TW: Childloss, Slavery
Read Exodus 2.1-10, 12
Fast forward on in the story and we find ourselves several generations after Joseph and his family. God’s people, the Israelites, have been enslaved by a new Pharaoh who has entirely forgotten that his nation owes their lives to Joseph’s family and instead fears that these foreigners will rise up against the nation. God’s people find themselves in need of a different kind of Saviour now – not just the one who will save them from their own wrongdoing which has left them in a chaotic world full of evil. Now they also need physical salvation from an oppressive ruler, who works them ruthlessly in the hope of curbing their population and, when that doesn’t work, demands all the baby boys be drowned.
In Scotland today this seems an unimaginable fate. And yet in our world today there are still the howls of mothers whose babies have been wrenched from their arms. It ought not to be. This world also needs saving from the evil within.
The story then zooms in on one family who have just welcomed a baby. Imagine all the months waiting and praying and hoping. Please be a girl. Only a girl can live. And then the joy mixed with horror as a newborn boy is welcomed. Mum takes him home and tries desperately to keep his existence undetected, all the while knowing it’s a futile endeavour. While there is breath in them, babies are not silent. After three months, she surrenders to the inevitable. She takes a basket and coats it in tar and pitch to make it waterproof. She makes in essence a mini-ark. And once filled with the precious cargo, the basket is lowered into the Nile and mum, unable to watch, leaves big sister to note his fate.
Incredibly, the light glimmers immediately. Pharaoh’s daughter is bathing and sends her servant to pluck the baby out of the water. Despite knowing it was an Israelite baby which her father had sentenced to death, she adopts the child. His big sister, watching on, now approaches. Would Pharaoh’s daughter like a nurse for her new child? And in an incredible turn of events, Mum ends up being paid to raise her baby boy. Whilst Pharaoh congratulates himself on his power, God laughs.
Fast forward 80 years and this very baby, Moses, is called by God to set his people free from slavery. It hasn’t been an easy process. Moses has demanded the people be let go, and God has sent 9 plagues on the Egyptian people to show Pharaoh his power, and yet Pharoah has chosen time and again to place his pride and comfort above the wellbeing of his people.
Nobody is winning in this situation. An evil ruler causes untold suffering, but remains unmoved. How long will this go on, God?
God will not allow Pharaoh to keep his people. And so a final, terrible, plague comes and the firstborn son in every Egyptian household dies. The hand that Pharaoh meted out on God’s people is now meted out on his own. And finally, the people are released.
But before this terrible plague arrives, God’s people receive some very specific instructions. Take a lamb, a perfect, firstborn, male lamb (ring any bells?! If not, look back to day 6!) and kill it at twilight. Smear its blood around and over the doorframe. Then roast the lamb for dinner, and everyone eat it in their outdoor clothes, ready for a hasty exit. Don’t make bread with yeast in it, because you’re on your way out, there’s no time for bread to rise!
So, we have the sacrifice of a lamb, and its blood all over the door. The protection of its spilled blood, which will be a sign to the angel of death to pass over this household. They are safe. And soon thereafter they are free. They’ve been physically saved. But as the story goes on, we’ll see they still need a Saviour…
Reflect
God’s people experience some incredible moments of deliverance. But not everyone does – How do you feel about this?
Pharaoh had many chances to submit to God’s superior power but had delusions of his own strength. Does relying on your own strength ever lead you down the wrong path?
Are there any elements in the back story to Christmas that have surprised you so far?
Susie lives in NE Fife and works in ministry. She loves being with friends, feeding people and half finished creative projects.
