Interaction with Egypt

• Abram arrives in Egypt: c. 2089 B.C.
  • Ancient civilization; united in 3100 B.C. into 1 country
  • civilization was over 1,000 years old when Abram arrived
  • polytheistic religion
  • Pharaoh was considered a god
  • Pharaoh at time of visit: Inyotef II (ruled 2117-2069 B.C.)
• God’s covenant with Abram: Genesis 15:7-21
  • fulfillment would not come without pain
  • 400 years used to purify God’s people
  • people would suffer in Egypt
  • God’s judgment of Egypt would enrich Abram’s descendants
  • Burning lamp (flaming torch): God Himself swore by Himself to fulfill His covenant with Abram
  • none other could swear to keep the covenant
• 1916 B.C.: Joseph born
• 1899 B.C.: Joseph sold into Egypt
• 1885 B.C.: Joseph rises to power in Egypt
• 1876 B.C.: Jacob’s family goes to Egypt

Egypt:

Built around the Nile River Annual floods in July and August Nile valley only 10 miles wide Rainfall: 7 to 8 inches near Mediterranean coast less than 4 inches per year Defenses: desert, sea, Sinai Peninsula Three major periods of history: Old Kingdom: 2686-2181 B.C. Middle Kingdom: 2133-1786 B.C. Hyksos: foreign rulers; ruled for over a century between Middle and New Kingdoms Pharaoh who “had not known Joseph” New Kingdom: 1567-525 B.C. Egyptians were now highly suspicious of foreigners “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. Let us deal shrewdly with them... (Exodus 1:9-10)” Egyptian expansion: down the Nile and up into Canaan

• Egyptian Society
  • Pharaoh at the top
  • owned all land (cf. Joseph, Genesis 47:13-20)
  • ruled absolutely
  • considered a god
  • Bureaucrats: highly efficient bureaucracy
  • Farmers
    • also provided conscripted labor
  • Slaves

Hebrew Servitude

• 1786-1720 B.C.: Hyksos invasion
• Israel enslaved
• c. 1567 B.C.: Egyptian restoration
• Pharaoh: Ahmose I
• Amenhotep I: continues Hebrew enslavement
• 1529 B.C.: Aaron born to Amram and Jochebed
• 1526 B.C.: Moses born to Amram and Jochebed

Dating of Exodus

• Liberal scholars often date Exodus (if they believe it occurred at all) in the reign of Ramses II (reigned 1304-1236 B.C.), c. 1290 B.C.
• Scriptural evidence for earlier date: 1 Kings 6:1
• Solomon (who reigned 971-931 B.C.) began to built the temple in 967-6 B.C.
• Why not Ramses?
  • Exodus 1:11: “So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.”
  • did Hebrews build the city while Ramses reigned?
  • Exodus 2:23: “After a long time, the king of Egypt died”
  • The king who ordered the building of the cities died; couldn’t have been Ramses
  • Ramses’ successor, Merneptah, encountered Israelites in Canaan; they were already there
• Actual date: c. 1446 B.C.
  • Pharaoh: Amenhotep II (reigned 1450-1425 B.C.)
  • succeeded by a younger son, Thutmose IV (ruled 1425-1417)

Moses

• Born 1526 B.C.
• Pharaoh: Thutmose II
• Mother Jochebed put him in a basket in the Nile River; sister Miriam watched over the basket
• Found by Egyptian princess (possibly Hatshepsut, reigned 1503-1483 B.C.)
  • Hatshepsut was very strong willed
  • married her half-brother Thutmose II
  • Thutmose produced a son by another wife;
  • served as regent for Thutmose III, her nephew and stepson; reigned over Egypt for 22 years
  • ruled Egypt as Thutmose III fought
  • built a fabulously wealthy kingdom
  • built more architectural works than any Middle Kingdom pharaoh
• 1486 B.C.: Moses fled to Midian
  • killed Egyptian beating a Hebrew (Exodus 2:11-14)
  • Pharaoh attempted to kill Moses (2:15)
  • met daughters of Jethro, priest of Midian (2:16-22)
  • Midianites were distant kin (Genesis 25) by Keturah, Abraham’s second wife
  • Moses stayed approximately 40 years
    • married Zipporah, Jethro’s oldest daughter
    • 2 sons, Gershom and Eliezer
  • herded sheep

The Call of Moses

• Exodus 3:1-4:17
• Time: ~38-40 years later (1448 B.C.)
• Location: Mt. Sinai

Where is Mt. Sinai?

• Location of St. Catherine’s Orthodox monastery
• built by Justinian, Byzantine emperor, between A.D. 527 & 565
• enclosed a chapel built by Helena, Constantine’s mother (Chapel of the Burning Bush)
• protected by Muhammad’s personal order
• St. Catherine’s monastery claims “burning bush” plant still lives

Why not other possible locations?

• tradition: Helena lived c. A.D. 248-329; Jews and Christians already held this site as site of Moses’ Mt. Sinai
• not on top peak in area (humans would have chosen the highest peak if left to ourselves)
• no archaeological evidence for other sites

Call of Moses

• Moses: “Here I am”
• God: “Holy ground” (v. 5)
• removal of shoes: signifies humility
• God’s identity: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
  • Jesus: “God not of the dead, but of the living” (Matt. 22:32, Mark 12:27)
• 3:7-10: God has:
  • “surely seen” (emphatic construction)
  • “heard their cry”
  • “knows their sufferings”
  • God is aware of your suffering
• God will take the people to a “good land, a land flowing with milk and honey”
• First command of God to Moses: “Go”
  • imperative; this is not a request!
• Moses’ response: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
• Moses’ preparation for task:
  • raised in Pharaoh’s house with the current Pharaoh
  • Pharaoh’s sons participated in military and administrative activities
  • knew the Egyptian religious system (very important later)
• God’s reply: “I will certainly be with you”
• “when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God on this mountain”
  • worship will be proof of God’s work in the Hebrews’ lives
• Moses: “If I go to the Israelites and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what should I tell them?”
• God: “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you. Say this to the Israelites: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.”
• Name of God:
  • I AM:
  • Hebrew: YHWH (no vowels)
  • related to Hebrew verb “to be”
  • name is too sacred for pronunciation; pronounced only once a year on Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) when high priest proclaimed priestly blessing (Numbers 6:22-27)
  • vowels used are for word “Adonai”
  • what about “Jehovah”?
  • combination of “YHWH” and vowels “o” and “ay” combination (“ketiv qere”); looks like "Yehovah" in Hebrew, but there is no such word
• Moses to go to Egypt:
  • Exodus 3:16-22
  • Moses to talk to elders
  • God has heard!
  • God will take Israel to a “land of milk and honey”
  • First proposal to Pharaoh: 3-day journey to sacrifice
  • Problem: Pharaoh will not listen (v. 19)
  • God’s response to Pharaoh: “I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles that I will perform in it. After that, he will let you go.”
  • Why?
    • use of the nations
    • God uses nations to prepare His people; nations overdo it and thus incur judgment
  • God’s promise: “you will plunder the Egyptians”
    • slaves will leave richer than kings
• Moses' excuses (Exodus 4):
  • Moses: “What if they won’t believe me?”
    • God: staff to snake
    • God: Moses’ hand became leprous
    • God, if those don’t work: pour Nile River water out; water to blood
  • Moses: “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant—because I am slow and hesitant in speech.”
  • God: “Who made the human mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
  • Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.”
    • “go:” same word used for Abraham (Genesis 12:3); imperative
  • Moses: “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
  • Moses: imperative!
  • God: That’s it!
  • “Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. When he sees you, his heart will rejoice. You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both you and him to speak, and will teach you both what to do. He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and you will serve as God to him. And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.”
• Moses: Oh, well...
  • what does he tell Jethro?
  • “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living.”
  • what about seeing Pharaoh?
  • what about freeing the people?
• Israel before God
  • Exodus 4: The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do in front of Pharaoh all the wonders I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won’t let the people go. Then you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the LORD says: Israel is My firstborn son. I told you: Let My son go so that he may worship Me, but you refused to let him go. Now I will kill your firstborn son!”
  • the LORD: Israel is “firstborn son”
  • firstborn received privileges and blessings
  • if Pharaoh does not free firstborn, Pharaoh will lose his firstborn
  • vv. 24-26: Moses’ problem: He hadn’t circumcised his sons
• Moses Obeys
  • Exodus 4
  • vv. 27-31:
  • God tells Aaron to go meet Moses
  • Aaron obeys instantly
  • Moses & Aaron meet with the elders
  • Elders’ response: worship
  • God had heard their prayers
  • God had acted in their behalf to deliver them
  • God deserves worship when He acts for His people
• Confronting Pharaoh
  • Exodus 5
  • Conversation with Pharaoh: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a festival for Me in the wilderness.”
  • Israelites are to “celebrate” in the wilderness (they’re slaves!)
  • Pharaoh: “Who is the LORD that I should obey Him by letting Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and what’s more, I will not let Israel go.”
  • Pharaoh’s reaction:
  • he’s a god to everyone in Egypt; Hebrews should recognize his divinity
  • he knows nothing of the Hebrew God (only that He’s weak; why else are His people serving the Egyptians?)
  • Try #2: “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, or else He may strike us with plague or sword.”
  • Pharaoh: “get back to work!”
  • Pharaoh: make Hebrews work harder
  • Egyptians to give no straw to Hebrews, but Hebrews are to provide as many bricks as before
  • Result: Hebrew taskmasters turn against Moses and Aaron (as Pharaoh knew they would)
• God's response
• Pharaoh will “drive” the Hebrews from the land because of God’s “strong hand”
• vv. 2-3: God’s reminder to Moses: “I AM”
• God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:
  • Genesis 15:18
  • Genesis 26:1-5
  • Genesis 28:13-15
• Exodus 6:6: “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am Yahweh, and I will deliver you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and free you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment.”
• “deliver:” to bring out
• “redeem:” “gaal:” word used for:
  • avenging a blood relative
  • buying property of impoverished relative
  • marrying wife of deceased relative
  • used for Boaz (Ruth 2:20)
• v. 9: Israelites didn’t listen to Moses
• would Pharaoh listen?
• vv. 10-13: time for Pharaoh is up!
• Exodus 6
  • vv. 14-25: Moses’ genealogy
  • vv. 28-30: Moses’ speech problem again!
• God vs. Pharaoh
  • Exodus 7
  • vv. 1-2: Moses would be as “God” to Pharaoh
  • a human “god” would relate to someone he saw as divine
• Exodus: Plagues
  1. BLOODY WATER: HAPI or NILUS - sacred river god
  2. FROGS: HEKA, HEKT - goddess of reproduction; OSIRIS - frogs held sacred as his emblem
  3. LICE (gnats, fleas): SEB - the earth god
  4. FLIES : BEELZEBUB - god of flies
  5. BEETLES: KHEPHERA - the sacred scarabacus; ISIS - queen of heaven
  6. MURRAIN OF BEASTS: APIS - the sacred bull
  7. BOILS AND BLAINS: NEIT - mother queen of highest heaven; SUTECH or TYPHON - the evil-eye god
  8. HAIL : SHU - god of the atmosphere; ISIS and OSIRIS
  9. LOCUSTS: SERAPIS - protector of land from locusts
  10. DARKNESS: RA, AMEN-RA - supreme sun god
  11. DEATH OF FIRSTBORN: PHARAOH - a god in the flesh; PIAH - the god of life