Exodus 1:1-14; 2:23, 24
MATTHEW 11:28
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Last week Narrate Jacob moving to Egypt and Joseph's life.
Ask questions.
ATTENTION GRABBER!
Cut an apple across the middle to show the children in the two
slices how many seeds are inside (there are usually 5 seeds in each apple).
On chalk or dry erase board, draw an apple tree. Talk to the
children about how the fruit multiplies while drawing. Ask, “if
only one apple grew on this tree, and the seeds from only that
apple grew into trees, how many trees would there be?”
Draw five more apple trees under the first tree, spaced wide apart.
Then continue asking, “Now, if only one apple grew on each of
these trees and the seeds from those apples grew into trees, how
many trees would there be?”
Point out that so many trees and apples were produced just from
one apple from one tree.
In today’s lesson, we will see that the Lord greatly multiplied the people of Israel while they were in Egypt.
LESSON TIME!
In all of our lessons, we have seen the love of God for each one of us and for everyone. We have seen how God is sovereign and has a master plan for everything. We have seen types in the Old
Testament that represents Christ in the New Testament, and we have seen how God uses every circumstance in our lives for His
good purposes.
Today, we begin Exodus. We will learn that, over many years, the
children of Israel have multiplied greatly in Egypt. However, their
circumstances change, and God’s people will cry out for
deliverance.
We can be confident that God hears the prayers of His children.
He will answer their prayers in His perfect time.
Exodus 1: New International Version (NIV)
The Israelites Oppressed
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
In the first seven verses, we see the nation of Israel was growing
and multiplying. Leah's six sons are mentioned in the order of
their birth, then Rachel (Jacob's second wife). Joseph’s son
Benjamin is mentioned, but not Joseph, because Joseph was
already in Egypt. Dan and Naphtali were the sons of Rachel's
maidservant Bilhah. Gad and Asher were the sons of Leah's
maidservant Zilpah. The number of men who entered Egypt was
between 70 and 75 (see Genesis 46:27; Deuteronomy 10:22; Acts 7:14).
It is amazing to think that the entire nation of Israel at this time
was only around 75 men. At the time when the Exodus begins, there are now about 600,000 men. When you add women and children there were about 2,000,000 people. The population grew to this amount in approximately 400 years. No wonder it says, “the land was filled with them.”
God is so good. His promise to Abraham so many generations ago is now coming to pass. Do you remember? God made a promise to Abraham that He would be a great nation and that they would be the same in number as the sand of the sea. Abraham did not see it physically fulfilled in his lifetime, but God kept His promise many years later. God always keeps His promises. He will do what He says at just the right time.
So as God promised, the Israelites were becoming as numerous as the sands of the sea. God was not done fulfilling His promise. He had promised that His people would live in the land that He
promised to give them. God would fulfill that promise, also, and
teach His children to trust in Him in the process.
things had changed for the children of Israel since
Joseph’s time.
They were made slaves and had to do heavy labor
every day of their lives; they were beaten and treated badly.
8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built two cities as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so, the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
The new king of Egypt, "did not know about Joseph" or "had no
appreciation for Joseph's achievements." He became concerned
that there were too many Israelites in the land. He feared, in event
of war, such a great number of people could easily turn agents them and help their enemies to defeat Egypt.
Pharaoh decided to deal with the Israelites in a clever way.
"Deals shrewdly" implies implementing a policy that would control
their fast-growing population as well as use their labor potential to
Pharaoh set taskmasters over them and forced them into labor to build the royal store cities of Pitham and Rameses.
But, as the Lord so often does, he frustrated the plans of man.
The more the Egyptians oppressed the children of Israel, the more they grew in number and strength.
God is awesome! He uses hard times in our lives to strengthen us as well.
His purposes will always be accomplished.
God can turn what is meant for evil against us to work for our good.
We can truly say,
"And we know that all things work together
for the good to them, that love God and are called according to His
purposes" Romans 8:28.
Exodus 2: New International Version (NIV)
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.” 23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
The Egyptians responded to the continued growth of the children of Israel by dealing even more harshly with them. They made them work harder as slaves and made their lives very bitter.
The Pharaoh died; however, the new Pharaoh continued the
The same way the old one did. The people cried out to God for
deliverance, and God heard their cries and remembered the
covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God remembered His people. In His timing, He moved to deliver them.
God remembers us.
In Psalms 50:15 God assures, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
God does not always work in the time frame we desire Him to, but He timing is always the best. He sees our needs and hears our cries.
Why would God allow His people to suffer?
Perhaps one reason could be that it made them desire a land of their own;
we know that God promised His people a land of their own--the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Affliction also has a way of causing one (or a people) to draw near
to God and depend on Him.
Perhaps the people had not been calling upon the Lord before this trial. Now, in bondage to the Egyptians, they would look to God daily to sustain them and pray for His promise to deliver them.
We can be confident He is working for good in our lives also.
When we go through trials and hard times we learn to depend on God and trust Him.
Our faith grows from it and we can have compassion for others who go through trials.
God's Ears/Pray Out
“God’s Ear” is always open to our prayers.
Have the children pray for something in their life? The teacher closes.
Snack
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