Introduction: This first lesson summarizes the long history of God’s people in Egypt, spanning from the time of Joseph, when Israel experienced enormous prosperity, to their enslavement under the cruel Pharaoh, who ordered the execution of all male babies. However, God is not passive when forces of evil try to destroy His people. He is their Savior. So, He sent a deliverer, His servant Moses, whose miraculous protection at birth led to his extraordinary inclusion in Pharaoh’s family as an adopted son. The first 40 years of Moses’ life are marked by receiving the best education, first from his mother and then at the Egyptian university. Even though he was trained to sit on the throne of Egypt and become a great leader, Moses found himself, through his mistakes and God’s providence, in Jethro’s household. There he married and became a shepherd.
Lesson Themes
Lesson Themes
God’s fulfillment of His promises and blessings of prosperity are to be celebrated. Thankful hearts recognize God’s love and care in their lives and acknowledge that it is God who blesses and intervenes to give prosperity and success. However, if not careful, we can all too easily lose sight of the fact that God, not our achievements, is responsible for our prosperity. Forgetting that all we have ultimately belongs to God may lead some to be overcome with jealousy, desiring to control and destroy the good work that God is seeking to do through them to save others.
Prayers have different functions. They not only serve to praise the Lord for His goodness and kindness toward us, but they are petitions—cries of wounded, oppressed, desperate, and abused people who need help. Evil people may violate the rights of others, but God promises to assist those who are thus harmed.
The good news is that God hears our desperate calls for His forgiveness, presence, and intervention. He sees our struggles, notes our tears, understands our agony, and responds to our groanings.
All oppressed, persecuted, exploited, and marginalized people can identify with the stories in the book of Exodus. Through these historical accounts, they learn that they are not alone. God is with them in spite of His perceived silence. His invisible presence and Bible promises seek to provide inner comfort and the assurance of salvation.
God remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is faithful. What He promises He delivers. God intervenes in His own time. Divine timing is often contrary to our finite desires and expectations.
Part II: Commentary
Part II: Commentary
The book of Exodus is not about Moses but, primarily, about God and His leadership in the life of Moses and Israel. Exodus begins with the picture of God’s blessings upon Jacob’s family: they were only 70 individuals when they followed Joseph to Egypt, but they became exceedingly numerous (Exod. 1:7, NIV), in accordance with God’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 15:5).
However, Israel’s prosperity turns into a problem. The new Egyptian Pharaoh becomes jealous and afraid of Israel; so, he shrewdly enslaves them through hard work and oppression. Historically, these dramatic events can best be placed against the backdrop of Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty. The new Hyksos dynasty began to rule at that time. Its first king, Ahmose (1580–1546 b.c.), can be recognized as the one who did not acknowledge Joseph’s achievements (Exod. 1:8) and began to enslave the Israelites. The situation of God’s people quickly began to decline, from one of prosperity and the free inhabitance of Egypt to abject slavery under the bondage of harsh masters (Exod. 1:11, 13, 14). The king behind this drastic change was Amenhotep I (1553–1532). However, the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased in number (Exod. 1:12). The pressure upon Pharaoh grew to subdue God’s people through hard labor.
This chain of pharaonic ruthlessness and oppression culminated during the cruel reign of Thutmose I (1532–1514), who mercilessly issued the death decree to kill all male Hebrew babies (Exod. 1:22). If the Exodus occurred in March 1450 b.c., the date we advocate, then Moses was born 80 years earlier, which would be 1530 b.c., during the rulership of Thutmose I. Thutmose I had a daughter who became Queen Hatshepsut (1504–1482). Hatshepsut adopted Moses and gave him that name. Hatshepsut died while Moses was in Midian. Hatshepsut’s husband Thutmose II (1508–1504) had, by a concubine, a son, namely Thutmose III (1504–1450), who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Pharaoh Amenhotep II (1453–1425), not the firstborn son of Thutmose III, was for more than two years a co-regent with his father and had a son who died in the tenth plague as the firstborn son. Pharaoh Thutmose IV (1425–1412), who succeeded Amenhotep II on the throne, was not the eldest son, as the inscription on the Sphinx Stela indicates. Thus, the biblical data can be harmonized with extrabiblical evidence.
Moses’ Egyptian name fits well with this time period (similar to the name Thutmose) and means “born of” or “drawn (from).” His full name probably was Hapi-mose (Hapi being the god of the river Nile). But Moses, when referring to himself and writing under God’s inspiration, cut Hapi from his name, a sign of his refusal to be associated with the god of the Nile.
Moses’ birth (Exod. 2:1–10) is a turning point in the flow of Israel’s history. God’s people were praying for deliverance from slavery, asking for His help in their desperate situation. God answered their supplications with the birth of Moses. God’s miraculous intervention to protect Moses’ life in this particular circumstance was possible only in collaboration with his parents and Miriam, his sister. Thus, we observe that God uses human instruments to advance His cause and purpose.
In the darkness of hardships and our own suffering, we need to fix our eyes on God and trust Him, His leadership, and His wisdom because He will never forsake His children. He is with them in the midst of oppression and persecution. He knows the tears of the abused and wounded. He suffers with them. The prophet Isaiah aptly declares that God is afflicted in all our afflictions (Isa. 63:9). His solidarity with us is strong and irrevocable. In our suffering, He suffers; in our distress, He feels distressed; and in our pain, He feels pain. He is on the side of the persecuted who suffer for righteousness’ sake (Matt. 5:10). He is a merciful and gracious Lord. He is longsuffering with us, and, on the cross, He suffered to secure our salvation. In contrast, oppressors, abusers, and violators will experience God’s judgment of condemnation and final destruction. In this context, let us remind ourselves of the insightful statement of Ellen G. White: “In the future life the mysteries that here have annoyed and disappointed us will be made plain. We shall see that our seemingly unanswered prayers and disappointed hopes have been among our greatest blessings.”—The Ministry of Healing, p. 474.
Shiphrah and Puah, two midwives, are models of faithfulness. Because they feared God, they did not need to be afraid of Pharaoh’s anger. Their respect for the God of life guided them to have respect for human life. They refused to kill, by “accident,” the male Hebrew babies at birth. They knew that life is a gift from God, so they rejected Pharaoh’s orders.
The Bible does not reveal to us much about the first 40 years of Moses’ life (Acts 7:23), save these salient details: (1) Moses became the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; (2) when grown, he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew; (3) he disputed with a Hebrew man hitting a fellow Hebrew; (4) subsequently, he flew to Midian where he stayed with Jethro, a priest, and married Jethro’s daughter, Zipporah; and (5) then he had a son, Gershon.
The principal point of the lesson for this week is the phrase “and God remembered his covenant” from our key text: “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exod. 2:24). God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises brings stability into relationships between God and His people. He keeps His part, in spite of our unfaithfulness. God’s covenant constitutes the legal establishment of a relationship between God and His followers.
Nevertheless, His covenantal promise was seemingly unfulfilled, as His people were not prosperous but suffering. The statement that God “remembered his covenant” does not mean God had a lapse of memory or that He forgot His people. In His own time, God intervenes in favor of His people. God committed Himself by His word to Abraham that he would be a great nation; so, in fulfillment of this promise, God steps in to bring freedom to the oppressed. God delivers Israel because He promised to bless Abraham’s posterity.
In these two concluding verses, the term Elohim for God appears four times. Elohim is a mighty, strong God and is described in connection to four actions: God “heard,” “remembered,” “looked on,” and “was concerned.” These verses underline God’s knowledge of the situation, His care, and His willingness to act in favor of His people. He will change the flow of history because His time for intervention has arrived. God in His mercy will say no to the oppression and give freedom to His followers so that they may serve their God out of gratitude for the gift of freedom. Thus, God’s grace triumphs over violence, oppression, and slavery.
Part III: Life Application
Part III: Life Application
How do you feel when people overlook, hurt, exploit, or abuse you? These deep disappointments and afflictions can help you to sympathize with those who go through similar experiences in life. How can you effectively encourage these suffering people? What is the best remedy for life’s disappointments?
How can you effectively respond to the abuse of power in your workplace or in the church?
Imagine what would happen if Moses’ parents and Miriam had not trusted God and had lacked the courage to hide their baby. What would have happened to God’s plan? How would God have reacted in this hypothetical situation? Would another Moses have stood up?
How was it possible that Moses, after so many years of living in luxury and in a pagan home, decided to suffer with God’s people for a season?
Those who bow down before God do not need to fear to stand before kings. They have made God’s will first in their lives; so, they go forward, courageously and boldly, to keep God’s commandments. What does it mean that Moses did not fear Pharaoh but God? How do you understand the paradoxical statement that because Moses saw “Him who is invisible” (NKJV), he was faithful to Him (Heb. 11:27, NIV)? How can you see God with the inward eye of faith?
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Part I: Overview
Key Text: Exodus 2:23–25
Study Focus: Exod. 1:1–2:25
Introduction: This first lesson summarizes the long history of God’s people in Egypt, spanning from the time of Joseph, when Israel experienced enormous prosperity, to their enslavement under the cruel Pharaoh, who ordered the execution of all male babies. However, God is not passive when forces of evil try to destroy His people. He is their Savior. So, He sent a deliverer, His servant Moses, whose miraculous protection at birth led to his extraordinary inclusion in Pharaoh’s family as an adopted son. The first 40 years of Moses’ life are marked by receiving the best education, first from his mother and then at the Egyptian university. Even though he was trained to sit on the throne of Egypt and become a great leader, Moses found himself, through his mistakes and God’s providence, in Jethro’s household. There he married and became a shepherd.
Lesson Themes
Lesson Themes
God’s fulfillment of His promises and blessings of prosperity are to be celebrated. Thankful hearts recognize God’s love and care in their lives and acknowledge that it is God who blesses and intervenes to give prosperity and success. However, if not careful, we can all too easily lose sight of the fact that God, not our achievements, is responsible for our prosperity. Forgetting that all we have ultimately belongs to God may lead some to be overcome with jealousy, desiring to control and destroy the good work that God is seeking to do through them to save others.
Prayers have different functions. They not only serve to praise the Lord for His goodness and kindness toward us, but they are petitions—cries of wounded, oppressed, desperate, and abused people who need help. Evil people may violate the rights of others, but God promises to assist those who are thus harmed.
The good news is that God hears our desperate calls for His forgiveness, presence, and intervention. He sees our struggles, notes our tears, understands our agony, and responds to our groanings.
All oppressed, persecuted, exploited, and marginalized people can identify with the stories in the book of Exodus. Through these historical accounts, they learn that they are not alone. God is with them in spite of His perceived silence. His invisible presence and Bible promises seek to provide inner comfort and the assurance of salvation.
God remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is faithful. What He promises He delivers. God intervenes in His own time. Divine timing is often contrary to our finite desires and expectations.
Part II: Commentary
Part II: Commentary
The book of Exodus is not about Moses but, primarily, about God and His leadership in the life of Moses and Israel. Exodus begins with the picture of God’s blessings upon Jacob’s family: they were only 70 individuals when they followed Joseph to Egypt, but they became exceedingly numerous (Exod. 1:7, NIV), in accordance with God’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 15:5).
However, Israel’s prosperity turns into a problem. The new Egyptian Pharaoh becomes jealous and afraid of Israel; so, he shrewdly enslaves them through hard work and oppression. Historically, these dramatic events can best be placed against the backdrop of Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty. The new Hyksos dynasty began to rule at that time. Its first king, Ahmose (1580–1546 b.c.), can be recognized as the one who did not acknowledge Joseph’s achievements (Exod. 1:8) and began to enslave the Israelites. The situation of God’s people quickly began to decline, from one of prosperity and the free inhabitance of Egypt to abject slavery under the bondage of harsh masters (Exod. 1:11, 13, 14). The king behind this drastic change was Amenhotep I (1553–1532). However, the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased in number (Exod. 1:12). The pressure upon Pharaoh grew to subdue God’s people through hard labor.
This chain of pharaonic ruthlessness and oppression culminated during the cruel reign of Thutmose I (1532–1514), who mercilessly issued the death decree to kill all male Hebrew babies (Exod. 1:22). If the Exodus occurred in March 1450 b.c., the date we advocate, then Moses was born 80 years earlier, which would be 1530 b.c., during the rulership of Thutmose I. Thutmose I had a daughter who became Queen Hatshepsut (1504–1482). Hatshepsut adopted Moses and gave him that name. Hatshepsut died while Moses was in Midian. Hatshepsut’s husband Thutmose II (1508–1504) had, by a concubine, a son, namely Thutmose III (1504–1450), who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Pharaoh Amenhotep II (1453–1425), not the firstborn son of Thutmose III, was for more than two years a co-regent with his father and had a son who died in the tenth plague as the firstborn son. Pharaoh Thutmose IV (1425–1412), who succeeded Amenhotep II on the throne, was not the eldest son, as the inscription on the Sphinx Stela indicates. Thus, the biblical data can be harmonized with extrabiblical evidence.
Moses’ Egyptian name fits well with this time period (similar to the name Thutmose) and means “born of” or “drawn (from).” His full name probably was Hapi-mose (Hapi being the god of the river Nile). But Moses, when referring to himself and writing under God’s inspiration, cut Hapi from his name, a sign of his refusal to be associated with the god of the Nile.
Moses’ birth (Exod. 2:1–10) is a turning point in the flow of Israel’s history. God’s people were praying for deliverance from slavery, asking for His help in their desperate situation. God answered their supplications with the birth of Moses. God’s miraculous intervention to protect Moses’ life in this particular circumstance was possible only in collaboration with his parents and Miriam, his sister. Thus, we observe that God uses human instruments to advance His cause and purpose.
In the darkness of hardships and our own suffering, we need to fix our eyes on God and trust Him, His leadership, and His wisdom because He will never forsake His children. He is with them in the midst of oppression and persecution. He knows the tears of the abused and wounded. He suffers with them. The prophet Isaiah aptly declares that God is afflicted in all our afflictions (Isa. 63:9). His solidarity with us is strong and irrevocable. In our suffering, He suffers; in our distress, He feels distressed; and in our pain, He feels pain. He is on the side of the persecuted who suffer for righteousness’ sake (Matt. 5:10). He is a merciful and gracious Lord. He is longsuffering with us, and, on the cross, He suffered to secure our salvation. In contrast, oppressors, abusers, and violators will experience God’s judgment of condemnation and final destruction. In this context, let us remind ourselves of the insightful statement of Ellen G. White: “In the future life the mysteries that here have annoyed and disappointed us will be made plain. We shall see that our seemingly unanswered prayers and disappointed hopes have been among our greatest blessings.”—The Ministry of Healing, p. 474.
Shiphrah and Puah, two midwives, are models of faithfulness. Because they feared God, they did not need to be afraid of Pharaoh’s anger. Their respect for the God of life guided them to have respect for human life. They refused to kill, by “accident,” the male Hebrew babies at birth. They knew that life is a gift from God, so they rejected Pharaoh’s orders.
The Bible does not reveal to us much about the first 40 years of Moses’ life (Acts 7:23), save these salient details: (1) Moses became the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; (2) when grown, he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew; (3) he disputed with a Hebrew man hitting a fellow Hebrew; (4) subsequently, he flew to Midian where he stayed with Jethro, a priest, and married Jethro’s daughter, Zipporah; and (5) then he had a son, Gershon.
The principal point of the lesson for this week is the phrase “and God remembered his covenant” from our key text: “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exod. 2:24). God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises brings stability into relationships between God and His people. He keeps His part, in spite of our unfaithfulness. God’s covenant constitutes the legal establishment of a relationship between God and His followers.
Nevertheless, His covenantal promise was seemingly unfulfilled, as His people were not prosperous but suffering. The statement that God “remembered his covenant” does not mean God had a lapse of memory or that He forgot His people. In His own time, God intervenes in favor of His people. God committed Himself by His word to Abraham that he would be a great nation; so, in fulfillment of this promise, God steps in to bring freedom to the oppressed. God delivers Israel because He promised to bless Abraham’s posterity.
In these two concluding verses, the term Elohim for God appears four times. Elohim is a mighty, strong God and is described in connection to four actions: God “heard,” “remembered,” “looked on,” and “was concerned.” These verses underline God’s knowledge of the situation, His care, and His willingness to act in favor of His people. He will change the flow of history because His time for intervention has arrived. God in His mercy will say no to the oppression and give freedom to His followers so that they may serve their God out of gratitude for the gift of freedom. Thus, God’s grace triumphs over violence, oppression, and slavery.
Part III: Life Application
Part III: Life Application
How do you feel when people overlook, hurt, exploit, or abuse you? These deep disappointments and afflictions can help you to sympathize with those who go through similar experiences in life. How can you effectively encourage these suffering people? What is the best remedy for life’s disappointments?
How can you effectively respond to the abuse of power in your workplace or in the church?
Imagine what would happen if Moses’ parents and Miriam had not trusted God and had lacked the courage to hide their baby. What would have happened to God’s plan? How would God have reacted in this hypothetical situation? Would another Moses have stood up?
How was it possible that Moses, after so many years of living in luxury and in a pagan home, decided to suffer with God’s people for a season?
Those who bow down before God do not need to fear to stand before kings. They have made God’s will first in their lives; so, they go forward, courageously and boldly, to keep God’s commandments. What does it mean that Moses did not fear Pharaoh but God? How do you understand the paradoxical statement that because Moses saw “Him who is invisible” (NKJV), he was faithful to Him (Heb. 11:27, NIV)? How can you see God with the inward eye of faith?