Bible Study - Culture (2) - When Life is Expendable - Exodus 1:16-17, 22-22:9 - January 20, 2019

Bible Study – Culture (2) – When Life is Expendable – January 20, 2019

This is lesson two (2) in our series entitled “Engaging Culture in an Ever-Changing World.”

Our focus scripture is Exodus 1:16-17, 22-2:9.

Life is a gift from GOD that we are to protect and preserve.

Let’s consider does GOD care for us as a person?

Ephesians 1:3-4:

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

2 Timothy 1:9:

9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

Jeremiah 1:5:

5 "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Ecclesiastes 3:2:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 

Matthew 10:29-31:

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.

30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

GOD knows each of us in an intimate way. HIS desire is for each of us to know HIM intimately.

GOD has a plan for every person who will exist upon earth. But HE made us with the freedom to choose but not all who exist choose to follow GOD’S plan. Some people choose to allow Satan and the flesh to rule their lives.

GOD chose the Israelites to be HIS people. GOD delivered them from Egyptian bondage and overtly revealed Himself to them beginning with Moses in the desert. GOD led the Israelites to Mount Sinai and spoke these words to them through Moses. GOD’S message was recorded in Exodus 19:3-8:

3 while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:

4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel."

7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.

8 All the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.

GOD loves every person and desires to have an intimate, loving relationship with each person.

Let’s read Exodus 1:1-15: (Background)

This gives the why in our focus scripture.

Israel Oppressed in Egypt

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

5 The total number of Jacob's descendants was 70; Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Then Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died.

7 But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them.

8 A new king, who had not known Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

9 He said to his people, "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are.

10 Let us deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply [further], and if war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country."

11 So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.

12 But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly

14 and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar, and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,

As stated earlier, this background scripture sets the stage for the why of our focus scripture. Simply, the Hebrews were multiplying so fast that the new king looked upon them as a threat. So, the new king devised a method to control the population of the Hebrew community.

The new king did not know the power of GOD. The new king had a plan to control the population of the Hebrews and GOD had a plan to deliver the Hebrews. Our lesson reveals how the hand of GOD works and HIS plans are not thwarted by human effort.

The new king had a message for the mid-wives who tended to the Hebrew women during child birth.

Let’s read Exodus 1:16-17:

16 "When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it's a daughter, she may live."

17 The Hebrew midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

Life is precious and there is a time when a person must choose to do the right thing.

[18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this and let the boys live?"

19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife can get to them."

20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous.

21 Since the midwives feared God, He gave them families.]

GOD had a plan for HIS chosen people.

Let’s read Exodus 1:22-2:3:

22 Pharaoh then commanded all his people: "You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live."

Exodus 2:1-3:

Moses' Birth and Adoption

1 Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman.

2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.

3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

It is interesting that both Moses mother and father were from the lineage of Levi. Levi was the son of Jacob. Later in Hebrew history the tribe of Levi would carry out “priestly duties.”

In Exodus 6:20 the names of Moses parents are revealed:

20 Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

Moses had a sister and her name was Miriam who is identified in Exodus 15:20-21:

20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing.

21 Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”

A mother’s love and her trust in GOD is revealed in our study. We also see the guiding hand of GOD in the lives of people. Moses’ mother, Jochebed, built a water proof basket which would float safely on the Nile River. You could consider that she was obedient to the king’s request; she placed Moses into the Nile River. She placed her “beautiful” son into the basket and into the Nile River potentially laden with crocodiles.

Had Jochebed observed the bathing habits of the Princess? We do not know. Moses is bobbing around in the Nile River but not alone. GOD was watching along with his sister Miriam.  

Let’s read Exodus 2:4-9:

4 Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.

5 Pharaoh's daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. Seeing the basket among the reeds, she sent her slave girl to get it.

6 When she opened it, she saw the child-a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, "This is one of the Hebrew boys."

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a woman from the Hebrews to nurse the boy for you?"

8 "Go." Pharaoh's daughter told her. So, the girl went and called the boy's mother.

9 Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages." So, the woman took the boy and nursed him.

10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, "Because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."

When GOD orchestrates there is no such thing as chance. That which needs to come together comes together according to HIS plan and purpose. When it comes together it is a beautiful thing. In fact, it is breath taking.  

Pharaoh’s daughter went to the Nile River to bathe. Notice “her servant girls were walking along the river bank.” Why do you think the servant girls were walking along the riverbank while the Princess was bathing? Were they possibly looking for crocodiles seeking a meal? Likely.

It is interesting that the Princess spotted the basket floating in the river and asked her servant girls to retrieve the basket for her. When she opened the basket the baby boy was crying. What is the first thing most want to do for a crying baby? It is to pick the baby up and console it. We know that baby Moses was beautiful and the instant the Princess saw him she was smitten. The Princess had compassion on the baby. She likely thought what her king daddy would do to him if she did not embrace this beautiful Hebrew boy. She likely realized very quickly that she was not prepared to be the baby’s mother. Necessity breeds action.

Being at the right place at the right time is vital. When we look back over our lives, often, we see that GOD has placed us at the right spot at the right time. Moses sister, Miriam, was at the right place at the right time. The Princess identified Moses as a Hebrew boy so naturally he needed a Hebrew nurse, or did he? As the old saying goes, “strike while the iron is hot.”  

Miriam was at the place at the right time and she scurried off to get Moses’ mother to care for him with pay. Only GOD can orchestrate such matters. Jochebed cared for Moses until he was weaned. It is likely Moses was between 3-6 years old when Jochebed weaned him and took him to the Princess.

The Princess named the boy “Moses,” which means “draw out” as in “taken out of the water.”

Every life is precious to GOD and HE has a plan for every life.  Many women have had abortions for many different reasons. GOD will forgive those who carry that burden when they ask. Adoption is always a good alternative. Life is precious!

Blessings!!!