Exodus 01
Note: This is a technical book, so pray for discipline. This book will help you understand the blueprint of heaven and the cost of redemption.
Blessing during Bondage in Egypt
1These are the names of the sons of Israel who entered Egypt – each man with his household entered with Jacob:
Exodus began with a summary of Genesis.
2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
The 12 tribes of Jacob entered Israel under Egyptian government policy as the royal shepherds of Pharaoh.
5All the people who were directly descended from Jacob numbered seventy. But Joseph was already in Egypt,
Skeptics like to point out that this is a Bible error. Genesis 46:26 stated that there were 66 people, but that number did not include Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. In Acts 7:14, Stephen stated that there were 75 people, but this number included the five grandchildren of Ephraim and Manasseh. Therefore, all three numbers are correct.
6and in time Joseph and his brothers and all that generation died.
No strong Jewish leaders arose after the death of the 12 patriarchal leaders.
7The Israelites, however, were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them.
According to the census in Exodus 13, the population of Israel was numbered at over two million.
8Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over Egypt.
The new king was part of the Atmose dynasty. They were Egyptians who defeated and removed the Hyksos dynasty. The Atmose dynasty was Hamitic and not Semitic. This means that the Atmose dynasty were descendants of the cursed line of Ham. They were not from the line of Shem. Abraham and the Hyksos kings were from the line of Shem. Shem was the oldest son of Noah. Ham was the youngest son of Noah.
The Hamitic people despised the Semitic Israelites, so they would not intermarry with them. This kept the Jewish race distinct and separated from Egyptian idolatry.
9He said to his people, “Look at the Israelite people, more numerous and stronger than we are!
The Israelites did not outnumber the Egyptians in the land, but they were increasing in number quickly.
10Come, let’s deal wisely with them. Otherwise they will continue to multiply, and if a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with our enemies and fight against us and leave the country.”
If the Israelites joined an invading army, then Egypt’s empire would be in danger. She would have to fight a two-front war.
11So they put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor. As a result they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
The Egyptian governmental policy was to work the Israelites so hard that they would be too tired to procreate. The Israelites built the storehouses of Pithom and Rameses. These cities were named after Egyptian gods.
12But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. As a result the Egyptians loathed the Israelites,
Pharaoh violated the Abrahamic Covenant. Hard labor only increased the Jewish population.
13and they made the Israelites serve rigorously.
The Egyptians increased the work load.
14They made their lives bitter by hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous.
Construction work is a tough and physically demanding job. The Israelites were given the toughest types of manual labor.
15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,
The Israelites identified themselves as “Hebrews” to the Gentiles. Shiphrah and Puah were the Jewish midwives who were over all of the other midwives of Israel.
16 “When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: If it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she may live.”
In the Bible and in Egyptian culture, the identity of the child is determined by the father. The Hebrew women would be assimilated into the Egyptian population. This genocide attempt was a violation of the Abrahamic Covenant.
17But the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.
The Jewish midwives feared God more than Pharaoh. They intentionally broke Egyptian law, because God's law is greater than man's law.
18Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”
The Pharaoh attempted to intimidate the midwives.
19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women – for the Hebrew women are vigorous; they give birth before the midwife gets to them!”
This was a white lie to protect the Hebrew children. The Abrahamic Covenant protects the Jews from being exterminated or assimilated into other cultures. The modern Jewish people are still a distinct culture even today.
20So God treated the midwives well, and the people multiplied and became very strong.
Why could Pharaoh not just execute these two women? The midwives were protected and blessed by the Abrahamic Covenant.
21And because the midwives feared God, he made households for them.
The midwives were courageous. Therefore; they were given large families of their own.
22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “All sons that are born you must throw into the river, but all daughters you may let live.”
Pharaoh made a new law to exterminate the Jews by genocide. Spiritually, the purpose was to eliminate the Jewish line so that they could not produce the Messiah who would eventually crush the head of the Serpent. This was a violation of the Abrahamic Covenant. Pharaoh and all of Egypt will be cursed kind-for-kind.
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Appendix
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