October 18, 2015
Exodus 1
Review. Genesis 50 - where are we ? According to your homework reading in
Gen 50, what has just happened as we rejoin the Israelite people ?
Joseph died at 110 yoa. His 2 sons Manasseh & Ephraim & their families are
mentioned. Buried where ? Last wishes ? Joseph was the last of the __?__ (Patriarchs).
Name the others. Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. Joseph’s father was patriarch # 3, Jacob.
Jacob had __?__ sons (12). Their names are important. Can you name them ? Let’s see
where can we find them ? Ex 1:1-4.
1:1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each
with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and
Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
How many *sons is this ? Where’s the other one ? Joseph isn’t on the list as he’s
already in Egypt. This makes up the original list of the 12 tribes of Israel. However, the
list is going to be chg’ed over time. So, stby for that.
*note- listed in birth order by mother. Leah, Rachel, Bilbo & Zippo
Genesis brought us up to the death of their last “founding father” or patriarch,
Joseph. Exodus is going to introduce us to another famous character, Moses. Moses
however, is NOT one of the patriarchs. Moses will become known to us as __?__ (the
lawgiver). We have a way to go before we meet Moses, however. Exodus is not simply
Moses’ story. Exodus can only be properly understood in the light of Genesis, and we’ve
been there, done that. The word exodus means “the way out” in Greek. But it is much
more that the story of the exit from Egypt. The book of Exodus asks and answers a
question much more important than “will the Jews escape imprisonment in Egypt. ”
Exodus is the answer to the question, “can God keep His promises”.
Let’s finish w/ Joseph’s family.
5 All the descendants of Jacob were 70 persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.
Same account according to Gen.46:27. There is something very interesting about
the number 70. It is was also the number of the nations by which the earth was populated,
after the flood, according to Gen. 10 & …
*Note- current event time. How many of you read this week, about the protests and fires deliberately set at
the tomb of Joseph ? Extra credit -tell the class next week where those fires were set; the OT & modern
town’s name.
Deut. 32:8 when the Most High separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the
people according to the number of the children of Israel,
God decided there would be 70 nations because He knew Jacob’s family would =
70 also when they entered Egypt. Just think of that, talk about prior planning. The Jews
will eventually live in Egypt about 2 centuries. In that time their number will grow to >
600,000 fighting men alone, at the time of their escape from Egypt. Maybe 2 million
total. From the time God first told Abraham that He would make of him a great nation, to
the exodus out of Egypt, was 430 years. Jacob’s family only grew to 70 in the first 215
yrs. But then in the last 215 yrs. it grows to millions. That’s what the scripture means in
vs. 7
Note *At the time he came to Egypt - the non-Jewish “household" of Abraham was comprised of
at least 318 adult males (Gen 14:14). These non-Jew “employees” of Jacob, may = "several thousands."
(Kurtz, 'History of the Old Covenant,' vol. 2 p. 149, E. T.)
7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and
grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.
OK, let’s slow down even though we’ve hardly begun. Why make a big deal out
of these numbers ? Well, it isn’t the numbers at all, is it ? What is it ? Remember the
Exodus question ? “Can God really keep His promises”. MH says the “big deal” is this.
“Though the performance of God's promises is sometimes slow, it is always sure.”
*MH= Matthew Henry
Hab. 2:3. NIV For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and
will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not
delay.
If we learned anything Gen, we learned that God keeps His word. The promises of
God are sure. They happen on His time schedule and not our own. MH also says that
sometimes God's dealings in our lives may seem actually to thwart His promises, or to go
counter to them. And as we just studied in Hebrews, that may be to increase our faith.
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
We may not have to wait 430 yrs or 215 yrs., but wait we shall, if we have faith.
And as W.T. Connor said, “if it doesn’t persist until the end, it is not faith”. Anyone have
something to share about promises delayed, or waiting in faith ?
There is one more thing about these numbers that we ought to go over. Let’s pick
up vs 6.
6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.
All that generation died off by degrees. Perhaps all Jacob's sons died about the same time; for
there was not more than 7 yrs. difference in age between the eldest and the youngest of them,
except Benjamin. When death comes into a family, sometimes it makes a “full end in a little
time”. Many of us have had both our parents die w/ in a short period of time, so we know about
this.
It hurts to lose loved family members and friends, doesn’t it ? We all struggle w/ this and
its normal to feel like these losses come at the worst possible time. Don’t you know that’s how
the disciples felt when Christ was killed.
Here’s the mini-sermon about that. Since God gives us our friends and family when we
most need them, let’s not complain that He is too hard on us when they are removed. God may
remove them when they can best be spared, and we’ll never know that if they remain. Let’s
remember that He is in all ways -wise, and His ways are not our ways, nor His time, our time.
The NT proof of this is that after the death of Christ, His gospel began to remarkably
increase: and it was His death & resurrection that had an influence on it. It was like the sowing
of a corn of wheat, which, if it die, bringeth forth much fruit, John 12:24. There’s a Latin
Expression that goes like this - sub pondere crescit. = “being pressed, it grows”. Christianity
spread most when it was persecuted.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
By the end of the Genesis, the Israelites had achieved most-favored immigrant status in
Egypt. But after several royal successions (possibly over 100 yrs time) all that knew & loved
Joseph, and were kind to his people for his sake died, were overthrown or run out of town.
When Joseph was dead & royal friends were gone, he was soon forgotten, and the remembrance
of the good things he had done in office was forgotten or discounted.
Vs. 7 tells us that the number of Jews seemed to equal the natives, at least in Goshen.
There were enough of them that Pharaoh began to worry. Their population was increasing all
along but, it was not till after the death of Joseph that it seems to be taken notice of as
extraordinary. Was this increase in population just natural or was there a reason ? MH says that
when the Hebrews lost the benefit of Joseph’s protection, God made their numbers their
defense. We’ll read in a few vs that Pharaoh feared their numbers if an outside attack came or if
there was an internal rebellion. Israel’s status quickly deteriorated from welcomed guests to
feared aliens and finally to oppressed slaves. A tempting political strategy for new leaders,
whether pharaoh or Nazi Hitler, involves singling out a weak minority and calling them an
enemy. Fear of others can be a powerful source of unity.
*Note- Randy related this to more current events. Middle East, Isis, Muslims in America, etc.
9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for
us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they
join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
As I thought about Joseph’s deeds being forgotten I thought of a William Shakespeare
quotation. Remember this one ? “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred
with their bones." (Julius Caesar) All the good Joseph did couldn’t help his family now. All his
work to save the country through the 7 yrs of famine was forgotten, erased.
Eccl. 9:5 NKJV For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.
I smell another “mini-sermon” coming up. The best things we can do to men &
for men are seldom remembered after our death. And sometimes even when we’re still
around. Owners, principals, employers, regimes, governments come & go. Grants end,
funding stops, positions are eliminated. Favored & valued programs are cut. Time is cruel
sometimes.
Therefore our goal should be to serve God, and please him. If we work only for men
only, our works will die with us; if for God, they will remain. Remember the parable about
building our house on shaky foundations and not on rock ? Here’s 1 other pithy comment on this
thought. A man or a woman who doesn’t remember those who did well for them, it is to be
feared, because he/she will forget the supreme “giver of good gifts” too. Anyone been forgotten
like this ? Comments?
*Note- I didn’t mention in class one of my fav verses from the Genesis study. It’s Gen 50:20. If you’ve been caught
in situation like those mentioned above, this vs can bring great comfort & peace to you. I think…it did for me. Let
me know if you read it & it made sense and/or it helped.
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built
for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the
more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread
of the people of Israel. 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and
made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in
the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
We know very little about the Jews’ lives as slaves. There are only a few vs about their
oppression. Archeologist can’t even agree that they have found Pithom & Ramses. The Greek
OT, the Septuagint also names another “treasure or store city” that the slaves built. It’s named
Heliopolis. Some excavation there but nothing that reveals tells us about the Jews.
Note* the Jewish slaves did NOT build the pyramids or the Sphinx. They are much, MUCH older. I think
aliens built them myself.
—————————————————————————————————————————————
This is where we stopped in class. Thnx again to Linda G & Kathy R for stepping in for
Marylee Mulhern & MaryAnn Probabsco, who both had to leave due to emergencies “en
familia”. Pls remember them & their families in prayer this week. Wasn’t the desert
social great ?
What follows is the small bit on Egypt that I had to share. Let’s just read it now between
classes & we can talk about it next week. Please read chptr 2 of Exodus for next week.
We might get thru’ chptr 2. I hope not because that means we had more people speaking
up and more class comments. That’s better, don’t you agree ? Thnx to MaryJo, Randy,
Don, Noel and anyone else who had class comments. 10 pts extra credit on the unit exam
for these students.
The Land of Egypt.
It was called Mizraim by the Jews. That is, "the two Mazors”, (because the ancient
division was always Upper and Lower Egypt) or Chem (“the land of Ham”). Mazor and Chem
both mean “red mud or dark soil” (found along the Nile). Bible history has chiefly to do with
Lower Egypt, which is actually the N part of the country (remember the Nile flows from South to
North. This makes Egypt an “upside” down country due to this phenomena of nature) The most
magnificent monuments are in Upper or Southern, Egypt.
There is a great disagreement about the rulers of Egypt, their origins, length of reign,
their names and their accomplishments; plus dates associated w/ each. For my purposes I am
using info from Dr. Alfred Eidersheim. During the 12th dynasty, Egypt was in very prosperous
& civilized. This is when we think Abram first visited. The reign of this 12th dynasty lasted >
200yrs. The accession and rule of Joseph probably happened during the 13th dynasty. Egyptian
history is almost a blank from early 13th - 18th dynasty. That period was occupied by the rule of
the so-called Hyksos, or Shepherd kings, a foreign and barbarous race of invaders, hated and
opposed by the people, and hostile to their ancient civilization and religion. The period occupied
by their reign = 2-3 centuries.
"The Shepherds" were evidently an eastern race, and probably of Phoenician origin.
Some scholars says they were “Semitic” (long lost, distant relations to the Jews) There is
evidence that they brought the worship of Baal and human sacrifices to Egypt. It is important
to keep in mind, that there had been almost continual warfare between the Phoenicians and the
native Egyptian kings. Remember in our study of Genesis when Pharaoh asked to talk w/ Joseph
but talks thru’ his advisors ? He couldn’t be in the same room w/ because Joseph was a
shepherd. Gen. 46:34, “ every shepherd was an abomination" to native Egyptians. Maybe this is
why they “hated shepherds”. It also may explain why the Shepherd kings left the Israelite
shepherds unmolested in the land of Goshen, where they found them.
Egypt was a land of many gods. Local dieties were the most influential to average
Egyptians , but the Pharaohs all seem to have had different “chief” gods that they worshipped.
Each pharaoh created priesthoods to that god along w/ the required temples & obelisks. It was
normal for Pharaoh to declare himself a god also. Everything that happened was attributed to one
chief god, by the royalty but to any number of smaller, local gods by the people. Some of these
notable “head gods” were Horus (falcon god), Re or Ra, & Amun (whose temples at Karnak &
Luxor still stand). Other notable gods that you may have head of were : Osiris -goddess of death
& Thoth-god of learning.
No god was ever eliminated so after 1000’s of yrs , many seperate/different priesthoods
and temples competed for political influence, $$ and prestige. And at no time was one god
worshipped by all the people of Egypt. And lastly we’ve all seen enough “King Tut” or mummy
movies to know that the Egyptians believed in life after death.
*Note- extra credit available for students who watch “The Mummy” this week. (the 1932 version starring Boris
Karloff, not the silly remakes of late). It is nearly Halloween after all. Answer this question. Who did Boris Karloff
play in the movie ? His name, not “the mummy.