Exodus 01

  Exodus

Exodus (The Need for Redemption and the Preparation for Redemption)
● There has been quite a bit of arguing over the dating of the Exodus. There are two main theories. 
 Early Date theory
■ The Early Date theory is based on taking the reading of 1 Kings 6:1 literally: “In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord.”
■ We know that Solomon began his rule in 970 B.C. Which would make the fourth year of his reign 966 B.C. This gives us the date of 1446 B.C. Which would mean that Moses grew up for the first fourty years of his life under the Pharaoh's Thutmose I, II and III of the 18th dynasty. This would make it quite likely that Hatshpsur was the Egyptian Princess who adopted Moses.
■ After fleeing Egypt and returning it would mean that the exodus of the Israelites occurred under Amenhotep II. 
 Late Date theory
■ The Late Date theory is based on the reading of Exodus 1:11: “So they put slave master over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharoah.
■ The argument here is that since Rameses is mentioned here it must be in reference to Rameses II who was a Pharaoh of the 19th dynasty later on. This puts the exodus at around 1250 B.C.
 Both have their merits, however, the Early Date fits Scripture more exactly and is backed by enough historical evidence to be strongly favored by much of conservative Christianity.
● The Need For Redemption (Exodus 1)
 Just as God told Abraham the people were in Egypt for 400 years.
■ “Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.” Exodus 15:13-14
■ This shows us God's great faithfulness to both his people and to his word. The the blazingly obvious thing throughout the Bible is the fact that the Lord is always good to His word, and anything he says he is going to do is going to be what He is going to do. And we can always praise him and depend on His great faithfulness. 
 In fear of the growing number of Hebrews the Pharaoh ordered that every Hebrew male that was born must be killed and thrown into the Nile. This constituted a new level of oppression for the Hebrews who had been in servitude for many years. 
● The Preparation for Redemption (Exodus 2-4)
 Amazingly, so many other Hebrew children, Moses was put in the river. However, Moses was not like the other babies thrown into the Nile at that time, Moses was unique in that he was in a basket that was covered in pitch. This pitch covered basket made that river that was death to all of the other babies a re-birth for baby Moses. 
 Moses was adopted into the house of Pharaoh, he grows up and kills a man for beating a Hebrew slave, then when he sees two Hebrews fighting later they say, “Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” When he realized that the news was out he fled to Midian.
 While in Midian Moses married and had a son. He was living his life happily and presumably making a fine living married to the high priest's daughter.
 The Burning Bush
■ Then he saw the burning bush. The bush burned and yet was not ever consumed. This obviously defies any laws of nature that we know of. So he went up to see it.
■ God spoke to him out of the burning bush. God discloses his plan to Moses, that He knows that the Israelites are suffering and that the time has come for them to come out of Egypt and come into their inheritance. 
■ Moses makes excuse after excuse as to why he shouldn't be the one to go. It must have been shocking, he can't have thought he was the one God was going to use. Here he was a cowardly murderer, who possibly had a speech impediment, but definitely was not comfortable with the idea of public speaking, who had fled his homeland and had done nothing to help his people in their struggle. Why would God choose him? 
■ We see something very important about God's character here. This is where God reveals His special personal name to Moses. In the Hebrew Bible this is often brought across as Yahweh (often mis-translated “Jehovah”) This name for God has power and meaning. 
● “I am that I am” means that God is the only being or thing in all of existence that doesn't rely in any way on anyone else for his existence. Everything else relies on Him for existence, however, He is the only eternal one!
● Yahweh is a sort of contraction for “I am”, “I was” and “I will be.” In other words this proper name puts God outside of time. Where as we look back on the past an forward on the future and have this strange moment that we call now that is forever dividing the two, all times are effectively “now” to God. This is how God can look at you and say that you have been Crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) even though that was an even that happened 2000 years ago by our reckoning. For God all time is one event that he sees all at once. 
● It also has to do with relation. When we are asked who we are we will give a name given to us by our parents, then we may say that we are defined by our family, our wives, brothers, sisters, children, or grandchildren. Furthermore we may talk about the things that we do: who we work for, our hobbies, or our faith. Our true Identity of course relies on our relationship to God. God does not have to define himself in this way. I can say, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Joseph.” But he can also say, “ I am that I am.” Defined exclusively and completely by His relationship to Himself, whereas, in contrast, we can only find any true definition and security in our identification by relationship to Him!
■ Here we see Moses told to go, and God speaks quite harshly with him for his lack of faith in God's ability to use him. Somewhere in Moses' mind was wandering around this seed of doubt: “God could never use me. I can never do it. I will fail at this.” And not realizing that's EXACTLY WHAT GOD WANTS! God doesn't want anyone to say, “Look what Moses did!” But rather “Look what God did with Moses! That has to be God at work because that stutterer could never do any of that!”

Take Home
God delights in doing the impossible and using the unusable. What is the situation in your life where you feel most inadequate? Where is the place or event in your life that you feel the least secure. Have you taken that to the Lord in prayer. Have you thanked him for those weaknesses, because they are a chance to see His great power and provision in your life. Our weaknesses are what makes us most strong because in those weaknesses it is the easiest to rely on the Lord and say, “I need you now. I cannot do this on my own!”

If I have to boast , I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.
2 Corinthians 11:30