Mon 17th Oct 2022 - Daily Reading:
Exodus 1
Pharaohs Forget, but God Remembers
Exodus opens in almost the same breath as Genesis ends, reminding us of the names of those who went to Egypt, and explaining the blessing of God that was on them and on their descendants. In fact, their number grew from just 70 to around two million in about 400 years. God was certainly fulfilling his covenant with Abraham!
Then a new king came to power – one who did not remember (or who did not choose to remember) Joseph. For more than a century, Egypt had been ruled by ‘Hyksos’ rulers. Hyksos means ‘rulers of foreign lands.’ These foreign rulers had invaded Egypt from the north and ruled over Egypt until Ahmose had become Pharaoh and driven them out.
The new king mentioned in Exodus 1:8 may have been this Ahmose, or perhaps Amenhotep I or Thutmose I who came after him. Either way, the new king wanted to make sure that Egyptians had the power in the land, and not foreigners. The Hyksos had been removed, but there were millions of Israelites all over the land. The new king saw them as a threat.
Where the head moves, the body follows. The head of the nation decided to do something about the Israelites because of his own fear and pride. Then the slave masters treated them cruelly. Finally, every Egyptian came to fear and hate God’s people. And yet God’s people continued to be fruitful and multiply because this was God’s promise.
The oppression of the Israelites probably took place over many years – as slaves, the Israelites built two whole cities. It was Thutmose I who ordered the death of all the Hebrew male babies, but it seems he went too far. The Hebrew midwives would not go along with this plan (and God rewarded them for it) and neither, it turned out, would his own daughter.
The Pharaohs may have forgotten Joseph and Joseph’s God, but God had not forgotten his people. Every effort to crush and destroy the Israelites was doomed to failure because this was not God’s will. In good times and in bad times, God continued to make sure that his promises were fulfilled.