The God Who Seems Absent

Introduction

We begin a series on Exodus today. This may seem to be an odd series to begin the new year, but as the series unfolds, we trust that it will be obvious why this was chosen. Our sermon series this year will focus on Exodus and then Hebrews. Using these texts our theme will be on the nature and character of God especially as we go through Exodus together. The earthly revelation of the nature and character of God is seen through Jesus and the text of Hebrews will allow us to see God’s full representation in Jesus.

Exodus is not merely the second writing found in what is called the Pentateuch. It is the continuation of Genesis. Moses intends for this not only to be a series of narratives about God’s great power but to use this writing to serve as a continuation of the Joseph story found in Genesis. Exodus begins with the words “And these” demonstrating that for Moses this is a continuation. Although it is a continuation, Moses seems to want to shift the focus specifically on God’s deliverance of his people. As you will recall at the end of Genesis, Joseph is now second in command in Egypt. Because of a great famine, Jacob and all of his family have moved to Egypt and because of God’s sovereignty and control, he has made it possible for Joseph to care for his family not only during the famine but for decades while he was alive and decades after his death.

While there is disagreement as to the timing of Moses and the events we read about in Exodus, after a passage of time the Egyptians turn against Joseph’s family. According to verse 8, a new king of Pharaoh comes to power who did not know about Joseph. There was a time in Egypt’s history that invaders from the north came and deposed the Egyptian Pharaoh. These northern invaders who were of Semitic origin would have been favorable to other Semites. They ruled in Egypt almost 100 years. When around 1550 B.C. these northern invaders were driven out, any other non-Egyptian peoples would have been persecuted. It appears that Moses has a reference in verse 8 to this historic change. When the new king after the overthrow of the Semitic leaders came to power, he knew nothing about Joseph. No loyalty to the Semitic peoples who occupied the eastern area of Egypt and had occupied that area for hundreds of years.

Verse 10 uses an idiom that supports the king’s speech. This idiom is only found three times in the OT. One of those times is found in Genesis 2:6 in which Moses writes that the surface of the earth was watered by a mist that came over the earth. The idea that the king is worried about is that Israel will overwhelm the Egyptians just as the previous Semitic people did. Israel leaving Egypt would be a good thing not a dangerous thing. According to the text, the Israelites are forced into hard labor as a result. Prior to this according to Genesis 47:6, they were shepherds and tended to even the king’s herds. So with this new king things happen and for the next 100 years they will be slaves rather than shepherds. And during this time, God is silent. What happens when God is silent during times of great struggle? Let’s use today’s text to hear God once again.

God’s Silence in Oppression

What is written in a few verses takes years to unfold. Fearing that Israel will overtake Egypt, Pharaoh issues a new order—Take them out of the shepherding business and use them to build new cities. From shepherds to slaves. The idea is to reduce their numbers. These slaves would have been kept near the cities they were building and not allowed to travel home at night. Second, with the men absent from their flocks, then Israel’s livelihood would mean that flocks would die and agricultural practices would be diminished; thus, people would eat less. Finally, through the oppressive nature of the work, men would die in the construction. Verse 12 shows us that the plan failed. It would have taken years for this plan to fail.

So in verse 15 a second scheme is devised. Two midwives are summoned to a face to face encounter with the king. These two women are probably not the only midwives but are probably the main ones. Kill the boys. Let the girls live. Moving from an indirect attempt to reduce numbers to infanticide. And it does not work. Again this would have taken years for the king to get the population numbers and recognize that Israel is still growing.

Then there is a third scheme and this one is found in verse 22. All the Egyptian people are commanded to engage in infanticide. They are to be active in killing babies so that Israel will die out. Throughout this text God does not speak. God does nothing to stop the commands of the king nor the enforcement of the new laws. This is one of hundreds examples used to say that God is at least unsympathetic to human suffering and at worst is absolutely powerless. These examples are used to denigrate God’s love and goodness. Questions such as “If God was really loving, he would have stopped the killing of babies.”

You Find What You Look For

But stop and look at the text again. It is amazing how quickly we are willing to accept a false belief. The king enslaves, kills, and engages in genocide through infanticide. And we want to focus on God’s powerlessness. Israel didn’t. They focused on staying faithful. They continued to have children. Why? Because they trusted God. The midwives refused to follow the king’s command. Why? Because they feared God more than what a king could do to them. Israel grew in number. The midwives had their own children which was quite uncommon for midwives. God might be accused of being silent but his people were not.

Look at the text carefully. Pharaoh thinks he will win. He doesn’t. He thinks he is in control. He isn’t. As the new year begins, it is time to lift our eyes above the horizon. It is time that we looked at life through the eyes of faith. We must stop wringing our hands in despair. We must stop joining the voices of those who accuse God of failing and begin to live as people who in the silence live by faith. The conflict between God and evil will always exist. We can interpret it as God’s failure or understand that throughout the history God has allowed his people to demonstrate faith while he blessed in ways that only people of faith could see.

Joseph is sold into slavery by jealous brothers, falsely accused of sexually attacking his owner’s wife, spending years in a jail not only for a crime he didn’t commit but for an extended time because of another’s silence. Instead of blaming God for failing he continued to serve among the prisoners until he is finally given an opportunity to speak to an Egyptian king about God and something wonderful happens. Joseph says in Genesis 50:20 to his brothers, what you intended to harm, God has used for good. Two decades passed from betrayal to ruling Egypt. Two long decades of mistreatment and Joseph called it good. How did he do that?

Because of faith. Questioning God is found in scripture. Jesus even questioned God but when it came time to act, he responded in faith. Let us acknowledge that life is often harder than we can ever imagine, but then let us live in faith and by faith. Let us see that without betrayal there is no Joseph running a country in Egypt. Without a cross, there is no resurrection. Without suffering there is no victory. Cry. Weep. Shed tears. Be angry. Question. Live by faith. God’s silence is a call for your faith not for you to join those who called into question God’s power and love. Invitation.

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