Exodus: From Blessing To Slavery
How Did This Happen?
To kick off our next study, we will be looking at the book of Exodus. This obviously comes right after the book of Genesis, but will not be doing this strategy throughout the rest of the year. We will be looking at 12 books that best explain God’s story in the Bible through this year and Exodus is the next perfect book to dissect to understand God’s plan throughout the history of the Israelites. So why Exodus? Exodus is indeed the next book that takes place after Genesis, but beyond this, if you take a deeper look at the Pentateuch, you will see that within these first 5 books, Genesis really separates itself from the other four because the next four books are all about the establishment of God’s Law over the Israelites themselves. And none of this is seen more clearly than in the bridge from Genesis to Exodus. As Don Carson says, “The exodus is simultaneously the escape of the people of God, the Israelites from Egypt, the land of slavery — they exit out of slavery into the Promised Land.” This story is not only one where God’s people escape slavery, it is one where they encounter the Lord like never before, see the Law that God Himself ordains, and ultimately tells the tale of how this chosen people finally reach the Promise Land that God intended to give to them. But in order to see how all of this unfolds, we must see how this chosen people went from being so blessed to slaves of Egypt. Let’s dive in.
Evil Rulers
To find this answer, we need to look no further than Exodus 1:8-10 which says, “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. “Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, otherwise they will multiply, and in the event of war, they will also join those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.” Here lies the unfortunate climax of how a blessed nation became the bottom of the barrel. Immediately we see in this passage that a new king arose over Egypt to rule over the land, and while describing this king, this author is sure to mention that they did not know Joseph. I think this one line holds more water than we may think. Why would knowing who Joseph is matter at this point? Because of how much he’s personally done for the nation of Egypt!! Do you think anyone in Joseph’s day and age would have forgotten the great works that he did in order to benefit not just Egypt, but those who came to Egypt in search of food? Of course not! It would seem that the only way someone could disgrace Joseph and his descendants like this would be to forget their history entirely. And I hate to break it to you, but the Bible is full of stories like this one. If you want to run a little test for yourself, turn in your Bible to 1 & 2 Kings and count how many times you read the phrase, ‘they did not walk in the ways of the Lord’, or something similar. You read this phrase quite often. As sad as it seems, when people forget their history, even when this history is full of God’s sovereignty, they forget who saved them from death and turn all of their services to benefit themselves.
Pride Before The Fall
Furthermore, we must look at the second half of this passage as well. This king was clearly worried about the number of these people and cared way more about power than he did righteousness. When pride and power mix, some of the most sinful and disgraceful acts follow. This king no longer sought the well-being of those who helped out his former king and his people, he only cared about ruling over all and having all of the power to do so. This is why the book of Proverbs is full of wisdom regarding the sin of pride and the effects it has on the heart. To list one for example, Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride, arrogance, the evil way, And the perverted mouth, I hate.” This king who ruled over Egypt was clearly evil and far from God in all his ways. However, this king didn’t just plan to enslave the nation of Israel, he planned to end them. Look at what Exodus 1:15-16 states, “Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, and the other was named Puah; and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
To enslave Israel was not enough for this wicked king. In order for his power to feel secure in this land, he needed the highest threat neutralized. And the only way he could think to do this was to lead these people to their extinction. Now as we know, God’s plan up until this point has never relied on the righteousness of mankind to be fulfilled, but as we will soon find out, it is impossible for the wickedness of mankind to stop God as well. Regardless of who attempts to get in the way of God’s providential plan, God’s plan will prevail nonetheless. I could easily get ahead of myself here and dive into what we have for the rest of this month to really see this point in action, but I must control myself so that we may see what God does throughout the rest of this book in the following weeks. For now, I hope and pray that while this may have been a harsh start to the book of Exodus, you would expect to see a great work of God in the midsts as He prepares to rescue His people and make His great name known.
Sources
[1] Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/
[2] Carson, D. (2024, July 26). Exodus: Understanding one of the Bible’s major themes. Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/exodus-understanding-one-of-the-bibles-major-themes
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