Join us for a journey through the early chapters of Exodus, where we’ll uncover insights typically missed in this age-old tale. From the significance of translation choices to the dynamic roles of men and women in the biblical narrative, witness a compelling study series that promises to transform your understanding of these pivotal events. Gain a new appreciation for how God’s word remains ever-relevant and inspiring.
Greetings to the brightest audience in the country and welcome to Bob Enyart Live. I am Dominic Enyart. This week we are getting into a really fun series, which my pastor Will Duffy gave at Agape Kingdom Fellowship. And it has perhaps one of the most boring titles of all time. One of the most boring titles of all time, which is events leading up to the exodus and things you might have missed. which if you’re in show business, quote unquote, if you’re in show business, you know you want your titles to be real good and real engaging and energetic. And I think this might be one of the most boring titles of all time. But do not let that fool you. This is really one of the greatest study series that I’ve heard in a really long time. Super thankful that Will gave it at Agape Kingdom Fellowship. And so we’re getting into that. Today is part one. I think you will really enjoy it. Now let’s jump right into it.
SPEAKER 02 :
So I am personally really excited about the message this morning. And that’s always risky because it’s possible that things that really excite me might bore everybody else. But we’ll see what happens. The title of the sermon is The Events Leading Up to the Exodus and Things You May Have Missed. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to begin by looking at the events which led up to the Exodus. And we’re going to specifically look at some things that most people miss when they read this story. When you read a story over and over and over and over again, you begin to see new things that you never saw before. I’m guessing you can all relate to this, you’ve all experienced this. And it’s not too dissimilar to watching a movie multiple times when you do that you start to pick up things that you never saw before even though you’ve seen the movie before or you start to understand things that you didn’t understand before by watching a movie multiple times In my opinion, one of the neatest aspects of God’s word is that you can read the exact same passages and the exact same stories in the Bible. You can really get something new every time. I don’t think God’s word will ever get old or will ever get to some point where we’ve arrived and we understand it all. And so with that in mind, we’re going to look at, and this will take multiple weeks, but today we’re going to start, we’re going to look at the first few chapters of the book of Exodus, a story that I bet we’re all familiar with, very familiar with, and we’re going to focus specifically on things that most people miss as they read this familiar story. So again, I don’t know about you, we’ll see, I guess, when all is said and done, but these types of things really excite me. So go ahead and open your Bibles, and we’re going to start with the very first verse of the book of Exodus, chapter 1. So Exodus 1.1 says this, and I’m reading from the New King James. Now, these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt. Each man and his household came with Jacob. Now, I have to stop after verse 1. If you’re looking behind me right now at the verse being projected on the screen, you are seeing Exodus 1.1 in the New King James Version, and you’ll see that the first word of the verse is the word now. The first word of Exodus 1.1 in the New King James is the word now. Now the American Standard Version, the King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, they join the New King James Version along with quite a few others. And they also have the first word of Exodus 1.1 as now. So therefore it must be correct, right? Not so fast. the English Standard Version, the ESV, the New International Version, the NIV, the New Revised Standard, and the Revised Standard Version, and a few others, they have the first word as these. Not now, they have it as these. So then they must be correct then, right? Not so fast. And it might sound like I’m making a big deal out of nothing, But this is actually rather significant, so bear with me. By the way, if you caught it, I just went through almost all of the major Bible translations that we have. So there’s not very many left. I’ll go over a few of them. We still have the Good News translation, and they have the first word of Exodus 1-1 as the… We have the new century version. They have the first word of Exodus 1.1 as when, and then we have the new international readers version and they have the first word as here. Isn’t it interesting that we have such a diverse range of the first word of Exodus in all of these different translations? I think it’s easy to assume and believe that when you’re translating the Bible from Hebrew to English and from Greek to English, that it’s an easy process. I mean, obviously, assuming you know Hebrew and you know Greek, right? You know Hebrew. Okay, great. We’re going to translate it to English. You know Greek. We’re going to translate it to English. But the reality is, look at this situation. Number one, we have the major translations, they’re split. You’ve got the New King James and the King James and all the other major translations that I listed that have it as now. Then you have all the other major translations like the ESV and the NIV and the NRSV have it as these. And so that’s interesting. Why the disagreement? And then you’ve got a handful of other translations that don’t use either of those two words and they use something different. So who is right? And by the way, that proves that translation is not as easy as it might sound and as you might think. So who is right? Well, believe it or not, they’re all wrong. All of them. I could only find three translations in existence that I believe actually got the first word of Exodus correct. And one of them is the first translation in my adult life that has actually given me a renewed excitement to take a second look at Bible translations. I’ve been you know, enjoying and using the New King James Version for almost 20 years. And I never see anything new and exciting that makes you kind of want to reconsider this, but one of these translations actually has me there. And so we’re going to go ahead and look at Exodus 1-1 in a translation called the Lexham English Bible. The Lexham English Bible is says this for Exodus 1.1, and these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob. They each came with his family. So you’ll notice there that the first word is and. The first word is and. By the way, the Lexham English Bible says, was actually created by Logos Bible Software 10 years ago. I honestly wouldn’t even know about this Bible translation if it weren’t for the fact that I use Logos Bible Software. And so again, you’ll notice that they have the first word as and. Now again, you’re probably wondering why I’m making such a big deal here about a single word, especially the word and. Well, here is why. Exodus 1.1 is a continuation of the story at the end of the book of Genesis. It’s a direct continuation. So today, we have Bibles that are neatly divided into books, and the books are neatly divided into chapters, and the chapters are neatly divided into numbered verses. But this was not so with the original text. The word and… as the first word of Exodus is actually known as something called a copula. Copula. A copula is a connecting word. It’s something that connects or creates a bridge between two things. So this was actually very intentional by the author of Exodus. Don’t you think a bridge is rather important, right? Without the bridge, you pretty much have nothing. So this connecting link, if you will, this copula is actually very significant. By the way, the first six words in Exodus 1.1 in the Hebrew are identical to the first six words of Genesis 46.8. Same exact Hebrew words. So not only is this evidence, that the person who wrote Genesis also wrote Exodus, it’s showing the beginning of God’s promise being fulfilled. In Genesis 46, which you just saw behind me, that was God promising Jacob that if he travels to Egypt, God will make him a great nation, that God will be with him, And he even promises Jacob that he will be reunited to Joseph, his beloved lost son. And so Exodus 1.1 starts with the copula and to show that the story is a direct continuation and that this is the beginning of God’s promise being fulfilled. Now, that is lost when we use the word now, like we see in the New King James Version, and it’s lost when the first word is these, like we get in the ESV, the English Standard Version. So the connection of Exodus 1.1 to what was previously written at the end of the book of Genesis actually needs to be emphasized and highlighted, not obscured, which is what we have in today’s translations. Now, you may have heard growing up in school that you should never start a sentence with the word and, or that you should never start a sentence with the word but. I actually still to this day remember learning that in English classes growing up. And Bob Enyart taught me that this supposed rule actually makes no sense. And it was probably created because the Bible has so many sentences that begin with the words and and but. And so essentially the world will look for any way possible to discredit the Bible and to discredit Christianity. And so it’s possible that the hesitation for these English translations to use the word and could be an influence that was actually created to discredit the Bible. So like I said, we’re gonna cover parts of the story leading up to the Exodus that most people miss, and that’s just one of them. And I just think it’s so fascinating that the first word of Exodus, there can be something significant that is completely missed because of the translations. All right, many more to go. Let’s go ahead and read the first seven verses of Exodus chapter one. And these are the names of the children who came to Egypt. Each man in his household came with Jacob, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. all those who were descendants of Jacob were 70 persons, for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, all his brothers and all that generation, but the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them. This is kind of the first section we have in the story of the events preceding the Exodus. Now, we have the fulfillment of God’s promise here, not just to Jacob, but also to Abraham. right? Recall what God told Abraham back in Genesis chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15 verse 5 says this, then he, God, brought him outside and said, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. Abraham begot Isaac and who begot Jacob, who begot 12 sons, who are listed here as those who traveled to Egypt. And then it says that all that generation died, including the 12 sons. But then it tells us that Israel increased abundantly. And this is easily missed. This is actually meant to convey that it was out of the ordinary growth. This was not normal. This is not what would normally happen. This was actually God blessing them and intervening. The phrase that you see here in Exodus, the phrase, the land was filled with them, it actually has a connotation in the Hebrew of a swarm of insects. And so God essentially blessed them the fertility of his people so that they could grow in this manner. Again, easily missed, but there’s something going on there that I think is fascinating. Now the second half of Exodus chapter 1, the second half also contains two interesting pieces that I want to highlight. So let’s first read verses 8 through 22 of Exodus 1. Exodus 1 verse 8 says this, Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them lest they multiply and it happen in the event of war that they also join our enemies and fight against us and so go up out of the land. Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah. And he said this, when you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women and see them on the birth stools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, why have you done this thing and saved the male children alive? And the midwives said to Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them. Therefore, God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was because the midwives feared God that he provided households for them. So Pharaoh commanded all his people saying, every son who is born, you shall cast into the river and every daughter you shall save alive. So that’s the end of Exodus chapter one. It’s kind of split into two halves here. Now, did you notice God’s intervention again? God’s intervention. So we’re going to be talking about Pharaoh’s plan B and Pharaoh’s plan C. But what was Pharaoh’s plan A? Pharaoh’s plan A was to set taskmasters over them to afflict them, right? To give them a heavy burden, thinking that if I do this, they will stop multiplying so great. And what does the text say? The text says the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. This is God’s blessing over them. And so Since that didn’t work, that is when we start to have Pharaoh’s plan B and plan C, which we’re going to get to. But first, I want to draw your attention to something here, easily missed when you’re reading this familiar story. And that is, there’s a transition in Exodus chapter 1 from the first half to the second half. Did you catch it? The transition goes from men to women. men to women. So in the beginning of the chapter, it’s all about the men of Jacob. So it says, so by the way, Jacob and his 12 sons, they’re actually listed by name. So every name we have in the first half of Exodus 1 is a male name. And then it says each man and his household. And then it says all his brothers. Every single word that’s used is male. All the terminology we have in the first half of Exodus 1, it’s all male. But we see a change in the second half, and all of a sudden the theme switches to women. So other than Pharaoh, which is a title, all the names of the second half of Exodus 1 are of women, specifically Shiphrah and Puah. And then it’s the Hebrew midwives and the Hebrew mothers and the daughters born to them, they now take center stage. There’s been a clear transition here. The sons are to be killed and discarded, but it’s the women who are allowed to remain. Now, this transition from men to women, we’re not gonna get there this morning, but this transition actually continues into Exodus chapter two. And the story in Exodus chapter two centers around who? the mother of Moses, the sister of Moses, the daughter of Pharaoh, and then the wife of Moses. They are the main characters in Exodus chapter two. And so I think this transition that we see here from men to women in the story, it’s a reminder that even though God’s promise was to Abraham and Jacob, That promise could not have been fulfilled without women in their lives. Think about it. And that God is working with both men and women to bless them, to be with them, to multiply them. So, for example, how could Abraham… have had the promised child without Sarah. He couldn’t, right? And Jacob could not become a great nation with just 12 sons. He needs 12 sons and their wives. And so… God’s special blessing here is brought to the forefront through this transition. And his blessing is specifically seen in this part of the story with the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. And so here, Pharaoh, in his ignorance, commands them to kill the male children when they are born. Why? So as to stop the growth of the Hebrews. That’s been his plan all along. We have his motivations and his intentions in the text. He doesn’t want them to grow so big that they have the power to either leave or fight against him and join the enemy in some war and be able to escape that way. Now, why do I say Pharaoh and his ignorance? Well, number one, he thinks that these midwives are going to obey him. Why does he think they’re going to obey him? He thinks they’re going to obey him simply because he’s king. But he’s also ignorant about Birth. But it says that the midwives, it says they feared God instead. Pharaoh expected them to obey him because he’s in power, but the midwives feared God instead. That is powerful. That’s a very powerful message right there. And by the way, that reminds me of Peter’s words, if you recall, in Acts 5.29. Acts 5.29, Peter says, we ought to obey God rather than men. We ought to obey God rather than men. I’ve actually said multiple times in the past, I’ve lost count. that if we had to somehow, some way, summarize the entire Bible with a single verse, it would be Acts 5.29. We ought to obey God rather than men. The one theme that is consistent throughout the entire Bible from beginning to end is that we should obey God and not man. And so here the Hebrew midwives do just that, and God blessed them for it. What does it say God did? It says that God provided households for the midwives. This is easily misunderstood. This is most likely referring to children. This is not referring to physical structures. We don’t know for certain, but experts think that it’s possible that these two women were actually barren, and that is maybe why they were midwives in the first place. And so if this was the case, it could be that God rewarded them, these two women, because of what they did by opening their wombs and saying, thank you for disobeying Pharaoh and for obeying me. Now, one other item that I want to point out here is that the midwives used deception against Pharaoh. And I’m guessing most people in here are familiar with this, but interestingly enough, a lot of Christians are not. And that is because of preconceived ideas that they have about deception, lying, etc. They read through this and they don’t think, oh, there’s no deception here. There’s no lying here. Well, let’s take a closer look. These two midwives, they essentially lied to Pharaoh in order to avoid obeying him and killing these newborn boys. That’s really what is going on here. Now, the text says that they saved the male children, which means they did not kill them as they were commanded to do. But then let’s look at the whole story. When word got to Pharaoh, that they were doing this, not obeying, not killing them, not doing what he asked, he confronted them. He immediately confronted them and he demanded an explanation. And they lied. Why? Well, presumably because if they were to just admit, like Peter did in Acts 5, well, we ought to obey God rather than man. So meaning, well, we’re going to obey God instead of you, Pharaoh. Well, don’t you think that would have ended up with Pharaoh putting them to death? Obviously. So they decided to lie and they said that the Hebrew women were somehow biologically different than the Egyptian women. Now, obviously that wasn’t true, but why would they use this type, this form of deception? Well, because Pharaoh was most likely familiar with the birthing process, but it would only be from his personal experiences with Egyptian women. He doesn’t know anything about these Hebrew women. And so these midwives came up with a plan which worked at least temporarily, which was let’s tell him that Hebrew women are somehow different even though they’re not. And then they made him realize, oh yeah, I am ignorant about these Hebrew women. I treat them like property. They’re just slaves. I don’t know anything about them. And so they played on his ignorance in claiming they were somehow different biologically and they give birth so fast that the children are already born by the time they get to them. Now, think about this. That is not the case, right? The purpose and the role of the midwife is to assist throughout the entire labor and delivery process. And so, certainly, these two women were there the entire time. They just refused to kill the babies, which would have been a sin against God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Stop the tape, stop the tape. Hey, we are out of time. If you want the rest, you can find that by going to enyart.shop and signing up for the sermon subscription. You do not want to miss that. That’s all of Will Duffy’s sermons, all of Bob Enyart’s sermons, and all of my sermons. It’s really a great resource you do not want to miss. Again, enyart.shop, E-N-Y-A-R-T dot S-H-O-P.
