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Exodus 1: Though This World, With Devils Filled, Should Threaten to Undo Us

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If I am correct that the main point of Exodus is to ask, and then answer, the question, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?” (Ex 5:2)—we should expect chapter 1 to somehow set up this main idea. And in fact, it does so, by establishing the characters and creating the conditions under which the question must be posed.

Observation of Exodus 1

Of course, there are many, many observations to be made. For the sake of space, my list will have to be selective. But in these sample Bible studies, I plan to mention what appears to be most important.

Significant repeated words in ESV: Egypt (7 times), Israel (7x), people (7x), all (6x), midwives (6x), live/lives (5x), Hebrews (4x), multiply (4x), sons (3x).

  • This passage has much to say about the “people” and their experience in Egypt.
  • And the “people” are closely connected to the “sons.” They are called “sons of Israel” in Ex 1:1, but “people of Israel” in Ex 1:7 (though a quick look at an original language reference tool will reveal that the identical Hebrew phrase is used in both verses).
  • The passage ends with multiple attacks on the “sons” of Israel. God blesses the midwives with “families,” which presumably include sons.
  • In addition, the thread of “multiplication” carries through every paragraph.

Names and titles:

  • The most repeated words (see above) are specific names of the two primary nations.
  • The opening line highlights the names of characters: “These are the names of the sons of Israel…”
  • The narrator goes out of his way to name the two Hebrew midwives in Ex 1:15 – Shiphrah and Puah.
  • But he never bothers to name the hostile king. He’s referred to only as “king of Egypt” (4x) or “Pharaoh” (3x).

Grammar/Structure:

  • Paragraph 1 (Ex 1:1-7): Joseph, his brothers, and all his generation died in Egypt. But death could not prevent them from multiplying.
    • The language of these verses remind us of Genesis (sons of Israel, 70 persons, generation), especially Genesis 1: fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, land was filled with them.
  • Paragraph 2 (Ex 1:8-10): A new king over Egypt wants to deal shrewdly in order to prevent further multiplication, and to keep the people of Israel in one place.
    • The language of these verses remind us of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9): unnamed figures hostile to God, “come, let us,” prevent multiplication and scattering.
  • Paragraph 3 (Ex 1:11-14): Shrewd dealing #1: Afflict them with heavy burdens. But they keep multiplying (Ex 1:12).
  • Paragraph 4 (Ex 1:15-21): Shrewd dealing #2: Murder the sons. But they keep multiplying (Ex 1:20), and the midwives get families (Ex 1:21).
  • Paragraph 5 (Ex 1:22): Shrewd dealing #3: Drown the sons.
    • This final dealing leaves us with a lingering question: Will they keep multiplying?
Crossett Library (2011), Creative Commons

Crossett Library (2011), Creative Commons

Interpretation of Exodus 1

A few possible questions:

  1. Why are the names such an important part of the chapter?
  2. Why does it matter so much that the sons of Israel keep multiplying?
  3. Why does the king of Egypt want to prevent them from multiplying?
  4. Are the midwives lying to Pharaoh, and is it okay for us to lie to evil dictators?
  5. Will the king of Egypt succeed in his shrewd dealing?
  6. So what should God’s people expect as they live in God’s world and trust in God’s promises to the saints of old?

Answers (numbers correspond to the preceding questions):

  1. The new king of Egypt didn’t know Joseph (Ex 1:8). If we read Genesis—and this chapter seriously suggests we should read Genesis to understand what’s going on here—we can know Joseph. And God knows Joseph. And his father Jacob, and Isaac, Abraham, Noah, and Adam. God knows, and God remembers. But the king of Egypt? He’s nobody. He’s a no-name. We can’t remember him (scholars still debate over which Pharaoh this was). He can’t take God’s place or stand in God’s way.
  2. God’s people will complete God’s original mission to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it (Gen 1:28). If death can’t stop them (Ex 1:1-7), a devilish king of Egypt certainly won’t have any better success (Ex 1:8-22).
  3. Ex 1:8-10 portray him like one of the Babelites from Gen 11:1-9. He wants to take God’s place. He wants to have power over life and death, creation and recreation, justice and injustice. He wants the knowledge of good and evil (the authority to make his own decisions). He will work against God’s stated purposes, and keep these people in his land, in so far as it suits him if war breaks out.
  4. I have an opinion here. But, honestly, the question is so far removed from the author’s intention that it’s not worth as much time as we usually spend on it. Suffice it to say that one who deals shrewdly against God’s purposes will have shrewd dealings done against him. Such divine irony carries through the book of Exodus.
  5. You’ll have to keep reading Exodus, but (SPOILER ALERT) no. Pharaoh’s 3 shrewd dealings turn against him, as the Lord afflicts him with heavy burdens (Ex 7-10), murders his sons (Ex 11-13), and drowns his sons (Ex 14-15).
  6. There exist forces hostile to God’s promises and plans. But they will not succeed. Death cannot win. And devils (such as Pharaoh) run rampant and must rise up against us. Only in the context of such hostility will we truly find out who the LORD is, and why we should obey his voice!

Train of thought:

  • We pick up right where Genesis left off. Everyone dies, but God’s plans for fruitful multiplication prevail.
  • A new devil arises to claim God’s place.
    • He makes 3 attempts to bring an end to God’s plans for fruitful multiplication.
    • We’re waiting to discover what follows the decree to drown the sons

Main Point: The sons of God have many enemies, but none can prevent God’s promises from being fulfilled.

Connection to Christ: The Son of God himself had many enemies. None could prevent him from winning many brothers. If they had known what they were doing, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). Their own tactics (persecution and murder) have turned against them to bring about the Lord’s greatest triumph.

Application of Exodus 1

Here is my application. You’re a different person in a different context, so you may have to come up with your own. And if yours look very different from mine, that’s okay!

Inward: When I face trials of many kinds, do I allow them to shake my confidence in the Lord?

  • Head: Don’t be surprised when hostile forces (the world, the flesh, or the devil) work against my attempts to honor the Lord. Expect this to happen.
  • Heart: Fear the Lord God more than I fear any this-worldly powers.
  • Hands: Memorize Scripture, remind myself of the truth, and keep living the Christian life. Don’t stop doing what I know to do as a Christian, just because it becomes hard to do them.

Outward: When others face trials of many kinds, encourage them not to lose confidence in the Lord.

  • Head: Encourage my children and others I disciple to expect many trials. Help them learn to interpret these trials as having no power against God’s promises.
  • Heart: Train others to fear the Lord more than they fear this-worldly powers.
  • Hands: Keep preaching the gospel and making more disciples. It’s worth it to fight for traditional marriage, religious freedom, and the uniqueness of Christ. Political nations will rise and fall, but none can stop the gospel’s advance to all tribes and peoples

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

R.C. Sproul’s Proverbial Peccadillo

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Thanks to Jake Swink for pointing out a helpful post by R.C. Sproul on the Proverbs.

Sproul uses Prov 26:4-5 to show how the application of a proverb often depends on the situation.  Part of wisdom is figuring out which instructions apply to different life situations!  Read Sproul’s excellent thoughts, and learn wisdom from a sage.

However, I disagree with the framing of Sproul’s chief conclusion that proverbs “reflect insights that are generally [not universally] true.”  In his book Knowing Scripture, Sproul elaborates the point: “A common mistake in biblical interpretation and application is to give a proverbial saying the weight or force of a moral absolute” (p. 89).

This approach to Proverbs is common among evangelicals.  Even the ESV Study Bible, which I really appreciate, goes in that direction.  Consider the note on Proverbs 3:9-10:

“Your barns will be filled with plenty is a generalization concerning the effect of honoring the Lord with all that one has and is.  It is not, however, more than a generalization (as Job’s comforters held), for to view this as a mechanical formula dishonors God and his inscrutable sovereign purposes.”

Sproul believes proverbs are not commands, and the ESV Study Bible claims they are not promises.

My problem here is that this approach to Proverbs fosters mistrust of the text by claiming that it doesn’t really say what it says.  So, “Honor the Lord with your wealth…then your barns will be filled with plenty” (Prov 3:9-10) applies only when you’re not in a recession.  Since proverbs are not promises, they must be only probabilities.

But I ask: Is Prov 2:1-5 not really a command with a promise?  If I seek wisdom, is it possible, but not guaranteed, that I can know God?  Can someone seek and seek and never find him?

Is Prov 3:11-12 only generally true?  If I suffer God’s discipline, is it only generally true that he loves me as a father loves his son?  Might he actually be disappointed with me, even if I’m trusting in Christ?

Is Prov 4:5 not a moral absolute?  Is it not really the case that God commands people to get wisdom and hold on to his commandments?  Perhaps not, since it might be only a generalization to think that God will give life to those who find wisdom (Prov 8:35).

No, there’s got to be a better way to read Proverbs.

As commentator Bruce Waltke states,

“The popular evangelical solution that these are not promises but probabilities, though containing an element of truth, raises theological, practical, and psychological problems by stating the matter badly…A psychologically well person could scarcely trust God with all his heart (Prov 3:5) knowing that he usually, but not always, keeps his obligations” (The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 1-15 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), pp. 107-8).

So how would I frame the conclusion differently?  I would say that, yes, biblical proverbs (at least those with imperatives) are commandments.  Yes, proverbs (at least those that promise something) contain divine promises.  But they are commandments/promises with a context.  Each one applies (always) in its situation, but we ought not misapply it beyond the proper situation (as Sproul ably demonstrates in Prov 26:4-5).

See, I don’t really disagree with Sproul all that much.  I agree with what he gets at in Prov 26; I just disagree with how he got there.   To say that proverbs “reflect insights that are [only] generally true” is to over-generalize what proverbs intend.  Such over-generalization can be misleading.