After settling in the land of Goshen (Egypt), the population and prosperity of the descendants of Jacob (Israel) greatly expanded in Egypt (Exodus 1:7).
Following the death of Joseph, a new king came to power in Egypt who did not know Joseph (Exodus 1: 8). With the rise of the number and strength of the Hebrews in Egypt, the Egyptians determined that they (the Egyptians) would enslave the Jews to prevent their alliance with foreign enemies and departure (Exodus 1:10).
This enslavement of 400 years had been revealed to Abraham during his lifetime, as well as the fact that this enslavement would precede the entering into of the Promised Land by his descendants (Genesis 15: 13,14). Using the 70 year model as representing one generation, the period of enslavement would span over almost six generations with no overt indication that the plan of God was moving forward. It takes a lot of faith to see multiple generations of one's family come and go and still believe that they were contributing to the master of God when nothing in view beyond their own existence could or would confirm it!
As in the case of everything else that God directs or allows to take place in the Angelic Conflict, all things serve the primary purpose of bringing glory to God as His plan moves forward. The timing of God is neither nor late.
When the time came (after 400 years of slavery in the waiting) it would be through the miracles that God performed through Moses that the Jews would, in God’s timing, leave Egypt , “…with many possessions (Gen. 15: 14)”. Their political status and prosperity would literally change over night!
Many times over, it is only after a period of undeserved suffering that the people of God are blessed.
God allows underserved suffering to develop spiritual maturity in the lives of His people, but placing them in situations that only the hand of God could deliver them, bringing glory to Himself in the presence of both His people and His enemies.
Moses was born during a period of Egyptian history, when in response to the great population explosion of the enslaved Hebrews, an attempted infanticide was in progress, calling for the death of all new born male babies born among the Hebrews. Needless to say, this was one of the many attempts to eliminate the Jews that had the full support, endorsement, and encouragement of the devil. The elimination of the Jews would mean victory for Satan and the thwarting of God's plan of salvation by preventing the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ from being produced down the road.
Moses was spared this fate and was taken in and raised in the palace of the Egyptian princess, the daughter of Pharaoh. Through the providence of God, Moses’ mother was also brought along to provide nutrition and nursing (Ex. 2: 8, 9).
It was Egyptian princess that gave the child the name Moses and raised him as her son (Exodus 2:10). This set the stage or Moses to be a prominent figure in the court of Pharaoh.
However, as an adult, Moses sought to visit his people, the Jews, who were enslaved in the land of Egyptian. While in the midst of his people, he witnessed an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jewish slave and intervened, taking the life of the Egyptian.
The Biblical account (Exodus 2:12) reveals that Moses, “looked this way and that, and when he saw that no one was looking, struck the Egyptian down.” This, and the fact that Moses tried to conceal the act by burying the corpse, classified his actions as an act of murder.
The next day, Moses learned that his act had not gone unnoticed, and fled the hand of Pharaoh, settling in the land of Midian.
When the divine time arrived for the end of the 400 years of slavery in Egypt to materialize, God called Moses and commissioned him to go to the court of the reigning pharaoh, and demand that he (Pharaoh) release the Jews.
God (Exodus 3: 17) revealed to Moses that it was time for Jews to leave Egypt and to head for the land that was promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel).
Moses was given the ability to perform miraculous signs in the presence of the elders and the people (Exodus 4:30). Moses and Aaron went to the court of Pharaoh and made the demands of God known.
Not only did Pharaoh not honor the demands, he responded to the issues with orders that only increased the amount of labor that was already required of the Jews in slavery.
We are not told to what extent the devil has been involved with the response that Pharaoh made to the first appearance of Moses, but the outcome was clearly what the devil desired.
God reassured Moses of His plan (Exodus 6), and reiterated the part that Moses was to play in it.
Moses tried to back water by stating that he was lacking in speech, but God responded by appointing Aaron as his spokesperson (Exodus 6: 12, 13/Exodus 7:1) and reiterated (Exodus 7:2) the commission that Moses had already received.
Just as the Lord had given Moses signs to perform in the presence of the elders and people (Exodus 4:30), Moses was given the power to perform signs in the presence of Pharaoh as evidence that he (Moses) was executing his divine commission (Exodus 7:10).
This time, Satan gave power to the “magicians of Egypt (Exodus 7:11), to perform the same signs, by turning their rods into serpents.
With just a little bit of spiritual discernment, one could see that the power of God was superior to the power of the devil, as the serpents that God produced consumed (Exodus 7:12) the serpents that the devil produced, but this went right over the head of Pharaoh who, with an ever-hardening heart, refused to listen.
There was a series of appeals made to Pharaoh to set the Jews free, with an ever-increasing negative consequence affixed to each plea that was rejected.
Each time, when the negative consequences ceased, so would Pharaoh’s willingness to release the Jews.
Human nature will motivate us to make all kinds of promises to God, other people, and even ourselves, when we are in the midst of some form of adversity or suffering, but as soon as the adversity and/or suffering ends, we go right back to the same attitudes and behaviors that brought on the adversity and/or suffering in the first place (2Peter 2:22).
It would not be until the final sign that took the life of the eldest son of each Egyptian household (including Pharaoh’s) that would finally motivate Pharaoh to allow the departure of the Jews, taking with them some of the treasures of Egypt.
This submission to the power of God on the part of Pharaoh did not last very long, as soon afterward, his army would be sent in hot pursuit of exiting Jews. This would prove to be glorious to God and disastrous to the Egyptians.
God provided a dry path across the seabed of the Red Sea for the departing Jews, but closed the waters in on the pursuing Egyptians, drowning them is the sea.
Consider the personal challenges that Moses had to overcome. Upon arriving in Pharaoh's court, would he taken into custody and held accountable for the killing of the Egyptian taskmaster years ago? Would he be considered a lunatic for walking into the court and making demands that the Hebrew slave labor force be allowed to leave the country? Without a doubt, the devil was going to put as much pressure on Moses as God allowed in this critical point of the unfolding of another stage of the plan of God.
The divine control over the ten plagues that Moses was involved in, as well as the miraculous deliverance across the Res Sea were clearly overt examples of the power of God in action during this phase of the Angelic Conflict.
The Hebrews were free from the bondage of Egyptian slavery and were now about to enter the promised land.
==========================================================================
Click HERE to go to Part Nine (Part Nine is under revision. Part Nine and this link to it will be available shortly.
Following the death of Joseph, a new king came to power in Egypt who did not know Joseph (Exodus 1: 8). With the rise of the number and strength of the Hebrews in Egypt, the Egyptians determined that they (the Egyptians) would enslave the Jews to prevent their alliance with foreign enemies and departure (Exodus 1:10).
This enslavement of 400 years had been revealed to Abraham during his lifetime, as well as the fact that this enslavement would precede the entering into of the Promised Land by his descendants (Genesis 15: 13,14). Using the 70 year model as representing one generation, the period of enslavement would span over almost six generations with no overt indication that the plan of God was moving forward. It takes a lot of faith to see multiple generations of one's family come and go and still believe that they were contributing to the master of God when nothing in view beyond their own existence could or would confirm it!
As in the case of everything else that God directs or allows to take place in the Angelic Conflict, all things serve the primary purpose of bringing glory to God as His plan moves forward. The timing of God is neither nor late.
When the time came (after 400 years of slavery in the waiting) it would be through the miracles that God performed through Moses that the Jews would, in God’s timing, leave Egypt , “…with many possessions (Gen. 15: 14)”. Their political status and prosperity would literally change over night!
Many times over, it is only after a period of undeserved suffering that the people of God are blessed.
God allows underserved suffering to develop spiritual maturity in the lives of His people, but placing them in situations that only the hand of God could deliver them, bringing glory to Himself in the presence of both His people and His enemies.
Moses was born during a period of Egyptian history, when in response to the great population explosion of the enslaved Hebrews, an attempted infanticide was in progress, calling for the death of all new born male babies born among the Hebrews. Needless to say, this was one of the many attempts to eliminate the Jews that had the full support, endorsement, and encouragement of the devil. The elimination of the Jews would mean victory for Satan and the thwarting of God's plan of salvation by preventing the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ from being produced down the road.
Moses was spared this fate and was taken in and raised in the palace of the Egyptian princess, the daughter of Pharaoh. Through the providence of God, Moses’ mother was also brought along to provide nutrition and nursing (Ex. 2: 8, 9).
It was Egyptian princess that gave the child the name Moses and raised him as her son (Exodus 2:10). This set the stage or Moses to be a prominent figure in the court of Pharaoh.
However, as an adult, Moses sought to visit his people, the Jews, who were enslaved in the land of Egyptian. While in the midst of his people, he witnessed an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jewish slave and intervened, taking the life of the Egyptian.
The Biblical account (Exodus 2:12) reveals that Moses, “looked this way and that, and when he saw that no one was looking, struck the Egyptian down.” This, and the fact that Moses tried to conceal the act by burying the corpse, classified his actions as an act of murder.
The next day, Moses learned that his act had not gone unnoticed, and fled the hand of Pharaoh, settling in the land of Midian.
When the divine time arrived for the end of the 400 years of slavery in Egypt to materialize, God called Moses and commissioned him to go to the court of the reigning pharaoh, and demand that he (Pharaoh) release the Jews.
God (Exodus 3: 17) revealed to Moses that it was time for Jews to leave Egypt and to head for the land that was promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel).
Moses was given the ability to perform miraculous signs in the presence of the elders and the people (Exodus 4:30). Moses and Aaron went to the court of Pharaoh and made the demands of God known.
Not only did Pharaoh not honor the demands, he responded to the issues with orders that only increased the amount of labor that was already required of the Jews in slavery.
We are not told to what extent the devil has been involved with the response that Pharaoh made to the first appearance of Moses, but the outcome was clearly what the devil desired.
God reassured Moses of His plan (Exodus 6), and reiterated the part that Moses was to play in it.
Moses tried to back water by stating that he was lacking in speech, but God responded by appointing Aaron as his spokesperson (Exodus 6: 12, 13/Exodus 7:1) and reiterated (Exodus 7:2) the commission that Moses had already received.
Just as the Lord had given Moses signs to perform in the presence of the elders and people (Exodus 4:30), Moses was given the power to perform signs in the presence of Pharaoh as evidence that he (Moses) was executing his divine commission (Exodus 7:10).
This time, Satan gave power to the “magicians of Egypt (Exodus 7:11), to perform the same signs, by turning their rods into serpents.
With just a little bit of spiritual discernment, one could see that the power of God was superior to the power of the devil, as the serpents that God produced consumed (Exodus 7:12) the serpents that the devil produced, but this went right over the head of Pharaoh who, with an ever-hardening heart, refused to listen.
There was a series of appeals made to Pharaoh to set the Jews free, with an ever-increasing negative consequence affixed to each plea that was rejected.
Each time, when the negative consequences ceased, so would Pharaoh’s willingness to release the Jews.
Human nature will motivate us to make all kinds of promises to God, other people, and even ourselves, when we are in the midst of some form of adversity or suffering, but as soon as the adversity and/or suffering ends, we go right back to the same attitudes and behaviors that brought on the adversity and/or suffering in the first place (2Peter 2:22).
It would not be until the final sign that took the life of the eldest son of each Egyptian household (including Pharaoh’s) that would finally motivate Pharaoh to allow the departure of the Jews, taking with them some of the treasures of Egypt.
This submission to the power of God on the part of Pharaoh did not last very long, as soon afterward, his army would be sent in hot pursuit of exiting Jews. This would prove to be glorious to God and disastrous to the Egyptians.
God provided a dry path across the seabed of the Red Sea for the departing Jews, but closed the waters in on the pursuing Egyptians, drowning them is the sea.
Consider the personal challenges that Moses had to overcome. Upon arriving in Pharaoh's court, would he taken into custody and held accountable for the killing of the Egyptian taskmaster years ago? Would he be considered a lunatic for walking into the court and making demands that the Hebrew slave labor force be allowed to leave the country? Without a doubt, the devil was going to put as much pressure on Moses as God allowed in this critical point of the unfolding of another stage of the plan of God.
The divine control over the ten plagues that Moses was involved in, as well as the miraculous deliverance across the Res Sea were clearly overt examples of the power of God in action during this phase of the Angelic Conflict.
The Hebrews were free from the bondage of Egyptian slavery and were now about to enter the promised land.
==========================================================================
Click HERE to go to Part Nine (Part Nine is under revision. Part Nine and this link to it will be available shortly.