Exodus 1:1-7

All right, friends, welcome back this Tuesday as we start the book of Exodus and get into
the text today.
Just a kind of reminder as we move into this,
and I want to be sure that I’m clear about
this and I say it the way that I mean it.
As we move into Exodus,
I mean, certainly, this is set as a historical story.
And certainly,
there is nothing wrong with reading it that way.
But
as we said repeatedly through the book of Genesis, if
that we take as the main point of the story,
there will be things we miss about the book.
Because yes, we can argue about the historical details,
we can argue about archaeology,
we can argue about the name of the Red Sea or the Reed Sea, and that’s fine.
Those details are part of the story.
The story is certainly told assuming that it is historically accurate.
But if that’s all the deeper that we enter this story,
I think we’ve really stayed in the shallow end.
I think the point of the story is far deeper,
far more important than did these things happen
the way they’re written.
The point is, what do these things reveal about God,
people,
and the relationship between
the Creator and the created?
And so as we go through this book,
there will be times we point out some of the questions or the conversations,
disagreements about various things.
But primarily, what we look for is what does this say about the nature of our life,
the nature of our faith,
the nature of our world?
Those are,
in my mind,
and Michael and I’s perspective,
far more important than those
other arguments.
And in fact, I think sometimes, Michael, those arguments essentially just get in the way
of hearing the deeper things the text offers.
Yeah.
I don’t want to risk repeating that.
I do want to flesh out a part of that, though, Clint.
It’s important that we remember that we’re going to find in the historical context and
the archaeological record a great deal of color that gets added to the story.
The places and the people that are recorded become an interesting context by which we
can understand the story to be fleshed out.
But the problem is,
when you take the rigor of a scientific eye to the Old Testament text,
what you end up doing is you make a false expectation about what the text is going to
deliver.
If you believe that this is fundamentally a history book and that its purpose is to
accurately retell the history of the people,
then what you’re going to do as a bias when
reading the text is going to be to be looking for the accuracy of its details as opposed
to submitting to the lessons that it has for us.
And the difference between this, I think,
is the difference between going to a history
101 class in college where the professor’s job and task is to communicate information
in a systemic, reliable, and authentic way.
If you go to a family gathering and at that gathering,
the story of the family is told,
there is a assumption that that story has accurate details,
that the people who are
mentioned actually lived and the things that they did,
they actually did.
But the emphasis in that context is not upon the historical detail,
but rather upon the
lessons that have been passed down.
The tradition of why things today are related to how they were,
or the anecdotes,
the things that often we find humor in,
that we actually find greater meaning and detail when we look
at them closer.
In other words,
the second group of stories,
the ones that happen in the family context,
they are both meant to communicate a reality,
but they’re also meant to have far more at play.
They’re meant to speak to who we are,
not just what was.
And so that is what I really bring with me to a study like Exodus,
Clint, is this awareness
that the historical context gives us a color,
it gives us a dimension to what is happening here.
But we must not forget this is the family story,
and it is told in a particular way
through a particular medium,
so that we might learn something about the God who is the sole
strand who goes through the entire story.
And I think if we’re attuned to that in a study,
we’re going to receive far more,
both by way of lesson,
but also by way of appreciation for what this text is trying to do.
Yeah, and I think we see that right away here,
Michael.
So just the bridge is this first seven verses really connect Genesis and Exodus.
So if you’ve been with us in the Genesis story,
this is a sort of summary of where we ended
that story.
So let me read them,
then we’ll talk about them.
These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob,
each with his household, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
Dan, and Naphtali,
Gad, and Asher.
The total number of people born to Jacob was 70.
Joseph was already in Egypt.
Then Joseph died,
and all his brothers,
and that whole generation.
But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific.
They multiplied and grew exceedingly strong,
so that the land was filled with them.
And here again,
I think is a good example of what we’re talking about,
Michael.
So we have this claim,
70 people,
and we have this closing verse,
“The Israelites were fruitful and prolific.
The land was filled with them.”
Now we could take those literally,
and there’s nothing wrong with that.
If you read this and you’re inclined toward thinking of those things as literal details,
that’s fine.
But realize that in the story, they function more,
they function as more than literal details.
Right?
Because what was the promise,
what was the calling on the earliest pages of the Book of Genesis?
Be fruitful and multiply.
And what do we have here as we begin this story?
We have the Israelites in a land where they are fruitful and prolific because they multiplied
and grew exceedingly strong.
So we have this wonderful sense of fulfillment.
That which God began in Genesis,
he now continues to do through this lineage, through these people,
and the land was filled with them.
That is more than a census detail.
That is more than a scientific or a numeric detail in the story.
It’s a theological detail.
The people are hardy, they are faithful,
they are prolific,
they multiply.
They are not just strong,
they are exceedingly strong.
And this is the framework with which we start this book.
And there is a kind of before and after that is happening in this early chapter,
Michael, but this is an important first note as we begin this piece that is Exodus.
We made the case yesterday,
if you missed the introductory conversation,
be sure to jump back over there and listen to that.
We made the case that there’s a kind of transition happening here,
so we make our way into Exodus.
I think we can actually see that bore out in the text,
Clint. The very first verse is,
as you can see,
the names of the sons of Israel.
If you remember our time in Genesis,
it is the faithful,
careful,
sometimes, if we’re a little brutal telling of the family story of the patriarchs of Israel,
the sons who we eventually have all of this time spent with Jacob.
And now here’s Jacob’s sons.
These are the ones who are living in Egypt.
By verse five, Clint,
we get to the very end of Genesis.
In four verses, you summarize essentially the entire thrust of Genesis.
We’re getting through these brothers.
Of course,
we didn’t have Abram named here,
but that lineage is sort of in view here.
It’s in that rear view mirror.
And then now we get verse five,
“Born to Jacob,
Joseph was already in Egypt.”
And this is that connection to the very end section,
a very weighty section of Genesis
where Joseph gets teased out as the favored son,
the one who finds favor ultimately in
the eyes of Pharaoh.
And then it’s under the umbrella of Joseph’s favor with the Pharaoh that the people of Israel,
these brothers, his brothers, find a place of respite in the midst of famine.
Right?
We know that story.
Now,
verse six, we have this transitioning where Joseph has died.
And now the transition has already happened right here, verse seven,
to what you’ve already
said, Clint.
The Israelites,
the people group, are now named as being fruitful and prolific.
They’re multiplying.
They’re exceedingly strong.
Land is filled with them.
What this has done in an amazing economy of words
is it has both succinctly summarized
what came before the very specific story of the people and the father’s fathers.
And now we’ve honed in on what will be the presenting problem as we continue on tomorrow.
We know that the fate of the people in Egypt is going to become very difficult right away.
But we’ve now shifted focus from the father’s fathers to now the people themselves.
They are now the Israelites.
The story has shifted to tell their story because Exodus is fundamentally a story about
God’s deliverance for God’s people.
Whereas Genesis was telling us how that people came to be,
Exodus is now interested in telling
us about how the God of the people is going to liberate them from their captivity and
in some ways liberate them to their own complaints and struggles.
And all of that’s going to come later in the book,
so I don’t want to spoil it.
But I just want to point out
how quickly the text really sets up the transition that we described.
It’s immediate.
It’s intentional.
And we jump right into the thrust of the story,
which is one of the things not to keep going.
But that’s one of the beautiful things about the Old Testament writing,
Clint, is they don’t spend a lot of time on details that are unnecessary,
right?
To begin Exodus,
it’s this is what you need to know.
Here are the sons.
You need to know that the people are doing really well in Egypt.
That’s all you need to know.
The story has begun.
Let’s go.
Yeah. And not to rehash Genesis,
but remember in those ending chapters,
really their future hung in the balance.
Joseph is a saving figure as it pertained to the nation.
And in their relocation during the famine,
they now find a path forward.
They now find a future.
And it matters.
Pay particular attention here to verse 7.
When it’s using these words, fruitful,
prolific, multiplied, exceedingly strong,
land filled with them, that is to celebrate that they are a strong,
hearty,
and in the subtext, a blessed people.
We haven’t quite gotten that per se yet,
but it’s in there.
It’s woven into the story.
And it matters.
In a day or two,
we’re going to see a very different Israelite people,
but we have to
know where they started if we are to look at where they ended up.
So a very condensed kind of preface this morning or this afternoon,
a good opportunity, I think, to remember where we start and to be ready to hear where it goes from here.
Because I agree 100 percent, Michael.
The book of Exodus is—it’s not—I don’t want to say it’s uninterested,
but this isn’t the part of the story.
There’s a reason it skips generations without mentioning any person or event or anything that happens.
The story it wants to tell is not about this era of the people’s life.
It’s about what comes next.
And so it takes us there very quickly,
and we’ll be ready for that.
I’m not going to spoil tomorrow.
I just want to point out today the brevity of words that we have here,
Clint.
We have seven verses which really give us the context.
It summarizes Genesis, as we’ve said,
and it presents to us the situation that the Israelites
find themselves.
As it relates, I think you’re very right to point out,
as a fulfillment of the promises
made in the book of Genesis,
now verse 8, which we’re going to come to tomorrow,
immediately presents the problem.
It’s the setup.
It’s the thing that is going to drive the action of the rest of the book, and that is
just an incredible brevity of words.
The speed with which the author of Exodus gets through the front material and moves
to what is the inciting action is worth noting,
because in these words we’re to see that the
promise that God made to the Father’s fathers has been kept.
Now the question is immediately going to arise tomorrow.
What is God going to do when that question is put into really difficult straights almost
right away?
And I’m not going to spoil the thunder of that.
We’re going to get to it tomorrow,
but note how quickly we get here,
because the rest of this book is going to address the far more complicated problem that’s going to get introduced
tomorrow.
No, I would agree, Michael.
I think these opening verses are very wide,
and there’s some depth in them,
but their primary function is to cover a lot of ground.
Beginning tomorrow, I think we very much narrow the focus,
and we drill for depth rather than breadth.
And I think you’ll see the change.
I think you’ll notice the change,
and I think you’ll quickly encounter some of the most
important and resonant themes that will continue throughout the book.
I think in the next couple days,
I think we’ll see themes that we will see even up until the last pages.
Yep, 100%.
Hey, friends,
give yourself a gold star.
You’re already seven verses into Exodus.
We’re glad that you would join us for this time,
and look forward to seeing you tomorrow
as we jump right into verse 8,
which, by the way,
is going to be a really distinct change
in the text, and it’s going to be a great conversation.
So I hope you join us.
Thanks.