God Heard Their Cry

A family of seventy. “All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already)” (1:5). That was the whole family of Israel when they moved to Egypt. Every name counts. Verses 2-4 name Jacob's sons, from Reuben to Asher. Each son's family would become one of the tribes of Israel. God knows His people by name. God's promise. Before Jacob left Canaan, God told him, “Do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there” (Genesis 46:3). Egypt was part of God's plan. A generation gone. “And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation” (1:6). A generation is everyone who lives at the same time. The people who remembered the old days were gone, but God was still there. Growing and growing. “But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty” (1:7). Fruitful means having many children. Mighty means strong. The first blessing. At creation God told people, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). In Egypt that same blessing was at work in Jacob's family. A full land. “The land was filled with them” (1:7). Seventy people had become a nation, just as God said. What this means for you. God keeps His promises, even when many years go by. If you trust Jesus, you are part of the family God has been growing for thousands of years.

“These are the names” (1:1). The Hebrew name of the book of Exodus is Shemot (say: sheh-MOTE), which means names. The list in 1:2-4 is a family roll call. Every son stood for a household God had promised to keep. Seventy (1:5). Genesis 46:27 gives the same count: “All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.” Seventy people make a family, not a nation. What happened next was God's doing. The promise behind the growth. God told Abram, “I will make you a great nation” (Genesis 12:2). He said it again to Jacob at Beersheba: “I will make of you a great nation there” (Genesis 46:3). Egypt was the place God chose to do it. Growth in every way (1:7). Israel was “fruitful,” “increased abundantly,” “multiplied,” “grew exceedingly mighty,” and “the land was filled with them.” God's people grew in number, in strength and in the room they filled. An echo of creation. These are the words of God's first blessing on people: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). He repeated them to Jacob: “Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you” (Genesis 35:11). Many Christians see here that God was carrying His good purpose for the whole world forward through this one family. Hard years foretold. God had warned Abram that his descendants would be “strangers in a land that is not theirs” (Genesis 15:13). The hard years ahead were not outside God's plan. Why it matters. Paul says that everyone who belongs to Christ is “Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). The family God grew in Egypt is the family you join by faith in Jesus.

Jacob's family was small when they moved to Egypt. There were only seventy people. But God had made Jacob a promise. He said He would make his family a great nation. A nation is a very big group of people. In Egypt, God kept that promise. The families had many babies. Those babies grew up and had babies of their own. Soon there were so many that they filled the land! God does not forget what He says. He kept His promise even in a faraway land. God was building a family for Himself. One day Jesus would be born into that family.

God promised Jacob a big family. Only seventy people came to Egypt. God made them grow and grow. God keeps His promises.

A new king. “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (1:8). Joseph had saved Egypt from a terrible famine (Genesis 41). A famine is a time when there is not enough food. This king forgot all of it. Afraid. He said, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we” (1:9). Mightier means stronger. Fear filled his heart. A sneaky plan. “Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply” (1:10). Shrewdly means in a clever, sneaky way. What he feared. He worried that in a war Israel would “join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land” (1:10). He wanted to keep them as his workers. Fighting against God. The king was trying to stop the very growth God had promised. No one can do that. “There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the Lord's counsel—that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21). Counsel means plan. People forget. People forget kindness, and nations forget God. God never forgets His own. God is greater. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). What this means for you. Sometimes people may treat you unfairly because you love God. God sees it, and no one is stronger than He is. You do not have to be afraid.

“Who did not know Joseph” (1:8). The Hebrew verb yada (say: yah-DAH) means to know. It is more than having heard a name. It means to know someone and care about them. This king gave no honor to the man who had saved Egypt (Genesis 41:53-57). Fear on the throne (1:9). Pharaoh called Israel “more and mightier than we.” Fear turned guests into enemies. “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25). A snare is a trap. “Let us deal shrewdly” (1:10). Worldly cleverness was turned against God's people. The same words, “come, let us,” were spoken at Babel, where people built with bricks to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:3-4). Pharaoh's real fear. He feared that Israel would “go up out of the land” (1:10). That was exactly what God had promised Jacob: “I will also surely bring you up again” (Genesis 46:4). Pharaoh was afraid of the very thing God planned to do. A small king and a great God. Pharaoh was the most powerful man in Egypt, but he could not stop one promise of God. “There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the Lord's counsel—that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21). Forgetting. When people forget what God has done, they soon treat God's people badly. Psalm 103:2 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits.” Remembering God's goodness keeps a heart soft. Why it matters. The world may forget God's people, but God never does. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Trust Him when others are against you.

A new king began to rule Egypt. He did not know about Joseph. Long ago, Joseph had saved Egypt from hunger. This king did not care about that. He only saw lots of strangers in his land. The king was afraid of God's people. Fear made him think mean thoughts. So he made a sneaky plan to hurt them. People can forget the good things God has done. But God never forgets His people. He knew all about the king's plan. Nothing could stop what God had promised.

A new king forgot about Joseph. He was afraid of God's people. But God was not afraid. God was in charge.

Taskmasters. “Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens” (1:11). Taskmasters were bosses who forced slaves to work. Afflict means to hurt and make someone suffer. Cities for Pharaoh. Israel built “supply cities, Pithom and Raamses” (1:11). These were storehouse cities where Egypt kept grain and goods. God turned it around. “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew” (1:12). Pharaoh's plan did the opposite of what he wanted. Dread. “And they were in dread of the children of Israel” (1:12). Dread means great fear. Bitter lives. “And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field” (1:14). Bondage means slavery. Mortar is the sticky mud that holds bricks together. With rigor. The Egyptians made Israel “serve with rigor” (1:13). Rigor means harshness, with no kindness at all. God was not surprised. Long before, God told Abram that his family would be slaves in another land, and that afterward “they shall come out with great possessions” (Genesis 15:14). What this means for you. Hard times do not mean God has left you. He sees every hard day, and He can use even hard things to make His people stronger.

Taskmasters (1:11). The Hebrew sarei missim (say: sah-RAY mee-SEEM) means chiefs of forced labor. Israel had come to Egypt as Pharaoh's honored guests (Genesis 47:5-6). Now they were his slaves. Pithom and Raamses (1:11). Supply cities stored grain, weapons and goods for Pharaoh's government and army. Egypt's wealth was built on the backs of God's people. “The more… the more” (1:12). Pressure did not shrink Israel. It grew them. God kept His word right in the place of suffering. The early church saw the same thing: when believers were scattered by persecution, they preached the word wherever they went (Acts 8:4). Dread (1:12). The verb qutz (say: KOOTS) means to feel sick with fear. Egypt felt sick at the sight of God's growing people. Rigor (1:13-14). Perek (say: PEH-rek) means crushing harshness. Later God told Israel never to rule harshly over a poor neighbor (Leviticus 25:43). They knew how it felt. Bitter (1:14). Marar (say: mah-RAR) means to make bitter. At the first Passover, Israel ate bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8), and Jewish families still eat them at Passover to remember these years. Foretold. God had told Abram, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13). He also promised, “afterward they shall come out with great possessions” (15:14). Why it matters. Suffering does not cancel God's promises. Jesus told His followers, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

The king put slave masters over the Israelites. God's people had to build two big cities. They made bricks and mortar every day. They worked hard in the fields too. Nobody was kind to them. Their lives were bitter and sad. But God saw everything that happened. And something amazing happened too. The harder the Egyptians pushed, the more God's people grew! The king could not stop God's plan. Long before, God had told Abraham about these hard years. He also promised to bring His people out. God takes care of His people, even in hard times.

God's people had to work very hard. Their bosses were cruel. But God's people kept growing! God was with them.

A long time. “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died” (2:23). The years of slavery were long. By then Moses had been born, had grown up and had run away to Midian (2:1-22). Groaning. “Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out” (2:23). They were tired, sad and helpless. Up to God. “And their cry came up to God because of the bondage” (2:23). Every cry reached Him. God heard. “So God heard their groaning” (2:24). God hears even the sounds we make when we cannot find words. God remembered. “And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (2:24). A covenant is a binding promise. Remembered does not mean God had forgotten. It means God was about to act on His promise. God saw. “And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them” (2:25). Acknowledged means He knew them and cared about them. Near to the hurting. “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart” (Psalm 34:18). What this means for you. You can cry out to God when life is hard. He hears you, He remembers you, and He keeps His promises. He sent Jesus to rescue us.

Groaned and cried (2:23). The Hebrew anach (say: ah-NAKH) is the sigh of someone worn down. Za'aq (say: zah-AHK) is a shout for help. Israel did not need perfect words. They cried, and God heard. Four steps toward rescue (2:24-25). God heard, God remembered, God looked and God knew. In the next chapter God tells Moses, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows” (Exodus 3:7). Remembered (2:24). Zakar (say: zah-KAR) does not mean God had forgotten. It means God acted on His promise. “Then God remembered Noah” (Genesis 8:1), and He sent a wind to dry the earth. The covenant (2:24). Berit (say: beh-REET) is a binding agreement. God promised Abraham a nation, a land and a blessing for all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:2-3). He renewed it with Isaac (Genesis 26:3-4) and with Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15). “God acknowledged them” (2:25). Word for word, the Hebrew says that God knew them. The same verb, yada, appears in 1:8. Pharaoh did “not know Joseph,” but God knew His people. A deliverer. God's answer to Israel's cry was a person. Stephen calls Moses “a ruler and a deliverer” (Acts 7:35). Many Christians see Moses as a picture of the greater Deliverer, Jesus. Why it matters. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus hears your groaning too, and He is never too busy to listen.

After a long time, the king of Egypt died. But the hard work did not stop. God's people groaned. A groan is a sad, tired sound. They cried out for help. Their cry went all the way up to God. God heard every bit of it! He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A covenant is a promise God makes and always keeps. God had not forgotten His people for one day. Now He was ready to help them. Soon God would send Moses to lead them out. Later God sent Jesus to set us free from sin.

God's people cried out to God for help. God heard them. God remembered His promise. God hears you too!