A People in Distress

Exodus 1:6-14; 2:23-25

GOLDEN TEXT: “They cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.”—Exodus 2:23

OUR present lesson treats of the enslavement of the nation of Israel and their tribulations connected therewith. During the two hundred and fifteen years from the time Jacob entered Egypt and the exodus, the Israelites had experienced a wonderful, and seemingly a miraculous increase in numbers. This is indicated in the statement of Numbers 1:45,46, that exclusive of the tribe of Levi, they numbered 603,550, twenty years old and upward, capable of military service. This implies a total number, including women and children, of from two to three million persons.

At this time a new king had arisen in Egypt. In Joseph’s time, and for quite a while before, it had been governed by the Hyksos or Shepherd kings—supposed to have been invaders and not of pure Egyptian stock. The change of dynasty brought a change of ambitions and methods, and Rameses II, of the new dynasty, is credited with having been the most wonderful builder of great edifices of his time. It was doubtless in connection with the erection of these great buildings that the Israelites were so severely treated.

The method was not of chattel slavery, as was once practiced in this country and elsewhere in the world until recent times, but instead, to demand a certain percentage of the younger, stronger, vigorous males to serve without pay and on scanty rations in the work on public buildings, cities, etc. We are told that within the present century this same method of oppression was practiced in parts of Africa, bands of natives being conscripted and hired out for a time as slaves to the operators of gold and diamond industries, and the amounts paid by the operators to the European colonizing government credited as taxes to defray the expenses of their oppressors.

And, strange to say, except from the standpoint of the student of prophecy, today in Europe we are witnessing a reversion to this same inhuman treatment of fellowmen by their conquerors. Thank God, these same prophecies indicate that this deplorable situation will continue but a short time, and that the Great Deliverer, Jesus and His church in glory, will shortly break all the bands from off humanity and give all an opportunity to regain the divine likeness under conditions in which “none shall make them afraid.”—Micah 4:4

Our lesson tells of the deliberate: efforts of the Egyptian Government to reduce the population of Israelites, who dwelt in Goshen, by destruction of the male children in addition to the rigorous treatment of the adults in slavery. It was under these inhuman laws that Moses was born, and it was because of the cruel requirement that the Hebrews must destroy their own male children that his parents were “by faith” led to trust him to the ark of bulrushes among the flags by the riverside where he was found by the king’s daughter and by her adopted and reared.

Whoever regards these experiences of Abraham’s posterity as among the ordinary vicissitudes of life to which all mankind are subject, makes a mistake. To understand the history of Israel, we must remember that the divine purpose represented by the Oath-Bound Covenant with Abraham was behind and intermingled with all of Israel’s experiences—and this is no less true of their distressing situation today.

Verse 14 of our lesson is generally understood to imply that the Israelites were compelled to learn all the trades and occupations of their masters. From Abraham’s time they had been a pastoral people, and by this very operation, they were forced, as it were, into an industrial school in the foremost civilization of that day. It was a severe training, but a very useful one and undoubtedly an excellent preparation for the great changes about to take place in their condition. We may feel sure that thus God was extending His providence over them—humbling them, as well as qualifying them for the larger opportunities He intended to give them.

A Christian who can discern the Lord’s leadings in connection with typical Israel should be fully prepared to note and appreciate a divine providence in his own case as a Spiritual Israelite. Nevertheless, few lessons are harder to learn than this one—that God supervises the affairs of all who are truly His. But, it is well to remember that only those who have entered into covenant relationship with God, the “covenant by sacrifice,” and who are maintaining that relationship, can apply to themselves the comforting words of St. Paul, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”—Romans 8:28

As the effect of Israel’s tribulation was to turn their hearts toward the Lord and to lead them to cry out for His promised assistance, so all of our trying experiences and the bondage of sin and death, lead us as new creatures in Christ more and more to look unto the Lord, from whom cometh our help.

Today, as we witness the passing of a world-order in a great time of trouble preparatory to the establishment of Messiah’s Kingdom, we can indeed lift up our heads and rejoice, knowing that our deliverance and the deliverance of the whole world draweth near. For the church this will mean glory, honor and immortality in heaven, and for the world a restoration to perfect human life upon the earth.

As spiritual Israelites we have confidence in the Abrahamic promise which Paul describes as an anchor to our souls, both sure and steadfast, entering into that which is within the wail, whither Christ our Forerunner is entered for us. Through His blood we now have deliverance from sin, through faith; and by His divine power our complete deliverance will come in the first resurrection.

QUESTIONS:

In what ways were the experiences of the Israelites a benefit to them?

What lessons can spiritual Israelites learn from God’s providences over His typical people?

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