In verses 8-11 we read that a new king arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph. Joseph had been a prominent figure in Egypt, but time had passed. People are soon forgotten and even though Joseph, with the power of God, had been a saviour to Egypt through the years of famine and those leading up to it, a generation had gone and he was forgotten.
We see this all down through history that good and even great people are soon put out of one’s memory and forgotten. People’s likes and dislikes change very quickly, and loyalties quickly wane. A striking example of this is Jesus. On Palm Sunday the crowds were shouting ‘Hosanna blessed is He who comes in the Name of The Lord’ and a week later, they shout ‘Crucify Him, we will not have this man to reign over us.’ I’m sure that you can think of others. Politics is good example; a person’s popularity soon wanes. Sir Winston Churchill is an example, a man who was a great inspiration during the Second World War was soon forgotten afterwards and voted out of office.
The new king of Egypt said that the Israelites are more and mightier than us so we must deal with them. If there is a war, they will fight against us. They set up taskmasters to afflict them and force them to build cities for Pharaoh in Pithom and Raamses.
However, the more they afflicted them the more they grew and multiplied (v12-14) and were in dread of the children of Israel. They couldn’t understand this, and they forced the Israelites to work harder, making their lives bitter in making mortar and brick and other service in the field.
It has always been the case that when God’s people are persecuted, the more they increase. Tertullian said, “The.
Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” God is displayed in that when people try to defeat us, He shows His power. No power can compete with the power of God. If God is for us, who can be against us. It wasn’t pleasant for the Israelites, no persecution ever is, but God was working out His plan. God never plans evil or bad things, but He can and does bring good out of them.
Pharaoh had not tried to kill them, but he was making life unbearable for them. However, this changes somewhat in verses 15,16, when Pharaoh tried to destroy them by controlling the midwives. He spoke to the Hebrew midwives, two of whom were Shiphrah and Puah. He said that when they do their duties they should kill the male babies but let the daughters live. These two women were probably the main two as there would likely be others. This was to reduce the population of the Israelites and cut down the number of lives in the next generation.
Satan did this when Jesus was born by using Herod to order all baby boys under the age of two years to be killed in an effort to get rid of Jesus. Satan knew that the Messiah would come through the Jewish nation and he was ever ready to try to thwart God’s plan. As we know it failed just as his attempt did in Exodus.
The Hebrew midwives obeyed God (v17). They feared God and chose to obey God rather than men, even the king.
The Bible says we should obey those in authority over us (Romans 13) except only when that authority goes against the authority of God. We have other examples of this in Scripture, particularly in the book of Daniel. Daniel disobeyed the law that no-one should pray to anyone but the king. As a result, he was thrown into the den of lions. The king had been duped into this law, no doubt taken in by his own pride, by Daniel’s enemies. The only person who did not sleep that night was King Darius as he was worried about Daniel. God kept Daniel safe. His three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, probably better known to most by their Babylonian names as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, refused to bow down the image set up by King Nebuchadnezzar and were thrown into the fiery furnace, but God protected them and they came out alive, untouched by the fire.
In a way we have been through a similar situation in this country in 2020/21 when our churches were shut down due the coronavirus pandemic. We were not allowed to collectively worship God. Most churches complied but I wonder whether we should have done. I know some churches remained open, and particularly in USA were fined for it. Many smaller churches, as a result, have closed down completely now. Many other churches resorted to going online and some doing live link and providing services on the internet. Most of us had never heard of ‘zoom’ except as exclamations in comics etc when something or someone moved off quickly. It has since become a household term. All this was a good thing, in the circumstances, but sadly, many people have ceased attending church now as a result, having got used to staying at home and watching a service from the comfort of home. It is essential that we have face to face fellowship. The big drawback seems to have been that many have stopped having such fellowship with others. In more recent days it has been concluded that the lockdowns and isolation have done more harm than the coronavirus itself. Some have suffered with the virus, and I readily acknowledge that it did cause some serious harm but there was a lot of scaremongering. People’s mental health has suffered too. A friend said to me right at the onset, “Where is our faith?”
There is little doubt that we are in ‘the last days’ and the writer to The Hebrews sates in 10:23-25 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” How relevant and up to date the Bible always is.
The apostles had a similar problem in Acts 4 when they were told not to preach in the Name of Jesus, and Peter posed the question to the authorities, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than God, you judge.” The apostles answered by their actions and continued to preach in the name of Jesus, even though it often meant imprisonment and later, even martyrdom.
Pharaoh questioned the midwives and asked them why they had preserved the lives of the Hebrew boys (v18-22). They said, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
God honoured the midwives. Some think that they lied to Pharaoh. There is much speculation as to this, some believe that they told the truth. It could well be, we should never underestimate the power of God to cause that to happen. Their answer was true to the question asked. It should have been followed as to why they did not put the baby boys to death when they did arrive, but they were not asked that. Pharaoh’s question seemed to be that when the child was being delivered it should not have been allowed to live. I don’t believe it is ever right to lie but we can be shrewd and should be careful how we answer the question.
The midwives deceived Pharaoh and God blessed their courage in obeying Him rather than Pharaoh. It is thought that midwives usually had no family of their own, but God provided them households of their own which seemed to indicate that they would have children and families.
The Israelite grew strong and multiplied, so Pharaoh commanded all the people. “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.” This was a far more radical command, he ordered all baby boys to be thrown into the river, including Egyptians.
