Britain enjoyed a monarch, queen Elizabeth the second, for 70 years, 214 days. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and 15 at the time of her death. He reign was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female sovereign in history. Like most people, I never met her and therefore did not chat to her about her soul, yet most people I have spoken to say she was a committed Christian throughout her reign.
Kings and queens come and go. Some last for many years like Elizabeth and others for a considerable shorter time. As you read through 1 and 2 Kings as well as 1 and 2 Chronicles you will see this with reference to Israel (Northern Province) and Judah (Southern Province). But this fact is true elsewhere too:
Ac 7:18 Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt.
1) The kingship from that of Joseph to Moses changed many times as this was a 400 year period. Therefore it is not strange that this king did not known the history of Joseph and his family who by this stage had developed into a nation of well over 1,000,000 people. After all, few are really interested in history and if there was no one to tell him about the country’s past, why would he even consider going to Egypt’s national archives to read up on his country’s distant history? I wonder whether king Charles the second knows their royal history from Henry the eighth (1509-1547) to Elizabeth the first (1558-1603) with special focus on Mary the first (Bloody Mary – 1553-1558) where Protestant bishops Latimer and Ridley and Archbishop Cranmer were burnt at the stake for their Gospel belief in the Bible and salvation by grace? She was a staunch Catholic and wanted to take all of Britain into Catholicism. One of our greatest problems today is that we don’t know “true history” about our country as well as about Christianity within our country.
2) The new king was a tyrant. Not knowing the history of the Hebrew people meant he was unaware of how Joseph stabilized the country, its economy and cared for the needs of the countries surrounding Egypt. He therefore:
Ac 7:19 dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
The mark of such tyrants is firstly fear. Fear the Jews were growing so rapidly that he believed they would become slaves, so he enslaved the Jews. He had no faith in the Jews although they had not behaved badly. The Jews and Egyptians did not mix largely due to religious and cultural differences. Maybe this sparked the new king’s suspicion as the Jews lived in Goshen and practiced all their religion, culture and family life there, which was very different to the Egyptians. Then we read Moses writing in Exodus:
Ex 1:8 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.”
Fear ruled the new king’s heart. To prevent losing power or a possible takeover, this king enslaved the Jews forcing their men to do hard labor and that all the boy babies born into Hebrews homes needed to be killed. In other words, this would reduce the number of men in the future who could stage war against them. We still have atrocities such as this, although shaped differently, the intent is the same. Africa has had its fair share of wars, mass executions. Apartheid was a cruel instrument tailored in the likes of Germany’s Nazism. What is happening in Russia with its assault on the Ukraine, rigged fake referendums and the annexure of Ukrainian States falls into the same despotic ideology.
3) Within the crisis the Hebrew were facing, God raised up a type of Messiah.
Ac 7:20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house.”
The reason I say “type of Messiah” is because God raised him up to lead Israel out of Egypt. He would be a savior pointing to the greater Savior Jesus. He prophesied this:
Dt 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers.
(1) During the brutal punishment metered out against the Hebrews by the king of Egypt, Moses is born. God always provides for the needs of His people and in this case, at the right time ushered in His savior.
(2) Moses was no ordinary child. It’s not only Luke who writes of Moses being “no ordinary” child. The writer to the Hebrews says the same:
Heb 11:23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
(3) His parents hid him amongst the reeds along the banks of the River Nile.
Ex 2:1 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
His appearance must have been special from birth for his parents to realize there was something special about him.
(4) To protect him, they hide him only to be found by the king’s daughter.
Ac 7:21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.
As you read Moses own account of this in Exodus, your heart melts for his mother … to save her child she made a choice … yet, behind this all is the God of the Hebrews, the Creator God who is always at work pushing His timetable and schedule forward to the day when He ushers in the true Messiah. Moses sister was watching over him when the king’s daughter came to bath. Miriam asks if she should get a Hebrew woman to care for the baby the princess found:
Ex 2:8 “Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
Stephen is building his case. Did you notice how God works? People want miracles of healing, God does miracles of salvation. Thank You Lord. Amen.