Exodus 1:6-7- And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
The Hebrew children became a very large family.
And Pharaoh was a very wealthy, powerful man. But, when someone becomes powerful there is always someone else who wants to take that power from him.
Exodus 1:8- Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
How could a new king not know Joseph? Joseph made Pharaoh the mighty man he was! Joseph saved the known world from a 7 year famine! How could this king not know Joseph?
Because he wasn't an Egyptian king.
Isaiah 52:4- For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
This new king was from a far away country called Assyria. It was farther North East than even Canaan!
Exodus 1:9-11- And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
The Assyrians saw that the Hebrews outnumbered them. They were afraid that if someone came to attack them that the Hebrews would help their enemies fight against them.
The Assyrians forced the Hebrew children to become slaves. The put taskmasters over them- those are people who make them do the work. These task masters would beat them if they didn't do what the Assyrians asked of them.
Exodus 1:12-14- But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
Even though the Assyrians made them work long, hard days. The Hebrews kept having children. The more children they had, the larger their numbers; the larger their numbers, the more the Assyrians feared what they could do.
So, the Assyrians came up with a very wicked plan.
Exodus 1:15-16- And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
Midwives are doctors that only deliver babies. These poor midwives were told to kill all the Hebrew baby boys.
This new king was a very terrible man! What do you think the midwives did?
Exodus 1:17-21- But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
These midwives feared God. They knew about Joseph. They knew the God of Joseph. They told the Assyrian king that the Hebrew women didn't need the midwives because they could deliver their own babies.
Because they obeyed God rather than a wicked king, God protected the Egyptian midwives.
But, this didn't stop the Assyrian king!
Exodus 1:22- And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
The Assyrian called his army to go throughout the Hebrew cities and to take the baby boys and throw them into the Nile River. What a terrible, wicked man!
When wicked men rule, God always sends His Words to those in need. He sent them through prophets in the Old Testament. He sent them through Apostles and Evangelists in the New Testament. And He gave us His Word- the King James Bible- for us to give His Words to those in need today!
Exodus 2:1-2- And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
There was a certain man who got married and they had a baby boy. Now, a newborn doesn't really do much besides eat and sleep. But as a baby grows, they start to talk, and move, and get rather noisy!
Exodus 2:3-4- And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.
This mama took her precious baby and put him into a little basket boat and put him in the Nile River. She had his older sister watch over him while she went back to do her slave work.
Exodus 2:5-6- And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.
While the sister watched, the Assyrian princess came down to the river for her bath. Oh, how frightening! Her father had ordered all the Hebrew baby boys to be killed!
But this princess took one look at this cute little baby and decided to take care of him.
Exodus 2:7-9- Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
The princess was not a mother. There were no bottles, or even baby formula back then. The baby's sister knew that the princess would need someone to take care of the baby for her until he was old enough to eat table food.
The princess hired the baby's own mother to take care of him! She would pay the mother to care for the baby, and the soldiers wouldn't harm him.
When he was old enough, the mother brought the boy to the princess to raise as her own son.
Exodus 2:10- And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
The princess named him Moses.
