What guarantee do we have that God will keep His promises to us? We can trust God to keep His word because of who He is. His character is pure, without flaw or fault. He doesn’t make promises without a commitment to keep them. He never forgets. God’s promises endure even when the persons to whom He made them have passed from the scene. This has been demonstrated throughout the book of Genesis, and it continues through Exodus and the entire Bible. God’s promises endure; nothing can or will happen to cancel them.
It is good to remember that, while God chooses to use us to carry out His plans, those plans are bigger than we are and will continue after we have passed from the scene. As the story of Exodus opens, those who received the promise from God are no longer living. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph have served their purpose, but God begins another captivating chapter about His plan to save mankind. Other characters, Moses’ mother, Moses, Pharaoh, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, and many others, will take center stage as God works out His plan to bring Israel to the Promised Land.
In the last blog, I noted that God would work with three nations, Israel, the Amorites, and the Egyptians, to get Israel into Canaan. In that blog, I addressed some ideas of why God allowed Israel to become enslaved in Egypt. Today, I want to focus on the roles of the Amorites and Egyptians in God’s plan.
The Amorites
If you go back and read in Genesis, you will discover that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their families had lived in different areas in Canaan before they came to Egypt. But the land would not “belong” to them as a possession until they were delivered from Egyptian bondage. Who possessed the land that was promised to Abraham over four centuries before his posterity came to claim it as God’s gift?
The Amorites lived in the land hundreds of years before God promised it to Abraham. You may recall from last week’s blog that God told Abraham about Israel’s period of slavery, and commented that “The sin of the Amorites had not reached its full measure.” Genesis 15:16. https://www.cosdavis.com/gods-enduring-promise/ . God’s patience and mercy would one day run out for the corrupt and depraved Amorite nation. The day of God’s judgment would coincide with the Exodus and the eventual conquest of Canaan by Joshua, Caleb, and the Israelite warriors.
What does this tell you about God when you look at the larger picture of what He is orchestrating? What does this say about God’s ultimate authority over all nations and His judgment on their sin? What does history tell you about the moral degradation that led to the collapse of great empires like Rome, Babylon, Persia, and many others? Does America need a spiritual awakening?
Will mighty, godless nations thwart or defeat the plan of God? Even though Abraham would never personally possess the land that God promised him, the country that came through him would do so. God kept His word, and the promise endured. All God’s promises to us will endure!
God sent His Son to die and pay the penalty for your sin; nothing would stop Him from making salvation and eternal life possible for you. If you have put your faith in Jesus, nothing can separate you from that love that is saving you. Paul gives us an encouraging word about this in Romans 8:35,37, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
The mighty Amorite nation did not deter or defeat God’s plan for Israel; nothing in this world, not even death, will separate you from the salvation you have in Jesus.
The Nation of Egypt
In addition to God choosing to give the Amorites’ land to Israel, He worked with the leadership of Egypt to prepare His people to take it. How did He do that? First, God saved Israel from extinction by using Joseph to find favor with the Pharaoh by interpreting his dreams, after which Pharaoh made him second-in-command. Jacob’s family moved to Egypt with the favor of this Pharaoh. We don’t know how long Joseph served in his position before he died at the age of 110. However, ultimately, a new leader arose who did not look favorably on the Hebrews. Life was about to change for God’s chosen people in Egypt.
Remember what God said to Abraham when He called him? “I will make you into a great nation.” Genesis 12:2. Also, notice what God said about Sarah in Genesis 17:16, “I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
The new Pharaoh was unaware of this part of God’s promise to Abraham, but he was aware that the Hebrew people were becoming a sizable population. God was growing His nation in Egypt: “The Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers, and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.” Exodus 1:7
How does the new leader react to the startling explosion of the Hebrew birth rate? Before Scripture tells us of his reaction, it informs us about his ignorance of the role Joseph and the Hebrews had played in his nation’s history: “Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came into power.” Power without wisdom is a dangerous thing. He saw the Israelites as a potential threat and took drastic measures to deal with them. “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.” Exodus 1:9-10.
And so the new pharaoh attempted to quell his fear by making slaves of God’s Chosen People.
” So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor…but the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. Exodus 1:11-13
Why do you think God allowed His people to be enslaved? Why does God permit heartbreaking tragedies and burdensome trials to come into our lives?