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[0:00] Those dark days that we walk through are still dark even for the Christians.! They're still dark. But we have the hope that we did not have when we were in rebellion.

[0:16] ! So when I was dead in sin, I had no hope, even though I may not have known that. But nevertheless, our hope is in Christ and His salvation, and we have our security there.

[0:34] So let's open to Exodus. Where did we leave Genesis at the end? What was going on? Been too long, hadn't it?

[0:49] Takes me about three minutes to forget. Joseph died, and his body was, what do they call it, embalmed.

[1:05] He was turned in, he was put in, he was mummified, put in a sarcophagus in Egypt. But he told his relatives what? Carry my bones out of here, you're going to leave.

[1:20] Now, why would he say that? He was the one that brought them in. It wasn't their land?

[1:34] Okay, what was God's promise? Okay, you're going to be there about 400 years. What else?

[1:46] So what? Canaan's the land that's promised, not Goshen. Now, well, we'll see what happens with that business.

[2:01] But anyway, that's where we left. Now, now we pick up with the first chapter of Exodus. Exodus, and as you've looked at that a bit, he begins Exodus like he, like the last part of Genesis began, telling us how many people.

[2:29] So, how many persons entered of Israel's children, his household? How many entered Egypt?

[2:43] Seventy. And where'd they settle, by the way? Goshen. Why? It was the best land.

[2:58] It's in the Nile Delta, at the edge of the Nile Delta. What else? Pharaoh said they could. And because of Joseph, and he's the second in command, basically Joseph's running the country.

[3:17] And they're shepherds. They're shepherds. And they kept herds. So, they settled up in that good pasture land.

[3:31] Fertile. Or, as Egypt goes, it's fertile. I've never been there, but. Okay. So, now, they were fruitful, and they multiplied abundantly.

[3:52] You read that. That should be verse 7. All right. Now. How long's it been since Joseph's death, and where we pick up at verse 8?

[4:16] Somebody's already said it. About 400 years. What do we know went on? Yeah.

[4:27] That's all we know, right? God was quiet as far as what, anything else he was doing. Now, when I think of, have you ever heard something along, term along the lines of the 400 years of silence?

[4:46] What do you think of when you hear that? Specifically, between the last, the end of Malachi and the beginnings of Matthew, right?

[5:04] And, but, here we've had 400 years of God's silence, as far as revelation is concerned. He's quiet.

[5:17] Now, does that mean since God's quiet, is he gone? No. If he's quiet, is he not working?

[5:27] So, when I am trying to study the scripture, and I'm not getting traction, I mean, that never happens to you, but once in a while, does that mean God's not working?

[5:54] No. No. No. His word's still good. And he's still working. And he's still preparing.

[6:05] Yes. Yours. No. It's exactly like it, isn't it? Because there are times when we're going to pray, and we're going to think that, where's God?

[6:22] What's going on? Why isn't it? And he's still working. He's still working. I, my problem sometimes is that I don't like the way he works.

[6:41] I want him to do something else. Well, what Mary and Martha say, I'm going to digress here a bit.

[6:53] But, so, Jesus is with his disciples over in, I've forgotten the town.

[7:07] But, I forgot where they were. Anyway, he gets word that Lazarus, his friend, is sick.

[7:18] What's Jesus do? Well, crying out loud. How long did he wait? Three days.

[7:30] So, Lazarus got well, right? He waited on him to die. Okay. That wasn't my plan, was it?

[7:43] So, when he comes, he gets up, and he says, okay, it's time to go now. We're going to marry him, Martha.

[7:55] And he comes down the road, and Martha meets him. What's she say? Do you remember? You've never said this. If you had been here, Lord, my brother wouldn't have died.

[8:15] Hmm. Now, we know Mary didn't say that. Oh, wait a minute. Yes, she did. She said the same thing.

[8:28] You see, God's plan isn't mine, is it? I like him to show up on time, but often he's three days late.

[8:45] Yeah? Yep. Yep. And in the case of Lazarus and Jesus, he didn't intend to heal him.

[9:05] He intended to raise him from the dead. He said, I waited around, I'm paraphrased. I waited around so that the glory of God will be shown now in front of you.

[9:18] So, 400 years in Egypt probably wouldn't have been my plan either, as I look back on it.

[9:32] Well, why'd you wait around? The famine was over 388 years ago. What are you doing?

[9:44] Now, that isn't to say that I should just wait around and not act. That's not what he's teaching me. But he is teaching me because he had already, as you pointed out, he had already promised Abraham the land.

[10:02] But with that promise, he said, know for certain that your descendants are going to serve in this other nation for 400 years. And after that, I'm going to bring them out with a powerful hand.

[10:32] God was still there. He's preparing. He's preparing. So, they've been here. God's been quiet 400 years, but he hadn't been inactive.

[10:46] He's preparing something. Now, verse 8. Now, there arose another Pharaoh in Egypt who did not know Joseph.

[11:06] Okay. What's that? Yep, yep, yep. It's all gone now, isn't it? Even in this day of grace, it's pretty important to pass the gospel on.

[11:32] Because every generation is going to have to know the Lord themselves, aren't they? Each person is going to have to know God himself.

[11:43] So, we go on. Why did the population bother Pharaoh? Pharaoh. The Israelite population. I'm sorry.

[12:00] Okay. He said, hey, there are too many of these guys. They're so numerous that they might be stronger than we are.

[12:18] Do you read that? All right. So, and if we happen to go to war, which was pretty common in those days, if we happen to go to war, what if they do what?

[12:36] Side with the enemy and and leave. Well, now, wait a minute, Pharaoh. Pharaoh. If you're worried about him, why don't you want him to go?

[12:51] Well, you see why. So, let's go on. What's Pharaoh's idea about preventing too many Israelites, but yet them not leaving?

[13:11] What's his idea? Yeah. I'm sorry? That's a little soon yet. Yeah.

[13:22] We're going to work them harder. That doesn't work today. It's harder. They quit and go somewhere else. Well, yeah, but let's go to the, let's get in our time machine, run up to the split kingdom.

[13:44] When Solomon's son took the throne and he sought counsel, his elder counsel said, look, your dad, your dad had a pretty heavy taxation on the people.

[14:07] I'll tell you what you do. You lighten that up. And they'll follow you anywhere. And then he went to his buds, the guys he grew up with.

[14:22] And he said, what do you say? And they said, oh, your father hit you with scourges, but I'm going to hit you with scorpions. You think it was tough under him, you just wait.

[14:38] And he split the kingdom. in God's plan. God had already shown that that was going to happen. He was going to do that. I'm not going to tear it all away because of my promise to David.

[14:52] However, you're going to lose. You're going to lose. I might do well to listen to the Lord when it's easy, right?

[15:04] I might do well to listen to God's precepts when it's easier to do. Because if I go longer, there are consequences to my bad decisions.

[15:17] The perfect love that casts out fear, you read in 1 John. Some people will say that means you can be frivolous with the Lord.

[15:28] Oh, they won't use those words, but that's what they mean. that's not true. That's not the fear that is cast out by perfect love.

[15:43] It's not the fear of God. It's the fear of judgment. If you read that in its context, he says, we have no fear of the judgment because we've been, we have been sanctified by the Lord Jesus.

[15:59] We are secure in God and our righteousness comes from Christ and not from ourselves. That's the fear that's thrown out. But it doesn't mean be flippant with the Lord.

[16:12] That's not what he says because he's still God. And there are still consequences. Even though I have security in my salvation, there are consequences to my actions, are there not?

[16:27] And sometimes those go on generationally, not just with me. Usually the consequences of my sin are a lot bigger than I ever intended them to be or thought they could be.

[16:43] So, let's go on. His idea is, let's work them hard. So, did, by the way, how had Israel begun, I asked a similar question, how had they begun their employment when they moved into Goshen?

[17:11] They were shepherds. Had they worked for that Pharaoh, that had known Joseph. You remember that? Right.

[17:26] Pharaoh said, hey, if you know any energetic men among them, put them in charge of mine. Because he had seen what Joseph could do, didn't he?

[17:40] Hey, I want to get in on this. I want to get in on this. So, it's not that they had not worked some, but now it's grievous work.

[17:52] So, what did the, what did they accomplish with Israel? They did not restrict the population growth. Israel still multiplied.

[18:02] What did they accomplish? Beside the buildings. They made their lives, they said, their lives bitter.

[18:20] Israel had bitter lives now. Now it's not easy labor. Now it's grievous labor. Now, the more he, that was after the, after the, what violence?

[18:43] What violence? Right.

[19:02] The, right. And the harder they afflicted him, what? The more they multiplied. The more they were resisted, the more they multiplied.

[19:19] So, now we come to the next phase. So, what does, the, the rigorous labor did not reduce the, or stem the population, the Israelite population.

[19:37] So, what did he order the midwives to do? Kill the boy babies. There could be a couple of reasons for this.

[19:53] He doesn't want all the men dead, but he wants a lot of them dead, because you kill enough men, there are fewer babies.

[20:06] That's one thing. also, who fights the wars? So, well, that may have had something to do with it.

[20:22] Nevertheless, by the way, it would not be possible in, with this population for just two women to serve all of Israel as midwives.

[20:38] But two women are mentioned. Now, whether they had a hierarchy, if you will, of the midwifery, I don't know, but only two are actually mentioned by name.

[20:52] So, when an Israelite woman was giving birth, the midwife, if it was a boy, the midwife killed the baby, right?

[21:08] Oh, wow, wait a minute. Wait a minute. They were, they were Hebrew women.

[21:31] These were Hebrew women, and we'll see why in, in, this group of verses.

[21:41] So, they did not obey Pharaoh. Why not? They feared God. So, when, when Pharaoh's ruling to destroy the boys, they said, not, we're not going to do that.

[22:11] Now, Pharaoh calls them to task. What's he say? Yeah, why aren't you killing these kids?

[22:27] You had to bring that up, didn't you? Again. What'd they tell him? Yeah.

[22:39] Yeah. We can't get there. We can't get there. These women are vigorous. Now, now, these women lied to Pharaoh, didn't they?

[23:06] But God's going to bless them. Therefore, God gave them houses. That doesn't mean a building, right? That means he gave them big families.

[23:19] Important families. families. So, why is God blessing the lie? Have you ever had anybody ask you anything like that?

[23:35] Or have, well, I don't want an answer to this. Have you ever wondered about that? You had to answer anyway, didn't you?

[23:47] Yeah, you wonder about that sometimes. Okay, God, now I know I'm not supposed to lie, but here, God's blessing the lie.

[24:01] I'm sorry? He blessed their fear of God. It doesn't say, now, by the way, if I read this, and I say, okay, God, God blessed them, even though they lied.

[24:26] Therefore, if I lie, it's okay, right? That's not what this says to me. See, I heard this many years ago from a young man.

[24:50] Well, the scripture you quoted says that children obey your parents in the Lord. And my dad doesn't obey the Lord.

[25:03] God's heart. So I don't need to obey him. That's not true. It did to him.

[25:15] But there you go, because he's not taking the scripture as it's written in its context. Because what he was saying was, it says in the Lord, and I'm going to use that as my excuse not to obey him at all.

[25:32] Now, the response was, if your dad pulls up to the 7-Eleven and hands you a ski mask and a shotgun and tells you to go rob the store, you can say no.

[25:50] But if he tells you to take the trash out, that's not your prerogative. That's not what that scripture's teaching you. So, I have to be careful with this, do I not?

[26:02] The scripture is not saying, Roger, you can lie flippantly. The scripture is saying, fear the Lord more than Pharaoh.

[26:18] But I have to be careful that it's God's. That it's God's will. right.

[26:34] They fear God because he's God. I mean, he's created this. He sustains this. Yeah, not for gods.

[26:53] Oh, yeah, that would be possible.

[27:17] That would be possible. people. Now, but that was not the case here. They did lie about it.

[27:27] I just think the story of the story of Jews. Nazis came on how you hide and Jews would be the right thing to do. They said that it was a lie to death.

[27:40] Ultimately, it was a lie to serve. It was a free. yeah. Now, I must be careful with it, must I not?

[27:52] Because in my flesh, my temptation is going to be to excuse a whole lot of things that I ought not be excusing.

[28:06] Nevertheless, God's will is going to be done here, and so that didn't work, did it?

[28:24] They're still proliferating. So now comes the infamous order that almost everyone has heard in some fashion, and what is that?

[28:38] What does Pharaoh say now? Okay. He says it to all the people, and that would include the Egyptians.

[28:53] In fact, I think it probably is the Egyptians, that if you find an Israel, if they're having a bar mitzvah over here, you grab that kid and toss him in the river.

[29:04] Now, what did he tell the midwives to do? If they had a male baby, what were they to do?

[29:16] They were to kill him. If the people now his order is, if you find a male baby, what are they to do? Throw him in the river.

[29:27] I pondered that one a bit. In fact, I struggled with that a bit. Okay, why is that? They didn't have any qualms about dashing them.

[29:44] They told the midwives just to kill them. So, they didn't have a problem with that. They may drown. So, I don't know the answer to that.

[29:57] specifically. Possibly. There are a couple of things that say about studying Egyptian history.

[30:14] We see in the Bible a lot of the interact between the people and the that's really between the God of Egypt and the one free God.

[30:25] And in Egyptian history, the God of the Nile is the God of having four babies. So, that's why Pharaoh's daughter was going to take him to the son.

[30:41] But then we see that if this river God is supposed to make us more populous, we're kind of digging at the one true God and throwing their to the river.

[30:53] Okay, there you go. That's an interesting proposition and isn't it? So, his name was Sobeck or that's as close as I'm going to get to pronouncing it.

[31:09] How was he depicted in the hieroglyphs? A man's body and a crocodile's head. You throw a baby in the river he may drown.

[31:26] He may be eaten. The Nile crocodile's kind of famous. I don't know, I cannot prove scripturally that this is a human sacrifice to the demon God.

[31:44] I suspect it personally. Okay, it didn't work to order him to just kill him so let's do this. I don't know that. In any case, we know he didn't want to completely destroy him because he didn't want him to leave.

[32:00] He still wanted the workforce but he did want to control the population. Now, I'm going to save it.

[32:12] Let's pick up chapter two, God willing, next week and is there any final before we leave.

[32:24] So, I am not going to use this as my excuse to go out and lie to the first person I can find, right? I will say unless they are trying to destroy God's work, I'm not going to do that.

[32:48]  Have a wonderful day. God bless you this week.