From Pasture to Brickyard

While Satan had his scheme, and this is to exterminate the chosen nation from which Jesus Christ will come, that's his thought, that's his plan, let's exterminate the Jew, let's get rid of the Hebrew and then no line from which the Messiah can come from.

While he is inaugurating that plan, God is in his own sovereignty designing another. It is this affliction, this opposition, whereby he stirs the pot and makes their lives very uncomfortable and thus willing to risk the bold accidents. Have you ever faced an especially difficult situation? Maybe you even arrived at the point where you wondered if God had turned his back on you. Your heart was asking, how could God let this happen? I suspect that for the ancient Hebrews, their years of cruel slavery in Egypt might have led them to conclude that God had abandoned them.

He hadn't. He knew their situation and he loved them enough to deliver them from bondage. We're going to learn more about this today. This is Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey and today we begin a series from Exodus called Out of Egypt. If we were to take a survey this morning and asked you to jot down on a piece of paper those books of the Bible that you have been reading for your own study or devotional time, I have a feeling that Exodus would not make the list. We consider this stuffy Old Testament book to be written 35 centuries ago, not very appropriate to today, but I think as we study this book, as we continue our study through the entire Bible, you'll discover with me that this book is as fresh and living and appropriate to our times as if it had been written this past week. I hope that you will come with myself to learn to love all of the Bible, including this book that we know so little about, unless you want to learn something of Moses or go back and read where the Old Testament Ten Commandments were first given.

I hope you'll learn to love it as well as I. It's really a sequel to the book of Genesis that we have just completed studying. However, between the last verse of Genesis chapter 50 and the first verse of the book of Exodus, 300 years of events have taken place and a number of things have changed. One of those things, if you have your notes and you are following along with that, that may be helpful to you, the covenant is becoming more evident among the Hebrews. Verse six, it tells us that Joseph died, but verse seven, the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied, became exceedingly mighty so that the land was filled with them. You've studied with me the Abrahamic covenant.

It was threefold. God promised the Hebrew, God promised the Israelite basically three things as his covenant people. Number one, he promised them a seed that is that they would multiply, that they would literally fill the earth. He also promised them blessing. He said that they would multiply in their financial resources, in their herds and their cattle and all that material things could give them. This was a promise to Abraham. The third ingredient of this promise was one that is not yet fulfilled and that is the promise of land. They are now in Egypt and they have been there ever since Joseph and that 70-membered tribe of Jacob had come to live there. You remember to overcome the famine or to survive it. And so now for 300 years, the Hebrew people have been living in another land. They have been prospering. Their seed is being multiplied, but still they do not have Canaan.

They don't have the land yet. And so Exodus is the book in the Old Testament that tells us the story of how God will bring the Israelite back to the land. Now we get the name Exodus from the Greek translators of the Old Testament.

In fact, it's a Greek word transliterated into our language. We get the word exit. You might write into the margin of your Bible by that name, the words departure or the way out, going out. This book is a story of how the Israelites exited Egypt and entered the promised land. It's also a book about the redemption of God because as they are held in bondage to the Egyptian taskmasters, God prepares a redeemer Moshe or Moses to bring them out. And thus the illustration is given of our own lives, how we being in bondage to sin have been given the redeemer of Jesus Christ and entered the promised position of being in him.

With that said, let's take a look at the second change that has occurred now over these 300 plus years, and it gives it to us or we find it first mentioned in verse eight. Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. This king perhaps was Thutmose III. He was one of the kings or pharaohs in a new dynasty, and he did not know the word Yadah, which means he didn't have any association with Joseph. Joseph to this young ruler was just a compilation of stories, some so exaggerated and so outrageous that surely they must be fiction. He didn't know anyone who had been associated with Joseph. No king was even now living who could give him stories firsthand of this amazing man. And so he had no obligation to Joseph or to that tribe of what was once 70 people now numbering nearly three million.

And as a result of not knowing him, some other things transpire. He says in verse nine to his people, behold or look, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we are. Come, let's deal wisely, literally translated, let's outsmart them, lest they multiply and in the event of war join with our enemies. Now, during Joseph's reign as prime minister, several instruments had been introduced into Egypt, the chariot, the lance, and other materials of warfare. Up until that time, Egypt had no desire to engage in battle, but now these elements had been introduced and there in the eastern horizon, there was the cloud of war that seemed eminent from enemies of Egypt. And they were afraid that this two million band of people would ally themselves with the enemies, therefore overthrowing Egypt. And he says, we need to do something.

We've got to outsmart them somehow. And he inaugurates a threefold plan. The first was intended to discourage them. Notice verse 11. So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh's storage cities that we have unearthed. The archeologists have been very helpful for us. They have unearthed, Pithom or Pithom and Ramses. These were storage cities. Egypt being so wealthy, the fleets of ships floating by on the Nile would deposit their treasures and they needed somewhere to hold them or house them as they sold them.

And so they built huge elaborate cities. And we know that Python and Ramses were built by these Hebrew slaves not only from scripture, but from murals that have been discovered. In fact, archeologists have been helpful in introducing us to this entire legacy of taskmasters. There has been one inscription discovered or mural on an obelisk or a pillar that has been unearthed. And on that pillar is a mural and the mural shows two men holding whips.

And before them, there are people bowing to the ground at work and they are making bricks. And the inscription has been readable. And so they have translated it from old Egyptian or hieroglyphics and these taskmasters with their whips.

The inscription underneath reads them saying work without fainting, perhaps even an indication or a mural of the time that the Israelites were making bricks to build these cities of Pithom and Ramses. But note verse 12, it wasn't working very well. They hoped to discourage them into thinking it would be better to die than propagate our line in this land. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied, the more they spread out, the more they were in dread of the sons of Israel. That is, the more they discouraged them, the more they beat them, the more they forced them into labor camps and out into the fields, taking them away from family and friends. The more they tried, the more this tribe multiply. It says here that the Egyptians were in dread of the sons of Israel.

The word dread is a word that that refers to someone being sick of, nauseated over. The Egyptians looked at this multiplying band of Hebrew aliens and it nauseated them and they were in dread, they were sick, so that every time they saw them, they thought, oh, they will multiply and ultimately overthrow us. The Egyptians started losing sleep over these people. They had no idea that the Israelites were not a warring people, at least not at that point. They had no desire to conquer Egypt. They simply desired to get along with themselves and do what they believed their leaders under God's covenant commanded them to do. So plan A was to discourage them so they would throw up their hands and say there's no need developing a family. Who cares?

We're going to die under these taskmasters. But it didn't work, so he inaugurates plan B. Notice what happens here in verse 15. Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah.

These names respectively are interpreted beauty and splendor. I think it's ironic the way that God chose these women with these names who were evidently the leaders of the midwives. We know with the Israelites multiplying at a very fast rate that there must have been 20 or 30, maybe even more, midwives busily at work. This was an occupation in that day that was taken up by Hebrew women who had never married. And so these Hebrew women had a midwife or midwifery going full tilt. And these two probably represented that group or that occupation.

And Pharaoh calls these two women in hoping to intimidate them, hoping to perhaps impress them with the glory of Egypt. And he hands down this dogma and he says to them, basically, when you are at the birth stool, that is, when you are delivering into this world, one of those Hebrew children take note. And it says literally, the moment it is arriving or upon the birth stool, if you see it as a son, put it to death. And it would only take slight pressure on the throat for a minute or so to snuff out life. And they could then tell these Hebrew wives or mothers that the child was stillborn. Seemed like a clever plot. Pharaoh could get on with his business.

No one would really know. However, the character of these women would go down the drain. These Hebrew women, he was hoping for turncoats, for someone to betray their own people. He said, therefore, take their lives. But, note verse 17, but the midwives feared God. You'll underline that and then underline it in verse 21. It appears twice. The midwives feared or revered, trusted God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live.

And this is an interesting construction. It's talking about a woman who is not simply allowing a midwife, not simply allowing the boy to be born, but it's an aggressive verb. It literally means that they redoubled their efforts. They were there at the birthing stool and they would say to each other, hey, it's a boy, let's make sure it lives.

And somewhere along the line, the news got back that the mortality rate among Hebrew boys was improving. Wasn't working very well because these women had great conviction. They were willing to say to an authority, no, a word that is sadly missing in the English vocabulary. Now, when we get to a passage like this, people start fidgeting. This is one of those tough passages of scripture that is hard to interpret and much harder to apply.

However, if we approach it as we always do literally and apply it literally, I think we can come up with a very great application. These women said no to an authority because they believed in a higher authority that being God. And when the authority told them to disobey the moral law, the command of God, which, by the way, had not yet been written.

That's a few chapters later. However, they knowing God would know being made in his image that life has value and that they are not to take life. And so risking their own lives, they said no. Ladies and gentlemen, you may or may not recognize the fact that the reason you hold a Bible in your hand translated in English is a result of someone like Tyndale saying to the established church, no. He said, I desire to put the Bible into the language of the plow boy, the common person. It doesn't need to be chained to the pulpits written in Latin.

Let's get it out among the people. And he said no and he lost his life. The reason we are sitting in a church like this Protestant with the root word being protest is because there were men like a monk, Martin Luther, who dared to say no to papal decree. And he said, salvation is by grace through faith alone.

And because of his character, we now worship like we do. You may have an authority over you, such as an employer who says, manipulate the financial reports. Let's show an increase, not a loss this quarter. What do you say? When you are offered something from a peer, some substance, and they say, look, everybody's involved in this, take this, do this. What do you say? No. When our government legalizes things that violate the authority and the character of God, do we say they've legalized abortion? Do we say no?

They will legalize prostitution, homosexuality. Do we have the courage and the character to say no? For those of you that are growing up in the public school system, you will be told that this abortion is a viable option. And yet I trust that you will learn from these midwives that there is value in life and that to disobey God would be to disobey the highest authority anywhere.

And you would say no. So this plan didn't work. He thought he was getting two midwives and instead he got two evangelists who went around making sure that all the Hebrew boys lived.

So he inaugurates his third and most horrible plan. Look at verse 22. Then Pharaoh commanded all of his people saying, note, all of the Egyptians are given the news.

Now it's out of the closet. Every son who was born to you or to these Hebrews, you are to cast into the Nile and every daughter you are to keep alive. Now, what I want you to understand is something underneath what's written. It is in the context of what we understand in Egypt to have taken place in Egypt. Their highest God was the Nile God. Now, Pharaoh knew that he would have perhaps a tyranny on his hands or mutiny if he would suggest something so overt and hidden in these words is a suggestion to do something religious.

He said, let's see if the Nile God will allow these children to live. We have in our own books records of temples in Egypt. One of the most gruesome that sends chills up and down my spine is the Temple of Thebes.

I have a picture of it in my study. The Temple of Thebes was built along the River Nile. The Nile was at this time infested by the servants of the God Nile crocodiles. And this temple was given to child sacrifice. And it had stairs leading down the embankment right into the water of the Nile, where they would practice their religious practices of child sacrifice. And the priests would hurl babies into the air out into the waters as sacrifices to their God, the Nile God. What the Pharaoh is saying is this. We have these aliens in the land. They don't worship our gods.

They don't worship the Nile God. Let's offer to him an appeasement and let's see if his servants will allow the children to live. I doubt there was a very high rate of nonacceptance from the servants. Now I want you to note that this will take place and last for 80 years. Because this introduces a horrible moment in the history of Israel. I can imagine that the fathers are building underground rooms where their newborn sons can hide. I imagine that attics are built or sheds are used as as infant nurseries to keep the Egyptians from finding out that they've had a boy born into the family. And if they were found out, the boy would be snatched from the home, taken to the Nile and offered as a religious sacrifice to the Nile God. And this would last for 80 years until Moses leads the people out. I have mentioned abortion and I'm not quite through with that.

One of the reasons that I fear that movement is because it will take our country to the next logical step. And that is infanticide and euthanasia and all of the other horrible thing. One of the women or the woman who founded Planned Parenthood by the name of Margaret Sanger is heralded as a saint today. But let me read you something that she wrote.

Listen carefully. She writes that abortion appeals to the advanced radical because it is calculated to undermine the authority of the Christian church. I look forward to seeing humanity free someday from the tyranny of Christianity. This movement has nothing to do with free choice. It has nothing to do with the right of a woman.

It has everything to do with rebellion against the value of life that has been given to us from God, a value that is adopted by these Hebrews in Exodus Chapter one. There is a man living today, unfortunately, who writes what would become the next step. A man by the name of Francis Crick, who writes this. No newborn infant should be declared human until it has passed certain tests regarding its genetic endowment and that if it fails these tests, it forfeits the right to live. If a child were not declared alive until three days after birth to catch that, let's not declare them alive until three days after birth. Then all parents could be allowed the choice.

Only a few are given under the present system. The doctor could allow the child to die if the parents so chose and save a lot of misery and suffering. I believe this view is the only rational, compassionate attitude to have. This movement has nothing to do with compassion, nothing to do with rationale, nothing to do with freedom of choice. It has everything to do with violating the values of a God who says human life is precious.

Protect it. It has everything to do with violating the authority and character of the God of this book. People who place themselves as little gods declaring who will live and who will die. The tragedy is our country is on the way.

It sounds like Exodus Chapter one to me. They did it in the name of religion. We do it in the name of civil liberty. Are we willing? Should they coerce us to say no?

I trust you will. Underneath this chapter are some applications for the 20th century. I've hinted at some, but let me give you two more if you're taking notes. As I observed the Hebrews under such opposition and cruel circumstances, afraid of the lives of their sons, I came up with these thoughts that I think might encourage you. And the first is this.

While affliction seems unfair, it's often necessary. While Satan had his scheme, and this is to exterminate the chosen nation from which Jesus Christ will come. That's his thought. That's his plan. Let's exterminate the Jew. Let's get rid of the Hebrew and then no line from which the Messiah can come from.

While he is inaugurating that plan, God is in his own sovereignty, designing another. It is this affliction, this opposition whereby he stirs the pot and makes their lives very uncomfortable and thus willing to risk the bold exodus. It's been very easy for the Hebrews.

In fact, it's easy for us to be at home in Egypt. And God is using this affliction to make these people desirous to leave all of the luxury, all of that which they have in Goshen for a rocky region known as Canaan. Why would four million at that time go there? God is using this to refocus, to redirect, to remind them that they've been given a promised land. Look back at Genesis Chapter 15, Genesis Chapter 15. God knew what he was doing.

In fact, he had already told Abraham that this would happen. Genesis Chapter 15, verse 13. And God said to Abram, Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and depressed.

Note the next phrase. Four hundred years to the day he knew exactly how long they would be in Egypt. He said, verse 15. And as for you or verse 14, But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, Egypt, and afterward they will come out the same Greek word Exodus, and then they will exit us with many possessions. God knew how long it would last. And although it seemed unfair and although they must have been probably wondering what God had intended when he told Abraham that they would be a nation that would multiply and now they are being slaughtered and their sons are being thrown into the Nile. Yet God knew that the trial would not be permanent. The second thought is along that line. While God seems absent, he is always at work.

When he seems absent, he is always at work. Look at verse seven of Chapter three. When God came to that little baby boy that had now grown into manhood, who would be the redeemer. The Lord God said to Moses Chapter three, verse seven. Note this. I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters. I am aware of their suffering.

I love that. They think I'm gone. They think I'm absent. They think I don't see. And yet I have seen I have observed.

I know everything that is transpired in your lives. Ladies and gentlemen in mind, there may be affliction come, nothing this drastic, I doubt. But you may be in line to lose a position if you go along with unbiblical ethic. You may be in fear of losing a job, losing a reputation, losing a friend.

Because you say no. Perhaps you're threatened right now with the thought that God is absent and not at work, and that would be a demise in your spiritual relationship as well. God is at work. With the Israelites, even though it was so horrible, he had meted it out through his sovereign hand and he knew how long it would last.

Not a day over 400 years. He was preparing them to return to the promised land. I read a story this past week of a little boy in a grocery store who was carrying a basket and he was walking down the aisle with his dad and his dad would take an item off the shelf and he put it in the little boy's basket. Little boys trudging along and soon the basket seemed to get rather heavy and one of the customers felt a little sympathetic and said to the boy, the basket's getting awfully heavy, isn't it?

Little boy stuck his chest out and he said, oh, don't worry. My daddy knows how much I can carry. And so does your Heavenly Father.

God has your life in his hands and he's always working out the circumstances of your life for his glory. With today's lesson, our Bible teacher, Stephen Davey, begins a series from Exodus called Out of Egypt. This is part one of that series.

And today's lesson is called From Pasture to Brickyard. We have a Bible study that's based on this series. It's a resource that's beneficial for you personally as you study God's word.

It's also a resource that several groups have used in classes and in small group situations. If you'd like information on how you can have the study guide entitled Out of Egypt, give us a call today. Our number is 866-48-BIBLE. Once again, our phone number is 866-48-BIBLE. If you call us after hours or if we're on the phone with other listeners, please leave a message. We'll get back to you just as soon as we can. I'm glad you tuned in today. Join us back here as we continue this series next time on Wisdom for the Heart. You