From Egypt to Sinai.
Ex. Chs. 1-19
Israel in Egypt. The length of time the Hebrews remained In Egypt is a
perplexing question. Exodus 6:16-20 makes Moses the fourth generation
from Levi (See Gen. 15:16; Num. 26:57-59). This would make it about
150 years. Gen. 15:13 predicts 400 years. Ex. 12:40 says they were
there 430 years and Paul (Gal. 3:17) says 430 years from Abraham to
Sinai. These apparently conflicting dates may be explained because of
different methods of counting generations, probably based on long
lives of men of that period or they may have had a different point to
mark the beginning and end of the sojourn. If the Pharaoh of Joseph
was one of the Hyksos or Shepherd kings, as has been the common view,
and if the Pharaoh "that knew not Joseph" was, as is the general
belief, Rameses II, the period of 430 years would about correspond to
the historical data.
Their oppression grew out of the fear of the king lest they should
assist some of the invaders that constantly harassed Egypt on the
North. They may have assisted the shepherd kings under whom Joseph has
risen and who had just been expelled. To cripple and crush them there
was given them hard and exhaustive tasks of brick making under cruel
task-masters. There still remains evidence of this cruelty in the many
Egyptian buildings built of brick, made of mud mixed with straw and
dried in the sun. When it was found that they still increased in
number in spite of the suffering. Pharoah tried, at first privately
then publicly, to destroy all the male children. This order does not
seem to have been long in force but was a terrible blow to a people
like the Hebrews whose passion for children, and especially for male
children, has always been proverbial.
It is difficult to gather from this narrative the varied influence of
this sojourn upon the Hebrews themselves. They doubtless gained much
of value from the study of the methods of warfare and military
equipment of the Egyptians. They learned much of the art of
agriculture and from the social and political systems of this
enlightened people. No doubt many of their choicest men received
educational training that fitted them for future leadership. Their
suffering seems on the one hand to have somewhat deadened them,
destroying ambition. On the other, it bound them together by a common
bond and prepared the way for the work of Moses, the deliverer, and
for the real birth of the nations.
Moses the Deliverer. Chapters 2 and 4 tell the wonderful story of the
birth of Moses, of his loyalty to his people, of his sojourn in Midian
and of his final call to the task of the deliverance of Israel. His
wonderful life-a life to which all the centuries are indebted-is
naturally divided into three parts. (1) _His early life of forty years
at the court of Pharaoh_. By faith his parents trusted him to the care
of Providence and he was brought to the house of Pharoah and was
taught in all the learning of the Egyptians, who conducted great
universities and were highly cultured in the arts and sciences (Acts
7:22). Finally feeling it to be his duty to renounce his worldly glory
and identify himself with his Hebrew brethren, he made the choice by
faith (Heb. 11:24-27). He no doubt felt then the call to be their
deliverer but did not find his countrymen ready to accept him as such
(Acts 7:25-28). Whereupon he fled to the wilderness of Midian. (2)
_Forty years in the desert_ where he gained an intimate knowledge of
all the wilderness through which for forty years he was to lead the
Hebrews in their wanderings. Here he had opportunity to learn patience
and meditate and gain the ability to wait on God. Here God finally
appeared to him and gave him definite and ample instructions for his
task of delivering out of bondage this crushed and ignorant slave race
and for making of them a nation of the purest spiritual and moral
ideals the world has ever known. (3) _Forty years as leader and
lawgiver for Israel_ while they tabernacled in the wilderness.
Perhaps three reasons led Moses to undertake the task of leaving
Midian and championing the cause of Israel. (1) He had a vision of God
the holy one of all power who would be with him. (2) The conviction
that the time was ripe, because of the death of the king of Egypt and
the years of weak government that followed. (3) By over-ruling all
objections God gave him an overwhelming sense of his responsibility in
the matter. He saw it as his personal duty.
The call of Moses consists of two elements. (1) _The human element_
which consisted of a knowledge of the needs of the Hebrew people. To
him, as to all great leaders and benefactors of the race, the cry of
the oppressed or needy constituted the first element of a call to
enlist in their service. (2) _The divine element_. God heard the cry
of his people and remembered his covenant with Abraham and appeared to
Moses in a burning bush and sent him to deliver them from under the
tyranny of Pharaoh. Like Isaiah (Is. Ch.6) he not only saw the need of
his people but also the holy God calling him to supply the need.
Moses task was three fold: (1) Religious: He was to show in Egypt
weakness of the idolatrous worship and to establish in the wilderness
the true worship of one and only God who is ruler of all. (2)
_Political:_ He was to overcome the power of the mighty Pharaoh and
deliver a people of 600,000 men besides the children with their herds
and flocks out of his territory. Then, too, he was to give them laws
and so connect them together that as a nation they would survive the
hostile nations around them and the civil strife and dissensions
within. (3) _Social_: He was also called upon to provide rules by
which, to keep clean not only the individual, but his family, and to
teach them right relations to each other. In carrying out this
program, it devolved upon him to provide an elaborate code of civil,
sanitary, ceremonial, moral and religious laws.
The Great Deliverance. The deliverance may be properly considered in
three sections. (1) The preparation. (2) The contest with Pharoah and
the ten plagues. (3) The crossing of the Red Sea.
The preparation consists (1) in getting the people acquainted with
what God intended to do and thereby secure their full consent to enter
into the plan. Then, too, it was necessary to have a very thorough
organization so that the expedition could proceed in an orderly way.
(2) There were various preliminary appeals to Pharaoh with the
consequent added burdens laid upon the Hebrews.
The contest with Pharaoh consisted of certain preliminary demands
followed by ten national calamities intended to force the king to let
the people go. The struggle was all based upon the request of Moses
that all Israel be allowed to go three days' journey into the
wilderness to serve their God. This gave the conflict a religious
aspect and showed that the struggle was not merely one between Moses
and Pharaoh, but between the God of Israel and the gods of Egypt.
All the plagues, therefore, had a distinct religious significance: (1)
To show them the power of Jehovah (Ex. 7:17); (2) to execute judgment
against the gods of Egypt (Ex. 12:12). Every plague was calculated to
frustrate Egyptian worship or humiliate some Egyptian god. For
example, the lice covered everything and were miserably polluting. All
Egyptian worship was compelled to cease, since none of the priests
could perform their religious service so long as any such insect had
touched them since they went through a process of purification. In
smiting the cattle with murrain, the sacred bull of Memphis was
humiliated whether stricken himself or because of his inability to
protect the rest of the cattle.
These plagues grew more severe with each new one. And much effort has
been made to show that one would have led to another. Much has been
said also, to show that the plagues, at least most of them, were
events that were common in Egypt and that they were remarkable only
for their severity. Such attempts to explain away the miraculous
element are based upon the wrong view of a miracle. The very
occurrence in response to the word of Moses and at such time as to
each time meet a particular condition, or to make a certain desired
impression, would put them out of the pale of the pale of the ordinary
and into the list of the extraordinary or miraculous. At all events
the sacred writer, the Hebrews in Egypt at the time, and the Egyptians
all believed the strong hand of Jehovah was laid bare on behalf of his
people. So it must seem to all who now believe that God rules in his
universe.
In connection with and just preceding the tenth plague, there was
institutioned the Passover to celebrate their deliverance from Egypt
and especially the passing of the Hebrew homes by the angel who went
abroad in Egypt to slay the first born. It was this plaque that
finally showed Pharaoh and his people the folly of resisting Jehovah
and assured Israel of his power. The paschal lamb, whose blood
sprinkled upon the door posts and lintels of the dwelling saved the
Hebrew, is a beautiful type of Christ and his saving blood. This feast
became one of great joy, annually celebrated, during all future Hebrew
history.
The Crossing of the Red Sea. For three days and nights God led them by
a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. At the end of the third
day they had reached the shore of the Red Sea and were shut in by
mountains on each side. They were greatly frightened to find that
Pharaoh with a host of chariot-warriors was in close pursuit of them.
But God caused the cloud that had been leading them to remove to their
rear and to throw a shadow upon their enemies while giving power to
the east wind (Ex. 14:21) that caused the waters of the sea to divide
so they could cross on dry ground. When Pharaoh and his hosts
attempted to follow then. God caused the waters to return and
overwhelm them. As in former miracles, Moses was God's instrument in
performing this miracle. When they were safe across and saw the
overthrow of their enemies their feelings of joy expressed themselves
in a great song of victory in which they ascribe praise to God and
recount the incidents of his work of deliverance.
The Journey to Sinai. It is not possible to locate all the stations at
which they stopped on their journey from the Red Sea to the time of
their encampment at the foot of Horeb or Sinai. The list is given in
Numbers, Chapter thirty-three. For our purpose it is sufficient to
notice only a few places and incidents of the journey. (1) They
encamped at Marah, being the first watering place they had found. The
water, however, was bitter and could not be used until God had enabled
Moses by a miracle to sweeten it. This was the first example of divine
support for them. (2) At Elim they found water and shade and here God
gave them the manna from heaven and the quail at eventide. Thus again
Jehovah demonstrated his purpose to provide for their needs while
wandering through the wilderness. This food was supplied to them
continuously until they reached Canaan forty years later. (3) Under
the leadership of the cloud, which during all the forty years of
wilderness wandering, was their guide, they next encamped at Rephidim
where there was no water at all. Here Moses by the command of God
smote a rock and caused them to drink of a fountain thus opened for
them. This rock is a suggestive type of Christ.
It was here also that they encountered and defeated the Amalekites, a
tribe of Edomites, who still kept up the enmity of Esau their father
against Jacob. Here also Jethro, Moses' father-in-law came to them
bringing Moses wife and sons. Upon Jethro's advice the people were
thoroughly organized. From Rephidim they came to Mount Sinai where
they encamped for a whole year.
Lessons of the Period. The lessons of this period might be divided
into two classes. (1) Those of special value to the Hebrews themselves
and lessons needed just then. (2) Those valuable for all time and all
people. Among those of the first class, the following are worthy of
record: (1) The authority of Moses was confirmed and the people were
made ready for his teachings and leadership. (2) They were established
in the popular belief in the goodness and power of Jehovah their God.
Of the second and more general lessons, the following are highly
important: (1) There is no chance in God's universe, but even the
apparently unimportant events serve his purposes. (2) No human power
whether of king or peasant or of nation can prevent the accomplishment
of God's purposes. (3) Those who resist his power are overthrown as
were the Egyptians, and those who act according to the divine will are
elevated just as were the Israelites. (4) It is dangerous to oppose or
harm God's people. He will avenge them. (5) Ample provisions are
assured to those who will submit to divine leadership.
For Study and discussion. (1) The number of Hebrews that entered Egypt
with Jacob, and the number that made the Exodus with Moses. (2) The
Biblical story of their suffering while there, including the added
burdens when Moses requested that they be allowed to go out to Egypt.
(3) The birth, preservation and education of Moses. (4) Moses' forty
years of wilderness training, its advantages and dangers. (5) The
divine and human elements in Moses' call to be the deliverer. (6) The
plagues, (a) the description of each, (b) the appropriateness and
religious significance of each, (c) those imitated by Egyptian
magicians, (d) those in which the Egyptians suffered and Israel did
not. (7) The stubbornness of Pharaoh and his attempted compromises.
(8) The miracles of this period other than the plagues. (9) God's
provision and care for his people. (10) The murmurings of Israel. (11)
The religious conditions of the times. (12) The geography of the
country.