God Is Greater Than Our Problems Series

- So I believe Pharaoh gives this order, not just as a way to discourage the Israelites into submission, but also as a way to punish Moses and Aaron…

- He knew very well that when they returned to camp, their people were going to be really upset with them!

- It was a way to take the heat off of himself and place it on Moses and Aaron, probably hoping that the people would either reject them and kick them out, or perhaps kill them.

- So what’s the story with straw being used to make bricks?

- Eastern bricks were made in a special way, different from ours today.

- Adam Clarke explains, “…They were made of clay and straw kneaded together, and then not burned, but thoroughly dried in the sun.”

- It took a lot of work to make these bricks, and now, Pharaoh was giving them double the work to do in the same amount of time.

- Just in case you might think this never happened, we can look at a source outside of the Bible to confirm that this did indeed happen in Egypt.

- In his commentary on the Pentateuch, Chief Rabbi Dr. J.H. Hertz says, “In two papyrus documents, found in Egyptian tombs of the time of the Exodus, one passage says: ‘I have no one to help me in making bricks, no straw, etc.’; and another tells of twelve laborer’s punished for failing to make up their daily tale of bricks.”

- So Israel was facing Pharaoh’s wrath, his punishment, all because Moses and Aaron were being obedient to the Lord.

- Many of them at this point were probably shaking their fists at God, and probably at Moses and Aaron.

- So at this point, Moses could have said, “The trouble is way too much for me! I can’t do this anymore, Lord.”

- And then, he would have walked straight out of the will of God, all because Pharaoh’s punishment was too much for any of them to bear.

- And if Moses gave up and left, Aaron probably would have followed him, and then the Israelites would be even worse off than before.

- Notice next where the officers of the children of Israel go to…

- Instead of going straight to God, who was with them, or to Moses, who was God’s representative to them, they instead went to the source of their troubles, Pharaoh.

- As you can see, early on, the Israelites were already showing their lack of faith in God, and their lack of support of Moses.

- Yet God was still greater than their problems and was with them.

- What about you and me?

- Are there times when it seems like we’re being punished just because we’re Christians?

- The answer is yes.

- We need only look at the last 100 years in America to see what I’m talking about.

- Public schools used to teach Creationism, which of course is our belief that God created the Heavens and the Earth.

- Sadly, in 1925, things changed in favor of the evolutionists…

- One step at a time, and eventually, they were able to have Creationism banned from being taught in public schools.

- Today, evolution is widely taught in every public-school classroom, and it dominates the science departments in most of the secular colleges.

- One teacher who dared to put a Bible on his desk and teach Creationism was fired from his public-school job and the Supreme Court ruled that his firing was justified.