Exodus 1-The Israelites Multiply And The Hebrew Midwives Thwart Pharaoh's Satanic Attempt To Destroy Israel Through Infanticide
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday September 11, 2011
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 1-The Israelites Multiply And The Hebrew Midwives Thwart Pharaoh’s Satanic Attempt To Destroy Israel Through Infanticide
Lesson # 1
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 1:1.
Exodus 1:1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came each one with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them. (NASB95)
This opening paragraph in the book of Exodus serves as a connection to what Moses wrote in the final chapters of the book of Genesis.
This is indicated by the fact that this paragraph summarizes the final chapters of the Genesis narrative.
This provides the reader that which is essential to understand in what is presented in the book of Exodus.
This paragraph anticipates the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to make them a great nation.
“Now these are the names” translates six words in the Hebrew text and are an exact quotation of the first six words of Genesis 46:8.
So these six words tell the reader that the book of Exodus is a direct continuation of the book of Genesis.
The designation “the sons of Israel” refers to the individual sons of Israel, aka, Jacob since they are named in verses 2-4.
“Egypt” is situated along the southeastern shores of the Mediterranean and is bordered by the Red Sea on the east and Lybia on the west.
Exodus 1:5 All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt. (NASB95)
This verse is alluding to Jacob’s family migration to Egypt when Joseph was prime minister of Egypt (See Genesis 46:8-27).
The Lord moved Jacob’s family to Egypt from Canaan to preserve them physically and deliver them from the famine in Canaan.
Since the Savior would be an Israelite and would come from the tribe of Judah, it was imperative to preserve Jacob’s family.
Also, the Lord moved Jacob’s family to Egypt from Canaan to maintain their identity and spiritual heritage.
The racial bigotry of the Egyptians towards Hebrew shepherds would serve to maintain the Israelites as a separate people.
The Lord moved Jacob’s family to Egypt in order to set the stage to glorify Himself by demonstrating His omnipotence through destroying the might of Egypt.
Lastly, the Lord wanted to glorify Himself by fulfilling the prophecy He made to Abraham that his descendants would be oppressed by another nation for 430 years but that He would deliver them by His great power.
So Jacob and his family migrated to Egypt and settled in the land of Goshen in accordance with Joseph’s instructions (Genesis 45:5-11; 46:1-7; 47:11-12).
Exodus 1:6 Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. (NASB95)
This verse sets the stage for the new king of Egypt’s persecution of the Israelites.
Exodus 1:7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them. (NASB95)
This verse is a reminder to the reader that God was fulfilling His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that He would make a great nation from them.
It fills in a nearly 400-year gap covering the period from the death of Joseph to the time of the Exodus (Genesis 12:1-3; 17:1-5; 35:11; 46:1-3).
Exodus 1:8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. (NASB95)
The term “king” is synonymous with the designation “Pharaoh” which in the Hebrew means, “great house” and was the title of the kings of Egypt until 323 B.C. and meant something like “his honor, his majesty.”
History tells us that Thutmose I from the eighteenth dynasty was responsible for the decree to kill the Hebrew infant boys.
Thutmose I did not know Joseph in the sense that he did not feel obligated to honor any prior arrangement which protected the status of the Israelites.
Exodus 1:9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. 10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.” (NASB95)
Pharaoh is portraying the continued numerical growth of the Israelites as a threat to his nation.
His case is that the Israelites will join Egypt’s enemies in the event of war, which will create a situation where Egypt would be fighting not only an enemy from without but also from within.
The Hebrew expression translated “depart from the land” actually means “to take possession of the land” since why would Pharaoh consider the Israelites a threat if they leave the country?
Now, we can see why Pharaoh lived in fear of the Israelites in the sense that the numerical superiority of the Israelites could lead them to take possession of Egypt itself.
Exodus 1:11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. (NASB95)
Pithom and Raamses were located in northern Egypt and were military storage cities in the sense that they stored valuable assets of all types in these cities.
Exodus 1:12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. 13 The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously; 14 and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them. (NASB95)
The hard labor was designed to kill off the population of the males in Israel to reduce their numbers, however, despite Pharaoh’s vigorous efforts to reduce the Israelite population, God increased the Israelite population.
This persecution and oppression of the nation of Israel by Egypt was prophesied by the Lord to Abram in Genesis 15:12-16.
Exodus 1:15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah; 16 and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” (NASB95)
Moses records the names of two of the Hebrew midwives in order to honor them as heroes in Israel in the sense that they were obedient to God to the point of risking their lives by disobeying the edict of Pharaoh who could have put them to death for such disobedience.
Pharaoh wanted to kill the boys and not the girls because first of all, girls do not fight wars in the ancient world, the men did and remember the motivation for this genocide campaign was the fear of losing a war.
Exodus 1:17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. (NASB95)
Verse 17 says that the Hebrew midwives disobeyed the king’s edict because they feared God which means that they had the conviction that the consequences of disobeying God’s command to not murder would be much more severe than the consequences of disobeying Pharaoh.
The midwives’ disobedience to Pharaoh’s command to commit infanticide is an excellent example of disobedience to a government authority which is justified from the biblical perspective.
Exodus 1:18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.” (NASB95)
Pharaoh asks this question of the midwives because after a period of years he would be informed that the population of boys in Israel had not dwindled.
The midwives’ lie to Pharaoh was justified because it was in obedience to God’s law to not murder.
Pharaoh accepted the midwives’ explanation and did not kill them for their disobedience because he has no way of verifying if their explanation is true because the Egyptians so stridently segregated themselves from the Hebrews.
Exodus 1:20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. 21 Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them. (NASB95)
Verse 20 makes clear that God rewarded the midwives for their justified civil disobedience and verse 21 tells the reader how He rewarded them, namely, by protecting them from Pharaoh’s wrath.
Furthermore, God gave these midwives their own families, which implies that they were childless and not married.
Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.” (NASB95)
This verse reveals that Pharaoh’s secret campaign to reduce the Israelite population through infanticide became a public national policy in Egypt.
Before, Pharaoh sought to have the Hebrew midwives accomplish this policy of genocide for him covertly without the Israelites’ or the Egyptians’ knowledge.
However, now he commands the Egyptian people to carry out this policy.
Pharaoh commands the Egyptian nation to kill these Hebrew infant boys by drowning them in the Nile because there would be no clean up if they drown the children in the Nile.
Also, it was convenient to throw them in the Nile because most Egyptians lived adjacent to it.
Furthermore, the Egyptians viewed the Nile as a god who gives and takes away life.
If the Nile took the baby’s life, then this would be the god’s decision.
Thus, Pharaoh is telling the Egyptians that they would be doing the will of the god of the Nile by murdering these baby boys.
The irony is that the God of Israel would end up killing every adult first born male in each home in Egypt which did not have the blood of the Passover lamb above the doorpost and lintel.
Ironically, Pharaoh and the best men of his army were all drowned by the God of Israel when they attempted to pursue Israel through the Reed Sea.
Though not explicitly mentioned, the testimony of Scripture is that Satan was behind this persecution of the nation of Israel while it was in Egypt.
The Savior of the world would be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and specifically would be from the tribe of Judah.
Thus, by attempting to kill the Israelite baby boys, Satan would be preventing the incarnation of the Son of God.