Exodus 1

Many Bible scholars believe that the whole Old Testament should be interpreted in view of the Exodus from Egypt. The Exodus is the event where God intervenes for his people and makes the tribes of Israel a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19). The narrator starts us off where Genesis left off, with Joseph and his descendants living in Egypt. However, there arose a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. He became afraid of the children of Israel and put them in slavery. This is sin at its worst. We began this journey in Genesis 1 where God created human beings in his image. Chapter 3 of Genesis records the first individual sin, with Adam and Eve disobeying God and wanting to be like God. Now we are in Egypt, where sin has gotten so bad that human beings who bear God's image are now putting other human beings who bear the same image in slavery. Not only are individuals infected by sin, now corporate societies are infected with sin. So Pharaoh places the children of Israel in slavery, but they continued to "be fruitful and multiplied", the same phrase that God told Adam and Even and Noah. Pharaoh then plots to kill the Hebrew baby boys, and so he brings in two Egyptian midwives: Shiphrah and Puah. These two women undermine Pharaoh's authority by not killing the Hebrew boys. Anything that Pharaoh tried to do with the Israelites was undercut and unsuccessful. God saw the women's faithfulness and he allowed their family to be built up.

Egypt is a scary place in the spiritual since. It is a place where sin is oppressing and enslaving. Egypt is a place where we all have been or maybe are at this moment. But while Egypt is a scary place, God is in that place. Even though we may not be able to see it yet, God is there and is working. He wants to free you from Egypt and from being enslaved to sin.

"Lord, free us from the sin that enslaves. Thank you that you have done this through your son Jesus. Make us aware where you are working. Amen."