*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.
1:8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 1:10 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.
1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
1:12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.
And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
1:13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 1:14 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.
1:15 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: 1:16 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.
1:17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
1:18 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? 1:19 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.
1:20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
1:21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
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.
2:1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
2:2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
2:3 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.
2:4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.
2:5 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.
2:6 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.
2:7 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? 2:8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.
2:9 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.
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.