Sermon 1: The Birth of Moses – A Deliverer Born to Save
Exodus 1: 1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came each one [a]with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 And all the [b]persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy [c]in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and [d]increased and multiplied and became exceedingly [e]mighty, so that the land was filled with them.
8 And a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
Well good morning, church. It has been a good day of worship, fellowship, and singing so far this morning. That is one thing that I wanted to point out that I appreciate about our church. I know that the last year has been a rough one for many of you. We all know it when we have our prayer time during the service. Many of you have gone “under the knife” so to speak, during this last year. We’ve had knee surgeries, and back surgeries. Some of you continue in the pain, and look for a cure for hips, and hearts, lungs and brains. And others of you have other struggles with illness, families, or finances. But despite all of that, here we all are, gathered for worship.
There’s an old saying, “We were few in number, but mighty in the Lord.” I think that about us. What do I mean about that? You are a faithful group. We are not all here every Sunday. But many of you are here every time you can be here. You are a group who love the Bible. You are a group who prays for each other. You are a group who work and want to see our church be pleasing to the Lord. You are a church who exercise your spiritual gifts in building each other up. For that, I have always been thankful.
And I think that faithfulness is significant for where we are in our study of the Word of God today. Because, as we go through struggles in our lives, and as we look around and see the fewness of our numbers, we may wonder if God is being faithful. Does God keep His promises? We wonder if He will indeed, “never leave” us." (Heb. 13:5) If He is indeed our “shield” (Gen. 15:1) If indeed His thoughts toward us are thoughts of peace, and not of evil" (Jer. 20:11) Is everything really going to “work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28)
Well today, we will get to God’s faithfulness as we return to a journey we began some months ago. We started the “Firm Foundations” series in order to study the foundational stories of Scripture which are the basis for our Christian faith. We started going through the Bible from beginning to end. We started with creation. We looked at the fall of man and their expulsion from the Garden. We’ve considered Cain, Abel, Noah, and Abraham. We proceeded from Abraham to Isaac and paused after we came to the end of the story of Joseph at the end of Genesis. And today we pick up that story with the life of Moses and the book of Exodus.
And what makes the story of Moses foundational? Well, it teaches some foundational truths that are the basis for our faith and the reason for our faithfulness.
There are some huge theological themes that have their basis in the book of Exodus. Like, God as deliverer. The Covenant with God. The birth of Israel as a nation. The theme of the redemptive blood. The law of God is given. The tabernacle, the predecessor of the temple is erected. And Isreal come into the Promised land of Canaan, the land of the birth of the Messiah.
All of these themes are the foundation stones for the later advent of Christ, and for our faith in Him. That why this story is important. And so, over the next weeks, not including next week because it is Easter, we will be looking at our faith’s foundation stones from the book of Exodus. And today we will be considering the question, “Does God keep His Word? And we will be looking at the promises made to the nation of Israel as the book of Exodus opens.
The outline for the message today answers that question. God promised multiplication. God promised affliction. God promised a Deliverer.
And did you know that we have received the same promises from God?
prayer
We will be laying the groundwork for the book of Exodus today, so if you want to have your Bible open to chapters one and two of Exodus, that is where we will be camping. Today, we begin with the continuing story of the family of Israel and talk about one of the most pivotal moments in the life of Israel, the birth of Moses. And our story picks up with the end of Genesis, the beginning of Exodus.
If you were not with us in Genesis, we left off with the story of Jacob and his twelve sons and their families. They had been living in Canaan. But, because of jealousy and hatred, ten of the brothers had sold the youngest Joseph as a slave, and he ended up in Egypt. But while in Egypt, God was with him, and circumstantially raised him up to being second in command, only under the Pharaoh of Egypt. And a severe famine came that forced his family back home to come to Egypt to buy grain. Long story short, Joseph, the premier of the land of Egypt is united with his brethren. They beg his forgiveness and all of the family, including their father Jacob, or Isreal, end up migrating to Egypt, to the territory of Goshen on the eastern border of Egypt, so that they will survive the famine.
And that’s where we the book of Genesis closes.
I. God promised multiplication
I’m sure that most of you remember that God repeatedly promised that He would make Abraham a great and large nation. Abraham’s very name means father of a multitude. God told him that his descendants would be as many as the stars of the heaven and the sand of the sea. He repeated that promise to Abraham’s son Isaac and to his son Jacob. And when Jacob was an old man, and being asked by his son Joseph to leave Canaan and move his family into Egypt, God repeated the promise in a vision.
Genesis 46:3 And He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.
So, the two questions I had, reading this passage were, “How many were in the family of Israel at the end of Genesis,” and “how many were there 400 years later at the beginning of Exodus?” Well, it tells us how many there were at the beginning. It says
5 And all the [b]persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy [c]in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt. But note what it says in verse one.
Exodus 1:1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came each one [a]with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
So, there was one clan, the clan of Israel, 12 sons, each with his household. And I’m going to tell you that the words “his household” are words big enough to drive a Mac truck through.
Let me explain. I want you to notice something immediately. We know that Israel had twelve sons. But we also know that he had one daughter; Dinah. But she is not mentioned in this list. They only list the sons. 5 And all the [b]persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy [c]in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt.
The number of seventy persons is given here. But if you go back to Genesis chapter 46, right after God tells Israel that it is okay to go to Egypt, we find something interesting.
Genesis 46: 8 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel—of Jacob and his sons—who were coming to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9 The sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi. 10 The sons of Simeon: [c]Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and [d]Jachin and [e]Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.
Now, I’m not going to read you all of the names. But it gives us a list of who went down to Egypt. What you notice though is that, outside of Dinah as the one sister of the 12 sons, and one other daughter of Asher, there are no girls mentioned. So, the number seventy is limited primarily to Israel, his two wives, his sons and his grandsons. It doesn’t number the wives of the 12 sons. That would be 12 more people. Also, Did any of the 12 sons have daughters who married, and is it possible that their husbands chose to go with Israel down to Egypt? Probably. Also, there are listed 56 grandsons, so there may be 56 granddaughters and their husbands and families. Now let’s go a little further. It doesn’t list the wives of the 55 grandsons of Israel, so there’s at least 55 more. Also notice that by the time this group went down to Egypt, the oldest Reuben was approximately 46 to 47 years of age. Joseph was 39. The list given in Genesis 46 lists and counts the grandsons of Israel, but not any great grandsons. It is quite possible that the older sons already had grandsons and granddaughters.
So, let’s count. 70 persons; Israel, 12 sons, 12 wives, one daughter, 56 grandsons, 56 grandsons wives, one granddaughter listed, possibly 55 granddaughters not listed, possibly their husbands. And if each of the grandsons conservatively had 4 children who came along with this group to Egypt, that’s 224 more. We’re getting close to 500 people now.
Now, one final thing. We know that people back then wealthy people had servants who cared for livestock etc. Abraham had 300 servants at one point. So, it is not at all unreasonable to believe that each of these families had servants who were not listed. I think that the numbers of servants could easily double the previous number, making it 1000 people going down to Egypt. Some commentators have even doubled that number.
But back to our question. God promised to multiply Israel. Does God keep His promises. Undoubtedly. And we will see Him multiply them even more later.
And it happened exactly as God said it would.
6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and [d]increased and multiplied and became exceedingly [e]mighty, so that the land was filled with them.
What you have here is a summary of 400 years. We sometimes gloss over that. But just think about 400 years in the context of our own country. 400 years ago it was the year 1625. Think about the population growth of our country from 1625 to the present and all the history in there. We know a lot about our country’s history over the last 400 years. But all we know about the 400 years of the history of Isreal in this period can be contained in two verses.
6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and [d]increased and multiplied and became exceedingly [e]mighty, so that the land was filled with them.
The word here used for the Children of Israel’s population growth is “swarmed.” It portrays them as like a swarm of insects. They were everywhere.
But over 400 years the Bible tells us that they multiplied dramatically. Our second question was, how much did they multiply? Well, 80 years after this passage, there was a census of the nation of Israel as the left Egypt.
Numbers 1: 44 These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each of whom was of his father’s household. 45 So all the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war in Israel, 46 even all the numbered men were 603,550.
603,550 of men, 20 years old and over. That doesn’t count the women of the same age,
or the children under that age. Even
with conservative numbers that means that the children of Israel could have
easily numbered two million.
Even looking at what is considered normal
population growth and started with just 70 people, at 2% growth you reach 1.4
million in 400 years, at 2.5% growth you reach 7.7 million. And so the text tells us that they
multiplied exceedingly. Some modern
scholars try to cast doubt on the size of Israel at the Exodus. They lower the estimates because they look
at the conditions of the ancient world.
But there are some things that they aren’t taking into account.
First, they don’t consider the fertility
of the entire nation of Egypt at the time.
After Joseph was prime minister in Egypt, 400 years before, the
Egyptians began irrigating the fields around the Nile river based on the rise
and fall of the Nile. Every year the
Nile floods its banks between June and September. And after Joseph, maybe because of their
experience with the dreadful 7-year famine, they devised a means to water the
land from the flooding of the river.
They dug canals, and basins to allow the water to flow from the river,
along with its nutrient rich soil further inland. They later created water moving devices to
pump the water inland. By some
estimates, the population of Egypt reached 7 to 8 million during this time.
The second thing that they don’t consider
is the cultural differences that led to larger population growth. They don’t account for the birth of
multiples; twins, triplets etc. The Greek
philosopher Aristotle mentioned that the nation of Egypt was noted for having
more multiple births. They also don’t
account for the longevity and longer fertile years or of the practice of
having plural wives and concubines.
And the last thing that they don’t
consider is the blessing of God. “If
God is for us, who can be against us.”
And if God be for us, and our population multiplication, then there
would be a greater number of conceptions, fewer miscarriages, more live
births, and far fewer deaths of infants in the first two years.
And we had the account of the Pharaoh
testifying to their great population growth.
They had become so numerous that he was afraid of them. If Egypt was indeed 7 to 8 million, then at
2 million, the Israelites would have accounted for a fourth or more of the
entire population. So, he was afraid,
and chose to oppress the Israelites.
Let’s look at that. Because it
to was a promise from God.
And did you know that God also promised
believers multiplication?
Ephesians 1:3 (ESV)
“Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places...”
Meaning: In Christ, believers already possess every spiritual
blessing—peace, purpose, grace, access to God, etc.
2 Corinthians 9:10 (ESV)
“He who supplies seed to the
sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and
increase the harvest of your righteousness.”
Meaning: God not only provides but multiplies—especially when resources
are used for His kingdom.
Matthew 16:18
“I will build my church, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Meaning: Christ guarantees the expansion and endurance of His Church.
John 15:5, 8
“Whoever abides in me and I in
him, he it is that bears much fruit...”
“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to
be my disciples.”
Spiritual Multiplication: Fruitfulness (love, disciples, character) is the expected
result of abiding in Christ.
And you can be sure that God will keep His
promises.
II.
God promised affliction
You may
not remember this. But the children of
Israel becoming slaves in Egypt was not a surprise to God. Remember that clear back to the story of
Abraham, the patriarch of all Israel, over 400 plus years earlier God told
him that He would make him a great nation, but that there would be a time of
affliction.
Genesis
15:13 13 Then God said to Abram,
“Know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is
not theirs, [a]and they will be enslaved and
mistreated four hundred years.
And this is what we are told happened during those 400 years. 8 And a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are [f]more and mightier than we.10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it be [g]in the event of war, that they also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and go up from the land.”11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with [h]hard labors. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. God’s second promise to Abraham was that his family would be mistreated in a foreign land. And this is how that story goes. Those original 1000 people came to Egypt, and they were given the land of Goshen. Goshen was a wonderful choice for them. They were primarily shepherds and nomadic when they came into Egypt. In Egypt proper, especially around the Nile River, it was an agricultural society. And Goshen was a pastureland for sheep and cattle. It was also located towards the northeastern portion of the continent, bordering Canaan. They were not far from the land that God had promised them. The Egyptian kings for many years would look favourably on the growth of the Hebrew people, which strengthened their eastern frontier, the quarter on which they were most open to attack. God’s blessing was, moreover, upon the people, which he had promised to make “as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore, for multitude” The long years of ease had multiplied the nation. But now oppression began. Now, there are some questions here that also need to be answered so we have a better understanding of this passage. The first is, which Pharaoh are we talking about, “who did not know Joseph?” The second is, “what was it that he feared from the children of Israel?” and third “by what means did he seek to reduce their growth and threat?” So first, which Pharaoh are we talking about, “who did not know Joseph?” This has been a highly debated issue through the history of the Bible. Now, I’m not going to here try and reach a conclusion, but there are some interesting facts from Egyptian history that align with the Biblical narrative. The 15th dynasty in Egypt was ruled by an invading people called the Hyksos. The word Hyksos means “shepherd-kings.” This time period is probably a good fit for Joseph becoming prime minister in Egypt. Because the children of Israel and the Hyksos were semitic people, after their invasion, it would explain why Joseph would be accepted as a prime minister. It would also explain why some of the Egyptian people loathed shepherds as described in the account of Joseph. Well, then if we jump forward 400 years in Egyptian history we come to the reign of Ahmose 1 in 1550 B.C. who came in and defeated the Hyksos and drove them out of Egypt. He restored Egyptian rule to Egyptians and expelled or enslaved semitic peoples. This fits well with the passage we just read of a Pharaoh who is fearful and hostile toward the nation of Isreal. So, our second question was, “what was it that he feared from the children of Israel?” Here’s what the Bible passage says. 8 And a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are [f]more and mightier than we. 10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it be [g]in the event of war, that they also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and go up from the land.” He was afraid because of their numbers and their might. Their total population could have made up ¼ th of the total population. They had 603,000 men of fighting age. And God had blessed them so that they were probably virile and healthy. Remember that later Caleb would say of himself that he was as strong at 80 as he had been at 40. And if this was indeed Ahmose, or even a later Pharaoh, there was a real fear that if invaders threatened the country again, then the Israelites might decide to join the invaders, maybe the Hyksos considering that their ancestor Jacob had risen to power under the Hyksos. And so he starts on one of three strategies to weaken or crush them as the verb describes.
11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with [h]hard labors. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.
He put them to work with hard labor on two cities in a border valley. The cities were built for military purposes. The hope, of course was that the Isrealites would be beaten down, and have no energy for procreation. And if they are worked hard enough it could potentially work to death the weaker people. There is a historical account from Herodotus (Histories 2.158), that Pharaoh Necho initiated a massive construction project to build a canal linking the Nile River to the Red Sea. This was a precursor to what later became the Suez Canal. However, the project was incredibly ambitious for the time—and Herodotus reports that 120,000 men perished during its construction.
This seems to be a regular strategy employed by the Pharaohs. Later, we remember that the Pharaoh would make the Israelites serve with rigor making bricks and Josephus says, they were also employed “digging canals.” But, the Bible says that he was unsuccessful.
12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they [i]spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians brutally compelled the sons of Israel to slave labor; 14 and they made their lives bitter with [j]hard slave labor in mortar and bricks and in all kinds of slave labor in the field, all their slave labor which they brutally [k]compelled them to do.
So, as he was unsuccessful in weakening them by hard labor, he moved on to a second strategy.
15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom [l]was named Shiphrah and the other [m]was named Puah; 16 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.”
Most commentators I read agreed that these two midwives were first probably somehow in charge of an order of midwives, considering that two women could hardly have had enough time to help in the deliveries in a population of 2 million. And they also agree that they would likely be Egyptian women. Because it is hard to imagine the Pharaoh asking Hebrew women to kill Hebrew babies. They are likely being instructed to subtly kill the boys during the birthing process, as though it was a stillbirth. But this strategy from Pharaoh is also unsuccessful, because the two midwives feared God and would not do what the Pharaoh asked. Regardless of how far from God we imagine the Egyptians had come, they still had a moral code that protected children.
In one of the funeral rituals unearthed from ancient Egypt by archeologists makes these conditions for entering the afterlife.
In the presence of the Lord of truth each spirit had to answer, "I have not afflicted any man, I have not made any man weep, I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings.".
So, Pharaoh was again unsuccessful. So he tries a third strategy. He enlists the help of the Egyptian people who lived around and among the Hebrews. If a Hebrew woman gave birth to a child, if it was a girl, it was to live, if it was a boy, they were to snatch it up and throw it in the river. The horror and cruelty of this edict is beyond our comprehension.
Now we don’t know how successful this campaign was. We don’t know how many infant boys were drowned. But we know that the threat and the animosity with their Egyptian neighbors was enough that Moses mother hid him for three months, and was eventually so desperate to save her baby’s life that she was willing to place him in a waterproof basket and float him in the river, in hopes that someone might find him.
Did you know that God has also promised you affliction?
Psalm 34:19 (ESV)
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
Meaning: Affliction is not rare or abnormal for the righteous—it’s expected. But so is deliverance.
Isaiah 43:2
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you... and through the fire, you shall not be burned...”
Note: It says "when", not "if"—affliction is assumed, but God's presence is promised in it.
John 16:33
“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Prediction: Jesus flat-out says tribulation is part of life for His followers—but also, there’s victory in Him.
Matthew 10:22
“You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Persecution: Hated not because of wrongdoing, but for allegiance to Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:12
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Promise: Living faithfully for Christ inevitably brings opposition.
But, of course the difference between this suffering promised to believers and the general suffering endured by the world is that God has promised us that He will be with us. He sent a deliverer to the children of Israel in Moses. He has sent us the deliverer in Jesus Christ, who is with us always, even to the end of the world.
Well, we will look at this deliverer next time. Let us pray.
Father, we thank You for the incredible story of Moses, a deliverer born to set Your people free. And we thank You for the greater deliverer, Jesus Christ, whose birth brought salvation to all who believe. Help us to trust in Your sovereign plan, even when life seems uncertain or painful. May we remember that You are at work, raising up deliverance in the most unlikely of places. We trust in Your perfect timing and Your faithful promises. In Jesus’ name, Amen.