22 IN A BASKET ON A RIVER

Based on Exodus CHs 1-2...Read more there.

A whole new chapter in the history of the Hebrew people begins now. The first verses of Exodus (Going Out) take us a little beyond where Genesis (Beginnings) leaves off. As we continue, we're faced again with material from different sources not always combined seamlessly as the story extends beyond a family to tribes, to the forming of a nation among other nations, & the personal & wider issues this involves. For instance, though Joseph is one of the sons of Israel, he has married an Egyptian wife, & their sons, Ephraim & Manasseh, are therefore 'children of two worlds'. We're reminded of Joseph's death in EX 1:6, but now a new Pharaoh comes to the throne. He doesn't know, or doesn't want to know, about Joseph & how he has saved Egypt in its hour of need & others, including his own Hebrew extended family in the process! Joseph will have to wait a long time indeed for he burial he longs for back in Palestine!

As the Hebrews grow in number they come to be seen as a threat to indigenous Egyptians, by now anxious that an earlier threat posed by previous migrants known as the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings (maybe from Asia?) should not be repeated. The Hyksos had taken over part of Upper Egypt & even set up a rival Pharaoh there! The Hebrews are therefore set to work as slave labourers on the Pharaoh's great building projects. However, they continue to thrive, & a foretaste of Herod's massacre of the innocents [MT 2] & maybe even of the Holocaust comes into play as the killing of Hebrew male babies is enforced. However, God thwarts the Pharaoh's plans in two ways. Firstly, by Hebrew mid-wives not obeying their orders, & as a direct result of this, Moses, the second 'Giant' of Hebrew history (after Abraham) comes not striding onto the scene but hidden by his mother in a basket floating hidden among reeds on the Nile. Unpromising circumstances it would seem!

Instead, Moses is found - it looks rather like a put-up job! - by Pharaoh's daughter who arranges for his raising in the palace as her own child. Thus Moses, the one who is to be the human agent in freeing the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt is being raised under Pharaoh's own nose! Who says God doesn't have a sense of humour?! But that's another story...Next...23 : Burning With God

(1) The Patriarchs & Matriarchs: Abraham & Sarah; Isaac & Rebekah; Jacob (Israel), Leah, & Rachel; Joseph & Asenath lived from about 1850 B.C. in the 'Middle Bronze' age. (2) Those Hebrew tribes who moved to Egypt probably did so round about 1700 B.C.

Question: Can we see God’s hand in any long-term trends & patterns in our own families & their movements in time & from place to place?