A New Pharaoh

A New Pharaoh

(Exodus 1)

We have spent the last few months studying the history of God’s people in the Old Testament.

We finally finished the book of Genesis, but the story of God’s plan of redemption has really only just begun.

The Children of Israel are not yet a nation. They are just the 12 sons of Jacob and their families, a few dozen people.

But now as we begin studying the book of Exodus, we see how this small clan of shepherds grew into that mighty nation that would one day bring the Messiah into the world.

God’s chosen nation was born in the midst of slavery and brutality, and we are about to read about how that came to be.

But we are also going to study about two brave women whose names you may have never heard until now. It was their bravery that preserved this infant nation from the schemes of an evil ruler who would have destroyed God’s nation before it even got started.

The text begins by reminding us of how God’s chosen ones found themselves as sojourners in a foreign land.

Let’s read Exodus 1 verses 1-7

These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their father, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there.

6 In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. 7 But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.

So far so good for the Children of Israel. They enjoyed the favor of the Egyptians and their king because of all that mighty Joseph had done to rescue them from the famine, and I suppose that favor continued for a time even after Joseph and his brothers had passed from the scene.

But the people of this world are fickle friends, and the people of God will do well not to depend on the kindness and tolerance of people who do not worship the living God.

This good favor with the people of Egypt was not to last. Let’s read verses 8 through 10.

8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.”

An alternate translation of that last line is “they will take over the country.” In all likelihood, that was what this new Pharaoh really feared. He thought the Israelites would become so powerful that they would join forces with Egypt’s enemies and take over, then the Pharaoh would be out.

In our country, Christians have enjoyed freedom for many years. None of us even knows of a time when we were not free to worship and live according to God’s commands. But there have been forces in the culture and the government who have been trying to limit our freedoms for some time, and their plans have been advancing so gradually, we barely even notice.

We now live in a time when Christians can lose their jobs or be publicly ostracized just for speaking the truth from scripture. They have not yet gained the power to limit how we worship, but make no mistake, they are coming for that freedom too, if they get their way.

The Isrealites found themselves under the power of a king who had no memory or regard for all the Lord had done for them through Joseph.

We now find ourselves surrounded by a culture that has no understanding of how Christianity shaped the founding of this nation and served as the moral compass that made us the moral nation we have been.

We have had some serious failures along the way, and we are far from perfect. But everything good and wholesome about America has been because of the influence of Christian principles. But a large portion of our modern culture is prepared to discard that godly foundation, and they think that the rest of the structure will just continue to stand with that foundation swept away.

There may be dark times in our country’s future if they continue to move away from Christian values. It may not come for my generation and those older, but the young people need to prepare themselves for living in a nation that outright commands them to disobey God.