Change

# 16 2024 Dev. Ex.1:8. Change! Read all of chapter one first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ex.1:8 “Then  a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.”           

The book of Exodus Is about three main subjects: God’s deliverance, God’s morality and the worship of God.  Ch.1 sets the stage forGod’s  plan and promise, All of Jacob’s sons and their families ended up in Egypt. The promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is beginning to be fulfilled. “They had multiplied greatly…” But that was always the case, God wanted them to become a nation. What changed was the attitudes of the Egyptians. We are being subjected to radical change in our time as well. How do we deal with it? We do what Israel  did, we cry out to God in faith.   

Vs.1-7 All of Jacob’s family joined Joseph and his family in Egypt. As long as Joseph was alive all was well. But  after His death and the death of all his brothers, Joseph and his service was soon forgotten. To make matters worse they had “become so numerous that the land was filled with them.” 

Vs.8-14 The new king saw the Israelites as a security threat, they were foreigners after all and they could serve Egypt as slaves. The whole plan was to make their lives miserable, make bricks for building store houses and to reduce their fertility. “So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor…”  

Vs.15-20 Apparently Israel continued to increase in numbers so Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all the male babies. From the very beginning Satan was and is against God’s people, the Jews in Egypt and still today all around the world, like he is against all Christians today. He knows his fate but he can’t help himself, he is not able to change and will always bring on evil. But the midwives disobeyed the order and God rewarded them with families. Satan is also behind the abortion industry in this country and worldwide, if people do not have more children we will be in serious trouble by a lack of workforce.

The final order of the Pharaoh was like the final solution of Hitler, exterminate them all, but in this case, the males, by throwing the new borns into the river. This was an order for all jews in the land.  Even under these difficult conditions God is in control and has a plan, thanks be to God.

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