History of Israel: The Start of Exodus

Exodus is the story of God redeeming his chosen people, Israel. After settling in Egypt, the people multiply and a nervous Pharaoh starts giving orders to try and stem this exploding population. In this time of death and darkness, a mother has a child whom she willingly gives up in the hopes that he will be saved. The child, Moses, is rescued but things don't always go according to plan. He will learn much and there are tough days ahead for him.

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Transcript

The woman held the child close and wept. There was nothing else to do. He had become too big to hide and the Egyptians seemed to be everywhere. Pharaoh’s edict had gone out that all the male children were to be killed and people were looking for an opportunity to earn his favor. 

She had dreaded this day. She knew it had to happen, but it just seemed too soon. The baby was a beautiful child and she wanted to raise him. Be there for all his moments in life. But it was not to be. A terrible decision had to be made. She had heard the stories of how their ancestor, Jacob, was led to this land by God but where was God now? Would He protect this little one? Would he forgive her for making this choice?

But it was the child’s best chance at living. She had to trust...to believe. She set the child down in the little basket and gave him one final kiss. Then she pushed it out into the Nile. It drifted near the area where Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe. There was a chance that she would find the child, but even then, what would happen? Would she see he was a Hebrew and drown him there and then? The woman heard that the princess was kind and she was praying that this true. But she couldn’t bear to watch. Her daughter asked to stay behind and watch what happens. The woman knew she cared about her brother and wanted to tell her to come home, but something stopped her. She wasn’t sure why, but she said yes ; however, the woman said that she was going home. There was nothing that could be done now. Nothing to do but wait...and pray.

Hello again everyone and welcome to the first episode of 2025 for Bible Backdrop. Also, according to my podcast host, this is episode 50. It’s hard to believe that the podcast has come so far and I want to thank everyone that has downloaded and listened to the podcast.

Today, we’re continuing the history of Israel series with the story of Exodus. Like I mentioned in the previous episode, we will not be going as in depth through the whole book like we did with Genesis. However, we will take a close look at the early chapters since there are a lot of details that will help us understand the stories a bit better.

In Exodus 1, we’re introduced to a Pharaoh who “knew nothing about Joseph.” If you remember from an earlier episode, Egypt’s history and the royal lineage is messy. Royal families rise and fall, so it’s highly probable that a Pharaoh has come to the throne that doesn’t know the story about Joseph and why there’s an ever enlarging group of Semitic people in the land of Goshen. The concern for this Pharaoh, being surrounded by enemies, is an outside influence making an alliance with the Hebrews and offering them land and treasure if they rise up against the Egyptians. So he decides to make slaves of them and force harsh labor. Included in this was probably a disarming of the Hebrew people so they had no means to fight back. However, this had the opposite affect; the Hebrew population actually kept increasing. In response, he tells two midwives to kill any male baby but keep the female babies. Now these were not the only midwives but were probably the chiefs of an association. The midwives, very bravely, disobey Pharaoh as they feared God. So Pharaoh asks why they disobeyed and they responded that the Hebrew women gave birth before the midwife could show up. This may very well have been true OR perhaps the midwives dragged their feet when someone was in labor. So as they continue to grow, Pharaoh then decides on another course of action. Since the midwives won’t help, he calls on his own people to kill any Hebrew male child. Most likely this came with some sort of monetary reward or recognition. So now the Hebrews not only had Egyptian taskmasters but spies who were on the lookout for male babies.

One question I have is: why only the male babies? If you’re truly worried about a population expanding, why not kill all the children? Research for this has been inconclusive. Some say that it was due to a supposed prophecy that a male Hebrew would rise up to bring down the Pharaoh. Others say that it’s simply due to the fact that only the men could band together to overthrow the government. One more said that it was so that the women would be forced to marry Egyptian men and they could take back the land of Goshen. This seems unlikely given what we discussed before about how Egyptians would never intermarry with the Hebrews. Personally, I believe it is the second one. Pharaoh is hoping to limit the male population so as to prevent them from eventually becoming an army. The odd thing, though, is that he will eventually need male slaves to complete the necessary building projects. My theory is that he would enact this until the population stabilized and then would allow a small number of males to be born. 

With this foundation, we go into chapter 2 and see the birth of Moses. Keep in mind he is born when the land is rife with Egyptians looking to kill male Hebrew children. His mother keeps it quiet for as long as possible, but he eventually reaches an age where she can no longer hide him. Not knowing what else to do, she makes a small boat and puts him in the Nile near where Pharaoh’s daughter will bathe. This is not a bath for cleanliness, but more likely a religious ritual as the Nile was seen as the lifeblood of Egypt and bathing in it was an act of worship. This was definitely an act of faith on the part of Moses’ mother. She had no idea if he’d be found and, even if he was, would he be allowed to live or immediately drowned? Or would the child be eaten by one of the crocodiles or hippos that patrolled the waters? What if the current shifted and he was carried far away with no hope of recovery? There were endless possibilities but she understood that this was his best chance. As Moses’ sister watched, she saw the princess find her brother and exclaim that it is a Hebrew child. This is the moment of truth: what would she do? Some scholars believe that she was desperate for a child. In fact, her bathing in the Nile may have been a ritual to help her conceive. This could very well be true as, instead of killing the child, she decided to adopt him. In steps Moses’ sister. She sees this happen and tells the princess that she could find someone to nurse him. The princess agrees and the girl goes and gets her mother. After agreeing to allow her to nurse the child, the princess offers to pay her wages to do so. This had to be mind blowing. The slave woman who had to put her child into the river is now being paid wages to nurse her own son. The next question: How long did she nurse him? Again, there’s conflicting information here. Some say it was a fairly short period of time while others believe it was a few years...maybe as many as 4 or 5. There’s a belief that nursing for that length of time provided protection for children from intestinal issues with the food that was available. This seems likely in this case as Moses’ mother took this opportunity to bring him up and have him identify as a Hebrew even though he was going to be brought up as an Egyptian.

Another question while reading this passage is: if the princess knew Moses was a Hebrew, did Pharaoh also know? How was a Hebrew allowed to grow up in the court of the Egyptians in the royal family? As the story unfolds, Moses himself must have known...perhaps being taught by his mother before living in Pharaoh’s court. He was likely circumcised and as young boys sometimes were naked while they played, it’s probable that most knew he was a Hebrew. There are a few explanations. First, Pharaoh may have been fine with his daughter claiming one of the Hebrews as her son. It would have basically done the same thing as killing him...taking him out of the gene pool so he couldn’t have more children. Also, while being raised as an Egyptian, he wouldn’t have reason to join in a rebellion or with Egypt’s enemies. Another explanation is that Pharaoh, with his extensive court and wars and administration, probably couldn’t be bothered with knowing where this child came from. His daughter could have just said that she found him and he was nursed and now weaned and she adopted him. Being Pharaoh, he probably had a lot on his plate and didn’t even bother with this child. A final explanation could be that Pharaoh may have been out of country fighting wars for a time and came back to his daughter having a child. Either way, Moses was raised in the Egyptian court as the grandson of a Pharaoh.

As he grows, Moses must have remembered what his mother taught him about his heritage and ancestry. It’s also possible that the princess told him that he was not Egyptian. He may have looked different from the other children in the court. Through all this, Moses is gaining administrative and leadership talents while living in Pharaoh’s court. He is probably being groomed for leadership and, as a result, may see himself as the person to lead the Hebrew people. Unfortunately, this leads to a moment of hubris and murder.

While out watching the Hebrews work, he sees an Egyptian task master beating one of the Hebrews. Like his ancestor, Levi, Moses decides to dispense immediate justice and kills the Egyptian. He may have believed that this was the moment when he would take charge of the Hebrews and lead them into freedom. But...nothing comes of it; until the next day. As Moses goes to observe again, he sees two Hebrews fighting each other. Thinking this would be a good time to establish his leadership, he asks why they’re fighting. The response must have shocked him: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Dressed as an Egyptian...raised as an Egyptian...probably speaking Egyptian and his reliance on himself, his training and his hubris, Moses probably realized that he was in a very bad place. He had tried to do all these things in his own strength and it was all falling apart. The Hebrews probably saw him as just another Egyptian and what he’d done was going to get back to Pharaoh. There was nothing to do but leave, which is exactly what he does. He escapes to Midian and I think he was probably on horseback as it was a trek of over 300 miles and walking alone would have taken almost a week. Even if he had provisions, it would have still been extremely difficult. With a horse, he could cover that distance in half the time and there would be wadi’s along the way for the horse to be watered. Why he went to Midian is unknown. It’s possible that it wasn’t under Egyptian influence and he felt safe there whereas most of the other countries in the area were dominated or paid tribute to Egypt. While in Midian, his sense of justice boils up again but this has a much better ending. A priest of Midian had 7 daughters and they came to the well where Moses was resting to get water for their herds. Who was he a priest of? Unsure. If he was a Midianite, he probably came from the line of Abraham and his concubine, Keturah. So he may be a priest of Yahweh or he may have been a priest of multiple gods. Anyway, at this time, a group of shepherds came to drive off the women but they were scared off by Moses. This is another reason why I think he had a horse or some other animal. It would have been difficult for one person, no matter how he is armed, to drive away a group of rather tough men. The daughters return to their father who questions why they have returned so early. They tell him the story about an Egyptian who ran off the shepherds and their father, who here is called Reuel, asks them why he’s still standing at the well. It was customary in this culture to offer people hospitality and doubly so for someone that protected a family. Moses comes to Reuel and agrees to live with him. In turn, Reuel offers Moses one of his daughters, Zipporah, in marriage and they have a son whom Moses names Gershom, meaning foreigner as he is now a foreigner in a foreign land. 

Before the chapter ends, we see a set up for what’s coming next. The Pharaoh dies and the children of Israel are still in bondage. They groan and cry out to God for salvation and the Bible says: “God heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” God hear the cries and pleas of his people and is about to move. And that’s what we’ll talk about in the next episode.

So on that note, we’ll leave it here for now. As always, thank you for downloading and listening to Bible Backdrop. If you want to get in touch with the show, you can e-mail me at BibleBackdrop@gmail.com. Word of mouth is still the best way for this podcast to get around, so please tell a friend and have them subscribe. If you are enjoying Bible Backdrop, please leave a 5 star rating and review. You can do so on Apple podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you get your podcasts. Thank you again for listening and have a great week!