Read Exodus 2
Highlights:
Moses, the distinguished lawgiver, is a type of Christ. Both were prophets who were endangered in infancy. Both were deliverers and mediators. God commissioned Moses to stand before Pharaoh as their advocate.
And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink (Ex. 2:2-3).
After the death of Joseph, the once privileged Israelites were reduced to bitter slavery. The severity of their oppression became obvious when Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every (Israelite) son that is born ye shall cast into the river (1:22). It may have appeared that God had forsaken His people. But, centuries earlier, God had foretold their slavery to Abraham, saying: Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And . . . afterward shall they come out with great substance (Gen. 15:13-14).
This promise of deliverance began to be fulfilled when Amram's wife Jochebed, the daughter of Levi (Num. 26:59) bare a son. We cannot measure the power of faith, but this is an example of how a mother's faith saved the child who became the great lawgiver. God used Moses, Jochebed's son, to lead His people out of bondage.
Through the miracles God said He would and did perform through Moses (Ex. 4:30), the people were convinced that God would use him to lead them to the promised land.
No change had yet actually taken place in their condition. They had only been assured by Moses and Aaron that God had not forgotten them during their four hundred years. Although their suffering was still just as intense, they bowed their heads and worshipped (4:31). To those with an unbelieving heart, this worship would seem presumptuous.
Some Christians who are suffering the greatest hardships, should not lose sight of the awesomeness of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. The Lord permits impossible situations to develop our faith.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us (Rom. 8:35-37).
Thought for Today:
God cares about us and knows how to deliver us (2 Pet. 2:9).
Christ Revealed:
As the I AM THAT I AM who commissioned Moses (Ex. 3:13-14; comp. Heb. 13:8). Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily (Truly, truly), I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58).
Word Studies:
2:13 strove, were quarreling; 2:16 of Midian, of the descendants of Abraham through his second wife Keturah (Gen. 25:1-4); 2:23 sighed by reason of, groaned because of; 2:25 had respect unto, was concerned about; 3:22 spoil, take the wealth of.
Prayer Suggestion: Be specific in your prayers (Luke 18:41-43).
Optional Reading: Matthew 18
Memory Verse for the Week: Psalms 100:3