I drew him out of water (Exo 1-2)

I drew him out of the water

Exodus 1:1-2:10

Key Verse 2:10*

Introduction

The Book of Genesis records the history of mankind. In the first part, it gives a narrative on Creation, the Fall, God’s judgment on the mankind through the Flood, and the renewal of His plan to repopulate the earth with mankind.

The second part of the book began with God’s call of one man, Abraham.  God promised him three blessings. They were the gift of the land of blessing as a lasting possession, the prosperity of his descendants into  God’s kingdom, and finally God’s blessing on them as His people.

As He promised, God blessed Abraham’s son Isaac,  his grandson Jacob, and then his twelve great-grandchildren through Jacob. Then God moved these twelve great-grandchildren and their families to Egypt. He stated two reasons why He moved them to Egypt: one was to multiply them and the other was to wait on the time when the sins of the Canaanites would be mature for God’s judgment.

The book of Exodus records the particular period in history that followed God’s process of fulfilling that promise. This  period spans from the  freeing of the nation Israel from their slavery in Egypt, to the time of their encounter with God face-to-face at  Mountain Horeb. This was the time of the forming of the nation of God out of one family. During the process of forming this nation out of Jacob’s family, God delineated the relationship between Himself and Israel; who God was to His nation and what that nation was to be before Him and the world was being revealed.

Through this process, God revealed Himself by demonstrating His mighty power in a most vivid and powerful way. Such a revelation had never been seen, either before or afterward. If there was anything that could measure up to the power that God demonstrated during this period, it may be the works that Jesus did through his earthly ministry.

So Exodus is the place in the Bible to find God in the essence of His being, or to encounter Him as He is and what He wants from His people. This purpose is well-noted in this passage:

Exodus 9: 15 “For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth”.

1.       The Israelites multiplied greatly (1:1-7)

As we learned from Genesis, Joseph, after much suffering, became the prime minister of Egypt. His brothers came to Egypt in order to get more food. There Joseph accused them of being spies and forced them to prove their innocence. Judah, the fourth son, confessed his sin and was willing to stay as Joseph’s hostage, in place of Benjamin. Accepting his repentance, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and embraced them in love. Joseph, knowing God’s plan for the famine to last for another five years, told his brothers to bring their entire family to Egypt, including their father.

So when his children brought back news about Joseph, Jacob was overwhelmed with joy. As he was setting out for Egypt, he offered an offering of thanksgiving to God. At this time God said  to Jacob:

Genesis 46:1 - “So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.  And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, "Jacob! Jacob!" "Here I am," he replied.  "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.  I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes."

In the Bible, it is said that a total of 70 men went to Egypt, including Joseph (Gen 46:27).

Since then, a long time passed  and all of Joseph’s generation died. It is likely that God’s mighty work through Joseph remained only  a faint memory among his descendants. Yet there is something important to note in v7.

Here, the fact that the number of Israelites increased rapidly is mentioned three times (i.e. ‘exceedingly fruitful’, ‘multiplied greatly’, and ‘so numerous’); the conclusion is that the land was filled with them.  When the seventy men (about 200-300 people including women and children) went to Egypt, they were assigned to live in Goshen, a small piece of land in eastern Egypt, but, as their numbers grew, they spread throughout the entire land.

If we look at this in practical terms, at the time  they moved to Egypt, the total Egyptian population was about 1.5 - 3 million people; out of these, about 300 were Israelites. After 400 years, the number of Israelites had grown to about 2 million (counting the men only, about 600,000);  by contrast, the total number of Egyptians  was estimated to be 3 - 5 million. This means that the Israelites were well over one third or even a half of the total Egyptian population. Though all these numbers are a rough estimation of the current understanding, we can see the real picture of their growth in Egypt. We can simply say that the growth of the Israelites was totally out of proportion to the growth of the Egyptians. What is the Bible trying to say by noting such a tremendous growth in the number of Israelites?

We can raise a few questions. First, how could they sustain their way of living with such an explosive growth in population?

There must have been enough food. Egypt is a fertile delta area of the Nile River. As long as there was enough water, the land  produces a great harvest. As we remember from Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream, there were seven years of abundant harvest followed by seven years of famine. What this meant was that God blessed the land and supplied it with an abundance of food in order for them to sustain the peoples’ lives, despite  such an explosive growth in the population.

Second, why was there so much growth among the Israelites while the growth of the Egyptians remained at the usual rate? Was this because they had a particular gene that multiplies faster?

We can find the answer in two places:

·         “He took him outside and said, "Look up at the sky and count the stars --if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring1 be" (Gen 15:5 NIV).

·         "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there” (Gen 46:1 NIV).

God said this to Abraham, the grandfather of Jacob; He said it again to Jacob, as he was leaving to Egypt. Here God’s will was to multiply His people was firm and unchanging; He was not only looking at Abraham but also  forward to the generations to follow after him. In this passage, there was no mention of God at all. But His will was put into effect and  seen in the growth of such large numbers, totally out of proportion with the growth of the Egyptians. It tells us about the mighty hand of God working in the lives of the Israelites. It was to fulfill His promise to Abraham and  Jacob. God fulfilled His promise; He wanted His people to grow and prosper  on the earth.

Such an example of God’s will was also seen in Genesis when God said to Adam “be fruitful and increase in number” (1:28).

The same will was the foundation of Jesus’ command to his disciples in Matthew 28:18:  “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (NIV).

God is the God of life and His will for His  is for His children to be fruitful,  multiply in number, and fill the earth! This will was beginning to be implemented here in the lives of His chosen people Israel.

2.       A new king suppressed the Israelites (1:8-22)

A new king came to power. This is believed to have taken place during Egypt’s eighth dynasty (ca. 15  BC). Most likely, this new king overthrew the old dynasty and established a new one; he did not know about what Joseph had done for the nation and did not care about what Joseph had done by God’s power. This meant also that this new king did not know the God of Joseph at all. For this king, the Israelites posed a great problem, because they were so large in number; the Egyptians might not be able to handle them in a crisis, such as during a war. The problem and fear was that they were still growing, growing faster than Egyptians. The threat was real and this king felt that he had to take some action:

V11

He put them under slave masters, in order to oppress them with forced labor. Under this persecution, they built two new storage cities: Pithom and Rameses. Tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of Israelites were put to work building these huge cities. They were extremely tired and their strength was sapped to its limit, but did it work (1)?

V12

The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

It is quite natural, when  people are put under forced labor, for the population to decrease.  North Korea is a perfect example of this. The majority of men in this country were put under forced labor, and their population barely equals one third of that found in South Korea. But here in the Israelites’ case, such hard labor did not  curve their growth. It was not just the king who was concerned; all of the Egyptians dreaded the Israelites. They saw an invisible power  working in the Israelites. This was dreadful because they did not know what they were dealing with; no matter what they did, it was not working (2)!

V13-14

In their dread, they made the lives of the Israelites bitterer with harsh labor; the Egyptians worked them ‘ruthlessly’. In this way, the entire nation worked against the Israelites, yet there were no signs of weakness at all (3).

V15-16

Since they saw that this was not working, the king resorted to a drastic measure; Pharaoh told the midwives to kill all the boys as they were being born.  However, this also did not work, because the midwives feared God and did not follow his order; when questioned, they made this excuse:

V19 “The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive"”.

V20

The result of Pharaoh’s vile scheme was that “they became even more numerous” (V19).

When he saw that it was not working, he  exercised his power and authority over the lives of the people (4).

V22

He was determined to control the lives of the people of Israel, by any means. His final two attempts to curve the population of Israelites were killing the babies.

As we go over these measures that he took, there were four steps he took in order to control the Israelites. He finally  pulled out his mightiest weapon: murdering all of the Israelite babies. He did this to keep his power and in order to protect his kingdom. This new king felt threatened from the Israelites because  his kingdom was  outnumbered by the Israelites. Pharaoh justified such a measure, the killing of babies, for the survival of his people and his kingdom. In two ways, though, it was an open rejection of God’s will and  purpose.

a.       God’s invisible hand was  revealed through these processes. Though Pharaoh tried to curb the Israelite population, he could not; ordinary measures did not work and, no matter how hard he tried, his efforts did not avail.

b.      God forbid the shedding of men’s blood in Genesis 9:6. This  rule was deeply implanted in  the hearts of all men; however,  Pharaoh chose to act against this rule and kill all the baby boys. This was a flagrant rejection, a denial of God and His authority.

This is notable  in the sense that this is the first encounter between a king of this world and God. It signifies what would be the responses of the kingdoms of this world as they encounter God’s power in life,  for life, and for His people. The king’s first and foremost goal  is to keep hold of his power, for his own survival as well as that of his kingdom. It defies all the other rules that God had set; The Egyptians’ ultimate weaponry was ‘killing  people’.

All earthly kingdoms will surely fade away, but God’s kingdom will prevail. How would He prevail over the forces of  this world? We can find the answer through the next event that God orchestrated. In such a situation as this, what could He do?

3.       I drew him out of the water (Exodus 2:1-10)

V2:1-3

Since Pharaoh ordered his men to throw all the baby boys into the Nile River, there seemed to be no remedy for this final blow against God’s people. All the Israelites were put on the edge of death. If they feared death, then they had no choice but to obey. This fear of death was made greater by many of their babies being thrown  into the Nile River. All the Israelites were helpless and God seemed to be silent. Dark clouds overshadowed  Jacob’s children. This might have continued for over 80 years. What would be the result of this evil command?

In the midst of  this situation, there was one courageous lady, a Levite woman. She bore a son and he was  good-looking and lovely. She could not throw him into the Nile, so she hid him for three months. It was a daring attempt to do something to save the life of her son. After three months, it was impossible for her to hide him anymore, but she could not yet let him go. She put the baby in a basket coated with tar, which would help it float. She  would not let the boy drift down  the river, so she put the basket among the reeds along the bank of the Nile where it would stay still for as long as possible. She let his sister watch over what happened to her little brother.

V4-5. The baby’s sister was watching her brother’s basket when Pharaoh’s daughter found and took it. As she opened the basket, the boy  inside started crying.  What did she feel for this baby boy?

V6. She felt sorry for him.

She knew it was a Hebrew boy and that he was hidden because of her father, Pharaoh’s order, but she had sympathy for this boy and decided to save his life. This was sympathy and love for life; such is the mindset that runs in accordance with God’s heart. The baby was nursed by his birth mother and grew up to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

V10 This boy became the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and she named him Moses, which means “I draw him out of the water”.

As we explore this event, we see that it was actually  God’s invisible hand that orchestrated this event so that the life of this baby, Moses, might be saved through the hands of those who had compassion and love for his life.

Pharaoh’s daughter named him to let everyone know what she did; she was proud of what she did and  stood firm by her decision, even though she knew it was against her father’s command. She  did this because her spirit and  will was in line with God’s spirit and  will.

The water mentioned here is the Nile River. In this river, many boys died, but Moses was drawn out of this water of death. Actually it was God who drew him out.

God uses the heart filled with truth. This truthfulness is deeply rooted in love for human lives, and is seen in his mother who dared to keep the boy and committed his life into God’s hands when she could  do nothing more for her boy’s life. This was in the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter. Both women defied the king’s command and  dared to keep the boy, despite  the threat of death. In a time of threats to human lives, all will withdraw in fear for their lives, but God uses those who dare to stand firm in a godly spirit, with  love and compassion for human life.

So far we have looked at this event on a microscopic view; what went on in each person’s heart and life? But we have quite a few questions besides these: Why did God let His people come under such an evil king from the beginning? What does the entire event tell us about God and His purpose? What was God doing? What does it mean to save one, while thousands of babies were thrown into the river? Why did God let His people grow under a kingdom of this world?

As we noted earlier, there were two reasons: first, God wanted to grow them to be a nation, and second, the sins of the Amorites were not fully ripe for His judgment.

a.       This is to illustrate the fact that all men are born under the kingdoms of this world. Under this king and kingdom, people were enslaved.

b.      God’s selection of one nation as His own initiated the conflict between Him and the king of this world. It was He who grew and multiplied them to be a nation.

c.       God still chooses some out of this world to be His children and eventually they may become His kingdom. Jesus said to his disciples, in John 15:19, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you”. This leads us to the second fact.

d.      The world and its kingdoms become jealous of us because we do not belong to them, but to God. It was He who took the initiative to multiply His chosen ones, i.e. Jacob’s children, according to His promise to Abraham. God did this so well that no matter what Pharaoh did, Jacob’s family grew big enough to become a nation.

e.      Pharaoh felt that his kingdom was being threatened, and wanted to keep a tight rein on Israel. In order to do so, he did whatever was necessary. The most powerful form of control was to make them their slaves. Pharaoh was their master, and the Israelites were to work hard for them, for Egyptian prosperity,  power, and  glory.

f.        Pharaoh wanted to control the lives of the Israelites; he owned them. So he would and could do anything, if he believed this ownership was in jeopardy. As we have seen here, Pharaoh did everything he could in order to keep ownership of the lives of the Israelites. When that ownership was threatened, he demonstrated  his control by killing all the Israelite babies. This was a clear statement  that “you have life as long as I let you have it. So you have to work for me. If not, I will take your life.”

g.       Pharaoh’s  last resort to threaten the lives of the Israelites. By his order to kill all the babies, he not only threatened those lives, but also the lives of all the people of Israel. Many babies were thrown into the Nile River and died, so the power and authority of  Egypt was sustained by the blood of innocent thousands.

Now, it was God’s job to rescue them from Pharaoh’s hands, because He had chosen them and  wanted to make  and keep them as His children. If God could not or would not save them, it would be a shame  because He could not keep His promise to Jacob that He would multiply them to be as numerous as the stars in the sky. If so, then all of what God could do, would be in jeopardy - His sovereign authority, almighty power, and  good will.

God began to work out a way to save them, by saving one man, Moses. When Moses’ mother made the decision to keep her son hidden for three months, she did not have any idea what would happen next. When she let her son float away in a basket, she had no idea what would happen to him. When Pharaoh’s daughter went out to the Nile River to bathe, she had no idea what she would find. But God put all of this together to save  Moses and the rest of His people, Israel.

We must notice that there was one and the same compelling spirit running through these two women’s hearts - love and compassion for human life.  They did not fear the King’s command that threatened the lives of babies as well their own. This is the spirit that God had for His people, the spirit that accords with the Holy Spirit who loves all human beings. This is shown in this passage:
“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish” (John 3:16).

The world and its power challenged God’s plan to save His people. It did everything it could to curve and suppress these efforts. The main threat was the power of death, but God saved Moses. And through that man, God wanted to save His people.

Likewise, God sent Jesus to save the entire world and, through  making him the king of His kingdom, he would save everyone.