Four hundred years pass between the end of Genesis, which concluded with the dignified funeral of the patriarch Jacob, and the beginning of the next book. The situation in Egypt has changed entirely. The Hebrews are no longer seen as friends but as a threat to the country.
Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.
Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh (Exodus 1:8-11).
You may recall the crowd of white supremacists who marched through Charlottesville with tiki torches, chanting, “Jews will not replace us.” A similar sentiment was present in Egypt before the Exodus.
The solution the Egyptians devised was to make life harsh for the Hebrews. As Rudy Ross points out in today’s video, Jewish people have historically faced such harsh treatment as a means of suppression.
However, as the Exodus story and history demonstrate, God is still at work among His people.
Satan’s Schemes
The story of the Exodus parallels our journey to freedom from slavery to sin, self, and the world’s system.
The evil one can’t harm God, so he directs his attacks against humans as a way to get back at God.
Bruce Kirby notes how the shrewd methods used against the Hebrews are similar to the craftiness Satan employed with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1).
The shrewd deception of the serpent/Satan invites us to listen to his voice and ignore God’s directions for life. When we listen to Satan, the results can be catastrophic.
When a fish sees a worm on the end of a hook, it sees that worm as breakfast. The truth is, once it’s caught on the hook, it becomes lunch for the one who is fishing.
A man described his addiction this way: “I thought I was going to a party, but I ended up in hell.” What began as something very attractive became a path to enslavement through addiction, almost costing him his leg and his life.
Another man had amassed a great fortune through sometimes questionable means. One day, he met with the foreman of his shop and said, “I wish I could trade places with you. You have peace, and I don’t.”
Whether we lose a leg or inner peace, Jesus summarizes the reality that everyone faces if they listen to the serpent instead of God:
“For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Reflections
Exodus is the story of God transforming a slave nation into the people He would use to bless the world.
We can approach this narrative as both a history lesson about Israel and a guide for our own lives.
It reveals how God seeks to set us free and how He can use us to help others achieve freedom.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed Exodus 1 on YouTube today.
Real Voices 