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A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
I. POLITICAL OPPRESSION OF GOD’S PEOPLE
A. MOTIVATION
Ex 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
>>1. CHANGED REGIMES (Gen 47:11; 43:32; 46:34)
>>2. CHANGED POLICY
B. RESULTS
>>1. RACIAL SUPERIORITY
Ex 1:9 And he said to his people, “See, the people of Israel are too many and too powerful for us.
>>2. PLANNED SUBJUGATION
Ex 1:10 Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us, and leave the land.”
II. ECONOMIC OPPRESSION OF GOD’S PEOPLE
A. MOTIVATION
>>1. TIGHTENED CONTROL
Ex 1:11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.
>>2. GREAT DREAD (Gen 47:27; Ex 1:7)
Ex 1:12 Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians lived in dread of the Israelis.
B. RESULTS
>>1. HARD SERVICE (Ps 99:4; 103:6; 146:7-9; Deut 10:18-19)
Ex 1:13-14a So with severity they made Israelis work like slaves. They made life bitter with hard service – building with brick and mortar, and in various types of fieldwork.
>>2. WITHOUT PITY (Is 54:17)
Ex 1:14b In all this labor, they treated them without pity.
III. SOCIETY’S OPPRESSION OF GOD’S PEOPLE
A. MOTIVATION
>>1. CALCULATED GENOCIDE
Ex 1:15-16 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthing basins, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”
>>2. FEAR GOD (Rom 13:1-5; Acts 4:18-20)
Ex 1:17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
>>3. FALL-OUT
Ex 1:18-19 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed male children to live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
B. RESULTS
>>1. REWARDS
Ex 1:20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.
>>2. MORE REWARDS (Prov 10:7; Ps 109:13,15)
Ex 1:21 And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families.
IV. SPIRITUAL OPPRESSION OF GOD’S PEOPLE
A. MOTIVATION
Ex 1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but allow every daughter to live.”
>>1. RADICAL ESCALATION
>>2. HEROD’S PLAN (Mt 2:16)
B. RESULTS
>>1. GOD’S PLAN (Gen 15:12)
>>2. GOD’S HAND