*Exodus 1:8-2:10
The Israelites flourish in Egypt, but a new Pharaoh enslaves them and orders the killing of Hebrew baby boys.
- Rise of Oppression:
- The descendants of Jacob, the Israelites, multiply greatly in Egypt, becoming a sizable community.
- A new Pharaoh, who does not remember Joseph, rises to power and views the Israelites with fear, perceiving them as a threat.
- Pharaoh imposes harsh slavery upon the Israelites, forcing them into hard labor, building cities and monuments for Egypt.
- Resistance and Divine Intervention:
- Despite the oppression, the Israelites continue to thrive, prompting Pharaoh to order the midwives to kill all Hebrew male babies at birth.
- The midwives, fearing God, disobey Pharaoh’s command and let the male infants live.
- God blesses the midwives for their bravery and integrity, and the Israelites continue to multiply.
- Birth and Rescue of Moses:
- Amidst this turmoil, a Levite couple gives birth to a son, whom they hide for three months to protect him from Pharaoh’s decree.
- Unable to conceal the child any longer, they place him in a waterproof basket and set him adrift in the Nile River.
- Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the baby while bathing in the river and is moved with compassion.
- She adopts the child as her own, naming him Moses, which means “drawn out,” symbolizing his rescue from the water.
- Moses’ sister, watching from a distance, offers to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby, and Pharaoh’s daughter agrees, unknowingly allowing Moses to be raised by his own mother.
Exodus 1:8–2:10 teaches us about courage, faith, and how God can use anyone to bring about His plan. Even in a time of hardship, Moses’ mother trusted God and found a way to protect her son, and Pharaoh’s daughter showed kindness by raising him. This reminds us that even in difficult situations, we can trust God to provide a way forward. It also shows that small acts of bravery and kindness can make a big difference. This passage encourages us to trust God in hard times, stand up for what is right, and believe that He has a purpose for our lives.
Exodus 1:8-2:10 (WEB)
1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. 10 Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and escape out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They started to dread the children of Israel. 13 The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, 14 and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.15 The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, 16 and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive. 18 The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and saved the boys alive?”19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”20 God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. 21 Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”2:1 A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. 4 His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him. 5 Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it. 6 She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.”The young woman went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.”The woman took the child, and nursed it. 10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”