V1-7
In this chapter, we start seeing God’s grand plan to move the Israelites out of Egypt and return them to the land He promised to Abraham. These verses first bring out the contrast of the number of people. The whole of household of Israel had 70 people at the time they came. When they came, Joseph had favor with the Pharaoh at the time and they were allowed to live in the land of Goshen. The number of the people was quite small compared to how big they later become. As their numbers increased, their power also increased. They become very powerful and fill the land.
There is power that comes from numbers. When a people are many, they are very powerful in what they say and what they do.
There is a lot of power in people coming together to walk together for a cause. The Church can benefit a lot from this. Unity in the Church can cause effectiveness in ministry because each person makes their small contribution and it adds up to a very big effort. As light in the world, disciples of Jesus must shine and glorify the Lord’s name on the Earth.
V8-10
Even though the Israelites had not rebelled against the Egyptians, the Pharaoh is filled with fear that they might revolt and He therefore makes a plan to oppress them.
It is interesting what fear and negative speculation can do. Rather than trusting in God, people filled with fear start hatching their own plans to protect and save themselves. Verse 10 actually shows that the Pharaoh, since this early stage, feared that the Israelites would revolt and “escape from the country.” He clearly did not want this to happen.
The second lesson is that when you become a threat to a person or a group of people, they will always make plans to destroy you. This is what is happening here in the heart of this Pharaoh. We see this same thing during Jesus’s time on earth. Even though Jesus had come to bring the Kingdom of God, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law did not like that He was challenging the status quo and that many people were listening to Him and so they made plans to kill him. One of these times is when Jesus heals on the Sabbath. Jesus was doing the right thing in healing on the Sabbath and He even challenged them that they would also save their sheep and donkeys if they fell into a well on a sabbath. The Pharisees did not like this because they had created their own kind of “religion” and created laws that were not from God. And so, when Jesus challenges their ways:
Matthew 12:14 NLT: Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.
V11-14
The saving plan of God continues to unfold. At this stage, God now allows pain in the lives of the people of Israel. This pain is very critical because it makes the people of Israel uncomfortable in Egypt.
God had a divine plan for Israel. This was his chosen nation through which He would reveal himself and his plan for humankind. Part of God’s plan is to return the children of Israel to Canaan, the promised land, just as He promised Abraham.
The people of Israel since the time Jacob and his family come down to Egypt had been comfortable in Egypt and their numbers grew greatly. They enjoyed a time of great prosperity, peace and growth from God. But now the time had come for these people to return to their ancestral land Canaan. And so, God allows pain so that the Israelites would no longer love their stay in Egypt. This pain would move them into a place of prayer, a place of remembering what God had said about them. It would push them into a place of realizing that the time had come to leave. And so, through the start of period of pain, God starts making the children of Israel ready and He starts making them come to his side where their hearts would now begin to move into a place of agreement with God’s plan.
Personally, the unfolding of this story makes me have so much reverence and Awe towards God. His plans over our lives are amazing. He would allow pain in our lives, not because it is enjoyable for him but because it is a tool He can use for our redemption because it tests us and brings us closer to Him. Oh! He is great and He is greatly to be praised. This also gives me confidence in Him: He has a good plan for me and as He has said:
Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
John 16:33 NIV: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
One part of this unfolding that I have find to be amazing is in verse 12 and this continues to unfold till the end of the Chapter. Pharaoh’s plan was to stop the growth of the numbers of the Israelites but clearly, this was not God’s plan. In fact, instead of reducing in numbers, they grow even more and more. Even the Egyptians are alarmed.
For me, it shows how precise God is in his plan. He had a limit to their pain. Even though God allows them to be oppressed, He does not allow their numbers to reduce. To the contrary, they grow even more and more. And up to the end of this chapter, Pharaoh continues to try to kill the Israelites but his plan never comes to pass. So, it was not in God’s design to reduce the numbers of Israel. God is already glorified in this because the Egyptians obviously wonder why their plan is not working.
V15-19
Being blind to what is happening or unfolding by not realizing this is the hand of God, Pharaoh continues to resist and therefore when his first plan to reduce their numbers through slave labor fails, He orders midwives to kill the Israelite sons who are born.
But you see, the midwives are not blind, they know that this is a sin against God. They can’t do it regardless of what Pharaoh orders. The midwives fear God more than they fear or even honor Pharaoh. The lack of the fear of God differentiates Pharaoh from the midwives. Pharaoh is a man without Godly wisdom because He does not fear God. He only fears or is scared of the power of the growing Israelites and so He does not care what He has to do to ensure their population does not continue to grow.
And that is how the fear of God differentiates people and also protects us from sinning against the Lord.
Here are a few verses showing what the fear of the Lord is and what it does:
- Proverbs 8:13: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.
- Job 28:28: “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’”
- Psalm 111:10: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.
- Proverbs 9:10: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
- Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- Proverbs 10:27: The fear of the Lord prolongs life, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
- Proverbs 14:27: The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.
- Proverbs 14:26: In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge.
- Psalm 112:1: Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who greatly delights in His commandments.
- Psalm 128:1: How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways.
- Psalm 33:8: Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
V20-21
Regardless of Pharaoh’s evil plans, the Israelites still continue to grow in number. We also see that the Lord blesses all who fear Him above all else. The Midwives are given families of their own because they fear the Lord. It is a proper example of all what all the verses about the fear of the Lord above are saying.
(Father in Heaven, I am sorry for every time I fail in fearing you. Your word teaches me that to fear you is to hate sin. Help me to learn to fear you oh great and mighty God. Because in fearing you is life. Lord, make me like these midwives who learned to fear you above human authorities. Let me not sin against you by fearing men and circumstances more than I fear you. I submit to your Holy Spirit so that I may be led of Him in fearing you. In Jesus name, Amen.)
V22
Hard headed Pharaoh still continues to find ways to ensure the Israelite male newborns are killed.
Can a man win against the Lord? No
In all these things, however, we still remember that God had a divine plan for Israel and He was working it out.
(May your divine plan of Salvation over my life be fulfilled oh God. Let me learn more and more to humble before you and to walk with you. Let me learn to treasure your word because it gives me wisdom.)