THE STORY, Week #4, "Deliverance"

THE STORY, Week #4, "Deliverance"

Last week, in our journey through THE STORY, we focused on the person and role of Joseph. He was the eleventh of the twelve sons of Jacob.  Clearly favored by his father over his other brothers, he was sold into slavery by them when the right opportunity presented itself.  We learned that God used Joseph's sufferings--being sold by his brothers to slave traders, serving in the house as a slave to Potifphar in Egypt, and his unjust arrest and imprisonment for years for a crime he did not commit--to shape and mold him into the person that God needed for him to be to keep his vision for creation alive. Twelve chapters in Genesis, 38-50, are devoted to the importance of the Joseph narrative within the greater story of salvation history--God's Story.

Joseph and his father reunited after 20 years.

Joseph, through a set of miraculous circumstances: 1) Rose to prominence in Egypt and became second in the kingdom only to Pharaoh, the king; 2) Saved a multitude of people within the influence of Egypt from a seven year drought/famine; 3) Encountered his brothers who had come to Egypt for food twenty years after they had sold him into slavery (Joseph initially did not reveal his identity to his brothers); and 4) Moved his brothers entire households along with his father, with Pharaoh's permission, to the land of Goshen, a fertile land in the Nile Delta where they could tend not only their herds, but Pharaoh's also.

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We read at the the beginning of Exodus, "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph." (1:8 ESV)  Joseph and his brother's family's may have been living in Egypt for centuries at this point.  We know from the historical record that a new dynasty from a different royal house was established in Egypt in about 1550 BC. The new Pharaoh did not know the story of Joseph, and certainly didn't appreciate it when it was probably shared with him.  The book of Exodus continues, 

"Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too might for us.  Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land." Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens.  They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Ramses.  But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad.  And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. (1:9-12)

The people of Israel lived through horrific living conditions, which included not only slavery but the executive order of Pharaoh for his soldiers and midwives to kill all of their baby boys. Through this

The people were forced into slavery

intense time of suffering, which God had prophesied to Abraham back in Genesis 15, God was shaping and molding his people for the journey which lay ahead.  From this people, a baby boy was born who survived Pharaoh's death edict--and was actually raised by Pharaoh's daughter in his own household.  This child's name was Moses.

In a a manner similar to the Joseph story, Moses would suffer and God would shape him through this suffering, to be his instrument of salvation to set his people free from bondage in Egypt. The entire story of Moses is too much to report on in a simple blog post, but please read Exodus chapter 2-11 for more background on the person of Moses and his story.

Ultimately, Moses appears before Pharaoh and demands that the Hebrew people be set free from bondage in slavery.  As expected, this news is not well received and Pharaoh punishes the people of Israel by making them work harder than before Moses' arrival and demand for their freedom.  Moses becomes discouraged, but God reassures him by making  a remarkable claim at 6:2ff,

God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD.  I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them...I will bring you (The people Israel) out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.  I will make you to be my people, and I will be your God and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians."

After this assurance to Moses, God revealed his glory and power in the form of nine plagues that afflicted the Egyptian people but brought no harm to the people of Israel.  R. Kent Hughes writes, "It is not hard to understand why God plagued the Egyptians.  Their king was a cruel tyrant who tried to destroy the people of God. Pharaoh would not let them go, choosing instead to keep them enslaved in Egypt...So God was justified in punishing the Egyptians with insects and amphibians, with disease and darkness."

John Martin, "The Plague of Hail and Fire"

The plagues were not only God revealing his glory to Pharaoh, rather they were God exhibiting his power over the false gods of the world.  In Exodus 12:12, "For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment." (Italics mine).  Dr. R. Kent Hughes continues,

By sending plague after plague--nine in all--God was showing his power over creation.  What the Egyptians should have done in response was to repent of their sins and join Moses in giving praise to the one true God.  Yet the more Pharaoh suffered, the harder his heart became.  This was because his heart was consumed by serving other gods.  So one by one God defeated the gods and goddesses of Egypt.  The plague of blood defeated the river gods of the Nile, the locusts defeated the field gods of the harvest, the darkness defeated the gods of the sun and sky, and so forth. (Exodus, p. 324)

As the nine plagues unfolded before their eyes, the people Israel must have been astonished that they were not touched by the hand of God.  Conversely, they must have been shocked to discover that their lives were in danger at the coming of the tenth plague.  While chaos engulfed their oppressors, the people of Israel had watched from the safety of their homes--and through this experienced learned (perhaps they were reminded) that they were indeed God's very special people--claimed in the promise of Eve, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  A natural tendency of the people may have been to believe that they were more righteous that than their Egyptian oppressors. But the simple truth was, that when it comes to a righteous judgment centered on death, everyone is guilty (Romans 3:23).

The first Passover

The story of the first Passover found in Exodus 12 is a beautiful example of God's passionate love and grace for his chosen people.  The blood of a perfect lamb (a lamb with no blemishes) was to be placed on the door frame of the homes of the people of Israel.  This would cause the Destroyer (the angel of death) to pass over their homes and only afflict the homes of the Egyptians--people who worshipped false gods.  After the destroyer had inflicted his great pain and agony upon the people of Egypt, even the very household of Pharaoh, the people were set free.

This day became the most sacred day on the Jewish calendar.  Indeed it was at the Passover feast that Jesus and his disciples shared the "Last Supper" together in the upper room in Jerusalem.  Christians draw powerful parallels between the offering of the perfect lamb and placing the blood on the door jamb with the offering of Jesus on the cross at Calvary and his blood covering the sin of all who believe in him.  The church remembers and participates in this act of Jesus by regularly participating in the Lord's Supper (Eucharist).

Volumes (Tomes!) have been written on the subject throughout the history of the church.  For our purposes today, it is perhaps enough to draw the parallel, and rejoice, that through the first Passover God demonstrated to his people that his vision for Creation would not be stopped by oppression or coercion.  God's story and plan of redemption for his people and all of creation were now placed in the leadership abilities of Moses, who God had been shaping throughout his life for this very task.  THE STORY now continues as the people leave Egypt in freedom--and God's vision for his creation is alive and well.