Today, we come to the second chapter of Exodus to discover what God will do to keep His plan moving forward. Perhaps we should remind ourselves of what that plan is and some of the things that have brought us to where we are at the close of the first chapter of Exodus. It is beneficial to recall what God’s plan entails, as the entire Bible is somehow related to what God intended to do regarding mankind’s fall in the Garden of Eden.
You can review the basic details of the Eden experience at https://www.cosdavis.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4742&action=edit&classic-editor. Here are some of God’s actions to restore lost humanity to a right relationship with Himself. He chooses Abraham to become the father of a great nation through which the Savior will come. He also promised to give Abraham the land of Canaan for his posterity’s homeland. Though old and childless, He gives Abraham and Sarah a child, Isaac, to keep His promise and perpetuate the building of a great nation.
Jacob is the next to inherit the promise from God. Though he was unscrupulous in his dealings with his brother, Esau, he had a conversion experience that turned his heart toward God and enabled him to receive the promise and blessing of God. Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph, was sold into slavery when he was seventeen, served one of Pharaoh’s officials for several years before he was accused of attempted rape by the official’s wife, and thrown in prison. He was brought from prison, interpreted Pharaoh’s troublesome dreams, and was given authority over all Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. Pharaoh’s dreams were of seven years of prosperity, followed by seven years of drought, and Joseph was charged with preparing the country for the impending disaster.
For many years, Joseph was honored for all he did to save Egypt. During the tremendous drought, Jacob and his family were welcomed to Egypt and were saved from starvation. Before Joseph died, and perhaps many years after, the Israelites lived comfortably in Egypt, having known no other place as their homeland. As the years passed, however, Joseph’s heroism was forgotten, and the growing population of the Israelites became a focal point of concern to a new ruler.
Last week’s blog https://www.cosdavis.com/our-sovereign-god/ dealt with how the fearful, power-hungry king tried to discourage and slow the growth of the Israelite population by forcing them into brutally hard labor. He also told the Hebrew midwives to kill the baby boys as they were being born, and ordered Egyptian citizens to kill young Hebrew boys. These were dark and difficult times for God’s chosen people.
What would God do to save His enslaved people?
I don’t know how you think about God’s timing, but sometimes I’m impatient with how slowly God seems to work on fixing issues I consider urgent. I want Him to fix them NOW. I don’t possess the wisdom, foreknowledge, love, and goodness that guide what, how, and when God does what, how, and when He does it. There are lots of crazy, evil things going on in our country and around the world today that I wish He would “fix,” but maybe He’s waiting on us to call on Him and commit to doing what we can do to resolve the issues that threaten us. When I think about this kind of thing, I’m reminded of the wisdom of Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight.”
It’s interesting how chapter one of Exodus ends with the problem the Israelites are confronting and how the second chapter opens so matter-of-factly: “Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.” Exodus 2:1-2.
The unnamed parents of this Hebrew baby were living faithfully under the oppression of slavery, having a child amid the evil they were enduring. There is no indication that they knew who they were bringing into the world and the important role he would play in God’s plan. But God knew.
Exodus 2:3-10 tells the beautiful story many of us heard when we were children. This Hebrew mother, understanding the death threat against her boy, realizes she can no longer hide him and prepares a basket for him and places him among the reeds in the Nile River. We are not told, but it seems quite obvious that the child’s mother is hoping one of the Egyptian women coming there to bathe will hear him crying, and be so moved by her motherly instinct that she will take him as her own. Miriam, the baby’s sister, was instructed to watch the child and told what to do should the plan work.
Who found the crying infant? None other than the daughter of the evil Pharaoh! Miriam jumps into action and proposes that the princess allow one of the Hebrew women (the child’s mother) to nurse him for her. The plan worked perfectly, and Miriam took the baby to his mother, who nursed him (with pay), until he was old enough to be raised by the princess. The princess named him Moses, saying, ” I drew him out of the water.” Exodus 2:10.
God is always working to do what is good, that which helps us grow to be more like Jesus. We may not understand lots of stuff that goes on in and around us, but we can trust His heart. God is good.