Speaker 1: Life Audio The Bible Study Podcast, Episode nine to sixty five. Today,
Speaker 1: The Bible Study Podcast begins a study of the Book
Speaker 1: of Exodus. Welcome to the Bible Study Podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Chris Christensen. I know I said I was going to
Speaker 1: study Leviticus, but we're going to do that sometime later.
Speaker 1: First we're going to do the Book of Exodus, and
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why right after a word from this sponsor.
Speaker 1: So I was planning, as I said, of doing Exodus
Speaker 1: or Leviticus, but was leaning towards Leviticus. And I had
Speaker 1: a number of people ask me to do at the
Speaker 1: Book of Exodus, and I am going to do that
Speaker 1: because it really is one of the major stories of
Speaker 1: the Old Testament upon which everything keeps looking back on,
Speaker 1: except for obviously the Book of Genesis that I haven't
Speaker 1: covered yet on the Bible Study Podcast. I really haven't
Speaker 1: covered that whole book. If you wonder why I hesitate,
Speaker 1: Either book that I start is probably a year long study,
Speaker 1: as the study of Luke was. I actually did fifty
Speaker 1: two different episodes on Luke and they came out weekly,
Speaker 1: So you do the math. It took a year to
Speaker 1: walk through the Gospel of Luke, we're probably talking about
Speaker 1: a year or so to walk through either of these books.
Speaker 1: I will do Leviticus at some time later. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it'll be the next thing I do. I'll
Speaker 1: decide that a year from now. But first let's jump
Speaker 1: into Exodus one the Israelites oppressed. These are the names
Speaker 1: of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob,
Speaker 1: each with his family Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Isakar
Speaker 1: Zebulon and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. The
Speaker 1: descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all. Joseph was already
Speaker 1: in Egypt, so let's pause here for a second. We're
Speaker 1: continuing on a story that was started in the Book
Speaker 1: of Genesis. And if you go back to the study
Speaker 1: we did on Genesis, or just open up your Bible
Speaker 1: to the Genesis, you'll get the story of Joseph and
Speaker 1: his amazing technicolor dream code if you do the Broadway
Speaker 1: version of it. But Joseph and his coat of many colors,
Speaker 1: who he's one of twelve brothers, and his brothers are
Speaker 1: jealous of him and they sell him into slavery into Egypt,
Speaker 1: where he rises to prominence because he can interpret dreams
Speaker 1: and helps Egypt get through a terrible, terrible famine and
Speaker 1: becomes second in charge, second only to Pharaoh. And because
Speaker 1: of this terrible famine, his family, his eleven brothers and
Speaker 1: his father end up moving to Egypt, and they settle
Speaker 1: in Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And that's where
Speaker 1: our story starts. But this is a number of years later,
Speaker 1: and we'll find out how many in a little bit here. Now,
Speaker 1: Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
Speaker 1: But the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful. They multiplied greatly, increased
Speaker 1: in numbers, and became soon numerous that the land was
Speaker 1: filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph
Speaker 1: meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. Look, he said
Speaker 1: to his people, the Israelites had become far too numerous
Speaker 1: for us. Come. We must deal shrewdly with them, or
Speaker 1: they will become even more numerous. And if war breaks out,
Speaker 1: we'll join our enemies fight against us and leave the country.
Speaker 1: So they put slave masters over them to oppress them
Speaker 1: with forced labor, and they built Pithon and Rameses as
Speaker 1: store cities for pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed,
Speaker 1: the more they multiplied and spread. So the Egyptians came
Speaker 1: to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made
Speaker 1: their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar,
Speaker 1: and with all kinds of work in the fields, and
Speaker 1: in their harsh labor, the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly. So
Speaker 1: at this point the Israelites have become slaves in Egypt. Now,
Speaker 1: remember they were never a nation when they moved into Egypt,
Speaker 1: they were seventy people. But they've now become so numerous
Speaker 1: that they're a threat to the nation they'rein, or at
Speaker 1: least that's how this new pharaoh, this new king perceives them.
Speaker 1: In terms of what time frame we're talking about, this
Speaker 1: is most likely the pharaoh here being Ramses, the second
Speaker 1: or the nineteenth dynasty pharaoh in the New Kingdom. And
Speaker 1: we say that because of that of those treasure cities
Speaker 1: that were built, and this would be the Ramses of
Speaker 1: Abu Simbal. If you're in Egypt, there's not Egyptian history
Speaker 1: to corroborate with that, and so take that with a
Speaker 1: grain of salt. The King of Egypt said to the
Speaker 1: Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiprah and Pua, when you
Speaker 1: were helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool,
Speaker 1: if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him,
Speaker 1: but if it is a girl, let her live. Then
Speaker 1: the midwives, however, feared God and did not do what
Speaker 1: the King of Egypt had told them to do. They
Speaker 1: let the boys live. Then the King of Egypt some
Speaker 1: of the midwives and ask them, why have you done this?
Speaker 1: Why have you let the boys live? Then midwives answered Pharaoh,
Speaker 1: Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They are vigorous
Speaker 1: and give birth before the midwife arrives. So God was
Speaker 1: kind to the midwives, and the people increased and became
Speaker 1: even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he
Speaker 1: gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this
Speaker 1: order to all his people. Every Hebrew boy that is born,
Speaker 1: you must throw into the nile, but let every girl live.
Speaker 1: So things have gotten really bad here where They're gotten
Speaker 1: to the point where they are so afraid of these
Speaker 1: people and how numerous they're becoming. They want to kill
Speaker 1: all the boys that are born. And that leads right
Speaker 1: into the story of Moses. So we're gonna move on
Speaker 1: into chapter two, the Birth of Moses. Now, a man
Speaker 1: of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and
Speaker 1: she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When
Speaker 1: she saw that he was a fine child, she hid
Speaker 1: him for three months, But when she could hide him
Speaker 1: no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and
Speaker 1: coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the
Speaker 1: child in it and put it among the reeds along
Speaker 1: the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a
Speaker 1: distance to see what would happen to him. Then Pharaoh's
Speaker 1: daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her
Speaker 1: attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the
Speaker 1: basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to
Speaker 1: get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He
Speaker 1: was crying, and she felt sorry for him. This is
Speaker 1: one of the Hebrew babies, she said. Then his sister
Speaker 1: asked Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and get one of
Speaker 1: the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you? Yes, Goo,
Speaker 1: she answered, So the girl went and got the bait
Speaker 1: baby's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, take this baby
Speaker 1: and nurse her for me, and I will pay you.
Speaker 1: So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When
Speaker 1: the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter
Speaker 1: and he became her son. She named Moses, saying I
Speaker 1: drew him out of the water, and Moses sounds like
Speaker 1: the Hebrew word for to draw out. So because the
Speaker 1: boys are being targeted by Pharaoh, we see that first
Speaker 1: Moses is being hidden by his mother, and at some
Speaker 1: point she doesn't think she can hide him any longer,
Speaker 1: so she puts him in this basket, but sends along
Speaker 1: his sister, and we are not told her name here,
Speaker 1: but we know that her name was Miriam. We will
Speaker 1: meet her later on. He has an older brother as well,
Speaker 1: who is not included in this account, but will be
Speaker 1: meeting him pretty soon. And the sister is watching this
Speaker 1: basket keeping an eye on him when Pharaoh's daughter comes.
Speaker 1: And this is where everything changes for Moses. And if
Speaker 1: you've ever seen the movie A Prince of Egypt, this
Speaker 1: is how Moses becomes a Prince of Egypt. This is
Speaker 1: how he is raised not as a slave, as a
Speaker 1: Hebrew slave, but raised in Pharaoh's court, raised as Pharaoh's
Speaker 1: daughter's son. Now Pharaoh has a lot of daughters and
Speaker 1: a lot of wives, so it doesn't mean that he's
Speaker 1: heir to the throne or anything like that, but it
Speaker 1: is a very different change in position. It all happens
Speaker 1: because Pharaoh's daughter stumbles across this child and the sister,
Speaker 1: and I think the sister is the one who really
Speaker 1: is smart in this. Shall I get you one of
Speaker 1: the Hebrew women to nurse well, gets his mother. So
Speaker 1: the mother nurses Moses, and when he is weaned, apparently
Speaker 1: brings this baby back to Pharaoh's daughter and he becomes
Speaker 1: her son. And so he is going to grow up
Speaker 1: in the palace, although we're going to see very very
Speaker 1: little of that. We're going to see what happens instead
Speaker 1: next week when we continue the story. But with that,
Speaker 1: we're going to end this episode of the Bible Study Podcast.
Speaker 1: If you have any questions, send an email to Chris
Speaker 1: two x at gmail dot com, or, better yet, leave
Speaker 1: a comment on this episode at the Bible Study Podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. And as always, thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1: I want to take just a second to thank the
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