Exodus 2:23-25

And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. 24  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25  And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

I.   Who is the king of Egypt who died?

A.     If we tie this verse in with Exodus 3 and Moses seeing the burning bush, Moses is 80 years old.

1.       It is likely the death of this king takes place 40 years after Moses escapes Egypt.

2.       This king is probably the same king that reigned when Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.

3.       As the king is dead, he would no longer remember Moses, and his killing the Egyptian.

4.       Moses would not stand trial for killing the Egyptian.

a.       Moses killing the Egyptian was not murder.

b.       Murder is the unlawful killing of a person.

c.       God sanctioned Moses killing the Egyptian because it was a type of Moses and God delivering the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage.

B.     I think it is unlikely the king of Exodus 2:23 is the same as Exodus 1:8.

1.       If they are the same man, he has ruled at least 40 years.

2.       It is possible for him to rule 40 years, but unlikely.

II.   The Bondage of the Israelites.

A.     Exodus 1:14 describes their bondage.

1.       Bitter – so they became weary of life.

2.       With hard bondage – The work was hard and demanding, without respite or help from the Egyptians. Their work didn’t involve any sort of device that helped them make their work easier, but they were denied any machinery, which would help them.  They worked all things the hard way.

3.       They worked in mortar, brick – They had to dig the clay, knead the clay, prepare it for making bricks, drying them in the sun, so forth.

4.       And all manner of service in the field – They were forced to carry the bricks to the various places where they would be used in building buildings and other structures.

5.       Josephus says “The Egyptians contrived a variety of ways to afflict the Israelites; for they enjoined them to cut a great number of channels for the river, and to build walls for their cities and ramparts, that they might restrain the river, and hinder its waters from stagnating upon its overrunning its own banks; they set them also to build pyramids, and wore them out, and forced them to learn all sorts of mechanic arts, and to accustom themselves to hard labor.”—Antiq., lib. ii., cap. ix., sec. 1.

B.     These things described above speak nothing of the affliction that comes later, when the command went forth that all the boy babies would be killed.

1.       for a fuller discussion of Aaron and the death penalty.

2.       It should be noted when the command of Exodus 1:15-22 occurred.

3.       Exodus 7:7 states that Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when they spoke to Pharoah.

4.       The Bible doesn’t mention that Aaron was condemned to death when he was born, only that Moses was under the threat of death.

5.       This means that the command to kill all the boy babies (Exodus 1:15-22) was given after the birth of Aaron and before the birth of Moses.

See ..\OTSURVEY\Book\Chart & explanations\Note 04 - Aaron and Death Penalty.doc

III.   DELIVERANCE - When things look hopeless.

A.     Acts 3:19 - We receive deliverance from the curse of sin at Calvary.

B.     Ex. 2:23-25 - We receive deliverance from things of this world when we cry out unto the Lord for help.  If we don’t cry out, we won’t receive any help.  If we do cry out, then we will receive help.  But we won’t cry out to God for help until the burden gets heavy.

1.       It would be 80 years from the time Egypt first increased the bondage of the Israelites until the time Moses came to deliver them.

a.       We might ask, “Why was God so slow?  Why does it take God so long to do anything about the injustices His people face in this wicked world?”

b.       We could also ask why Israel was so slow to get down to business about praying, and asking for God’s deliverance.  Why did Israel not cry out to God immediately when the command went forth to kill all the boy babies under the age of two?  Why did Israel think they could stand up under the strain?  Israel is no different from us.  We think we can stand up under the strain, but we can’t.

2.       Why don’t we cry to God to save souls?  It doesn’t bother us that souls are dying and going to hell.  There is a difference between us knowing lost people are going to hell, and us being concerned to the point of crying out to God.  (See the definitions of sighed and cry in point # 5.

3.       This is the difference between a conviction and a preference.

4.       Why don’t we cry to God to help make us more spiritual?  We don’t want to be more spiritual.  We really don’t see the need.  We believe we’re pretty good people, everybody says so, therefore, it must be so.  After we see the need for a while, then the burden grows, and we get to the place that we cry to God.  Then God hears, and deliverance is on the way.

5.       Notice verse 23.

a.       The word sighed means to mourn or to breathe heavily.

b.       The word cried means to announce or convene publicly, to come together with a company.

c.       It was the cry of Israel that God heard with intelligence.  It was that cry, not the sigh that God answered.

d.       So it will be with us.

e.       It must be noted that the sighing of Israel didn’t come up before God, but their crying did.

f.        James 5:16 – It is the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man that availeth much, not the casual sigh.

C.     God sent Moses to take the Israelites out of Egypt, and God will send help for us.

1.       Compare Exodus 4:29-31 with Exodus 5:20-23 - Israel really liked Moses at first, then when Pharaoh wouldn’t let them go, they didn’t like Moses.  Many of the people never did like Moses.

2.       We could be that way about the deliverance of God.

3.                   We may not like it at first, and really may never like it.

4.       We ought to be ashamed.

IV.   God heard their groaning.

A.     God heard their sighing also, but sighing didn’t move God to action.

1.       God hears everything that goes on in this world, but some things do not move God to action.

2.       God sees all sorts of wickedness, but will no nothing about until it gets to a certain point, which He knows all about.

3.       God sees all sorts of injustices, but will do nothing about it until it gets to a certain point, which He knows all about.

4.       God sees all sorts of good works, but will do nothing about it until it gets to a certain point, which he knows all about.

B.     The difference between sighing and crying (groaning) unto God is when the people are assembled together and get down to business about wanting the blessings of God.

1.       It was the groaning of Israel that caused God to remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

2.       It was the groaning of Israel that caused God to look upon the children of Israel with respect.

3.       These verses led me to believe that God would do nothing until Israel groaned and cried unto Him for deliverance.

4.       I suspect God will do nothing for us until we groan and cry unto Him for deliverance.

5.       James 4:2 – “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.”