)  

I love the beauty of Scripture, not only as God's holy, inspired Word, but also as a work of literature!  This does not come out nearly so much in our English translations.  But if we could read the original Hebrew and Greek in which it was written, we would be floored at the intricate design of the Bible as a work of literature.  No book or writing can compare to the creativity of the Holy Word of God.

"...the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them."  (Ex. 3:9)

Now here comes God's "COME, LET US...!"

"Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."  (Ex. 3:10; emphasis mine)

Moses was not overly excited at being chosen for this job description (since sheep-herding is so exciting and all).  His past failures are definitely handicapping his confidence at this point, which is a good thing in the eyes of God.  You may have noticed that He "chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."   (1 Cor. 1:27)  So Moses doesn't stand a chance arguing with God, because the weaker he is, the stronger God looks (2 Cor. 12:10).

1. What does God assure Moses of in v.12?
2. What name is Moses to use in telling the people who sent him?  (v. 14)  This name is an important one to remember.  It describes God as being eternally present, with no beginning or end.  We will see Jesus use this name during His ministry on earth, and people will pick up stones to stone Him because of it.
3. By what other name did God call Himself in v. 15?  I am going to include the note at the bottom of my Bible:  "the word LORD, when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name YHWH (Yaweh), which is here connected with the verb hayah, 'to be' in verse 14" (ESV footnotes)  I learned in "The Patriarchs" by Beth Moore that the Hebrew people used to refer to this as "the Ineffable Name"--the unspeakable Name.  They were afraid to even speak the holy name of their God because of their fear of God.
4. What does God promise Moses in the first phrase of verse 18?
5. Then what insight does He give Moses in verse 19?
6. So what does God tell Moses He will do in verse 20?
7. What promise does God give Moses in vv. 21-22 that He also gave Abraham in Gen. 15:14?

As you may have noticed, Moses unsuccessfully argued the matter with God.  In chapter 4, God gives Moses a series of miracles he can perform to convince the Israelites God has sent him to lead them out of slavery.  Take special note of Ex. 4:2.  That staff that God points out will be used to perform many miracles by God through Moses.  There is a beautiful song by Travis Cottrell titled "Moses" that tells the story of that staff...and reminds us that God can use whatever is in our hands, also, if we will only be willing and let Him.  (I have searched unsuccessfully for a link to that song.  If you want to hear it, you'll have to order the CD "The Deep" by Travis Cottrell.  You can get it on his website:  www.traviscottrell.com)

1. What were the signs God showed Moses He would do through him in Ex. 4:1-17?
2. God just about has enough of Moses in v. 14, but then brings his brother Aaron into the team.  How does God explain this relationship in vv. 15-16?  And what else does He add in v. 17?  See also how God explains this relationship for the purpose of confronting Pharaoh in Ex. 7:1.
3. Who does Moses take with him to Egypt?  (v. 20)
4. What does God say He will do to Pharaoh's heart?
5. The words that follow prophecy the final plague which God will bring upon Egypt.  What is that plague?

An interesting scene takes place with Moses' wife along the way while they are sleeping at one of their places of lodging.  Moses must have still been questioning God and arguing the matter with Him, or maybe he was speaking words of unbelief to his wife regarding his assignment from God.  We're not really told for sure.  But whatever it was caused God to become so angry with Moses He was ready to kill him.  Thank heavens for a God-fearing wife, because she saved her husband's life that night.  This son from whom she had cut off the foreskin had obviously not been circumcised, as was the custom for all God-fearing Hebrews.  Somehow Zipporah knew that doing this and touching Moses' feet with the foreskin would prevent God from killing him.  It worked, and in her frustration with her husband (did he argue with her as he did with God?) she called him a "bridegroom of blood" because of this circumcision.  

This name has quite a parallel to Jesus, who is referred to as the Bridegroom of the Church (not the physical building but all followers of Christ throughout all of history).  He is certainly a "bridegroom of blood" to us, for it is by His blood poured out upon the cross that we are cleansed and made holy for the kingdom of God.  Interesting title given to Moses by his bride, since Christ is our Bridegroom.

God tells Aaron to go meet his younger brother Moses in the wilderness, this brother that he has not seen or heard from in 40 years.  They reunite, and go back to tell their people what God has planned.

And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.  (Ex. 4:31; emphasis mine)

So Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh, as you know, and tell him to let God's people go.  

But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go."  (Ex. 5:2; emphasis mine)

No, Pharaoh definitely did not know the LORD.  Moreover, God had hardened his heart.  Now you may ask, "Why in the world would God do that?"  You may also wonder why God allowed Pharaoh to become even more cruel to His people by increasing their burdens when their straw was taken away but they still had to produce the same number of bricks.  That may seem like a horrible thing for God to do.  Even Moses cried out to God with this question at the end of chapter 5.

But always remember God has a greater purpose than what we can see or understand.  His goal is not our comfort.  His goal is to extend His Name to every tribe, people and nation on this earth, that they might hear of Him and believe in Him as the One True God.

1. What did God say to Moses in Ex. 6:1
2. By what new name has God made Himself known to Moses? (v. 3)
3. Look up God's answer to the question of "why?" in Ex. 6:7; 7:4-5; 8:23; 9:14-16.  Why is He hardening Pharaoh's heart?
4. We see one particular statement repeated over and over again during the plagues in Ex. 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 12, 35.  What was it?
5. In chapters 7-9, what plagues have taken place so far?  Which ones could the magicians do, and which ones could they not?
6. From which plagues did God protect His people in these same chapters?
7. What did Pharaoh say in Ex. 9:27?  What was Moses' response to him in vv. 29-30?

Before we wrap this up for today, I want to point out something that takes place in chapter 6 which will later become part of the Passover Meal for Jews to celebrate for centuries to come (as they still do today).

God makes several "I will" statements in Exodus 6, but four of them become the four cups of the Passover Meal.  In case you don't know (because I didn't until several years ago), there are four cups of wine that are drunk during the Passover Meal.  Each person drinks all four of these (I hope they take their time eating this meal!).

Read with me:

⁶Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. ⁷I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.'"  (Ex. 6:6-8; emphasis mine)

I have highlighted them for you above, but here they are again:

1. the Cup of Sanctification and Freedom:  I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians
2. the Cup of Deliverance:  I will deliver you from slavery to them
3. the Cup of Redemption:  I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment
4. the Cup of In-gathering:  I will take you to be my people

Now turn to Matthew 26:27-29, when Jesus is sharing the Last Supper with His disciples.  You're going to want to make a note of this in your own Bible.  I can hardly wait to show you!

²⁷And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, ²⁸for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom."

At this point, Jesus and His disciples were about half-way through their Passover Meal.  The cup that Jesus was telling them to drink now was cup number 3--the Cup of Redemption!  Of course!  The Redeemer Himself spoke these words over the Cup of Redemption.  This was not mere coincidence but Divine ordinance.

Then in verse 29 He speaks of the fourth cup, the Cup of In-gathering, saying that He will not drink of that cup again until He drinks it with them and all His people in heaven.

Oh, we just gotta take a sneak-peek!

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
"Hallelujah!  For the Lord our God
   the Almighty reigns.
  Let us rejoice and exult

   and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
   and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself
   with fine linen, bright and pure"—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

(Rev. 19:6-8)

"Take, drink..."  Next time you hear those words, remember the Cup of Redemption that was poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins by the Redeemer.  Your Deliverer is coming!