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March 7, 2010
Exodus 1:1-22 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 fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. 8 Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much 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 Pithom and Rameses 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 hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. 15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
Matthew 22:23-33 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” 29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead– have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
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3 Responses to “March 7, 2010”
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March 7th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Exodus 1:15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah
I think this is the most fascinating verse of chapter 1. The very king of Egypt, the Pharaoh, who was thought of as a god by his people, is called “the king of Egypt” and never given a name. Meanwhile, two lowly Hebrew midwives are called by name – Shiphrah and Puah. I would bet that this is not legend, but that these names were passed down from generation to generation, as the Hebrews remembered the courage and righteousness of these two women.
There’s a similar thing that happens in one of Jesus’ parables beginning in Luke 16:19, where Jesus talks about a rich man and Lazarus. Again, it is the lowly, poor man who is given a name, while the rich and powerful one is only known as “the rich man.” Are the authors simply forgetting the other names? Or is there something deeper going on about the importance of having a name? I think it could be the latter, that for “the rich man” and “the king of Egypt”, that was all their identity is – that without money or power they are nothing (see the rich man in Hell in that parable). But Shiphrah, Puah, and Lazarus have an identity, an everlasting name, in their righteousness before God.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Matthew 22:31 But about the resurrection of the dead– have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
As the passage points out, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. And here comes Jesus saying that God IS the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – that he is not the God of the dead but of the living. He is saying that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive – not walking among them, but ALIVE in the presence of God. They may be gone from the earth, but they are not dead. God is the God of the living, not the dead, because all who die in Him will live eternally.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Ex 1:12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread;.
Just an observation. God seems to use suffering throughout the history of the church to bring about growth. I hadn’t noticed the same thing in the OT until reading this passage today (though it well may be elsewhere too). Wouldn’t it be radical (and difficult)the next time we face suffering of some kind to instead of looking for relief (as is my first instinct), to be expecting and trying to percieve how God is moving.