1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

4 Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

6 And Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation.

7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

9 And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falls out any war, they join also to our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor:

14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor.

15 And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:

16 And he said, When you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the stools; if it be a son, then you shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, Why have you done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?

19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in to them.

20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.

GROWTH UNDER THE KNIFE

The more they multiplied and grew.

Exo 1:12

I. The intention of issuing new orders and decrees from time to time was that the spirit of the Israelites might be broken. But how shortsighted the policy! If they had desired to create a unity of hatred to themselves on the part of Israel, what policy could have been adopted more conducive thereto? Evil often outwits itself. Man plans as he will, but as to the results, how often is it true, He meaneth not so!

II. Centuries afterwards, the martyr Stephen referred to this cruel edict. They dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil-entreated our fathers, so that they should cast out their babes to the end they might not live ( Act 7:19). Israel never forgot the anguish of that hour. But on Pharaoh s side what a stroke of policy! To deal with the babes was to go to the very springs of national life, and ultimately to affect the entire nation.

III. There is nothing which so closely and instantly touches the national existence as the treatment of child life. What that is, the nation will become in thirty years. How important that every effort should be made to preserve the springs from the contaminating influence of bad parents and designing teachers! How well worth while it is for Christians to spend time and thought in the instruction of the young! The teachers of a small Sunday-school are probably touching a larger number of the coming years than the minister of a great congregation. Speaking generally, each child stands for more years than any adult in middle-life can do. Besides which the child s mind is so much more retentive and impressionable than the adult s. It is a wonder, indeed, that more of the best people in our churches do not join the ranks of Sunday-school teachers, and paint on this immortal canvas.

Illustration

(1) The chronology is by no means easy. The question turns upon the length of the bondage. By 430 years ( Exo 12:40-41; Gal 3:17) we may understand either the whole period from the call of Abraham to the giving of the law on Sinai, or simply the period which was spent by the children of Israel in Egypt itself. The first explanation is more in harmony with other passages of Scripture; the second is more easily reconciled with the rapid increase of the people. Edersheim says, Three centuries and a half intervened between the close of the Book of Genesis and the events with which that of Exodus opens.

(2) Persecution is not only cruel, but it is weak as well. It fails in its purpose. In the history of nations luxury has undermined oftener than hardship. In the history of character compliance has enervated while opposition has braced up. In the history of religion the years of toil and conflict have been the richest in results. In the history of the Bible the endeavour to burn or suppress it has only led to its wider circulation.

(3) Times of suffering and persecution have always been the growing days of the Church. There never were such days for the spread of the truth as when Diocletian s persecutions swept over the followers of Jesus or the dragoons of Claverhouse the moors of Scotland. And if ever those days should come again, they would probably add a marvellous increase to the true followers of Jesus. And so it is in the case of the individual. We make our best progress, not when all our circumstances are favourable, but when they are adverse.