Obeying God in the Face of Hardship - Pastor Tom Loghry
We begin a new sermon series for the Fall, picking up the story of the Israelites in Exodus 1.
Transcript:
And all the generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and become so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. Look, he said to his people, the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.
Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country. So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
Sometimes everything around us makes it extra challenging to obey God, to remain loyal to him. It's much easier when things are going our way. When we are flourishing, when we are not threatened by any danger, when those around us, in fact, encourage us to obey God and celebrate when we do. We sometimes enjoy such seasons. Those sorts of seasons do not usually last a lifetime. Hardships arise that make us question God's purpose and his presence in our lives. We feel abandoned. Those around us, rather than encouraging our obedience, mock it, and maybe even threaten us if we keep walking in accordance with God's way. The Bible does not pretend that life is not filled with those kinds of episodes. If you know the biblical narrative, you'll know that it's filled with hardship throughout, pretty much until the very end, which is still yet to come. We are not spared suffering. In seasons of suffering will we continue to trust in God's promise? Will we be loyal to God even unto death? We see some bend, we see some break, will we hold fast and stand firm?
We go to the Bible to learn from the example of those who have gone before us and to learn of God's faithfulness to his promises. We learn the biblical story so that we can understand how our own stories are taken up into it - that we are in fact part of the story and that God's presence remains active among us. We've been working through the Old Testament period of the patriarchs for the past couple years, and so before we get into the Book of Exodus I thought it'd be good if I gave you a little bit of a, a recap. Because some of us might have forgotten some of the pieces, some of us might not be familiar with some of the story, so that way we understand kind of the background that has led us up to this moment here in Exodus one.
So when we look to the book of Genesis, of course we are given the creation of the world and, and of humanity and it's revealed there that human beings have been made in the image of God. God made human beings male and female to reflect who he is in the midst of his creation, and provided that Adam and Eve would've stayed in right relationship with God, if they remained obedient to him, if they had trusted him, they would've lived forever, but instead they fell prey to the temptations of a serpent, which was just the form that Satan had taken to deceive them, to lead them astray, to convince them that they could in fact be just as good as God. They could be Gods of their own making and be self-sufficient.
Because they took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in which this promise was held according to the serpent, they fell and became subject to death and were cast out of the garden. And yet even here at the very beginning, we have a glimmer of hope because it said that the seed of the woman, though he would have his heel bit by the serpent, he would crush the head of the serpent. And so there's this sense of promise, and we see God's mercy in that they were not immediately slain right there and then, in the human, and the project of humanity was over. We're given some indication that God has a redemptive purpose right out of the gate.
But in the following chapters, we learned just how wicked humanity is. Cain the son of Adam and Eve kills his brother Abel. Wickedness flourishes upon the face of the earth so that God sends a flood, which wipes out all of humanity that was living at that time. And the Tower of Babel is constructed, again as kind of this effort of human ingenuity against the designs of God that we would be fruitful and multiply and go across the earth. Instead, everyone wanted to gather in one place, make a tower that would reach the God, reach God, God confused their language. And so from there, all the peoples of the earth spread across the world. And this brought us to the person of Abram, later known as Abraham. And in our first introduction to him in Genesis 12, verses one through three, we find this cornerstone promise which is given, which sets the course for really the rest of the biblical narrative.
Says there, the Lord said to Abram, go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. I'll make you into a great nation, and I'll bless you; I'll make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I'll curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
Now, the thing that's important to know about the time in which this promise was given to Abraham is that Abraham didn't have any children. So this is quite a shocking promise that God gave him, that he would be the father of a great nation. And what's more, that the whole world will be blessed through Abraham.
Hard to imagine how that could possibly be. So this man originally came from Ur and traveled to Haran. Abraham believed God's promise and so he traveled from there and spent some time bouncing between the land of Canaan, which was the land of promise, and Egypt. In the course of time, God did fulfill his promise to Abraham and Sarah gave them the promised son Isaac, and from Isaac came two more sons, Esau and Jacob. Twins, but Esau was the first born and should have, by tradition, received all the promise and inheritance. But instead God chose Jacob, who had received the name Israel from God, which means to wrestle with God because Jacob had this encounter with God in which he wrestled with him and received a promise from God.
Each generation was reaffirmed this promise that was given to Abraham. And in the case of Jacob, he has 12 sons. So you go from Abraham, who only had one son, to now Jacob has 12. And we can see how the foundation for this promised nation is being laid.
But there was conflict within Jacob's family and his other sons did not look kindly upon his son Joseph, who was born by his, his wife Rachel, and they conspired to kill him, but eventually resolved they would just sell him into slavery, which sent him into Egypt. And while things would've seemed pretty dire for Joseph in those circumstances, we see God's faithfulness to him and to, in fact, Jacob's family, and of course to Abraham, in that Joseph is raised from being a slave, and then being a prisoner, to being second in command of Egypt, because God empowered him to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh about a famine that was to strike the land. And so it was from this that God used Joseph to bring the family of Jacob into Egypt, because the famine was afflicting the whole area at that time and so they came to Egypt seeking food. And through a series of events, which I won't go through everything that transpired, it eventually becomes a reveal that Joseph is their long lost brother, the brother that they had sold into slavery.
Joseph is merciful and he wants them to come and dwell in the land with him to enjoy all his blessings. Jacob would go on and move into the land and he gives a blessing to all his, all his sons. But when he dies, his brothers became, Joseph's brothers become fearful again that Joseph might take revenge.
But then we hear in Genesis 50: 20 words of Joseph as he tells them, reassuring them, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Now, this kind of gives us some anticipation for the way that God works. God works through suffering. God works through hardship to accomplish his purpose. Now as we'll see, none of this is really, really should be surprising given what God revealed to, to Abraham, and we'll see this in the course of the rest of our examination here of Exodus one. Turning to Exodus, then, we pick up where Genesis leaves off. Looking to those generations that followed after those original 12 sons of Jacob. So it says, these are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah; Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. The descendants of Jacob numbered 70 in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful. They multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. So apart from just, we're reminded here of the names of the tribes of, of Israel, named after the 12 sons. we're reminded here of the number that went into Egypt, 70. Pretty big family. Then it says that from that 70, the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful and multiplied greatly so that the whole land was filled with them. Now, this is not just a passing comment, it's just like, oh, that's just curious. They just happened to become a really huge family. What Moses is doing here, because Moses is the author of the Pentateuch, what he's telling us here, he's pointing out God is being faithful to his promise, the promise that he made to Abraham long ago.
And we see this promise explicitly given all the more, and you would suppose this from the fact that God told him he would become a great nation, but we see it all the more in Genesis 15 verses one through six. God gave his promise, he reminded and reaffirmed Abram of his promises again and again.
In Genesis 15 verses one through six, it says, after this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus.
And Abram said, you have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir. Then the word of the Lord came to him: this man will not be your heir, but a son who's your own flesh and blood will be your heir 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 offspring be. Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Now really, the promise that God gave to Abraham here is looking even far beyond this current moment that we're sitting in here in Egypt, but we can know that shortly after this time, when the Israelites did exit the land of Egypt to go to the Promised Land, it tells us in Exodus 12:37 that they numbered 600,000 at that time.
So clearly God has been faithful to his promise to them. Now, the Israelites had enjoyed great favor in the time of Joseph and had been fruitful. You can imagine they were probably very comfortable in the land of Egypt. Everything seemed to be going their way, but then that all begins to change.
Continuing on in, in verses eight through 11, it says, then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. Look, he said to his people, the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they'll become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.
They put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. So we have the introduction of this new figure, a king, the Pharaoh of Egypt. But he goes unnamed, we're not told who this Pharaoh is. And we might see, think that's a strange thing to leave out.
But in fact at that time, and the time that this seems to be occurring in would be the New Kingdom era of Egypt, which was between 1570 and 1070 BC, it was typical practice for the Pharaohs just to be referred to by their title rather than their name. Now there's a lot of debate as to who this Pharaoh is, and it is really an open matter. It's nothing that we as Christians have to be dogmatic about, really. There's a, there's several good options and I'm not gonna go over all the options with you. I'm just going to give you the one that I think is probably the best match. So following biblical chronology, I think that the Pharaoh that we find here in Exodus one is Thutmose the first. Now Thutmose would've ruled between 1526 and 1513 BC. Now, the reason why I think that it's, this is probably the Pharaoh that's being referred to here in Exodus one is because of, again, the biblical chronology. So, just refer, if you go to First Kings 6:1, if you look at Judges 11:26, we have a a couple of time markers.
So in the case of 1 Kings 6:1, we have the building of the temple during the reign of Solomon, and it's estimated that this occurred in 967 BC and there it says that this occurred in the 480th year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. So all you have to do is just add 480 to the estimated number 967 BC and that gets you to around 1447, I see other commentators say 1446. I'm not exactly sure about why there's a, that difference there, but it's in that ballpark. And then if you wanted to find another kind of time marker, you could go to Judges 11:26, which is occurring in a period around 1100 BC where it's talking about how for 300 years, Israelites, Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, and the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon.
So it's saying they had been there about that long. So 1100 plus 300 brings you to about 1400 BC. So we're know, we know that we're in that ballpark. The second reason why I would think that it's. Thutmose the first is because of the rulers who follow after him, who seem to fit the picture of what we have in Exodus, and I'll get into them in future sermons.
I'm not gonna go over all this information in one, in one sermon, but those are the reasons why I think this, this might be Thutmose the first. Now the people that multiplied so greatly that Pharaoh perceived them as a threat. He was like, if we have a foreign invasion here, maybe these people will see this as an opportunity and ally themselves with them and overthrow us, and so we better keep these people down. And so he resolves, we're gonna enslave them, and they built the cities of Pithon and Rameses. if you look into the different theories about who this Pharaoh is, some think that it might be Pharaoh Ramseys at that time because the city Ramseys is built. That's a solid argument.
I think it's possible that they, there could have just been another Rameses they named it after. It's also possible that it's a case of anachronism, that is, you're referring to a location by a new place name. So if I was saying that Native Americans lived in Providence, you know, however, a hundred years ago, they wouldn't have known it as Providence, but I'm using that as a place marker, for instance so you know the territory that I'm talking about, could be the same thing going on here.
They enslave the Hebrew people. They enslave the Israelites. Now we might think, oh, this is a big surprise. This is really messing up God's plan for them. But that's not in fact the case. If you go further on in Genesis 15, we find that the Lord revealed this to Abram, even as he's giving him all these promises.
He says, then the Lord said to him, know for certain that for 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation that they, they serve as slaves and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
Then later says that part of the reason why they must wait is because God is allowing the sin of the Amorites to kind of come to their full measure. Now, the Amorites were those that were living in the, in the land of Canaan, and so God is going to bring judgment against them as he brings the Israelite people into the Promised Land.
So what we see here is in fact God's providential purpose at work. God's intent is to bring the Israelites out with great possession and we also see that he, he probably is allowing this to happen because otherwise they would've probably just stayed in Egypt. You'd think they've enjoyed a great time there.
Later on, you'll hear how much they complain about leaving Egypt. Even while they had been slaves there, Egypt had kind of been an incubator, incubator for them so that they grew and multiplied. But then there came a point, it's like, okay, you gotta leave the nest. You have to go to the promised land. And God's bringing this about through this harsh slavery that Pharaoh is inflicting upon them.
Even in the midst of oppression, there's an ironic sign that appears of God's faithfulness to his promise. We, we continue in verses 12 through 16, it says, but the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly. The King of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, when you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live. So we see God's faithfulness here in that they're enslaved, they're being worked really hard, and yet they just keep having more kids. They get, the population just grows and grows and grows. And so Pharaoh decides, well, I'm just gonna kill their baby boys. Now the reason why of course, is cause he views them as a military threat in time. And the way that he wants to go about this is actually by commanding the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to be the ones to do it.
Now there's just a few things that are striking here about this command and just every, all the details that we, we find here. The first is that we find that Thutmose the first's son, Thutmose the second, leaves a record of this policy of wiping out the males of, of his enemies. This is founded in the Aswan inscription.
He writes, as I live, this is regarding his Nubian enemies, he says, as I live, as Ra loves me, as my father lord of the gods praises me, I will not leave a male alive. This army of his majesty overthrew these foreigners, they took the life of every male according to all that his Majesty commanded; excepting that one of those children of the Prince of Kush was brought alive as a live prisoner with their household to his majesty.
Now. What this isn't saying specifically is that he killed baby boys, but it's reaasonable, but what, what we see here is just a general policy of wiping out all the males, and maybe that's a lesson that he got from his, his father. In any case, it maybe suggests that we're kind of in the right time period here in that that was an idea that kind of came to mind for how to deal with keeping one's enemies down.
The other thing that's significant here in this passage is just, we take note of how it's full of so many details of the, of the brick making, you recall the names of the cities. There's just, there's a familiarity with the land that we would not expect if someone was writing this hundreds of years later in a land removed from Egypt, because they wouldn't have had firsthand experience.
It'd be like, if you expected me to write something about, you know, Iraq, I don't know, I don't know the country of Iraq well enough to tell, make up a story about that. I'd just be making up details and people could say, Hey, that doesn't match up. But in the case of the, the account of Exodus, the details match up for that, that time period, the geography, the practice of brick making, and while this practice wasn't exclusive to that time, even the detail of how they gave birth on a stool. Oftentimes when we think about women giving birth, you know, in the hospital bed, but at that time they sat on a stool and you can actually find, depictions of this. Also interesting is that the names Puah and Shiphrah are also names that occurred in that time period.
it's kind of like we, in a shorter timeframe, we all know that there's certain generations where there's really popular names, right? And those names kind of fall out of favor. You don't find too many baby boys named Albert anymore, you know? But looking at this, that tells us that, that this story happened at that time.
So just things that we can easily overlook, but are testimonies to the truthfulness of scripture. Continuing, getting back to the narrative. Shiphrah and Puah received this instruction, in 17 through 19 we find their response. It says, the midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the King of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the King of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live? The midwives answered Pharaoh. Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they're vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive. So the explanation that's given for the midwives' action here in not killing the baby boys is that they feared God, they feared God, and decided they would better obey him than to obey Pharaoh.
Now just imagine how much courage that must have taken. And this is one of the things I love about scripture, is like, there's lots of men in scripture that take leading roles, but throughout we have this, these accounts of women that are just absolutely courageous in their fear of God and their obedience to him.
And Shiphrah and Puah are, are just those kind of women. And it's reminiscent of other episodes that we see come up in scripture. We think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they were commanded to bow before the idol of King Nebuchadnezzar. They say, if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he'll deliver us from your majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. Reminds us of the apostles in refusing to comply with the commands of the Sanhedrin that they stop talking about Jesus saying, we must obey God rather than human beings.
And what it demonstrates is this, this trust in God's ultimate vindication. Ecclesiastes 8:12 says, although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. So Shiphrah and Puah do not kill the baby boys because they feared God.
And some, Pharaoh summons them, he confronts them and says, why? Why have you not done as I've commanded you to do? And the midwives offer an interesting response. I think we can call it a deception, but it's not exactly a lie per se, because you'll notice they just give a general statement. Say Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they're vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive. And that might be something that's generally true. Now, and not, it may not be why they haven't killed the baby boys, but they're just giving you a true statement. And, and this is a thing that's, that we have to think through carefully as Christians as far as what sort of account we should give to people.
Kind of that, you know, classic scenario. The Nazi shows up in your door and tells you, demands that you tell 'em where the Jews are. That whole scenario, the way that we should handle those scenarios is the way that I think is. Truthful, but is also wise and discerning. So we think about, deception is rightfully used in cases of war and in sports.
We think in sports, no one explicitly tells their opponent, okay, this is what we're gonna do, and then does the opposite thing. But what they do is they show something. They show, they show something that makes it appear that they're going to do this. Their opponent assumes that's going to be the case, but instead they do something else.
And I think that's the proper tact. That's the way to walk the line. Not giving an explicit line, not telling a falsehood, but saying something that's true. Or maybe asking a question, so the Nazi shows up at your door, says, you know, are there Jews in your house? You could say, why would you think that? You know, not that I'm expecting that we will be in that situation, very, very, I hope that situation doesn't come back, but you can be clever. Christians can be clever, they can be smart. It, it reminds me of what Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 10: 16. He says, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Interesting combination there. You know, to be shrewd as a snake, to be, to be clever, but to remain in innocent, to be virtuous. Now as a result of their fear, God-fearing response, we're told in verses 20 through 22, the blessings that God brings. Says so God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.
And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people. Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live. So we kind of have a, a tripling down here. Once again, it's saying God is making them increase. These women are faithful and the people are just growing all the more, and God is faithful to these women too. He blesses their families and they get families of their own.
And so even while this is happening, maybe Pharaoh would take this as a sign. Maybe he should just back off since God seems to be blessing them, he just doubles down and he says, okay, I'm not gonna depend on these unreliable midwives. He gives this command to all the people. Says every Hebrew that is born, you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.
And so this sets the stage for us to be introduced to the figure of Moses. But we notice here just the tension in which the people of Israel are, are living in, great blessing and immense hardship. And it raises the question for us, can we embrace this sort of paradox in our own lives, that we might both suffer evil and at the same time see the continued faithfulness of God, that we might respond with the courageous obedience of Shiphrah and Puah who feared God more than the Pharaoh who sought to slaughter their people?
It's not easy, but it is the path of the people of God. And where does any other path lead, but in its end to death, judgment and destruction? In time, we will see God's judgment upon Egypt in the story of Exodus. In time, we will see God's judgment revealed upon this world. Until then, we follow the example of the one who went to the cross, as it's written in Hebrews 12 verses two through three, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you'll not grow weary and lose heart. Do not grow weary, do not lose heart, do not fold, do not comply with evil. Remain loyal to our ever more faithful God. Let us pray.
Dear Father, we have this immense privilege of being able to see your handiwork here In the story of Exodus One, we see the promises you gave to Abraham and we see what's transpiring here in Exodus one with the people and everything they're suffering and, and we know the whole rest of the story. We know, we know Jesus, we're on the other side of the cross. Father, thank you for this immense privilege, father, that we have to observe your wisdom, of how you're able to work all things together for the good of those who love you.
Father, help us to trust in you to remain faithful to you even as you've remained faithful to us. You are so faithful, God. Give us courage, father, to be obedient even when others threaten us. Father, even when things don't seem to be going our way, reveal to us, father, your faithfulness to us in the here and now also, we know your faithfulness to us Father in Jesus Christ, but show us to all the small ways, father, in which you have been faithful to us as we go through difficult things. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)