Exodus 1-3

Exodus 1-3

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey! Please, if you have questions or comments... let me know! 

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 1: Pharaoh Seeks to Destroy all Males

                The children of Jacob/Israel dwell in the land of Egypt; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher and Joseph. All of the souls that came from Jacob were seventy, that were in Egypt.

                But the children of Israel multiply and become a mighty people. The king of Egypt (after Pharaoh) did not know Joseph and therefore feared the children of Israel. The King of Egypt called for "taskmasters" to inflict on them burdens that they might become a weak people. With this "slave" labor the King of Egypt builds two treasure cities; Pithom and Raamses. As the king of Egypt inflicted more and more on the children of Egypt, the mightier they became!

                The king of Egypt calls the midwives to come and tells them to kill all males that are born unto the Hebrews and only let live the females. The midwives (fearing God) refuse to do it and angers the king of Egypt. The king then calls them for a second time and demands that all male babies that are born to be thrown into the river, saving only the female babies.

Chapter 2: The Birth of Moses

                There was a man who came from Levi, who married one of the daughters of Levi. They get married and have a child; a son. Because of the new laws in the land of Egypt she fears that her baby boy will be murdered, so she hides him for 3 months. But after time, she realizes that she cannot continue to hide this baby boy for long. So she takes him to the river and puts him in an "ark", basically a little basket made of bulrushes that would float down the river.

                The baby boy is found a little while later by the daughter of Pharaoh, who looks upon the boy with compassion and sends him away to be nursed by another Hebrew woman. When the boy is older, he is given to Pharaoh's daughter to be her son. Pharaoh's daughter calls her new son; Moses.

                Moses grows up and sees the mistreatment of his brothers, the Hebrews. One day he witnesses an Egyptian "smiting" or hitting a Hebrew and decides this is unacceptable. So when he thinks no one is looking, he kills the Egyptian and hides "buries" him in the sand.

                The next day he goes out and one of the Hebrews asks him why he thinks he could be a prince and judge over them, and asks Moses if he is going to kill him as well. Moses at this point gets very nervous because he thought no one had seen him killing the Egyptian. So Moses flees to the land of Midian. This was a smart move on the part of Moses because after Pharaoh hears about what Moses did, he seeks to slay Moses.

                Moses, while dwelling at a well in the land of Midian meets the seven daughters of the priest of Midian. The priest invites Moses into his house and gives Zipporah, one of his daughters to marry Moses. Zipporah bares a child to Moses and names the child Gershom.

                During this time the king of Egypt dies and the childen of Israel rejoice, because they were no longer in bondage. The Lord remembers his promise that he had made unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and has respect unto the children of Israel, the Hebrews.

Chapter 3: The Lord Appears unto Moses

                Moses was watching over the flock of Jethro (who was his father-in-law). He led the flock to the backside of the desert and came unto the mountain of God, "Horeb".

                There, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, that came from a bush. When Moses saw this, he stopped to see why the bush was not on fire. When he did this, God called out to him and tells him that he needs to go down to Egypt and bring his people out of bondage.

                Moses agrees, but asks God what he should say when the Hebrews ask who sent him. God responds and tells Moses to tell them, that "I AM" sent him.

                Who is "I AM"? Some people say that this is God or "Heavenly Father", but in the Spanish scriptures (La Reina Valera) where it says "...The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob..." (Genesis 3:15) - the Spanish version says "Jehovah" instead of "The Lord God".

                So who is Jehovah? - Well if we read WAY AHEAD in the Bible in the New Testament- John 8:58; "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." . So we learn that Jehovah is Jesus Christ.

                God commands Moses to travel to Egypt and speak with the Elders of Israel. He tells Moses that they will go with him to Pharaoh and command that he let the people go. But God tells him that surely Pharaoh will not let them go so he will have to stretch forth his hand and make it happen.