September 9 - Israel in Egypt

September 9 - Israel in Egypt
Exodus 1:15-20

Joseph and all of his brothers ended up in Egypt during and after the famine. They tribes settled there and made a home for themselves.  After generations passed, the Israelites did exactly what God had promised them would happened, they multiplied … a lot!  Exodus 1:7 says, “…the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.”

Those Pharaohs that knew of Joseph didn’t worry about this, they knew of his honor and how he had cared for a king who wasn’t his own.  Huge numbers of people who weren’t just like everyone else made them very nervous.  They were worried that if some war would break out, the Israelites would fight against them and then leave the country.  They weren’t worried about having that many people in Egypt, they just wanted to be sure that they were in control of those foreigners.

So, they enslaved them and forced them in to labor, building cities and many other great monuments.  It didn’t help. Exodus 1:12 says that the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread throughout the land.  The plan had backfired.

Finally, the Pharaoh decided he would just start where he could … with the births themselves.  He told the midwives to kill the male babies.  However, they didn’t listen to him and ended up telling him that Hebrew women were strong and would give birth before they even showed up to help.  Exodus 1:20 says the Israelites continued to increase in number.

Pharaoh finally gave the order that leads to the next story, every male baby was to be tossed into the river.

The people of Israel were far from their homeland and had forgotten all about God.  But, he hadn’t forgotten about them.  The first promise he made to Abraham was that his descendants would be numerous.  While they were far from home, their numbers were growing.  In the midst of persecution, children were being born, life was continuing.  It was nearly time for the tribes to become a unified nation.